As much as I complain about North Miami Beach, at least we don’t cater to “special interest groups” like North Miami does. Not anymore anyway. When Myron Rosner was still the mayor, every person who came before the council with his hand out walked away with a “donation” of some sort.
For example, during the two fiscal years ending September 30, 2009 and September 30, 2010, the city gave in excess of $37,000.00 each year to Panzou Project, Inc., an organization dedicated to stopping Haitian gangs. As I reported in La Maison de Pierre, two “non-profit” organizations, Center for Family Empowerment, Inc. and Social Harmony Foundation, Inc., both registered at the same address, received $10,000.00 and $4,000.00, respectively, from the North Miami Beach Police Department’s forfeiture fund known as LETF. Both organizations are run by minorities with “special,” i.e., Haitian, interests. Let’s also not forget the six digit price of several “multi” cultural festivals held during Myron’s tenure that were, for all intents and purposes, targeted for one specific culture.
Even though Haitians represent less than 20% of North Miami Beach’s population, they make up a large enough voting block for politicians to consider them an important “special interest.” Myron knew that and pandered away. He took advantage of this pandering during campaign time when he expected pay back in the form of campaign assistance, donations and, of course, votes. Especially “absentee” ballots, of which Myron managed to get his hands on by any means necessary.
Once Myron was booted out of office, that vote buying scheme came to a screeching halt. Much to the dismay of organizations such as Actions for Better Future, I might add. Oh, darn.
Across the border in North Miami, that city’s council will vote on Tuesday night, July 10, 2012, to approve funding to the tune of one half of the $538,053.00 cost, or $270,650.00, for a “Carnival or Mardi-Gras,” which is “one of the most sacred festivities in the Haitian community,” according to the proposal dated March 26, 2012. Radio Mega, the promoter, anticipates receiving the other half of the funding from “other sponsors doing business in the community and vendors that will participate in the event.” They also want the council to approve this annual festival for the next five years, without knowing the future expenses, and thereby holding future administrations hostage to an unknown amount of money each year until 2017.
Item 10 of the council meeting agenda states, “DISCUSSION AND APPROVAL OF RADIO MEGA’S “NORTH MIAMI MEGANAVAL” CELEBRATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012.”
Even though North Miami mayor Andre Pierre can most likely count on this request getting the go ahead from his fellow council members, two of whom almost always vote in lock step with him, this proposal is not a done deal until the council votes are counted.
Unless, of course, you visit the website of the promoter, meganaval.com, where the Meganaval Team proudly announces the “first annual North Miami Carnaval,” and stating that this event is “fully supported by by the Haitian elected officials, Mayor Andre Pierre, Councilwoman Erlande Steril, Councilman Jean R. Marcellus, Chief Police Marc Ellias, Councilman Frantz Pierre, Commissioner Jean Monestime, and Vice Mayor Philippe Derose.”
The Meganaval Team fails to acknowledge that both Frantz Pierre and Philippe Derose are North Miami Beach council members and NOT North Miami, and that Jean Monestime is a Miami-Dade County Commissioner – also NOT North Miami. But, why confuse people with facts?
The bigger problem, however, is that no one involved in this “special interest” project has concerned themselves with the FACT that there are Sunshine Laws in the State of Florida. If Andre Pierre, Marie Erlande Steril and Jean R. Marcellus have already agreed IN ADVANCE to vote in the affirmative to approve the funding for this festival, as clearly stated on Meganaval’s website, three out of five North Miami council members are in serious violation of those Sunshine Laws.
I’m just saying.
Of course, it’s not up to me to file a complaint with the Florida Elections Commission or the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, since I’m not a resident of the great City of North Miami. Besides, I have enough of NMB mishegas to deal with. But, it would certainly behoove a concerned North Miami resident activist to consider doing so.
I’m just saying.
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
Been there done that. Numerous complaints to Ethics re Mayor and council. A slap on the wrist and a suggestion to not vote or discuss issues that said complaints were about. Vote on it anyway. No prob. Had a Ethics workshop at city hall for Mayor and Council so they would know what not to do. Bribery, police badges, nepotism, free cars, 5K given to the councilwomans non profit by Swerdlow, plane tickets to Haiti, Wastepro, Using city facilities and not paying for it, Explorers used by Mayor as security for his private functions that he later said were public gatherings to get around not paying. The Explorers are not to be used for this sort of thing. Going on Haitian radio to say god knows what in Creole and never providing a English version of what he said to non creole speaking residents, having cameras installed in his office and not paying for that. When he finally did pay the check bounced. FDLE sat in our meetings for months, nothing happened. Numerous calls to the State atty, what a joke. Bundled checks from LLC’s that share the same address. Having our police escort citizens out when the Mayor doesn’t like what’s being said. Using city housing for friends and relatives that didn’t pay any rent. Stephanie you know all this. There’s so much more. Andre Pierre is trying to move our May 2013 election to Nov 2014. Just imagine what more they can do if he’s successful. They get away with all the criminal and unethical behavior. It is obscene at this point. If you got any better ideas feel free to share them. My city is being run into the ground and no one will do a thing about it. Infuriating to say the least.
I feel your frustration, believe me! While we don’t have nearly as much corruption in NMB as you do, we still have remnants of it from a couple of them still in office. My only suggestion is to vote the bad seeds out. That’s easier said than done, of course, because the corrupt politicians manage to buy votes, especially absentee ballots, when they don’t outright just steal them. The M-D Ethics Commission is useless, as is the State Attorney’s office. Unless the people running those agencies are replaced, it will be more of the same. You just have to do whatever it takes to get quality people to run for office and get the vote out. Barring that, move.
Doesn’t the City have to submitt their annual budget to the State for approval? Why don’t the residents voice their disapproval of misappropriation of taxpayer dollars to the State?
The State distributes tax revenues to the municipalites. I’m sure you don’t need to be a resident of North Miami to protest frivilous waste. I intend to do so!
Not that Frantzie and Derose are misrepresented as being affiliated with North Miami, but that they are involved in this North Miami caper in the first place. What gives? But as killianytech so astutely points out, there’s a whole lot going on in these parts about which non-Creole-speaking citizens will always be in the dark. They are basically a secret society with ever-increasing political power, obviously hell-bent on shutting everyone else out of the process (and the proceeds). I’d say in North Miami this is pretty much a done deal. It seems this trend has been thwarted in NMB. For now.
It’s only been thwarted in NMB so far mainly because the Panderer In Chief (a/k/a Myron) is no longer in office. Phyllis still panders, but she doesn’t have the ability to buy votes. But the bigger reason we don’t have that problem is because NMB is much more diverse than North Miami. We have a smaller Haitian population (20%) and a much larger Hispanic one (37%). Blacks, which make up about 50% of NMB, are also made up of several nationalities and not just Haitian. The majority of them are American blacks, but there are also Hispanic blacks, Jamaicans and other islanders, as well as Haitians. The other approximate 50%, includes whites, white Hispanics, Asians and a few other minorities (Indian, Pakistani, etc.). Since we have an extremely diverse population, as opposed to North Miami, which is overwhelmingly Haitian, there is no one ethnic group or race that would or could command the majority of influence in our city. This is as it should be! Our tax dollars is meant to pay for services for ALL residents EQUALLY. The problem in North Miami is that the Haitians grab all the spoils for ONLY the Haitian residents, to the exclusion of those who are not.