Lakes Mayor Refuses Reform Discussion
By TAO WOOLFE, Staff Writer
This article was first published in the South Florida Sun Sentinel in October 1990.
LAUDERDALE LAKES – The grandson of a former City Council member was physically escorted from a council meeting by Broward sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday night after refusing to leave the podium.
Glenn Greenwald, 23, stepped up to the podium during the public portion of the meeting to decry the city’s committee form of government, which, Greenwald said, prevents working people from participating in city affairs.
“The population of Lauderdale Lakes has changed dramatically and there is demonstrable interest on the part of homeowners and young workers to participate in government,” Greenwald said. “But we cannot do so because the committee meetings are held in the mornings at an hour when most of us have to be at work.”
Greenwald demanded that Mayor Alfonso Gereffi answer the question, “Why can’t this issue be addressed tonight?”
Gereffi said the matter will be taken up in committee and Greenwald reiterated that he could not attend committee meetings.
Gereffi and Greenwald went back and forth about the matter for several minutes and Gereffi then asked the deputies to take Greenwald from the room.
“This is not a dictatorship, this is a democracy,” Greenwald said, as he was escorted from the council chambers.
Greenwald, grandson of L.L. Greenwald – who served on the council from 1976 to 1980 – said later that he spoke out on Tuesday night because he had just graduated from George Washington University and returned to the city.
“I have always been active in city and county affairs and I followed the events in Lauderdale Lakes very closely while I was away,” he said. “I’m tired of seeing the same 15 people in attendance at council meetings, and everyone making jokes as if they belong to one big country club. The time of the committee meetings is indicative of that attitude.”