Diversity Comes To Tamarac! Five Of Eight Commission Applicants Are Black
BY BUDDY NEVINS
In the early 1970s as a newcomer to the Sun-Sentinel, I was given a lot of the scut work. One day I was sent to then-tiny Tamarac to cover a commission meeting.
Among the few items on the agenda was permission for some store to sell beer and wine. The lily-white commission, led by a particularly racist member, debated whether allowing beer and wine at that location would bring the “coloreds” to Tamarac’s lily-white community.
Fast forward to today. Tamarac is no longer lily white.
But the commission is!
And that’s wrong, just like it is at the Plantation commission (a particularly glaring example because of the lack of districting), Sunrise (ditto), Coconut Creek and several other West Broward cities.
The times they are a changing. Roughly 12 percent of Tamarac’s population is now black and 15 percent Hispanic.
The Tamarac commission this week has a chance to embrace the new demographics. Or they can try and hold back the flood of diversity like the Dutch boy with his finger in the dike.
Commissioners will appoint a resident to fill the unexpired seat of Patti Atkins-Grad who resigned rather than face a recall.
Five of eight of the applicants are black. Some are African-American U.S. natives and some Caribbean born.
No one should be appointed just because they are black.
They shouldn’t be rejected, either.
Felicia Meadows is just one of the applicants who has so much more to offer than her skin color. A lawyer and single Mom, Meadows is the 41-year-old daughter of former state Senate (1992-98) and House (2000-2008) member Matt Meadows.
“My hope is they will look beyond (my race). I want them to look at me and my abilities and not just at an African American female,” she says.
Just last week I was in Publix. While pushing my cart up an aisle, I came upon a group of high muck-a-mucks from the company talking about redesigning the shelves.
“We’re going to expand the Caribbean (food) by four feet,” one Publix suit told the store manager.
Publix understands Broward’s new demographics.
Does the Tamarac commission?
September 30th, 2013 at 8:23 am
Thanks for posting this buddy, If anyone wants to read the bio’s about each one of the applicants, I wrote about them here Tamarac Talk
As a recall member who worked tirelessly to rid our city of Patte Atkins-Grad, it would be a disservice to the residents in our district if I did not point out the applicants who DID NOT sign the petition.
Not that this matters as far as their background and experience, by any means. But, it just seemed interesting how some just jumped on the bandwagon while others toiled out in the sun and rain for good government these past 9 months. I felt that deserved my district’s attention.
Best of luck to some more than others. And yes, diversity would be a a great reflection of our changing demographics in our District and is much welcomed. Meadows, I agree has great qualifications. Interviews begin today.
September 30th, 2013 at 9:13 am
Another item worth mentioning is finding out who has actually been attending any city commission meetings, HOA meetings or been involved at all.
This term is only a year, we don’t really need someone who needs to learn the ropes here. If all the inexperienced applicants want to run in 2014, I encourage them to do so.
September 30th, 2013 at 9:50 am
Everybody knows that Michele Gomez has got it sewed up. Gomez is not really a Hispanic and she’s a Republican. She’s rich and served before.
September 30th, 2013 at 11:34 am
Hell yeah the Hebrew National Heiress has it sown up. Boy that recall committee was a real help to her. So much she signed the petition as well. Sadly, since there are no reporting requirements for the recall committee we will never know if she financed the whole thing to achieve the outcome that seems inevitable, she is back on the Commission.
September 30th, 2013 at 1:48 pm
Sharon Aron Baron and her friends Barry Harris and Alvin Entin are behind this folly. They want Gomez back in office. You boob.
September 30th, 2013 at 2:41 pm
LOL, Oh I love how people know who I’m favoring here. I’m sitting here listing to the interviews and actually there are many qualified candidates besides Gomez.
But let me ask you this: What is your problem with Gomez?
Barry Harris? What does Barry Harris have to do with this…you are such an idiot. Barry Harris doesn’t even live in District 2.
Sauerkraut and Mustard please: There WERE reporting requirement. They are public record. Gomez did not give one dime to our efforts. Get your facts straight. No one gave to our efforts outside of the people that pounded the pavement….our volunteer team. We were all self-financed.
