Showing posts with label Terry Cantrell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Terry Cantrell. Show all posts

Friday, October 1, 2021

October 2021 Update on some important #HollywoodFL stories about real estate development proposals, inc. The Related Group's 1301 S. Ocean Drive project. If fixing the Hollywood Beach Community Center was really so important to the Hollywood City Commission, why wasn't it listed on the 2019 GO Bond list?

October 2021 Update on some important #HollywoodFL stories about real estate development proposals, inc. The Related Group's 1301 S. Ocean Drive project. 

If fixing the Hollywood Beach Community Center was really so important to the Hollywood City Commission, why wasn't it listed on the 2019 GO Bond list?


Updates on some important #HollywoodFL stories about real estate development proposals, projects that are either going to appear to you to be:

a.) Common Knowledge to you,

b.) Something percolating below the surface that you've been hearing faint outlines of for a while, or,

c.) Comes as a complete surprise to you if you aren't already following me on my popular Twitter platform and my new-ish Facebook page.


I've been working on these for a bit and even felt the need to share some of them as emails rather than posting them here first and then sending out an email with a link. I may likely have even more news about some of these stories early next week if some people I've been talking to decide to finally share what they've hinted at to me via phone calls and emails.

Real facts, real news, not unsubstantiated rumors or hearsay.

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So, via my email of Wednesday September 15th, 2021


Sad reality of what Hollywood residents are up against as The Related Group gets help from
City Commissioners, yet refuses to have even one public, in-person mtg. abt a 3-story luxury 
condo on public land. 
AT the beach!

a.) Since there are so many comments being made about this Related Group project, a project that's incompatible to its location in ways both large and small, physical and symbolic, and which to me represents a very conscious public thumb to the eye of every reasonable Hollywood resident and stakeholder by Hollywood''s elected officials and top-tier bureaucracy, and since everyone is NOT able to see, know about, or even necessarily keep track of who said what, I've made these 3 screengrabs below, based on what's been said/written the past 24 or so hours, as of about 1:15 pm today.

My purpose in doing so is to make it easy for you to find or highlight a comment quickly that you 
agree or disagree with, and not have to keep scrolling through everything to find it.

b.) Over the past week, former Sun-Sentinel reporter Ihosvani "George" Rodriguez, now working 
for Memorial Regional Hospital, has dropped lots of interesting facts re Hollywood Commissioner Kevin Biederman's rather strange and peevish behavior, and in particular, Biederman's unconscionable 
and reprehensible lies about Cat Uden actually being a secret, paid lobbyist against the project.

Having worked at a relatively high level on several winning national political campaigns in lots of different places with very different political cultures, doing policy and coordinating advance work and logistics, plus having worked for 15 years in Washington, D.C. on Capitol Hill and K Street for some of the largest law firms and corporations in the country in a variety of policy roles, 
I have a very well-developed Sixth Sense about local elected officials and govt. functionaries.

Especially pols who liked to pat themselves on the back perhaps a little too often, in order to try to endear themselves to the press, candidate, me, or our staff, I'll leave to another time my thoughts regarding how often elected officials who are at pains to always describe themselves as self styled "truth-tellers," eventually fall from grace when they do say what they REALLY think.
Suffice to say that I believe Kevin Biederman shows all the hallmarks of having fallen into this rather sad and dubious category.

ICYMI: Another unsolicited bid is generating anger in a city NOT named Hollywood. 
But plenty of similarities with us here about the public being intentionally kept in the dark when a government wants to do something that they know is very unpopular with the public.

Miami Herald
Miami-Dade | Key Biscayne - 'Give this a chance': - Key Biscayne softens approach to Rickenbacker bid proposal
Samantha J. Gross; Staff Writer
September 5, 2021
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/key-biscayne/article253941053.html

ICYMI, my latest blog post is:
What is the empirical data from Memorial Regional Hospital that the City of Hollywood is relying upon to re-open, and no longer be the only city of 58 in South Florida whose City Hall is closed to the public?

