Yes, there are always some things you don't like about any politician's voting record but you have to put it in perspective. You have to be open to agree to disagree on some issues. I disagreed with County Mayor Alvarez on the Stadium funding. But wasn't it one of his more stupid campaign promises? He delivered, not for me but for the constituents he made this promise to. It wasn't one of his better moments in my eyes but would I 'recall' him for it? Hell no! And I wouldn't 'recall' him for raises to staff either: Small potatoes. The biggest thing that he has done wrong in my opinion: Not fire Burgess, but that is a judgment call. You 'recall' for systematic egregious errors in judgment, unethical behavior, or a consistent record of bad votes that do not benefit the interest of the people. Otherwise you wait and vote them out of office. I would only 'recall' the likes of Natacha Seijas, Michelle Spence-Jones and Dorrin Rolle (maybe Pepe Diaz and Joe Martinez too). They have all done little good, had serious ethical lapses and have consistently voted poorly on most important issues. I don't like other Commissioners but I don't think they have earned a recall.
Here is my top 10 of good things that Mayor Alvarez has done that I think overshadows by far any of the bad:
1. He is basically an ethical guy. A straight shooting x-cop. Honesty is numero uno for me.
2. He consistently supported holding the Urban Development Boundary. He used the bully pulpit and vetoed boundary moving votes by the County Commission. He understands growth management.
3. He supports efforts to address global warming/climate change. He has an environmental awareness that I admire greatly.
4. He pulled the Dade-Collier Jetport asset evaluation report presentation off the agenda until the recommendations in the report were properly vetted by him. He had serious concerns with items in the report such as rock mining and drilling. Thank you Carlos Alvarez for that!
5. The MIC-Earlington Heights connector is out of the ground, the first major Metrorail expansion in more than 20 years.
6. He was honest enough to tell us that the People Transportation Plan was over-promised by that lame-brain Penelas. The former Mayor manipulated the residents to vote for the tax increase with phony promises of mass transit. I didn't vote for it because I am never suckered in by phony promises. It wasn't very popular for Alvarez to break the news to constituents, but he told the truth.
7. The South Terminal at the airport is open. North Terminal is moving after years of standstill. The Mayor's office says that it is the largest airport capital improvement project in the world. Don't really care about the airport but some of you might.
8. The Mayor aggressively went after economic stimulus dollars. So far $578 million applied for and nearly $230 million awarded. He got us a fair share now lets see if we can get some jobs created with the money.
9. The Mayor is seeking concessions from unions in these difficult economic times with collective bargaining.
10. Crime is down countywide. The German tourists must be happy.
I can't figure out why gadfly, Lazaro Gonzalez, is doing the 'recall'. His vendetta seems to stem from the salary increases to the Mayor's staff. Lazaro said to the Mayor in his emails, the people "are tired of you." Not a good reason for a 'recall'. He blames the Mayor for unemployment and foreclosures. In fact, he seems to blame the Mayor for everything wrong with the County. I respectfully disagree, I blame the County Commission for most boondoggles and I told Lazaro so (he hung up on me). I think the Mayor is one of the only things that is almost right with the County. Besides, who is going to replace Carlos Alvarez? That is my deepest fear. Impending doom hinges on Lazaro. Fail Lazaro, fail.
26 comments:
Im not gonna sign it. But the one of the biggest letdowns in my eye is that he didn't deliver on his strong Mayor status.
Firing Burgess was not a judgment call. It was his duty,
Why have a strong Mayor that still has a City Manager who has assistant City Managers etc etc etc.
If he didn't think he was up to snuff then he shouldn't have done it.
Well bowl me over with a feather!
I'm glad somebody is looking past what are essentially "small potatoes" (as you called them). This Mayor has been Head-and-Shoulders above what we had before. There's no articles about how all his buddies running rough-shot all over the Airport. No more Masvidals, No more Oscar whateverhisnamewas, No more Stackhouse.
Maybe folks don't agree with him keeping Burgess, but to the best of my account, Penelas went through 5 County Managers in 8 years. Kind of hard to have any consistency with that going on. But maybe that was Penelas' Plan. Maneuver within the chaos.
Alvarez has kept the County moving forward despite irresponsible budgetary decisions from Tallahassee and a tanking economy. It was easy for "America's Sexiest Mayor" to keep everyone happy and quiet when the County had more money than they knew what to do with.
Alvarez' worst trait, he might be politically tone deaf. Well isn't that what you guys wanted? Weren't you sick of the consummate glad-handing slick politicians just telling you what you want to hear?
