By: Sharon Aron Baron
On Wednesday, volunteers for the committee to recall Patricia “Patte” Atkins-Grad will meet at City Hall to turn in the required signatures to successfully recall the Tamarac City Commissioner.
This will be the first time Broward County has ever had a successful petition by recall of any elected official.
The team of 14 volunteers spent 30 days gathering over 1,200 signatures to recall Atkins-Grad from office. Volunteers covered almost every major community in Tamarac’s District Two, including The Woodlands Country Club, Mainlands, Versailles, Sands Point, Lime Bay, Hampton Hills, Plum Bay, and Plum Harbor Catalina, Coral Palms, Tamarac Greens, Fairways, Spyglass, Wedgewood and Waters Edge.
“Many of them (residents) were waiting for us to get out there in their neighborhoods,” said Woodlands Resident Elaine Fine. “Some of them didn’t know what the recall was about, so we gave them information to read like articles from the Sun-Sentinel, and when they found out or remembered, they were more than happy to sign. Many couldn’t figure out why she was still staying in office.”
Several of the volunteers were neighbors, but some, like Real Estate Broker Mark Levin of Fort Lauderdale, drove east every weekend to help out after he read about Atkins-Grad in the paper.
“I thought she was over-the-top and too obnoxious to lead the citizens of Tamarac, and the stories I read struck a chord with me, and I wanted to help get her out,” said Levin.
Some of the volunteers who had clashed politically on previous issues put aside their differences and embraced their main objective: recall the incompetent commissioner whose “stupid” defense may have won her acquittal but didn’t excuse her from taking a bribe for a down payment for a BMW and victory party while voting for a land deal.
Petition Chair Alvin Entin said, “The success of this petition drive lies in the good people of Tamarac who arose as one in the face of the arrogance and insensitivity of Patte Atkins-Grad to start the process of bringing honest government to our city.”
Volunteers will be bringing petitions to the City Clerk’s office at Tamarac City Hall at 7525 NW 88th Ave Tamarac FL 33321 on Wednesday, February 13, 2013, 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm.
Attorney Alvin Entin will be making a statement at 5:00 pm and handing over completed petitions and volunteers.
The public is invited to attend. At 7 pm, the City Commission will have their meeting, which is open to the public. Public participation is allowed, and residents can sign in and speak for three minutes.