Why Be On the Up and Up, When Getting Way Down and Really Dirty Works Better? Annexation. Or Not.

Yesterday turns out to have been a most interesting day.  At first, it was only disgusting and infuriating, and we couldn't appreciate how really interesting it was.

The County Commission meeting was scheduled to start at 9:30 AM.  I was advised that they really never start on time.  But I got there at 9:00 anyway.

Sure enough, there's way more milling around than respect for people's time, and the meeting did not start until around 10:00.  Boy, do they love their presentations down at the County Commission.  They take lots, and lots, of time with them.  Eventually, they get to the actual business of the meeting.

They allowed speakers for the first issue, which was the County's TRIM.  Everyone gets two minutes to speak, which doesn't sound like much, until you find out how many people want two minutes each.  My day job started at about 2:15 PM yesterday, and I had to prepare for it, so I left at 12:45.  The County Commission had heard the last of the TRIM speakers, but it hadn't yet deliberated about the matter.  So I have no idea what the maximum TRIM was said to be.  It might not be accurate anyway, since it can be lowered after the maximum was set.

At some point (I didn't ask when), the County Commission was ready for item 5B on the Agenda: the BP annexation application.  We were able to go forward with it, because our application was complete, it was no longer contested (since CNM withdrew by a Council vote of 4-1, with Carol Keys dissenting), and we had a sponsor.  Our own regional County Commissioner, Sally Heyman, was pleased and eager to advocate for our annexation.  Not only that, but we heard through some version of the grapevine that there were six more County Commissioners who were disposed in our favor.

What I'm about to describe is based on what other people who remained at the meeting told me, as well as what I learned in talking to Sally Heyman today.  I asked Sally if what she told me was to be off the record, and she said absolutely not.  I said I supposed she did not want her name used, and she told me to use it freely.

David Coviello made our opening presentation, explaining what this was about (as if County Commissioners didn't already well know).  I'm told by at least three people, including Sally Heyman, that his presentation was excellent and impressive.  David was given 8-9 minutes to make our case.

At that point, the Chair of the County Commission, Jean Monestime, suddenly realized there were dignitaries, or something, in the audience, and he decided it would be better to interrupt the BP issue, and introduce the dignitaries.  One observer found this digression to be very disturbing, and he felt the Chair seemed almost to want to throw the presentation off course.  After Chairman Monestime finished playing with his guests, he allowed the meeting to return to the issue at hand.  Several other presentations from representatives of BP (including Heidi Siegel, who I'm told did a wonderful job advocating for us) followed, and the feeling was that the issues had been adequately spelled out.

On the "other side" was a collection of people.  Our own Steve Bernard told the County Commission he had collected 23 (twenty-three, not 2300, and not 230) signatures which he said were from BP residents who did not favor annexation.  CNM Councilperson Carol Keys presented several assertions that both Sally Heyman and CNM's own attorney(!) had to repudiate, because they were false.  Chuck Ross told her the same thing, and she just stared at him.  Also in the room, taking up a large portion of the room, more than any other presence in the room, was an army of people wearing identical red tee shirts.  The shirts said something like "Vote NO Biscayne Park Annexation" on the front, and something like "Concerned Citizens of North Miami" on the back.  The fact is, none of us knew who these people were.  They didn't speak, but the person who spoke for them was the developer or owner of one of the apartment complexes in the annexation area.  He didn't want his taxes to go up.  After the meeting, those people were seen being given "vouchers" and treated to a bus ride to who knows where.  Back under whatever rock they came from, no doubt.

At the end of all of this (who knew it was just a charade?), Sally Heyman made "the motion:" she moved to approve our annexation application.  Amazingly, there was no second. Going once, going twice, motion dies for lack of a second.  And Jean Monestime quickly ditched any further consideration or questioning.

We didn't know this was all a joke.  Sally Heyman didn't know it was a joke.  But Jean Monestime and the rest of the County Commission knew it was a joke.  I called Sally to ask what the joke was about.  I figured she must know by now.  She did.

Sally was apologetic for what happened, and she was appreciative of all the time and dedication we expended for this annexation effort.  She said everyone did a great job.  Yeah, but why did no one even second your motion?   We heard six others besides you were in favor.  Where were they?  Well, Sally explained, County Commission elections are coming up.  Not for her, though, since she has apparently termed out.  But the people running aren't termed out.  They want to get re-elected.  They need to advertise themselves.  They need...money.  The lobbyist for the developer was there, and he had greased plenty of palms.  Sally confided in me (but she allowed me to tell you this) that they gave money to her in the past, too.  But she says her vote (for us) is not for sale.  That kind of ethic is evidently not universal.

So that's what happened to our application.  It was bought away from us by someone who didn't want his profit margin encroached upon.  Ain't that just the way?