And don't give me this crap that Alvarez has his own lobbyist cronies, they're just under the radar. The Herald is more familiar with Alvarez than his proctologist.
The Mayor is a victim of a general dissatisfaction of Government at all levels. Charlie Crist, just 1 year ago had the highest job rating of any Governor in Florida's History. Now he might lose his own Primary. President Obama, fresh of a Nobel Peace Prize has seen his approval rating slip 25 points. Congress has an approval rating lower than Bin Laden.
People are just ticked off in general, and they want someone to blame for their irresponsible decisions to buy 2 $600,000 homes on a $55,000 salary.
Sure some of us are disappointed that maybe the guy hasn't used his Strong Mayor Powers like Wyatt Earp, but he is not recall worthy.
m
Actually, thanks FOR ONCE Moderate. You touched on some things I should have mentioned....like the county manager fiasco with Penelas.
Regarding two of the Mayor's major lapses: Morales and Burgess, he is loyal to a fault. Cutting both of these dead-weights would have been the right move. Now it is too late. I understand family loyalty but not carried over into business.
Just like Tiger Woods' personal life is a distraction from his professional life, I see the Morales scandal as just a distraction from the Mayor, not a good distraction. Cut him loose Mayor.
I might sign it then again I might not, genius you gave great reasons to NOT recall Carlos but the mindset on the 29th floor including that of Carlos alvarez is all wrong in the face of the current crisis. His loyalty is strictly to county employees and his staff he doesn't give a rats ass about taxpayers (which is where his concerns should lie)much like most of the schmucks on the commission. The only reason I may not sign is because LG doesn't seem to have a clue and it would be another bill taxpayers would have to pay for.
Cato, he does care about taxpayers. He cut big with his proposed budget, including that dumb-ass cattle show for instance. I thought the budget cuts helped taxpayers, the commissioners put a lot of what he cut back in.
Ps. taxes didn't go up. As to Burgess, that is the only MAJOR let down. Burgess is toxic.
It's ridiculous to put forth the labor and expense on a special recall election for an office that will be open in 1 1/2 years. Instead the effort should go toward finding and supporting a quality candidate to follow Alvarez and replace several commissioners.
Alvarez reminds me of Bill Clinton. Tremendous opportunity squandered by not addressing his personal faults. In Carlos's case, he is an insider by any definition and did nothing to broaden his administration. Virtually everyone who works for him is an insider, too. He is a department director by training and mindset so he runs the county like one. His minions report through his deputies and better not violate the chain of command. The result is isolation and surprise when the minions don't live up to his personal ethical standards. Carlos, like Clinton, had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to implement historic reforms; instead he took a pass and focused on minutiae. It hurts to write about it.
I will not sign any petition against the Mayor. While I do not support the Marlins and scratch my head as to why Burgess has been given so much power, I recall the Mayor in his first term standing firmly in support of Hold the Line.
To me, that goes a long way. We don't have to like everything he does, but he does take strong positions whether politically correct or not.
All these comments point to needing better quality leaders; but where are we going to find them, and if we find them, how to elect them? It doesn't appear the candidates lining up to replace Alvarez are better, and they are likely going to be worse. Vote for the least worst?
Mr. Genius, i must respectfully disagree. In fact, my post today is the polar opposite of what you have written. I do commend you for taking the time to research facts that many have forgotten or never if heard of.
However, while I agree that the biggest fear of recalling the Mayor is his replacement, I don't believe we can reward Mr. Alvarez's actions any further.
You mentioned that you believe the mayor's recent actions have been "small potatoes", but I disagree.
Best case scenario is that he is incompetent. I don't believe giving raises is unethical, but giving raises hours after you gave a "tighten our belts" speech is. You propose to cut employee salaries yet retroactive raises for your staff that will lessen the blow when he puts on a show for the tax payers.
I also wonder if the results for the ongoing probes regarding Mr. Morales' leave will change your opinion.
Again, best case scenario is incompetence. How does the mayor defend his actions one day, and literally condem them the next day.
I invite you to read my blog (if you have time) to analize my opinion further.
The one thing I believe we both agree on is that there has to be a major sweep of all the commissioners. I would like to leave you with this thought: you may not believe a recall is the answer, but I do think it sends a strong message to the next mayor that the constituents ARE paying attention and expect their leaders to be fair and ethical. Thank you for your time.
