Laura Cattabriga Has A Question

The Question Queen

Laura Cattabriga wants to be mayor of North Bay Village and will be coming around asking you for your signatures, your money and your vote starting July 19.  

But first, let's talk about the questions.  

Laura Cattabriga is the master of the self serving question.  Posts them solely for her benefit.  Never answers them.  Claims that answers are “disrespectful”

This strategy is working well for her.  

Let’s examine some.  

The Question That Started It All

In May of 2017, Commissioner Doug Hornsby was the target of an extortion attempt, a federal crime. His tormentors were anonymous and an investigation was started.

As a natural correlation, there was an investigation into Hornsby’s voting status at the time of his appointment. Given that his rights had automatically been restored by Tennessee following his completion of parole, Hornsby had every reason to believe that he was eligible. And no court found otherwise.

Still, Laura had “questions” so she got someone else to pay for a lawsuit which failed to answer the question.

Laura Never Got An Answer On Hornsby

But Cattabriga got what she wanted.

When the Mayor, the Vice Mayor and Commissioner Mary Kramer’s Husband colluded with the Village Attorney, Norm Powell, to falsely advertise a meeting as a discussion and illegally use that meeting to remove Hornsby, Laura was out of questions.  

Except one.  

“Can I have his seat?”   The answer was "Yes" and Cattabriga got it because she was the only qualified candidate except for the more qualified other one, but she was the most qualified white candidate.
The Next Question - The Hurricane Party?

In this clip from NBC6, Laura Cattabriga pretends to be shocked, I tells you, shocked that there was beer at the police HQ during Hurricane Irma.  

So shocked in fact, that she colluded with the Village administration to leak the tape of the police to NBC6 and went on camera to ask very serious, very concerned questions.  

Except she already had the answers.  The internal affairs investigations were closed, disciplines meted out, the state authorities involved who declined to prosecute, and the PD Land Fall team reorganized to prevent a recurrence.  

The NBC6 report and articles it spawned damaged the Village but made Laura look “Mayoral”

But What About the Finances?

Cattabriga represents herself as an “in charge” fiscal watchdog.  

So at the last commission meeting, she discussed how she had uncovered nearly $1 MILLION Dollars in “Emergency Purchases” and wondered aloud about how this could be.  

The answer was not hard to find.  Laura Cattabriga simply took the spreadsheet and binder marked “Emergency Purchases” and read it.  Every purchase in there had an accompanying memo explaining why it met the criteria, a copy of the check as signed by Mayor Kreps, and had been reported to the commission.

Let’s Look At The Questions Laura Didn’t Ask

Voted to give away $40,000 to a lobbyist without asking a single question. Cattabriga voted Yes to install Ron Book as our lobbyist without asking if an RFP, with real proposals and real plans would suit the Village. Cattabriga just voted Yes. Cost: $40,000.

My question: Why would you jump past the required RFP process and not insist on quantifying the value? Cattabriga’s answer: *SILENCE*

Voted to give Noman C. Powell almost a year’s salary to prevent him from suing should he want to, nearly $140,000, with just one question. “Do you think you could make it a little bit less?” with an answer of “No” so she voted Yes. This is an unprecedented contract, especially to a Village Attorney with no municipal experience.

Voted to give away $100,000 in unearned severance to a 90 day employee without asking a single question.  Not one.

Special note:  When I asked Cattabriga about the giveaway of $100,000, she predictably evaded the request with, you guessed it, a request for a “respectful” sit down with me.  I have no interest in sitting down with her. I have great interest in knowing why she voted to give $100,000 that was not part of a contract and she never answered asking yet another “question” of me.  She failed to see how asking for a “sit down” (what are we, the Sopranos?) was “disrepectful”. I just want to know why she voted for a $100k in lovely parting gifts. Cattabriga will never answer.

Let’s Review

Cattabriga’s “Questions” have so far managed to get her:

• An unelected seat on the dais.
• Support for a mayoral run to continue the special interest pillaging of NBV
• Media exposure on TV

And the Fiscal Cost to the Village

• $100,000 in a severance giveaway this month.  
• A nearly $200,000 poison pill when Powell is replaced.
• $40,000 to Lobbyist who couldn’t even be bothered to put together a proposal.

And the reputational costs to North Bay Village:

• Created a phony scandal over the resolved hurricane party disciplines just to get on TV
• Called into doubt the well documented Village emergency purchases, purchases approved by her mayor, just to throw some shade.
• Refused to answer about the severance package making the NBV commission look even shadier .

And The Big One

Cattabriga allied with an elderly neighbor who financed a frivolous lawsuit to destroy the reputation of a sitting commissioner, a lawsuit that after three tries to get it right, was about to be dismissed when Cattabriga colluded to remove the Commissioner and stole the seat for herself to satisfy her own ambitions.  

In the process, Cattabriga destroyed trust in the North Bay Village government making it the unstable mess we see now, exposed her neighbors to serious financial liability, destroyed a good man’s reputation and stole his duly appointed position.

