Sunday, September 23, 2018

Well, I Met the Candidates.


Today, there was an informal meet the candidates gathering at the recreation center.  This gathering had an odd history.  It started as an announcement from Dan Samaria, seeming to suggest that all the candidates would be there.  Someone else to whom I was speaking thought Dan was arranging this only for himself.  What I heard was that the other candidates learned about it, and each of them backed out.  David Raymond seemed to say he and someone else had something to do with acting as go-betweens or mediators/negotiators, and finally, all five candidates showed up.

Manny Espinoza's table was first for me, because it was on my right, and closest when I walked in.  Manny and his wife were there, and they had by far the best food.  Very nicely catered.  Manny was interacting with his neighbors, and he was decked out in his Manny Espinoza for Commission tee shirt, which was comfortably faded from five years ago.  Manny was smiling and confident.  I asked him where he was all this time, since he has had no visibility at all in the neighborhood, and he explained that he had been too busy working to attend meetings, or anything else.  I pointed out that he wasn't too busy to run for office in 2013, but he stuck to his story.  He's offering to apply his accounting skills to looking over the Village's books, to find all the fat that no one else has found.  I tried to argue with him, but that was his position.

Jared and Nicole Susi were catercorner across the room.  They had nice food, too.  I've already seen Jared's offerings, as in this blog, and I didn't ask him anything further.  One woman in attendance said she didn't like Jared and Nicole, or she was mad at them, because Nicole referred to herself as a "Code NAZI," and said anyone who can't keep up with Code-required maintenance should move to a tent out in the country, and the woman believes it is Nicole who answers for Jared in places like Nextdoor.  She thinks Jared is sort of a fake candidate, and what we're really being offered is Nicole.  San Pellegrino water?  That's a bit rich for an event like this.  I don't drink water that expensive, so I didn't take one.

I didn't approach Dan Samaria, because I was too busy talking to other people, but Dan approached me.  He wanted either to correct me or to scold me for being concerned that Tracy Truppman would have undue influence over him.  Dan says he will reach his own conclusions in advance of meetings, and he won't change them, unless someone gives him an argument that makes better sense than what he came up with himself.

I didn't speak to Will Tudor.  I've watched him for two years, and I get it.  Chuck Ross has been telling me he thinks Will is faintly, if mostly imperceptibly, independent of Tracy, but I don't see it in any way that counts.  Dan Keys gave me a version of the same argument at the event today, but it's hard to tell when Dan is providing real insight, or when he's just being contrary.  He's always being contrary, and I can't tell when I should take him seriously.  He did give me one or two examples of what he considered Will's actual independence, but I didn't buy it.

The interesting, and prolonged, conversation was with Betsy Wise.  She's very crafty, and she's an excellent verbal dancer.  She's also very engaging.  She's charming and delightful.  Nothing she said made any sense, but it was a real pleasure to talk to her.  I really like her.  The question I kept asking her, which I think was the question Chuck asked her, and probably other people did, too, was how to juxtapose her complete absence from anything to do with the Village, with her sudden idea that it would be great if she were a Commissioner, and that she'd be a very good one.  She talked about her "skill set," which seemed mostly to do with "branding," and how she would quickly come to understand the issues and figure out how to be an effective Commissioner, essentially on the fly.  As we talked about it, and it seemed she saw what I meant by my concern, she said maybe I thought it was what she called "arrogant" for her to make this decision.  I reassured her that that's precisely what I was thinking, and that that was the word that came to my mind, too.  So here's what happens when Betsy Wise gets crafty in conversation.  She says, with what I guess is supposed to sound like humility, that she leaves it up to the voters to decide if she can be trusted with a seat at the Commission table, and she would fully accept it if they decided she couldn't.  Which is deeply disingenuous and manipulative, in a charming and self-deprecating way, since of course she would have to accept it.  She couldn't commandeer a seat at the Commission table, if she didn't win.  But my concern wasn't what would be her problem, if she didn't win.  It was what would be our problem, if she did.  The other thing I brought up in our conversation was the idea that she is a Truppman stooge, conscripted either by Tracy or by Jenny.  (The latter was the rumor I heard.)  Betsy assured me she had only spoken to Tracy twice before she decided to run, and to Jenny only twice before she decided.  She meant to reassure me that she didn't have long connections with them.  But it left the question as to why she would have had two conversations with each of them before she decided to run.  As she herself was trying to suggest, it's not like they were long time friends or acquaintances.  And she said she's only spoken to Tracy maybe a half dozen times since she declared.  I asked her how many Commission meetings she's attended since she declared, and stayed for the whole meeting.  As best I could figure out, it sounded like the answer was one.  Which is a little odd, since I don't commonly miss Commission meetings, and I've never seen her at any of them.  But maybe one of the few I missed was the one she attended.

