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more desirable destination and social experience for both Will you be keeping nighttime hours yourself and
neighbors and guests. frequenting bars and restaurants to understand the issues?

How will the $1.4 million set aside yearly for Fort I’ll be spending a portion of my time observing and
Lauderdale’s nighttime management team be used? experiencing the life of the night. However, most of the
people I work with, such as other city officials and
This budget is to fund a team of 11, which includes the
nighttime economy manager, a police lieutenant, three business leaders, still work during the day. So that is when
police officers, a public safety aide, a fire captain, a I’ll be working as well. I do anticipate that my team will be
senior code compliance officer, a parks foreman, and two working nighttime hours.
maintenance workers. For a local business owner or resident, what kind of
benefits will they see from your work?
You’ll likely hear far differing opinions around town, from
those who want bars and restaurants to close earlier and A more concerted effort to address the needs and
be quieter, to those who want to increase business for challenges they may be experiencing at night and on the
them. How do you balance that? weekends in a proactive rather than reactive manner. Also
I hope they benefit from the opportunity to offer more of
That is the question. That balancing act is not unique to Fort
Lauderdale. Urban cities all over the world struggle with it. their talents, passion, and ideas to designing the perfect
nighttime and daytime economy.
The only way to tackle the issue is by including all parties in
the discussion. Residents, business owners, and city officials Contact Nighttime Economy Manager Sarah Hannah-Spurlock at
must all take responsibility and ownership for developing the 954-828-5085, or sspurlock@fortlauderdale.gov.
kind of city and economy we want. The first step is the
acknowledgement that we all love Fort Lauderdale, and we
all want what is best for our fabulous community. So let’s
focus on what we all love and make it better.
A thriving city must have a thriving economy. And a
successful daytime economy is not possible without a
successful nighttime economy, and vice versa. People don’t
just leave their home to go to work Monday through
Friday, nine to five. All people are out in the community
both during the day and into the evening hours, and they
want to feel safe and they want to enjoy themselves any
time they leave their home. If both the daytime and
nighttime economies aren’t thriving, that will not be
possible. Then we identify the issues and concerns on both
sides and work towards resolving them, together.

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