The Vote in Palmetto Bay. by Guest Blogger Miamigal

We need not concern ourselves much about the rights of property if we faithfully observe the rights of persons ---- Calvin Coolidge

Palmetto Bay voted. The winners were the residents of the village on all four questions. The loser is the private school business community which will have to work with the neighbors. To highlight the 2 big questions:

Question 1 invited the community to dump that mitigation albatross. For Palmetto Bay, this means the end of mitigation – and return of $1.7 million per year back to Palmetto Bay. Mitigation was the blood money the Village community had to pay to the county to allow the people to vote on having its own municipal government.

Question 3's Campaign literature put out by those in opposition to the question, was volatile and emotional. It created quite a stir in the Village and a rift in the surrounding communities. This question was about allowing neighbors of existing (or future) private schools to have input in enrollment increases. It encouraged schools: to work with their neighbors to ensure that any expansion was reasonable and compatible with the neighborhood and Village. More than once, Village residents have faced private school expansions without having their concerns addressed before the design plans were announced. Oftentimes, the neighbors and Village were the last to know what was going to be affecting their quality of life.

There will be grousing and grumbling on the part of private school parents throughout Miami Dade County, for that is where most of Palmetto Bay’s private school students live. There will probably be legal challenges in the near future.

The good news is that the private schools (aka: private educational businesses) who have always been good neighbors will continue to be good neighbors and the community will respond in kind.

As always, there is the bad news and that will be that the Darth Vaders of the private school world (aka: private educational businesses). Their efforts will result in the community and the Village government spending more time and money on defense against poorly planned designs.

Today’s winning vote on Question 3 was the result of Village citizen’s astuteness along with a community of committed individuals who deeply believe that people living in a community have rights. The political spin thrown out by the 501 c 3 was as close to the line as any non-profit dare tread without endangering their status.

In this case, what leaders in this school setting taught the students, was that money used to promote borderline unethical tactics and deceptive campaign flyers is okay. Let's hope that the ethically challenged spin does not start again so that students can be left with the lesson that it does not work. This week the school miscalculation is digested, but soon the spin-doctors convene.