Op-Ed by Michael Rosenberg: KFHA ‘In One Room – Together’ was a success

Opinion By Michael Rosenberg, president of the Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations
On the night of September 25, a room full of people came together to see if people of various political persuasions could discuss some very difficult issues that cause Town Hall meetings to dissolve into chaos, screaming, police actions, fights and angry rhetoric with shouting and cursing becoming the final outcome.
The Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations, Inc. wanted to see if we could tackle that situation in the “Land of Kendall” and see if we could do it right. If we could be peaceful. If we could depart friends. If we could, perhaps, change some minds. Or, at least, agree to disagree.
It was called, “In One Room – Together”. Ladra (columnist Elaine de Valle) wrote a wonderful article about it.
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We did it! On the panel were two Republicans from the FIU College Republicans, two Democrats from the FIU College Democratics, one Libertarian from the FIU Libertarian Committee, the chair of the Miami-Dade County Democratic Party, the chair of the Miami Dade County Libertarian Party and JC Planas, election attorney extraordinaire.
I failed in my attempts to convince the head of the Miami-Dade Republican Party to join us, but those FIU students representing the Republican Party were fantastic, as were all of the “kids”.
There was one rule: You could NOT say the words “Trump”, “Biden”, “Harris”, DeSantis” or any other elected official’s name, as this was a meeting about US! Our views. Our thoughts. Our ideas. Believe it or not, we did that as well! For ninety minutes there was not one single mention of any politicians. It was just “We The People”.
Some people were thinking that this would be a discussion about the price of electricity from FPL or affordable housing; you know, the easy stuff. Nope!
We started right off with “Birthright Citizenship”. Does it make sense that someone can sneak into the United States, have a baby and that baby is automatically an American citizen, just like that? The discussion was calm, but trust me, there were a wide variety of opinions.
Next came the Second Amendment. Oh boy! That was tough. All sorts of opinions and strong arguments for why the Second Amendment is perfect and clear; and strong arguments why it could use some changes in the modern world of 2025.
We saved the ”easiest” one for last … “Abortion”. Not easy! One theme, among most of the women, were comments to the men that they should essentially “take a hike” when it comes to making rules for “our bodies”!
I have to say that this issue became mildly or slightly heated towards the end. Or maybe, more than that. The last ten minutes, with that topic, was tough to contain emotions. Some spoke from personal experiences, some from their strong religious point-of-view, some saying Roe v. Wade should return and some saying the exact moment of conception is the beginning of life.
But, we got through it.
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One of the highlights of the evening was that even when the meeting was over, it didn’t end. Little pockets of people like this (photo courtesy Michael Rosenberg) were sitting around discussing issues. This photo is one Democrat talking to three Republicans. They spoke for over thirty minutes! It was beautiful to watch.
I’ll end with Ron Magill‘s great comments. They capture the spirit of the evening. I suggest you watch the whole video.
“There are two things I don’t talk about. I don’t talk about religion. I don’t talk about politics,” said Magill, who is the communications director and, really, the face of Zoo Miami. He was also a lifetime Republican until 2015.
“Extremism in any form is dangerous,” Magill said, and he congratulated the college students on their willingness and ability to engage without fighting.
“Because you guys are the future. And it’s very inspiring to me how civilly you debated this,” Magill said.
In conclusion, there will be a Part Two and, I believe, it will be far more challenging than Part One. Stay tuned.
The KFHA thanks all the panel members, KFHA supporters and all the guests that showed we can do it. We can meet as friends. Yes, WE DID IT!
Michael Rosenberg is a tireless advocate for animals and humans in Miami-Dade and beyond. Rosenberg is the longtime president of the Kendal Federation of Homeowner Associations and is co-founder of the Pets’ Trust Initiative, which got 65% of voters to agree in 2012 on a massive spay/neuter plan to help keep the population of strays down. He is a frequent speaker at Miami-Dade Commission meetings — when they let him talk.
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