I regret to have to disagree with the blogger. The salary increases and support for the stadium are reasons enough to wipe off any good Mayor Carlos Alvarez might have done. He needs to be recalled. The people of this county need to send a message loud and clear that we will not accept this anymore. Now, I would not doubt that Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina is behind some of the bad publicity Alvarez is currently receiving because he himself might want to run for the post in the very near future. I'm not saying he is, I'm just saying I wouldn't doubt it, so in that case, Alvarez might be a better choice, but either way we have to clean house.
Genious you might feel different if it was your salary being cut, while his staff gets raises, and gets paid while working for someone else.
He spent his first term doing not much of anything except trying to get strong mayor pushed thru, now the real failure is not that he didnt get rid of Burgess but that he couldnt run the county without him and he knows it, so why spend all that time and effort on strong mayor.
You're right there is no big item to recall him on but all the small potatoes as you call them have broken the camels back.
It would send a message to the rest of the comission the people have had enough.
M ~
While Carlos may have done many things, he didn't exactly lose his tendency for nepotism when he left the police department, did he? He has had an unbelievable number of people who have had their family members working on staff with them. At times it looked that he was running a 2 for 1 hiring special...
Carlos has chosen to circle the wagons and keep people who did not have the community's interest at heart closest to him. If his staff was totally engaged with being the best professional staff they could be, they would not be moonlighting on the side. And they certainly would pay attention to what is best for the mayor.
Unless, of course, the mayor himself sets the tone for his loyal staff to follow, and in that case, he is not so bright.
Casting away sinners doesn't turn you into a saint. The sacrificing of staff will not influence the recall. If a person is inclined to sign the petition, at this point firing half the county staff would not make a difference in that decision...Wait. He started that back in October...
Anyway, mayor has been surrounded with people who didn't give a damn about him or the county. It is apparent and that stinks for us. He has some arrogant self-serving people in his life. I just hope he didn't set the pace with his behavior and that they simply followed along.
But, M, I am sure you know the the underbelly of the 29th floor better than most...
PS:
I will not sign the petition either. His being pitched out of office does not change the damage done by his sucky attitude. What it would do, would impact the county like a train slamming into a brick wall.
Good observation in the postscript.
Carlos Alvarez and George Burgess ramming the flawed and possibly illegal Marlins "deal" down the throats of the taxpayers is reason enough to remove or indict both men.
Carlos Alvarez and George Burgess has been making themselves rich at the expense of the taxpayers for so many decades they have no idea of the "private sector".
Indict them both.
Stupidity looms...in the commentary.
If we don't at least go through the recall process for Alvarez, he and other politicians will believe they can do anything they want without consequences. Alvarez needs to feel at least a little pain for his arrogance and his abuse of the government to benefit his friends. I will sign this petition in a heartbeat.
P.S. Genius, from your ultra pro-Alvarez commentary it appears you are now angling for a "Matt Pinzur-type" patronage job with the Alvarez administration. Am I correct?
Neo - you will recall we already went through a recall process with Natacha Seijas...and it didn't do anything to teach anyone a lesson. You don't recall to teach a lesson to others about consequences... It is like having 3 children and one is really bad, so you punish the mediocre kid to teach the bad kid a lesson. That is what is going on.
Lazaro is recalling the WRONG PERSON. That is my beef. The Mayor has done less wrong -- and a lot more good -- than at least 10 of the commissioners.
And, Yep I am looking to get the job of Expresso servant to the commissioners...need that $35,000 a year.
Will someone please tell everyone where to get the petition so we can all sign it. We need to prove a point at the local level and Nationally.
Thanks ,
D
every last one of you have no idea what you are talking about. Y ou don't have first hand experience on what's really going on behind the scene untill you do stop posting things that you don't know anything about. I guess you were a bush voter.
You last poster don't know anything either. You never read this blog before so how can you comment on us...Bush Voters yep, that is us. I don't have to have first hand experience to know that a recall is serious stuff and shouldn't be thrown at someone that doesn't deserve it when there are people that do deserve to be recalled all around him.
yes i did read this blog you want to make it seem like alvarez isn't doing anything wrong. i have first hand experience on what he is doing. do more research before you post a blog. i work for miami dade so i really know whats going on and it is not nice. remember he makes all the decisions now look at what he has done to our transit system it sucks not to mention taking peoples pay then giving it to people in his circle. tell me this how can you pay a secretary 6 figuresonly because she works for you but every where else they only get $35,000. do you think thats right.
Yes lets support a public transit system that 10 people west of 27th avenue actually use. As opposed to the stadium which will bring in jobs and further revenue from concerts and other events. Ditch this petition.
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