Reservation Celebrates Completion of Town Homes Renovation

By Felix DoBosz

HOLLYWOOD — On May 4, the Housing Department celebrated the completion of the renovation of the Hollywood Reservation Town Homes. The buildings sustained substantial damage when Hurricane Wilma roared through Broward County last fall. It was estimated that about 60 percent of the aluminum sidings blew off, as well as shingles from parts of the roofs.

Work was initially contracted to start last fall, but didn’t really get underway due too low funding concerns until after the hurricane season was over. Construction crews consisting of roofers and carpenters were busy every day getting a little closer to the completion of the ultimate goal of providing Seminole families with a decent and secure place to live on the Hollywood reservation.

These six buildings were originally built more than 25 years ago and house some 40 units. This U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development project provided re-roofing, exterior re-surfacing and painting, plus innovative folksy front entrances type porches with overhangs. Handicap ramps were built to code specifications including handrails, and new sidewalks added with proper drainage.

Additionally, tropical landscaping beautified the surrounding area of the buildings and added that charming upscale look for these old renovated town homes.

Anthony Frank from the Human Resources Departmentdepartment said the opening prayer to those gathered under a spacious white tent with a dozen or so round tables filled with invited guests and friends of the Tribe. Guests lined up for a very nice buffet style lunch and a big celebration cake to get everyone in a celebration mood. After the lunch, invited speakers took turns addressing the gathering from the podium.

Housing Director, Troy Clay introduced the speakers, Chairman Mitchell Cypress said briefly he was proud of the good work completed and thanked Hollywood Council Representative Max B. Osceola, Jr. and Hollywood Board Representative Gloria Wilson for getting the project off the ground, developed and finally completed.

The Chairman also mentioned that the more revenue generated from the casinos, the more properties the Tribetribe can expand upon to build more new housing for more of its citizens.

Hollywood Council Representative, Max Osceola Jr. said: “This was a team effort from all the various departments of the Tribe.”

He added that this place used to be nicknamed “the ghetto,” and said those who used to live here used to feel they were misunderstood and not being taken care of.

“I think this is the first step, and we have to have pride in what we have and with this renovation, it’s its something that any member of the Tribe can come to and it doesn’t stop with housing, it starts with housing and all the other programs working together,” Osceola said. “You know sticks and brick’s is a house, but people make it a home. So that’s what we want to do, have a place we can be proud of, and this is the start right here. I want to thank the Tribal Council, Mitchell and the other council members, for having the vision to expand our lands to purchase new lands to build new houses.

Hollywood Board Representative, Gloria Wilson said: “It’s good to be here today, I have a little history with this place, I used to be with Housing, but also Mitchell and Max were on the housing authority board, we were a separate entity and we use to do a lot of things, but they had the vision to establish all of this. I remember when these units were first built…so I was really surprised when I walked in here today because I remember the way they looked. Everybody’s contribution was important working towards a common goal of providing sound housing for our tribal members.”

Troy Clay said: “It’s an honorHonor to be here today., The vision of the Tribe has been made very clear to me by Max and the other council representatives., Housing is a community priority for the Tribe.tribe. I started as Housing Directordirector February 3rd, so this is like my three month anniversary., so I want to mention to the Chairman and Max and Tribal Counciltribal council that I appreciate the job and so far it’s been very interesting and very busy. Hollywood alone, without mentioning the other reservations, is very demanding, very busy we have a lot of things we want to do here. I want to thank all of the housing staff that worked on this, the Utilities Departmentdept. and other departmentsdepts. and as Max and the Chairman have already mentioned, but especially Pete Russo, Keith Samuels and Kathy Taggi who worked very hard to make all this happen.”