Palmetto Bay commissioners thought they had rid themselves of former Village Manager Edward “Ed” Silva when he was forced to resign just months before the end of his contract by council members who felt he was “in bed with developers” and intentionally undermining the mayor.
But nooooooooo. A village resident for the last 25 years, Boomerang Ed is running for vice mayor to serve alongside his old bosses, none of whom really want him there (shhhh… not even Patrick Fiore). It’d be another great Miami political comeback story — if it wasn’t so damn awkward.
Silva is coming into Tuesday’s runoff from behind, however. Attorney and PTA mom Leanne Tellam got 49% of the vote on Aug. 18 compared to his 38%. The runoff is cast, depending on who you speak to, as a referendum on development or a vote of confidence in Mayor Karyn Cunningham.
He says Tellam is too friendly with the mayor. A proxy vote. She says Silva is too friendly with developers. A middle man.
It’s possible both are true. So voters must decide which they want more. Or, actually, which they want less. A pocket vote for the mayor, or a walking, talking conflict of interest.
Calling Silva the “architect of record for multiple large apartment complexes that are slated to be built in our community,” Tellam is running a mostly anti-development campaign.
She and her supporters — which includes longtime watchdog Gary Pastorella of Concerned Citizens of Old Cutler — say Silva will bring higher density and heights to the Village and wants to create a downtown area much like Downtown Dadeland. He’s never met a development he didn’t like, they say.
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“If his support is predominantly from developers and as manager he supported the high density development of the former DUV it’s reasonable to assume that the direction of his votes would be to approve more over development,” reads Pastorella’s most recent email.
“Starting fresh will allow the council to overcome the complex baggage that follows the former manager now-candidate-for-vice-mayor,” reads another post. “As vice mayor, Leanne will not rely on excuses, blaming, defensiveness, or justifications for his failed budgets, deficits, the Franjo Road project failure, the defunding of the Coral Reef Park building, Luxcom litigation, 485 condos on Old Cutler Road, high density zoning, etc.”
Ouch. That’s a lot of baggage.
Silva says it’s garbage. “That’s all lies,” he told Ladra, adding that he left voluntarily because they were “butting heads on out-of-budget expenditures.” Even though he was a strong manager in a weak mayor system, he blames Cunningham for a $2.8 million deficit the village had to dip into reserves to cover.
“I think she’s a good lady, but she’s in over her head,” Silva said about the mayor. “She doesn’t know what she’s doing.”
His campaign is being run by Jose Luis Castillo, who is not only the same political consultant who worked for Cunningham, David Singer, John DuBois and almost every other elected in Palmetto Bay, but also recently registered to lobby for the owner and developer of the former FP&L property on 67th Avenue.
Silva has raised a little more than $62,500 and spent $57,326, as of the last campaign finance report filed through Oct. 29. He last filed a waiver saying there was no activity from then through Nov. 5. Hard to believe he spent absolutely nothing on Election Day.
He told Ladra on Saturday that he worked for developer Wayne Rosen three years ago and that he hadn’t gotten any campaign funds from him. “Not a penny,” he said. But that’s not entirely true.
His political action committee, A Better Palmetto Bay, has reported raising another $24,000. That includes $5,000 from Rosen — who could lose millions if he doesn’t get the zoning upgrades he wants — and $8,000 from the Alejandro Vilarello, a onetime business partners of former Hialeah mayor and shadow banking loanshark Julio Robaina., who owns and/or manages several apartment complex properties and at least one storage facility. Silva’s PAC also has $2,000 from a local business looking for a contract with the city and $5,000 from Frank Guyamier, deputy director of engineering at Miami-Dade County.
The PAC has spent $15,218, mostly on advertising and mailers, like this one that landed last week with Tellam and the mayor photographed together.
Oh my! How scandalous! If this is the worst they can dig up on her, JL has lost his touch.
“A picture is worth a thousand words?” Well, maybe, but not that picture. Tellam has been an active PTA mom throughout her kids’ entire K-12 life and Cunningham is an educator and union leader at United Teachers of Dade. It would be weird if there were no photographs of them together.
Cunningham calls her a perfect fit for the village and the council.
“She has the skill set to work well with the council. She has a background in mediation,” the mayor told Ladra, adding that Tellam will bring “some civility and common sense.”
¡Que clase de indirecta!
Tellam has raised a total of $49,695 and spent $32,390 as of Nov. 5.
Her contributions come in a much larger number of much smaller checks, including checks from Pinecrest Councilwoman Anna Hochkammer and former Miami-Dade Commissioner Katy Sorenson, who has helped Tellam recruit volunteers.
Silva says Tellam, whose campaign is run by Christian Ulvert, is just one of the many pawn’s in Karyn’s army.
In a number of videos on YouTube it almost seems like he is campaigning against Cunningham, not the actual candidate.
“I have a question for our residents,” he says in a video, standing on SW 136th Street. “What has our village and our mayor done to reduce the traffic congestion in the last 12 months? I’ll give you a hint. The answer is nothing.”
It really sounds like this is a personal in-your-face retaliation. Silva left the city about 12 months ago.
Sure, Tellam has Cunningham’s support. But she also enjoys the support of outgoing Vice Mayor John DuBois, Councilwoman Marsha Mason, Councilman-Elect Steve Cody — who beat David Singer from a freaking wheelchair — and former Mayor Shelley Stanczyk.
Silva is supported by former Mayor Eugene Flinn and Singer, who keeps pushing for him even though he doesn’t need his vote anymore because he lost his race. But maybe it’s because he is chief financial officer and chief operations officer of Berkowitz Development.
While Silva attacks the mayor, Tellam has focused on the protection, preservation and promotion of the Village as it is. “We have a little slice of paradise here,” Tellam told Ladra. “We need to govern in an efficient manner and have oversight that doesn’t involve so much conflict.”
She says she will:
- Fight against irresponsible overdevelopment while improving municipal services
- Work “with (not against) our Council & new Village Manager to provide much needed budget oversight”
- Facilitate long-term planning on sea level rise and increased tidal flooding that threaten to impact the village’s coast and septic tanks
- Coordinate projects and initiatives to bring “real traffic solutions” and still protect the village’s quality of life
There will not be early voting this time, and very little turnout as there are no presidential, state or county races on the ballot. The winner will likely win with vote-by-mail ballots, which already went out on Nov. 10.
Which is why it’s so important to make sure everyone who hasn’t voted already try to get out and cast their ballot on Tuesday.
Remember, there are two choices: The mayor’s handpicked pocket vote, or the forced-out former manager in bed with special development interests.
It should be a no-brainer.
In Palmetto Bay, Ed Silva won’t go away; runoff Tuesday vs Leanne Tellam added by Ladra on
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