“At hand is the ill-conceived out-of-scale construction proposed on the Herald waterfront property.”

Revelers at last year’s SAVE Dade Halloween party. File photo.

Good News Taxpayers!

What with affordable housing developers getting public land and taxpayer dollars for not building affordable housing, the recent news of a Water and Sewer Department employee being arrested on the charge of embezzling more than a million dollars from taxpayers, the not-so-recent news that millions of dollars were charged to taxpayers for unauthorized cell phone expenses by certain WASD employees (including the guy who allegedly swiped more than a million bucks), an Office of the Inspector General report revealing that 58 percent of a sample group of 200 county employees cheated taxpayers in an already generous Tuition Refund Program, the certification of a special election to recall Miami-Dade County Commissioner Natacha Seijas requested by taxpayers in her district, and most county commissioners still reluctant to schedule a strong-mayor referendum demanded by taxpayers — well, county taxpayers could probably use some good news.

To their rescue comes Marie Bertot, a senior media relations specialist from the Miami-Dade County Communications Department, who e-mailed Murmurs a release on Tuesday with the subject “rank and file save taxpayers millions …”

“Some of my fellow county employees have saved taxpayers more than two million dollars,” Bertot wrote. “… There are some brilliant ideas among our rank and file — at least a dozen stories.”

Bertot wrote that three staffers from the seaport, whom she dubbed “clever inventors,” “designed a trash flap that prevents trash from spilling on [the] ground” and apparently saves taxpayers “thousands of dollars.” And some WASD employees got together and made “gaskets” and “firefighter rehabilitated wells,” thus saving the county tax money that would have otherwise flowed to contractors. (See? They don’t just run around making cell-phone calls all day long.) Also, a property appraiser created a brand spanking new form that “helps Building Code Compliance easily identify non-permitted structures.”

The county honored these employees on Wednesday. Also during the event, the county revealed that it has found new revenue sources and created “efficient interchangeable signage” for Miami International Airport. So, folks, don’t move to Broward just yet. Things aren’t so bad here in Miami-Dade County. Buck up!

And seriously, congratulations to the following employees who opted to make things more efficient at County Hall or give money back to county taxpayers: Kenneth Cohen (Property Appraisal), Carlos Fernandez (Solid Waste Management), Emilo Orbis (SWM), Esteban Acosta (SWM), James Canty (Corrections and Rehabilitation), James Solotoff (Water and Sewer Department), Guy Gibson (WASD), Humberto De Bien (Aviation Department), Timothy Coiner (Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department), Raquel Marrero (WASD), Nasif Alshaier (Public Works Department), Blanca Machado (Public Works), Mark Reyes (Miami-Dade Fire Department), Martin Dareff (General Services Administration), Manuel Amador (Seaport Department), Lino Ferrer (Seaport), Fernando Perez (Seaport), William Young (Seaport), Fernando Litardo (Aviation), Americo Seguera (Building Code Compliance), Anely Herrera (Aviation), Ekeisha White (WASD), Barry Lawrence (Corrections), Ana Hassun (Corrections), Felix Llanes (Fire Rescue), Gina Beato-Dominguez (Police Department) and Jocelyne Barjon-Ramos (Aviation).

Call to Arms … and Maybe Drinks

Miami’s only major daily newspaper is quite good at getting attention. One reason is that the Miami Herald is, well, the only daily paper. The other is that there is just so much drama surrounding One Herald Plaza what with the corporate changeovers, El Nuevo Herald reporters being fired, El Nuevo Herald reporters being re-hired, publishers calling it quits, etc. Now it is the rezoning of Miami Herald/McClatchy-owned land near One Herald Plaza that has garnered the attention of the public — or at least of feisty Miami activists. Apparently the Herald’s corporate masters want some land-use changes to what are known as parcels one and three that will allow contracted buyer Pedro Martin to build large along waterfront land. Some people are not too crazy about the changes and in a broadcast e-mail have encouraged “all groups, organizations, bike/skating/athletic clubs, friends and neighbors” to come to Miami City Hall on Thursday, Oct. 26 at 3 p.m. (or 5 p.m. if activists manage to get the item rescheduled) and oppose the Herald’s rezoning request before the City Commission. “At hand is the ill-conceived out-of-scale construction proposed on the Herald waterfront property,” stated the release. “This construction is recommended by the Planning Department without cohesive long-term vision. It fits a disgraceful pattern that should not continue.”

The e-flier goes on to state that “there is no opposition to development … just do it right!”

In Miami? Well, the release goes on: “To allow these major land-use/zoning changes at this time (pre-Miami 21 and contrary to the 20-year Omni CRA Redevelopment Plan recommendations, at a cost of approximately $700,000…) reflects lack of appreciation for these unique lands on Biscayne Bay and appears to be irresponsible.”

