Gimenez Vizcaya ‘privatization’ plan is part of a pattern

The biggest problem about Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Mr. Giveaway” Gimenez‘s proposal to sort of privatize Vizcaya — putting operations in the hands of a non-profit board that can raise and spend monies without the cumbersome public, transparent processes of government — isn’t that it smells like another land grab or inside deal.

It isn’t that it has been discussed in the dark for over a year.

The biggest problem is that it is not an isolated incident.

This is part of a pattern.

It is not the first time Gimenez has talked about giving a county asset away. Some critics have called his generosity “corporate welfare for millionaires.” You would think that the mayor would get the gist that the public doesn’t like these inside sweetheart deals and is growing more distrustful of him because of them. But, nah. They just keep on a-coming.

It almost looks like the mayor is having a fire sale before he’s booted out of office in 2016 — one inside deal at a time.

The Vizcaya thing is different, some might say, because he’s not giving it away. In one of his famous late Friday memos, Gimenez says that there is no giveaway of the property. That Vizcaya will continue to be owned by the county. Well, duh Instead, he’s giving away the reigns. He’s giving away the public and transparent process of procurement for the museum to a non-profit board that is not elected.

Basically, he is putting the purchasing and contracting power in the hands of another body that he can control through third parties and not be directly linked to any procurement. How convenient.

It also smells of a land grab deal for the property that is across from Vizcaya and which is going to revert back to the county once the Museum of Science completely vacates the building. What can be built there? Lots of stuff. And Ladra is pretty certain that Munilla Construction or any other connected county firm — maybe Facchina, which got the no-bid $4 million repair job at the Arsht Center and also employs the mayor’s son Julio. Maybe some other member of the Latin Builders Association connected to the mayor through family or campaign contributions.

Let’s talk about some of the other obvious giveaways that you’ve read about here and elsewhere already and that seem to establish a pattern:

The most recent sweetheart deal is Donald Trump’s proposed takeover of the Crandon Golf Course. The millionaire abandoned it now. He sorta said “You’re Fired” to Gimenez. Guess the plan dusted up too many questions when it became public after a year of backroom talks.
A soccer stadium land grab at PortMiami was another one of those secretly concocted deals that immediately backfired when it became not-so-secret that David Beckham would get a long-term lease for something like $1 a year or something just as ridiculous, tax incentives or abatement from Tallahassee and the rights to develop on premium waterfront property. There were threats that Beckham would take his ball and go play somewhere else, but today there are talks about sharing a stadium with the University of Miami at Marlins Park.
The bayfront parking lot that the county rents for bargain prices along with the American Airlines Arena to the Miami Heat organizations, who are clients of his buddy lobbyist Jorge Luis Lopez. They have recently been found to be paying cents on the dollar for what amounts to overflow parking space.
Staying with the sports theme, not one but three unprecedented and better-than-the-last-deal deals for the Miami Dolphins — first giving them part of our tourist bed tax and finally just giving them up to $5 million a year for events they would have had anyway.
The mega mall land deal. Sure, this retail complex/theme park attraction may be a great idea, after all. Who knows? Ladra is open to it. And the mayor is not giving anything of ours away. Except, well, maybe land to do something else with. Like relocate the Youth Fair. Or something. in any case, it’s not his job to secure the land for developers at bargain government-to-government prices by convincing the state to sell it to us. Talk about a sweet deal.
In the case of the FIU land grab, Gimenez wants to give away something that isn’t even his, or ours, rather. He even recommended the useless, cart-before-the-horse referendum that gives FIU the same rights to use the land that the Youth Fair has for the next 60-some years or so and has been trying to muscle the Youth Fair organization out with offers that have been obviously unacceptable.

Is Ladra forgetting anything? In recent months, there have been negotiations to do something with the Metro Zoo property. Is someone going to buy our lions, tigers and bears?

Someone or everyone on that commission needs to put on the brakes on the sled that Santa Gimenez is riding.

Carlos Gimenez, Vizcaya

Gimenez Vizcaya ‘privatization’ plan is part of a pattern added by Ladra on June 4, 2015
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