As a former practicing attorney for the Guardian Ad Litem Program at Miami-Dade County’s Juvenile Court, Cindy Lerner has represented the best interests of thousands of abused and neglected children.

It was her love of policy that promoted her represent District 119 in the Florida House of Representatives – a position she held from 2000 to 2002, when redistricting prevented her from running for re-election.

While she did not plan to return to government, an outpouring of community support drove her to run in Pinecrest’s 2008 mayoral election.

Calling it the “best job [she’s] ever had,” as Pinecrest’s third mayor Ms. Lerner has worked to ensure that all residents have a say in how their government functions.

“I very early on learned the most important lesson in politics – policy decisions cannot be made without input from the people that are going to be impacted by them,” she said. “You have learn what the community wants and needs. You have to empower your community to be involved.”

While “there was no strategic plan in place” when she was elected, in her first term Ms. Lerner is addressing the importance of creating a unified vision for the community’s future. She hopes to expand the area’s commercial corridor along US 1 to pull business to Pinecrest.

“We’ve been able to develop over the last couple of years a wonderful municipal coalition with all of our neighboring cities along US 1,” she said. “We started talking about how transportation issues impact each of us at the municipal level, which led to a conversation about how we could do a better job of planning on a regional level. We’re looking at land use and how we could create a vision for what we want to see along the US 1 corridor.”

Ms. Lerner discussed her plans for the village’s future – including her hopes to create a people mover station within the Village of Pinecrest and to expand the community’s sustainability efforts –  with Miami Today staff writer Ashley Hopkins at Pinecrest Gardens.