Civic engagement is a good thing, and sometimes things get heated.  That’s ok.  But as we deal with hot button issues here in Fort Lauderdale lately, some are going over the top.

To be blunt: personal name calling is simply the not the way to go.

It’s not just developers or lobbyists who get smacked around.  Now it’s becoming the new normal to see residents attack other residents. Could someone explain how that is productive?

No, wait. Don’t bother. Because that is never productive.

A recent story about this came from an activist on the beach.  He said a mutual friend was no longer speaking with her because she did not want to “stop all development, and that must happen!”  Friendships lost over a few feet of building height?  Please.

But it’s not just that. Petty ad hominem jabs weaken our civic fabric.  Just because a lawyer represents an investment group doesn’t make him “bought and paid for”, a phrase that gets thrown around far too easily lately.  And staff in city hall?  They implement policy, they are not policy makers.

Leave them out of the political fight.  It’s above their pay grade.

Most importantly, be kind to your neighbors.  Some want to go back to a different time. That’s not going to happen but it’s ok. And a lot of them want progress, far more than the blogging class thinks.  They might even want an exceptional, less intense plan to emerge with a more responsible Bahia Mar revision.  It might happen!

And it might just be a good thing.

 

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