City Commission Regular Meeting on 2026-02-03 6:00 PM - Feb 03, 2026

Good evening, everybody. At this point, I would like to make the following announcement. The executive closed-door session of the City Commission is now terminated, and the public meeting is now reopened. At this point, I'm reopening the conference meeting from this afternoon, but I will now call it in recess so that we can begin our regular evening meeting. So with that in mind, I would like to ask Renilah Abrams, first-grade student from Gateway Christian Academy and Oswald Park Play Program, to join me at the podium, ask you all to please stand, and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Hi there. Come on. How are you? Are you Renilah? You're going to say the Pledge of Allegiance tonight? Okay. Come over here. Put your right hand on your heart and speak into the microphone. All right? Don't be shy. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Renilah Abrams. I'm in first grade. I attend Gateway Christian Academy in Oswald Park. Very nice. So why don't you begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republics for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Very nice. Thank you. Picture taking. Can you take your hand down? Yes, please, please. Take your hand down. Is your mom here or any of your family? Dad and mom. Can dad and mom come up here so we can take a picture together? Mr. Mr.? There's mom here. Mom's here. Come on. Come on. One, two, three. Very nice. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. I have a little bit for you. Thank you for coming tonight. All right? Thank you. All right. Thank you. God bless you. Okay, great. Thank you so much. At this point, we'd like to invite you all to share a moment of silence with the commission. Thank you. Before we begin our regular meeting, I want to first take a moment and recognize two retirements from our city staff. These are long-term employees. First, I'd like to recognize Aaron Burke, police officer, who's been with us for 20 years. Thank you, Aaron, for your service to our city. And then I'd like to also recognize James Hughes, who's been in public works as a maintenance supervisor. He's been with us for 28 years. So thank you so much, James. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll. Vice Mayor Herbst. Commissioner Glossman. Here. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman. Here. Commissioner Sorensen. Here. Mayor Trent Ellis. Here. I have a couple of agenda announcements. There's going to be a walk-on presentation that I and Commissioner Glossman will present. And then M3 will be removed from the agenda. Also, CR1, pages 13 to 15 of the CAM, were revised. You should have that in front of you. So I need a motion to approve the minutes and the agenda as amended. So moved. Do I hear a second? Second. Moved and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glossman. Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman. Yes. Commissioner Sorensen. Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst. Yes. Mayor Trent Ellis. Yes. And the minutes and the agenda as amended are now approved. So for those of you who are here for the first time, we welcome you and want to thank you all for being here. I guess the standing room only. We have a lot of exciting things to talk about tonight. But we begin our meetings with presentations. Presentations are normally an opportunity for the city to recognize individuals, organizations, or events that will take place or are about to take place here in our city. And so we begin by, first of all, our first presentation. I'd like to invite Susan Leon, our chief education officer, to recognize Fort Lauderdale's school teachers of the year. They're recipients. We had a special program before the meeting. And we recognize over three dozen teachers and administrators in our school system. And Susan, the floor is yours. Thank you. And good evening. We are so excited on behalf of the city commission and the city manager's office to celebrate the teachers of the year from the schools in the city of Fort Lauderdale. So, as the mayor said, we held a reception earlier and got to individually meet and take a picture with each one. And we are so pleased and excited and happy for you. Congratulations. And we'd like to ask you all to come up for a group photo. Come on up here to the dais so we can take a group photo. Class of 2025. And again, I want to thank the teachers for their outstanding performance and administrators for their outstanding work. And we appreciate all the great things you do to help educate the children here in our city. Okay. Our next presentation, I'd like to invite Commissioner Pamela Beasley-Pittman, who's going to present a proclamation regarding Black History Month here in the city of Fort Lauderdale. Commissioner. And I'd also like to invite Emanuel George from the Old Dillard Museum, as well as David Paulo and Amani Warren from Sistrunk Then and Now. Please join the commissioner up at the podium if you are here. Like each week. Is Emanuel or David or Amani here? Each week, this space gets smaller. Come this way, please. Join me at the podium. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. I'm truly excited tonight to be able to present this proclamation from the office of the mayor. This proclamation is in recognition of National Black History Month. Oh, this is great. I enjoyed this. In recognition of Black History Month, whereas February is recognized as National Black History Month, a time to celebrate the culture, heritage, and contributions of the African diaspora, the city of Fort Lauderdale proudly honors the strength, the resilience, the achievements of black individuals whose leadership and innovation continues to inspire generations. And whereas during the month-long observation, we pay tribute to the legacy of black pioneers whose press provision and sacrifice helped shape our nation's history and progress and whose contributions continue to influence our communities today. And whereas the city of Fort Lauderdale recognized the importance of preserving and sharing black history through education, cultural institutions, and community storytelling that connect past generations with those of today and tomorrow. Whereas in Fort Lauderdale, this commitment is reflected in the preservation of historic Dorsey, excuse me, historic Dillard High School. Efforts that began in 1976 when Mary Smith, a Dillard High School alumni and a former Broward County School Board employee, founded the Black Historical Society to protect significant African-American landmarks and history from being lost. And whereas this preservation efforts led to the establishment of the old Dillard Museum in 1990, its designation on the United States National Registry of Historic Places on February 20th, 1991, and in recent centennial commemorations marking 100 years since the building's construction in 1924, still standing today as a lasting symbol of educational excellence, cultural heritage, heritage, and historical preservation. And whereas Fort Lauderdale retains and commits to honoring its histories, strengthening communities, connections, and fostering respect and opportunities for all its residents, while acknowledging the historical experiences and contributions of black Americans. Now, therefore, as the city commissioners of the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, we do hereby proclaim February 2026 as National Black History Month in the city of Fort Lauderdale, dated this day, the third day of February 2026, signed by Mayor Dean Trantellis. And at this time, I would like to present this to Emanuel, and if you all would like to share, please do so. Thank you. Thank you so much. Good evening, everybody. How y'all doing? All right. All right. All right. I just wanted to, you know, this ain't even about me. This is, you know, about the team and those that's here with me. We all made this happen. You know, it couldn't be anything. This would not be a reality if it wasn't for us as a team. And we got so much more underway. You know, I'm a man of few words, so I'm just going to say stay tuned. Well, good evening, history lovers. Thank you all so much for giving us this proclamation. We are deeply honored. And as the new curator of Old Diller Museum, it is everybody's responsibility in everybody's history. So that is what we do, and that is why we do it. And our exhibition is now located in Terminal 4 in Fort Lauderdale International Airport. So if you're flying by, please, please, please check us out. Thank you. I'm sorry. So I got a couple more to add. So stay tuned. I mean, I didn't say stay tuned. If you're traveling and you're at the Fort Lauderdale International Airport at Terminal 4 between gates G7 and G8, the Cistrunk Denon Now exhibition is there. You know, it is photos of Cistrunk's past and contemporary photos taken by David Paolo. Most of y'all may know him as Shot by Leather. And y'all just stay tuned. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yes. Oh, you want us to stay? Okay. John. John. So I just want to take this moment and point out something. This was a wonderful opportunity for the city of Fort Lauderdale to recognize the African-American history, the black community that exists in Fort Lauderdale and has existed in Fort Lauderdale for many generations. But in Tallahassee, as we speak, there is a bill pending where governments will no longer be allowed to recognize events such as this, not be allowed to sponsor the parade or participate in the sponsorship and festivals, whether it be regarding African-American, whether it be regarding any ethnic group, LGBT group. And the penalties for doing that is removal from office, where any one of us, if any one of us even speaks of promoting or recognizing any of these events or any of these cultural opportunities, this law will now prevent us from doing that. So I encourage you to all speak with our state legislator, Chip Lamarca, give him a call, and tell him how offended you are by something like that and how important it is that every group within our city has the support of its city government and the validation that its government gives to your festivals, to your community, to the museums, to anything that recognizes your special history and your special cultural contributions to the city of Fort Lauderdale. If there's anything that we pride ourselves on in this city is our diversity, and this will be taken from us. This government will no longer be allowed to participate or contribute or even mention the words that we have spoken tonight. So I bring that to your attention, and it will actually also affect the next presentation that we're going to give. So keep that in mind. Chip Lamarca, he's our state representative. Please give his office a call and tell them that you wish he would vote against that bill when it comes before him. Okay? Thank you very much. Our last presentation, it's not on the agenda. It's a walk-on presentation, which myself and Commissioner Glassman will be presenting a proclamation recognizing February 2, 2026, as Tu B'Shavat in the city of Fort Lauderdale. And as Ms. Black, the Deputy Council General of Israel, please join us at the podium and help us in this presentation. Thank you, Mayor. It's a pleasure to have you with us again, Council General's Office of Israel. Thank you. This is a proclamation from the Office of the Mayor, City of Fort Lauderdale, in recognition of Tu B'Shavat. Whereas Tu B'Shavat, also known as the New Year of the Trees, is a Jewish holiday observed on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shabbat, typically falling in February, and has been celebrated for centuries as a time to honor the natural world and humanity's enduring relationship with it. And whereas Tu B'Shavat is rooted in ancient Jewish tradition and is first referenced in the Mishnah, where it marked the beginning of the agricultural year for fruit-bearing trees and established a framework for environmental care and agricultural responsibility. And whereas the holiday occurs at the onset of spring in the land of Israel, when winter rains subside and almond trees begin to blossom, symbolizing rebirth, hope, and the awakening of the natural world. And whereas Tu B'Shavat is traditionally observed through a Seder or ritual meal featuring fruits and nuts native to the land of Israel, including barley, dates, figs, grapes, pomegranates, olives, and wheat, fostering gratitude for the earth's abundance and reflection on sustainable living. And whereas Jewish teachings have long emphasized the sacred obligation to protect and preserve trees and the environment, recognizing trees as symbols of life, wisdom, and continuity, and guiding future generations to safeguard natural resources for the common good. And whereas in modern times, Tu B'Shavat has come to be widely recognized as a festival of environmental awareness, inspiring tree planting and conservation efforts rooted in respect for creation. And whereas Tu B'Shavat serves as a reminder of our responsibility to care for the earth and the life it sustains. Now, therefore, we, as city commissioners of the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, do hereby recognize February 2nd, 2026, as Tu B'Shavat Day in the city of Fort Lauderdale, and encourage all neighbors to recognize this meaningful observance by reflecting on our shared responsibility to care for this earth, honor the natural world, and celebrate the renewal of life and the hope it represents. Dated this, the third day of February, 2026, and signed by our mayor, the Honorable Dean J. Trentalis. Can I say a few words? Of course she does. Can I say a few words? Can I say a few words? Mayor, commissioners, the wonderful people of Fort Lauderdale, it's such an honor to be here for a second time, which is really a mark of the wonderful cooperation that Israel and Fort Lauderdale share for the betterment of both of our peoples, is so eloquently written that Tu B'Shavat, this holiday in Judaism, and the fact that it's marked when most of the world, and even Florida just this week is marking in winter, that at that moment where the trees are bare, it's a moment of faith that the trees will regrow. And after very difficult times, this holiday is so closely related to the fact that we have finally released our last hostage in Israel that's been released for burial. And may it mark that we have the opportunity to continue to grow and for our relationship to continue to be fruitful and to grow in strength for the betterment of the United States, the wonderful city of Fort Lauderdale and Israel. Thank you so much. Thank you. Wait, why don't we move this podium? It's always annoying me. Thank you for coming, and I just wanted to point out we've had a long-time sister city relationship with the city of Haifa in Israel, and I had the opportunity to visit it several years ago and to meet the mayor, and it's great that we keep our relationships going with our friend in Israel. So thank you for being here tonight. Okay, so that concludes our presentations, and tonight we will continue with our regular meeting. And what happens at this time is that the city commission will be asked to vote on our consent agenda items. So in the agenda, you'll see a number of consent items. And I will ask if the commission has an interest in pulling any of the items to vote on them and discuss them separately. And I will start with our vice mayor. Vice mayor, do you have any items you wish to pull? Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? None. Commissioner Glassman? None. And Commissioner Sorensen? None. Okay. Now, since no item has been asked to be pulled by a member of the commission, I do see that one person has signed up to speak with regard to one of those items. So before we get to that, I would ask for a motion to approve all the consent agenda items except CR 5, which is the one that's being sought to be spoken about. So except for CM 5, excuse me, CR 5, sorry, CR 5, do I hear a motion to approve the consent agenda items except CR 5? Moved. Second. Been moved and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice mayor Herbst? Mayor Trentos? Yes. And all those consent agenda items are now approved. You're all welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting. Or since your item is now approved, we want to thank you for your being here tonight. Moving on to CR 5, that's a resolution supporting the submission of a grant application to the United States Department of Transportation for better utilizing investments to leverage development. That's a billed program for the Las Olas Boulevard Mobility, Western Corridor, and Andrews Avenue to Southeast 17th Avenue plan. Chris Nelson, you've signed up to speak. Can't hear you. Can you turn up the volume? I'm not talking about Chris Nelson's. I'm talking about mine. Good evening. All right. Good evening, commissioners. Chris Nelson. And I stand here to oppose this request for funding for the Las Olas Mobility Project. As you are governing against the will of the people by destroying this beloved median and these very healthy, vibrant olive trees. And if we are going to be celebrating two-bed Shabbat, and which would mean the restoration and the preservation of our environment, and I think she did say something about trees, that those trees should remain there. And that by ripping those trees out, you guys would be, as Jesus said, hypocrites. For not doing what you say you're going to do. And you praise, you say big things, but then you turn around and you do things different. And since we're celebrating that holiday, let's remember what God said to Moses in Exodus 23.8. And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous. So if we're not going to be hypocrites, let's listen to what the Lord did say to Moses. So this is a reminder that you guys don't have the money to tear up those trees or plant new trees that none of us want, except for the Downtown Development Authority and Charlie Ladd, of course. They want those. But the rest of us don't want that. And you have to go find funding for this project. Well, I hate to say it, but I hope that... Actually, no, I love to say it. I hope that this request gets turned down because you're governing against the will of the people. You're doing a construction that is going to not cause things to be good for businesses. You say, oh, we're doing it for the sake of the businesses so you can park your Bentleys along the road when you go up to eat at the restaurants down there. You know, but it's going to not help the businesses at all, in fact. In fact, all that construction down there and digging up is going to cause detrimental things to the businesses. Now, I know all the wealthy people sitting on the Downtown Development Authority, they're not waiters and waitresses and those at El Camino or at any of the other places down there, at Louis Bossy. But they think that this is going to be good. It's not going to be good because that whole median there, that whole area is going to be shut down. It's going to be detrimental to businesses. And I ask you, commissioners, what do you want to be remembered for? And I want to remind Mayor Dean of what he said in the Sun Sentinel just last year. Just last year. We have to make changes in baby steps, Trantalis told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. We can't lurch into changing lots solace what the people have enjoyed all these years. The community took a second look and said, wait a minute, we really love these trees. I started walking up and down the street and realized the idea of expanding the sidewalks was more important than the north side and then the south side because the south side already had wider sidewalks. I thought it would be a reasonable compromise. What happened between now and then, Mayor Dean? Thanks. Thank you. So there's no misunderstanding. The Las Olas Mobility Project includes the area from Andrews Avenue all the way to 17th Avenue. The area that was discussed by Mr. Nelson is a small segment of that and there's still money needed for the median that we want to install between Andrews and US-1 and the median we want to install between Southeast 12th Avenue and Southeast 17th Avenue. So while you may have a disagreement with opinions that have been expressed on this dais with regard to the shops area, keep in mind that this grant is not just for the shops, it's for the entire corridor. Anyway, so that having been said, would someone like to introduce the resolution of CR5? Introduced. Introduced. Please call the roll. A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, delegating authority to the City Manager to submit a grant application in the amount of up to $15,400,040 to the United States Department of Transportation for the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development Grant Program for the Construction Phase Funding for the Los Angeles Mobility Western Corridor, delegating authority to the City Manager to execute any and all documents necessary incidental to the grant application and providing for an effective date. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trentos? Yes. And that item is now approved. Moving on to motions. M1, motion approving the increase to the annual construction of the General Stormwater Infrastructure Continuing Contract with various contractors. Someone like to move the item? Moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trentos? Yes. And M1 is now approved. M2, motion approving agreements for request for qualifications, bridge design, and miscellaneous structural engineering services, continuing services contract with various contractors. Someone like to move the item? Moved. Moved and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? I'm sorry. I had a question. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I'm sorry. In regards to the maintenance for the bridge, the background on the bridge, it's slated for full replacement. Is that a build-out or if someone can give me a definition on that, please? So the three bridges identified in the backup have reached their useful life and no longer makes fiscal sense for us to continue to try to maintain these bridges, so we're planning to replace them. Yes. Thank you. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Mayor Trentos? Yes. And M2 is now approved. M3, motion approving a First Amendment to the Microtransit Pilot Services Agreement with Circuit Transit to add service areas and transportation services. That one's removed from the agenda. Oh, I'm sorry. That was removed. Okay. Moving on to M4, motion for discussion, an appeal after the fact the Certificate of Appropriateness for Major Alterations for the Installation of Artificial Turf within the Front Outdoor Seating Area of the Designated Historic Landmark located at 101 South Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard. I have several people who have signed up to speak. Anyone have any questions before we open public comment? Okay. So we have a few people sign up to speak. So basically, this is to put artificial turf in the outdoor dining area in front of, I forgot the name of the restaurant. Cafe Del Mar. Cafe Del Mar. Used to be H2O, right. So I'll call your names in threes. So did you want to say something? Okay. You may be asked questions. So I'll call the names in threes so people can be prepared to step up to the microphone. Vincenzo Padula, Estelle Brennan, followed by William Brown. Is Vincenzo Padula here? You're here to speak for him? Well, okay. Did you, did you, but okay. All right. Why don't you come on up because you've signed up as well. Courtney Crush? Yes, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners. Courtney Crush on behalf of Cafe Del Mar. Cafe Del Mar filed this appeal from the Historic Preservation Board's denial of a certificate of appropriateness to install artificial turf adjacent to the historic facade that is a part of the Los Olos Beach Club condominium. Here we go. I know many of you are familiar with the property and its location and certainly with its history. The Lauderdale Beach Hotel was primarily redeveloped and the Broward Trust for Historic Preservation at the time helmed by then-citizen Glassman ended up obtaining an agreement, a settlement agreement with the related group who was developing the property to designate the facade historic which the City Commission ultimately did at the time and convey to the Broward Trust for Historic Preservation a facade easement over the facade on the east and small portions of the north and south. The property, the area that we're talking about today and this is a copy of the approved related site plan is the paved area outside the former H2O, now Cafe Del Mar restaurant. It was not part of the historic facade. What is also approved outside the front of the Las Olas Beach Club is outdoor dining, awnings, and that shade structure that you see. I actually worked on obtaining the shade structure in front of the historic preservation board in 2020 which it approved. Noting that it was adjacent to the facade, did not touch the facade, and it is constructed. Recently, Cafe Del Mar installed turf, you know, which is removable. It is on top of pavers and that was presented to the historic preservation board. I believe that the board in its review improperly applied the criteria in our code and had some facts that were needed enhancement or are not accurate. First and foremost, it was noted and you may see in the minutes in the board's discussion that several of the board members noted that it looked good but there was no evidence that there had been grass outside there before. Doing a brief review on Google, both of an old postcard of the Lauderdale Beach Hotel from, I think it's 1942, and also some other archives, it appears that in fact, what is under those palm trees running there is a grassy area. So, the board commenting it looks great but it wasn't that way before, would seem to be factually challenged. Where did you dig up this picture? Google. I need to learn to use AI. So, what's the purpose of wanting to put the artificial grass? Let's cut to the chase. What is the advantage of doing it and why should we approve that? Well, I may ask Vincenzo to come up but in terms of the aesthetically, it's pleasing, it's softer to walk on, they're just hard pavers and they're not particularly attractive nor are they old. Okay, all right. Also, I want to note that in the staff report presented to the HPB on January 5th, it was noted on the first page and I know that you have it in your backup that a preservation easement was granted to the Broward Trust. The purpose of the easement was to assist in preserving and maintaining the facade structure as stated in the easement. Quote, repairs of a material nature, restoration and alterations are subject to the prior approval of Broward Trust for historic preservation. The trust testified it had not been contacted. The trust would need to be contacted and consent to anything touching the facade. As I stated previously, this is a rug, it's artificial turf that is adjacent to the facade. It is actually lower than the facade structure and does not seem to visually impact or interfere with what is occurring between the facade and the street. In the staff recommendations, unlike some of the conclusions in 2020 on the awning structure, for example, it was noted that all building structures and sites shall be recognized as products in their own. Alterations which have no historical basis and which seek to create an earlier appearance should be discouraged. Okay, noted. That was also noted when the awning structure was put up. Staff's response was this does not have a historic basis. Well, the criteria doesn't require that it have a historic basis. So, the final item I wanted to mention if you read the minutes and I think one board member commented affirmatively I watched the video is it was really noted by the public, by the staff report that this is an after-the-fact request for the certificate of appropriateness. And that had a lot of a discussion. Now, there is a code enforcement case which the tenant has. The appropriate discussion regarding whether someone should have gone to the historic trust and asked for permission, should have consulted with the city, should have known, that's a code enforcement board special magistrate discussion. I think what the board was charged with doing was applying the criteria and treating this as a major alteration that had visual, that produces visual conflict when it is adjacent to a facade that it appears with some more research may actually bring the character back to what it was in 1942 was an error and based on facts that may not be accurate. Therefore, we would request that this city commission consider strongly and approve a de novo hearing so that these criteria and the requests for the certificate can come to the city commission at a future hearing. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Estelle Brennan followed by Bill Brown. Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners. It's been a while since I've been up here so bear with me. I actually am fairly neutral on the item in particular. Are you on the Historic Preservation Board? I'm not. Okay, all right. No. However, I highly recommend everybody watch last night's meeting because it was really disturbing. Their denial of a historic designation but don't worry, there's a communication coming to you all about enforcing metal detectors on the beach. You can check that on the minute. So mine is more of a call to action for you all about artificial turf which we should just start calling it plastic. This is obviously something with history. It's private business. I just want you guys to look at it more as a whole as a city because we had artificial plastic grass put in a playground in our neighborhood and it is fire during the day. It's filthy when the kids are on it. Unlike regular dirt, it sticks on them like soot. It creates static electricity in certain instances and from my understanding if we're looking towards the future we're installing, it's not planting, we're installing a bunch of plastic that when you're done with it, where is it going to go? From my understanding it's not very biodegradable and this is just a call to action for you all to look at our ordinances and look at studies done about carcinogens and different things included in these plastics and what we're subjecting the citizens to. That's all. