Civilian Investigative Panel slated to investigate Miami Police Chief John Timoney

By Angie Hargot

The Miami Civilian Investigative Panel, a 13-member city board charged with investigating complaints of police misconduct, will investigate the activities of Miami Police Chief John Timoney.

The Miami City Commission almost assigned the task to a special committee Tuesday, but instead bestowed it upon the CIP after a short discussion. The CIP is comprised of 12 Miami citizens appointed by the City Commission and one member, retired police officer Otis Davis, appointed by Timoney.

The commission also determined Tuesday that the city will not provide the chief with legal representation in any new or pending Florida Department of Law Enforcement or Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and the Public Trust investigation.

FDLE reportedly launched an investigation this week after Miami Police Department Internal Affairs investigators decided they were too conflicted about investigating Timoney themselves. The chief never disclosed that he had been driving a Lexus SUV for a year given to him for free by Lexus of Kendall.

City Manager Pedro Hernandez considered forming a committee to look into the allegations against Timoney, as suggested by Armando Aguilar, president of the Fraternal Order of Police. Eighty percent of the police officers voted “no confidence” in the leadership of Timoney and Deputy Chief Frank Fernandez in a Sept. 4 union election after the Lexus scandal surfaced.

Many city officials and residents expected Hernandez to reprimand Timoney on Tuesday, but he didn’t. Instead, Hernandez said he’d wait for the results of an ethics commission investigation. At that, Commissioner Marc Sarnoff said he would call for Hernandez’s resignation if Timoney wasn’t punished.

Sarnoff has asked Timoney to donate to charity the value of the car use, which he estimates to be around $7,000, and write a letter of apology to the city, he said in an interview last week.

“A committee is not appropriate for the FDLE to report to,” Hernandez said. “The police department is under the oversight of the city manager.”

Aguilar then vowed to file a complaint with the CIP. “Allow the CIP to do what it’s set out to do,” Commissioner Joe Sanchez said.

Miami City Attorney Jorge Fernández warned that the CIP could not get in the way of law enforcement investigations. The CIP may only “exercise its powers so as not to interfere with any onging investigation,” Fernández read from the city code.

“They know they will not interfere if FDLE is conducting an investigation,” said Sanchez, a former member of the Florida Highway Patrol.

Charles Mays, the CIP’s independent legal counsel, told the SunPost that any potential conflict would depend on the nature of the FDLE investigation.

“We are concerned with any evidence of misconduct,” Mays said.

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The Autocratic Method

By Angie Hargot

The Miami City Commission decided Tuesday to postpone a resolution that would allow voters to decide whether to change the term of the city’s independent auditor general from four years to two years.

Commissioners, who unanimously decided to renew City Auditor Victor Igwe’s contract only a few months ago, said they needed more information before deciding whether to put the issue on the January ballot. His contract will expire in 2011.

The city has both reviled and revered Igwe for his auditing methods; he recently slammed the city’s housing program for its spending practices and criticized the Downtown Development Authority’s budget.

“What we want to do is clearly identify the scope of the auditor general,” Commissioner Joe Sanchez said.

“Giving so much power to one man reminds me of Castro and Hugo Chavez,” said Commissioner Angel Gonzalez, who has criticized Igwe’s approach. “I’m not ready for a dictator in the city of Miami.”

Commissioner Marc Sarnoff said the auditor general was hardly a dictator. He did, however, pass out an e-mail from an undisclosed sender warning about how easy an auditor general can abuse power.

“Why don’t we just give him a badge and a set of handcuffs and a gun?” Commissioner Joe Sanchez quipped.

Said Gonzalez, “It’s the position, not the person.… Long ago there was a person — in 1996 or 1997 — who made life miserable for many people. It’s the power given to one person.”

During those years, the Miami city budget ran a $68 million deficit, which eventually led to changes in the independent auditor’s job description. State legislators then passed a bill requiring independent auditors to tell each elected or appointed official about all local government budget gaps.

More recently, in 2006, another independent audit by local accounting firm Rachlin Cohen & Holtz showed massive gaps in the city’s finances. Commissioners have said they had not seen the independent audit until reporters pointed it out last month; they did not mention the issue Tuesday.

According to Commissioner Tomas Regalado, the auditor general position was initially created by a charter amendment to oversee the city’s finances.

Still, the city will have to hustle to add the issue to the Jan. 29 ballot before the Nov. 30 deadline.

“This will be a high-turnout election, due to the [presidential] primaries,” Regalado said. “There will probably be more than 60 percent turnout in the city of Miami.”

