North Miami Beach City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey and Commissioner McKenzie Fleurimond, as well as a small handful of their co-conspirators, came up with a secret plan to tear down the Daniel D. Diefenbach Bicentennial Park and build a concrete jungle of “affordable housing.”
We already reported that Duke spent at least $67,942.52 and counting on a party for “developers, financiers, and investors” in order to allegedly issue “a request for information (RFI)/intent to negotiate (ITN) to solicit interest in the redevelopment of the Arthur Snyder Tennis Center, a 10.06-acre property owned by the City (site) that is currently zoned Community Facility.”
We also reported that McKenzie was the architect of the hare-brained scheme to raze the park and build five 30-story buildings and a “stand alone garage with ground level retail” on the property.
We also told you that all of this was most likely illegal.
And as usual, we were right!
And it’s all thanks to the relentless due diligence of Commissioner Barbara Kramer.
Hey, McKenzie, read it and weep.
Emphasis ours:
Article 7 of the Miami-Dade County Charter states that with the sole exception of “municipal property in Coral Gables, Hialeah, Hialeah Gardens, Miami, Sweetwater and West Miami,” per Section 7.01, “Parks, aquatic preserves, and lands acquired by the County for preservation shall be held in trust for the education, pleasure, and recreation of the public and they shall be used and maintained in a manner which will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations as a part of the public’s irreplaceable heritage. They shall be protected from commercial development and exploitation and their natural landscape, flora and fauna, and scenic beauties shall be preserved.”
In addition, Section 7.02 specifically states, “No park facilities, golf courses, or County lands acquired for preservation shall be converted to or used for non-park offices, purposes, or uses. The County, the municipalities, and agencies or groups receiving any public funding shall not expend any public money or provide any publicly funded services in kind to any project which does not comply with this Article. No building permit or certificate of occupancy shall be issued for any structure in violation of this Article.” Furthermore, “no mini or neighborhood park may be leased or disposed of unless a majority of the residents residing in voting precincts any part of which is within 1 mile of the park authorize such sale or lease by majority vote in an election.”
Section 7.03 cautions, “The provisions of this Article shall be liberally construed in favor of the preservation of all park lands, aquatic preserves, and preservation lands.”
And finally, Section 7.04 emphatically states that, “Except as otherwise provided herein the provisions of this Article shall apply to all County and municipal parks, aquatic preserves, and lands acquired by the County for preservation now in existence or hereafter acquired, provided that if this Article was not favorably voted upon by a majority of the voters voting in any municipality at the time of the adoption of this Article the municipal parks of such municipality shall be excluded from the provisions of this Article.”
Hence the exemptions granted to the six municipalities specifically mentioned in the County Charter.
North Miami Beach is not one of them.
On September 1, 2022, Commissioner Barbara Kramer sent an email to Duke with a copy to City “Attorney” Hans Ottinot, asking both of them to “look over our land use map, zoning map as well as Article 7. – Parks, Aquatic Preserves and Preservation Lands of the Miami-Dade County Code of Ordinances and let me know whether the city will continue with the RFP to build on the Arthur Snyder Tennis Center, the Diefenbach Preserve and Daniel D. Diefenbach Bicentennial Park?”
They both ignored her.
Fortunately, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava did not ignore her.
According to an email Barbara received on September 6, 2022 from Melonie Burke of the Mayor’s Office, the Parks Director and staff had “consulted with County Attorney Office (CAO) and are confirming that all parks within the City of North Miami Beach are protected by Article 7.”
Unlike North Miami Beach City “Attorney,” Ottinot Law, P.A., the County Attorney’s Office is staffed with 76 highly qualified, actual lawyers who are well versed in the County’s Home Rule Charter and its Code of Ordinances.
We’d buy tickets to watch any one of them squash Hans like a bug in Court.
We can only hope he’s stupid enough to choose this hill to die on.
When Commissioner Kramer brought this matter up at the Budget Hearing on September 6, 2022, both Duke and Hans were sheepishly silent.
McKenzie, on the other hand, immediately lashed out at Barbara by throwing logical fallacies at her.
He first accused her of being wrong about an opinion she had in the past about an entirely different issue.
McKenzie then insinuated that if Barbara was wrong about one thing, she is wrong about everything.
