You really need to tip your hat to Ft. Lauderdale these days. The City has really come a long way since I moved here in 2001 and they continue to improve. I was at a SFOBA (South Florida Office Brokers Association) meeting a couple of months ago and heard the keynote speaker who was the mayor of Ft. Lauderdale, Jack Seiler. Despite my aversion for politics, I must say this guy was extremely impressive. He seemed to have a genuine passion for the City of Ft. Lauderdale and you could really see and hear it. I found that very unusual. More importantly, he ticked off dozens of statistics that made you see all that they have done for the City. What stuck in my mind, was that it had the lowest taxes for everything in the region. Lowest taxes for businesses, residents, etc., etc. The one problem brought up, homelessness, he knew exactly what was going on and what they were trying to do about it. He answered many questions from the crowd, including that one, with ease. So after that experience, I was not completely surprised by this news.
Now to the article. Every year each city sets goals for many things, including job growth and retention. The City of Ft. Lauderdale had a job growth goal of 1,200 jobs for 2013. Instead they ended up creating 1,746, beating the estimate by 44%. They set a goal of retaining 800 jobs and ended up keeping 1,497. They set a goal for investment of $42 million, from a combination of domestic and international sources. They blew that away with $182.6 million! 170 projects were mentioned in their pipeline, evidence that more good news is on the horizon. Finally, the agency that carries out this work for the City is called The Greater Ft. Lauderdale Alliance, operates on corporate donations. They made $1.78 million in 2013, not surprisingly like everything else they do, this was 32% above their goal. So with all this great news that is happening here, my question is why aren’t the other cities in the area following in their footsteps? They seem to be firing on all cylinders and it would make sense for other cities to adopt and copy the things that they have done. Any way you look at it, Ft. Lauderdale deserves mention as the shining example of growth and responsible government in the region. Let’s hope everyone else follows the blueprint that has gotten them there.
Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance exceeds job creation goals
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2014/02/03/greater-fort-lauderdale-alliance-blows.html?page=all
Orin Rosenfeld
President
Rosenfeld Realty Advisors
9858 Glades Rd. Suite 209
Boca Raton, FL 33434
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