Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Why is tonight's 6 pm Hollywood Beach Golf Course and Clubhouse Project meeting being held virtually? So that it's easier for vendors/contractors, and more difficult for taxpayer citizens? Because it conforms to the city's new unspoken policy of putting citizens last.

Why is tonight's 6 pm Hollywood Beach Golf Course and Clubhouse Project meeting being held virtually? So that it's easier for vendors/contractors, and more difficult for taxpayer citizens? Because it conforms to the city's new unspoken policy of putting citizens last.

My comments are below City of Hollywood flier.

Join the Department of Design and Construction Management, along with Bermello Ajamil & Partners, Inc., and Richard Mandell Golf Architecture for a virtual meeting on Thursday, December 16th at 6:00 p.m. Participants will discuss the proposed conceptual designs for the Hollywood Beach Golf Course and clubhouse.


Hollywood Beach Golf Course and Club House Meeting

Event number: 2630 114 8688
Event password: DCM1216
Phone number to join: 408-418-9388

Details are at bottom.

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So, to quote myself yet again on several subjects within Hollywood over the past 21 months, why has the City Manager and the city's Parks & Recreation Dept. decided that this meeting involving millions of dollars, the public's thoughts on aesthetics, form and function at a city-owned facility, being held virtually instead of in-person at a city facility like City Hall or one of the Community Centers?

For those of you whom I haven't mentioned it to, I was the only Hollywood citizen present at the first few Evaluation Committee meetings regarding this project, taking copious notes starting from the start in May and June of 2019. Often writing notes while hearing ignorant or odd comments made over-and-over by Comm. members.
I saw the presentations, good and bad and unpersuasive, and heard the rather dismal and blithe line of questioning by the Evaluation Comm.

I was never more unhappy at a public meeting in the city, and was displeased on several levels, not the least of which was the city's galling and abject failure over many years to actually engage the city's golfers, the very people who would actually use the facility the most.

It was as if the city had no idea who the most-frequent end-user for this facility was.

Many on the Eval. Comm. seemed much more interested in water retention issues, or even whether or not kids/civic groups would be able to have coffee tables there on weekends, I guess to raise money selling candy bars or food or create awareness of their group's upcoming events. It was crazy.

So in that sense, a concern for non-germane purposes rather than how to make a city facility much-better, more dynamic, and more appealing to everyone in the community, including the people locally outside of Hollywood who should want to use the facility if it is ever going to be a success.
Leslie Del Monte's questions and comments were especially ridiculous!

I disagreed with the rankings from the very start, and it only got worse as cronyism and favoritism seemed to run the roost.

The best presentation that got the most votes after round one, Dusenberry Golf Course Design, making perhaps the best public presentation on any subject I'd ever seen at Hollywood City Hall in the past 18 years, but was not selected, while the incumbent, McCumber Golf, was, despite many questions about long standing problems there under their mgmt. that they never resolved successfully to the public's satisfaction.

The Evaluation Committee process in the City of Hollywood is COMPLETELY BROKEN, and needs to be completely revamped, as a handful of city bureaucrats, including many who weigh in at TAC, get to vote and decide too many important matters without always having any degree of expertise, or, apparently, understanding of what the ultimate goal is and was. A huge disappointment in every sense!
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Description
Scope A: New clubhouse/community center on SW corner to include pro shop, dining area, meeting space. Construction of golf course maintenance building, cart barn and on course restroom building, staging area , signage and parking. 

Scope B - Golf Course renovation. Renovate 18 holes with realignment for relocated clubhouse. New irrigation system, cart paths, landscaping and all required site work. New curbing and fencing along 17th Ave. Regrading and raising the East side of the golf course to allow faster recovery after rain events, renovation of the tees, fairways, bunkers, cart paths and greens. Coordination of a perimeter multi-use path on the West side of the property.