So, there will be some more drama for the Miami Herald. To watch the show live, just drive on down to 3500 Pan American Drive in Miami’s Coconut Grove which, as the release points out, is just south of Monty’s.

Superheroes Wanted

What’s scarier than a full-grown man in a chicken suit pounding beers on Lincoln Road (even on Halloween)? To some it’s the idea they might not be able to get in to see their significant other in the hospital in an emergency or that they wouldn’t be allowed to make a vital decision for that loved one in a similar situation with a power of attorney. To others, it’s the idea that two men or two women could marry or have a civil union affording them the aforementioned and other rights.

In his job less than two months, Kirk Arthur has been frantically making calls to Miami-Dade residents, sometimes leaving urgent messages letting them know that SAVE Dade is critically low on volunteers to help identify supportive voters at the polls next Tuesday, Nov. 7. “I’m testing my auto dialer,” he said on a recent call. “I could call 10,000 people at once.” Arthur was hired Sept. 6 as field director for Miami’s grassroots group that helped get sexual orientation included in the county’s human rights ordinance in 1998 and helped thwart subsequent attempts to have it removed. SAVE Dade also was instrumental in initiating Miami Beach’s domestic partner benefits program for city employees and, in 2004, the city’s domestic partnership registry. As of September 2006, according to the city manager, 207 couples (the registry applies to both same-sex and heterosexual partners) have signed up.

According to Arthur, who recently returned to Miami from a four-year stint as a community organizer in San Diego, Calif., SAVE Dade’s goal is to have 30 precincts covered come Election Day. With the shortage of help, though, he said they may scale that back to about 17. To put the organization’s situation in perspective, during the 2002 presidential election, SAVE boasted about 2,000 “field captains,” Arthur said. At this time, Arthur’s working with about 20. Although there is nothing on this coming election’s ballot directly related to gay and lesbian issues, Arthur explains the significance of SAVE’s Election-Day efforts. “This will be the last big election to mobilize before 2008,” and identify electoral support. In 2008, Arthur says he expects Florida voters to find a referendum on their ballot that will give them the choice to ban gay marriage and civil unions in the Florida Constitution. He says the faith-based group trying to get the issue on the ballot states on its Web site that it is only 50,000 signatures shy of the necessary 611,000 signatures. Throughout the United States, other groups are wrangling with pushes for this sort of statewide “Marriage Protection Amendment,” as it’s being called here in Florida.

Anthony Verdugo, executive director of Miami-based Christian Family Coalition, is also mobilizing the troops. He said they have about 24 volunteers handing out Christian Coalition voter guides, outlining candidates’ stances on a variety of issues (available online at www.mdccc.org). What types of issues do they want voters to be aware of? “Stem cell research, marriage, issues like that,” Verdugo says. What he doesn’t specify is that their petition will nip the possibility of gay marriage (and civil unions, which also affect heterosexual couples) in the bud. Verdugo says they hope to hit about 400 churches (“one out of every three churches in Miami-Dade County”) prior to Nov. 7. But isn’t that a lot of churches for two dozen people? “They’ve done this before,” he explains. “They have their list.”

Whereas Arthur says SAVE Dade has identified 80,000 voters since 2000, Verdugo says his group has identified just over 125,000 through petition drives, phone banks, mailers and donors. Arthur says SAVE Dade hopes to identify 2,000 more in the coming election.

Ironically, Verdugo’s words don’t sound all that different from what one might expect to hear from a representative of SAVE Dade. “[Our voters are] people who believe that all citizens need to be treated with dignity,” says Verdugo.

But while the message may sound compatible, somehow Murmurs doesn’t think SAVE Dade and the Christian Coalition will be getting together to sing “Kumbaya” any time soon. Arthur says he thinks the national gay and lesbian advocacy organizations have “cherry-picked” other states like Colorado and Wisconsin (whose citizens will vote on the ban Nov. 7), where they thought they had more of a chance of fighting a gay marriage ban, leaving Florida groups to fend for themselves for the time being.

Still, Arthur admits, “Equality Florida and SAVE Dade were kind of behind the curve and we need to catch up. People have to see this coming down the pike.”

Likely, this being Miami and all, Arthur and other SAVE Dade organizers will get a chance to reach a wider support base at their well-attended annual Halloween fundraising party, to take place this Saturday night at the Miami Children’s Museum on MacArthur Causeway. This year’s theme is “Super Heroes Hit the Beach.” Murmurs wonders if they’ll also hit the polls. For more information visit www.savedade.org.

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