Why is it that the Aventura Marketing Council is so all encompassing in Aventura?  That its membership includes several developers and public officials is definitely part of the equation, but a lion’s share of the credit goes to Elaine Adler, the Marketing Council’s hired president for the last 12 years. 

An interesting tidbit about Adler: she has a Bachelor of Science degree from Nova University where she majored in public relations, minored in mass communications with a special “emphasis on psychology” and she draws on all three backgrounds to let everyone know that the Aventura Marketing Council is the business arm of the “City of Excellence.” 

Adler has one of the strongest work ethics in Miami-Dade County and takes her role as director of the marketing council—and the council itself—very seriously.  As director of the Marketing Council she makes sure her organization delivers its members solid services.  As a member of the community she pays double her dues as a volunteer on several state, county and city boards.  (Shucks, she’s one of few members of Aventura’s Economic Advisory Council to actually show up to meetings.) So is it any wonder why everyone in Florida looks at the Aventura Marketing Council as being the body to represent that city’s business community? 

David Dermer

The Reformer

The date was March 10 and the City of Miami Beach held a special meeting to determine a route for the light rail Bay Link. County officials were speaking on how important it was to get this route approved, pronto, so they could get federal matching grants to make the $400 million project happen. All except for County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro who advised that the Beach had, in fact, six years to decide what form of transportation they needed to receive a grant from the feds.

Upon hearing this, Mayor David Dermer got really, really mad. “Why are we here being forced to make a decision today?” David Dermer exploded. “We have been misled! We’ve been bamboozled!” And then Dermer stood up, yelled some more, and walked off the dais. His colleagues on the city commission and the county’s Metropolitan Planning Organization emissaries were stunned and nonplussed. The commission chambers, packed with residents opposing the light rail scheme, jumped up and cheered.

Reformers have come, gone and—arguably—been assimilated on the Miami Beach City Commission, but when Dermer was elected to the city commission in 1997 it was apparent he was a different breed. When something didn’t seem right, Dermer didn’t just make a few witty comments and vote “no,” he would fight the legislation tooth and nail and not be afraid to attack the proposer—as ex-Mayor Neisen Kasdin often found out. (For regular Beach city commission observers think Martin Shapiro on steroids.) As mayor, Dermer’s passion hasn’t moderated that much.  Case in point: the Bay Link.  Prior to the meeting, some political insiders saw its approval as a slam-dunk.  When Dermer, a critic of the system, spoke out, not only was the vote delayed, but the city commission later approved a measure to explore other transportation alternatives.

But really what makes Dermer a “50” is that he’s the first Beach head-of-state who is actually known as mayor. In every local and national broadcast discussing Beach issues Dermer is there. In every conference or media event—from a meeting of Miami-Dade city mayors to even the controversial Memorial Day weekend—he’s there. He was the first mayor in recent memory to set up “Mayor on the Move” meetings where the public can stand up and tell him what they really think of him. In just one day Dermer testified before Tallahassee on beach renourishment, spoke before the county commission on extra police protection for Memorial Day and married two people who had won a contest to get hitched on the Beach.

However you feel about David Dermer politically or stylistically, he is a man with energy, a man with passion and a man who believes his mission is to represent the interests of the people of Miami Beach.

Jorge Gonzalez

The Administrator

An ex-assistant county manager from Montgomery County, Jorge Gonzalez was 34 years old when he was hired as Miami Beach’s city manager in July 2000. And it is probably fair to say that Jorge has aged a lot since then. He has been vilified by critics for initially supporting the Bay Link project. He still has strained relations with the fire union during rough contract negotiations. His previous stance to have “the city” manage the Anchor Garage has inspired the garage’s current operator Hank Sopher (whose bid was thrown out) to run for city commission. And some grumbling residents are fond of pointing out that Gonzalez’s salary is higher than that of the president of the United States. 

Gonzalez can be controversial. But it is important to point out that Gonzalez may well be the most professional manager Miami Beach has ever had. Confronted with a complicated capital improvements plan, Gonzalez pushed for the creation of a Capital Improvement Program Office. Learning from the shortcomings of Memorial Day 2001, Gonzalez re-vamped Miami Beach’s enhanced services plans for certain large public events. He has managed to keep a balanced budget at a time when at least one-revenue stream (resort taxes) is in doubt due to the shaky tourism industry. He has even managed to create a downstairs office tasked with assisting residents about the confusing bureaucratic maze that is City Hall and also dispenses passports to boot. Heck, he has made City Hall efficient. And, for the most part, he still has the loyalty and admiration of Miami Beach’s administrators and city staffers—not to mention most members of the Miami Beach City Commission.

Even his critics acknowledge that Gonzalez takes his job very seriously. And as the top administrator of the city still called Miami-Dade’s economic engine, that is enough to make him a “50.”

Saul Gross

The Darling

Almost two years ago Saul Gross was celebrating with his supporters an outright victory over five competitors for the Miami Beach City Commission Group II seat at the Van Dyke. “No run-off! Yea!” Gross yelled ecstatically as his supporters cheered, “The hardest thing about an election is that you don’t see your family, but now I get to see my family because we won without a run-off!”

Although technically an “open” seat, Gross entered the race with all the fanfare of an incumbent. The president of Streamline Development and a longtime chair of the Design Review Board, Gross had the support of both the Beach establishment as well as the city’s preservationists. Since that time Gross has been a guiding, moderate voice on the city commission who has, surprisingly, gone to the wall for Miami Beach’s city residents on issues such as controlled development and noise control. His greatest strength, though, is shown when he offers his two-cents during discussions on anything from contract negotiations to the impact of the nightlife industry on the Beach’s residential neighborhoods. 

Gross has been on the Beach city commission for only two years but he navigates his way through the issues with more ease than a few of his more veteran colleagues. And he is still the darling of the Beach establishment while maintaining a rapport with the rank and file preservationist community. 

Eric Soroka

The Overseer

Leaders of the Aventura Chamber of Commerce insisted their dropping of a “billboard lawsuit” had nothing to do with a letter from Aventura City Manager Eric Soroka requesting that the “City of Excellence” be removed from their membership roll. So we’ll have to take them at their word. Yet it’s hard to ignore that when Eric Soroka speaks, people listen.

Soroka has been in the city manager business since he was 24 when he was hired as the “first” city manager of North Lauderdale. In 1991 he again became the first city manager of Miramar when it, like North Lauderdale, switched from a strong mayor to a city manager form of government. Five years later he would again become a city’s first city manager, this time when he was appointed as Aventura’s chief executive officer. Just a year prior, its citizens incorporated as a municipality, taking the reigns of government over directly. 

Under Soroka the city quickly grew a police department and various other municipal department, built a mammoth city hall, established Founder’s Park, and launched a bid to redevelop Thunder Alley and Loehmann’s Plaza. Members of the Aventura City Commission trust Soroka so much that, with a few rare exceptions, the city commission pretty much enacts the manager’s recommendations. He is the guy who has the experience in running cities, after all. Unlike most other managers, Soroka will also have major say on how the charter school will be constructed and run. And thanks to Aventura’s special  “cone of silence” ordinance, lobbyists and representatives can only speak to Soroka behind closed doors.

In many cities there are managers and there are strong managers. Soroka is a STRONG manager, the man who built up the City of Excellence.

Jorge Perez

The Farmer

We have lost track of how many times Jorge Perez has been named as a “50” by the SunPost. Yet the power and mark of Perez is hard to ignore. Notice those high-rise buildings that now surround the Miami Beach Marina?  From the Yacht Club at Portofino to the soon-to-be completed Icon they are all his, demonstrating Perez’s ability to develop luxury condominiums in South Pointe in a way similar to farmers growing wheat in fields.

Yet Perez’s “farming” ability isn’t limited to South Pointe. For years Perez’s Related Group of Florida has constructed high-rise condominiums all over the tri-county area and it doesn’t seem the world’s economic uncertainty has slowed him down. Besides projects in downtown Miami (which includes an expanded art and science museum and the anticipated One Miami condo), Miami Beach and Sunny Isles Beach, the Related Group of Florida has received permission from the Aventura City Commission to rehabilitate the floundering Loehmann’s Plaza shopping center into a mixed unit project consisting of retail, office space, public amenities and, of course, apartment units.

In 2003 Perez continues to build condominiums where others fail and to pursue new markets. For that Perez gets his “50.”

Dave Samson

Big Daddy

When the Sunny Isles City Commission was discussing a plan to build an 11-story high-rise on the west side of town an irate resident reminded Mayor Dave Samson that he had once vowed that “over his dead body” would he allow a building over eight-stories tall in that district. Samson replied, laughing, “That may very well be.”

