A Sad Day For Fort Lauderdale
Posted Under: Eco-Friendly "Green" Suggestions, Economic Improvement Suggestions, Ft Lauderdale Development Issues, Ft Lauderdale Parks and Green Spaces, Important Issues for Fort Lauderdale, Neighborhood Issues
A Sad Day For Fort Lauderdale
Last night, our Commission (after considerable squirming around in their chairs), voted 3-2 to renew the contract with Florida Power & Light for another 30 years. It’s a shame that certain Commissioners and the Mayor feel that the interests of their friends at FPL outweigh the interests of Fort Lauderdale residents.
What is an even bigger shame is that the window of opportunity we had to allow Fort Lauderdale to simply explore new electrical options for our future; to collect important information from an independent source before a decision was made with FPL; to become perhaps a visionary City showcasing new electrical technologies to our residents and tourists, has now been closed for a generation.
Instead we will be locked into another “business-as-usual” contract for 30 years with a monopoly that cares more about their stockholders and their executive salaries than they do about their customers. Expect higher rates in the future. What a shame.
Last night’s Commission meeting shows that there is a clear “disconnect” between certain Commissioners and the residents they are supposed to be serving. Over 100 citizens from all Districts came to the Commission meeting to hear about the FPL contract; over 50 people (myself included) spoke publicly on the issue. Over 90% of those speakers implored the Commission to not make a hasty decision on this agreement; that 30 years was too long to be hitched to this monopoly that continually strives to raise rates while avoiding the costs of improving (hardening) the electrical grid.
The core issue last night was whether to cave in to FPL’s demands and sign this 30-year contract renewal or, (as recommended by the City’s own Utility Advisory Committee) that the City first hire an independent consultant to review all options and be better informed BEFORE engaging in another contract with FPL. There was no down side to going the consultant route; it would have only provided more information from which a better decision could have been made for the residents of Fort Lauderdale. The consultant option would NOT have turned the running of the electrical system over to the City, it would NOT have suddenly turned the lights out; it would NOT mire the City in years of lawsuits with FPL, it would simply have given the Commission & us the residents a look into whether renewing with FPL was the right move for our future. It might be, but do we know for sure?
Our City Attorney boasted last night about the amount of time he and his staff spent in negotiations with FPL over the last 4 months; what they ended up with was practically the same contract that we’ve had for the previous 30 years. It makes one wonder as to the level of competence and knowledge that exists within our City Attorney’s office. The contract results made it clear last night that the more experienced FPL professional negotiators (who do this for a living with hundreds of cities and counties in Florida) got everything they wanted and outgunned our supposedly knowledgeable staff. It was also clear that residents who had read the contract (and who spoke last night) were able to blow holes the size of barn doors into City Attorney Stewart’s arguments that this was a “good contract” for the City. It clearly is not.
Three of our Commissioners last night still seemed to be clueless. Commissioner Bobby DuBose stated he didn’t want to municipalize our electrical system (irrelevant to the discussion last night, Bobby…); Commissioner Romney Rogers was fearful of litigation with FPL (that’s why we pay millions of dollars a year in salaries to our Attorney and his staff, Romney… If they are that incompetent, get rid of them!); Mayor Seiler didn’t want to pay $150K for an independent consultant (but he’s OK wasting over $10 million this year in longevity bonuses and raises to city employees who already have fat paychecks).
So the question arises: What were their real reasons for caving in to FPL last night, when there was no downside to following the UAC’s recommendation to hire an independent consultant?
Do you know that Florida Power & Light is the largest campaign contributor in the state of Florida? It’s ironic that the funds they and their lobbyists give to politicians (to get them to vote their way) are monies that come from our pockets; it’s the money we pay them each month for our electric bills. They take our hard-earned money and turn around and use it against us. How’s that for irony!
It’s pretty clear to me that their lobbying effort paid off last night. Our most junior Commissioners (DuBose, Rogers and Seiler) caved and put FPL’s interest ahead of ours. Shameful!
I do want to thank Commissioners Charlotte Rodstrom and Bruce Roberts for holding firm, voting “no” on the 30-year renewal, wanting instead a shorter contract with FPL.
But it wasn’t enough. Instead, Seiler, Rogers and DuBose have locked Fort Lauderdale in to another 30 years with a monopoly that doesn’t care about us. The three of them have destroyed an opportunity that our City had to possibly become a leader in new advanced electrical technologies. We deserve much better than what they gave us last night. Seiler, Rogers and Dubose should be ashamed of themselves.
Earl Rynerson
Reader Comments
Can’t the residents of this city file a law suit against our elected officials? Investigate how much they’ve been bribed and what new house on the beach may belong to any of them as a payoff?
WHY didnt Rodstrom second the motion of Roberts for a 10 yr deal, after her efforts for a 5 year deal were not seconded?? This made absolutely no sense. It was a surreal scene up there….it seems like it had already been rehearsed and everyone knew what part they were going to play. I was deeply disappointed in Mayor Seiler’s non-efforts, until it all occured to me afterward: FPL being the largest political donor in the state, and he has future political aspirations. Ah ha, the ‘lightbulb’ went off in my head. This is all a game.
