Below, an excerpted copy of my email yesterday to my friend Helen Chervin, the longtime President of the United Neighbors of South Hollywood/Central Hollywood Civic Association, who had earlier in the day forwarded me a copy of a letter from the City of Hollywood's Allison Saffold.
I will definitely have some informed thoughts to share in the coming days with you, the city, and certain other concerned residents on this matter, some of which will also appear in the near future on my blog.
(As always, I'd be happy to include your comments or anyone else's on my blog as well, if you or they are interested in amplifying their voice and have lots of eyeballs see them.)
Do you know whose personal brainstorm this act of pretend civic engagement was/is?
Is this the end result of regular city tax dollars being doled out because of the intervention of City Manager George Keller or Mayor Josh Levy, or, some very dubious Good Government grant the city got their hands on? 
I ask because as you know from our dozens of previous conversations the past three years, it would NOT be necessary for the City to do this in the first place if Hollywood's elected officials, its highly-paid-but-misanthropic top staffers, and its stealthy CRA Director had been more professional, more proactive, curious and engaged in the first place.
That is, actually be what, more often than not, former District 2 Commissioner Peter Hernandez was, by nature and personality, and which Linda Anderson will clearly NEVER be, AND doesn't even attempt to be, as her first 2 years in office have shown.
(To say nothing of Anderson being so painfully timid, uninformed and disconnected from reality that it almost seems mean to share facts with her, because what would she do with actual facts at her disposal? 
)
That is, IF they actually tried to find out what's really going on in the city without being formally invited. Actually showed up at informal events in the community instead of hiding in their homes, while at the same time constantly chiding publicly and privately, well-informed people like you, Cat Uden, myself, and others, either personally or via requesting some smarmy, acid tweets on Twitter from the city's Communication Dept. to try to fool the local news media about what's really going on.
No wonder the community does NOT trust them and give them the benefit of the doubt.
They absolutely refuse to accept that we ARE, in fact, judging THEM based on THEIR own words and actions - or lack of same when they said and did nothing instead of leading.
And that has led to most of the city -not just you and I- NOT trusting them and NOT giving them the default benefit of the doubt, as had usually been the case previously.
Instead, the city's electeds, staff and CRA consciously chose to use the Covid pandemic as an opportunity to reset Hollywood's previous model to now keep the public in the dark and keep germane facts closely-held, even as the city's website becomes less useful every day, and as the city hides more information from the public, rather than being more useful.
Dave
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On Tue, Aug 8, 2023, 11:54 AM Helen Chervin wrote:
Good morning, Civic and Community Leaders. I know we’ve had a busy summer, so I wanted to move this request to the top of your inbox.
I am requesting that ALL civic associations provide feedback for the Partnership for Engaged Neighborhoods program – see attached. Your input is valued and needed, and while I will not promise that all suggestions will be incorporated, I do promise that they will be considered carefully.
As I noted in my email below, our goal is for the City and civic associations to work together to build a stronger community of engaged residents. Please provide your feedback no later than Thursday, August 24th.
Thanks, and enjoy the rest of your summer.
With warm regards,
Alison
Good afternoon, Civic and Community Leaders:
I am excited to share that I have been working on a program proposal to energize community engagement and increase membership in civic associations. The program, Partnership for Engaged Neighborhoods (PEN), has gone through several versions and has evolved into one that I believe is pretty strong and ready for your input.
As you will see, the program outlines how the City and civic associations will support each other in building a stronger community of engaged residents. Please review the proposal and provide your feedback by July 27th. While we may not be able to incorporate all of your suggestions, please know I will carefully consider them all and do my best to include what I can. Thank you for your time and attention.
Best regards,
Alison
Alison H. Saffold, MPA
Civic Affairs Administrator
City of Hollywood
2600 Hollywood Boulevard
P.O. Box 229045
Hollywood, FL 33022-9045
O: (954) 921-3599 | C: (305) 495-3102
______________________________
____________
Alison SaffoldCivic Affairs Administrator
City of Hollywood
Office of the City Manager
2600 Hollywood Blvd
P.O. Box 229045
Hollywood, FL 33022-9045
Office: (954) 921-3599
E-mail:
asaffold@hollywoodfl.orgNotice: Florida has a broad public records law. All correspondence sent to the City of Hollywood via e-mail may be subject to disclosure as a matter of public record.
