North Bay Village Drama Queen Award for 2014 Goes To...

Commissioner Gonzalez has no enemies but he is profoundly disliked by his friends, which is what made it so difficult to find endorsements for him.  So few were willing to go on record that he finally had to hire someone to write endorsements and then go around the village begging for a name.  Don't believe me?  Here's his most recent flier - note that the fulsome endorsement from "a North Bay Village Resident" is all written out but no one knew who they could claim said this.  This is an actual posting from Facebook on October 27 of a flier he sent out on October 22.   Pretty sad.

Al Blake ??? or someone else neutral???

Comrade Gonzalez is also excited by this endorsement from Sally Heyman, scrawled on the back of a business card.  I kid you not.    He got so excited that he cropped the below picture from his event at Shuckers (to cut out the developer and the random woman) to put on the above endorsement flier. 

Scrawled on the Back Of A Business Card

A random woman (who looks pretty eager to leave), Commissioner Heyman, Comrade Jorge, and Scott Greenwald

A now a big finale - Comrade Gonzalez was endorsed the North Bay Village Fraternal Order of Police.  It's true.  And it was surprisingly inexpensive (for him.)  The police union rewarded him for his support to give raises all around, block any questions about the stolen NBVPD police truck, the phone monitoring scandal, the police chief's wife employment, or the lack of speed enforcement.  In fact, the FOP found this so honorable that they didn't even bother to interview anyone else.  Once Jorge handed over the cash, they were 100% behind him,  Well 90%.  Well really it was just one guy but he really likes Gonzalez.  

So there you have it folks.  That proves it.  People who are assigned to like Gonzalez do so, casual notes scrawled in a bar are his testament and he's bought the trust (with our money) of people we wonder about.  

In the meantime, Comrade Gonzalez is bellowing threateningly because he will not tolerate  the questions about his bankruptcy (he has one but says it was not his), his tax delinquency since 2010, the court's judgment that he owed nearly $1m, why he got an all expense paid trip to Turkey in May, why he voted for an ordinance to hide gifts.  He believes it is unfair campaign practice to ask these questions.

And for this and many other reasons, please join me in presenting the North Bay Village Drama Queen of the Year 2014 to Comrade Jorge Gonzalez.

Our Endorsement of Jorge Pablo Gonzalez

Kevin Vericker

October 28, 2014

Red and Yellow Flags

If everything were going fine, there would be no need for elections, candidates, or even discussions, right?  If everything were easily resolved, there would never be a need for a meeting.   But disagreements, different viewpoints and history are all part of the discussion in deciding who we pick to represent us.  

I make no secret that I have little respect for Commissioner Jorge Gonzalez.  His arrogance on the dais, his blocking of other viewpoints, his weirdly uninformed twinning of North Bay Village with the city of Isparta Turkey, his ethical lapses, have led me to believe that he does not belong on the dais.

Click to embiggen

How to separate personal life from public life can be a tricky question.   

The Miami Herald article on the race points out Gonzalez's bankruptcy, his delinquent tax status and a $1m judgment against him.  These are all yellow flags.  Imagine you were hiring someone to handle your money and these flags were there.  Because you are hiring someone to handle your money when you elect a commissioner.   In the job interview, you would bring these up.   

And if the job applicant replied as Gonzalez did, “It has nothing to do with North Bay Village or my service as commissioner of North Bay Village.” I know I wouldn't hire him.  The Yellow Flag would become a Red Flag.  Out of the race.

Because it does have to do with us.  Maybe he learned from his mistakes.  Maybe there's another explanation, but a flat out "None of Your Business" when you are applying for a job that is specifically about financial management?  Find another place.  

Now the question becomes, do you share this in a campaign?  I say yes, it's relevant information and needs to be out there.  It's a very good reason to position one candidate over the other.  It's not unicorns and happy songs.  It's not "PPPositive" but it's real.   We need to know.  

