I want to wish our mothers a very Happy Mother’s Day.

Today is a special time when we honor the mothers and mother figures in our lives. I know there are many women in my life whose love and support have carried me through the years.

Whether you’re taking mom to watch aviation at its best at the Fort Lauderdale Air Show or you’re chatting with the important moms in your life on the phone, I hope you can connect with the mothers or mother figures in your life that helped make you who you are today.

Today’s also a day to remember those mothers who have passed on and to appreciate the love they gave us and the sacrifices they made to give us more opportunities in life.

I’m so glad that I’ve been able to support moms both personally and in my role as Mayor of our beautiful city.

Thank you for your continued support. Have a wonderful Mother’s Day!

Dean

It’s been my honor and my responsibility to keep a focus on public safety in Fort Lauderdale. As your Mayor, I take that job seriously. I’d like to share the many ways we’ve worked successfully to keep our community secure with public safety efforts that I will continue to expand upon as your Mayor.

Expanding police and fire protection

• We did this by budgeting for an additional 35 police officers and 26 fire personnel in just the past two years.
• To help firefighters respond to calls while companion rescue units are on other calls, we increased the number of rescue units and added new staff.

Building new fire and police stations

• We led a public referendum to raise funds to construct, and then broke ground on, a new, state-of-the-art police headquarters where Chief William Schultz will bring innovative ideas to improve policing in our city.
• We’ll soon complete a major overhaul of our fire-rescue facilities: building or replacing 11 stations! 

Advancing tech to keep us safe

• We installed new tech that detects and reports the location of gunshots to police. And with the help of tactical analysts we placed in the police department, our Real Time Crime Center will better be able to relay necessary information to solve crimes.
• We increased police accountability by making sure our officers have body cameras.

We also worked closely to protect the public and preserve police resources by collaborating with the fire department to launch a new mobile integrated healthcare program to give people in crisis non-emergency services and the proper care they need. Additionally, we collaborated with the police department and city leadership to assess and address our community’s actual concerns by creating a new Community Support Unit.

Thank you for all of your support over the years. I am forever grateful for your generosity and trust.

Truly,

Dean

This Earth Day, and every day, we know that it’s necessary to work to keep our planet healthy, in little ways and with big gestures.

Since I became Mayor, I have prioritized finding ways that I could use my role to better protect our ecosystems and to make living in a more eco-conscious way easier here in Fort Lauderdale.

We made sure that millions of dollars were used to clean up our waterways — our canals, rivers, and beaches — while we explored novel approaches to natural waterway restoration through oyster growth and green seawalls.

We’ve worked to ensure sea-turtles have the proper lighting to thrive on our shores and to restore their habitats. We also took great steps to preserve tree canopy in the area which provides cooling shade, helps our air quality, and protects wildlife habitats.

We launched LauderGO! in partnership with Circuit, a free, on-demand shuttle service that’s easy to use and eco-friendly. We’re also researching ways to create more walking options and bike paths in Downtown.

I’m proud to say that this is the first time the entire city of Fort Lauderdale met a Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard certification from the U.S. Green Building Council — demonstrating the success of the work we’ve done. I love that, together, we’ve helped keep our city beautiful and protected.

For 45 years, Fort Lauderdale has been designated a Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation. I’m honored to be able to continue that tradition.

Thank you for your support. I wish you and your loved ones a joyful Earth Day!

– Dean

We know that driving in South Florida is often a challenge. As Mayor, my team has sought improvements to make sure Fort Lauderdale residents, commuters and visitors have an easier time driving here and upon reliable road conditions.

In the post-COVID world, we have become a destination where growth has exceeded anyone’s expectations. Short of building a wall around the city, we have sought ways to instead embrace the growth and to find ways for people to settle into our lifestyle without destroying the quality of life we have all come to enjoy.

We start out with small goals, ideas that we can achieve quickly. We launched LauderGO! in partnership with Circuit, a free, on-demand shuttle service that’s convenient and eco-friendly. We approved a new feasibility study to create a one-way traffic loop around downtown to allow for dedicated lanes for mass transit, and to accommodate wider sidewalks and bike paths.

On a larger scale, we are working with the county to relieve congestion on SE 17th Street Causeway by requiring the county to construct a bypass road through Port Everglades as part of its plans to build a convention center hotel. This way cruise customers and convention attendees will no longer rely on this overburdened roadway, and will free up travel lanes for our residents.

