More About (Sc)Amazon

Today, someone sent me the following e-blast.  The #BlackOutBezos image is missing:

Today is Black Friday, the second busiest shopping day of the entire year.  Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is hoping to make billions of dollars between today and Cyber Monday, off of the work of thousands of warehouse employees across the country.   Warehouse workers at Amazon are twice as likely to be injured on the job than those in similar jobs.(1) Coronavirus cases are spiking but Amazon has ended its hazard pay and still does not have significant paid sick leave.(2) And while Bezos has made $70 billion since the start of the pandemic, warehouse employees in California aren't being paid wages competitive to where they live.(3) We're encouraging everyone to shop local this Black Friday and Cyber Monday in order to support local businesses and send a strong message to Bezos that we won't support his exploitation of warehouse workers.  Will you change your profile picture to our #BlackOutBezos image from today through Cyber Monday and help convince others to shop local? Here are instructions for how to change your profile picture for various social medias: Facebook Twitter Instagram Snapchat And just a reminder, here is what we’re asking of you: Sign our pledge to boycott Amazon on November 27 and 30 -- Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Instead, check out local businesses and Black Lives Matter's Black Xmas shopping page, and take advantage of local stores’ delivery and curbside pickup options. Share our #BlackOutBezos images (like the one above!) and our pledge form on social media and encourage your friends and family to shop local this season. Let your circles know about your favorite local shops, restaurants, and artisans they should visit and support instead of shopping Amazon by sharing our blog and social media posts. This holiday season, you can stand in courage and support your neighbors while sending a strong message to Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos: Stop exploiting for profit! Be sure to #BlackOutBezos this Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Will you change your profile picture to our #BlackOutBezos image? Yours in the fight against corporate power, Irene, along with Angela, Annie, Caitlin, Deepthi, Gabby, Jay, Lindsay, Molly, Raquel, and Scottie (the Courage team) Footnotes: 1. https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/amazon-responds-accusations-about-warehouse-worker-safety-shows-covid-19-changes/4Z664MLBDFAF3ASZ5SRKM4JDXU/ 2. https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-cuts-2-dollar-hazard-pay-bezos-150-billion-2020-6 3. https://observer.com/2020/07/billionaire-net-worth-gain-pandemic-amazon-tesla-facebook/#:~:text=Amazon%20CEO%20Jeff%20Bezos%2C%20for,business%20during%20the%20nationwide%20lockdown. Like what we do? Chip in to help fund the fight for a more progressive nation. Or find us on Facebook or Twitter.

The Question Was About Judi Hamelburg. We Now Have the Answer.

I didn't expect Judi to vote for Mac Kennedy for mayor.  Judi and Mac each like a lot of attention, and Mac not only eclipsed Judi in votes for Commissioner, but all Commissioners reportedly got several or many e-mails asking them to elect Mac.  Judi could not possibly have agreed to let herself be upstaged that way.   And Judi came in third, so the prospect of agreeing to Mac would have been pretty unceremonious.  So no, Judi was not going to go along with Art Gonzalez's nomination of Mac for mayor.

The Commission then had a tortured discussion about how to identify who would be the mayor.  This was mostly Mac's fault, because he couldn't accept that he was not elected.  He apparently did not see coming Judi's rebelliousness.  He can't possibly have imagined Ginny or Dan would vote for him.  He must have thought Art and Judi would.

I knew Judi couldn't support Mac for mayor, but I figured she'd compromise, and support Art.  But no, she went along with Ginny and Dan, and re-elected Ginny.  That's Ginny O'Halpin, who is incapable of starting a meeting on time, even when a quorum, or even all Commissioners, are there.  Ginny O'Halpin, who in all these months still doesn't know what kinds of votes have to be roll call, and which are by consensus.  Ginny O'Halpin, who still doesn't know that motions have to made and seconded, only after which discussion can occur.  Ginny O'Halpin, who is completely satisfied with gross incompetence in Village employees*, and who shirks actually doing anything, as if she was allergic to the idea.  Ginny O'Halpin, who has nothing to say about anything, and offers no initiatives.  If you attend Commission meetings, you know how frustrating this is.  That was Judi's idea of a good enough mayor.  If the minimum requirement of a mayor is to run a meeting, that's what Ginny can't do.  I didn't expect Judi to support Mac.  I expected her to support the Village.  My miscalculation.

We then entertained Gage Hartung's suggestion (Gage is our point man on this) that we join a suit against the FAA and its decision to allow a change in flight paths that disadvantages the nearby municipalities.  Attorney Ed Dion, who got his job by reassuring us that there's no municipal matter he hasn't dealt with, and whose "bench" is more than deep enough, immediately informed us that his firm doesn't know anything about this kind of matter, and we would have to hire some other lawyer to represent us.  How did we choose Ed Dion's firm over John Herin and Fox Rothchild?  You'll have to ask Ginny, Dan, and Will Tudor.