Fort Lauderdale does not seem to be a city of the future or the past. We are always focused on the present with little or no reference to our history and with no vision of what comes next and what our city will become. Our streets were created on a 20th century grid not by paving cow paths. However our leaders seem to prefer repaving the same old path. Many cities in the past developed there electrical utility as they were installing electric street car Trolleys, because they needed to generate electricity and the power source could serve multiple needs. An electric utility and a transit authority is a lot to think about but we new this was coming for along time. It must just not make any difference to the people who can make this change. The cities future must not matter as much to them.
Today Im trying hard not to feel that I’ve totally wasted the investment of two long nights sitting in front of the city commission on this issue. The only gain I see, is that the environmental community (and other voices of reason) have galvanized and shown they are a force to be reckoned with. I hope we maintain our connectedness in other forms and formats, for the community good. As someone said, when we walked out in defeat, “It’s not easy being green”
Ft. Lauderdale is way behind in the advanced electrical technologies. Forget about going green! This year I wanted to install electric solar cells on the roof of my home to produce electricity. There are no concrete state incentives at this point and nothing from FP&L.
FP&L will not give any credits for solar powered electricity being put into their grids. Other utilities are giving credits to the homeowners with solar power that is being put into their grids. Looks like FP&L
will be controlling us for another 30 years.
OK Spanky, let’s not be too harsh on our new mayor… This is ridiculous, I don’t care who is running next time around for mayor or city commisioners, I will be campaigning for the other guy and do whatever I can to sling mud at these morons who voted for this. our own utility advisory committee recommended that we wait, and these bozos went ahead anyway. Thank God they don’t hold any higher office or we would have a million troops in Iraq. We need to clean house and start over. it appears that we have the typical politcal good ‘ol boy network in place. And to think, we were all relieved to get rid of Naugle.
Story from last night’s meeting:
http://browardnetonline.com/2009/10/fort-lauderdale-commission-approves-30-year-fpl-contract/
Nothing was lost last night. The City never had the authority to dictate how FP&L or any utility that might serve us with electricity, can produce that electricity. No local government has that authority. The City did negotiate a contract with good terms in those areas that we could negotiate. Nuclear, solar, what ever the forms of future energy, we did not give those up in this agreement. As far as rates, the City and local governments DO NOT have authority over rates either. That is up to the Public Service Commission of Florida who is reviewing and allowed public comments on FP&L’s request for a rate increase. I hope those of you concerned attended the public hearing here in June at the Main Broward County Library. This was a good agreement in what the City COULD negotiate.
This is just their (the city commission’s) rehearsal for more lucrative “contacts” as they eye seats on the utterly inept School Board or the corrupt County Commission. Job security for the FBI. They should look into contracting and procurement practices.
Enough is enough - its time for the citizens of Florida to take back our government. Please download a voter petition at http://www.governorsaporito.com to place my name on the ballot for change! Solar is the future of Florida - not nuclear!
Thank you!
Thomas Saporito
Here is a comment from a Michael Ahern (mgaesq@bellsouth.net):
“So Earl how much in campaign contributions from FPL did Seiler get?
Don’t worry Earl I know you dont like to answer questions where the truth is opposition to your position.”
and my reply to him..
Michael-
Thank you for your email.
The vote this week by Seiler in favor of renewing the FPL contract (without looking at other options) frankly, stinks.
It smells because anytime a politician votes, (against all logic), in favor of big business (instead of with the voters) tells me that favors are being curried and will be repaid at the appropriate time in the future. Maybe not now, or next month, but believe me, when Seiler decides to run for higher office (and everyone knows he will), he’ll go to FPL with his hand out, and might say something to the effect of:
Remember when I voted to renew your contract with the City of Fort Lauderdale? What can you do to help me win the _______ campaign?
That’s when the payoff happens. And you won’t even hear about it, unless you dig deep enough. Big business people give to their friends, who will give to their friends, who then give to candidates. There is little, if any way of tracking it.
So just sit back and wait. That’s the way it works. I’ll post your email and my comments to it on the blog.
Earl Rynerson
A few seats on boards clued me into the snakey tactics that govern Fort Lauderdale, a city that slithers its way to the people, hissing, tongue-wagging and tail rattles warning not to get too close lest you see the beast. Only one way to feel better, get thee to the water and jump in, stay as long as you can and try not to think too much as you float, staring at the clouds.
We need to start looking NOW for candidates to replace the “yes” voters on this issue, especially Mayor Seiler. More than likely, he will be moving on to run for Congress with FPL contributing generously to his campaign.
It is time to elect a Mayor who will have the moxie to replace the City Manager and other staffers who advised on this issue.
Time after time FPL was brought up at our meetings by Commissioner DuBose, explaining the pros and cons of the situation.
Commissioner DuBose cast hie vote by the decision made by us the people. So,if a wrong decision was made, We the people of District 3 made it, not Commissioner DuBose.
we can’t really do anything about this if we are not made a part of the process. There are a lot of things wrong with government officials and private companies funding each other back and forth but this seems to have been going on for years what can we do now? If this is made public imagine how much is being done behind closed doors.