By: Mark Landsman
In the July/August issue of the City Magazine “Tam-A-Gram, it offers an unusual and interesting suggestion: residents are told to stop wondering about initiatives our city leaders are considering. Their advice is for residents to stop asking “what are they thinking” and accept the fact that everything they plan is in the best interest of Tamarac’s future.
Our recent history suggests that this is not a very good idea.
Take for example, if we had known about the plans to build a charter school in the sports complex from the beginning – back in January 2014, perhaps we could have and would have questioned the site selection and details of the deal. However, our city manager, our mayor and commissioners chose to keep those out of public view for a prolonged period so they didn’t even give us the opportunity to wonder about their vision, nor the wisdom of their plan.
Turns out in this instance the devil was in the details. No priority seats Tamarac students because it violates existing Florida state law.
There are lessons to be learned from this experience. Our city leaders surely need to practice more transparency and citizens need to keep asking themselves “what are they thinking” and making a much better effort to find out.
Mark Landsman is a resident of Southhampton in Kingspoint Tamarac.
