Fed Up With Division: Local Politics  

In this current political climate, I need to ask, is the cornerstone of democracy – the people? We voters elect our representatives with confidence that they will protect our best interests, even if they don’t look like us, talk like us, or walk like us. Trust is inherited in a politician/constituent relationship, even though discord, trust is one attribute that should never be lost in government relations. But while I know this is true in theory, I rarely see it in practice. A quick public consensus will reveal that many people believe that politicians only care for themselves and their self-interests. And on the other hand, many politicians believe that they move in the best interest of the people but are far removed from the lifestyle that many of their constituents. Frankly, the disconnect stems from the fact that people and those elected by the people often don’t speak the same language.

Politics should be black and white, meaning that clear boundaries are established between right and wrong, and that the people and the elected know what is expected of them. Those elected should listen to the people who elected them. The people should respect the decisions of their leaders. I see no other way. All over the world, people’s trust in government is seeping south, so how do we rehabilitate trust in government? First, the people and the politicians need to speak the same language.

Case and point, a few weeks ago, I witnessed residents at the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) meeting in Pompano Beach express their displeasure with a hotly contested and highly acclaimed vendor, the Redevelopment Management Associates (RMA). RMA was at the meeting seeking approval for a contract renewal to assist the city’s CRA with the technical parts of a major redevelopment dubbed/called the “Innovation District.” Residents from the Northwest part of Pompano Beach, a historically Black neighborhood, spoke during public audience, asking the city why they chose this company and brought up unsolved areas of contention, including the company’s owners purchasing land in CRA district. In return, RMA promised legal action on residents for slander. (Side note: RMA previously ran the city’s CRA but resigned over the public’s hostility towards them).

While I was shocked that a contractor with the city would have to go as far as threaten legal action for public comment, I was even more shocked that the commission didn’t immediately speak up in the people’s defense. An angry resident followed a saddened resident, followed by many more seemingly defenseless residents. Their point was the same : NO ONE IS LISTENING, not even the people that they elected.

Mayor Rex Hardin spoke of a “divide” in the city, and the residents explained that they felt betrayed, not by a vote, but by how they were treated. The people show their trust in the political system by voting, showing up to public meetings, participating in civic events, showing pride in their community, among other things. The elected show their trust by listening to their constituents, bringing quality contractors to the table, utilizing their influence for the greater good, compromising with others to make sure that their communities’ needs are met, among other things. The trust that the people have in the communities that they live in and the people that they have elected is essential to an effective government. It’s true that the government needs to provide for all its citizens, and only in a utopian government would everyone trust everyone, but I truly believe that in a public forum, it is a resident’s civic duty to voice their complaints, and it is the government’s job to provide them a safe place to express these feelings without fear of repercussion. True, a contractor does have the right to pursue legal action at any point, but surely that’s not how you treat a community that you love. And politicians, as shepherds of their people, shouldn’t allow threats on their constituents.

Not saying that a few angry citizens should stop a billion-dollar development project, but at the very least they shouldn’t feel threatened for speaking up about the communities that they know best. In order to get back to the basics, politicians across the world need to understand that they don’t work for developers, but for the people. And if your people have a problem, then the whole city has a problem. That’s the way community works.

 

Fed Up,

Attiyya Atkins

Fed Up Movement

 

About Carma Henry 24455 Articles
Carma Lynn Henry Westside Gazette Newspaper 545 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 Office: (954) 525-1489 Fax: (954) 525-1861

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