As many of you already know, the Mayor pulled his staff from County budget hearings because the staff members were being treated disrespectfully by the County Commission's Budget Committee. The County is in a standoff of historic proportions: We are in the midst of what will be known as the protracted "Etiquette War"! You might ask, what exactly is Etiquette. Wikipedia defines Etiquette as:
...one aspect of decorum, is a code that governs the expectations of social behavior, according to the conventional norm within a society, social class, or group. Usually unwritten, it may be codified in written form. Etiquette usually reflects formulas of conduct in which society or tradition have invested.
Forget about ethics, forget about corruption, it is politeness that counts in Miami Dade County. That is the new hot topic for the Charter Review Board.
So here on the one side we have some Commissioners who routinely insult the public and staff. What are they going to do? Start being polite? Not going to happen.
We will remain in this standoff for a few weeks with blame peppering each side while the budget doesn't get done. The State of Florida might have to step in.
Is it good for County Government? I don’t think it matters one iota. The Commissioners -- even if the Mayor's staff returned -- aren’t going to cut the non profit programs that guarantee them votes: The social agencies where the Mayor made $30 million in cuts. Those lunch programs are votes and everyone knows it. So the crux of the matter is in today's Miami Herald: Dade officials can't agree on budget cuts.
This Miami Dade Etiquette Standoff is just a diversion. But it is entertaining. Also see: Do County Commissioners Need Etiquette rules? and Bruno's strikes back with a letter.
20 comments:
here are the members of the budget committee:
Joe A. Martinez (11) Chair; Carlos A. Gimenez (7) Vice Chair; Commissioners Jose "Pepe" Diaz (12), Katy Sorenson (8), Rebeca Sosa (6), and Javier Souto (10)
I would assume the mayor is mad at Gimenez and maybe Martinez.
I still dont know what the disrespectful treatment was. What was the incident? Who was the commissioner? Who was the staff member? What topic was being discussed? Is the Herald asking Alvarez these questions? Because no one has mentioned a specific exchange, I am beginning to think the whole boycott thing is just a calculated stall effort by Alvarez.
Folks, The lack of decorum occured at the Aviation and Tourism Committee earlier in the day. The staff, consequently, didn't show up at the Budget Committee. I would think that the boycott was the result of a long history of events, and what happened at the Aviation committee was the final straw.
Genius, I know that a long protracted boycott would make for more material for the blog.
But, it will be over on Thursday when they have the Budget Committee "of the whole". Staff will be there, the mayor himself will probably be there. The best part is watching all the tough talking commissioners back down when the Mayor is actually in the room.
Just like Alvarez, "Leaning slightly conservative" fails to describe a specific instance of rude behaviour. I watched the replay of the Aviation and Tourism Committee in its entirety and I failed to see any signs of disrespect. In fact, I thought commissioners were downright nice to directors Judy Zito and Jose Abreu who appeared before the committee.
Again, what was the incident? Who was the commissioner? Who was the staff member?
Why can't anyone answer these questions?
Yes a protracted standoff is blog fodder...I will be disappointed if the standoff flounders.
Ned: Did you watch the Seijas video like I directed you to? One only has to go to ANY meeting to see rude behavior. It is painful, but try to watch a meeting on TV one day when you are home with nothing to do.
You know why no one can answer your questions NED?
Because the newspaper, who pays reporters to listen to these meetings doesn't do its job. And, we bloggers find it too painful to do for free. If you want to pay me, I will be happy to watch meetings for you and point out rude behavior. So you claim you watched a whole meeting and didn't see any rude behavior? You must have nerves of steel. My brother used to scream and belittle his staff, he never noticed. Maybe it is all perception. Once Natacha gave me a very hard time...on tape it did not look like it...but she knew it and I knew it and everyone with a brain knew it -- staff members in the audience gave me pep talks about it, because they saw it. But it did not look bad on the video tape.
Yes. I watched Seijas video. It shows she can be very rude, and the New Times was accurate when they depicted her as a witch. But the video was from last year before the recall effort. I havent seen any of those rude exchanges recently and she was not at the Aviation and Tourism Committee meeting.
Maybe Genius you can tell me which exchange triggered the boycott. Or maybe you are like me and doubt a specific instance will be found.
Ned:
Actually, I did see a very heated exchange on TV a few weeks ago between Burgess and Gimenez. It could have been looked at as very rude. Burgess remained polite but you could see he was REALLY rattled by Gimenez. I think it is generally accepted it is okay to be rude to staff, or anyone for that matter. Maybe that should change.
