Monthly Report for Beach and Downtown District Activities. July 2013 CRA Board Meeting

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Lydia Jean Porter
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1 Monthly Report for Beach and Downtown District Activities July 2013 CRA Board Meeting *** There will be a limited August Report due to the summer break *** Results of the CRA Board Meeting on June 5, 2013 Minutes of May 1, (Approved) Budget transfer of $156,833 within the CRA budget as well as the transfer to the City s Parking Fund pursuant to the Interlocal Agreement. (Approved) Amended CRA revising the purpose and duties of the mural review committee and changing the composition of the committee from (5) Five to (7) Seven members. (Approved) Development Issues/Meetings Staff attended the following: Technical Advisory Committee meetings on June 3 and June 17 Margaritaville Coordination Meeting on June 11, 18, 25 CRA Board meeting and City Commission meeting on June 5 Leadership Hollywood Tourism Day on June 6 International Pow Wow tourism show on June 7-14 Music Voyager local premiere on June 11 Sax in the City downtown concert series on June 5, 12, 19, 26 Hollywood Beach Business Association guest speaker on June 13, Economic Development Roundtable on June 13 Planning and Development Board meeting on June 13 Broward A1A Scenic Highway meeting on June 20 Graduation ceremony for Leadership Hollywood on June 21 Florida Government Finance Officers Association annual conference on June Historic Preservation Board meeting on June 25 Attended meeting facilitated by the City Manager s Office in regard to Federal Highway, crime, homelessness and vagrancy with New Image Task Force and other community leaders. Continued discussions with a prospective buyer/tenant of 1955 Harrison Street as well as with their attorney. Staff continues to work on a development agreement with prospective buyer / tenant. Prospective buyer / tenant is a

2 Hollywood based company seeking to expand their business and hire additional employees. Their plan includes the continual use of their current location in Hollywood as a middle/high school. The owners are Hollywood residents. Met with LGBT businesses interested in opening in Downtown Hollywood. Met with brokers and numerous businesses interested in opening on the Beach and Downtown- provided leads to brokers and property owners. Met with the owner s representative for 2000 Harrison Street in regard to tenant mix and leasing strategies. Re-visited established art/film oriented high school in Palm Beach that is interested in opening a high school in Hollywood. Invited Davon Barbour and Anthony Grisby to meeting. City of Hollywood monthly grant meeting in May. Margaritaville Coordination Meeting In anticipation of the Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort project, CRA staff has worked with City staff, the Developer and his contractors to coordinate all aspects of the project since the approval by the City Commission and CRA Board through construction and beyond. Staff meets weekly to discuss items such as removal of equipment, staging plans, public outreach, traffic patterns, parking concerns and construction. Meetings are held every Tuesday at City Hall and will continue through commencement of construction at which time it will be determined if additional meetings will need to be convened. Construction, coordination and communication are very important components of this major project. Financial The Broward County Property Appraiser (BCPA) will release the 2013 taxable assessed values of property for the 2014 Fiscal year on or about July 1. Staff analyzes these numbers and begins to prepare the FY 2014 operating Budget. Grants Enhanced Revenue CRA staff completed applications for two 2014 grants being offered by the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs respectively for the ArtsPark Experience Concert Series and Cinema Paradiso Hollywood. Maintenance/Downtown In May, Block by Block maintenance staff removed 152 graffiti tags, collected 4,975 lbs. of litter, returned five (5) shopping carts, provided hospitality assistance 115 times and collected & disposed of 329 palm fronds. Twenty-one hours were spent on special projects.