There is a line.  Commissioner Gonzalez and his family are none, zero, of my business or your business.  His religion or lack of is none of my business or your business.  That he leaves the cap off the toothpaste or obsessively keeps putting it back on is none of my business or your business.  And that line has been respected.  

But when it comes to financial misjudgments with other people's money, court cases and tax delinquency, we have to know.  

Decrying negative information as wrong is simply avoiding the complex, intelligent consideration of a candidate's suitability for office.  

Let me give you another example.  A PAC with no known connection to North Bay Village has published a letter that mayoral candidate Jorge Brito received telling him to "cease and desist" his questions about financial irregularities at the Kennedy House and he did not obey.   He neither ceased nor desisted.   

Now this is presented as a negative and I guess it is if you live in a world where random lawyers are the authority to whom you have sworn allegiance but it's important information.   

It says that someone with nothing to gain but who is concerned about wrongdoing does not back down.  I say that's a good thing and I'm glad to know it.  You might think it's a bad thing and be glad to know that.  This is information that should be out there. 

By the way, Brito did not back down and the same person who hired the lawyer to tell him to back down is currently awaiting trial.   

Daniel Patrick Moynihan once famously said, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  And facts sometimes skew negative.  

We're grownups.  We can handle it.  

Kevin Vericker

October 27, 2014

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article2705249.html#storylink=cpy

How I Wound Up on Connie's Flier - Stranger than Truth

 You may be surprised by the flier Connie's campaign team, Strip Club Lobbyist Mitch Edelstein and Strip Club Lobbyist Randy Hilliard, put out this week to show support for Mayor Kreps.  

Now it's no secret that the Mayor's core constituency are not very attractive on fliers, but it was a weird decision to use me as an example of her supporter, since I think Connie and all of us would benefit greatly from her spending some time in a quiet, well staffed facility for the bewildered.  

But she also included Lori Blue listed as a community activist but doesn't live here and nobody knows her.  This is what I found on Google but I don't know if it's her.  

Anyway, Kreps' campaign leaks like a sieve and I had already been told that they were planning this.  (Seriously, Connie, they tell me everything.) I don't have the actual wires since this time her campaign manager decided not to wear one but I present below what may have happened.  The names have been changed to protect the guilty but this is pretty much how it came down.  

The Scene: Brainstorming Session at the 

Committee to Re-Elect the Mayor (CREEM) Campaign HQ

Apartment 1511 in The Cardboard Towers,

Cast of Characters:

Carolina Dura-Mare, goes by “Cara Dura” – an aging, vague woman running for mayor.

Imperio Tenía, goes by “Two-Times” - a Former Vice Mayor and current Cardboard Towers Caudillo

Dan Hildegard, goes by Dandy – A strip club lobbyist running the campaign.

Snitch Edelweiss – Strip club promoter and social media troll.

DANDY: Madame Mare, we’re in big trouble here. Brito keeps talking about real things and we’re losing it with the voters who can read. Our mailers were a bust, especially that first one. Pointing out that Brito is a hero, well, that wasn’t exactly your brightest idea.

CARA DURA: I was going to take over the world. But then I saw something shiny…

DANDY: We need a kick ass mailer. Something that will punch voters in the gut. Literally. Something to get them off their butts and to the polls.

SNITCH: I could go around and punch them in the knee. I can't reach above the belt but I can punch below the belt with the best of them. Everyone says so!

DANDY: Did I say “literally”? I meant “not literally”. Anyway, no knee punches. We need a good mailer. Snitch, are you wearing a wire again?

SNITCH: No, Dandy man, I swear on my eyes. No wires anymore. Wait! I know. A mailer with quotes from all her supporters! Bright shiny references!

DANDY: Good idea. Everyone, let's go. Give me names and quotes.

CARA DURA: Shiny? I see shiny things all the time and sometimes the bad voices tell me to hurt them but I don't. Usually I don't but the voices are so loud...