September 30th, 2013 at 3:24 pm
Better candidate than Meadows here:
Stewart Jackson Webster has been a Management and Taxation Consultant since 2011 and before that he was a licensed realtor. Webster was a volunteer in the recall effort for Atkins-Grad. He holds a Masters in Public Administration from Florida Atlantic University and a BA from Bernarch M. Baruch College. Webster has lived in a condo in Versailles Gardens since 2003. Webster signed the petition to remove Atkins-Grad the first and third rounds plus worked hard to get signatures during all rounds.
Webster is black (like Meadows) and he has a Master’s in Public Administration. And he actually WORKED to oust Atkins-Grad (all the other non-Gomez candidates, at most, signed one of the three rounds of the petition).
The real contest here is between Webster and Gomez. If Gomez wins, Webster will be a great candidate for the next seat.
Talabisco is going back on trial soon, so her seat may go vacant. Webster would be perfect for that seat. Then in 2014, Glasser should leave, and assuming Webster is already in Talabisco’s former seat, Meadows might run for Glasser’s former seat.
Review candidate info here: http://tamaractalk.com/tamarac-applicants-vie-for-atkins-grads-commission-seat-11298
September 30th, 2013 at 3:45 pm
Sunrise is the exemplar of non-diversity. Every single member of the Commission is a white male. Worse than that, all of them are on record as voting in favor of Red Light Cameras.
September 30th, 2013 at 4:21 pm
I also worked very hard on the recall committee. Actually, I’m the treasurer of the committee. We accepted NO MONEY from outside sources. The committee members financed the recall campaign. Donations from $5.00 to $200. In kind donations of printing, legal work, shirts, and signs were also accepted from COMMITTEE members only. As far as the candidates for the vacated position. Diversity would be nice, but representation is the most important factor. Of all of the candidates, Michelle Gomez has been at most workshop and commission meetings. Stewart Webster attended one or 2 meetings. I do not recognize any of the other candidates. I am leery of someone becoming interested in the District 2 seat just because it’s vacant…and MAYBE some “political” influence could slide one into the seat…after all, only FOUR folks are voting. We already had an example of “political influence” filling that seat. Atkins-Grad had never attended ANY political meeting, let alone a City of Tamarac Commission meeting…until she was “selected” to be a candidate by, in my opinion, some powerful forces looking to assure zoning changes, lobbying contracts, etc. Let’s not do the same thing again.
September 30th, 2013 at 4:25 pm
Oh, and by the way, Sauerkraut and Mustard, the Committee is required to file reports. They are ALL available at the City of Tamarac clerk’s office.
September 30th, 2013 at 5:20 pm
The misinformation presented in the comments section blows my mind. For Sharon Aron Baron to be the accurate one shows just how far off base others are. I’m sure she’s also flattered by the connection to Barry Harris.
Mustard and Sauerkraut- what are you smoking? Nothing is sewn up here, and the reference to “heiress” is total crap. Don’t let the facts get in the way though. you keep spinning that nonsense. Perhaps someone might buy it.
Ha Ha Ha- sorry to point this out, but Webster is a moron. That’s not racist, it’s fact. Gelin would be much stronger. Another fact (don’t you hate when they get in the way?) You’ve have every seat filled with these applicants, but duh! they need to live in the district they serve, so unless they start moving around the city, they’re done.
And Finally, Patti Lynn- thank you for NOT applying this time.
September 30th, 2013 at 6:50 pm
Sharon
Bray had nothing to do with the recall? You may want to check the photos I believe you had posted when the first failed group of signatures were turned in, Barry is in a few of them, no?
September 30th, 2013 at 8:10 pm
Oh yea,….another Lauderdale Lakes.
October 1st, 2013 at 10:34 am
What Patty Lynn failed to mention to all of you who find glasses always half empty is that the entire recall effort cost less then 1250.00 dollars. The biggest expenditures were the 10cents per signature counted by the supervisor of elections. The balance went for tee shirts and signs. We did not need anyone to finance this effort. Other then Stewart Webster who participated actively ( and has sought this seat before) not ONE recall member or leader filed for this appointment. This was a citizens effort which some of you persist ascribing ulterior motives too. You ought to be ashamed. Maybe we would have less corruption in Broward if more citizens groups like the Recall Committee formed and acted in the public interest. But I guess its easier for some to sit on their behinds and hide behind anonymous names and attack those who make things better.