Now Cattabriga Wants Be Mayor And I Have a Question

When Cattabriga asks you to sign her nominating petition, to give to her campaign, to vote for her, do you really believe that Cattabriga has done the work to lead us out of this chaos?

And why do you hate North Bay Village?

Inquiringly,

Kevin Vericker

July 18, 2018

Short Term Vacation Rentals and North Bay Village

Listening to our commission and what they choose to emphasize, you would think that the most important issue facing North Bay Village is Short Term Vacation Rentals offered by companies like AirBnB and VRBO. 

The subject was brought up several times in the last commission meeting, by Commissioner Mary Kramer's Husband and squatting Commissioner Laura Cattabriga.  Both of them congratulated our Code Enforcement for enforcing our current ordinance requiring registration of short term rentals properties.  And it is an issue.  

But there are some important points that need be understood about the position and North Bay Village.  

1. We are preempted by state law from prohibiting or tightly regulating the short term vacation rental market.   We had our chances before 2011 to put legislation but never did.  Florida then passed a state law which governs the process and does not allow cities or counties to prohibit STVR's.   
2. The very limited things we can legally do are require that STVR's register with the Village and require that they have a 24 hour contact for issues arising.  
3. The major issue is in the multiunit buildings - condos and rental buildings - and the Village ordinance does not address these, leaving the decision on STVR's to the building owners and management.   There are very few STVR's in the single family neighborhoods on Treasure Island and North Bay Island.  

But those single family STVR's have been the subject of intense concern, particularly on North Bay Island, and the Village has responded.  By passing an ordinance requiring registration and enforcing the ordinance through fines for properties listed without being registered.  Here is the coding report on the single family homes known to be renting for STVR.  

What jumps out is that there are 12 on North Bay Island and 10 on Treasure Island, again they only count single family homes so the impact is clearly higher on North Bay Island.   

But I think our enforcement is missing the mark.  A simple search on AirBnb shows the following  128 available so the bulk of them are in apartment/condo buildings.  

And that's where the problems are the biggest.  

There are several things that the Village can legally do.  

• The Village could expand the ordinance to require that buildings register their STVR's.  
• The Village could embark on a campaign to educate the owners and renters of the Village parking, noise and other ordinances.  
• The Village could aggressively enforce noise ordinances, fining both the owners and the renters who violate them.   

Imagine a program whereby each time a home was rented, the occupants received a "Welcome to North Bay Village" packet.  It could include listings of our few businesses, an overview of parking and noise regulations, a number to contact if there are issues, and maybe even some coupons and tips for the local area.   Something friendly but clear about the expected behavior.  

Then with proper enforcement where the police show up and check noise levels from outside and ticket for infractions, the internet would quickly do what the internet does best - disseminate information.  

My disclosure:  I'm too nervous to rent out my house to strangers but I do rent places through VRBO and AirBnB.  I read the reviews and if I saw a review that said something like "I got a ticket for noise at 11:30 PM and the party was ruined."  that would probably be a property I would rent.  Were it 20, oh hell, truthfully, 30 years ago back when I was getting funky with my friends, I'd avoid it like the plague.  Alright, maybe it's 35 years since I got funky but you get the idea.  

If on the other hand, the reviews wrote about the peaceful neighborhood, the waterviews, the easy access, I'd sign right up.   

The Village is limited but it looks like what we have is a tactic for North Bay Island and no strategy at all for the Village. 

As the candidates come asking for your vote this fall, be sure to ask each of them what they think of this issue.  

I've started this conversation over on the Facebook page and I hope it will continue either here in the comments or on the Facebook page.  We have to have it. 

UPDATE:  Regular Contributor Ritch Holben and the guy who everyone tells George Clooney he looks like posted a really important point.  I quote it here. 

To those of you who have not used a short term rental service, like AirBnB, you should know that they have a 5 star rating system that is based on reviews of actual stays. But more importantly, every guest gets a rating from the host also! One does not see the other's review until they've both completed the process. This means that a host has the ability to evaluate a potential guest BEFORE they accept their reservation, and usually they have several direct conversations too... completely unlike a hotel reservation system. What this should mean is that a host can and should have the ability to deny any guest with a rowdy or destructive behavior, and has more control in being sure that they treat their neighbors with respect and courtesy. But in the end, it is the responsibility of the HOST to be sure they run their business in a neighborly way. If they do not, repeatedly, and complaints are on file with the police department, the village has the right to deny their license.

Thanks Ritch. 

Kevin Vericker

July 16, 2018 

Screw the Kids

0.64% of the PD Budget goes to PAL

Once again, our commission is in budget season without a clue.  On the budget proposals was eliminating the money for the PAL camps, a program that successfully serves North Bay Village kids at a reasonable price and is greatly valued by the parents and the kids.   

0.64% of the Total Budget goes for PAL

So our police chief/village manager says "Cut it".  

His reasoning is that it's too expensive and the kids can attend a completely different program (summer school) at twice the price to the parents.  

