Trisha Posner’s “Health Watch” column in Ocean Drive Magazine was canned a day after the author appeared in an eight-minute DVD played at the Miami Beach Planning Board meeting Tuesday.

She wasn’t proposing a diet high in polyunsaturated fats or pushing the health benefits of nonfiltered cigarettes. Posner was arguing her belief that an accessory use loophole that allows popular restaurants such as Prime One Twelve and Devito South Beach to exist in the historic district south Fifth Street should be closed.

Posner appeared wearing a red, white and black patterned summer dress that matched the décor of the St. Augustine Hotel at 347 Washington Ave. in which she stood.

“Hi, my name is Trisha Posner,” said the British-accented Posner. “I’m a journalist and columnist for Ocean Drive magazine. My husband is Gerald Posner, the author. We can basically live anywhere, but we chose to live south of Fifth. When we came here we fell in love with the neighborhood. We work at home so we need the tranquility. We love the nightlife. We love the restaurants. As you can see, I’m standing in one of the hotels here now, the St. Augustine, where we come frequently on a Friday night for a drink. But we don’t want to be living in the middle of it.”

A caption appeared on the screen with Posner that announced she was an Ocean Drive columnist. The next morning the SunPost received an e-mail alert that Posner had “just been sacked” for her appearance in the video. The e-mail’s sender asked to remain anonymous.

“Yes, it’s true, I’ve been let go,” Trisha Posner told the SunPost in a telephone interview Wednesday. “I guess you can’t be socially active and work for Ocean Drive at the same time.”

Posner, who had written for Ocean Drive since 2004, said she has a great relationship with Managing Editor Eric Newill and that she thoroughly enjoyed her time with the magazine. Besides her recent column, Posner also wrote a previously discontinued column called “Cultural Chatter” with her husband Gerald Posner.

The video, titled “Close The Loophole,” was produced by two-time Emmy Award- winning Symon Productions and paid for by the 301 Ocean Drive condominium association, of which activist Frank Del Vecchio is president. It is one weapon in a resident battle to stop the city from approving the development of a 130-room boutique hotel at 315-321 Ocean Drive, on the site of the historic but dilapidated Simone Hotel. The site, right next to Del Vecchio’s building, was approved as a condominium last summer, but the downturn in the housing market prompted developer Zedek Associates to seek approval of the hotel. Residents say the accessory use loophole will allow it to become an entertainment complex on the level of Nikki Beach Club or the Shore Club.

Also appearing in the video were South of Fifth Neighborhood Association President Gerald Posner, rental property owner Judy Clayton, Jennifer Russell of the SOFNA parents group, architect and preservationist Arthur Marcus, architect Jan Hochstim and former Planning Board Chairman Victor Diaz.

The Planning Board had moved on to unrelated issues when former Miami Beach Mayor Neisen Kasdin, who is also an attorney representing properties in the South of Fifth neighborhood, interrupted the proceeding to give Ocean Drive magazine Chairman and Founder Jerry Powers a chance to comment on Posner’s appearance in the video.

The producers of the video and Posner were “not authorized to use the Ocean Drive magazine name,” Powers told the Planning Board. Twice he asserted that Ocean Drive magazine supports restaurants and bars.

The next day, Del Vecchio told the SunPost he had never seen such a gathering of attorneys and lobbyists from the hotel and restaurant industries, as at the Planning Board meeting.

“This is just another move by a group that thinks it owns the city of Miami Beach to intimidate anyone with the tenacity to stand up and speak against overdevelopment by hotel interests who don’t understand that a balance between the business and residential communities is beneficial to both,” Del Vecchio said. “This was a gutter tactic, and we are going to fight these tactics from here on out.”

Ocean Drive magazine was unwilling to speak to the SunPost. Both an e-mail and message left on President Alan Randolph’s cell phone were unanswered. E-mails to Editor in Chief Glenn Albin and Powers were not returned. Managing Editor Newill didn’t return a phone call either. Finally, a receptionist who wouldn’t give her name told the SunPost that Ocean Drive magazine chose not to comment. When questioned to whom that could be attributed, she put the phone on hold. When she returned, she suggested the SunPost write that Ocean Drive magazine couldn’t be reached for comment.

— Angie Hargot contributed to this story.

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To Be Continued

City Commission Won’t Receive Hospital Zoning Ordinance Thanks To Planning Board Inaction

By Erik Bojnansky

Mount Sinai Medical Center advocates and neighbors of the Miami Heart Institute waited nine hours for the Miami Beach Planning Board to hear a proposed amendment redefining the city’s hospital districts.

