Sad days for democracy in Fort Lauderdale

The Fort Lauderdale City Commission voted 4-1 on March 15 to transfer 3.5 acres of city-owned downtown property known as the One Stop Shop to a private company. The reason given was that the city could not provide a safe open space for its citizens at that location due to the restrictions placed by a federal court on controlling homelessness. Two recent court rulings overturned the city’s trespass and panhandling laws for violating First Amendment rights of private citizens.

The commission’s response was to move the land outside the court’s jurisdiction. In exchange for maintaining a private green space, the city allowed a private company, Damn Good Hospitality Group, exclusive rights to the site for 100 years, with plans to build an entertainment complex and Live Nation music venue. Open drinking will be allowed throughout the site until 2 a.m., and despite what the lobbyist claimed in her presentation, the contract calls for a secured boundary around the property.

6.6. No sale of alcoholic beverages shall be made to patrons who are outside of the secured boundaries of the property.

Commissioners used a state statute, 255.065, to dispose of the property in a way that the city charter doesn’t allow. The mayor and at least one commissioner coached the company through the entire “unsolicited” process, paved the way for its bid to be the only one in the final round, and fended off the public throughout the process.

Commissioners fired the city auditor and removed him from the City Hall meeting chambers when he, in a valiant attempt to protect the city, pointed out all of the financial flaws in the contract. It didn’t matter that his position was created by a vote of the people in 2004, after a period of government mismanagement, and that he had faithfully performed his duties for 16 years.

One commissioner said he fired the city auditor because he wasn’t a “strategic partner.” After four years in office, this commissioner has seemingly not read the charter and doesn’t understand the role of the auditor because a watchdog is definitely not a strategic partner. The mayor didn’t understand the role of the auditor either, by not grasping the independent nature of the job. Maybe they all missed the elected official orientation course where someone explains to them what the city charter means.

In the One Stop decision, commissioners held 120 private meetings, made numerous statements in favor of the project and staged two workshops and three hearings. The one thing the commission hadn’t done was to actually read the contract, relying instead on the applicant’s lobbyist to tell them what was in it. While the muzzled public sat silently shaking their heads, the commission completed the final act. It was a breathtaking display of theatrics and willful blindness. Nothing illegal, perhaps, but clearly inconsistent with their oath of office.

To me, it was a very sad day for democracy. Our city charter didn’t anticipate a state law that allows elected officials to transfer property off the books this easily. But our officials like the loopholes in our charter because it gives them wiggle room to create “a more exciting and vibrant city” without being constrained by public consent.

As public space shrinks, we are becoming a more divided city, with doorman buildings, gated communities, and now gated former public spaces.

Make no mistake: The goal of the majority of our city commission is to eliminate common gathering places, “clean up” our city and squeeze out “undesirable” people. This is a frightening prospect, because an invisible force in our city decides what constitutes “clean” and who is “undesirable.” We use the fear of scary people to justify creating safe spaces for “us.” Rooting out the bad is an illusion. Better would be finding ways for us to live together that do not destroy the rights of others.

Fort Lauderdale is moving in the wrong direction. Commissioner Steve Glassman made a point of trashing the Sun Sentinel, with comments ranging from “Chicken Little” to “propaganda by omission” to “tell the whole story.”

As we know from our last federal administration, any time lawmakers try to silence the press through ridicule, watch out. Tyranny is rearing its ugly head. It’s time for reform.

Leann Barber