InterMiami is our partner. The city should act that way | Opinion

As a 30-year Sun Sentinel subscriber, it is difficult to read July 12’s sensationalized and hyperbolic editorial “A single email sets off a needless inquisition in Fort Lauderdale.”

This newspaper is obsessed with portraying the relationship between the city and Miami Beckham United as “fractured” and relishes in fanning the flames. The same goes whenever there is a disagreement on the dais of the City Commission. Anything remotely heated seems to really ruffle the paper’s panties. Toughen up, Sun Sentinel. Newsflash: Elected officials are passionate and sometimes disagree. Democracy works best that way.

And enough of the “sweetheart” deal characterization. This partnership saw an obsolete facility transform with a $170 million dollar investment. Who paid? InterMiami — but the city owns it all.  Besides the soccer stadium and training facility, we have a stadium for two Fort Lauderdale high schools to call their own.

The editorial takes shots at what it calls being overly generous with public land and then cites its favorite go-to examples — Bahia Mar and One-Stop. Hogwash; look at the financial facts. Far over a billion dollars is a bad deal? Nonsense.

And, contrary to what the paper bemoaned, the city does, in fact, profit from stadium parking revenue and has netted more than $300,000 to date. In addition, how do you put a price on the publicity the city is getting over Messi? Every media story I see begins and ends with “Live from DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.”

Regarding my questioning of staff, it was important to know the genesis of the city accusing InterMiami of something that did not happen — and irresponsibly threatening arrest! It is embarrassing that anyone in our city would make such threats before confirming the facts. And in fact, they were wrong. That the Sun Sentinel would be more concerned with my questioning than the actual tone and threats in an email from the city attorney’s office is beyond astonishing. The editorial then cherry picks comments from the meeting, takes them out of context to bolster its fake outrage, and completely misses the point. And the opinion writers ought to know better, as reporter Susannah Bryan got it right days before in the July 7 Sun Sentinel article, “The world is watching.”

Perhaps the height of hypocrisy is when Commissioner John Herbst is called a “hardball negotiator who is skilled in financial matters” and quotes him calling the deal with Beckham United as “horrible.” It was Herbst, prior to his firing as city auditor, who was the financial watchdog in the deal. Give me a break.

This is not the first time the paper has editorialized about an “ugly confrontation” on the dais. Let me remind the paper that I was not the commissioner who displayed that bad behavior.  Furthermore, staff is not so timid that this “sent shock waves through the city’s workforce.” To the contrary, many were shocked by the assistant city attorney’s letter, which aggressively — and falsely — accused the team of adding seats to DRV PNK Stadium without building permits.

And of course, the paper failed to mention my praise of this same staff as I began my questioning. On this issue, the paper brings up Commissioner Pamela Beasley-Pittman as an example of lingering bad feelings and defending staff. Funny, I remember when she viciously berated staff right after the flooding of the April storm, which made my comments tame in comparison. Where was the outrage of a Sun Sentinel editorial then?

It is my sincere hope that the Sun Sentinel will one day publish its first positive editorial about Fort Lauderdale. Remember, it was the previous City Commission that brought InterMiami to town and oversaw the building of a stadium in record time when Miami could not get its act together, and they are still years out from completing a stadium. Who knows? Lionel Messi might even retire in the great city of Fort Lauderdale. And residents will get a park and economic success with this partnership. Might that all be too positive a story for the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board? The (soccer) ball is in your court, friends.

Steven Glassman is a Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner.