‘AROUND THE CITY OF CHOICE’

Health & Welness Expo will benefit every resident of the city!

   HALLANDALE BEACH –   Summer is here in we are seven weeks into hurricane season. Thankfully Bertha did not amount to anything, but she did remind us that we have to be prepared. Hallandale Beach Area Chamber is hosting an expo on Wednesday, July 23 from to 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. It is being held at our Hallandale Beach Cultural and Community center at 410 SE 3rd St behind the library and City Hall. There will be two topics that are going to be addressed health and wellness and hurricane preparedness. The event is being kicked off with a lunch from 1 to 2 p.m. with a focus on business hurricane preparedness. Lunch is being hosted by the Chamber of Commerce and Hallandale Beach Fire Rescue at a cost of $20.
   Following the lunch staring at 2 p.m. there will be a free Health and Wellness Expo. The event is open to the public and free of charge.  There will be many professionals and service providers from local hospitals and businesses whose focus is on health. There will be many free health screenings including; bone density, blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol.  For more information you can call the Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce at 954-454-0541 or e-mail events@HallandaleBeachChamber.com .
   On Wednesday, June 11 at our Hallandale Beach Cultural Center we hosted a special joint meeting with the City of Hollywood. We have conducted joint meetings in the past but due to the past election schedule in Hollywood and difficulty juggling the schedules of two mayors, 10 commissioners and two city manager's it did take some time to set the date for this one. The meeting was quite successful and covered many critical issues.
   The first topic of discussion was traffic and transit improvements. Over the past year our staff has been working to address various transit alternatives to alleviate traffic congestion. One such proposal is the establishment of a Tri City Trolley. Currently Hallandale Beach has three minibuses and is applying for a fourth route to service our community. Aventura also has a mini bus system. These two transit systems link at the Aventura Medical Center. These routes have both been successful and have seen an increase in readership over the past year.
   Hallandale Beach, Aventura and Hollywood are all unique in that we all have centers that have become major regional attractions. Hallandale Beach is home to two gaming centers, Aventura is home to a major shopping venue, Aventura Mall and Hollywood is developing Young Circle as a hub for dining and entertainment and the arts.  We proposed linking all three cities by means of a trolley system that would run along Dixie corridor from 9 a.m. to 12. The utilization of Dixie corridor will make it possible to keep headways no more than 15 minutes.
   The initial cost to establish the system would be 575,000 for busses with an estimated operational cost of $748,000 annually.  Staff has evaluated six funding mechanisms which could contribute to the creation and sustainability of the system. The Florida Department of Transportation offers a public transit service development program which provides discretionary grant funding. Maximum funding for each project is $300,000. Broward County Transit Department provides funding for community bus systems. While these funds are strained many cities have discontinued their minibuses. We are optimistic that the funds could be acquired due to a decrease in service providers.
   There would be other softer dollars that could contribute and benefit the trolley. These funds could come from Chamber of Commerce participation, business participation and advertisements. In the event any portion of the funding cannot be acquired our cities can enter into a    Tri party agreement to provide gap funding.
   After staff's presentation it was agreed by both commissions to authorize a joint in-house study to investigate the feasibility of the proposed Tri City Trolley. City Manager Good was also authorized to approach Aventura to participate in the program. Once the feasibility study is concluded it will be brought back to our commissions with a program of operations and the funding recommendations.
   We continued on the topic of transit. As I mentioned earlier the City of Hallandale Beach has a mini bus system with one route that provides access Mardi Gras Gaming. Our city proposed that we do in interconnection similar to that of Aventura between our cities running towards Young Circle. Hollywood’s trolley service runs only during season currently. We proposed partnering with their existing service or extending our system directly to Hollywood circle. This concept was also approved by both commissions and we directed city staff to work together to determine an optional connection point for the two systems or make the necessary changes required to make the connection.
   The last topic that involved traffic was the discussion of partnering with the City of Hollywood through the local synchronization of the signalization on the US 1 corridor. Approximately 6 months ago we reviewed the final draft of our traffic study. During that meeting we made three goals our top priorities. The first one I requested was to implement our own traffic signalization program. The system is proposed to be a wireless camera system that would interconnect at our Police Department and give our officers the ability to control the signalization and manage traffic.  Our staff has been in the process of evaluating the various interagency partner ships that we would have to enter into to facilitate this project.
   As we move forward within the City of Hallandale Beach we also realize that traffic does not stop at our borders. We requested Hollywood partnering with our community and interconnect the system. Both commissions agreed that they would work together to implement local synchronization along US1 corridor. We also discussed encouraging the County commission to partner with our objectives and understanding the implications of casino gaming our traffic patterns. We also directed staff to look at various funding mechanisms including county gaming revenues.
   The next topic that was discussed was brought forth by both city managers. Every city throughout our state has been faced with the Amendment One tax cuts and the statutory roll back cuts in our budgets. Every city manager and commission are rolling up their sleeves to address these major funding shortfalls and bracing for possible continued reductions with the proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot in November. All cities have been looking at hiring freezes, layoffs, shortening of work schedules, privatization and a litany of cost-saving measures.
   After meeting together our city managers agreed that there would be other ways in which we could address these budget costs. One method would be the pooling of personnel resources to address staff shortages. We also discussed looking at joint city celebrations as a way of cutting costs while maintaining services.  Both commissions agreed that every alternative cost-saving measure should be on the table and evaluated.
   Another topic that we discussed that has been on every residents mind is water and wastewater issues. Every city has been required to propose a 10 year water supply work plan to address the long-term demands on our water supplies. On April 7 our city adopted on first reading our comprehensive plan which has been sent to the South Florida Regional Planning Council and then will be sent to the Department of Community Affairs for comments and possible amendments.
  As part of our plan we need to address saltwater intrusion. Currently we have two wells that are not impacted by saltwater intrusion.  These two wells could be impacted by intrusion. It could happen many years from now, within the 10-year scope or not at all.  As part of the planning process we evaluated relocating these two existing wells away from the current well fields.  There are two proposed locations to relocate the wells. One is Pembroke Park and the other at Orangebrook Golf Course which is in Hollywood city limits. 
  We requested that the Hollywood commission grant Hallandale Beach the opportunity to work with their staff and evaluate the possibility of moving our wells. We also updated the commission on the discussion of possibly purchasing wholesale water from the city. Hollywood city commission was amenable to these discussions and we directed staff to work with the utilities director and evaluate all possibilities.
   I will continue with the summary of this special joint meeting in next week’s Sun Times.

 Ask the Mayor:  During the summer why do we not have twice a week garbage pick up?
The city of Hallandle Beach does offer different levels of trash services. When I moved here with a child in diapers 17 years ago, I was shocked with the once a week service. The commission created a fee structure that allows residents to order the service they want to fit their needs and keep cost down.  The basic service is once a week. You can add a day. You can also add a can. You can also order a smaller can if you have difficulty moving the large conatainer. Please visit our web site for all our services and costs.

GREEN TIP: You can save at least 1100 pounds of CO2 per year by cutting your garbage by one half a bag per week,

   As always please feel free to contact me at any time with your questions and concerns.
I can be reached at office # 954-457-1318, pager #1-888-970-9963, home #954-457-7799 or e-mail at www.MayorJoyCooper.com.