It's Voting Time

I'm writing this at 10:45 PM on November 1. Tomorrow is Election Day. Many have already voted and I believe most have made up their minds. I've explained why the choice is clear for me, the pain of staying the same far outweighs the pain of changing, and our choices have real consequences.

I stand with Corina Esquijarosa for Mayor and Silvio Diaz for Harbor Island Commissioner. My choices are not simple adulation nor driven as some would say by my distaste for the current commission, but rather based on the fact that what we are doing now is not working. Our tax base declining, our city planning is incoherent, our garbage pickup is being eliminated and yet our taxes are going up. The old guard has failed.

Even tonight, as the hysteria of the so called CFD continues, blaming Corina for a meeting that was held against the advice of city attorney, shows the panic of the old guard. The prospect of real transparency frightens the CFD. Strangely, considering how publicly I have discussed my dislike of Rey Trujillo and his behavior in the past, I have to say tonight he was right. If the meeting about the 7904 property did not have proper notice, it should not have been held.

But Trujillo could not make that clear, easy objection. Trujillo began shouting about "debts being paid." and that he was not there, although we could still see him, rather than finding out what had happened with the notice. It was a tantrum, not political leadership.

The Citizens for Full Disclosure, mendacious hypocrites that they are, sent out one of their many email blasts citing Alfonso and Rodriguez, never mentioning that George Kane also voted with them.

Trujillo had his chance and proved that he can't manage himself, let alone a commission. So vote tomorrow, vote for change, vote for sanity, vote for Corina and Silvio. Let's finally own our city.


Kevin Vericker
November 1, 2010

Issue Recap

Below is the text of an email I sent out yesterday. There are some minor edits (note below*) but I think it is worth sharing.

In all the negatives flying around during this campaign, it’s easy to lose sight of the issues. As I’ve walked the streets during the campaign, a shocking number of residents were unaware that NBV tax rates are going up this year, while side yard garbage pickup is being eliminated and hardly anyone knew about the status of the projects nor the plans for a “high end gentleman’s club.”

The following is my list of the major issues facing North Bay Village this year. Please take a look.

The Facts:

Taxes - our millage went up .5 for 2011. For a $250,000 home, this is a raise of $150 per year. Other cities, North Miami, Miami Lakes, City of Miami all held the line and cut spending.

Spending – there are no pay cuts and in fact, a number of raises for city employees including the police. Their health insurance went up and there is a higher contribution but there are no furloughs, no cuts, and the hiring freeze was revoked.

Garbage Side Yard Pickup - This service is being eliminated as the garbage is planned to be privatized. The city manager claimed this will save $500,000 per year but the real savings is $120,000 per year as reflected in the published budget.

Generous Employee Contracts – Very few people seem to know that if the new police chief is let go for any reason other than criminal, even for cause, he collects six months notice and three month’s severance, or about $82,000 plus 9 months of benefits (another $15,000). He is entitled to five weeks vacation the day he signed the contract. The first clause, nine months of severance regardless of the reason for the dismissal, is unheard of.

Development – the only new development in the city is a building at 1415 JFK Causeway (Channel 7). Its approval has been treated an emergency by the commission with four attempts to approve this before the November 2 election. The problem is that the lot is zoned for an “adult entertainment” complex and while the developer won’t say publicly what the plans are, on October 28 Robert Leider of WSVN testified under oath that the developer's attorneys met with his staff to tell them a “high end gentlemen’s club” was planned for the site. This will be the first building for our much needed baywalk and it's a bad choice to anchor it with an adult club.

Grants and Projects – the grants process has slowed to a trickle. North Bay Village received $11 million dollars in grants to offset our $35 million bonds and there are more on the table but the city is not acting on these. Millions are on the table from the Federal and State stimulus money and North Bay Village is on the sidelines.

Rey Trujillo either authored or supported every piece of legislation that contributed to these problems. Trujillo supported raising the tax rate as our property values declined. Trujillo stood against the furloughs and using the red light money to save police jobs instead of raising taxes. Trujillo voted to end side yard pickup and never challenged the fictitious $500,000 savings. Trujillo negotiated the police chief’s contract and voted for it. Trujillo took the maximum campaign contribution from Scott Greenwald. Then Trujillo claimed he did not know what the building at 1415 JFK is for and voted for it, even after Leider clearly laid out the plans. Trujillo led the charge to fire the city manager who had brought the $11,000,000 in grants.

These aren’t opinions, these are the facts.