3 P Avenue Maintenance/Beach In May, 1,171 operational hours were clocked by beach maintenance staff and of those hours, 710 were dedicated to trash removal from the beach, 96.5 hours were spent maintaining the restrooms and 80 hours were spent cleaning the shower areas. In addition, approximately 31 graffiti tags and stickers were removed. Staff also utilized temp workers during the month which bolstered our crew for an additional hours. Code Enforcement CRA staff meets with enhanced service Code Enforcement officers on a weekly basis. During the month of May, 222 violations were issued, 84 re-inspections were conducted and 38 complaints were addressed in the downtown district. In the Beach District 51 violations were issued, 82 re-inspections were conducted and one complaint was addressed. Many of the violations were for property standards as well as other issues. Certificates of Use As part of the Department of Planning and Development Services approval process for Certificates of Use, CRA staff reviewed and approved the following seven (7) Certificates of Use in the month of May: st 1. Reaction Realty Group, Inc., 235 S. 21P P Avenue (office use) 2. Grace Engineering, LLC, 1926 Hollywood Boulevard, suite 201 (office use) 3. Hollywood Beach Retirement Home (renewal of CU), Madison Street (ALF) 4. RES Real Estate Solutions, LLC, 950 S. Federal Hwy. Suite B (office) th 5. Dalhad International, 4040 N. 17P (apartment building) 6. La Arepa Y Mas, 2039 Tyler Street (restaurant) 7. Americaribe-Moriarty Joint Venture, 1942 Tyler Street (office) Outdoor Café Permit CRA staff did not receive any outdoor café permits to review in the month of May. Phase II Underground Utilities and Streetscape Project Overhead wires were removed from the existing wooden poles in Phase II. All the overhead lines were converted to underground and all the services to private properties also were converted to underground. The underground grid system is functioning except for Michigan and Johnson Streets in anticipation for the construction of Margaritaville. Some of the landscape materials will be replaced under the warranty and the entire Phase II project has been pressure cleaned and is complete.

4 Phase III Underground Utilities and Streetscape Project Staff has begun the effort to schedule the community meetings with property owners in the affected streets in order to begin the design process for this phase. Phase III will stretch from Oklahoma to New Mexico Street. Flyers have been sent to all the affected property owners in the area and outreach to get their information into a database for future street by street meetings has proven successful. Broadwalk Information Ambassadors The City of Hollywood, the Hollywood Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), the Greater Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Leadership Hollywood Class XXXVII, and the Hollywood Beach Civic Association officially rolled out the Broadwalk Information Ambassadors program in June. The launch was covered by the Miami Herald and resulted in positive press. The Beach Information Ambassador Team is currently still recruiting volunteer Ambassadors to assist Hollywood's Visitor Service Specialists by greeting visitors arriving from cruise ships as part of the CRA sponsored City Pass Program and other tour bus groups visiting Hollywood Beach. Information Ambassadors currently stroll along the Hollywood Broadwalk during high traffic times providing information to encourage a friendly, fun and safe beach experience. Marketing/PR On June 14, CRA Executive Director Jorge Camejo was interviewed by WLRN for a story about Cinema Paradiso Hollywood. The FLIFF Take 3 Fundraiser for Cinema Paradiso attracted media attention in the Sun-Sentinel as well. Significant media coverage was garnered by the Music Voyager episode, the ArtWalk event and Downtown Hollywood Mural Program, the Hollywood ArtsPark Experience: Colors of the Caribbean concert, the Sax in the City summer concert series, and the Broadwalk Ambassadors program. Specifics are included in each individual section. Music Voyager Music Voyager s locally produced Hollywood: The Other Florida made its local debut on South Florida s PBS affiliate WPBT-2 on Tuesday, June 11, 7:30 p.m. By special arrangement with American Public Television, WPBT-2 management, the show s producers and the Hollywood CRA, local audiences saw the episode more than a month before the rest of the country. The broadcast was previewed on NBC6 and The Miami Herald and was featured in two different articles in the Sun-Sentinel, as well as on a wide variety of social media pages and platforms. WPBT2 estimates that more than

5 P at 25,000 homes tuned in that night, which they consider an excellent number. The local PBS station will broadcast an encore presentation on July 12, 10:30pm. The Hollywood episode of the music-themed travel show will debut nationally on the th PBS Create TV network on Tuesday, July 23 and Thursday, July 25P 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. each day. CRA staff is working with American Public Television to facilitate a national Win a Trip to Florida s Hollywood promotion on Create TV. The winners will be flown to Hollywood, stay at a beach hotel and experience the best of Hollywood s attractions, restaurants and nightlife, and culture. The program s producers have informed CRA staff that the program s international reach has expanded dramatically since the Hollywood episode was shot in December Music Voyager s producers recently signed with NDTV-India (1.2 billion viewers), CCTV-China (1.3 billion viewers), and Fuji-TV in Japan, where the Hollywood episode will be shown and heavily promoted to launch the series. Sax in the City summer concert series Wednesdays 6-8 p.m. June-July 2013 Downtown Hollywood Live Music District The CRA launched the new Sax in the City summer concert series on June 3rd, featuring local musicians jamming in unexpected public places throughout the historic live music district. The pilot project will help identify the best public spots and private rain locations to maximize the mid-week impact on the Downtown businesses during the traditionally slow summer season. The kick-off was featured in the Sun-Sentinel, the Miami Herald, New Times, Hollywood Gazette, JazzBlues Florida and Travel Host online. Hollywood ArtsPark Experience: Colors of the Caribbean On June 15, 2013, the second annual Colors of the Caribbean event attracted a record crowd of more than 7,000 attendees to Downtown Hollywood. The event was the largest Experience yet, with significant media exposure on WPLG-10, NBC-6, WLRN 91.3FM, WDNA 88.9FM, HOT 105, The Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Hollywood Gazette, Caribbean News, Travel Host, Broward Family Life and high visibility on social media. Colors of the Caribbean is poised to become a signature annual event with the potential to attract a massive local, regional and international audience to Hollywood.

