Please CLICK HERE to view the latest South Dade Updates message wherein I
lay out my recommendations for the upcoming Palmetto Bay Vice Mayor and District
2 elections.
I have proudly endorsed both Karyn Cunningham for Vice Mayor of Palmetto Bay and Howard Tendrich for re-election to the Palmetto Bay Council District #2. My commitment
to these two fine candidates was reaffirmed after reading a recent negative email
blast from a so-called group of concerned citizens in the Village. My humble
opinion is that we need to pull this village together in a positive manner and
when we all protest student bullying in schools, we need to reject it in our
community as well. Anyone is entitled to
run for office, not just those from a self-selected group.
I learned an important lesson as Mayor of Palmetto Bay. It is not in the
best interests of our Village to exclude new voices and different thinking.
When we insulate ourselves from alternative thought, we exclude potentially
great ideas and it ultimately hurts our Village. We need some new voices because all is not
well in Palmetto Bay, yet we all care about our family, our friends, our
neighbors, our Palmetto Bay. The
so-called concerned residents should be reminded of that. Their e-mail attached anyone not part of
their group, and interestingly, when comparing donations, conveniently left out
the lawyer and developer monies received by Brian Pariser in his campaign.
Please CLICK HERE (or the link above) to read the entire constant contact link for full details. I have outlined 3 main points, which in my opinion are critical to the positive
future of Palmetto Bay.
1. All is not well with government spending. The first Mayor and council left
office as of November 2010. Total cash
on hand for 2011 was $17,099,717 and the unallocated reserves for that period
(budget year 2010/2011) was $11.4 million.
Under Vice Mayor Pariser’s watch, the unallocated reserves are being
spent down to just 8.3 million in this current budget. In less than two years
the current council has foolishly spent millions of our reserves. It has become
their private piggy bank. It is not
their money. It is our money, and we
appear to have little, if any, say in how it is being spent.
It was obviously wrong for the first council to save so much money.
Pariser and company can’t keep their hands off it.
2. All is not well in protecting our neighborhoods either. Those who claim neighborhood
protection miss the point. We could have
had it, but we lost the opportunity to hold Palmer to 900 students. This happened all because the current Vice
Mayor – a lawyer who I think should know better -- refused to make a tough decision,
leaving it up to the courts, time after time.
The court opined that Palmetto Bay’s 2011 zoning decisions amounted to “wishful
thinking” or “more likely a willful disobedience” – 3rd DCA in 7/5/2012 opinion blasting
Palmetto Bay for its blatant disregard for prior court’s instructions. Click the link to read how Pariser could have settled with
Palmer, probably for 900, and in return, had Palmer dismiss all of its
lawsuits.
Instead, he sat on his hands. We all
lost.
After all the hype, there are few substantive changes. A single simple ordinance was promised, but
now there are 8. 8 ordinances which fail to meet a goal to simplify the code. The
Village Attorney clarified that: “It’s not really taking anyone’s developable
property envelope,” she said. “We’re not changing setbacks. We’re not changing
height. We’re not changing density.”
3. All is not well with proposed charter changes. Brian Pariser sat on the charter
revision commission. They have proposed
Charter changes designed to give themselves greater powers to hire their
friends and take power away from professional management of Palmetto Bay. He has also led the proposal to add longer
term limits. Government reformers have
been working years for 8 year term limits for the County Commission. Cutler Bay
has 8 year term limits, as does Pinecrest. The Palmetto Bay council wants to allow
themselves 12 years through a confusing game of musical chairs.
We need positive leadership. Remember my long list of “Ps” formulated back
when I was mayor? (Police,
Planning, Public works, Parks, most of all People, among them)
Vote Howard and
Karyn to end the divisiveness, the games and waste and bring the community back
together. We need more family movie
nights (remember those?) and less new regulations (Incorporation advocates
promised that we would not become Coral Gables) and wasteful spending of
Palmetto Bay’s hard fought reserves.
The continuation of the bad
governance practices we have seen over the last 2 years could result in the
Village going broke over the next four years unless you and I stop them.
We have to stop them by electing Karyn Cunningham and re-electing Howard
Tendrich.
We have to stop the improper change in government by voting NO
against their proposed charter amendments. If they have their way, they will soon
be in office for life and will do great harm to our quality of life.
However you vote--absentee ballot, early voting, or on Election Day, vote
for Karyn Cunningham for Vice Mayor and re-elect Howard Tendrich for District #2.
