Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Mr. Givewaway” Gimenez and several commissioners believed that they were about to dole out 
$62 million Thursday in gifts — well, grants from the Building Better Communities general obligation bond — to fund small economic development projects for neighborhoods from Palmetto Bay to Opa-Locka.
Among those projects, there was $18.5 million earmarked for a beach renourishment project, $5 million to fund a film and TV studio campus with technical center and a “digital media village,” $5 million for an aviation commerce center at Opa-Locka Airport. $5 million to the Carrie Meek International Business Center, $3 million for a regional health and wellness center and the culinary enterprise center, $3 million for development in Wynwood, $1 million for something in the Miami Design District and another $5 million for a parking garage mixed use development that would help create a more vibrant downtown Palmetto Bay.
But Commissioner Juan “El Zorro” Zapata, who also raised some concerns about the process and the convenience of the timing — calling the grants “giveaways” and “the worst case of political patronage” — questioned whether the projects even met the criteria needed to qualify for the GOB monies.
Zapata, who later told Ladra that he barely slept the night before, told other members of the Economic Development Committee Thursday that he couldn’t support most of the projects, maybe none of the projects, because these GOB funds were intended for large-scal
e infrastructure and industry hubs, to bring innovative businesses to relocate in Miami-Dade and create critical mass projects that would have an economic benefit impact on a regional .
“They’re all good folks, they’re all good projects,” Zapata said. But it was also two thirds of the program money divvied up into small neighborhood projects and, he said, that was not the intention. He read an amendment to the rules passed in 2010 — and voted in by Gimenez when he was a commissioner — that focused on regional innovative basis that are unlikely to occur without these incentives.
“Which one of these would you consider innovative? Which one of these is relocating here… and which one is unlikely to occur without these incenttives,” Zapata asked Deputy Mayor Jack Osterholt, who said he was focused on the jobs the programs could bring.
“What basically this is going to be is, it’s going to be a pep rally for jobs,” Zapata said, cutting him off, determined not to be thwarted. “If we scream jobs loud enough, somehow we’ll think this is a good idea. He said the commission was voters where clear when they voted to approve the bond and that the commission was clear and specific when it set the criteria and direction.
“Am I to believe that the mayor has decided to take this in a different course than the direction the commission gave? You are going contrary to the policy of the commission. If there has been a change in the policy, let me know,” Zapata said, on a roll. “The purpose of all of this was to create a very specific pot of money for very specific businesses for very specific outcomes and impact.
“The very idea was to invest a sign amount of money on these ventures so it would have a significant impact. It wasn’t meant to be divvied up in as many slices as possible. It was supposed to be very targeted,” Zapata said, asking about how the projects would be funded. Osterholt said that the projects would be staggered and paid on the back end.
Zapata also asked what kind of background check had been done on those who were getting the public money, saing that he had information that indicated one of them had a $15 million fine to resolve a fraud case. “How do you think this makes us look, Mr. Osterholt? This is not about him, it’s about taxpayer dollars. And I have a big issue with the way this has been handled.
“I am appalled by all this,” he said, saying the Building Better Communities bond program had become “The mother of all slush funds.
“This does not serve the public interest. The entire process, the administration’s willful deviation from established policy, has me very concerned,” he said.
There’s more. Please press this “continue reading” button to “turn the page.”
Pages: 1 2
‘El Zorro’ Zapata rides again; kills $62 mil gifts to ‘insiders’ added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