What are these outrageous costs?  Well, based on the Police Chief's estimate of $68 per hour in police resources (probably fair), the camp comes out to $24,480 and another $10,000 in supplies and field trips etc.  In case you are a member of the dais and can't add, that is $34,480 total.  

Out of a police budget of $5,391,162.  

In fancy math terms, that is less than 1%  of the total budget for the police.  (.64% to be exact.)

We have a police chief who is unable to find .64% of the budget to preserve a well received, useful and important youth program.   He even seems to feel bad about that.  

Now just for comparision, our administration this week alone gave away, gifted, a cool $136,000 to two employees with a grand total of 131 days of service, both of whom left because the mayor made their jobs a living hell and they had to be paid not to sue us.  

Mayoral Candidate Laura Cattabriga voted Yes without explanation to the gifting but did not take up for the PAL Camp because, hell, kids don't vote or finance campaigns.  

PAL Costs Versus Unearned Severance for 2 Village Employees

This doesn't even take into account the money being set aside to give our inexperienced lawyer an $84,000 raise, making him one of the highest paid municipal attorneys in Miami Dade, the money being spent for commission vanity projects ($166,500) or the other raises.

Nope, uniquely, this program which serves the kids of our community with direct, tangible benefit is the one to cut.  

There is a Budget Workshop on July 18 at 6:30.  Got a kid, like kids, like our community.  Be there.  

Kevin Vericker

July 13, 2018

Mayoral Candidate Laura Cattabriga Pays $127,000 In Hush Money

I stole this office.  So sue me!

There's no other way to put this - our municipal government in North Bay Village is now little more than a disorganized racket.  Tonight, mayoral candidate and impostor commissioner Laura Cattabriga cast the deciding vote to pay $127,000 in severance to a village manager that she, Cattabriga, enthusiastically hired 90 days ago.   It was of course Mayor Crazy Eyes who initiated the firing of Martell and Norman Powell who is used to dealing with troublesome girls from his days as a registered strip club lobbyist and go to fix it attorney, but the deal was so bad that even Commissioner Mary Kramer's husband voted No.   

Yet Laura Cattabriga, who earlier in the evening spoke darkly about how she discovered almost $1,000,000 in emergency spending over the last 4 years and how she could not stand the lack of transparency, leaned in and voted to give away $127,000 of our money because, well, it's best to move on.  

Of course, Cattabriga has a long history of spending other people's money.  She convinced an elderly neighbor to finance her lawsuit against Doug Hornsby, the one the court dismissed, and she used village resources to illegally have Hornsby removed so she could take his seat.  Cattabriga has been using the position of commissioner, to which she is not ethically entitled, to destroy North Bay Village in the press and now this.  $127,000 of our money because the mayor couldn't get along with the Village Manager that she handpicked.  

It was that kind of night.  

The commission appointed Police Chief Lewis Velken to be temporary village manager.  

Our attorney, Norman C. Powell, does not know much about lawyering or he might have told the commission that it is against the Florida Constitution for someone to hold two public offices.  But Powell is not a real Village attorney.  He's the defense team for Mayor Crazy Eyes and when it was pointed out to him that there is a State Attorney opinion specifically on the subject, he did what he does best - made some stuff up.  But there is.  Here.  And Here.

The Budget workshop was just as bad.  It was rushed.  The commission was unable to follow much of it.  The Police Chief/Village Manager did say he wants to eliminate the PAL camp because it's expensive and proposed we merge it into the Miami Dade School programs, with which he is unfamiliar and had not made contact.  Several residents spoke against that, including a brilliant kid from the program, but the commission couldn't figure out what to do so they're kind of leaving it in.  

And lest we forget our lunatic mayor, Connie Leon-Kreps.  A bitter, disorganized woman who does not realize she has failed utterly at being a mayor and being a decent human being.  

During her "report" she made rather a large deal about a generator that cost $27,000 rather than $25,000.  Insisted on an explanation (that's a good thing), got it, the commission voted to spend the extra $2,000 and go ahead, the mayor cackling and chortling about how much better things were and then not 20 minutes later, received a text from someone that he had googled generators and saw them for $8,000 (a very different kind of generator) and tried to rescind the approval.  It was so crazy that even Powell was surprised.  Her motion to disapprove the approval failed because it was stupid.  

Fun sidenote.  If you look at the June Commission Meeting on video, you will hear the mayor complaining about her colleagues taking up so much time with their comments and questions.  I ran the video through a voice analyzer and it showed that on the resolutions and ordinances, our mayor spoke 87% of the time.  The others barely got a word in edgewise.  Tonight she was quieter.  

There was so much in a short meeting, all of it bad.  

By my reckoning, the budget will have to include $500,000 set aside for severance packages - Village Manager, Village Attorney because he will have to go, probably the police chief, and some of the other employees.  

We will lose at least two of the lawsuits and I'm thinking another $500k for those.  

In attendance tonight were the Miami Herald and an investigator from the Commission on Ethics.  

This is getting real.  

Kevin Vericker 

July 10, 2018