But Sanchez warned, “We cannot push through this — this has got to be a thoughtful process.”

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Passing Grade

By Ben Torter

The Miami Beach Zoning Board of Adjustment ruled Sept. 7 that Table 8 restaurant was living up to its promise to address neighbors’ concerns about noise and unsightliness related to its outdoor bar and kitchen. It won’t have to go back to that board again unless it receives another violation.

The restaurant had received 18 noise complaints by Aug. 3, though only two were valid, and they resulted in warnings, not outright violations.

At the core of the issue is a March 2006 variance the board granted Table 8, allowing it to operate an outdoor bar until 2 a.m. rather than 8 p.m., as is normally permitted in the mixed-use entertainment district.

Table 8 is located inside the Regent South Beach at 1458 Ocean Drive. The restaurant and hotel are sandwiched between two condominiums. The Drake is located about five feet to the north at 1460 Ocean Drive, and about 5 feet to the south is 1446 Ocean Drive.

The leaders of both condo associations originally supported the outdoor bar variance, but said they now regret it.

Josh Woodward, one of the owners of Table 8 in Miami and in Los Angeles, testified he has spent more than $58,000 putting up sound panels and other noise and visual mitigation systems to try to solve neighbors’ concerns.

Francine Garante, a neighbor who lives at 1446 Ocean Drive, admitted that Woodward is making an effort, but said it isn’t enough. “I feel they are trying,” he testified. “How many sound boards are they going to have to put up so we don’t hear that bass?”

To settle the dispute between residents and restaurant, neighbors and certain board members have asked for the variance to be revoked. Woodward even suggested he was thinking of voluntarily abandoning it. It was widely discussed last week, but in the end, the board decided to leave it in place, saying the variance protects the neighbors and gives the board jurisdiction over the case.

“If we move to revocation, that will then offer them the opportunity to serve liquor in that outdoor space until 5 o’clock in the morning,” board member Larry Herrup said. “They will have their outdoor bar until 8 o’clock and then can serve from inside, and then you will get what you asked for. This will mean they can take down all their sound baffling and then you can deal with code compliance and the special master.”

The board expressed particular offense to a letter to the editor written by Jo Manning, president of the Drake Condominium, published in the SunPost Aug. 23.

“Over and above all of this, however, and infinitely more important, is the anti-resident/anti-community/pro-business stance of the city’s zoning board,” Manning wrote about the Aug. 3 meeting. “They were openly hostile to residents at this hearing and so misinformed about the city’s noise ordinance it took our breath away.”

Board member Seth Frohlich summed up the general sentiment of the entire board, stating that the neighbors would never be satisfied and the letter was a cheap shot.

“Sometimes it’s very hard because some people just don’t want to accept the fact that this is a board, and it’s a democratic process and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, and that’s just the way it is,” Frohlich said.

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Go Bijou

The Simone Hotel will soon make way for the Bijou Hotel, whether neighbors like it or not. Photo by Cynthia Archbold

Despite complaints about commercialization from neighbors living south of Fifth Street, the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board decided that the boarded-up Simone Hotel at 315 Ocean Drive should be reinvented as the larger, fancier Bijou Hotel.

The panel unanimously agreed Tuesday to allow Zedek Associates to demolish most of the three-story building, keeping its 1937 Art Deco front façade, and build a seven-story hotel and restaurant in its place and on neighboring vacant property.

“We’re trying to be the best the world has to offer — a boutique hotel, an expensive hotel — but without a restaurant, it’s not possible to qualify as a five-star hotel,” developer Fred Rado told the board.

Zedek had scaled back its plans to half of the rooms in its original proposal and a smaller pool; it also agreed to build a seven-foot wall around its outdoor dining area. The hotel will contain 130 rooms, a 1,400-square-foot spa, an inground pool and a rooftop pool, oceanfront cabanas and a sculpture garden. Rado promised the 125-seat restaurant would offer only fine dining.

However, the Bijou will have only 96 parking spaces — 60 fewer than needed, according to neighbors who vehemently oppose the valet parking burden. Nearby residents also have complained because the proposed hotel plans do not include a circular driveway or alley to accommodate the extra traffic generated by restaurant customers and delivery trucks.

South Pointe resident Lynn Harrington, who lives at 101 Collins Ave. next to Prime One Twelve, knows all about the hassles of living near a restaurant and asked the board to nix the Bijou proposal, citing the problems South of Fifth inhabitants already face. “Delivery trucks [and] cars constantly circle the neighborhood,” she said. “There is no parking for people visiting. This is what we have to deal with day in and day out with delivery trucks.”

