Important meeting tonight at Hollywood City Hall re the future redevelopment of the South Park Road Redevelopment Site, a brownfield, and a golden opportunity for out-of-the-box ideas and thinking

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Meant to post this bit of useful information on Saturday morning, since it represents a golden opportunity for residents, activists and interested entrepreneurs to show some vision and out-of-the-box thinking that could create something unique there that will be a destination -if done right.
This area can certainly use more of that

In case you forgot, it's got great proximity to I-95, is near the on the north side of Pembroke Road/State Road 824, opposite the huge Coca-Cola bottling and distribution facility in Pembroke Park, and is a few blocks west of Hollywood's 36-hole Championship  Orangebrook Golf & Country Club.
http://www.jcdsportsgroup.com/orangebrook-golf-country-club

Wish I still had that ten-year stack of Preservation magazines I had in my garage when I lived in Arlington, VA, published by the The National Trust for Historic Preservation, one of my favorite groups and favorite magazines. http://www.preservationnation.org/
http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/#.UIV7VW_A-So

I distinctly remember reading many interesting stories in it about communities around the country that figured out a way to come together to use both common sense and inspiration to help revitalize brownfields -and other similar sites with some degree of commercial contamination short of that official designation- to make something positive happen in their towns.
http://www.preservationnation.org/search-results.html?cx=012332512725415726220%3All6q0vntfdq&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q="brownfield"&sa=Search&siteurl=www.preservationnation.org%2Fmagazine%2F&ref=www.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3D%26esrc%3Ds%26source%

See in particular the reader comments on an industrial adaptive reuse venture in Bethlehem, PA, though Hollywood has more flexibility because none of the building there now are histioric.
http://blog.preservationnation.org/2011/06/15/remembering-the-importance-of-industrial-heritage/

Doubtless, after what was probably lots of controversy, with some residents not caring what went up there because they thought anything would be an improvement, while others engaged in micro-managing what was there, often with the results that nothing happened for years.
The latter would be a bad outcome for Hollywood, which is why the more ideas the better.

I've slightly edited the email below that I received from the City of Hollywood on Friday.


Meeting tonight at Hollywood City Hall re the future of the South Park Road Redevelopment Site

The Department of Community and Economic Development is holding a public meeting regarding the South Park Road Redevelopment Site, formerly the Hollywood Incinerator Ash Dump, on Monday, October 22, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, Room 219.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for has announced funding availability to carry out cleanup activities at a specific brownfield sites.  The City of Hollywood is interested in applying for a grant for the purposes of cleaning up environmental concerns on the South Park Road site.  

This public meeting is the first step in moving forward with the potential redevelopment of this site and discussions will include funding availability and process and community support of grant efforts to address existing environmental concerns.  Community participation is essential in City projects and your feedback during this public meeting is encouraged. 

All interested groups or individuals are invited to attend this public meeting.  If you are interested in providing feedback and are unable to attend, you may send your comments via e-mail Donna Biederman at dbiederman@hollywoodfl.org.  

For additional information about this meeting contact the Department of Community and Economic Development at (954) 921- 3271

-----

See also

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/quick_topics/publications/wc/brownfields/resolutions/BF061102000_RES.pdf

6 Amazing Green Renovations That Turn Industrial Buildings into Architectural Gems 

by Helen Morgan, 04/14/12

http://inhabitat.com/6-amazing-green-renovations-that-turn-industrial-buildings-into-architectural-gems/

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to visit White House, speak to Congress, go to U.N., and lobby to gain Australia a seat on Security Council

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard visits The White House, Capitol Hill and the U.N. this week
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrBRbXawQ8M

On Wednesday Julia Gillard is scheduled to be the fourth Australian Prime minister to address a Joint Session of Congress -replicating Menzies, Hawk and Howard- as she arrives in Washington, D.C. to meet with President Obama at The White House.

Later in the week she flies to New York for a Thursday meeting with Rupert Murdoch and other senior News Corps Ltd. executives, she'll be at the United Nations meeting the U.N. Secretary and also look to lobby member countries to gain Australia a seat on the Security Council this October.