Dave Samson is ill, recently having been diagnosed with cancer. In spite of his ailments and advanced age, Samson, mayor of Sunny Isles Beach, continues to run city commission meetings and attend business at city hall. This is, after all, his city.

Samson led a movement to incorporate this beachfront community as its own city.  At first he and other like-minded individuals tried to join with the mainland region into a single-community known as Aventura. For whatever the reason the Aventurites turned their back on “hotel row” and incorporated themselves without the beach district. Samson, the head of the influential Northeast Dade Coalition, didn’t give up. Using his contacts, his energy and a little bit of “I’ll show those people,” Sunny Isles incorporated in 1996. At warp speed this city would establish its own police force. It would also work to establish its own zoning code on the oceanfront, which rewarded buildings that were “tall and thin.”  Critics saw the code as a means to give developers everything they dreamed of. But the end result was towers and development projects potentially worth far more than what was being developed across the bay in Aventura. (Take that “City of Excellence”!)

And at the head of it all is its founding father, Dave Samson. Yes it could be said that Samson might be a little too powerful in this “City of Sun and Sea,” as more than a few people will whisper. But let’s face it, if Samson hadn’t decided to move into Winston Towers in 1972, Sunny Isles might still be an unincorporated enclave.  Sure, there were others who fought for Sunny Isles’s incorporation but they all seem to hail Samson as their spiritual leader. 

When an updated history of Miami-Dade County is written 10, 20 or 30 years from now Samson will be remembered as the man who founded the municipality of Sunny Isles Beach. The rest, when you get down to it, are just little details in the grand scheme of things. 

Frank Del Vecchio

The Activist

Very likely Frank Del Vecchio has been mistaken for a practicing bureaucrat.  When he walks up to the podium during public Miami Beach meetings, Del Vecchio will speak on a proposed piece of legislation with the techno-jargon of a city attorney or municipal planner. Frank isn’t the kind of guy to simply say, “Hey, this ordinance doesn’t do anything about keeping outdoor venues from blasting their music.”  He will analyze a law, a scheme or a zoning variance line-by-line.  It’s a tactic that has served him well. A couple of years ago, as a member of the General Obligation Bond Oversight Committee, it was he who found a math error that could have led to the costly and unnecessary demolition of the Sixth Street Community Center.

In a previous life Del Vecchio was both a practicing attorney and an administrator.  He was the regional director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for 25 years in New England until he retired in 1995. Prior to that he did things such as being a director of Washington, D.C.’s Redevelopment Land Agency, a director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority and a carrier attack squadron pilot for the U.S. Navy Reserve. So Frank is not only knowledgeable, he’s tough.

And he is also smart and strong enough to know when he may be on the path of making a mistake. Case-in-point: the light rail Bay Link. Del Vecchio, who is chairman of the Citizens Technical Subcommittee on the Bay Link Study, was an early supporter of the concept who thought the system should be built with or without the funding of a halfpenny tax. But then Del Vecchio took another look at the plan and became doubtful. “The initial spin on the $510 million ‘Bay Link’ project was that it would relieve South Beach traffic and parking congestion,” Del Vecchio wrote in a letter to the SunPost, “The official study now shows that automobile commuter traffic will not be reduced and congestion not be relieved.”  Better to devote the resources for exploring Bay Link uses in the Northeast corridor, he opined, than build the system in SoBe. Whether Del Vecchio is right or wrong in his assessment is not the point. He analyzed the facts and documents and found them to be wanting and, rather than stick to a position he believed wrong, he spoke out.

And it should be questioned whether or not Del Vecchio really is “retired” in a resting sense. Besides being on the G.O. Bond Committee and the CAC, Del Vecchio is president of the South Pointe Residents Association, president of the 301 Ocean Drive Condominium Association and has volunteered his services in various other initiatives. (At this writing he is actively seeking a post on the Citizens Independent Transportation Trust, a body mandated to oversee the millions raised from the transportation halfpenny tax.) Del Vecchio’s face, or his likeness, may even be pasted on the dartboards of more than a few club owners—he is part of a movement to lessen the impact of the nightlife industry (i.e. the noise) on Miami Beach’s residential community.

Jeff Morr

Lofty

As soon as Jeff Morr arrived from Israel he started selling real estate. In 1995 Morr put that experience to good use when he opened Majestic Properties, a real estate firm that doesn’t simply sell residential and commercial property but also works with developers in consulting, marketing and even developing their properties.

As the real estate market boomed in South Florida so did Majestic Properties.  Today the company has 130 real estate professionals fluent in 10 languages. It has now also started a spin off company known as the Majestic Collection, a wing specializing in selling and promoting luxury loft developments. So far the Collection includes nine loft projects with names like Ice, Roney, Manhattan and Sky in Miami Beach, Downtown Miami and North Bay Village. 

Regarding himself as the man who introduced the “loft concept” to Miami Beach, Morr strives to promote his projects as the cutting edge-of-coolness via the internet and nightlife style openings. “My philosophy is to do your best and don’t take anything too seriously,” Morr says.

Isaac Starkman

The Entrepreneur 

During a time when restaurants were shutting their doors, Isaac Starkman was investing $7 million into transforming the old Warsaw Ballroom into a Jerry’s Famous Deli, the first of its kind on the East Coast. Earlier this year Jerry’s opened for business in ribbon-cutting fanfare that included celebrity internet model Cindy Margolis (who happens to be married to his oldest son Guy), thus expanding his empire in South Florida, which includes SoBe’s Epicure Market and two Wolfie Cohen’s Rascal House restaurants.

Oh and that’s just counting the establishments in South Florida. Isaac has more than a half dozen Jerry’s Famous Delis spread throughout the Earthquake state of California.

Perhaps Starkman’s business acumen comes from his military background.  Starkman was a lieutenant in one of the world’s toughest armies, the Israeli Defense Force, from 1955 to 1958. (He’s a Suez War veteran.) Then in 1965 he found his true calling: food service. He became field manager of Ogden Foods. In 1971 he founded Aquarius Concession, a New York-based company that distributed food to theater companies.

But what made Isaac Starkman famous was when he took over Jerry’s Famous Deli in 1978, improved it and then franchised it all over the state of California. Yet Jerry’s is more than just a restaurant chain, it’s a hungry corporation. In Florida alone Jerry’s purchased the five-decade-old Epicure Market (a gourmet food grocery store) in April 1998 and two Rascal House restaurants in September 1996 (the popular Sunny Isles establishment is among the pair).

And don’t think he is just going to be content with those holdings. His assistant has said he loves Miami so much he is going to expand. Own a deli or good health food store?  Ike might come by and make you an offer.

Ian Schrager

The Schragenator

Just before the City of Miami Beach approved a deal with the Ritz Plaza that would grant its property owners a height variance in exchange for a settlement to a property rights suit, a lawyer for the neighboring Delano proclaimed that the world famous hotel was like a shining beacon of light and, to grant a variance, would mean dimming this beacon. The city commission approved the variance anyway.

And the legal team of Ian Schrager, owner of the Delano and operator of the Shore Club, proceeded to dim the lights of the Ritz Plaza but good. The variances were thrown out on appeal last November. In the process Schrager may have created legal precedent.

But neither this gambit, nor Schrager’s tendency to not play nice, are the reasons why he’s a “50.”  With the continuing success of the Delano and the recent opening of the center of bacchanalia known as Sky Bar in the Shore Club, Schrager has solidified his position as the lord and master of the night—nightlife that is. Not surprising since he was the co-owner of Studio 54 in the 1970s, at least until the IRS busted Schrager and partner Steve Rubell for tax evasion. During that time Schrager learned something: sex is good, sex works. “What you’re selling in the club business is sex,” he told the New Times a few years back. “In Miami that’s even more true than in other places. There are more beautiful women here per square mile than anywhere: fashion models, gorgeous Latin women, strippers.... And if you draw the women, the guys can’t stay away.” If the formula is just right the celebrities follow and “you get them, then you’re golden.”   But it isn’t just sex. Schrager has an innate sense of style—a thing that has made him a successful hotelier and nightlife man in New York and California.

He can be a bit arrogant at times and there are a few rules the hotelier believes don’t apply to him, but Schrager isn’t just a corporate head: he’s a nightlife force to be reckoned with and a player in the boutique hotel market.

Christina Cuervo

The Workaholic

As the legend goes, Christina Cuervo was unpacking her belongings in her new office at One Herald Plaza when she realized she made a mistake. She didn’t want to work for the Miami Herald and the Knight-Ridder Corporation as a human resources executive and real estate advisor. She liked being an assistant city manager for Miami Beach. Publisher Alberto Ibarguen lamented that the city gave her “an office she couldn’t refuse.” True: she did get a sweet bump in her already six figured salary package when she suddenly changed her mind, but according to insiders, the money Cuervo is receiving now is still less than what she could have earned working for the suspender guys across the bay.

