Posts Tagged: ‘Jonah wolfson’

$19 million dollar neglect in Miami Beach

September 17, 2014 Posted by Frank M

Jimmy Morales

Jimmy Morales

Miami Beach is out nearly $19 million in parking impact fees because city failed to collect.

The staggering number comes from a report released by the city manager’s office this week which showed a long history of neglectful collection policy. The uncollected money would have gone towards improving the city’s parking facilities.

“Administratively we are fixing the problem,” said City Manager Jimmy Moralez to the city commission on Wednesday. “Currently we are billing, and billing for next year as well.”

Moralez sees the issue as a retroactive one and asked the commission for guidance on how to proceed in recovering past fees due to the city.

For 25 years Miami Beach has had the “fee in lieu of parking” program which allows developers to construct projects without sufficient parking. A one-time fee is accessed per parking space, currently a $35,000 fee, and that money goes into the city coffers to improve parking facilities.

The problem is that for nearly the entire lifetime of the program, the city has been woefully neglectful in properly collecting the fees, or even collecting at all said the report.

The findings also showed:
(more…)

Share
Read full article |Leave a comment
Tags: , ,
Categories: MIAMI BEACH

SunPost: Millions at stake says MBCCAB

October 17, 2013 Posted by Frank M

From wikimedia commons

By Frank Maradiaga From Miami SunPost

Advisory Board Warns Miami Beach It Will Lose $390 Million if Miami Beach Convention Center Plan is Scrapped.

The Miami Beach Convention Center Advisory Board announced this week that Miami Beach stands to lose $390 million dollars if the current renovation plans for the center are scrapped.

Chairman of the Board Stu Blumberg said the city has on the books tentative agreements that represent real tangible money, and warned it would go up in smoke if the city moved away from developing the 52-acre lot.

The meeting was called a day before the city’s October Commission Meeting, and in response to the commission asking the administration to look into ‘alternatives’ after the project hit a detour in the courts.

“We are a little bit frustrated about the lack of information regarding this center,” said Blumberg, “and more so the misinformation.”

With the ballot question struck from this November’s election because it did not include a finished agreement between the city and the developer, the project gets delayed and opponents get more time to poke at the aging center. None of the most vocal opponents to the project were present at the meeting.

“Our biggest critics are not in the room. That speaks volumes,” said Blumberg.

Commissioner Jonah Wolfson, backed with money from the Fontainebleau -themselves a failed bidder of the MBCC project-, has lead a campaign against the project. He even successfully put a question on this year’s ballot that would raise a potentially raise the passing of a referendum on public land from a simple majority to 60% of the vote.

If it passes it adds another difficult hurdle for the project. This lead the advisory board to rhetorically ask the commission, as none were present when the question was asked, does the city want to be in the convention center business?

“It’s not complicated, because if the city doesn’t wish to be in the business…then don’t talk about a renovation and don’t talk about a hotel,” said the chairman.

Read the rest at Miami SunPost

Share
Read full article |Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , ,
Categories: MIAMI BEACH

Commissioner Jonah Wolfson calls Steve Berke an Asshole

September 26, 2013 Posted by Frank M

It’s a comedian’s wet dream: to turn the heckles back on the heckler. That’s what the once-comedian-now-mayoral-candidate Steve Berke is doing to Miami Beach Commissioner Jonah Wolfson.

Berke announced this week that he has video of Wolfson repeatedly calling him an “asshole” from the crowd at a recent mayoral debate hosted by the West Avenue Neighborhood Association.

“What a disrespectful embarrassment to our commission,” Berke wrote on a global Facebook post immediately after the debate.

“He thought he was being sly, but he didn’t know that I had one of my cameras focused on him while he was yelling it,” Berke said on the post.

Berke is documenting his run for office in a piece he hopes will expose the well-funded special interests behind Miami Beach politics.

Earlier this year he tried to raise $190,000 on Kickstarter to fund his own documentary. He fell short by only raising $120,614.

Now, Berke has teamed up with MTV to document his run. Because the video belonged to the external production agency, it was not immediately released, but according to postings by Berke that will change and the video will be posted soon.

Wolfson confirmed the outburst to the Herald’s David Smiley. “I stand by my description of Berke,” he told the education reporter.

Wolfson is not shy with his stances. Recently he dropped an F bomb in a cover story on the city’s towing companies written by the NewTimes’ Francisco Alvarado.

At a recent Commission Group 3 debate, Wolfson was observed loudly clapping and whooping it up when a candidate would land a good dig on Mayor and Commission Candidate Matti Bower. He and the mayor have had plenty of war of words in public on the dais.

When the video does come out, expect it to be around for a while according to Berke says he’ll trout it out whenever Wolfson makes another run.

“I’ll hold onto that video and wait to release it at just the right time (perhaps the next time he runs for office, or when he tries to become MB’s City Attorney.)” Berke wrote on social media.

Editor’s note: This story was submitted to the Miami SunPost. If they post it online, the post will reflect it with a link

Share
Read full article |Leave a comment
Tags: , , , ,
Categories: MIAMI BEACH