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Without naming names he signaled to people in the room he called political ‘insiders’ who benefited from the variation from policy set by the commission and said “this doesn’t pass the smell test.”
Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz‘s agreed with some of his concerns and moved to defer all 14 items to the next committee meeting — though Ladra doesn’t really understand what that does other than delay the discussion for a month. He said he wanted more time to review the many factors.
“This is a little bit outside just this committee. I think this should go before all the commissioners,” he said, moving to defer it to the full BCC. Ladra doesn’t know why he was convinced to bring it back to the same committee. What’s going to change in a month?
“I’m hoping the mayor re-evaluates and makes some changes,” Zapata told Ladra Thursday night. He said that while some of the projects may have been worthy, others were strictly giveaways to people in the know who found out the mayor could deviate from the commission directed policy of having the money go to “game changing” projects and got a leg up.
“I know hundreds, maybe thousands of business people who would want the chance to apply to these funds as well, if we decide to change policy and give the monies out this way,” Zapata said.
Ladra agrees with his general gist that these gifts are political favors doled out to campaign supporters and other connected people with palanca. It’s basically giving away millions of dollars to the private sector. No need to go though any competitive bidding. RFP? We don’t need no stinking RFP! Just “Here you go, pal! Don’t spend it all in one place!”
Where’s the accountability? Out the window. Es un descaro.
I mean, county staffers tried to spin this in a Miami Herald story as an effort to help small business. But some of the beneficiaries from t
hese grants were people like mega developer Wayne Rosen, political sugar daddy to Vice Chair Lynda Bell, who would have gotten a $5 million gift for his investment of tens of thousands of dollars into her campaigns. That might be why Bell was pushing for all 14 items to be considered together.
Certainly Rosen is not what anyone could consider small business. Is developer Craig Robbins, who is involved in the Miami projects? Probably not. Especially since the commission recently approved a criteria that would cap the net worth of small businesses or small business owners at $1.5 million.
That might also not apply to Larkin Hospital, which is the firm that got fined $15.4 million in 2006 to resolve a Department of Justice case against them for kickbacks and medically unnecessary treatments. But the mayor and Commissioner Barbara Jordan — who spoke against a deferral wanted to give them $5 million for some kind of wellness program? Really?
And Ladra thinks that’s why Zap went all Braveheart on the committee and county staff. He practically called the the process tainted and later told Ladra it was “the worst case of political patronage I’ve ever seen.”
On the dais, Zapata said that if the policy changes, then the county should have a competitive process. “It makes me uneasy that we have this pot of money and that somehow some insiders or some folks who have access to information that most folks don’t, saw an opportunity and took advantage of it.
“If we really want to have a good process, we open it up and if it’s about local impacts, we make it about local impacts. But let’s have a true competitive process. There are thousands of good business ideas out there. Let’s have them compete.”
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‘El Zorro’ Zapata rides again; kills $62 mil gifts to ‘insiders’ added by Ladra on
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THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTH AND IT IS ABOUT TIME THAT EVERYONE SHOULD SEE IT. MR MAYOR YOU WERE NOT ELECTED FOR THE JOB THAT YOU ARE DOING, SO PUT YOUR BIG BOY PANTS ON AND HELP THE PEOPLE THAT THOUGHT YOU WERE THE ANSWER ( I KNEW ALL ALONG THAT YOU WERE NOT ) THIS COMMUNITY DESERVES SOME ONE WHO CARES “NOT YOU”, IF YOU CAN’T HELP, PLEASE GO AWAY AND TAKE YOUR FAMILY WITH YOU:(
I thought the County was broke,yet they want to give out all this cash for these useless businesses or programs.The Mayor wants to shut down a police station but not the art museum,one hundred twenty million for an art museum,really Mr. Mayor! No company wants to relocate to a place where the quality of life sucks.All these places want to incorporate and become their own little kingdoms but want County money for their little pet projects.
Lynda Bell had no other choice than to vote to defer it. Her race is generating a lot of heat in District 8 and anything she said to pass the legislation, and also help her buddy Wayne Rosen, would have come back to bite her on the butt in the campaign. Plus, the political optics were not good. We’re cutting sworn law enforcement officers, while giving large wads of cash to millionaires to projects that supposedly have a community benefit. I thought conservatives were against bail-outs. In all truth, if Palmetto Bay needs a parking garage, it should find a way to build it and pay for it. If a private company wants to expand its operations at one of the general aviation airports, it should find a way to pay for it, too.
If Zappo is Zorro then is Jose “Pepe” Sgt. Garcia?
Great job Zapata! Do not let your guard down. They are coming back!
This was the Mayor’s deal. Cindy Lerner, the frail looking Genius of Despair and another woman who admitted she could be wrong showed up and they were quickly dispatched by Tim Schaefer of Palmetto Bay who actually spoke with facts. Palmetto Bay actually wants the parking garage to help with their development.
Anyway Bell did not push for it and voted for the deferral, even seconding the motion.
Hey Zap,
Dude WFT? your killn’ me over here. Ya, I know she’s dumber than a box of rocks but her poll numbers are sinking faster than a power boat in the bay on the fourth of July. She does what’s she’s told and I need to be able to count on the bitch’s vote next year.
JLL’s attack ads are for shit and all she has for a resume is that stupid fence thing, everything else she has is either recycling somebody else good idea or coming up with her own bad ones.
Zap, bro, she needs this porker for her district or the party’s over. This Levine Cava is making all kinda noise about inside deals and sport franchises, clearly she aint’ no playa
Whata u need? Just tell my peeps, it’s yours.
Signed
Your BFF
CG
Are we talking about Building Better Communities GOB, dating back to 2004?
If so, at least in my district, the allocations were very specific; so much so, that staff tells me that to be reallocated, they have to be (1) within the same commission district and (2)the same general category of projects as originally approved by the voters. There were some countywide, generic allocations for WASD infrastructure, which in committee we have earmarked for connections to areas previously underserved, as proposed by Commissioner Monestime – with a view to fomenting economic development. But I am not aware of any other unspecified, countywide GOB monies as described here.
Will definitely look into it.
XS
Que Viva EL Zorro!