Within hours after the Miami Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust (COE) found North Miami Beach Faux Commissioner Frantz Pierre guilty of an “appalling” ethics violation, and only four months after they were celebrating his ouster from the dais, the NMB Mayor and Commission rewarded his criminal behavior by appointing him as vice mayor.
In a span of less than 30 seconds (hour 1:34:17 of the meeting video), a motion to appoint him was made, seconded and voted on, with absolutely no discussion allowed by the newly appointed Mayor Beth Spiegel.
Commissioner Anthony DeFillipo, apparently the only one on the dais with any sense of morality, was the lone dissenting vote.
The position of vice mayor is a rotating one, the appointment of which is typically automatic and uncontroversial. In this case, however, Frantz Pierre’s appointment was preposterous and disgraceful.
The Ethics Commission determined that Frantzie “did intentionally violate the Ethics Code,” and found him guilty of “exploitation of official position.” As a punishment, the COE “fined him $1,000.00, charged $500.00 in investigative costs, and will also issue a formal Letter of Reprimand.”
While we can all applaud the COE for finally finding probable cause against the Commissionweasel, and then finding him guilty of at least one of his many abuses of the official position he first assumed in 2007, this “punishment” doesn’t even begin to fit all the crimes he has relentlessly committed since then.
It is worthy to note that the misuse of public office falls under the category of “CRIMES” under Title XLVI of the Florida Statutes. According to FS 838.022(3) Official Misconduct, “Any person who violates this section commits a felony of the third degree.” According to FS 775.082(6)(2)(e), the person convicted of a felony of the third degree may be punished “by a term of imprisonment not exceeding 5 years.” In addition, according to FS 775.083(1)(c), that person may be sentenced to pay a fine of up to $5,000.00.
We emailed the Ethics Commission asking if they intended to refer this criminal case to the State Attorney’s Office, to which Communications Director Rhonda Sibilia responded, “This was sent to the state attorney a long time ago, but that office declined to pursue it as a criminal matter.”
COLOR US SHOCKED!
We can only assume that Frantz Pierre’s scalp wasn’t a big enough one for Miami State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle to claim.
Figuratively and literally.
The newly revamped North Miami Beach Mayor and Commissioner apparently also consider Frantzie’s crimes and misdemeanors as completely irrelevant to their curious ideas for “moving the city forward.”
To the contrary, the elected, appointed, and fraudulently “re-elected” city officials seem hell bent on turning back the clock of progress by more than a decade.
For those who don’t know the history of how we got here, let’s take a walk down memory lane.
Former Mayor Ray Marin, who was elected in 2005, attempted to bring North Miami Beach into the 21st century after thirty-plus years of stagnation by promoting sound economic growth and development. One of the projects on the table, initially proposed by his predecessor Mayor Jeff Mishcon, was Marina Grande, a two-tower, 24-story condominium complex on Biscayne Boulevard at 172 Street on the west side of Maule Lake.
A wealthy man by the name of Bill Borkan, who lived in a waterfront estate in Eastern Shores, was against this project from its inception. Borkan’s home was on the east side of Maule Lake, two-thirds of a mile from the planned site of Marina Grande. In classic NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) form, he balked at having his western view interrupted by the proposed two towers way on the other side of the lake. So he decided to stop the project from being built – by any means necessary.
The first thing he did was assemble a gaggle of anti-development residents to sue the city. Along with Borkan’s organization, North Miami Beach Citizens Coalition, Inc., two lawsuits were filed to stop the construction of Marina Grande. The first was in 2004, which was dismissed after two years.
Borkan & Co. filed a second lawsuit in 2006, which was settled for a rumored quarter million dollars. The Marina Grande project was abruptly abandoned and its developers went into foreclosure. This second anti-development lawsuit also scared off all potential developers, who fled NMB in search of more welcoming and progressive cities.
Thanks to Bill Borkan, North Miami Beach had entered into a decade-long period of zero growth.
But he didn’t stop there.
Since Mayor Marin and several of his colleagues on the council were pro-development, Borkan decided to use his considerable wealth (and the approximate $250k settlement from the 2006 lawsuit) to replace them by buying candidates who would do his bidding from the dais.
