Dear Neighbors, During the past year, there has been growing concern regarding the light rail project slated for downtown Fort Lauderdale known as The Wave. On Tuesday, January 23, the County Commission will consider an amendment to the Project Agreement for the Wave. It is imperative that the County Commission is made aware of the growing movement to end The Wave project and replace it with more contemporary modes of public transportation. The Wave proposal was first discussed nearly two decades ago. The proposed route for streetcar system is 2.8 miles. The Wave Streetcar website describes “Modern streetcars operate on steel embedded tracks and are generally powered by overhead power lines. Typically mixed with automobile traffic, the streetcar acts as an urban circulator using the existing street system to navigate its travel.” There are no dedicated lanes for the Wave (other cities have them.) Bicycles and automobiles will share the same lanes. The existing North-South streets that will be used are Andrews Avenue and Third Avenue. Las Olas from Andrews to 3rd is one of the East West streets that will be used by the streetcars. Advocates for the WAVE admit it will not alleviate traffic congestion. Many local citizens feel that railed street cars sharing roads with automobiles and bicylces will exacerbate an area already in gridlock. The project has a budget of $195 million for the 2.8 mile route. The construction portion of this is projected to be $114 million. The initial bids came between $74 million to 104 million higher. The County and FDOT are able to terminate the Project Agreement if bids come in at more than 125% of the $114M, or $142.5M. The project is being rebid. The project was originally scheduled to begin operating in 2016. The starting date is now projected to be 2021 or 2022. According to the agreements, “Before project partners will be asked to participate in funding cost overruns, the project must exhaust available financial resources through expense and/or encumbrance. Once that has occurred, construction cost overruns according to the language of the current ILA should be shared as follows: The City of Fort Lauderdale (City) assumes 50% of the responsibility for the Local Share of cost overruns in 2018 with the County contributing the other 50%; in 2018, the DDA pays nothing, but contributes $3M in years 2019-2020. In 2021, the DDA assumes full financial responsibility for the Local Share of cost overruns per Sec. 4.2(b) ILA.” (Fort Lauderdale is facing future infrastructure costs in the billions over the next 20 years. The City’s consultant has estimated that $315 million in water and sewer needs alone are unfunded over the next five years. Where will the money come from to fund cost overruns for The Wave?) Nearly every candidate for public office in Fort Lauderdale has opposed the Wave. City Commissioner Dean Trantalis posted the following on his Facebook page on January 18: “I wrote earlier this week that in response to requests from county commissioners, I requested a resolution be drafted and placed on Tuesday's City Commission agenda saying we want the Wave canceled. Guess what? The obstructionism at City Hall knows no bounds. The city manager, who remains beholden to the insiders and special interests, has REFUSED to put the matter on the agenda. Worse yet, the city attorney drafted the beginnings of a barebones resolution with no umph. It's as if the development-lobbyist community is hoping against hope their favored candidate can be resuscitated in the runoff so they can jumpstart the Wave. Enough! I am the current commissioner who represents much of the Wave route, and I'm the candidate with landslide support of people in the mayoral primary. As such, I ask the county to vote down the Wave Tuesday despite this silly city intrigue. The County Commission has stated repeatedly that it is looking for input and direction from Fort Lauderdale. Once again, the current people running City Hall have missed an opportunity to take control of our destiny.” The Sun Trolley has shown significant declines in ridership over the past few years on five of 6 routes. The Wave is old technology with overhead wires. The City and County need to take a new approach to public transportation: ·Take a hard look at what is working and what is not and come up with a new public transportation plan. ·Request that the County Manager research more contemporary methods such as electric buses, solar paneled shuttles, autonomous vehicles, etc. · If there is no better option or the funding cannot be re-allocated to a different plan, terminate the Wave plan. Tuesday, the County Commission will consider the "MOTION TO APPROVE Third Amendment to the Project Agreement between Broward County and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) addressing updated project milestone dates and schedule, amending the Project Description to include a bid alternate and authorizing the County to exercise an option to fund the bid alternate…” It is imperative that the County Commission be made aware of the concerns regarding the Wave. WHAT CAN YOU DO? 1. Come to the County Commission (115 South Andrews Avenue) at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, January 23. 2. Send emails to the County Commission. Make sure they are aware of the part of the city you live in. Recent Wave communications have intimated that only downtown residents are against the expenditure. The email addresses for the County Commissioners are: DHOLNESS@broward.org NRICH@broward.org SGELLER@broward.org TRYAN@broward.org MBOGEN@broward.org BSHARIEF@broward.org CLAMARCA@broward.org BFURR@broward.org MUDINE@broward.org 3. Call and leave a message for the County Commission: Nan Rich 954-357-7001; Mark Bogen 954-357-7002; Michael Udine 954-357-7003; Chip Lamarca 954-357-7004; Steve Geller 954-357-7005; Mayor Beam Furr 954-357-7006; Tim Ryan 954-357-7007; Barbara Sharief 954-357-7008; Dale Holness 954-357-7009. 4. Email the Fort Lauderdale City Commission jack.seiler@fortlauderdale.gov rmckinzie@fortlauderdale.gov BRoberts@fortlauderdale.gov rogers@fortlauderdale.gov dtrantalis@fortlauderdale.gov 5. Copy the press on your emails: rohara@sun-sentinel.com BWallman@sun-sentinel.com lbarszewski@sun-sentinel.com 6. The Fort Lauderdale Forum will host a Wave update followed by a pro and con panel on Wednesday, January 24 at 7:30 AM at Broward College, 111 East Broward Boulevard, 12th floor.