I encourage you to read that when you can, because right now, there is no objective criteria publicly delineated by Hollywood City Manager Ishmael on what parameters must be met for Hollywood City Hall to be reopened to the public again.
And yes, you read that right - Hollywood is the only city in South Florida whose City Hall is closed as of today. Why? 
We are either not getting the truth or we are being taken advantage of by the City Manager's office and the folks at Memorial Regional Hospital Hollywood.
I'll have some more news to share about this story next week, via some public records requests I've made to find out who said what and when to whom -and why.

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September 15th, 2021




flipflops365

Demonstration to oppose a 30 story condominium tower on our public land at #HollywoodBeach. This public land has deed restrictions for "open space, park, recreation, and public purpose." The land was given to the city to decrease density. This condo (99 year lease) would be 347 feet tall and 188 units. @joshlevymayorofhollywoodfl says that they can ignore height/density restrictions because it's public land.
The city has not even given the public one in-person meeting about the condo. They won’t even tell the public that they have the ability to oppose. All of the emails have been misleading, as if it’s a done deal. Commissioner Shuham CShuham@hollywoodfl.org asked that the city manager look into other ways to fund a remodel of the community center. Has he? (You can email the city manager Wazir Ishmael about this). Wishmael@hollywoodfl.org
.
If you live, work, vacation in, or visit Hollywood: Sign the petition at Change.org/WeLoveHollywoodBeach 😎 You’ll receive an alert about the next event.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CT2Ia0krycq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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I received this email on Saturday September 25th, 2021


Subject: A Message From The President of The Hollywood Council of Civic Associations  


Mayor and Commissioners,

The Hollywood Council of Civic Associations (HCCA) agrees with District 1 Commissioner Shuham and opposes this P3 project at 1301 S. Ocean Drive. We join all the other organizations such as the Hollywood Beach Civic Assn, the Hollywood Lakes Civic Assn, the Hollywood Hills Civic Assn. the Summit Towers Condo Assn, The North Hollywood Beach Civic Assn, the Hollywood Historical Society, the Friends of Hollywood, North Central Civic Assn, the Sierra Club and scores of individual residents and taxpayers who also agree with Commissioner Shuham. The reasons for this opposition have been well stated. To burden the taxpayers with a 99 lease with a private condo association that clearly violates the intent of a 45 year old deed restriction especially when there are potentially other funding sources for the community center replacement does not make good sense to anybody but the developer.

We feel that it is your duty as elected officials to adhere to the wishes and desires of the residents that elected you to office and move on from this bad project.

TERRY CANTRELL
President - HCCA



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I received this email today

From: Friends of Hollywood Florida Inc. <friendsofhollywoodfl@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Oct 1, 2021 at 1:32 PM
Subject: Why Wasn't This On The GO Bond?


Beach Azalea













Dear Mayor & Commissioners,

The Hollywood Beach Coalition and its members have been following as
many presentations and meetings as possible on this project.
We have been listening to all the voices, the developer, city staff,
comments from the commission, comments from the residents of Hollywood
and the community at large.

We are of the opinion and have concluded that this project is not in the
best interest of Hollywood or its residents and we are opposed to it.

We share many of the same concerns and join all the other organizations
and scores of other individual residents and taxpayers that you already
have heard from, in opposing this project, as presented.

Below are some of the points that have been brought to the Hollywood
Beach Coalitions attention and why we are against this P3 project:

We do not believe that the height of this project conforms to the
surrounding area and certainly is against the “bookend” plan that city
staff has previous put forth for beach building heights in the CRA
district. This project will dwarf surrounding buildings.

We believe the city did not do their due diligence when they did not get
an appraisal for the property particularly in light of the fact that
other assemblages of property on the barrier island are for much greater
prices than what is being offered by this project, in our opinion.

