Eviction

From today's Sun-Sentinel

SOUTHWEST RANCHES · The first attempt to settle an eviction dispute between the town and the South Broward Drainage District, which owned the lease to the land where Town Hall is located, failed Friday.

The meeting between Town Administrator John Canada and district Director Leo Schwartzberg came three weeks after a Broward County judge denied a motion in a lawsuit by the district to evict the municipality from its own Town Hall. The judge ordered the two sides to begin conflict resolution.

"We were here to put our best offer on the table and we did," Canada said.

But Schwartzberg said the town needs to budge on the most contentious issue -- de-annexing the land on which Town Hall sits.

The suit centers on land Southwest Ranches leased from the district, its neighbor, for Town Hall. The five-year lease, which expired June 27, was not renewed after a dispute developed between the two government entities.

As the lease wound down, the district offered the town a three-year extension as long as it agreed to de-annex the Town Hall land. The district wanted the land to become part of Pembroke Pines or Davie, the city the property was part of before the lease began.

Politicians are notoriously short-sighted, rarely looking past the next election or the end of their term. Yet this is ridiculous. Only in Florida would a City Hall be forced to move. Isn't this a great state or what?

Linked to- Adam's Blog, Samantha Burns, Is it Just me,