Miramar should keep Messam as its mayor

For the third time in eight years, Wayne Messam is running for mayor of Miramar. For the third time, he’s the best choice for voters in this southwest Broward boomtown of nearly 140,000 people.

Founded in 1955 and once a gritty outpost, this city has grown dramatically because of proximity to Interstate 75, making it more than a bedroom community for Miami. It’s a magnet for corporations such as SeaLand, Spirit Airlines, and NBC-6 (WTVJ). Miramar is now the state’s 14th-most populous city, according to UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research. It’s telling that three of the four cities just ahead of Miramar in population are also in Broward: Hollywood, Pembroke Pines and Fort Lauderdale (Gainesville is the other).

The son of Jamaican parents, Messam became the city’s first Black mayor eight years ago when he defeated long-time incumbent Lori Moseley. Reelected in

2019, Messam now faces a challenge from Rudy Theophin, 39, a political newcomer who works for a financial services company.

Messam, 48, a general contractor, flirted briefly with the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019. As mayor, he has worked to forge an identity for his city, and that’s not easy in a county awash in suburban sprawl with 31 cities.

The thrust of Theophin’s campaign is that Messam favors newer, upscale western Miramar at the expense of older eastern and central areas.

Messam denies the charge, which is not much of a platform for a citywide campaign against a two-term incumbent who got 86% of the vote four years ago against a no-name challenger. It makes zero political sense for Messam to pit one area of the city against another.

Theophin’s “tale of two cities” theme is undercut by the fact that the city has made drainage and stormwater improvements in eastern neighborhoods and refreshed landscaping and street lights on Island Drive from Miramar Parkway south to Pembroke Road. The mayor said he takes calls from residents about flooded driveways in East Miramar and has seen to it that outdoor basketball courts there are as good as those out west.

“I’m not sure what city my opponent is talking about,” Messam said in our candidate interview, available on our YouTube channel.

Messam lives in the Sunset Lakes subdivision in far western Miramar. Theophin lives closer to the center of the city near City Hall.

Running against an entrenched incumbent, a challenger must do everything right. But it was not hard to stump Theophin on a simple question; he said he had no idea of the size of the city’s current budget.

In our view, it’s a disqualifier for a mayoral candidate to not readily know the answer.

Messam, by contrast, rattled off the numbers easily, including the size of Miramar’s work force.

Theophin has not made a convincing case that he would be an improvement over Messam, and his lack of preparation is alarming.

Miramar’s mayor serves a four-year term at a salary of about $45,000 a year for what is considered a part-time job. Messam refuses a car allowance that commissioners voted for themselves and steers the money to charities instead.

All Miramar voters can vote in this nonpartisan citywide race. For mayor of Miramar, the Sun Sentinel recommends Wayne Messam.

Messam