“The refusal of Democrats and Republicans to cooperate with one another is not some mysterious force beyond our control. It’s a decision. A choice we make. And if we can decide not to cooperate, then we can decide to cooperate.” President-elect Joe Biden Jr.
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Choices
November 4 Matters
There was a time ,when win or lose , when we accepted the outcome.
We wished the winner well and went about our lives. And if we were patriotic, we hoped that whoever won would succeed.
Elections had consequences for sure. But we accepted them and hoped for the best.
We moved on.
If the winners were smart and magnanimous (and it’s smart to be magnanimous) they reached across the aisle and assured the opposition that their interests would matter and their voices would be heard and respected.
We don’t seem to do these things anymore and it’s killing us.
It’s killing our spirit, our sense of unity and our hopes for a better future.
It doesn’t have to be with this way.
How we treat and view each other is a choice.
We can—if we want to—summon our ‘better angels’ as Abraham Lincoln advised.
I have friends on both sides of our national political divide.
We will remain friends although we have struggled to understand how and why we think the way we do.
For the life of me, I can’t see what they are seeing and they can’t see what I am seeing but our affection for each other trumps (no pun intended) any ill will.
That’s how it should be.
But I would be less than honest if I didn’t say that at times it has been a strain to maintain these relationships.
I think the reason is that both sides see each other as existential threats to our way of life.
Democrats fear Republicans will role back rights and ignore climate change and science to the detriment of our planet and our health.
Republicans see Democrats as hell bent on rolling back rights they enjoy and endangering our capitalist system.
Those beliefs make it hard to accept outcomes that don’t favor your side.
But somehow we have to figure out how to live together.
If we don’t, this experiment in Democracy can’t survive. A house divided cannot stand to quote Honest Abe again.
I happen to think we are at the breaking point and the next few weeks or months may well determine the future of our nation.
We can decide to stick together or we can agree to blow it apart.
That’s our choice.
Sadly, it’s easier to destroy something than it is to build and sustain.
So the easier choice will be to indulge our anger and exercise our grievances.
But the better choice is always to seek common ground, learn to compromise, listen to each other and work to keep it together.
It’s not easy.
The differences are real and they are deep. The mistrust and hatred we are experiencing is also very real.
The formula to turn this around is not readily apparent. It is the leadership challenge of a lifetime.
But we need to meet that challenge. Or at least try.
In my opinion, whoever is elected —if they are serious about bridging the divisions, or if they even want to—should start by reminding us about what binds us. There are things we all agree on and we need to insist that those issues be addressed.
Our national leadership—both Democrats and Republicans—have let us down by failing to address problems or seize opportunities.
Washington is dysfunctional and the fact that we can’t find a way to work together to address health care, infrastructure, immigration and environmental issues is a disgrace. So is our response to COVID which is not going away November 4. Oh, how I wish it would.
There are scores of other issues that have gone unaddressed.
Most of these issues can be solved– but only if we work together. A good leader will focus on what binds us, not what divides us.
Still, this blog focuses on local life so here goes.
There are parallels between our toxic national scene and what we are seeing right here in Delray.
I can and maybe will write a book about how we went astray. How we went all the way up the mountain and then decided to give it back.
And it was a decision. Or rather a slew of decisions that threaten to undo a whole lot of good work.
Imagine, if you will, a quilt. Then imagine pulling a thread and then another and another and all of sudden your quilt falls apart.
Cities are like quilts—pull a thread here and a thread there and suddenly you don’t know why your reclaimed water project is a mess or your reputation has gone from best run town in Florida to a place where every headline seems to scream scandal and dysfunction.
The parallels with our national scene are eerie and rooted in divides.
One faction thinks the other will or has ruined Delray.
Again, this kind of division is dangerous and unproductive.
The battle doesn’t play out on Cable TV like it does nationally but on social media with charges lobbed like bombs on a daily basis.
It gets us nowhere.
