Who will end up as Miami's Jon Snow, the rightful heir to the Iron Throne?
People are all still talking about the takeover at City Hall and all the nonsense happening in our City (you can catch up here if you haven't heard about the mess).
While all five City Commissioners represent the City of Miami, there are five districts. District 2 happens to be the most important one, I think - it covers the waterfront from Coconut Grove up to the East Side neighborhoods, including Brickell, downtown Miami, Wynwood, Midtown, the Omni area, and so on. The "important areas." Commissioner Ken Russell, our commissioner represents this large district.
Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla seized power and is now in control of the Omni CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency); Commissioner Manolo Reyes is in control of the DDA (Downtown Development Authority), both previously under the aegis of Commissioner Ken Russell, in District 2.
Many feel that Diaz de la Portilla is paying Ken back for supporting Eleazar Meléndez who ran against Diaz de la Portilla in the District 1 election along with the blessings of Reyes and Joe Carollo, the other commissioner. Meléndez was Ken's former chief of staff and Ken went so far as to give Eleazar Meléndez $150,000 for his campaign - moving the money from his committee Turn the Page to Eleazar Meléndez's committee Vision of Action. Also, recently Ken would not be the deciding vote to fire the city manager which was Commissioner Joe Carollo's main goal and he was not happy about that so taking the CRA from Ken was also payback from Carollo.
Ken along with Commissioner Keon Hardemon voted against firing the city manager Emilio Gonzalez.
So now there is a gang of three who are running the Miami City Commission of five - Diaz de la Portilla, Joe Carollo and Manolo Reyes. Ken and Keon Hardemon are on their own.
It seems that Carollo's target now is Mayor Francis Suarez. Carollo has some long overdue vendetta against Suarez's father, County Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who was Miami Mayor and nemesis of Carollo's, who was also Mayor, so many years ago. It's unfortunate that the same players just keep coming back in different incarnations over and over again - all big fish in a little pond in relation to the world. They never move on and up; they just recycle themselves in the city.
I asked Commissioner Ken Russell about the mess at City Hall these days. He told me, "It’s more important than ever that constituents stay aware and involved. Of course, I’m a firm believer that decision makers must be accountable to their voters. If a commissioner from outside the district is the chair of a major board that influences public spending and initiatives in the district, there is no way for the residents to hold that commissioner accountable," said Ken.
Regarding the commissioners from other districts, Ken says, "They didn’t vote him in, so they can’t vote him out. Nor is it expected that an out of district commissioner will have their finger on the pulse of I was not willing to compromise my ethics and vote to fire a city manager on false charges. The gifting of these board seats to other commissioners was the response to my position."
Stay tuned for the winds of winter; a dream of spring.
Well done Tom. This is a clown show and those of us active in Grove issues saw it coming. I hope the recall efforts can reduce this to the '2 thugs' instead of the 'gang of three'. These creeps disgust me. Manalo Reyes ran for office and failed multiple times before he got appointed to this position when prior Commissioner designed. He ran unopposed last year because nobody with brains ran against him. He is arrogant, power-hungry and tone deaf except for those who feed him cash. De Le Portilla is a lapdog for Carollo.Carollo has earned his 'Crazy Joe' nickname. His hatred for our mayor's father goes back to the same issues people have with him today--he is narcissistic, power-hunger and downright cruel. If it weren't such a serious game, I'd get a good laugh out of these guys, much like I did with the Three Stooges growing up. Curly, Moe, Joe. We've got 'em, people who didn't educate themselves on the issues stayed, away from the polls or were tone-deaf put them in office. This too, some day, will pass. In the meantime, we have to get through some tough times.
ReplyDeleteTom,
ReplyDeleteGiven that Russell is in his last term, no one can vote him out either, so his argument about being able to react to commissioner's who don't look out for their residents interests by voting them out is both self-serving and not true in his case.
It's absolutely true that Diaz de la Portilla is engaging in payback for Russell's financing of Melendez's campaign, but it is also true that Joe Carollo and Francis Suarez collectively raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Diaz del Portilla's campaign.
Like it or not that's part of what passes for hard ball politics, and the people who end up on the loosing side are quick to whine, but not so quick to take responsibility for making bad decisions, or accepting that they lost because of their own incompetence or lack of support.
It's also absolutely true that the gang of 3 have real aspirations of not only taking over the city, but more importantly of then using their new found power to cash in. The proof of that will come out over time.
What's also true however, is first, people get the kinds of government that they vote - or don't vote for - and secondly, Ken Russell is a whiny coward who repeatedly has refused to protect the interest of those who appear at commission meetings, and who, when they try to defend themselves against the outrageous comments made by Carollo and now Diaz de la Portilla, he is quick to silence them with claims that he will not allow any back and forth discussions as happened last night.
Russell's has made some very bad decisions, starting with the notion that 6 months into his first term as a city commissioner he was worthy of becoming a US Congressman because he was young, white and photogenic.
Ken Russell is solely and personally responsible for the low esteem, and lack of respect that he receives not only from his fellow commissioners, but from many of his constituents, and from a growing number of people who upon seeing his behavior at commission meetings come away convinced that he is the absolute last person any of them would want next to them in a fight, whether it be over money, or over public policy.
He sold himself out to Francis Suarez over the Melreese Golf Course deal, and that will forever be a millstone around his neck in city politics.
As for all the whiny self-entitled folks in the Grove who have now woken up to the realization that there are gangsters inside City Hall who don't care about them or their interests, well, guess what, they've been there and behaving like that for the last 11 years that I've been writing a blog, and while some of you hold your nose and call me names, the fact of the matter is that the fucking you're now getting is one that I kept warning you about, and that you kept ignoring.
As for recalling Carollo, or any other hair-brained scheme, just look around for whose actually willing to stand up and stay in the fight longer than a week, or doing more than signing a petition.
The overwhelming majority of people now claiming they want to recall Carollo, have neither the courage or conviction to do what that takes, and Carollo know that, and he's going to feed off of that and become even more bold in doing whatever he wants to do.
In short, the fucking you're going to get is the fucking you deserve for not paying attention and exercising your responsibilities as citizens.
al crespo
Al Crespo is right!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you expect? We voted these bananas in. Miami has always been a Banana Republic.....
ReplyDelete