The Strong Mayor: An Exorcism of the County Commission

SunPost, your editorial is dead wrong [“Strong-Mayor System: Tempting, But Wrong,” published Dec. 28.]

I love your paper. I wouldn’t miss the fab Ms. Wakefield and her clever turn of phrase. I agree with most of your editorials but on the strong mayor: You are dead wrong. We have a commission that is out of control. I agree with you; we need term limits and a PAC has recently been created to reach that goal. But we have eight more years before that would kick in. In eight years we won’t have any farmland or any wetlands. This commission has stomped on citizens rights and they destroyed the campaign financing we the people voted in to help candidates fund campaigns. We also had $250 limits on campaign contributions and NO corporations were allowed to contribute. This commission undid that as well. Almost all of them have contempt for the public. What else can I say, evil?

I didn’t like Alex Penelas because he always had a bevy of lobbyists following in his footsteps. Literally, they walked behind him wherever he went. I know what a bad mayor is like. We had one. No matter how bad a strong mayor could be, it will be a check on the already bad commission. Even if you are right in your assumptions, I submit to you that two wrongs can make a right — hopefully they will cancel each other out: Dueling bad guys; it will be a sight to behold. Gridlock in government can be good.

In the case of this commission, I would opt for the possibility of making a mistake with the strong mayor — throwing the baby out with the bathwater as it were — because (except for a few) we are looking at Rosemary’s Babies here on the dais of the Miami-Dade County Commission!

Nancy Lee
Miami

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Ask About the Park! Ask About the Park!

Ms. Wakefield,

If you get another chance to question Mr. Fiedler [Wakefield, “Parting Ways,” published Dec. 21], or if you talk with the new Herald editor, please ask why the Herald took a 180-degree turn on the land use of Bicentennial Park. I have asked that question of Fiedler twice in e-mails with follow-up phone calls to his office and copies to several editors, but I never get a response from anyone.

The Herald position in the mid-’70s was one of saving the park from a proposed convention center, luxury hotel and museum. I believe I have told you before how the Herald ran a series of stories at that time on the park and readers responded with letters, declaring they had voted to tax themselves to create a park and that is what it was to become and remain. But in the bond issue of 2004 the Herald editorial board supported funds for two museums in the park. Why this turnaround? What evidence can they give the public for their decision? Why are they ignoring the wishes of 350 park charrette participants who did not want two massive museums to overwhelm the park? 

Parks and museums are major institutions which the public and our major paper/conscience, the Herald, should be good stewards of, but in this case, community stewardship is taking a back seat to the expediency of pouring concrete on precious waterfront park land of which Miami ranks 55 out of 55 U.S. mid- and high-density cities. Just what is the Herald’s editorial board line of reasoning? Please explore this on behalf of the public.

Steve Hagen,
Co-Chair, Parks and Public Space Committee of Miami Neighborhoods United
Miami

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In Spite of What the SunPost Reported, Jazz Is Very Much Alive at Van Dyke in 2007

Dear Editor:

Ryan Brown’s title for his Dec. 28 article, “It Don’t Mean a Thing, If It Ain’t Got That Swing,” would have been clever, had he not needed to misquote what I had said, in a feeble attempt to support it, falling victim, as so many “reporters” do, to sensationalism rather than “reporting.”

“Asked if there would be any jazz shows at the Van Dyke in 2007, both York and Sbroggio declined comment,” Brown writes. Wrong! The fact is, when asked that question, I clearly and unequivocally stated that the jazz program would continue unchanged for the 2006-07 season. To support my claim, the reader will only need to observe live jazz being performed at the Van Dyke every night, as it has for the past 13 years, for the rest of the season.

Ryan York
Assistant to Mark Soyka
Miami Beach

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Miami: Sanctuary for the Rich and Pompous All Over the World, No Matter How They Came Here

Funny how that article [“Air American,” published Dec. 28] didn’t mention the other side of the coin? The article is certainly moving and the cases mentioned are worth attention and support.

However, the article failed to mention that Miami is also full of illegal RICH, POMPOUS, ARROGANT AND PRETENTIOUS pseudo “princes and princesses” of SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA and the CARIBBEAN who think that MONEY BUYS EVERYTHING. They come to this country to open FAKE BUSINESSES in order to obtain legal status and then stay. And what about those pregnant ones who enter the country ready to give birth and use that as free ride or “passport” to stay “legal” because their child was born in the U.S.A.? Most of these people simply enter this country and extend their bad customs, intolerance, lack of culture and class into this country and refuse to adapt and learn the language. They buy condos in Brickell, Brickell Key or El Dorado, and live in a fantasy world they always dreamed of in their countries, but even with all the money in the world, they couldn't afford to have.

They enter this country as tourists and 90 percent of the times stay illegally. Then right away they hire an attorney and start the process to pursue a “legal status.” And even with the immigration laws as tough as they are today, HOW some of these people manage to do it it’s something that escapes my understanding! On top of everything, they have so much money they don’t even need to work. The women become automatic housewives, just like they were in their countries of origin. They stay home all day doing nothing, or spend the days shopping in Bal Harbour or Merrick Park, have daily get togethers with their friends to play cards or just gossip, or simply spend half of their days in the spa trying to get prettier and younger. After all, they have all the money and time in the world to waste! The men on the other hand, if and when working, usually “create” their own jobs and don’t do much. Why should they with so much money in their pockets? Their maximum goal is to live in the USA.

But just like the poor ones who also enter illegally and WITHOUT A PENNY, these rich people somehow manage to accomplish their goal while the poor ones go through HELL in the process, and most times don’t even make it. 

That is why Miami is rapidly becoming more and more like a third world country, and less and less like the USA. Maybe those attorneys (in the article) should address next time they are on the air how easy it is for the wealthy ones to stay and become legal in the blink of an eye and compare it with the struggle the less unfortunate ones have to go through if they want to stay. Wouldn’t that be a nice subject to discuss for the next 20 years?

R. Falcone
Miami