Pic via NBV
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the Miami SunPost. By Frank Maradiaga
May had a curious buzz to it in North Bay Village. Aside from the new City Hall digs, the results to the resident survey was due. There had been an onslaught of solicitation to participate in the survey: it was mixed in with bills, village notices, and links sent through mailing lists. The village held a special commission meeting just to hear it. It seemingly did not disappoint: through a third party residents had their collective concerns amplified and commissioners were handed a map.
The 62-page marketing plan, which many on the commission carry a full-color copy of in their binders, is a treasure trove of issues and opinions most politicians would spend considerable shoe-leather and campaign funds to acquire.
Promptly it was praised by the commission, the sentiment being that it was unbiased and professional.
Yet, as the SunPost previously reported, buried in the report is a murderously-hostile take down of the elected officials in NBV. It said the Village lacked: transparent government, sincere leaders, democratic principles, civility, actual law enforcement, good decisions, residents willing to rate the administration, communication, and any solution for problems.
Recently the SunPost brought the survey’s assessment to the attention of the Mayor and Vice-Mayor of North Bay Village, Connie Leon-Kreps and Eddie Lim respectively. They seemed to not have been aware of these harsh words,and asked for the page numbers where the criticism appear.
“Corruption within and self interests in public offices is at its peak,” Lim read word for word from the report. He snorted “What the hell are they talking about?”
At first a jovial Lim brushed off the harsh words by suggesting that the report was talking about government in general.
Yet a closer inspection of the writing found that most assumptions made in report ended in the phrase “in NBV.” If the report didn’t use “NBV” it used the moniker “Village,” making whom the report was referring to insufferably clear.
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