TWO TIMES: You could use my quotes because I used to be mayor I think and when I was mayor it was really unfair because they call me vice mayor but I say I am mayor because I have no vice and then they call me “Two Times” because I pay two city managers and two police chiefs and two attorney firms because that's not right since the first ones were paid by people who were not me and who had communication problems and then I won the election except for the votes I lost but everyone know that I am real mayor not two time vice former...

(He stops when there is a loud crash outside and runs to see the source.)

CARA DURA: Where is the shiny thing? I had it. It was a red dot around here somewhere! Did a bad personality hurt it again?

DANDY: Snitch, we’ve lost her. We need her back in stat or we’re doomed. CARA! Look at me. Right here. That’s it. Good girl. This is a simple question. Are you ready?

CARA DURA: Yes, Dandy. Are we done?

DANDY: [patiently] CARA, that wasn’t the question. This is: WHO-ARE-YOUR-SUPPORTERS?

(TWO TIMES RUNS AROUND THE ROOM)

TWO TIMES: Coño, the balcony fell off again and it's just lucky that I am presidente for life at this building or nobody would do any maintenance when the balconies keep falling off and I tell people “no more using the balconies” but they do anyway and then they fall off like the time the Sopranos filmed a falling off balcony scene but that was just a person not a whole balcony. You could use that.

DANDY: Thank you, Two Times, but we need to focus on the current mayor. CARA, any supporters at all?

CARA DURA: Supporters? Hmmmm. Well, you know. All those people who voted for me even though I never ran. You know. What’s his name… And my neighbor. Oh, that woman at the grocery store who told me she liked my sweater. All those people. Are we done now?

SNITCH: Dandy, we’re in big trouble. I don't think no one likes her no more. We’ll have to just make up some supporters. I'll get the inactive voter list. Those dough heads don’t even know there’s an election. They’ll never know we used their names.

DANDY: Sure, Snitch. Let’s look at that list.

CARA DURA: THE BLOGGER!

DANDY & SNITCH: HUH?

CARA DURA: The blogger! What’s his name? You know, the blogger. He talks to me and sometimes only I hear him. I know he likes me because he always worries about my health. He’ll say nice things about me.

DANDY: Um, Cara, I’m not sure how to break this to you, but he’s not a fan. Actually, he despises you. And laughs at you. He’s been working on Brito’s campaign. I really don’t think…

CARA DURA: Oh, pooh!

DANDY & SNITCH: POOH?

CARA DURA: Yes. POOH!. Talk to the BLOGGER. He knows I’m a big fan. I love my gays. They’re so, well, you know, gay.

Ask Richard! Or Richard's son, David. They're gay too.

How come Richard has a son the same age? I know he's his son because he said “I'm David. Richard's son.”

I’m like their Liza. Gays love me like NASCAR Dads love Liza. And Barbra and Judy…. Oooooh! Look! A butterfly. ¡Qúe cute! Oh, it's a palmetto. Now I'm sad. Are we done yet?

SNITCH: Dandy, I don't think this is going to go down, do you? Let's bag it.

DANDY: Listen up, pixie dick! We need to get something out. Get some sound bites from the blogger and see if we can’t spin some sugar out of them. Then find someone who doesn't live here and doesn't know the place. Make sure you get one of those people without penises since they're allowed to vote now, and have her endorse. Then add in some guy who never did anything for the Village because that's our base. It's our job and we're honor bound by our ethical code as strip club lobbyists, damnit!

(DANDY and SNITCH look at each other and then laugh hysterically until SNITCH sees the big wet spot pooling around his crotch and the wire he was wearing stuffed in his Underoos starts sparking. Then he starts to cry.)

DANDY:  Cara Mia , we’re going now. Don’t worry about a thing. But we got to split. There are single moms on a pole waiting for a few snitch bucks. We'll send the letters as soon as we change Snitch's Depends.

SNITCH: Shut up. I spilled water, that's all. And the wire was to keep me warm.