I also lobbied the county to speed up overdue plans to better synchronize traffic signals on main roads using new technology. Better timing could have a dramatic impact on congestion. The county is planning seven projects in Fort Lauderdale before 2026 and will use money from the transportation surtax that voters approved to fund the work.

To protect our delicate ecosystems, we supported the creation of a quiet zone along the Florida East Coast Railroad and launched the NE 15th Avenue beautification and traffic calming project. We changed Dixie Highway from a too-busy major thoroughfare to a neighborhood street with better sidewalks, upgraded landscaping, speed tables, and bike lanes.

When I’m reelected, I will continue to fight to reduce traffic and protect our beautiful downtown area. The talk of a commuter rail system running through our city should not in turn destroy a downtown we have taken decades to create. That is why I will continue to push for the construction of a tunnel rather than a high-rise bridge. It will create the best option to cross the New River if Broward County expands commuter rail service.

You can be assured that I will keep up efforts to enhance driving experiences on some of our busiest streets, like Las Olas Boulevard, Sunrise Boulevard, and in North Beach Village.

Please support my campaign with a donation today. Your contribution will help ensure that I can continue to make driving in Fort Lauderdale a better, safer experience for everyone here.

Thank you for all of your support!

Dean

During my time as Mayor, we’ve seen progress in Fort Lauderdale in many wonderful ways. I’m just so proud of the work we’ve done together to keep Fort Lauderdale a beautiful place to live.

Here in South Florida, we need to be thinking ahead about the best ways to protect ourselves from flooding and infrastructure issues that have increased in recent years.

These challenges won’t fix themselves. That’s why I’ve made them top priorities, and why I stopped diversion of dedicated infrastructure funding that caused problems for which we now have to fast-track long-term solutions.

We are strengthening the city’s stormwater and flood prevention systems citywide with our cutting-edge $500 million investment in Fortify Lauderdale.

We are installing hundreds of tidal-control valves, modern drainage pipes, new outfall connections, catch basins and swales. And to make sure we never fall behind again, we are GIS mapping thousands of water distribution valves, so crews know exactly where and when to test and maintain these critical infrastructure links.

We updated the computerized modeling of our entire water system, which will improve and maintain system pressure and flows.

Just weeks ago, we broke ground on a new, high-technology water treatment plant to meet city needs for clean, clear water — for now and well into the future. And as your Mayor, I secured additional capacity in the regional water reservoir to ensure we all have the backup water supply we need going forward.

We didn’t stop there. I am leading the fight for new downtown pump station technology for increased capacity and resiliency. We have also replaced more than 24 miles of water distribution pipes and 16 miles of wastewater force mains.

And that new seven-mile long main central sewer collector pipe? We got it done under budget and in record time through the unique use of two contractors working on separate ends of this necessary project.

Just imagine how much more we can do together.

Thank you for your support!

– Dean

I’m so proud to serve as your Mayor. It’s the greatest honor of my life to be able to serve you – and the city that I love so much.

What’s next? I’m ready to continue being Mayor so we can carry on the work of improving our community. But I need your support to fuel my campaign in the coming months.

Just think of all that has been accomplished.

With a steady hand, I shepherded the city through the worst flood in its history, guided us through a global pandemic, addressed a decades-in-the-making infrastructure crisis and worked hard to maintain our community values amid the state’s rapid growth.

Together, we are bringing innovative thinking to city government. And it’s working.

Collaboration with public and private partners fast-tracked critical upgrades to utility infrastructure, construction of a modern water treatment plant and new technology-driven police station, and improving our parks.

Just think! We now have a professional soccer stadium where Messi plays – built at no public expense. We also modernized our aquatic center with new pools and an iconic dive tower and are about to open an amazing IcePlex with the Panthers hockey team.

We’ve done so much, but there’s more to do.

That’s what my energy and attention focus on:

• Prioritizing public safety to get criminals and panhandlers off the streets, while making tough choices on homelessness.
• Continuing to upgrade our infrastructure to make more of the city safe from flooding, ensure responsible capacity for water and sewer for decades to come and ensure our community is as resilient as possible given the world’s changing climate.
• Addressing housing affordability to ensure people of all income levels and all ages can live in our community.
• Working together with our federal, state and local partners to find solutions to growing traffic volumes. We will find solutions for a commuter rail that won’t harm our community. A tunnel, rather than a long bridge, would protect our downtown renaissance and not destroy it.

Thank you for your trust and support!

— Dean