POLL: Vote for the 2013 Best Local Blog Here By November 5
By: Sharon Aron Baron
Tamarac Talk has been nominated in Miami New Times Magazine as one of the Best Local Blogs in South Florida, and readers have until November 5 to vote and make it the best. Tamarac Talk has some tough local competition against other great blogs that cover West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Coconut Grove, and Miami Springs.
What began in 2010 as a news and editorial source for a city of 60,000 that didn’t have one, our contributing writers bring issues of concern to the forefront.
News and Activism
Hoping to report news, events, and create a platform for change, one of the hot buttons written about and brought up at city commission meetings by Tamarac Talk, was trying to get this city to start streaming their meetings on the internet.
Every Broward city was doing this, except ours. Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, population 6,000, was even streaming their meetings to their citizens. We were way behind the times, and the commission finally thought so too. Streaming became a reality in January 2013, and now residents can watch public meetings without attending.
Tamarac Talk covered former Tamarac Commissioner Patte Atkins-Grad’s trial through the entire recall process. Through our news coverage and subscribers, we were able to communicate with citizens about the petition effort. The petition effort was a success, and Atkins-Grad finally resigned weeks before a recall election was to take place.
More to Do
There is still so much work to be done to make our city even better, and it’s not going to come from expensive surveys, a public art program, or by telling everyone how great our city is with video contests. We need to install more bus shelters for our residents, open our parks on Mondays, and convince our commission that a beautification committee is more important to our property values than public art.
Installed under the guise of safety, red-light cameras appeared in August at intersections around the city. If, by chance, you ever receive a ticket from one of our newly placed “scam cams,” you are basically guilty until proven innocent. We need to get these out of our city soon.
There is also good news on Tamarac Talk. We have encouraged Mayor Beth Talabisco to join other Mayors around the country by signing the Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, hoping to end federal marriage discrimination. There will be a pressure cleaning effort throughout the city that will clean up our sidewalks and medians. There are always events, photos, and activities to report, so Tamarac Talk will keep reporting the good, the bad, and the truth about Tamarac.
So thanks for reading Tamarac Talk and following these past few years. Thanks for the nomination, and if you want to see this website continue, then vote for us.