Did the Pandemic Change How You Feel re #HollywoodFL? Yes. Hollywood residents and stakeholders no longer see the city as "special" and they personally blame the Mayor, City Commission, City Manager, and City Attorney for abusing their trust and sending the city in the wrong direction

Did the Pandemic Change How You Feel re #HollywoodFL? Yes. Hollywood residents and stakeholders no longer see the city as "special" and they personally blame the Mayor, City Commission, City Manager, and City Attorney for abusing their trust and sending the city in the wrong direction

This post today is the Reader's Digest version of what dozens and dozens of well-informed people from every part of Hollywood have been telling me and my friend and fellow civic activist, Catherine "Cat" Uden in detail for well over a year: they believe that the city has gone completely in the wrong direction, and that self-evident fact has led increasingly larger number of Hollywood citizens, residents and stakeholders to get more angry and feel bitter at Hollywood City Hall than they ever imagined they could. 

That's especially true for Hollywood's most involved residents who follow every move the city makes publicly, and who, in the past, had always thought of these elected officials as simply friends and neighbors in a position to positively influence the future direction of this city.

Now that's NOT anger at the City Hall building, obviously, but rather at the very people there who've been entrusted with running the city in the best and most transparent way possible, people like the City Commission's members, all of whom took an actual oath to follow, protect and defend the Florida constitution. But they aren't doing that. Far from it.

Based on our one-on-one conversations in-person, over the telephone, and in the many emotional and exasperated emails and texts Cat and I receive, a very clear majority of the city's best and most informed residents personally believe that the Mayor, the City Commission and several people in the City Manager and City Attorney's offices, have knowingly and deliberately lied to the public and abused their longstanding trust in small and subtle ways that has left them shaken, if not in despair for this city's future. 

Now, they no longer believe that "Hollywood is different."

There in no one I know and respect here in Hollywood who feels the city's elected officials and  top bureaucrats response during/after has been anywhere close to satisfactory. 

Even people who always disagree with each other AGREE on this!

More on this matter at length after the election. An election that has been without any organized in-person candidate debates or forums of any kind, which has only angered people more, because they wonder where the groups are that in the past were involved in hosting those very things at locations throughout the city, and especially in Downtown and over on Hollywood Beach.  

There are a lot of people in this city who have an awful lot to answer for.

https://twitter.com/UdenCatherine/status/1580530579807748097

https://twitter.com/UdenCatherine/status/1585436563634520064

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Read the whole thing in its original form: https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/1586756350184398850

2/ Instead, #HollywoodFL has INCREASED secrecy re PUBLIC info/facts/context, and is ACTIVELY avoiding normalcy, INSISTING on online mtgs. for important matters -inc. P3's- instead of returning to in-person engagement. ALL to avoid PUBLIC accountability!


3/ For 10 months, #LindaSherwood, a #Macon #GA-area woman has been VOTING as elected official in #HollywoodFL, city she's NOT been legal resident of since B4 roughly mid-January at latest, based on HER signed @FHAgov docs re primary residency.


4/ #HollywoodFL's City Mgr/City Atty/Mayor/City Comm. have engaged in a criminal conspiracy to keep #LindaSherwood on dais, meaning her one-time constituents are repped by a no-show #GA resident, yet gets salary/benefits fm taxpayers while violating #FL Constitution.

5/ Instead of #HollywoodFL citizens being fully represented @ City Hall by a person who legally LIVES in city where they do -as they are legally entitled to- they are, instead, "represented" by #GA resident who CONTINUALLY breaks multiple state/federal laws w/impunity.

6/ Why is this #SoFL town's City Mgr./City Atty./Mayor/City Comm. seemingly engaging in a criminal conspiracy -against their own city's citizens- to keep #LindaSherwood on dais @ #HollywoodFL City Hall, despite KNOWING she has/is breaking MULTIPLE #FL + U.S. laws?


7/ The answer, like so many criminal cases involving public corruption @ #SoFL City Halls is #RealEstate. These #HollywoodFL officials need to KEEP her YES vote to build a luxury condo tower -on public land!- for multimillionaires, 5x's higher than zoning allows.