So today didn't solve any problems.  Very nice cold cuts and cheeses, empanadas, and desserts, though.  And it was very sweet of Rosemary Wais to make decaf, just for me.


29 comments:

  1. These next couple of years aren't going to be pretty. :-/

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  2. Thanks Fred for your feedback its always appreciated. Here is where I am with this whole thing.
    Jared is a very smart, detailed oriented guy who really cares about this community and has shown it by volunteering to be P&Z board. Jared and Nicole are always the first ones to jump in when there is a need for fundraising or just simply helping so he has our vote.
    Manny I didn't know and invited him and his wife over to our home to meet personally. Yes you are correct about the lack of involvement and that should always be a concern but here is what I found. Manny is also a very smart man who has spent all of his career in accounting having worked for Price waterhouse and other accounting firms. He does bring with him a skill set that I believe can and will be beneficial that we do not currently have, he also has our vote.
    The 3rd votes the wild card!
    Will Tudor I invited to our home to meet with him personally and he told me 3 times he was coming and all 3 times he never showed. I was intending on giving him the benefit of the doubt and wanted to try to get a fresh start but if he cannot nor will not meet with me persoanlly I cannot in good conscience vote for him.
    Betsy Wise had by far the most attention at that meet and greet, perhaps it was because no one had ever heard of her and I am in that camp. I sent her an email and she was very nice and responded quickly, I told her I would love to spend a few minutes discussing the issues that are important to me and she said she would be happy to at the meet and greet. I stood by waiting and waiting but she was simply surrounded and I couldn't get a word in so I did not get to speak to her but I have serious concerns about her relationships with Jenny and the current Mayor. She also mentions fair code enforcement and all that means is more weak code enforcement. For those reasons we will not vote for her.
    Dan is Dan need I say more. Dan I believe has his heart in the right place and really does want whats best for our community and simply for that he will also have our vote this go around. I for one will keep him on his toes and will call him out when necessary, I hope he understands what he is getting into. I am willing to help him if he needs it and will allow it.
    So there it is, thats my position on this election God help us all!

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    1. Art, one thing I would add about Manny-- and I heard him discuss this with me yesterday-- is that he uses private sector language about the public sector. That is, he thinks that because he knows private business accounting, then public municipality accounting is the same thing. It is not. I tried to suggest this to him, and he sort of acknowledged that this was so, but he relies on what he knows. The whole theory of revenues and expenses in the public sector is very different from what it is in the private sector. The aims are different. And I'm not even counting the difference in rules.

      Betsy appears not to have convinced you, and she didn't convince me, either. And let me say again, I really liked talking to Betsy. I felt that she was a very nice and delightful person. If I wanted a new friend, I'd want Betsy. But I was there yesterday looking for a new Commissioner. Betsy did not impress me that way. And maybe she'd be great. Maybe after a few years learning and working the Village, she'd know the ropes enough to be very effective. Maybe. For now, she offers "branding." It's a nice word. Very trendy. Do we need "branding?" Is that up there on our list? I think the people who complain about "cut-throughs" and similar attention to the Village might say we don't want branding. We want anonymity. Betsy herself wants to close off streets. Apparently, she wants this either because her friend Sandor Scher wants it, or because she doesn't like the traffic in her own street. But she lives across from the recreation center, so she can't avoid traffic, and lots of it.

