Attention North Miami Beach residents: If you live in the vicinity of 1981 NE 157 Terrace, please keep your young children, cats and other small pets indoors until further notice!
The owner of the property, Teresa Garcia, is apparently in foreclosure and has rented the house to a tenant who allows his or her dangerous dogs to roam the neighborhood unattended. So far, EIGHT (8) neighborhood cats have been killed by these dogs.
In the past week I have received copies of emails between NMB resident Mary Hilton, several of her neighbors, Assistant City Manager Mac Serda, Miami Dade County Commissioner Sally Heyman and officials from Miami Dade County Animal Control. In one email from Mac Serda to Sally Heyman on Thursday, October 18, 2012, he wrote:
“I personally called MD Animal Control yesterday (10/17) and learned from a very helpful dispatcher (Ms. Eky) that from Feb 2012 through October 15, 2012 there have been 12 calls to this address. I have summarized the last few calls below.
10/1/2012 5:45pm arrival (call placed at 1pm).
result: 4 citations issued and warnings.
10/4/2012 arrival 1:15PM (call placed at 10am)
result: Verbal warning
10/11/2012 arrival 4pm (call placed 8AM)
result: Issued 3 warnings
To me this seems too lenient. I have visited the address with a NMB police officer and have spoken to the residents. While we were there we saw the dogs unsecured and aggressively barking at the officer and me. During my call to Animal Control yesterday, Ms. Eky completed a “dangerous dog” report and was going to submit this report to be assigned to an investigator.
I am asking that you please help me to expedite this process with Animal Control and help the residents return their area to normalcy.”
On Friday, October 19, 2012, Mr. Serda received the following email:
“From: Labrada, Kathleen R. (ASD)Cc: smithbuzz@gmail.com ; kathyhilton@msn.com ; Nuñez ; Gilda M. (ASD) ; Pinnock, Keith D. (ASD) ; Gallagher, Sean S. (ASD)Sent: Friday, October 19, 2012 5:35 PMSubject: RE: Animal Control AssistanceGood afternoon,
The animal control officer made contact with the dog owner approximately one hour ago; the owner surrendered two dogs to the Department which have now been removed from the property. The dangerous dog investigator will respond to service request #12-308462 on Sunday. At that time he will make contact with Ms. Hilton to drop off the investigation packet and obtain additional information related to the cats.
A referral was made via email to North Miami Beach Code Enforcement due to the condition of the property. Thank you for the opportunity to assist with this matter.
Kathleen R. Labrada
Chief, Operations & Enforcement
Miami-Dade Animal Services Department
7401 NW 74th Street
Miami, Florida 33166
305-418-7172 Phone
305-805-1619 Fax
“Delivering Excellence Every Day”
Miami-Dade County is a public entity subject to Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes concerning public records. Email messages are covered under such laws and thus subject to disclosure”
Only one problem…
This morning, Tuesday, October 23, 2012, I received a copy of the following email from a resident to Ms. Hilton and Mac Serda:
“From: [Name withheld]
To: MARY HILTON ; Serda, Mac
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 8:04 AM
Subject: Re: Reference 8 dead cats on my block
Hi Mary! My neighbor Cherry just woke me up. The dogs got into her yard at 6:15 am today. They were trying to get her son’s cat. The dogs were very aggressive. Her cat (Kit) climbed a tree and survived. Her son Eric was crying nonstop and is very affected by this event.
This situation is absolutely ridiculous at this point. The dogs are roaming free and tormenting us and Animal Control can’t pick them up? Why not? They have no tags, they are out and about and attacking other pets.
Thanks”
How many cats have to be killed and how many children must be terrorized BEFORE SOMETHING IS DONE? “Delivering Excellence Every Day?” Yeah, right!
In the meantime, it appears that North Miami Beach residents, their children and their pets are on their own.
This is really messed up.
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
