Pompano Commissioner Calls for end of CRA, Mayor Rebuts

In an op-ed that ran in the Sun Sentinel and New Pelican earlier this month, Pompano Beach Commissioner Audrey Fesik called for the city to take “immediate action to sunset [the Pompano Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA)] in its entirety.”

Going further, she wrote that the CRA has devolved into a “slush fund that favors private interests over the needs of taxpayers. Rather than serving as a catalyst for community improvement, it now fuels misappropriation, nepotism and unchecked financial waste.”

The Mayor of Pompano Beach, Rex Hardin, quickly rebutted with an op-ed of his own. Writing that Commissioner Fesik “misleads readers, and disregards the financial gains the city has made through the CRA that benefits residents.

“Her careless and malicious allegations against city and CRA staff, consultants and volunteers who have contributed to the economic success of Pompano Beach are untrue, and she should be ashamed. Making overt accusations of misappropriation of funds is a serious and irresponsible allegation, especially given the city and CRA’s stellar audit record, which has had clean independent audit reports for 13 consecutive years.”

Coming to the defense of the CRA, Mayor Hardin said in an interview with Pompano! magazine that “she’s happy that the CRA produced the benefits on the East side of town, but she’s not willing to [let them] produce benefits on the West side of Town.”

Recalling what the beach area looked like before CRA projects were completed, Hardin said “at that point in time our beach area was very run down.” Today, the Pompano Beach Fishing Village – what the CRA’s project is dubbed – is home to several new restaurants, stores, a hotel, and a multi-story parking garage, all where a surface parking lot used to be.

Speaking about the multitude of private investments attracted to the beach area which lay outside the CRA’s authority, such as the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Casamar and others, he said “all of these developments are outside of the CRA, but none of these would have happened without the investment inside the CRA.”

Responding to Fesik’s accusation from her op-ed that there’s misappropriation in the CRA, Hardin said, “that’s telling the public that somebody’s committing embezzlement in our CRA – that’s just not true.

“She’s just making stuff up. If she says that we should sunset the CRA, I can respect her opinion. But stating that the CRA is misappropriating funds – that’s not true. Stating that the CRA has unchecked financial waste – that’s not true. Stating that nepotism is involved somehow in our CRA – that’s not true.

“Painting a picture like that – it’s not true and it needs to be called out.”

Commissioner Fesik was contacted by Pompano! for an interview. She declined to be interviewed or to respond to written questions.