CARA DURA: Well, cover the letter to Daddy in heaven above with kisses. The postman said that's best to do.

(CARA DURA begins to sing softly: I've written a letter to Daddy, To Daddy in Heaven Above. I've written 'Dear Daddy, I miss you...')

(Another Loud Crash)

TWO TIMES: Santa Mierda! The roof blew off. Where's the Elmer's glue?

The Delusion of Progress - A Reply to Jorge Gonzalez

Commissioner Gonzalez, currently running for re-election put a long, articulate post on his Facebook page about what are the key issues in the North Bay Village Campaign.  You can see it on his Facebook page.  You can but I can't, Gonzalez blocks his page from people who might disagree with him but he thoughtfully put it up on the group North Bay Village Residents Speak, a page that I run and where I don't block anyone.   So go on over and read it and then come on back from there as I have something to say about it.  

Gonzalez points really come down to saying:

• The streets are neither dirty nor unsafe.  
• Dr. Vogel Park is almost complete and the Tot Lot will be done next. 
• Treasure Island Elementary is under county control, not village, but that the village has advocated for improvement.  
• It is an insult to the staff to ask for accountability.  
• Financial Transparency is not a problem because we can get accounting reports.  

Now Gonzo's posts are definitely truthy in that they contain correct words, but are really unrelated to the issues brought up.  Let's unpack those.  

Dirty Streets/ Clean Streets/ Unsafe at any Speed:  The criticism of the dirty streets is absolutely correct.  It's been four years without being swept at all and it is only in the last few months that the street sweeper is back in action.  And the only reason it's back is because we kept complaining about the dirty streets.  So they are cleaner.   

SFM since 2012 has been obligated to pressure clean the sidewalks and the walls twice per year.  We pay them for it.  They've only done it once.  It was nice, but if you pay for something six times and they only do it once, you usually ask for a refund.  Not here.  

The dirty streets meme is also about the sidewalks overgrown with shrubbery and impassable.  It's better but you still can't walk the sidewalk for a full block without at least once having to step into traffic to avoid blockages.   

Then Mr. Gonzalez paints the safety concern as though it were about armed gangs in the street.  He didn't listen.  It's about speeding and bad driving.   That's the safety issue and when the police chief was questioned directly at the commission meeting about the speeding and lack of enforcement, he replied testily that he was busy keeping the homes safe and didn't have resources for the speeder.  

Mr. Gonzalez claims he see families and young couples and children rolling hoops in his daily jog/walk/bike around the islands and on the Causeway but I think those are in his head.  He has never done a systematic, on the sidewalk complete walk around the  village.  He would have noticed that most people who are out are walking in traffic and no one is strolling the causeway.  

The Parks:  Mr. Gonzalez describes the Vogel Park as a work in progress.  It's more like the construction of the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose Ca.  When will it be done?  He puts up pictures of the trees but really, why can't this just be done with?  The Tot Lot doesn't need renovation.  It needs cleaning and that should be top of the list.  It's like saying, I won't bother dusting because I'm going to have a new house someday.  

The School:  In 2013, the school fell from a "B" to a "C".  This was a huge warning sign that something was not right.  The new principal came in and busted up the furniture, criticized her subordinates, alienated the community who supported the school enrichment programs, refused to provide the village with progress reports on the program we are funding, Jorge Gonzalez himself became outraged when a simple request for reports on performance be made to the community, dismissing the request as an insult.   

In 2014, the school fell to a "D" with the largest FCAT point drop in the county.  

It's nice that he's had meetings "private and public" but we are now two months into the school year, the principal is on indefinite leave, the School Board has an emergency school improvement program in place, and we are 2 months into the school year.   There has been no public presentation at the commission so far.  Last week, not one of the sitting dais members mentioned school progress.  Instead of asking us to "stay tuned", he might explain what he has learned in his "private" meetings. 

