Ft. Lauderdale Already Committed $200 Million To Sewage Upgrades; DeSantis Punches Down W. Huge Fine

[hatrack]

With a vengeance — and I do mean vengeance — the faux environmentalist in the governor’s mansion picked the perfect city in the perfect county as the perfect foil to show Floridians just what a tough dude they’ve elected when it comes to water quality. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection, at the behest of Gov. Ron DeSantis, fined Fort Lauderdale an unprecedented $1.8 million after the city’s two-month-long cascade of sewer ruptures.

Something else unprecedented in the governor’s financial beat-down of Fort Lauderdale: In the past, other cities in a state beset with chronically failing wastewater systems have been allowed to apply fines toward repair costs. Fort Lauderdale was extended no such leniency. The city has until March 31 to come up with the dough.

Indeed, Fort Lauderdale’s recent series of sewage calamities have been disgusting; no doubt exacerbated by decades of chintzy, tax-adverse city governance. But two years ago, Fort Lauderdale acknowledged its crisis with a “Go Big, Go Fast,” initiative to replace failing sewer mains with modern 30-inch pipes. In 2018, the city commission voted to borrow $200 million to finance more repairs. Utility rates were jacked up by five percent. Last month, the city outlined a 5-year, $600 million upgrade of the water and sewer system. So, it’s not like the current cast of city leaders have ignored the problem. When raw sewage and a putrid miasma contaminate the town’s most prosperous neighborhoods — think Rio Vista during Christmas week — and furious residents besiege City Hall, the mayor and commissioners hardly need a prod from Tallahassee to remind them that they’re in the throes of calamity.

But DeSantis needed a sacrificial patsy, a place where he could demonstrate his newfound concern for Florida’s waterways. Fort Lauderdale was politically perfect: the seat of government in a county that gave 68 percent of its votes to his opponent in 2018. (The same county where the governor removed the sheriff and supervisor of elections to convey other tough-guy political messages.)

EDIT

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/commentary/fl-op-com-grimm-desantis-fort-lauderdale-sewer-crisis-20200221-v2alnrk4ivhahoh7feanrqj3my-story.html

[jimfields33]

1. Just fix the sewer.

And the other places should immediately too. Should they get years? Really?

[bronxiteforever]

2. Kick and recommend.

[FM123]

3. DeSantis is worse than the raw sewage floating around in these waters!

When he stepped in to stop the drilling in our Everglades I had false hope that maybe there was some sincerity in his "concern" about our state but I was wrong, dead wrong. I blinked and in that split second forgot what sewage he and his repugs really are every day, even on days they pretend otherwise.

[beachbumbob]

4. elections have consequences