South Florida transit issues and govt. agencies relative usefulness

It's been mentioned more than a few times to South Beach Hoosier by recipients of his emails, that he ought to strongly consider using parts of those past emails as building blocks to buttress certain public policy points he's tried to make in the past on the blog.

Up 'till now, I've largely resisted the urge, but today, I thought this one might actually be of enough interest to you all to make posting it worthwhile, so that you might learn what I've learned about some Florida government agencies that are part of the planning process governing transit, but which rather than taking a pro-active approach and being an example of good management -aren't.
It's an excerpt of an email to Gabriel Lopez-Bernal over at Transit Miami, one of the most influential blogs in South Florida for a reason, even if I don't necessarily share their political viewpoint on an everyday basis. But even when I disagree with what they say, there's usually something to be learned.
__________________________________________________
Dear Gabriel:

Started this email last weekend but decided to wait 'till after Memorial Day to send it along.
Earlier this week, I watched the WGN-TV noon newscast and saw their up-close camera shots of the CTA derailment the same day it happened, and also saw how damn impressive the neighborhood Chicago Fire/EMT response was -one minute.

People living in the immediate neighborhood said that in riding the El the day before the accident, the track seemed "loose" in the same exact spot as where the derailment took place. Can't vouch for whether that's a fact or someone saying something provocative to get attention.
(Temps were in the mid-50's, so unlikely a joint/heat expansion problem.)

The top CTA administrators are really angry because this is the third one since April 21st, and it occurred while the CTA is waiting to hear how much money the state legislature in Springfield is going to give the CTA.

Dave
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Saturday May 30th, 2008

Dear Gabriel:

From my perspective, long story short of this latest Minneapolis Star-Tribune account of policy and process under a legal microscope after a disaster: there but for the grace of God goes the Sunshine State.

I strongly suggest you run a link to this story at your Transit Miami blog so that folks around the state, with an interest in transit and public policy, might be able to read this for themselves and imagine how this'd be handled here.

Frankly, though I've written about transit issues, esp. as they apply to Broward County and the SFECC, as well as the Broward County Charter Review Comm., it just seems a much more natural fit for your blog than mine at South Beach Hoosier or Hallandale Beach Blog.

The insightful Star-Tribune reader comment below about the DFL-friendly law firm being brought in by the MN state legislature to try to undermine NTSB results, sounds 100% plausible to some savvy, politically-connected Dem friends of mine up there, who are rarely wrong about this sort of thing. (As opposed to their sports analysis and predictions!)

Maybe it's just me, playing the role of cynic, but I can totally picture both Dan Gelber and Steve Geller trying pull something like that off here, too, perhaps with Ron L. Book involved for good measure, too.
You know him, he likes to be a 'party' to everything important -sometimes against even himself.
Just something to think about.

(Also, in case you've forgotten, the Republican Nat'l. Convention will be at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul the first week of September, exactly one week after the DNC is held in Denver.
Do per the article below, expect a spate of stories on the 35 W bridge come August, right after the Olympics in Beijing.)

As I mentioned to you recently when you gave me a call, in the near future, I'm planning on querying the FDOT Secretary, Stephanie Kopelousos, and find out whether or not she's EVER planning on being somewhere in South Florida where citizens, esp. those with an interest in transit, like you and me, can actually ask her some non-softball questions, rather than the sort of convivial industry forums, govt. official-only chat fests or ASCE events that her agency seems to prefer.

For instance, take a look at what I found when I checked the archives of the Gold Coast Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers at http://www.itegoldcoast.org/events.html

Curious what you'd find when you go to the link at the bottom, titled, The State of Transportation in Broward County? I was.
(The URL is http://www.itegoldcoast.org/PDF/ASCE-FES.pdf in case the link below is dead when you go to it.)

Answer: An invitation to their New Year's Eve Italian Dinner Party!
On January 12th.

To her credit, in a new and very fair-minded Florida Trend profile of her by Cynthia Barnett, Kopelousos claims that she's anxious to change the way things are done at FDOT, and bring them firmly into the 21st century.

(But the article also points out her weaknesses, the most obvious being her non-engineering background, which, apparently, has always been a predicate for the top FDOT job.)

