votemaryphillips.com <\/a><\/p>\nDate and place of birth: September 27, 1958, Hollywood, FL<\/p>\n
Overall, is Pompano Beach on the right track or the wrong track, and why?
Pompano is moving in the right direction as it pertains to attracting the type of development that helps create jobs and increase tax revenue.<\/p>\n
If you are elected or re-elected, would you support or oppose the retention of City Manager Greg Harrison, and why?
Though I appreciate all the work that the city manager has done, I think it\u2019s time for him to retire to allow someone to come in who is tech savvy and innovative in moving our community forward.<\/p>\n
Does Pompano have a problem with overdevelopment, yes or no, and why?
I don\u2019t believe we have an overdevelopment problem as there is still lots of land to be developed. I don\u2019t want to see our community become a concrete jungle and we should preserve our green spaces. The city has guidelines in place to help as it pertains to density. We have spotted development all across Pompano Beach and the community should be allowed to provide input and receive feedback on the development that is coming into their community. There should be a mixture of highrise and midrise buildings with a balanced approach.<\/p>\n
List in order of importance the three most important issues in your district and briefly explain what you would do about each.
The three most important issues in my community are housing, jobs and the accessibility of resources to help the community improve the quality of life. We should promote a variety of housing options which should include encouraging people to create accessory dwelling units, allow the development of rooming houses or congregate living facilities as temporary housing for families and individuals, allow RVs in residential communities, and ask developers for 20% affordable units in their development. Create programs to assist felons with job training and job placement, help our youth obtain internship and summer jobs, create an outreach program so developers can hire people from the community. There are lots of resources that can improve the quality of life for people in the community. The city can promote the resources by posting information on the city website. Also, the city can provide grants to local churches and non-profit to create programs to help the community rather than hiring staff which is more costly. Non-profits can provide programs at a fraction of the cost.<\/p>\n
Do you support or oppose Amendment 3, and why?
In this economy so many people are struggling, if amendment 3 helps people financially, I support it. Governments over the years have been wasteful, the more money they get the more they spend often on things that don\u2019t help the constituents. The taxing formula on housing is inequitable and flawed.<\/p>\n
Do you generally support or oppose the planned \u201cnew downtown,\u201d and why?
While at FAU, I took classes in urban planning. The development of MLK is a well thought out plan. The city has been working with the community to provide guidance for the growth and development. Our community should move into the next century resilient so future generations can benefit from the redevelopment while preserving our history. Growth is inevitable and we have to be engaged to provide guidance.<\/p>\n
Can you cite a program or service in your city that in your opinion is wasteful or unnecessary?
It is wasteful to create substations in our community and BSO will not pull a sheriff off duty at a cost of about $70,000 to sit in an empty building. The CRA has reserved $300,000 to hire a company to patrol MLK. I feel that that is wasteful as BSO receives over $76 million dollars to patrol our streets. I see them all the time and I feel safe as many others in my community.<\/p>\n
Do you support or oppose the use of surveillance cameras known as LPRs or license plate readers in your city, and what changes would you support?
License plate readers when used properly can be a crime deterrent. And help to capture criminals and illegal dumpers.<\/p>\n
Like all cities and counties, Pompano Beach must comply with a new state law (SB 1134) that prohibits funding or promoting diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Do you support or oppose this law and what impact will it have?
Our community consists of many cultures. Equity, diversity and inclusion levels the playing and always allow all mixture of people to participate in jobs and programs specially when our tax dollars are used.<\/p>\n
What factor most distinguishes you from your opponent(s) and why?
I am not a career politician and unlike my opponents I am actively engaged and involved in the community. I belong to several organizations; VP of Kendall Lakes HOA, Board Member Markham Elementary, Member Pompano Chamber of Commerce, Member Pompano Beach Woman\u2019s Club, Member Sample McDougald House. Founder and Member Friends of the Northwest Branch Library. Governmental experience; I have served on the Pompano Micro-loan Committee, Pompano Beach Ship Committee and Broward County Pompano Beach Resident Board in which I championed 10mll for Northwest Community be used to improve homes with new roofs, windows, air conditions, and updated electrical panels. Though my non-profit Small Biz CEDC we created a Job Search Career Center so people can come free of charge Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to apply for jobs, created a Teens Chasing Dreams Program, created a Painting and flooring program, provide cell phone workshops for seniors, Created annual Community Health & Wellness Fest & Turkey Giveaway event and a business directory for small businesses. I care and listen to constituents in my community. I believe we are stronger when we work together to improve our community.<\/p>\n
List in reverse chronological order colleges or universities attended with years of attendance and degrees.
My education background is as follows: AA Degree Business Administration at Broward College, BA Degree in Public Administration Florida Atlantic University, and college level coursework in Business Education from Broward College and Florida Atlantic University.<\/p>\n
List in reverse chronological order your work history for the past 15 years.
My work history consists of United State Post office union work for 20 years, Real Estate Broker for 29 years and Executive Director Small Biz CEDC 17 years.<\/p>\n
Have you ever been a party to a lawsuit, including bankruptcy or foreclosure? If so, provide details of the case and disposition.
No<\/p>\n
Have you ever been charged or convicted of a felony or misdemeanor, including an adjudication of guilt withheld? If so, provide charges, dates and terms of sentence.
No<\/p>\n
Why should voters elect you instead of your opponent(s)?
My involvement with my community spans over 36 years when I first moved here with my husband Former Commissioner Edward Phillips and my daughter Elizabeth Phillips. Former PTA president of Palmview Elementary we fought to move the school up the priority list to be remodeled and prevailed. Through my non-profit we have brought several programs to the community. There is still a lot to be done. I understand the needs of the community from several perspectives, as a business owner, director of a non-profit, as a senior citizen, as a mother to a millennial and 4 year old granddaughter. I live in district 4 and I\u2019m a stakeholder in district 5 because I own a property there and I will look for both communities. Politics divided our community. I want to bring the community together. I\u2019m the best candidate because I\u2019ve brought programs to the community with your vote together we can do so much more. Vote Mary Phillips.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Name: Mary Phillips Campaign website: votemaryphillips.com Date and place of birth: September 27, 1958, Hollywood, FL Overall, is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[483,249,251,250,482],"class_list":["post-424497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-commentary","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}