When the board finally reached the item, Beach residents begged its members for a vote for or against the code so that the legislation could move to the Miami Beach City Commission prior to the November election. Mount Sinai’s advocates, on the other hand, pleaded with the Planning Board not to act and to defer the item.

After midnight the Planning Board made its decision: continue the item until its meeting in September.

“I think the Planning Board missed a big opportunity to protect one of Miami Beach’s best single-family neighborhoods,” said Commissioner Saul Gross, who proposed the HD amendment. He added that he did not understand why the planning board could not recommend for or against the amendment right then and there.

On the other hand, Planning Board member Robert Kaplan said he didn’t understand why they had to rush on deciding on the ordinance. “It feels like we are being played with by some political process,” he said.

Board member Richard Kuper, meanwhile, decreed that homeowners associations neighboring Miami Heart meet with Mount Sinai Medical Center’s representatives.

What does amending the HD Hospital Ordinance have to do with Mount Sinai? Why is the hospital against it, and why are many Middle Beach homeowners passionately for it?

The proposed HD Hospital Ordinance amendment affects four hospital districts located in the city of Miami Beach. The gist of the ordinance: When the hospital operating within the district ceases to be a hospital and its owner seeks other zoning, that zoning will be “no more intense than the immediate zoning of adjacent properties, subject to certain limitations and exemptions,” according to an Aug. 28 report from Planning Director Jorge Gomez.

Back in 2000, Mount Sinai, a nonprofit organization at 4300 Alton Road, purchased Miami Heart Institute’s campus at 4701 N. Meridian Ave. for $81 million. Since then, many of Miami Heart’s operations were incorporated into the main hospital campus. The Miami Heart’s  emergency room was closed in 2004. By May 2007, with the hospital still in dire financial straits, Mount Sinai executives were looking at selling the Miami Heart Institute, according to various local news articles. Uncertain of what could be built once Miami Heart was sold (the zoning at HD districts is at 3.0 floor area ratio, Miami Beach’s highest zoning category, with a height limit of 100 feet), Commissioner Gross and several Middle Beach homeowners in the surrounding area sought pre-emptive zoning protection. After Mount Sinai officials met with Mid-Beach homeowners associations back in May, the City Commission referred the HD Hospital District ordinance to the planning board on July 11.

If Gross’s proposal comes to pass and Miami Heart ceases to be a hospital, the zoning would be limited to R-1, where the tallest residential structure can be 35 feet, or three stories high.

Steven Sonenreich, Mount Sinai’s CEO, said the amended ordinance would trap the hospital when it was examining Miami Heart’s options. He also insisted that Mount Sinai is no longer marketing the sale of the property and that “we are not interested in high-rise development.”

Jeff Bercow, attorney for Mount Sinai, thought the ordinance was unfairly targeting Miami Heart. First Assistant City Attorney Gary Held, though, insisted the amendment was perfectly legal and would affect all hospital districts equally.

Neighbors, meanwhile, expressed fears about what could be built at the Miami Heart site in the future. Henry Lowenstein, president-elect of the Orchard Park Neighborhood Association, said once a developer invests $80 million for a property, he will do all that he can to maximize his profits — and that means creating higher density. “There has to be something somewhere that protects our neighborhoods,” he said.

Many residents present at the meeting were also afraid of the proposed code being delayed until after the election, when four of seven Miami Beach City Commission seats will change hands. Commissioner Gross is not up for re-election, though three of his fellow commissioners are. According to election reports, Mount Sinai hospital board members and executives contributed heavily into the campaigns of Commissioner Simon Cruz (a mayoral candidate) and Luis Salom (a Mount Sinai board member who is running for the Group Four seat).

Several residents also objected to board member Matthew Adler hearing the case. Adler is the son of developer Michael Adler, who is also the vice chairman of the board for Mount Sinai. Held said Adler didn’t have to recuse himself because his father is a volunteer for a nonprofit corporation. Held’s opinion was the same for board member Kaplan, who previously worked for a firm Mount Sinai has used to seek sales opportunities for Miami Heart Institute. He is also a member of the Mount Sinai Medical Foundation’s Founders Club.

The planning board voted 5-1 to defer the amendment decision. Among the conditions for a deferral is that Mount Sinai cannot sell the property before the next meeting, on Sept. 17.

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Closing Time

Qualifying Period Looms for Candidates to Make Run Official

By Erik Bojnansky

Fourteen people are listed as candidates for four seats on the Miami Beach City Commission.

But, technically, they aren’t candidates yet.