Fascinating Deutsche Welle TV video of innovative architect Thomas Rau in Amsterdam, and what he's done with the WWF HQ in The Netherlands

I originally came to this short report -in English- on Deutsche Welle TV after reading a story on FC Bayern Munich boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge's efforts to bring salaries down and keep at least some ticket prices family-friendly, and I'll be posting that story soon.

This video explains why architect Thomas Rau decided to rent (instead of buying) his office interior, why this is, supposedly, better for the environment and financially attractive for manufacturers, though the truth is, he makes the disposition of the furniture the manufacturer's problem, not his, when he tires of it.

Then, Deutsche Welle visits a client that he has worked his magic on -the head office of WWF Netherlands in Zeist- and explains how their building became the first energy neutral building in the land of the Orange.

http://www.archicentral.com/wwf-zeist-the-netherlands-rau-architects-11212/ http://sustainablecities.dk/en/city-projects/cases/zeist-home-to-the-wwfs-innovative-new-dutch-headquarters

"A key maxim he follows is the use of 100% recyclable materials. Rau has committed himself to designing environmentally-responsible architecture."
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5887227,00.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66ZA-kfjBUA



Some day, if I can remember to, I'll write here about my plans circa 1990 to travel and write from Eastern Europe after the Berlin Wall fell.
Among other things, I was going to write about how rural communities were coping with the rapid economic and social changes that lay before them, the effect of decades of pollution on the communities and foreign investment, and the employment prospects of the young people who suddenly had choices their parents never had, and who could now move west and leave their problems -and families- behind.

Marie Ciganek, who was from the then-Czechoslovakia, was the savvy and friendly woman who was then in charge of Eastern Europe at the D.C. office of the WWF, and she couldn't have been more helpful and encouraging, even suggesting some folks I contact to make my goal a reality. http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/

But despite lots of hard work on my part to make a real go of it, the plan could never be worked out financially, which was very depressing, as I had some very definite plans for doing some very interesting things once I got over there.

It was while going around talking to people in Washington and doing some investigating that I first found out for myself how many of D.C.'s think tanks and foundations that have funds that are supposed to be used to help and encourage Young Professionals in their career efforts, were actually not much more than wink-wink slush funds/vacation jaunts for well-known establishment types already working at mainstream American news media outlets, print and electronic -and they were NOT so young, either!

I won't name names here but... well, I could.
It was quite an eye-opening experience for me to see how routinely "requirements" were flouted by well-connected media types to secure things they weren't really eligible for!

This was also roughly when I was routinely plowing thru Foreign Affairs magazine in one week, often on MARC train trips up to Baltimore from D.C's Union Station on weekends for Oriole home games at Camden Yards.

Somewhere, in the archives, there are photos of me reading it in-between innings out in the centerfield bleachers, my favorite area for watching a game there. Perhaps even this essay from 1993, The Collapse Of 'The West' by Owen Harries
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/49202/owen-harries/the-collapse-of-the-west

Those were the days!
Yes kids, once upon a time, not so long ago, the Orioles were very, very good...

When I was at IU in Bloomington, I used to routinely listen to Deutsche Welle's English-language radio broadcasts on my shortwave radio, http://www.dw-world.de/ which was even more interesting when I had a girlfriend at the time who spoke fluent German, one of the languages I never quite cracked.
http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_multi_mediaplayer/0,,4128016_type_audio_struct_4703_format_WMedia,00.html

Talar ni tyska, Dave?
Nej!

For more information:
http://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/wwf_offices/netherlands/

http://rau.eu/en

RAU Architects YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/RAUarchitects

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/

http://www.timothygartonash.com/

http://www.spiegel.de/international/

Phosphate strip mining company denied stadium naming rights - 2/18/10 Sarasota Herald Tribune: Mosaic won't buy rights to Port Charlotte Stadium

My comments follow the article.

