New Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danzinger Wants Town To Remember Condo Collapse Victims

MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) - The newly elected mayor of Surfside is making the town's response to the deaths of 98 people in the collapse of their oceanfront condominium a top priority in his new administration.

Mayor Shlomo Danzinger 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.

"This is the town's responsibility," Danzinger, who defeated former mayor Charles Burkett on March 15, told the Miami Herald. "It's our town. It was our residents. It was our neighbors and our friends."

In the days after the collapse of the 12-story tower, Burkett became the face of the 6,000-resident town, visiting the site daily, meeting with the families of the missing and speaking along with Gov. Ron DeSantis, the county mayor and fire and police officials at internationally televised news conferences.

Danzinger didn't talk much about the collapse during his campaign, saying he didn't want to politicize a tragedy that killed 98 people. But he told the newspaper the town needs to continue focusing on the victims and those who lost their homes.

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