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Beautiful Strandvägen, the grand boulevard in Östermalm, in central Stockholm, Sweden, along Nybroviken. In my previous life, I was DEFINITELY born and raised there!

Looking north at Brickell Avenue skyline in downtown Miami, Florida
Showing posts with label 1301 S. Ocean Drive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1301 S. Ocean Drive. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Update re the incompatible 1301 S. Ocean Drive project for multimillionaires on Hollywood Beach that The Related Group and Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy have been trying to cram down the community's collective throat for YEARS now


This is what we want to keep, and not let it simply become a memory!
A small reminder of why I and all of my savvy, sensible friends -like Cat Uden- push back so hard versus the serial, nonsensical public policy and misanthropy emanating from #HollywoodFL City Hall the past few years, both the elected Mayor and City Commission, as well as the city's imperious, feckless, and thin-skinned highly-paid bureaucrats. ☀️🌴🏖️😎. 

Hollywood Beach, Florida photo by Catherine "Cat" Uden.


Below, an edited and expanded version of the email that I sent out this morning right around 1:00 am regarding the incompatible 1301 S. Ocean Drive 26-story project for multimillionaires on Hollywood Beach that The Related Group and Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy have been trying to cram down the community's collective throat for YEARS now, despite the vast majority of the community that actually knows the pertinent facts making clear throughout that time that they are firmly AGAINST it. 

Against it today, tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. NO means NO! 

-----

Just a short note before I go to sleep, having received Steve's email/Substack post, at bottom, late tonight and not immediately seeing it in my inbox because of my watching the Winter Olympics on TV: The current Hollywood City Manager, Mr. Keller, is someone whom I have never liked or supported -and who in any case is on his way to retirement in a few weeks.

IMO, he's already checked out and is biding his time. So all that said, he is NOT of a mind to actually do the right thing for the area's citizens re the incompatible 1301 project before he walks out the door, as far as saving THE most natural remaining part of Hollywood Beach for posterity.
Mr. Keller does not care about that part of Hollywood Beach's future, nor does he care about the past memories that so many of us have with it and why, even if we actually preferred using the beach area near what used to be the one-and-only garage off of Johnson Street, we DO want to see it preserved exactly AS IT IS.
So that said, there's no point in any Hollywood resident thinking even for a moment that he's suddenly -magically- going to see the light and change his spots when he's already more than halfway out the door for good right now.

In his letter below to the Broward Planning Council, which I hasten to remind you, also includes Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy, the individual who more than anyone else in Hollywood has tried to cram this Related Group project for multimillionaires -with its $4 million dollar starting prices- down the throats of the vast majority of the community who zealously opposes it, Keller rather conveniently forgets to mention several salient facts, only one of which I will share with you now, owing to the lateness of the hour, 12:55 am. Wednesday morning.

Among the most important of these facts is that Mr. Keller consciously neglects to mention in his recitation of the history of how the City of Hollywood first managed to obtain the 1301 S. Ocean Drive parcel in the first place from The Summit condominium is that there was a precondition/codicil in the contract that the City of Hollywood had to agree to, and then sign an acknowledgement of, in order to receive the parcel years ago.
That precondition was an important one: the property could ONLY be used for community/
recreation/educational purposes. 
Period.

I myself have personally attended several public meetings in Hollywood since this project came forward as a P3 project, replete with all the secrecy of The Manhattan Project -designed to keep residents and stakeholders in the dark- and heard people say they were on the Board of Directors of The Summit condominium -located across the street on the north of 1301- and publicly declare that they have copies of the germane docs that show that the clause was put in the deal to ensure that the City of Hollywood could never go back on the deal in the future. 

Their biggest fear?
A perfectly understandable one given where The Summit is located on State Road A1A and Hollywood Beach, and how the pay-for-play local government hereabouts is conducted: The City would sell the land to a developer that would build something there in the future.
Perhaps something that would tower over The Summit and ruin thereby ruin both its ambiance and the views that at least some residents there enjoy and were paying a premium for, both at the time, and in all of the ensuing years.

IMO, the City of Hollywood is breaking that original deal with The Summit and any halfway honest judge -even in Broward County- viewing the relevant docs would agree and rule that this project simply can not go forward.

And that, of course, would leave Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy with egg on his face, having to explain to the very people at The Related Group and its 1001 minions and the other developer friends of his who dumped close to $100k into his 2024 re-election campaign coffers in its closing weeks, why HE could not get it across the finish line.