Details
1 Clubhouse/Social Club, Approximately 6,000 to 9,000 SF New Construction.
Division 03 - Concrete, Concrete Forming and Accessories, Precast Concrete, Site-Cast Concrete.
Division 04 - Masonry, Unit Masonry.
Division 05 - Metals.
Division 06 - Wood, Plastics, and Composites, Rough Carpentry, Finish Carpentry, Architectural Woodwork, Architectural Wood Casework.
Division 07 - Thermal and Moisture Protection, Damp proofing and Waterproofing, Thermal Protection, Weather Barriers.
Division 08 - Openings, Doors and Frames, Wood Doors, Plastic Doors, Windows, Hardware, Glazing, Louvers and Vents.
Division 09 - Finishes, Plaster and Gypsum Board, Ceilings, Carpeting, Painting and Coating.
Division 10 - Specialties, Signage, Compartments and Cubicles, Toilet Compartments, Toilet, Bath, and Laundry Accessories, Lockers, Flagpoles, Flags and Banners.
Division 11 - Equipment, Residential Equipment, Residential Appliances.
Division 22 - Plumbing, Instrumentation and Control for Plumbing, Plumbing Piping, Facility Sanitary Sewerage, Plumbing Equipment, Plumbing Fixtures, Residential Plumbing Fixtures, Drinking Fountains and Water Coolers.
Division 23 - Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC), Instrumentation and Control for HVAC, HVAC Air Distribution.
Division 26 - Electrical, Instrumentation and Control for Electrical Systems, Lighting.
Division 27 - Communications, Structured Cabling.
Division 31 - Earthwork, Clearing and Grubbing, Earth Moving, Grading, Excavation and Fill, Earthwork Methods, Soil Treatment.
Division 32 - Exterior Improvements, Bases, Ballasts, and Paving, Flexible Paving, Asphalt Paving, Rigid Paving, Concrete Paving, Curbs, Gutters, Sidewalks, and Driveways, Fences and Gates, Irrigation, Planting Irrigation, Planting, Planting Preparation, Turf and Grasses, Plants, Planting Accessories.
Division 33 - Utilities, Water Utilities, Sanitary Sewerage Utilities, Storm Utility Water Drains, Ponds and Reservoirs, Electrical Utilities, Communications Utilities.


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Thursday, November 4, 2021

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.

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Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Another eye-rolling public policy + financial decision by City of #HollywoodFL. This time, re The ArtsPark Improvement Project @ #YoungCircle. What's that? Funny that you ask... The city's not-so-funny public engagement.

Aerial view of The ArtsPark at Young Circle, via Google Maps

Another eye-rolling Face with rolling eyes public policy + financial decision by City of #HollywoodFL. This time, re The ArtsPark Improvement Project @ #YoungCircle. What's that? Funny that you ask... The city's not-so-funny public engagement. Face with raised eyebrow


Came across something rather odd on the city's so-called Sunshine Board outside of City Hall on Monday afternoon, which, for the record, as I am constantly mentioning on the Hollywood Residents - Speak Up Facebook page, as well as my blog, Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog, does NOT always have the required public notices it is supposed to have.

(Never had a notice about Hollywood City Hall closing and, specifically why, using any statistical data, nor anything about what had changed that allowed it to now be open.)

Now perhaps I've missed it being discussed somewhere else on the Facebook group page -as I'm constantly perplexed at the random order of things posted there, as opposed to them being in a logical chron order, so that I can recall things more accurately- but has anyone else commented on what the City of Hollywood's Dept. of Design and Construction Management is doing?

20211022_152343.jpg

They are seeking public input on the so-called ArtsPark Improvement Project, something that most people in the city have likely never heard nothing about or could not otherwise accurately describe to you.
Could THAT possibly be, in part, because there is nothing, physically, at The ArtsPark itself, telling you anything at all about it?

But then this just continues the city and CRA's truly appalling public engagement practices for anything involving that area, since there is nowhere to be found there a simple posted calendar of upcoming events.
So simple, yet, apparently, too complex for the city's Rec. Dept. and CRA to figure out. 🙄

The City of Hollywood has been so busy the past 19 months trying to brainwash the public on what is and isn't appropriate for the public to comment directly to its elected officials on public policy that the brainwashing is now starting to affect the city employees as well.

Rather than having the city officials involved in that Dept. physically meeting with members of the public who actually uses that site and who'd have opinions, whether good or bad or something in-between, say, on a Friday night at 7 pm when parents and kids are actually THERE, before the city's own ArtsPark Movie Night film starts a bit after 8 pm, guess what the city is doing?

Yes, they are limiting public input to one of their horrendous WebEx experiences, from 6-7:30 pm on Monday November 15th?

So why is the city doing that? Why are they consciously refusing to adapt to the changing facts on the ground, after finally reopening City Hall, and simply doing what is both the simplest thing and the most intelligent thing? 

Why are they ignoring... #science?

Because they like having and maintaining control, even if it is inconvenient and NOT as useful to the public that may actually have something to say on the subject.

I called the Dept. of Design and Construction Management this afternoon and spoke to a woman named Alex Iglesias who's in charge of the project, DCM-19-001199.

