By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
Once again, the city of Fort Lauderdale is looking to sell off land it has acquired for the “betterment” of the Sistrunk Corridor. Hmmm…
To its credit, the last recommended response to the Request for Proposal was rejected. That proposal engulfed the Westside Gazette building on all three sides with six story rental apartments to match the project immediately to our east – consistent with a steady march for housing from the east to the west on the Sistrunk corridor. Yes, this was our punishment for not wanting to sell our property to further housing for whom…
The Community said no, and the City listened -barely- by a vote of 3-2.
I don’t know about you but flooding the corridor with housing does not a destination make. Of course, we need housing and there is a plethora of it on the books and coming out of the ground in and around the corridor.
Sistrunk was the historic center of economic and entertainment for Black life in Fort Lauderdale. The vision originally sold to the community was that Sistrunk would return to its glory days. We were all excited to see Broward Cultural Division’s Destination Sistrunk’ and “Smitty’s move to the corridor as examples.
That vision seems to be changing, slowly but surely.
Let’s see what emerges with the winner of the next project. Hopefully, we will have an opportunity to weigh in before a final recommendation makes its way to the City Commission.
We should all pay attention to what appears as the recommended project resulting from this last solicitation. Not solely because my building is impacted, but our dream for Sistrunk is hanging in the balance.
