Something is happening here

More and more neighbors are asking for the basics. Food. Tents. A Christmas present for a kid who’s never had one. People saying, carefully, sometimes anonymously, that they’re about to be homeless — that their voucher is expiring, that eviction is close.

Sometimes, these posts get a mean comment or two — from people who have clearly never had to ask anyone for anything. That gets under my skin, because it takes real bravery (and a hit to your ego) to post something like this. It’s embarrassing. It’s supposed to be embarrassing, in a country that ties your worth to your paycheck.

Two assumptions show up constantly in the comments, and both are wrong:

• “This is probably a scam.” It’s not.

• “They’re probably not even working.” They are. Or they’re disabled, or actively job-hunting in a market that doesn’t have enough jobs to go around — and this has been true for a while, if you’ve been paying attention.

And here’s the other thing that gets me: well-meaning residents copy-pasting a Google list of “resources” into the comments, like the person asking hasn’t already called every single one of those numbers and hit a wall. Try it yourself sometime. Call the “resources.” See how many are over capacity, defunded, or gone.

The math isn’t mathing

I emailed Feeding South Florida with one question: Is this a Pompano problem, or a bigger one?

The answer, from President and CEO Paco Vélez, was blunt. The pantry served 4,559 people in 2023. In 2024, that jumped to 8,447 — an 85% increase. In 2025 alone, they’ve already served 19,904 people. That’s more than the previous two years combined.

The monthly numbers move even faster. Early 2025: 900 to 1,000 clients a month. By September: 2,135. October: 2,548. November: 3,031. Vélez calls it sustained 20–30% month-over-month growth, driven by the cost of living, changes to SNAP, and working families who, a year or two ago, weren’t anywhere near a food pantry.

“We are operating well beyond capacity,” Vélez said, “but we are not turning anyone away, and never will.”

That’s true right now, held together by extended hours and a staff running faster than their budget was built for. It will not hold forever. Everyone running these numbers knows it.

Here’s the part that should stop you cold: the fastest-growing group Feeding South Florida serves isn’t who you’d guess.

It’s working families whose wages haven’t kept pace with rent, childcare, and gas. It’s first-time visitors — middle-income households knocked sideways by a rent hike or a job loss they didn’t see coming.

It’s seniors who lost benefits to recertification confusion during the federal shutdown. And increasingly, it’s people caught in what Vélez calls the benefits gap — earning just above the SNAP threshold, so they don’t qualify for help, but nowhere close to actually covering their bills.

Food is the only flexible line item most of these households have left. Rent, insurance, the electric bill — those are fixed. So food is what gets cut, and the pantry is where people end up.

This isn’t a feeling. It’s reality.

The framework for this is called ALICE — Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed — built by United Way of Broward County and United For ALICE to count the households that don’t show up in official poverty statistics because they’re working, sometimes two jobs, and still can’t cover the basics.

In 2023, 13% of Florida households lived below the federal poverty line. 47% fell below the ALICE threshold — nearly quadruple what the “poverty rate” alone tells you, and up from 35% the year before.

In Broward, a family of four needed $87,732 to cover essentials in 2023 — nearly three times the federal poverty level of $30,000. Put two parents to work full-time in two of the state’s most common jobs — say, a personal care aide and a stock worker — and that household still lands $57,732 short. Not behind. Not struggling a little. Fifty-seven thousand dollars short, while both parents clock in every day.

And 37% of workers in Florida’s 20 most common jobs — retail, fast food, cashiers, stockers, registered nurses — live in households that can’t afford the basics of American life. These aren’t people who did something wrong. They’re the backbone of this state’s service economy, priced out of the life their paycheck is supposed to buy them.

You can watch the same story play out on GoFundMe.

In 2025, fundraisers to cover essentials — rent, utilities, groceries — jumped another 20%, after that category had already quadrupled the year before.

“Monthly bills” is now the second-fastest-growing fundraiser category on the platform, behind only nonprofits, and CEO Tim Cadogan has confirmed it’s not a U.S.-only story — it’s climbing across every major English-speaking market the company operates in.

Read that again. People aren’t crowdfunding for surgery or a funeral. They’re crowdfunding for rent. For the electric bill. For groceries. The emergency isn’t the exception anymore. It’s the maintenance cost of being alive right now.

And the City of Pompano Beach is doing nothing

You might wonder what the city is doing to help. The answer is nothing. Pompano Beach dedicates $0 of its own money to homelessness or financial hardship.

I spent months digging through the city’s budget, its CRA financing plans, and its HUD consolidated plan — thousands of pages, all told. What I found: every housing and financial-aid program the city lists is funded entirely through state or federal grants. The city administers the help. It doesn’t fund a dime of it.

Meanwhile, the same budget season produced tens of millions for a downtown parking garage and a wave of new development along the CRA corridors. Here’s what that looks like in dollars:

Not publicly disclosed: total project costs for Atlantic One, W Pompano Beach, Modera, The Satori, Vera, Festival South, or the Racetrack Loop warehouses — only unit pricing or permit valuations (which understate the true cost) are available.

I find it hard to stomach that the two men steering this — a city manager pulling $400K a year who doesn’t even live here full-time, and a mayor who has never done anything tangible and actionable for residents facing hardship — get to make that call.

A review of Mayor Rex Hardin’s campaign finance filings shows his largest donors concentrated among developers and construction interests, and his voting record on zoning and CRA items tracks closely with what regularly draws criticism at commission meetings as development-first. (I’ll be publishing the full donor and voting breakdown in a follow-up — worth reading before you take my word for it.)

His defenders will point to the downtown revitalization project’s affordable housing component. Fine — but nobody can tell you how much, at what cost, or on what timeline. Ask the mayor directly, and he’ll deflect. By the time any of it is built, years from now, plenty of people will already have lost their housing.

I started attending commission meetings to see this for myself. The topics that dominate every meeting: development projects, the CRA, which contractor gets which contract. Nobody’s asking how many residents are struggling, or what would actually help them.

And then there’s Kodak Black.

Earlier this year, Hardin and the city manager unilaterally gave him the keys to the city, citing his generosity — air conditioners and rent payments for tenants in his old Section 8 housing. That’s a decision worth sitting with, not brushing past.

Kodak Black has an active investigation into a recent shooting in the city and a criminal history that includes raping a teenager. He also has a well-documented pattern of frantic public giving timed right before his trials, which his lawyers have used before to argue for leniency — and it’s worked, repeatedly. Whatever good those AC units and rent payments did for the families who received them, handing him the keys to the city was the administration’s most visible act of “help” this year. That’s not a footnote. That’s the actual homelessness policy of Pompano Beach in 2026: a PR strategy borrowed from a defendant’s legal team, instead of a program the city built and funded itself.

A word for what’s already happening

So the city isn’t showing up. Somebody is, though. Almost every day on Pompano’s Facebook groups, someone posts — carefully, sometimes anonymously — that they’re short this month. A single mom whose voucher is about to lapse. A woman who became homeless at 56 and never saw it coming. A grandmother asking, gently, if anyone has a bike for a nine-year-old who’s never had one for Christmas.

And within minutes, someone answers. Not the city. Not a caseworker. A neighbor.

Sociologists have started calling this “neighborism“ — treating the people who live closest to you as an actual resource, not background noise in your day. It’s not new. It’s an old idea, dusted off for a moment that needs it.

For decades we told ourselves geography didn’t matter anymore — that a real community could live in a group chat or a comment section, no matter how far away. NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg, author of Palaces for the People, has pointed out that Americans actually socialized with their neighbors far more 60 years ago, back when long-distance calls were expensive and daily life had to happen close to home. Stacked jobs and a social life outsourced to apps quietly eroded that. It’s easy now to know almost nothing about the person on the other side of your wall.

What’s changed is that a lot of people are closer to crisis than they’d like to admit — and a group chat 2,000 miles away can’t lend you a car seat in 20 minutes or watch your kid when your shift runs long. Proximity does something distance can’t.

Harvard sociologist Robert Sampson calls this “collective efficacy” — communities where neighbors aren’t necessarily close friends, but stay loosely connected and willing to step in anyway. That looser kind of tie is often enough. You don’t need to know someone’s birthday. You need to know someone will answer the phone.

What it looks like here

You don’t have to squint to see it in Pompano. It’s in the “FREE Stuff ONLY Broward” posts. It’s the neighbor collecting gently-used toys for two little girls whose mothers have both passed and whose father is incarcerated. It’s the single mom picking her kids up from the Boys & Girls Club, embarrassed to even be posting, doing the math on rent versus a paycheck that doesn’t land until Monday.

What struck me most, reading through these threads, wasn’t the need — need is everywhere, if you’re looking for it. It was the response time. Real help, from real people, often before I’d even finished reading the post.

Here’s a personal example. My first-born dog, Russell Nelson, has a 4–5 heart murmur. I’d lost my job and was struggling to find another one. His medication runs $100 a month, and without it, he could go into congestive heart failure fast. I was freaking out, so I posted on Nextdoor.

The response was overwhelming — 8,600 views, 47 reactions, 134 comments from neighbors wanting to help. I got free meds from a few amazing people, who didn’t know me at all.

