Ken Russell is staying, he is not running for Congress
But the interesting part is that he wants to be around to raise more and help more. And the meeting ended up being about Ken's announcement of his decision to end his run for Congress. He was running for the seat soon to be vacated by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
He surprised everyone.
He spoke of his love for the community and the people and in the end, he said he will not step down from his City Commission seat to run for Congress, which had been the plan.
He spoke of "chrome and crystal castles" creeping down Grand Avenue. "We need housing" instead, he said. He want to stop the spread of chrome and glass. He wants to work with the neighbors in gaining the affordable housing that has been promised for years.
He spoke of having to resign his position as Commissioner in order to run for Congress. He spoke of the CRA, which is moving to Village West as being a weapon of gentrification. He wants to be here to work with the CRA and to stop gentrification.
He is against Marc Sarnoff coming back to his seat, if he leaves his seat, this has been the talk lately, whether that is true or not, Sarnoff being appointed to the seat, we will never know now.
In the end, Ken decided to NOT give up his seat to run for Congress. He will remain commissioner in our district.
He quit the race to spend time doing what he is here to do. Improve our community.
"I know his fighting spirit," said Mayor Francis Suarez who was at Wednesday's meeting. "Sometimes the hardest thing to do and the greatest thing to do is the right thing to do."
So Ken will serve out his term as our commissioner and work to make our community, his community, a better place. He has big plans for Village West and the neighbors are all a big part of that.
posted by Tom Falco at 10:50 AM
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15 Comments:
Awesome!!
I have to laugh... Ken Russell is the reason the builders can work on Cocowalk and the new center Grove hotel at all hours of the day and night. They have all been granted variances to the noise ordinances. HE'S BOUGHT AND PAID FOR. Why would he leave this cash cow for a race he can't win?!
Two more years of blocking progress and having calls and emails go unresponded to from the office of our elected "representative." I have never seen such incompetence and lack of attentiveness from an elected official's office. Too bad.
How can you be surprised? He’s held elective office for only a few years and is not known well outside the Grove. He had no chance of winning the race for Congress and smartly decided to stay put in his Commission seat where he can be effective.
Maybe he can run for Jose Javier's state senate seat that he has to vacate? I don't know of any Ds poised to challenge self-entitled Raquelita Regalado.
After Russell received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Sarnoff "friends and family" (check the campaign finance reports!), does he think he just can tell Sarnoff: "Sorry, I know you were really supporting me to run for Congress but I changed my mind!"
Sorry but when smash someone to hell and back at least tell us who you are. Anonymous people should not be posted in my book.
Russell said.: “If I can’t keep the promises I made here, it’s not worth going forward with this,” - The truth he is was too afraid to give up his seat (now required under FL LAW) to run given that he has zero name recognition and had 2% in poll conducted on behalf of the Shalala campaign. FYI- the reason people post anonymously is so we can post our opinions freely without backlash or threats.
You can't ever say that Russell doesn't care about the West Grove. He's proved it, even when it would be smarter politically to just focus on the rich areas. Commendable. I will wait and see where he goes with this.
Watched his Facebook live speech at the community event and it was moving. The emotion there was real.
While I supported Mr. Russell in his bid for the House, I am glad he is staying put in Miami. District 2 and the City of Miami need good leadership.
Three weeks before he announced his Senate run Rick Scott would only sign the Resign to Run law if it exempted himself from resigning with the help of Republicans in Florida legislature who tweaked the bill last moment.
Ken 2020.
Ken Russell has been a positive force in our community. Happy to read he’s staying on as commissioner. This community needs him as there’s so much to be done. Thank you Commissioner Russell for staying on.
He quit the race to spend time doing what he is here to do. Improve our community. I wonder who wrote that BS. The editor.??????? I have issues with that post
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