8/ Say hi to #LindaSherwood, a Lizella, #GA resident for 10 months, yet STILL a voting member of #HollywoodFL City Comm. She LIVES 570 miles away -and city KNOWS it! I + public wonder when this charade ends and someone is ARRESTED.

Dave 

David B. Smith  

Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog: http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/ 

Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hbbtruth/ 

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Travel Massive: https://travelmassive.com/dbsmith 

Completely contrary to common sense, logic and Florida's Sunshine Laws, Hollywood city officials, including the city's soon-to-be-resigning Planning Director, Leslie Del Monte, allowed several representatives of The Related Group to speak today for 25 minutes at the city's PACO meeting re their very unpopular 1301 S. Ocean Dr. project

 

Updated Sept. 22, 2022 at 1:00 a.m.

A VERY reliable and well-informed person -and upset- called me late this afternoon to tell me that, completely contrary to Florida's Sunshine Laws, Hollywood city officials, including the city's soon-to-be-resigning Planning Director, Leslie Del Monte, allowed several representatives of The Related Group to speak this afternoon for 25 minutes at the city's PACO meeting re their very unpopular 1301 S. Ocean Dr. project.

A project that continues going forward despite a lack of support among the community AND The Related Group NOT having the REQUIRED community meeting with the public as the city's own rules mandate.

It's the city's own requirement, NOT a suggestion.

And again, what happened today took place despite 1301 NOT being listed by the city as an agenda item on the city's website or any printed agenda.

I'm also told that it was a VERY, VERY chummy 25 minutes, too, like a bunch of old friends just talking about things amongst themselves like they always do when nobody outside their small inner circle knowing anything about it.

I'm further informed by this same trusted source that several City of Hollywood Commissioners were/are blindsided by this news, and had no idea that The Related Group was going to be allowed -encouraged?- to participate at the meeting by city officials

WITHOUT any public awareness or ability by the public to engage or protest what was taking place.

Yes, more than ever, as I've said before, "Special rules for special people" should be the City of Hollywood's official slogan.

By the way, WHERE exactly are the links to any 2022 PACO meetings on the city's own 

website? http://fl-hollywood.civicplus.com/Archive.aspx?AMID=105

Zip. Nada. Nothing. Goose Egg.

No PACO meetings have been posted on the city's website since February of 2021.

Don't kid yourself, things like this do NOT all happen by accident!

FYI, I tweeted about this around 5:15 pm on my way back to Hollywood.

If you aren't currently Following me on my Twitter feed or regularly visiting my blog on your own every few days, you might want to strongly consider doing both going forward so you have a better context for understanding just what is taking place right in front of all of us at Hollywood City Hall.

Not by accident, but, rather as part of someone's plan.

https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/1572023343460585472

https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/1572821337256730624

Dave 

David B. Smith  

Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog: http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/ 

Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hbbtruth/ 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DavidSmith0215

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/david-bruce-smith-b945b376/

Travel Massive: https://travelmassive.com/dbsmith 

City of Hollywood Commissioner Linda Sherwood has CONSCIOUSLY and DELIBERATELY cast a vote in a city + state that she no longer lives in. Period. Investigate/prosecute HER + City officials engaged in a coverup to get deal done! 🤨😠

City of Hollywood Commissioner Linda Sherwood has CONSCIOUSLY and DELIBERATELY cast a vote in a city + state that she no longer lives in. Period.

Investigate/prosecute HER + City officials engaged in a coverup to get deal done!

Now we all have a much better understanding of why, in 2 long years, the #HollywoodFL 

Mayor, City Comm. and City Mgr. -and their staff that acts like Related publicists- has NEVER once publicly said why they've refused to force them to follow the city's OWN rules that require them to meet the public in-person.

More about this in my next post, which will have LOTS of QUESTIONS about ethics and professionalism that local newspapers and TV stations are completely failing to ask the responsible officials and pin them down so that the public knows who knew what when...

