North Miami residents, are you tired of public corruption, fixed elections, shady lobbyists and raw sewage in your living room?

Well, we have a solution for you.

North Miami’s last hope for salvation was outvoted last Tuesday, when Michael Etienne lost his District 3 election bid to Mary Estimé-Irvin by 74 votes.

Although Michael beat her at the polls in early voting and on election day, Mary overcame his lead by absentee ballot votes, which should surprise no one.  As anyone familiar with politics in North Miami will tell you, absentee ballot fraud committed by an impossible-to-indict crime ring, has been the norm in every single local election for the last decade or more.

But we digress.

The good residents of North Miami have exhausted all efforts in an attempt to bring transparency and accountability to their government.  Unfortunately, they are up against a well organized and unstoppable circle of corruption.  No matter how much they plead, beseech, threaten and cajole their elected officials, nothing changes.  Most of them have simply given up trying.  The adage that you can’t fight City Hall is simply a way of life in North Miami.

The good news is that you can stop beating your collective heads against a wall and get the hell out of dodge while the getting is good.

There are a multitude of excellent reasons to do what I did nearly five years ago – move to Davie.

Here are but a few reasons why you should leave North Miami for good and hang your hat in Davie!

Free and Fair Elections

My first time voting in Davie was a shockingly pleasant experience.  When I pulled into the parking lot of my precinct located at McFatter Technical School, there were so many spaces available I thought maybe I missed election day altogether.  Relieved when I saw a “Vote Here” sign, I parked and walked into the building without being accosted by bullhorns and paid campaign “volunteers” yelling and shoving flyers in my face.  The election officials greeted me warmly, ushered me to a booth and thanked me for voting when I was finished.  After years of putting up with the inharmonious conditions of voting in North Miami and North Miami Beach, my first election day in Davie was a surprisingly pleasant experience.

Even weirder, there doesn’t seem to be any election fraud here in Davie.

There are no shady “campaign strategists” driving people to the polls, “helping” them vote, and then buying them groceries.  Council members running for re-election don’t conveniently arrange a Farm Share Food Distribution a month before election day.  Davie doesn’t have politically connected employees who take a strategically planned “unpaid” leave of absence to campaign for friends while using public resources to escort elderly voters to the polls.

In fact, Davie employees are strictly prohibited from using their official authority or influence to interfere with an election.

In short, the Town of Davie is committed to free and fair elections.

No Shady Lobbyists

Another cool thing about living here is that the Davie’s website explicitly states, “The Town of Davie is committed to preserving public trust through transparency, ethical practices, and good governance for our citizens, elected officials, and staff.”  Accordingly, our town’s “municipal elected officials, their specified relatives, and their office staff” are required to comply with the Broward County Code of Ethics Ordinance No. 2015-55.

This Code of Ethics has strict rules for lobbyists, which includes “reporting all contact with elected officials regardless of the location and form of contact for lobbying activity.”  All lobbyists must complete an official online contact form “within three (3) business days after the lobbying activity occurs.”  Furthermore, “The requirement to file a contact form is not limited to in-person reporting or face-to-face meetings, but also includes telephone calls, emails or any other mode of communications used to lobby the Town’s elected officials.”  Should the lobbyist fail to complete the form, the lobbyist disclosure “shall be required to be filed by the lobbied Elected Official.”

In addition, the Code of Ethics prohibits any “Elected Official, or relative, domestic partner, or governmental office staff of any Elected Official (“covered individual”),” from accepting a gift valued more than $5.00 from a registered lobbyist.

Furthermore, “‘Lobbying Activities’ means a communication, by any means, from a lobbyist to a covered individual regarding any item that will foreseeably be decided by a final decision-making authority, which communication seeks to influence, convince, or persuade the covered individual to support or oppose the item.

Unlike the cities of North Miami and North Miami Beach, the Town of Davie’s “Elected Officials should avoid even the appearance of impropriety in their interaction and dealings with lobbyists registered under their local governmental entity’s lobbyist registration system and with the principals or employers of such lobbyists.”

Simply put, and again unlike the cities of North Miami and North Miami Beach, Town of Davie elected officials don’t have their personal pet lobbyists sitting on boards and committees, texting them during council meetings, interceding for them with town officials, schmoozing with our chief of police, or given free reign to wander Town Hall at will.

Davie’s registered lobbyists are expected to keep a respectful and professional distance from town officials or they are shown the door.

Fiscal Responsibility

A municipal government is a lot like a shady lobbyist.  They neither manufacture a tangible product nor provide a public service by using their own resources.  Governments and lobbyists have nothing of value to offer the public that isn’t funded by someone else’s money.

The only difference is that while city governments rely on tax dollars from its residents in exchange for services, the shady lobbyist, who contributes absolutely nothing to that city, is paid by corporate clients trying to grab as big a piece of the taxpayer pie as they can.