Cuervo has ventured between the worlds of private and public sectors over the years. As a result Cuervo’s specialty by the time she was hired as assistant city manager by the Beach in January 1998 was in the realms of finance and economic development. As time went on Cuervo was given a few more responsibilities: overseeing cultural affairs and tourism, the parking department, the planning department, the redevelopment agency and the building department. Fine by her. Cuervo’s a workaholic, commonly seen lugging a ton of paperwork as she shuttles to and from meetings. And those who have sat across from her at a negotiating table say Cuervo can be pretty tough. She has even succeeded in making the redevelopment agency (RDA), famous for wasting millions in taxpayer dollars, somewhat more fiscally responsible.

Cuervo seems to be an indispensable part of City Manager Jorge Gonzalez’s administrative team. On any given day she might have 50 things to do.  So Cuervo gets a “50.”

Annette Jones

The Pastor

Dr. Annette Jones, pastor of St. John’s Church on Pine Tree Drive in Miami Beach, has 21 years of experience as a minister, therapist and teacher. Ordained in the United Methodist Church in 1982, Jones has a Ph. D. in Religious Studies from Rice University in Houston and a Doctorate of Ministry from Southern Methodist University, Perkins School of Theology in Dallas. She’s also a licensed Professional Counselor with almost a decade’s experience in private practice prior to assuming the spiritual helm at St. John’s Middle Beach congregation. A formidable intellectual, Dr. Jones is expert in a number of meditation disciplines and languages including Classical Tibetan and Koine Greek, and she’s published important scholarly works on Tibetan Buddhism.

Jones has been active in the Miami Beach community since her arrival in June of 1999 and has become a dynamic, insightful presence in our communal life. Six years ago, the church became the only Florida congregation of the United Methodist Church to adopt a resolution inviting all persons regardless of ethnicity or sexual orientation. As pastor, Jones has continued St. John’s enlightened tradition of being a reconciling congregation devoted to diversity and progressive activism, opening the church’s doors to various worthwhile community programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, overseeing an adult education program focusing on spirituality and personal growth via meditation and grief recovery counseling, and collaborating with the Miami Beach Office of Children’s Affairs on the Above Ground Youth Project to assist our youth in developing their talents and leadership skills.

Imbued with a truly ecumenical spirit (she’s currently teaching a course on World Religions), Dr. Jones has hosted and participated in numerous interfaith services, widening and enriching our community’s conception of spirituality by sponsoring visits and teachings by Tibetan monks, among other adepts of the way.

During Jones’s tenure, Dr. Carol Hoffmann-Guzman has created and developed Arts at St. John’s, an invigorating lineup of programs merging art, culture, spirituality and healing – making the church a unique and indispensable alternative performance venue and artistic incubator within the community.

Whether helping with grief recovery, offering expert meditation advice or affording insight on how all genuinely spiritual paths coalesce and inform each other, Annette Jones easily rates as a “50” just for being there.    

Paul Novack

The Principal

Controlled-development advocates have often used Surfside Mayor Paul Novack as their poster boy. Since he and his allies were elected to the Surfside Town Commission, the town has followed a mandate not to grant zoning variances, not to mention a policy of servicing its residents and little else. 

Often he does so to the annoyance of the leaders of other governments. Last year his stance against the redevelopment of Haulover Park (and the continuation of the use of the harbor for casino gambling ships) raised the ire of some county officials as well as representatives from neighboring municipalities like Bal Harbour and Sunny Isles Beach. This year, with the support of his commission, they hired an ex-member of the Department of Community Affairs to persuade that state agency to shoot down Bay Harbor Islands’ amended comprehensive plan that would have allowed the development of high-rises on East Island. Some Bay Harbor councilmembers questioned why it was Surfside’s business. Novack’s answer: the increased development would have impacted the citizens of Surfside.

But now Novack has added another role. He’s been made a member of an oversight board mandated by the state legislature to watch the spending of the Miami-Dade County School Board. Novack, a guy who, even before he raised hell about Miami Beach Senior High’s poor structural condition, never tired of telling everyone how over-bloated and arrogant the school board and its budget is. Add in that Novack now has a vehicle for his urge to reform everything and it spells uh-oh for the besieged school board. But it might mean good things for us taxpayers. Entrenched school administrators, watch out!  There’s a new principal in town.

Gwen Margolis

The Senator

Hard to believe but when the Sunny Isles Beach Commission discussed naming a park after Gwen Margolis someone asked if this was the right time, considering she wasn’t dead yet or retired from political life and, with America at war, maybe the municipality wanted to retain the option of naming the green space after someone else. 

We say this is unusual because this is Northeast Dade and when Gwen Margolis’s name is mentioned in public meetings up there it is usually in hushed and honorific tones. Even after 1996, when she was elected a county commissioner and appointed by Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas as that elected body’s chair, Northeast Daders never referred to her as Chairwoman Margolis but as Senator Margolis, a title she officially briefly lost when she ran against the so far undefeated Congressman Clay Shaw in 1992 (damn Broward voters).  Granted, it is customary and polite to continue to address someone by their highest obtained title but for Northeasters she was always the state senator who brought home the bacon for her constituents, both as a legislator and as a county commissioner.

And now Margolis has returned to Tallahassee to reclaim her state senator title.  Actually that decision was made months before election. When she filed her candidacy to run for state senator no one else signed up to run in the democratic primary or in the general election as a republican or independent. Anyone who may have had a thought about running against the Senator was quickly informed by the local political establishment not to expect any support. No one stood in the way of the patron saint of Northeast Dade when she decided to regain her throne in her old stomping grounds. Just a few days back, Margolis is already stomping hard for the people of Greater Miami Beach and Northeast Dade in areas of controlled-development, funding for the arts and affordable healthcare.

Jerry Powers

Fluff Master

When Jerry Powers threw his tenth anniversary party for Ocean Drive Magazine at the Eden Roc Hotel just about every SoBe nightlife character attended the spectacle.  His glossy magazine is pretty much the closest thing this crowd has to a bible. Since its founding Ocean Drive has never let too much text get in the way of good photographs of celebrities, models and other folks partying in trendy clubs all over the world. (According to one nightlife observer, photographs of nightclub regulars is the most important ingredient to Ocean Drive’s success because they are sure to track the mag down, just to see if their photos made it in.) Ocean Drive thrives because it has embraced the very thing that makes South Beach great: image, baby!  Not that there aren’t any stories in Ocean Drive. As Ocean Drive’s bio describes, the magazine “captures glamour, fashion and the social scene.”  Fun pieces on actors or cool resto-lounges? Yes!  Analytical pieces on the rise of poverty in Miami-Dade County? Don’t think so!  But then again, why would anyone vacationing in SoBe land want to read about everything that is wrong with an area they are visiting—and in a glossy mag no less?

If anyone could understand that concept it’s Jerry Powers. According to his resume, Powers was a manager and promoter for music acts in the 1960s and has worked with stars and groups like Jeffrey Osborne, Elvis Presley, Moody Blues, Yes, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. In the late 1960s and early 70s Powers began to feel the pulse of the community, if you will, when he published a weekly known as the Daily Planet. He then briefly went into the arts business and, according to media reports, had a bad habit of writing bad checks and forgetting to pay his taxes.

But that was then, this is now. Jerry Powers has created a viable product that has withstood the test the time, fathered a Spanish language spin-off and founded a volleyball tournament (Volleypaloza) wherein modeling agencies from around the world will go to great lengths to win the championship. (Including hiring professional athletes briefly as models—if the rumors are true.)  In many ways, Jerry Powers is our own special Austin Powers. And for being special, Powers gets his “50.” 

Edward Villella

Balanchine Boy

Some things about Edward Villella, founding artistic director of Miami City Ballet since 1985, are beyond question. He was one of the preeminent performing artists of the 20^th century, his performances for George Balanchine and the New York City Ballet are the stuff of legend, and he’s arguably the greatest male dancer our country has ever produced.

Similarly, the passion and total commitment he’s brought to his ballet company are indisputable. Seventeen years ago, he was giving his gracious, highly informative pre-concert talks to handfuls of people at the Colony – and he still does so before a packed performance at the Jackie Gleason. The efficacy of the training regimen for his dancers that Villella has created and oversees is also beyond question: he’s fashioned a ballet corps that is world class in terms of disciplined performance and dazzling technique.