There is concern about a 99 year lease and the possible renewal of
another 99 year lease term at its end. Clearly, this would be a sale and
not a lease.
Who would evict the condo owners if the lease was not paid? Who would
pay to demolish the building and return the property to as is condition,
at the end of the lease?
Would the city really evict 190 condo owners for nonpayment of the lease
payments?

Parking for the beach community center would be problematic for the many
older or disabled residents that continually use this facility and they
would have to compete to get a parking space with the proposed condo
residents, beach users and those that would use the proposed restaurant
and community center.
Look at what happened at Margaritaville where the hotel has taken over
the public parking spaces.

The issue of how the developer would transfer title to the condo
association is still unresolved as the P3 state statute does not appear
to address or allow this type of transfer or assignment.
A comprehensive agreement would not be able to supersede the state statute.
This question remains unanswered.

We believe the original deed transfer is quite clear to its purpose and
we do not see how a condo project built on this land qualifies as a
public purpose, as it will be closed to the public and we do not see how
it comports to the P3 statute with an ensuing transfer of ownership from
the developer to a condo association.

We also heard that there were known defects of the beach community
center since 2018 which were not divulged to the public and monies were
not put on the GO Bond to maintain and update this beach community center.
These defects are now being used as an excuse and driving force about
getting a new beach community center.
This is very problematic to the community at large.
Either pass a new GO Bond, take savings from the GO Bond, have the Beach
CRA pay to renovate, remodel or build a new community center or look for
other financing methods.

There were no Beach CRA projects on the GO Bond list and this is
certainly something that should have qualified.

This is some of the last beachfront property that the city owns.

This is prime beachfront property that Hollywood should keep and utilize
for the enjoyment and use of future generations of Hollywood residents
and taxpayers.
Once gone, it cannot be replaced.

We hope that you will move on from this project as presented, as it
seems most of your electorate is in agreement that this is not a project
for Hollywood.
If you doubt this statement, please put it out for vote to the community
at large.

Thank you,

Bob Glickman
On Behalf of the Hollywood Beach Coalition

Dave 

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Monday, June 29, 2020

Hollywood residents deserve better than this completely inadequate effort at public engagement on big spending issues, via Hollywood General Obligation Bond Advisory Committee

Below is the letter I sent earlier this afternoon to Armando Linares, the staff liaison to the 15-member City of Hollywood General Obligation Bond Advisory Committee, which includes more than a few friends and acquaintances of mine, and whose first few meetings I attended in-person at Hollywood City Hall, as I've written previously in this space.

 The other important agenda item that I reference below on Wednesday's Hollywood City Commission meeting is the Time Certain item at 1:30 p.m. affecting recreational activities on Hollywood beach which my friend Catherine Uden has been spearheading. https://www.instagram.com/p/CBjlsLgHTv9/

 More about that tomorrow, Tuesday.

-----------------------
June 29th, 2020
2:00 p.m.

 Dear Mr. Linares:

 I'm writing to you today in your capacity as the staff liaison to the Hollywood GO Bond Advisory Committee, which meets tonight at 6 p.m.

 Due to COVID19, the last public meeting of this group was conducted using Webex, and the appropriate access information about that meeting was included on the city's website prior to the meeting so that any interested Hollywood citizen, including Hollywood civic activists like myself and many of my friends, could properly access the meeting, and see/hear for ourselves the interplay of the members about an important subject of community interest.

 But last week, and then again on Saturday afternoon, I specifically went to Hollywood City Hall to personally look at the temporary Sunshine Board at the south main public entrance. My purpose in doing so was to see if the official announcements about tonight's meeting had been changed so they would, in fact, provide the necessary public access information that was NOT included previously on the temporary Sunshine Board or at the city's website.

 Here's why, in my opinion, that failure to include that information is both ironic AND problematic.