But we digress.

Unlike North Miami, which ended its last fiscal year in the red, the Town of Davie is financially solvent.

According to Davie’s 2018-2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), even though total revenues increased by 7% and expenses increased by 16% (primarily due to Hurricane Irma), the overall net position increased by $3,349,00, or 1%, from the previous fiscal year (Table 2, page 29 of the CAFR).  Davie’s Management’s Discussion and Analysis notes, “The Town has approximately 8 times the current assets than current liabilities.”

North Miami’s 2018-2019 CAFR, on the other hand, reflected a net position decrease of $9,076,301, or negative 7.889%, from the previous fiscal year.  In fact, the city’s own Management’s Discussion and Analysis-Unaudited (MD&A), notes, “The governmental activities show a deficit of approximately ($42.7 million) for unrestricted net position compared to prior year deficit of ($32.3 million).  The unrestricted deficit was due primarily to operations whereby expenditures have exceeded revenues on a cumulative basis.”

The “secret” to Davie’s success, and North Miami’s failure, can be summed up in two words:  Fiscal Responsibility.

The Town of Davie, which encompasses over 35.5 square miles, has 739 employees (324 general employees, 242 police employees, and 173 firefighters) working for its 103,165 residents, or one employee per 139.6 residents.  And that’s including our very own fire department!

North Miami, on the other hand, which sits on only 10.22 square miles of land, has a bloated payroll of 597.5 employees (406.5 general employees, 191 police employees, and 0 firefighters) for approximately 62,225 residents, or one employee per 104.1 residents.

While North Miami has only 60% of the number of Davie residents, its employee ratio is more than 80%.

By those calculations, a city the size and population of North Miami should be able to run efficiently with no more than 443 employees, including police.

Then again, that efficiency would leave no positions open for the North Miami Friends & Family Plan.

At 7.5000, North Miami has the seventh highest millage rate of Miami-Dade County’s 36 municipalities.

Davie’s much lower 6.0121 is the twelfth lowest millage rate of Broward County’s 41 taxing districts.

But that certainly doesn’t stop North Miami public officials from spending residents’ tax dollars as fast as they can.

No Budget Woes

Let’s take a look at the differences in how the Town of Davie and the City of North Miami spends taxpayer money by comparing their FY 2018-2019 budget summaries.

Davie budgeted $3,109,688 for Administration, which includes the Town Administrator (Manager), the Mayor and Council.  It is worthy to note that by Charter, the Davie Mayor and Council each earn $600.00 a month, or $7,200.00 a year, to do their jobs.  They somehow also manage to do it without each of them having a “constituent aide” to run interference between them and their residents.  Imagine that!

North Miami budgeted $2,967,542 for the City Manager’s department alone, plus an additional $1,168,129 for the Mayor and Council, for a total of $4,135,671 to do the same jobs as their counterparts in the much larger Town of Davie.

Davie’s Town Attorney has a budget of $469,761, which is only 36% of the $1,288,010 budgeted for his counterpart in North Miami.

Then again, the cost of defending all those sexual harassment and wrongful termination lawsuits filed against North Miami can’t be cheap.

The Town of Davie budgeted $6,847,923 for the Parks, Recreation & Cultural Arts department, which runs the Town’s 765 acres of land housing 37 recreational sites, including an aquatic center, a nature preserve, golf and country club, fitness center, sports complex, open space parks, equestrian trails, as well as the Old Davie School Historical Museum.

North Miami’s Parks Department was allocated $7,023,992 to run its 19 parks and community centers.

Then again, the Friends & Family of Deputy City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey need to eat, too.  So there’s that.

And finally, the Town of Davie budgeted the sum of $1,678,335 for Non-Departmental expenses, while North Miami budgeted a whopping $4,347,486 for the same line item.

Then again, the Town of Davie scheduled 16 special events for all of 2019, while in North Miami there’s one every other day and way too many to count.  The money has to come from somewhere.

Public Safety

The Davie Police Department, which, unlike the North Miami Police Department, has continuously been accredited by the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation (CFA) since 2005.

Plus, their Twitter page is totally awesome!

#DaviePolice give a shout out to 5yr old Reagan who just started Chemo for a recently diagnosed brain tumor. Let’s see how much love we can get for her! #RallyForReagan #WeAreDavie #DavieStrong #Davie pic.twitter.com/nmpjvrk4ok

— Davie Police Dept. (@DaviePolice) May 30, 2019

Davie residents can sleep soundly every night confident that their safety is the number one priority of one of the best law enforcement agencies in South Florida.

But, don’t just take my word for it.  Let’s check out the crime stats for both municipalities.