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor, before we get any further with that, I'd like to, because this has been an ongoing issue and so I'd like the city attorney to address a little bit about what's going on at the state level with respect to artificial turf because there's been some state legislation, preemption, all kinds of stuff. So if you would kind of address that. Thank you, Vice Mayor. The state is acting in many ways to limit what we call home rule and this may be yet another where they will preempt efforts by any city to either prohibit or make any other laws relating to, among other things, turf. So if that is the answer to your question, I don't know that tonight is the night that there would be discussion or any decision about a policy about turf, but that is certainly something that should wait until after the esteemed legislature has spoken. I have more to say about your process once you finish hearing from other speakers. So it's a pending bill? There is some discussion about regulating or preempting regulation. Regarding the installing of artificial turf? Yes. I'd have to look it up specifically, but I have heard that. Mayor, I can answer that question for the Vice Mayor. So last year, the state of Florida passed a bill directing the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to create rules that would preempt local governments from enforcing or having a different permitting program for the installation of artificial turf on single-family residential properties of one acre or less. So FDEP is in the process of rulemaking, and they've gone through several iterations of providing that rule to the public for public comment, and we expect that they'll release that rule at some point. Once that rule's released, that would be the manner by which anybody with one of those properties, which is a single-family residential property of one acre or less, could have a path forward to install turf on that property. The biggest question is that we have and other cities had is, does this apply to the right-of-way, so swale areas? It's unclear. It looks like the legislature may keep that authority with local governments but leave the private property that's outside of our stormwater system to the homeowner to install that under the new state rules. Got it. Any questions of Chris? Okay, thank you. Mr. Brown. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the Commission. Bill Brown, President of the Central Beach Alliance. I come before you on behalf of the Board of the CBA in support of hearing moving forward in a positive vote tonight to have a novo hearing. The Board, we discussed that we didn't have time to take it to the membership because of our meeting schedules, but we feel that it's most appropriate. The aesthetic value is very nice. It does not in any way alter the historical integrity of that project. When the awning, as the attorney mentioned, Courtney Crash, in 2020, the CBA felt the same way. It was not a part of the historical structure, nor does this turf affect that in any way. So with that in mind, we would like to ask for your support of the Commission to move forward and give the opportunity to reverse what was done at the IHP, or not IHPC, Historical Preservation. Yeah, HV. From where I came from originally, it was Indianapolis Historical Preservation, so I apologize for that. But in due respect of your time tonight, I think you'll find that we're showing that businesses and the community can work together, and we recognize the fact that the hotels and the businesses down the beach is one of the major economic engines of this community overall, and that's why we try to work together, and we see no problem with the turf. Thank you. Okay, thank you. City Attorney, I'm hearing that the original designation of the building ended at the, where the building ended, and the Historic Preservation Board seems to have expanded its scope of jurisdiction and is now opining on this grassy area or the, you know, the artificial turf area. Do you know, do you have the facts with regard to the boundaries of the historic district, and did it actually go past the front door of the building, do we know enough yet? Well, I'm not exactly sure what you're asking, but I do believe it was the facade that was at issue. It was the facade. It was the facade at issue, not ground cover. So did it even have jurisdiction to even give a recommendation to the city commission? Part of their analysis was whether it was a visual that impacted the facade, so I think that would be the... That's the issue, that's the claim of jurisdiction. Mayor, if I could ask Anthony Fajardo and the development services team to come forward and provide any additional clarity. Okay, great. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, City Commission, Anthony Fajardo, Director of Development Services. So there are two things that are on this property. There's the easement that was granted in favor of the Broward Trust for Historic Preservation, and then there's the designation of the property, which we had the resolution of. If the property itself is designated through our process, the easement has a different boundary. So I think that's where the confusion often lies in terms of where there was a line that was drawn by one of the elected officials when the designation process occurred that kind of like... So where is that line? Unfortunately, I don't have a way of projecting it up on the screen, but I can pass this to you. You can see that there's a hatched area that kind of goes from A1A west on the property, and the resolution calls out the lots that are involved in that designation, but it's the entire facade of that building and those lots that face A1A. So from the edge of the building, on the east side of the building, to A1A is part of the historic designation? That's all part of it. Okay. So even the sidewalk, the public sidewalk? Up to the edge of the public sidewalk. The designation is only on the property of the building. So the area in question where the artificial turf has been placed is inclusive of the historic designated area? Yes. Okay. That answers that question. Thank you. Okay. This is in District 2. Commissioner Glassman, what is your pleasure? Oh, by the way, I have no one else signed up to speak. Does anyone wish to speak on this? Okay. Go ahead. Yes. Thank you, Mayor. It is in District 2, and full transparency, I will tell you that about 25 years ago, I actually filed the designation for historic designation on this hotel. This is the old Lauderdale Beach Hotel, built in 1936 by Roy France, one of our most significant architects. And this was the largest art deco resort, and actually was the birth of the resort and tourist industry on the barrier island. As you saw from those photos, there was nothing else around it. It actually went from A1A all the way to the intracoastal. It was quite a thing in the day. If you saw the menus and you saw the advertisements, you would be amazed. I was upset when I heard that it was going to be demolished. I filed that application. It was quite contentious, I will tell you. But we did achieve something out of that. We achieved what many people are familiar with in South Beach. When you see the facade of a historic structure maintained, sometimes even more, and then to the west of it, behind it, you'll see something rise. In this case, it's the Las Olas Beach Club that has risen as a condominium behind this historic structure. It works well. We were able to preserve the facade on all three sides, not even just the side that faces A1A. That being said, I will tell you, I do consider myself a historic preservationist, but perhaps not as pure as some people consider themselves a historic preservationist. I think that you sometimes have to give a little to deal with modern times. I think that this discussion about that, which is really a rug over non-historic pavers, is a bit of a reach. It's a bit of a reach because of the fact that this turf, it's an insulation that's temporary. It's not attached even to the pavers. It's not, you know, it's not screwed down, stapled down. It's non-invasive. It's fully reversible, removable. And the pavers have nothing to do with the history of the building. There's no alteration to the historic structure. There's no alteration to the public right of way. And there is no, there is absolutely no alteration to the historic resource, meaning the structure itself. I will tell you that if you looked at those photos, you will see that in the original structure from 1936, there was actually a very enclosed area in the front. The easternmost portion of this building, it was all enclosed. That's no longer the case anymore. So that's probably why also those shade structures were given a certificate of appropriateness and they were constructed. It doesn't make sense that you would give a certificate of appropriateness for all of those shade structures with all of that signage, all of those awnings, but then you're going to get bent out of shape over an 8 by 12 piece of turf. It just doesn't compute. It doesn't make any sense. It's not practical. It's not realistic. And I really believe that we should set a de novo hearing. I wish we had it within our ability to just end it tonight so we didn't have to take more staff time and everybody else. But I really think that it is just a little bit of a reach against and it's also, I think, harmful to the business. If you look at those photos that we saw in the very beginning, you can only see the turf from the street at the very opening, at the center of the length of the property, because all around the property on the border of the sidewalk is planters. So you don't even see, you don't see the turf unless you're just entering into the outside area and you're getting seated. It does make for a cozier area, not as cold as it was before. It just seems more comfortable. And I believe because there is no impact at all on the historic structure. And that would be, to me, the main case. Is it impacting the historic resource? And it's absolutely not. So I'm all in favor of setting a de novo hearing and hopefully we will be able to reverse the ruling of the Historic Preservation Board and grant that certificate of appropriateness. I will tell you that in speaking to the owners of the restaurant, before they did put this turf down, they actually asked the city if a permit was required. They were told no. So, you know, that I think also has to be factored in. I think this is just an unfortunate circumstance that has put them through a bit of a process unnecessarily. And I would ask, I would make a motion that we set a de novo hearing to hear this case from the beginning. Mayor? Yes. May I interject? There's a process to get to that point? If you'd like to know now, I can tell you unless you wanted to discuss those particulars further. But I'd like to have you understand the process to get to this hearing. Well, he made a motion to set it for de novo. I think you're probably going to ask me why. And I would say there's not competent or substantial evidence to prove the case. Thank you, Commissioner. And let me be clear. So if there was a finding that there was either a transgression from law or that there was insufficient evidence to support the decision made by the board, if you made that finding and you all agreed on that, then you could move forward. And moving forward would be to have a de novo hearing. Okay. So the motion has been made based on the finding that there was no competent substantial evidence. evidence to support the advisory opinion of the Historic Preservation Board. Do I hear a second? Second. Moves a second. Trish, can you come up to the podium for a second? At the time of the meeting, did you give it a, were you asked for your opinion as to whether or not this interfered with the contributing asset that has been previously designated as a historic structure? Sure. Good evening. Trisha Logan, Principal Urban Planner. I'm sure there was discussion. There was the staff report that gave an overview of how. Did you give an opinion? We give an overview of whether or not the request meets the criteria outlined in the code. And within the summary, it does state that the criteria is not met for all of the criteria, except one where it partially meets it. So you're saying the majority of the criteria were not met by the. Was not met by the applicant. Okay. And this is consistent with how the staff reviewed the pergolas as well. Just placement of material and items that are inconsistent with the history and architectural style of the building are discouraged as part of our design guidelines. Okay. And this is, these are placement of materials that are not consistently spread across the frontage of this building as well. I mean, would it, would, are you saying that the only material that could be placed on the ground would be something that was only available in the 1940s when the building was first built? In general, artificial turf is not supported by historic preservation ordinances and guidelines throughout the country. It's something that's highly discouraged because it is not a traditional material that's found. If you did place a natural grass across the frontage to kind of create a more traditional and aesthetic appearance that's consistent along the entire facade and frontage of that facade, then that would be more appropriate than only placing an artificial turf in front of a segment of this building. Well, I mean, what, what's the practicality of that? I mean, it rains, it gets muddy. You have tables and chairs, people trying to get in and out. Does that make sense in this day and age? I don't think there was artificial turf back in, in the 1930s or 40s when this building was built. So do we not adjust to changing conditions and technologies in order to accommodate the, um, the, um, I don't know, the needs of today in general, there are certain things that can be taken into consideration. Um, I would just say that the artificial turf aspect is, is typically considered something that is not appropriate in historic preservation. There's other things that can be considered. There could also be kind of a minimization of the appearance of the artificial turf, which would potentially help. And, um, how does that work in that? So the artificial turf, the way that it's placed right now is spread across the entire area, including where the entrance ways are. There are areas where there is seating placed on either side of the entrance. And by removing a portion of the artificial turf, it could lead to a better, um, appearance from the, the street, particularly at the entrance ways. So I mean, it's on the floor. Where else could it go? Uh, well there it's currently under both seating areas and both entrance ways. Right. Okay. All right. Thank you. Actually, could I follow up on that? Cause Mayor, you raised an interesting question. Something I've wondered about before, um, with, with respect to materials. So we've got a more modern material, right? So artificial turf is a substitute for natural turf. Um, and I'm sort of thinking about that in terms of like aluminum windows, or do we require people to only use wood windows because that's what would have been used in the 1940s. So do we require people to use wood mullion windows or are they allowed to use aluminum windows that look like wood? Can we have artificial turf that looks like turf? The preference is to, if you're replacing any windows to utilize the original material that the, the windows are made out of, but there are exceptions. Um, and a lot of times that depends on, uh, the location of the windows, uh, in certain circumstances, if there's certain substitutions made, they can go to the historic preservation board to make that request. In general, we do allow impact rated windows here as part of the environment that we're in. Right. Because I couldn't get like a wood window that's hurricane rated, right? Um, there's wood clad windows that are impact rated. Right. Yes. And they come with that like same double pane gas and, you know, sort of thing. And you can also retrofit your existing windows with impact rated glass. Okay. So that's generally then what we ask people to do is use historically accurate materials and things like that. What we're looking for is to maintain the appearance of the historic building. And that is part of the analysis as well. So, uh, a lot of times the aluminum windows, the impact rated ones can still mimic the appearance of the original windows, even though the material is not, uh, the same as it was. There's different levels of analysis that go into, um, analyzing a historic preservation request. And oftentimes we're using one that, um, is related to the rehabilitation of the structure, not necessarily strict preservation. So there's different things that could be taken into consideration. But a lot of times we're working with the applicant to find a solution that's most appropriate for that particular building. So, so you use an interesting word there that I want to kind of focus on. You said mimic, right? So, so mimic kind of like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So how do we determine what's an acceptable mimic? We have criteria and design guidelines that we follow to analyze any requests. Okay. So there's like some promulgated standard that somebody somewhere has developed of what, what constitutes an acceptable mimicking. There's an analysis that staff does and provides to the board in this case. Um, a lot of times we're trying to work with an applicant to find what, uh, appropriate solution could be. Sometimes staff can approve that at staff level and sometimes that requires the historic preservation board. And even if it's not a hundred percent, um, you know, what we would want, it's still going in a good direction and preserving the structure, preserving that site. I guess my only problem with this and the reason I'm, I'm sort of, you know, kind of focusing on it is I, I really like objectivity. Subjectivity is always a challenge for me. It strikes me as being very arbitrary and capricious when we leave it up to individual judgment as to, well, I like this and I don't like that. I, I like, I like objective standards that everybody can look at this and say, okay, that meets this, this meets that. And if it doesn't, it's the, it's the auditor in me. You know, we all look at something and we could all come away that one plus one equals two. And I know that. And, you know, it's objectively evaluated. And this doesn't seem to have that sort of level of objectivity where we could all look at it and come away with the same conclusion. So I'm just trying to kind of narrow down on that. So thank you. I appreciate it. Excuse me. Any further questions of Trish or Anthony? Okay. Very good. Thank you so much. So any further questions or comments from the commission? There being none, please call the roll. This is for, if you vote for, you're voting to vote for a de novo hearing. If you vote against, you're voting against a de novo hearing. Do we have to set a date? So we passed out for a resolution that actually has the date in it on March 3rd. This is the resolution you'll be passing if you're supporting this. Yeah, to support that. And it has the date in it within 60 days. It's set for March. March 3rd at 6 p.m. So we're doing 30 days, roughly? Is there a reason that we chose 30 days? Well, it's still an after the fact. It's already in there. It might have been within 60 and it's within that. Okay. I was just wondering why not sooner, but I'm okay. Okay. So this is a resolution, not a motion, correct? That's correct. The code is a little quirky. Yeah. It calls for you to pass a resolution once you've made that determination to set the de novo hearing. Okay. So really, this item is a resolution. So you're moving a resolution. Right. So Commissioner Glassman made a motion, but he really wants to introduce a resolution. That would be correct there. Okay. Introduce. So the resolution has been introduced. Okay. Please call the roll. A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida setting a de novo hearing on March 3rd, 2026 for the City Commission to consider an appeal of the denial of an after-the-fact certificate of appropriateness for major alterations for the installation of artificial turf within the front outdoor seating area of a designated historic landmark located at 101 South Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard, case number UDP-HP25021 and provide for an effective date. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trantals? Yes. And that resolution is approved. There will be a de novo hearing on March 3rd, 2026 at 6 p.m. Moving on to R1. This is an appointment of board and committee members. Mr. Clerk, could you please read the names into the record? Thank you, Mayor. For the February 17th resolution, Central City Redevelopment Advisory Board, Chantel Jaram, nominated by Vice Mayor Herbst. Citizens Committee of Recognition, Gina Ellis, nominated by Commissioner Sorensen. Bobby DeBose, nominated by Commissioner Sorensen. Ducance Abatement Board, Cornell Nichols. And that will be nominated by Mayor Trantals for a full position. And for tonight's resolution, Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, Erin LeCair, nominated by Mayor Trantals. Cemetery System Board of Trustees, Tracy Bartholomew, nominated by Mayor Trantals. Alfonso Canales, nominated by Vice Mayor Herbst. Education Advisory Board, Pamela Vance, nominated by Commissioner Beasley-Pittman. Infrastructure Task Force Advisory Committee, Lisa Sharkey, nominated by Mayor Trantals. Marine Advisory Board, Tyler Burnell, nominated by Vice Mayor Herbst. Nuisance Abatement Board, Lauren DeBolt, nominated by Mayor Trantals. Sustainability Advisory Board, Fabiana Ahumada, nominated by Mayor Trantals. And David Blatner, nominated by Vice Mayor Herbst. And that rounds it out. Okay. Any modifications or additions to those that were read into the record? There being none. Someone would like to introduce the resolution. Introduced. Resolution has been introduced. Please call the roll. A resolution to the City Commission of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, appointing or nominating, if applicable, Board and Committee members as set forth in the exhibit, attached here to and made a part hereof. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Mayor Trantals? Yes. And those folks are now approved. And we want to thank them for their commitment and their volunteerism in support of the betterment of our city. Thank you so much. R2, resolution delegating to the City Manager the authority to execute a project agreement with the Florida Inland Navigation District for a grant up to $1,032,636 for the replacement and construction of the Riverwalk North Seawall. No one has signed up to speak. Would someone like to introduce the resolution? Yeah. Introduce, Mayor, and I'd like to comment. Please go ahead. Thank you. So City Manager, I'd like to thank the team for their work on this. I'd like to thank FIND and Genio with Riverwalk for all the collaborative work. City Manager, I'd like this to be a living seawall. So as we look at procurement analysis, I'd like to prioritize that for this solution. So that is incorporated as a project element. So there will be living seawall components as part of this project, yes. Fantastic. Thank you very much. And just as a reminder, the ordinance allowing full rebate for permit fees for a living seawall, we continue to progress forward with that. Is that your understanding? Yes, that is something that we are working to come back to the commission with. We had a conference meeting, and there was support for that. So staff is working on bringing that back. Great. Do we have a sense of timing when that would come back to us? April. April? Yes. Fantastic. And we would be the first city, I think, in the state that has a full rebate for permit fees for living seawalls. Is that? As far as we know, since the last time we had the conference discussion, not sure if any city has jumped in. Right. Hopefully not. And taken the lead on that. But I think we are ahead of the game. Great. Thank you. Thanks, Mayor. Okay. No one has signed up to speak, and the resolution has been introduced. Please call the roll. A resolution of the city commission of the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, authorizing the city manager to execute a project agreement with Florida Inland Navigation District Waterway Assistance Program for grant funding up to $1,003,636, or 50% of eligible project costs, whichever is less, to design and permit boat ramp renovations at the Lauderdale Landing. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trontales? Yes. And that resolution is now approved. Is Peter Partington here? Peter? Yeah. You're the only person who signed up to speak on an item after R3, so I'm going to take up that item now. We have a lot of people who signed up to speak on R3, so I'd like to take your item up first, and then we'll go back to R3. So I'd like to jump to OFR1. This is an ordinance of first reading, amending Division 8, Article 7, Chapter 2, to establish an infrastructure advisory board. Mr. Partington, would you like to come up to speak? Just push the button at the bottom of the speaker. There you go. Mayor, commissioners, Peter Partington, currently chair until February the 18th of the Infrastructure Task Force. I'm really only here for any questions. Mr. O'Neill with city staff will basically explain to you what this is doing, and I'm here just to, if you have any questions. I think the commission requested this, and so this is, yeah. It is, indeed. Right. All right. Mayor? Yes. The advisory board did provide some feedback to staff. They met just yesterday, I believe, and O'Neill Rodriguez, our assistant director of public works, can share some of the feedback they provided. We drafted this legislation based on the recent discussion by the commission, but the board had some additional edits, and we are in support of those edits if the commission would also agree. We could update that between first and second reading for your consideration. I'd like to call O'Neill to share what those edits are. Are those the underlined portions of the ordinance? Are those the? So there are underlined portions, but there are also some additional narrative or verbiage that's being added based on the recommendation of the board, and it just adds bridges and clarifies that it's existing and proposed city infrastructure, as well as maintenance and improvement programs associated with stormwater infrastructure, water and wastewater sewer distribution, collection and treatment systems, seawalls, roads, and sidewalks. So the major addition is bridges, and to clarify that there would be a look at existing as well as proposed infrastructure. Got it. Any questions with regard to that? Okay. Would someone like to introduce the ordinance? Introduced. The ordinance has been introduced. Please call the roll. Oh, Mayor, I'm sorry. You know I miss my timing sometimes. That's okay. Go ahead. I have a question about the term that's being suggested. One year. One year. Is that truly impactful, being that this is a board that will be looking at some importance, conversations that we, in a sense, assigned to them. If someone could remind me, what is the max term for these board members? What do we usually, it's usually three years? It varies. It varies. It varies. But Commissioner Beasley-Pittman has a good point. I've noticed that myself. I mean, for a person to serve their one year, you know, they're just getting their feet wet within the first few months. And if they're involved in a long-term project, it would be good to have them stay on as opposed to they're thinking that it's just going to be a one-year stint. You want to expand it to two years or longer? Longer. If someone could identify how long the term is. How long is the term? Sorry. So the max would be six terms. Okay. So it could be six consecutive terms, six years in a row. It just has to be reappointed each year. Or you could do two, three years, three terms of two years. What did we do recently for the Central City? Didn't we change that to three two-year terms to give people some continuity? Did we do that for a total of six? What do you recommend? I think that I like the three, three for two. So there's a, Commissioner Beasley-Pittman would like to amend the ordinance recommendation to two three-year terms. Are we okay with that? Okay. We'd like to amend the ordinance. So who introduced the ordinance? I did. You did. Would you agree to amending your ordinance as two three-year terms or three two-year terms? Which one? Commissioner, you like three two? I agree. I, yes, I'm happy to. She wants two, three-year terms. No, she wants three two-year. No. Three? Two-year. Two-year. Oh, three two-year terms. Thank you. Yes. See, Commissioner Beasley-Pittman and I are on the same page. Mayor, we understand each other. It's, yes, it's three two-year terms amended. I just want to make sure that the amendment also includes what was shared earlier in terms of the board reviewing existing and proposed city infrastructure maintenance and improvement programs, including stormwater infrastructure, water, and wastewater sewer distribution collection and treatment systems, seawalls, bridges, roads, and sidewalks. And you're going to exhaust them. Yes. That's very exciting topics. Yes. I'm fine with that. Okay. Thank you. So the ordinance has been introduced as amended. Please call the roll. I'm sorry. I just want to clarify. We want to pass the ordinance as is with the understanding these will be changed between readings to preserve. Correct. So it's going to be just introduced, and then these will be incorporated into the second reading. So no need to amend. Just introduce the resolution, and you'll amend it in the second reading. On the second reading. That sounds fine. Very good. Thank you. Excuse me. In ordinance of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, amending Division 8 of Article 7 of Chapter 2 of the Code of Orances of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to establish an infrastructure advisory board providing for membership qualifications, length of term, and the purpose and duties of the board providing for correction of scrivener's errors and providing for severability, repeal of conflicting ordinance provisions, and an effective date. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trentals? Yes. And so OFR 1 is approved on first reading. So jumping back to R3, so resolution approving the conceptual design for downtown retail shops without the median and Coley hammock segments and directing the city manager to advance the Las Olas Mobility Western Corridor design concept from Andrews Avenue to Southeast 17th Avenue to 60% design plans. We have a number of people who signed up to speak. It's been separated between citizens and consultants. So I have your consultant card, so I don't think we need a presentation. This is just you just signed up in case we need to speak with them to clarify any of the details that we don't understand. Okay, so let me begin then. Mayor, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I was interested. We asked for some changes from the last time, so are we able to hear about that or how that was incorporated? I think the commission did request some changes from the presentation we had last time. Correct me if I'm wrong. Milos, would you like to help? Can we just hear that and not a full-fledged, you know, presentation, but at least address what we requested as a commission? Thank you. Absolutely. Good evening. Milos, my story is director for Cities Transportation and Mobility Department. So last time we were here on January 20th, provided the update on Las Olas Mobility. There was a long discussion and major comments that we were to go back and address were related to tree canopy and tree coverage. There were areas of particularly shop segment where sidewalk could have had more trees. So we went back, did address that, and just to give you a highlight, so for the downtown, we increased approximately four times tree canopy coverage. Previously, that coverage was about three times. For the retail shops, we increased from about two times to about four times. And for Collie Hammock, we increased from nine times tree canopy coverage to about 12 times. Thank you. Do you have any further questions? Okay. All right. So the resolution that we're about to consider tonight comes from a discussion that we had at a previous meeting in which the commission was asked to respond to various proposals that were put forth in connection with the redesign of Las Olas Boulevard, starting from Andrews Avenue and going to Southeast 17th Avenue. It was done in segments. And tonight we're going to make a decision with regard to those segments. And those segments are as follows. There are four that will be included in the resolution. One is called the downtown, which goes from Andrews Avenue to, I believe, the tunnel. And then the retail shops is another segment. Collie Hammock segments begin, I believe, at 12th Avenue. And, okay, those are three of the segments, not four. So there's the downtown, the retail shops, and the Collie Hammock segments. So those will be discussed tonight. And so when we talk about the Las Olas mobility plan, please keep in mind that there are three different segments and different designs for each area. So I'm going to call your names three at a time so you can be prepared to come up after the previous speaker has concluded. And I'll each give you two minutes to speak. Mayor, Mayor, sorry. Before we do that, could I just have Milos add a couple, just ask a couple questions? Sure. I think I'll help frame things. Thanks, Milos. Just as we hear and talk about options, if the median's kept – well, let's start this way. If the sidewalk's widened, if the sidewalk in Las Olas is widened in the shops area, what impact does that have on the existing trees in the median? So the only way for us to widen the sidewalk along the shop segment is for us to also take space away from somewhere else. So the vision plan that was adopted a couple of years ago and the direction that we received from the City Commission on January 20th was to basically keep one travel lane in each direction plus the parking lane for the shop segment. Also was to remove the median. So by removing the median, we are able to gain that additional space in order to expand the sidewalk or widen the sidewalk. If we were to keep the median and to keep the one travel lane per direction and parking, our ability to expand the sidewalk would be very limited to a point of interest or feat, very limited in other words. Right. So if we expand the sidewalk and let's say keep the median – expand the sidewalk and keep the median, what impact does that expansion of the sidewalk have on the trees existing in the median right now? Okay. So anything that we would do at this point of time in terms of reconstruction along the shop segment of the Las Olas corridor would affect the stability of the trees just because of the critical root zone of the trees, which is the area around the tree that provides stability to the tree and also provides unnecessary nutrients to the tree. So it's just so wide and extends from the median all the way to outside travel lanes pretty much. So it would ultimately be impossible for us to do any construction activity without affecting that critical root zone. Without a negative belief. So ultimately that is correct. So even if we were to proceed with the project and even if we were to retain the median, we would not be able to retain the trees most likely because of what I have explained. Okay. So that's a good question. Right. So even if we kept the medians, even if we kept the trees in the median, we could not expand the sidewalks because it would compromise the root system of those trees. Is that what you're telling us tonight? We would not be able to keep the trees, the existing trees. Right. Because it would compromise the root system of the existing trees. No, that is correct. Correct. Okay. And that's why I asked that, Mayor, to understand the, kind of understand the tree's health. And then, please, Milos, if we expanded the sidewalk and kept the median, expanded the sidewalk and kept the median, what you're saying is the trees would be compromised, the existing trees would be significantly compromised. They couldn't sustain there. That is correct. My understanding is we're limited due to city code as to what type of trees can be replaced in the median. In other words, if I understand city code right, it has to be a small, relatively small caliper tree because of the limited space in the median and sight lines and so forth. Can you talk? That is correct. And also, when it comes to placement of the trees and the size of the trees also and tree canopy, what we're trying to do is maximize the shade where people are, put the shade where people are, which is along the sidewalk. So if we were to place larger canopy trees along the sidewalk, we would have to select the smaller trees to place along the median alongside with points that you have set, line of sight. And not only, we wouldn't have a choice, right? I mean, you have to have these smaller trees in the median. Is that right? I think there's a limitation. We would have to from the standpoint of space, available space as well. And it's my understanding, and spending a lot of time with arborists recently, that the trees that we could replace in the median, that we could put in the median, are not large canopy trees. Is that correct? But what we would propose under the median option would be a smaller canopy trees in the median, yes. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Thank you. That helps understand the options. Thank you. Thanks, Mayor. Okay. Okay. Moving forward, we'll start out with Danella Williams, followed by Ted and Sarah, followed by Sally Allshouse. Try to limit your comments to two minutes because we have a lot of people here. All right. Hello. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners. I'm Danella Williams, and I wrote my thoughts down because I don't want to miss a thing because I'm on my Aerosmith era. I want to start by saying that I know your jobs are difficult, and it's not easy to be up there day in and day out making difficult decisions for the city, so I do thank you for the work that you do. And a part of that work is innovation. You've shown that innovative solutions can improve accessibility while preserving the character of our city, and the circuit is a great example of that. Just recently, I was at D.C. Alexander Park over at the beach with my daughters, and my brother, who has epilepsy, needed to head home early to catch a football game. Instead of having to leave to take him, we held a circuit, which dropped him near his home in Victoria Park in time for kickoff, and our girls got to keep enjoying the park, so they send their thanks. Now to the issue before us tonight. This commission has decided to entertain a plan that would eliminate the olive trees in Alasola's median, destroy the median, and extend the sidewalks. To be clear, this stretch of road is the defining feature of Fort Lauderdale, so much so that a review of the city's master plan shows that the drafters envision more tree-lined medians downtown, not fewer. I think we should be keeping the median, extending the sidewalks, and eliminating or reducing parking as is necessary. Now, I understand there are a few concerns with this approach, and I've listened to those concerns, thanks to the brave souls who expressed them, and as the problem solver that I am, I seek to bridge the gap between those who oppose keeping the median and those who support it. The two main concerns I've heard are these. First, that the olive trees are dying anyway, so we need to get rid of them. Ma'am, your time is up. That was two minutes? Well, okay. I'll give you another, I'll give you another, excuse me, please. I'll give you another 30 seconds. Okay. Because you had a long introduction. Okay. Hey, I was praising you. Let me take my praises back. Can I get the 30 seconds back and reclaim that? No. I'll give you a minute. I'll give you a minute. Go ahead. The existing olive trees are already dying, and so I agree that they should be replaced if they're dying, and there's nothing we can do about that. But in replacement of those trees, we should be replacing them with like or similar trees, make a mixed species approach that can utilize native Florida trees, tropical hardwood hammocks, and that such. And sources like PlantAnt, PlantFinder, Fan.org show that these trees cost about $1,500 per tree. Second, concern is that businesses need more parking, particularly for customers who are less mobile, who want to quickly pop in and out, which makes for extra parking necessary. But if the goal is support businesses, provide real access for those, then what we should be doing is creating innovative approaches to this. We could put pickup or delivery zones in the city lots right behind Las Solas so that the businesses could take their wares, whether it be Hollywood donuts or whatever, and take it to those vehicles in those lots. And those are some of the kind of solutions that we should be thinking about to address the fact that your constituents don't want the media to go. And we want to keep it. So we want to keep it. Everybody really wants the sidewalks to get bigger. So let's look at eliminating the parking and then getting something super innovative and, dare I say, iconic to replace it. Okay? Thank you. Is he here? Thank you. Okay. Ted and Sarah, followed by Sally Allshouse, followed by Nick Asiani. Hello. My name is Ted and Sarah. For one thing, thank you, commissioners. Thank you, mayor. And thank you to our well-respected, esteemed, very intelligent city manager, Raquel Williams. What I would like to say, I'm in favor of two-thirds of this plan. Downtown, Cooley Hammock, no problem. What my problem is with the shops. I think we, Milos, if I need speed bumps, I'm going to call you. But if I need tree advice, I'm not going to call the transportation and mobility guys. So I'm sorry. But I still think we have not explored options about how to revitalize these trees. It can be done. And with new boxes, it can be done. You can never hear anything about this. I have not heard a real arborist outside of hired by the city opinion on what can be done. I ate. I actually had a date. And I had dinner at Noodles Panini a couple weeks ago. You want a date? Sitting outside, yeah. Sitting outside on the patio part. The worst part was somebody was stopped waiting for somebody trying to pull out parallel parking. Backed up the traffic. Person finally got out. This person, back wheel on the curb, back down, going back and forth. Cars honking behind them. Ruined the whole ambiance of the dinner out there. All because nobody knows how to parallel park. No second date. No second date. She said, you know. I'm sorry. But it's very simple. The city has interrupted your love life. Let me tell you. Those trees down the median strip are part of Fort Lauderdale's DNA. That is what made us what we are. You look at the classic, iconic pictures of Fort Lauderdale, and it's the beautiful A1A beach, and it's those trees on Las Olas, decorated. It's magical, and it's beautiful. We need to keep those because that is just part of our city. Eliminate on-street parking. Widen the sidewalk. Everybody's happy. The median strip stays. And like I said, those trees are far from dying. And you'll never have anything else to complain about. Nothing to complain about. The old narrowest trees are dying is an old developer trick from way back. That's when in doubt, say they're diseased, and then they can get them out without any trouble whatsoever. All right. Thank you. Sally, followed by Nick, followed by Juliana Yonan. Yes. Good evening. Good evening, commissioners. I'd like to start out by saying, as stated in the Miami Herald last week, and to quote Mayor Trantalis at his last State of the City Address, homelessness remains one of our greatest challenges facing our community. So here we sit debating trees, the fate of trees, while an ongoing and decades-long issue has not been offered a meaningful and permanent helping hand. But I'm not here to discuss or debate homelessness today. As a lifetime member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, an organization that is proud to support historic preservation, I feel that this resolution will permanently change the character of Las Olas Boulevard by removing trees that have stood for generations. These are mature trees that have withstood countless hurricanes and other weather events. These trees were planted in the 1920s to honor World War I veterans. Removing the trees will demonstrate a sign of disrespect for those who came before us to protect our way of life. In addition, after reviewing the conceptual design, the tree plantings will take five to eight years to mature to the canopy depicted in the plans. I have lived in Fort Lauderdale over 50 years, and my husband is a Florida native. We enjoy and wish to enjoy, continue enjoying, excuse me, the historic and elegant trees currently on Las Olas Boulevard. What would our cities look like if we prioritized compassion over capitalism and addressing homelessness? How could reimagining our approach transform not just lives, but communities as a whole? Thank you for your time and consideration. All right, thank you. I just need some clarity on that before we go any further. It's my understanding the black olive trees were planted in around 1970. Can somebody please confirm that for me? These are not 100-year-old trees in honor of, okay, they weren't right. They weren't planted in honor of, okay, they were planted in the 70s. All right, just want to make sure. Good evening, commissioners. I wanted to just maybe raise a concern about, I'm sure there's a lot of people who talk about the plans themselves. I do oppose it. But I wanted to raise a concern about how you all execute these projects that you pass, and we have to look no further than the Kinney Plaza on top of the tunnel there, which it cost us $13 million. You essentially lit that on fire. I drove by it tonight. It's full of scaffolding, and it is an objective failure. I know the gentleman on the end likes objectivity. That is a complete and total failure of a project, and you guys keep passing these projects that we all don't want, and you are wasting our money, and we have serious concerns about how you implement them. So what assurances can you give all these people that you're going to take $7.5 million now? It's probably going to end up being more than that, and you're actually going to execute properly, and it's going to actually add benefit to our lives because the project that we see right next to the location that you want to rip out all these trees is an embarrassment, and I would be ashamed if I were any of you. Thank you. Thank you, Juliana, followed by Evelyn Sciocco, followed by Doug Herbst. Hi, my name is Juliana Yonan, and I just feel that those trees are iconic, and there is a way to leave them. That median strip is only three feet wide or whatever. There is a way to – I absolutely don't believe for a second that you can't widen the sidewalk a little bit. And by the way, we gave away a lot of the sidewalk to the shop owners. We need to – any developer that's going to do this needs to take into consideration that those trees are amazing and beautiful and already giving us shade. If you can't figure out how to incorporate those trees and still do what you're doing, then I think you're using the wrong developer. And I think that if – and I think that it's incumbent upon you guys to do what the constituents want and get somebody that will incorporate both. If you can have the growth and you can keep the trees, you should be able to do that. Talented people can do that. And that's what I think we should be doing here. And I don't believe that – the trees have a lot more life in them. They can live well past 100 years, 120 years. Yes, some – but these are different ones. But anyway, thank you very much for your time, and I think that that's what I wish you guys would consider. Thank you. Evelyn, followed by – Evelyn, come on up. Followed by Doug Herbst, followed by Peyton DeLong. Good evening, Evelyn. Good evening. Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners, and interested residents of Fort Lauderdale. My name is Evelyn, and I am not a tourist. I am a resident, and I walk along Los Olos Boulevard frequently. I stop for a drink, a cup of coffee. I have lunch there. I have dinner there. And it is a lovely, lovely boulevard. I am opposed to the removal of the trees because I have one question. How does the removal of these majestic green trees enrich the environment? How does it enrich our Los Olos Boulevard? The medial strips provide greenery, and they soften the cityscape. They are a pleasure to look at. And there have been many suggestions tonight as to what can be done to preserve the trees and still keep the project moving. And that is what I request that commissioners and citizens support. Thank you. Thank you. Doug Herbst. And, Mayor, I'm going to go back to this. So I just want to clarify for everybody, the black olive trees were not planted as memorials to veterans. If you're talking about the ones that were planted as a memorial, that is the ones on the eastern end of the corridor. Those are those giant palms that we have that are put down there. The residential area. Right. The ones in the residential area. So we've got to be clear about this. The ones that were planted for the veterans are not the black olives. However, I will say the black olives did win an award in 1971 for national beautification. So if you want to point to something, point to that. Okay. They were not planted to honor veterans. Just so we're clear. Okay. Hey, can I, well, before you begin, Doug, is there a slide that we can put on here to show what it is that is being recommended for the replacement of the median? I think there's a slide, right? Yes, we have that available, Mayor. Can we put that up on the screen? It's going to take a few moments, Mayor, to get to that. We'll take a few moments. Yes, because the, uh, Evelyn who just spoke, you know, she said that we're taking away the trees and it takes away from the experience. And, you know, I think there's a misunderstanding as to what the whole project is about. I'm waiting for the slide to come up on this. Do you have the artist's rendering? This, this doesn't tell me anything. Okay, Mr. Herbst. Please, please. Mr. Herbst has the floor. Okay, so to make a point in a rendering, yeah, let's make this as beautiful as we can make a look with trees on both sides. It's not, it's not, is what's going to happen. Right now, the olive trees in the center of the street, when you look at buildings on either side, you see the buildings. When you have all these shade trees, all these trees are just going to be, the canopy is going to be against all the buildings. It totally changes the look of it. This is absolutely iconic. Las Olas, Fort Lauderdale. You will decimate the look of it. This, this looks more like a planned shopping plaza. This looks more like, like a, whatever village. I don't see the problems that people see. I, I see, I see, by, by whoever just said we're going to put, we're going to put, we're going to put five times more trees for shade. I live on the street. I've lived here 22 years. I opened a business on the street. I walk down the street all the time. I've never walked down saying I'm sweating. I'm hot. I don't get shade depending on which way the winds, which, which way the sun is, what side of the street I walk on. Shade is not a, is, is, is, is not an issue. Parking, to me, is not an issue. People like to pop in or pop out of places. People like to drive down the street, see who's doing what. Hey, let me go into there. I could pull over here and park. Walking. I was on the street last night. It was a little bit cold outside Cafe Europa. There were on, on both sides of the street, there were two people on one side of the street, two people on the other, on, on, on a long block. You know, if we build a city for when it's busy for four hours on a Friday, Saturday night in February, March, and April, it's supposed to be crowded, the sidewalks. You know, I'm a fast walker. I just, I just, I walk a little slower. When I get to the points where the sidewalk gets a little wider, I walk around slow people. Okay, but if, if there's a, a, a, a car that takes five minutes to parallel park, who cares? Like, like, these are all city things that make the city dynamic. It's stuff to look at, you know? It's, it's, it's, it's, it's. Please conclude your remarks. Uh, it's crazy. It's absolutely crazy to take something so iconic and, and decimate it. Thank you. Thank you. Payton, follow, follow, Payton DeLong, followed by Brucey Cummings, followed by, uh, Thomas Morse. Uh, commissioners, I have a few to hand out just for reference for part of the speech. Hand it to our clerk, please. Two minutes. Please proceed. You're using up your time. All right. Uh, my name is Payton DeLong. I'm a member of the Downtown Civic Association. Um, thank you very much for holding the meeting night, guys. Um, our leadership's had a conflicting view on city planning. Commissioner Glassman has a vision of the iconic boulevard. Commissioner Sorensen would retain the on-street parking. Vice Mayor Herbst and Commissioner Beasley Pittman pondered median removal. Las Olas Boulevard, do not mistake this, is historic. It's not yet iconic. We, as a city, are focusing on the wrong aspects of the redesign. If you look at the most recognizable, the most grand boulevards in the world, Champs-Élysées in Paris, world-class cuisine, Arc de Triomphe, zero parking. Le Rambla in Barcelona, world-class experience. Hollywood Boardwalk, a gentleman in our backyard. Neither of those has any parking, no cars. Keeping minimal parking on Las Olas shouldn't be the goal. Study after study from Portland to New York shows pedestrian comfort and pedestrian safety drive higher store revenue, tax revenue, and time spent in the area, which is exactly what both tourists and locals want. I think we all agree on that. Studies across Europe and Canada also show that business owners estimate three times more parking than they assume that they need. That drives a perceived need for parking. Commissioner Sorensen, we talked a little bit about this last night. Over the last four or five days, I did a little bit of my own research, observation, empirical from multiple spots on Las Olas. I don't have any issue with the downtown and the Coley hammock at all. For me, it's the shops. So the specific one that Commissioner Sorensen mentioned in our meeting was Hollywood Donuts. Right there, great spot. Bobby owns it. Delicious. Loved it. I sat down this morning from about 8 to 9 a.m. and watched what was coming in and out. Three cars, one of which was Bobby's. Parked right there. 39 pedestrians came in. Spent about 15, 20, 30 minutes there. Spending money. Spending time. That was also reflected at Kilwin's on Friday afternoon, on Floridian Friday afternoon, and Starbucks just after I left Hollywood Donuts. So if we're looking at over 90% of the pedestrian traffic. You've got to change your diet. Donuts and ice creams? Yeah. Look, look. We all can lose a little bit of weight. Basically, what I'm just saying is, look, we don't need to remove the median. Replacing the trees, I totally get. I'm fine with that. Keep the median. The median will make it iconic. The redesign with the median would make it iconic. But the truly defining feature of driving money and making a vision, get rid of the on-street parking, maybe some cutouts, some things for drop-offs, pickups. No one wants it, and it's not used. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you, guys. Hang on. I've got to hold on. Hold on. We've got to bring it back. I've got to talk with you about this. So I just happened to be strolling down the Ramblin' not too long ago. Yep. And it does have parking. It does have... It has parking garages. Well, no. It's got two driving lanes. So you're walking down the Ramblin', right? So you've got the main thoroughfare. You've got trees where the pedestrians walk. There's 1.1 miles, or sorry, kilometers of the little Ramblin' is pedestrian only. Right. It's pedestrian only. Yeah. There's trees, right? But it's not pedestrian only, because you've got two lanes of traffic on each side. There's literally just pedestrian only. No, no. It's absolutely not. I called an Uber. I've been there as well. I called an Uber and stood there and got into an Uber. I know very well that I got picked up along the Ramblin'. Okay. Well, then there's still no parking. There's just transit. Either way, my point is... So the question is, how do we get from where we are? Are you suggesting that we take Las Olas and make it completely pedestrian? No, no. I mean, hey, if I could, yeah, absolutely. But I realize that's not feasible. Okay. I just want to understand, because you're bringing a pedestrian thoroughfare. I mean, a lot of folks have talked about things like Lincoln Road and Rambla and, you know, Espanola way down in South. I mean, so if we're going to talk about these things, I want to know how we integrate that into what we're looking at. Oh, yeah. So minimal parking, I mean, honestly, once or twice a month, we have the art fair that completely blocks Las Olas. I'm sorry. I'm trying to listen to him. This is not audience participation hour, folks. So, you know, at least once or twice a month, we'd totally block off the shops for the art fair, for other things, right? So clearly, transit can be redirected. That's not an issue. The traffic on Las Olas, the parking, like everyone's mentioned, you back up, you know, ruin Ted's date. I feel bad for that. That sucks. And honestly, the parking is completely full after about 11, 30 or 12 anyway. So there's really no argument for people being able to drive up and grab stuff a lot of the times. I walk down Las Olas two or three times a day with my dog, like the entire length of it. And the parking's taken, yeah, but it's not changing over. People are staying there. Parking's not really enforced, to be completely honest. So there's no churn. There's no replacement. And the revenue that the city makes, which pencil math or napkin math was under a million dollars a year. I think it was $12,000 max a spot. It doesn't make sense to keep. Stuff like cutouts, where you can drop people off, pick people up, have accessible parking if needed, right? Because that's always a consideration. That would be my recommendation, my hope. Let me ask you, one of the ideas that I floated years ago, and unfortunately a lot of my ideas never went anywhere, but I thought the idea of blocking the street off from like Friday night to Sunday night and making it pedestrian only, just put up, you know, plastic bollards not permanent, and truly making it pedestrian only would have been a great idea. What do you think about that? That sounds like a leading question. No, no, it's not. Because I totally agree. When I lived in Chicago, during COVID, they started doing that. They would block off the downtown River North area. And other parks, and they do the same thing, pedestrian only, for the weekends. They're doing it in Times Square now. I mean, you're closing off parts of Times Square. Times Square also has no parking. Ha ha! Yeah. All right. Sorry. Thank you guys for your time. No, thanks. I appreciate it. Brucey. Brucey, followed by Charlie Ladd, followed by Thomas Morse. I think that says Morse. Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. Thank you for having us. I'm speaking in behalf of the Tarpon River Civic Association, and we would like to oppose removing the median in the trees. And, you know, that would be from the Cheesecake Factory East. And I wondered how many of you have stood at the tunnel and looked at the trees and Las Olas. It's inviting. Those trees, to me, ask to come and explore the area. See what we have to offer. If you will remove those trees in the median, you get another street. We've got plenty of streets. There's nothing there. And I just wanted to ask you, have you asked the restaurants to move off the sidewalks? I mean, they're impeaching them the sidewalks continually. Couldn't they move off and add us a little bit more room? And personally, I don't want to eat where the traffic is flying by. I mean, that to me is just kind of a bit of a turnoff, but that's just me. And we've lost a lot of things in this city. You don't like inhaling exhaust? I don't. I don't want to smell the exhaust and all of that. And hearing radios blasting and cars screaming. Yeah, you've got it. You've got it. And I love the idea of closing it down from Thursday to Sunday or Friday to Sunday. You know, let us have a little bit of space. We don't need all the traffic all the time. I know you've heard of it. We've lost a lot. We've lost a downtowner. We've lost a Bahia Cabana. We've lost so many things on the beach that us residents love. I mean, we're getting to the point where we're like, what's the reason for being here anymore? We're taxpayers. Thank you for your time. Good evening, Commissioners and Mayor. Obviously, the group that's been assembled here, I'm not one of the popular members. But I guess that's the way it goes. I'd just like to make a few points. First of all, I'm a big supporter of trees. I've installed probably a couple hundred trees for Streetscape along Federal Highway between Broward and Sunrise. We've installed about 25 canopy trees of frontage along Las Olas in front of Planta, Lululemon, Warby Parker. And I'm a big believer in trees. And nobody wants to take those trees out of the media. It's a Hobson's choice. But the choices, other than that, are worse. So for all these people with this passion, number one, you've got to realize the three blocks east of the block from the tunnel, the eighth, is very sparse for trees. So we all focus on that one high-profile block that the riverside's in. But the rest of it's pretty tough. And when we talk about parallels, the gentleman up here before me talked about these iconic streets. Well, he left out Fifth Avenue in Naples, Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, in Chicago, where he's from, Oak Street. Rodeo Drive. Rodeo Drive. Rodeo Drive. Those streets have parallel spaces. And no trees. And the reason those trees are because they couldn't fit them in. But those parallel spaces, one person talked about how it slows traffic down. That's why they're there. They're there as a traffic calming device and as a protection from the pedestrians from the traffic. And if you let cars go by there or semis at 30 miles an hour and you're sitting on that sidewalk at the river walk or at the riverside, you can see it doesn't work. And we didn't used to have the parallels until O'Hara's got them put in. And that's when Las Olas went through a rebirth. And some people may have been here and seen that and lived through it. Newer people may not have. But nobody wants to take those trees out. And I'll just close by saying I don't want to sit there as a property owner that's invested millions and millions of dollars on this street and have no trees. And if those trees die and by code you can't put trees back in there, then what? Then we're all going to be mad at the commission that we didn't do a damn thing about it. So it ain't an easy choice. All right. Before you leave, can I ask you a couple of questions? Sure. So today I walked the street. And it seems that from Ninth Avenue East, a lot of the buildings have been rebuilt. And there is already a wide sidewalk. True. Okay. So I'm not understanding the imperative to expand the sidewalks even more because the new construction already incorporated is pushing the buildings back. And we already have a wide sidewalk. So I'm concerned that this one-size-fits-all approach to redeveloping Las Olas doesn't make any sense when there are large sections of the shops area that already have wide sidewalks. To me, the only areas that seem to be most impacted are the first two blocks from the tunnel. Those are the ones that have the most trees in the median. Those are the ones that have the most trees in the median. But they also have the narrowest sidewalks, partly because they expanded the seating area in front of the Riverside Hotel and also a big city tavern on the other side. But the point is that I'm concerned that a one-size-fits-all approach to redeveloping this particular part of Las Olas is maybe not the solution. But when we've already addressed the width of sidewalks in a whole section, and partly because of you and your partners who thought ahead and who set back your new construction, planted wonderful mature trees. And they're very, very important parts of the street, but they don't have a median in front of them. And you've created a pedestrian zone that is very accommodating and very inviting. But so we as a commission have to decide, you know, how are we going to go forward to address, you know, honestly, I don't think Las Olas is broken. I think that it's thriving, and I don't know why we're going to do things that would – I hope we don't kill it by trying to make it better. I'm not doing anything. The city's doing it. Yeah, I know. But I'm just saying – but it's you and others that are encouraging the city to make changes. And I – you know, nothing's broken on Las Olas. Oh, there's – I would disagree with you. You know, these passionate 30 people that have networked to be here agree with you. But I think we need to understand that there are portions of Las Olas that the buildings are not going to pull back. The Riverside Hotel is not an area that was added. Well, that's what I'm saying. The Riverside Hotel is historic. But don't define the whole street by one block. I'm not defining it. No, no, I'm not saying one cannot define the entire street by one block or one section of one block. And if I could answer you? Yeah, okay. With a nuanced answer? Sure. There are – that some people here aren't going to like. The consultant group that we've hired isn't sophisticated enough to differentiate between those blocks. There are people that are talented enough to differentiate. Right. And the things that you cite can be addressed. Okay. Okay? And I think they should be. Okay. So maybe that's what we should be doing, trying to address it on a block-by-block basis. Because I'm looking at this picture, and I know, for example, in front of Carol's Jewelers, there's a very wide sidewalk. They don't need any more sidewalk. And I know that that whole north side of Las Olas normally has very wide sidewalks. So why are we widening something that isn't – The Carol's Jewelers section doesn't have any trees in the median either. Just for the record. Okay. That's not my – It has a median, but there's very few trees there. Right. If you go down there, east of Carol's, I think there are two trees. Okay. Just for the record. Let's stick to the point, though. The point is that, you know, we need a more nuanced approach because, again, I've lived here a lot of years, and I've never seen Las Olas more successful than it is today. And that's – Okay. And that – Excuse me. Excuse me. That – Las Olas is as successful as it is day to day. Do number one to the investment that's been made by Las Olas' company and others like ourselves, Steve Hudson and I, building new product. I agree. The building – Well, folks, if you – Wait, wait. Quiet, quiet. I'm speaking, okay? The building, the new product is – No, because if I could finish. If I could finish. That have been pushed back from – If I could finish, Mayor. Yeah. He's asking me questions, pal. Stop. So I'm talking about additions like Louis Bossy, Earls, et cetera. So that's part of it. The other part is the density that's added downtown. There's been 25,000 or 30,000 people, residents, permanent residents added downtown in the last 15 or 20 years. And I think that's part of Las Olas' power as well. Right. But at the same time, it has accommodated that growth. And I don't see anybody saying, oh, I'm not going to Las Olas because it's too crowded. It's like that old Yogi Berra saying, no one goes there anymore because it's too crowded. No, and again, we go back to the same problem. What happens when the black olives die? Well, we'll get to that. But we'll get to that point. And to say they're not going to die, there's already been three or four lost in the last four or five years. And to sit there and say it's not going to happen is putting your head in a hole. All right. I have no more questions. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you all. All right. Thomas Morris. Tom, are you here? You want to talk? You're up next. Do you live 420 Coconut Isle? Okay. Ann Hilmer, followed by Chris Nelson, followed by Robert Lockery. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Ann Hilmer. I live at 621 Idlewild Drive. I'm speaking on behalf of the Idlewild Improvement Association. So, Dean, I expect that I get three minutes rather than two minutes. It's interesting. Welcome to the new year of the trees. This is from the Idlewild Improvement Association, which was established in 1926. Dear Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, in 1916, as the Las Olas Causeway and Bridge were being built, the developers of Idlewild met to discuss an idea. Within a few years, Hort, Dye, and Stillwell began construction on our neighborhood. They built homes for the families and lived there. Just as we depend on Las Olas Boulevard for mobility today, so did they 100 years ago. Today, 100 years later, we still love our community. Around 2013, the representatives from Idlewild began meeting with representatives from other Las Olas neighborhoods to discuss growing issues of mobility. We joined the Las Olas Mobility Group in 2018 and continued to work with our neighbors. Over the years, we've proposed many ideas, some of which were originally met with skepticism, such as the dedicated right-hand turn on westbound Las Olas at the intersection with 15th Avenue and the dual left turn on the southbound 15th at Las Olas, both of which are now in effect. On January 15th, 2026, at our monthly meeting of the Idlewild Improvement Association, we reviewed the plan brought forward for your consideration. I gave you this information at the last meeting, and I'm repeating myself. Our primary concern, as has been true for the past 13 years, indeed for the past 100 years, is safety and mobility. To that end, the board voted unanimously on six subjects. Number one, oppose curbing bump-outs pinch points, which will permanently narrow the road, preventing any flexibility as well as hampering emergency response and evacuation efforts. Number two, oppose on-street parking. Number three, support a parking study to determine the availability of parking in the area, particularly in light of the proposed parking garage on 2nd Court. Number four, oppose the median, particularly until further studies have determined the impact on infrastructure underneath. Number five, update the traffic study, which was completed seven years ago. Number six, oppose the designation of Southeast 15th Avenue rather than Las Olas Boulevard as the evacuation route for the Isles, Beach, and other Las Olas neighborhoods. Southeast 15th Avenue is a two-lane road in a residential neighborhood, which is backed up on a regular basis, causing frequent backups on Las Olas and Broward Boulevard. The Commission decided in 2021 against any widening of this road. We would request that the Commission complete the parking study and update the traffic study prior to moving forward on this plan before you. We also request that the Commission move forward with a plan which prioritizes safety and mobility for the region while incorporating the flexibility for future needs, and this is signed by the board members of the Idlewild Improvement Association. Okay. Thank you so much. Hold on. Hold on. Ann? Ann? Question. I'm back. A quick question for you. I want to thank you for not interrupting me as I was speaking tonight. Last time I spoke, you interrupted me, and I thought that was rude. A question for you, Ann. So as I'm reading through your list here, one of the things that I see, I understand that you don't like the bump outs because it creates a pinch point. I get that. But help me understand why you oppose the on-street parking. Because, you know, obviously right now we've got parking at certain points during the day. So we've got unimpeded access, you know, during rush hour, for example, and then parking at off hour. So what's the objection to on-street parking? Because I would think for an evacuation from the Barrier Island and from your neighborhood perspective, as long as you have access to the roads and we can clear them, that it wouldn't be an issue. That's the assumption, that you can clear the roads. But if there's on-street parking and the people aren't available, then you can't clear the roads. Right. But I'm thinking so. We want to get rid of the on-street parking so there's free traffic flow in both directions, two lanes, both. Right, but where it becomes an issue for you is hurricane, right? I mean, that's really what we're talking about. No, we're talking about emergency response times, too. The Los Olos Isles have one of the worst emergency response times in this city, almost twice what is expected. Okay. So, all right. If you've ever been on Los Olos, enjoying walking. I've been on Los Olos a lot. Please don't interrupt me. No, I'm not. I'm just saying I've been on Los Olos. So, I'm trying to understand. I'm trying to finish my statement. Go ahead. I'm sorry. If you've been on Los Olos when there's an emergency response vehicle trying to get through and there's parking on the street, it's almost impossible. Cars don't move and there's nowhere for them to move because they're all stuck in one lane of traffic. When there's, if there's on-street parking in the shops section, how does that impact emergency response in Idlewild? That's what I'm trying to get to. I understand, again, like I said, I've been there when there's been emergency response. I've been in the fire truck when there's been an emergency response. So, what I'm trying to understand is how does parking in front of Big City Tavern impact emergency response in Idlewild? Emergency response is one of the concerns and evacuation is another one. But we just think that the on-street parking should go. There's parking behind those buildings and there is a private parking garage that's planned. One of the problems if you eliminate on-street parking is that people are going to drive faster down Los Olos. On-street parking slows traffic down and it makes it safer for pedestrians. So do the crosswalks. No, people get run over in crosswalks. Well, then figure it out. But keeping on-street parking isn't the answer. No, the reason I say this is because in our Vision Zero plan to reduce or eliminate fatalities, one of the things we look at is parking. Parking is considered to be a barrier for pedestrians and it blocks them from getting killed by people speeding up and down the street. So I'm trying to balance out these two things. So if we're having a hurricane, we don't let people park on the street. So you don't have an evacuation issue in the case of a hurricane. We clear the streets. We've done that for the decades that I've lived here. That hasn't been a problem. So I'm trying to understand how we balance out the competing issues of keeping pedestrians safe on the street from people speeding and having – we have no shoulder over there, right? So the street and the curb are right there. People can jump up on the curb. It's very dangerous. And we can have Milo speak to this. But, you know, I can tell you from a Vision Zero perspective that you want to slow down traffic. You want to have a barrier, a physical barrier between traffic lanes and pedestrians on a sidewalk. And the best physical barrier is a 2,000-pound car. You can also put bollards in. Well, okay. We can put bollards in there. But doesn't that create the problem you just said you didn't want the pinch points? No. You put them in right on the edge of the sidewalk. Okay. I'm not suggesting you put them in a parking lane. Okay. Keep the two lanes in both directions. That's what – that's the recommendation from the Outlaw Board. But then you don't want to wind in the sidewalks either then. You want to keep the sidewalks narrow? I think that's something that's got to be worked out. But obviously it's not one plan fits all because there is a difference in widths and sidewalks on each one of those blocks. And there certainly is a difference in each one of those blocks in terms of how many restaurants have taken up a large portion of the sidewalks that the city has given away. So why do we have to pay for widening the sidewalks or taking out trees or whatever because the city has given away land that belongs to us for eating in restaurants? So that's a great question. And I guess it's one that we really need to ask ourselves is because, you know, there was a conversation a little bit earlier about the Champs-Élysées. You know, one of the things that makes these streets in Paris so delightful is the cafes and the on-street, you know, dining. So I think one of the things that makes Las Olas sort of special for people is the ability to sit out there and, you know, have a cup of coffee or have a drink. So I don't know. That's a good question. You raise a very interesting point. Do we want cafe tables or do we want to eliminate cafe tables so we can create a better pedestrian experience? I think we need to keep in mind, too, that this is Fort Lauderdale. This isn't the Champs-Élysées. This isn't in – we're not Palm Beach. We're not any of these areas. We have our own definition and our own personality, and we don't have to keep up with the others. Thank you. Mayor. All right. Thank you. Mayor. Can we have – I'd like to have Chris Cooper come up, if that's all right, to talk about the cafes. Sure. Is that right? Chris Cooper. Chris Cooper. Hiding behind the curtain over there. There he is. Come on. Chris, can you talk to us about tables, cafes? What allowance are you allowed to have tables? What's that permitting process? Yeah, sure. So Commissioner – Mayor, Commissioner, Chris Cooper, Deputy City Manager. So there's two types of outdoor seating areas. One is an outdoor cafe, one is a sidewalk cafe. A sidewalk cafe is the one that's typically part of the public sidewalk. So there's a permitting process for that, whereby staff will look at the configuration of it, and that includes to ensure that there's enough distance left in the sidewalk to allow for pedestrian flow and traffic on the sidewalk. It's also looked at to make sure that it's not totally encircled so that there's still some openness to it so it feels like it's part of the public realm in the sidewalk. Then there's some technical aspects like insurance and things like that. But a lot of the main considerations are whether or not it's open seating, it feels like part of that public realm, and there's still space to maneuver on the sidewalk as a pedestrian. Great. So is it accurate to say the outdoor sidewalk is on the public right-of-way, the sidewalk cafe is on private property? The sidewalk cafe is on public, and outdoor cafe would be more on private property. Outdoor is more on private. Yeah. So sidewalk cafes, so how many do you know about how many sidewalk cafes are in the shops, permitted in the shops district? I don't have that number for you tonight. I know there's several. El Camino is one. I think part of the Cheesecake Factory, which is a little further towards the end, is one. But I don't have an accurate number for you. Riverside. Yeah, Riverside is probably another one. Riverside, there are a number of outdoor seatings, but you're saying the outdoor seating is within the private property and the pedestrian pathway is in public realm. So a sidewalk cafe would be in the sidewalk area, but, again, the key part to that is there's still enough space to use the sidewalk as a pedestrian and not only be used for that cafe. Right. Right. Okay. That helps. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thanks, Mayor. Any further questions? You're good? No, that's good. Thanks. All right. Chris Nelson, Chris Nelson, followed by Robert Lockery. Hello again, Mayor, Commissioners. First of all, I saw a hit piece in Florida politics against your city manager, Raquel Williams, and anonymous sources. You need to find out who's talking to that dirtbag Peter Schorsch and stick up for your city manager there. All right. So, Mayor Dean, it was great to just hear you, that interaction you just had. That was great. That was the Mayor Dean I remember. You know, I read this article in Sun Sentinel back in April of 2024, and it had this great quote in it. Wait a minute. We really love these trees. I started walking up and down the street and realized that the idea of expanding the sidewalks was more important on the north side than the south side, because the south side already has wider sidewalks. I thought it would be a reasonable compromise. And when the black olive trees reached the end of their lifespan, the commission would decide to replant the trees in the median or remove the median and plant the trees in the south side of the street. Trantalis said. And that's you, Mayor. That's you in an article called Fort Lauderdale Mayor Wants to Save the Trees on Las Olas. So, hey, I couldn't agree with that more. I have a book of poetry you can recite, too. Would you like that, too? Yeah, sure. Why not? How about Mayor Dean is going to keep the trees, and it's really going to be a breeze. So, no. Not Dr. Seuss. Stick to your day, John. So, these olive trees, it's telling me here that they can live the 300 to 600 years with some ancient specimens in Mediterranean exceeding 2,000 to 5,000 years. Those aren't the same olive trees. So, I mean, they're the ones that Jesus prayed by, right? Yeah, but those trees are not the same as the ones on Las Olas. Okay, if you say so. So, anyway. You're done. I had a bunch of people clapping, so I took away from some of my time. Well, that's your problem that you're so popular. Those trees are – it's more than just trees. You see, the Tampa Bay Times has picked this up even, that Fort Lauderdale that you were signaling that you wanted to get rid of them. Because they see this looks like their place. This looks like Delray Beach. That looks like any other place. But people are like, no, that area of Las Olas, where those trees are, that provide wonderful shade to us, that are a home to beautiful parrots, and that we all love, that is something that is a picture. It's iconic, like what Ted said. Just that little area. The rest of your redesign actually looks all right, I think. But just that one area that has those olive trees, do what you said you were going to do in this article, and just keep that area as it is. Because that's what – as we see all these buildings going up everywhere, that's what defines Fort Lauderdale. And be remembered as the commission and the mayor that said, in the midst of all this sprawl and these condos going up everywhere, we decided to take a stand with that little area and make that what's unique to Fort Lauderdale and preserve that. And you guys can really be heroes tonight and decide to keep those trees. All right, thank you. Thanks for giving me some extra time, Mayor Dean. I appreciate it. Thank you. Robert, I want to be a hero, so how am I going to do that? Well, you can be. Can you hear me now? Yeah. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioner. It's Robert Lockery on behalf of the McTeague family, as well as other property owners, Coombs family and maybe my own family. As you all know, the McTeague family has worked, has lived in his own property on Las Olas Boulevard for well over 100 years. And when this plan first started to come about in 2018, they got very involved and were concerned about it. I think the thing that comes out of this plan, the reason that they're encouraging you to prove it tonight, is the expanded sidewalks, which are so important. Anyone who really does spend a lot of time on Las Olas, it's obvious. Additional trees, which is what we clearly get out of this plan. And looking ahead for the next 100 years, not just what has come before. But most importantly, I want to spend my specific time is the on-street parking. This is where I said you can be a mayor. One of the comments that keeps coming back is the signature nature, the historic nature of this street. And I want to make it very clear, from the time the street was first developed, with the first retail shops in 1917, through the 20s, through the 30s, through the 40s, through the 50s, and through the 60s, there was always on-street parking on Las Olas Boulevard. The city made a mistake when it took the on-street parking off about the same time that the median went in. And as a result of that, Las Olas failed. And it's not hard. You don't have to take my word for it. Those of us who are here knows what it was like in the 80s. When Kitty Ryan went and started, bought, and opened O'Hare's, her comment to the paper was, Las Olas is a ghost town. And that's why she and other civic leaders, people like Emmett McTeague, frankly, folks like my dad who didn't own any property on the street but used it every day to get to work, petitioned city government, petitioned city commission to bring back on-street parking, which started in 93. And we've had a renaissance on Las Olas with that on-street parking. It is true, you look at cities, as was mentioned, I mean, other streets like Rodeo Drive, like Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, Newberry Street in Boston. Those are smaller streets. They're not Champs-Élysées, which is eight lanes wide, that has 20 feet of sidewalk on either side with landscaping on either side. They're smaller neighborhood streets. And, again, you don't have to take my word for it. You can take the word of the shop owners, the residents of the city, when this first came back into place and when the city corrected the mistake and kept the on-street parking, which is so signature to this street. For example, an article in the Sun Sentinel in, I'm going to read these real quickly, in 1994. The customers love it, Kitty Ryan said. It makes the street more like a hometown. The traffic isn't as fast as it was. It's safer, everyone can find parking, and it's safer because it provides a buffer between the sidewalk cafes and the street. Another resident, it's creating an atmosphere that's important. And, by the way, the trees were already there by that time. The on-street parking is what's making this special. It has a European feel. One other, three or four others, but I'll just do one. Cars can't go 50 miles an hour anymore as they drive by. It's turning, they can, cars have to slow down, and that's the whole point. They're here to smell the roses. And that's the point of the on-street parking. It provides that mechanism. We do not need to turn Las Olas back into a thoroughfare that just gets someone from A to B. And I know as someone who had the fire department come to my house just two Saturdays for a fire, we did, the fire trucks did not use the shops area of Las Olas to get to the Las Olas aisles. Thank you. All right, thank you. John Roth. John, are you still here? John, followed by Hugh Johnson, followed by Estelle Brennan. Mr. Johnson, maybe you want to come up while Mr. Roth is working with the clerk. Whoops, careful. Treacherous. Hi, I'm Hugh Johnson. Resided 1119 North Victoria Park Road. I was the principal at AAL in Fort Lauderdale for 35 years and recently retired. I practiced landscape architecture here for 45 years in Fort Lauderdale. I've seen a lot of change, been involved in a lot of high-profile projects in the city. I'm very proud to have made my career here and very proud of the way that the city's developed. As a professional, I agree with the consultants that the ability to continue with the betterment of Las Olas Boulevard, to widen the sidewalks, which is the main objective of the project, it would be very difficult to keep the trees in place and have a successful widening and find the space to do what's needed to create a world-class project here. Priorities of all streetscape projects are to widen pedestrian sidewalks, to provide shade to sidewalks, to calm traffic flow, to prioritize enhancement of the pedestrian experience. To create a space, you have to improve the pedestrian area. That is what creates the space. It's what creates the textures of the sidewalks, the seating, the outdoor cafes, the experience of what people remember. I appreciate the olives. I do. I've lived here for a lot of years, for over 40 years. But as a design professional, in order to see this project progress and to see the city progress in the direction that it has been for the last 20 years, I have to support removing the trees. Does that conclude your remarks? That does conclude. Okay, great. Thank you so much, sir. John Roth, followed by Estelle Brennan, followed by Mike Weymouth. Good evening. Press here. Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners, Commissioner Sorensen especially, because you spent so much time with us last Sunday and Saturday on your meeting. Anyway, I have prepared for you a handout, which I hope you would read. I have been on this project for at least 15 years. I think Steve and Ben, you've been working on this thing for 10 years at least. And I've been to almost every meeting, including the various waves of consultants we've had. So I've heard every aspect to redesigning this space. And I happen to know an awful lot about trees. Why? Because when I was a young man, I started a firewood business in the woods of Pennsylvania. And I've cut hundreds of trees. I love trees. There's all kinds of birds and everything in it. But I learned to respect the trees when I bumped my tractor against one of them. And a widowmaker, as they call it, a limb, six inches in diameter, came down and went within nine inches of my head. And I wouldn't be here. So dead trees are bad trees. Live trees are good trees. And we tend to put everything into boxes, all alike. On this side of the street, it's one way. On that side of the street, it's another way. We're going to make all the trees of the same breed and type. Well, tree nurseries, they'll tell you, that's not a good idea. You get monoculture that way. So I don't really care. But I do care about how much money we spend and the intelligence we use executing these kinds of projects. And just the last four things on the final recommendation, I said, maintain the roadway layout similar, not exactly the same, to the existing conditions. Two travel lanes, two auxiliary lanes. Retain the central median. Didn't say exactly. Fully investigate and price substitute subsurface risks before final design selection. I know a whole lot about taking out a tree. You don't just get down like they did down in front of Louis Bossy's and cut off the tree and then put it in a truck and haul it away and plant a new one. Because when you drive a – replace that with asphalt, when you place something over top of it, then that area will – not corrode, it will turn into powder and cave in and make a sinkhole. That is why the city – sorry, the state government has in their road construction manual, you must remove every piece of organic material out of the soil where you take out the tree. That is a main job to do when it's six feet deep and you're underwater. Second thing is – All right, wait, wait. Please conclude your remarks. So you need to fully investigate this and price the subsurface risks before the final selection. To take out the stumps and clean all that out, you're going to use a heavy machine. And I guarantee – guarantee – that's a hard word for me to say, but I would guarantee you'll break every single pipe, old pipe that's in the subsurface of Las Olas. And you'll dig it up, and those people will be out of business for at least two years while they redesign and rebuild everything. All right. Thank you. We have evidence of that happening. Okay. Thank you. Estelle, followed by Mike Weymouth, followed by Christine DeNaro. Okay. I am here opposed to R3. I understand opposition is to all three items, which you have made clear there are three kind of items in here. I ask the commission to please stop proposing packed all-or-nothing resolutions that come across as intended for desired outcomes. It is very clear that everybody here today is opposed to one-third of this prong. It should be handled separately. And each of you up there, should you vote on this as a collective package, understand that you are going against the majority of your residents. Speaking about keeping the median, I ask you to please not remove the median. By removing the median, you will continue to turn Las Olas into a basic strip mall. We already have national chains scattered about the eastern section that does not have the median. It's just a matter of time before Senor Frogs ends up at Candleland. Next will come the busloads of cruise ship passengers with their suitcases to shop at these stores with these widened sidewalks. We are going to be getting rid of charm and history, completely making Las Olas devoid of character and heart. One of you earlier mentioned we must sometimes give for modern times. I'm asking you guys and say that we must future-proof. We must future-proof against changing mobility patterns, micro-mobility, bicyclists, Ubers. Many kids today are choosing to delay getting their licenses. They are choosing to live closer to urban cores where they can walk, they can get their Uber Eats. That's the future. You guys often talk about us being on a global scale. We need to compete at that global scale with urban mobility. There are plenty of examples out there which you can search yourselves. Okay, thank you. Mike Weymouth. Good evening, Mike. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners. Mike Weymouth. I'm the president of the Las Olas Company. Las Olas Company is in its current celebration of 90 years of continuous business on Las Olas as a family-run business. So I just want to share that with you because I think we've got some institutional knowledge out here. So a lot of this started a little over 10 years ago when we really started getting serious about it, when there were a couple people that were killed on Las Olas. You may remember that. They were darting across and they got hit. So we started talking about how to make it more pedestrian-friendly. So let me start with, Mayor, you asked earlier, and I can't remember if you asked Charlie or who, but the city owns the first five feet from the curb towards the buildings. Beyond that, it's all private property. There isn't a single cafe that's in the sidewalk. They're all on private property, all licensed. So we were talking about how to make it more pedestrian-friendly. Just like she said, there's a lot of people moving downtown. There's a lot more people walking around. And so widening the sidewalks was very important. By widening the sidewalks, you choke or narrow down the distance between the two sidewalks from one side of the street to the other from 40 feet, where people have to dodge across four lanes to 20 feet if we were to take out the median. I was up here January 20th, and I shared with you guys two things. First was the Arborist report that identified 18 trees, but since that report was written, two had since died. So now it's down to 16 trees. Of those 16 trees, eight of those trees were in fair condition at best. And the other four, I'm sorry, the other eight were in poor or very poor condition. And that is a public document if anybody in this room wants to go look at it. The other thing I shared with you is part of what I do for the company is I visit high street markets like this, and you've heard some people talk about it like Fifth Avenue in Naples. Every single one of those that's identified as a high street neighborhood looks just like that. Two lanes, parking on each side, trees down the side. I suggest to people who think that the center trees are the best thing, next time you're on Los Angeles, stand between the curb and the building and look up, and I can promise you you're going to see the sky. If we get these trees in there, and the trees are going to be 75% to 80% aged, so they don't have but eight or ten years to get to be mature, it will probably be absolutely iconic. So I think that's all I've got. All right, thank you so much. Mike, can I ask a question? Because I heard you say something that was different from what we heard before. So I just want clarity on this. As I understand what you just said, all of your tables are actually on private property. Every single restaurant on Las Solas outside is on private property. And for the record, that's part of the reason why we built some of these buildings the way we did is to increase the sidewalk area where people could have outdoor cafes. So when you say, oh, there's plenty of sidewalk space, in some areas there is, because there aren't restaurants, you will never say, hey, there's a ton of space out here, and it's a restaurant. That doesn't exist in one spot. So we can't take away any of those tables and create more pedestrian walkways, because that's your private property? Correct. Okay. Good. Thank you. Just wanted to be clear about that. Except the north side. The north side has restaurants and wider sidewalks. No, sir. Well, I know that. I'm not going to dispute the facts, but I walk it all the time. The property becomes a sidewalk, if that's what you mean, yes. But you don't have Big City with 10 feet of sidewalk. No, I didn't say you have 10 feet. You don't have Voodoo Bayou with 10 feet of sidewalk. No, you don't. You don't have American Social with 10 feet of sidewalk. They're all five foot. Right. But that's the first block, and that's the- That's every block. So here's the fundamental difference, Mayor. You were asking kind of what the fundamental difference is. To the west of the shops area and to the east of the shop area, those are all 60-foot right-of-ways. The shops area is a 50-foot right-of-way. So we're working with 10 feet less to carry the same traffic. I understand that. That's the challenge. That's the challenge here. It's not a challenge. Well, okay. All right. But just so I'm clear, right, so all those areas, like you said, where Big City is and like Noodles Panini and all those, where we have those tables out there. Those are all on private property, Mayor. That's all on private property. Yes, sir. Thank you. Anyone else? Thank you. Okay, thank you. Christine, followed by Carlos Lang, followed by Mary Fertig. Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. I am upset, I guess, I want to say, that you want to remove the trees from the medium. I moved here 30 years ago, and a big reason we decided to buy property at the time, both in Harbor Beach and Harbordale, was because of Las Olas and because of all the trees on Las Olas. The gentleman that just spoke before me, Mike, brought up a point, and he said the trees are sick, and some of them are dying. Well, are they dying in 30 years? Are they dying in 60 years? It's a lot cheaper to replace one tree than to rip up the whole yard. How many times has Las Olas been ripped up lately for changes in the roadways and things of that nature? The other thing is, when you plant trees on the sidewalk... Actually, we just resurfaced it. We didn't rip it up. We resurfaced it. Something that has been due for a very, very long time, and everyone thanked us for doing that. All right. I will say it is much better because I go to Las Olas daily. I also keep a mailbox on 15th, and I know that the traffic down there and the parking has all been changed. Anyway, when you plant trees on a sidewalk, they have limited growth because they're encased around cement. So the trees can only get so big, and that's something that nobody has brought up here. The trees we have now in the medium are huge, and they have a beautiful canopy. I'd still like to be alive to see a canopy, and if we get rid of those trees, half this room will be dead before we have big trees back on Las Olas. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor, can I ask a question? Thanks for your comment, and I think the tree question is a good one. Laura, would you mind? Raquel, I'd like to bring up Laura. Absolutely. If you can, Laura, if you wouldn't mind. This is our city arborist. Yeah. Could you give us your feedback on tree longevity and kind of growth potential when we think about trees along the sidewalk? What does that look like? What are the limitations? What kind of trees would work there? If you could, how big can they grow? Hit that again. Sorry, Laura. Yep. Thanks. Okay. Laura Tooley, good evening, commissioners, mayor, vice mayor. You're asking specifically about trees on the sides of the road. Exactly, on the sidewalk area. Current building practices provide infrastructure under the sidewalks to allow for better root growth and volume than what we currently have in the median. And what if, so what types of trees, so we're all on the same page, what types of trees does this plan contemplate on the sidewalk? And then, yeah, go ahead. Okay. Oak trees are one of the recommended trees. There's a variety called high-rise oak that tends to be more upright. If you look on Federal Highway near the tunnel, there's some that were planted that were 18 to 20 feet tall. And so you don't have as much encroachment into the building, but you can also, it will spread out over the roadways. Thanks. And I think the one idea contemplates, I think it's 75% maturity, the trees being put in at 75% maturity or something along those lines. Is that? Okay. So oak trees in particular, when they grow to 16 feet, 14, 16 feet, they're fairly fast growing to that point, and then they slow down and start putting on caliper and getting to be fatter, more mature trees. So when you're talking about a tree that is 18 to 20 feet tall, you've got a much larger caliper, and the trunk is larger, but it does start slowing down. So it's reaching maturity. It's when does a child reach maturity is, you know, 18. But we know that, you know, that doesn't mean that they're fully grown adults. I mean, legally, yes, but, you know, there's a lot of growing that goes on after that. So, you know, if you would, you know, so an 18 to 20 foot tree would easily be considered close to maturity. And thanks. And so that would be your expectations of the tree height? Yes. On the sidewalk, 20 feet, which is, what, almost two stories, I guess, ish? Yeah, close to that. Okay. And just to give some context with that, so these, I'm just looking at this pictorial representation. So you're looking at covering the second story and above those shops. Okay. Thank you. Thanks. Could I just, well, I'm sorry. While you're there, I do have a question. Why, and correct me if I'm wrong, but why are black olive trees not permitted by code to be planted in the city now? That is a little footnote in the code that has been there as long as I've been with the city almost 10 years. That's always been there because they do become problematic. When they were originally planted, when they were originally brought into the country, the term black olive was a misnomer. It's not related to the olive tree of the Middle East. But also, when I first got into the industry, they were considered native by people. And then when people started digging in and doing research, they said, wait a minute, it's not native. You know, it doesn't belong in South Florida. And, you know, so that's how, you know, they became very popular because they are fast growing. The ones we have there now, their size has been, they are not going to add to our canopy in the future because they're just not growing. They're staying right where they are, where they are growth-wise. And, in fact, some of them are showing evidence of severe decay. And one that I, when I did my report that was referenced earlier two years ago, has gone downhill considerably, and we need to consider one of those for removal. If they all did, you know, die, as you're projecting, what could they be replaced with if we kept the median? Well, and that's part of the issue with these trees is that the median is only six feet wide, and they're planted in six-foot-by-six-foot boxes, and you have a three-foot, 30-inch trunk filling that up. There's really no room for those trees to grow. So, correct me if I'm wrong, but does city code address the fact that you really cannot plant a canopy tree in an island that's six feet from one curb of the island to the other? It's not recommended, especially in this situation where you're going to have traffic that close. When you say it's not recommended, is that the code or is that not the code? There is a setback requirement that is, you know, it takes into account the mature size of the tree, and so it would be small and maturing trees recommended there, at best a medium-sized tree, but that would be questionable. Like, what could you plant in there that would have the root ball that would be able to pass code on an island that's only median, island, whatever? I think the code calls it islands from six feet to the other side, curb to curb. But what could you plant with that kind of a root ball? What kind of tree other than a small palm? Like, crepe myrtles are often planted, ligustrum trees, you know, things that are just not going to provide, really provide much shade. Thank you. Laura, one other question. The, of an oak on the sidewalk, you know, 20 foot high, tall at maturity, what's the radial distance from trunk to drip line? Well, with the high-rise oaks, their structure is a little different because they tend to grow up and not out as far. They don't get that really broad, which is desirable in a tight space. But going in, I would expect them to have 20 feet, probably a 10-foot spread from tip to tip. Commissioner, if I may. So Laura Tulli is our urban arborist, and she is here to support us with respect to any existing trees. We also, I just want to recognize that we also have our engineer of record in here. We have an urban arborist from the consultant side, and we also have a landscape architect who can talk about any or respond to any questions related to the proposed trees. Yeah, I'd just like to hear, yeah, the canopy length or width of trees on the sidewalk. What's the radius? Yeah, so would you please identify yourself? Hi, Walter Meyer, licensed landscape architect, state of Florida, Florida native. I'm from Homestead, Florida. Grew up as a tree farmer and ended up in landscape architecture, so University of Florida grad. Okay, you're qualified. Thank you. So, specific to your question, she nailed it. There's, within the oak tree variety, you can go wide, you can go narrow. There's a lot of varieties. In the case with an urban environment like this, where the space horizontally is tight, you want to get more of a columnar shape. And so, you know, that variety, nothing's exact with these trees, but it's about right. You're getting 20 feet high and about 20 feet wide. As much as 35 depends on the environment, right? So the end of the block might have more wind and affect the tree differently than the center of the block, right? There's a lot of factors that come into it. Are you saying 20-foot radius or 20-foot diameter, or 20-foot, yeah, diameter? Yeah, you were the spread, which is diameter. The diameter. Yeah. Okay, great. Thank you. And I have to point out, you know, landscape architecture looks at mostly the future, but we depend on science-led decision-making through the arborist to identify the conditions of today. So, you know, it's important to talk about what we have today versus the future, and where mostly this exercise is about the next generation of Las Olas. Thank you. Thanks, Mayor. Okay. Thank you. Carlos, followed by Mary Fertig. Good evening, Mayors, Commissioners, City staff, and our wonderful City Manager. My name is Carlos Lang. I'm just here to talk about the parking. I'm indifferent about the trees and the plan, and I'll get to that if I have time at the end. But I just want to say, as someone who doesn't live downtown, the street parking is very important to me. I'm on Las Olas two to three times a week, multiple times a day. In fact, I was there to stay for lunch. I was able to hop in, grab lunch, hop out, and still make it in time for the 1 o'clock meeting. It's convenient, and it's easy for me, and I think it's easy for a lot of people who do not live downtown. In fact, I'm there so much, I'm a great contributor to your meters. I think there should be one named after me. I even give out bonuses. I missed a meter by 10 minutes and got a parking ticket. So if anybody wants to take care of this, I'd really appreciate it. So, and I just want to remind everyone, yes, you know, it would be nice to have the parking gone, but however, just a reminder, downtown does not just belong to the residents. It belongs to everybody here in Fort Lauderdale. If you take away the parking, you're taking away people that would take advantage and visit that area. It's a great revenue generator, and I highly recommend keeping it. And the last thing I want to say just about the trees and whether this plan goes, not to put the fire chief or the police chief on the spot, but no one likes change. Even though it's for the better, it's hard, and then if it is for the better, it takes time, and over time, people will realize the vision. So I thank you for your time. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mary Fertig, followed by Michael Schneider, followed by Jenny Moreholm. Dean, before I start, and you've already started me, so can you just, I assumed you were going to give us our normal three minutes, and I have timed this. And as you know, I've been working on this for 14 years, dating back to when you were our commissioner and joined our meetings. So I would just ask you to extend us the courtesy, and I've been timing other speakers, too. I know you know I would do that, so I'm just going to try to be very quick with this, but I am giving some exhibits. You don't have to be very quick. Just quick. I'll give you the time you need. Just quick, but not very. I'll give you the time you need. And I'm going to leave with David a copy of what I'm saying as well as the emergency response times. I know. Thank you. Good evening. For many of us, there's a realization that the plan before you is a done deal. Well, that fact was our takeaway in 2021, 2022, and 2023, but for the sake of the record, I thought it important to document a few issues. The plan before you was never voted on by the Las Olas Mobility Working Group. The consultant presented a plan to the commission, a vision to the commission, June 1st and June 15th, 2021, and the commission voted to move, quote, the vision forward. It's interesting to note that the total cost of the western section, which is what we're talking about tonight in 2021, was almost $42.5 million after removing the bridges from the project. In 2022, Stantec issued a report increasing the amount by 20% to cover the estimated 2025 construction costs. That's when you thought it would start, to almost $51 million, which represents about 15% at that time, 15% of the city's operating budget. Amazingly, in 2026, the project cost is $19.3 million. In an era of unprecedented inflation, the estimated price presented by tonight's consultants is less than half of what was projected five and one-half years ago, which should raise some serious questions with you. Five years ago, the consultants noted the need to address the Hemershee Canal Bridge, built in 1930, and the Suspero Bridge, built in 1950. But the bridges were removed from the plan due to cost. What else has been excluded from the proposal to bring down the cost? EMS times for some of the neighborhoods along Osola, such as Coley Hammock and the Isles, are among the worst in the city, approaching 11 minutes. Many of us believe drastic congestion is the top reason for this. Those of us who have worried about evacuations and responses to emergencies have been ridiculed and told that it will never happen in spite of the data documenting response times that are nearly double the goal. You can build a new EMS station further east, but if first responders can't get through the traffic, response times will be too slow. The traffic study for this project was completed in 2019. It's almost, it is seven years old. It needs to be updated. And even though on-street parking seems to be a driving force of this plan, you refuse to do a parking study. Is that because you know it will show plenty of parking in the vicinity without the need for on-street parking? When asked if stormwater issues would be addressed, we were told no. Sea level rise is a top concern for our community. Mayor Trantalis, when you voted in 2021, you stated that the items would be used as a guidepost and related traffic studies would be made. Where are those related traffic studies? Commissioner Glassman, you stated the commission was accepting a vision of the plan, not adopting the plan. Yet, when my conversations with staff and with the consultants, I have repeatedly been told that they are doing just, they are just doing what the commission told them to do. The decision you make tonight appears to be about the wants of a few over the needs of a community. Yet, it will be the community who funds this. Needs are safe bridges. Needs are good infrastructure. Needs are safe roads for first responders to respond timely. And for all of us to reach our destination. We have many needs in this community. And I would ask you to listen to the people of this community. And maybe, maybe just take a step back tonight and think about it before you go and commit to another $20 million. Get a real idea of what this is going to cost. Because if it was $50 million in 2022, do you really believe it's $19 million today? Because I don't. I would ask you to do your due diligence. I know you have spent a lot of time on this, but I would say take a step back. Get a better idea of the cost. See where you can try to form some compromises between what you have heard tonight. And bring us together as a community so we can move forward on this historic street that we've heard so much about into the future of Fort Lauderdale. Thank you. Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary, do you mind going back? I just want to talk to you a little bit about some of the comments you made. Yes. So, for a very long time, Las Olas Boulevard did not have on-street parking and people felt that it became a raceway. And I believe that was one of the incentives to try to put on-street parking on the street in order to slow traffic down. Now, the people that live in the aisles did not appreciate that because they thought it interrupted the ability for emergency services to drive to the hospital in case of an emergency. That being said, that's why the city has contracted with a private developer to put an EMS station on Las Olas. I have learned through our fire department that today's vehicles are equipped to handle emergency situations where in the old days you only could secure the necessary services at a hospital. But today, the vehicle themselves actually has the facility to revive patients and to revive individuals that are suffering trauma in those situations. So, I do believe that the city commission has understood the need for the folks that live on the aisles and are trying to move forward to accommodate not just those that believe that Las Olas had become a thoroughfare and a raceway, but also to accommodate the need for the emergency medical services for the folks that live on the aisles. Can I respond to that real quickly? Yeah, please respond. Thank you. Thank you for bringing some of that up. So, let me just say this. Our response time in the aisles, I have the maps here, and Coley Hammock's even worse than the aisles. If you cannot get to our home, if the traffic is so bad, if you have put all of the traffic in a fewer lanes, and this isn't about parking or no parking, this is about the general area. If the traffic is so bad that the ambulance can't get there, this is what the American Heart Association says. The brain can begin to experience irreversible damage approximately six minutes after cardiac arrest. The response time in our neighborhood is, and this is through no fault of our first responders. So, you can put that thing, the MS station, and I applaud Charlie for doing it, you can put it at 8th and 2nd. But if they can't get through the streets to get to us, I don't care how sophisticated it is. Well, Las Olas is not the only street. Oh, I know this. I do know this. As you know, I'm a lifelong resident in this area, so yes, I do know it. But if you go on 15th, how many of you have tried to get to the beach on a normal time and can't get down 15th, can't get down Broward Boulevard, cannot get down Las Olas? How many of you have experienced that? Those were the issues that we came to you, Dean Trantalis, our commissioner, about. And you actually had some great ideas. I won't remind you publicly because one of them is really unpopular, but not necessarily with all of us. But what I'm saying is I think there are compromises here. I think, but I think, and I sat on this group for a long time, and to anybody who says we didn't try to make compromises, I would say to you we did. And I would say those were rejected soundly. I would ask you, before you spend one more cent on this, to try to get more community consensus on it. And our issue is not just about EMS. We have stormwater issues. The only intersection where stormwater is being handled is 15th and Las Olas, which is traditionally just underwater, period, if there's any rain at all. Okay. There are other sections. Happy to bring you a picture at another time of some of the other areas that are underwater. I think, in an area with sea level rise like we have today, that is irresponsible. We should be addressing those issues. That's a separate issue. That's a separate issue. That's a separate issue. That's not putting into this plan because it's not being funded. It's not being addressed. Okay. But that's a separate issue than what we're dealing with tonight. Okay. What about the bridges, Dean? A 1930 bridge, almost 100 years old that your consultant has told you needs to be addressed. But it became too expensive, so it fell out of the plan. I'm just saying, I know there's a lot of focus on the median, but there are some other major problems here. And you all, before you spend any more money, which we don't have, any more money, you need to get a handle on what exactly the cost of this is going to be and whether you can afford it. You passed a grant for $15.6 million maybe tonight, but what if it's $50 million like this says? Where are you getting that money? And I know what happens. Once you get into these projects, then it takes on a life of its own, and it's change order, change order, change order. So I would just ask, all I'm asking you tonight is to defer this until you have more information and to see if some compromises can be worked out. That's my ask, and I think it's reasonable. I understand that, but you are aware, and I know you are aware because you participated in them. There was a study group. Oh, I was. I was a part of it. We did not vote. How many years and how many meetings did you attend? A lot. A lot. But there was not a vote. You know what happened? Because you couldn't achieve consensus, and now you're saying, let's go back to the table and try to achieve consensus. I sat here in those meetings, and no one agreed on anything. Listen, when you go back to the minutes, I'm happy to provide them, of course, of June 2021, and you see how many of our neighborhoods came out and raised serious concerns about what's happening. I know. And then a year later, we were told, oh, you get this great project, and you can pay for it yourselves, and we'll not charge the rest of the city. Dean, there's so much on this. You and I, we could stand here and debate this forever, but the reality is you've got some real questions on finances. You've got some questions on how you're going to bring all of us together. Is it possible? I believe it is. It may not have happened yet, and I would give it a few more meetings. Well, let me ask you this. Yes. Do you agree? I identified three sections to the study, right? There's the downtown section, the shops, and Coley Hammock. Yeah. Are you in agreement with the downtown section and the Coley Hammock section? I am not in agreement with Coley Hammock. I'm not in agreement with any hard narrowing of a street anywhere. I think we have seen what happens when we narrow our streets with no flexibility. Are there solutions? Yes. Can you use temporary bollards? Can you use all kinds of other things to achieve what you want to? Yes. Let me go back to the parking. The parking originally was at night on weekends. Going back to Commissioner Herbst's, should we do something different for weekends? Then it became starting at 11 o'clock, which is what it is today. So there have been different types of different strategies on parking on the street. Revisit it. But you've hired a consultant, and what the consultant says every time we say anything to him is we're doing what the commission voted to do in 2021 at those meetings in June. And I think the final was June 15th, if you need to look up the minutes. So do you agree with the downtown version? The downtown version? I agree with the Downtown Civic Association on the letter they sent you. I think they protested on street parking, if I remember correctly. I don't have it in front of me. I apologize. All right. So, like I said, there are three sections, so... I agree with the Downtown Civic Association's letter. Okay. That's fine. Okay. Okay. Do you want me to tell you what my main concern is on 15th and Coley Hammock? What is that? You are taking a two-lane residential road that you as a commission voted not to widen, and you are making that the new evacuation route. You're in current conversations to do that. That road on a regular day, I can go at 11 o'clock in the morning, and it's backed up all the way around Las Olas or all the way around Broward. You need to have options, and you should, and anything you plan in the future, plan an option. That's option one. Option two is Las Olas, and Las Olas can still be what it is today because right now, believe it or not, it is the evacuation route, and I think we heard testimony that it was unparalleled in its success today that we are seeing a success like we never have before. So, flexibility is the key here to me, and bringing people together to find some common consensus around some points. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Actually, Mary, can you? Because I want to kind of explore that a little bit more. So, some of the questions I was asking Ann, and I just want to kind of run through them with you. So, again, just talking about the parking, mostly in the shops area, and, again, if we keep those lanes for parking, right, we don't do the bulb outs, so they're available for parking, they're available for evacuation as needed. Is that a compromise that makes sense so that we can, again, like I said. To me, personally, that is the beginning, but it has to start, and 15th, where you're talking about pinch points, it has to go the whole street, it has to include what the downtown civic association is asking for. Yeah, that's the beginning of a conversation point. Now, let me ask you another question on the version. And, John, I know you know this, so I'm just going to jump in here and say, because I know there are temporary solutions for marking off streets, such as, they have all kinds of, and I don't mean those ugly orange things. Sure. I'm talking other kinds of strategies. Not planters. We haven't heard any conversation about any of that. Yeah. So, could there be some solutions? Yes, there could. So, let me ask you another question, because we were talking a little bit about emergency response, right? Yeah. So, if you're thinking about emergency evacuation, right, if we have to get an ambulance out to Idlewild, right? It's going to come out of our new fire station. They're going to get over there, whether they go down Las Olas or whether they cut through Coley Hammock and then get down there through 12th Avenue or something else. It doesn't have to be 15th Avenue. There's a lot of ways to get down there. I can tell you I'm a big shortcut person, so, yes. Me too. Again, I lived in Vic Park. I know every street through there. I know how to get to there, from there, and through the 7-Eleven parking lot and everything else. I get it. Go ahead. Right. So, the question is, on the evacuation side, how do you see that happening, right? So, are they evacuating, going all the way down Las Olas, getting to 3rd Avenue, then going over to Britton, heading down to Broward General? So, if they're evacuating from Idlewild, how are they getting down to Broward General? Well, I just want to backtrack a minute and tell you we're in Idlewild. We have a fire station across the water from us, literally. Well, they could be coming from either side, right. As you know, they still can't get to us. We still have one of them. And why? Because of traffic. So, you have to figure out ways that you're going to be able to move those vehicles. We have no shortage of pictures, happy to share, of ambulances caught in the traffic, unable to move. So, I think that the flexibility of the streets is a solution for that. And by that, I mean, if you can move the cars, you can hopefully take care of some of those. So, just forget hurricane and this and that. Just assume you had a fire in a building. Right. Okay. So, you can address some of those. But when you pinch point these streets, when you put those things in, you're not going to be able to do any of that. So, that was one of the concerns that was expressed by Chief Golan when we had our last meeting, is that the medians in the middle of the block actually block the ability of fire engines to go around stuff. Well, not. Have we thought about that? I mean, that. Well, I want to look at this picture. This is a perfect example. Right. I'm so glad you put this up here so I could show it to you. Right. There's no median in this, is there? Right. Yeah. But see, the fire truck still is going to have a hard time because. I don't think so. If they come blasting down that street with their. No, no. Look at this. No, people pull over. So, if you're coming down the street with an engine blaring, people pull to the side. What are you going to do about this concrete? What are you doing about this concrete here? No, I'm not saying, I'm saying, if you, so, if you don't have the bull bouts, I'm going back to the bull bouts, maybe being, maybe being an issue. If people are able to pull over the side and create room for a fire truck to get down the center of the lane or to go around somebody when they're blocked, the median blocks any ability for a fire truck to go around anybody. Right? I think, and I think the point that people are making to you is because that's because of parking. That's the point. I listened to the chief. That's what I took. Okay. Okay. So, are you going to have to come up with some ways to address some of that? I think you are. Okay. This, this one is a permanent, no fire trucks getting past these people when there's a car in each lane because that concrete's there and there's no, you can move a car, you can move a bollard, but you cannot move that concrete once you do it. So, I, I, I don't know what you've accomplished in the end. So, you get rid of the median and you put concrete in and maybe a tree lives and I don't know. Well, I'm just thinking, you know, so I, I've watched fire trucks go around into the opposite lane of traffic and get around stuff. They do it all the time. I've watched that too. And so, I know that when you've got, when you don't have a median in trees in the way they can go around stuff. So, it, it creates more optionality for, for, for them to go around things and people pull over to the side and they can do that. Uh, again, I don't drive a fire truck though. And this is the, this is the plan in front of you. Right. And it's a perfect example of how that road will never be wider than that. Okay. And I think all of it, everybody in America has learned what happens when you narrow roads like that. Right now you have four lanes in each direction. Yep. You choose how to use those lanes, but you have, I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you, Dean. Two lanes in each direction. His math is better. Um, so you have some options when you do this, you're not going to have any options. Okay. So thank you, Mary. Thank you, John. Thank you. Bonsoir. Followed by Jenny Moore Hahn. Followed by Jennifer Peters. Yeah. It's Champs-Élysées. That's how you say it. Um, okay. And because I have a place in Paris. That's what she's alluding to. Um, so first of all, Mary, um, reviewed what I was going to say and she stole all my ideas. All right. Okay. Time's up. And it's pretty hard to follow all these people because, you know, so much of what I wanted to say has been stated. But I still want to add my, um, support of it. Um, so I'll try to kind of, um, skim this instead of reading it all. Um, so I, I do think it's a non-negotiable concern as far as removing two lanes. Um, and, and I'm focused on that in a big way for the future. In other words, we don't know what we're going to need in the future. Things keep changing. We keep getting denser and denser. And you're taking away flexibility. So it's all about flexibility. So it's, uh, flexibility as far as the emergency response times like she's talking about, which aren't just to get the, to get the patient, but it is to get them to the hospital as well. And, um, if it's hard for the residents to get around, of course, it's going to be hard for the, the EMS and, uh, to get around. But, um, also, um, oh, also I want to say that these are just my personal opinions. It's not connected to any board that I serve on. So, um, also I just wanted to say that, um, uh, you know, it's about, uh, um, adaptability since it's a, um, it's considered a festival street, right? Um, that, um, that events are happening on. Um, so you want to keep it as flexible as possible, um, not just for the future, but also for, uh, maintenance trucks and response trucks and emergency evacuations and, you know, a plethora of reasons. And I, I think to take two lanes away, um, it would just be the biggest mistake. So while there's a lot of people that are here supporting the trees, I'm here to support the four lanes, whatever that means. And, um, in other words, um, I know something has to give or nothing has to give if you just leave it how it is. But, um, at any rate, um, I do suggest that, um, there needs to be future, um, there needs to be more time before, um, uh, committing to this because otherwise we're wasting design dollars, uh, on a project that really isn't, it really isn't figured out yet. Um, and, oh my God. Zach, please conclude your remarks. Okay. Um, well, you know, again, an environmental study, a business impact study, a flood mitigation analysis, uh, you know, these are other things, um, and a true, um, a consideration of the cost and the hidden cost. The hidden cost to us as, um, as residents, the hidden cost to the, um, businesses in the area. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Jenny Moore, Holland followed by Jennifer Peters, Steve Hudson after that. Good evening, mayor commissioners. Um, if I'm not mistaken, yesterday was groundhog day and it certainly feels that way. Um, I think what Mary said was exactly on point in that in June of 2021, you all went to consensus to adopt the vision that now fast forward four years, we have an opportunity to vote on tonight in advance. So let's not keep groundhog day going. Um, another gentleman said change is hard and that's definitely true. And I think that's why there's a lot of emotional response to attention grabbing headlines like save the trees. Um, but the fact is, you know, if I were sick and my family might not want to see me change, I'm going to listen to my doctor, no matter how well intended, uh, my family and friends are. And I think the doctors here are professionals who have studied and built streets around the country, engineers, landscape architects, urban planners, um, myself included for the years I worked at the city. We've discussed the basics of how to improve a narrow commercial street, a narrow meaning not unlimited right of way where you can have highways and four lanes of traffic, but actually wide sidewalks, permanent on street parking with bulb outs at the cross sections. Two lanes of traffic, one in each direction facing each other. So cars inherently slow down. And that is the plan before you tonight. The downtown section needs to be advanced. These other two sections need to be advanced. We still have 70% plans to create, to get this project to fruition. Tonight's the night to pass this resolution to move forward. The consensus that you all built two weeks ago, four years ago, and that is the natural and professional and responsible approach for how to design an iconic street in Fort Lauderdale and frankly, anywhere in great cities that are thriving. So I hope tonight that you make that decision. You move this forward so we can keep moving progress forward. Um, change is hard, but it's necessary. And Fort Lauderdale success today is because of big decisions that you all have made and predecessors before you to take on big and sometimes controversial initiatives for the greater good and the future. Well, it's funny, uh, Jenny, to your point, you know, there was a lot of controversy when we made the decision to, uh, redevelop the Huizinga park. And a lot of people who thought we were going to destroy it and we were taking away the urban experience by taking away the people's park and, um, a testament to your foresight and to your persistence. When we unveiled the new Huizinga park, it became one of the most successful parks. I think any city has ever witnessed the day after we, we cut the ribbon. And it was populated with hundreds of people, children, families, and, uh, and, um, it was a, it was a, um, it was a very controversial decision that the city made to participate with, uh, with you and with the other partners that helped contribute to it. But in the end, like you say, you know, sometimes it's hard to see the end until, you know, until it happens. And, and I think if that alone is an example of the kinds of things that can be created and that are positive, then I think it's a very good example of, you know, what the city can do. If it, uh, once it listens to the people and listens to the consultants and tries to learn from the examples of others and come up with a successful conclusion. So I just want to say thank you for all the work you did in that. Thank you, mayor. Um, if I could, I think it's very important to recognize that two individuals who are here tonight on the DDA board who made major personal investments of their time and their money into the park, along with all of our board members have repeatedly been brought up by name as being greedy developers, rich developers on the DDA, just pushing for profits. And Charlie Ladd and Steve Hudson, namely sitting here today without their foresight, Huizinga Park and our other board members. But those two individually have brought that project to fruition with our team and with the city support and others. So I think it's very important to give those credit that have stake in the game, but also push forward for the greater good, not just for their own personal return. So thank you for bringing that up. Uh, Jennifer Peters, followed by Steve Hudson, followed by, uh, Joy Triglia. Mayor, vice mayor and commissioners. My name is Jennifer Peters. I'm from district two. I live in Victoria Park. I'm at Los Angeles all the time. I'm going to keep this short because I'm a woman of few words, as was said earlier today. Please try and keep the nostalgia of the shops and help soften the blow of the tunnel top plaza. We need more plants, more trees. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Good evening, mayor and commissioners. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. Uh, my name is Steve Hudson and I was born and raised here in Florida. Uh, and I'm also a property owner of Los Angeles. And as Jenny said, uh, a member of the DDA, uh, as well as many other organizations, uh, throughout the city and the county. Um, I did also sit on that working, uh, task force, um, with commissioner Sorensen and commissioner Glassman. Uh, it was two years and 40 meetings. Um, not that anyone's counting. Listen, everyone agrees, uh, that the canopy on Los Angeles is special. It's one of the reasons people are drawn to the street and we all value it. However, I would bet that very few, and I can actually point them out, uh, other people here today are professional arborists. That said, the consultant's professional arborist and the city's arborist reports are consistent and clear. The existing black olive trees in the median are poor to failing condition and have a limited remaining lifespan. At the last meeting, I'm speaking, thank you. At the last meeting, the arborist told us that these trees live for a maximum of 30 years. All right. The canopy we are trying to protect today is at the end of its life cycle. Those 15 trees, by taking out the median, will be replaced by 90 oaks in the sidewalks. It's also important to understand the regulatory reality. I didn't really get a, a answer to your, uh, question, Commissioner Glassman, but I believe city code does not allow canopy trees to be planted in that six foot island. So what's going to be there? Those were not trees that the arborist was mentioning. Those are bushes. You will not get a canopy over the median. The question before us is not whether we value trees. We do. The question is whether we design this street in a way that is code compliant, pedestrian focused, and sustainable for the long term. In addition to wider sidewalks, in addition, wider sidewalks are fundamentally important for Las Olas to function as a pedestrian oriented street. Without additional sidewalk width, pedestrian connection remains and accessibility is limited. Further, and as Commissioner Herbst pointed out, the outdoor dining per city code cannot be expanded into the newly widened sidewalk, only on private property. Lastly, the parking on Las Olas must remain. Parallel parking naturally slows vehicles, and well-placed crosswalks reduce speeds by interrupting traffic flow and prioritizing pedestrian safety. The goal here is a healthy, more vibrant Las Olas for the future. That means planting canopy trees in a sidewalk where they can actually thrive, providing adequate sidewalk space for pedestrians, and maintaining the parallel parking, which serves as an effective traffic calming buffer between vehicles and people. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you, Steve. Mayor, question. Yes, Mayor. Steve. Mr. Hudson, could you please come back to the podium? Question for you. Thanks. Thank you, Steve. Ball bout versus non-ball bout. Could you give us your thoughts there? Thanks. I absolutely agree with ball bouts. I think it creates a phenomenal look, as you see up on the TV screen here. The comments that have been made about traffic flow that is needed for a hurricane. I mean, please, we have a weather channel. We know a full week in advance. The emergency vehicles, we can ask, you know, the fire chief, but I would assume that they would get away from Las Olas at all costs possible. They're not using Las Olas to respond to emergencies in Idyllwild. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor, I'd like to ask the fire chief. Sure. Chief Bowen, can you come up here, please? You knew this night would not be over without our having to ask you. Exactly. Thank you for staying. Yeah. Thanks, fire chief. Give us your feedback, guidance, emergency response, lanes of traffic, ball bout, non-ball bout, median, no median. What can you kind of give us as you hear this and what matters or doesn't matter from a response time? So I think a majority of the statements that were made tonight are dead on track. We've spent a tremendous amount of time with TAM and Milish's team going over what is the best interest of public safety for the community. There are factual statements in regards to the response times on Las Olas, but there are plans in place that we're working towards implementing to resolve those response times. But the facts in regards to or the statements in regards to seeking alternative routes at all costs, we don't want to be on Las Olas Boulevard. We don't want to interrupt the tourism that's down there, the people trying to enjoy their dinners, as well as the traffic that's already there. So we try to seek alternative routes whenever possible. When we're looking at the new station going in there, we would be utilizing Southeast Second Court and going down to 12th or 13th and cutting over to Las Olas. And then also even on our transport off of the aisles, we also go over and get onto Broward Boulevard and then normally go into the tunnel so that we're not stopped by a bridge. We try to get over to Broward Boulevard, get to Federal Highway, and that gives us that direct access. When it is coming to evacuation zones and things like that, you know, clearly I think any of us that have lived in Florida for an extended period of time have experienced what exactly evacuation of a barrier island or even the southern part of the state looks like. And at that point, we take all traffic and we point it in one direction, getting everyone out of harm's way. The same thought process would take place in this scenario where we would take all lanes of traffic and get them out of the city of Fort Lauderdale to 95, where all lanes of traffic would be going northbound and taking everyone to safe refuge when possible. During our meetings with TAM and looking over the various proposals that were presented, this was the one that we found most favorable right now. Sorry, which one? The one that is currently up with no median. And it is so that we have the ability to navigate into the other lane of traffic. I believe earlier it was brought up in regards to us going against traffic at time or going around. And that's exactly. We're going to take whatever path we can to get to the emergency in the quickest amount of time possible. When you put barriers before us, that creates challenges. I've had many discussions on speed humps and traffic calming devices and things like that that slow us down. This provides that openness where we're able to navigate around the vehicles and get there. And should we have the unfortunate circumstance where we're responding to an emergency on Los Angeles Boulevard and we have to stop mid-block with one of our apparatus, this would allow the other vehicles to then navigate around us while we're stopped there treating that patient. Great. Thank you. That helps. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you, Chief. Thanks, Bob. Any other comments or questions? All right. Joy, sorry to keep you waiting. Followed by Chris Stachowski, followed by Francois Shidiak. Good evening, Commissioners and Mayor. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. I also am born and raised in this city and on the east side of town. So I am a local native resident my entire life, and I'm actually fourth generation here and in real estate here. So I'm going to read a little statement that I wrote. La Solis Boulevard is not simply a roadway. It's our city's front porch. For more than a century, La Solis has been the cultural, commercial, and historic spine connecting downtown to the ocean. It's internationally recognized as one of the most beautiful and iconic streets in America, not because of the buildings alone, but because of what lives between them. The mature trees lining the La Solis median, particularly the black olive trees, are irreplaceable. These trees are not ornamental. They are historical assets. Many were planted decades ago intentionally chosen for their longevity, their resilience, and their cathedral-like canopy that they provide. They soften the urban environment, reducing heat, improving air quality, and create a sense of arrival that cannot be replicated with new plantings or modern substitutes. Once removed, this legacy cannot be restored within our lifetimes. La Solis works because it balances progress with restraint. Its charm, its walkability, and its economic vitality come from thoughtful scale, not over-intensification. When infrastructure, traffic, and utilities and construction outpace careful planning, we don't just strain roads and sewers. We erode identity. We erode identity. Cities around the world that lose their historic corridors spend generations trying to recreate what was lost. We're fortunate to still have ours. I respectfully ask this commission to pause to protect these iconic trees, to slow the excessive construction, to invest first in the foundations of our streets, plumbing, and infrastructure before allowing irreversible change. Progress doesn't require erasure. True leadership preserves what makes the city unforgettable. And if you were to plant, if you had to replace those trees in the median, actually high-rise oaks actually work. They're meant for medians. They do create everything you need for shade, and they will grow. And they will grow to 25 feet tall. Also, when you're talking about traffic, you're talking to a realtor who drives around this city every day. You're talking to a parent who has two children with heart conditions. That when this city had traffic issues, I had to pick my children up to get them over the bridge on 17th Street to get them to the hospital. Have you considered all the new construction from the nine towers on Sunrise Boulevard? Have you considered the projects that are going with St. Regis, with Pier 66? That traffic. Have you considered the new traffic, not just the current traffic? Because that is a serious consideration. I live on the barrier island. I go on and off it 100 times a day. When it takes me 45 minutes to get over the bridge or three and a half hours to get home from the grocery store and throw all my food out, as I did two weeks ago, as I had to go around to Las Olas and back to 17th Street, we shouldn't have to do that. Okay, thank you so much. We need to consider our residents and beautifying our city at the same time. Thank you so much. Chris, followed by Francois, followed by Rich Raddus. Hello, Chris DeHusky, multi-generational Fort Lauderdale resident, family going back to 1923. First thing is, man, you know, the city just keeps on rushing all this stuff to death. The amount of meetings I can go to a week, and they're all important meetings about what's going on, is insane. I went to three meetings in one day, and I still didn't get to the last one. I know the DDA is like, we need to move forward. We need to do this. We need to slow down a few minutes, would you please? Las Olas, these trees, these different areas. Look, I love the palm trees on Las Olas by the aisles. My grandfather was around when they were installed. Same thing with the trees on Las Olas in the shop section. The boxes, the planters that the trees are in, were not there first. They came afterwards. I went and took a look around at some of the trees, and the only tree that I saw that was really damaged was where it was hit by a car, which probably saved somebody's life. So I kind of think that you need to rethink a little bit more of this stuff than what you're doing right now. Get rid of the street parking is a definite. A traffic study should definitely be done. The last one is too old. The parking study should be redone. If you don't do this and you decide to plant these 90 trees, you're going to run into a lot of problems. First off, you've got to dig pretty deep to plant a tree. There could be just a few maybe gas pipes, water pipes, sewage lines. We don't have a great infrastructure to begin with. Now we're going to piddle around with that. Let's say you did plant all the trees. You're going to plant all these trees into cement. Okay, well, they're 75% done. You walk down any sidewalk here in Fort Lauderdale where there's been oak trees planted years ago, the sidewalk is cracked. It's cracked because the roots have broken the sidewalks. You're going to have the same problem here on Las Olas. Another issue that you're going to have is liability. Who's tripping over all this stuff that we're putting in the sidewalks? We just had at Hemershee Village a discussion about getting rid of the street parking to enhance the pedestrian experience. Do the same thing. Ben, you're concerned about a buffer? Great. Put in a wall about knee high on there. Get rid of all the street parking. I'm sorry. The gentleman in the first sports coat mentioned that during the 70s, the retail business was in the toilet. Well, pretty much everything was in the toilet during the 70s unless you were on some drugs. I wasn't around back then. All right, sir. Please conclude your remarks. Anyhow, I only have one last thing to say. This other gentleman that spoke over here, you know what? I'll just conclude with this. All right. