Gonzolo Sanabria: the inconvenient truth ... by gimleteye

Gonzolo Sanabria is a candidate for Coral Gables City Commission in the upcoming April municipal election. There are many, many reasons for voters to vote against him.

Firstly, Sanabria was a loyalist in the battle to pump up the housing bubble in Miami-Dade County. He served as a former chairman and director of the Latin Builders Association, a director of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, an appointee on the Miami Dade transportation agency, MDX, and for many years on the Miami-Dade Planning Advisory Board. In view of the costs of the economic crisis this status quo led us into, why would anyone vote for him? (please click, 'read more')

Although there were legions of insiders, like Sanabria, whose aggregate influence pushed common sense off the page during the housing boom; his role as a real estate speculator and developer promoting development on an important county board is a record that voters must understand: this is not a case where Sanabria can disavow claims to have had no role, or only a small one, or only as a by-stander to the economic disaster unfolding through unsustainable development.

The Planning Advisory Board for the county, where Sanabria was not only a reliable pro-growth vote but often a loud and insistent leader, is a crucial step on the way to county commission votes on development applications. As such, the Planning Advisory Board imposed massive risk on Miami-Dade citizens and taxpayers. There are any number of ways to describe that risk: risk to wetlands, risk to drinking water aquifers, risk to surrounding communities whose traffic patterns are immediately impacted by new developments, risks to the base cost of infrastructure that impose huge new burdens on taxpayers, and last but certainly not lease: the risk that overdevelopment would overwhelm demand.

This outcome does have a name and address: during the boom every construction and development interest in Miami-Dade was given a free pass to drive in the fast lane, or-- in a manner of speaking-- to blow through manatee protection zones.

When so many citizens attempted to express and convince decision-makers otherwise-- insiders like Gonzolo Sanabria had the final word. They believe, now, that they can say whatever they want to-- or ignore the inconvenient truth--, in part because there is a reasonable chance no one remembers or cares to look back at history.

In recently mailed campaign literature, Sanabria claims that he will "run (Coral Gables) as a business". But as the chairman of the Planning Advisory Board, he --repeatedly and often--failed to use sound fiscal prudence to decide whether or not to halt the reckless oversupply of housing and commercial real estate supply. The crowd in which he traveled included other builders, developers and speculators who believed, like former chairman of the Latin Builders, Willy Bermello, who wrote in the Herald in 2005, "This bubble is not latex. It is made of stainless steel".

Today Sanabria claims, in his campaign literature, that he will "take hold of uncontrolled growth". Yet he profited mightily from uncontrolled growth. On the Planning Advisory Board, Sanabria was frequently dismissive of development critics. It is beyond the pale to claim, as his campaign literature does, that he will "treat residents and taxpayers as shareholders."

How is that possible? In a recent report in the Tampa Tribune, a Sanabria development in Hillsborough County tried to bulldoze citizen opposition focused around traffic congestion. ("A Developer Drops Idea for Office and Retail Complex", Tampa Tribune, ) "Jordan Lewis, president of the Charleston Corners homeowners association said, "We're not opposing that the piece of property be developed. We just want the property to remain semipublic, keeping with the understanding that homeowners were presented with when we purchased our homes." ("Residents oppose the plan, and economics make profitability uncertain", St. Pete Times, )

In so far as his stated claim to "protect our green spaces"; it's all well and good when he voted to blow through protections afforded by the Urban Development Boundary just like blowing through a manatee protection zone. (07/10/2007, Judge Flora E. Seff. Gonzolo Sanabria).

Finally, what else is there to say about his claim: "Coral Gables needs an experienced and proven economist on the city commission" except to look at the past record leading to the present misery in the economy and recall the famous quip: “The only function of economists is to make astrologists look respectable.”

While on the Planning Advisory Board, Sanabria often resorted to the argument, in support of development requests, that environmental laws and regulations ensure that our wetlands, our shared water, and other natural resources are protected: the record proves how very wrong that record is. Read "Paving Paradise: Florida's vanishing wetlands": Sanabria should have read this book, before scattering his green signs over Coral Gables.

Those signs remind me of toothy beasts concealed in the clothing of lambs, of leopards painting over their spots, of people claiming environmental regulations work while blowing past them in no-speed zones. Beware.