The time for Miami Beach candidates to officially declare what seat they are seeking and swear they have lived in the city for more than a year will begin on Tuesday, Sept. 4, at 8:30 a.m. and stretch to Friday, Sept. 7, at 5 p.m.

Any of the 14 who have opened campaign accounts not qualifying by 5 p.m. Sept. 7 will not be placed on the ballot.

Potential candidates will have to swear an oath that they are “qualified” to hold office in accordance with Florida laws and the city charter. All seats on the commission are at-large seats; candidates can live anywhere in the city, so long as it’s been for more than a year. They will have to pay a qualifying fee of $1,360 to run for mayor or $1,202 to run for a commission seat. An alternative to the qualifying fee: collecting at least 778 valid signatures from registered voters.

Three out of seven members of the Miami Beach City Commission are termed out: Mayor David Dermer and Commissioners Simon Cruz and Matti Bower. Bower and Cruz have opened campaign accounts for mayor. Dermer has not stated any intent to run for any Beach Commission seat in 2007.

The general election will be held on Nov. 6. Early voting will also be available starting on Oct. 29.

So far the “candidates” for four seats on the Miami Beach City Commission are as follows:

Mayor: Matti Herrera Bower, Simon Cruz, Raphael Herman and Charles Smatt.

Group 4: Luis Salom and Jonah Wolfson.

Group 5: Michael Gongora, Ivor Rose and Edward Tobin.

Group 6: Linda Grosz, Frank Kruszewski, Michael Stern, Elsa Urquiza and Deede Weithorn.

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Alton Road Work

Demolition of 5th Street Flyover Among Possible Improvements Mentioned by FDOT Consultant

By Evan Berkowitz

A presentation regarding potential major roadwork to Alton Road was made by Florida Department of Transportation representatives on Aug. 21 at the Miami Beach Branch Library at 227 22nd St.

Among the possibilities: tearing down the Fifth Street flyover.

The project parameters include a 1.54-mile section of Alton between Fifth Street and Michigan Avenue, including the ramp and access landing onto S.R. 907 from eastbound MacArthur Causeway. Alton is currently a four-driving-lane roadway 100 feet across, including sidewalks.

Preliminary options for improvements were made to the project’s advisory group, which consists of business owners, residents and members of local organizations that volunteered to give feedback. Since June 28, when FDOT first met with the advisory group, they had “a lot of one-on-one meetings with key stakeholders,” said Gregory Kyle of the transportation consulting firm Kimley Horn, who made the presentation.

Kyle said improving traffic flow was the number one priority cited by interviewees. Based on historical traffic count data in FDOT literature, car traffic has been growing around 3.5 percent annually in this area. Existing traffic analyses show low grades of service during peak hours. The areas between Fifth and Sixth streets, 17th Street and Dade Boulevard, and 20th Street and Michigan Avenue were considered congested throughout the day.

FDOT literature cites a long-range transportation planning forecast that predicts population growth within the study corridor from 18,000 residents in 2000 to 25,750 in 2030. “We want to develop a facility that is not only going to work today; it is going to work to accommodate future growth,” Kyle said. FDOT’s future traffic design projects out road patterns for decades to come.

FDOT literature also says an “alternatives analysis” will be performed to identify a more efficient connection with the Fifth Street flyover ramp. Some of the ramp’s deficiencies cited were an inadequate vertical clearance, substandard curve length and radius, inadequate size road shoulders, visual problems for drivers and the poor condition of posts and rails.

“There is evidence that it [the flyover] has been struck several times both at Fifth Street and also at Sixth Street,” said Kyle. Taking down the flyover is being considered along with a plan to elevate east-west movement over Alton. Possibly building pedestrian tunnels was also mentioned.

The Alton Road corridor study area was identified as a high-crash segment in a 2004 FDOT report, and several of its intersections were identified as high-crash locations. A recent five-year analysis said approximately 2,600 crashes occurred, with six fatalities, including four involving pedestrians or bikes. For the four-lane segment north of the Fifth Street flyover ramp from eastbound MacArthur Causeway, the actual crash rate per million vehicle miles ranged between 7.9 and 10.49, while statewide the average crash rate varied between 2.69 and 3.79.

Flooding during rainfall events on the southern part of road, between Fifth and 10th streets, is another issue. Drainage deficiencies were attributed to problems such as insufficient curb height and damaged and clogged drainage structures.

