Fort Lauderdale fires development-oriented city manager

Fort Lauderdale commissioners on Tuesday fired City Manager Lee Feldman – a move in line with the commission’s new hard stance toward development in the rapidly growing city.

Mayor Dean Trantalis, Vice Mayor Ben Sorensen and commissioner Steve Glassman voted in favor of Feldman leaving by year’s end, according to the Sun Sentinel.

The three newly elected city commissioners ran “smart growth” campaigns favoring less overdevelopment, and have been critical of Feldman and his casual approach toward the city’s troublesome infrastructure problems, including some faulty sewer pipes.

The same three also fired the city attorney in March. A couple of months later they voted to shoot down Trammell Crow Residential’s proposed 21-story Alexan-Tarpon River residential tower in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Heather Moraitis, the fourth new commissioner, and Robert McKinzie voted not to fire Feldman, who took over the helm of Fort Lauderdale’s city affairs in 2011.

“I think we’ve made a lot of good progress in building up a professional organization that has attained both statewide and national recognition in lots of areas,” Feldman said, according to the publication. [Sun Sentinel] – Amanda Rabines