He started with the 2007 election by replacing Kenneth A. DeFillipo and David Templer, both strongly pro-progress, with Phyllis Smith and Frantz Pierre, respectively. In addition to the seats he purchased for Phyllis and Frantz, Borkan knew he could count on Myron Rosner and John Patrick Julien to vote against development. His goal to single-handedly control the City of North Miami Beach from his mansion on the lake was accomplished.
But even then, Bill Borkan had unfinished business.
Because of his long standing feud with Ray Marin, he decided to further stack the City Council with his loyal sycophants in the 2009 election. He ousted Marin by buying the mayoral seat for Myron Rosner and replaced Jay Chernoff with Beth Spiegel. That was also the year Barbara Kramer ran for and won the seat Myron vacated.
As the unelected “mayor” of NMB, Bill Borkan now ran the entire city from behind the guarded gates of his Eastern Shores home.
As a side note, Bill Borkan’s hired-gun, Keith Donner, was commissioned to design the positively scathing campaign mailers attacking the incumbents, and helping Phyllis Smith, Frantz Pierre and Beth Spiegel win their seats on the dais. Ironically, those same candidates, whose campaigns benefited by Donner’s brilliant strategy, now despise him for the “crime” of running former Mayor George Vallejo’s campaign, whom they equally despise.
Shortly after becoming Mayor in 2011, George revived North Miami Beach and accomplished everything they couldn’t in all the years they sat on the dais … including the incredible resurrection of the project formerly known as Marina Grande – Marina Palms.
Yet, none of them had a problem showing up for photo-ops at all the many ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings throughout the city.
But, we digress.
With the exception of Myron Rosner, who was voted out of office in 2011 and subsequently arrested twice for multiple felonies, and the late John Patrick Julien, who went on to become a State Representative, the make up of the 2018 North Miami Beach City Commission eerily mirrors the City Council that Bill Borkan orchestrated nearly ten years ago.
After all the hard-won advances made in recent years, North Miami Beach is again headed back in the wrong direction.
With the exceptions of Commissioner Tony DeFillipo, who was a member of the pro-development organization, Smart Growth NMB, Inc., d/b/a IMPAC NMB (along with this blogger), and Commissioner Barbara Kramer, who came to believe in the value of smart development, the North Miami Beach City Commission is largely anti-growth and anti-progress.
The remaining four, Beth Spiegel, Phyllis Smith, Frantz Pierre, and the newly appointed Fortuna Smukler (who was a plaintiff in the 2004 lawsuit against the City of North Miami Beach), are all disciples of Bill “NIMBY” Borkan.
And all of them voted to appoint the “appallingly unethical” and the undoubtedly (albeit unindicted) criminal, Frantz Pierre as your new vice mayor.
Bill Borkan may have met an untimely demise in 2014, but his anti-growth, anti-progress legacy lives on in the North Miami Beach Commission Chambers.
Welcome back to the Dark Ages of NMB!
But, hey, look on the bright side.
Right now, property values in North Miami Beach have never been higher. You might want to consider selling now before they start plummeting.
Just saying.
Come this November, however, everything could change.
Stephanie
To have come so far and end up back where we started is appalling. I’m afraid people have no idea where we came from and what it took to get here. Beyond this, why is one mayoral candidate allowed to sit in as mayor and the other one not? Shouldn’t both be given a shot at sitting in that seat? Or neither of them? Why would the commission appoint Pierre as Vice Mayor on the very day he was convicted of abuse of power? Hell, you could have waited at least one rotation. It’s a big FU to the community.
Since both Tony and Beth are running for the mayoral seat, neither one should have been appointed to fill the position until November. Tony knew this and said so from the dais. Beth should have gracefully declined. It’s hard to believe she didn’t have the sense to know better. Then again, she’s got Evan Ross “advising” her, so there’s that. The only obvious choice was Barbara since she is not running for that position and she’s not a criminal like Phyllis and Frantz. Fortuna is too green to even be considered.
Even more shocking is their voting to let Frantzie assume the vice mayor position less than three hours after he was found GUILTY of abuse of power. How utterly disgusting is that?
Two horrible decisions made in the two meetings since a commission quorum was restored. If this is any indication of things to come, it’s probably time to put your house on the market and move up here to Davie, where all the Commissioners appear to be highly ethical and manage not to make public fools of themselves.
Just saying.
Everytime you think the crazy might slow down for a week or two…and BAM!, the crazy is all “Hold my beer”. I’d love to ask these elected officials “What are you thinking?” but I’m afraid they will tell me and that would be worse.