Dave

David B. Smith  

Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog: http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/ 

Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hbbtruth/ 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DavidSmith0215

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/david-bruce-smith-b945b376/

Travel Massive: https://travelmassive.com/dbsmith

Temporary placeholder for The Related Group's preposterous plan to ruin Hollywood Beach forever in exchange for a few dollars that won't actually lower anyone's taxes, contrary to Related's simple-minded assertions

I'm still working on my account of what took place all day Wednesday at Hollywood City Hall.

Both in front of the cameras and the public as well as online and below-the-radar regarding The Related Group's preposterous effort to build an incompatible 26-story luxury condo tower for multi-millionaires on PUBLIC LAND on #HollywoodBeach, so I'm leaving this collection of my Wednesday morning, afternoon and evening tweets here as a placeholder, to let you know that I'll have something here on Friday that will be full of facts, insight and ideas you can't find anywhere else in South Florida.

The lack of media attention this issue generated on local Miami TV stations in terms of LIVE reports from the scene or on 11 pm newscasts, and the general sense of incuriosity at The Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, is just a sign of what has happened to any pretense that this was a major media market for serious news coverage. It isn't any longer, and hasn't been true for at least 15 years.

Too many local reporters in South Florida seem to aspire to be well-paid publicists for large companies, and deal with life at an arms-length. The sooner many of them resign or retire from "journalism" the better off everyone here will be.

I should have something up here on the blog and on my Facebook page Saturday by Noon.

South Florida Business Journal
Related Group returns to Hollywood with smaller proposal for oceanfront condo
By Brian Bandell  –  Senior Reporter, South Florida Business Journal

March 16, 2022

The Related Group will make another attempt at winning approval to build a condo on a public beach site in Hollywood, but the terms of the deal and size of the project have been revised.

The City Commission declined to move the project forward Feb. 3 during a long hearing featuring hours of public comments mostly against the project. On March 16, the City Commission will vote on the 99-year lease and development deal with revised terms. Four of the five commissioners must agree.

Read the rest of the article at:

https://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2022/03/15/related-revises-plan-for-hollywood-oceanfront.html

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South Florida Sun Sentinel
Editorial
Reject Hollywood high-rise condos, once and for all
March 16, 2022

Hollywood City Commissioner Caryl Shuham told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board that public comments continue to run roughly 10 to 1 against a proposed deal for a private high-rise condominium complex on the city's public beachfront.

That's no surprise.

Six weeks ago, the commission nearly killed the deal at 3 a.m. after 10 hours of discussion. But enough commissioners gave Related Group of Florida and the city another chance to make the agreement work better for the city.

It still doesn't work well enough.


Read the rest of the editorial at:

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/editorials/fl-op-edit-related-hollywood-condo-project-20220315-qizwwmz72veozhfdzgnup5klse-story.html

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https://www.change.org/p/hollywood-city-commission-hollywood-residents-opposed-to-high-rise-on-public-land-at-azalea-terrace

Reality is starting to sink-in for The Related Group. #HollywoodFL residents and stakeholders really DO hate their absurd plan to build a 30-story luxury condo tower for multi-millionaires on PUBLIC land at Hollywood Beach. An energized public is prepared to make life miserable for any Hollywood elected official or city employee who tries to change the ambiance of that quiet, natural area of the beach.

October 19, 2021 photo of Hollywood Beach via Catherine "Cat" Uden https://www.instagram.com/p/CVOYElvvMLa/

In a few moments, you'll have the chance to read for yourself the 4 complete media accounts of what took place at last Wednesday's Hollywood City Commission regarding The Related Group's ridiculous plan, and some things for all of us to remember in advance of the next meeting on this subject, on Wednesday March 16th, the day before St. Patrick's Day.

That'll necessarily include many smart, dumb, inarticulate, curious and incurious comments from our local elected officials, including two truly great "money" quotes, which make it seem like at least some of them were living in two completely separate worlds, no?

 

In one world, a cold-hearted look at the facts-on-the-ground where logic meets reason, the other, a kind of fantasy story that depends upon unicorns, dragons and a collective sense of amnesia among the citizens of this community, wherein, for the benefit of the developer, we all forget everything we have personally seen and witnessed first-hand with real estate development on Hollywood Beach the past 15-20 years.

"Do we sell our soul for just money?" Shuham asked. "Once we sign it, we're stuck. We don't get to walk away from this. This contract is not a good deal."

