The Season Of Gratitude And A New Vice Mayor

Our Hepburn Center will host the Annual Thanksgiving Luncheon. This is a wonderful opportunity to gather with neighbors and enjoy a festive meal featuring all the traditional favorites. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve. Thank you to the City of Hallandale Beach Human Services Department staff and other city staff volunteers for making this possible.

Late Wednesday, Hallandale Beach held an organizational meeting for the new city commission. Even though there were clear winners in our election, all results must be certified by the Broward County Supervisor of Election and accepted by the state. This process typically takes 10 days. After being accepted by the State, the results are certified and we are sworn into office. While there were some crazy events over the past month and over the course of early voting the organizational meeting was a time of celebration for us all.

Commissioner Lazarow was sworn in by her dear friend. Michele was blessed to be joined by her mother Phyllis Lazarow and Stepfather. Anyone that has lived in Hallandale Beach for more than 10 years knows that Phyllis is a true pioneer of our city in her own right. She opened and ran a wonderful salon for over thirty plus years.

While we celebrate our win the official swearing in is quite a solemn moment. When we take the oath of office, we are officially certified by law to serve in the capacity of Mayor and commissioners. We do not simply swear to protect and defend our city and charter but the United States Constitution and Florida Constitution. It is our duty to protect and defend all our residents.

Vice Mayor Anabelle Lima-Taub was sworn in by her amazing mother Eva Taub. Anabelle shared a wonderful message about her Imma. She too is an amazing woman. She escaped Antisemitism in Russia as a young woman and settled in Israel. She married and gave birth to Annabelle. She separated from her husband to escape violence and came to the US to start a new life. She raised Anabelle as a single mother working tirelessly, opening her own business. She made sure Anabelle received a great education and more importantly ingrained in her the importance of standing up against hatred and oppression.

I was sworn in by my dear husband Dr. Harry Cooper. He decided that he wanted to participate in this time, which is uniquely different as he typically prefers to be behind the scenes. It was special as my mom who has made all my swearing in had passed during the COVID-19 Pandemic. My Dad and my father by marriage had also passed away and my mom by Marriage Syliva was watching from home.

I thanked my friends for attending and the many volunteers including Fraternal Order of Police President and President of the Broward County Professional FireFighters and Paramedics who all came out during early voting and on election day.

Another huge thanks to Ms. Judy Stern who is not only a friend but both me and Anabelle’s campaign manager. The countless hours she spent on messaging, mail consulting and keeping us focused was priceless. Ms. Eve Paul, my publicist and ground coordinator, is another blessing that always keeps me grounded, focused and on point. Her continued magic navigating everything tech was extraordinary.

The biggest thank you and cheers went out to Officer Marcia who was assigned the lion share of patrol hours for early voting. The assignment came with hours of nonsense, disrespect and lawlessness from my and Anabelle’s opponent. Her service along with other officers including us was over and above anyone would have expected.

Anabelle thanked the many supporters that worked early voting for all of us. We all united with such passion and strength over the course of two weeks and on voting day. I personally have such gratitude for the many friends that I had a chance to meet and work with. The biggest thank you still goes out to Eva who I lovingly refer to as the General. Every day we set up and she would make sure everyone was in the right place at the right time. Sadly, our opponents were uncivil and created much unrest throughout the course of the election. The other amazing volunteer was Pablo, Anabelle’s husband. It was great to have him around covering our six. Not only is he a wonderful friend but an amazing police officer. She also shared a special thanks to Mayer, Lius, Anna, AJ, Howard, Kenyatta and all the many other volunteers.

After the swearing in ceremony, Anabelle nominated Commissioner Lazarow as Vice Mayor and I seconded the nomination. There were no other nominations and the vote for Vice Mayor Michelle Lazarow was unanimous.

We all shared during our comments a common theme. We all serve every single resident of the city. It does not matter if you are an R or D. If you live in a house, condominium or trailer. It does not matter the amount of money you have, the religion you practice nor the color of your skin. It does not matter if you voted for us or against us, we have all sworn an oath to serve and we all take it very seriously.

Our residents should know that among all of us we have over 50 plus years of experience. There is no need for a learning curve. This means our City will have continuity, experience and most of all stability. Our City has come through some significant times over the past years. We were faced with fiscal insolvency for years of instability and now we can truly get right back to collaborating with an amazing team. More importantly we will retain great staff.

As always, I am available anytime for your questions, concerns and ideas to make our City a better place on my Phone/Text at: (954) 632-5700. Or you can email me at: jcooper@cohb.org. Please visit me on my Facebook page at Mayor Joy Cooper. Like, follow and share!