Was it embarrassing to ask? Hell yes. Will Russell live longer because of it? Hopefully so. I’m eternally grateful to those people, and I mean that.

The people showing up aren’t handing out a Google-copied list of hotlines that turn out to be over capacity — they know, because they’ve probably called those numbers themselves. What they’re offering is smaller and more reliable: a bike, a bag of groceries, a ride, a bed for a night.

Aisha Nyandoro, who runs a nonprofit supporting families in subsidized housing nationally, describes this as something rooted in reciprocity rather than charity — neighbors as co-creators in each other’s stability, not strangers doing a favor. For a lot of people here, that’s not a philosophy. It’s just how they’ve had to live.

Filling a gap, not fixing it

I want to be careful here, because neighborism shouldn’t let anyone off the hook — least of all a city sitting on a downtown revitalization budget while contributing nothing of its own to residents about to lose their housing. Mutual aid is not a substitute for policy. A GoFundMe is not a housing plan.

But it’s real, and it’s working, in the small, unglamorous, unfunded way things work when nobody’s waiting for permission.

Building it on purpose — a real neighborhood group chat, a running list of who’s offering and who’s asking, block by block instead of scattered across a platform — could make it sturdier than a feed of individual posts. Other places have started this way: someone printed 50 fliers, dropped them in mailboxes, and built something (a WhatsApp group) that now catches car seats, coordinates casserole duty, and keeps an eye on each other when it matters most.

Pompano doesn’t need a commission vote to start that. It’s already started. It just doesn’t have a name yet, or a directory, or anyone collecting the stories.

Wouldn’t you like to be the one who helps?

I think about that woman and her she-shed more than almost anything else in my life. I think about the people who sent Walmart groceries to a stranger’s door because they had no reason to and did it anyway. I didn’t get saved by a program. I got saved by a neighbor who saw a post and decided to answer it.

That’s what’s happening in these Facebook threads right now, to hundreds of people who will never write about it. The city isn’t going to be the thing that catches them. You might be.

Resources

Step 1: Find your people. Search Facebook’s Groups section for mutual-aid and “free stuff” groups in your area. A few worth starting with:

• Buy Nothing Fort Lauderdale

• Free Stuff Only Broward

• Section 8, HUD VASH, HCV, Rapid Re-Housing Florida

• Pompano Beach Florida

• Friends of Broward County, FL

• Fort Lauderdale Moms / Boca Raton Moms / Moms of Miami & Broward

• Broward Community Cats – TNR and Feral Cat Help (even a $5 donation helps trap and treat a hurt cat)

• Free pet stuff / Florida Animals Needing Homes, Rescue, Foster

• Free Legal Help

Step 2: Ask like you mean it. Explain your situation in as much detail as you’re comfortable with — specificity makes people feel better about giving. If a group rejects your post, try another one. You can also post anonymously and ask people to comment so you can DM them privately. Include pictures.

Step 3: Follow up. Respond to every comment. Update people once you’ve found help. They’re invested in your outcome — let them know it worked.

A few more places to look:

• Miracle Messages — reconnecting people experiencing homelessness with lost family

• Freecycle — free local giveaways

Here’s one way this app developer is trying to get people off the streets faster, and it’s brilliant. Maybe we could do something like that here?!

What am I missing? Share any resources I left out in the comments — I know there’s a ton I haven’t found yet.

🅿️ PARKING RATE INCREASE

Agenda Item 10: 26-124 P.H. 2026-20: (PUBLIC HEARING 1ST READING)

The City wants to raise parking rates 20% to help finance two major garages (worth $56M+ in new garage debt) -- one at the beach (the next item on the agenda) and one in Old Town (the third item on the agenda).

The tradeoff: Residents get a discount of 50% off (up from 20%).

Key changes:

• ⬆️ 20% rate increase citywide (Harbor Village excluded)

• 🏝️ 50% resident discount on all spaces

• 🚤 New annual boat trailer parking pass at Alsdorf Park (Based on availability)

• 📡 More tech upgrades: license plate readers, space-count sensors

• 🅿️ Funds two new garages:

  • Oceanside Garage (~715 spaces)

  • Old Town Garage (300–400+ future spaces)

The catch:

(Source: Vice Mayor Alison Fournier)

Only 206 residents use the discount today (0.18% of the population), but the City’s financial model assumes 6,000+ will sign up. For the math to work, they’d need adoption to increase roughly 30x!

If adoption stays under 1,000 residents: The city could collect $470,000 to $550,000 MORE per year than what the pro forma projects. Over the 30-year life of the financial plan, that’s potentially $14-16 million in additional revenue that isn’t accounted for.

Current & Proposed Pompano Beach Parking Rates - Dec. 9, 2025

🎤 Questions to ask:

1. What adoption rate is the city projecting?

2. If enrollment stays low, what happens to the extra revenue?

3. What outreach is planned to drive registration?

4. Is the resident discount sign-up process going to be easier? Because right now the online form doesn’t work, you have to go in-person to sign up, and you need a utility bill or lease form to prove residency, but what if you don’t have either, because you live with a family member, etc?

5. Why is there a $0.40 additional fee when you pay by PayByPhone? Why isn’t this transparent in your rate sheets online and in the attached proposal documents? Very misleading.

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🐬 OCEANSIDE PARKING GARAGE ($33M)

Agenda Item 11: 26-37 (Resolution -- Postponed from Nov. 13, 2025)

This agenda item is a request for the City Commission to approve a nearly $33 million contract with Whiting-Turner Contracting Company to design and build a new parking garage on the barrier island at 109 N. Ocean Boulevard (the big existing surface lot by the pier area).

This agenda item asks the Commission to:

✅ Award Whiting-Turner the contract, but only for the design phase right now

• The total project is $32.8 million.

• The City will only commit to $3 million to start the design and pre-construction work.

• The actual construction cost (~$29.8 million) will only move forward after:

  • The design is finished (around early Fall 2027)

  • The City confirms it can borrow the money (issue debt)

  • The Commission approves a separate financing package later

If the City can’t issue the bonds, construction does not proceed.

🧠 Why the garage is being proposed:

According to the memo:

• A future private development (Related’s Parcel A at 20 N. Ocean) will remove 150 public parking spaces.

• Parking demand on the beach keeps rising, especially after Fishing Village, Hilton, Sandbar and W Hotel projects.

• The City wants a long-term permanent parking solution rather than depending on temporary leased lots.

• The garage would feature 715 spaces, with a coral-inspired wrap by local artist Dennis Friel and over 25% local contracting participation.

Fun Fact: The project has already been postponed twice (Nov. 13 and earlier) because the financial plan and timing needed more clarity.

💰 Where the money will come from:

Design Phase (Now): $3,037,041

• Already available in the City’s Parking Fund reserves.

• No new borrowing yet.

Construction Phase (Later): $29,839,649

• Will be financed through 30-year debt (bonds).

• Estimated annual debt payments: $2.3 million.

• Funds would come from the Parking Enterprise Fund (garage + metered revenue).

• This financing requires a separate vote once design is complete.

💭 Some food for thought

1️⃣ Construction will disrupt parking on the beach

Only 40 spaces of the existing 278 will remain open during construction. The City plans to rely heavily on:

• Additional Circuit carts

• The 200-space St. Martin’s lot

• Directing people to private paid lots

For any resident who already thinks parking on the beach is difficult, the next 2–3 years will be much worse.

2️⃣ Timeline: This is a LONG project

• Design completion: Summer/Fall 2027

• Construction: 2026–2027

• New garage opens: Fall 2027

If anything slips (and large public projects routinely do), this could easily be 2028.

3️⃣ Why this matters now

Even though the City isn’t committing to build yet, choosing Whiting-Turner and starting design:

• Sets the garage size (715 spaces)

• Locks in the aesthetic, layout and footprint

• Makes it much harder politically to reverse course later

Once millions are spent on design, scrapping the project becomes unlikely.

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🧓 OLD TOWN PARKING GARAGE: $5M LAND PURCHASE

Agenda Item 12: 26-23 (Resolution)

The city wants to buy the last vacant lot in Old Town (40,757 sq ft at 134 NE 3rd St), because businesses will eventually need 722 parking spaces and currently face deficits during big events, like Untapped.

• Price: $5M (appraised at $5.2-6.1M)

• Short-term: Surface lot with ~85 spaces

• Long-term: Multi-level garage (300-400+ spaces)

• Free of charge (for time being)

⚠️ What’s missing:

• Actual occupancy rates of existing parking

• Peak usage times/dates

• Documentation of businesses losing customers due to lack of parking

• Why they’re planning for maximum buildout when the area isn’t that busy yet (They say they’ll lose out if they don’t act fast)

❓Where are these numbers coming from?

They are NOT based on current traffic. The memo admits the table represents projected “business demand at build-out,” not the current needs.

They built the numbers using:

✔ Assumed future restaurants, bars and mixed-use development

Page 6 includes “future restaurant,” “future brewery,” “future wine bar,” “CRA future food/beverage,” etc. Most of these don’t exist today.

✔ Industry-standard formulas

Cities typically estimate restaurant parking by rules of thumb like:

• 10–15 spaces per 1,000 sq ft

• 1 space per X seats

• 1 space per employee

These formulas inflate demand, especially for walkable districts.

