- Welcome back.
Earlier I spoke to Martin Langenfeld
who believes city officials in Surfside
have not been responsive
to the family's needs and concerns.
Now, it is important to note
that not all families feel this way.
Martin is perhaps the most outspoken and critical.
But as I've said before,
everyone processes their grief and trauma in different ways.
But he did raise a point that other families echoed to me,
mainly that Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danzinger
has not been as transparent as they would like,
especially when it comes to his dealings
with the Dubai businessman who has purchased the land
for $120 million
and plans to build luxury condos on the site.
I spoke to Mayor Danzinger last week ahead
of the two year anniversary mark.
- We do speak with the family members
who lost their loved ones.
There's no getting back from that.
Just got off the phone right now
with another survivor who lost their apartment,
lost all their belongings, is struggling to get back
into it, has children that are still don't sleep at night
'cause they're petrified.
So even two years later there's a lot
of people that are still hurting from this
that are suffering and will continue
to for a very long time.
- What are the latest plans
as regards to city for the site itself?
I know obviously there's a developer, but talk to me
about what it is that you think will happen
at the site in terms of whether or not there'll be some sort
of memorial there in addition to the development.
Where does that stand right now?
- So the site itself was sold,
quite a little while ago that became private property
and is owned by the company DAMAC out of Dubai.
But the city has always dedicated 88th Street.
The commission prior made a resolution
dedicating 88th Street, which is the street right in front
of the building entrance as it was towards the memorial.
This commission had to deal with the question
what is legally allowed
for us to basically take over from the streets.
So for example, the building just north
of the Champlain Tower South has driveway access
that is accessed through 88th Street.
So we are going to dedicate as much of that street
as we legally can, are able to, close that down,
turn that into a park, and build some sort
of memorial based on the input that a lot
of the family members and the community
and all the stakeholders have put forward so far
over the last year.
- So you don't envision any
of the current land where the Champlain Towers was,
none of that land will be included
in part of any sort of memorial or park or remembrance?
- No, so the land itself is private property.
I did attempt to get some square footage
from the developer in return for having a conversation
about allowing buildable area to the south.
One of the first things I met
with them was to try to get, they have a 20 foot setback
from the property line to try to get some of,
the feet, 10 foot for example, into that setback,
where they can't build anyways to incorporate
into our memorial, so people came to the site,
can feel like they have their foot
on the site of where it happened.
Many of the family members
that we were in contact with who were
on the committees were adamant that they wanted to be
on the property, in the middle of the property,
or not at all.
So seeing there wasn't a lot of requirements or a lot
of needs from the family members for that 10 feet,
I really didn't wanna subject ourselves in the town
and the commission to start allowing for variance
which is something we don't do.
So we have since ceased that conversation.
But we plan for our memorial
which we're gonna build there to kind of utilize
with the developers whatever they built to incorporate some
of their landscaping design.
So it looks like a nice larger park than what it is.
- But again, I wanna be clear.
So the developer says they will not provide any
of the land that they now own
from where the Champlain Towers was.
The developer will not provide any
of that land no matter what small percentage
to the city's efforts to try to build some sort
of memorial there, is that correct?
- Well, the city's efforts have never relied on the land
with the developers, we have always understood
that this is private property,
so we didn't build around incorporating
the private property.
It was a conversation that we had to try
to maybe expand what we've already dedicated.
But the dedication from the town
of Surfside has always been 88th Street
which belongs to the city.
- Well, I know that you went
and met with the developer in Dubai back in October.
Tell me about that meeting.
What was your impression of,
I'm gonna mispronounce his name, Sajwani,
the developer in the case?
- So I met with him, his family was there.
He seemed to be more of a family orientated person.
I saw some of the developments
and the care that they put into their construction.
But there were two elements to that meeting.
Number one was to see I guess what the town
of Surfside is in for.
And the other was to try to solidify that conversation
that I had previously with some of their representatives
in the family, which was an earlier conversation
about attaining 10 feet of that setback for the memorial.
They were agreeable to such a conversation.
However, again, the family members were adamant
about obtaining space within center to the site,
which the developers cannot provide
without losing their property.
- I know this is difficult when you're dealing
with so many family members.
Are you communicating regularly
with family members and I know there's a committee
of leaders within the group.
Are you talking to them on a regular basis?
- So the committee has been activated
and was brought in as needed.
We were trying to extend on that.
We got their input, we sat down and met when it came
to the memorial, the permanent memorial as far
as what they, mood boards, what they wanted to see, feel,
hear, to try to build some sort of RFP
for design to go out.