I thought I’d heard about Fortuna Smukler before! Now she’s on the NMB commission!? OMG…
This is the same Fortuna Smukler who organized residents against the floating houses in Maule Lake in 2014, right? When has this lady been FOR development and progress in the area?
Biscayne Times wrote extensively about the development and the resistance by Mrs. Smukler.
The Biscayne Times article titled, “From Cool to Not in My Backyard,” discusses Mrs. Smukler’s activities at the time:
Eastern Shores homeowner Fortuna Smukler, who publishes a Crime Watch newsletter for her neighborhood, isn’t content with writing angry letters. She says she is assembling homeowners to stop the development in its tracks.
“There are people who’ve been enjoying the lake for many years,” she says, “and [Amillarah] will take it away.” Aside from her environmental concerns (she notes that she has seen dolphins, stingrays, and manatees swimming in Maule Lake), Smukler predicts that the homes won’t merely be used as part-time residences by wealthy out-of-towners. “I think those houses are eventually going to become party houses,” she says.
Read the rest of the article at: http://biscaynetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1875:from-cool-to-not-in-my-backyard
As a resident and an admirer of Maule Lake as well as a participant challenging against the development of those floating homes, I applaud the efforts of Fortuna Smukler and all my neighbors that spoke out against Dutch Docklands. Whomever you are Sole Mia, you evidently don’t know Fortuna and all the good she does in North Miami Beach. Who would ever think we would live on a beautiful lake only to find out homes could be placed on it. A development of homes on this lake, no less. Someone had to step up to the plate and organize the neighbors on both sides of Maule Lake. Her leadership just proves what an asset she’ll be for the residents of our city. I wish her well.
Steph, it is shameful, at least to me, that you allow teaders to throw stones without compelling them to share their identity and interest. If we other readers and commenters can’t identify the people, how can their veracity be checked? Anyway, Fortuna was not the spearhead for fighting off the Maule Lake floating homes. If there was anyone in ES that was in favor of them I don’t know who it was. But it doesn’t make a difference because that project was flawed from the start and had no legs. There is a similar project in discussion that involves filling in portions of the lake and building hi-rise luxury condos. The only voices heard out of ES don’t like the idea but, again, I don’t think it matters. This concept project also does not appear to have legs.
Despite her earlier being snowjobbed by Borkan, I believe Fortuna is open to new projects here. I think Barabara and Tony are as well, and probably Beth. Even if any one of them took issue with a particular feature of a proposed development, I don’t personally believe that they would build insurmountable obstacles.
I don’t think the Marina Grande lawsuits scared developers away. Those lawsuits were not only masterminded and manipulated by someone who is now deceased, bit the issues in those suits were peculiar to that developmental site. More likely, development project proposals came to a halt because of the market crash. The market has since recovered and development is flourishing here and elsewhere.
Please reconsider allowing readers to “hit and run”. I hope you will not permitted your blog to be another forum for incognito mudslinging. There is an opportunity to use the forum for real, substantive debate and ideas, if only those wearing masks would step into the sunshine.
PS:. I suspect that the Commission will be revisiting the issue of whether Frantz Pierre (the gremlin who unseated me) should hold the Vice Mayor position. Stay tuned.
North Miami Beach is a far cry from the Dark Ages. While this commission may resemble the Borkan ensemble, it is quite evident by the progress made in the city, that those still on the dais have every intention to continue the progressive movement of a city that has moved OUT of the Dark Ages.
There is no doubt that the stagnation of NMB lasted way too long and it’s unfortunate that the Smart Growth movement hit a brick wall because of Borkan and then the housing bubble and market crash. Even with Borkan still in the picture prior to his untimely demise, the city started to move forward and embraced Marina Palms. Quite frankly, the new developer of Marina Palms had a bolder vision and turned Marina Grande, an average cookie cutter concrete condominium, into a much more luxurious residence and marina.