Over the last few years, as performing arts organizations have sometimes foundered in the stormy waters of economic hard times, some questions have arisen over Villella’s captaincy of the ballet company he helms. What the heck was really up with his firing of brilliant and much-beloved resident choreographer Jimmy Gamonet? Was it really a falling out with Gamonet’s life companion over the now-defunct Cuba Ordinance, of all things, or a Draconian belt-tightening as rough economic seas loomed? Similarly, was Villella’s avowed contempt for all choreography after his hero Balanchine for real or really just a rationale for not spending sparse money on new dance? How long did he think Miamians would stomach the dryness of (already paid for) Balanchine-Balanchine-Balanchine to canned music? Can you browbeat people into delight?

But back to facts. Fact: last year’s Giselle and this year’s Coppèlia brought the fan base back in happy droves. Fact: Miami City Ballet is ending the 2002-2003 season in the black, a remarkable achievement considering the times for the arts. Fact: the prowess of Miami City Ballet was honored with the recognition of participation in the International Ballet Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in March, joining the likes of storied ballet powerhouses American Ballet Theater, the Bolshoi Ballet, the Kirov Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet. Nationally and internationally, Miami City Ballet now largely carries the banner of Miami in the world of serious art. Not bad. Rates a “50” – that’s a fact.

Jeffrey Soffer

The Heir

Four decades ago, Donald Soffer decided to buy several hundred acres of swampland in Northeast Dade for the purpose of building a giant shopping center called “Aventura” equipped with enough department stores, bookstores, restaurants, clothing shops, boutiques, and other capitalistic ventures to make people from all over the world willingly hand over their currency.  From there Donald built various condos and country clubs, often with the name “Turnberry” stamped on them, in the area that would soon be known as Aventura and neighboring Sunny Isles Beach.

Now the Turnberry Associates empire is expanding, thanks partially to the heir-apparent of the company. His name is Jeffrey. He joined the Turnberry family in 1987. He’s been part of the Soffer family since birth—he is Donald’s son. And if his Turnberry Associates-supplied bio is correct, it’s Donald who is responsible for the company’s expansion into the desert municipality of hedonism known as Las Vegas. As the bio states, the condo venture Turnberry Place was a “gamble” (get it) but, with $450 million in sales, it proved that people enjoy living by slot machines as much as they do by a famed shopping center.

But it doesn’t stop there. Jeffrey is also overseeing the expansion of Porto Vita in Aventura, is co-managing the $200 million Soffer-Muss condo resort Fontainebleau in Miami Beach, is calling the shots in the construction of Oceania V in Sunny Isles Beach and has now become the majority stock holder for the neighboring Turnberry Ocean Colony.

Technically, Soffer is concentrating on the residential sort of real estate, but under his father’s tutorage he has played a part in Turnberry’s development of shopping center, hotels and office buildings all over the United States. Not to mention being next in line to control a firm that created Aventura. “50” material? You betcha.

Edgardo Defortuna

Billion Dollar Man

So what did you do last year? Did you finally take that vacation? Did you get a promotion (or manage to avoid getting laid off)?  Did you spend most of your nights in a darkened bar conversing with an eccentric bartender about conch fishing or other things you did long ago, or perhaps only in your imagination?

Edgardo Defortuna made one billion dollars in real estate sales last year.

That’s right, the real estate boom has been very good to Defortuna, the Argentine prodigy of South Florida real estate. In 1983 Defortuna opened up Fortune International Realty, a full service firm that mostly dealt with the Brickell/Key Biscayne region. Over the years, Fortune International Realty has expanded to other municipalities in Miami-Dade County and has established contacts throughout Latin America. Today there are dozens of condominiums, loft projects, commercial properties, single-family homes and vacant land parcels in Brickell, Coral Gables, Miami Beach, Aventura and Sunny Isles Beach that are under the umbrella of Fortune International. Just recently Defortuna announced he’s the exclusive broker of Brickell on the River, The Collins, Uptown Marina Lofts and Bayview Lofts.  DeFortuna has even dabbled in being a “developer,” becoming the co-developer of Jade Residences in Brickell Bay and M Resort Residences in Sunny Isles.

Something to think about next time you lounge around, procrastinating about writing the Great American Novel, or whatever else it is you daydream about. Edgardo didn’t just talk about doing things. He did things and is still doing them.

Manuel “Manny” Diaz

The Boost

It had to happen sooner or later: Miami would elect a mayor who is not on the verge of a nervous breakdown, did not throw tea cups at his wife, did not feel he had to denounce the Fidel Castro regime every three seconds and who is actually focusing on the economic revitalization of his city.

Prior to running for the mayor’s seat in 2001, Diaz was best known for being among the dozens of attorneys who fought to keep Elian Gonzalez in the United States (one of the reasons Diaz doesn’t feel he has to prove he’s a proud exile every three seconds). But long before that Diaz was active in cases ranging from anti-discrimination suits against Burger King to fighting for the rights of Cuban and Haitian refugees. While previously mostly known for being Elian’s attorney, Diaz has always been politically active – which explained why Diaz racked up a wider range of political endorsements than the incumbent Joe Carollo. 

Diaz is also quite the entrepreneur. There are a dozen or so limited companies that Diaz was or is currently a part of, namely Monty’s Restaurant Holding, the Music Fest Corporation and, last but not least, Terremark Investment Services, a Florida-based real estate firm that has built or manages $300 million worth of office and retail development. (According to his bio Diaz is no longer the vice president and general counsel of Terremark Investment.) Maybe that is why Diaz is keen on talking about moving away from Miami’s “legacy of runaway spending and mismanagement.” Maybe that explains why he is so excited over how economic development has increased Miami’s tax base by 13 percent. 

And maybe that is why Diaz is fervent about the Bay Link, a light rail system envisioned to connect the Beach to Downtown Miami. The project has been embraced by many Miami development interests and its city commission but is still looked at with a lot of skepticism on the Beach. Diaz’s frustration was apparent at a Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting (which he is also a voting member of). “In the City of Miami we want this project,” Diaz said in March. “I don’t want this to jeopardize our position. If they don’t want it, it can stop in the middle of the causeway.” Now his tone is changing. The consultant the Beach is hiring to look at other transportation alternatives has not even begun his work and Diaz is already hopeful the Beachers will change their position. “We are hopeful that our friends across the bay finally support this very necessary transportation mode,” he said during a State of the City address. 

Diaz is the new face of Miami--one that is prosperous and efficient. Something that is surely encouraging investment in the downtown area. Diaz is a living breathing economic boost, boosting him to the “50.”

Barton G. Weiss

Party Master 

How creative a guy is Barton G. Weiss? How does “Dance of the Naked Chefs Lunch” sound? As described by Village Voice columnist Michael Musto, “Lunch consist[ed] of a giant martini glass filled with raw seafood followed by a massive ‘mixed mini meat grill’ right out of The Flintstones.  Over dessert, four male strippers danced out in chef’s aprons, which they promptly dropped, revealing huge maxi meat platters that they gleefully used for utensils.” 

The rest of the piece gets progressively Rated NC-17 but you probably get the picture. Barton G., as he is commonly known, is a creative guy. But his ability to plan lavish parties isn’t limited to male stripper luncheons. After decades establishing himself as the ultimate party master in SoBe, Barton G. now throws all sorts of bashes for Fortune 500 corporations, international sporting events, and society galas all over the country.  You won’t find male strippers at Weiss’s Super Bowl or PGA Championship tent parties, not unless his corporate patrons want it.  For example FedEx wanted a SuperBowl party that would be a “hit” for children and adults, so Barton G planned a “robot surprise,” an Earth Wind and Fire concert and a “Battle of the Bands” match. When the Norton Museum wanted a gala all of Palm Beach would remember his battalion of caterers prepared gourmet lobster and lamb dishes while his designers designed a dance floor based on Monet’s Waterlilies surrounded by 20^th Century masterpieces. The recommendation letters posted on Barton G’s website universally describe Weiss’s parties as being part of some realm in heaven.

How does he do it?  Well, Barton G. is more than just an individual now, he’s a company. Set up in 1994, Barton G employs 230 designers, architects, writers, event producers, artisans, etc. With a staff like that, Barton G. could build a skyscraper, produce a magazine or design a foyer—instead he produces parties that live on in his clients’ memories.

But that wasn’t enough, so Weiss opened up a highly acclaimed restaurant in the former Starfish space know as –what else—Barton G, now a successful restaurant frequented by those who appreciate only the finest dishes in life. The restaurant even has a mascot: Sabrina, a chimp that has been trained to sign autographs and not throw feces. That would ruin future Naked Lunch parties.

