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Those of you who thought that there would be little-to-no discussion of serious issues on this blog about the City of Hollywood and its policies and practices until the end of the month, when the City Commission was scheduled to have its next meeting on Wednesday August 28th are... #wrong.
No, today is that day.
The Hollywood City Commission -including Mayor Josh Levy, fresh from a family vacation in Italy and Greece that looked amazing judging by the photos I've seen- will all be on hand tonight to listen to the community have some quality time speaking forthrightly at 7:00 pm at Hollywood City Hall in what is officially being called a "Strategic Plan Community Outreach Meeting."
I think we can all be forgiven for thinking and knowing in advance that it will also be a bit of a gripefest, too, not just for the most devoted civic activists in the community who are tired of being stroked on the head but seeing their concerns either ignored or given short shrift, but especially for many people who work during the day and who usually can't make Wednesday morning or afternoon Hollywood CRA and City Commission meetings that go on for hours.
Obviously, the latter are also not able to show up for the Public Comments portion of those very same meetings at 5 pm twice a month.
While there are certainly MANY MORE residents and Small Business owners in Hollywood who watch the Hollywood CRA or City Commission meetings on TV or via streaming online than was ever true of Hallandale Beach's meetings when I lived there for 11 years prior to 2014 -and at roughly 95% of all the myriad HB CRA, City Commission or Quadrant meetings- the current reality is that very important decisions are routinely made at Hollywood City Hall that the average Hollywood resident or business owner knows nothing about.
That is, until they hear about it after-the-fact from a well-informed, civic-minded friend like me, read about it on my fact-based blog, or see something about it on TV newscasts or somewhere in the Sun-Sentinel, and if the latter, it's usually bad news, isn't it, not something to be happy about or brag about?
Here's some quick background information on tonight's meeting, via the city's Communications office:
Take the Survey to Add Your Input
June 2019 marked the beginning of the City’s work on developing a new Strategic Plan.
The plan will establish goals, set a schedule and include ways to measure successes. Mayor Levy, Vice Mayor Callari and the City Commissioners, along with the City management team, have already developed ideas for the City’s Mission, Vision and Core Values statements which will form the foundation for the plan, but no vision for a city is complete without the voices of its residents!
Your input is critical for the development of the Strategic Plan so we ask that you take a few moments to lend your voice, experience and expertise to this important process. Take the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HollywoodStakeholder
REMINDER: Hollywood Strategic Plan Community Outreach Meeting August 7
All are invited to a community outreach meeting regarding the Strategic Plan on Wednesday, August 7th from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. at City Hall, 2600 Hollywood Boulevard, Room 219.
The goal of the meeting is to provide an update on the City’s strategic planning effort, including a preview of the new mission and vision statements and identification of core values.
Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions and provide input and suggestions on what they would like for the City of Hollywood to become.
I have more comments about tonight's meeting below the print out of the survey questions that I've got for you to peruse below, but before you read them, please keep in mind the following:
Who -exactly- are the people/committee at Hollywood City Hall or the consultants hired by the city that not only came up with these rather narrow questions, but more importantly, provide a very narrow range of possible answers that should strike many of you more common sense types as specifically designed to limit the range of debate?
For instance, why is there no question about whether or not in the year 2019 there is any current service being provided by the City of Hollywood that the respondent believes could/would/should be better run, made more-efficient, or made cheaper for citizens if spun off to third-parties, removing that costs off the taxpayer?
Given all the opportunities during the day, week, month and year that City of Hollywood employees have to push/negate or impede public policy and practices and insert their own personal preferences or beliefs, why in this forum are city employees being solicited to participate?
Especially if they do not live within the city limits, as most city employees don't, especially first responders?
Isn't the logical result of that inclusion simply to have the legitimate concerns or fears of Hollywood's citizen taxpayers, Small Business owners and stakeholders watered down by the influence of the army of City of Hollywood employees?
I'm on very good terms with dozens of city employees, and am very friendly towards a few, but that doesn't change the fact that I believe that Hollywood citizen's input should count for more than that of city employees, especially if they do NOT actually live within the city.
On a survey about the future of the City of Hollywood, shouldn't the question of whether or not you actually live in Hollywood be the first question, not the 7th?
Especially if they do not live within the city limits, as most city employees don't, especially first responders?
Isn't the logical result of that inclusion simply to have the legitimate concerns or fears of Hollywood's citizen taxpayers, Small Business owners and stakeholders watered down by the influence of the army of City of Hollywood employees?
