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Vote NO on all 8 · November 3
Every candidate says they will protect the height limits. But we are concerned.
Hi neighbor,
Everyone running this year says they will protect our low-rise height limit. You may think that is settled: the limit is in the charter. But is it? |
Only voters can raise the height limit. But a Commission that wanted it raised would start where this charter amendment package starts: slower petitions, fewer elections, a shorter residency rule, and ethics complaints sent to Tallahassee. These amendments weaken your tools now, before any vote on the height limit ever reaches your ballot. |
Commissioners can promise one thing. Unless residents keep the power to check them, their words are only words. And the height limits keep coming up at Town Hall:
 Charter Review Board vice chair, June 3, 2025, proposing a referendum on higher limits “across the Town,” including the beach. A volunteer, not a candidate. The Board voted 7–0 to keep the height limits as written.
Watch, 25 sec · Board minutes  Commissioner Theo Poulopoulos, July 22, 2025, in a debate over the tax rate. He now pledges to protect the height limits.
Watch, 51 sec |
More from June 3: “add an extra story” (clip, 45 sec) · “across the town” (clip, 35 sec) · Board minutes (PDF), pp. 5–7
In a July 2025 debate over the tax rate, Commissioner Theo Poulopoulos, who is asking for your vote, called the height restrictions a “major, major roadblock.” Then in May 2026 he pledged to support them. These eight charter amendments decide whether we keep the tools that help hold him, or anyone who comes after him, to that pledge. Vote no on all eight and we keep them.
Evidence: clip, 51 sec · July 22 minutes, p. 18 (PDF) · May 26 minutes, p. 21 (PDF)
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First, what you already own
The height limits are not protected by a promise. They are protected by four rights.
The height limit is in the Town Charter, the rulebook residents wrote. Only voters can change it. But a rule is only as strong as your power to enforce it, and that power is four rights that residents wrote into our charter.
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1 ✍️
Your right to petition
Gather signatures from 10 percent of voters, put a question on the ballot, and let your neighbors decide. It is written into Article IV of our charter.
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2 🗳️
Your right to vote them out
The Mayor serves two years, so a majority of the Commission is on every ballot. Term limits, which voters approved in 2006, cap service at 14 years in a row.
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3 ⚖️
Your right to hold them accountable here
If a commissioner breaks the rules, the Commission you elected holds the hearing here in Town Hall, in front of you. Not in Tallahassee.
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4 🏡
Your right to leaders who live here
Candidates must have lived here about eleven months before the election. That limits outside influence and puts people on the dais who know our town.
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The eight amendments, one by one
Look at which right each one takes.
You should not need a lawyer to read your own ballot. The Town’s wording is legal language. Here is what each one does, in plain words.
If you don’t know, vote no!
1 |
Question 1: More time for Town Hall, less time for your petition On the ballot as: “Extend and clarify timeframes for certification of citizen petitions”
Today, Town Hall has 20 days to check a residents’ petition before it can go to a vote. If this passes, it gets 30 (and 10 business days instead of 5 for a petition to repeal or change a Town law). The ballot deadline stays the same. So you would have to start and finish a petition that much earlier to make the same election.
Takes from right 1: your petition
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2 |
Question 2: Four-year terms for the Mayor On the ballot as: “Establish two four-year Mayor-Commissioner terms”
Today you elect the Mayor every two years, so every two years you can change a majority of the Commission. If this passes, the Mayor would serve four years, starting in 2028. That doubles your wait to change the majority: from every two years to every four. It also raises the most years anyone can serve in a row from 14 to 16.
Takes from right 2: voting them out
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3 |
Question 3: A term-limited Mayor can move straight to a Commission seat On the ballot as: “Allow the Mayor-Commissioner to run for Commissioner”
Today, a Mayor who reaches the term limit has to take a two-year break before running for a Commission seat. If this passes, the Mayor could move straight to a Commission seat, with no break.
Takes from right 2: term limits
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4 |
Question 4: Term-limited officials can be appointed to open seats On the ballot as: “Allow appointments to vacancies without a two-year break in service”
When a seat opens up in the middle of a term, the Commission picks someone to fill it. Today it cannot pick someone who has reached the term limit. If this passes, the Commission could appoint a term-limited official right back onto the Commission.
Takes from right 2: term limits
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5 |
Question 5: District lines written into the charter On the ballot as: “Establish the current Commission district boundaries”
This writes today’s north–south district line into the charter. A no vote changes nothing: the districts stay as they have been since 2004. It is one reasonable item, bundled with seven that are not.