And that was pretty much it.  Another item or two delayed, and one or two no one wanted to deal with.  Judi Hamelburg did ask one question: how much did we pay for the acknowledgements (nice yard signs) of Halloween decoration winners?   The answer was nothing.  And after Judi was reassured these acknowledgements didn't cost anything, Dan Samaria asked the same question about winter holiday signs.  $195, because this time, Dan Schneiger didn't make them himself.  But they're reusable signs.  Momentous inquiries.

The final matter was Dan Samaria's attempt to combat what Tracy Truppman, Rebecca Rodriguez, and Krishan Manners, with the support of Jenny Johnson-Sardella, Dan's new friend, Will Tudor, and Betsy Wise did to him.  It's a little late, and Dan has lost complete track of who were his friends and who were his enemies, but presumably, it made Dan feel better to articulate it.  Although as Mac pointed out, an important piece of Dan's complaint was about Mac's announcing things, like upcoming Commission meetings, on Nextdoor.  Dan never explained why this bothered him.

Our new manager, Mario Diaz, was in attendance, and he participated helpfully in several discussions.

*One blog reader informed me privately that I will learn soon enough not only that Roseann Prado is highly competent, but that a mystery Village employee is the real Village Hall incompetent.  The reader did not reveal why Roseann, in her role either as Village clerk or as interim manager, did not do anything about the mystery bad apple.  But I'm to know that if I had any doubt about Roseann, I could not have been more wrong.

I Have a Mother, Too, You Know.

The iconic "mother" is quoted as saying "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all."

We had a Commission meeting tonight.  I wrote a blog post about it, and I've decided not to publish it.  Someone will only think I'm an inveterate complainer.  And probably think I'm making it up.  If you want to know what happened in this meeting, you can watch it for yourself when the recording comes out.

"(Sc)Amazon," Part...2?

Some years ago, I did a post about Amazon.  I called it (Sc)Amazon, because Amazon makes a lot of mischief, including ripping off its own Prime members.  And it's still at it.

Here's part of what Wikipedia says in its description of Amazon: "The company started as an online marketplace for books, but expanded to sell electronics, software, video games, apparel, furniture, food, toys, and jewelry...Amazon is known for its disruption of well-established industries through technical innovation and mass scale.  It is the world's largest online marketplace, AI assistant provider, live-streaming and cloud computing platform, as measured by revenue and market capitalization.  Amazon is the largest internet company by revenue in the world.  It is the second largest employer in the United States and one of the world's most valuable companies."

What's the problem, right?  Among other things, Wikipedia adds this: "The company has been criticized for various practices including technological surveillance overreach, a hypercompetitive and demanding work culture, tax avoidance, and for being anti-competitive."

And then, there's Wikipedia's "Controversies" section, which includes topics like "Environmental impact," "Selling counterfeit, unsafe, and discarded items," "Income taxes...Amazon paid no federal income taxes in the US in 2017 and 2018, and actually received tax refunds worth millions of dollars, despite recording several billion dollars in profits each year," "Opposition to trade unions," "Working conditions" (an extensive expose), and frankly many more areas of controversy.

And of course, there's the fact that Amazon, which works hard to pay little or literally no tax in this country (do you pay little or literally no income tax?  could this country get more revenue support for the things it does, or should do, from you, or from Amazon?), is a massive money-making machine, and its CEO is the richest person IN...THE...WORLD!  And not only do they make money sort of like an agio or commission on each sale, but they charge you a shipping fee.  Unless you're a Prime member, in which case they charge you a yearly membership, which keeps going up.  The last I heard, it's now about $120 a year.  And they need this for what?  To engorge one of the richest companies on earth, and further overstuff someone who is already the richest person on earth?

So, now, Amazon is expanding its attempt to dominate and destroy.  (Oh, that's not nice.  I should say "disrupt."  It's much more PC and au courant.)  It's entered the prescription medication business.  I haven't read enough about how it plans to go about being the biggest pharmaceutical provider there is (that's their scope of ambition), but my homepage this morning, before the stock market opened, already said Walgreens was leading the losers with an 11% loss in stock value.  That's just at the idea, before Amazon actually does anything.

