Gates divide residents
Three gates stand in the way of two feuding communities seeking to make their roads safer after a mother’s tragic death.
Officials in both Southwest Ranches and Pembroke Pines say the safety of residents is their No. 1priority. But neither side can agree on what to do.
Pembroke Pines wants the gates removed so residents can access Griffin Road without driving on dangerous U. S. 27. Southwest Ranches wants the gates to stay in place so that residents remain safe from hazardous through- traffic.
The long- standing controversy landed back in the spotlight after the death of Maritza Medina.
Medina, 48, was broadsided by a fleeing homicide suspect on Sept. 18 as she traveled through the intersection ofU. S. 27 and Griffin Road on her way home to Pembroke Pines. Medina was thrown from her car and died at the scene.
“My wife would not have been in that intersection if those gates weren’t there,” said Diego Medina, Maritza’s husband. “These gates are putting a lot of people’s lives in danger.”
The gates, on Southwest 199th, Southwest 202nd and Southwest 205th avenues, have been a source of burgeoning tension between neigh-
boring Pembroke Pines and Southwest Ranches since the town installed them in July 2012 after its residents complained about speeding trucks and cars using the roads as thoroughfares.
But on Thursday, Southwest Ranches leaders heard a few loud, impassioned complaints from both sides.
Outside Town Hall, more than 150 people had gathered for a candlelight vigil in honor of Medina.
“This is all about Maritza,” Pembroke Pines resident Jim Breig said of the vigil. “Hopefully they’ll realize they need a change of heart. We’re all one big community. And they divided us.”
After the ceremony, many heading into the council chambers.
“This man was a killer,” Southwest Ranches resident Gay Chaples said of the man who slammed into Medina. “He had just murdered two people. This man was hellbent on destruction. The gates have nothing to do with this.”
Debbie Green, another resident of the town, told the council to get rid of the gates.
“Had that chase happened a couple hours earlier, that could have been my daughter,” she said. “You’re forcing our kids and the parents on that road. I really hope you consider this and don’t let it fall on deaf ears.”
Mike Hanley, a Southwest Ranches resident who opposes the gates, told townofficials to consider giving residents in both communities clickers to get through the gates. He also suggested opening the gates for residents during school drop- off and pick- up hours as a way to keep trucks and cars from barreling through at all hours.
Medina’s death prompted Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank Ortis to send a letter to Southwest Ranches Mayor Jeff Nelson asking him to temporarily open the gates until Pines completes a new road that will give residents direct access to Griffin Road. That road is expected to open by January.
Ortis says if the gates had been open, Medina would have been able to avoid U. S. 27 and take one of the residential roads south to her home in Pembroke Pines.
“She may not have been out there at that particular time if the roads were open,” Ortis said. “I don’t know that, only God knows that. I asked if [ the town] could temporarily open the gates.”
Nelson said a majority of his residents want the gates closed to prevent big trucks and speeding cars from cutting through the neighborhood.
“We feel the pain and emotion of everyone, but the gates aren’t responsible… for this terrible, horrific tragedy,” Nelson said. “I’m certainly upset about [ the] letter and essentially politicizing a horrible tragedy.”
Some say it’s unlikely that officials from either city will cooperate after years of feuding.
Last year, Pembroke Pines refused to provide water to Southwest Ranches in an attempt to block the building of one of the nation’s largest federal immigration detention centers.
Federal officials ultimately decided not to build the project in Southwest Ranches.