Segovia flowers will be on the ballot — or a campaign issue

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Coral Gables Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick is going to ask her colleagues Tuesday to put the future of a controversial sculpture of flowers on Segovia Street in the hands of voters, with a referendum on the April ballot to relocate the $1 million work of art to almost any place else.

But it’s an uphill battle. Commissioners already voted earlier this month to reject a petition by area residents who are upset not only at the aesthetic they say is incompatible with that part of the City Beautiful, but also with the process by which it was put there, with no public input. Petitioners gathered more than 1,500 signatures, way short of the 6,000 that are required by city ordinance for a citizen petition to make it on the ballot. The vote was 4-1, with only Slesnick supporting the citizen-driven action.

“I may not even get a second,” Slesnick told Ladra. But she’s going for it anyway. 

One thing is for sure: Such a measure on the ballot would certainly not hurt her mayoral campaign. People driven to vote on that question would likely vote for Slesnick over former Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli. Slesnick told Ladra that was not her motivation.

“I’m doing it because I believe people ought to have a say. There was a different city manager who ran things his way. It was done in a closed process,” the commissioner said, adding that there was little to no public input on the selection and placement of the sculpture. The selection was made during the reign of former City Manager Pat Salerno, who was pressured to resign after he was caught lying to commissioners.

“I want things out in the open. What’s wrong with letting the people of Coral Gables vote on whether or not they want it moved? I’m for listening to the people,” Slesnick said. “I’ve gotten more mail on this issue than any other issue in the Gables, except maybe the Paseo development.”

Well, wait… didn’t she lose that fight?

City staffers have repeatedly said that there were a number of public hearings before Passion, the sculpture by Alice Aycock, chosen from 180 applicants, was approved unanimously at a November 2014 meeting purchased and placed on the traffic circle a block west from City Hall on Biltmore Way in July. It wasn’t installed overnight, they say. But residents said they were caught unaware and are overwhelmingly against it. They say it is distracting to drivers and not in keeping with the historic Mediterranean vibe of the area. Some don’t like the artwork itself. Most say they like it fine, just not there.

Other locations that have been brought up, and which admittedly seem more compatible, are Fairchild Tropical Gardens, Ponce Circle Park and, more recently, Country Club Prado.  Ladra likes Ponce Circle Park because it looks like it would look really spectacular from the high up in the highrises that surround it.

Obviously, commissioners don’t want to have to move it (and everybody knows that is how the vote will turn out right?). Mayor Jim Cason has said that he believes such a move would hurt the city’s Art in Public Places program. That’s why they rejected the petition when they could have certainly voted to make an exception and accept it.

But 6,000 for a citizen petition seems excessive in the Gables, where the last election drew 7,800 voters and Mayor Cason was elected by fewer people (4,424).  Even Commissioner Frank Quesada, who won with 73% of the vote, was elected by 5,305 people, almost 700 fewer than the required magic number. In 2013, both commissioners Patricia Keon and Vince Lago were elected with just over half the required petition signatures.

Ladra believes this number of roughly 6,000 — or a little more than since it’s 20% of the registered voters — was set in stone during or after the truck ban petition put the parking of pick up trucks on the ballot. And it seems like the number is high. Should it take twice as many people to get a question on the ballot as it does to elect someone?

And here’s the thing: It’s going to be on the ballot one way or  another — either in the transparent form as a referendum or as a campaign issue for Slesnick. Because the active residents who collected the signatures can use all that energy to help Slesnick win the mayoral race. And who do you think the 1,500 signors are going to vote for?

Certainly Lago and Keon, who may both face opposition in their re-election, could avoid negative mailers that say they refused to let the people decide by just letting the people vote. What do they have to lose?

But if they vote no Tuesday, they could lose their seats.

  Coral Gables, Jeannett Slesnick, Pat Keon, Vince Lago