Ft Lauderdale City Manager Lee Feldman: Complaints About Sewer Failures Are “Noise.”
BY BUDDY NEVINS
There is an old expression: The fish stinks from the head.
It could have originally been written about Fort Lauderdale City Manager Lee Feldman.
For over two years Feldman has ignored complaints from the public that the sewers were failing and the streets were flooding when they weren’t jammed with traffic. He pushed development after development while ignoring infrastructure woes.
Bottom line: The city’s lifestyle deteriorated under his watch and people didn’t like it.
How tone deaf is Lee Feldman?
Read the following and tell me. Feldman said:
- Criticism from the public about infrastructure failures is a lot of “noise.”
- Protests against City Hall could be dismissed. “If you pave the streets in gold, there’ll be a complaint the road has glare,”
His audience was the group of real estate investors and developers who call themselves the Downtown Development Authority. The DDA is comprised of folks who have made boat loads of money from development. In other words, Feldman was preaching to the choir.
Lee Feldman talks to developers, real estate investors in downtown Fort Lauderdale (Source: Twitter)
But Feldman is supposed to represent all the residents of Fort Lauderdale, not just the build-it-at-any-cost development crowd.
He doesn’t.
After years of petitions and complaints, Feldman still doesn’t believe the residents have had enough of failing infrastructure, overcrowded roads and runaway development! The “noise” is from just a few malcontents.
Is he really living in Fort Lauderdale? Does he talk to people outside of the development community?
Feldman’s unbelievable quotes were tweeted by Sun-Sentinel staff writer Brittany Wallman.
(She also quoted downtown developer Alan Hooper saying future development isn’t the problem because it hasn’t been built yet. If the current sewers can’t handle the population, what will adding more residents do? I can answer that one: Increase residents’ utility charges to pay for the new development.)
The tweets about Feldman were immediately picked up by Commissioner Dean Trantalis, a candidate for mayor and critic of Feldman.
There is the problem in Fort Lauderdale. It sits right in the City Manager’s office.
Feldman believes everything is hunky dory in Fort Lauderdale. Perhaps the voters will show Feldman just how much “noise” they can make next month…in the city election voting booths.
December 14th, 2017 at 5:39 pm
Mr. Feldman stated that he had been doing this for 32 years. This should his last.
December 14th, 2017 at 7:23 pm
Unreal.Mr.Feldman constantly puts his foot in his mouth.Last year when the beach activist were voicing there concerns over the Bahia Mar,and the bldgs.they intended to built would cause shadowing on the beach,Mr.Feldman stated “just move your beach blanket over”.In other words their concerns were trivial and that implying that all they did was lay on the beach.Yeah Lee in a perfect world.Oh the beach residents were not amused.Now this stupid comment saying if he paved the streets in gold ,they would complain about the glare.Wait,then he states only a small noisy minority are complaining about the sewer ruptures etc.Really Lee.Not when you have a problem almost every week.No way.Mr Feldman and Judy stern are betting heavy Bruce roberts wins.Oh he better lee cause if Roberts loses you go packing and Stern right behind you.Bruce Roberts your two biggest enemies are both Feldman and Stern.If you lose blame both if them.What a stupid thing to say Mr.Feldman.Im also watching his Fema claims.He thinks he is claiming alit of these sewer ryprured as well.No way Lee.Im watchin….
December 14th, 2017 at 8:27 pm
Feldman doesn’t see any sewage? Well, show him some, bring a truckload over to him. Picket his house, he’s not getting the message any other way.
December 14th, 2017 at 11:07 pm
This should end well.
December 14th, 2017 at 11:22 pm
When you see the writing on the wall you can say anything, I say guilty as charged,
People making noise ? That’s the most arrogant statement yet.with a superior tone to it.
Here’s some noise come March the sound of the door shut behind you as you leave to destroy another city, little con man .
No moral compass Lee, 35 years, of scams is more like it.