      We have begun to establish a kind of branding. We have a collection of public art pieces. I'm not sure Betsy ever contributed to any of that. But she's welcome to. We have horrible-looking medians. What a "brand" interesting medians would be for us. Betsy might do herself and the rest of us a favor to start out on P&P, and get Dan Keys to do something about the medians. But the 0-100 of where Betsy has functioned as a BP resident, then to becoming a Commissioner, with no perspective or background? I don't think so.

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  3. Nicole Susi posted on Nextdoor.com that she walks around the neighborhood and takes notes of code violations (!) and then follows up with code if the issues haven't been addressed in a timely manner(!).

    While this is bad enough as a private citizen, it's would be worse as the wife of a commssioner.

    We need codes and we have someone paid for code enforcement, but no one wants to be ratted out by their neighbors.

    Brian Picardi

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    1. Brian, you don't like Nicole's style and her approach. Fair enough. And you're right that we pay someone to do this. But we have one Commissioner, who controls the entire Commission, and she doesn't want Code enforcement. She appears to have made clear to the manager and to the Code officer that Codes are largely not to be enforced. So maybe we do need someone like Nicole. And Jared. Although I do get it: you don't like Nicole's style.

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    2. Brian philosophically I would love to agree with you. Would be wonderful if we had a large enough code staff that they, and they alone, handled (and solved) all code issues. But - just like with the police they can't be everywhere and see everything. Example - right now we basically have at most a part time code officer. Hence just like with police where we are told if we see something say something the same needs to happen with code. We shouldn't shoot the messenger. I don't expect to see eye to eye on all issues with any elected official but I would much rather cast my vote and take my chances on someone who from the time they moved to our community got involved by volunteering, joining boards, raising money, coming to meetings so they are hearing first hand of the issues and interacting with residents, someone who does their homework. I'm just not predisposed to taking my chances with someone who will be flying blind and making things up as they go along. Commissioners make too many important decisions that affect our lives and our future for me to go that route.

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    3. I couldn't disagree more, Janey. The last thing I want is to be reporting on my neighbors and I certainly don't want my neighbors reporting on me.

      If you think the village code officer isn't up to the task then you should petition local government to provide more resources to that department.

      Having a nice place to live is about more than clean roofs and proper landscaping; it's also about being compassionate and friendly toward one another.

      Having residents walking around and taking notes and photos and reporting them to government doesn't improve overall quality of life. In fact, it does the opposite.

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    4. Brian, I think in a way, you and Janey are talking about two different things. In that sense, it's possible you're both right. And I'm not even sure you disagree with each other.

      I think we can all agree that the Codes, and compliance with them, are important. They represent the rules for a good and appealing neighborhood, and many of us want that.

      The other issue is how to register non-compliance, and who might be the person who notes and reports it. Janey is thinking of the advantage of having more eyes, and you're pointing out the problem of what neighbors ratting out neighbors does to community dynamics. You're absolutely correct about that, Brian. We could think of our own actual history, when Ed Burke was a one man government, and he gave out variances himself. Or he withheld them, depending on whether he wanted to do you a favor. Or more recently, when Sira Ramos was a Village resident, AND our Code officer, and some people thought she cited or didn't cite, depending on whether she liked you. More recently than that, we had Noah Jacobs and the crew, who tried subtly to advocate for anyone who wanted relief from the Codes, because they themselves had no pride of property, and they didn't want anyone else demanded of, either. And we have the exact same problem now, with Tracy, Jenny, and Will.

      The point is that when these things get outside the dispassion of a hired Code officer, and are transferred to people who have other considerations, it gets very messy, and social cohesion suffers.

