Fort Lauderdale is not perfect.
Critics complain about nightmarish gridlock; a homeless crisis that only seems to get worse; and an ongoing development boom that some warn is only going to make the traffic even more unbearable.
Who wants to be mayor? Five people, including the incumbent, are in the race. Voters will make their pick in the city’s Nov. 5 elections.
Residents got a preview of the rivals during a recent forum hosted by the Fort Lauderdale Council of Civic Associations, where candidates shared their thoughts on several issues, including a new state law that’s forcing a crackdown on the homeless crisis. The forum was moderated by South Florida Sun Sentinel Deputy Opinions Editor Dan Sweeney.
We share some top comments from all five candidates: Kenneth Cooper, an attorney who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2020; Jim Lewis, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor making his 10th run for political office and his second run for mayor; Chris Nelson, a conservative activist and DJ making his first run for office; Barbra Stern, an attorney making her first run for mayor and her second run for office; and incumbent Dean Trantalis, an attorney who’s been mayor since 2018.
The winner will be one of the highest paid elected officials in Broward County. In Fort Lauderdale, the mayor earns $106,200. The salary will rise to $106,920 on Dec. 1 due to an automatic raise that’s been in place since 2020.
Opening remarks
Cooper: “I’m a native Floridian. I migrated from Miami to Hollywood. My undergraduate (degree) is in business administration, which is why I think I’m the most qualified. We all know the same issues: Overdevelopment, flooding, homeless, everything else. We need somebody who can stop the overdevelopment, fix the flooding, fix the homeless. It’s easy solutions and I believe I would be best qualified to be your mayor.”
Lewis: “I represented people in trouble here in this city as a criminal defense attorney for over 30 years. And we are a city in trouble. We need to wrestle this city away from the developers and the big money and the special interests. We can take our city back. The neighbors and residents are going to be in charge.”
Nelson: “My wife and I both live in the city and we love this city. But just since 2020 when we moved into our condo, our costs of living have more than doubled. We’re being squeezed all over the place. And the last thing we want is to be squeezed out of the city we love. I did vote for Dean Trantalis in 2020 because he was standing up to the commission at that time and I thought that was a good thing. But I’ve had some changes of heart since then.”
Stern: “I jumped in this race a little bit last minute, June 14, because I saw where we were in this city. And I know we deserve better. We have had decision after decision made that is not in the best interest of our city. Maybe the developers, but not in the best interest of our city. I could sit on the sidelines and continue to complain or I could be part of the change to make a better Fort Lauderdale.”
Trantalis: “I’m very proud to have been your mayor for the last almost seven years. I’ve been on the City Commission for almost 13 (years) total, first as a District 2 commissioner and now as your mayor. I’m proud to be part of a growing community that’s thriving. I moved here 40 years ago and I saw a different city than we see today. And I’m proud to represent what we have created so far.”
How will you address homelessness with the state’s new ban on public sleeping taking effect on Oct. 1? Sheriff Gregory Tony says he will not jail anyone solely for violating a city law against public sleeping. And the county has not been supportive of setting up a homeless encampment.
Cooper: “It looks like we’re going to close a bunch of schools because we don’t have that many children like we used to have. There is a (spot) for them with air-conditioning, bathrooms, showers and food to accommodate them. It’s an easy solution to a difficult problem.”
Lewis: “We’re going to have an encampment somewhere, folks. It’s going to happen. This law is taking effect Oct. 1. Homeless people have to go somewhere. The sheriff’s not going to take them at the jail. So I suggested we put (an encampment) at the parking lot of the soccer stadium. Let’s put the homeless camp there until we can figure out what we’re going to do. It’s got to go somewhere and we’ve got to take action now.”
Nelson: “We absolutely do not need a homeless encampment. In 2019, this commission relaxed the restrictions on where sex offenders can live in Fort Lauderdale. Since then, Fort Lauderdale has become a magnet for sex offenders. If you go to FDLE, you can see where all the sex offenders are registered. A lot of them are transient. That’s what those tents are. The restrictions on sex offenders needs to be put back in place so we don’t become a dumping ground.”
Stern: “We knew this change in the law was coming. I think the commission put their heads in the sand, was hoping the courts would turn it over. It didn’t happen. So now we’re faced with dealing with it. We’ve had solutions come forward, temporary. Safe parking zones — we need to do something along those lines. Many people are sleeping in their cars. And we owe it to them to find a safe place for them and their children to sleep. It is not ideal. But it’s a start.”
Trantalis: “When I first became mayor in 2018, we eliminated that homeless camp in front of the library. Remember that? We forgot about that. And ever since then, we have been trying every single year to come up with solutions to work with homeless people, find them a home, find them a job. We have spoken with the sheriff. He’s had a change of heart. Perhaps the phone call from the governor helped. And he is now going to work with us to bring the homeless people into a protected area within the county jail in order for us to take them off the streets.”
How has the recent boom in development impacted the city’s residents and economy? What direction would you like to see future development in the city take?
Trantalis: “People are moving here from all over. After COVID, our population spiked. Thousands of young people are moving into our city. We have to figure out a way to accommodate the increase in population. That’s why these buildings are being built. That’s why they’re filling up so quickly. We have a housing shortage. If we put a squeeze on the amount of units available, it’s going to drive the cost of housing even higher.”