Those positive qualities notwithstanding, where's the proof that this is resulting in any tangible positive changes for South Florida? http://floridatrend.com/article.asp?aID=49017

While I appreciate that more than most state agencies, FDOT is, necessarily, decentralized, in my opinion, despite her short tenure and clear aptitude for hard work and long hours, given the sheer amount of hard work that's required down here, I think she's got a lot to answer for. Not least of all, being practically M.I.A. for South Floridians like you and me -and the folks who read our blog posts, here and around the state.

So where's the interaction with taxpayers who aren't engineers and public officials?

(As it happens, I think I actually ran into Kopelousos a few times while I was up in Washington and she was working for the late Rep. Tillie Fowler, whom I always found to be a real straight shooter, just like Rep. Charles Bennett had been earlier for the Jacksonville area when I moved to DC. http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/cebennett.htm )

The other day, largely as a result of the foolish actions in Miami regarding the Miami River, and the common sense of the Charles Lewis commentary, If the Miami River is really dead, why do the bridges go up? http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/080522/story-viewpoint.shtml

After reading that, I decided it was about time I made plans to attend the next meeting of the South Florida Regional Planning Council. http://www.sfrpc.com/

Well, turns out that it's Monday at their Hollywood HQ.
So naturally I was curious if they'd put up an agenda for Monday on their website, since the meeting was Monday, the next day they were open.
Maybe get familiar with any staff reports in pdf., so I can better follow the proceedings while I'm there.

Do I really even have to tell you that when I pulled up the web page that was supposed to have agendas, it was largely blank. (At least as seen on my computer.)
Or that their website itself seems like it was put together by not-too-bright ninth-graders?

Call me old-fashioned, Gabriel, but that's really NOT my idea of proper planning.
It's also NOT my idea of wisely spending taxpayer dollars, either.

Trust me, I'll make a point of mentioning all these things at the meeting.
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http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/19133569.html

Minneapolis Star-Tribune
MnDOT missed opportunities to note bridge flaws, study finds
By Mike Kaszuba, Star Tribune
May 21, 2008

Reader comments are at:
http://ww2.startribune.com/user_comments/comments.php?d=asset_comments&asset_id=19133569&section=/politics/state

Upcoming FDOT meeting in Hollywood re U.S.-1 improvements

Though this is a FDOT meeting, it may also be my best early chance in 2008 of dropping some heavy lumber on the City of Hollywood and it's phony claim to being a "transit-oriented" city, by laying some disturbing but true facts on the assembled FDOT officials, and watching their reaction. And the audience's.

My prediction, three weeks prior?
Well, the FDOT officials will initially feign surprise, but the audience will nod in agreement.
And wait 'till I lay into the FDOT officials about all the bad/missing signage on major Hollywood byways, which could hardly be more obvious.
For instance, at the intersection of west-bound A1A and Hallandale Beach Blvd., the dividing line on A1A between Hallandale Beach and Hollywood.
That's when the buck-passing will begin in earnest!
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http://www2.dot.state.fl.us/publicsyndication/default.aspx?location=publicmeetings_district4

FDOT To Discuss Improvements to U.S. 1 in Hollywood

District: Four

Meeting Type: Meeting

Date: Thursday, January 10, 2008

Time: 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Location Name: Fred Lippman Multi-Purpose Center

Street Address: 2030 Polk Street

City: Hollywood, FL 33020

Directions: Directions to this meeting site

Purpose: The Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT) will hold a plans to complete the following improvements on Federal Highway/U.S.1 from north of Young Circle to south of Sheridan Street:

Mill and repave the existing pavement;
Upgrade sidewalks;Improve isolated drainage locations;
Upgrade roadway signs within the project limits;
Install pedestrian countdown signals at all signalized intersections;
Install video detection for all traffic movements at all signalized intersections;
Place new landscaping throughout the project limits;
andInstall irrigation system for existing and proposed landscaping.

Construction is expected to being in spring 2009 and to be completed in approximately one year. The expected construction cost is $2.4 million.

Representatives from FDOT will be available at this meeting to answer your questions and listen to your concerns.
The meeting will have an information openhouse format. No formal presentation will be made.

Public participation is solicited without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability or family status.
Persons who require special accommodations under the Americans with Disabiliities Act or persons who require translation services (free of charge) should contact the project manager listed below at least seven days prior to the meeting.