 Tonight's meeting is supposed to include information about the proposed new Hollywood Police HQ, which, as it happens, will also be on the agenda at the City Commission's Thursday Workshop.
A Workshop that comes the day after the City Commission meeting contemplates not just an important POSITIVE change regarding recreational activities at the beach, but also an agenda item, #27, the Public Participation Ordinance that I strongly support. 
This item also has the support -see below- of my friend, Terry Cantrell, the elected head of the Hollywood Lakes Civic Association, the Hollywood Council of Civic Associations, AND, as you know well, the elected head of the GO Bonds Advisory Board itself.

 Mr. Linares, leaving aside the fact that I and many other concerned Hollywood citizens believe that not one foot of earth should be touched regarding the establishment of a new Hollywood Police Dept. HQ until AFTER the Hollywood Police Department is equipped with reliable body cameras, on every officer that is in the public realm, I think you can well appreciate how badly it looks if a public meeting of the GO Bonds Advisory Board is held tonight without the public being able to access the meeting, simply because the current pandemic prevents the Board as well as the general public from appearing in-person tonight at Hollywood City Hall.

 I think you can also appreciate why I believe that in view of the Public Participation Ordinance, in the future, the GO Bonds Advisory Board agenda needs to include a line marked "Public Comments," since I can tell you from attending most of the previous in-person meetings, the printed  agendas did NOT include that line.

 If you are now aware of information that will allow me and/or other members of the Hollywood public to access tonight's meeting -rapidly approaching- please respond as soon as you are able so that I can relay word of this to them so they can see what happens next.

2:55 p.m.
Mr.  Linares, I now see that three-and-a-half hours before tonight's 6 p. m. meeting, at 2:30 p.m., someone at Hollywood City Hall has FINALLY noticed the problem I've written about, and sent an email out about tonight's meeting with the appropriate access information. 

Information that should have been publicly posted... LAST WEEK. 
Wow! 

That 'whatever' attitude towards the public here is a very troubling sign and one that I suspect will not go down well at Wednesday's City Commission meeting.

 Sincerely,

 David B. Smith
Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog

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Those of you interested in catching the meeting tonight -expected to go up until 7:30 p.m. or so- can hear what's what via the following URL, event number and password: 

https://hollywoodfl-events.webex.com/hollywoodfl-events/onstage/g.php?MTID=e2c89553c387f5401479f600592a9aa5e 

Event # - 132 922 8842Password: DCM2207629

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 Mayor and Commission,

 On behalf of the Hollywood Council of Civic Assn and all concerned residents of the City, I would like to thank you in advance for approving Item #27, PO-2020-09, the Public Participation Ordinance. This much needed legislation will, once and for all, eliminate a major problem for residents and civic associations. That is, lack of knowledge or information about redevelopment projects in our neighborhoods. With the City embarking on major redevelopment, especially in the recently created Regional Activity Center (RAC,) the requirement for developers and applicants to reach out to the neighborhoods is desperately needed. This ordinance codifies this process.

 In the present environment of the virus crisis, this ordinance can still function despite our civic groups inability to hold public meetings at City facilities. The process of notification can be simply accomplished via email or Dropbox distributions from the applicant as well as phone and/or Zoom meetings. The applicant can confirm this outreach prior to the application processing in a way suitable to City Staff.

 Never again will a civic or neighbor group stand before you or your planning boards and say "We never knew about this project." Thank you!

 TERRY CANTRELL
President - Hollywood Council of Civic Assns.

 Dave 
David B. Smith 

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Monday, May 6, 2019

The West Lake Park Radio Tower issue is rubbing #HollywoodFL residents the wrong way, esp. people who don't see 325-foot tall radio antennas, even for 911 services, being compatible for a nature park. Especially when there's a better answer available. @SAVEWESTLAKE

The West Lake Park Radio Tower issue is rubbing #HollywoodFL residents the wrong way, esp. people who don't see 325-foot tall radio antennas, even for 911 services, being compatible for a  nature park. Especially when there's a better answer available. @SAVEWESTLAKE

