The following is an Opinion Piece submitted by Miami Springs resident, Jim Llewellyn:
Residents; No More [Government] Cover-Ups! Protect Our Community and Demand the Truth with an Audit of the Downtown Development;
Note: I respectfully ask everyone who loves and wants to protect our community to take a few minutes to read this message objectively and with an open mind. Related reports can be found on the MiamiSprings.com website. Afterward, consider whether you are as angered or even outraged as so many others at the shameful extent of our city government’s betrayal of the residents. Also, consider whether you agree that we need an investigative audit of our largest downtown development in history. Thank you.
We should all thank the candidates in the upcoming election for their willingness to serve on the Miami Springs council. It’s a tough job with a lot of time commitment and responsibility. However, responsibility demands accountability, which has been sorely lacking with the failed council oversight of the downtown development resulting in many expensive and unnecessary mistakes. A few of us documented problems and many related articles are available on the invaluable MiamiSprings.com. They include the failure to charge the appropriate million-dollar parking fee; the failure to obtain a credible parking study resulting in a devastating parking crisis; the failure to obtain proper permits; the illegal shutdown of a public street; the failure of the previous city planner to follow appropriate policy for commercial occupancies which resulted in his long overdue firing after so much damage was already done. The list goes on and on. City officials often criticized us while evading the truth of what we wrote. I’ve called it a cover-up and stand by that statement.
In recent council meetings, there has been talk of expanding the Gateway District, a scheme that was originally concocted [by city officials] to benefit the Town Center (1 Curtiss Parkway) development. The previous city manager admitted that on the record. Presently, city officials continue to discuss ways to “incentivize” (their word) developers to continue building. It’s appalling that after city management failed to protect the interest of the residents by betraying them in favor of the Town Center developers they want to keep sweetening the pot for more developers. That presents a clear and ongoing danger to our already eroded quality of life. Current councilman and mayoral candidate Walter Fajet has wisely called for a pause in future downtown development until the full impact of the Town Center is known because so many vacancies remain, years later.
It’s been said; “Those that forget history are condemned to repeat it.” In this case, we don’t have a clear picture of the history because of city officials’ past obfuscation and lack of clarity. I’ve asked every candidate to support and promote an independent outside audit of the Town Center development process. We residents deserve and have a right to know the truth. The new council moving forward needs to understand how and why there were so many failures so they can be avoided in the future. Poorly planned and executed development leads to more congestion, crime, and parking shortages that hurt businesses and our community’s quality of life.
Those of us who spoke out about the city’s failures and negative impact on our community were often disparaged by city officials and their cheerleaders. That goes with the territory and is expected when government officials try to avoid inconvenient truths and accountability. Unfortunately the outcry from a few “voices in the wilderness” usually won’t be enough to advance accountability and positive reform. But a concerned and vocal citizenry can! Demand an audit to know the truth! It’s imperative that every resident concerned about over-development and its negative impact on our small-town charm contact the candidates. With the city’s past lack of transparency, evasiveness, and disingenuous double-speak we need a professional independent audit of the Town Center development process. Apathy and uninvolved residents will result in the continued erosion of our quality of life. Together we can make a difference! Will you do your part?
Below is a link to information that describes a performance audit. For more information and many related reports on the history of the development please use keywords in the search box of MiamiSprings.com. Examples; gateway district, parking, parking fee, Town Center, canal street, etc. As always, Nestor Suarez deserves our thanks for his dedication to providing such a critical website for sharing news and information about our beloved community.
Thank you.
Jim Llewellyn
305-815-9545
JDRLlewellyn55@gmail.com
“In government, a performance audit is designed to examine the efficiency and effectiveness of a program, with the goal of implementing improvements.”
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/performanceaudit.asp
The article posted here is an opinion piece shared by Miami Springs resident Jim Llewellyn. We encourage contrasting points of view.
