Who has the Cojones in the County to Call a Bail Out of the Frost Museum A Bad Move? By Geniusofdespair

Apparently the only two people with Cojones are Mary Cagel and Juan Zapata when it comes to calling out VERY BAD DEALS for County Residents.

I had many reservations about Mary Cagle our Inspector General, one of them being her close ties to Katherine Fenandez Rundle and our Ethics Commissioner. They are all out of the same office but Cagle surprised me in a good way with her recent report on bailing out the Science Museum. You must remember, the Science Museum has a good home near Vizcaya and if they needed more room, there was available space at the former MAM museum across from the history museum. Why did we spend millions of dollars to design and build the museum complex by the library only to leave it vacant? The Science Museum didn't have to build in Bicentennial Park. The Science Museum insisted on the move to the Park saying they would raise the funds. Apparently the Frost Couple came through with funds but not many others. Now we have to take care of the damn building.

From the Inspector General report:

OIG DUE DILIGENCE OF THE PROPOSED RESCUE PLAN

As it directly relates to the proposed agenda items, the County has been placed in an untenable position. After having approved the investment of $165 million, the County is now faced with the possible cessation of construction—and the degradation of its investment—due to the Museum’s fundraising shortfalls. The County’s initial investment represented 61% of the $270 million project. With the proposed increase of funding, the County’s investment will increase to $210 million or 69% of the revised $304.4 million project.

County Commissioner Juan Zapata has Cojones

 The vote was 11 to 1 at the County Commission to bail out the Science Museum, County Commissioner Juan Zapata was the only no vote, from the Miami Herald:

Commissioner Juan C. Zapata cast the lone no vote against the proposal. He said he wanted the administration scrutinized over the crisis, which saw Miami-Dade pay roughly $160 million to a construction project only to see Frost unable to provide the private dollars needed to finish it. “We didn’t get here by accident,” Zapata said.

To the rest of you commissioners: It is all Bullshit, we don't need your words we need you to protect our money with your vote. We get that you are all intimidated by Rich People like the Frosts but you are not on the Commission to make them happy and suck up to them. Instead you should have all been hopping angry like Juan especially in light of the OIG report:

This week, the county’s Inspector General office issued a report criticizing the Gimenez administration for allowing almost all of the county’s $165 million contribution to the museum to be spent while the Frost was allowed to save its private dollars until the end of the construction time line.

“What are we telling our kids if people do wrong acts and what we do is just bail them out?” school board member Raquel Regalado, who is challenging Gimenez in the 2016 mayoral race.