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Francois, followed by Rich Raddis and then Tom Morris. Anyone else wish to speak? You have to sign up, please, at the clerk outside. Please proceed. I'm Francois Trudiac. I just want to say I'm a physician in the area, so hearing about the emergency services, I can understand that. I'm also somebody that's just a fun person. I like to enjoy fun times, fun areas, and I have respect for the architecture of a fun, social, dynamic area. I've lived many places. I live between here and Miami. I have property here right down the street. I'm a homeowner here. And one thing is I could be in Miami all the time. I come to Fort Lauderdale because Fort Lauderdale is great, and I just want to say thank you, everybody, for your input tonight because we all love this city, and the city is awesome. That being said, I'd say, you know what? Don't change a thing. All right? Now, you know, Las Olas is awesome. It has that classic charm. It has that classic charm. You see this? This is nice. You know, you see it? It's nice. You know, it looks rich. It looks rich, but it doesn't have that classic Lux feel that Las Olas has. I think those medians, they help. They help because what I think is, well, how am I going to direct myself through this? With this, I don't want to go from one side to the other. There's two lanes I have to cross. When I'm crossing to the median, I just cross from one side, get to the median. I look around. I get to enjoy the space. And then afterward, I can go to the other side. So we get to enjoy both sides of the road with the median. That's the biggest dynamic thing I would say. Now, coming to this meeting, we did bring some concerns about the ambulances and emergency services. And then I would agree this would be a better one for an ambulance to get through. But one thing before we tear up the whole road and do a full facelift on this whole place, have we considered maybe just a freestanding ER on the east end? If you just put a freestanding ER on the east end of that block, then 90% of your emergency services traffic, you wouldn't even have to bring them. You could just bring them straight to the freestanding ER. That would be anything on the Los Angeles Isles, anything from the beach there, anything there. You could have it right there. Only out of that. Actually, that is being planned right now. Yeah, so then there's no reason. It's cheaper to just build a freestanding ER than to rip up the whole city. Please conclude your remark. Okay. Besides that, just something. I wrote down a couple things here that I didn't want to say. Yeah, but your time is up. I know. I like the side parking. I always like pulling up to the businesses right there. It makes me feel awesome just to pull up there. Come on. It makes you feel good. You're awesome. Don't worry. Thank you. Rich Radice, are you here? He's not here. Tom Morris, he left again? Okay. And Mr. Kimball, Robert Kimball, you just signed up. That's it. Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners, staff members. Robert Kimball, a long-term resident, Fort Lauderdale, 55 years. I've always enjoyed Las Olas and the ambience of the trees. Mr. Mayor, you were at our Civic Association meeting a few weeks ago. He stood up and told us, don't worry, the trees are going to stay. True? Continue to talk. Was it true? I said, in my opinion, they should stay. Well. But I have five people up here. Okay. Who will vote. All right. So, now, we're plagued with this and the sidewalks. How did the sidewalks end up being restaurant tables? So, restore the sidewalks. We don't need bigger sidewalks. And the problem solved. Thank you. Let's go home. Take a five-year-old war story. I'm on the trees. They're going to all love everybody. All right. Is there anyone else who wished to speak? There being no one. Do I hear a motion to close public hearing? Moved. Second. You can move and second it. Please call the roll. I'm closing public hearing. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mr. Chateau? Yes. So, public hearing on R3 is now closed. So, this is entirely within District 4. So, Commissioner Sorensen, would you like to begin the discussion? Sure. Thanks, Mayor. Thank you, everyone who's here and has participated for years and years on this. This is very important to our city. It's a lifeblood of our city. So, we need to take the time and diligence that I think we've done to select the best design. Wider sidewalks are very important, in my view. From a pedestrian-friendly design, I think Las Olas is meant to be a very pedestrian-friendly boulevard that promotes shopping, dining, and leisure. Sidewalks are necessary. I also think that on-street parking is very important. It's important for folks like my 81-year-old mother to get in and out of shops. It's important for me with my daughters. And it's important for our businesses and our neighbors to be able to enjoy Las Olas and be able to stop and quickly shop and participate in the life along Las Olas, which I think makes it very easy to do with a degree of on-street parking. So, with that, I support moving forward with the plan design that we're presented with. Okay. Anyone else have any comments or questions? I do, Mayor. I wanted to ask a question of Milos, actually. So, and I also want to defer to the District Commissioner on this as well. I did a little walking tour last week with the Board of Directors of the Downtown Civic Association. We concentrated solely on 3rd to Tunnel Top, just obviously west of the shops. But I know that's part of what we're going to be voting on this evening. And I'm sort of agreeing, actually, with them. I think as we basically looked at the climate there, we looked at the cars coming from south and north and turning on to Las Olas. I'm wondering, the sidewalks are already very wide. What are we talking about? I'm talking about the need to perhaps not have parking from 3rd to 6th in the downtown section. Okay. From 3rd to Tunnel Top. Like where YOLO is? Yes. And I, yes, actually, from 3rd all the way to Tunnel Top. So, I walk with them. We examined everything. We discussed everything. It's not the same as just to the east, the shop section. But I also think it would make traffic flow faster to the, I think it's somewhat of a bottleneck between 3rd and 6th because of the on-street parking. Do we have any flexibility with that? And I also want to hear from the District Commissioner on this because I want to hear his thoughts on that. But I was convinced by the arguments that they made to me when we did that walk that it's just very different than the shops. People don't need to run in and out. Sidewalks are already very wide there. And I'm just wondering what your thoughts are and if that's worthy of a tweak, or do we still have that flexibility as we move forward with the design to talk about that later? That's all. Thank you very much for your question, Commissioner. So, the plan has proposed accounts for two travel lanes per direction for that section of the roadway. Currently, we're using outside travel lanes as a parking. In terms of design changes, there wouldn't be any necessary changes to design of the roadway in order to allow or to not allow for parking. In other words, to accommodate what you have asked for. So, it's a simple operational change that we could do down the road. Do you have a slide for that section? Do you have a slide for that? Well, it's okay. I just thought we may have. I mean, just to the west of what I'm talking about, just to the west of 3rd, we're already a lift. There's no parking, no on-street parking. Right. We're already talking about improving the landscape, et cetera, et cetera. But I'm just concerned with from 3rd to 6th. But if you're telling me we have that flexibility later, that's fine. We do. And if there is a need for the slide, what we have done is we did a couple of videos in terms of parking occupancy on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. One of them we can pull out if needed so that you can see what that section looks like. An idea, Commissioner, I agree. The idea is four lanes of travel in that section from tunnel top to 3rd, four lanes of travel, about 10 to 12 feet each, so that they can all four be used for traffic or there's a desire to do on-street parking there as well. Okay. I'm good with that. As long as we have that flexibility, obviously we have more work to do with regards to design, so I'm good. Okay. Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, one second. One second. Well, that's the same picture. Okay. Yes, ma'am. You may wish to entertain a motion. Yeah, I know. We're not there yet. I know. Thank you. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman, do you have any thoughts on this? The vice mayor, he'll be back. He's around. Oh, he's around. Oh, there he is. Okay. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman, what are your thoughts? Yes, thank you. I do have a question. I know we've asked so many questions. So many people have said that they don't believe that we've really given the community enough time to digest this. Just if we could go back for a back history. Was it 2021 that we started this conversation? If you could just give us a timeline, maybe for everyone in the room, to just give us how we have and what we have done as a commission overall to address this. Absolutely. So the idea to redesign La Solace and improve mobility along La Solace was born around 2017. The consultant to help us develop a vision was hired in about 2019. And ultimately, the vision plan that we're trying to advance at this point of time was adopted by the city commission in June of 2021. So it took about two and a half years. And from what we have on the record, there were recorded more than 90 meetings in the process to go. 90? 90. 90. 90. 90. 90. 90. Correct. So those were recorded. And there was a La Solace working group that was created, again, around the same time, and who supported this process from the time that the concept was starting or vision was starting to be developed until it was adopted by the city commission. And it included neighborhoods, associations, business owners, and members of the public. Yes. I would – no, that's not true. I would say that we actually had – the first meeting was at City Hall and Chambers, and it was packed. And I remember Transportation and Mobility presented the overview of what that was. Commissioner Sorensen and I convened the La Solace Mobility Working Group. We had stakeholders, Commissioner Beasley-Pittman, all the way from Andrews to the beach. We had a good number of people actually participating for more than two years of meetings. We came to consensus. We had Corradino putting it all together, and then that vision, that consensus was moved to the commission in 2021, I believe, correct? That is correct. Thanks. Yes. One other question. And the comments about the necessity for a parking study. What was the date of the parking study that exists now? So I don't recall really any parking study being done per se. What I can tell you that is our plan from a parking standpoint is that we have started installing some technology along La Solace Boulevard. So if you see any round-looking black type of plates, I would call them on the street, those are sensors in order to help us determine what the occupancy of the parking is on La Solace. What we can tell you operationally is that parking is very highly occupied. Again, if it would be helpful, we can play some of the videos from the last week, including the weekend. I was there myself. Again, it was Wednesday afternoon at about 2.30 p.m., between 2.30 and 3.00. It was Saturday evening at about 6 p.m. and Sunday at about 1 p.m. What I saw is about probably 90 to 95 percent occupancy of the parking along La Solace, where we have about 200 parking spaces on the street along Western Corridor, which is, again, from Andrews to about South East 17th Avenue. Before you continue, do I hear a motion to extend the meeting? So moved. Second. To what time? 9.57. How about to 10.30? Oh, sorry. How about to 10.30? I try. 10.30. Okay. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Chantals? Yes. Okay. Please proceed. I didn't mean to interrupt you. Understood. With that being said, what I am, when we had our conversation at the last meeting, what was presented and moving forward with the plan that included removing the median, what was shared and what's still being shared. I'm still at that place. What I'm comfortable with is that the neighbors who are here, they're not comfortable with. And when I make a decision, I try to align with what also our neighbors want. But the concern about that safety issue with how our fire engines, our police are able to maneuver through that fairway is concerning to me as well. Because of the median. Because of the median. Because of the median. So I'm still pondering. All right. You can ponder. No problem. All right. I'm still pondering. All right. It's tough. It is tough. And I'm considering the timeline, how long this has been going on, taking under consideration the initial dollar amount that was quoted to do this project versus what we're looking at today. With the, I won't say, I'll say the time that it's taken us to get to this conversation today, the increase in how much it will cost us as a city to move forward with this as well. So I'm trying not to be in a position where we're delaying, where we're becoming in a place where we are going to incur more costs to move forward. Because what I'm feeling on the inside, we need to move forward in the direction with the removal of the medians. But I do have a concern with how the neighbors are feeling that they are not a part of this process. Okay. If I'm making myself clear. Okay. Vice Mayor, do you have any additional thoughts? Thank you, Mayor. You know, I think Commissioner Beasley-Pitton made a very good point in talking about the long, tortured history of this. So, you know, I think I first heard about this four city managers ago back with Lee Feldman. I remember the first time I heard about it, I was actually very surprised that somebody would suggest taking out the black olive trees. But, you know, it's been a long path. There's been a lot of discussion. There's been a lot of workshops. There's been a lot of stakeholders and there's been a lot of compromises to get to where we are today. There's a lot of competing interests on this. There's a lot of love for the black olive trees. There's reasons to keep them. There's reasons to get rid of them. At the end of the day, I think the arguments that have been made about widening the sidewalk, creating a better pedestrian experience, creating a better shade canopy, adding 90 trees instead of 18, enhancing public safety, better access for our police and fire vehicles. In my opinion, just sort of win the day for me. The concern that I have is a financial one. The cost for this has ballooned over the years, and I just hope that this is affordable for us. I know we've talked about the grants that may be available to pay for this. You know, and frankly, I have no appetite for the city to undertake a $50 million infrastructure project on our own dime. You know, I would never be comfortable going back to the taxpayers and saying, I want the residents of District 1 to, you know, foot the bill for a bond to cover Las Olas. So, you know, this is something that we're going to be able to fund through grants from the federal government and through cooperation and collaboration from the business owners, which is what they've indicated to me all along, that they want to be a partner in funding this. Then, you know, then I want to be a partner with them. But if there's a huge, huge financial burden to the city, then, you know, I may want to take a pause on that. So, but for right now, I think we move the plan forward. We get some real pricing on this. We look at real opportunities to fund it. And, you know, we make a further decision at that time that we move forward. Okay. So I have a few thoughts on the subject. First of all, I want to thank everybody that came out tonight. I know a lot of people have left, but I appreciate everyone coming out here. You know, let's start with public participation. I have never seen, all the years I've been on this commission, I've never seen a subject more studied and more outreach undertaken than this. With the Las Olas Mobility Working Group, 90 meetings, years of interaction. It has really, and it didn't just include this area. It also included the aisles. It also included the beach. And there were five segments of Las Olas that were studied. It seems that these three sections that we're considering tonight seem to draw the most consensus. The aisles, they couldn't come up with a consensus despite all the years of meeting. And the beach, there was no consensus. Although we did some changes on the beach with the Celebration Street and the sidewalks. So we did something there. But in terms of the rest of the street, I remember there were multiple iterations by the then consultant. At one point, they were talking about a serpentine configuration of Las Olas, changing it from a straight street into a serpentine street. I remember there were all kinds, yes, all kinds of crazy suggestions made by that consultant. And, you know, we moved past it. And people realized that we just needed to focus on trying to make the least costly improvements and the most effective. So anyway, so the folks that feel that we didn't spend enough time with the public to address this, I think, are just people that don't agree with the conclusion. And therefore, I'm disappointed that we're here at this point. Now, from what I'm hearing, I think that there's probably no dispute over the downtown section and the Coley Hammock section. Are we all, is everyone in agreement on the proposal for those two sections, right? It just seems like the most controversial tonight, the one that's been talked about the most, is the shops section. So I'm going to speak just to the shops because I believe we probably have consensus on the other two sections. The other two sections, by the way, if you look on page 7 of the commission memo, the opinion of probable construction costs are $5 million for the downtown section and $6.8 million for the Coley Hammock section. So that's $11,800,000. I believe that there will be grant funding for that. I agree with the vice mayor that we should not be imposing tax dollars on our constituents when I believe that those numbers are well within reach of trying to secure enough funding in order to complete those sections. So now we have the retail shops without the median is estimated $7.5 million. And I think there was some discussion also about assessing property owners along that section to help pay for this. But that's another subject for another time. The question is the design and where we're going with this. I happen to believe that Las Olas has never seen better days. The street is great. The vitality of it is great. I remember going to a friend's house who lived in a house, a condo who lived in the Hyatt-centric, like on the 20-something floor. I looked out the window one night and the place was just jamming with activity. So, you know, people, cities and government that want to undertake radical change are usually doing that because they're trying to revive something. Las Olas is revived. It's not broken. It's exciting. It's wonderful. Despite all the flaws that we have pointed out, certain sections of the sidewalk are narrow. Perhaps we can do better drainage. Yeah, the boxes around the median trees are all discombobulated. They could probably be repaired. But we're also looking at some realities that there seems to be a very distinct difference of opinion, and that is the longevity of these olive trees. You know, olive trees in the Mediterranean last hundreds of years, but these particular olive trees are of a different breed, and we're being told that their longevity is limited. They've actually exceeded their normal lifespan, according to Laura, and we're probably looking to see their demise in the next eight to ten years. So there's a reality that we have to face as a commission. We have to accept the fact that these trees will die, branches will fall off, they will create a danger, and do we want to replant them in the median, or do we want to replant them along the sidewalks? So this particular rendering that you see here is focused on planting the canopy along the sidewalks and not in the middle of the street. I mean, I know that the olive trees in the middle of the street look misshapen, and they're kind of gangly, and they kind of look spooky sometimes, but I think that's the charm of what we're looking at. And, you know, you go to places around the country and around the world, and you see places that, you know, they aren't quite, you know, perfect and trimmed and, you know, and precise. But that's kind of the charm of that, to have something that's so uniquely Fort Lauderdale, uniquely La Solis, that, you know, why are we taking that away? But maybe we aren't taking it away. Maybe nature is taking it away from us. I originally thought that we could keep the median and still plant the trees on the side so that by the time the trees did die, we will have anticipated the need for a canopy, and we will have planted those trees, and they would be there available when the trees die in the median. We're going to hear a difference of opinions on all of that, but I happen to think that cutting down the olive trees before they die is a mistake. And I would like to see the median kept in at least in the first two blocks of La Solis. The rest, well, let me finish. The rest, I don't think they contribute to the look. They're sparse. They're not, they don't really create much of a canopy, but they seem to, those first two blocks, beginning from the tunnel to, in the next two blocks, that seems to be the most iconic section of La Solis. The problem is that that's also where the narrowest sidewalks are. But, you know, I just came from a place, I went this past weekend to Panama City, Panama. I went to a friend's wedding, and they have an old section of Panama built in the 17th century, you know, when the, when the Spanish conquistadors showed up. It's called the canal. No, it's not the canal. I'm sorry. Yeah. It's not the canal. It's when, it's when. It's very wide. It's when. You want to finish talking? No, you go right ahead. Are we going to have to extend the meeting again, though? I think you're being rude, and I wish you would stop. Jeez. So, in this old section, which is, you know, not perfect, and it's got charm because it's got misshapen windows, and it's got, you know, the buildings that have tilted a little bit, you know, they're not going in there tearing down the buildings and building something new. They're trying to reconstruct and refurbish what age does to certain things. The sidewalks are three feet wide, and yet people were still negotiating these sidewalks. People didn't have a problem with it. They were getting by, and it was all part of the charm of being in that section of the town. So, you know, it's a challenge for us to try to think where we're going to go with this. Personally, I would like to bifurcate this issue, and I would like us to agree to the downtown section and agree to the Coley Hammock section, and I think we could probably get a unanimous vote on those sections. But I think that we need to refine our approach to the downtown shops, to the shop section, because I don't think it's, like I said earlier, a one-size-fits-all solution is not appropriate here. You've got some sections of the street where the sidewalks are really wide, like the florist shop and Carol's Jewelers and that area. Those sidewalks are already wide, all right? And then you've got sections where the La Sola's company and where Steve Hudson and his group have already torn buildings down and have pushed the buildings back away from the street, and there's already a wide sidewalk. And so why are we – you just can't go look at the street and say, oh, well, every single block is like the next block. So personally, I think that we need a more nuanced approach to trying to resolve the issue there, and I think it would be more successful if we did not take down the median trees but anticipate the need to ultimately replace them along the sidewalks. So I don't know if that can be done or how it can be done. Milos, you said that you can't do it because once you expand the sidewalks, you'll end up cutting into the roots of the median trees, and they would lose the balance of their life. All I know is that we've got to figure a way to keep the median trees, the olive trees, for as long as we can and anticipate the need to ultimately replace the canopy that they now provide with trees in the future. And that's my opinion on how we should go forward. And so I would entertain a motion. What is it, a motion or a resolution? It's going to be a resolution of how we should proceed forward. Again, I think we should bifurcate this, but it's up to you folks on how you want to proceed. Thanks, Mayor. I'll introduce R3 for approval. Second. As is. As is. As is. Okay. All right. So the resolution approving the conceptual design for downtown retail shops, R3, the resolution has been introduced. Does anyone on the commission have any further comments? City Manager, do you have any comments you'd like to add? No, Mayor. Okay. Milos, speak now or forever hold your peace. Not to do Stein, but thank you. All right. So please call the roll. A resolution is City Commissioner of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, approving the conceptual designs for the downtown retail shops without the median and Cully Hammock character areas for the Los Angeles Mobility Western Corridor and directing the City Manager to advance the Los Angeles Mobility Western Corridor design concept from Andrews Avenue to Southeast 17th Avenue to 60% design plans and providing for an effective date. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? No. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trentals? No. So the resolution is approved and we will go to 60% design. Okay. Moving forward, PH1, public hearing resolution approving the real allocation of funds from the Parks and Recreational General Obligation Bonds in the amount of $235,000 from the Lauderdale Manor's entrance to Chateau Park. Does someone like to introduce – wait, no one has signed – wait, did anyone sign up to speak? No one has signed up to speak? Do we have to close public hearing if no one has signed up to speak, Sherry? You need to open the hearing and offer the opportunity to speak and then close it if no one wants to. Okay. Does anyone wish to speak on this item? There being none, do I hear a motion to close public hearing? So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trent-Hallis? Yes. And public hearing is now closed on PH1. Would someone like to introduce the resolution? Introduce. It's been introduced. Any questions? There being none, please call the roll. Okay. PH1. A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, approving the reallocation and transfer of funds from the Parks and Recreation General Obligation Bonds Series 2020A bonds in the amount of $235,000 from the Lauderdale Manor's entrance improvement project. To the Chateau Park improvement project resulting in a total budget of $335,000 for the Chateau Park improvement project pursuant to City of Fort Lauderdale resolution numbers 18-261 and 20-08, providing for conflicts, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trent-Hallis? Yes. And that resolution is now approved. Moving on to OFR1. We already did that one. OSR1. This is a second reading, ordinance amending Chapter 15 of the Business Tax Receipts and Miscellaneous Business Regulations. No one has signed up to speak. Does anyone have any questions on this? There being none, someone would like to introduce the ordinance? Introduced. The ordinance has been introduced. Please call the roll. In ordinance of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, amending Section 15-57, the Code of Ordinances of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, by implementing a 5% fee increase on local business taxes, restoring omitted business tax categories, and providing for severability, repeal of conflicting ordinance provisions, correction of scriveners, there is an effective date. Commissioner Glossman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trent-Hallis? Yes. And OSR1 is now approved on second reading. OSR2, second reading. Ordinance amending Section 8.55.5 of the Code of Ordinances, titled High Impact Events on Beach Property. No one has signed up to speak. Would someone like to introduce the ordinance? Introduced. Please call the roll. In ordinance of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, amending Chapter 8, Article 3 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, titled Public Beaches, by amending Section 8-55.5, titled High Impact Events on Beach Property, by renaming Section 8-55.5, to High Impact Zones during High Impact Periods, to authorize the City Manager to designate High Impact Zones within the City and impose additional temporary immediate measures during High Impact Periods, including a curfew that restricts juvenile access to designate high impact zones within the city. Including a curfew that restricts juvenile access to designated areas, suspension of sidewalk cafe permits, and removal of cafe equipment, with notice to the permittee and modification operating hours for city parks and facilities, providing for definitions, providing for severability, providing for conflicts and repeal, and providing for correction as Gryvner's errors and providing for an effective date. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trantales? Yes. Let's hope this has some remedial effect on the activity in those high-impact areas. OSR 3, second reading, Ordinance Amending the City of Fort Lauderdale Code of Ordinances, regarding Special Entertainment Overlay District. Someone, one person assigned to speak, Francois, are you still here? At the button. Could you press the button? At the bottom of the speaker. At the bottom of the speaker. Oui. Hello. There you go. How is everyone? Okay, so, yeah, from my understanding, this, you know, from a meeting you guys had previously, it had to do with the downtown entertainment district. Well, downtown and also the beach. Okay. Yeah, so, you know, I've been, same thing, I've been coming out to that area for 20 years for entertainment there, and it's been pretty much a staple. There's really nothing like it, okay? I throw parties in Miami, everything, but I still come down here to Fort Lauderdale because there's nothing like that bar-hopping experience. I think when you took away the drinks outside, from my understanding now, you can't go outside with a drink. And that's something that just made the city. It made the flow of how you go out, how you entertain yourself for a night out. And it's something that's very special for nightlife that you don't find anywhere else. You don't find it in Miami. And I think it's really something special that should be held on to. Like I said, I've grown up in this town. I've had, you know, hope to have kids in this town. I hope they can go out in Fort Lauderdale when they are young adults and take drinks back and forth and around. One other thing that I keep in mind. By the way, by the way, let me just stop you for a second. They used to have it in Miami Beach, and they stopped it because of all the problems that were generated. Yeah, and that's why I could go to Miami. I could get listed everywhere. I could do this. I come to Fort Lauderdale because it's more fun for me because of that. Now, one thing is when you take away the drinks. I want to party with you. Fort Lauderdale is better for that reason. It's something special that, you know, if you keep that whole district alive, I think every business there will feel the profits of that because they will, because, you know, everybody will come for the district to Fort Lauderdale. It's not like you have to go and you have plans. You just come to Fort Lauderdale. You jump around. You take space of the whole entertainment. And I would say with that, I would say make the wharf allow drinks outside, too, in that district because that's kind of slacking, and that's our connection from him or she to Las Olas. One problem I find with the no drinks outside is if I have a drink and I'm walking and I'm leaving the club and now you're telling me I can't take it, I have to slam that drink, so therefore I will be actually more drunk because I am a slow drinker and I like to enjoy my drink slowly, and now you are forcing me to drink fast. And that is dangerous. Well, doctor, I think you should pace yourself. That was on the clock here. You should drink fast at home. What's that? Drink fast at home. I drink fast when you leave. But then if we drink at home, then we have more alcoholics, and then the city does not profit from that, and we don't have a good entertainment district. Thank you, sir. Do what you do at home, but I know I like to be out in Fort Lauderdale. Thank you. We'll be good. Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak on this item? Okay, there being none, would someone like to introduce the ordinance? Introduced. Please call the roll. In order to the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, amending Chapter 5, Alcoholic Beverages, Section 5-29 of Article 2, License Establishments, and Article 3, Special Entertainment Overlay District of the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a code of ordinances to amend how the permitted hours of sale, consumption, and service of alcoholic beverages and off-premise alcohol consumption are regulated in Special Entertainment Overlay Districts, providing for severability, repeal of conflicting ordinance provisions, codification, and correction of scrivener's errors, and for an effective date. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trentals? Yes. And by the way, during that commission meeting when we had the discussion, almost all of the proprietors in those districts approved of not having the open containers. I'm just letting you know, we were not trying to put anyone out of business. They actually... No, I don't think that. Okay. All right. All right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right. So, is there any further business of the commission? Because that's the last item. There are no walk-ons, there's nothing. Do you have any announcements to make for us to work, any closed door? You do need to finish your conference? I'm sorry? Do you need to finish your conference meeting? The conference is another meeting. This is just the evening meeting. I will go back to the conference meeting. That's what I was getting at. Okay. Do you have any further... Do you have any... Okay. City Manager? Nothing further. Okay. Any further business of the commission? The regular meeting is now closed, and I now reopen the conference meeting. At this point, we're at commission comments, and I'll start with Vice Mayor. Do you have a report? Thank you. You know, typically I don't, but a couple of things. So, I'm glad we had the conversation earlier about the tunnel. I think that was an important one. I didn't think that that's something that we really need to continue moving forward. So, I'm glad we had a conversation about that. I'm glad we had the conversation about 1E Broward and 101. I'm sorry it didn't go the way I would have liked it to have, but at least we had a conversation about it. One of the things that came up, I had this conversation with Daphne. It came up during my conversation with the district last night, is there's a funding request for license plate readers for Rio Vista, and I think perhaps one other neighborhood. And this caused a lot of dissension with my neighborhoods, because I've had four neighborhoods that are trying to get LPRs put in and have been asking for financial assistance. And I've been telling them over and over and over again that we can't do it, and it was quite a shock to me to find out that we're asking for support from the state for LPRs when I'm telling all of my neighborhoods, whether it's Coral Ridge Country Club Estates or the Landings or Sunrise Intercoastal or Bermuda Riviera, that there's absolutely no assistance for LPRs. So, I think we need to come back and revisit this. If we're going to do LPRs, we need to do it for every neighborhood that wants one. If we're going to provide financial assistance, it needs to be a uniform policy. We can't just go ahead and ask the state for financial assistance for one neighborhood. I'm happy to have it for every neighborhood that wants it, but we can't just go and ask the state for one neighborhood to provide financial assistance. It's all or nothing. We can't pick winners and losers. Well, okay, so let's – on the aisles, there were certain neighborhood associations that went ahead and did fund their own license plate reader program. Right. This is the first I've heard that we're – that there is available funds for license plate reader grants. So, is Daphne – I think Daphne left. Yep. Oh, is she here? Okay. Daphne, is this a new program? I mean, because we've never tapped into this, have we, before? No. No. We've never tapped into this before. It was a request from Representative Lamarca and the Rio Vista Association. Right. So – And again, my goal is not to deny a neighborhood. Right. My goal is to say if we're going to go to Tallahassee and ask for funding for LPRs, we need to invite every neighborhood to participate because my neighborhoods are putting their own money up to buy these. And they are asking for financial assistance to expand them or to take over ongoing maintenance or things of that nature. So – and again, I'm constantly pushing back and telling them, sorry, we can't do this because if I do this for you, I'm telling Tim Hernandez up in Coral Ridge Country Club Estates, no, I can't do it for you, Tim, because if I do it for you, I've got to do it for every other neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale. And then I turn around and I find out, guess what, we're doing it for other neighborhoods in Fort Lauderdale. So it makes me look like a hypocrite when I do that. So we need to have a uniform policy about this as we go forward. So maybe we fund it all out of the general fund or we ask for, you know, a larger request when we go to Tallahassee. I don't know what that mechanism is, but I just want to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to participate in this. That's all. Okay. Thank you. And then we had the conversation about the courthouse as a potential museum, so I'm glad we got to cover that. So there we go. My once-a-year commission report. You're pushing yourself. And we actually already covered everything. I'm going to need a motion to extend the meeting. Do I hear a motion to extend the meeting? Well, because I talked. Yes. Move to extend the meeting to 1040. 1040. Okay. Second. It's been seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glossman. Yes. Commissioner Beasley Goodman. Yes. Commissioner Sorensen. Yes. Vice Mayor Hurt. All right. You have four minutes. Mayor Hurt. Go. Yes. You have four minutes. All right. Sharing my report. I want to share some great things that have been going on, I'm going to say, throughout the whole city. On Tuesday and Wednesday, January 20th and 21, we host at the YMCA, the 2026 Infinite Scholars Fair that we've been having annually. I'm going to start off with the amount that was given out to scholars within our area. It was a total of $55 million that was given out. And that was a, yes, that's worth a clap. I heard somebody clapping. Okay. That was a half-hearted clap. So that's it. That's it. I've talked about this fair on numerous occasions, and I'm hoping that these numbers that you keep hearing about will spike interest for us as a city to get also more involved. It is a two-day event here in Broward, and, again, it's being held at our YMCA on Sixth Trunk Boulevard. And this year, Miami heard about what we were doing, and they were able to speak with the Infinite Scholarship Foundation, and they picked up four hours on the Wednesday. And they got together, and they coordinated, and the commission got together, and they were able to bring in 15 of their schools. In four hours, they gave away $20 million. But overall, 2,100 students were serviced through this program, 21 high schools in Broward, 15 in Miami. That's a total of 36 schools that was bused in to attend these events. 31 colleges and universities attended. They were there, and I always love to share that they come ready to give this money away. They have their criterias for our scholars to meet, but the most impressive part of this, our youth, they stand before these college admitting officers, and they leave with a letter of acceptance. So they know on the spot that this is a college that has accepted them, also with the monies that are involved with what it would take. So, again, that total was, overall total was $77,246,000. Okay? Million, sorry. $77 million. Thank you. Yes, yes, yes. Give a shout-out to the YMCA for always standing in place with this. Sharon Hughes, who's in the house tonight, along with staff from the Y, want to give acknowledgement to them. Gabe, Amelia, Tangela, and Shana, and then all of those who work there to make this happen. And, Mayor, I say this every year, and I want to give a request to city manager to see how we could incorporate being more involved with this. If we could see how we could do that both financially and as well as picking up an interest to, you know, and make sure that at least our students from the schools that are in the city of Fort Lauderdale know about this and is participating in this. I always share that other schools outside our city usually be the schools that are the top attenders. This year, it was Board Anderson. They came in with the highest amount of students they brought in to attend this event. Okay? Moving on. Then on. 35 seconds. No. Here we go. 35 seconds. We have Saturday, January 24th. I was thrilled to be present at the ribbon cutting and seeing the vision come to full fruition at Huizenga Park. It was an amazing opportunity to witness that ribbon cutting. On hand was the Miami Dolphin cheerleaders and the mascots, TD from the Dolphins, as well as Billy from the Marlins, Stanleys from the Panthers. Kudos, kudos, kudos to the DDA and their vision and leadership for increasing the fantastic clean space for this amenity for our community. Also on the 24th, we wrapped up a week-long celebration of the MLK Remembrance Legacy and Celebration. There was a concert in the park at Carter Park. It was a gospel explosion. It featured many local artists, as well as a national headliner, Ja'Kala Carr from Atlanta. It was well attended, well received. I want to give a big thank you to our police and fire rescue and all the vendors, including our attendance from our in-house city manager. I always get this wrong. Help me with this. The team that helps us promote I Am Sixth Trunk. They are, what is their new name? Oh, the Economic Development Division. The Economic Development Team. They were on hand. They manned a booth. They were able to highlight and give information out about I Am Sixth Trunk. I wanted to highlight and say thank you to Katrina Johnson, Melissa Mata, Chavola Frazier, and as well as Vaughn Howard for coming out to be a part of that to make sure that while we were having that good time in the park, they were still on top of that initiative to get the information out about I Am Sixth Trunk. So thank you to everyone for that. Also on- Well, you're eating up all the time with these people. Then we're going to have to get more time. I'm sorry. We can get more time. All right. Monday, January 26th, we extended- Busy girl here. Busy girl. Yes. I attended the Civic Association meeting with historic Dorsey Riverbend. Thank you to President Ron Nesbitt for the invite. Also, at that meeting, Dickey consultant and chief staff represented by Ingrid Kingborn, who gave the presentation for the Smart Water Meter Program. The presentation was covered. It covered the program's introduction and its scope. It shared with us how the meter system will work. Also, the installation process. It gave us the opportunity for the community to hear how the porter service will work and also the overall benefits and the ability to monitor the uses of our water in real time. The presentation was very informative. The neighbors asked questions and gave some great suggestions. One question was, how will we address those neighbors who are non-tech savvy? And it was explained that there is a customer service number that will also be available for our neighbors to ask questions, to even get that real-time usage questions answered for them. Also, on a separate note, there was a discussion regarding enforcement methods for violation of dog waste ordinance. There's a big problem where the neighbors who are walking their dogs, they are not adhering to the waste pickup ordinance. So, the question wasn't really answered. I want to know if we can get an answer tonight. How is that violation addressed and what needs to be done to make a report to get this minimized? Would that be code enforcement? Code enforcement, maybe. Yeah. I'm asking staff to provide a response. Who's the expert on dog poop? I am not, but our code enforcement team is, so we can refer that to that department, to community services and code enforcement. Yeah, code enforcement. Okay. All right. So, if we can get an answer for that, we would appreciate it because it is a problem within that community. Also, upcoming events, we've been sitting so long, my stuff got moved around here. Okay. Upcoming events, Thursday, February 5th, 6 p.m., Parks, Bonds, Public Meeting at Carter Park. This will be a discussion regarding the redesign of Carter Park. Also, on Saturday, February 7th, 3 to 5 p.m., Remembering Our Roots at Riverland Park. This is an annual event. This is an annual event where we invite the city out, the community out, to come and enjoy an opportunity, an afternoon with our community. And where five of our play after-school activity programs, they perform also. So, this is a great time to see our youth in action. On Thursday, February the 12th, 530, as we know, it's the 2026 Neighborhood Support Night. It'll be in the City Hall's parking garage. It's always a great event for everyone. These other two items, they can wait for the next two weeks. Okay. Do you want to make a motion to extend the meeting? Yes, I make a motion that we extend the meeting to 11 p.m. All right. Do I hear a second? A second? Oh, okay. Okay. Second. You second it? Okay. Seconded. Please call the roll. Commissioner Glassman? Yes. Commissioner Beasley-Pittman? Yes. Commissioner Sorensen? Yes. Vice Mayor Herbst? Yes. Mayor Trenton? Yes. Okay. All right. Commissioner Glassman? Thank you, Mayor. January 23rd, participate in the Avenue of the Arts Mural, Tour, all up and down the street, and then in and around the Thrive Art District. And I know I've spoken about this before, but if people have not gotten to see what's happening in that area, Progressive Village, and all along Seventh, it's incredible, the transformation of that area all through art and culture. The murals are incredible. These are world-renowned muralists coming to our city and doing really beautiful work. And it leads me to my comment. We've seen such an incredible amount of economic development in that area. Also, just a vibe that's really spread and has gotten a lot of attention. But we need to do more as a city. We need to finish the area. We need to do the finishing touches. We need to do the streetscape improvements. We need to add parking, whether that's a garage or on-street parking. Where is this? Around, in and around Avenue of the Arts, right over here, and the Thrive Art District. They've done so much in terms of turning that area around in Progressive Village. But we have not done enough. When I'm down there, I just see, you know, the streetscape is messy. The right-of-way is messy. We don't do enough. They need sidewalks. They need lighting. They need parking. We need to finish off these areas. When we see such an incredible economic development in an area transform itself from a bunch of warehouses that were just rag shops and auto parts, and now people are coming from all over. When I was there, all of the little golf carts were full. Students were coming on buses. We have got to just step up. We've got to step up, finish these areas, and make sure that it's inviting for people. Because I see that we're just not doing that. So that was my comment. Would you suggest that be brought before the CRA board, the advisory board, to see if, you know, we can initiate a consultant and use CRA money to provide consulting services to do a streetscape design? Is that what you're recommending? I think that would be great. And at the very least, we could do more, even as a city, just to, you know, cut the grass, pick up the trash, get rid of the weeds. There's a lot that we can do, even without a study, but I would love to see that. But I do know that I keep hearing from the folks there that they need parking because that's what people, you know, obviously, if it's easier for people to park, they will come more. Right now, there's very limited amount of parking in that area. I think we have the space there for a garage. We need to just do things like that. Sidewalks, there's no connectivity there at all among those streets. We have to do that. And then lighting so that, you know, so that it's a safer environment, you know, when the sun goes down. I mean, people need to feel welcome, they need to feel safe, and they need to feel an area is clean and just matching the amenities that are already presented by the folks that have gone in there and done this incredible job. And kudos to all those people for doing that investment. It's a really special place. When you look at the arts corridor now that we have created, Mass District, Music and Arts South of Sunrise, Fat Village, Progressive Village now, Thrive Arts District, and Flagler Village itself, we've created a real arts corridor here that is rivaling what I have seen in Miami and the Wynwood area. Again, these murals are incredible, but we've got to do more as a city. I'm not going to belabor the point. We just need to do more. Well, may I suggest you meet with our new CRA director and perhaps come up with a game plan? I would love to. All right. That would be – I think that is a step. I'm going to assign this to our deputy city manager to coordinate because I think it's multidisciplinary and touches a lot of different departments from an operational perspective as well as from a capital projects perspective. Okay. Excellent. Thank you. And I would welcome that dialogue. Again, it's been mentioned. Again, congratulations, DDA, and to the city for partnering. Tremendous, tremendousizing a park. So thrilled with it. And I know that you brought it up, Mayor, earlier. And I do remember a lot of people were so opposed to that. Those were also controversial meetings that we had in our chambers where people were just really opposed to the plans for that park. And that just goes to show you that sometimes the room here is not always full with the actual feeling of the general population. There are a lot of people that are positive about things. They just don't show up at meetings. They just don't. So that's my editorial. January 26th, I had a really good meeting. I want to thank staff, city manager. We brought in a lot of business leaders. Former county mayor, Dale Holness, and about 20 folks came in. And we had a really good meeting about just engaging more with the city in terms of economic opportunities. Also, that day, January 26th, I thank staff again for the work that went into the Himishi meeting that we had in terms of zoning updates for the district, historic zoning updates for the district, as well as special entertainment district approach that we've been all talking about for a while now. So thank you to staff for that. It was very well attended at the New River Inn. February 1, it was cold, but we did manage to celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the Birch Beach Park Finger Streets as a neighborhood. That's the nine streets that run along A1A, south of Sunrise Boulevard, nine streets north from Sunrise Boulevard. Those folks have been planning that event for over a year. Who knew it would be like 42 degrees and people were a little chilly. But kudos to that neighborhood, the food trucks, the Spirit, 150 RSVPs. It was really, really nice. So congratulations to them, city manager. Thank you for being there. It's a special neighborhood, and all of the Beach neighborhood presidents attended, and it was really a really nice community event. Really, really, really enjoyable. Coming up, I'll be attending South Gordon Road annual HOA meeting tomorrow. Also, there's the Victoria Park meeting tomorrow. I know city manager will be attending that meeting. Erica from my office will be meeting there as well because I'll be at South Gordon Road. She'll also be at the 15th Street meeting. We have a lot of things in my district tomorrow night in terms of neighborhood meetings. February 5th, I'll be speaking with the Seven Isles annual HOA meeting off of Las Solas, as well as the Lake Ridge Civic Association meeting. February 10th, I'm very excited. As you know, I tried to move forward a project that did actually move forward on the beach, and that is wrapping the lifeguard towers in art. It was my dream to just see a really beautiful display of art along the entire length of the sand. And now we're over eight of the, maybe up to ten, of the 2022 lifeguard towers, so we'll be dedicating the newest bunch on February 10th. It really looks nice. People really like it. And I think it's just so much better than just those generic lifeguard towers. Seeing them wrapped in art, it's people speaking about it. I see people taking photos of it. It's really nice. As Commissioner Beasley Pittman mentioned, we have Neighborhood Support Night on the 12th, and the other stuff we've already talked about, 101, as Vice Mayor mentioned, he's proud. The other stuff we've already talked about. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Commissioner Sorensen. Thank you, Mayor. I was honored to go up to Tallahassee this past week and represent the city of Fort Lauderdale there with Daphne. Thank you, Daphne, for a great, great effort up there. Vicki, Sabrina, fantastic city manager. Thank you. And we had other staff members there. We met with multiple state representatives, state senators, advocated for specific, significant projects citywide, fireboat, Las Olas improvements, affordable workforce housing, infrastructure, roadway improvements, and the meetings were fantastic. Significant support. Daphne will continue to do her magic up there, but I think we're in a very good spot to really get some positive state funding for all these citywide initiatives. So that's really exciting. We also, I shared very specifically how Live Local Act really detrimentally impacts our city. And so helped share with state legislators what that impact is and what adjustments could be made. So that was very positive, really positive outcome there in our engagement. And thank you for all the team that really helped make that trip productive, and we really worked it sun up to sun down and I think had some really, really good successes. And it's been mentioned before, but Huizinga Park, just we've been working on that for years. And so thank you to the DDA and the city and all neighbors who helped make that possible. Thank you, Mayor. Okay, thank you. Wow, there's time for me. I'll be short. I want to recognize the participants in the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival that took place on Fort Lauderdale Beach on January 24th. It was an amazing experience, and I don't know how many of the folks got to go there, but I want to thank the restaurant people for the tremendous investment that they made in making it a really great experience. And I think it showed really the nicer side of Fort Lauderdale's dining experience, and it continues to grow year after year. I think it needs to expand beyond the La Sola's Oceanside Park because there were so many people there and so many vendor opportunities that hopefully we can continue with that. And I want to thank the folks at Visit Lauderdale for investing in our community. Let's see. I guess you pretty much mentioned everything else. One other thing, there's a Fort Lauderdale Firefighters Remembrance Ceremony on February 14th. It's at 10 a.m. at 1022 West La Sola Boulevard, which is the historic fire station. So I invite everyone to come there and share in the remembrance ceremony. Everything else you folks mentioned, and the city's rocking and rolling, and I want to just thank everybody for continuing to do all the great things that continue to happen in our city. City Manager, do you have a report? Thank you, Mayor. Thanks for the feedback, clarification, and direction provided by the commission earlier today on various items discussed at goal setting and beyond. And on January 30th, I issued to the commission letter to the commission number 26-028, which is my quarterly update on the accomplishments and achievements of our team over the past quarter. So that would be the first quarter of fiscal year 2026. And I'm happy to report that we are looking ahead, so not just cataloging the accomplishments, but also giving you some highlights of what's to come. As you know, we are fully engaged in collective bargaining with the Fraternal Order of Police and the International Association of Firefighters. We have been working with both unions to try to engage as early as possible. We have not engaged this early in the process for several decades, and we're looking to come to the commission periodically for input. Prospect Lake Clean Water Center is on track. We've begun to onboard staff and begin the training process, and so that project continues to be on track and on budget. We have begun the AMI installations in areas of the city. We, to date, have installed 750 of these devices. We are trying to ramp up to about 400 a day with completion scheduled for 2027. Those are the water meters? Yes. Okay. Yes. So we're advancing that project. I think we've seen some delays in the past fiscal year. About when do you think that might be completed? I know it's a big task. Mid-2027. May of 2027? Mid. Mid-2027. Mid-2027? Yes. Okay. Thank you. We had our budget kickoff last week, so all the departments convened at Holiday Park. We had leadership from the Office of Management and Budget leading that effort to ensure that we align with the commission priorities as discussed. And we are anticipating that this budget year is going to have some potential challenges, and we're preparing ourselves for that. Commissioner Sorensen mentioned our visit to Tallahassee, happy to have participated in that. I also invited our fire and police chiefs to participate in Broward Days, which is something we have not done as a city in the past at that level of staffing. I want to congratulate the FxC team for the ACE awards that happened last week. Several members of the commission were present, several members of city staff from so many departments were there, and we had our charter officers also represented, city attorney, and our auditor. So thank you so much to the FxC team, and to all those who received an award that night, congratulations once again. And I'm looking forward to meeting more and more of our neighbors. I have been doing a whirlwind tour of the city and going to as many homeowners association and civic association meetings as I can fit on my calendar, and it has been rewarding to learn a lot more about our city and the various districts. Later this week, we will have a management retreat with our senior staff. This gives us an opportunity to get even more immersed in the budget development process and talk about some of our goals for the year, given that the commission has discussed the prioritization workshop and summarized what you would like staff to focus on for this year. So now we will have our budget retreat to solidify some of our operational goals and administrative goals that will support the priorities of the commission. Other than that, I do also want to invite everybody to Neighbor Support Night. Our Neighbor Support Division has been working very hard on that, and so next Thursday, I hope to see every member of our community at Neighbor Support Night. So thank you so much for the opportunity, and that concludes my report. Okay, very good. City Attorney, do you have anything further? I do, Mayor. Okay. You may all have noticed that there were a dozen or more event agreements in this agenda. It was the consent agenda, and I just wanted to point out a member of our office, young lawyer, Gabrielle Bush, who has been assigned this portfolio, and you can see that she cranked them out. She's doing a great job, and I just wanted to point that out. Okay. Well, congratulations and thank you. Yes. Okay. There being no further business of the commission, meetings concluded. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.