Quality of Life

Protecting Our Quality of Life and Neighborhoods

• Rewrote the municipal development code to provide greater transparency in the development review process, protect neighborhoods from adjacent development, and ensure development fits its surroundings with proper setbacks and appropriate amounts of landscaping and tree canopy.
  
  
  
  
• Worked with fellow commissioners to implement smart-growth strategies in analyzing projects needing commission approval, reducing the size of some developments, and forcing others to address concerns of surrounding residents.
• Implemented stringent regulations on sober homes with minimum standards that included a prohibition on drug and alcohol use and a 1,000-foot separation requirement between homes.
  
  
  
  
• Supported restrictions on vacation rentals to the extent allowed by state law, including setting minimum standards, requiring registration, providing emergency contact, and establishing penalties for non-compliance.
• Ended gun shows at War Memorial Auditorium to enhance public safety and protect areas where children play.
  
  
  
  
• Supported the construction of thousands of units of housing that are affordable to average workers and seniors on fixed incomes through city incentive.
• Supported Housing Authority efforts to improve and expand its offering of public housing.
• Sold city-owned lots for the construction of single-family homes that must be marketed to the public at affordable prices.
• Helped improve existing homes and businesses in redevelopment areas with funding for repairs, painting, landscaping, and façade improvements, particularly in neighborhoods like Sweeting Estates-River Gardens and Dorsey-Riverbend.
• Pushed for rewriting the city’s noise ordinance to better protect residents from late-night noise and to provide businesses with clear rules to follow.
• Launched the writing an ordinance to better preserve the city tree canopy.
• Invested $112,000 from the Tree Canopy Trust Fund to plant more than 1,000 trees.
• Prohibited the use of fertilizer during the rainy season to protect our waterways.
• Banned smoking and vaping on the beach.
• Fast-tracked cleanups of George English Lake and the Tarpon River, addressing pollution from sewage spills.
  
  
  
  
• Launched a pilot project with Clean Waterways LLC using protein skimmer technology on the Himmarshee Canal, significantly improving water clarity and encouraging wildlife return.
• Established a large-scale water quality monitoring program, providing weekly public updates on water conditions at strategic locations.
  
  
  
  
• Undertook comprehensive assessments of impaired waterways, dedicating significant funds to canal cleaning and maintaining transparency about water quality.
• Cleaned waterways and stormwater catch basins, removing substantial amounts of debris and preventing pollution from entering the water system.
• Pushed for new initiatives to undertake more neighborhood-specific master-planning initiatives, and to make it easier for people to preserve historic properties.
• Tasked the Police Department to crack down on loud car noise on the beach and downtown and the dangerous street takeovers by gangs of motorcyclists and ATV-riders.
• Won LEED for Cities Gold certification in recognition of the city's efforts in environmental protection, including sea turtle conservation, managing sargassum seaweed, enhancing access to green spaces, and reducing the city's carbon footprint.
• Worked to get the city inducted into the All-America City Hall of Fame for our community collaboration to get things done, topping off our previous prestigious recognition by the National Civic League as an All-America City.
• Launched the Zero Empty Spaces initiative to revitalize empty spaces by providing inexpensive studio space for artists to display thoughtful, high-caliber art and produce public programs.
  
  

Helping to Improve Education

• Partnered with the school district and non-profit organizations to run a summer enrichment program that helps children and teens master new skills in reading and math and working to make it year-round.
  
  
  
  
• Partnered with the Barbara Bush Foundation on the Book Explorers Reading program to promote literacy and worked to expand program past year.
  
  
  
  
• Used funding from the federal CARES Act to outfit community centers with iPads and MiFis.
• Helped bring the Global Institute of Sport to Fort Lauderdale to open its first full campus in North America and provide educational programs for students interested in pursuing careers in sports business.
• Launched an avionics program at Atlantic Technical College in partnership with the school district, local colleges, and the business community.
• Lobbied the School District to ensure construction of a new cafeteria at Stranahan High School.
• Proposed that the city explore starting a charter school program to expand school choice for families and boost educational achievement in the community.
• Offered help to underperforming schools through a pilot initiative called Community Action Partnerships for Education designed to increase school-based volunteers, parental engagement, wrap-around family support, and donation drives.
• Partnered with Broward College to expand access to post-secondary education and workforce training in underrepresented communities.
  
  

Celebrating our Community’s Diversity

• Approved a landmark ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and sexual identity in the city.
  
• Created new sister city relationships with Constanta, Romania, and Thessaloniki, Greece.
• Renewed the 10-year-old sister-city agreement with Kaohsiung, Taiwan, with an agreement pledging closer cooperation between the yachting industries in the two cities.
  
  
  
  
• Launched the celebration of the annual Jewish holiday of Tu BiShevat by planting trees in city parks.
• Recognized the Hindu festival of lights, known as Diwali, for the first time in the city's history.
  
  
  
  
• Renamed part of Davie Boulevard as Rubin Stacy Memorial Blvd in memory of the last person lynched during the segregationist Jim Crow era in Fort Lauderdale.
  
  
  
  
• Hosted the North American Mayor's Summit Against Antisemitism in Fort Lauderdale, which brought municipal leaders from throughout the continent together to discuss ways to combat antisemitic activity.
  
  
  
  
• Organized the first-ever LGBTQ+ pride celebration along Fort Lauderdale’s beachfront.
• Increased the city’s rating on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index to 100% that rates communities’ performance on LGBTQ+ issues.