Jeff Perlow

The Charmer

When Arthur Synder decided to step down as mayor of Aventura, Commissioner Jeff Perlow filled the seat without any opposition. Thus, the attorney and one of the founding fathers became that city’s second mayor.

Why didn’t Perlow receive any opposition? Voter apathy could be blamed, but such a theory is a tad too cynical. In truth, Perlow seems to enjoy the support of just about everyone in Aventura. Case-in-point: the two main battling business associations, the Aventura Chamber of Commerce and the Aventura Marketing Council. Both of these organization count Perlow as a “friend,” a status that remains unchanged even after the so-called billboard controversy (a variance for a giant billboard that Perlow opposed) or after the city’s threatening to end its Chamber membership. 

A funny guy who is full of charm, Perlow has played his role as Aventura’s head of state to the hilt, and while he has fought with his colleagues on the city commission dais every so often, he still manages to maintain the elected members’ deference and esteem.

Judy Drucker

The Diva

Judy Drucker and her Concert Association of Florida have long been an essential part of the cultural life of South Florida. Like another Brooklyn-born operatic singer – Beverly Sills, who served as chair of Lincoln Center – Drucker has excelled as an arts administrator after her singing career. But whereas Sills stepped into a ready-made position at an already deeply entrenched cultural milieu, Drucker virtually created the vibrant performing arts cultural scene in South Florida over which she reigns as supreme and indispensable diva.  

In the past, thanks to Drucker and her Concert Association, South Florida audiences have thrilled to the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Cecilia Bartoli, Kiri Te Kanawa, Wynton Marsalis, the London Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Jean-Yves Thibaudet in music, and Alvin Ailey, the Bolshoi Ballet, the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov, the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Twyla Tharp in dance.

This year’s concert season may have been Drucker’s finest achievement, though. During a year when, mired in post 9-11 economic difficulties, the arts have struggled with disheartening cutbacks and scale-downs, the Concert Association not only didn’t miss a step, it managed to provide us with a stellar season for the ages. Classical music fans were regaled with sopranos Renée Fleming and Kathleen Battle, cello legend Mstislav Rostropovich, violinists Itzak Perlman and Maxim Vengerov, pianist Evgeny Kissin and the Dance Theater of Harlem among other world-class concert fare. For those of us privileged to have been there, conductor Lorin Maazel’s first-ever tour performance with the New York Philharmonic at the Jackie Gleason Theater yielded an epiphany of a Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony we will never forget – a highlight for a lifetime, never mind a season.  

One of our area’s most often and lavishly honored individuals –certainly in the cultural arena – our beloved Judy surely deserves a great big “50” for a fantabulous job of bringing the very finest in music and dance to South Florida this year. Thanks to her, we were able to say, at least in regards to our high-end concert season: “Downturn? What downturn?”

Norman Braman

The Giant

There are a lot of reasons to put Norman Braman on this list. He is the owner of the largest car dealership in Florida, Braman Motors. He is active in the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. And he has been involved in various important local issues, most notably his support for retaining an amended human rights ordinance that protects everyone from discrimination based on sexual orientation. 

At the top of the list, in our humble opinion, was his work to bring Art Basel to Miami. Six years ago Braman and various other local art collectors, including developer Craig Robins and hotelier Mera Rubell, worked on a quest that seemed impossible: bringing the world’s most acclaimed arts fair from Basel, Switzerland to Miami Beach. After a few false starts (most notably due to the September 11 terrorist attacks) Basel arrived in December 2002. The fair was covered by the global arts media and attracted affluent art collectors from all over Planet Earth. Art Basel also proved to be mutually beneficial to both the organizers and the host city. By the way, Norman Braman and his wife Irma chaired the host committee.

Norman Braman also makes the list because of what he didn’t do. In 1999, when Miami-Dade Alex Penelas proposed a penny tax to fund transportation projects Braman bankrolled PACs opposed to it. Then came transportation tax II. Braman decided to stay on the sidelines and remain neutral. The halfpenny tax isn’t as bad as the ’99 penny tax proposal, he told the media, and there wasn’t too much opposition to the tax the second time around. Who knows what would have happened if Braman decided to rise again against the tax. Would the sales-tax advocates have scrapped their plan of shunning a mass media “vote for the tax” campaign? Another interesting comment: Braman said Mayor Penelas learned from the first campaign. He meant that he didn’t openly enlist his lobbyist allies to raise money as was done the first time. (A couple of these lobbyists were even investigated by the State Attorney’s Office.) But there may have been another message there: for whatever reason Penelas did not rouse the sleeping giant known as Braman.

Craig Robins

Urbanite

It was hard to reach Craig Robins during the Art Basel fair. A member of the host committee, Robins was hard at work checking out the Basel exhibit, meeting with Basel delegates, conversing with city officials, etc. 

As mentioned earlier, Robins—a committed art collector--was part of the movement to bring Art Basel to Miami. He is also considered to be the man who led the redevelopment of the Miami Design District (incidentally the scene of one of the largest Basel parties). To many locals, it’s hard to separate the phrase “Design District” from Dacra, the name of Robins’s real estate and development company.

Robins founded Dacra in 1987, around the time when a new generation of developers were rehabilitating South Beach’s historic buildings. Robins did more than his fair share and, through his numerous media contacts, made sure he got credit for it worldwide. And through this press attention, Robins and his fellow preservationist developers helped promote SoBe as a destination not only for tourists but business people as well. On the local front, Robins received a reputation for helping certain “aspirants” get elected, particularly in the 1990s, and he helped popularize the phrase “urbanism.”  (Or, as Craig likes to pronounce it, urrrrrrrbanism.)

While his colleagues continued to work on revitalizing SoBe, Robins—using his experience, contacts and political clout—embarked on projects to revitalize Miami’s crumbling arts district. For him, the Design District would offer the opportunity to show what urbanism is all about. According to Dacra’s website, Robins is creating a “pedestrian-friendly community…based on a policy of altering the way consumers think about interior design.” As a result, the Design District is becoming a center for furniture and interior design showrooms, art galleries and architectural design firms.

Craig Robins does have a reputation for getting what he wants. Example: the special zoning category created to accommodate his vision of Aqua, a multi-faceted project that is now moving full speed ahead. However, try to find someone who has absolutely hated a project Craig Robins has done. The man may be a tad eccentric (even his friends make fun of the way he dresses) but he has charisma and vision—and for that he gets a “50.”

Eric Sheppard
The Caroller

Once it was among the busiest hotels in Miami Beach. That was in the 1950s.

Then business got bad and it became an apartment building.

And then it was the scene of a condo conversion scam and run into disrepair…to the point where Beach authorities deemed it a “death trap” and activated a Hurricane evacuation plan and evicted its residents, for their own good. That was 1991.

Since then the 17-story Carillon has been an abandoned eyesore, a monument to what can go wrong in South Florida real estate. Plans to redevelop the project came and went but too no avail. 

Then came Eric Sheppard. Sheppard, who grew up in North Beach, said he always wanted to see the Carillon alive again. When he had the chance to purchase the property and redevelop the original “MiMo” hotel… and also construct two new condos towers 38 stories and 20 stories in height, he pounced. “People are going to be floored when they see what we do,” he said. “They just got to let us do our thing.”

The co-founder of WSG Development, Sheppard started his career by rebuilding and developing For Eyes Optional all over North America. Then he went on to condominiums, apartment buildings, retail shopping centers, Starbucks, Wal-Marts, townhomes, etc.  He started this development gig when he was just 26.

Then he swung back to Miami. His recent portfolio includes a 17-story condo in North Bay Village called Sky Lofts and a 26-story building called Sky Residences.  Where he intends to make a big splash, though, is in North Beach. Last time the SunPost talked to him, he was looking for more investment opportunities. This is his neighborhood, after all.

Steven Poliakoff

The Lifesaver

Dr. Steven Poliakoff is a man in high demand. As such he divides his time between four locations: The Wellness Community and the Women’s Cancer Research Foundation in South Miami-Dade, the Naples Women’s Center and Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach. There’s a reason for that. Besides being listed in Castle Connolly’s 2002 Guide as being one of the top doctors in the nation, Poliakoff is the authority on the latest developments on women’s health and cancer research. 

Oh, and he can see the future.

Here’s his resume. Poliakoff received his medical training from Cornell University, John Hopkins, the University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill, Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute, England’s Oxford University, and Queen Charlotte’s Maternity Hospital in London, England.  His special training was in gynecology and cancer treatment and through the course of 25 years Poliakoff amassed the latest information in preventative health, gene therapy, minimal invasive surgery and experimental treatment procedures in fighting ovarian cancer. He’s now chairman of Women’s Services at Mount Sinai and Miami Heart Institute Medical Center as well as the director Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology, genetic testing and the hospital’s Cancer Assessment and Risk Evaluation program.  Plus Poliakoff heads a little something called South Florida Gynecologic Oncology Associates, which has a mission to aid women with cancer with up-to-date surgical, medical and radiation therapy as well as treating those “at risk” with cancer.