She could not explain why there were no other opportunities in the immediate future for the public to meet and hear her presentation other than via WebEx, whether at now-opened City Hall, one of the now-opened Community Centers, or even at the outdoor ArtsPark itself, as I had specifically suggested.

She told me that, among other things, the city's Parks Dept., per the Go Bonds, has decided it wants and needs a 6-8 foot fence for ticketed events that the city charges promoters for when it rents out the public's park. 
Estimated costs of fencing? $496,019.

Specifically, there will be 6-8 foot fences built towards the eastern and western entrances to the park, as well as around the grassy areas of the amphitheater, and around the water fountain area where the food trucks congregate, so that the city can get more money from renting out the park, since right now, promoters usually have to bring or rent fencing for these events. 
So, the city's Parks Dept. wants to keep the prospective promoters happy!


The gates would be open when there is no ticketed event scheduled, but the fences would remain, obviously.













Looking east from the western sidewalk of Young Circle, via the bust of Hollywood founder and first mayor, Joseph W. Young, with The Circ Hotel in distance to the left. My photo of October 23rd, 2021.













Looking east from the central plaza area and water fountain where many food trucks once congregated in pre-pandemic times on Monday nights. My photo of October 23rd, 2021.



Looking west, toward Downtown Hollywood, with the busy under-construction Block 40 that will be a 19-story tower 166 apartments and a 103-room Hilton Garden Inn in a 19-story tower, being built on the site of the Great Southern Hotel, built by city founder Joseph W. Young in 1924. 
My photo of October 23rd, 2021.


I'd like to know from the Hollywood Parks Dept. how much revenue has been generated from rental use of The ArtsPark for the past five years, so that we can determine whether or not the costs of the fence -rapidly increasing according to her- plus the costs of its installation, makes going forward worthwhile.

ICYMI: My last blog post, with more photos than my email of last week, 
Some preliminary thoughts about #Broward's 2021 #redistricting process. 
Final map gets voted on at what's likely to be a very spirited December 7th meeting, 
where some political careers may well be snuffed out

Dave 
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Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Some preliminary thoughts about #Broward's 2021 #redistricting process. Final map gets voted on at what's likely to be a very spirited December 7th meeting, where some political careers may well be snuffed out


Some preliminary thoughts about #Broward's 2021 #redistricting process. Final map gets voted on at what's likely to be a very spirited December 7th meeting, where some political careers may well be snuffed out

Even as I was writing my first draft of this post this afternoon, I got word that an additional Broward County redistricting meeting has been scheduled for Saturday October 30, 2021 at 10AM, but it's... virtual. 🙄 Zut alors!

It's the last "public" meeting to comment before the last 4 draft maps are presented to the Broward County Commission for their thumbs up or down, scheduled for December 7th.

20210927_201323.jpg

My experience in the past is that the Sun Sentinel's Lisa Huriash is usually a fair-minded reporter, with a good sense of perspective re how simple or complicated an issue might be and what's necessary to present an accurate account of what's really at stake.
But here, on the issue of Broward reconfiguring its nine Commission districts, noticeably, she has failed badly. 

Also not mentioned is that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be naming two interim Broward County Commissioners next month, as Barbara Sharief and Dale Holness had to resign in order to run in the #FL20 primary election that takes place two weeks from today, on November 2nd.

An election with nearly a dozen candidates where the winner will likely be someone who has failed to get 75%+ of the overall Democratic voters. Most of you longtime readers of the blog know that I hold both of these two Broward Commissioners in very low regard for their serial unethical machinations, serial poor judgment, and propensity for telling self-serving lies and half-truths, and general desire to play #IdentityPolitics at the worst possible times.
You never have to ask whether they are doing something for political reasons: they ARE.

Sharief's District 8 seat is up next November while the Holness' District 9 seat runs thru 2024, so my educated guess is that both seats will be on the ballot in just over a year, one for a full-term, and one to fill out the final two years.
You should start seeing articles next week about who DeSantis might choose and why.

Migration changes face of Broward, bringing new ideas and fresh flavors
By Lisa J. Huriash
October 11, 2021 

There were and are some very obvious and important facts and relationships that, at a minimum, should have been disclosed to readers there, but which, for whatever reason, weren't.

That includes connecting-the-dots on some of the people she quotes who I know with certainty have glaring conflicts of interests as it affects the public and public policy, including on the matter of redistricting, but Huriash stays quiet as a church mouse, which is why I have included the piece by Red 
Broward blogger Tom Lauder that accurately connects-the-dots that Huriash chooses to ignore,

If you can't access the Sun Sentinel article, let me know and I'll try to send a copy to you.