You're thinking yeah, but I get what I want from Amazon, delivered promptly, and the prices seem pretty good.  True.  And let's forget for the moment that even at that, Amazon is ripping you off.  (The same general principle is true about any large and highly successful company.)  But try to look downstream, or downwind, of where you are, which is at your front door, taking in the package you just received from Amazon.  Amazon (again, just to take them as an example) charges you less than someone else might, because they pay less for whatever it is.  Whether it's Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Publix, or anyone, they get pricing, because they...negotiate...with producers.  (They beat them up, and they beat them down.)  If you're a Whole Foods shopper (I'm not), and if, as Amazon advertised when they bought Whole Foods, pricing there has dropped, someone is at the end of that line.  Maybe it's the "illegal immigrant" migrant agriculture worker of whom, if you're of a certain persuasion, you might not approve.  Would you like to try to live on what they make, for really long and hard days of work? Which quickly works its way around to indentured servitude?  This system doesn't happen without someone being taken advantage of.  According to the "Controversies" section of Wikipedia, it's a lot of someones who get taken advantage of.  And if you rely on anything from the public sector (that was just a rhetorical "if;" we all rely on the public sector), then you're among the people getting taken advantage of, apart from your shipping fee, or your Prime membership dues.

So now, at the cost of jobs at Walgreens, CVS, Publix, Navarro (CVS), Target, Walmart, and whoever else, Amazon is about to make you another offer it will seem hard to refuse.  Think it over.

Biscayne Park, I Heard You.

While (some of) the country wrests with election drama, our local results were official on election night and our new Fab Five Commission starts its term this Tuesday with the swearing-in of three commissioners (two new: Art Gonzalez and Judi Hamelburg; and one incumbent: me) followed by our first official meeting. The agenda is up (link below), and I’d like to say a few things about the election and provide a preview of the meeting, which will include a few important and other oddly interesting items. (Spoiler Alert: This might be my last post on Nextdoor and this blog if one of my fellow commissioners has his way.) At the end, please read my “call to action” to all residents.