      So there are really two issues now. One is whether or not we have enough Code officers. I would say that's debatable. The fact that we have infractions that are not resolved doesn't mean there aren't enough officers. There's a serious bottleneck, and it is not too few Code officers. It's that we can identify and cite something, but there's little or nothing we can do to force the homeowner to make the corrections. The other issue is the interference of elected officials in the process. Right now, we have a worse version of what we had with Jacobs. Jacobs was reactive. If someone complained they didn't want to follow the Code, Jacobs would advocate subtly for them to be relieved of the responsibility. Tracy is intensely hands-on, and she has replaced all Village government with herself. She more actively directs whom to spare and whom to indict. She's like what anyone said was wrong with having a Code officer who was also a resident here, on steroids. This leads to using the concept of Code compliance as a weapon of war. We have that going on right now, but I'm not yet released to blog about it. If and when I am given permission, I will.

      Anyway, I agree with both your and Janey's points. And I suspect that if Janey thought fully about it, she'd see why you're right, even though she's very frustrated, as we all are.

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  4. Sounds like a good opportunity to meet the candidates. So sorry I didn’t know about it, would have enjoyed the interaction and the San Pellegrino.

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  5. Something to add, Jared Susi is the only candidate who will be donating the commissioner salary, if elected, back to Biscayne Park.

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  6. Victoria, if you’d like to meet one on one with Jared, I will send him with San Pellegrino, as it in the color theme with campaign & most importantly it was on sale at Costco LOL.

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  7. Fred you know the woman was me Uta Nichts you wrote: "One woman in attendance said she didn't like Jared and Nicole, or she was mad at them, because Nicole referred to herself as a "Code NAZI," and said anyone who can't keep up with Code-required maintenance should move to a tent out in the country, and the woman believes it is Nicole who answers for Jared in places like Nextdoor. She thinks Jared is sort of a fake candidate" had introduced myself to you. So for the future you write about me. Name me by my Name. I stand behind my words. I have to really laugh about Jared wants to donate his $2000 if it is true that he had cost the village a lot of money due to this poor bathroom renovation at the rec center, making so many mistakes that it had cost the village double but I will asked for those records to be correct. If the Susi Family would be not so shady and would be transparent and not had deleted their mean nasty posts on next door neigbor I would have some respect for tbem

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    1. Sorry didn't want to post as unknown my name is Uta Nichts

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    2. Uta, great to hear from you. And thanks for your comments and elaboration. I did not until now know your last name, but I would not have given your name anyway, since I did not ask your permission to relay what you told me. But you were outspoken about it, and you told it to me in a public place, among other people, so I felt it was permissible to repeat it. But now, you're also releasing me to quote you by name, if I quote you at all, and I will. But I'll most likely ask you first, if I'm going to use your name.

      Obviously, you should vote for whoever you think will make the best Commissioner, based on whatever are your reasons, but here's an angle you can consider. If you're that mad at Jared, and you think he cost the Village money, you might want to vote for him. If he's good for his word, he will repay us either $4000 or $8000 ($2000, PER YEAR), depending on the length of term he might win. Let that be a lesson to him.

      I'm shocked to learn people can delete their own comments on Nextdoor. Can they really? Well, I'm positive they can't delete someone else's comments. If it feels to you like an important illustration of what Jared and Nicole are like, you can quote them yourself, to the best of your memory of what they deleted, in your own comments. They might debate what you said, or say you got it wrong, but that's what comment threads are for. I'm no longer on Nextdoor, so I didn't see any of this. If I was, and I did see it, and I knew you to be right, I'd back you up.

      But although Jared and/or Nicole may have said things you didn't like, we have a Commission election coming in about five weeks. There are five candidates. We're going to get three of them as Commissioners. Our job, as Village residents who aren't running for Commission, is to choose the best three out of the five. If you feel strongly that Jared Susi would not make a good Commissioner, or not as good as three others who are running now, then don't vote for him. Choose the three you think will be better Commissioners. Try to choose three people you think will be level-headed, focused on the welfare of Biscayne Park, honest, and effective. The Park has a collection of problems, and you/we want Commissioners who will work to improve things. If Jared Susi is at the bottom of your list, choose three of the other four, who you think will do a better job for us.

