A City Of Fort Lauderdale official says local government uses a climate change organization to help “put sea level rise in our DNA” in order to affect public spending on resiliency programs. Assistant Public Works Director Nancy Gassman made the stunning admission during a November 2020 online seminar about “Coastal Sustainability.” Gassman said the sea level rise data produced by the Southeast Florida Regional Compact was infused into City of Fort Lauderdale master plans for seawall building, parks and recreation programs and even cemetery projects.
Formed in 2009, the Southeast Florida Regional Compact is a partnership of Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach County governments to “discuss the climate change threats facing over six million residents in the region.” The Compact created a “Sea Level Rise Ad Hoc Work Group” to predict sea level rise across South Florida. The work group is composed of local government bureaucrats.
According to their 2019 study, sea levels in South Florida will rise seventeen inches by the year 2040.
In addition to sea level rise, the Southeast Florida Regional Compact is sounding the alarm over “extreme rainfall” and “extreme heat.”
Who is prominent member of the Southeast Florida Regional Compact’s “Sea Level Rise Ad Hoc Work Group?”
Yep, City Of Fort Lauderdale Assistant Public Works Director Nancy Gassman.
When Nancy Gassman claims it is important to use the Southeast Florida Regional Compact’s sea level rise data to influence government spending, is she really saying it is important to use data she helped craft to determine the types of expensive resiliency projects she advocates for when speaking to elected officials and residents?
EXPENSIVE FAILURES?
Some of the first resiliency programs pushed by the Southeast Florida Regional Compact were street drainage schemes for Dania Beach Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard. Now, these areas regularly flood after average summer thunderstorms.
As REDBROWARD previously reported, Gassman’s expensive tidal valve installation program leads to regular street flooding across Fort Lauderdale. Last week, an average thunderstorm caused heavy street flooding along Broward Boulevard near downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Residents and businesses are still recovering from the April street flooding that crippled downtown and other Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods. Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport and the nearby Edgewood neighborhood were underwater for days.
In June, REDBROWARD exposed how Gassman was aware the Edgewood neighborhood lacked basic drainage systems.
Instead of installing drainage in some neighborhoods, Gassman urged residents to keep their swales clear to mitigate flooding.
The April rainfall even flooded Fort Lauderdale City Hall. Now, taxpayers must pay extra for temporary offices for Nancy Gassman and other employees.
If Nancy Gassman cannot keep City Hall dry, should residents really trust her to combat sea level rise?
Gassman and her allies claimed no drainage system could handle the biblical rainfall of April 2023. Yet the Southeast Florida Regional Compact repeatedly mentions “extreme rainfall.”
Did they fail to plan for 11 inches of rain?
Did their previous solutions make flooding worse?
Should we trust Nancy Gassman and the Southeast Florida Regional Compact when it comes to water management, drainage and resilience programs?
Surely the Southeast Florida Regional Compact is run by the top scientific minds in Florida, right?
Get out your notebooks, there’s more…