Primary Contact: James Hughes, P.E., Project Manager
Primary Phone: 954-777-4419
Primary E-Mail: james.hughes@dot.state.fl.us

Additional Contact: FDOT District Four Public Information Office
Additional Phone: 954-777-4090
Additional E-mail: barbara.kelleher@dot.state.fl.us
Expires: 1/11/2008

"MIA got luggage carts when?" as my response to latest South Florida transit woes

An email I sent out a few minutes ago:


Dear Gabriel and Transit Miami:

Per Larry Lebowitz's insightful article about the latest "only in Miami" controversy, around the North corridor of the extension of the Metrorail -something the Herald neglected to mention when discussing the issue of the U-M's move to Chez Huizenga- and your good take on the situation which I read just a few minutes ago,
http://www.transitmiami.com/2007/11/could-north-corridor-be-threatened-by.html

"MIA got luggage carts when?" is going to be my new generic response to how things can be the way they are in South Florida.

For instance, the Herald suddenly discovering that there are no general interest bookstores within the City of Miami city limits.

Luggage carts at MIA? That happened like, what, just 4-5 years ago???

When I was still living the Beltway Life up in Arlington, and could get a luggage cart at the Washington Reagan National Airport Metro exit, just seconds after going thru the farecard taker.

Don't quote me on this, but I think they had luggage carts at Le Bourget Airport in Paris when Charles Lindbergh landed in 1927.




Come on, you know how long it takes for all the good ideas to finally make their way to Miami!

I'll be scanning some of the docs from the recent Broward County Transportation Forum I attended onto my site in a day or two, along with my thought on what happened, and perhaps more importantly, what didn't happen and what wasn't asked by the transportation powers-that-be.

By the way, within the past two weeks, somebody, FDOT perhaps, finally trimmed down the overgrown shrubs that completely obstructed the flashing amber signal and sign on eastbound Hallandale Beach Blvd./SR 858 warning, "Draw bridge ahead."

You know, the bridge that had a little old lady making like Superman, going "Up, up and away" 2-3 years ago, much to everyone's horror and amusement on the 6 p.m. local news when she said that she was just walking and minding her own business, when...

Yes, THAT one.
The one that I've been snapping photos of since last Christmas and putting on my http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/ site.

It only took the better part of the year to accomplish.
Your tax dollars NOT at work.



South Beach Hoosier photo taken at 1:00 a.m., Wednesday May 30, 2007

South Beach Hoosier photo taken at 12 noon, Middle of October 2007

As for the upside down Hurricane evacuation signs on A1A since last year?

Upside down hurricane evacuation sign on A1A at 1800 S. Ocean Drive, south of
Hallandale Beach Blvd., in front of The Related Group's Beach Club.

South Beach Hoosier photo taken May 29th, 2007

Well, that's a different story.
The same ol' story!

Adios!
Dave
http://www.southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/
http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

Thoughts on the Broward County Transit Summit

My comments today on last week's Broward County Transit Summit -held at the Broward Convention Center at Port Everglades- follow the great spot-on analysis by the Herald's Larry Lebowitz in Monday's paper, and the one in the Sun-Sentinel -a very cursory review with numerical mistakes- by Michael Turnbell and Scott Wyman.
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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/279741.html
Miami Herald
Broward transit stuck in low gear
October 22, 2007
by Larry Lebowitz

The scene must have seemed all too familiar to the 200 transportation professionals, elected officials and civic leaders who gathered with a smattering of regular folks last week at the Broward County Convention Center.
They assembled for the latest ''summit'' to ponder Broward's mass transit future -- or, more accurately, the lack thereof -- for a community of 1.7 million residents today and another 700,000 expected by 2030.
Outgoing county Mayor Josephus Eggelletion, who campaigned against last year's penny sales tax for transportation, asked the assembly to break into small brainstorming groups.
They yielded many substantive, if all too predictable, short- and long-term solutions. Many mirrored the big wish list from the sales-tax campaign that only garnered 38 percent of the vote last fall:
• Develop passenger service on the Florida East Coast rail corridor.
• Buy more buses -- and run them more frequently -- to attract more riders.
• Improve service on the east-west corridors that feed into the burgeoning north-south corridors on U.S. 441, U.S. 1 and State Road A1A.
• Synchronize traffic signals (which really will help single-occupant vehicles more than transit, but we'll let that slide because, frankly, they're right).
Plenty of common sense was flowing in the room. Several tables wanted to link countywide or regional land-use plans with future transit needs. Others wanted to make it easier for municipalities to widen sidewalks and erect bus shelters to reward current transit customers and attract new ones.
But ultimately what they were really clamoring for were two vital things: leadership and money.