But Poliakoff’s special talent is his ability to genetically screen a patient and find out what her risk is of developing ovarian cancer and other future health problems and to immediately implement preventative therapy using the newest medical information developed by medical science. Poliakoff has saved a lot of lives using this scientific crystal ball and he has saved even more through his treatments. Just call him Dr. 50.

Tara Solomon

Queen of the Night

Can you believe it was only ten years ago when Tara Solomon first proclaimed herself “Queen of the Night” and toured the bourgeoning nightlife scene of South Beach? Through her contacts, Tara Solomon was able to gain entry to the most exclusive parties, informing everyone through bold face type about which prominent locals and uber-celebrities were seen lounging together in the VIP rooms or grooving on the dance floor.

Those contacts served her well once again when the Queen decided to go into the public relations biz. As her bio proudly proclaims, the very same fashion houses, hotels and clubs Solomon gave “ink” to in her column are now the clients of her company, Tara, Ink. But she doesn’t just represent entities such as Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana or Ian Schrager Hotels. Tara, Ink., like just about every other PR in town, publicizes the achievements by those in Miami-Dade’s most viable industry:  the real estate industry. 

But just because Tara is in the PR business doesn’t mean she has taken a walk from newspaper writing. Tara has recently traded in her nightlife column in the Knight-Ridder Miami Herald for an advice column where she gets to flex her psychotherapy and counseling muscles. No longer is she the Queen of the Night, the night stalker armed with a notepad and a photographer who spots Sly Stallone hanging with Oliver Stone or Seymour Gelber conversing with Thomas Kramer. Tara is now the Advice Diva, who on Wednesdays seeks to advise “the lovelorn and protocol-challenged throughout the nation.”

But to us—whether she is writing an advice piece, roving about in nightclubs or cranking out e-mail press releases—she will always be the roving Queen of the Night. You just can’t shake off a title like that.

Johnny Winton

The Downtowner

Johnny Winton is not shy about using four letter words to describe Miami’s old political history. “Remember they used to float bonds back in the good ol’ days when you had former city manager Cesar Odio f—king everything up…They got pissed away,” Winton told the New Times when he took one of the weekly’s reporters on a downtown tour. Throughout the tour Winton would curse as he described the physical conditions of Downtown Miami. Look at the f—king sidewalks. The storefronts look like s—t.

The president of WynCo Realty Partners, Inc., Winton enjoys some support from the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and local developers who want to see a revitalized Downtown Miami. It was with this support that Winton, a newcomer in politics, was able to unseat the eternal Miami commissioner known as J.L. Plummer on a platform of reform, encouraging development and improving the city’s infrastructure.

Now in his fourth year as a commissioner, Winton says he is not satisfied with the slew of development projects occurring in the boundaries of his District Two. At least in media reports Winton says that with new development must come new planning, otherwise the projects that’s making its way to Miami may strangle it instead of reviving it. Winton, moreover, is not afraid of looking at the whole picture: as in the future of all of Miami and not just his district.

But more than that, Winton is earning the reputation of being a politician who will say what he thinks without acting like a psychopath. In the city across the bay that isn’t very common.

David Evensky

The Matchmaker

How do you get the young, professional class to be more philanthropic in this Miami-Dade County?  By bringing to light the ills of society? By throwing parties at some of the trendiest spots in South Florida? 

How about throwing together fun singles mixers that will raise money for non-profits such as Camillus House, SAVE Dade, Big Brothers-Big Sisters, the Audubon Society or Operation One Ambulance in places such as Nikki Beach Club, The Forge, or Capital Grille?

That was the scheme hatched up by David Evensky, a partner in the financial planning firm of Evensky Brown Katz and Levitt. A member of the Miami-chapter of the American Jewish Committee, a pro-Israeli organization that also seeks to raise money for a wide variety of mostly non-denominational charitable and political institutions, Evensky felt more had to be done to bring in the much coveted age 25 to 40 professional class into the fold. So he helped start the spin off group Young Professionals Network and set up a series of singles mixers now acclaimed as the best way for Jewish singles to meet Jewish singles. (Although not everyone who attends is Jewish.  One-fourth of YPN’s members are gentile.)  “By combining community service with parties at hot pubs, YPN helps young people step up and be philanthropic,” Evensky recently told the Miami Herald.

But Evensky doesn’t just raise money for YPN/AJC sponsored organizations. He is also a member of the Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation, the Bass Museum of Art, the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce and the Young Leadership of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. Evensky recently estimated he may spend as much as 25 or 30 hours a week working free for such charitable events. (Evensky is also a member of the Miami Beach Budget Advisory Committee.)

You gotta give credit to someone who can make the act of giving not only fun but a way to find a significant other, or just get a little somethin’, somethin’. So Evensky, the matchmaker of the single world, has secured his “50.”

Pedro Martin

The Crossover

Real estate attorneys. You often see them in public zoning board meetings speaking on a project of some sort and often so passionately one would think that a high-rise building or condo project is their own. Often these attorneys remain pretty much that: hired guns who will guide their developer clients through the complicated world of litigation.

And then there is Pedro Martin, one of a few Florida real estate attorneys out there who has the knowledge, investors and money to go into business for himself.

Martin is a shareholder in the power real estate firm of Greenberg Traurig. But since establishing Terra International Development nearly two years ago Martin doesn’t just use his knowledge of the local terrain or his 20 years of experience in real estate law to represent developers and foreign investors, but to create his own projects such as Nautica in Miami Beach, the 45-story Metropolis in Dadeland and the luxury high-rise condo Quantum in the Miami Arts District. Jumping on the catch phrase “urbanism,” Martin has stated in press releases that his company specializes in “urbanization, pursuing sites that are similar in density and are strategically located.” Just as developers in Miami Beach and Sunny Isles tout their proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, Martin is banking on the proposed light rail Bay Link project, the revitalization of the Miami Arts District (his public relations team is already calling it MiArt), the success of the Performing Arts Center and pretty much the future of Miami as a whole. To Martin, now is the time to invest and develop in Downtown Miami and he has been able to assemble a team of professionals and investors who believe the same thing.

Anybody can expound on the virtues of investing in an oceanfront condominium, but it takes a visionary mind and considerable experience to use a developing urban environment as a selling point. 

Gustavo Barreiro

The Republican

Thanks to redistricting, Miami Beach now has three state representatives who are fighting for the interests of this city. But Gus Barreiro has a slight edge over the other two in power and influence and, yes, his party affiliation has a lot to do with it.

Barreiro, whose district covers the southern portion of Miami Beach and Little Havana, is a Republican. So, too, is the Governor. And so, too, are a lot of his colleagues in both the house and senate. As such Barreiro has been able to use his party affiliation to further the interests of Miami Beach, working with his Democratic colleagues in preserving beach renourishment programs and fighting a bizarre and outrageous attempt to re-energize the Bert J. Harris law (reviving developers’ ability to sue for monetary damages if a city dares decide to reduce its zoning density).

Yet there is more to Barreiro than just his party affiliation. The man is, simply put, a likeable guy, and Barreiro is actually focused on gut issues such as improving juvenile justice (he is a long standing member of the legislative Juvenile Justice Committee), education and help for the elderly. So it is no surprise that Barreiro can get the ear of a Republican governor and, at the same time, earn the respect of his supposed rivals in the Democratic Party.

Barbara Carey-Shuler

The Chairwoman

During the November 2000 election Jay Leno actually made jokes about inviting international monitors to observe Florida. But when mishaps occurred again in the September 2002 election no one was laughing when Barbara Carey-Shuler proposed inviting the Center for Democracy, run by Jimmy Carter, to watch how the county operates their nifty new computer ballot machines. At one point more than half of the county commission thought it would be a great idea to “coincidentally” walk out, denying a quorum and delaying the measure. Ultimately, the monitors were hired and the county had some motivation to make sure the election process ran smoothly in November.

Barbara Carey-Shuler has been in and out of the county commission since 1979. She has had her brushes with controversy, the most recent being her mysterious $175,000 a year “part-time” salary with the school board for God-only-knows what. But she enjoys enough support on the county commission to be named chair of that elected body, giving her the ability to decide when various agenda items are heard and various other extra powers. She is also the chair of the governing body for the Metropolitan Planning Organization, an entity empowered to enact transportation projects anywhere in Dade County, whether a particular municipality likes it or not.  (Cough! Bay Link!)

