Just a couple of weeks ago, as I was walking into the CVS store on Miami Gardens Drive I saw a young woman and a small child sitting up against the wall near the door.  Beside her was a stroller with a suitcase in it, and she was holding a small cardboard sign that said, “Single mother, homeless, hungry, God Bless.”  I immediately reached into my purse and gave her what little cash I had on me.  Then she crossed herself and said, “God Bless you!  Thank you Jesus!”  I was devastated and wished I could do more.  I quickly purchased something in CVS, got some more cash and ran out to give it to her.  Again, she crossed herself and said, “God Bless you!  Thank you Jesus.”  I am still haunted by the image of a young, single mother and that sad-eyed little boy with no home, no food and no money.

Last week when my husband and daughter were out shopping, they saw a young girl about 16 years old in the median at the corner of Biscayne Boulevard and Miami Gardens Drive, holding up a sign that said, “Parents out of work, can’t pay the rent, please help me and my little brother.”  My husband told me she looked as if she wanted to be anywhere else but on that corner begging, but life had given her no choice.  Of course, he gave her whatever he had in his wallet and told her to be careful.  My daughter was visibly upset at the thought of this poor child, barely younger than herself, being at the mercy of strangers.  What a terrible and humbling life lesson.

This past Saturday night I went out to dinner with my family to celebrate my son’s and my husband’s birthday.  We were stopped at the light on the corner of Biscayne Boulevard and 163rd Street when a man walked by us wearing dress pants, a dress shirt and tie and holding a sign that said, “4 children, lost job, please help.”  We scrambled for some cash in our wallets and came up with only a few bucks (the downside of never carrying cash), and wished him luck finding a job.  As we drove away, and wishing I had been able to give him more, I could not get this man’s sweet face out of my mind.  I was barely able to eat dinner or enjoy being with my family while I worried about that poor man’s family.  I still see his face in my mind and I’m saddened beyond words.

I have lived in North Miami Beach since 1989 and I have never seen so many people on the street begging for help.  It’s devastating.  For those of you who think the economy is getting better, stop deluding yourself.  It is not getting better.  In fact, it’s getting worse by the day.  The news reports of a looming double dip recession and hyper-inflation are glum reminders of how fragile our economy is and how hard it will be to recover.  I shudder at the thought that more and more people will be on the street begging for a meal.  I have never seen anything like this in my lifetime.  We all know about the Great Depression when thousands upon thousands of people stood in bread lines, holding out their tin bowls for their daily meal of watered down soup.  Even as I pray that history will not repeat itself, I fear we are headed in that direction again.

We are all paying the price of years and years of living large, on the edge and on credit.  Many companies, big and small, have gone out of business and closed their doors.  Government agencies spent like drunken sailors when the money was flowing.  They borrowed what they couldn’t pay for, and then borrowed more money to pay the interest on the first loans.  If it had ever occurred to the big spenders that the money would eventually have to be repaid, you’d never know it.  They spent as if there literally was no tomorrow.  Well, tomorrow has finally arrived.  The bills are due and the pockets are empty.

With all the undeniable evidence that there is no money tree behind City Hall, you’d think that North Miami Beach Police UNION president Mike Pons would have a clue.  Instead, he and his UNION LAWYER keep insisting that the city has a “manufactured crisis” regarding the budget.  Just because they don’t want to hear the truth doesn’t make it less true.  But the bigger problem is that a good many of the cops believe him, despite the fact that the UNION engineered the layoffs instead of negotiating with the city in good faith.  In addition to the letters between city negotiator, Luke C. Savage, Esq. and UNION LAWYER Aaron Nisenson, I also have in my possession an email dated September 20, 2011 from Mr. Savage to Mr. Nisenson.  In this email response to Mr. Nisenson, Mr. Savage wrote that the city has attempted to continuously bargain with the UNION, only to be rebuffed with ludicrous insinuations and false accusations that there is no budget crisis.  Mr. Savage wrote, “In the second paragraph of your letter you boldly proclaim that the “facts have been exposed” about the City’s budget and shortfall, yet you neither offer nor cite any real facts in support of this conclusory statement.  Instead, the substance of your attack on the budget is nothing more than unsupported rhetoric and conjecture.”