Since the election, the current commission has held four meetings on timely topics that included the hiring of a village manager who starts on December 1. During that flurry of activity and since, I’ve had time to reflect on the election results, and I want to let you know that I heard this village loud and clear during the campaign and in the overwhelming victory you handed me. Not only did I get about 50% more votes than either of the other two fine folks who also got elected, but based on what I’ve been told I also got more votes than any commission ever, or at least since our election cycle was changed to coincide with regular elections. The results were shocking to me, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I was humbled to the point of tears on election night when my husband, Dan, and I sat on the sofa in our jammies and stared at my vote count on my phone. If that sounds akin to claims about inauguration crowd sizes, rest assured I don’t take the results as a "Mac Mandate." While BP voted me into my first full term by a landslide margin (must have been those flowers, Dan’s idea!), I don’t see a lovefest for me when I look at the numbers. Rather, I see a mandate about how residents expect commissioners to function: demonstrating passion for the position, being highly prepared and productive, and engaging with residents—actively reaching out to them rather than passively waiting for an email. I believe that’s how all elected officials should function anywhere but particularly here in our village of ¾ square mile with only 3,300 residents who entrust the commission with their collective quality of life and financial investment (the largest investment for many). Here’s how I know the election results are a numerical representation of those expectations rather than of me personally. Because I listened to you. I listened while serving a fill-in term that started in January and even more so while campaigning the past few months. We walked dogs together, and we met at the Plant Swap. We chatted on front porches and in front yards, and you kept me company while I pulled weeds in my front butterfly garden. We power-walked in the morning together and strolled after dinner. We emailed and texted and blogged and Whats App’d and sent messages through Nextdoor after you read my door hanger. I met your kids (one of whom seriously grilled me on hot topics) and snitched plant clippings from your yards. Those meetings weren’t all sunshine and rainbows, I can assure you! You challenged me on my current positions and read me the riot act about things this village hasn’t even touched. You pushed back on my personal style and told me to stop trying so damned hard. Some of you even told me you agree with me on basically nothing but would hold your nose and vote for me because of my passion for BP, our “Oasis in the Heart of Miami,” and for the high level of productivity that I demonstrate and expect from the full commission. So, BP, I heard you—loud and clear. You didn’t vote for me nearly as much as you voted for the potential of our village and for a passionate and productive commission to head us there. That’s what I promised in January for my first little fill-in term, and that’s what I promise again for the next four years. Please hold me to it. Hold the entire commission to that. Which leads me to the agenda for our first meeting on Tuesday after Art, Judi and I get sworn into office and take our seats on the commission alongside Dan and Ginny. Each new commission of five electeds has one opportunity to wipe the slate clean of past patterns and set its own fresh tone. Soon enough, we’ll be wrangling over issues and figuring out ways to compromise. But on Tuesday, I’m asking this new group to agree to a Statement of Principles, my agenda item #13a, in the interest of community-building for residents. These are non-binding and completely unenforceable, but a group of smart, caring commissioners should certainly be able to agree on overriding principles to guide us in our work. I’ll let you read my complete item if you like, but here are the main points: 1. We promise to actively engage with residents. 2. We promise to do our homework and bring fresh ideas to the commission. 3. We promise to act independently rather than “politically” in little factions. In contrast, you’ll also see item #11c (an actual “resolution,” which becomes binding after a commission vote) from Commissioner Dan Samaria with a title about “meeting procedures.” His explanation doesn’t have anything to do with commission meetings (perhaps that’s an error he’ll correct before the meeting), but he is asking the commission to discuss how I personally engage with residents on Nextdoor (and presumable on this blog and elsewhere). I’m not clear, based on Dan’s limited explanation, why he sees that as a problem or how a “resolution” to control my social media posts would even be legal (free speech and all that), but he does take specific umbrage at my reports on Nextdoor. (Dan’s certainly able to engage here if he chooses. I think he has a membership, and I think Ginny does too. I see Art and Judi on here rather frequently, which I hope doesn’t change.) In that resolution, Dan also wants to prevent commissioners from speaking to the attorney directly, which is provided for in our Charter. Part of our job IS to engage with the attorney outside of meetings to help us perform better at the meetings. I honestly don’t know what that’s all about, but I’m sure Dan will explain. I only hope this proposed resolution doesn’t introduce turmoil into a new commission before we even charge out of the gate. At this juncture with a new commission and a new manager all starting at the same time, we are primed for success. My unifying “Statement of Principles” falls farther down the agenda after Dan’s resolution. Finally, here’s a call to action to all residents before the meeting at 7p Tuesday. In addition to some “real” business (manager contract, FDOT/6th, FAA and those damned planes) and some soft stuff (new and improved holiday decorating contest!), this new commission will be tasked with selecting a mayor from among this group. The five new commissioners alone vote for a mayor. In addition to being a fully contributing commissioner, the mayor signs stuff and has some ceremonial duties—but s/he does run the commission meetings (hopefully in a fluid fashion) and has a responsibility to manage conversations and draw out the best from each commissioner, thereby setting the tone and regulating the productivity of the commission. The mayor does not relinquish commissioner responsibilities. Here in BP, residents don’t select the mayor directly, but you certainly have a voice in that important matter. Unfortunately, public comment falls on the agenda AFTER the mayoral selection, but you can communicate with commissioners prior to the meeting to share your opinions on who you think should helm the group for the next two years and why. I’ve listed our email addresses below. I, for one, look forward to hearing your opinion. I’m also available by phone today and Monday evening (305.213.5139), and I’ll be whacking at some gardens if you want to stop by and chat today. (To those who think the commissioner with the most votes “should” be mayor, please understand that’s not how things are decided per our Charter. While my election margin is significant, I’m not “owed” anything other than one of the five seats on the commission for the next four years. I will very passionately serve as mayor if the commission selects me, but let’s not fall back on tradition to fill that important role. I don’t play the “that’s how we’ve always done it” game.) Again, thanks, neighbors, for your votes of confidence for my passion and productivity as commissioner in BP. I see nothing but potential here in our “Oasis in the Heart of Miami,” and I promise to remain engaged with you in the coming years as we work as a community to achieve our potential. I look forward to working alongside Art, Dan, Ginny, and Judi and to help our new manager, Mario, execute our collective plan for success. Cheers to all the change in BP and nationwide! PS: On election day, I passed out packets of milkweed seeds to folks at the polls. Milkweed is so easy to grow (“weed”), and it attracts butterflies to your yard and provides a nursery for caterpillars, thereby promoting an ongoing circle of butterfly life! I have a whole bunch left over. Hit me up—I’m happy to share. Mac. Commissioner email addresses*, (alpha by first name): Art Gonzalez: usaart@yahoo.com Dan Samaria: dsamaria@biscayneparkfl.gov Ginny O’Halpin: vohalpin@biscayneparkfl.gov Judi Hamelburg: judisue@bellsouth.net MacDonald Kennedy: mkennedy@biscayneparkfl.gov *(Not sure if Art/Judi’s village emails are activated so I listed the emails from their online election paperwork.) https://www.biscayneparkfl.gov/index.asp?SEC=A482E78D-C7CA-4E86-BD0D-AA20BD7CDAEB&DE=606C5A23-53CC-492D-A9AE-C96D452B9AB3&Type=B_EV

These People Make Me Crazy.

Last week, one of my patients/clients/customers (whatever you want to call them) deposited into my bank account some money by Zelle.  But the amount didn't make sense.  It seemed like too much, and I wanted to understand for what (how many sessions; and I didn't remember how much I charge her -- what's her discount) she was paying me.  So I sent her a text message.  (Note to Self: You Know You Hate Text Messaging, So Don't Use It!)  That was last week, and I never heard back.  Nothing.

