In today’s Miami Herald County Commissioner Katy Sorenson urges the public to become actively engaged and involved in democratic institutions like the County Commission.
But public confidence in county government has eroded over such a long period of time, we can scarcely imagine what it would like.
We have three points with respect to public participation at meetings of the County Commission.
Firstly, it is immensely difficult for most people to get to County Hall during working hours. Citizens aren't paid by their employers to attend county commission meetings, unless their employer’s zoning proposals are the issue, in which case they are all paid. Then, there is the traffic and the cost of parking, and, the frustration.
When the majority senses public opposition, the tried and true response is to amend the meeting agenda. Often the item to be heard is deferred to another day and another time. That happened repeatedly to hearings by the county commission leading up to the vote on the Urban Development Boundary issues last year, unreported by the mainstream media. (Affordable housing activists had a better idea: they decided to camp out at the County Commission until their issue was heard.)
The reason this happens, of course, lead us to our second point: every important decision on the county commission is preordained according to a process calibrated to minimize the involvement of the public and maximize the effectiveness of campaign contributions.
It costs $300,000-$500,000 to run a county commission campaign. Whose advice are county commissioners listening to, when they are paid only $6000 a year are fawned over by advisors/lobbyists earning $6000 a day for their clients?
Which brings us to our third point: the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission.
The cause of ethics in county government would achieve more and faster, if the Ethics Commission were disbanded and events involving public corruption allowed to proceed at their normal pace—which would involve more indictments and prosecutions of elected officials—than the current spectacle of county commissioners repeatedly behaving unethically, reported, investigated, and blessed because the enabling scope of the Ethics Commission is toothless as a new born child.
Special interests count on poor public participation in our democracy. You’d have more luck turning Tony Soprano into an officer of the law than changing the quid pro quo's between county commissioners and lobbyists who raise campaign cash.
It is all public record, even if the mainstream media hasn't paid close enough or nearly enough attention.
Sure, Commissioner Seijas and her majority will fill a pothole for you or put up a stop sign on your street corner or buy you breakfast in exchange for your vote.
But when public processes occur that lobbyists and their clients don’t want—for instance, the South Dade Watershed Study that is meant to lay out a new future for growth in the county, protecting Biscayne Bay and the watershed needs for the southern half of the county— special interests participate and then kill the results at the end. That is what they are trying to do, now.
Commissioner Sorenson’s key point is “inviting more people in”. But Commissioner Sorenson knows as well as anyone that when this commission invites more people in, there is no balance beyond the weight of laws, rules and regulations that local legislatures also view as fair game.
WYSIWYG.
17 comments:
We sincerely liked Com. Sorenson until she "handed us over" to Com. Moss who is running her District with no opposition on her part. Moss runs Community Council 15 with the same people that serve his special interests, making zoning changes in District 8 disregarding any input the residents may express against such change.
Moss refuses to appoint Hispanic candidates that wish to serve in that Community Council, which now has a membership 100% African-American. So much for diversity, so much for asking for citizens' involvement, and most of all we're fed up with a Commissioner that no longer represents her constituents.
You can always tell how Seijas is going to vote. She is always rude to the people speaking against what she wants. Going to speak at the commission is not just a chore: It is a totally bad experience.
That's her job: to make it a totally bad experience for ordinary people. It's all worked out that way: that's what she's paid to do.
Commissioner Sorenson is right that the voters are not voting and that is what is keeping the dead beats in office. She is dead wrong that a full chamber means anything to anyone but herself. THEY DON'T CARE!
What pisses me off about the Miami Herald, is that they'll print an editorial like the one Katy Sorenson wrote, but they never address the underlying issues in their pathetic coverage of how big decisions are made. Instead, what you read are the "he said, she said" stories that take up a few paragraphs... like the previous writer said, they don't care... and people don't know.
I echo the sentiments of gimleteye and the commenters so far. I'd love to attend every commission hearing, but I'm one of the many who can't do so because of work obligations. I try to watch them on TV, and now online. How about setting up teleconferencing stations in each commission district where people can be closer and address the board. And Natacha Seijas should have ZERO control over the mute button.