✔ Peak dinner/evening assumptions

Most restaurant-heavy districts calculate parking for the busiest hour (e.g., Saturday at 7 PM), not the actual average daily use.

✔ CRA’s vision of Old Town as a nightlife/restaurant district

This memo isn’t describing the current Old Town -- it’s describing the city’s idealized future Old Town.

❓Why is the city projecting such high numbers?

The memo is doing this:

Plan for the future → Assume every lot gets built out → Assume all restaurants are full → Assume max demand → Use formulas that inflate parking needs → Use that number to justify the land purchase

It’s not a conspiracy -- it’s just how government planning documents often work, but it’s also not what a realistic person would call honest forecasting.

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🚕 IS POMPANO’S $327K/YEAR SHUTTLE SERVICE WORTH THE INVESTMENT?

Agenda Item 13: 26-103 (PUBLIC HEARING 1ST READING)

The City of Pompano Beach wants to renew and expand its contract with Circuit Transit, the company that runs those small electric shuttles that give free or low-cost rides around the beach area and nearby neighborhoods.

They’ve been doing this since 2021, and the city says the service helps:

• Move people around without using cars

• Reduce traffic

• Make it easier to get to shops, restaurants, and the beach

• Eventually connect east and west Pompano with short-hop rides

This ordinance would approve a new 5-year contract so Circuit can keep operating and possibly grow the service area.

🧾 What is a “Public Hearing First Reading”?

Before the City Commission can finalize this kind of law (an ordinance), they must:

1. Hold a public hearing → residents can comment

2. Vote on a first reading

3. Vote again on a second reading at a later meeting

This agenda item is step No. 1.

💰 What does it cost?

The maximum cost over 5 years is $1.63 million, which averages to $326,709 per year.

Where will the money come from each year?

Year 1

• FDOT grant: $163,354

• Gas tax fund: $115,000

• Parking fund: $48,354

Year 2

• FDOT grant: $31,645

• Gas tax fund: $115,000

• Parking fund: $180,063

Years 3–5

• Gas tax fund: $115,000 per year

• Parking fund: $211,709 per year

FDOT grants are helping pay for this now, but the city will cover more of the cost later.

✅ PROPOSED CHARTER CHANGES COULD EXTEND COMMISSIONER TERMS TO 12 YEARS

Agenda Item 18: 2026-01: (PUBLIC HEARING 2ND READING -- First reading: Nov. 13, 2025)

This ordinance is a proposal to change the rules for how long Pompano’s Mayor and City Commissioners can serve, how long their terms last and when their elections happen. BUT none of this becomes real unless voters approve it in November 2026.

🧩 What Changes Are Being Proposed?

1. Create Term Limits

Right now, Pompano Beach has NO term limits. Commissioners and the Mayor can serve unlimited terms.

The proposal would change that to:

• Max of 3 consecutive 4-year terms for Commissioners

• Max of 3 consecutive 4-year terms for the Mayor

That means: 👉 Maximum of 12 years in a row, then you must step out.

2. Expand the Length of Commissioner Terms

Currently: Commissioners serve 2-year terms.

Proposed change: Everyone eventually moves to 4-year terms.

However, to stagger elections properly:

• Odd-numbered districts start 4-year terms in 2028

• Even-numbered districts get one 2-year term in 2026, then switch to 4-year terms in 2028

Why? To make sure not everyone is up for reelection at the same time.

3. Elections to Line up with November General Elections

They want elections to line up with big November general elections, not March, because turnout is much higher in general elections than in special or off-cycle ones.

The Charter Advisory Board recommended:

• Do NOT hold a special election, it would have low turnout.

• Put this on the November 2026 general election ballot.

• Run a big public education campaign so residents understand what’s being voted on.

🗳️ Pompano Beach did vote on this before

In March 2020, Pompano Beach (Proposed Amendment No. 2), asked voters if they wanted to expand District Commissioner terms from two years to four years, the “No” vote was approximately 71%.

• Yes: 29.12% (4,110 votes)

• No: 70.88% (10,004 votes)

❌ Voters said NO.

The measure failed. This 2026 proposal is essentially a repackaged version of the 2020 effort, same goals, slightly rewritten structure.

🔁 So why are we seeing it again?

Based on public comments, meeting notes, and what attachments show:

1. The Commission wants to try again, believing turnout will be higher in a November general election than in the low-turnout March election where it failed.

2. The Charter Amendment Advisory Board agreed that:

   • The idea can go on the ballot again

   • It should not be a special election

   • It should be placed on the November 2026 general ballot (which matches your memo)

   • The city should run an “education campaign” to help it pass

🙋🏻‍♀️ Why it may have failed before

Based on news reports and public comments:

• Voters were suspicious of commissioners trying to lengthen their own terms

• Residents didn’t feel informed (low public education/outreach)

• Some groups pushed against what looked like “self-serving” changes

• The off-cycle March election meant very low turnout, so opponents dominated the vote

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🤐 STATE LAW FORCES POMPANO TO STRIP PUBLIC HEARINGS FROM DEVELOPMENT APPROVALS

Agenda Item 19: 26-75 (Public hearing 2nd reading)

Pompano Beach is voting on an ordinance that removes public hearings and City Commission approval from the process of approving plats -- the maps that lay out new subdivisions and development sites.

The city has no choice. A new Florida law (SB 784) now mandates that plat approvals be handled administratively by a staff member, not elected officials.

🚨 Why it matters

• Public input goes away: Residents will no longer get hearings or a chance to speak before a plat is approved.

• Commission loses power: Plat approvals shift entirely to the Development Services Director.

• Faster development approvals: Developers can move projects through the pipeline more quickly.

• Local control reduced: This is another example of the state preempting city authority.

📝 The vote, explained

Even though the decision has already been made at the state level, Pompano Beach must still update its own code to comply.

Tomorrow’s vote is basically the city saying: “We’re updating our paperwork to match state law.”

If they voted “no,” the city would be violating state statute, risking lawsuits and legal penalties.

🔎 What’s changing

• The Development Services Director becomes the sole approval authority for plats.

• All public hearing requirements are deleted.

• Several zoning and procedural sections are rewritten to match the new law.

🏥 New standalone ER rules up for a vote

Agenda Item 23: 25-444 -- P.H. 2025-57: (PUBLIC HEARING 1ST READING)

A developer wants the city to rewrite zoning rules to allow hospital-based off-campus emergency departments -- standalone ERs that operate 24/7 -- potentially closer to neighborhoods than what current rules allow.

If approved, the city could see 24/7 standalone ERs in more commercial areas, including those near homes. That means more medical access, but also ambulance noise, lighting, and traffic concerns.

It would also change standards for urgent care and other medical uses, including rules about how far 24-hour facilities must be from residential homes.

The Planning & Zoning Board voted 6–1 to deny the change in May, saying any 24-hour medical facility should be at least 500 feet from residential districts.

Between the lines: This change wasn’t initiated by the city — it was requested by a private applicant represented by high-profile land-use attorney Dennis Mele, signaling an upcoming project that would benefit from looser zoning rules.

The item has been postponed five times, a sign of behind-the-scenes negotiations, pushback or attempts to refine (or soften) the rules.

What’s next:
Commissioners will decide whether to:

• Side with P&Z and reject the change

• Support staff and the applicant

• Or negotiate new separation standards before moving it forward

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🐶 Pompano updates pet-sale rules

Agenda Item No. 24: 26-119 -- P.H. 2025-69: (PUBLIC HEARING 1ST READING)

Pompano Beach may rewrite its rules for businesses and breeders that sell dogs and cats. The current ordinance is old, and the City Attorney says it needs to be strengthened to better regulate how animals are bred, kept and sold.

🧩 What’s in the update

While the summary doesn’t list all the details, this type of ordinance usually covers things like:

• Minimum standards for animal care

• Required paperwork (vaccines, source records, age limits, etc.)

• Limits on where pets can come from

• Requirements for hobby breeders operating inside city limits

• Penalties for non-compliance

It does not appear to ban pet sales -- it just tightens the rules.

📅 The backstory

• Originally scheduled for Sept. 9, 2025 → postponed

• Then Oct. 28, 2025 → postponed

• Now coming back for 1st reading

When something gets postponed multiple times, it usually means:

• Staff or commissioners wanted changes, or

• Stakeholders (pet stores, breeders, advocates) pushed back.

TL;DR: If someone is selling dogs or cats in Pompano Beach, the city wants to make sure they’re doing it responsibly.

💸 Should the City Attorney get a raise?

Agenda Item 28: 26-78 -- Discuss the annual performance evaluation for Mr. Mark E. Berman, City Attorney.

The council will discuss the annual performance of City Attorney Mark Berman -- one of the City’s four Charter Officers and one of the most influential people in City Hall. Commissioners will discuss his work, consider his raise and decide on next year’s priorities.

His current vs. increased bi-weekly salary

His current bi-weekly salary vs. the top raise option (4%). Commissioners will choose whether he gets a 2%, 3%, or 4% bump.

