Market voices: Commissioner’s corner
Heather Moraitis
Vice Mayor City of Fort Lauderdale
We have a tri-rail mobility hub coming to the district at Cypress Creek. The MPO will provide about $3 million of funding to connect that station to the area and local businesses. Construction should begin in 2022. Our executive airport is one of our economic drivers in the area and is located in an Enterprise Zone. This offers a great transportation option and serves as a hub for our businesses in the area. The executive airport and all the surrounding tenants pay around $4 million in taxes each year, making it the city’s second-largest taxpayer. It just implemented a master plan with the goal to invest $55 million in the next 25 years.
One of our major concerns is sea level rise. We’re addressing the issue head-on through essential projects to tackle our vulnerability throughout the city. We are also continuously concerned about affordable housing. To have positive growth and ensure businesses can find employees, we need to make sure that people can also afford to live here, especially now with the crunch that we see and the skyrocketing of the median values of homes. That is going to be a major consideration.
Steven Glassman
Commissioner City of Fort Lauderdale
Robert McKinzie
Commissioner City of Fort Lauderdale
We have championed numerous high-profile projects including the development of a new $15 million L.A. Lee YMCA/Mizell Center, Brics ‘N Stics – co-working space, Smitty’s Wings Restaurant, and construction of new single-family homes within the northwest corridor of the city. Further fostering community engagement, the city has hosted family-friendly special events and entertainment including a series of free concerts at Carter, Provident, and Riverland Parks.
In the middle of the urban core of Fort Lauderdale sits Stranahan House, which was the trading post for Fort Lauderdale at its inception. It’s now surrounded by Downtown growth and development. That is the juxtaposition we think of when thinking about growth. They can exist together and they can add to one another. That is the spirit behind the revitalization of other areas of the city such as Sistrunk. We can bring and celebrate the history and the importance of that community and build upon that by saying that is the foundation from which we will continue to move forward, emphasizing the racial equality that we are striving for, as well as fair policing and equal opportunity. Part of that is not just coming in and replacing, but lifting it all up. Broward College is providing awesome remote-learning opportunities in that area and lifting folks up.
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| Invest: Greater Fort Lauderdale 2021 | CITY OF FORT LAUDERDALE
Ben Sorensen
Commissioner City of Fort Lauderdale
