Tribal Board Holds Community Meeting
By Iretta Tiger
HOLLYWOOD — On March 3 Hollywood Board Representative Gloria Wilson hosted a community meeting in the Hollywood gymnasium.
At the start of the meeting Wilson’s staff gave each Tribal citizen present a folder. Inside the folders was a synopsis of Board projects. Models of phase one and the master plan for the proposed Brighton Bay Resort were also on display for everyone to inspect.
The first announcement of the evening was the sad news that the Tribe no longer has a suite at the Bank Atlantic Center which was formerly known as the Office Depot Center.
Wilson further explained that even though the suite is gone, the Board has purchased tickets for future events but in limited amounts. Tickets will be distributed on a first come first serve basis to tribal citizens only. Tickets for several Hard Rock concerts are also available through Wilson’s office.
The Bank Atlantic Center concert schedule is as follows: April 8: John Hancock Champions on Ice: April 13, Black Eyed Peas: April 22, Cirque du Soleil–Delirium: April 27, Kenny Chesney: April 27, Tim McGraw & Faith Hill: June 4. The Seminole Hard Rock concert schedule is: April 6: Heart, May 7: Alan Jackson.
The Seminole Market Place at the Okalee Indian Village will resume for a weekend each month and are looking for vendors. The dates for the Marketplace are April 15–16, May 13–14 and June 10–11. For more information call (954) 797-5437.
Wilson is sponsoring Dale Carnegie Courses for business training. Several different classes are available such as Leadership Training for Managers and Self-Motivation for Success. For more information contact O’Hara Tommie at (954) 797-5466.
On April 5 in the Tribal auditorium lobby will be a seminar on how design a website. This class is geared toward the small business owner. The class starts at 12 pm. For more information contact O’Hara Tommie.
Looking for something to do with the children? Seminole Okalee Indian Village is sponsoring the South Florida Parenting and Hoffman’s Chocolate Eggstravaganza on April 8–9. The event will take place at the South Florida Fairgrounds Yesteryear in West Palm Beach.
The Board is getting ready to expand is business portfolio with a few big projects.
In June 2006 the Board will open a convenience store on the Hollywood reservation. The location of the store will be at the former World Ford property. The convenience store will also contain a car wash and gas pumps. The store will also be equipped with a generator in case of power loss. Positions are available and applications are now being accepted.
Big plans are being made for the Brighton reservation. The first project will be a Brighton Motel which is planned to be built on the “Industrial Park” which is south of the Cattle and Range Office. The motel will provide 108 rooms, banquet and conference rooms, a business center, restaurant and lounge and overnight parking and facilities for 18 wheelers, RVs and horse trailers. Groundbreaking for the hotel should be within the next six to eight months.
The next project for Brighton is the Brighton Bay Resort and Casino.
Brighton Bay will be a five star resort which will contain approximately 250–300 rooms, a state-of-the-art RV park, a sports complex, an 18-hole golf course, shopping complex, a kid’s center, extended stay housing and more. The project is 3,000 acres which will be on the south end of the reservation which used to contain a parcel once owned by a tribal citizen, the turtle farm, sugarcane fields and pastureland.
Some may think of Brighton as an odd place for a resort but the group who provided studies for the Hard Rock conducted studies for Brighton Bay and the results were favorable.
The project could take up to five years to complete.
A possibility for some of the land accrued for Brighton Bay would be for housing for Tribal citizens. The housing project would contain townhomes for singles or couples, smaller homes for new families, mid-sized homes for slightly larger families and estates for bigger families.
Lot sizes would differ with each area with the estates containing the largest lots at one-and-a-half acres.
Wilson then gave updates on the Land Use and Development Ordinanace of 1992 and the cattle program. She has also set a tentative date for a shareholder’s meeting. The date is June 17 and it will be for Hollywood shareholders.
Wilson then made a special announcement.
“Looking at the Tribe I see Tribal members who have been working for the Tribe for a long time and they have not been recognized; a majority of them are women.” said Wilson. “To show our appreciation for their contribution to the Tribe we’re sending five selected women to San Juan, Puerto Rico to attend a leadership conference.”
The conference will be on March 27–28. Congratulations to those who were selected.
If you have any questions or would like more information about any of the above mentioned issues contact Hollywood Board Representative Gloria Wilson at (954) 97-5584.