📈$12,473 → $12,972

Key achievements (according to performance review)

• 300+ Ordinances and resolutions he drafted or reviewed this year, which is an unusually high volume.

• $12 million+ PFAS (PSAF) settlement funds secured to fix water system contamination -- a major financial win for the City.

• 0 major disputes: No signs of conflict with the Commission or staff in this year’s evaluation materials.

📣 HOW TO PARTICIPATE

1. Consent Agenda: Commission can pull items for discussion. Speak during Audience to be Heard.

2. Public Hearings: Sign up to speak on each agenda item.

3. Audience to be Heard: General comments at the end of the meeting.

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This week’s newsletter is shorter than usual, but I have a lot of upcoming, very important/interesting stories to share soon. They’ve just are taking longer to get out, due to records’ requests, etc.

I hope you enjoy, and if you didn’t, feel free to reply and tell me why. 🙂

Lauren

Did you know?

If you’re a Pompano Beach resident, you can get a 20% discount for beach parking, which you have to renew every year.

While you should be able to register online, I was forced to go into the office because the online registration didn’t work. This seems to be other residents’ experience as well. (Source)

Also, paybyphone charges an additional 15 cents for notifications automatically, if you don’t turn off this feature within the app. Turn it off by going to Account >> Settings >> Parking notifications.

Parking revenue is the third biggest driver of revenue for the city, and it’s increased dramatically from 2016 to 2024.

In 2023, beach parking revenue generated $6,813,184 up from $1,966,572 in 2016. Last year, 79 percent of the revenue came from parking fees, whereas in 2016, fees accounted for only 50 percent of revenue.

The rates listed on the parking page are off by 40 cents. If you pay attention, when you pay for parking, there’s an extra 40 cent fee. While it doesn’t say what it’s for, I called paybyphone’s support line, and they said it’s a fee the city worked out with them.

News

Broward Sheriff’s Office appeals to state for more funding

Sheriff Dr. Gregory Tony has escalated his budget dispute with Broward County to the state administration commission (comprising the governor and his cabinet), accusing the county government of misrepresenting law enforcement spending.

(The BSO Facebook page sponsored this nifty little Facebook ad to explain exactly what’s “misrepresented.” Nothing like using taxpayer dollars for self-preservation.)

The core dispute:

• Sheriff Tony requested a 9% budget increase; the County Commission approved only 3%

• BSO received $833 million of the county’s $1.8 billion total budget (starting Oct. 1)

• The sheriff argues the county is misleading the public by including airport and seaport funding in the overall budget, making BSO’s share appear to be less than 10% instead of nearly 50% of the property tax-funded portion (Not sure why this is so important to emphasize? Seems like a deflection.)

The sheriff’s underlying argument

Tony claims that low pay is causing BSO to operate with 160+ unfilled positions, which presumably affects their ability to provide adequate service/coverage.

“The pay disparity in DOD sworn positions manifested itself in serious and concerning vacancy rates, ranging on average in excess of 160 sworn positions, he said in his 75-page appeal to the state. “These vacancies have resulted in the need to institute mandatory overtime to fill critical needs, furthering burdening an already overworked staff and risking staff safety.”

This claim is based on a 2024 salary study, conducted by Evergreen Solutions.

“The Evergreen salary study, completed in calendar year 2024, identified significant disparities in pay with other similar employers, including those within the County, within the state, and nationally, in all BSO job classifications. The study found that BSO salaries, as a whole, were on average at least 19% below market average when adjusted for cost-of-living,” he said.

Question 1: Is salary the only reason there are so many vacancies?

While this is likely true, it begs the question: Is salary the sole reason deputies are leaving or not applying in the first place?

Notice what’s missing from BSO’s appeal petition: exit interview data, employee satisfaction surveys, retention analytics by department and comparative analysis of why employees leave for other agencies. They focus almost exclusively on salary comparisons without addressing whether people are leaving for higher pay elsewhere or for other reasons entirely.

If salary were truly the primary issue, you’d expect BSO to present data showing: “X% of departing employees cited salary in exit interviews,” or “We lost Y candidates, who cited salary as the deciding factor.” The absence of this data is telling.

Question 2: Is the salary issue because BSO’s budget is too small?

I asked this question to a Facebook Group I manage, with 328 current and retired cops. This was the best, most detailed response from David Howard, the former Pembroke Pines police chief:

No, the salary issue isn’t because the budget is too small. It’s because of how the money is being used. From what I’ve seen, an enormous portion of the funding is tied up in command staff positions and the support structure built around them.

BSO has the largest command staff in the country, and their primary function seems to be keeping the sheriff comfortable and insulated. Had I been elected, 80% of those command-level positions would have been reassigned to the road where the actual work is done.

The budget itself is not the problem but the wasteful spending is. For example:

The sheriff does not need six vehicles.

The undersheriff does not need three vehicles and a captain as a chauffeur.

The seven colonels do not need captains driving them around.

Deputies and firefighters — not political appointees — should be the ones flying the aircraft…

So yes, the money is there. What’s missing is leadership, priorities, and respect for the people actually doing the job.

Let’s not also forget the $73 million wellness center Tony went over budget on, and that he reallocated $4.8 million of salaries to cover the deficit.

According to NBC6, the [Broward County] auditor, who investigated the training facility fiasco, told the commission their research found the sheriff’s office re-allocated about $8.6 million from other funds to put towards the training center. Of that figure, $4.8 million was taken from salaries.

“Much of that salary money was due to natural attrition, vacancies but the Sheriff’s office actually told us some of it was intentionally delaying filling of some positions,” Broward County Auditor Robert Melton, said.

“We are all getting emails talking about the salaries not being up to Palm Beach’s… and to hear that it went there instead, that bothers me,” said Tim Ryan, one of several Broward County commissioners (now, former commissioner), who addressed the audit.

Exciting upcoming date

Marshalls grand opening

• Thursday, November 20 (tomorrow!)

• Opens from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

• Located where the old Stein Mart used to be in the Pompano Beach shopping center across from St. Coleman and in the same lot as Anthonys.

Help a local

Adopt Axel!

This dog’s story (Axel) absolutely breaks my heart. His sister (Cinco) was adopted by a family that has five dogs and kids, and they decided to foster her brother.

Monday marks three months Axel has been loving life at their house. Sadly, Axel must be returned on Monday due the shelter’s policy.

Look at the Instagram story I shared, and it’ll break your heart too, to have to imagine this beautiful, really great dog having to go back to the shelter after experiencing so much love and attention. He just won’t understand and will likely shut down.

If you can’t adopt Axel, please share this with your network, in case someone else might be able to save him, in which I’m positive he’ll be eternally grateful.

💔

It’s Lauren Holliday, the creator of Real Pompano. I’ve been wanting to start a curated newsletter for a while now in addition to my more opinionated pieces. This is my first stab at this type of newsletter, so please feel free to reply back to this email, letting me know what you think. :)

What you’ll be reading:

• Important local news

• Help a local: A local person or animal, who needs help in our community

• Recommendations: Local recommendations for different things

• Resources: Food and pet resources for those struggling financially right now

• Upcoming city commission meeting breakdown: I broke down the agenda for the next meeting so you can actually understand what votes are important and what they mean

• Local jobs

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News

Broward Sheriff’s sergeant criminally investigated, fired over misuse of union funds gets his job back (Deerfield Beach)

Personal note: This is a little funny/ironic when the Sheriff is saying he needs an obscene increase in budget to pay deputies more.

• Sgt. Jason Zehler was criminally investigated and fired in May 2024 for allegedly misusing tens of thousands in union funds while serving as vice president of the deputies’ union. He returned to work in late October under a “last chance” agreement.

• The scandal involved three union leaders—Zehler, president Jeffrey Bell, and treasurer Frank Voudy III—who allegedly spent union money on personal items including bonuses to themselves ($15,000 in “reelection bonuses”), tax payments on their own stipends ($6,000), a $1,500 iPhone, a $2,500 home security system, and subscriptions.

• Prosecutors found their conduct “offends basic morality and criminality” but couldn’t charge them because the union’s constitution didn’t clearly forbid such spending. There were no meeting minutes or voting records justifying the expenditures.

• As part of his reinstatement, Zehler’s most serious charges (organized fraud and grand theft) were reduced to lesser violations. He must work under a one-year probationary period and submit a resignation letter effective April 2027, which he can request to revoke after his probation ends.

• This comes the same week Voudy was ordered to pay $4 million to a former union employee who accused him of sexual assault during a business trip.

• Report complaints about BSO at Broward Cop Watch.