Commissioner Traci Callari, stating she had planned to vote yes on the deal, blasted Shuham for making the city "look like a fool" by airing her concerns at the 11th hour, in public.

Hmmm.. could it be because Comm. Shuham could NOT legally talk about it with her or any other commissioners if Shuham wanted to stay on the right side of Florida's  Sunshine Laws, so often ignored in South Florida city halls, and a subject that I've written about dozens of times over the past 14 years here on my blog, Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog?

Yes. Something that Callari should know something about given that she was recently the President of the Broward League of Cities, the Broward politico lobbying group that over the years has received hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars from Broward citizens to employ attorneys and consultants to further their power grab in Tallahassee and continue to put citizens, taxpayers and Small Business owners at a further disadvantage, while trying to carve out more power and privileges for politicos.

I also wanted to single out those of you who have been telling me for years that I made a real mistake a few years ago when I decided to be more open-minded to what Comm. Callari said, and that I would judge her in the future by her words AND actions, and not just her often hostile or antagonistic attitude towards citizens or common sense or both.

You all are looking more and more correct right now, given what Comm. Callari said in front of everyone at the public meeting.

There's really no need to impugn her, since all we have to do is take her at her word that she REALLY believes the nonsense she spouted last Wednesday.

Yes, my days of giving her the benefit of the doubt are.. Gone With The Wind.

And for the record, Comm. Callari caring whether the Hollywood City Commission looked "like fools" at that meeting is hardly a reasonable measurement barometer on this specific issue, given the fact that neither Mayor Josh Levy or Commissioner Callari or any of the other 5 members of the City Commission ever did the right thing over 19 very long months, and publicly chide The Related Group and their execs for Related's repeated, abject failure to meet with the community at an in-person meeting as required by the city's very own rules.

That's a very low bar to surpass, and yet...

Yes, a public meeting where the actual neighbors of such a prospective building could speak, much less, the rest of the Hollywood community -and the South Florida news media- that genuinely loves that quiet and natural ambiance, and who'll fight to ensure it stays that way, could look Related Group execs, attorneys, architect, and transportation consultants in the eye and ask them to defend what they claim, and then point out its many self-evident holes and flaws in logic. 

Though a plan so devoid of logic and common sense, and which fails to properly judge both public sentiment and human behavior, will not suddenly transform in one month.

Just because the Hollywood City Commission itself, collectively, was not showing proper diligence -or any curiosity!- in their thinking and judgment, and instead chose to act more like cheerleaders for the plan, via their softball questions publicly for two years -save Comm. Shuham- doesn't mean that we could not throw fastballs at a public in-person meeting when we got the chance to let them know that this deal was NOT a fait accompli.

Or, as I said in my last blog post before last Wednesday's meeting, here:

https://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2022/02/today-at-500-pm-hollywoodfl-residents.html

By the way, again, for the record, the Miami Herald has said nothing about this preposterous, incompatible Related Group plan since they first sent word of their unsolicited bid to City Hall 19 months ago, and the city, in their failed decision-making process, decided that it was both a love letter and a promi$$ory note.

Nor has the Herald EVER mentioned Caryl Shuham by name since the day after she was elected on Nov. 6th, 2018. Really.

I checked and then double-checked their archives before I posted this.

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Bisnow South Florida

Vote Delayed On Related Group's Controversial Condo Project

Deirdra Funcheon, Bisnow South Florida
February 3, 2022
 

At the end of a meeting that lasted from 5 p.m. Wednesday to 3 a.m. Thursday, city commissioners in Hollywood, Florida, delayed a vote on whether to allow Florida's most prominent condo developer to build a 30-story condominium on part of a taxpayer-owned, beachfront site that now includes a public park.

Commissioners are now scheduled to vote on March 16 whether to authorize city officials to execute a comprehensive agreement, a ground lease and easements between the city and PRH 1301 S Ocean Drive LLC, a subsidiary of The Related Group.