      By the way, I'm glad you were able to see this post, especially since I referenced you anonymously. But how did you know the blog and this post were here? I don't have contact information for you, so I didn't send you an announcement of the post when it was new. I'm delighted to do that, and if you give me information, I'll make note of it. Write to me at fredjonasmd@gmail.com, and let me know your e-mail address, and any other contact information you want me to have. I'll put you on the e-mail circulation for new post announcements. I don't know how else people come to know about this blog and new posts. There's something called Feedspot that logs this blog, but I don't know how they know about it, or to whom they send announcements.

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    3. Uta,
      I would like to refresh your memory of our encounter at the meet and greet event this past Saturday. You waited to about 15 minutes before the end of the meeting to approach me. And after we introduced ourselves to each other, Nicole (my wife) was taking a rest behind the table as we had been setting up and meeting with all our neighbors for since 11am, you "DEMANDED an apology from her." Of which Nicole responded that "she thought that you two had already come to a resolution via private message." As to facilitate a civil conversation, I proceeded to move between you and my wife, so she could sit down and take a rest. Instead of letting it go, you continued your verbal attack on my wife over my shoulder until, I had a chance to say "Nicole is not running for commissioner, I am, and I would like to talk to you about my goals for the future of our village." And because you had to get the last word in on the subject, you said, “Maybe SHE should be running for commissioner.” Being the level headed supportive wife Nicole is, she bit her tongue and sat resting, while other lovely neighbors approached her and spoke to them.
      While we spoke about my goals, your hardball questions were answered over the course of the next 15 minutes and your neighbors that were standing next to you seemed to be excited and relieved that I was running for commissioner. From where I was standing, something didn’t add up as to why you were so furious with my wife and me, but that was answered rather quickly when Nicole and I were cleaning up. After the meet and Greet, I was returning our items to the car to go home and get ready to start walking our village to campaign. I noticed you, a former commissioner, and an elected official of our village (I am not going to state names) a report back or maybe a planning of an attack just outside of the recreation center…. I will let our neighbors come to their own conclusions after hearing both sides and viewing your comments.
      As for you had to laugh about me donating my salary, Yes, I am going to donate my salary to the foundation for a specific project. I have not determined what project I would be donating it to, but I would prefer to see it go to a beautification project or a capital improvement that would be around for years to come for all our village to enjoy. Now on to the subject that most of the village has forgotten, chosen to block from their memory, or just saying, hey it in the past and let’s move forward; the bathroom renovation at the recreation center in 2014.

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    4. The bathroom renovation at the Ed Burke Recreation center was, let’s say, the proverbial opening of a can of worms. I was first approached to perform this project by village staff as they were having trouble receiving enough bids from contractors to perform the work. I had already poured concrete for the village as a donation for some art around the village that served as the base for mounting sculptures. My family construction business and I submitted a labor only bid with the understanding that there were no hidden surprises, of which the proposal was approved by the current village administration at the time and recommended for approval to the then current commission. We received the award notice by, the then current village manager, and our proposal was signed as it was for $5000 and below certain city thresholds to have a vendor sign a city contract (first time our company has ever worked like that with an incorporated municipality), but I submitted a fair price and I thought I was going to be able to get the work done rapidly, efficiently, and with good quality. Let me just state, the village manager also made us commit to a one-week timeline. So, the proposal was signed and executed by the village manager and I had my crews start with the demolition.
      During the demolition, my crews started removing the existing tile. That’s where the can started to show its real teeth. My crew removed one layer of tile, just to find another and another. After the 3 layers of tile came down, my crews where instructed to stop tearing down tile and just install the tile the way they can over the existing tile utilizing the materials they had available to them supplied by the village. There were multiple representatives from the village giving my crews direction and not one point of contact. After informing the village representatives that we are not designers nor material suppliers for this project, they said “just make it work, there is no extra money for this project.” There were already more expenses than expected with dumping fees as this was not in our proposal and the village did not want to spend more money. Even with the extra work to demo tiles my crews were able to finish the bathroom renovation within the 7-day timeline stipulated, but the materials did not cure. The grout and thin-set used to adhere, and finish tile never finished drying. This was caused by high humidity levels caused by no A/C vents in the bathroom. The combination of high humidity and no drying aid from air conditioning, caused the tile to shift and slide down the wall. That is when the village administration contacted us to see what could be done to fix these issues.
      My company set a meeting with the village manager and we met at the jobsite. This meeting occurred one afternoon, where the then village manager, could not control herself and proceeded to send us to hell and back, cursing and yelling in the small restrooms. All of this occurred with afterschool care children where playing outside of the restrooms. Even though, we endured the onslaught and verbal abuse by a village representative, our company and I wanted to make things right by the village. We agreed to a small change order for us to re-demo all the way down to the wood studs and continue starting anew. This small change order did not cover our expenses, but we came to the agreement and began working again.