 Updated Tuesday May 7th, 2019






Lakes Residents, The HLCA Board of Directors supports the Circ Hotel rooftop as the best place for the County's radio communications antennas. Many thanks to the residents of West Lake Village for all their hard work on this issue. Also many thanks to all concerned residents who came out to support West Lake Park at the Rally on Saturday. Broward County is proposing to install eight 325' towers throughout Broward to have a countywide emergency 911 system for first-responders. They plan to install two towers in Hollywood, one in East Hollywood and one West Hollywood. The East Hollywood site they proposed is in West Lake Park. The City of Hollywood asked Broward County to look at the rooftop of the Circ Hotel as an alternative to building a tower in the park, as they are currently utilizing rooftops at Point of the Americas and Playa Del Sol condo buildings. The County commissioners voted to have a feasibility study done on the Circ Hotel. The feasibility study was completed and the City's experts say the study is positive for the Circ rooftop, but it is biased towards a tower in the park. Any challenges cited in the report are either standard procedure for rooftop installations or estimates and assumptions without detail. The City had an engineering study completed as well and the engineer stated that the County's report takes an extreme position in terms of costs and coverage. Further he stated that the Circ can be done without extensive modifications to the building, at lower costs than the County report estimated and without loss of coverage. On April 16th, the Broward Commission voted to move forward with West Lake Park based on the results of the County's feasibility study. Comm Furr and Comm Ryan, both wanted confirmation that the County was working simultaneously with the Circ in the event there is a problem with the park, which the County administrator Bertha Henry said they would. They also approved voting on removing the current restrictive covenant currently protecting the park to a
A post shared by SAVE WEST LAKE PARK (@savewestlake) on

https://www.instagram.com/savewestlake/

Just wanted to share some news about an important Hollywood Lakes area story that has been percolating just below the surface for quite some time and only gotten the right amount of attention and analysis at what seems to me to be odd times. 
At the last minute. Not unlike how it came up in the first place.

Many of the most trusted people I know in Hollywood wonder why it's come to this, and why this issue could not have been handled in a more transparent and professional manner by Broward County. But it was not.
So that's why Tuesday morning's proceedings are key.

 Here's some of the backstory...

 First, this is the website for the Broward County park involved in the controversy, West Lake Park in Hollywood, at 1200 Sheridan Road, not in West Park, the city west of Hallandale Beach, as some South Florida media have erroneously been reporting. 
http://www.broward.org/Parks/Pages/Park.aspx?=44

Background info from Broward County's website, agenda item #62:
http://cragenda.broward.org/agenda_publish.cfm?id=&mt=ALL&get_month=5&get_year=2019&dsp=ag&seq=586

Local 10 News
Parker Branton, Reporter
Protesters rally against county's plan to build radio tower in park
Posted: 11:54 AM, May 04, 2019
https://www.local10.com/video/protesters-rally-against-county-s-plan-to-build-radio-tower-in-park








Local 10 News
Commissioners favor building radio tower in West Lake Park
Residents worry structure will be an eyesore
By Saira Anwer - Reporter, Tim Swift - Local10.com Digital Editor
Posted: 5:39 PM, April 16, 2019Updated: 6:27 PM, April 16, 2019
https://www.local10.com/news/florida/broward/commissioners-favor-building-radio-tower-in-west-lake-park




South Florida Sun Sentinel
Broward reverses course and looks to put radio tower in Hollywood park
Larry Barszewski, Reporter, South Florida Sun Sentinel
April 10, 2019

There are plenty of crossed fingers in Broward County hoping another major police incident doesn’t occur before a new public safety radio system starts operating. But time is slipping away as the county struggles to nail down the final details.

Commissioners have been criticized for not moving faster to replace the county’s old and overloaded system — a system that was crippled during the Fort Lauderdale airport shooting in 2017 and the Parkland school shooting last year.

