The newly elected mayor of Surfside is making the town鈥檚 response to the deaths of 98 people in the collapse of their oceanfront condominium a top priority in his new administration.
has called a special meeting of the town commission on Tuesday, his first as mayor, to discuss the June 24 Champlain Towers collapse. He wants to plan an event marking the one-year anniversary, create a memorial to the victims and install signage at the site to remember the lives lost.
鈥淭his is the town鈥檚 responsibility,鈥� Danzinger, who defeated former mayor Charles Burkett on March 15, told the . 鈥淚t鈥檚 our town. It was our residents. It was our neighbors and our friends.鈥�
In the days after the collapse of the 12-story tower, Burkett became the face of the 6,000-resident town. He visited the site daily, met with the families of the missing and spoke alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and fire and police officials at internationally televised news conferences.
Danzinger didn鈥檛 talk much about the collapse during his campaign, saying he didn鈥檛 want to politicize a tragedy that killed 98 people. But he told the Herald the town needs to continue focusing on the victims and those who lost their homes.