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    5. This time around, after removing all tiles, and all drywall materials. It was found that the exterior walls where not insulated and there were leaks from an attached planter outside causing mold inside. I performed additional waterproofing/carpentry/ R-5 insulation/new subfloor/moving of plumbing all at the cost of my family company and my sweat equity. All in all, my company’s total hard cost without overhead or profit to do the project correctly was over $10,000.00.
      I was originally contracted for $5,000 + $1,200.00 new drywall change order + $500.00 planter waterproofing change order for a total cost of $6,700.00 paid to my family construction company. Even though the project took longer than expected and cost the village a more money in materials, I would say that the village received a good product and paid pennies on the dollar. Be my guest and ask any construction company to price the renovation project out with the scope of work that we performed. I will let you decide whether my family company treated the village fairly. From being in the construction industry, I can tell you this. During renovations of 50-80 year old buildings, one is bound to find a hidden condition or two, but, during this one, it was especially surprising.
      With all this experience under our belts, both the village and me. I want the village to have set policies and plans in place before construction projects are even contracted. I hope I have answered all your questions and shed light on this project.

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    6. Sorry everyone for the poor formatting of my response, as the blog has certain limits on the amount of characters that could be posted.

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  8. Krishan fired the only full-time Code Officer without having anyone to fill her position. The only other code officer is part-time and says that she is an “educator.” Biscayne Park needs all the help it can get with its physical appearance. Especially when we have a Mayor who clearly has no respect for the job of code enforcement. Not to mention a village manager who is her supine lap dog.

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  10. I should also mention that I moved to Miami from the Midwest almost 5 years ago. Nicole and Jared are two of the kindest and friendliest people I have met since moving to South Florida. They have invited us into their home, introduced us to their friends and family and in general, have been the best neighbors we could have hoped for. I wish there were more people in Biscayne Park who were as caring, friendly and put forth as much effort to improve the community we all live in.

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    1. By the way, Dan, I forgot to mention that it's not Uta you have to convince that Nicole shouldn't be characterized that way. It was reportedly Nicole herself who described her as a "Code NAZI." She's demanding and strident, possibly a bit harsh, about certain things, and she's happy to admit it. I personally like her, too, and I'm not complaining about her, um, enthusiasm. I welcome it.

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  11. Brian states: “If you think the village code officer isn't up to the task then you should petition local government to provide more resources to that department.”

    I agree 100%, Brian. When Krishan first started in his role as village manager, his excuse for lack of code enforcement in the village was that we didn’t have enough resources. I sent several emails to commissioners and lobbied them, on Krishans behalf, to hire a second code officer. Why our (strong) Village manager couldn’t lobby our commissioners on his own behalf, is a whole different issue. After several months of lobbying the commission, they finally hired a second, part-time code officer. Sadly, less than a year later, Krishan then fired the only full-time Code officer without any replacement in the works. So here we are, with one part time code officer, which is less code enforcement staff than when he started. Why Krishan has such a hard time hiring and retaining quality staff is yet another issue.