Bundled by the same three votes
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6 |
Question 6: Ethics removals decided in Tallahassee On the ballot as: “Revise and clarify standards for forfeiture of office”
Today, if a commissioner breaks the ethics rules, the Commission you elected can hold a hearing here in Town Hall and remove them. If this passes, that decision moves to the state Commission on Ethics in Tallahassee, and only after all appeals. It also lets a simple majority excuse missed meetings.
Takes right 3 to Tallahassee
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7 |
Question 7: Later audits, online notices and state election rules On the ballot as: “Incorporate state law governing elections, public notices and audits”
If this passes, legal notices could go online instead of in the newspaper. That part is reasonable. But the Town’s yearly audit could be due 3 months later: 9 months after the year ends instead of 6.
Later audits
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8 |
Question 8: A shorter residency rule, labeled “clean up” On the ballot as: “Correct errors, resolve inconsistencies and update provisions”
The ballot title says this will “clean up charter language.” It cuts how long a candidate must have lived here from about eleven months to six. Today a candidate must live here six months before signing up to run in June (Sec. 3.3) and six months before the November election (Sec. 6.3). Question 8 deletes the first rule. It also swaps “domiciled” (your one permanent home) for the looser “resided.”
Takes from right 4: leaders who live here
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All eight were put on your ballot by the same 3–2 vote in May: Malkoon, DeNapoli and Theo Poulopoulos yes; Strauss and Graziano no. Questions 3, 4 and 6 came from Commissioner DeNapoli. He also made the motion that cut the residency rule in Question 8. The Town’s Charter Review Board, made up of residents, had asked for a full year of residency. The Commission voted it down, 4–1, and kept it off your ballot. Three members spoke against it: Mayor Malkoon, Commissioner DeNapoli and Commissioner Theo Poulopoulos.
Read it yourself: the Town’s page · the full ordinance with every change marked (PDF), roll call on p. 19 · residency vote, March 24 minutes, p. 19. The quoted ballot titles are the Town’s. The headings and plain-English lines are ours, checked against the ordinance.
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Put it together A promise is only worth what you can do if it is broken. No one running this year has proposed raising the height limits. They have held for fifty years not because every commissioner was honorable, but because residents could act if one was not. So the question on November 3 is not whether they will protect the height limits. It is whether you will still have the rights to make them. |
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The end of Commercial Boulevard. This is what the charter protects. Keep the rights that protect it.
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November 3
Hold them accountable. Hold our candidates accountable. You can only do that if you keep your rights.
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NO |
on all 8 charter amendments
We are asking you to trust three neighbors with your vote. Do not trust anyone with your rights, including them. Vote NO on all eight and you keep the power to hold all of them to their word, including the three we recommend.
One reason for all eight. The people asking you to rewrite the charter are three of the five people it is meant to keep in check. Vote no on every one and it stays as residents wrote it. Anything worth changing can come back on its own.
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November 3
Vote for these three. Town first.
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Randy Strauss
For Mayor
Voted no on putting all eight amendments on the ballot.
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Howard Goldberg
Seat 1 · District 1
Longtime Chamber of Commerce voice for the businesses on Commercial Boulevard. Committed to the charter as residents wrote it.
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Patrick Ferguson
Seat 2 · District 2
Worked with neighbors on a citizen charter petition. Committed to the charter as residents wrote it.
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Each has committed to vote in public, with their reasons on the record. If any of them breaks that promise, you should keep every right to act. All three races are decided by the whole town.
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Election Day
Tuesday, November 3
Vote by mail, early, or on Election Day. Mail ballots and early voting times are at browardvotes.gov. Town races here are decided by a few hundred votes.
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Forward this to the neighbor who says “but they promised.” Ask them what the promise is worth once the rights are gone.
Your neighbors at Let’s Protect Our Paradise
Where this comes from: Ordinance 2026-04 and its roll call; the Town’s charter-amendment page; the Town Commission minutes of July 22, 2025, February 24, March 24 and May 26, 2026; and the Charter Review Board minutes of April 1 and June 3, 2025, on the Town’s meeting portal. Every quote is word for word. Photos: the beach gate by Julie Corsi (CC BY 2.0) and the beach by Gatorfan252525 (CC BY-SA 4.0), both via Wikimedia Commons. All of it, with links, is at letsprotectourparadise.org.
Why you’re getting this: you signed up at letsprotectourparadise.org, a neighbor passed your email along, or your address is in Florida’s public voter-registration file. If it’s not for you, the unsubscribe link at the bottom works with one click. No hard feelings.
Questions, corrections, or you think we’ve got something wrong: hello@letsprotectourparadise.org. We answer.
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