“This is a historic residential neighborhood,” said Christina LaBuzetta, who lives next door to the proposed Bijou at 301 Ocean Drive. “Bars and restaurants by themselves cannot be the economic engine of South Pointe. It should be residential. People are not going to want to live here.” Her balcony will be 19 feet away from the restaurant, and she is afraid of the noise from Bijou’s crowd and proposed outdoor stereo speakers.

The developer told the board that Bijou hotel operators will respect the neighbors’ need for peace and quiet, and abide by the city’s noise ordinance, which prohibits live music and entertainment, discos, dancing and music loud enough to interfere with a conversation.

“There are some real restraints,” said Carter McDowell, the lawyer for the developer. “The board has to assume the city will enforce its laws. You can’t make the assumption that people are going to violate the law.”

The rooftop pool and bar will stop serving food and drinks at 10 p.m. and shut down at 11 p.m., McDowell said.

The city’s planning department recommended the approved Bijou proposal.

Kent Harrison Robbins, a lawyer representing condo owners at 301 Ocean Drive, said he may appeal the decision, although he is pleased that the developer changed the original plans substantially to accommodate neighbors.

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Deco Greens

 By Cynthia Archbold

An Art Deco-friendly sort of Walgreens will be developed here. Photo by Cynthia Archbold

The Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board spent hours Tuesday tweaking the architectural details of a new Walgreens proposed to replace the Dorrick Apartments at the corner of Alton Road and 10th Street.

Board members voted 6-1 to demolish the apartment complex and make way for the Art Deco-compatible drugstore, which will offer garage, rooftop and ground-level parking.

While the Dorrick, built in 1949, is in the Flamingo Park Historic District, the structure floods just about every time it rains and cannot be salvaged practically, according to city staff.

“You’ve killed the corner as far as I’m concerned,” said Jeff Donnelly, the only board member to vote against the project. “We’re really changing the experience of people who are walking who may or may not have their prescriptions at Walgreens.”

Neighbors, however, seem to like the design of the new drugstore. “It will make a huge difference in the quality of life for our residents,” said Richard Rosinski, president of the Palms Association, located at 1025 Alton Road. Miami Design Preservation League Executive Director Bill Farkas also gave it his stamp of approval.

Planning Department Design Preservation and Neighborhood Director William Cary said that with the board’s vote, the new project is ready to be built. “We’ve worked hand in glove with Walgreens,” he said. “This will be the most unique Walgreens that’s ever been built.”

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Cutting Back

By Evan Berkowitz

The Bay Harbor Islands Town Council unanimously passed an ordinance Monday lowering its millage, or real estate property tax rate, for the year 2007 to 3.6565.

The council lowered the rate 9 percent — from $4 to $3.66 per $1,000 of assessed value. The rollback, enacted as a result of state-mandated property tax cuts, means the town will have $478,000 less revenue when the 2007-2008 fiscal year starts on Oct. 1.

The council could have voted, with a super-majority vote, to decrease rates by less than 9 percent, but opted not to. “It was based on our discussions relative to what was in the best interest of the community, tax-wise, and that we could ensure that we didn’t, in fact, reduce any of our public services,” Vice Mayor Kenneth Weinstein said.

“The millage rate was dictated to us by the state,” said Mayor Peter Lynch. “In the last two years, two years running, this council reduced the millage rate.…”

Lynch said not reducing property tax rates would have risked the town’s share of the county’s transportation surcharge revenue.

Town Manager Ronald Wasson and Finance Director Alan Short said Bay Harbor will cope with the cutbacks by having all town departments cut 5 percent from their respective budgets. They will also cut out a library card reimbursement program that town officials said was underused. Also, the town will not fill four vacant positions.

Lynch, who is very critical of the state’s mandated tax cuts, said he attended a two-hour dissertation on the subject during a Florida League of Cities conference in Orlando in August. He said 90 percent of the delegates there, representing approximately 420 cities, “are not thrilled with this tax package.” The new laws, he said, do not allow municipalities enough “latitude” and referred to them as a “fiasco.”

In Bay Harbor Islands’ September newsletter, Lynch voiced opposition to the proposed “super homestead exemption” legislation that may replace the present “Save Our Homes” law if Florida voters endorse it Jan. 29. Lynch said the town would have a public workshop on the subject, possibly in December, with state Sen. Steven Geller.