LEADER NEEDED

Public transportation in Broward, they said, needs a champion, a political leader willing to look beyond the boundaries of his own district and with a vision that extends far beyond the next two- to four-year election cycle.
If that champion actually exists, he or she needs to build a consensus across a thicket of diverse economic, civic, age, ethnic and municipal boundaries, making a case for the community to tax itself -- and in the process, qualify for billions of matching federal and state dollars needed to build and run a transit system.
''It was déjà vu all over again,'' Jim Cummings, the Fort Lauderdale construction magnate who led the unsuccessful sales-tax campaign, said after last week's summit. ``Everybody pretty much said the same thing: We need leadership. I hope that commissioners realize all these people were talking about them.''
Broward's population is larger than many major U.S. urban areas. Its roads are already at or beyond capacity and there is very little vacant land remaining between the ocean and the Everglades. The inevitable result: more motorists on virtually the same roads.
And for a county of its size, Broward is running a relatively tiny bus operation.


Consider that Broward County Transit serves a community with roughly 100,000 more residents than Tri-Met, the three-county authority that serves greater Portland, Ore., and 100,000 fewer than the King County Metro serving greater Seattle.
Broward County Transit: 240 buses, zero trains, 900 employees.
Tri-Met: 623 buses, 87 trains -- and rapidly expanding, 2,650 employees.
King County Metro: 1,335 buses and trolleys, 4,300 employees.

Sure, they're vastly different places. Portland and Seattle came of age before World War II -- when downtowns were the economic, cultural and commercial hubs of their regions.
Broward, by comparison, is the epitome of the post-WWII car-centric uber-suburb still searching for its own identity. Jobs, shopping, entertainment and cultural centers are scattered across the landscape from Deerfield Beach to Hallandale Beach in the east and from Coral Springs to Miramar out west.


BUILD CONSENSUS

Broward County Transit Director Chris Walton is hoping that last week's summit will spawn dozens of continuing community conversations over the next 18 months, building consensus from the ground up, for a concrete list of projects that a sales tax would pay for. The next forum is set for Nov. 13 in Pembroke Pines.
''Without a dedicated funding source, we're not going anywhere,'' Walton said.
Don't look to the incoming mayor, Commissioner Lois Wexler, to champion a transit tax. Wexler made it very clear: She isn't going to accept, much less campaign for, a plan that doesn't have complete community buy-in.
Even if it does get to the ballot, it probably won't be approved, given the current climate. Some high-growth Sun Belt communities need three or four tries before congestion gets so bad that wary voters are finally willing to tax themselves.
Homeowners clamoring for property-tax and insurance relief probably aren't in the mood to further tax themselves.
And while the region is getting younger, a large segment of Broward politics is still dominated by the elderly and condo associations. How do you convince seniors who came here for sun, fun and cheap living in their fixed-income golden years to vote for a tax that probably won't bear much real fruit while they're still around?
Which means there may be more ''déjà vu all over again'' transportation summits in Broward's future.
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South Florida Sun-Sentinel
SUMMIT GATHERS MASS TRANSIT IDEAS
October 17, 2007
by Michael Turnbell and Scott Wyman


Fort Lauderdale
What should be done to improve mass transit in Broward County? About 100 elected officials, planners, consultants and residents asked themselves that question Tuesday at Broward's first transit summit.
Buses and trains need to run more often. They need to be safe and reliable. And they need to go where people live and work.
Mass transit plans must be forward-thinking but reflect what residents and users want, not political agendas.
"It ought to be about what the community wants to achieve," said County Mayor Josephus Eggelletion. "People are smart enough to tell us what they want."
With a population of about 1.8 million, Broward's mass transit system lags behind comparable metro areas. Broward County Transit has 240 buses vs. Seattle's King County Metro, which has more than 1,300 buses. Dallas has 604 buses and 103 rail cars. Portland, Ore., has 623 buses and 87 rail cars. Miami-Dade County has a fleet of 751 buses and 104 rail cars.
What do the other metro areas have that Broward doesn't? A dedicated source of money such as a sales tax that pays for operations, said William Millar, executive director of the American Public Transportation Association.
Without it, Broward's system has little chance of growing or attracting new riders.
"You can have the best plan in the world, but if the money isn't there to implement it, it will be all for naught," Millar said.
County officials said future transit summit meetings will be in the evening when more people can attend. The next summit is planned for Nov. 13 in Pembroke Pines. Another will be held Jan. 24 in Fort Lauderdale.
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I wanted to let you know that I'm in the process of finishing a letter to incoming Broward County lower-case mayor Lois Wexler.