Sometimes good things come to those that wait. An upswing in the real estate market, better leadership in the city and a strategic plan that sets an itinerary for the next 30 years towards a successful future should provide optimism not pessimism. The current commissioners, whether born from the Borkan days or not, have evolved into a collective group of forward thinking leaders. Just because two have bounced off the dias doesn’t provide for a gloom and doom scenario. All current electeds (minus the newest appointment) were deeply involved and supported such forward thinking changes such as the city’s current zoning which enables better opportunities for developers and increase revenue for the city, partnered with a Charter School giving our children an innovative learning environment and criteria, modernized and updated the zoning code for permitted uses in the commercial areas, created a parks master plan, outsourced sanitation saving the city millions of dollars while keeping a crew for added beautification and waste management service, securing a more sustainable future with pension reform, and so much more. This commission has done more in the last 8 years then some did in 20.
I think the more crucial focus should be on what’s next? Who are the next elected officials that will be voted in come this November? Will the resident’s of North Miami Beach get involved, do their homework and elect the best and brightest with no selfish agenda? Will they realize the seriousness of the effect new individuals will have on the future of our city? There is so much more to occupying a Mayoral Seat and a Commission Seat then just having a title bestowed upon them. This takes serious dedication and passion, smarts and selfless work. The position is not for themselves, their career or to uplift their self esteem, the position is to provide to the citizens and business owners of North Miami Beach a better place to live, work play and now, DRIVE.
We are not reverting backwards, we are moving ahead on all cylinders and I look forward to the future.
We have a charter school which is not rated as an “A” or “B” but as a “C” after years of being a “D” school. Try looking up and learn that we did not go for the top company but the mediocre one. Aventura is tops at every level and SLAM parent company is not listed in FL top schools. They don’t have safety, never seen a safety officer vehicle, but they do sell licor at night, right on the property! How is that legal?
The City is better in cleanliness. It has a good code enforcement. It has the worst garbage pick up ever. Water company chosen it’s scary. They are making money and our health is at stake.
The library is next on the chopping block. The staff like fools keep improving services for a building that will be demolished! The entrance is beautiful and other areas are tattered because the city doesn’t want to spend the money. The most used facility with learning opportunities to help all of us but specially children, families, elderly and average residents will be left without the access to Internet, classes and books. Students from 2 elementary schools, middle & high school walk there daily and moms & grandmothers like me take the kids to pre-school classes and do zumba in the mornings. We are not important to the administrators.
Good thing about privatizing is the finger pointing can last forever. Privatizing is excellent if we stop paying the administrators & commission salaries and instead go to the county. They already have all those positions in place & we can save the money on them!
If you know politics at all you would not blow off steam on Pierre, it will only last 3 months. It means nothing.
If you love our city encourage the commission & the mayor to be to run on a platform of being a city that remains a city, our own police, parks- not going to the Y with real gym, our own library- in a bigger modern space, a theater revamped for today’s technology that can attract use and bring our water back; for goodness sake it’s our lives they are playing with.
Cities do not run schools, charter or otherwise. Talk to the school board if you have a problem with the charter school.
“Worst garbage pick up ever?” Is your garbage not being picked up? Do you not have a recycling service?
Regarding your water service, you still get your water from the City of North Miami Beach. Same water, same water facilities. The only thing that’s changed is the management administration, which is now being run by a private company. The water treatment plant still has to obtain a permit from the county (http://www.miamidade.gov/permits/water-supply-construction.asp), it still has to be inspected by the Florida Department of Health (http://miamidade.floridahealth.gov/programs-and-services/environmental-health/drinking-water/index.html), and it still has to be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (http://www.miamidade.gov/water/water-treatment.asp). We suggest you educate yourself before you make false claims that your “health is at stake.”
The library is being shut down? News to us.
“If you know politics at all,” you’d know that the vice mayor is a 6 months position, not a 3 month one. You’d also know that it does not “mean nothing.” In the event that the mayor is unable to fulfill the duties of the mayoral position, the vice mayor is empowered to step in and take over. Should that happen in North Miami Beach, you will have the most corrupt, unethical criminal running your city for the next 6 months. If that’s not a problem for you, then none of the above should concern you in the least.
And finally, if you believe taxpayers are paying too much for NMB administrator and commission salaries, we suggest you move to North Miami, where its council members are being paid over three times more than your mayor and commission, the city manager’s budget is more than double that of yours, its police department is incompetent, corrupt and unaccredited, and its millage rate (8.1955) is the fourth highest in the county behind Opa-locka (9.1526), Biscayne Park (8.9000) and El Portal (8.3000).
Just a thought.
Ray Marin is a cheat n liar…in his personal life…
How can u expect him to be anything different in his political life?!