- But when was the last time you personally spoke
to those committee members?
- The committee members itself was last week.
Some of the committee members that came in last week,
we spoke with them.
I just got off the phone just now five minutes ago
with one of the family members.
This is an ongoing conversation.
We have seven family members on the committee
of which two have actually been active.
So the committee doesn't
actually represent all the families.
There's so many different feelings
and aspects and different opinions
that I don't think one committee could represent them all.
But not everybody is willing to come out publicly
and have these conversations, it's difficult for them.
So we definitely have a lot
of private conversations with them.
- Obviously I've spoken to a number of the families,
I've spoken to Martin Langenfeld,
I've spoken to Raquel Olivieri
I've spoken to Ronita Mabrave,
they all come at this from their own perspectives.
But the one thing all three of them said
and they're all members of the committee,
is that they've had no real interaction
with you for a very long time.
They describe it as sort of being radio silent,
that you've cut off conversations with them.
Give me your perspective.
They clearly feel as if they're not communicating
with you or not getting any information from you.
Like for instance, they didn't even know about the trip
to Dubai, they say, until The Miami Herald reported on it.
- So, I mean, to go back to the trip to Dubai,
that is a completely false narrative.
I had had many conversations specifically
with Mr. Langenfeld about going to Dubai.
As a matter of fact, as soon as I returned,
we had a long conversation in the parking lot
in town hall about Dubai in general
'cause him and his wife had just come back from a trip.
So I understand there's a lot of frustrations and angers
from the family members who are looking
for the villain of this story.
And sometimes,
if you can't provide what it is they're looking for,
you just fall into that place,
especially as an elected official.
So the idea that that conversation didn't come up
is a complete falsehood.
It was mentioned many times that I plan
on having that conversation with the developers, which I did
and I delivered on my promise to have that conversation.
But the anger that is there
because I can't put something on the site,
which is not up to me, has been directed in that sense.
As far as the committee going silent,
we have the committee as far as certain instances
within the process of the memorial.
So we built up their input
and now we're going out to an RFP for design.
On my end, could I be a little more transparent
and keep communication up?
Absolutely and that's something we're working on.
We just recently invited them
to the pre-construction design meeting that is gonna have
who's ever going to be bidding may come
out to have within the town.
So let them be a part of the conversation and hear out.
We can definitely work on it.
I mean unfortunately, or fortunately,
I have an entire town to deal with.
There's many issues, flooding, ongoing issues that we
as a town of Surfside have.
Although it has been a top priority for us
and something we addressed, within two weeks
into office, there are other issues and items to address.
And as I mentioned too, some of the family members,
every day for me is another fire to put out.
So unfortunately you jump from one item to the next item
and sometimes things get put on the back burner as far
as communication.
But what they need to understand is that the town
has been ongoing with this process.
The memorial is very important to us.
We've been putting together this RFP based
on their feedback.
It takes time to have a weekly meeting on something
that is ongoing is pointless.
It wastes my time and theirs, but I understand
that they wanna feel more part of that conversation
and that's something that we're working on.
We've currently just reassigned a liaison
so the communication can get a lot better and quicker
and we're gonna try to keep them more involved
in that process as the RFP goes out
and continues to develop.
- The city is not completely without some power here.
I mean they have to come to you for permits for regulations.
I would imagine that if the city wanted to,
you could play a role
in trying to convince the developer to try
to find some middle ground where you might be able
to work out something that will be satisfactory
to family members that would, while not being at the center
of the land, which would alter their development,
but may take more of that northeast corner
or something along there, which could be then part
of a larger memorial that you would plan.
- So Jim, I did have that conversation, right?
That was our first conversation with the families.
That was one of my first pushes to try to get some
of that setback, to try to get some
of that land that the developers were willing
to have the communication with.
You can watch some of that public meeting that happened
between the family members and the developer representatives
which quickly devolved into, slamming of the posters
of the 98 lives that were lost, saying,
"You're building on our family's graves
and we need to have this for our memorial
and you have no right to build."
So unfortunately there doesn't seem
to be a middle ground there.
I did try to facilitate that
and instead I got painted as some sort
of corrupt politician and that was the return that I got
for trying to go out on a limb.
Moving forward, the developers will build
what they're legally allowed to build.
The town will build their memorial
on the street that was allocated for that.
And I'm not looking to get back into a a hot pot of stew
with them again.
- We'll be right back.