Accountability:  It is not an insult to hold people accountable, and by the way that does not mean fire them if there's a problem.   Here is a partial list of things that have happened for which the commission has never requested an accounting:

• The move to the 1666 chambers was passed when the commission was told it would cost a net $9,000.  It did not.  It cost $49,000.   
• Breaking the lease at the Lexi cost over $100,000.   It was never established that there was an environmental problem.   
• In 2013, it took 3 tries to comply with state law on the process of how to pass the budget.   
• This commission hired then fired village manager Dennis Kelly and gave him a severance of $80,000 even though state law limits severance to 3 months pay.  
• Jorge Gonzalez negotiated the legal contracts terms with our village lawyers and then less than a year later, claimed he didn't remember the terms and pressed our attorneys to leave.  
• The village illegally monitored employee phone calls for a period, then current staff hid the evidence, and nobody is accountable.  

It's not an insult to say that in any private company, the behavior above would be noted, discussed and the employee corrected for the problems their own inaction or poor actions caused.  It's called "Management"

Which brings me to the grand finale:

Our Finances Are Not Transparent, They are Balanced.  

There is an enormous disconnect here.  The accounting records are open to all but neither the commission, the village manager and certainly not the public get anything remotely resembling an operational report.   Don't believe me?  Ask Commissioner Gonzalez the following questions:

• How much  has been spent on Vogel Park in the 2 years you've been on the dais?
• What is the cost to the village of issuing a code permit for a single family house project? 
• How much of that cost is recovered? 
• How much money was spent on two lawsuits since 2012?  All costs specifically related to 2 cases where fired police officers were reinstated with full back pay and benefits long after the village had been advised that we would lose these cases.   Under which category was the money - nearly $1m - charged to?  The police department?   What is the dollar amount, Mr. Gonzalez?  We don't know.
• Do the utility bills rise only by the billed amount from Miami or do they rise proportionally?

That list goes on but the point about Transparency is that accounting balances don't show why you're spending what you're spending.  Most cities have gone to performance costing which is a simple operational method that says "Show me all the money involved in an outcome, regardless of source." so you might show "One police patrol costs (salary/time, overhead/ time, training/number of trainings, cost of uniforms, etc)"   When you look at it that way, you know what you're spending on.  Gonzalez won't know because he never asked.  

Finally, this race is about the issues.  Why have our taxes gone up 35%?  Where is the money being spent?  Why did the school decline so dramatically?  Why do we pay for sidewalk cleaning and not get it?  How much does all this cost and can we do it better?   These are the questions Gonzalez can't answer.  More importantly, he doesn't even think these are legitimate questions. and that's why he does not deserve his seat.  .  

Kevin Vericker

October 22, 2014

Last night at the Commission Meeting

Last night was sad.  Truly sad.  Yesterday, a mailer, a filthy one, showed up the mailboxes of North Bay Village voters demeaning Commissioner Chervony and the candidates Jorge Brito and Mario Garcia.  It was sent from an ECO, a shadowy organization, to debase political dissidents.  I'm not going to spend much time on it since Stephanie Kienzle did such a great take down of the whole sorry situation at her blog - Voters Opinion - and you should read it here.   Dark Princes, Puppetmasters and other Fairy Tales from the Crypt.  Go now.  I'll wait.  

Our mayor looked just like a kid who knew she had done something bad and only then realized how bad it was.  She was more than usually disorganized and confused.   Like a child caught in a lie, when she was given the opportunity to disown this filthy attack, she prevaricated and ducked.   

To her right was Vice Mayor Eddie Lim.  As the evening wore on, she tried consistently to shut Vice Mayor Lim down every time he spoke and to his great credit, he did not allow himself to be cut off.

Nothing he said was particularly controversial but she was so edgy that she had no intention of tolerating any even slight loss of control.  Let me be clear.  Vice Mayor Lim never brought up anything controversial.  He was asking questions about items the commission was considering and looking for clarity.  Questions like "How would those new plants affect our plans for native planting?" and "Will the village have more input to the causeway project?"   Not hardballs or politicals, but the kind of questioning that we have lacked from the dais.  And Kreps couldn't stand it.  