Read the rest of the article at:
https://www.bisnow.com/south-florida/news/commercial-real-estate/hollywood-florida-related-group-condo-111743

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South Florida Sun Sentinel
Hollywood delays vote on condo deal - Vice mayor skewers plan as too risky in marathon meeting
Susannah Bryan, South Florida Sun Sentinel
February 4, 2022

HOLLYWOOD - Go big or go home.

In the wee hours of Thursday morning, the folks who want a private 30-story condo built on a prized piece of taxpayer-owned beach in Hollywood went home without a deal.

But the proposal, skewered around the midnight hour by Vice Mayor Caryl Shuham, is not dead.

The commission agreed to resume discussions on March 16 to give city staff and The Related Group time to come up with a revised deal. The 5-2 vote came just before 3 a.m. Thursday, ending a marathon - and sometimes snippy - debate that began Wednesday afternoon.

The 10-hour meeting, compared by some to a filibuster, began with a two-hour presentation by city staff hyping the deal as a boon for Hollywood that could bring the city an estimated $1.4 billion over the course of a 99-year lease.

Read the rest of the article at:
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/hollywood/fl-ne-condo-tower-hollywood-beach-vote-20220203-iiikon4pkjb27a4u6swijk7fq4-story.html

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South Florida Sun Sentinel
Editorial
Hollywood puts off vote on condo on public land, but problems remain
February 4, 2022

Residents speak during a meeting at Hollywood City Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022 to vote on the building of a condo tower on a section of taxpayer-owned beachfront land. John McCall/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/TNS

Hollywood is trying to make better a deal that the city can’t make good.

We have 10 hours of new evidence. That’s how long it took Wednesday night and Thursday morning for the city commission to discuss and hear comments on the proposed lease of oceanfront property to Related Group of Florida.

The company would build a 190-unit, 30-story condo on roughly one acre of the four-acre site. In return, Related would pay for a new, upgraded Harry Berry Park, a larger community center, a plaza and a sculpture garden. Hollywood officials say the project also would bring the city money from rent and increased property tax revenue.

After that marathon debate, the commission voted 5-2 to continue the discussion on March 16. Given the level of opposition, we’re doubtful that the city and Related can refashion the deal enough to gain more support.

Read the rest of the editorial at:

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/editorials/fl-op-edit-hollywood-high-rise-beach-condo-20220203-an3wjb4b6bhbbcjipugz4d6rii-story.html

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South Florida Sun Sentinel
Editorial
Hollywood gets reality check on Related condo deal
By Randy Schultz
February 9, 2022

Caryl Shuham is not a prosecutor. But shortly before midnight last Wednesday, the Hollywood city commissioner delivered a forceful indictment.

For roughly 45 minutes, Shuham - a construction lawyer - picked apart the proposed deal under which Related Group of Florida would build a 30-story condo on a public oceanfront site in return for building a park and community center. Supporters call it a great example of public-private partnerships, known as P3s.

Such partnerships, however, must strike the proper balance between public and private. Shuham argued that the deal would have been very unfair to Hollywood. "It began on Related's terms" after the company approached the city, Shuham told me, and stayed there.

Shuham called the projected revenue to the city "speculative" because Related based it on inflated sales prices. The contract, she said, "guarantees nothing" to Hollywood. After Related sold the 190 units, the city would be dealing with a condo association. Nothing prevented the project from becoming rental.

Read the rest of the editorial at:
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/commentary/fl-op-col-schultz-hollywood-commissioner-beach-high-rise-related-20220208-w3p5mfkub5hoxfwf3qdaojl36e-story.html

Dave 

Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog: http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/ 

Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hbbtruth/ 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DavidSmith0215

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/david-bruce-smith-b945b376/

Travel Massive: https://travelmassive.com/dbsmith

Today at 5:00 pm, #HollywoodFL residents get the opportunity to criticize The Related Group's incompatible plan for a 30-story condo tower on PUBLIC land at the beach in front of Related's top execs and the Hollywood City Commission that's been trying to sell-out their own citizens the past two years

October 19th, 2021 @flipflops365 Instagram photo of Hollywood Beach, Florida by Catherine Uden, https://www.instagram.com/p/CVOYElvvMLa/

Today, after being postponed a few weeks, actual Hollywood taxpayers, residents and stakeholders are FINALLY going to be able to light a fire under Hollywood mayor Josh Levy, the other 6 members of the City Commission and City Manager Ismael and his highly-paid minions, all with the South Florida news media there to record the equivocating, melodrama, pointing of fingers and squirming in their seats for posterity.