The problem with McKenzie’s “logic” is that every time he opens his mouth on the dais, he’s usually wrong about something.
Like that time he tried to argue that two-thirds of seven is four, for example.
Unlike Barbara, who will freely admit when she is wrong about something, McKenzie will dig his heels in and insist he’s right despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
When that argument didn’t fly, McKenzie then brought up a previous project that the Commission voted for, including Barbara, to develop a parcel of City-owned vacant property for “affordable housing.”
He conveniently overlooked the fact that the parcel in question was not a designated park, so the County Code does not apply.
And also the fact that the entire Commission voted on that project, unlike the secret deal to turn Diefenbach Park into affordable housing, which was never even brought before the Commission for a vote!
Not exactly your best straw man argument, eh, McKenzie?
But, hey. Here’s a towel to wipe that egg off your face.
Then go pay your rent so you don’t get served with another eviction notice, loser.
As for this hare-brained scheme that Duke and McKenzie cooked up and wasted $67,942.52 of your tax dollars on, that ship has sailed.
The good news is that North Miami Beach residents have a one-time opportunity to turn the SS NMB around and steer it in the direction of good governance again before it sinks into the abyss forever.
ELECT JAY CHERNOFF AND PHYLLIS SMITH ON NOVEMBER 8, 2022!
Please vote responsibly.
Stephanie
I SO always look forward to reading your pieces. I’ve done some conniving myself. Here’s to hoping it comes to fruition. NOVEMBER 8th will be a VERY INTERESTING DAY. Won’t you ALL join us!
Oh, I’d love to know what you’re up to. I might be able to help. Shoot me an email if you’re interested.
As always Impeccable.
Finally we got someone’s attention.
From then on maybe Ms Levine-Cava can help us get NMB on track by making a big deal about all these issues.
We have one BIG THANK YOU to go out to Barbara Kramer, Jeff Mishcon, and Michael Snyder for working so hard to prove that this Tennis Center and Diefenbach Park are never to be developed on!!
And thank you also to Daniela Levine-Cavas office and staff for following up on all of this.
May that beautiful piece of green space remain always as it was intended to be.
You are Barbara are genius! Thank you!
How is all of this not a Sunshine violation for hiding info about this from Barbara and the residents? Barbara is an elected official representing residents and excluding her should be against the law.
It absolutely is a violation of Sunshine laws. And guess what? No one cares! Not the corrupt State Attorney, Kathy Rundle. Not the Ethics Commission, not the Florida Ethics Commission, not the Florida Attorney General, and certainly not the moronic City “Attorney.”
North Miami Beach residents, you are on your own. This is why the November 8th election is the single most important election in the history of your city. If you don’t vote out Paule Villard, and elect Jay Chernoff and Phyllis Smith, your city is literally a permanent dumpster fire.
This is not hyperbole. I am dead serious.
I think you’re quite correct!! 🙁 🙁
These days what works is to bring issues to the public by emailing and taking it to investigative TV and newspaper reporters so it gets to the right law enforcement officials.
Great news !! Thank you Barbara , maybe you should tell Daniela Cava all this corrupts are doing in NMB she may be able to help in some way , and thank you to all that had something to do with this investigation , thank you Stephanie for your perseverance!
But what about all that money the $68,000 , who’s going to pay all that back ? Are they going to pay back or, maybe this all was a scam to pocket all that money ?
You know palms were greased.
What are the list of candidates for group 6?
Wrendly Mesidor, Mark St. Vil, and Phyllis Smith.
That information is posted here: https://www.citynmb.com/1330/2022-Municipal-Election-Candidates
I’m still not understanding how this is taking place without everyone on board, including the residents. Actually, unfortunately, I should. This makes me so angry. Stephanie, everytime I read your columns, I really get a pit in my stomach.
We need voters to vote in the next election for Jay Chernoff.
Well, then you need to get all your friends and neighbors to the polls on election day. Only the residents of North Miami Beach can put a stop to this nonsense!!!!
Exactly!!
We ALL need to get our friends and neighbors to vote in November!
We can’t complain if we ALL don’t show up to VOTE!!
Vote CHERNOFF and SMITH in November!
No excuses this time… just show up! 😉