City Commission Conference Meeting on 2023-11-07 1:30 PM

meeting

Fort Lauderdale City Commission 3h 44m 4 speakers 8 agenda items transcribed 4 days ago official recording ↗

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What is the new River Crossing update and why is it important?

Dean Trantalis 0:04

seventh, twenty twenty three. I want to thank you all for for being here today. Uh And uh we have uh fairly robust schedule this afternoon, so I'd like to get started and uh some exciting things we're gonna talk about and um um and I'm very hopeful that the community is um going to continue to participate as it has in uh uh in these discussions. So um I'm I'd like to really get started with the the thing that's um very, very important today, which is the new river crossing update. I know there are a number of people who are here just for that. So if it's okay with the um commission, I'd like to skip the communications until uh the end of the uh of the agenda. And also to announce that business one is going to be uh removed from the agenda t uh this afternoon.

Dean Trantalis 0:53

And uh we'll present the item on december fifth, twenty twenty three. So uh with that in mind, um why don't we jump right on to business two? And uh And before we begin, um I just want to say a couple of things. So There's been a lot of discussion regarding the New River crossing and uh I want the Commission to know that We're going to take a pause here today and have a full throated discussion regarding this. We've been able to secure multiple consultants' uh reports, which we're going to hear about today and we're going to be able to discuss. Um I I I'm hopeful that the Commission will take this opportunity to ask questions and to resolve any concerns that they have and to hopefully we can address them.

Dean Trantalis 1:48

And uh and I want the Commission to be able to be a full participant in this conversation going forward and uh that's the reason why we put it on the agenda today, is so that we can uh see exactly uh how as a Commission we will move forward on the idea of the new river crossing. Number two, um I want us all just to understand and put this whole project in some c sort of perspective. You know, in all the years that I've sat on this commission. And uh I can't count those years on two hands because I think it's been more than ten. And uh I have to tell you not one meeting, not one homeowner's meeting. Not one campaign meeting. Not conversation I've ever had over the years, did anyone ever say, Mayor, Commissioner?

Dean Trantalis 2:40

We need commuter rail in Fort Lauderdale. Uh we've talked about traffic concerns. We've talked about um um safety concerns. We've talked about all kinds of issues in our community. But somehow the issue of commuter rail has never really been on our on our radar. So this program that's being talked about today is something that's being uh imposed basically on us as a regional Undertaking. something that the Florida Department of Transportation and other agencies have come together and believe that this is going to be a game changer for South Florida and it probably will will be. But the question has to be asked. How does this help Fort Lauderdale? How does this improve? the quality of life of the people that live in Fort Lauderdale.

Dean Trantalis 3:36

And so whatever goals we have in mind in terms of trying to alleviate traffic on ninety five. Or whatever other goals we're hoping to achieve through a commuter rail system. We have to ask ourselves. How is this going to help the people that live in Fort Lauderdale? When I first heard about this program And I heard that it was moving forward in a very accelerated way. This is about four years ago. Um it was by chance. that I was sitting in a meeting Um and it was discussed that there was going to be a bridge built through the city of Fort Lauderdale in order to accommodate the commuter rail s the commuter rail system. Um so it was interesting to hear the discussion and then When we figured it out, it turns out that you know there are alternatives.

Dean Trantalis 4:28

And one of the concerns that I had was the impact that a bridge would have in the city of Fort Lauderdale. So we're going to hear about that today. And we'll each have an opportunity to comment on uh why it's important to have one type of crossing versus another. And uh we have been Very, very um engaged in Bringing consultants who have built tunnels, who have consulted on the design of tunnels and who have costed out tunnels to be able to r educate ourselves in this process.