Friday, January 30, 2009

Frank Wolland: What were you thinking? By Geniusofdespair

I think the Munisport property (now Biscayne Landing) is cursed. It has been a source of problems for the City of North Miami for as long as I can remember. This ethics investigation on Frank Wolland as reported by Channel 6 is yet another chapter that the property has generated. Frank Wolland is running again for Mayor of North Miami and this can't help his campaign one bit.

Michael Swerdlow again rears his ugly head in this saga of $270,000...to be continued when I can stop puking. And it is not just Frank, it is the people who are after him, that make me sick too...the campaign managers on the other side for instance. There is plenty of dirt and money from the Biscayne Landing deal to go around in North Miami that has touched a lot more people than just Frank. Let's see how the ethics investigation shakes out before we throw him under the bus.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Frank is a good guy. Elections are dirty. I'm withholding judgement until more information is known.

There are some dirty players in North Miami, Frank was, and I don't believe is one of them.

Anonymous said...

I agree. Frank has always been a standup guy.

Anonymous said...

At least Frank did not receive any of this money himself. It was all put into a bank account handled by a very honest person for the good on North Miami and its citizens.

Anonymous said...

M is Mensa.

Geniusofdespair said...

Yes Mensa you are right about that. HOWEVER...was it given to his CHARITIES to shut him up from giving Biscayne Landing a hard time? Frank wanted a regional park on the site and pushed hard for this. EVEN if you are doing good things with the money (like the county commissioners who distribute discretionary funds) it is actually not his money, nor the county commissions' money to give. In Frank's case was he getting money to do something (keep quiet?). That is wrong. I can't imagine under what circumstance getting the money was right...even if it went to good bonafide charities.

Anonymous said...

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!! Wolland is as evil as they come. This was "shut up" money. Swerdlow was being shaken down by everyone...and I mean EVERYONE. Look at North Miami Housing. Andre Pierre made a ton of money off that. Joe Celestine got a boat load. A lot of "nonprofits" got a ton, too. EVERYONE had their hands out. Frank is a garden variety type shyster. And so is the Rabbi. If this weren't so pathetic, it'd be falling down laughing.

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh, Celestine, a blast from the past. A Gov. Bush backed used car salesman crying the race card every chance he could. Did he ever end up in jail? If not, who is he shaking down now?

Anonymous said...

Celestine is running for Mayor!
Pierre is running for Mayor!
Wolland is running for Mayor!

And you're telling me all their hands are dirty? Quel surprise.

Can anyone tell me about Beverly Hilton who is also running for Mayor? Are her hands dirty?

happygirl said...

shut him up about what? If you think there is something to shut someone up about, did you do your civic duty? Is there something wrong with charities? Oh and by -the -way, while it may seem cool to use random French expressions, spelling them correctly might lend some small credibility. Again, pretty poor stuff, trying to find something dirty about a person who wants to help the little guy, receiving no personal gain. What a place we live in. Very sad.

Geniusofdespair said...

Happy Girl - let me remind you: Spelling does not count on this blog. You might want to help the little guy, but taking money from a developer doing business with the city you hold office in -- is suspect. This isn't Robin Hood stuff here. How did Frank get in the middle of it?

Anonymous said...

This is really funny stuff! I know five people whose legal work Frank did for FREE (some of these cases have taken years by the way). I know someone whose wedding he paid for. This guy is now accused of stealing?

Obviously, no one making these accusations has ever been to the NM City Council meetings, where for years as city clerk Frank argued against decisions which were obviously bad for the majority of citizens but good for a privileged few. That IS Robin Hood stuff!

Oh, and I agree about the misspelling. You write in French to try to seem more intellectual... and then misspell? Très ironique.

Anonymous said...

I have always liked Frank...but I am going to wait till the investigation concludes before making a judgment.

Anonymous said...

Frank is an honest and hard working man. He served on the city council as a council member, as mayor, and now as clerk. Most importantly, in all that time his hands have been completely clean and he has done an exceptional job. As someone previously mentioned, what’s wrong with charity?
Moving forward, let’s weigh this out. This is the only blemish (if it can even be called that) on Mr. Wolland’s political career. He has done nothing else even remotely wrong or selfish. Look at our current mayor, Mr. Burns, who has tried to lengthen his own term of service AND successfully raised his pay. Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t Mr. Wolland only receive $4,000 a year for being mayor, Mr. Burns now receives $66,000… This speaks for itself as a simple statement of character; Frank Wolland is a man of the people and an honest and good man and he will be receiving my vote in the coming election.
In reply to the person who said this was “shut up money”, if that were the case why didn’t Frank actually get any? He and the Rabbi have every dollar accounted for and none of it went into their pockets.

Anonymous said...

Frank Wolland is as clean as they come. This money didn't concern the city in any way shape or form. It is almost unbelievable that when a politician goes out of his way to help people (mind you not a single person is accusing Wolland of using the money to benefit himself or friends) the opposition will instigate an "ethics investigation". At the end of the day, this Biscayne Landing project was going to happen and if Mr. Wolland was able to secure some benevolent funds from the deal to ensure that members of the community realized value from this deal as well then kudos to him and he surely has my vote and should have all of yours too.

Anonymous said...

Well, now that the season is once again upon us, let's start examining what all these mayoral candidates have accomplished for the good people of North Miami. Since this blog is about Wolland, let's ask an obvious question. Can Wolland detail and make public all the good stuff he did for North Miami when he held a council seat? And Geniusofdespair's question goes unanswered: and I quote:"taking money from a developer doing business with the city you hold office in -- is suspect. This isn't Robin Hood stuff here. How did Frank get in the middle of it?" Let the game begin...

Anonymous said...

Appreciative citizen said...

(mind you not a single person is accusing Wolland of using the money to benefit himself or friends)

Perhaps the doling out of the money to certain parties will curry favor for their endorsement and/or vote. I dunno...if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

Jeff Burnside said...

Readers of this blog will be interested to know that NBC 6 is scheduled to broadcast a significant update on this story tonight at either 6pm or 7pm.

Jeff Burnside
Investigative Reporter
NBC 6 Miami
954-622-6192
jeff.burnside@nbc.com

Al Kaplan said...

I've known Frank going back decades and served on the N.M. Planning Comission with him. I doubt that he's taken any more kick-backs and bribes than I have, and my score is zero. I guess some public officials do shake down developers but I've never been offered a bribe. Frank has my vote.

Anonymous said...

Frank Wolland was cleared of all these accusations by the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission. You can read their letter which declares the matter closed at Frank's Web site: www.Wolland.com

Turns out, this was a ploy by local developers to dirty up Frank before he shined the light on them. They thought by simply complaining, the Commission wouldn't act fast and they could beat Frank at the polls.

Good thing they were wrong. Kudos to the Commission for smelling the crap and clearing it up immediately.

Read the Commission's letter at www.Wolland.com - scroll to the bottom of the page and there is a link to download.

Thanks and best wishes to Eye on Miami and their readers!