On August 5, the mayors of Hallendale Beach, Davie, Tamarac, Dania Beach, Parkland, Lauderhill, Cooper City and Pembroke Pines, published a letter in the Sun Sentinel newspaper urging Tim Ryan, the mayor of Broward County, to bring Uber back to Broward. The ride-sharing service exited the country on July 31 after the Broward County Commissioners passed strict regulations including required commercial insurance, county inspections and fingerprinted background checks.
“In your inaugural speech, Mayor Ryan, you said, ‘the most pressing issue before us today and in the coming years is how to meet the demands on our county’s transportation needs.’ You were right, and now we’re calling on you to lead on the issue.
As mayors in Broward County, we intimately understand the needs of our constituents. And we all agree that transportation continues to be a great challenge our communities face.
The arrival of ridesharing options like Uber is a win-win. Ridesharing expands access to safe, reliable rides, provides job opportunities, and helps take drunk drivers off the road.
Across the country, policymakers are welcoming this innovation with modern, sensible regulatory frameworks for ridesharing. We must follow their lead. The people of Broward County have spoken; they want this service.
From mayor to mayor, we urge you to stand up for our communities and bring back options like Uber to Broward County.”
The letter was signed by Harry Dressler ( Mayor of Tamarac), Joy Cooper (Hallendale Beach), Judi Paul (Davie), Marco Salvino (Dania Beach), Frank Ortis (Pembroke Pines), Greg Ross (Cooper City), Richard Kaplan (Lauderhill), Michael Udine (Parkland).
Obvious by their absence from the letter was Fort Lauderdale Mayor Seiler and Wilton Manors Mayor Gary Resnick.
Currently, Uber is available in 70% of the U.S., with 223 million people having access to the ride sharing phenomenon. Locally, some 80,000 letters and messages of protest have reached the desks of country commissioners.
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