From de desk of Vice Mayor Angelo Castillo

FROM THE DESK OF ANGELO CASTILLO, COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 4 PEMBROKE PINES

Dear Friends:

March 9th was Election Day in Pembroke Pines. and I was up for reeelection after representing District 4 these past six years in City Hall. I hope you voted for the candidate that you thought would best take your message to City Hall in the difficult days to come. Nothing is more vital to our democracy than casting your vote and making sure each vote is counted.

I’m thinking about the past six years and the most disappointing part involved the economy. The Dow Jones took us on roller coaster ride, from about 10,500 in March 2004, beyond the unthinkable barrier of 14,000 in late 2007, to a low of 6800 in 2009. It’s been rising steadily since to just over 10,400 as we rang in 2010. Unemmployment in Florida went from about 3% in 2004 to almost 12% in 2010. We paid over $4.00 per gallon of gas in 2008, now down to $2.50. The only constant we could count on these past years was instability and surprises. And we got more than our share of both.

For our city, there were also bright highlights. The Pines and Flamingo intersection, once called the most dangerous intersection in the nation, was finally fixed and has never worked better. Traffic citywide improved as we widened roads, built and rebuilt our crummbling parks, improved our senior programs, created new youth programs. We passed important laws to combat the threat of sexual predators in our community, and some silly ones like deciding by law what seats City Commissioners should sit in (yes, that used to be a problem). We passed compassionate laws that reduced fees for disabled combat veterans. We revamped city advisory boards to work better.

We opened the doors to City Hall and invited residents and community associations to play stronger roles in our development process. We enjoyed some budget surpluses and over-

came some budget deficits. We improved police and fire rescue, reduced our emergency response times, created a new and practical plan for City Center. Sometimes I voted in favor of the budget, but when I thought City Hall was taxing you too much, I voted no. Our charter schools continued to improve, we paid our teachers better, and are proud of all our public schools. I’m thankful to have played a role in all those successes and more.

Through it all, I had the good fortune to meet thousands of you, to learn about your lives, your families, your concerns. I’ve felt your struggles and shared your pride in our city. You’ve gotten to know me also. You’ve seen me angry and you’ve seen me laugh. You’ve seen me serious and you’ve seen me jovial. You’ve heard my hopes and you’ve listened to my worries. I have gotten lots of advice from you, most of it good advice. To all, I said I thank you. I had lots of email, many phone calls, my share of letters and I answered them all, most within hours. Hundreds of you called me in time of need and I had the pleasure of helping you solve a problem of importance to you. It’s been a very satisfying and interesting six years. There wasn’t one moment when I wasn’t proud to be your voice in City Hall. It has been the honor of a lifetime.

I work for the best residents in the warmest city I know. My family and I love it here and we hope yours does also. There are tough days ahead and difficult decisions await us. We will have to overcome them or they will overcome us. A culture change is needed in City Hall to successfully transform it from a government focused on westward expansion, to a mature, built-out city confronting a new set of urban challenges. My eyes are fixed on the horizon and what I see for our city is a bright future. That future includes you and me and our families doing well right here in Pembroke Pines. I look forward to more days with you fighting hard to make sure our city becomes even better.

What’s your opinion, I’d like to know. Write me at acastillo@ppines.com
Sincerely,
Commissioner Angelo Castillo Vice Mayor
City of Pembroke Pines

Posted by Ovi on March 16, 2010 - 1:23 pm . Filed under Falls Nation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry