On the Agenda for the February 5, 2012 North Miami Beach City Council meeting, Ordinance No. 2013-2 was voted down by a 3-4 vote. This Ordinance was described as:
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF NORTH MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA AMENDING CHAPTER XIV SECTION 14-8.22(C) OF THE CODE OF THE ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF NORTH MIAMI BEACH ENTITLED “ENFORCEMENT OF MUNICIPAL CODES OR ORDINANCES” BY PROVIDING FOR AN APPEAL HEARING PROCESS AND BY PROVIDING A SCHEDULE OF CIVIL PENALTIES FOR CODE ENFORCEMENT CITATIONS; PROVIDING FOR THE REPEAL OF ALL ORDINANCES OR PARTS OF ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; PROVIDING FOR THE CODIFICATION OF THIS ORDINANCE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
Especially targeted for enforcement are those unsightly properties littered with abandoned vehicles, construction debris, sanitary nuisances, dogs at large, etc. Apparently, four of the seven council members either aren’t aware that these problems exist in our city, or they don’t care. I can’t figure out which, but in order to enlighten them, I decided to give them a photo tour of our ‘hood, entitled Welcome to My Ghetto. Sit back, relax and enjoy!
And now, for the coop dee grass:
We don’t need no stinkin’ Code Enforcement. Welcome to My Ghetto!
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
Councilwoman “I’m an attorney” Spiegel voted this down. Not because she doesn’t believe in it, she voted it down becasue it’s re-election time and she needs every vote she can pander to. She actually thinks the people with the boats and trailers and jacked up cars in their fornt yard are going to vote for her!
If we ever dream of making our city a better place to live and encourage re-develoepment, we need to start cleaning up our act so that developers and people with bling will look at city more than just a Ghetto where the elected officals bury their heads in the sand, or somewhere else for that matter!
Remember NMB, Now More Beautiful campaign? Maybe it needs to be changed to Now More Boorish. Hot dam this is a poor representation of our city and it needs to change fast. I understand the mayor and council are trying to re-brand the city. I think they need to start with better code enforcement.
Spiegel’s world ends at the corner of her block, and her entire universe ends at the 35th avenue guardhouse. I said it once before at another comment board and I’ll say (ask) it again: Can anyone name a single thing councilwoman Spiegell has done to improve the quality of life in North Miami Beach? Anyone? Didn’t think so.
Were at count #20 now for shootings in this city since 1/1/2013. Ghetto is an understatement. Code compliance plays such an important role in not only the look and image of this city but also the crime rate. The city has reduced the police dept and other city departments and have saved lots of money. The citizens are still paying the same in taxes (i think). What the hell is this city doing with the money. It looks exactly the same as it did when i started working here 17 years ago.
By my very conservative estimate, the city has saved over two million dollars a year in salaries alone over the three last years on all of the employees that have been laid-off, retired, fired and/or arrested. That’s six million dollars and maybe rad idea is right and the bleeding has stopped, but they sure as hell aren’t Telling,, the employees; all we ever hear is doom and gloom, we need to give up more, we need to do more with less and on and on and on. By now we all have doom and gloom fatigue and lack of appreciation frustration and it is inevitably starting to show in all sorts of ways throughout the city. If the folks behind the guardhouse think they are immune to this, let me tell you that sooner or later the ghetto is coming to you and no guardhouse is going to save you. As far as taxes go, I have a 700 sf apartment in Hollywood that pays twice what I pay NMB in taxes, so someone better look at our “highest rate” myth. We are just paralyzed by fears: fear of change, fear of growth, fear of traffic (laughable), and of course fear of not getting re-elected. Let’s break the cycle of fear.
In the know, what the city has done with the money they’ve saved in the last few years is stop the bleeding. The water fund finally has some reserves. And your pension is still being funded. Which I am guessing you will still receive once you get your 20 years in.
But I thank you for pointing out something that could solve all of these problems. You are right, the tax rate has not been raised for quite some time. The majority of those on the dais got elected more or less on that platform, as a result of the Tea Party Mania that swept the nation. Combined with plummeting property values, that makes NMB a damn cheap place to live. And less revenue means less code enforcement and police presence, just more incentive for undesirables.
Stephanie, you should put your helmet on now to avert an aneurism.
So how about the city raise tax rates so that the kind of people who violate the code and shoot each other can’t afford to live here? I for one would happily pay twice as much if it meant the demise of the ghetto.
If merely raising taxes would work, I’d be all for it, Tea Party be damned. The problem is that our millage rate is the highest (or one of the highest in the county. Considering that the average property value in NMB is pitifully low, the millage rate necessarily has to be high in order to get any revenue at all. Raising taxes would probably result in a firestorm of complaints from those residents who already think they pay too much. I’m not one of them. Like you, I’d gladly pay higher property taxes if it meant proving our community. But that doesn’t resolve the problem that higher taxes would cause to people who are struggling to just put food on the table. I have no idea what the solution is.
Yes they are saving but their not doing enough to change the image and growth of this city. Yes i will receive a pension at year 20 and rightfully so, thats the benefit the city offered me 17 years ago when i was hired. If the city thinks that saving all this money will help them in the future, it will financialy speaking, however if they don’t invest a little to improve the look of this city, it will attract nothing but undesirables and these people will be your neighbor. Thats just the realty.
This is just a part of what the city looks like. As I have a dog to walk, I go down some of the alleys that were paved over in the Sunray West area. You should see all the broken furniture, tree cuttings, lawn cuttings that are not bagged, etc that is put out all the time. The “code” is that it cannot be put out until 24 hours before pick-up. Also these alleyways are in such bad shape that they have large grooves left in them from all the heavy equipment used to pick up the bulk trash. Also they don’t even clean up the glass they break when picking these things up. There are so many small pieces that I have to pick out of my dogs paws when we just happen to go down an alleyway.
Code enforcement begins at home as we should have pride in our properties to keep them clean and neat, but so many people have trashed their own yards it is pathetic. I have people who just throw garbage on my lawn or worse who do not curb their dog as they walk along the sidewalk. Just because you are not rich (like those who live in Eastern Shores), doesn’t mean you can’t pick up the trash around your lawn or throw you trash into a garbage pail. I purposely put my trash can near the end of the alley so people can throw it in there instead of on the ground.
TC, you underscore my point exactly. All the code enforcement, police and sanitation employees deployed EVERY SINGLE DAY JUST TO PICK UP LITTER cannot compete with people who routinely live like savages.