    Sadly, our mayor does not see the value in code enforcement, and our village manager doesn’t see anything that the mayor doesn’t want him to see. And for not seeing the things she doesn’t want him to see, the Mayor is currently lobbying to give him a $5000/ year raise, allowing her to fill the void in leadership left by an impotent manager.

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    1. Dan, you raise a number of issues, but several of them can be addressed by telling you you're picking on the wrong person. Krishan's only evident flaw is that he continues in this job. It's not his choice not to be independent of Tracy's domination. She won't allow it. She made an example of Sharon for a reason. Would Krishan be an effective manager, if Tracy would permit it? We don't have much of a way of knowing. If you want to withhold from him the benefit of the doubt, we could say he agrees to stay in his position, under the prevailing condition, because he thinks or knows he wouldn't really be a competent manager anyway, so why not just stay there, and let Tracy do all the work? I don't know that I believe this, but it's one way to answer the question (why does he stay and put up with this? Managers are typically petty autocrats themselves, they get competitive with the electeds, who often or always know less about municipal management than the professional managers do, and they would not stay in positions like the one Krishan tolerates. Tracy tries to unload too much of our money on Krishan, because she's compensating him for not letting him function, and for not publicly calling her out on this.) Anyway, please stop blaming Krishan for the way the job is being executed. It's not his fault. It's not his call. If you're frustrated or angry at Krishan, blame him for not quitting. Then, Tracy would have to find someone else to do her bidding. But that's all it's ever going to be.

      In my opinion, we do not need more than one Code officer. We have done very well in the past with one. One can identify all the problems, and issue all the necessary citations. Sira was very effective at it. So was Reggie. That's not the bottleneck here. The bottleneck is getting cited property-owners to do what they're supposed to do. Moe down the block from you is a perfect example. The problem is not that we don't know what his infractions are, or that he hasn't been cited. It's that he won't do anything, and we are limited in how forceful we can be. We can cite, we can apply penalties for non-compliance and non-response, and we can file liens. But we can't change the way his property looks. That happens years and decades later, when these properties get sold. If we had one Code officer dedicated to Moe's house, and one for each house in the Park, it wouldn't get more change to happen than happens now.

      It's not that Krishan, or a Code officer, or two of them, don't care or are what you call impotent. It's a Commission that doesn't value the Codes, or the neighborhood. And the inherent limitations of the process. And some neighbors who bought low, and did so because they have no ambition or interest, and are more devoted to saving money than they are to living in, and participating in creating, a nice neighborhood.

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    2. If Krishan can’t fulfill the duties of his job, which is defined as a strong village manager, he should resign. When someone can’t perform, I consider them to be impotent. If you want to blame that on Tracy, that’s your call, but I prefer to hold individuals accountable for their own behavior. Tracy has plenty of issues but I don’t blame her for Krishan not having a spine.

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  12. Dan, thank you for your kind words.

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  13. Nicole I totally echo what Dan said. And - it's unfortunate to see two people who have given so much of themselves to this community be on the receiving end of such pettiness. This is exactly why more people, solid, smart involved people, refuse to run for office here.

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  14. In efforts to shed perspective and humor
    Which was the original intent of
    Code “Nazi" , the term is used as an exaggeration of the excessively strict regimentation constantly demanded of its patrons.

    The term used as “Soup Nazi” in Seinfeld’s 7th season, episode 6. Jerry must choose between his girlfriend (Alexandra Wentworth) and a bowl of soup when a vendor (Larry Thomas) refuses to serve her.

    Link is for picture https://plus.google.com/+Seinfeld/posts/36PY9dozBAu

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  15. Miami Herald coverage of candidates: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article218927010.html

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