Based upon all of the in-person conversations and emails and text messages that I have had with others about The Related Group, people are looking forward to seeing and publicly castigating the mayor and the city commission sleepwalk for months and shirk their moral duty to remind The Related Group of their legal obligation to meet with the community in-person

This view of #HollywoodBeach above, this ambiance, this restful peace and quiet, is what my friend Catherine "Cat" Uden -@flipflops365- and I and SO MANY others in #HollywoodFL are working so hard now to preserve and protect at Hollywood Beach, so that people in the future can enjoy it, too. 

As so many of you in Hollywood, #SouthFlorida, and the other parts of the #SunshineState and the rest of the globe on my contact list know, via my frequent fact-filled emails, HallandaleBeach/Hollywood Blog posts + tweets - @hbbtruth on both platforms- over the past two years, the most upsetting aspect of this effort by The Related Group -to build a 30-story luxury condo tower on PUBLIC land for multi-millionaires that is 7 TIMES what can legally be built there now- is NOT the sheer gall and audacity of Related trying to fundamentally change -forever- the most peaceful and natural part of Hollywood Beach, nor is it their belief that they and all their money and influence can get them their way without ever ONCE meeting the community in-person in the 19 months-plus since their unsolicited bid to the City of Hollywood.

No, the most upsetting part is the truly craven and cowardly performance of Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy, the other six members of the City Commission, and City Manager Ishmael, plus their continuing bad judgement and tin ears.
They, plus the City Mgr's highly-paid staff, who have actively run interference for Related the past two years, have rather consistently and intentionally misrepresented to the public and the South Florida news media both the history and reality of this plan. Frankly, the city's so-called Communications Dept. is now, from all appearances, not unlike a Propaganda Ministry.

Which is a large part of why their rather sad and pathetic online ads are so unsuccessful and unpersuasive.
People inherently know a con job when they see one.

In over 19 months, rather inconceivably for a city like Hollywood that imagines itself being very high-minded, neither the Mayor, City Comm. or City Mgr. has ever publicly chided Related for their abject failure to meet the citizenry of this city in-person to answer questions that are NOT softballs, unlike Commission's.


This wonderful photo, above, of the most natural and quiet part of #HollywoodBeach is the single best photograph that truly captures what she and I and so many other concerned Hollywood civic activists and residents are fighting to preserve. https://www.instagram.com/p/CVOYElvvMLa/

I strongly urge those of you reading this who want to become more familiar with the FACTS involved here to read Cat's informative, recent Instagram and Twitter posts at
https://www.instagram.com/flipflops365/ and
https://twitter.com/UdenCatherine/with_replies

Please consider joining the vocal opposition to The Related Group's incompatible plan: NoNewTower.com

And as Cat is always writing, Protect what you love ❤️

You can watch the Hollywood City Commission meeting here: 

https://www.hollywoodfl.org/146/Watch-Commission-Meetings

Dave 

David B. Smith  

Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog: http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/ 

Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/with_replies

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hbbtruth/ 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DavidSmith0215

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/david-bruce-smith-b945b376/

Travel Massive: https://travelmassive.com/dbsmith

re Hollywood's Kevin Biederman problem. The Hollywood City Commissioner's recent conduct has been nothing short of abominable. And yet he persists. Today, a small taste of reality and things to come for him and his colleagues

I posted this bit of carefully-considered insight a few minutes ago to my Facebook page as well as the Hollywood Residents Speak Up group page on Facebook, and post it below with just a few small edits.

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re Hollywood's Kevin Biederman problem. The Hollywood City Commissioner's recent conduct has been nothing short of abominable. And yet he persists.  

Today, a small taste of reality and things to come for him and his colleagues.

Just going to tee this up right here, with more to come in a few days on my popular blog and Twitter feed. I simply could not let this go unsaid one more day, after witnessing the nonsense I heard coming from Hollywood City Hall yesterday, that seemed even more untethered to reality than usual.