It creates a mess and it prevents us from solving problems or seizing opportunities.
It also plays on our mood. Civic pride, once strong ,weakens. Trust in local government also weakens and with it we lose something very fundamental.
We lose respect for the past, hope for the present. and faith in the future.
Sound familiar?
Sounds like America.
If you love your country and your city—as many of us do; you want to see us fulfill our vast potential. You want to see progress, jobs, opportunity, safety and happiness.
Cities and nations need North Stars. We need a common set of values that we fight for, cherish and protect.
When you lose your North Star, you get lost at sea. You drift, you fight and you waste time and resources.
We need leaders who understand the importance of values and a North Star. We need leaders who strive to bring us together. We don’t need to be labeled, libeled and let down. We need to be inspired, motivated and united.
Yes, that’s a very tall order. And it can’t be accomplished easily or readily. But it needs to start somewhere.
We put a lot of burden on our leaders, but we citizens have an even more important role.
We have a responsibility to vote and vote wisely. We have a responsibility to be informed on the issues and to speak truth to power.
Remember, we stand for what we tolerate. We have a responsibility to work for a better tomorrow and to insist on performance and accountability.
Our lives depend on it and future generations are depending on us to do better.
We need to do better.
And we can.
A Cautionary Tale
I read an interview with Kenosha, Wisconsin Mayor John Antaramian that I found very interesting.
Mayor Antaramian has been in the national news lately after his city erupted in protest after the shooting of Jacob Blake.
Blake, 29, a Black man, was left paralyzed after an encounter with local police.
In my experience—which I’ll get to in a minute—the level of unrest that cities experience in the wake of violence is directly correlated to the relationships and work that has been done years before.
If your police department and city government connects to the community, your odds of finding a positive way forward increase exponentially.
Former Delray Beach Police Chief Rick Overman—who was a remarkable chief—used to say that in his line of work trouble was inevitable. You did all you could to avoid it—you train your officers, you create rigorous standards for hiring, you embrace community policing—but at some point something bad was bound to happen. You will face a challenge, it’s the nature of the profession.
Policing is dangerous and important work.
While I can’t pretend to know what it’s really like, I’ve had a glimpse by spending lots of hours in the back of cruisers as a journalist and a policymaker. I’ve met and gotten to know scores of officers over the years.
I’ve had many late night conversations with officers who confided in me about what it’s like to put on a gun and a vest and head out to work not knowing what you are going to encounter. Those conversations have deepened my appreciation for the special people who choose that profession.
Chief Overman used to talk about something he called the “reservoir of goodwill.” Overman knew that there would come a day when something tragic would happen—he felt it was inevitable in his line of work—and his department would have to draw on that reservoir. So he and his officers worked every day to fill the reservoir by building trust and relationships citywide. Community policing was not a PR stunt or a photo op, it was a governing philosophy. Officers were urged to get out of their cruisers and to find ways to get to know the people and businesses in their zones.
We have seen incredible examples of this—officers past and present—who have connected in truly wonderful ways with the communities they serve. It makes all the difference in the world.
But police departments—as important and essential as they are—cannot do it all.
Again, Chief Overman recognized this fact. He needed the community to volunteer. He needed the community to tell his officers what was really happening on the street and he needed city government to care about all parts of our city.
Now many cities talk the talk.
They issue proclamations and mouth the words about investing in underserved communities. But too few cities walk the walk.
And those cities get in trouble when something happens and they realize that the reservoir has run dry or doesn’t exist at all.
Which leads me back to Mayor Antaramian in Kenosha.
He has been mayor of that town off and on for 20 years. When he was asked what he regrets the most, one mistake sticks out in his mind.
In 2000, the mayor formed a committee to address what he described as “racial issues.”
In Kenosha, the committee focused on housing and homeownership and according to the mayor they developed policies to address the issues identified.
