Woodlands Denied Law Enforcement Funds Earmarked for Safe Neighborhood Districts

Grumpy Cat is not happy

By: Sharon Aron Baron

Back in February, the Woodlands Neighborhood Improvement District requested funds in the amount of $30,000 from the city’s LETF funds or Law Enforcement Trust Funds, but unfortunately, they were recently denied.

The WNID needed to fund a study by a professional who could provide a redevelopment plan for the Woodlands. Problem was, the WNID didn’t have the $30,000 and the city of Tamarac wasn’t going to fund it. Resident Ilene Lieberman suggested that the WNID board use Law Enforcement Trust Funds to pay for it.

Tamarac has $318,929.00 in State and Federal dollars in the fund which come from the proceeds of seized contraband used in the commission of felonies. Using these funds for Safe Neighborhood Districts is one of the purposes of the money.

Our very own resident and Vice Mayor Michelle Gomez, who attends our WNID meetings regularly, should have been our biggest advocate to move the request forward for a vote, but unfortunately, she never got the request on the agenda so that the commission could vote on it.

According to WNID members in attendance at the meeting last Thursday, Gomez said that Captain Glassman made the final determination. She said that he would not be recommending releasing the funds to the WNID because the low amount of crime in the Woodlands didn’t justify the necessity.

According to The Florida Statute Chapter 932.701-706, the dispersal must be voted on by the city commission, so his recommendation should have been up to the commission to decide.

But it never got there.

Is someone at the city making Glassman the fall guy because they don’t want to give us the funds?

Why isn’t Gomez working harder on our behalf to get it on the agenda?

Let’s look at another scenario here: say Glassman is correct. Maybe the Woodlands doesn’t have a high enough amount of crime to justify the redevelopment plan for the WNID or maybe the amount of crime has gone down so low, that we don’t even need a safe neighborhood district.

Using that logic, maybe we don’t need to pay BSO $220,000 per year for roving patrol either.

Why should we?

If Glassman believes that the Woodlands has low crime, why don’t we just utilize regular BSO who should be driving around here periodically anyway. After all, our tax dollars pay for it.

Have an emergency? BSO recommends you call 911, not the roving patrol anyway.

So Captain Glassman, since you think our crime isn’t high in the Woodlands, maybe we shouldn’t hire your BSO detail.