WHAT HAPPENED ? SIMPLE WAS THROWN OUT THE WINDOW!…..
DOWNTOWN OUTDOOR DINING PLAN
Dear Readers…. The Downtown extension for outdoor dining has gone from a simple change to allow for a cohesive mix of outdoor dining and pedestrians to a whole other big money…redeveloped plan that is not with keeping our quaint unique LBTS vibe!… If our commission does not do an immediate about face this Town Manager and her hired designer will make LBTS look like any other town around!…. This is El Mar Drive redevelopment deja vu!!…. Time to rally and tell your commissioners to walk back the plan they approved on 6/14/2022!!… The designer stated when asked by Commission Oldaker the power-point represented everything – all the bells and whistles and then it could be walked back ….This was when Oldaker stated…correctly…that this $350,000 plan was going to be a million three….which is not only unjustifiable but a ballpark figure that will morph the same way this extension plan has for the second time with the second designer brought forth by the Town Manager!…
Below is an email this writer sent the following day to the commission…No surprise…no response back…. Take a look at the video from the commission meeting on 6/14 https://lbts.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=4&clip_id=1385 and the current Pompano Pelican article https://www.newpelican.com/articles/sidewalk-design-plan-approved-by-commission/…..( if no direct link…copy and paste to get there)….to see what is going to transpire ….. unless and until LBTS concerned residents and businesses make sure the commission knows to stop the insanity!….
6/15/2022 ….EMAIL TO LBTS COMMISSIONERS…
Mayor, Commissioners-
What happened?!
Last night’s power -point and the discussion after it was going down the rabbit hole of where we began with outdoor dining extensions!
When you saw the designs from the first hire the Town Manager brought in, the response from the Mayor and Commissioner Strauss was to keep it simple and to not change the vibe we have in the town.
Now after more and more meetings and another Town Manager hire we are back to designs that take us away from who we are as a town and makes us look no different than Fort Lauderdale or Pompano Beach!
I know more often than not I am a dog whistle when I come to the podium or send in emails but I am hoping this is not one of those times!
There is no need to increase the current outdoor extension dining seating.
There is no need to add tables on El Mar or A1A.
There is no need to make Commercial Blvd. 10 feet.
There is no need to add signs that look like dog biscuits.
Please go back immediately to the original intention of allowing this extended dining use as is with the object of what needed to make in coincide with walking which is to switch the dining closer to the buildings, widen the sidewalk area as much as is possible without changing the road, and simple barriers such as Aruba put up – ropes and low, movable streamlined planters. Then take care of the pavers and call it a day!
As the restaurateurs will tell you empty tables on A1A will send patrons on to Fort Lauderdale, Las Olas, and Pompano Beach!
Please do not proceed with what was shown last night and ruin what LBTS has and is known for!
The vote given to the Town Manager offered her carte blanche to head in a costly decision that your constituents, the taxpayers,downtown patrons and businesses do not want!
This was not a move forward, it was a move all the way back to a vision of planners and design firms who push cookie cutter designs on towns that only provide them a resume builder and leaves the towns to deal with the failure they left behind!
Someone bring this back to the 6/28 Commission Meeting and inform the Town Manager to tell Hugh to cease any further work until you do!
Barbara Cole
More to come….
Tags: commissioner buz oldaker lauderdale by the sea, commissioner randy strauss lauderdale by the sea, commissioner theo poloupolis lauderdale by the sea, lauderdale by the sea outdoor dining extension, LBTS Agendas/Meetings, local government, Local News, Local Politics, mayor chris vincent lauderdale by the sea, Opinions, vice mayor edmund malkoon lauderdale by the sea
This entry was posted
on Friday, June 17th, 2022 at 5:09 am and is filed under Uncategorized.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
