Last week, SwimSwam contributor Chris DeSantis reported that Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center could be dead after it was announced that the renovations to the facility would cost 39 million dollars, 6.6 million more than the original estimate from 2012. According to an article in the Sun Sentinel, Mayor Jack Seiler and other city commissioners said they will not continue to support the project moving forward.
The Swim Fort Lauderdale Masters team is asking for help from the worldwide swimming community. You can find their full request below:
The legendary Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Facility is in jeopardy of soon becoming history. We need your help and advocacy efforts to prevent this from happening. If this facility is to be saved and rebuilt to meet today’s standards for a word-class facility, swimmers and divers world-wide MUST SPEAK UP! The Fort Lauderdale City Commission will make a final decision on the fate of the Aquatic Facility at their City Commission meeting this Tuesday, December 1st which begins at 6:00pm. To date, a small group of advocates have kept the project alive. However, the final vote will be taken and if we are to succeed, everyone must inundate the Fort Lauderdale City Commission with e-mails of support for the Aquatic Complex.
For more than 12 years, the Fort Lauderdale City Commission had been pursuing plans for rebuilding the Aquatic Facility. Now that costs have escalated and other projects seem to take priority, the Aquatic Facility has been relegated to a low priority and perhaps scratched in its entirety with the land being repurposed for other uses. We cannot allow this to happen.
There are numerous opportunities to help offset construction and operating costs. Municipal governments world-wide have been engaging in public/private partnerships to make development and facility operations affordable. To date, the City has not discussed this as an option although a number of advocates from the Aquatic Facility have made the suggestion.
You can make a difference by writing to the City Mayor, Commissioners and the City Manager to express your feelings about the importance of the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center. E-mail addresses are as follows:
Mayor Jack Seiler: jack.seiler@for
Commissioner Bruce Roberts: broberts@fortla
Commissioner Dean Trantalis: dtrantalis@fort
Commissioner Romney Rogers: rrogers@fortlau
Commissioner Robert McKinzie: rmckinzie@fortl
City Manager Lee Feldman: lfeldman@fortla