City commission approves donations, hires designers and hears calls to revive jazz festival; ambulance, parks and housing programs highlighted

The Hollywood City Commission on April 16 accepted a private gift to help finish the Barry University educational space at University Station, approved contractors and design amendments for several major city projects and heard a series of presentations on public health, housing and a proposed revived jazz festival.

Why it matters: Commissioners approved funding and professional services that move several long-running capital projects — Sunset Park, the Hollywood Beach Golf Course work, the new Police Headquarters and redevelopment planning for Washington Park — closer to construction and implementation. The meeting also highlighted public-safety work on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and local strategies for affordable housing and community development.

The vote highlights and major business - Donation for University Station: The commission voted 6–1 to accept a $120,000 donation from the A and F Charitable Fund to help cover increased interior build-out costs for the educational space to be leased by Barry University. Commissioner Hernandez made the motion; Commissioner Clary seconded. Commissioner Biederman voted no while the rest voted yes. City staff said the total city commitment to the buildout had been estimated earlier at $1,600,000 and the gift helps cover cost increases. - Consent agenda: The commission approved the consent agenda (items 5–10 and 12–29) without objection; Vice Mayor Quintana moved and Commissioner Hernandez seconded the approval. - Professional services and design approvals: The commission authorized staff to negotiate and begin contracts with top-ranked firms for several planning and design efforts, including Miller Lehi for Sunset Park master-plan implementation, Placerbia Design for a Washington Park industrial-area redevelopment program, and amendments to existing contracts for environmental monitoring and design services for the Hollywood Beach Golf Course and the Police Headquarters project. Those items passed unanimously. - Land-platted alley vacation: On first reading the commission passed an ordinance vacating a 15-foot platted alley within Hollywood Memorial Gardens No. 4 (7–0).

Public-safety presentation: out-of-hospital cardiac arrest Dr. Randy Katz, medical director for Hollywood Fire Rescue and Memorial Healthcare System’s district emergency services director, briefed commissioners on the city’s HERO program for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and what the CARES national database shows about local survival rates. “Cardiac arrest to me is an orchestra,” Katz said, describing how early recognition, bystander CPR and early defibrillation must work together to produce survival. He said Hollywood’s overall survival rate improved from about 10 percent in 2017 to roughly 18 percent in 2024, with nearly 10 percent surviving with good neurological outcome.

Dr. Katz told commissioners the city underperforms state and national averages on bystander CPR and AED use and urged more community AED training and placement. He noted the Broward County AED ordinance does not require AEDs at all parks and said locations and maintenance are obstacles: “Many of these AEDs are on shelves [and] don't work.” He introduced a survivor, Patrick, a retired city employee, who described being defibrillated multiple times after a cardiac arrest and credited community training and quick EMS response for his recovery.

Community development and housing reports City staff and advisory boards presented annual reports and proposals for federal and local housing and community programs. Ryan Cooten of the Community Development Division summarized a range of federal and state funding streams (CDBG, HOME, SHIP and local interlocal agreement, ILA dollars) and said the division had used entitlement and recovery funds totaling about $13.3 million over five years. Mitch Anton, chair of the Community Development Advisory Board (CDAB), and the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC) offered priorities including housing rehabilitation, eviction prevention and an affordable-housing trust fund. AHAC recommended incentives such as expedited plan review, impact-fee strategies and public inventory of city-owned parcels for potential affordable development.

The Hollywood Housing Authority reported it serves more than 950 families through Housing Choice Vouchers and described plans to convert public-housing properties to HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) and project-based voucher approaches; the authority is working with a private developer on Driftwood Terrace and expects construction financing steps this year.

Jazz festival discussion Parks & Recreation staff outlined options to revive the long-running Hollywood Jazz Festival, proposing either an April or October 2026 event, with estimated first-year costs of about $200,000 for a one-day festival or roughly $300,000 for two days. Rick Engel said promoters and sponsors would be needed quickly to hit an April 2026 timeline. Several residents and nonprofit partners urged a return of the festival, stressed using local talent and the Dillard High School jazz ensemble, and suggested starting modestly in year one and growing the event. Commissioners asked staff to prepare an RFQ/RFP for a promoter, pursue county cultural grants (a Broward County cultural festivals program that had up to $50,000 awards) and explore sponsorship and grant opportunities. Commissioners also discussed whether the ArtsPark perimeter gates (planned fence) and permitting schedule would affect ticketing options and vendor control.

Parks and communications staffing Parks & Recreation introduced Christina Rivero as a new communications coordinator tasked with updating the parks web pages, managing Active Network registration, launching Parks social channels and improving listings on Google/Apple/Yelp. Commissioners welcomed the hire and urged quick rollout of social postings and event calendars.

Transit study: Sun Shuttle and Holly Go Cambridge Systematics presented a city-funded study of Hollywood’s two locally operated transit services — the app-based Sun Shuttle (microtransit, two zones) and the Holly Go fixed-route shuttle (four routes). The consultant reported that riders rate the services as important and generally satisfactory, but recommended reallocating service hours and coverage to match demand, reducing overlap between the microtransit zones and fixed routes, improving the app (multilingual options and a prepaid “wallet”), better signage at new bus stops and a targeted marketing push to increase awareness and downloads. Commissioners and staff discussed routing and connectivity with Tri-Rail, the need for crosswalks at some new stops, and whether county approvals for route changes will permit proposed adjustments.

Process and next steps City staff will return with specific contract negotiations, RFQ/RFP language for festival promoters and follow-up on grant applications. Professional-service agreements approved at the meeting authorize staff to negotiate with the highest-ranked firms and finalize scope and fees. Several commissioners asked staff to pursue rapid outreach and marketing to increase ridership on the city’s microtransit service and to coordinate with Broward County on shuttle routes.

Ending: forward-looking notes Commissioners described the meeting as a mix of project approvals and community-focused presentations. The accepted donation for University Station and the professional services awards are intended to keep construction and planning work moving while staff pursues grants and community outreach to expand volunteer training, housing assistance and arts programming in Hollywood.