It is hard to imagine that Pembroke Pines once had almost no development west of University Drive. The city — which on the map resembles an almost perfect rectangle — now has housing and businesses as far west as US-27.
The southwest Broward city, with almost 170,000 residents, is second only to Fort Lauderdale in population size in the county. And the man who has witnessed the growth of this once rural area into a major South Florida suburb is stepping down from his part-time job after twenty years.
In a wide-ranging interview with WLRN, Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank Ortis talked about his first years on the commission, the rapid rise of the city's population and the founding of its charter schools.
Ortis, 80, graduated from the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics and worked as a mechanic for Eastern Airlines in Utica, N.Y., before being transferred to South Florida in 1977. He helped lead their union, negotiating with management during a disruptive strike in 1989.
Ortis was first elected to the city commission in 1996. He became mayor in 2004 and got re-elected again and again.
"When Pembroke Pines started growing, people told me, 'You should run,'" Ortis told WLRN, adding he was hesitant to do so. "I don't do that. But they convinced me and I ran and I won. “
Last Tuesday, voters selected longtime city commissioner —and occasional Ortis opponent — Angelo Castillo as mayor. He will be sworn in during an April 3 commission meeting.
During Ortis' time on the city commission, the area saw growth that landed the suburban community on a list of fastest-growing cities in the country. To deal with the influx, the city started its own charter school system and built new infrastructure, including roads and parks.
Ortis also runs the Mayor's Cafe restaurant. He's been a union leader for decades and lobbied on behalf of the Sugar Industry Labor Management Committee, which includes Clewiston-based U.S. Sugar Corp. and Florida Crystals Corp. in West Palm Beach, to keep jobs in the state.
He served as President of the Florida State Council of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the Florida AFL-CIO, which represents over 500 unions in the state.
Development pours in
Ortis joined the commission four years after Hurricane Andrew destroyed thousands of houses in south Miami-Dade County. The city witnessed a mass migration of these residents who bought properties in the western part of the city.
“They just poured in… because of Andrew,” Ortis said.
Between 1990 and 2000 the population grew by more than 70,000 residents, ranking it among the nation's fastest-growing cities.
Development in the western part of the city exploded. Massive parcels of land were purchased and developed into residential neighborhoods — Chapel Trail, Silver Lakes, Spring Valley, and TownGate.
Pembroke Pines City Manager Charles Dodge, one of the few people who has been working for the city longer than Ortis, credited the mayor with helping build the city-wide charter school system after city officials became frustrated with Broward school district officials.
"When we first started our charter schools, he was on the city commission and he was very supportive of it,” said Dodge, who said more residents put a strain on the local public schools.
Dodge said he’ll miss working with the mayor, who he said had an open mind when it came to making decisions for the city.
“We didn't always agree on everything. But what I always found with Frank Ortis is he was always very open to listening to the other side," he said. "And sometimes he was convinced, sometimes he wasn't.”
Growth brings new issues
Dodge said that Ortis’ work as a lobbyist helped the city as it grew.
“He was very helpful to the city in Tallahassee, and he was very helpful to the city in all of the committees that he participated in," Dodge said.
Those committees included the Broward League of Cities, the Florida League of Cities and the National League of Cities. "So that helped the city tremendously in its development.”
The city's growth came with its own issues, mainly traffic.
"I read the paper and it says 'Pembroke Pines is the worst area for traffic in the country,'" Ortis remembered. "They named Flamingo and Pines Boulevard. I dropped the paper, I went nuts.”
More than two decades ago, State Farm Insurance published a report listing the busy intersection as the nation's worst, citing the high number of crash incidents.
City residents passed a bond initiative to allow the city to begin construction to redesign the intersection — which has since been expanded with additional lanes.
Looking back, moving forward
Pembroke Pines is one of the only Broward cities to have affordable housing developments, a source of public policy pride for Ortis.
“We've got people that need homes. A lot of people are teachers and working class that need to have affordable homes. So, we've done that, we kept that up, and I'm proud that we did that for our people.”
Ortis isn't fully retiring anytime soon because he still has his restaurant to run.
The Mayor’s Cafe is a no-nonsense diner tucked away in east Pembroke Pines. It is run by Ortis and his wife Barbara. The pair took over the restaurant in 2010.
"A lot of people are very intimidated to walk up to a big building and not know what to say or who to talk to," Barbara Ortis said. "They come right in here, they go right up to the register... and it's the greatest, most comfortable place for a constituent to come and speak with Frank."