More news

• Quarter of Florida residents ‘seriously’ contemplate leaving state because of high cost of living, survey says

Facebook buzz

• Commissioner Fesik’s post about property taxes potentially going away (Great info that affects Pompano)

• Darlene Smith’s campaign donations include Mayor Rex Hardin, Commissioner Rhonda Eaton, Moss & tons of developers

• Pompano Beach DRC To Review ‘Atlantico’ At 2233 E. Atlantic Blvd., Pompano Beach, Florida (Not sure if this passed)

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Help a local

Chae Lottie

Iso: anything helps. Fresh out of rehab and got my own place. Need cups, dishes, towels,garbage cans, cooking utensils, bedding(queen) curtains, blankets, pillows if u can help lmk 🥰 really anything for a house coz I just moved in. Ty located in Pompano Beach ⛱️

(Message her on FB)

Adopt or foster a dog or cat

• Broward County Adoptable Dogs

• Pets for Adoption at Tri-County Animal Rescue in Boca Raton

Subscribe now

Recommendations

Health insurance help

Samuel: 954-326-5315 (Rating: 10/10)

I found Samuel last year on the marketplace website, and I can’t say enough good things about him. He’s SO accessible, organized and easy to work with. Both times, he’s helped me get amazing rates with amazing plans. He’s free to use. And you call or text him. He also helps with life insurance. Oh, and it’s painless. He asks you some questions over the phone, and it takes very little time. It’s so hard to understand insurance, and I’m really grateful for him. He can even check your doctors or meds for the plans -- to make sure you get what you need.

Cheap, good dog grooming and teeth cleaning

Merryfield Academy

5040 NE 13th Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33334

(954) 771-4030

My toy poodle gets a full grooming for $30 ($36 with tip), and he always looks great. I also got his teeth cleaned there for $15. Look at the before and after pics below!!

**Note: This is a training academy, but I’ve had nothing but a great experience, and you won’t find cheaper rates anywhere.”

Volunteer: Take a shelter dog out for the day

• Sign up link: Broward Buddies

• 2400 SW 42nd St, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312

Subscribe now

Resources for those struggling financially

Pet food assistance programs

CEC Programs | Pet food and product distribution

• FIRST MONDAY OF EACH MONTH (CLOSED HOLIDAYS)

• 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

• 5648 Wiley Street, Hollywood, FL

• Broward Residents Only

• Free dog and cat kibble, canned food and treats + cat litter, whatever may be available!

Meals on Wheels companion program

Meals on Wheels South Florida provides monthly pet food deliveries to home-bound seniors enrolled in the Meals on Wheels program who require assistance caring for their animals. Additionally, we offer veterinary services, including pet medications and flea/tick treatments, through our mobile vet service.

We also provide grooming services such as clipping and shampooing, depending on available funding. If you’re interested in supporting our pet program through volunteering or donations, please reach out to us at 954-731-8770 or 954-714-6924

**Must be part of Meals on Wheels program**

The Pet Project

Complete the online application here.

Humane Society of Miami Pet Pantry

Pet owners and community cat care takers can pick up a maximum of two weeks’ worth of supplies at time. Supplies may include wet or dry food, treats, carriers, crates, and leashes. Offerings vary and are based on availability.

Open to the public daily between 9:00am – 7:00pm at our Soffer and Fine Adoption Center: 16101 W Dixie Hwy, North Miami Beach, FL 33160

Broward Food assistance/pantries

AMAZING, comprehensive spreadsheet of all Broward county food assistance help and pantries.

Restaurants helping those in need

The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) administers food aid to 2.94 million Floridians. As of Wednesday, SNAP benefits are only partially funded in November. Here are some resources curated from Nextdoor, Facebook and the Sun Sentinel.

Aldi Thanksgiving Meal for 10 for $40

• Promotion ends 12/24/25

Phó Bar Vietnamese Cuisine & 545° Bánh Mì Café

All three restaurants will offer to-go meals to anyone showing EBT cards between 2 and 6 p.m. each day, and each person present will receive a meal. At Phó Bar, any entree/phó under $17.50 is eligible, while at 545°, any bánh mì or noodle/rice box is available. Guests age 17 and younger must be accompanied by an adult.

• 6310 Griffin Road, Davie; 954-900-4909

• 10640 Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines; 954-998-0118

• 6461 Stirling Road, Davie; 954-581-5048

Hellenic

SNAP recipients who call the restaurant or direct-message Hellenic on social media can schedule meal pick-ups.

Those interested can order any build-your-own pita, salad, bowl or platter, which includes choice of gyro meat, chicken skewers, lamb and salmon alongside rice, vegetables, tzatziki and hummus.

The offer is available from noon to 10 p.m. daily. After Nov. 8, they can “simply show up” to the restaurant and order without calling, she added.

• 10436 W. Atlantic Blvd., Coral Springs; 954-302-8994; OrderGreekFood.com

La Empanada Loca

4820 N. Dixie Highway, Oakland Park; 754-200-6151; LaEmpanadaLoca.com

They’re giving away plates of sweet plantains, beef and yellow rice to SNAP recipients and federal government workers furloughed by the shutdown from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

MaMa YaTai & Donuts
6477 Stirling Road, Davie; 954-916-7369; Snackpass.co

They’re giving away free mochi doughnuts to children younger than 15, and the bakery is also running a Buy-One-Get-One sale on “everything in the store — donuts, Asian pastries, buns, coffee, you name it!.”

“If you run into a difficult time with this economic chaos or [your] SNAP benefits got cut off, please don’t be shy — nothing to be embarrassed about.”

The giveaway will be offered daily during normal business hours through Nov. 30 and operates on the honor system, with no SNAP/EBT card necessary.

Subculture Coffee

437 Plaza Real, Boca Raton

Subculture Group is partnering with Hospitality Helping Hands in Palm Beach County to offer free meals to families who rely on SNAP benefits.

People who visit one of Subculture’s restaurants or coffee shops will need to bring their SNAP card and ID, and one meal per family member per day during designated hours will be provided as long as supplies last.

Government workers with suspended paychecks can also receive aid, pending availability.

More resources

• Facebook Groups

  • Free Stuff Only Broward

  • Coral Springs-Parkland-Coconut Creek-Margate-Community-Forum

  • Buy Nothing Fort Lauderdale

  • Pompano Beach Residents Group

• Front porch pantry

  • 10932 NW 13 Ct, Coral Springs, FL 33071

  • Text Lindsay with questions: 954-464-0980

• Freecycle

• Nextdoor

• Government benefits programs in Pompano Beach, fl | findhelp.org

Sources:

• UPDATED: These South Florida restaurants are giving away free SNAP meals during government shutdown

• Jesse James

• Beth Bromery

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Upcoming City Commission Meeting

Details:

• Thursday, November 13 at 1 p.m.

• Commission Chamber

I know it can feel futile to speak at these meetings, and so, many residents don’t come, thanks to Rex, Rhonda and Darlene, who always vote the same, totally regardless and despite what residents want, but it’s important to come anyway.

And remember, your voice may not matter to them right now, but it will in the upcoming election in November, so make sure your voice is heard when it comes time to vote.

Important votes

Major Financial/Infrastructure Items

Oceanside Parking Garage: Awarding a $32.9 million design-build contract to Whiting-Turner Contracting

Highlights:

• Final design and permitting would begin in summer 2026, with completion targeted for fall 2027.

• If the project passes, Whiting-Turner is the top choice contractor.

• City staff anticipate issuing about $31 million in debt associated with the new parking garage next summer, with an estimated maximum annual debt service of $2.3 million based on current market rates.

• City engineers indicated that ⁠⁠85% of the 275 parking spaces at the existing surface lot west of A1A will be lost while the city builds the Oceanside parking garage.

• To reduce parking disruptions, city staffers propose maintaining about 40 spaces on the current lot where the Oceanside garage will be built. Public parking for 200 cars would also be proposed on the west side of the Intracoastal Waterway adjacent to the Atlantic Boulevard bridge.

• Another aspect of the parking management plan would be an expansion of the current “Circuit” on-demand golf cart service.

(source)

Equipment Lease: $6 million lease purchase agreement with JPMorgan Chase over 5 years

• Does NOT say for what equipment

Approval of a budget adjustment to align the Emergency Medical Services Fund budget and eliminate a negative variance in Fiscal Year 2025.

• The EMS Fund is running $790,000 short of what was budgeted. They need to reallocate money to cover the deficit.

• Critical Questions the Agenda Doesn’t Answer:

  • Why is there a shortfall? (Higher call volume? Equipment costs? Staffing expenses? Revenue shortfall?)

  • Where is the $790,000 coming from? (General fund? Reserves? Other department budgets?)

  • Is this a one-time issue or ongoing problem?

  • What’s the total EMS budget? (Context for how big this gap is)

Grants & Agreements:

Sheriff’s Office overtime grant ($34,553) for targeted patrols

• Grant Details:

  • Amount: $34,553

  • Purpose: Pay for overtime hours for Sheriff’s Office personnel in targeted areas of the city

  • Partners: City of Pompano Beach and Gregory Tony, Sheriff of Broward County

• This is deliberately vague language. In policing terms, “targeted areas” and “overtime patrols” typically indicate:

• Crime hotspots: Areas with elevated crime statistics that need additional police presence beyond regular patrol coverage

• Problem-oriented policing: Concentrating resources on specific locations/times with recurring issues (drug activity, gang presence, property crimes, etc.)

• Community concerns: Neighborhoods where residents have complained about safety issues

• Special events: Though usually those have different funding mechanisms

• Questions Worth Asking:

  • What specific neighborhoods/corridors are targeted?

  • What crime statistics justify these targeted patrols?

  • Is this related to any recent incidents or crime trends?

  • How many officer hours does $34,553 buy?

  • Is this grant renewable or one-time?

  • What metrics will measure success?