Yet Carey-Shuler doesn’t need a chairperson position to be a 50. For one thing, her district covers much of the City of Miami, including the vaunted Miami Design District. For another, the years of experience Carey-Shuler has acquired in Miami-Dade has made her one of the most influential public figures in South Florida. And she did scare the county into having an efficient election.

Martin Z. Margulies

The Collector

It isn’t very hard to get Martin Margulies to tell you what he really thinks. Just hang out with him for a few minutes and opinions will start pouring forth: about urban development, other developers, politicians, art, life…. He doesn’t care about what people think about him, just about what he does, and Margulies can do two things: collect lots of art and build some classy buildings.

Actually, it’s his art collection that Margulies is most proud of.  Yeah, sure, Margulies has developed buildings for the last 25 years such as the Kenilworth, the Grand Bay Residences and the Bellini on the Ocean, now being constructed in Bal Harbour.  But he’ll talk your ear off about his huge international fine art collection that is displayed in museums all over South Florida, including Martin Z. Margulies Outdoor Sculpture Park, located at Florida International University. Margulies even feels his ability at picking fine art pieces helps influence the interior and exterior design of his luxury projects. (He is determined to make Bellini an Italian work of art.)

But Margulies doesn’t just do luxury condos. Last year Margulies joined forces with basketball player Alonzo Mourning to build Miami Rescue Mission’s Community Activity Center in Overtown. The design is out of the ordinary, but so is Margulies.

Nicole Guillemet

The Director

You have this here film festival, see? One that has been so successful that other film festivals around town have popped up emulating it. Only you want to expand it and make it one of the most sought after film festivals in the world. And the man who set it all up has parted ways and the guy who replaced him just didn’t quite get it and fled to the West Coast or someplace like that. What do you do?

You hire Nicole Guillemet. 

Guillemet, this year’s director of Florida International University’s Miami Film Festival, didn’t just write about film festivals or films (unlike the previous director who was a freelance entertainment journalist). She is the co-director of the world renowned Sundance Film Festival. And if anyone has the experience, or attitude, to create a successful expanded film festival in Miami-Dade County, it’s Guillemet. “Putting on a festival as large as this one has always been a great artistic challenge, so I did not spend too much time thinking about why I should or why I shouldn’t,” Guillemet told the SunPost recently. “I see the film festival expanding, and I’m aiming for bigger films, bigger premieres, more competitions.”

Just what FIU wanted to hear. 

This year Guillemet gathered scores of movies from all over the world, but with a special emphasis on Ibero-American productions. While she remained true to the festival’s expansion into SoBe, she also realized there was a sophisticated movie audience in Northeast Miami-Dade and, as such, she invited the Sunrise Intracoastal Theatre, to participate. 

According to local observers this year’s Miami Film Festival was a success, thanks largely to Guillemet’s drive and experience. Putting South Florida on the cinematic map: if that isn’t a reason to be a “50,” what is?

Alan Randolph

The New Face

He’s young. He’s an executive. He’s good looking. 

That’s isn’t why Alan Randolph, the senior vice president of the local chapter of Mellon Bank, is on this “50” list.  He’s on because he is a rising power in the Miami Beach business community, one who is representative of the growing young, professional class in Miami Beach and he’s attempting to give this often-patronized group a real voice. To him it isn’t just the right thing to do: it’s just good business.

Randolph is a “pillar” in the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce Board of Governors hierarchy. But even with this title Randolph isn’t afraid of ruffling a few feathers and telling his colleagues off if he feels a certain position or stance doesn’t make any sense, leaving some chamber observers hopeful that he will help take the institution to a new level and turn it into an aggressive business advocacy group.

Randolph also set up a local chapter of the Business Network International, an organization that seeks to give each of its members “mutual support,” i.e. patronizing and promoting each other’s business. The chapter is heavily attended by the Generation X of the business world. Something that suits Randolph just fine: he’s all about offering “Generation Xers,” or the young, professional business class, financial advice.

Did we mention Randolph is active in promoting the arts and the film and production industry in South Florida? (He’s a board member of the Florida Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and was until recently a member of the Production Industry Council.) That he’s a member of several civic and charity organizations? (Young President’s Club of Mount Sinai, Adopt-A-Classroom, Make a Wish, etc.) That he can be seen at virtually every luncheon, gala and exclusive party thrown in Miami-Dade County and beyond?

Another way to describe Randolph is “connected.” He knows all the players in the business and political community. Heck, he is probably on first name basis with just about everyone else on this list.

Michael Gongora

Sr. Comercio

Watch out kids, there’s a new kid on the block and it’s the Miami Beach Latin Chamber of Commerce. Actually, scratch that. The Latin Chamber has been around for more than 15 years but never before has this organization been so noticed. Part of it has to do with a hard working director and staff. But then there are also the tireless efforts of the chamber’s volunteer chair and legal adviser: Michael C. Gongora. 

A sole practicing attorney in civil, family and personal injury cases, Gongora is on Miami Beach’s Design Review Board and has held the presidency of the Miami Beach Latin Chamber of Commerce for the last two years. During that time Gongora has strived to increase the organization’s membership (and thus its profile in the community), formulated new guidelines and reached out to the nightlife and entertainment district. (So that’s why he’s been spotted so often in SoBe’s hot nightclubs. Research.)  “He has been very involved in helping the chamber,” acknowledges Grace Calvani, the Latin Chamber’s executive director, “And he has been working on a new entertainment vibe for the chamber.”

Thanks to Gongora, the Miami Beach Latin Chamber will be unveiling a new major “nightlife” affair in October. Who says Chamber events are boring?

Ugo Colombo

The Italian

Tall luxury buildings, fast exotic cars, ahead of the game…

How else to describe Ugo Colombo, the Italian über-developer who foresaw the potential of Downtown Miami during times when real estate there appeared dead or when other developers were focused on the potential of SoBe. 

Soon after graduating from the University of Miami’s School of Business in 1983 Colombo leapt into the world of real estate. Ten years later he was in a position to become a developer and, correctly guessing that foreign real estate developers wanted an alternative to Europe, commenced building residential towers downtown with names like Bristol and Santa Maria. Some even credit Colombo for laying the foundation for Brickell’s current building “boom.” 

Recently he partnered with Aventura heir Jeff Soffer to expand Porto Vita. His latest project is flattening the old Dupont Plaza Hotel and replacing it with shiny, new condo towers. 

But again, tall buildings are only one part of Colombo. He also owns The Collection, the most respected dealership of imported luxury sportscars in Miami-Dade County, in addition to other limited construction and development companies. And just to prove he isn’t the sort of man to throw stones, Colombo has a side operation called Glass Wall. Its mission: to provide glass furnishings for luxury developments. Yes, that’s right—even if he isn’t personally developing a certain project, chances are he’s profiting from it in some way: either by supplying the glass or selling the developer a Ferrari. 

Esteban Cortazar

The Prodigy

There are probably a lot of aspiring fashion designers out there who hate Esteban Cortazar. 

He will turn 19 years of age next year (old enough to vote but not drink—legally, that is) and he hasn’t officially graduated from Design and Architecture Senior High School and already he has wowed the top designers, hung out and befriended celebs like Lenny Kravitz, Gloria Estefan, Cindy Crawford and—gasp! —Madonna and has designed dresses for super-socialite Paris “Don’t Cross Me” Hilton for the New Yorkers For Children Benefit and Paulina “I’m a Latin Crossover Sensation” Rubio for the MTV music video awards. Oh, and he’s the youngest fashion designer ever to debut his spring/summer 2003 collection in New York City.

And it all started in SoBe, baby. The 12-year-old Colombian lad began by designing windows for a popular vintage shop. Then in 1997 he spotted Todd Oldham as he was opening up a store and showed him some of his sketches. Oldham was so blown away he invited Cortazar to be a guest in his show in New York. He was only 13 then.  Jealous?

But you haven’t seen anything yet. The Oldham protégé and SoBe’s favorite designer son continues to gain popularity in the fashion world and is firmly within the sphere of the super-famous. And he can’t even set foot in a club legally….  Neat.

Nicola Siervo

The Host

A few years ago it seemed there would be an era of nightlife entertainment super-behemoths where club feudal lords, after buying up numerous venues, would duke it out for a share of the clubgoer pie. Ahhh, yesterday, was such an easy game to play….

Now it just ain’t easy. No longer can anyone expect annual surges in resort tax collections as high rollers spend their bucks on pricey booze. Disposable income is not something to be…well…disposed of lightly. So some club owners have sold off their satellite operations, or headed out of town completely.

