Payback For Commissioner Bruce Roberts: Votes For Bahia Mar, Then Gets Developer’s Election Support (For Mayor). BY BUDDY NEVINS www.BrowardBeat.com The developer for the $100s million Bahia Mar project are working franticly to save Bruce Roberts’ candidacy for mayor. It’s payback time! Payback for Roberts’ vote this week in favor of the horrendously huge Bahia Mar rebuild on Fort Lauderdale beach this week. Read this email forwarded to me today, that appears to be written by the developer of Bahia Mar. It speaks for itself: From: James Tate Date: December 7, 2017 at 2:56:17 PM EST To: James Tate Cc: Kenny Tate Subject: Support Bruce Roberts for mayor Friends, Thank you again for all of your support as we successfully obtained our site plan approval earlier this week from the City of Fort Lauderdale. As you all are aware, My partners and I have been working very closely with the City of Fort Lauderdale over the past 3.5 years and during this time I have learned a lot, the good , the board , what works well and what is broken. I have seen City Hall in action and I can attest to certain facts as to what works well and what is broken. It is my professional opinion as well as my partners that Fort Lauderdale is trying to be more progressive and more responsible as they diligently work towards a better future so the next generations will be able to enjoy the same incredible city amenities many of you have enjoyed for years. In order to successfully move forward, be progressive, be smart and be responsible in your decisions, it takes a certain person. A person who has been around the City and successfully brought forth positive change for everyones benefit . A person who has fought hard to improve on the inefficiencies as they became aware of same. A person along with Jack Seiler who was instrumental in helping us execute a fair and equitable long term Boat Show Lease so FLIBS will be with us for many years( basically saving Fort Lauderdale from losing the Boat Show ) . A person who generally cares about the entire city’s well being not just his own. For all of these reasons and many more, I would like you to support Bruce Roberts in his campaign for Mayor . You can support him financially but equally important you can support him by allowing his sign to be placed in your front yard. He needs exposure beyond walking the streets and shaking hands. If you would be so kind to allow Bruce’s campaign sign to be placed in your yard , your businesses yard and or your neighbors yards, please send me your home address and or business address if your business is on a main roadway. Thank you in advance for your support of Bruce and asking sure that Fort Lauderdale is left in good hands after Jack Seiler’s successful departure as our Mayor. Jimmy Jimmy Tate, Tate Capital Roberts voted for the massive beachfront project at the urging of his campaign manager – lobbyist Judith “Judy” Stern, who represented the Bahia Mar developers. He is running for mayor against two candidates who pledge to manage growth better – Charlotte Rodstrom and Dean Trantalis. Recent polls show Roberts sliding badly. (This caveat: This is an unusual January election with an expected a light turnout. In such elections, the results are very hard to predict.) Bahia Mar approved this week is just the latest outrage by Roberts and his colleagues. Mayor Jack Seiler and Commissioner Romney Rogers voted for it. They are term limited in March. Commissioner Robert McKenzie voted for it. He is expected to be reelected easily. And Roberts voted for the massive development. Trantalis voted “No.” The vote came after 3 a.m., a time when most residents were in bed. That timing alone is an insult to the public. Many residents feared that the seven new high-rises and a new high-rise hotel at Bahia Mar would increase gridlock on Fort Lauderdale beach and further tax the failing water and sewer system. Don’t worry. Don’t worry, Roberts told the sparse group still awake the predawn hours. Bahia Mar will create more “positive traffic,” Roberts told the incredulous audience. See this video: Roberts meant the current traffic is “positive” compared to the negative traffic created by Spring Break two decades ago. So Bahia Mar will just be more “positive” traffic. Of course, Spring Break was confined to a few weeks and came long before most condos were built on the beach. Bahia Mar traffic will be…well, forever. Roberts has spent almost nine years on the commission in the pocket of developers. He drank the Kool Aid long ago. Now styling himself the infrastructure candidate, he did nothing during his years in office as the sewer system failed. “Fort Lauderdale’s downtown sewer system was already straining two years ago, but the city kept approvals flowing for thousands of new condos, hotel rooms and stores,” Brittany Wallman wrote last weekend in the Sun-Sentinel in a stinging indictment of Fort Lauderdale City Commission, where Roberts hung his hat for over nine years. Residents Will Pay! Every voter in Fort Lauderdale will pay for the development of the last decade. Hundreds of millions – perhaps over a billion – will be needed to fix the infrastructure to handle the impact of the construction. Roberts was not alone in this fiscal folly. I’m writing about him because Roberts is running for mayor as the infrastructure candidate. And you thought Fake News only came from Washington! His pro-development voters are a major reason why the city needs an infrastructure fix. I have covered government longer than I care to remember. I covered the runaway growth of West Broward, Weston and much of the rest of Broward. I can assure readers that I have never seen a City Hall as reckless about the future as the current Fort Lauderdale Commission. I have never seen a government as uncaring about the eventual financial impact on City Hall as the current crop of commissioners. That includes Dean Trantalis in many cases, but compared to Roberts he is an angel. And Dean Trantalis doesn’t have a developers’ lobbyist managing his campaign like Roberts.