Yesterday, I got into a jam.  Something was going way over time, and my appointment with this same patient was coming up very soon, so I (stupidly) sent her another text message, to ask her if we could delay by an hour.  (E-mail takes longer and is unreliable, and I was on the phone with the other thing, so I couldn't call her.)  She didn't reply, but the logjam on the earlier disaster broke, and I didn't need the delay after all.  I sent yet another text message to say we were back on our original schedule.  I didn't hear back, but I no longer needed to.

Except she did not call (it's all virtual now) on time for her session, and I no longer knew what was going on.  (Except for the very disorganized and unreliable ones, I do not call patients to tell them they have an appointment, or to ask them why they're not there.  I'm their psychiatrist, not their parent.)  The exception I have made was when I had an office outside my home (which I no longer do), and I was there only for them, and if they were late, or not coming (but didn't call to tell me that), then I was sitting around wasting time that I needed to spend somewhere else doing something else.  So then, I would call.  Am I still expecting them soon, or can I leave?

I did finally hear from this patient, five minutes after our appointment time was over.  She would get back to me about the amount of the payment, she had been working outside (in Georgia) and lost track of time -- forgot about the appointment -- and had changed her phone number, but never told me about this.  So I was sending text messages to nowhere.

Anyway, why am I telling you this stupid story?

I've said this in an earlier post, and I'm going to repeat it: during the last week of qualifying for candidacy for the Commission, I sent Judi Hamelburg an e-mail.  I said I wanted to talk to her about something, and I gave her my phone number, which I'm pretty sure she already has anyway.  I did not hear back.  So, if I couldn't get a sense from her that she would make a good Commissioner, which was what I wanted her to reassure me she would, or at least could, then I was going to run.  We needed Tudor out, and I just wanted to know we could get a functional replacement.  If that was Judi, great.  It saves me time and trouble.  If not, then I have to step up.  But no; no word from Judi.  So I completed the process, and I ran.

Several weeks later, the idea of using this blog for an online Meet the Candidates event struck me.  It wouldn't be great, but it was as good as it was going to be.  I reached out to all the other candidates.  Mac and Art were all in.  I got nothing back from the William boys, but I wasn't surprised.  I was, however, surprised that I got nothing back, for a while, from Judi.  The "event" started, and then, I heard from Judi.  She wrote to me privately to say she works ("Some of us work" was how she put it), and she's too busy to be checking blog posts (and responding to her neighbors).  She then made one response, and she dropped out.  I should say that I corrected Judi.  I told her that it's not "some of us" who work.  It's all of us who work.   And I said it's not my job to tell her how to deal with her neighbors, but I suggested she either do the best she can, or enter a comment that she's too busy, and can't find the time to answer questions.

A few days ago, after the election, I wrote to all the "new" Commissioners -- as you know from the "Note To Self..." post -- and I asked all of them to consider giving careful and special attention to the medians.  I probably didn't expect a response from Ginny or Dan, who are disengaged anyway.  I got a response from Mac.  Nothing from Art, from whom I expected some sort of response.  And nothing from Judi.  She doesn't happen to like me?  Fine.  I wrote to her about my Village, our Village, her Village.  And she's now a Commissioner.  I want Judi to "rise to the occasion," as someone else put it.  I don't want strike three.  We've had a number of Commissioners who can't be bothered to respond to their neighbors/constituents.  It's not good.

Last night, we had two Commission meetings.  One was to hire a manager, who will work with Judi, and one of whose bosses Judi will be, and the other was to address a variance request.  It was denied, sent back for reworking, and it will come back, to the Commission of which Judi will be a member.  Judi was absent from both meetings.

We need Judi.  She needs to leave whatever orbit she's in, and get down here.  She has to respond to her neighbors.  She needs to show up.  We need her to make herself adaptive as a functioning part of a Commission.  She has to be a cog in a wheel now.  And if all of that doesn't happen, then we're back to spinning our wheels, and gradually continuing the decline we've been on for four years.

If you "know Judi" -- if you're a friend of hers -- please talk to her.  Reel her in.  Point her in this direction.  We really do need her.

Here Was My Choice for the Title of This Post:

My first thought was "Why Attend the Meeting When You Can Have the Stipend for Free?"  I thought of that title, because Will Tudor, once again, didn't attend the meeting.  Will's term is (mercifully) over, and he is more obvious than ever about not caring about the Village and the issues that affect it.

But that title is really just a punchline, and to use it doesn't require me to talk about any of the things that happened during these two Commission meetings.  (The first meeting was to talk briefly about the contract we want to offer to Mario Diaz to be our new manager, and the second meeting was about a variance.)