The new system would help police and firefighters responding to 911 calls, improving their ability to transmit and receive messages anywhere in the county, including in schools, condominiums and hospitals. It will also be able to handle more traffic, so police at a major crime scene aren’t having to resort to using hand signals to communicate or aren’t able to get an open line to dispatchers.

The most recent stumbling block the county has faced is where to put a Hollywood antenna needed for the system. The city wants the antenna placed on top of the Circ downtown apartment high rise, where it will be less conspicuous than erecting a 325-foot tower in West Lake Park.

Read the rest of the story at:
Local 10 News
HOLLYWOOD
BSO radio tower delayed again after concerns from Hollywood residents
Equipment needed to improve Sheriff's Office's communications system
By Tim Swift, Terrell Forney - Reporter
Posted: 5:15 PM, January 29, 2019Updated: 7:05 PM, January 29, 2019
https://www.local10.com/news/florida/hollywood/bso-radio-tower-delayed-again-after-concerns-from-hollywood-residents

 The following email was sent out this morning by Hollywood Lakes Civic Association President Terry Cantrell, who has given me permission to share it here on the blog to get the word out about Tuesday's important meeting.

 Also, if you are interested in more information, the URL for the Twitter handle @SAVEWESTLAKE is at https://twitter.com/SAVEWESTLAKE

Lakes logo new
  
Lakes Residents,
  
The HLCA Board of Directors supports the Circ Hotel rooftop as the best place for the County's radio communications antennas. Many thanks to the residents of West Lake Village for all their hard work on this issue. Also many thanks to all concerned residents who came out to support West LakePark at the Rally on Saturday.

Broward County is proposing to install eight 325' towers throughout Broward to have a countywide emergency 911 system for first-responders. They plan to install two towers in Hollywood, one in East Hollywood and one West Hollywood. The East Hollywood site they proposed is in West Lake Park. 
The City of Hollywood asked Broward County to look at the rooftop of the Circ Hotel as an alternative to building a tower in the park, as they are currently utilizing rooftops at Point of the Americas and Playa Del Sol condo buildings. The County commissioners voted to have a feasibility study done on the Circ Hotel. 

The feasibility study was completed and the City's experts say the study is positive for the Circ rooftop, but it is biased towards a tower in the park. Any challenges cited in the report are either standard procedure for rooftop installations or estimates and assumptions without detail. The City had an engineering study completed as well and the engineer stated that the County's report takes an extreme position in terms of costs and coverage. Further he stated that the Circ can be done without extensive modifications to the building, at lower costs than the County report estimated and without loss of coverage.

On April 16th, the Broward Commission voted to move forward with West Lake Park based on the results of the County's feasibility study. Comm Furr and Comm Ryan, both wanted confirmation that the County was working simultaneously with the Circ in the event there is a problem with the park, which the County administrator Bertha Henry said they would.  They also approved voting on removing the current restrictive covenant currently protecting the park to allow for the tower to be built. That vote will take place:

Tuesday, May 7, 2019, at 10 AM.

At the County Hall Chambers

4th Floor, Government Center
115 South Andrews Ave
Ft Lauderdale, FL 33301

Please come on 5/7/19 and make your voice heard. You will need to fill out a card to speak upon arrival. Parking is available in a metered lot to the north and corner of SW 1st Avenue and Broward Boulevard, or within the parking garage located west of the SW 1st Avenue on SW 2nd Street, by the railroad tracks. They do validate parking for the garage by the railroad tracks and it is free.

The City of Hollywood has been very supportive as well as a couple of the county commissioners, such as Comm Beam Furr and Comm Tim Ryan.  If you would like to write to the Broward County Commissioners to tell them to please move forward with the Circ Hotel and not to remove the covenant on the park, you can use the following email addresses:


We must show Broward County Commissioners that we do NOT want the 325 foot Tower in our Park. We DO NOT want them to remove the protections that now exist.

Tell them to Park it on the Roof of the Circ Now , before they vote on May 7!!!!
HLCA
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