SURFSIDE, FLA. (WSVN) - Florida congressional Democrats are calling on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to take on condominium reform after the deadly Surfside condo collapse.
As the one-year anniversary of the collapse approaches a group of state leaders gathered Thursday to hold a news conference demanding a call to action by the governor.
“Soon enough we will turn on the news and not see another building being evacuated because of unsafe structures,” said Martin Langesfeld, whose sister and brother-in-law died in the collapse. “What we will see is the same images we saw on June 24 but with new faces.”
Langesfeld is among those begging Tallahassee to take action regarding condo safety reform.
“It’s so painful to be here once again,” said Langesfeld.
He joined local and state leaders near where the Champlain Towers South once stood for the news conference called by congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz, urging DeSantis and the legislature to work together to get it done.
“He needs to engage with legislators and get condo reform legislation passed next week,” said Wasserman Shultz.
Nothing was passed during the annual legislative session. The congresswoman sent a letter earlier this week to the governor asking him to add the item to next week’s special legislative session.
“If they can do it, then they can do it absolutely, but they have to agree on something,” said DeSantis at another event.
The group urged the governor to make a priority of finding an agreement and signing off on the reform.
“Please work together to insure a tragedy like this never happens again,” said Mayor of Surfside Shlomo Danzinger.
“We need Tallahassee to do it’s part,” said Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
“We owe it to the family of those 98 victims to do our job in Tallahassee,” said State Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Fla.
“Let’s do the right thing and work together,” said Langesfeld. “There are lives on the line.”
“Now we know that we never have to be in this situation again, and the legislature and the governor need to get this done five days from now, and that’s our message today,” said Wasserman Shultz.
The special legislative session will begin April 19, at noon.
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