Mr. Savage then reiterated that the city asked the UNION to reduce the police budget by $1.5 million and the UNION “generously” offered less than half that amount.  He wrote, “Again, this was explained repeatedly during the parties’ bargaining sessions as the City Manager and the bargaining team answered over and over the same questions about the City’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2012.”

I feel your pain, Mr. Savage.  Those sessions must have been incredibly frustrating.  No matter how many times you tell UNION people the truth, it falls on deaf ears.  They don’t want the truth.  They only want to hear what they want to hear, and if they don’t get it they will keep hammering away at you in an attempt to wear you down until you tell them what they want.

These bully tactics used to work.  Politicians were loath to deny UNIONS the power to extort tax dollars because they needed those UNIONS to help get them re-elected.  So, politicians made deals with the UNION devil.  If they kept feeding the beast, they got to keep their seats on the dais.  The politicians won.  The UNIONS won.  The taxpayers lost.

The problem for the UNIONS, and the politicians who kept them in power, is that the taxpayers are finally standing up to both of them.  Career politicians are being voted out of office all over the country, and ordinary Joe Citizens are stepping up to run for their seats.  The UNIONS are losing their death grip because newly elected officials are immune to their lies and manipulations.  And the UNIONS don’t like it one stinking bit.

Instead of blaming the UNION and calling Mike Pons out on his lies and deception, some of the cops have resorted to blaming the Mayor, the Council, the City Manager and, of course, the residents for their having to make any concessions at all.  Like sheep being led to the slaughter, they are blindly following Pons and believing the hype that Pons is creating.

The funny thing is that because I have this blog and because I am outspoken and because I tell the absolute truth, they are also blaming me for what the UNION has done.  Aside from the vicious verbal attacks on Mayor Vallejo and City Manager Bonner, some of the cops have sunk to the level of middle schoolers by calling me all sorts of names, telling me to condition my hair and critiquing what I wear (Seriously?  Well, c’mon out of the closet, sweetie.  Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed!), and accusing me of “spreading lies” about their precious UNION.  Some of these idiots really do believe I have some sort of power over the Council and the City Manager.  WTF?

Like Mr. Savage’s futile attempts to deal with the UNION on an adult level, my attempts to have a grown up conversation with these overgrown children have proven to be a waste of my time.  This is exactly why the city needs to clean up the department and make it more professional.  As for me, I am done with them.  Trying to appease them or treating them like adult human beings is a waste of my time.  In response to your false accusations and stupid remarks, I say:

You don’t like Mayor Vallejo or City Manager Bonner?  PERFECT!  That means they’re doing something right.  They are beholden to no one and they are not in anyone’s pocket.  They are stopping the bleeding of our tax dollars, replenishing our negative reserves, reforming our government from the top down, and standing up to the UNION thugs!  WOO HOO!  The more you complain about them, the more we approve of them.  WAY TO GO, MR. VALLEJO AND MR. BONNER!  WOO HOO!

To all of you who reiterate the nonsense that the bad economy is a “manufactured crisis,” I say go ahead ask the homeless single mother, the young teenager begging for rent money, or the father of four who can’t find a job just how “manufactured” this crisis is.  The only thing manufactured is the crap that Mike Pons is asking you to swallow.

Take a look around you.  People are out of jobs and losing their homes.  Some of them are finding themselves in the humiliating position of begging on street corners for change.  If your heart doesn’t ache beyond believe for these folks then yours is made of stone.

And yet, the North Miami Beach Police UNION would have you believe that this is a “manufactured crisis.”  How utterly stupid AND heartless!

People all over the country are sick and tired of being held hostage by the unreasonable demands of UNION thugs.  They are telling their elected officials to stand strong against the ever weakening grip that the UNIONS are trying desperately to hold onto.  Citizens are cheering those elected officials for their courage and fortitude in the face of insults and intimidation.

You can try to scare us, insult us, call us all kinds of names.  Go ahead and have a field day with your intentional work “slow down” designed to punish the residents.  Frankly, we don’t give a crap anymore.  YOU DON’T EVEN LIVE HERE!  Just like citizens all around the United States who have had enough of the BS, we’re taking our city back.

UNION busting?  God, I certainly hope so!

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”