The city of Fort Lauderdale is going down the same dangerous path that plagues the Broward School Board by relying on a staff that sometimes has different motives or objectives.
We now learn that while the city was accepting proposals for a new City Hall last July, the owner of Tower 101 notified the city he was willing to sell his building, just steps away from the old City Hall.
Commissioners did not learn of this until Jan. 16, 2026. The city must pause and look at available buildings for sale before proceeding to build a $200 million-plus City Hall.
Failing to do so will rightfully encourage the governor to send his DOGE team to ascertain why the city would waste $100 million or more of taxpayer money so they can have nice new offices.
Had the owner of Tower 101 hired a well-connected lobbyist and contributed to various political committees and campaign accounts, the mayor and commissioners likely would have known of his $86 million sale offer sooner.
Howard A. Tescher, Fort Lauderdale
Keep the trees, too
If the city of Fort Lauderdale does remove these lovely black olive trees from Las Olas Boulevard as planned, it will then have just one more strip shopping center and a few more parking spots.
Shame on you.
Bob Kelsey, Fort Lauderdale
The heart and soul of Broward
As a 40-year Broward resident, seeing Fort Lauderdale commissioners vote to remove the trees from Las Olas sent a shock through me. The median with the trees, plants and brick stepping paths brings a unique flavor and ambience that warms the heart. Those few blocks along the boulevard are the crown jewel of the county, just as South Beach is the crown jewel of Miami-Dade.
What would Miami be without South Beach? We know what it would be, a row of condos with no redeeming ambiance or historical reference. Just another part of a huge megalopolis with no heart or character. But because it was preserved, tourists come from all over the world to see and experience South Beach.
Fort Lauderdale commissioners had the crown jewels of Broward County in their hands and dropped them — no, they threw them down a bottomless well. Along with them will go the heart, soul and living history of Fort Lauderdale and Broward County.
Lester Salazar, Coral Springs
Kudos to Alex Andrade
We all have two kinds of eyes. We see what is and we see what we want to see.
Rep. Alex Andrade chairs the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee in Tallahassee on April 24, 2025. (The Florida Channel)
As I read in your paper the continuing story of our governor’s alleged apparent misconduct by subverting and steering $10 million from a Florida Medicaid settlement to his and his wife’s Hope Florida charity, then funneled the money to political coffers to defeat two citizen ballot initiatives, I felt a breath of fresh air.
I had a sense of hope in reading about the courage and perseverance of Republican Rep. Alex Andrade of Pensacola.
His investigation and commitment into exposing this apparent fraud upon the people of Florida led to his filing House Bill 593, which passed its first hearing unanimously.
He just might have the makings of a politician we can feel is serving the people of Florida, not just his political party.
Ronald Luzim, Coral Springs
Restore judicial independence
Thank you for pointing out how the Florida Supreme Court has become increasingly poisoned by politics under Gov. Ron DeSantis (“For DeSantis’ new justice, a sense of place matters,” Sun Sentinel editorial, Jan. 23).
Floridians deserve a judicial system that can be trusted to be impartial, to apply the law equally to everyone.
Nowhere is this more important than the Supreme Court. The current method of appointing justices is deeply flawed and overly partisan. Before the legitimacy of the state’s highest court erodes any further, Florida must return to a more independent judicial appointment process that removes the near-total control given to the executive branch.
Laura Guren Rodriguez, Miami Beach
The writer represents the Courts Matter Florida Coalition.
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