Mayor-at-Large: Ana Ziade

For three decades, incumbent North Lauderdale Mayor John “Jack” Brady, 76, has served the city as a commissioner and as mayor. He is seeking another term.

But at a candidates’ interview with the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Brady had difficulty answering questions about the city he loves. He was unable, for example, to identify the city’s largest employer.

For most of 2018, he has been in poor health. From January through September, according to city records, he attended commission meetings by telephone. “I’ve been called ‘the telephone mayor,’” he said. If someone needs to see him, he said they can come to his house.

Brady did make the interview session, where he declared himself to be a man who is loyal to the city. “I’m honest and don’t use dirty tactics,” he said. First elected to the commission in 1988, voters made him the city’s first mayor-at-large in 2004. He’s been mayor ever since.

“I like to finish the job that I started,” Brady said. “Pulling in Walmart was a big deal.”

He’s right. Walmart has generated offshoot development. But the consulting firm hired by the city thinks North Lauderdale has a long way to go.

In an analysis of the city’s strengths and weaknesses, the firm noted it needs to upgrade its brand identity, lacks sit-down restaurants and mid/upscale shopping options, diversity in housing and the proper infrastructure for pedestrians and bicyclists. Many of the city’s commercial properties, the analysis concluded, are outdated. Churches, which offer no direct financial benefits to the city, occupy some of North Lauderdale’s shopping centers. There is also a perception among businesses and residents that code enforcement is inconsistent and the city is not “developer friendly.”

Some of the city’s strengths: young residents are moving to North Lauderdale, largely because its housing is more affordable than surrounding areas; heavy traffic traverses the city’s chief thoroughfares; and major intersections are the scene of commercial activity.

But who will leverage these positives to the city’s advantage? We think Brady’s sole opponent, longtime North Lauderdale resident Ana Ziade, 53, is better positioned to engage the discussion and champion the needs of a growing population. She recognizes the need for new businesses to help solidify the tax base. To attract them, “sometimes you need to offer incentives.”

Most of the political endorsements and donations in this race have predictably flowed to the Brady campaign, with one notable exception: The firefighters union backs Ziade. The reason, according to a source familiar with the union’s endorsement decision, is that Ziade has been willing to listen to the firefighters’ protests that their compensation does not measure up to their contemporaries in other cities. And the first responders who serve North Lauderdale feel they have not gotten much of a hearing at City Hall.

While no one’s guaranteeing the union a raise in this revenue-challenged city, the firefighters believe Ziade’s pledge to listen to them. “I’m a fresh set of eyes with a new perspective,” she said. For a city in need of new economic development options, we believe that new perspective has arrived just in time.

Ziade