I'm on very good terms with dozens of city employees, and am very friendly towards a few, but that doesn't change the fact that I believe that Hollywood citizen's input should count for more than that of city employees, especially if they do NOT actually live within the city.
On a survey about the future of the City of Hollywood, shouldn't the question of whether or not you actually live in Hollywood be the first question, not the 7th?
City of Hollywood 2019 Stakeholder Survey
The City of Hollywood has recently begun to develop a new Strategic Plan to improve city services. The Strategic Plan will help establish the City’s Mission, Vision, and Goals for the future.
You are invited to help in the planning process by completing this survey.
The Strategic Plan will go before the City Commission for adoption in November 2019.
*1. City’s Mission - What should be the City’s main purpose?
Please rank the following from 1 to 3, with 1 being most important and 3 being least important.
Provide high-quality service
Promote a healthy and positive quality of life
Plan for the future
*2. City’s Vision - What should the City be in the future?
Please rank the following from 1 to 3, with 1 being most important and 3 being least important.
Become South Florida’s premier city for high-quality living
Become a destination for recreation and tourism
Become a center for higher education (e.g., colleges, universities, art and design schools, trade schools, technology institutes)
*3. City’s Values - When working with or encountering city staff, what is most important to you?
Please rank the following from 1 to 3, with 1 being the most important and 3 being the least important.
Integrity
Professionalism
Innovative problem solving
*4. Current City Services - How are we doing?
Questions 4 and 5 refer to services the City of Hollywood provides (e.g., water and sewer service, garbage and recycling, building permits, code enforcement, utility billing and payment, Police, Fire Rescue, Beach Safety, City Parks).
How satisfied are you with the quality of City services provided to you? Please mark one box.
Very Dissatisfied
Dissatisfied
Neutral
Satisfied
Very Satisfied
5. Current City Services: How can we do better?
If you are dissatisfied, please tell us what service(s) you are referring to and why.
*6. Would you recommend that a friend or relative live in Hollywood?
On a scale of 0-10, with 0 being "Not at all likely" and 10 being "very likely," how likely are you to recommend living in the City of Hollywood to a friend or relative? Please mark one box.
1 - Not Likely at all
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 - Very Likely
*7. Are you a resident of the City of Hollywood?
Yes
No
*8. Is your job located within the City of Hollywood?
Yes
No
9. Do you own/operate a business within the City of Hollywood?
Yes
No
*10. Are you an employee of the City of Hollywood?
Yes
No
As you ponder these questions being asked by the city, here are some other Hollywood (and SE Broward-related) things to be thinking about while you think of your own questions to ask tonight.
None of them come under rubric "strategic," but they are kind of curious in my opinion and that of oters who are familiar with them.
A.) Are Hollywood-area schools going to be fully prepared later this month when the school year starts to meet the new security standards now in place for Florida schools, which the Broward School Board and Supt. Robert Runcie opposed?
Will that also be the case at South Broward High School, where Patricia Brown will be taking over as their new principal?
B.) In retrospect, is the current city-owned golf shooting range on S. Park Road adjacent to the City of Hollywood Police Dept. HQ really the best long-term site for the new Police Station headquarters that'll eventually be built with General Obligation bond money approved by Hollywood voters last November?
Is there a better location available now or perhaps in the near-future which could be made available if the city were to entertain the idea of a land swap with a current land-owner?
Perhaps something that would allow future expansion of the planned new HQ in the future, either as an addition to the proposed structure or immediately adjacent to it?
I mentioned this last year here on the blog because I was really struck by the lack of imagination
at City Hall given how important the physical location of the Police Dept HQ is, given what is said to be the sorry physical state of the current building on Hollywood Blvd. on prime commercial real estate that could be generating lots of much-needed tax revenue for the city instead of producing... nothing.
I heard no real honest discussion on this issue -much of it taking place when I was out-of-town for several months before returning in mid-April- and I still feel that the decision is moving forward only because the city already owns the land, and NOT because the case has been successfully made that the proposed site is actually the best one or even among the top five possible sites for the Hollywood of 10, 15 and 25 years from now.
C.) Hollywood Beach Golf Course - Gosh, where to even start on this?
First, why was there zero public engagement via a public meeting in a centrally located facility, whether the City Hall chambers, or the David or Lippman Community Center in the many months since last November's GO Bond vote was approved that'd allow Hollywood-area golfers to meet and discuss with city officials what sorts of changes, improvements or transformations that they -the actual users and consumers of what's being proposed- would like to see at the city-owned Hollywood Beach Golf Course?