Nicola Siervo, though, is expanding. For more than a decade Siervo has partnered in several successful nightlife ventures. One of his more popular enterprises was Joia, a Northern Italian restaurant with cuisine so good the rich and famous dined there regularly, which he recently sold off. Didn’t matter, though. The stars followed him to Mynt, a lounge modeled after a “big living room with a long bar.” To gain entry you must have a reservation (and even then there is no guarantee) or be Leonardo DiCaprio, Janet Jackson, Denzel Washington, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias or Anna Kournikova.

And with Mynt’s success he did the unthinkable in this age… he expanded, opening Metro Kitchen and Bar at the Astor Hotel, now one of the most popular spots for the locals to hang. 

So what is the old saying, when the going gets the tough, the tough get going?  A South Beach version of this adage is “the stylish get styling” and if there are 50 ways to please a trendy, Siervo likely knows them all.

Steve Sonenreich

Dr. Finance

When Mount Sinai Medical Center made a pitch for the City of Miami Beach to once again become a conduit to refinance $75 million worth of bonds Steve Sonenreich led the charge. Part of his job description really. Sonenreich is the president and CEO of Mount Sinai, a non-profit hospital that was the biggest employer in Miami Beach even before it purchased the Miami Heart Institute. As such, he has to make the hospital financially healthy. It isn’t.

But it’s getting better. This year the projected loss is expected to be only $10 million, according to hospital provided figures. Compare that to last year—Sonenreich’s first year “back” at the hospital—when the hospital’s deficit was $30.8 million.  And that was half of the deficit from 2001: $64.9 million. If Sinai’s numbers are to be believed then it appears the hospital has been on the road to recovery since Sonenreich returned to his professional home.

Sonenreich’s life as a hospital administrator began at Mount Sinai in 1977 and he rose through the ranks until he was named chief operating officer in 1990.  Then in 1996 he went off to become the chief executive officer of Cedars Medical Center. He stayed there until October 2001 when Mount Sinai’s board of directors asked him to take charge lest the Beach-based hospital flat-line. “It’s great to be here since I grew up with many of the people at this center,” he once told the SunPost.

It hasn’t been easy. To “reduce our expense structure” Mount Sinai has had to eliminate pediatrics and drug treatment at the center—something that was quite controversial at the time. He also had to let go 300 people in “non-patient” related care. But he is determined—for the greater service of Miami Beach—to ensure that Mount Sinai is a lean, mean, financially solvent health care machine.  “We have done so many great things at this center,” he said, “and we’re committed to making it better.”

Brian Street

The Paratrooper

Brian Street was a paratrooper for the Israeli army…. Someone who leapt into combat in the Six-Day and Yom Kippur War. Now Street is leaping into something else: developing a successful residential project on 190 acres of land that has quite a history.

Street is the principal of Boca Developers, one of the leading multifamily developers in South Florida which has built projects with names like Aragon on the Ocean and Mizner Grande. In Northeast Dade he’s known for developing the Hamptons South and the Peninsula in Aventura. 

In North Miami he may soon be known as the man who finally developed Interama in a $1 billion joint venture with Michael Swerdlow. Essentially a mixture of swamp and grassland near Florida International University’s North Campus, it was supposed to be the site of an Interama World Fair back in the 1960s. (According to legend the outline of the Interama Fair that never happened is on the North Miami and North Miami Beach flags.) But the fair never materialized and the North Miami owned land became a landfill. In the 1980s and ‘90s the Environmental Protection Agency even listed it as a “superfund” clean up site and rumors of strange toxic waste and other weird buried materials circulated. 

No materials that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction were ever found, though, and in 2000 the land was finally given a clean bill of health allowing North Miami to hand it over to developers. Voters approved zoning that would allow 5,000 apartments (with amenities such as multiple club houses, pools and tennis courts along with a 35-acre park featuring jogging trails, picnic areas, a children’s playground, etc.), a 100,000 square foot town center with restaurants and retail, a hotel and conference center and even a charter school. The project will likely have a great impact on the Northeast Dade area. That’s a lot of pressure. But, hey, Street’s a paratrooper. He can handle it.

Andi Greenwald

The Preservationist

Andi Greenwald relishes the praise heaped upon her by preservationists and real estate professionals. “I take fabulous properties,” she says in a bio, “and I make them shine.”

Greenwald already has five projects under her belt: Santa Monica, Metropolis, Coconut, Cabana and Tribeca. It’s the Tribeca she considers her masterpiece: five crica 1930s buildings she both restored to their original architectural integrity and modernized with the latest in custom lighting, fixtures and amenities. 

Greenwald basically proves that you don’t have to live in a steel, state-of-the-art 90-story high-rise to experience the high life. For her work with the Coconut and the Cabana she received a pair of awards from the Miami Design Preservation League. And already preservationists are bowing down before her for her work with Tribeca, a series of diamonds in the rough that are now, thanks to Greenwald, shining very, very brightly.

Kobi Karp

The Advocate

When asked how many projects Kobi Karp has been a part of recently, a staff worker at first drew a blank. “Lots,” she said. There was then a pause and the assistant said, “at least 30.”  A list of some of the ongoing projects was later sent to us: First Ocean Estates, Belaire, Cadillac Marriott, King David, La Perla, Nautica, Bayview Lofts, M Resort, Absolut Lofts, Lexi: all are Karp’s babies. And these are just the projects that have gone beyond the drawing board.

Over the years Kobi Karp has designed a lot of buildings, be they mansions for the rich and famous or multi-family high-rises. Karp gets a lot of work not only because he is a good designer but he’s also a good advocate. He won’t simply let attorneys do the talking in public hearings deciding the fate of his buildings… Karp will step up to the plate and explain his plans patiently yet firmly. In Sunny Isles for example, the latest development boom-town, Karp can often be seen in the audience, waiting for the time his project will come up for discussion. For him the public meeting hall is like a friendly bar: politicians, architects, designer review board members, lobbyists, even anti-development advocates know the face and name of Karp. And in the course of debate Karp, at least, has the respect of proponents and opponents alike—not an easy feat in the rough-and-tumble world of local politics. 

Karp is a busy guy and thanks to his talent, his personality and his work ethic, he is likely to remain busy for some time to come.

Maurice Gibb

The Miamian

In January the news was dominated with terror alerts, the possibility of a Second Korean War (this time with nukes!) and whether or not we would go to war with Iraq (guess we know now).  And then on the 11^th of that month, something different: Maurice Gibb, co-founder of the band BeeGees, suddenly died in Miami Beach. The Internet came alive with news reports, tributes to the fallen star and with conspiracy theories (much to Mount Sinai’s discomfort, since he died there during emergency abdominal surgery). But one comment in cyberspace was poignant:  “I didn’t know he lived in MIA [Miami].”

For the last 25 years, Gibb, who was British, did live in South Florida. He regularly attended charitable events and was well liked here. To say that the local community was in shock is an understatement. At Jimmy’s East Side Diner, his regular hang out joint, the owner cordoned off the table Gibb and his friends ate at. “He deserves more than that, but sometimes you don’t know what to do,” owner Denis Tetenes told the Miami Herald. “He was part of the restaurant. Part of the staff. Part of my heart. We feel very bad. We did a small memorial but it’s nowhere near enough.”

Like most South Floridians, Gibb came from somewhere else. But he adopted this region as his home; so had the region adopted him. He was a part of us. And we will all miss him. 

Phillipe Starck

The Brand

Remember the illegal beach village a few years back… the white tower that Ian Schrager decided to build one day behind the Delano and keep permanently up in spite of all the laws against it until it mysteriously burnt down. Well, it did look good. Yes, we’ll admit it: it was aesthetically pleasing. It was quite obvious that a creative mind designed this defiant gesture to building east of the erosion control line. The designer: Phillipe Starck, the most talented of his genre on Planet Earth.

World famous does not begin to describe Phillipe Starck. Try “brand name.” Type in his name on an Internet browser and thousands of references will come up. He has designed hotels all over the world including the interior of the Delano. He has his own furniture line. He also designs eyewear, watches, motorcycles, cutlery, door handles, sink handles, underwear, etc.  But it’s his home furnishings that are now sought after by South Florida developers everywhere.

Now, as a recent Wall Street Journal article put it, Starck has gone condo. While he still refuses to interior decorate for individual homeowners, he is not above designing condo units for a few developments such as South Beach’s Icon. For developers of luxury high-rises this is definitely a plus: the name Starck can close deals on units, pronto.

In truth, Starck could probably make the “50” list in London, New York, Paris and even Abu Dhabi. He’s that big.

John Nichols