Campaign Update

Our city has experienced phenomenal growth these past several years, and it has been our challenge to manage that growth in order to welcome new folks while at the same time maintaining the quality of life we have all come to expect and have enjoyed. Seeing Fort Lauderdale prosper has given me such pride, and it has been an honor to serve as your mayor.

For years, our attention has been drawn to our beach area, working with neighbors to fashion a destination that has now become the envy of seaside resorts around the world. But that alone was never our goal, as we recognized the need to recreate a downtown, bring vitality to areas long considered dormant and underserved. Together, we’ve created a cosmopolitan downtown that’s drawn positive attention, especially since the end of COVID-19. We together fulfilled the neighborhood master plan, and today it has become a primary economic driver in our county with an annual economic impact of $35 billion, up $6 billion since 2019.

Key to our economic sustainability is maintaining and supporting our industries which depend on our waterways, such as tourism and recreation. Even during COVID-19, we collaborated with health authorities to make sure we could still host the popular Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show by implementing strong health protocols. And going forward, we were able to secure a permanent home for the boat show, and in doing so, we significantly reduced the size and scale of the Bahia Mar redevelopment, while making it more accessible to our local folks.

Those kinds of collaborations have served the city well. For instance, we created strong and enduring partnerships with the private sector to bring new amenities to the city. That includes major league soccer with our local champion Leo Messi, an Iceplex at Holiday Park where children and families can gather and enjoy the competition on ice, the renovated War Memorial Auditorium where shows and entertainment will once again return, a state-of-the-art aquatic center, including the highest dive-tower on this side of the world, and a pickleball complex, soon to be the venue for local use and national competition.

This is what draws companies to want to locate here, providing good-paying jobs, and giving that child who just graduated from college a reason to come back home, build a career and maybe start a family. An example of this is the recent groundbreaking of a full-service production studio with sound stages, movie sets, a backlot for location filming, and an accredited film school on a brownfield site. We also launched a high-tech startup incubator in Fort Lauderdale with the assistance of the U.S. Department of Energy to expand and diversify our industries.

This is how we have been able to keep our millage rate the same for the past 17 years. And, because of sound fiscal practices, our city once again has been able to achieve a AAA bond rating.

Thank you for all of your support,

Dean