Leadership is on the ballot in Fort Lauderdale, where voters will decide if the city needs a new mayor.
Dean Trantalis has held the post for seven years and he’s looking to serve a final four-year term.
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“The things that we have done over the last seven years, I wish we could have done faster,” Trantalis said. “When I first became mayor, we had to change the culture in the administration. We had to stop robbing the water and sewer funds and start investing in our communities, and that is what we did. We reversed the trend.”
Flooding and homelessness are two big issues facing people and politicians in Fort Lauderdale.
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Some say downtown, the beaches and eastern communities get attention.
var pymParent = new pym.Parent('fl-ballot-tool', 'https://media.nbcnewyork.com/assets/editorial/national/2024/decision-2024/whos-on-your-ballot/index.html?market=FL', {title: '', parenturlparam: '', parenturlvalue: ''});Candidate Barbra Stern says entire neighborhoods, especially in the west, are being neglected.
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“I am happy that we have got this great economic engine downtown and we are raising money downtown,” she said. “But we have to pay attention to the entire city. When neighborhoods continuously flood and we say, 'We’ll get to you, we’ll get to you, we’ll get to you,' you have neighborhoods that have been waiting 20 years for drains.”
Nasty wastewater discharges spilling into the city’s waterways is another problem residents have dealt with recently.
Underground infrastructure repairs have been made, and more pipes are being installed.
Candidates blame previous administrations, including Trantalis', for neglecting much needed repairs for years.
“We have a history in Fort Lauderdale of not taking care of problems as they come up,” said mayoral candidate Jim Lewis. “We just put them off and we fund these little pet projects to try and make people happy and we neglect basic services that citizens need, that people pay for, and that has got to stop.”
In the downtown area, overdevelopment is what many complain about, saying high-rise buildings are out of place and contributing to the congestion and infrastructure failures.
“Single-family developments and moderate building is going to be fine, but these 30-story buildings are out of control, and there is no green space,” complained candidate Kenneth Cooper. “They build right to the sidewalk, just like New York City.”
The candidate who receives the most votes on election night will win the mayor’s seat.