Comm. Biederman: Just wanted to remind you and the South Florida press that your Commission Chambers dais microphone was, in fact, working Wednesday afternoon.
So when you went off (yet again) on one of your smug, patronizing, self-justifying, thin-skinned tirades, decrying in a whiny voice what you see as persistent, unfair online PUBLIC criticism of city employees and elected officials like you during the pandemic, we heard it.

But then that's become a habit for you the past 20 months, hasn't it: being wrong and being unwilling to admit it? Predictably, because you simply don't know what you are talking about.
And not for the first time, right?

Let me connect-the-dots for you.
There REALLY is a growing army of VERY dissatisfied #HollywoodFL citizens +stakeholders, people who in the past likely gave you and others at Hollywood City Hall the benefit of the doubt. 

And then some! 

People who simply bit their lip when what they really wanted to do was call the City Commission or you out. But they didn't. 

You know, discretion.

But since March of 2020, those same people in Hollywood have personally seen or experienced on a daily basis, consistently stupid, incompetent, self-serving, and undemocratic behavior and conduct at Hollywood City Hall that directly threatens their family's Quality of Life, and also threatens the better future that they want for this city.
Things that you and your colleagues and high-ranking city employees are STILL in complete denial about: the multiple failings of the city the past 20 months and YOUR own personal role in making that true.

And honestly, your whole straight-talking, guy-next-door shtick of the recent past no longer amuses anyone or fools anyone who is actually paying attention to the facts.
Especially since your new tactic is to try to maliciously malign people you disagree with, using unfounded assertions that you can not back up with actual facts.

Because, after all, it's all in your head.

And yet you naively persist in thinking that you'll continue to be able to get away with such creepy behavior indefinitely without paying any sort of consequences.
Now THAT is really naive -and sad.

Based on my conversations around town with smart, savvy, and well-informed Hollywood residents/stakeholders, as well as the emails and text messages I receive from them, one year from this week -that is, assuming that you are not part of the group of Hollywood City Commissioners recalled from office next August- the growing odds are that YOU will not be celebrating on Election Day 2022.

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Trust me, I have been writing things here-and-there about Hollywood City Commissioner Kevin Biederman's odd conduct in office for months that I have chosen not to post for various reasons. Mostly, because I did not want to post something while I was mad, after just seeing him in action on the dais, doing his tiresome shtick, saying yet another thing that has no connection to reality.
Not that he is unique on the dais in that respect, especially as The Related Group's incompatible 1301 S. Ocean Drive project has continued to dramatically ratchet up the community's collective frustration level.

I posted it here so that other people in the greater Hollywood community could see these specific words and thoughts and perhaps be able to exhale.
Exhale, knowing that they were NOT the only person in the area thinking similar things about Comm. Kevin Biederman's odd and creepy behavior in office, using his position to maliciously malign citizens who hold him to account, and him with no facts to offer up, just his thin-skinned attitude and snark.

But then the sad reality is that Kevin Biederman is NOT the only problem in the room, the only elephant in the Commission Chambers, when Hollywood City Commission and CRA meetings are taking place.
Far from it, as Commissioners Linda Hill Anderson and Adam Gruber continue to remind us every two weeks, as they continue to be largely unprepared, uninformed, and unaware of facts/situations they should and which most of the community -and most of my friends- know at least something about, if not MORE than them.

They often seem more like lost visitors who've taken a wrong turn than serious people who fully appreciate or grasp the expectations the citizenry of this community has for them.

And to an extent that's kind of shocking, they are unresponsive to emails, text messages or phone calls, including those about situations and incidents within their own district.

Anderson and Gruber have been in office for almost a year now, and yet remain completely underwhelming in nearly every respect, and more importantly, do NOT seem not up to the responsibility of the job they actively sought. In my opinion, they simply are not up to the job and the learning curve is only getting worse for them with every passing week.

I'll be double-checking those drafts, doing some serious editing, and present that for you to peruse sometime next week on my blog. 

Perhaps even with a helpful video or two that connects-the-dots on some aspects of the past 20 months on matters that you are not fully aware of.

Dave 

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