Stern: “That’s a really nice way of taking credit for something I don’t think Fort Lauderdale can take credit for. When COVID happened and the governor opened up the state of Florida, people came here in droves. And that drove up the home values. It became a bidding war. People didn’t come here because we’re Fort Lauderdale. They came here during COVID because Florida was open. Now the problem is we don’t really have affordable housing. I don’t think a studio at $2,600 a month is considered affordable housing. We have 1,100 condo units available for sale right now. It’s just too much money and that’s why they’re sitting empty. So we need to adjust the master plan and go back and look and see if we made a mistake 20-plus years ago.”
Nelson: “We’re in one of those condos that’s up for sale because the special assessments and all these other things, it’s just squeezing us. I don’t know where all this affordable housing is. We’ve got to change the City Commission. We need new people in here. We have got to be keeping up with our infrastructure. We need to not green light every single new project.”
Lewis: “I’d like to see a city that knows what it’s doing. We don’t know how to manage anything. We can’t even build a City Hall. We can’t build a police station without (cracks forming). Why is that? Because we don’t know what we’re doing. And we hire a city manager that doesn’t want to live in the city. This city is not run efficiently. We waste money on things like the Tunnel Top (Plaza). We spend more money per capita than any other city in Florida. What do we have to show for it? Crumbling infrastructure. We can’t even keep the poop from coming up out of the ground. We need new leadership in this city.”
Cooper: “We now have all these 35-story buildings and what’s the impact on the economy? Well we just had five restaurants on Las Olas close. I don’t know how to save the Downtowner. I don’t know why they’re going out of business because I’ve paid them a ton of money (said with a chuckle). I’m a native. I never wanted to live in New York City. I’m not for the 500-foot height limit. You do need to amend the master plan with something that’s reasonable to stop all the 35-story buildings. Because I really don’t want to live in New York City.”
Residents are concerned about increasing traffic gridlock. Do you think those concerns are valid? If so, what specific strategies do you recommend to address and mitigate traffic issues throughout downtown and the beach area?
Cooper: “When you started building all these buildings, you should have planned for that traffic. I’ve been to those commission meetings where they come in with a traffic study for a 35-story building and the answer on the traffic study is there will be no impact. The crowd laughed. You have all these developers that should have been paying for parking lots and lighting and all these problems they created. I don’t know where those impact fees go, but it certainly hasn’t gone to the infrastructure.”
Lewis: “You think traffic is bad now? Wait till they open up the Pier Sixty-Six and the new hotel in the convention center and see what it’s like getting around. I used to live in Coral Ridge. I moved downtown because it’s close to work. That’s how I deal with it. I don’t drive anymore. There’s not a whole lot we can do other than stop the overdevelopment on the beach. Stop it downtown. If you don’t make changes, you’re just going to get more of the same.”
Nelson: “Well we were also supposed to be in flying cars right now but that has not happened. Let’s see some flying cars. I can tell you a way to not make it better. Building those two fat towers they’re going to put on both sides of the Dalmar is going to cause a lot of congestion in that area. If they tear up that Las Olas median that’s going to cause even more traffic.”
Stern: “These are critical times and we need to address traffic control. We’ve talked about having a bypass road to the beach. That would improve the traffic flow. The traffic congestion is a nightmare. We deal with it day in, day out. We have a crisis. It’s actually a regional problem. Getting our lights in sync is an important issue (under county control). But stopping the development is critical.”
Trantalis: “A lot of the activity we’re seeing is generated from new construction and commuter traffic. These are commuters that live in other parts of the county that work in our city. A lot of the folks that live downtown in Flagler Village, we’re seeing all these new young people moving into the area. They walk to work. They walk to the grocery store. They have created an urban environment. It’s exciting to see. We do have to talk about commuter rail. It’s going to be very important. And that’s why we need a tunnel. To accept a bridge makes no sense. Let’s not destroy our downtown with a bridge.”
Closing remarks
Cooper: “The reason you should vote for me is foresight vs. hindsight. If you’re going to build multiple 35-story buildings, everybody knew if you hadn’t rebuilt the sewers in the past 50 years — they’re cast-iron pipes — they’re going to blow up. You should have seen that coming. Now we’re (building) a new water plant and no one’s talked about replacing the pipes. So you’re going to send clean water down dirty, nasty pipes. You need to replace the water lines at the same time so we have clean water.”
Lewis: “I just really want to give back. I fought for you at the courthouse. I represented a lot of folks in trouble. And folks, this city is in trouble. And we can blame some of the people that are here. Or we can do something about it and change it at the top. We’ve got to do better than what we have done.”
Nelson: “I know it got a little heated there. But this is about holding these guys accountable. This is how you get things done. I’m a DJ by trade and I’d much rather be having a party right now. This is a city I love. My wife loves it here. I want it to stay what it is and not lose what we’ve got. We don’t want to lose what is special about our city.”
Stern: “It’s really, really important that we gain control over our city. I want to be that person. I’m being supported by our police union and our fire union. First responders know that I will stand up for the community. I will stand up for our first responders. I will make sure that neighborhoods are put first over the developers. We will stop the public land giveaways. We will put the resources where they belong and that is in our neighborhoods.”
Trantalis: “I’m very proud to be your mayor. We began with great challenges at the beginning of my tenure, with COVID and infrastructure problems, things I’ve been complaining about for years. We finally got a chance to do something. Investing over $1.6 billion to infrastructure. That never happened before I became mayor. We have a beautiful $170 million soccer stadium. And we have the Stanley Cup champions right here in our backyard, and we have the IcePlex for everyone to enjoy. I am not looking back. I am not taking our city back. I am taking our city forward. I want to see us be the greatest city in the state of Florida.”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan
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