Everyone knows that Gov. Rick Scott‘s HCA-owned hospitals are increasing turning to the trauma center
business and Aventura Hospital could take one step further toward becoming the third trauma center in Miami-Dade on Tuesday, if the city council approves a helipad on the medical center’s campus.
One might immediately jump to the conclusion that this application, filed in November around the same time as the elections, was a backroom deal greased by the newly-elected Aventura Mayor Enid Weisman — who also happens to be the chairwoman of the Aventura Hospital and Medical Center Board of Trustees.
More likely, the smart people at the hospital simply timed it that way.
But we apparently have no conflict of interests to worry about.
“The mayor has not participated in the matter of the application and will abstain from voting on this item, in accordance with applicable law,” says the application for the helipad at the north tower of the medical campus at 20900 Biscayne Blvd. Documents to be reviewed by the commission include a letter from Miami Beach Healthcare Ltd., on behalf of the hospital, swearing that Weisman has had and will have nothing to do with this helipad.
Ooooohhhh. Well, then, pft. Ladra feels muuuuch better.
So it is just a coincidence, then, that the first-time politician and hospital honcho has what could become a community controversy and definitely presents a conflict of interest, as admitted, as her very first issue in office? It is just a coincidence, then, that Alex Tachmes, the attorney representing the hospital, said he was instructed to get it on the January agenda.
Weisman, who is assistant superintendent for human resources at Mi
ami Dade Public Schools, was elected with almost 80 percent of the vote in November. Of course, she had more than 10 times as much money, with a campaign war chest of $150,000 compared to the $14,000 raised by Leslie Winston. None of that could be traced directly to HCA, however.
Weisman could not be reached for comment. Emails sent to her and a message left at her school office were not returned.
But City Manager Eric Soroka, who will recommend that the conditional approval be granted, told Ladra the application met the zoning criteria for conditional use.
“We look it at from the standpoint of ‘Does it meet the zoning criteria?’ And it does,” he said, adding that it might not be a bad idea, either.
“I think an additional trauma unit in this area will benefit our residents,” Soroka said.
He also said that the city has approved helipads or heliports in the past. Turnberry Resort and Hotel once had a heliport and Aventura Mall got one approved more than five years ago, but has never moved forward to seek a building permit.
Aventura Hospital still needs FAA and FDOT approval and would then go through a separate process to obtain a building permit. But Tuesday’s vote, if it goes their way, would basically give them the green light to do that.
Tachmes, who also filed the application for helipads at Mercy and Kendall Regional hospitals, told Ladra Monday that the FAA had given preliminary approval to their projected flight path and that the hospital did a traffic study, even though it was not required for this zoning application for a heliport.
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