Wexler kindly referred to me at last week's Broward County Transit Summit as the 'gentleman in the back' -I've been called worse!- in the beginning of her closing comments, after I'd earlier taken the microphone to speak for my table of seven participants, and publicly noted for all the attendees that one of the biggest longstanding problems with the County is their lack of accountability with the public.

That's perhaps best personified by the fact that, despite my being a person who's serious about public affairs, I didn't find out about the summit until the previous Saturday's Herald, in a story with no byline on page 3 of the Broward/Local section. (See below)

Frankly, I could've zipped right past it if I wasn't quite so attentive, and been none the wiser.
And no thanks to the Sun-Sentinel for not even bothering to write about it until the day before the event, albeit on the front page, above the fold.
Honestly, who needs to sabotage an event's turnout when the people throwing it do such a good job of that themself?

Frankly, because of my own past and wide-array of media friends around the country, print and electronic, I've never been a big fan of 'killing the messenger,' yet the 'awareness' problem I cited was never adequately addressed by either Comm. Wexler or Comm. Eggelletion, the hosts as it were.

The letter I'm writing will be much more critical and more specific than the handful of things of things that I mentiuoned in my email to Commissioner Gunzburger last week, which I sent to you as a bcc on the chance that you attended the summit.

I also hope to have some illuminating photos of the examples I cite, since they're self-evident to even the state/county/muncipalities most ardent transit defenders.

As you'd expect, given what I wrote last week, the examples cited are mostly in Hollywood and Hallandale Beach, but I've seen identical examples in downtown FTL & Miami, on Biscayne Blvd and on Miami Beach, it's just that they're more personally galling to me since I see them all the time because of where I live and recreate.

Believe me when I tell you, I have a specific example of intergovernmental inertia & incompetency that will have all the folks in South Florida who care about transit and transportation scratching their heads, since it will hold a mirror up to a situation that the county and its army of apologists has allowed to exist for years, and for which no good excuses exist.

As it happens, I spoke to dozens of people at the summit last week about this particular topic, and got the same dazed look/shoulder shrug that's become endemic in public circles down here for the past 30 years when the public finds out -again- about how abysmally low the level of personal and professional accountability is here

It's roughly on the same level of counter-intuitive brainpower that caused FIU to say no to having the Metrorail come towards campus last year.

Since last Tuesday, I double-checked some of last year's posts at CriticalMiami to be sure the devastating article Larry Lebowitz wrote about the FIU debacle matched my recollection of it, and I was pleased that their posts confirmed it.

Once I've got the letter to Wexler and her colleagues finished -with lots of cc's & bcc's to other very interested parties in South Florida & Tallahasse- I'll be posting it to my blog so that others can publicly ponder what the real level of desire is to solve genuine transit problems, and what's so embarrassing because of it's longstanding nature, that some would prefer to imagine that it doesn't exist
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Miami Herald
FORT LAUDERDALE: Public invited to county's transit summit
October 13, 2007

Finding ways to alleviate Broward County's traffic congestion will be the topic of a transit summit on Tuesday. The summit will be from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at the Broward County Convention Center, 1950 Eisenhower Blvd., Fort Lauderdale. Parking is free and public participation is encouraged.

"This is the first in a series of public meetings that will take place countywide over the next two years," Broward County Mayor Josephus Eggelletion Jr. said in a press release. "We will engage local, regional and state officials, business and community leaders, residents and transit riders in a discussion that will eventually lead to a master public transportation plan."

William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association, will be the keynote speaker, providing a national perspective on public transportation.