And yes, the Sept. 27 meeting I reference below is the one that was held at the Hollywood Library that I sent some of you an email about last month, before it took place, because there was no info about it anywhere in Hollywood, not even at the library itself, so the librarians knew nothing about it just two days beforehand.
Which is clearly not a good sign of the county's level of engagement on this.

Click screen grab below to enlarge!


























By the way, before the public meeting was held, there was a preview meeting held by the FIU redistricting consultants that was largely composed of area local elected officials, so they'd have a better handle on what the process is supposed to be and the issues involved in creating districts that are roughly equal population-wise, though they're allowed to have up to a 10% variance.
I saw many familiar faces coming out of the room before I and a handful of other Broward citizens went in for the public meeting.


Above, the evening's moderator, FIU professor Dario Moreno, the county's lead consultant on redistricting.

Above, District 6 Broward Commissioner Beam Furr, an official Friend of the Blog. As per usual, we spoke for a bit on some local matters before the meeting started.






Broward Commissioner Steve Geller in center



Because facts matter, and are worth recalling: At least three members of the county commission in the past 20 years not lived in their districts – Ben Graber, Lois Wexler and Stacy Ritter. 

"The law requires your legal residence to be in the district, while apparently your physical body can sleep somewhere else." -Buddy Nevins at Broward Beat, Dec. 4, 2011
https://www.browardbeat.com/state-rep-marty-kiars-future-in-limbo-because-of-redistricting/


Broward Beat
Gerrymander! County Commission Carves Out A Seat For State Rep. Marty Kiar
BY BUDDY NEVINS
December 16, 2011

State Rep. Marty Kiar of Davie is “extremely likely” to run for the Broward County Commission after commissioners on Tuesday gerrymandered District 1 to include Kiar’s home.

The opportunity for Kiar suddenly surfaced late Tuesday when commissioners suddenly placed a tiny sliver of northwest Davie in District 1.  That section just happens to include Kiar’s home.

Districting boundary lines are not drawn by accident at the county commission. Somebody wants Kiar in the race, either the Commissioners Lieberman and Stacy Ritter who redrew the district or those behind the scenes…or both.

Read the rest of the post at
https://www.browardbeat.com/marty-kiar-extremely-likely-to-run-for-county-commission/


A reminder: After resisting getting a Facebook account for... well, years, because I could not be bothered with one with everything else I was already doing, I finally gave in last month and created a new platform for myself at https://www.facebook.com/DavidSmith0215/,
mostly so that I could finally read and comment on what i saw at the Hollywood Residents - Speak Up group page, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1023412084491625/ which I urge you to join if you are a Hollywood resident not already reading it.

Don't agree with everything there, of course, but it's a much better informed group that a random group of residents, and includes almost daily posts by people I know and trust who want this city to be MUCH-BETTER than it is and has been in recent years. Just like me.

Typically, I comment on both my page and the group page a few times a week, but I'm trying to allow a few days in-between posts, plus, I usually try to mention things that I don't necessarily mention in my popular group emails, here on my blog, or at the very repetitive and often innocuous Hollywood Nextdoor page, so consider checking me out there as well.

Also, if you add my current phone number to your contact list and use WhatsApp, you can even see my occasional commentary on things important and otherwise via the STATUS page, so consider that, too.



https://www.broward.org/Redistricting/Pages/default.aspx

Some other Florida redistricting stories worth catching up on:

Miami Herald
Miami-Dade has - a new redistricting map: Let the fights begin over voting boundaries
Douglas Hanks; Staff Writer
October 3, 2021
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article254682422.html


Understanding the Florida Legislature redistricting effort with former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida, Peggy Quince.
From WEDU-TV, PBS Tampa: Florida This Week, taped Sept. 24, 2021

Florida lawmakers look to avoid running afoul of courts when redrawing districts
'My promise to you is … we will do this right,' one lawmaker said
John Kennedy, Capital Bureau
USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA

POLITICO Florida Playbook: The GOP’s redistricting promises
Tuesday, Sept. 21, 7:02 AM
BY GARY FINEOUT
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/florida-playbook/2021/09/21/the-gops-redistricting-promises-494407

Florida Trend
Senate kicks off redistricting process
Jim Turner | News Service of Florida | 9/21/2021
https://www.floridatrend.com/article/32208/senate-kicks-off-redistricting-process

South Florida Sun Sentinel 

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