The Town Council also unanimously passed an ordinance appropriating $17.7 million for the general, water, sewer, parking, solid waste, causeway and storm water funds in fiscal year 2007-2008. The second public hearing regarding the new budget will be held Sept. 17 at Town Hall.

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Surfside

What’s Taking So Long?

By Evan Berkowitz

The Surfside Town Commission has been criticized in recent months by residents disappointed with the lack of progress in building the town’s new community center.

So, on Tuesday the commission decided to dump its contracted architectural firm for a new one. Surfside officials said they would begin negotiations with the architectural firm Spillis Candela and Partners to design a new public facility in place of the Surfside Community Center at 9301 Collins Ave.

“When I found out that there was no contract yet, to me, that was completely unacceptable,” said Vice Mayor Howard S. Weinberg, noting that contract negotiations with Acai Associates, Inc., the first firm the town selected, should have been completed a month ago.

“We’ve reached an impasse in negotiations with the first architects on our selection list,” Commissioner Marc Imberman said about Acai.

The firm Spillis Candela and Partners was the commission’s second choice, but the first choice of Town Manager W.D. Higginbotham, town consultants Calvin Giordano & Associates and her own board, according to Community Center Committee Chair Eliana Salzhauer. “For the past five weeks, they’ve been trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole,” she said.

Higginbotham said he spent “far too many hours” trying to resolve fees and hourly rate issues with the firm. Salzhauer told the SunPost it was her understanding that Acai’s fees were far greater than those of the other firms under consideration. Higginbotham said he and the staff agreed it was time to engage a different firm.

Imberman noted that the contract that had been written for Acai could now be presented to the new firm with few changes necessary. “I think Spillis understands that we’re not willing to go through this again, and I’ll say on the record right now, if there’s any undue delay, let’s go to No. 3,” Weinberg said.

The community center redevelopment was the election issue that brought the current commission into office in March 2006. The new commission, led by Mayor Charles Burkett, said building a new structure for about $14 million made more sense than renovating it for more money.

Spillis Candela designed the Sunny Isles Beach Government Center, located at 18070 Collins Ave., about four years ago. The four-story, 58,000-square-foot facility cost $16 million to build.

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Aventura

Lean Times

By Randy Abraham

The Aventura City Commission gave initial approval Monday of a $49.2 million budget and a lowered property tax rate of $1.72 per $1,000 of property value for the coming fiscal year.

City Manager Eric Soroka’s proposed budget took into consideration a mandate by the state legislature to cut taxes. The proposal reduced the property tax rate there by about 23 percent — from $2.22 per $1,000 of assessed property value, which already was the lowest of any municipality in Miami-Dade — and trimmed about 4 percent from the general operating budget.

But one resident, Jack William of the Mystic Point complex, said he will be paying more, despite the city’s claims. “In looking at last year’s taxes compared to this year’s, it seems like it’s going up,” said William. His notice from Miami-Dade County showed that he receives the $25,000 Florida Homestead Exemption, which also limits annual increases in a property’s assessed value to 3 percent. His property’s assessed value compared to last year increased almost 3 percent, but the notice also showed that the market value of his condo went up about 30 percent.

Even though it is the assessed, rather than the market, value that determines the final tax bill, William said the values should reflect the fact that housing prices have either stagnated or actually fallen in the past year.

Mayor Susan Gottlieb pointed out that the county, not the city, determines a property’s assessed value, which is then used to calculate property taxes. She also noted that the municipal tax portion is only about 10 percent of a total property tax bill; a large portion of property taxes goes to the county, school board and other tax-levying agencies.

Also, unlike the city and the county, the school board was not mandated by the Legislature to reduce property taxes, said Commissioner Bob Diamond. After the meeting, Diamond predicted that many Miami-Dade property owners will seek to appeal their assessments based on stagnant or falling real estate values.

Another resident of Mystic Point, Annette Marks, asked about the so-called “super exemption” that voters will consider in a Jan. 29 election, but Gottlieb said she and other city officials will be available to explain to city residents its possible impact. The super exemption would provide a large initial property tax exemption — 75 percent of the first $200,000 in just value, plus 15 percent of the next $300,000 in just value — but that could eliminate the 3 percent cap in annual assessments that homesteaded property owners currently enjoy.

Gottlieb said city residents did not come out en masse to speak on the budget because they are satisfied with the services they receive for their taxes. “When they think about what they get, it’s [taxes] not a lot,” she said. “We met the demands and the needs of the city, and the only area that was affected by the process was special events.”

The budget and tax rate will be considered on final reading at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 19, at the Government Center, located at 19200 W. Country Club Drive.