I attended the city's multi-hour long Evaluation Committee meeting in June and was NOT at all
happy with much of what I heard in the way of both questions or lack of logical follow-up from respondents that was non-responsive or inadequate.
I have REAL concerns about the Eval Comm.'s reasoning in ranking since extraneous things like using the course for water storage in flooding situations seemed MUCH MORE important to the Eval Comm. than whether local golfers actually would ENJOY a fun, challenging golf course that they'd pay for and return to play again and again.
To actually make it fun and attractive and make money
Which, of course, is THE POINT of fixing the golf course!
Judging by some of the very dumb questions I heard asked, I don't think anyone on the Eval Comm.
even plays golf.
It reminded me of the maxim that a camel is a horse designed by a committee.
I was THE only citizen present in the Commission Chambers for all the presentations and dsat near the front on the right side while the varius teams of presenters all sat on the eft side where city employees usually sit at City Commission meetings.
Mayor Josh Levy came in for a few minutes during one presentation, but sat in the back row and I didn't speak with him about my growing concerns while he was present, nor have I contacted him about it, though I've been meaning to.
(Perhaps over a bagel/sandwich and some coffee at The Panera Bread located on Sheridan Street and 49th Street, which has become my new go-to place on weekends, and which is much nicer, saner and quieter than the one in Hallandale Beach that so many of you associated me with the past 15 years. Which I appreciated this past Sunday when I was marooned there during one of the many multi-hour long downpours we've experienced the past two weeks. But I got in lots of quality writing time, so...)
By the way, for what it's worth, the Matthew Dusenberry group's presentation was the finest oral presentation I've ever seen on any subject or issue at Hollywood City Hall, even beating the Zyscovich Architect group's plan many years ago back when they were bidding to do the city's Master Plan.
A contract they received in large part because of Bernard Zyscovich.
And yet in my opinion, Dusenberry's was better and yet they were ranked third.
Think about that.
This process explains my current sense of incredulity, since Dusenberry was rated first by a large margin over the second and third-ranked firms after the first round of voting based on their written proposals, yet after all the presentations, Dusenberry Design, was rated #3, with first going to the McCumber Group, which I liked but thought came in second place.
If there had been a public meeting where all the members of the committee who judge and rank the responses had been required to attend, I would have been a lot happier and found it easier to respect the results. But THESE particular results?
Nope.
I heard plenty of questions of respondents about various aspects of water retention/removal on the golf course, following heavy storms or localized flooding in the Hollywood Lakes area, which is not an insignificant concern, of course.
But to repeat this point, I heard precious little that took into account what the the new "experience" of playing the Hollywood Beach Golf Course would be.
Various firms talked in general terms about remaining true to the architect of the course's original intent or making slight changes in them, but the fact that I was the only member of the public who was in attendance over several hours should concern you if you had hoped that the golf course will be much-improved over what many think is its current sad, down-on-its-heel shape and vibe.
Hollywood always likes to talk about how it is in the middle of everything and near everything.
That's fine. But that also means that in a competitive marketplace, if the player experience at Hollywood Beach is not one that is either fun or challenging for golfers, why would they want to return in the future?
And if they decide that the new proposed changes aren't enough to persuade them, then what is the purpose of the city owning a golf course they lack both the imagination and capability of managing properly?
I was very, very discouraged with what I saw and heard, and after speaking to many of my friends in the city who DO play golf, given that there is an actual end-user and consumer for the facility, city and nearby golfers, the people whose actually pay to use the facility, why were their concerns and that of the golfing community seemingly at the bottom of the totem pole?
D.) Speaking of curious matters that defy credulity, how has the city resolved this situation from May with FDOT, one that directly threatens the future of a Hollywood business on State Road 441 that's existed since 1957?
If they have done something to fix this, I have heard nothing about it, including from the very people in this city who usually know and whom I have specifically asked.
Watch the news video at the URL below with reporter Jeff Weinsier of Local 10 News and you will be shaking your head in incredulity at how something like this happens and how yet again the city is caught flatfooted.
Never once do you hear anything about the city's Chamber of Commerce or members of the City Commission getting personally involved to try stick up for a longtime city business when dealing with FDOT esentially giving it a death sentence.
The business owner is, literally, on his own.
Hollywood Pizza Parlor Owner Fears Business Will Close Over Parking Spot Issue
A South Florida business that has survived for 62 years has hit a major roadblock, and there is some concern it may not be able to keep the doors open.
More Hollywood stories at https://www.local10.com/hollywood
See you tonight!
Dave
Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://
David B. Smith
Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog: http://www.
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