“We spent about a year working on different issues,” he told USA Today. “We actually came to some solutions on those issues. My mistake was I didn’t keep that committee together. I’m refusing to make that mistake a second time. I’m getting too old to make too many mistakes. We thought we solved the problem and we didn’t.”
The last sentence is a key one.
A mistake many cities and mayors make is they think that once they address something it’s done.
The truth is, in this line of work—community building—you are never done. Never.
You must constantly be working to strengthen what you’ve built and you must be constantly be thinking about what’s not working and why.
Delray Beach has made this common mistake.
We think our downtown is done—it’s not.
We think our beach has been re-nourished and is safe, but we better maintain our dunes or they will wash away.
When I was mayor, the commission identified race relations as an issue we wanted to work on.
So we did.
We had study circles that encouraged people from different backgrounds to share their stories and learn from each other. We had neighborhood dinners in which people from different neighborhoods would gather to meet and share their hopes and dreams and we did our best to invest in neighborhoods that were neglected.
There were successes and there were disappointments. But there were no failures because making the effort yields dividends.
You learn.
You grow and you adjust—as a community. You do the work together.
Was it enough?
Unquestionably, the answer is no.
But the effort was never meant to end. It was designed to be an ongoing discussion and effort—long after me and my crew left.
Sadly, politics got in the way—as it often does. Personalities clash. Grudges develop and if not addressed—and they weren’t—they fester and eventually those feuds crowd out just about every initiative.
An old friend asked me recently whether it was possible to succeed if your government is dysfunctional or downright wacky.
My guess is—it’s not really possible.
Oh, there will be bright spots—non-profits doing good work and people who shine.
But think about how much more success you’d have if government was engaged and rowing in the same direction as the people they are supposed to serve.
Today, I worry about my city.
I fear that the reservoir is dangerously low.
Our Police Department is terrific and enjoys a great reputation. It remains an amazing asset.
But I sense anger and frustration out there—a lot of people are feeling marginalized and there is a huge concern over the poor treatment of several high ranking Black city employees whose careers were derailed in Delray.
I could be wrong.
I’m no barometer and I live behind a gate (when it’s working) in a lovely (mostly white) neighborhood. But I see stuff on social media and I still talk to a range of neighborhood leaders and I hear, see and feel the frustration out there.
We ignore it our peril.
We have got to get back to the work. We can’t make the mistake Kenosha did.
On The Path
When I entered the hospital with a positive Covid test and double pneumonia in July, I tried to think about how I could shed light on the virus and maybe help others by raising awareness.
How To Lead
DAVID RUBENSTEIN: I’m looking for their ability to focus, their ability to communicate well, their ability to have some sense of priority of what’s most important to them, their ability to inspire people, their ability to rise to the occasion. And I also think humility is important. Anybody that is really a successful leader I think has failed in life. And you have to persist after your failures. But failure gives you some humility.”
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
Word came last week that a Delray Beach city employee was cleared of wrongdoing after more than a year of innuendo and uncertainty.
And if you have a culture that eats people up and spits them out it doesn’t take a management degree to understand that it’s going to be hard to attract and keep a talented staff.
I spent seven years on the city commission and have been following local government here and elsewhere for almost 35 years. If I’ve learned one thing, it’s that a good staff makes a world of difference and a poor staff can cost you dearly.
Both in terms of legal fees (which we pay as taxpayers) but more importantly in terms of the toll it takes on victims and all who know and love them.
200,000 lives: A Grim Milestone
I’m a little over two months into my Covid odyssey and here’s where I stand (or mostly sit).
The Recipe Is People Based
Last week, I wrote a blog about how far Delray Beach has strayed since the days when Florida Trend referred to the city as the best run town in Florida.
Going To Be A Long Walk Home
Our beach is a prized asset. Protecting it must be based on science not politics.
There’s a lot happening in Delray Beach these days.
Life Lessons
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned this year is that good and bad can co-exist. When something’s bad, it’s not all bad, and vice versa.
Kindness matters.