On her left, was Commissioner Jorge Gonzalez.  For his report, he played a YouTube of a little girl who wrote a song about being bullied.  It was sent to him on Facebook and he took time from his own efforts at cyberbullying a resident who dared to question him on his platform.  Read about that here. 

When he discussed his proposal to create a Board For Special Needs Citizens, Kreps shot holes in the plan and was speaking over him.  He scolded her testily and told her to stop interrupting him.  It was like a scene from a bad "Real Housewives" episode.  

He seemed pretty testy too.  Probably because of the revelations online from the Miami Herald about his bankruptcy, the nearly $1 million judgement against him 2012 and his own unpaid taxes.  If you haven't read it yet, click here for the Miami Herald story.  Go ahead.  I'll wait again.  

Okay back now?  

The evening ended on a grand flourish  Commissioner Chervony gave me a chance to once again ask the commission to repudiate the filth that is going around in this campaign.  Rather than making even a token statement, the mayor announced that such a statement would be a resolution and would have to be advertised for the next meeting.  A pure lie.  Cara dura.

I'm tired and disgusted.  Jorge Brito and Mario Garcia have run their campaigns on the record and on issues.  Connie Leon-Kreps and Jorge Gonzalez are running their campaigns via sleazy strip club lobbyists under fake organizations.  We have enough sewage in our streets.  We don't need it on the dais.  

Kevin Vericker

October 15, 2014

Taxes Are For Little People

Pompous ass and smug twit Commissioner Jorge Gonzalez is currently cyberbullying a resident over on Facebook.  Gonzalez answered her questions about his platform by refusing to answer and then demanding to know if she pays taxes in North Bay Village.  She does.  Three times as much as Gonzalez in fact, about $11,000 in property taxes alone.  Why is he doing that, you wonder?  Because he's a condescending phony, I answer. 

Gonzalez doesn't pay his taxes.  When Bluestone Holdings didn't work out, like so many of his other adventures, he bailed.  Just left and has been leaving the debt accumulating since 2010.  

Remember last month at the commission meeting, when Gonzalez said, "If people don't like our taxes, they should move."  I do.  I was there.  But he doesn't pay his.  

The Miami Herald asked him about his bankruptcy in 2010 and a $1 million judgment against him in 2012.  His reply.  

"It has nothing to do with North Bay Village or my service as commissioner of North Bay Village."

Well, it kind of does.  After all, he's in charge of spending other people's money, doesn't pay his own taxes, lives large while leaving others on the hook for his bad business decisions and now he won't talk about it because it's irrelevant.  

Gonzalez took a gift of a nearly $6,000 for an all expense paid trip to Turkey after he set up negotiations with a Turkish investor to buy our waterfront properties cheaply.  Don't know what he got out of it, besides the all expense paid trip to an exotic locale, but we wound up twinned with Isparta, Turkey and our brother mayor is really popular as a member the pro-Islamic, ultra-nationalist Turkish party, the MHP.  They're even listed in the Encyclopedia of Terrorism, but hey, travel is fun. 

On another theme, as President of the 360 Condo, he summarily shut off public access even though it is required by code.   This leaves his fellow owners at high risk of a lawsuit by residents shut out.  As commissioner, he says about the matter, "I have no solutions."  

Gonzalez kind of does have solutions - Borrow too much?  Go bankrupt.  Don't like the public?  Ignore the law and close the street.  Don't want to pay taxes?  Don't.  Want to see the world?  Give them someone else's money.  

It just that we can't afford his solutions.  

Kevin Vericker
October 14, 2014

Who's Behind The Hit Piece on Jorge Brito?

Like clockwork, the dark, negative attacks on Mayor Kreps' opponent, Jorge Brito, have started effusing into local mailboxes.   