My second thought for a title was "The Queen is Retired: Long Serve the...King." There has never been, and there will never be, an elected official like Roxy Ross.  Tonight was her last business meeting.  She has given the Village all she has to give.  She has been intelligent beyond expectation -- seemingly beyond anyone's capacity -- she has been orderly, she has provided an unbelievable depth of perspective about any matter, she has been gentle, she has been compelling, she has been respectful when others were not respectful to her, and she has been relentless in advocating for the Village to be "A Better Place to Be."  (That's her slogan.)  She has raised the level of discourse, when others had the sense to follow her lead.  She's pure class.  And now, she's leaving the Commission.  She has made clear she's not coming back as a Commissioner.

But Mac Kennedy is here.  Boy, is he here.  He fills many parts of the gaping space left by Roxy's departure.  His breadth of consideration, and his incisive perspicacity, are more than impressive.  He's not subtle, and he'll fill a room.  But the quality of his contributions is overwhelming.  He nails every issue in a way that is reminiscent of Roxy Ross.  Like Roxy, there's nothing Mac hasn't thought of.  And also like Roxy, he's a deal-maker.  The variance request wasn't workable, but he encouraged the various parties, including the Village's P&Z board, to go back to various corners of the drawing board, and make some adjustments that could convert this unworkable offering to one that could fit nicely.  He made a couple of specific suggestions for how to fit the square peg into the round hole. It's not his job to solve everyone's problems.  But he likes to do that.  Mac thinks big.  And he thinks of everything.

Last week we sent Mac a message.  We gave him many more votes than we ever before gave any Commission candidate.  We thanked him for the several months he was on the Commission already, and we gave him the most extensive invitation we could to stay as long as he likes.  If we're smart, we'll keep doing that for Mac.  And for ourselves.

Did this meeting last too long?  Of course it did.  But it was a master class, and I'm glad I watched it.

Goodbye, Rox. And thank you.  And thanks, Mac, and welcome.  I assume Art Gonzalez was watching closely.  He was Zoomed in.  I hope he was taking notes.  I didn't see Judi Hamelburg in the audience tonight.

To Be Perfectly Frank, I'm Sick To Death of This.

It's not always the Biscayne Times, but often enough, it is.  A copy was left in my driveway this morning, and yup, they're at it again.  If the recent tag team of writers is Erik Bojnansky and John Dorschner (of former Miami Herald fame), it was JD's turn this time.  It seems no one can think of anything to say about BP without either lapsing into a rehashing of our past police problem, or frankly making that the whole focus.  And this is a problem that was recognized and dealt with, as best we possibly could.  Do we all wish the problem had never happened?  Of course we do.  But we deal with reality, not what-ifs, our fantasy lives, and utopian reveries.

The article was entitled "The Mess Left Behind by Dirty Cops," and the subhead was "Biscayne Park Police Corruption Legacy Lives On."  The main (intended?) point of the article was to talk about how damaging it is to be arrested for something, and the damage is gratuitous and cruel if the arrested person didn't even commit a crime, or there was little or no evidence that s/he did.  No one can disagree with that.

Did we have a bad culture in our police force during the few years in question?  Apparently so, or perhaps no doubt we did.  Dorschner has somehow named a few of most offending officers, but failed to turn up the name of Larry Churchman, who mysteriously has been able to fly under the radar during all of this.

The facts are these: we did wrong; all of us who are not on the police force didn't know we were doing wrong; the matter came to light (mercifully), and has been dealt with in the proper way, including incarceration of some police officers; innocent people have been hurt; we deeply regret all of that; some settlements have been arrived at, as Dorschner has the decency to point out.

As a partial aside, it's interesting that Dorschner's research led him to learn that in the past, the Village posted "Don't Even Think About Speeding" signs.  Many people who know nothing else about BP know about, and remember, those signs.  If those signs represented a statement of rigor, and a demand for safe driving, then the problems of which Dorschner writes, again and again and again, represent a grotesque caricature of ovepolicing.  I hope Dorschner won't be pleased to learn that the pendulum has swung the other way, so that what started out described as the righteous indignation of our current police Chief, Luis Cabrera, has also come to include the removal of those "Don't Even Think About Speeding" signs, and what many Village residents experience as underenforcement.  There's a small brigade of current Village residents who want the state to change 6th Avenue from four lanes to two in BP, because drivers drive too fast, and it seems to homeowners too dangerous.  Maybe with a little more enforcement, they wouldn't have to feel so imperiled on their own street.  (And I know perfectly well that BrambleWitch will say the speeding problem preceded Luis Cabrera, which it did.  Almost all of our speeding tickets have always been issued on 6th Avenue.  It's that kind of street.  That's why we need to be most careful and attentive about policing it.)

