South Florida CEO: Mayor Q&A: setting limits

Mara Giulianti is serving her eighth term as mayor of Hollywood. Today, the city is radically different than when she was first elected in 1986. SouthFloridaCEO sat down with the mayor to discuss her priorities for city redevelopment.

SFCEO: What is your top priority for Hollywood?

Giulianti: Right now, the redevelopment of the beach is the most critical. We've got the plans for everything from infrastructure improvement to beautification to business and hospitality recruitment ... to bringing new residential opportunities.

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SFCEO: Are you concerned about the balance between hotel development and residential development on the beach?

Giulianti: The small motels are important to us, [as well as] the large hotels .... We need to make sure that we maintain those places that have been a part of our success. And yet there is a lot to be said for having people of means live on the beach, because they help in the lean times. Those people that live on the beach will hopefully be more likely to eat out on the beach, and as we improve things, they help to keep the economy humming in the off-season.

SFCEO: Will we see more high-rises going up on the beach?

Giulianti: We have no desire to be Sunny Isles. I know that they are raking in a fortune, but that is what they want to do.

SFCEO: Hollywood has no pari-mutuel facilities, so why are you taking a strong position opposing slot machines at those facilities? (The referendum passed after our interview)

Giulianti: We have gambling north, south, east and west .... We are going to have both the burden of the traffic and of our mutual aid agreements [for police and fire services] ... and nobody's offered anything .... We'd be better off, frankly, if there were no other slots other than the Hard Rock.

SFCEO: How has Hollywood changed in the past two years?

Giulianti: We have more personality .... Most people like that. They like fact that you can find restaurants of all different types and different ethnicities. That there's things if you like to stay out until 2 in the morning, there's things if you want to stay out until the crack of dawn.

SFCEO: To many people, Hollywood's redevelopment is taking an inordinately long time. Do you think that perception has hurt the city?

Giulianti: We know where we're going, and it takes longer to get there when you do that. When you look at everything piecemeal, you can be very successful at first, but down the line, does that have the quality of life that you want?