Last, VERY IMPORTANT item

Charter amendment on term limits

• Amends the City Charter (Florida Special Acts 1957) to impose term limits on Mayor and Commissioners while simultaneously:

  • Expanding future terms of office for City Commissioners

  • Staggering the terms so they don’t all expire at once

• Critical Details:

  • Status: First reading (postponed from October 14, 2025)

  • Voter approval required: Goes to referendum in November 2026 general election

  • Takes effect: Only if approved by majority of voters

• What the Agenda DOESN’T Tell You: The agenda language is vague on the most important details:

  • How many terms are allowed before limits kick in?

  • How long are the expanded terms? (Currently what? Expanding to what?)

  • When do current commissioners’ terms expire?

  • Who benefits from the staggering arrangement?

  • Do current terms count toward the limits (grandfather clause)?

• Why This Matters - HUGE Political Implications:

  • Incumbent Protection vs. Reform

    • Term limits can be genuinely reformist OR a political maneuver

    • Expanding terms while adding limits could entrench current officials

    • Staggering prevents wholesale turnover (makes challenges harder)

  • Timing Questions

    • Why now?

    • Why was it postponed from October?

    • Goes to voters November 2026 - after the next city election cycle?

  • Power Dynamics

    • Does this lock in current leadership during a sensitive redevelopment period?

    • Does term expansion give current commissioners more years before limits hit?

    • Could this be preemptive - preventing future challenges?

• Questions:

  • Structure:

    • Current term lengths vs. proposed?

    • How many terms are allowed?

    • When do various commissioners’ current terms expire?

    • How does staggering get implemented - who gets longer/shorter terms?

  • Political Motivations:

    • Who proposed this? Which commissioners support/oppose?

    • What’s the stated justification?

    • Why bundle term limits WITH expansion and staggering?

    • Any commissioners planning to retire who might benefit from expanded terms first?

  • Campaign Finance Angle:

    • Given your investigation into developer relationships, does term expansion give current commissioners more time to deliver on deals?

    • Do any commissioners have campaign contributors who benefit from them staying in office longer?

  • Comparison:

    • What do other similarly-sized Florida cities do?

    • Is this considered reform or entrenchment by governance experts?

  • The Postponement:

    • Why was it postponed from October 14?

    • What changed between then and now?

    • Was there public opposition or commissioner disagreement?

Less Important Votes:

• Safe Streets grant ($320,000) for comprehensive safety action plan

  • Purpose: Develop a Local Comprehensive Safety Action Plan for City roadways

  • Grant Details:

    • Total funding: $400,000

    • Federal grant: $320,000 (80%)

    • City match: $80,000 (20%)

  • Questions Worth Asking:

    • Which roadways/corridors are already identified as concerns?

    • Will this include pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure?

    • How does this tie into the city’s overall infrastructure planning?

    • What’s the timeline for completing the plan?

• FDOT landscape maintenance amendments

• Florida East Coast Railway crossing agreement modifications

• Healthcare facility use definitions and standards

• Plat approval procedures (complying with new state law)

• Synthetic turf standards

• Building height and setback measurement clarifications

• Investment advisory services contract with PFM Asset Management

• Fire logistics facility lease ($306,375 for 18 months)

• Ring buoy donations for parks

• Several board appointments

Jobs

Front desk manager, Haven Pilates | Part-time

How to apply:

• 561-565-2826

• havenpilatesfl@gmail.com

• Post link >> https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CYBSFPtK6/

Medical Assistant/Backup receptionist, East Ocean Podiatry

How to apply: Email your resume to office@eastoceanpodiatry.com

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One of the complaints about the downtown project has been that it won’t make residents’ lives better, so a proposed resolution was to dedicate $6.5 million over the course of 10 years to “bettering” the lives of residents.

The “benefits” include:

• Rental assistance in the form of first, last and security

• Down payment assistance for prospective homeowners

• Vocational training in “AI” and “tech” (Because people need a way to make money, if they’re going to get rental assistance because it’s not an ongoing subsidy)

• Tiny homes

• Small business incubator, which they’d give market rental rates to businesses in their program, so these SMBs would be businesses, like coffee shops or retailers

• Community festivals and events (Seriously? What a benefit! Especially when the majority of people won’t be able to afford to attend them!)

• Youth sports leagues

• College scholarships

Additionally, a way they were going to try to make money was to set aside some land for a college to build a satellite office downtown.

Commissioner Rhonda Eaton praised the presenter for her “creative” resolution, which just proves traditional, out-of-touch-with-the-world career politicians, like the Mayor and Darlene Smith as well, should not be allowed to make such important decisions for our city.

This may sound dramatic, or even personal, but it’s quite true. My stance is based on cold, hard facts and my professional experience working in the “tech” world for the last 14 years despite being a journalism dropout.

The majority of colleges across the nation are bleeding money.

“There is a fair percentage of institutions essentially living month to month, or paycheck to paycheck,” said Boston’s College Glass.

Colleges across the nation have been hit by “a perfect storm,” what some are calling an “enrollment cliff.”

The reasons for this perfect storm?

First, the number of college-age students in the U.S. is projected to drop by more than 15% by 2029. That means lower enrollment, fiercer competition and shrinking tuition revenue, especially for smaller institutions already under financial strain.

For many colleges, this isn’t just a dip. It’s a drop-off that could threaten their future. This decline is projected to affect all institutions. Many of these schools already struggle with enrollment and revenue shortfalls, making potential closures or mergers increasingly likely.

In fact, since 2016, more than 120 U.S. colleges have already closed or merged, a trend reported by Higher Ed Dive.

(source)

Combine that with the fact that an increasing number of high school grads are opting not to attend college at all, and you’ll see just how bleak the future looks for higher education.

According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, undergraduate enrollment has continued to decline, dropping by 6.6% since 2019, with more than one million fewer students enrolled in college today compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Second, the number of international students has dramatically decreased, leading to billions of dollars in lost revenue.

Last September, the U.S. hosted more than 1.2 million students from abroad, an all-time high, according to the latest data by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

But in 2025, the number of international students on many U.S. college campuses is suddenly decreasing.

Largely due to the Trump administration’s recent changes to the student visa policy -- which deactivated and then reactivated the immigration status of thousands of students and put a temporary pause on new visa applicants -- there may be as many as 150,000 fewer international students enrolled for the 2025-26 academic year, according to preliminary projections by NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

That represents a 30%-40% drop in new students from abroad and a 15% decline in total international student enrollment, amounting to a loss of nearly $7 billion in economic impact, according to the findings, which are based in part on State Department data.

Lastly, there’s been a clear cultural shift in how students perceive college. More students are questioning whether traditional degrees are worth the cost. Rising tuition and the availability of alternative credentials are accelerating a deeper mindset shift.

In fact, fewer than one in four Americans now say having a bachelor’s degree is extremely or very important to get a good job, the Pew Research Center finds.

“Many around the world feel education somehow isn’t working for them. It’s failing their generation, not preparing them for work, is too costly, or out of reach.”

This was exactly the case for me, back in 2012, when I had to drop out of UCF, because my father cut me off, and I couldn’t afford it anymore -- with only four classes left to graduate.

I thought I’d never be able to get a job, but fortunately, I did and I succeeded, making way more money than my friends, who were able to graduate from college, thanks to their parents footing the bill. You do not need a college degree to succeed.

Now, why does all of this matter? Well, let me spell it out for the career bureaucrats, who don’t read the news, and/or are just plain stupid…

This means colleges are monitoring all of their expenses, because cost-cutting is all that’s left to potentially save them from going under.

“We are carefully monitoring all of our expenses, but we also know the next few years are going to be tough,” said Laura Trombley, president of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. “For colleges under financial stress, the first cuts would likely be to the facilities budget… You have levers to pull, but you don’t have that many levers.”

Did you read the bolded text?

The first cuts will likely be to the facilities budget, which begs the question: What college in their right mind is going to pay to build a satellite location, when they have no money?

Fun Fact:

In the first half of 2024, more than a college a week announced that it would close. Still more new research, from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, projects that the pace of college closings could now accelerate.

Twenty-one higher education institutions defaulted on municipal bonds last year -- their principal source of credit -- or reported operating ratios that shrank enough to risk default, according to figures provided by the research firm Municipal Market Analytics. In 2023, the total was 17. Those compare to 22 in the previous five years combined. The bond-rating agency Fitch this month categorized the outlook for the higher education sector as “deteriorating.” (source)

Colleges accept more rich kids than poor kids.

According to the New York Times, at 38 colleges (at least) in America, more students came from the top 1% of the income scale than from the entire bottom 60%.

American colleges collectively now give more aid to each student with a family income over $100,000, on average, than they do to each student with a family income under $20,000.

Why, you may wonder? Because, as I mentioned in the section above, colleges are bleeding money, and they need students, who can afford to pay full tuition.

About a quarter of private American colleges are now operating at a deficit, spending more than they are taking in, which means revenue is priority No. 1, but it comes at the cost of accepting the best, most diverse group of students.

Colleges, publicly, like to say that low-income students aren’t applying, and so they aren’t able to admit more, even though they wish they could, but that’s a bold face lie.