Presentations will include information from the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Florida Department of Transportation, Broward County Transit, Miami-Dade Transit, Palm Tran, South Florida Regional Transit Authority (Tri-Rail), and the Regional Planning Councils. Roundtable discussions will provide a forum for attendees to voice their concerns, ideas and recommendations.

On Tuesday, the County Commission will not meet for its regular session and will conduct a joint workshop with the Metropolitan Planning Organization about transportation issues at 10 a.m. at the Convention Center.
For more information, call 954-357-8355.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbsummit1015nboct15,0,6102052.story
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Broward asks public for suggestions on fixing mass transit
By Michael Turnbell
October 15, 2007

What do you think of mass transit in Broward County? What would you do to fix it? And are you willing to pay for it?

Billions could be spent putting commuter trains on the Florida East Coast Railway through the county's coastal downtowns, building an east-west light rail connecting the western suburbs to downtown Fort Lauderdale and the airport, and creating a countywide network of rapid transit bus routes with limited stops.

The reality is that none of it will get built without a consensus or huge financial commitment from county taxpayers.

With those questions in mind, Broward County officials are hosting a transit summit Tuesday to address what should be done.

The summit will be the first in a series of countywide meetings over the next two years with residents, business leaders, elected officials and transit riders to come up with a master public transportation plan.

While mass transit will be the focus, County Mayor Josephus Eggelletion said the summit will be open to any suggestion about improving the way commuters get around the county, such as synchronizing traffic signals. The meetings also would be used to educate residents on the complexities of transportation funding and just how bad congestion will get if nothing is done.

"We, as elected officials, might have our own ideas about what should be in the plan but unless the general public buys into it, it won't happen," Eggelletion said.

The county's timing is crucial. In 2009, Congress will begin reauthorizing the next six-year transportation spending bill.

The federal government currently pays up to 50 percent of the construction cost for new mass transit projects. But even to get in line for money, state and local governments must have a dedicated funding source in place to pay for the other half as well as cover operating costs. Local governments also must demonstrate to federal officials that a project will attract enough riders to justify the expense of building it.

Broward already has a long-range transportation plan that prioritizes projects to be built over the next 20 years. The plan, which is updated every three years, is approved by the Metropolitan Planning Organization, a 19-member voting body that includes county commissioners, city representatives and the Broward School Board.

The group meets monthly, but few from the public attend.

Some mass transit projects have struggled to win acceptance from the community.

In November 2004, the organization approved the route for a proposed east-west light rail that would send trains along Northwest 136th Avenue, Interstate 595, State Road 7, Broward Boulevard, Andrews Avenue and U.S. 1.

But Eggelletion, who is a member of the planning group, has been sharply critical of the idea. He said residents along the route don't want it, either.

State officials already have shifted the western leg of the line to run through a business park instead of along 136th Avenue, because of residents' opposition.

In November 2006, Broward County voters overwhelmingly rejected increasing the sales tax from 6 to 7 percent to improve mass transit.

Voters didn't buy into the transportation tax after county commissioners said they wouldn't be bound to honor the list of transit projects they endorsed several weeks before the election.

Key business groups lobbied heavily for the sales tax increase. But the campaign lacked widespread public support from residents and neighborhood groups.

Eggelletion said many people in his central Broward district, whom he described as the most likely in the county to use mass transit, didn't know the issue was on the ballot.

"That's where the past initiative failed," Eggelletion said. "It was really well-intended, but it failed to get people involved. It has to be more than just the business community."

Michael Turnbell can be reached at mturnbell@sun-sentinel.com, 954-356-4155or 561-243-6155.

Ocean Drive & Indiana Street, Hollywood Beach

Admittedly, the IU campus at Hollywood Beach isn't much to shout about, yet, but South Beach Hoosier has big hopes...

Photo, late March 2007

Note that the FDOT-installed street signs are STILL bent from the effects of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma in late 2005.

Unfortunately, most of the corner street signs on A1A from north of Hollywood Blvd. up to Sheridan are bent, some severely, and in some cases, such as the directional signs located in the median for popular streets along the beach, like Johnson Street to name the most obvious example, they are bent so much -almost 90 degrees- that they are unintelligible to visitors.

If someone over at Hollywood City Hall was paying attention to this sort of thing. Or perhaps the Hollywood CRA. But well, you know how it is over there. It's only been 17 months or so...