A response to the Sarnoff article in the New Times

I'm not sure how this concerns the Grapevine, but since it came in our email, was marked, "Press response," and Mike is a Grovite and it concerns the District 2 Commission Race. Here it is.

From Mike Simpson, Candidate for District 2 Miami City Commission:

A Response to The Miami New Times "RACE TO REPLACE SARNOFF HEATS UP AS PARK ACTIVIST KEN RUSSELL JOINS THE FRAY"

Mrs. Sarnoff (just as her husband before her) is the epitome of what's wrong in Miami today. When a Cervera realtor (sales/management of almost 100 luxury hi-rise buildings in Miami-Dade) gets $20,000 from the Melo Group (developers/designers/contractors of 13 District 2 luxury hi-rises) and $12,000 from the Terra Group (financing/design/construction/sales of luxury hi-rises, most notably the Bar Napkin towers going up in Coconut Grove) in less than 30 days, it's pretty apparent which of her husband's values she admires and agrees with.  Or, perhaps her stances on crime, education and quality of life will mirror her husband's and we can look forward to many lively Commission meetings making homelessness more illegal for the safety of us all while remaining silent as the County tries to close all our libraries?

If Mrs. Sarnoff was going to be a voice for change in our community, where was that input during the eight years she was married to a Commissioner?  Surely she had ample opportunity to affect change then?  Or, perhaps she did, and the Commissioner has been bringing her views of the future of our city to the Commission all along.  Either way, to reasoning people, four more years with a Sarnoff in that chair does not bode well.  The City Commission should be the referees between the various factions inside and outside our community and not participants; they should be balancing our resources, providing direction, and even occasionally preventing small missteps in the community before they become huge, costly ones.

I'm tired of watching our city fall into disrepair and gridlock as special interests divvy up the millions of dollars of our city's revenue into a few pockets, mostly from corporations and companies that aren't even Miami-based.  I'm tired of Commission meetings where the votes are, for all intents and purposes, pre-determined and where the public commentary is merely for show.  I'm tired of projects being approved that are little more than ideas on paper, only to watch as lawsuits and problems that should have been reasonably anticipated grind them to a halt.   I'm tired of a City Commission that seems to forget that our City is part of a larger community, county and state that we should be active in, rather than just worrying about our four walls, as it were.  I'm tired of single-issue commissioners and candidates who only care about the goings-on of their own backyard and forget the rest of the District.

More than all that, like most of the residents of Miami, rich and poor alike, I'm tired of driving an hour to get to my job seven miles away, then spending 45 minutes looking for parking, all because our civic leaders are so busy looking at the cranes flying high above our city that they aren't looking at the problems of the folks on the ground.

I don't care if I raise my funds $5 at a time, what resources I am entrusted with I will use to make sure that the voices of ALL Miamians are heard in our Commission and that their resources are used to benefit the most of us, not just an elite few.

"She thought none of the current candidates posed a substantial threat"?  Madam, I wasn't counting on your endorsement or your vote in the first place.....

Mike Simpson

Candidate, Miami City Commission, District 2