The Hollywood City Commission met on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, at 1:11 PM in City Hall, Room 219, 2600 Hollywood Blvd. The meeting included consent agenda approvals, presentations, public hearings, and extensive discussion on the future of Hollywood Beach, particularly the Hollywood Beach Hotel property and a feasibility study for zoning changes. Commissioner Adam Gruber was absent. The meeting adjourned at 7:45 PM.
All right, good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to City Hall and the City of Hollywood. Today is Echo Day. I hear an echo. Today's uh March 25th, 2026. Uh we're here for a regular city commission meeting, although as we always like to say, there's never a regular meeting because there's always important and exciting and um impactful uh substance on the agenda. Uh today is no different. And so before I ask everyone to rise for the Pledge of Allegiance, I would like to extend a moment of privilege to Commissioner Quintana. We all uh all of us as a community lost the great special friend, our good friend Frank Leonardi. And uh Idelma would love to reflect uh about Frank, uh remember him, and uh if anyone would like to join her in some comments on the dais or off, we invite you to do so as well. Thank you so much, Mayor. I think that um probably many people in the room today and perhaps many people at home have at some point come in contact with Frank Leonardi. I'm not sure what it is. Frank and I uh worked together at uh Broward County with Commissioner Fur for the last almost twelve years, and we really got to know each other well. But everyone up here on the Dais has stories to tell about Frank's influence on their life, and um I'll tell you we're all gonna miss him. But uh I'm Arlene, if you would just show who we're talking about. Um this is Frank. Uh Frank Frank was 97 years old when he passed away about two weeks ago. And he uh worked until about six months ago. This man lived a full life. He was such a big presence at Rotary. Uh if you go to the library, he was always there. His you can see that he spent time uh and relationship with Commissioner Blatner and with Commissioner Hernandez. I do feel sad that I won't get to be with Frank every day anymore. But there are just so many good memories together. Uh a man so full of joy and brought joy to so many. So his job at the county was really uh uh constituent services. So people with difficult problems in their lives would walk into the library office. And he helped everyone with the same open heart, no matter what their situation was. He didn't judge them, and he just did everything he could to help. Never um letting bureaucracy stand in his way. He had a reputation for uh advocating for residents passionately to the point where um people would do whatever he said just so that he would stop calling and harassing them people on staff. So Frank was a big spirit, uh very much a good man and a good heart, and we have lots of great memories to share of him. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Adama. Great reflection. Uh I I knew Frank uh from when I uh first ran for mayor. Uh he really befriended me and kind of took me in and gave me a lot of guidance along the way. He was politically active in Hollywood for decades, even ran for a city commission, I think in the eighties uh or or nineties. I only knew him for like the past eleven. Um but I know he had a great history uh starting out as family, sir. I was a US veteran, right? Yes, Korea. Korea served in Korea, also owned, I think, a restaurant in the Northeast. Uh before he moved to Hollywood, was very proud Italian American here in the city. Uh gave a lot of his time and a lot of love to the Italian American club here in Hollywood. And all that he Delma said was uh such a great heart, uh a gentleman, always treated everyone with respect and really had that uh old world character to him uh that really stood out. And uh I'm gonna miss uh a really good friend. I I used to tell people I'm going to lunch with my 90-something year old friend because I was so proud of the fact that he was so uh with it as a dumbest that even worked and and would drive and would have his own unofficial parking spot right in front of the library. And thanks to uh everyone, Javon, uh, for accommodating Frank's needs and his uh you know final years where his mobility, you know, started getting less and less.