Just Say No 

Dear Editor: 

[RE: “Beach Commission Moves Forward With Campaign Finance Reform Ordinances—Lobbyists, Vendors and Developers Targeted,” published in Beach edition, January 9.] 

 It is about time that the City of Miami Beach Commission involves our citizens in the legislation regulating political campaigns. 

 During the past three years, most of my fellow commissioners have presented legislation banning certain financial contributions to political campaigns.  These efforts have been widely applauded by the local media and ethics agencies as efforts to eradicate undue influence in the political process.  As noble and well intended as these laws may be, I have consistently voted against such legislation because I believe that it has been a “patchwork” effort that has created an unfair advantage for some incumbents and potential candidates.  I am also of the opinion that morality, integrity and ethics cannot be legislated.   

I believe that most of the legislation enacted has had the unintentional result of aiding incumbent candidates especially the wealthy.  It has done nothing to place limits in campaign expenditures.  For example: a wealthy candidate can “lend” unlimited amounts of money to his/her own campaign and will have an unfair advantage over an opponent with lesser financial means that is restricted by the present legislation.  I believe that a fairer method would be to place limits in campaign expending while providing matching funds to candidates that qualify by collecting signatures from registered voters.

Also the approved legislation has been crafted, presented and mostly argued by attorneys.  It is at times confusing to me and I believe that it will be confusing to future candidates untrained in the legal field who inadvertently may fail to comply with all regulations.  Also of great concern to me is that candidates will have to rely in the City of Miami Beach’s Procurement, Planning, and Legal Departments as well as the City Clerks Office for information as to who is not allowed to contribute to political campaigns.  This information will be provided in the city’s web page supported by its Information Technology Department, an entity traditionally plagued by failures and outages.  After having worked for the City of Miami Beach for over a quarter of a century and intimately knowing how bureaucratic and inefficient it can be, I am concerned of this dependency!

 So far these laws have been presented by sitting commissioners with little or no participation from the public.  This has to change!  I think that it is time that the people determine how municipal elections should be regulated.  Subsequently, I will be presenting at the next City of Miami Beach Commission meeting on February 5, 2003, a proposal to empower a “Blue Ribbon Panel” to review election laws as a whole and recommend campaign reforms.

 In the meantime, I will continue to risk the scorn of the press and vote NO on these “patchwork legislation”. 

Sincerely,
Luis R. Garcia Jr.
Miami Beach Commissioner

Fasten Your Seatbelts!  It’s Going to Be a Bumpy Letter

While most citizens are looking to the skyline for sight pollution and height abuse in zoning, others are wearing earmuffs while they complain about noise pollution.  But the real rip-off going on in Miami Beach is the repaving of our streets and roads.

Look down my brothers and sisters. Drive a car over them and you would think you’re in a third world country. (OK, we may be.)  Watching the paving contractors do their substandard job has you wondering if it is plain incompetence or is it just plain cheating and stealing. The substrate is not properly packed and flattened. The friction surface is placed over the rough and bumpy base, without consideration that the top will eventual reflect the outline of what is under it.  Traffic lids are installed without consideration of the street itself.  The installers are either working off a different set of plans or don't give a s--t.
The conclusion has to be the following.  Either the paving contractor and/or the government inspectors are completely incompetent or completely corrupt.

Maybe the SunPost could publish the phone number of the Inspector General or the corruption prosecutor, so we could post it on or dashboards.  This would enable us to make the call while we "bump and grind" through the city.  Its not the music on the radio, its the new "rock and roll" road under the car.

Where is the outrage by our elected officials or are they all using helicopters?

During World War II, the US Army Engineers built smoother roads, under combat conditions, from the English Channel to Germany in less time than it has taken to replace Collins Ave.  You figure it out!

Ralph Camerlengo