In North Lauderdale, keep capable Mayor Ana Ziade
North Lauderdale will turn 60 next year, and the city is showing its age.
This diverse working-class community of 47,000 residents has deteriorating housing and infrastructure and the same issues that preoccupy other cities: crime, code enforcement, sea level rise and vacation rentals. It still has outdated gravitational pumps to control water and they need to be replaced with motorized pumps. The city held the line on its tax rate for a sixth year, but it also needs more code officers.
The city needs stable, sensible leadership. The right person is already at City Hall. Voters should re-elect Mayor Ana Ziade to a second four-year term on Nov. 8.
Ziade, 57, is the first Hispanic woman elected mayor of a Broward city. Born to Cuban-American parents who fled Castro’s Cuba in 1959, she has lived the immigrant experience. Born in Van Nuys, Calif., she grew up in Broward, worked as a paralegal and has lived in her city for 28 years — nearly half of its existence. She was elected mayor in 2018, but her first term was preoccupied with the pandemic.
She lists communication, in multiple languages, as a top priority. “I connect with residents. I listen ... I respond,” Ziade said in a Sun Sentinel candidate interview.
Ziade is opposed by Vice Mayor Samson Borgelin, the city’s first Haitian-American elected official, who loaned his campaign $40,000.
Borgelin faced accusations last year that he used a former deputy city clerk as a personal assistant. He did not complete a Sun Sentinel questionnaire and did not respond to an interview invitation. His unresponsiveness should give voters reason to question how well he would respond to their concerns.
Ziade has raised about $6,700 in contributions and loaned her campaign $2,000.
All city voters can vote in this race. The mayor’s job is considered part-time, but Ziade works full-time and said she routinely gets phone calls from constituents after 10 p.m. “When it’s late at night, it’s usually sound — a party,” she said.
At an annual salary of $17,196, this mayor is a bargain for city taxpayers.
Voters in North Lauderdale’s District A will also elect a commissioner from among three candidates: Lherrison Lewis Luke, Martinus D. Rolle and Lorenzo C. Wood, the incumbent. The district is generally north of McNab Road, east of Rock Island Road.
None of the three responded to our questionnaire, so we decline to endorse a candidate.
For mayor of North Lauderdale, the Sun Sentinel recommends Ana Ziade.