I always liked our Becky, she gets things done. She is a sucker for the spectrum in her dress, she always looks dazzling on the dais but this week Rebeca Sosa disappointed me. Can she still make the righteous move or has she been co-opted by the mayor?
We need Rebeca Sosa to remove Resoultion Item 160277 and replace it with the Executive Mayor Charter Change (or if she lost her cojones she needs to release the Executive Mayor item to another Commissioner). What am I talking about?
Rebeca Sosa has in the county pipeline a Charter Change Item to allow us a vote to repeal the Strong Mayor and return to the Executive Mayor form of government. But this item is STALLED. Probably on purpose. I have been calling about it for weeks.
With 160277, that Rebeca just put on the agenda, the Commission will reach their 3 Ballot items limit allowed. We don't really need this Charter Change Ms. Becky. We need to decide about the Executive Mayor vs. the Strong Mayor instead. We have a bully form of government we did not anticipate. Stupid us - we voted in haste to put a strong mayor in power and we got a bully mayor system instead.
You might not want to fuss with the bully Mayor Carlos Gimenez even though you are a woman of action, but maybe another Commissioner will.
So I most respectfully request that you release the Executive Mayor Resolution or MOVE ON IT and get rid of that stupid Item 160277 that is not in the least important to do. Is the Mayor pulling your strings?
I still love you Becky, but come on...all us political wonks know what is going on. We just don't know WHY.
4pm ---Her office called and assured me this is going to get done, that I should not despair. I will take them at their word. I doubt that they made a call, just to lie directly to me.
21 comments:
G,
You'll never meet bigger Bullies than Merrett Stierheim and George Burgess. At least you can vote a Mayor out of office.
The huge campaign contributions for the Mayor's race reported in the Herald today make it impossible to administer a massive bureaucracy without being political at all times. Metro needs a competent administrator and an elected leader - Commissioner Sosa should let us vote in November to change the Charter. No need to make it personal against Gimenez (too bad the Starbuck's lady hasn't run into him). Make the change effective on 2020. Give us hope, Commissioner Sosa!
Sosa is known as the queen of two faces. She plays both sides of the fence. She believes that makes her a player in every issue. She rarely takes a true leadership role and follows through. The mayor is just one of them.
And, how ironic- she always talks about listening to the voters but won't let the voters decide whether to vote on an executive mayor which completely does not work in Miami-dade. Let the people vote!
Could it be that her real motive s t make a play on eliminating term limits and is using this mayoral issue as a vehicle?
Sosa has never had much of a backbone and her keeping the issue from the voters is proof positive of that
How does term limits figure into this blog? And Sosa? Btw I talked to county staff members and they didn't think Burgess and Steirheim were the bullies that Gimenez is.
If she runs for Mayor someday in the future, she would want to be a strong mayor.
Burgess and Steirheim were County Managers and there was a checks and balances in county government. Now? Cubans say they hate tyrannical rulers, yet, it must feel comfortable, like the old country. Thus we have our own Miami version here.
Like it was said, if she's afraid to have the voters decide, let another commissioner sponsor the measure.
this is yet another example of why people are so disgusted with politicians, and government in general. Let the people's voice be hear- and adhered to.
I cannot believe that anyone would even remotely think that there is anyone worse than Gimenez in the "bully" arena. Gimenez is a bully extraordinaire, but even more dangerous, he believes he's the smartest guy out there. He rarely listens to advice, he doesn't follow his own rules, he is not transparent, he is narcissistic insecure person would is negatively affect our way of life.
Its long overdue-we need a competent professional to run the county.
Have we not learned anything? The strong Mayor concept has been a total failure since its inception here in Miami-Dade. give us the opportunity to vote!!!
Give us voice, or give us communism. Oh, wait! we almost have communism already
I take issue with the negative things being said about Rebeca Sosa. I know she will do the right thing in the end. She wouldn't say she was doing something and then not do it. I think she is under tremendous pressure from the mayor.
We don't really have a true "strong" mayor under the current system. It's much more of an "executive" mayor.
In a true strong mayor (executive) system, the commission (legislature) would not get to vote on specific items. They would not be voting, for example, on specific vendors at the airport.
Instead they would vote on legislation (rules, guidelines), and the mayor would have to follow those, but still ultimately decide which lucky vendor gets a license to print money at the airport.
The only argument for going back to the Commission-Manager form of government is for commissioners to have even more power over the budget. It's also a lot easier to fire the Manager than the Mayor with his $3.5 million (that we know about) and counting war chest.
IMHO the answer is to make the mayor's office stronger, with a true executive branch/legislative branch system.
8-year term limits also would help a lot on the commission.
We have 8 year term limits.
I worked for county government under Burgess, Steirheim, Shiver and Gimenez (and others). Burgess and Steirheim were not exactly bullies, they were aggressive and even pig-headed at times. But as one anonymous commenter stated, there were checks and balances on the Manager in those pre-Gimenez regimes that meant the process was at least more transparent and it was MUCH easier for county staff to try to influence decision-making in a more progressive and productive way.
I couldn't agree more with the other commenter that said Gimenez "believes he's the smartest guy out there. He rarely listens to advice, he doesn't follow his own rules, he is not transparent." I left county service specifically because of Gimenez and the way he manipulates the government processes and county departments to do what he wants. He immediately instituted a top-down management style the precluded the input of professional staff, starting with his reorganization of the county into 25 departments because of his "that's all the state had, and why would we need more" mindset.
He is the king of the quiet deal - think about him brokering to give the operation of Crandon golf course to Donald Trump or setting up a non-competitive land deal for the mega-mall developer. Yes, not all county staff are perfect, but there are quite a few dedicated professionals that are not able to help guide the county in an equitable and honest way that also fully complies with county code, ordinances and adopted policy. Frankly, working under the previous managers and occasionally delusional commissioners was much less soul-crushing than working for Gimenez.
Don't fail us Rebeca, you were one of the good ones.
Do we still have time for the petition drive we wanted to do in the first place? Maybe we can get Norman Braman to fund it.
Yes, we have 8-year term limits. I meant to say retroactive term limits.
I commend the former county employee who shed some light on the differences between the managers and Gimenez. The clear way the writer described the conditions under Gimenez is clear for us to understand. I personally never felt that Gimenez was a people person, so I never cared for him much. Now, after learning more each day and reading the former staffers' view, I will be actively working to replace him.
Ps. I never could understand why people who hate people become "leaders"
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