This next part is opinion:

Corina Esquijarosa, a newcomer to our politics, is committed to fixing what we can – stop the garbage giveaway, support proper development, rationalize spending and stop the generous contracts. She has experience in seeking grants.

For me, the choice is clear.

A Subject No One Is Addressing – Our Declining Values.

This entire commission has ignored that North Bay Village property values have had the second steepest decline in Miami Dade County at 26%. The whole country has declined but why are we worse than most? Why is a single family house in North Bay Village on the market an average of 10 weeks longer than comparables in nearby cities? Why are the resale prices for single family houses 15% lower than comparables in nearby communities? (source: Realtytrac) We have more homes in foreclosure or in the process of foreclosure than any other city in Miami Dade (source: US Housing and Urban Development Neighborhood Stabilization Program.) We need to find the causes and fix them if we are going to recover. Our commission has ignored this problem but it’s our gravest by far.

Silvio Diaz, running for Harbor Island Commission, has made finding the answer to that question and putting the solutions in place the cornerstone of his campaign. Corina Esquijarosa has already discussed her plans to form a public private partnership to address the issue. The old guard just doesn’t see the problem – neither Trujillo, Lim nor Kreps have mentioned it. Not once. If we don’t fix, we sink.

The old guard have failed. We can't go on that way we are. It's too important to vote without the information. These are our homes at stake.

Kevin Vericker
October 30, 2010

*note: The email I sent out contained several grammatical errors and misspellings. I have corrected for those in this post. My usual writing process is to create a first draft for content, the next draft is for clarity and organization and the final is for grammar and spelling. Yesterday, instead of hitting "Save", I hit "Send". Careless on my part.

Meritorious MAST and Silvio Diaz

Silvio Diaz of Harbor Island is running a quiet, focused campaign for Commissioner from Harbor Island. Under our peculiar voting system, there are three seats restricted to residents of one of the three major neighborhoods - Harbor Island, North Bay Island and Treasure Island. The whole city votes but the standing candidate must live there, except for Vice Mayor George Kane who gives his permanent address as 1080 NE 105th St, Miami Shores, on his arrest report.

Anyway Diaz lives on Harbor Island and entered the commission race because he is a small businessman (real estate), father of two, and a long time resident of North Bay Village. He entered the race because like so many of us, he's seen and suffered the consequences of the North Bay Village politics as usual. Diaz believes it's time for a change - the North Bay Village Trujillo Tax is killing us, the rubber stamping of any requested project regardless of merit is driving our property values down, and the city's reputation is a leading economic impediment.

A citizen legislature is designed to be community governance but North Bay Village has been taken over by politicos and corporate socialists.

Diaz, as a realtor, is particularly concerned with why it takes ten weeks longer to resell a single house in North Bay Village and why our prices are 10 - 15% lower than Surfside, Miami Shores and Morningside. He doesn't pretend to have all the answers but what he has been doing, unlike his opponent, is talking and actively seeking advice from the North Bay Village Real Estate Professionals and getting our housing market stabilized is his top priority.

Along with that, he is working to prevent further foreclosures in North Bay Village, where the rate of foreclosure is nearly double that of any community in Miami Dade County. He himself was caught in the foreclosure vise and knows deeply and personally the havoc this wreaks. He will work with the city, the property owners, the federal government and the financial institutions to stop the foreclosure hemorrhaging that is destroying property values in our city.

Silvio Diaz like so many others is an immigrant from Cuba where his own father was imprisoned for political reasons, and like so many, deeply loves his adopted country. He served in the US Marines and was decorated during his time in a Meritorious Mast, a traditional Marine Ceremony that acknowledges exceptional service. Following his honorable discharge, he has successfully built the kind of business in and of our community that have brought the immigrants of Miami to the successful positions they hold today. In his mid 50's, Diaz told me "it's time to give back to the community that adopted me." and that's why he's running.

His opponent, Eddie Lim, is also a long time small businessman in North Bay Village, in real estate, and in my acquaintance with him, is a decent and honorable man who has volunteered on several boards over the years. He's also a nice guy.

But he has no plans, no platform, to change the picture of North Bay Village. In normal times, that might have been enough but not in these dangerous economic times. Lim has aligned himself with Trujillo and this bodes badly for us. We can't afford more of the same, higher taxes, lower services, strip clubs, utility bills unpaid, and it's time for a change.

Note: There has been an emailing about Diaz, filled with the usual vitriol. Who it's from is in doubt, but it's time to stop this tiresome anonymous attacking.

Kevin Vericker
October 21, 2010