But of course this is only one of the many things that is both completely unethical and wrong with the deal. My blog is full of fact and photo-filled posts making those points in ways that are easily understandable in making the case AGAINST it


Letter from Hollywood City Manager Sides with Private Developers on 1301 Project Land Use Designation.
Broward Planning Council Meeting Set for Feb. 26, at 10 am, Room 422, Broward County Government Center; Follow Up Article Coming
Steven Paul Schneider
February 17, 2026
Letter from Hollywood City Manager Sides with…
https://stevenpaulschneider.substack.com/p/letter-from-hollywood-city-manager/comments


See also the anti-1301 Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100080492761252 and Cat's campaign Instagram page at 


Dave


David Bruce Smith  

My blog, now eponymous, formerly called Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog: 
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Monday, September 19, 2022

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.








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Saturday, April 2, 2022

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





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Tuesday, August 17, 2021

It's more than a little convenient for the City of Hollywood to decide to close City Hall again. Yes, just as another key Hollywood City Comm. mtg. is coming up on Wed. the 25th re The Related Group's controversial, incompatible 30-story luxury condo building on public land.


It's more than a little convenient for the City of Hollywood to decide to close City Hall again.

Yes, just as another key Hollywood City Comm. mtg. is coming up on Wednesday the 25th re The Related Group's controversial, incompatible 30-story luxury condo building on public land. 

Yes, the one the city seems willing to allow the developer to build on public land at one of the most serene places at Hollywood Beach. 


1301 S. Ocean Drive, Hollywood Beach, Florida. 




No reasonable person walks here and looks at these views and thinks to themselves, "What this beautiful beach area needs is a 30-story luxury condominium to mar the views and the sense of peace and contentment of anyone who lives here or visits here.  

And a year after the unsolicited bid, the Hollywood City Comm. is still acting deaf, dumb, and blind to the fact that the vast majority of Hollywood's citizens are AGAINST this #giveaway to developers. Even now, the City Commission remains convinced that they can do this without following their own rules and having the required voter referendum on the sale. They will lose and some of them will see the end of their nascent political career if I have anything to do with it. 
And I will.


 


 Today, August the 17th, the city posted the following to their website, and to their facebook page, but not to the official Sunshine Board as of 1:45 p.m.

https://www.hollywoodfl.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=988





Hollywood Residents Opposed to High Rise on Public Land at Azalea Terrace at Change.org
https://www.change.org/p/hollywood-city-commission-hollywood-residents-opposed-to-high-rise-on-public-land-at-azalea-terrace

Surfrider Foundation Broward County Chapter started this petition to Mayor Josh Levy and 

This petition is for residents of Hollywood opposed to a 30 story high rise condo building being developed on environmentally fragile public land on the barrier island. There is a developer proposal for a 99 year lease on this public land between Azalea Terrace and Bougainvillea Terrace, extending from A1A all the way to the beach. Residents are concerned about impact to quality of life. Sometimes, less is more. This is a quiet section of our beach, and the proposal submitted would bring hundreds of more residents to the barrier island. The developer's "concept drawing" had placed parks/plazas/playgrounds on top of our current mature dunes (east of Surf Road), a larger community center closer to the ocean, added a restaurant, added a private pool for the luxury condo residents, and extended the busy Broadwalk to this quiet section. Harry Berry Park as we know it was eliminated, and the drawing had moved Harry Berry Park on top of our current dune system. The tower will cast a dark shadow over the sand, taking away hours of sunlight (and the view of the sunset) at the end of the day. They propose a new parking garage, but they have not yet promised that residents will be able to use their annual resident parking stickers in this new proposed garage. 

These barrier island streets, and the emergency services, are in a vulnerable area for sea level rise. This is a sea turtle nesting beach which is supposed to be dark, clean, and quiet from May through October so that hatchlings have greater chance at survival. Residents currently on the barrier island already have issues with parking, traffic, and crowds. Please contact your city commissioner to oppose a new high rise on this land, or at least let the residents vote on the fate of our land. Don't silence our voices! 

Email the city: JLevy@hollywoodfl.org, CShuham@hollywoodfl.org, LSherwood@hollywoodfl.org, KBiederman@hollywoodfl.org, TCallari@hollywoodfl.org, LAnderson@hollywoodfl.org, AGruber@hollywoodfl.org, WIshmael@hollywoodfl.org, smaken@hollywoodfl.org, RStorey@hollywoodfl.org  

Related Group's proposal:  http://hollywoodfl.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=978 

City Commission: http://hollywoodfl.org/89/City-Commission 

The next CRA meeting and City Commission meeting are on August 25th at City Hall, 2nd floor. Citizen comments are at 5 PM. Use city meetings as an opportunity to state your concerns and opposition. If this is such a great deal/great idea, then why not let residents decide?  

Are you a Hollywood resident? Leave a reason why you love our beach and want to keep this green, open area free from new high rise towers in your "reasons for signing." You do not have to donate anything to sign the petition (donations go to Change.org). Thank you! 

Sun Sentinel article here: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/hollywood/fl-ne-hollywood-tower-ss-prem-20210402-smwgro5f7jg4np5l5vizv5bazu-story.html 


Dave 

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