To recap:
In April, three of five Miami city commissioners voted to
approve a zoning change potentially allowing the Related
Group to build three condos called Grove Bay next to Mercy
Hospital. The hospital would get millions in exchange for its
up-zoned land — money it planned to use to renovate aging
facilities. But the decision was opposed by a wide coalition of
neighborhood groups and advocates for the nearby Vizcaya Museum
& Gardens.
The
neighborhood activists were pissed because, in general, they’re
sick of the huge condos that are approved willy-nilly all over
Miami, with little regard to the impact they have on already
strained infrastructure. They also worried about the precedent
the zoning change would set on the waterfront. The Vizcayans, a
fundraising group for the museum, argued that the towers would
be visible from the historic estate and ruin the view from the
national landmark for the sake of a few mega-wealthy people.
The
Related Group knew the project was going to be a tough sell
so, early on, the developer secured the support of the two
neighborhood groups closest to the project by agreeing to pay
for traffic mitigation and whatever other demands they made in
an undisclosed settlement. A battalion of lobbyists, public
relations people, lawyers and community handlers were hired to
guide the process through quickly and quell opposition.
After
months of controversy, the Related Group offered to
reduce the size and height of the project and agreed to some
other conditions designed to appease the community. Three
commissioners — Joe Sanchez, Angel Gonzalez and Michelle
Spence-Jones — voted yes. Commissioners Marc Sarnoff and Tomas
Regalado voted no.
In May, I
wrote about how some of the people hired by the Related Group
and/or Mercy Hospital paid $100 to several dozen poor blacks in
Coconut Grove to come to City Hall during the commission meeting
and sit in the audience wearing yellow T-shirts supporting the
zoning change.
But the
handlers messed up because they didn’t pay off everyone right
away, and some of the people got upset about not getting their
$100. Several of them called everyone from Vizcaya to Sarnoff,
demanding payment. Apparently, many had no idea what exactly
they were supporting. Some thought they were helping the
hospital; others believed they were supporting Vizcaya. Still,
others thought Sarnoff was the paymaster, even though he’d tried
his damnedest to stop the project.
They also
showed up at the handlers’ homes, including that of Coconut
Grove Village Council member Lottie Person, where she and
lobbyist Rosario Kennedy dispensed cash, according to my
sources. Then the weird stuff got weirder.
The
Daily Business Review’s Oscar Pedro Musibay has been the
most vigilant reporter on this issue. He’s been breaking pieces
of the behind-the-scenes story for months, and it is only
getting uglier.
He broke
the story last week that Commissioner Spence-Jones is being
investigated by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office’s public
corruption unit for her potential involvement in that
time-honored Miami tradition of payoffs for votes. According to
the article, the commissioner’s campaign advisor, Barbara
Hardemon, allegedly discussed a possible fee of $50,000 to
$100,000 with a Related Group official not long before the April
vote.
Related
denied the accusation, but admitted it hired Hardemon and
Spence-Jones mentor Barbara Carey-Shuler as part of “community
outreach,” whatever that means. In a later Miami Herald
story, a Related attorney admitted to paying Hardemon less than
$50,000 and Carey-Shuler “between $50,000 and $100,000” for
their “community outreach” work. I am so in the wrong
business.
I have no
idea whether Spence-Jones took any money or not, but considering
her willingness to use her connections to get public money for
her family’s hair salon, maybe it’s not such an alien concept.
She clearly thinks we’re stupid enough to believe her when she
told the Herald first that the two women assured her they
weren’t hired by Related, then, when asked again, said she
thought they worked for Mercy. Who gave her that line — Chief
John Timoney?
This
whole thing gets further tangled because, according to the
DBR, the State Attorney’s Office is talking to lobbyist and
former City Manager Joe Arriola; Alicia Cuervo, a former city
operations chief and Related’s Grove Bay project manager; and
former city operations chief Mary Conway. It’s odd because
Arriola was accused of lobbying Spence-Jones on this project. He
is a friend of Related Group Chairman Jorge Perez and close to
both Cuervo and Conway (who was fired a couple of months ago).
But he also has advised Sarnoff on election issues.
And I’m
pretty sure Miami Mayor Manny Diaz is friendly with Perez, as he
used to be with Arriola, with whom he bought property before
booting him from the city last year. I don’t get what is going
on here, unless Arriola is just having the time of his life
being in the center of it all and feeling important again.
Meanwhile, there are civil suits appealing the zoning decision,
filed by the Vizcayans and by Grove activists. The
Related Group is taking a gloves-off approach to the whole mess.
The developer sued the Vizcayans for allegedly running a secret
rumor campaign — the equivalent, I suppose, of writing “Related
is the sluttiest girl in junior high” on the bathroom wall — and
for not turning over a bunch of notes and documents that it
wants.
The
Related Group also sued Commissioner Sarnoff for libel,
defamation and for refusing to hand over a memo he wrote to
himself about the project.
Some of
the homeowners groups who fought the Mercy rezoning are actively
supporting the candidacy of Mike Suarez against incumbent Angel
Gonzalez. Gonzalez has amassed a developer-heavy war chest
similar in profile to those raised in previous races by Diaz
allies Sanchez and Spence-Jones. Suarez is, according to his
recent interview with the SunPost, some kind of bail
bondsman entrepreneur with a baby face and a civic spark in his
eye.
It’s all
just nuts. I’m hoping someone writes a book when it’s all over.
Now, a
mea culpa. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a piece about why
Miami Police Chief John Timoney should be fired (free car, lying
about free car). Judging by the number of calls and e-mails I
got in response, a lot of people agreed.
But
someone on Mayor Manny Diaz’s staff pointed out that the way I
phrased the part about Diaz appearing in Esquire magazine
made it seem as if the mayor was photographed at City Hall while
drinking, smoking and playing dominoes.
I’ll own
up: It was poor sentence construction. Diaz was actually
photographed in a suit in Los Angeles. He only spoke
about what he likes to do to relax (i.e., smoke, drink and play
dominoes on the patio behind his office). I apologize for the
lack of clarity.
The other
thing I wanted to mention is that anyone who thinks the current
shenanigans at City Hall are outrageous ought to take a trip
down memory lane.
