Charter amendment will put CEO in charge of City of Hollywood

In the coming weeks I will be sponsoring a charter amendment that will change the way the City of Hollywood does business by putting a CEO in charge of the city and placing an emphasis on municipal enterprises to generate revenue for the cash-strapped municipality.

This past year, the City of Hollywood had a $20 million budgetary shortfall and has gone to a four-day workweek to save money. Such a measure is short-sighted, ineffectual and a Band-Aid approach to governance. The city also is under public scrutiny for a $28 million dollar loan inexplicably turned grant to the private developer of Margaritaville, a Hollywood Beach resort that opened in 2015 and was touted as an economic boon for the city.

I am proposing that Hollywood, a non-profit municipal corporation, be governed and operated like a for-profit business - and run by a CEO - using the profits to fund city infrastructure, reduce property taxes, increase economic prosperity, create jobs, hire more police, improve community resources and more. The main component of such a governing schematic will entail utilization of municipal enterprises, businesses owned by local governments that provide services and typically generate revenues for local communities.

It's time for us to seriously look into utilizing municipal enterprises as a long-term solution for its dismal financial situation. We’ve got to take the politicians out of the balance sheet equation. They have no concept of sound financial policies and how to run a city in accordance therewith.

Local governments have long operated public utilities and public facilities such as ports, parking lots and airports. Many are now entering fields traditionally dominated by private companies. In Florida, for example, the City of Jacksonville operates its own utility company, the Port of Jacksonville, and community land development enterprises.

Municipal enterprises build community wealth. They generate new local revenues that can be used for countless community-benefitting purposes, and often provide more accountability, transparency, and democratic control than for-profit providers

To get his charter amendment onto the ballot, I will have to collect signatures from at least ten percent of the city’s registered voters spread out over four of the city’s six districts. I exhort my fellow citizens to join me in this important drive to make our city a better place in which to live, work and play.

People from all over the city have expressed support for this amendment. Hollywood voters are sick and tired of the status quo. Finally, they see a light at the end of the tunnel. And that light is responsible government.

If you want to help in making Hollywood a model for cities all across America, contact the author at makethenews@bellsouth.net.