Most observers figured his replacement would be the usual local guy, found after some search firm got paid enough to pad a credible list. But in this case, a group of community leaders, from business, educational, and civic backgrounds, decided to step in. Some likely did so out of vested self-interest, because the district was a) a huge embarrassment and a deterrent to attracting top professionals to Miami-Dade, and b) the district could not credibly ask voters to support another huge bond issue in the next few years to build much-needed schools if it remained such a visible mess. Bond issues are windfalls for the construction and real estate industries, and the long-range thinkers could see that the hot market would eventually slow.

So these folks, who included respectable characters like businessman Paul Cejas, got together and got involved. It was almost shocking when the board picked Rudy Crew over a Cuban-American heading the Nashville school district. One reason we landed him (besides the sweet contract Crew brokered) was Cejas’ offer to essentially buy him a house. The offer was a $250,000 forgivable loan Crew used to get a nice place in Coconut Grove.

Crew’s legacy has yet to be fully ascertained (certainly his ongoing spat with board member Marta Perez, which resulted in her suing him over public records, seems avoidable). But his obvious intelligence, and sheer balls in running the district his way, has been generally refreshing, even if you don’t agree with individual decisions. His willingness to call out a powerful state representative for racial slurs is one example.

One reason Crew has been able to get away with so much audacity is that he’s not from here and doesn’t owe his position to 20 years worth of kissing butt and making compromises to rise through the local ranks. Another is that his contract was so well considered (at least by him) that he really has almost nothing to lose. So he can afford to be bold.

Another thing is that some of those local leaders who brought him here have supported him, quietly running interference when he gets in a political jam because they see him as a guy they can deal with and the best hope for the district.

If our civic and business leadership could find the stomach to go through that again, there’s no reason why a similar approach couldn’t work for county government. I don’t necessarily mean recruiting a star county manager, although that wouldn’t hurt. I mean sitting down and coming up with a list of potential leaders they will groom and support for key elected positions, including mayor, commission and even the steppingstone positions in smaller governments.

We need a deeper bench of good leaders to choose from, or we’ll keep getting what we’ve got now. I agreed with Stierheim, and WPLG political reporter Michael Putney, when they wrote editorials about the strong-mayor referendum. Both made the point that the process of reform has to be much bigger than this one, ill-understood vote, after which we all go back to watching American Idol.

Reforming the county charter and the structure of county government, nurturing and supporting good leadership, and creating community structures that give regular people a way to really hold those leaders accountable, are essential. I’m biased, but I also think somebody should look into buying the Miami Herald, or failing that, funding a small team of investigative reporters to go after and expose some of local government’s biggest problems, and slowly force them to be fixed.

I’m wary of Carlos Alvarez’s proposal for many other reasons. Everybody says he’s a good guy and that seems to be true. But I look at his tenure so far and I see some warning signs. He’s basically a cop, with a cop’s black and white mentality. There are good guys and bad guys. My team and the other team. Does this mean Alvarez will make county department heads start wearing brown and tan polyester and keep their Palm Pilots in a hip holster? Probably not. But I worry that what happened to Miami Mayor Manny Diaz will happen to Alvarez.

Diaz started out well enough, also talking tough about reforming government. But over the years he allowed himself to be isolated, surrounded by a small inner circle of people who agreed with him, or who pretended they did to get something. He fell out of touch with what has been happening to the residents of this booming, groaning, straining, bustling and busting city.

I interviewed Alvarez for this column. He came across as a true believer in the cause, but really wasn’t able to communicate a specific vision that I could grasp. He mentioned tackling transportation, and violent crime, and the airport’s much-bungled north terminal, but these are useless generalities.

He repeated all his well-honed arguments, about having one person accountable for county government and needing a leader who wasn’t serving 14 different bosses and getting nothing done. He said former Mayor Alex Penelas offered him the job of county manager and he turned it down for that reason.

He said he’d sit down with all 60-plus department directors and tell them what he expects of them, which has never happened before, apparently. He wants to change the culture of county government and I applaud that sentiment. But there’s no way he can do it alone.

Ultimately, this is not about Alvarez, the commission or one turf battle. It is about us.

Comments? E-mail wakefield@miamisunpost.com.