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Need To See A Lawyer On Immigration Matter and Concerns? JNBS Provides The Service Of An Immigration Lawyer FREE OF COST To Our Customers. On The Third Friday Of Each Month Commencing FEBRUARY 20, 2004 The Representative Office 5039 N. State Rd. 7 (Sunshine Plaza) Call 1-800-390-7850 or    954-485-0444

                       Setting the Record Straight 

By Alex Fekete 

As Mayor, I¹ve had the privilege of getting to know many of the great people and places in Pembroke Pines, and have been fortunate to be involved in making our City a wonderful place to live. We¹ve grown a lot over the years, and my top priority has always been to manage that growth with a common sense approach that provides for the needs of open space, recreational and shopping opportunities, economic stimulations, a stable tax base, and rising property values. 


All one needs to do is look around our city, at our neighborhoods, to realize how beautiful our city really is. This reality certainly flies in the face of several alleged old newspaper headlines I recently saw, one from 1999, that said, and I will paraphrase, that Pembroke Pines is facing problems because land is running out. Let¹s take a look at where we are after nearly 5 years and compare our results to some of our neighboring communities, some with no-growth, no commercial development mindsets and see if the psychics¹ predictions were right. 

Let¹s start with property taxes. Looking at the summary of property tax rates published by Broward County in its budget documents, here is what we find. If you are a homeowner in Hollywood, your tax rate is 6.9163 mils, a rate nearly 50 percent higher than in Pembroke Pines at 4.599. Further comparisons show Miramar nearly 49% higher, Cooper City nearly 35% higher and Davie nearly 11% higher. If you are living on a fixed income, which of the above mentioned is your city of choice. Let¹s not leave out Ft. Lauderdale which has fired its City Manager and has huge budget deficits forcing layoffs of city employees including police and fire.  


Next, let¹s look at crime statistics. We¹ll leave Cooper City out of this comparison since as we have all learned, due to its¹ fiscal crisis, it could no longer afford to maintain its own police and fire departments and is turning those services over to the county. These statistics come from the State of Florida for 2002, the last year available. Hollywood has a crime rate of 6500.4 per 100,000 persons, Davie 4700.4, Miramar 3926.3 and Pembroke Pines 3281.3 (a decrease of 6.5% from 2001). The rate for the state as a whole is 4379.2. We are a safe city with great police and fire rescue services. 

When it comes to other areas as well, we are leaders. We have more open space than any other city in Broward, including our 450-acre wetlands preserve and the largest lake in the county. Developers are required to dedicate 6% of the value of their property in land or cash to the City for open space and municipal purposes. That¹s over and above any other open space requirements placed on them by other agencies. Yet we often get even more. When developers wanted to provide a two-acre park in the Walnut Creek development, I said ten acres and we won. Property values continue to rise and I often tell the story about an individual who purchased a modest townhouse in Cedar Woods in 1996 for $88,000. In 2003 it appraised for $140,000, a 59 percent increase in value.  

Pembroke Pines is the leader in the area of public charter schools. With seven public charter schools, educating 5.200 children, we stepped up to the plate and helped ease school crowding, even though that is traditionally the responsibility of the School Board. 


Of course, communities always face new challenges. To meet those challenges I have been working hard with City staff, residents, and other governments to improve our roads, relieve school crowding, and make sure adequate housing and services are available to our seniors and all our residents. We¹ve developed ground-breaking plans with the Florida Department of Transportation to complete millions of dollars in road improvements years ahead of schedule; we¹re building a state-of-the-art senior housing complex at the Howard C. Forman Human Services Campus; and we¹re continually working to expand and improve schools in Pembroke Pines.

I¹m proud to say that, by working together, we¹ve been very successful. Pembroke Pines is widely recognized for finding innovative solutions for many of the challenges that much of South Florida faces. From state-of-the-art facilities and programs for our kids, families and seniors, to day camps for special needs and at-risk childrenŠfrom assistance for first-time home buyers, to programs providing minor home repair grants for maintaining property valuesŠfrom the strictest open space requirements in South Florida, to extensive parks and recreational programs for our kidsŠ Pembroke Pines is truly a leader in creating a great hometown. That¹s why families continue to choose our City as the place they want to live. 
 

So I guess the psychics were as able to predict the future of Pembroke Pines as they are at picking winning lottery numbers, they got it wrong.  

Working together, we will not only ensure our great quality of life ­ we¹ll make it even better. 

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