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 Frank Del Vecchio
Hardcore Activist
Here’s a warning to developers: If you don’t want any trouble with
your South of Fifth Street project, make sure Frank Del Vecchio’s
onboard.
Otherwise, you’ll surely spend enough on legal fees to put a team
of lawyers’ kids through college. And you’ll still end up shining
Del Vecchio’s shoes. Just ask Fred Rado about his frustrating
experience trying to build the Bijou next to Del Vecchio’s
Ocean Drive digs.
Born and raised in Boston, Del Vecchio was a fighter pilot in the
U.S. Air Force before becoming a Harvard-educated attorney who
spent four decades in urban renewal law in Boston and Washington,
D.C. Walk into Del Vecchio’s apartment and, with a boy’s
enthusiasm, he’ll show you a black and white photo of himself with
the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Del Vecchio and his wife, Marian, moved to South Beach in 1996,
when gunshots still rang through their beloved South of Fifth
neighborhood. Since then, his intense guardianship of the
neighborhood has helped it become what it is today.
Now that he’s closed the accessory-use loophole that allowed such
restaurants as Prime One Twelve erode the quality of life in the
historic district, Del Vecchio has his sights set on corruption in
the city’s Building Department.
He was the first appointment to Mayor Matti Herrera Bower’s new
Transparency, Reliability and Accountability Committee, on which
he will no doubt work to close more loopholes and fix policies
that have allowed corrupt officials to line their pockets with
taxpayer dollars.
Here’s one more warning to anyone who doubts this man’s tenacity:
If you work for the city and are breaking the law, you’d better
stop because Del Vecchio’s coming to get you.
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