Fort Lauderdale mayoral candidate Jim Lewis is proposing a plan to house the homeless by moving them to a temporary homeless encampment at Chase Stadium, where Inter Miami CF play, according to Local 10.
Lewis says it’s irresponsible to keep delaying action and told commissioners, as well as the current mayor, that the homeless camp has to go somewhere, and he believes the stadium site located at 1350 NW 55th St. near Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport is the best location.
“There’s nothing wrong with a big vacant lot. We’re only going to use a portion of it.,” Lewis said. “It’ll be out toward Commercial (Boulevard). We can put some portable showers in there and we can be compliant and compassionate, and give a place for people to go.”
Lewis criticized the team for dragging their feet on a proposed park that is slated to be developed next to the stadium, a topic that came up during this week’s meeting.
“We have 110 city parks in Fort Lauderdale,” Fort Lauderdale Commissioner John Herbst said. “I am telling anyone listening today, we will never have a homeless camp in a park — not now, not ever.”
Lewis emphasized the need to figure things out quickly as there is an October 1st deadline when a new law goes into effect banning people from setting up camps or sleeping on public property, a bill that was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis earlier this year.
Commissioner Steven Glassman said, “You can’t just have laws passed in Tallahassee and then let local governments say, ‘Well, figure it out.’”
“Not everybody in these situations is a drug addict, not everybody is an alcoholic, not everybody is mentally ill” Lewis said. “But certainly, a lot of them are. And we, as a community, haven’t done anything for years.”