6 Hollywood ArtsPark Experience: Rio de Janeiro On July 27, the Hollywood ArtsPark Experience series continues with a focus on Rio de Janeiro, featuring Brazilian musician and film star Seu Jorge (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou starring Bill Murray and Owen Wilson, the Academy Award-nominated Brazilian film City of God). Seu Jorge represented Brazil at the closing ceremonies of the London Olympic Games to signal Rio de Janeiro s role as the host city for the next Olympic Games and World Cup. This free community event is expected to draw a major crowd and garner significant local, regional and international PR in English, Portuguese and Spanish. City Pass Program Twelve bus loads including 380 passengers from multiple cruise ships passed through our cruise concierge lounge at Garfield Street community center during the month of May. Visitor Service Specialists greeted these guests, provided them with information on Hollywood beach and Downtown Hollywood and helped them experience all that Hollywood has to offer. Welcome and Information Center/Visitor Services In May, Visitor Service Specialists completed their relocation from the information center that was housed on the Broadwalk at Johnson Street to the Garfield Street information center, an air conditioned, computer enabled information center on the ground floor of the Garfield parking garage and Community Center. Staff accommodated the needs of 1,009 guests in May. Fam Tours and Conferences Tourism and Visitors Services staff and the GFLCVB coordinated a dine-around in Downtown Hollywood for the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) conference at Westin Diplomat on June 11, On Father s Day, staff worked with the GFLCVB to host a UK press trip in Hollywood. The CRA Executive Director, Tourism and Visitors Services staff hosted a Leadership Hollywood Tourism Day tour of the City Pass and Information Center sites and informed local leaders about the operation of the CRA programs. Staff is currently working with the GFLCVB to participate in the highly anticipated Global Travel Marketplace conference coming to the Westin Diplomat on July 24-26, 2013.

7 Hollywood Trolley Although the Trolley program had seen dramatic spikes in January, February and March, April brought lower than expected ridership numbers. The April year over year numbers were off approximately 1,700 riders. April 2012, 8,352 riders rode a trolley and in April 2013, there were 6,652 riders. Although we believe this falloff was due to a higher in-season tourism population that typically leaves throughout the month of April it appears that the numbers rebounded in May with an 8% increase over May In May 2012, 6,564 passengers rode the Trolley and in May 2013, 7,098 passengers rode the Trolley. International Pow Wow Tourism Show The Executive Director, a member of staff and a volunteer attended the International Pow Wow Tourism Show in Las Vegas. There is great interest building for Hollywood and many appointments were held with various trade representatives. There is much opportunity for coordinating our CRA efforts with the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) and other Broward participant s at a future event. The Executive Director has spoken with the CVB and will be working together over the next several months to plan for the next event. Upcoming Meetings and Events Technical Advisory Committee July 1 and July 15, Economic Development Roundtable, June 11, Planning and Development Board, June 11, Downtown Hollywood Business Association Meeting, July 11, City Commission Meeting July 3 and 17, 2013 Historic Preservation Board, July 16, 2013 CRA Board Meeting July 3, 2013 Sax in the City concert series Wednesday, July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, 6-8 p.m. Downtown Hollywood Broward A1A Scenic Highway Corridor Management Group September 24, 10 a.m. - Broward MPO Artwalk July 20, 7-10 p.m. - Downtown Hollywood Full Moon Drum Circle July 22, 7-9 p.m. - ArtsPark at Young Circle Global Travel Marketplace July 24-26, 2014 Westin Diplomat Hollywood ArtsPark Experience: Rio de Janeiro - Saturday, July 27, 6-11 p.m. - ArtsPark at Young Circle

Monthly Report for Beach and Downtown District Activities. June 2013 CRA Board Meeting

Monthly Report for Beach and Downtown District Activities June 2013 CRA Board Meeting Results of the CRA Board Meeting on May 1, 2013 Approved Minutes of April 3, 2013. (Approved) Terminated the existing