Commission candidates meet public at forum

The candidates, in the back, and the moderators, up front.

The Woman's Club of Coconut Grove held a forum on Wednesday night to host the four District 2 City Commission Candidates. A full house was present to hear current District 2 Commissioner Ken Russel, Javier Gonzalez, Jim Fried and Rosy Palomino. Moderators were Brian Bandell from the Miami Business Journal, attorney David Winker, who writes for various local publications and Joey Flechas of the Miami Herald.

Ken being the incumbent, got the most flack from the others running.

The closest to Ken in the running seems to be Javier, I heard a lot of nice things about him from residents who attended the forum. Fried seems more interested in the northern part of the district, as he lives up that way off of Biscayne Boulevard and he mentioned being part of a Broward homeowners association in the past, so I'm not sure the Grove's interests are his interests.

Javier and Ken seem to be the only two with some sort of plans for affordable housing, but having a plan and implementing it are two different things. But the Miami Herald called Ken a "housing advocate," and Ken was proud to announce he helped pass the Miami Forever Bond and found $100 million for affordable housing without raising taxes. He says, "Preserving the existing stock [of housing] is the best option."

Javier Gonzelez makes a point as others listen in.

There was talk about the Grove NCD's and it was mentioned how they stalled after such a big deal was made about them two years ago. Javier promises to make that priority one if he becomes commissioner. "I'm passionate about this," he says, and he has studied the issue a lot. He says the majority of Grovites want a viable and fair NCD. Over the years, Javier has worked tirelessly behind the scenes on city and Grove issues without making a show of it. He did a lot of good things while on the Village Council.

Rosy said, "We pay thousands of dollars to travel the world to see historic buildings, but we don't appreciate them in our own neighborhood."

Rosy mentioned the money that Ken has in his campaign war chest, most of it from developers. "Special interests have a way of distracting people," Rosy said. "Your voice has not been heard for at least two years," she told the voters.

According to Al Crespo, "Ken gave Vision With Action PC, the PAC of his his former Chief of Staff, Eleazar Melendez, $150,000.00. Eleazar is running for commissioner in District 1.

Crespo also says, "Among the biggest surprises in Russell's campaign reports is that he has paid his campaign manager, Fernando Diez a total of $227,721.32."

It was also mentioned, not by the candidates, but by some in the audience that Ken's campaign gave out free bags of coffee and coffee mugs as a little gift to many residents who woke up to the surprise on their doorsteps this week. They called them bribes. But no one is stopping the other candidates from doing something similar - except the lack of money. 

After Ken made some excuses about campaign promises not kept, Fried said, "You can't blame failures on other people."

One thing that bothers me about Javier is that he is on the County's side when it comes to the Playhouse, he agrees that part of it should be demolished. Ken wants to preserve the whole thing. Javier is against the FIU/Kampong and Carrollton/Villa Woodbine expansion plans. Ken does not wish to share his feelings on these issues before the vote.

One thing that bothers me about Ken is his Melreese Golf Course/Soccer Stadium vote.

More than the campaign promises that each candidate talked about, I think the forum was a good way for people to meet the candidates and gauge their interest and personalities.