There are things -- not just one thing -- to talk about regarding BP.  Some are good news about us, and some are examinations of problems.  I'm really sorry, and very annoyed, that the local papers can only ever think of the one thing.  (Do you want to know how many articles the BT published about Tracy Truppman's reign of terror, and the unexplained mindless support she got from her Commission colleagues?  None.)  Are they out of material?  The news certainly isn't slow these days.  The election was Tuesday, today is Saturday, and I still don't know who will be the POTUS on 1/20/21.  Carlos Gimenez just unseated a Democrat for the US House of Representatives, and Donna Shalala just lost her seat.  Any talk about those campaigns (that's what they were when this issue was being planned and put together), and the effects of them locally and in the Biscayne Corridor?  Nope.  Just the dredging up of old and resolved -- as best we can resolve it -- BP news.  Is BP the only municipality in the country, or in Florida, or in south Florida, or in the Biscayne Corridor, that ever had a problem with bad policing?  No.  It's a critically important problem that has much broader implications about race, and about societies and civilization.  Would Dorschner like to tackle a topic that big, and that important?  Apparently not.  It's easier just to reprint resolved misery about BP.  Well, have a nice day, Mr Dorschner.  It's Saturday.  Kick back, relax, and enjoy yourself.

Did I Miscalculate? I Think Not. But Maybe.

On Wednesday morning, November 4, I received an e-mail which included the following: "I hope you realize your candidacy was probably the biggest factor in Will Tudor losing.  And I consider that a huge win for the village."

So I responded as follows (I'm leaving out various things, because they're not my point, and I don't want to identify anyone else who was part of this conversation.  I was not asked to identify them, and I didn't request permission): "I certainly consider that what I did might have helped [the election turn out as it did].  That was a very conscious and deliberate goal.  Whenever I spoke to anyone, and if they asked me what my goals were, I always started out with the necessity of displacing Tudor.  I would then talk about the necessity for real professional management, and that once we had an adaptive Commission, and a proper professional manager, we would be able to address the normal things municipalities have to address...But it was common that I let our neighbors know that the Commission that would most reliably address these things would have a majority of Mac, Art, and me.  The William boys were out of the question...and I didn't trust Judi.

"I'm not sorry I didn't finish in the top three [the writer's other lament].  I'm just mostly relieved Tudor didn't.  I have doubts about Judi, but I hope Mac and Art can bring her around.  And not being a Commissioner saves me a lot of time and trouble...(When I didn't win a seat in 2016, I said I won, and the Village lost.)  But Mac [loves] it...and he's great at it, and Art wants it, and I hope Judi will grow herself up."

I later wrote back to say: "I have to say it did occur to me I was sort of sacrificing myself for Mac and Art, by making myself the badder guy.  I realized some Village residents might listen to me rant about Tudor, decide they couldn't vote for me, but take to heart what I said, and vote for someone else who wasn't Tudor, like the two people I was recommending, apart from myself.  And really, that's very fine with me...I just wanted Tudor out.  I admit I was concerned about, and am still concerned about, Judi, but I'm hoping Mac and Art can get some control of her, if she won't control herself, and make her adaptive for Village/Commission functioning.  I think she could have something to offer, if she could just accept that there's a world outside herself."

The person wrote back to me to say: "Who knows about Judi.  She may actually get up there and rise to the occasion.  I really don't know her at all, but any time I've ever spoken to her...she started every sentence with the word 'I,' which of course is very telling."

And that was most of our e-exchange on 11/4.  At night on 11/4, there was a pathetic Commission attempt to interview two of what turned out to be the remaining three manager candidates.  On 11/5, there was another Commission gathering to interview the last of the three who hadn't dropped out yet.  And on 11/6, there was another meeting.  It wasn't clear to me what this meeting was supposedly for, but I didn't Zoom in.  I did, however, hear from my correspondent:

"So I just watched Judi at her first Commission meeting.  Art and Mac have their work cut out for them.  She was a total wackjob."

And I responded: "I know she is.  I told Mac and Art this wasn't going to be easy."  And the doubt and ambivalence began to creep in.  I added "I'm sorry I let you and the Village down."  I added "I wonder how many Village voters are going to say 'oops,' as they did after they elected Truppman, et al."

The perfectly fair question is whether I should say "oops," for being willing to be the bad guy, with the bad attitude, and not being Mr Sunshine, like Mac is, or the non-threatening gentleman who provides only reassurance and an image of steadiness, like Art.  The fact is that if anyone asked me what's Art's platform for the Village, I have not the slightest idea.  I just think he's solid and sensible, and he'll address matters in a logical and adaptive way that will keep focus on good functioning.  That's what we need now.  That, and Mac's boundless vision and energy, and intention to take a great neighborhood, and make it greater, and greater.  Mac is looking for imperfections, so he can perfect them.  Art will join him.