This week's special is a flier sent by Floridians for a Strong Future, an electioneering Communication Organization, which started earlier this year and is exclusively funded by people who have a financial interest in keeping Kreps in office.  As of October 3, 2014, they had raised $37,600 to support keeping Kreps in office by any means possible.  

So their first contribution to the political discourse in North Bay Village is a letter darkly calling Jorge Brito a bully because when the people who were under investigation at the Kennedy House tried to intimidate him into stop asking questions, he refused.   In fact, his questions led to an arrest of the property manager at the Kennedy House and ongoing investigation.

Who sent this out?  Well according to the public records available at Florida Department of State, the mailing was done by a strip club lobbyist.  (click here, then choose Finance Activity, then choose Expenditures on the bottom).  And who funded it?  For that, click on the contributors button.

You'll see motley crew of Real Estate developers who want or got major variances on their projects and a contractor (CAP) with the village who wants to keep their current contract.   This is the old school  "Pay To Play" financing.  

Here's the Breakdown:

Developers are the bulk

So if you think this election is about making sure that people making money from the Village make even more money from the Village, then you know how to vote.  

But if you think what matters is getting it right for the people who live here, then vote for Jorge Brito for Mayor and Mario Garcia for Commissioner.  They're not afraid of questions and they won't back down.  

Kevin Vericker

October 9, 2014

Jorge Brito, the Kennedy House and My Endorsement

Jorge Brito faced some tough decisions in his 30 years law enforcement career. As a beat cop, as a detective, and as a part of the Miami-Dade public corruption unit, sometimes decisions had to be made in the blink of an eye.  But particularly as a detective, what mattered most was getting the decision right.

The toughest decisions are the personal ones. The decisions that affect your home, your community and your wallet.

Brito had to face that decision last year at his home, the Kennedy House. Condos are famously argumentative and emotions can run high but it's a safe bet to assume that every owner has their own best interest at heart and want the maximum benefit for the larger association. After all, if the condo is poorly run, the residents' homes and their most important investment deteriorate.

As president and later treasurer of the Kennedy House, Brito saw there was a lot that could be improved and approached it as a simple question of process and priorities. Jorge Brito took the time to figure out what the owners wanted, educated himself and the owners on what the condo needed, created a realistic plan and worked with the management company to execute on what was doable and affordable.

Still, things weren't going right. The money didn't add up. There was more money being spent than planned and there were fewer results than expected. Bad management decisions were vigorously defended by some residents even when they were shown to be causing damage to the building and their own home values. It didn't make sense.

That's when the detective in Brito came out. When something doesn't work the way it should, it's time to see what else is going on. Brito didn't fly off with accusations and half baked conclusions. Instead he methodically and carefully investigated the management company running the Kennedy House.

It became obvious that something was very wrong in the finances. That discovery led him to the conclusion that there was something very wrong going on with the management company. The deeper he investigated, the clearer it became that this was not a management issue.  It looked more like an actual crime.

A cop is a cop and when enough evidence had accumulated, he brought it to the North Bay Village Police Department. Brito came in with the books, the photos, and the witness list that all pointed to serious criminal activity in his own building. He did this knowing that a condo scandal would have a direct hit on his property values and his closest neighbors, the people with whom he shares a common roof. Still, this looked criminal and the biggest lesson of 30 years on the force is that if you ignore the criminal, we are all the next victim.

The North Bay Village Detective Bureau did not seem particularly interested. They took notes, held meetings, agreed there was a problem, lost files, made promises, but nothing was moving. And the money kept leaking out of the Kennedy House.

Finally, Brito took the information he had to the Miami-Dade Economics Crime Unit who took the same information, analyzed it and decided there was probable cause for an arrest.

The building manager was arrested on August 29.