Real-time translation of hearings is also needed, for obvious reasons. Obviously a large segment of the population is uninformed and unaware of what goes on at these hearings due to language barrier. Perhaps if people actually knew what was being said and who said it, there might be a remote chance that people would make better decisions.
The other problem is that local TV media don't look at local government enough (requires too much effort), although having Jim Defede on CBS4 has been refreshing. They just don't see it as relevant enough.
Now there's a good idea: use broadcast/internet to not only live-cast committee and BCC meetings, but make it interactive so that commissioners on the dais could get a continuous reading/meter from viewers on whether they agree or disagree with statements they're making... and publish the results, too.
I heard that Commissioner Martinez had an interactive community meeting last night... He even stopped the meeting to acknowledge he had gotten the middle finger from a happy voter.
The biggest issue with the commission meetings is that we are not paid to sit there (unlike some folks, we do have bosses) and that we are not wealthy enough to hire attack dogs to defend our communities from our helpful commissioners.
And it does really cost the citizen money to approach government...you can easily spend 25.00 dollars a day (without the value of lost pay) to defend your neighborhood from invasions of developers.
Far as Katy goes... she still is the best on the board when it comes defending the community. She asks thoughtful and direct questions. At least she is trying to take on the establishment and while you may not agree with her all the time, she is a lady.
Its so easy for "reformers" to complain about the policies of the Commission, that they "don't listen or that the public doesn't complain enough." What do you expect? This is been proven in one political structure after another the thing is what are you going to do about it? While this blog is a start this kind of complaining can easily regress into the "New Times" local coverage chain brand of cynicism about everybody and everything, it must progress to the point where the reformers are relevant to the population/residents. How do unions stay relevant, by delivering benefits to their members. How do environmental organizations survive, by taking on causes energizing activists and soliciting donations. (How do they die, by engaging in specialized legal battles while the laws they are interpreting change - but that is another story.) So what is going to be done to reshape the political context to make your fight more relevant to the average overworked resident than breakfast or potholes? How are you going to reach out to everyone?
You start using basic manners. You start by listening one-on-one to the people. Most people do not band together unless they are feeling voiceless.
When you are an elected official you are into the job whether you are paid or not. Unfortunately, elected officials often mistake respect for their office as admiration and acceptance of their behavior. Ego is the biggest issue facing the county inside the government center. (Plain old dumbness ranks pretty high, too... Let's let Japan "exercise" our trains for 7 million a year...Oh, give me a break!)
If I were a commissioner, the first thing I would do, would be hire staff that has the knowledge and skills to case manage ...just like in the social service world. I would have one math specialist in the bunch too. Political hiring for campaign paybacks sooner or later bites you on the tushy.
You have to start with good government somewhere. So, it has to start with the voters or it has to start inside the elected officials hearts and minds... It can't start with departmental staff...they are ducking the axe because they know that their supervisors are just trying to stay out of the way and they want to be invisible.
Goodness is not always rewarded when you are a county employee.
As someone who has dealt with Katy Sorenson and been involved with items before the county commission I find her editorial somewhat perplexing. I live in her district and attend meetings that are also attended by people from other commissioner’s districts. The people that come from commissioner Moss’s district tend to give him good marks saying that he listens to his residents through the regular district meetings he holds. Sorenson does not have regular meetings with the residents of her district. While other commissioners “bring the government” to their residents Sorenson has her residents come to her and the commission. Sorenson will counter with comments saying that she does have meetings with residents but from what I have seen, her meetings are based on target groups, not her residents as a whole. If Sorenson wants residents to be more involved with county government the she needs to be more involved with the people, bring the government out of the ivory tower and to the people.
by Truly Blue
While it is true that people do not participate in huge numbers in our elections or county commission meetings, county commissioners are often to blame for that.
In the most recent elections--who picked the election dates of Natacha Seijas' Recall Election and the Strong Mayor's Vote? Wasn't it the County Commission who gave us a December date for Natacha's vote and a January vote for the Mayor's vote?
Who but the most dedicated voter/constituent participates in such single shot elections? Both votes were crucially important to the community, yet few of us made it out to vote.