“Enrollment managers know there is no shortage of deserving low-income students applying to good colleges. They know this because they regularly reject them—not because they don’t want to admit these students, but because they can’t afford to.”

According to the director of admissions at Trinity University, the students who get admitted are usually the ones from expensive prep schools, at the bottom of their class, but above-average SAT scores, because they have access to proven test-prep classes and tutors. These students aren’t motivated. They’re doing the bare minimum in high school. But they’re getting into college despite the fact they didn’t work as hard as their peers, all because they learned how to game the SAT or ACT.

For many colleges, good SAT scores make them feel better about the kids they’re admitting each year just because they can pay full tuition.

“It’s hard to feel good about choosing an academically undeserving rich kid over a striving and ambitious poor kid with better high school grades. But if the rich student you’re admitting has a higher SAT score than the poor student you’re rejecting, you can tell yourself that your decision was based on ‘college readiness’ rather than ability to pay. The problem is, rich kids who aren’t motivated to work hard and get good grades in high school often aren’t college-ready, however inflated their SAT scores may be.”

The colleges with high average SAT scores—which are also the highest-ranked colleges and the ones with the lowest acceptance rates and the largest endowments—admit very few low-income students and very few black and Latino students. In fact, the below chart shows an almost perfect correlation between institutional selectivity and students’ average family income, a steady, unwavering diagonal line slicing through the graph. With only a few exceptions, every American college follows the same pattern.

If you’re an enrollment manager, the easiest category of students for you to admit are below-average students from high-income families.

Because their parents can afford tutoring, they are very likely to have decent test scores, which means they won’t hurt your U.S. News ranking.

They probably won’t distinguish themselves academically at your college, but they can pay full tuition.

And they don’t have a lot of other options, so they’re likely to say yes to your admission offer.

These are the kids who will gladly pay more to move up the food chain.

I call them C.F.O. Specials, because they appeal to the college’s chief financial officer. They are challenging for the faculty, but they bring in a lot of revenue.

To make matters even more disgusting, colleges across the country are using tracking pixels to concoct scores based on prospective students’ online behaviors in order to guess who is most likely to accept their offer and be able to pay full tuition.

According to the Washington Post, while colleges have been using data for many years to decide which regions and high schools to target their recruiting, the latest tools let administrators build rich profiles on individual students and quickly determine whether they have enough family income to help the school meet revenue goals.

While tracking software, like Google Analytics, has been around forever now, many U.S. colleges have just started installing it on its websites, but the way they’re using the data to make decisions about who gets into their school is a big hairy ethical issue.

Take the University of Wisconsin-Stout, which installed tracking software on its site:

When one student visited the site last year, the software automatically recognized who she was based on a piece of code, called a cookie, which it had placed on her computer during a prior visit.

The software sent an alert to the school’s assistant director of admissions containing the student’s name, contact information and details about her life and activities on the site.

The email said she was a graduating high school senior in Little Chute, Wis., of Mexican descent who had applied to UW-Stout.

The admissions officer also received a link to a private profile of the student, listing all 27 pages she had viewed on the school’s website and how long she spent on each one.

A map on this page showed her geographical location, and an “affinity index” estimated her level of interest in attending the school. Her score of 91 out of 100 predicted she was highly likely to accept an admission offer from UW-Stout.

So let’s say a prospective student visited the “financial aid” page 10 times.

Her “score” is going to decrease, because she likely can’t afford to pay full tuition.

Another example is an out-of-state applicant versus an in-state applicant.

The out-of-state applicant is going to receive a higher score because she’s worth more money to the university.

Now, let’s bring this back to the Northwest district, who is supposed to be benefiting from a college coming to the city.

The majority of residents in this district are not rich enough to be able to afford full tuition, without a scholarship, and as you just read scholarships usually go to kids from higher income families.

And even if they didn’t, $1 million isn’t going to afford very many scholarships -- and definitely no full-rides.

“AI” is not a job strategy. It’s replacing tech workers in droves.

Above is an email Fiverr’s CEO sent to his employees, and he’s not the only tech CEO to say this, which is pretty scary, to say the least.

With the proliferation of AI, there have been millions of formerly well-paid tech workers laid off. Not only do the statistics prove it, but the letters from tech CEOs and the very sad posts, taking over LinkedIn from laid-off workers, who have been out of work for a year or longer now, does as well.

Sad Fact: 40% of unemployed workers have been job searching for 15+ weeks. Tech job searches average 247 days (8 months).

It’s even worse for recent grads.

In May, Dario Amodei, founder and CEO of Anthropic, warned that the AI tools that Anthropic and other companies are racing to build could eliminate half of entry-level, white-collar jobs and boost unemployment to as much as 20% in the next one to five years.

And Aneesh Raman, chief economic opportunity officer at LinkedIn, warned in a New York Times op-ed this month that AI is breaking “the bottom rungs of the career ladder — junior software developers ... junior paralegals and first-year law-firm associates “who once cut their teeth on document review” ... and young retail associates who are being supplanted by chatbots and other automated customer service tools.

TL;DR: AI vocational training and a satellite college aren’t going to help anyone when there are no “tech” jobs available, especially by the time this project gets underway and the actual satellite college and school is finally launched.

And to add a cherry to these politicians’ idiotic sundae, is the fact that the businesses they’re going to accept into their incubator program are only going to be able to offer blue-collar jobs. Can you imagine a coffee shop hiring an AI engineer? To what? Optimize their coffee. LOL. #idiots

Your turn…

What do you think of these so-called “benefits?”

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On July 8, Mayor Rex Hardin awarded Pompano Beach native and Grammy Award-winning Rapper Kodak Black (28) keys to the City of Pompano Beach for his “outstanding generosity and community impact.”

What does it mean to get a “key to the city?”

In case you were wondering, there isn’t actually a tangible “key to the city.”

It’s just a symbolic gesture of civic recognition and gratitude, often bestowed upon esteemed visitors or individuals, who have made significant contributions to a city.

While it's a modern tradition, it originates from medieval times, when walled cities would grant a physical key to trusted individuals, symbolizing their freedom to enter and exit at will.

The timing couldn't have been more ironic. Just one day later, Broward County authorities announced that Kodak would face trial for felony drug trafficking and possession charges after violating his pre-trial release terms.

His heated TikTok Live response revealed someone who clearly didn't see this coming.

Crime, charity, repeat: The Kodak Black playbook

Here’s an interactive spreadsheet that combines Kodak Black’s legal history with his charitable giving. See the disturbing pattern for yourself.

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Kodak’s recent behavior hasn’t helped his case. Just two weeks before receiving the key, he livestreamed while visibly intoxicated, jumping on counters and speaking incoherently.

Currently, he faces federal weapons charges for falsely filling out firearm purchase forms, including a 9mm handgun, a .380-caliber handgun, and a semiautomatic Mini Draco weapon. One of these weapons is reportedly linked to a recent shooting in the Pompano Beach area.

Despite these pending charges, Miami's Acting City Manager John Lorfils awarded Kodak another key to Miami on July 31. (Notably, Diddy also received keys to Miami and New York, which officials have asked him to return after his legal troubles.)

While Kodak is known for his philanthropy, a troubling pattern has emerged: arrests followed by frantic giving. In fact, it’s this generosity that propelled Donald Trump to commute Kodak’s prison sentence on Jan. 20, 2021.

It begs the question: Is Kodak giving out of the goodness of his heart or rather because his lawyers think it’ll give him another “get out of jail free” card for his upcoming trial? It also makes you wonder: What is Pompano and Miami getting out of this, and why were so few people involved in the decision?

Since 2018, only three other people have received keys to the city, all for donating time rather than money.

12 arrests, 1 rape conviction, 0 consequences

Get the iMessage receipts of my conversation with a highly respected lawyer familiar with the Kodak Black rape case in SC that he paid off. He’s not even registered as a sex offender despite the average rapist would have been. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sfF4JWfxOSbiqKEg_YSxMfa1usBsnRoR?usp=sharing

To be honest, I didn’t know much about Kodak before I started writing this article, so I spent hours upon hours researching the controversial, Pompano Beach rapper.

I learned that he’s been arrested at least 12 times since 2015, mainly for felonies involving drug trafficking and possession as well as illegal possession of weapons, and he's avoided serious consequences almost every time.

The most disturbing case involves his guilty plea for sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Florence, South Carolina.

There’s 19 total message shots I’ve collected and decided to share. Here’s the file if you wish to read all. Source: REAL POMPANO. http://tiny.cc/kodak

According to the victim, who did NOT file a civil suit and received no compensation, she attended Kodak's February 2016 performance at "Treasure City" before accompanying him to his hotel room. There, he told her he "couldn't help himself" before tearing off her clothes, biting her repeatedly, and raping her as she screamed for help.

A rape kit confirmed her account.

The case dragged on until April 2021, when Kodak took a plea deal, in which he pled guilty to a lesser charge, received a suspended 10-year sentence, served no additional jail time and was placed on 18 months of probation with required counseling and an apology to the victim.

His social media response to the resolution was telling: "I ain't have to come off no money,” he wrote, which is a way of flexing his power, showing that his name alone was enough to get what he wanted, without needing to offer any cash.

