Our Mayor is FURIOUS!
Our Mayor is FURIOUS!
According to sources inside City Hall, Mayor Jack Seiler is so mad at City Manager George Gretsas right now that “paint is peeling off the walls” on the 7th and 8th floors at City Hall.
Sources I have spoken to inside City Hall confirm that our Mayor was “blindsided” by the construction and installation of the ugly “metal barrier” fences along Las Olas last week. Initially, he had been told that City Management had not been aware of the project, so he was pointing fingers at the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) saying it was “their project”.
Looking at this new fence from the street
Look at how this new fence blocks the view of oncoming traffic!
However, in my three postings last week about the fence (http://abetterftlauderdale.com/?p=998, http://abetterftlauderdale.com/?p=1009, and http://abetterftlauderdale.com/?p=1013 ), I pointed out that our Mayor was wrong about who knew what; that City Management in fact had been communicating with FDOT on this Las Olas Boulevard project for almost three years.
FDOT had informed our City earlier this year that the appearance of the new Las Olas fences would stay as originally designed, unless the City came up with (and paid for) an alternative design that was acceptable to FDOT. At that point (as I posted), City Engineering and Public Works passed it over to City Manager George Gretsas to decide what to do. But our City Manager did nothing; did not even inform our Mayor and Commission on what FDOT was going to be doing along Las Olas Boulevard.
People who work inside City Hall have known for years that Gretsas is famous for not keeping the Commission informed on various issues; he doles out information when it suits his needs, not the needs of Fort Lauderdale. Mayor Jack Seiler has been amazingly naive about this fault in our City Manager, continuing to keep Gretsas employed (in fact not even starting a conversation about replacing Gretsas until his contract expires on July 31). This has only hurt Fort Lauderdale. The reasons why Seiler continues to shield Gretsas, and keep him here as City Manager, has mystified many. Does Gretsas have something on Seiler??
In any event, that may all be “water under the bridge” now. The gloves have come off. According to one source, when Seiler asked Gretsas last week why he (Gretsas) didn’t bring this issue before the Commission, the response from Gretsas (who is in Reno Nevada now, being interviewed for their City Manager job opening) was; “because it would cost the City additional funds that I didn’t think we had”. This sent Seiler through the roof. It appears that Jack finally understands what many Fort Lauderdale residents have understood about Gretsas for years; Gretsas is an incompetent City Manager. (Hate to say “I told you so”, Jack, but had you replaced Gretsas last year as I recommended, we wouldn’t be having this problem now.)
So now what happens? No one seems to know. Our Mayor has spoken to FDOT and has voiced his concerns about the fences. It appears that construction has ceased, at least for the time being. But will the fences be taken down? Who will pay for the cost? What sort of fence will be used to replace what was just installed? How much will that cost?
The one piece of leverage that our City has over FDOT with these fences is that they do appear to be a safety hazard; they do appear to limit the visibility of drivers (especially drivers in cars close to the ground) who try to get on to Las Olas from the side streets. Will FDOT take them out for that reason?
Stay tuned!
Earl Rynerson
Reader Comments
Why isn’t the Sun Sentinel writing about this? Oh wait, they are too busy telling readers about the 99-cent special this weekend at “Weenie World”….
This is unbelievable! Is our City government this broken? This pile of doo-doo is the Mayor’s problem now. He’s going to have to clean it up & he better do it fast!
Mayor Seiler -
I’m glad to know that you are fired up about this. The fences have downgraded the neighborhood and need to be replaced.
Mr. Gretsas has let us down. Your job as a leader includes holding people accountable and making the tough decisions. I don’t envy you, but do wish you the best.
The fences are so horrible, I’ll even contribute to a “replacement fund” (but perhaps that should come out of Mr. Gretsas’s final paycheck?)
As of this am, construction HAS NOT STOPPED - on the bridge over Sopiro Canal parat of the concrete Wall has been removed. Workmen were leveling new sidewalk where the already removed wall had been. As I looked, it appears that the new ‘bike rack look’ fence is bolted into the sidewalk, not permanently imbedded as with the present approximate 3 ft. wall + bars on top.
