Miami Beach Has a New Forum for Residents to Speak Their Mind
By Lee Molloy
Upstairs at the Van Dyke Café on Lincoln Road, in a space usually frequented by lovers of cool jazz, a group of politically-aware residents met for the first time on Wednesday, Feb. 24. They gathered there to engage Miami Beach City Manager Jorge Gonzalez in conversation ranging from the state of the city budget to the number of police officers on the streets.
Close to 60 Miami Beach residents, including former Commissioner Judge Marty Shapiro, Board of Adjustment Member Sherry Roberts and Planning Board Member Daniel Veitia, were in attendance at the inaugural meeting of the Civic Circle — a self-proclaimed “appreciative advocacy” group, the goal of which, according to founder David Nemitz is, “to sustain what is excellent, to enhance what is good, and to frustrate what is truly foolish.”
A former real estate investor, Nemitz now uses his skills as a Toastmaster to help others in speech writing and creating effective presentations. After attending the Miami Beach Leadership Academy (a free course designed to help citizens learn about city government) Nemitz had an idea.
He realized that there were many concerned residents who should combine their efforts to “create a sense of community” and do positive, proactive work in the city, he says. “The citizens may be focusing at times on things that are pissing them off — If all you see is what’s wrong, it is hard to feel good about where you live,” Nemitz told The Lead. “Most of the time we spend our lives reactive. If you don’t want your house to stink of garbage, you just take it out before it starts stinking.”
Of course, the Civic Circle is not an entirely new idea. For years, concerned Miami Beach residents have been able to hold their civic leaders’ feet to the fire with probing questions at the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club held each week at David’s Café II on Meridian Avenue. Although Nemitz thinks the Breakfast Club is great, he does see one small flaw in the current format.
“It’s too early in the morning,” he says. “I don’t want to get up at 8 a.m. and most of my friends are never going to go at that time of the morning either.”
Another reason for having a meeting over cocktails is that Nemitz wanted to create a forum that appeals to a younger generation. “I’d like to make it cool, or at least interesting,” he told The Lead. “A lot of people think that it requires a whole bunch of money to be involved [in community activism], and most young people feel they don’t have the money, but they are more than happy to donate their time.”
Breakfast Club moderator David Kelsey is happy to see a new kid on the block. “The more you can get city and county officials out to speak to you informally and allow questions to be asked,” he says, “has to be considered beneficial.”
Attorney Jonathan Kroner attended the first Civic Circle event. “A lot of people have a tough time knocking-off work on a Tuesday Morning” to attend the Breakfast Club, he said. At the Civic Circle meetings, however, people “can have a beer or a glass of wine instead of a cup of coffee — it’s a different flavor,” Kroner said.
The next meeting of the Civic Circle will be upstairs at the Van Dyke Café, 846 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 17. Dirk Desouza will be the guest speaker. According to the Civic Circle’s website at civiccircle.org, Desouza has directed millions of dollars in supplies and manpower to aid in recovery efforts in Haiti. |
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Miami Beach Assistant Chief of Police Ray Martinez. Photo courtesy of Howard Kaufman |
Chief Concerns
Assistant Chief of Police Addresses Issues Facing the Miami Beach Police Department
By Lee Molloy
In front of a packed house at the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club on March 2, Miami Beach Assistant Chief of Police Ray Martinez addressed some hot topics on the minds of all citizens - crime in their city in a faltering economy.
Martinez, whose appearance at the Breakfast Club fell on his wedding anniversary, has been in law enforcement since 1979, previously serving as a motorcycle cop and as Assistant Chief of Police for the City of Miami before coming to Miami Beach in 2001 to take on his current position.
The ongoing negotiations between the City and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) regarding pay and pensions was one of the first subjects he was confronted with.
“It’s a long, tedious process,” Martinez said. “Both sides are working towards getting this resolved.” He further commented that even at the best of times, pay negotiations are not easy, although he could not go into further detail as some labor relation negotiations are a closed process until finalized.
Martinez addressed the recent decision of the FOP to stop volunteering for off-duty work assignments for more than two weeks coinciding with the Pro Bowl, Super Bowl and other events.
As well as special events, off-duty assignments may include working as a security guard for private businesses. These assignments must be authorized in advance, and the cost is paid directly to the city. The officers make $30 per hour for such assignments — the city makes $10 per hour. However, the money earned does not count towards the police officer’s salary when calculating pensions.
According to Martinez, the decision of the union to refuse to perform off-duty overtime “put the police department in a bit of a predicament,” he said. “We had to scramble, but in the end we got through.”
Martinez explained that the city had to bring in officers from the Florida Highway Patrol and the Miami-Dade Police Department to ensure there were enough officers on the street to maintain safety levels.
FOP President Alex Bello, in attendance, presented the rationale of the union.
“It wasn’t a boycott, it wasn’t a strike, we just didn’t volunteer,” Bello said. “We feel we are unappreciated.”
According to Bello, officers are often called upon to respond to problems that arise when they are on off-duty assignments. “This city depends on off-duty officers,” he said.
Bello also pointed out that because officers on desk duty were being used for street jobs and not doing their own work, “the city was not functioning the way it was supposed to function,” he said.
Breakfast Club moderator David Kelsey asked Martinez if it was true that Miami Beach Police Department officers are the highest paid in the state.
“Traditionally Miami Beach has been generous in compensation,” Martinez said, adding that officers contribute 10 percent of their pay towards their pension plans — more than in other cities. “In general, they’re all pretty equal,” he said.
Martinez then addressed citizen’s concerns that there were now less officers on the streets of Miami Beach. He explained that when he joined the department in 2001 there were 381 sworn officers on the payroll, and that three years ago, the budget allowed for 403 officers. “We never did get to 403,” he said. Currently, the department has a budget for 370 officers, but only 367 are on board.
“It makes our job a lot easier, the more officers we have,” Martinez said. But now the department has to “work a little smarter, and do things a little more efficiently.”
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