October 1st, 2013 at 7:48 pm
Just pick someone already. I mean Atkins-Grad was done next year anyways. I mean all this drama. Although she got that one guy good w/ the water. Huh, too much. And Atkins-Grad is another one(eight(8) grand , I wouldn’t have given her eight(8) cents of tax payer money.)
October 2nd, 2013 at 6:27 am
Let’s take a moment to remember how Talabisco and Atkins-Grad got elected…
~~~~~
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/09/mitch_ceasar_lobbying_contracts.php
[…] Nadezda Stepanovic says that while she served as executive director of the Broward County Democratic Party, Chairman Mitch Ceasar explained to her how he makes his money. ”He said, ‘When I get people elected into a city, those people owe me, and they owe me by giving me the city lobbying contracts,'” […] his bread and butter is in Tamarac […] It was there that Ceasar played a rather devious behind-the-scenes role in the now-notorious 2006 election […] Ceasar quietly backed Beth Talabisco and Patricia Atkins-Grad over Democrats who were running against them, said Greenberg. Of course, it’s not good form for the leader of a party to choose sides among the party faithful, but Ceasar supported Talabisco over Democrats Mae Schreiber and Karen Roberts and backed Atkins-Grad over his arch-enemy, Patti Lynn, a dedicated Democrat who complained of corruption inside the party.
Greenberg, who was running the party at the time, said that when a mysterious PAC put out $21,000 worth of attack ads out on Roberts and Schreiber the weekend before the election, Ceasar acted as if he was outraged by it. But she said that Barry Harris, one of Ceasar’s chief cronies and an area leader, said that Ceasar had himself approved the attack. We know now that the attack was orchestrated by Harris and financed by dirty developers Bruce and Shawn Chait, who had two subcontractors finance the ads. The PAC is now at the center of a criminal investigation of Mayor Talabisco, who won the election. […]
FROM BUDDY:
I won’t go into how ill-sourced this article is except to raise two points:
(1) Greenberg, quoted above in the second paragraph, threatened a law suit against Ceasar for harassment and received a payoff. No where does the article mention that salient information. Nor does it say her lawyer was a long-time Ceasar opponent within the party organization who ran against him for chair and lost overwhelmingly.
(2) The article uses the rankest hearsay to smear Ceasar by connecting him with the Chaits. Greenberg was told by Barry Harris who was told by Ceasar. Remember that Greenberg had a grudge against Ceasar. When I worked there, The Sun-Sentinel would have never allowed such libel without better proof.
Ceasar may be the biggest sleaze there is in Broward politics. The writer of this article could prove it to the satisfaction of the Democratic organization. My proof:
Ceasar got re-elected overwhelmingly again in 2012.
October 2nd, 2013 at 3:17 pm
Mitch Ceasar’s immoral and self-serving election-rigging has been very well documented…
FROM BUDDY:
I already answered you in #16.
Let me reiterate: “Very well documented” in stories that quote only the losers in the election? Give me a break. These “very well documented” stories aren’t real journalism. They are Internet propaganda for the anti-Ceasar faction, as one-sided as anything Fox News broadcasts.
Where is the proof of any of this election-rigging except a handful of the same dissidents who have always opposed Ceasar and disgruntled ex-party employees? Why did the state party turn down complaints from these dissidents about the way the 2008 election was conducted? And where is Ceasar’s side of the story?
By the way, Peter Deutsch, who ran against Ceasar, never is quoted complaining about the results.
All that said, this is very, very off the subject. Enough about Ceasar, who will have very little if any influence on the outcome of this judicial race.
October 3rd, 2013 at 7:33 am
Buddy do not even bother. Ha Ha offers nothing credible and has a transparent agenda that most of us figured out a while ago. We know what bunch he belongs to.