The gamble I took was to put myself on a suicide mission to keep Tudor off the Commission.  I would try to take him out, and I might take myself out with him.  And if that happened, then Judi was going to get in, which she did.  And we would all have to hope for the best, the best being that Judi would knock off her standard entirely personalized material, so she can focus on that part of the Village that exists outside her house.

Maybe I made a mistake.  Maybe I should have trusted the process, and my neighbors, and myself, and thought that if I was nothing but positive, as Mac was, then it/I would win the day.  And there were people along the way who told me that.  One of our neighbors, who reads this blog, said that it seemed to him that posts had changed in the several weeks before the election, and they were less informative, thought-provoking, and stimulating, and had become more biting, and about me.  I wasn't aware of that happening, but maybe it did.  As I said to my recent correspondent -- and I said the same things to Mac and Art -- I thought Judi could be made workable, focused, and adaptive.  I'd certainly like to think last night's reported performance is in the "too soon to tell" category.  Very soon, there will be a meeting, and a variance request will be on the agenda.  Someone wants to build something closer to the property line than the Codes permit.  If Judi is an inaugurated and seated Commissioner when that matter comes up, I hope she'll realize, or someone will be effective in telling her, that no one cares about the construction project she herself had 20 years ago, and the trouble she was given.  That's what we always get from Judi.  But she needs to think outside herself now.  It's not about her any more.  It's about the people with the shed, or the pool, or the Village's drainage project, or 6th Avenue (which is relatively far from where Judi lives), or whatever.  The VBP Commission is not the Judi show.  She needs to figure that out, and really understand it.

And if I made myself sufficiently unpalatable to have engineered this, then I apologize.  I hope Judi will settle down.  I hope she's just a bit full of herself right now, but after enough boring meetings with enough agenda items that are not about her, she'll realize what the task is.  I hope so.  I rely on her to figure this out.  We all do.

"Note to Self." (Well, Letter to Commission)

This letter was sent by e-mail, and the title was "Please Consider Our Medians.  They Should Be Our Treasure."

Heartfelt congratulations to the three of you who were just elected.  I'm very hopeful for a functioning Commission with a positive vision for the Village.

I really hope you will use part of your time to begin significant action regarding our medians.  What I have in mind is this: You would begin by tasking P&P to formulate a comprehensive (not just trees) scheme for the Village's medians.   The alternative is to have a landscape architecture company do this, but that's expensive.  I think our own dedicated neighbors can do it, and would be in the context of their commitment to the P&P board.

The scheme would involve choices of what plantings would go best in which medians, or more simply, a unified plan for all the Village's medians.  We have lots of trees, but we have no "understory."  There are no low trees or bushes, and the ground cover is a mix of poorly maintained grass, weeds, and raw dirt.  This is not a pleasure for Village residents, and it doesn't look good.  Also, the expanses of unworthy ground cover between trees not only doesn't inhibit people from driving across the medians, but it practically invites them.  So I hope that you will task P&P to devise and present a plan.

Part of that plan can be an expansion of the Village's public art program.  This could certainly include things like typical sculptures.  This morning, I was walking by Jorge Marinoni's house, and I noticed a sphere he made.  The basis of it is concrete, and he's decorated it with lots of ceramic tiles, so it looks like a mosaic.  It had interesting designs and color combinations on it.  It struck me immediately that something like that, either sitting on the ground in the medians, or perhaps, more dramatic, elevated on a pole or a pedestal, would add magnificent beauty to the medians.

I know what you're immediately thinking: but it would cost...  Nope, I don't think so.  First of all, if we had a scheme everyone knew about, then Village residents could donate the money to improve their own, or any other, medians.  It's true that PW would have to do the installations, but that's a one time task.  And I would hope that P&P would choose native materials that, once rooted, will not require much or any maintenance, except for occasional pruning (which we already don't do adequately, and I hope you'll see to it that we start a proper maintenance program, too).  Also, some medians already have concrete benches which Jorge made.  They were all funded by the Art Advisory board, the Chairperson of which is Amy Raymond.  She has worked hard and successfully to take up collections, and sell things, to be able to reimburse Jorge for the costs of his materials (he says he has no interest in making a profit from this), and we can continue and expand this approach.

So don't forget about the medians.  They make us unique more than does anything else about the Village, and they're in your hands now.

Fred

What I forgot to add to this was a reference to our longstanding friendly competition among BP homeowners for the best holiday decorations.  Mac Kennedy just expanded that friendly competition by adding recognition for best landscaping, and best Halloween decorations.  I can't see any reason we wouldn't also have a friendly competition for best medians.