Playing together well…
or getting beyond Asperger’s with the help of Emily Post. People with Asperger’s say the darndest things, as do kids on Art Linkletter, as do public officials.
But there is hope, as reported in the New Yorker “Parallel Play, Life with Asperger’s Syndrome,” music critic Tim Page describes the revelation of etiquette as revealed by Emily Post.
(also Interviewed on Aug 13 All things Considered)
“ Oddly, the book that helped pull me into the human race was Emily Post’s “Etiquette,” which I had picked up in a moment of early-teen hippie scorn, fully intending to mock what I was sure would be an “uncool” justification of bourgeois rules and regulations. Instead, the book offered clearly stated reasons for courtesy, gentility, and scrupulousness- reasons that I could respect, understand, and implement. It suggested a way to inaugurate a conversation without launching into a lecture, reminded me of the importance of listening as well as speaking, and convinced me that manners, properly understood, existed to make other people feel comfortable rather than (as I had suspected) to demonstrate the practioner’s social superiority.”
Maybe an etiquette “stand down” in city hall, with tea and copies of Miss Manners Save Civilization is in order. How about a special delivery from EoM, via Books and Books (they deliver Harry Potter). You might just get your Herald article.
S
I guess you are a Burgess supporter. You won't get much sympathy from me on the way Burgess or one of his Assistant County Managers is treated. His staff is notorious for being unfriendly and disrespectful to lower level county staff. It would be nice to see them get some of their own medicine.
Ned and Genius, having once worked there and interacted with commissioners, I can tell you the rudeness is a constant occurance. It permeates every interchange staff has with commissioners. It's a culture of arrogance and condescension.
Most of the staff at those levels are highly educated professionals that certainly do not deserve to put up with such behavior.
There is no decorum guidance or 'how to be an elected official' guidebook as is the case in other elected bodies of government.
I believe that the Mayor has finally had enough of unprofessional behavior out of the Commission. I for one say it's about time.
R28985
Condescension! That is the word!!!!! It appears on the video tape as benign but that is what is going on -- you have to know enough to see it.
I like the idea of sending them all an Emily Post book.
They have used copies from $20.99. The new ones are $26.37 that is $342.81 for 13. I'll send them but I am not paying for them.
Miss Manners new and used at Amazon.com,
As always Books and Books should get the advantage but...
Maybe the readers could take the initiative and send copies to select commissioners.
Miss Manners' Basic Training: Communication (Miss Manners Basic Training) (Hardcover)
by Judith Martin (Author)
from $2.85
Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Freshly Updated (Hardcover) $23.10,
available from $13.09
paperback
Common Courtesy: In Which Miss Manners Solves the Problem That Baffled Mr. Jefferson (Paperback)
by Judith Martin (Author)
available from $0.01
Miss Manners: A Citizen's Guide to Civility (Paperback)
by Judith Martin (Author)
available from $4.18
PS how do you hypertext a link on a blog comment page?
S
..or
you could establish a commissioners' account at Books and Books and we could stop by make a donation and when there was enough $$ they could send the copies..a vox populi and anonomi...
S
I don't think you can hypertext in comments, however, I am HTML illiterate.
Question:
Since when did asking tough important questions become equall to being rude?
Sorry, but if you really pay attention, you will see that when Gimenez questions staff, he will not push, if the answer to the question that he asked was given. He gets into cross examination mode when staff tries to mislead, misinform, or hide pertenant, and potentially publically damaging information.
Problem with Burgess is that he is very intimidated by Gimenez... Not Gimenez's demeanor, but his knowledge as it relates to running a goverment effectively and efficiently. Sadly, our County Manager is not nearly as accomplished in running a local government, as one of our elected officials. If George can't deal with that, too bad, especially when he is making $400 K a year in salary and benefits!!
It's really more that Gimenez, it's Sosa and Seijas constantly... Why are we overlooking those 2?
NOW WAIT A MINUTE r28985....
You are accusing this blog of overlooking Seijas? We have 93 posts on Seijas!
The reason she has been not referred to is because she is not on the committee in question: Budget.
We were trying to get to the bottom of whether the mayor had been irked by one instance or many instances of rude behavior. It appears to be over the long haul. It has been my experience that Sosa has never been particularly rude but you might know better.
r28985, you are clearly a member of staff, or a friend of staff... If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Same applies here. Commissioners are not their to accept the statements of staff as truth! Doing so would be a violation of thier fiduciary responsibilities to the community. Get off your whine-rant, and get back to work!
Hey, no picking on a loyal reader...I like R28985
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