Mayor Carlos Alvarez, on county charter reform by gimleteye

Good for Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez' recommendations to reform the county charter and good for the Herald reporting them and providing the text for readers.

Eyeonmiami could scarcely be more critical of a dysfunctional county commission form of government, incorporated by the county charter that manifests as in-breeding with resultant defects and harm to public health, welfare and safety as a matter of genetic constitution.

With reserve, Mayor Alvarez writes, “The single member district has created a perception of parochialism and corrupt “ward” politics.”

Now if you want to know how I would put it... read more.

What Mayor Alvarez doesn’t write—and what needs to be fully communicated to voters—is that the current, single member district system of government fails to serve the constituents it claims to benefit most: poor African Americans and minorities.

The County Housing Agency scandal, the failed Liberty City Biotech Park, Scott Carver Housing, Umoja Village: all point to the failure of single member districts to represent the poor and minorities.

As I have said time and again, during the building boom now crashed in cinders, African American county commissioners focused—not on improving their own constituencies—but on doing the bidding of powerful developers and lobbyists under the banner of Cuban American builders in outlying areas where land speculation turned the last acres of open space and farmland into non-descript platted subdivisions far from places of work, and also, far from the reach of ordinary wage-earners.

It is critical to acknowledge, too, that what Mayor Alvarez—a Cuban American—proposes could, if his recommendations survive the commission, break the vise-grip of this political status-quo that has served minorities so poorly.

''Unless you try it, you don't know whether it's realistic or not,'' Alvarez told The Miami Herald with characteristic understatement.

I hope Mayor Alvarez will go to the mat for the recommendations he has proposed: do not go quiet into that good night.

The Herald notes, “The suggestions may be largely symbolic. Ideas embraced by the task force need to be approved by the County Commission before they go before voters -- and commissioners may be unlikely to favor term limits, more commission seats that would dilute their power and limits on lobbyists' fundraising for their campaigns.”

My favorite quote, in the Herald article, belongs to Dim Bruno, current nominal chair of the county commission and member of the charter review commission.

''I don't want us influencing the process,'' he said, resorting to the first words that came to his mind since influencing the process is exactly what the status quo seeks to protect.

The current system of thirteen member single member seats benefits mainly a core group of lobbyists and influence-peddlers whose aim is to perpetuate a permanent incumbency—if not of actual commissioners, then of tangible interests that run counter to what 99.9 percent of Miami-Dade taxpayers need.

The Herald doesn’t quite get around to a key suggestion by Mayor Alvarez: that only members elected at large, by voters throughout the county, should be appointed to chair standing committees.

This measure will be fiercely resisted by special interests who have succeeded at political jerry-mandering in order to build fortified and permanent incumbencies in stronghold districts like Hialeah.

Voters should also embrace the recommendation for term limits, generous as they may be, by allowing the combination of eight years to a total of sixteen years, if elected to single district also to an at-large seat.

The Miami Herald article omits to mention this important part of Mayor Alvarez’ recommendations: that the Charter review committee should fully protect the right of citizens to petition the government by referendum—rights which have been diminished by new, hostile ordinances passed by the current county commission.

Good for Mayor Alvarez for drawing this bright line.

Mayor Alvarez is also right, in his recommendation to insulate the Property Appraiser from politics and to maintain the current positions of Tax Collector and Supervisor of Elections and Sheriff to be appointed, professional positions and not elected ones as suggested, mostly in spite by current county commissioners against the authority of the strong mayor approved by a majority of voters.

On ethics, the Mayor offers a slew of recommendations that would sharply curtail the role of lobbyists and prohibit fully paid county commissioners from taking compensation from entities that do business with the county.

The Miami Herald is spot on, highlighting the role of Miguel De Grandy—both on the charter review commission and a leading (if not, the leading) lobbyist and campaign fund-raiser for the dysfunctional majority of the County Commission.

The Herald notes that lobbyists don’t even bother to petition Mayor Alvarez—enough of a recommendation to earn my vote.

Today’s County Commission is a rigid, conformist status quo, as inflexible as the politburo.

With his recommendations, though, Mayor Alvarez and his staff prove that they know perfectly well what changes to the county charter can improve Miami-Dade County government. Let's hope the Miami Herald continues to report as the charter review commission proceeds in its tasks, toward public hearings.

I hope the Miami Herald and business leaders embrace what Mayor Alvarez and his staff have proposed, and that when the time comes for hearings on charter review commission recommendations, the public will raise its voice to appropriate decibel levels for change.