Talk about ‘TAKCY’ the aluminum fence has been installed into the sidewalk in front of the wood 6′ fence hiding the condos at SE 17th Ave and East Las Olas.
Way past time to dump the city manager form of government in favor of a strong mayor form. I believe our city is the only city of its size in the state still managed ( and mismanaged since I have lived here) by a City Manager, who spoon feeds info to the elected officials, who are thus deprived of the chance to make informed decisions for us, the very thing we elected them to do.
As for Gretsas, tikanis but no thanks.
Al Imgrund
I can’t believe that no one noticed that Las Olas is one of the most beautiful streets in this town and putting up “bicycle racks” looks terrible…and I agree with a previous poster that it is time to do what other big cities do around the country and that’s have a Mayor in charge of running the city!
The Commission needs to take charge of the City Policy how much longer will we be lost The Commission has been in Office over a Year why so many mistakes and over and over at the cost of tax Payers and still the Residents have no idea about the path of a New City Manager Mayor stated in a E-Mail he has it covered I wonder !!!
IT’S ALL WELL AND GOOD TO FIX THE PROBLEM. BUT THAT DOES NOT CHANGE THE FACT THAT NONE OF THOSE GUYS (JERKS) WILL FOOT THE BILL…
WE WILL $$$$$ !!!!!!!!!
We do not NEED walls or barriers of any kind here. FDOT or no FDOT. REMOVE THEM and sell them as scrap. If the FDOT says can’t be done, we should do it on our own. This is nuts.
Who are you to be writing city news? what are your credentials? Why are you interested? Thanks.
Melissa- You ask for my “credentials”.. Here they are. I’m a ten-year resident of Fort Lauderdale, a taxpayer, and someone who does not like seeing overpaid public officials wasting taxpayer money and not doing their jobs. Those are the best credentials to have, in my opinion!
Earl
Glad to hear that our Mayor is as hot as the people. Get rid of the people who don’t have a real love for Lauderdale. It’s cheaper in the long run for everyone.
Maybe if more butts were chewed we might get our town back on track. Go get them Jack, we are 100 percent behind you. Mr. Gretsas’s should be let go due to lack of interest in his duties and apply to Detroit as a City Manager and take his tacky fence with him.
I’ve been a long time resident of FTL and particularly the Las Olas area. The wide open sunny road leading to Las Olas beach from downtown has always been an attractive and liberating view for me (in the morning I would make a left toward the beach rather than a right toward work more often than I care to admit). So seeing this ugly fence has been a disappointment. It takes away from the natural beauty of the place rather than add anything. I also fail to see the purpose. It is not strong enough to stop a car from going over nor particularly effective in keeping people out.
In a time when officials and elected individuals report budget cuts and financial hardships, is the erection of this fence really that high on the priority list that it bypassed business development projects to halt the alarming rather of businesses closing down for good and adding eyeseores to this city?
Why are we fixing something that isn’t broken? As a resident and tax-payer, I do not support the fence and it seems neither does anyone else.
Who stands to benefit from this?
Well I must say, I took a good look at the fencing yesterday.
IT LOOKS LIKE THE TEMPORARY FENCING USED AT A COUNTY FAIR! And for how much $$$ ? Someone is getting ripped off, or all that money isn’t going toward the fencing, makes you wonder where the money really went.
Why doesn’t someone in City government consider FIRING Gretsas RIGHT NOW for malfeasance and dereliqtion of duties and maybe we can recover some mmoney from him that he would be getting for termination that he doesn’t deserve……….
Also, since Fort Lauderdale has a fulltime paid Mayor, just like most major cities……why do we need a City Manager in the first place? NY seems to work fine without one and so do most major cities in the country. Maybe we just need a competent mayor and hire competent department heads.
Melissa -
Can you provide some background on why you don’t like this site? This is the first time I’ve been on it, but I’m very glad to see that someone has taken the time to do what I didn’t know how to do - get some answers.
When I saw the fences going up, I assumed they were temporary. I’m shocked to learn that they are supposed to be permanent.
Thank you
Fence, Fence, Fence; I guess they deserve better over there in rich people world, they pay so much in property taxes. Earl I really need to work with you in helping us get sidewalks over here in South Middle River.
Lamont-
Give me a call. Earl