Sarasota Herald Tribune
Mosaic won't buy rights to Port Charlotte stadium
BASEBALL: Controversy erupted over Tampa Bay Rays deal with mining firm
By Chris Gerbasi, Correspondent
February 18, 2010

CHARLOTTE COUNTY - The county's baseball stadium will continue to be called Charlotte Sports Park after the Tampa Bay Rays and the Mosaic Co. announced Wednesday that they had reconsidered a naming rights deal.

The announcement came as the Rays prepared to open their second spring training camp in Port Charlotte with pitchers and catchers beginning workouts on Friday.
Read the rest of the story at:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100218/ARTICLE/2181068/2416/NEWS?Title=Mosaic-won-t-buy-rights-to-Port-Charlotte-stadium


As many of you who come to this blog frequently
already know, I grew-up in South Florida going
to Oriole spring training games at Miami Stadium
in the early and mid-'70's, during their glory days.


Above, the iconic Orioles decal that was on the
bumper of our Ford family station wagon for
years in the 1970's.


Above, Sports Illustrated, April 12, 1971
Baseball 1971 -their baseball preview issue
Power Personified, Baltimore's Boog Powell

I even saw the occasional Yankees spring training
game in Fort Lauderdale with my NY-born friends
and their parents, or visiting New York brothers
or uncles who'd temporarily abandoned northern
climes for some sun and surf and baseball.


I was such a devout Orioles fan that I even caught
buses from my home in North Miami Beach over
to the then-Biscayne College (now St. Thomas)
in what's now Miami Gardens, where the Oriole
minor leaguers worked-out, so I could see how
they looked first-hand.
(That's where I first saw Don Baylor in person,
#25.)

In the intervening years, on one-week visits back
to the area, I'd see as many Oriole or Yankee
games as I could squeeze-in, and since returning
to the area six years ago, have made many trips
to Fort Lauderdale Stadium, as you know from
my posts here about the lack of public transport
from the nearby Tri-Rail station to the ballpark,
which is dumb-founding.

I first visited the Port Charlotte Stadium in 1987
when I swung by there to visit a longtime friend
on my drive to Miami from Evanston/Chicago,
where I'd been living for a few years, back when
the all-hit, no-pitch Texas Rangers used
it as their spring training home.
http://www.baseballpilgrimages.com/spring/portcharlotte.html

After grabbing some breakfast somewhere the
next morning before starting out on my tour of
the area, we went out to the stadium because the
Port Charlotte Rangers were playing an away
game later that day -and we were so stealthy!-
we were able to get into the ballpark and on the
field without any problem.

(Ironically, this was the same best friend
with whom I had walked on Florida Field
with back in the summer of '79, when I'd
come up to Gainesville for a week-long visit
over the Fourth of July, via Air Florida,
six weeks before I left for the rolling
Hoosier hills of IU in Bloomington.)

My friend explained to me that the outfield
warning track at the time had a unique touch
to differentiate it from other spring training
and minor league ballparks in that rather
than having a typical dirt clay warning track,
this one was made of crushed sea shells,
so that back-pedaling outfielders could hear
the sounds of shells beneath their feet.

Since the stadium was rehabbed, I don't know
whether they've chosen to keep that unique
feature or abandon it.

After reading this article and getting a sense
of the outrage factor on our West Coast from
just the thought of naming a stadium after a
company involved in this activity, it seems
more clear to me than ever that as far as
their Senate campaign goes, Marco Rubio
would be foolish not to remind voters outside
of South Florida, esp. Independents and
Enviros, about Kendrick Meek's past as
a lobbyist for rock mining interests in western
Miami-Dade County.

I can already see those TV campaign
ads in my head.

Frankly, my experience in South Florida from
going to public policy forums and meetings is
that there are an awful large universe of
well-informed people who don't know anything
about that part of Meek's past, so it's a
target-rich environment to exploit if you choose
to.

Not that it'd be the only reason someone would
necessarily vote against Meek, of course,
but for some voters, that bit of info could prove
to be important context in deciding whom they
vote for.