The Day After Tomorrow...

Tomorrow night is the swearing in of the new commission. The commission meeting which certifies the results starts at 7:30 PM at Treasure Island School and traditionally is not a very long meeting.

I wonder what happens next. The new mayor, Corina Esquijarosa, was elected less for what she stood for than as a response to what is going on. Our property values continue to fall out of proportion with other places of similar demographics, our tax millage went up, our garbage collection is being privatized under false assumptions, our police and legal services are way over budget and our projects all seem to be stalled.

The problem will be that the North Bay Village mayor has limited power. She is an equal among equals whose primary function is to preside over commission meetings. The real power lies in the combination of the city commission and the city manager. And if the city commission doesn't step up its game, and if we don't find a professional city manager quickly, we are likely to continue along the same path of spending money we don't have and cutting services we need.

I hope the new commission will be different than the old one. It's time to end the alliances and the secret deals that prevailed. The big difference this commission can make is to commit to do everything in the open, no matter how controversial. Treat us like adults and stop the backroom politicking.

Once that's out there, things can get on track.

Kevin Vericker
November 15, 2010