Does anyone know if the City of North Miami is located in the Bermuda Triangle?  There are just so many strange coincidences happening there, I can’t think of any other explanation for them.

For example, the issue of privatizing the garbage pickup in North Miami started back in December of 2010, but was tabled until after the May, 2011 election.  By sheer coincidence, on December 8, 2010, Christina L. Jennings and Sean Jennings of Longwood, Florida, formed a company by the name of Waste Pro Southeast, LLC, a private garbage company.

Strangely enough, according to Andre Pierre’s Campaign Treasurer’s Report, on December 21, 2010, North Miami mayor Andre Pierre received a campaign donation from one Sean Jennings of Longwood, Florida, in the amount of $500.00.  Not to be outdone, on December 22, 2010, one Christina L. Jennings of Longwood, Florida, also donated $500.00 to Pierre’s campaign.  I mean seriously, what are the chances?  It’s SUCH a coincidence that two people who donated a combined thousand bucks to the mayor’s re-election campaign just happen to have the exact same names as two people who just happen to live in the same obscure city in Florida, and who just happened to form a private garbage company just a couple weeks before they shelled out the dough to Pierre?  Gee, that’s weird!

Another really weird thing is that a person by the name of John J. Jennings of Longwood, Florida, just happens to be the CEO of company by the name of Waste Pro of Florida, Inc.  I wonder if the two companies are related in any way at all?

By sheer coincidence, I’m sure, it just happens that on December 23, 2010, someone by the name of John J. Jennings of Longwood, Florida, donated $500.00 to Andre Pierre’s campaign.  OMIGOD, is that weird!

It just so happens that the Registered Agent of Waste Pro of Florida, Inc. is one Robert J. Hyres of Merritt Island, Florida.

Wouldn’t you know it, that a person by the name of Robert J. Hyres of Merritt Island, Florida, just happened to donate $500.00 to Pierre’s campaign on December 22, 2010.  What a freaking coincidence!

But the weirdest coincidence of them all is that the private garbage company that the North Miami City Council hired (by the usual 3-2 Council vote) was…you guessed it, folks…WASTE PRO!

Just when you think it doesn’t get any weirder than that, the contract negotiated by mayor Pierre’s hand picked lackey, City Manager Stephen Johnson (recently promoted from his position as Chief of Police), was signed by one Russell Mackie, the Vice President of Waste Pro USA.

By sheer coincidence, on December 23, 2010, a person by the name of Laura Mackie of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, donated $500.00 to the mayor’s campaign for re-election.  According to Laura Mackie’s Facebook page, one of her “Facebook friends” is a person by the name of Russell Mackie, and they both just happen to have the exact same pictures of the same random kids on both of their personal Facebook pages.  WOW!  That really is a coincidence!

Mr. Pierre wasn’t the only council member running for re-election last May.  His colleague, Marie Steril’s Campaign Treasurer’s report reflects that she just happened to receive the sum of $500.00 from one Sean Jennings of Longwood, Florida, on December 21, 2010, the sum of $500.00 from one Christina L. Jennings of Longwood, Florida, on December 22, 2010, the sum of $500.00 from one Robert Hyres of Longwood, Florida, on December 22, 2010, and $500.00 from one John Jennings of Longwood, Florida on December 23, 2010.  Oh, my!  The coincidences just don’t end, do they?

Last Tuesday, as reported by the Miami herald’s story, North Miami gives OK to private garbage firm, “North Miami took the final step toward privatizing garbage-pickup services Tuesday night.  With a 3-2 vote, the council approved a resolution allowing City Manager Stephen Johnson to negotiate an agreement with WastePro of Florida that piggy-backs on the firm’s contract with Miramar.  WastePro will replace the city-run sanitation department by April 1.”

The Miami Herald story also reported, “The garbage-pickup proposal has been the subject of controversy after the mayor’s nephew and reelection campaign manager, Ricardo Brutus, was arrested in March for allegedly accepting $4,000 from a local businessman to ensure that the ordinance was delayed until after the election.”

I don’t know about you, folks, but I smell something rotten.  And it sure as heck isn’t Denmark.

This mayor and his two crony colleagues, Jean Marcellus and Marie Steril, who ALWAYS vote as a bloc, rushed this resolution through.  According to a quote by Councilman Scott Galvin in the article, “This should have never moved so quickly. We were here on Jan. 10 with an ordinance in front of us that hinted at possible privatization,” Galvin said. “That was Jan. 10, it’s now Valentine’s Day, and we not only gave ourselves the ability to privatize but we are awarding a contract.”

Even worse, Councilman Michael Blynn was quoted as stating, “I only got this [contract] last night, less than 24 hours ago, and I haven’t been able to review it.  I can’t read 50 pages in 24 hours. I think it is a disservice to the citizens to push something like this without studying it. This is an important item in the history of our city. It needs further inspection and review. Less than 24 hours is insufficient.”

Insufficient would be an understatement.  I’d call it criminal.

As with position of “CRA Coordinator” created for one of the mayor’s cronies, Lesly Prudent, you just KNOW there’s something fishy with the selection of Waste Pro as the Official Garbage Collector of North Miami, replacing “the 22 private haulers within North Miami who are permitted to service apartment complexes and commercial establishments, according to Johnson. Eventually, the company could become the sole trash hauler in North Miami,” according to the Miami Herald.

Well, isn’t that convenient?

What the Herald didn’t report was that during discussion at Tuesday’s council meeting, when Pierre asked City Manager Stephen Johnson if there would be any decrease in service with the privatization of the garbage pickup, he said, “No.”  I guess going from a weekly bulk trash pickup to a bi-monthly one, or a 50% DECREASE in service, must not be an actual DECREASE.  Perhaps if Mr. Johnson would have googled “dictionary,” he’d have known that the definition of the word “decrease” means “to diminish or lessen in extent, quantity, strength, power, etc.”  In other words, sir, when you DECREASE the quantity of bulk trash pickups, that’s the same thing as a DECREASE in service.  DUH!

Mayor Pierre would also benefit from the services of dictionary.com to learn the definition of “privatization.”  On the first reading of the ordinance, the title of which contains language stating “increasing private waste,” Andre Pierre stated three times that this ordinance had nothing to do with privatization.  He emphatically said, “let me reiterate…we are not privatizing.”

I wonder what Pierre’s definition of the word “privatization” is.

Maybe I’m missing something in the translation.

During the council meeting, when former North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns advised the council that they should disclose any contributions received from anyone associated with Waste Pro, no one on the council spoke up.

I guess Andre Pierre and Marie Steril conveniently forgot about the campaign contributions they received way back in December, 2010 from principles of Waste Pro right after the issue of privatization was first discussed.  Simple mistake, I’m sure.

And to think…it only cost the principles of Waste Pro a mere pittance of $4,500.00 in campaign contributions for the privilege of taking the entire City of North Miami to the cleaners.

I guess that’s how business is done in the Chicago of the South.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”