I don't know how this story turns out but I wonder how many of us would have done the same? Earning the enmity of your neighbors, knowing that the story would get to the press and affect your home values, being President of an already contentious building and knowing that your neighbors and co-owners were looking to you for guidance through that storm, knowing that a sleazy political process might even try to use it against you, I probably would have just sold and been done with it. Not Brito.

As Mayor, Jorge Brito may not find the same type of patterns in our Village that led to this situation at his condominium. But I do know that with all the issues, Jorge Brito is not afraid of the tough, uncomfortable decisions that have to be made. Brito won't allow the streets to go uncleaned while we are paying for maintenance that doesn't happen. Brito won't let taxes go up another 35% without shining a light on where the money is being spent. And I do know Brito won't be afraid to look under the rocks and see what's really happening.

That's why I'm supporting him. When you do things the right way, you do the right things. I can guarantee you that I won't like all his decisions and I certainly won't like what's underneath some of the rocks, but we can finally know that we finally have a Mayor who's not afraid of the hard truths and the tough decisions, one who has the experience to understand what needs to be done and the integrity to do it right. 

Kevin Vericker

October 6, 2014

Happy New Fiscal Year

Last night, the commission approved the budget for FY 2015, which takes effect today.   It's a bigger budget than last year and continues to shortchange services that residents want in favor of spending that employees want.  But it went through.  

The presentation on the budget was about two hours long.  Most of that time was taken up with a subject that is not covered in the budget, the catastrophe that is our sewer system.  It is crystal clear that our muddy waters require a full rebuild.  No words were minced last night.  The situation is dire and will lead to county sanctions in the form of a building moratorium and another sharp plunge in property values.   The cost to fix this won't be cheap.  Like Miami Beach, we could easily wind up doubling our utility bills and we will have to live with a long period of disruption.  

It took foresight for the village manager to bring up a message that nobody wants to hear and everyone has to.  The descriptions were graphic and clear.  One dismaying surprise is that some of the damage is straight up vandalism, people prying open manhole covers and dumping metal and concrete in our stormwater system.   

But the good news for the two members of the dais running for election is that there is no action being taken now so they can continue their cognitive dissonance of saying "we really didn't raise taxes other than to raise them last and this year but why do you care?"  

First the campaign treasurer for Jorge Gonzalez got up to speak by proxy for the candidate and said that he didn't know where all this talk that the commission could be coming from since he looked at his bill and it didn't go up much at all.  He then explained that in his experience sometimes there were costs that were too much for some people and they should move.  

Since I know he religiously reads this blog, let me explain again.  

Last year, taxes went up 22% in total.  This was the highest rise in Miami-Dade County and is reported by the Florida Department of Revenue here.  

The effect is different for different types of ownership.  If you own and live in your house, you protected by Homestead to a 3% increase.  If you own but do not live full time in the house or condo, you get a 10% rise.  If you rent it out, you are raised at whatever the full amount might be.  In North Bay Village, 16% of the property tax bills went to homesteads.   61% went to non-homesteads and the bulk of these are rental units and is a big reason rents which disproportionately affect lower earners are going up.   Not made up.  It's on the Department of Revenue site here. 

This FY 2015, the millage rate stayed the same but since property values rose, this same 61% or so will see a 13.5% raise in their taxes.  It's simple math.  

There's no point in arguing this yet Gonzalez and others seem to think misleading leads to credibility. 

Then the campaign treasurer for Connie Kreps got up to warn against setting the millage rate too low because when during his administration (really, he said that) they set the millage rate too low in the expectation that the new buildings would cover the difference and then they didn't and he voted against it and then when we wound up paying for two city attorneys, two police chiefs and two city managers because he didn't they communicated good the city couldn't afford it.  And I swear I cut that sentence in half it was that long.  

From the dais themselves, there were only two questions, one really was a statement of dismay at the sewer vandalism and I don't remember the other.  Then with one amendment, they passed the budget.  

I'll post about the amendment later but it funded PAL.   So that's good.  

Kevin Vericker

October 1, 2014