December 15th, 2017 at 1:10 am
Buddy Nevins is wrong about one thing, Lee Feldman isn’t the head of anything. He’s just an extremely overpaid salary increase driven lackey that has zero integrity and will dutifully do whatever community sellouts “Crooked” Jack Seiler, “Bought & Paid For” Bruce Roberts and “Rio Vista” Romney Rogers tell him to do which is why 30% of the city’s sewers don’t work now for 6 months and counting, pricey sewage trucks are all over the place day and night and Fort Lauderdale is operating under a state environmental and public safety consent order design to protect citizens like us in out of control and mismanaged cities that can’t govern themselves. If you don’t think this city hall isn’t operated expressly for the benefit of the 87% nonresident FOP police union and the ecosystem of developers’ lobbyists that propel legal/political careers, your probably thinking of voting for the regime’s “Bought & Paid For” Bruce Roberts and “Towering” Timmy Smith. Please don’t. Nine years on the road to where we are now is enough to prove the point to anyone, isn’t it? I just hope after the election when the new Mayor and City Commission is seated they rip the bandage off right away and deliver Lee “the lackey” Feldman his pink slip suspended in that an all too poetic “crystal ball” he says he never got issued. January 16th is elections day, let’s make it judgement day too!
December 15th, 2017 at 8:07 am
The big argument against having a Strong Mayor is that you need a professional manager. If this is the result of a professional manager, then I say time for a strong mayor who hires an administrator. If a community gets a bad manager, the voters can’t touch him. And he does so many favors for the the develpers, that the commissioners get pressure from their contributors that keep them from firing him. Often the manager is from somewhere elsa and has no true love for the community. He knows the job will last for about 5 years and knows to line up a new job before things start falling apart. When he leaves, the community is left with the mess he creates.
A Mayor often has strong roots in the community and is less likely to damage her. If the mayor selects an administrator to run the day to day operations of the city and recommends policy to the commission, it is a better system. And if the Mayor is screwing up, the voters can fire the mayor in the next election.
Time for a strong (non voting) Mayor with a 5 member city commission. Perhaps a city wide char of the commission with 4 districts. Most of the larger cities in Florida have a strong mayor.
December 15th, 2017 at 8:14 am
Count me in as in agreement with majority of sentiments and facts as written by
Charles King and Robert Walsh
December 15th, 2017 at 8:50 am
Feldman’s ‘neighborly leadership’ amid the sewage infiltration of our Venice of America waters does not bode well for his shelf life … or the candidacies of commissioners now running for mayor
December 15th, 2017 at 10:27 am
Mr. Feldman should visit the burger king at Broward Blvd and 7th: the sewage seep has been puddling in the parking lot for 2 years.
December 15th, 2017 at 11:57 am
So let me get this straight Buddy.
The DDA met with Lee Feldman to discuss infrastructure. Where was the public notice? They are a taxing authority, they are subject to sunshine just like Broward Health, they are required to post minutes etc.
The City Website currently says that they had a meeting on the 11th. Nothing about the 14th? When was the meeting with Feldman?
http://fortlauderdale.gov/departments/city-clerk-s-office/advisory-boards-and-committees-agendas-and-minutes/downtown-development-authority
I count 7 publicly noticed meetings from Jan to Nov without minutes. Does that seem strange?
Again…TAXING AUTHORITY, NO PUBLIC NOTICE, NO MINUTES.
December 15th, 2017 at 4:38 pm
Feldman has to go. Over five years of this under his watch and he is still manager.
If Rodstrom is elected will Feldman be fired immediately?
If Trantalis is elected will Feldman be fired immediately?
If not, then neither should be elected mayor.
December 15th, 2017 at 6:25 pm
The DDA is a sham… Lackey after Lackey, and the businesses have the authority to tax property owners to fund boondoggles like the Wave (slated to begin operations in late 2017… oh wait).
December 16th, 2017 at 12:24 am
Fire the idiot.
December 16th, 2017 at 4:48 pm
#12.Bet heavy that if either Rodstrom or Trantalis is elected mayor Feldman will be packing fast…
December 16th, 2017 at 7:57 pm
@13 Downtown Resident
Agreed.
The DDA is a stepping stone/life raft for FLL Planning and Zoning staffers after they exit the city. Chris Wren, Jenni Morejon, etc. Incomprehensible how the property owners in the CBD district have complied with their demands. Time for a sea change on the 7th and 8th Floor of City Hall.
December 16th, 2017 at 10:35 pm
If these discussions and decisions are begin made by the DDA out of the sunshine then maybe they should be indicted for violations just like the Broward Hospital Board. Sixty days in jail and a $5000 fine should do the trick.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-sb-broward-health-indictments-20171213-story.html
December 17th, 2017 at 10:23 am
Buddy, you need to do better with your phrase selection.
FROM BUDDY
And thank you for your advise on my typos and choice of words. You can be my editor any time.
December 17th, 2017 at 2:47 pm
#18.Buddy blog here is very well done.He seems to get the story which ever topic etc with great detail and razor sharp accuracy.So your comment to me is trival.