Statistically speaking, at an average of 2,864 crimes per 100 thousand people, Davie’s crime rate is below the average for the State of Florida, which is 2,920 per 100k people.

North Miami’s crime rate, on the other hand, is an astronomical average of 4,955 per 100 thousand people, nearly twice the rate for the entire state.

In 2017, the most recent year available, Davie reported 244 violent crimes (with 0 murders), or 236 per 100k residents, while North Miami reported 481 violent crimes (including 4 murders), or 769 per 100k residents.

Which means your chances of becoming a victim of violent crime in North Miami is over three times more likely than in Davie.

And to the best of our knowledge, no Davie police officer has ever ripped the nozzle off a gas pump while driving away.

Just saying.

Davie also has its very own award winning Fire Department.  Last year, the department won the 2018 EMS Provider of the Year Award and EMS Educator Award, and Chief Julie Downey received Florida’s 2018 Fire Chief of the Year Award.

Plus, they rescue tiny kittens from perilous situations!

Great job @DavieFireRescue saving this little kitten that was trapped in the undercarriage of this car over the weekend. pic.twitter.com/sroJmGrZ6N

— Davie Police Dept. (@DaviePolice) June 4, 2019

Environmental Sustainability

Despite its size and population, the Town of Davie maintains a hometown feel.  Town leaders and officials are committed to maintaining the quality of life enjoyed by all of its residents, students and business owners.

Natural and historic resources are a primary consideration in any future land development.  There are no high rises here in Davie.  Building heights are limited to five stories, and restricted to areas in accordance with its Future Land Use Plan Map.  Developers of new projects must “provide verification of the availability of water supplies and water supply facilities to meet the needs of any increased water demand.”

In its 2018 Comprehensive Plan for future land use, the Town of Davie insists on smart growth, a strong sense of history, sustainability, and protecting the environment using green planning principles.  For example, one of the Town’s main objectives is to “inform residents and business owners with regard to energy efficient buildings, energy efficient appliances, waste recycling, building products from renewable resources, non-toxic building products and water efficient fixtures and landscapes.”

Town officials are primarily concerned with water safety and conservation, as well as the conscientious maintenance of its state-of-the-art water supply’s infrastructure.

North Miami’s aging and deteriorated water supply infrastructure is largely ignored by elected and city officials until something goes wrong.  By the time a pump station malfunctions or a water pipe breaks, management immediately goes into spin-doctor mode, and then “fixes” the problem by putting a band-aid on a gaping wound.

We’re sure they’ll get right on it, though.

Quality of Life

If you already aren’t convinced that you need to get out of North Miami and move to Davie, here are a few more facts to consider.

According to areavibes.com, Davie’s “livability” rating is 83 as compared to North Miami’s 62.

More importantly, Davie’s top-notch public schools earned an “A” rating, while North Miami schools received a solid “F.”

In fact, North Miami also received an “F” rating across the board in crime, employment and housing.

Davie is home to twenty one public and private K-12 schools and eight accredited higher education institutions.  Approximately 60,000 students, faculty and employees a day visit Davie’s higher education facilities.  Davie also hosts the South Florida Education Center (SFEC), “a consortium of five major educational institutions – Broward College, Florida Atlantic University, McFatter Technical College, Nova Southeastern University (one of the top ten schools in the state) and the University of Florida, located on 545 acres of land.”

Also located within the SFEC is the A+ rated public high school College Academy at Broward College, Broward College’s Institute of Public Safety (Police Academy), as well as the McFatter Technical College’s Broward Fire Academy.  Barry University’s Davie Campus is also located in the immediate area.

The Town of Davie is also home to 6,922 thriving businesses, including every restaurant and retail store imaginable, 19 veterinary clinics and hospitals, 10 pet stores, 7 Publix supermarkets, 4 museums, 3 Home Depots, 2 bowling alleys, 2 movie theaters, a Whole Foods Market, a Trader Joe’s, the best Super Target in all of South Florida, and of course, the acclaimed Davie Pro Rodeo at the Bergeron Rodeo Grounds.

In Conclusion

If those aren’t reason enough, here are a few more to consider.  Unlike the City of North Miami:

• Our Town Administrator, Richard Lemack, who was hired in 2011, has never been under investigation, was never involved in an SEC scandal, and has never foisted a fraudulent budget on elected officials.
• Our municipal employees are hired based on their qualifications and experience, not nepotism.  They are also required to adhere to a strict Code of Conduct.
• Davie’s canals are properly maintained, our water lift stations work properly, and raw sewage doesn’t flood our homes.
• We don’t have random drive by shootings.
• And did we mention that the Davie Police Department has been continuously accredited since 2005?
• But the most important reason to move to Davie is that WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO CORRUPTION IN OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT!

All of which begs the question …

Why are you still living in North Miami?

Come on up to Davie, where life is good!

Stephanie