Several alternatives are currently being considered to contend with these problems including some that do not involve the expense and trouble of major roadwork, but generally those fail to meet the long-term goals of coping with increased traffic. There are options involving four, five and six lanes of different kinds on the thoroughfare. Ideas such as creating an exclusive bus lane, adding medians and building an alternative bicycling lane on West Avenue to move cyclists off Alton were brought forward. A construction start date of 2013 was given.

Gerald Posner, president of the South of Fifth Neighborhood Association, said the possible alterations to Alton Road, particularly those involving the Fifth Street Flyover, will affect his community significantly.

“We have enormous commercial projects going up on Fifth and Alton,” he told the SunPost. Jeff Berkowitz and Alan and Robert Potamkin plan to build 175,000 square feet of parking, a large Publix and a retail development that will feature the area’s first “big box” stores, including Best Buy, TJ Maxx and Bed Bath and Beyond. The city of Miami Beach entered into a deal with the developers in 2005 and earmarked $9.5 million to purchase some of that parking for public use.

Across the street from this project the mostly residential Vitri development is planned for a 1.58-acre site between Alton Road and West Avenue at Fifth Street. “Currently Fifth and Alton is a traffic nightmare, so can FDOT make it better … hopefully? Or make it worse?” Posner asked rhetorically.

He is concerned that FDOT decision-makers don’t understand what living and driving in the area is really like. “All I can do is listen, watch and make suggestions,” he said.

On Sept. 11, FDOT will host another public meeting on this project at the same location.

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Sunny Isles Beach

Sunny Qualifying

Period for Candidates Who Want to Run for Two Vacant Commission Seats Coming Soon

By Randy Abraham

Election season for Sunny Isles Beach may soon be heating up with qualifying periods approaching for two City Commission seats.

On Tuesday, Nov. 6, elections will be held for Commission Seats 1 and 3. Candidates must be residents of their respective district for at least one year and pay a $100 fee to qualify. Residency requirements, however, only apply to candidates, not residents. Elections are citywide, and all residents can vote for all candidates.

Candidates must qualify between 9 a.m. Monday, Sept. 10, and 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13, at the City Clerk’s Office at the Government Center, 18070 Collins Ave.

Vice Mayor Lewis Thaler has announced he will run for re-election for the Commission Seat 1 he occupies, which runs from 175th Street to the city boundary with the town of Golden Beach. In 2003 Thaler, as a political newcomer, upset incumbent Lila Kauffman by an almost 2-1 margin by promising a less pro-developer stance. Turnout in that election was about 22 percent of registered voters.

Also up for grabs is Seat 3, which is being vacated because of term limits by Commissioner Dan Iglesias, who has served since the city’s inception in 1997. Recently George “Bud” Scholl has opened a campaign account to run and said he plans to qualify as a candidate. Seat 3 is the city’s southern election district and runs south of the Winston Towers condo complex to Haulover Beach.

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Miami

Opponent? What Opponent?

Commissioner Tomas Regalado Is Confident He Will Be Elected for Another Term

By Youseline Aldajuste 

City of Miami Commissioner Tomas P. Regalado ended the first half of his campaign with $29,985, a figure more than 20 times opponent Evaristo L. Marina’s campaign provisions of $1,420.

The 57-year-old Regalado, a Spanish-language radio and television journalist, is the longest-serving member of the current Miami City Commission. He first became a city commissioner in 1996, was re-elected in 1999 and 2003, and does not doubt voters will return him to a fourth term.

“It’s not about how much money I have raised,” said Regalado. “I know the needs and concerns of the residents in my district and I am confident they will let me continue on as their commissioner.”

Marina did not return several phone calls and e-mails from the SunPost seeking comment. The deadline for candidates to file for Seat 1 is Sept. 22.

Among Regalado’s concerns is Miami 21, the city’s proposed new zoning code and blueprint for growth. This new plan, which Regalado describes as an “intrusion on Miami’s neighborhoods,” is now only designed to modify and update the eastern quadrant of the city, which includes downtown, Brickell, the Upper Eastside and parts of Overtown. Advocates for Miami 21 say the plans call for “smart growth,” which focuses on the relationship of one building to another rather than the building’s use.

Regalado, who is critical of Mayor Manny Diaz’s pro-development agenda, acknowledges that Miami’s current zoning code needs improvement, but disfavors Miami 21 because of what he describes as the city’s poor communication of the plan and what it may mean to some neighborhoods.

“The residents that the plan affects are not just unaware of the plan, but do not understand that it is an intrusion on their neighborhoods,” he said. “The city is moving too fast with this plan, which does not really help its residents. What these planners are calling transition is just tall buildings; tall buildings between houses.

