Radical Questions

Maybe it's time to ask the radical questions. What does it mean to have North Bay Village? Why is it even a city? What benefits does having our own government bring and at what cost? Are we simply here because it's always been that way?

These are questions that we need to consider.

First let's talk about the benefits.

• We have a beautiful location. Seriously. Except maybe for the Venetian Islands, there's no other spot like this north of the Keys. The potential is amazing.
• We have our own police force. The cops generally know who belongs here and what's going on.
• We have local sanitation and a somewhat accessible city staff. They are often our neighbors and some have been here for many years.

I'm having a hard time coming up with more. Seriously.

I keep coming back to the negative place.

• Our politics are brutal. All politics can but this city destroys people who aren't out to make a buck at the city trough.
• We've had 65 years to develop the waterfront and we never have.
• Our city staff can't prepare a proper budget and we can't keep a professional city manager.
• Small donations to political candidates exempt some residents from having to comply with the laws and zoning. .
• Our millage rates are now on par with other cities around us that have recreational and community programs, proper planning, community police programs, and professional management but we have none of these things.
• Our property values fell harder and stayed lower than anywhere around us.
• We have one city park that is virtually unusable.
• We have no programs for our older residents.

It seems like the only people who benefit are the developers, the union employees and more than a few of our commissioners past and present. The residents don't see much benefit at all.

Maybe it's time to become the North Bay Village neighborhood, dissolve the whole shebang, and either go to county or ask Miami Beach to adopt us. It's hard to see how it could get worse. Our commissioners, Eddie and Connie Lim Kreps and their electioneering organization, the Citizens for Full Disclosure, a group of radical malcontents and dishonest pseudo-activists, are throttling this city with their refusal to address the budget issues, their pure hatred of transparency, and their truly astonishing stupidity. Should we cut our losses and walk?

I realize this sounds over the top and I would be really interested in hearing other's views on this (except for those of the CFD president, whose filthy and obscene emails are just tiresome.)

In your view, why should North Bay Village even remain a separate city? How is your life better for having this government?

Kevin Vericker
August 30, 2011