Before the case concluded, he strategically donated $2,500 to a fallen South Carolina police officer's family in 2018, followed by nine more charitable donations before reaching his plea deal.

The South Carolina case wasn't isolated.

In February 2017, Kodak was arrested for violating house arrest terms, partly due to his alleged assault of a female bartender at Club Climaxx in Miami. Though charges weren't formally filed, the woman identified Kodak as the man, who punched and kicked her at the club, and the police incident report was presented in court.

A few months later, on April 21, 2017, his anger management counselor Ramona Sanchez spoke about him disrupting her class in court. Sanchez said he was constantly burping during her class, and when asked to leave, he refused.

When Sanchez threatened to call 911, he grabbed her phone and her wrist.

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The decision-making process

I reached out to Pompano Beach officials to understand the award criteria. City Manager Greg Harrison's PR Director Sandra King, who conceived the idea, stated there is no specific criteria for the honor.

Only two commissioners—Alison Fournier and Audrey Fesik—responded to my emails, both confirming they were NOT consulted about this decision. It appears Harrison and Hardin made this choice independently, then announced it "on behalf of the city of Pompano Beach."

When I asked King if they considered Kodak's sexual assault conviction, she initially replied "yes." But when I pressed further—asking if Harrison was okay with sexual assault as long as perpetrators give back to the city—she clarified: "Yes. These things should and do matter."

If they matter, then why didn't they factor into this decision? And why did only two men make this choice unilaterally, then claim to speak for the entire city?

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Community perspectives

Kodak maintains strong support in Pompano Beach, particularly among students at Blanche Ely High School (his alma mater) and residents of the Golden Acres housing projects, where he grew up. After his rape case became public, Blanche Ely students organized "Free Kodak Friday," where they wore "Free Kodak" shirts.

Many supporters don't believe the allegations.

She also supports him due to their shared background.

Others don’t care for him, but still feel obligated to support him due to shared heritage.

Ironically (and sadly), Kodak has publicly stated multiple times that he hates his skin complexion and doesn't like Black women "like that," preferring light-skinned women because they're "easier to break down" and Black women are "too gutter."

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Why it matters

Public symbols send messages.

The key to the city isn't just a thank-you, it's a public endorsement. When someone with serious criminal history receives such honors, it:

• Undermines public trust

• Diminishes the award's meaning

• Sends harmful messages to crime survivors that their experiences matter less than wealth or influence

Philanthropy doesn't erase harm.

Charitable acts can change lives, but it shouldn't function as accountability escape cards, especially for ongoing or severe harm.

Actions speak louder than words.

While people can change, Kodak has repeatedly shown he hasn't, displaying no genuine remorse. He consistently receives minimal punishment (counseling, rehab, life skills courses), then publicly brags about getting away with it.

Days after receiving the key, Kodak released a song originally titled "Keys to the City."

The lyrics express a relentless drive for wealth and references to violence and self-defense -- "backing this stick out" (brandishing a gun), and needing "the keys to the city" as symbols of control and domination. The tone is aggressive and confident, emphasizing street credibility, which is particularly concerning when one of his weapons is linked to a recent Pompano Beach shooting.

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The real question

This decision makes me wonder how much thought Harrison and Hardin actually put into their choice.

While they celebrate Kodak helping poor people, why doesn't Harrison donate some of his $400,000+ salary to struggling Pompano residents?

Or why doesn't Hardin fight for bigger budgets to address homelessness and lack of affordable housing, instead of allocating 53% of our budget to the Broward Sheriff's Office, whose deputies often treat residents—especially poor and Black residents—like enemies?

As a rape survivor and Pompano Beach native, I would never agree with this decision. I can't imagine any other local woman, who has survived a similar crime would either.

When less than 1% of rape cases lead to felony convictions and at least 89% of victims face lasting emotional and physical consequences, what message does this send to our community and especially, our youth?

Are there not any other locals, who have an inspiring story and have also given back to Pompano Beach? I hope so… for the kids’ sake.

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Got an opinion?

What do you think? Should philanthropy outweigh criminal history when awarding civic honors? Do we need more stringent processes for these decisions? And what does this say about how we value survivors' voices in our community? Is there anyone you think is more deserving of a key to the city of Pompano Beach?

Reply to this email with your thoughts, or leave a comment below. Dying to read everyone else’s thoughts here.

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Sources:

• Kodak Black, Accused of Sexual Assault, Still Reaches for the Top

• Kodak Black Seriously Needs Help

• BREAKING: KODAK BLACK ARRESTED For Possession & Trafficking Charges

• Timeline: Kodak Black's Arrests, Alleged Crimes, Legal Troubles | Miami New Times

• Kodak Black: Sk[i]rting the Conviction - Aaron Delgado & Associates

• My Mixtapez on X: "Kodak Black stops by a youth football team in Florida and gives them a quick speech: “Say no to drugs, they too good, Y’all gone like em & go crazy” https://t.co/HjPbzmfg8d" / X

• Kodak Black - Keys To The City [Official Music Video]

• Kodak Black receives second key to the city

• City of Pompano Beach Honors Kodak Black with Key to the City for Outstanding Generosity and Community Impact

• Kodak Black received the key to Pompano Beach — the very city he grew up in. #explore follow @duvalpromo

• Less than 1% of rapes lead to felony convictions. At least 89% of victims face emotional and physical consequences. - The Washington Post

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According to the Sun Sentinel, more than 50% of Broward county taxpayers’ dollars are swallowed by BSO, and Gregory has the audacity to ask for another increase in 2026, with Pompano having the largest of all -- a whopping $13M increase.

We’re already giving them $63M this year, which jumped from $53M in 2022. If we succumb to his demands, then residents will shell out $72M / year for BSO’s services.

It’d be one thing if BSO was doing a good job -- one worthy of a budget so gigantic -- but they’re not. And they can’t prove it with any HARD data points either. And even if they did spew some stats out, how could we trust they’re telling the truth when they police themselves?

Why are we letting our highest paid contractor in our city operate with ZERO oversight and unlimited funds? We’re the clients. They’ve clearly forgotten that based on how they treat us.

Even crazier is the fact that Gregory has ZERO respect for all of you -- our city’s leaders -- hosting conferences in other cities about our city and without telling any of you about it -- then preceding to call you all “childish politicians” in the news -- it’s a slap in the face, no?

We pay him. Not the other way around. That’s infuriating, no?

And this “We’re God” mentality trickles down to deputies, who move in and out of our city like transients we have zero relationships with and only learn their names when they’re on the news for misconduct.

Survey Reveals 55% of Residents Complain About BSO, But 71% Too Afraid to Report It

Give your feedback

I launched a website, called browardcopwatch.com, to gather feedback from residents about their interactions with BSO within the last year, and of the 100 responses I’ve received:

• 55% have had reason to complain about BSO in the last year,

• Of that percentage, 71% did NOT file a complaint due to fear of retaliation and/or that it would be useless.

That’s really sad. And proves that IA should not be run internally by BSO -- that’s asking for corruption. There’s checks and balances in every system except here. Why?

BSO is purposely losing IA reports for serial offenders, as I’ve been investigating this for nearly a year now. This affects ALL taxpayers, not just those who are victims.

How? Here’s one example.

Deputy Who Punched Woman on Birthday Gets 25 Disability Payouts – Where's the Accountability?

Deputy Steven Davis went viral in 2023 after he falsely arrested and punched a woman in her face on her birthday in front of Lucky Fish.

People were so irate, he had to be relocated to another city because he was receiving death threats. Now, he’s in Wellington. Not reprimanded, just moved to assault the next woman he doesn’t like.

I requested Davis’ number of disability claims from BSO, because the assistant state attorney in the public corruptions unit told me -- off the record -- that he was being investigated for false disability claims after hurting himself while assaulting his female victims -- yes, she said he targets women -- and then blaming them.

He has filed and won disability 25x so far, when I last checked in mid-2024!

First of all, it takes regular citizens years to even get a disability decision, why is it so easy for a cop? And I wonder how residents feel paying for a corrupt cop not to work after falsely arresting and attacking our women.

We NEED change. And we needed it yesterday. BSO has gotten out of control. How many more budget increases can we stomach before we all go broke? And this increase YoY is a clear trend, and Gregory has no shame in asking for it and crying until he gets his way.

How many more Yukons does BSO need????

Broward's Biggest Contractor Operates Like Gods with Taxpayer Money -- Time to Put BSO Back on its Leash

Whether we opt for a local police force or not, we must put our pitbulls back on their leashes, and remind them that we’re the client, not them. We make the demands, and we write the agreements. It’s our rules, as we’re the ones footing the bill. This is just how business works.

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Share your ideas to improve BSO on Broward Cop Watch.

Accountability and transparency protects us all, but we have none of the above right now.

I have three solutions outlined on browardcopwatch.com, where I have my email listed, and would love to hear from my peers in the community who have other ideas as well. This should be a collaborative effort by residents and taxpayers -- not dictated by our contractor.

Relationships are supposed to be mutually beneficial, and this is just far from the case in regards to BSO.

That is all.

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You know you love me…

xoxo,

Lauren “Sincerely Fed Up” Holliday

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