“I am not against big plans for our city,” Regalado added. “What I want people to understand is that we need to look after the residents and people that lived here before the condos. We cannot do away with poverty by chasing out the poor where we want to build condos.”

While Regalado has not made clear an alternative vision for a feasible development project that would uplift the city’s current zoning code, he clearly voices his concerns about Miami 21. One of his major hang-ups is the plan’s lack of parking accommodations. Though planners maintain that parking restrictions are designed to change the city into a pedestrian-friendly area, he questions the success of such a plan in a city like Miami.

“These buildings will require less parking,” he said. “I don’t see that as the future of downtown when the infrastructure is not there.”

Besides Miami 21, bringing tax relief to Miami property owners is another centerpiece of Regalado’s campaign. He’s critical of the city of Miami taking advantage of a special exemption from the state’s mandated tax cuts.

“My main concern is that our state Legislature is fair,” said Regalado. “Tax relief for our residents will go a long way and will rectify any inequity they may have felt in the past.”

Regalado also wants to bring order to the city’s capital improvements section. Eleven employees from capital improvements were arrested recently on charges that included racketeering when they operated a private planning and architecture firm within City Hall.

“We need to deliver to the people of this city what we promised them,” he said. “The streetcar project, which was implemented because of the penny tax, is an idea that does not work for our city. So the city should spend that money where it most benefits its residents.”

Meanwhile, Regalado has not neglected to collect his campaign contribution checks. Recent campaign reports, covering April 1 to June 30, show the commissioner more than doubled his funds since the previous quarter.

Regalado, who says his fundraising success is not a result of any special interests but a demonstration of support from his community, collected nearly $17,000 from a wide range of donors in the second quarter. Most of his campaign contributions were less than the maximum of $500. The bulk of his total contributions of $24,485 came from local businesses, but he declared that they were impartial donations. “Most of my supporters are hard-working people in my district,” said Regalado. “If you look at the latest report, you will find housewives, schoolteachers and local firemen.”

Despite Regalado’s anti-development reputation, a huge chunk of his monetary donations came from a real estate and construction interest. Munilla Construction Management, which recently completed a $58.9 million project that extended and widened the S.R. 836 Expressway, donated $5,500 in fractions of the maximum $500 to his campaign. MCM Marketing Director Carolina Norguaard told the SunPost they were individual contributions.

So far Regalado has not reported any expenditures.

“It’s not the money that matters,” Regalado says. “Right now, my goal is to regain the trust of the people in our city. They have opposed the city’s political practices because they’re not getting what was promised to them. I want the people of this city to know that I am interested in their needs and I will continue to be of service to them, if they let me.”

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Ouch

Police Oversight Board Winces at Budget Cuts

By Cynthia Archbold

“This is agonizing.”

So said Brenda Shapiro, chair of the Civilian Investigative Panel, when told that the city of Miami was cutting $100,000 from the police oversight board’s $1.02 million budget.

The voter-mandated panel was created four years ago to analyze the policies of the Miami Police Department and citizen complaints against its officers. To accomplish its task, the panel was even granted subpoena powers.

But during the CIP’s Aug. 21 public meeting, Michael Boudreaux, Miami’s director of Management and Budget, told Shapiro that every department in the city, including the CIP, was getting the budget ax due to projected property tax cuts soon to be mandated by the state.

“Every department in the city of Miami is doing its part,” Boudreaux said. “It’s just the reality of the situation. We will be receiving less property taxes. Do we want to receive less property taxes? No.”

“You’re asking us to do something that’s almost impossible,” Shapiro replied.

“How much are these sacrifices costing us in delivering the services we should deliver? We are being asked to consider all of the police cases that the city of Miami has with a staff of 27. We have a staff of 11, but we’re asked to do the exact same job.”

The board asked Boudreax if police salary increases would also be sacrificed. He said police pay raises would not be slashed because of iron-clad and hard-fought contract negotiations by the Fraternal Order of Police. “While the city is dealing with the property tax issue, it’s moving forward.”

Boudreax also explained that the wage hikes would not cost the city substantially more because they are being offset by reductions in pension fund costs.

Shapiro lamented that the 10 percent budget cut will remove the possibility of hiring a public relations manager, which she feels will severely undermine the panel’s efforts to get the word out and involve more citizens in the police oversight meetings.

Despite the sacrifices, the panel voted unanimously to adopt the city’s budget recommendations. The members noted that it could have been much worse. Originally the budget cut was supposed to be twice as much — $200,000.

Comments? E-mail letters@miamisunpost.com.

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