The mayoral candidates. Photos by George Barreiro/firedogphoto.com

 

Now I know why most people don’t pay attention to local elections. They are depressing. For the last few weeks, I’ve been on a little kick about the upcoming Miami Beach elections.

 

I looked at the election results for the past few beach elections and saw that, like almost any other city in this county, Miami Beach residents are not voting. Last year, about 10 percent of registered voters cast ballots. Some years it’s closer to 15 percent. The turnout is higher when there’s a hot referendum issue or national race on the same ballot, but that’s not very often.

 

In 2001, there was an impressive 35 percent turnout, partially because of a high-profile mayor’s race and referendum items on the ballot, such as one requiring voter approval on large waterfront development. In 2003, the turnout was 19.72 percent, and in 2005, 11.33 percent. By last year’s runoff between Michael Gongora and Deede Weithorn, participation was down to a pathetic 9.73 percent.

 

As of Sept. 30, there were 39,544 registered voters in Miami Beach. Since there are three commission races plus a mayor’s seat to decide, the action should attract more than 4,000 to 5,000 voters.

 

Abe Lavender, a sociologist and professor at Florida International University, has been studying these numbers for years. He says one reason beach turnout is so low in recent years is that there’s not much open conflict to rile people’s emotions. “As a good citizen, I hate to say apathy is a sign of contentment, but in some ways it’s true,” he offered sheepishly. “There’s no one issue that gets them hot enough. We also have a lot of people who come and go [so they don’t think about elections].”

 

In the past, elderly Jews made up a large percentage of the population, and they could be relied upon to turn out in droves. But as the population has succumbed to mortality and migration, voting has suffered. For a while, there was a surge in voting by Hispanics because they wanted representation on the generally all-white, all-male commission. But by 2001, that goal had been achieved, with four Hispanic names on the dais, and participation again declined.

 

Lavender says that since Miami Beach is a ­fairly progressive city, ethnic politics are usually too subtle to produce a turnout. What does motivate people is a crisis — overdevelopment, height limits, historic preservation fights.

 

I am trying to view this race as a citizen as much as a reporter because I am a Miami Beach voter. I like this city, except for the murderous parking situation in South Beach, and my uncertain ability to continue living here as North Beach gentrifies — oh, and waiter-models, most valets and any tow trucks. While on the subject, I’m also irritated that the developers of the Canyon Ranch condo and “health-resort” hotel in my neighborhood get to cut off public beach access on 69th Street for more than a year while building their high-rise, not to mention that they’re causing a chain reaction in the local economy that took out the Denny’s and will eventually force out the Publix.

 

I started a little get-out-the-vote project this month with some fellow journalists, aimed at informing residents about the candidates, the issues and why it’s in their best interest to vote. It’s a small effort, but you gotta start somewhere. (Check it out at www.doublethevote.com.)

 

Thus, I went to some candidate forums and lurked in the back, looking for a reason to care which egomaniac (as all politicians are) got the job. As a reporter, you often find yourself interested in the soap opera elements of the races — dirty campaign tactics, the money trail, old skeletons.

 

But as a resident, honestly, I don’t care about a lot of that. Sifting through the mound of colorful mailers I’ve received from every candidate, it’s like picking from a barrel of well-groomed show dogs. They’re all smiling in front of American flags or palm trees, many clutching small children and spouses. They all say they’re fighting for me. I see the cable TV ads, where groups of random people say things like “Simon Cruz is my mayor,” and preteens in baseball uniforms attempt to explain why their coach Luis Salom would make a good commissioner.

 

To get beneath the image, you have to actually meet the candidates. But very few people do. At many of the forums, there are hardly any civilians, by which I mean people who are not affiliated with one campaign or another.

 

As an example, at one recent forum, Michael Gongora and his opponent Ed Tobin actually had some substantive differences on issues. Gongora wants to revive Baylink, the controversial light-rail system proposed to connect Miami and Miami Beach. Tobin favors deep-sixing that idea forever and concentrating on more (and better) buses and bike lanes.

 

Another way to get a read on candidates is by checking out their campaign reports. They are all available on the city’s Web site. Last week, the Miami Herald reported that people affiliated with Mount Sinai Medical Center had larded the election with at least $86,000 worth of campaign contributions. Mayoral candidate Simon Cruz got $50,050, Salom got $19,600 and Gongora received $8,150.

 

Ed Tobin, Deede Weithorn, Jonah Wolfson, Frank Kruszewski and Linda Grosz’s campaigns also got a little cash — insurance in case the entire Mount Sinai-backed slate doesn’t get through. They apparently didn’t bother much with Elsa Urquiza, who is running in Group 6 only in the sense that she’s got signs up in lots of yards.

 

The reason for all this loot from the miracle workers is the fate of the Miami Heart Institute, which Mount Sinai owns and wishes to sell off for development, much to the chagrin of the neighbors, who rather like the sun to shine on their single-family homes.

 

Among political insiders, Cruz is the presumed winner in his contest with Matti Herrera Bower. As of the end of September, Cruz raised $305,000 or so to Bower’s $51, 500. His contributors list is a who’s who of business — hotels, developers, construction companies, lawyers, bankers and clubs.

 

This does not mean Cruz is the Antichrist. But it does mean that if he wins with a low turnout, he’s lavished a lot of money on each vote and you have to wonder whether it is well spent. Let’s say he brings in another $100,000 (for a total of $400,000) before the election and the turnout is 10 percent.

 

That’s about a hundred bucks a vote, more if you only count the people who vote for him. Why not give us few reliable voters a gift certificate to Joe’s Stone Crab and be done with it?

 

I asked my favorite doomsayer what he thought of all this. Attorney Victor Diaz was predictably grim. He said he has tried to encourage neighborhood groups, like the ones concerned about development at the Miami Heart Institute, to band together with other residents on citywide development issues to offer a united front against special interests pumping cash into campaigns. “The perspective is that today it’s my back yard,” he said. “Tomorrow it could be yours.

 

“The future direction of our city is in play,” he continued. “If we allow it to be dictated by nothing more than the disparity of money, then we are saying nothing more and nothing less than our city commission is for sale.” [Editor’s Note: Victor Diaz is listed as one of Bower’s supporters.]

 

Back to that recent candidate forum — someone in the audience asked the candidates what they would do to reach out to the community. “We have about a 10 percent turnout of voters,” Tobin pointed out. “Your question assumes the people want us to do outreach. Right now, they can sit in bed and drink a beer and watch what’s going on with the city. Channel 77 and the Internet are reaching people. We just need more people to be interested in the community.”

Couldn’t agree more.