How could this misjustice occur in the political process? Most voters vote when there are many items on the ballot, not single shot issues, like these last two elections. Who cares if the commission in their infinite wisdom determines that elections should be out of the usual election cycle: costing taxpayers even more money than usual to deliver democracy by the few?
Enough is enough and more people have to care. But who can really expect meetings in the business day to be well attended? Not many of us have the ability to attend meetings during usual business hours, so of course less and less of us have access to that process.
It seems to me that that is what most of the commission wants anyway, that way they can continue to vote on items that never make it into the papers while no one is watching.
Yes, it is time to get into the game, and throw some of these commissioners out of it...as soon as we can vote them out of office. The 2008 elections are right around the corner.
Dear Homerule charter person:
You don't attend the same commissioner meetings I do. How many times have you emailed a commissioner and gotten followed-up with? Commissioner Sorenson is out in the community at community meetings. I have seen her at several over the last few months-she goes to them, they don't come to her. Commissioner Moss, on the other hand, sits 2 times a month in a room and waits for us to come to him. This month he wasn't there and a large group of us showed up. He canceled, rather than having staff run the meeting.
About Moss, it is true. If he senses community opposition to a development proposal that he supports, he will call a public meeting and simply not show up-- sending staff in his place. These guys (commissioners) have mostly made up their minds before they ever get to the point of voting. That said, I am still curious why Commissioner Moss voted against the Urban Boundary Development issues last year. Did he know, beforehand, that the State of Florida would kill them anyway?
Maybe, he was sending a message to other commissioners that the south end is his to mess with? Or maybe, he really wants to concentrate infrastructure dollars in his favored areas where the Moss Plan is drawn out?
In answer to: Dear Homerule charter person
Please don't get me wrong on Moss or Sorenson. Overall I like Sorenson. You could label me a one who does not care for Moss. I was just surprised at the comments of the person who said that his community liked Moss because of his involvement thru his meetings. I could say more but I don’t want to reveal the meeting that this was said at. I have never been to his meetings. I do like the concept of having a general public monthly or bi-monthly meeting for all to come to, the town meeting concept.
As for Sorenson, I know she is out there at meetings with select groups like chamber of commerce and other business groups but I don’t think she gets around enough in her district. An example would be when she had her one and only “Town Meeting” at the JCC last year she expressed surprise about the Traffic circle that she helped ramrod through on SW 112 ST and 102 Ave. She called it ugly and it was clear that it was the first time she had seen it after it was built. To give her credit it got redone and is now greatly improve although it’s still an eyesore.
To get back on topic with public involvement in county government by exercising our ability to vote, I would have to agree with some of the other posters, the majority of the BCC don’t want us to vote. They don’t want the public to have the right and power to decide. Katy Sorenson may be the only exception to that but with out the ability to elect and/or remove 12 of the 13 commissioners that decide our fate we will never all be represented.
I have gone downtown to BCC meeting and other meetings in the commission chambers. The trek downtown is time consuming; parking is a nightmare even if you ride Metrorail. People who work must take time off from work to attend. If you speak before the commission you are subject to the disrespect of some of the more vile and humiliating people in public office; who can make remarks about you that you cannot respond to.
Then if you want you can go to a council meeting at one of the newer smaller communities in south Dade like Pinecrest, Pamatto Bay or Cutler Bay. They meet at night so most people don’t need to take off from work. They are in the community near where you live so commute time is nil. And most of the time citizens are treated with respect. Best of all most are elected at large so all the people they “rule” over can vote them out of office.
Compared to other counties in Florida Miami-Dade has its own rules and operates like no other municipality in the state that’s why I’m for “Repealing The Home Rule Charter”.
BTW: I know it will not come to pass but I can dream.
It is too easy for Sorenson to tell people it's their fault because we need to participte more often...and we think she is the greatest! Are we stupid or what! the lady has done nothing for us at all. I guess it's like those guys in corporate politics that point a finger and never do anything.
She gets away with murder and we in the democratic party should be ashamed of her inefficiency over 13 years....nothing has gotten better and she is too weak to get things done...arent we done with it!
Post a Comment