‘El Zorro’ Zapata rides again; kills $62 mil gifts to ‘insiders’

‘El Zorro’ Zapata rides again; kills $62 mil gifts to ‘insiders’
  • Sumo

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Mr. Givewaway” Gimenez and several commissioners believed that they were about to dole out money$62 million Thursday in gifts — well, grants from the Building Better Communities general obligation bond — to fund small economic development projects for neighborhoods from Palmetto Bay to Opa-Locka.

Among those projects, there was $18.5 million earmarked for a beach renourishment project, $5 million to fund a film and TV studio campus with technical center and a “digital media village,” $5 million for an aviation commerce center at Opa-Locka Airport. $5 million to the Carrie Meek International Business Center, $3 million for a regional health and wellness center and the culinary enterprise center, $3 million for development in Wynwood, $1 million for something in the Miami Design District and another $5 million for a parking garage mixed use development that would help create a more vibrant downtown Palmetto Bay.

But Commissioner Juan “El Zorro” Zapata, who also raised some concerns about the process and the convenience of the timing — calling the grants “giveaways” and “the worst case of political patronage” — questioned whether the projects even met the criteria needed to qualify for the GOB monies.

Zapata, who later told Ladra that he barely slept the night before, told other members of the Economic Development Committee Thursday that he couldn’t support most of the projects, maybe none of the projects, because these GOB funds were intended for large-scalzapatae infrastructure and industry hubs, to bring innovative businesses to relocate in Miami-Dade and create critical mass projects that would have an economic benefit impact on a regional .

“They’re all good folks, they’re all good projects,” Zapata said. But it was also two thirds of the program money divvied up into small neighborhood projects and, he said, that was not the intention. He read an amendment to the rules passed in 2010 — and voted in by Gimenez when he was a commissioner — that focused on regional innovative basis that are unlikely to occur without these incentives.

“Which one of these would you consider innovative? Which one of these is relocating here… and which one is unlikely to occur without these incenttives,” Zapata asked Deputy Mayor Jack Osterholt, who said he was focused on the jobs the programs could bring.

“What basically this is going to be is, it’s going to be a pep rally for jobs,” Zapata said, cutting him off, determined not to be thwarted. “If we scream jobs loud enough, somehow we’ll think this is a good idea. He said the commission was voters where clear when they voted to approve the bond and that the commission was clear and specific when it set the criteria and direction.

“Am I to believe that the mayor has decided to take this in a different course than the direction the commission gave? You are going contrary to the policy of the commission. If there has been a change in the policy, let me know,” Zapata said, on a roll. “The purpose of all of this was to create a very specific pot of money for very specific businesses for very specific outcomes and impact.

“The very idea was to invest a sign amount of money on these ventures so it would have a significant impact. It wasn’t meant to be divvied up in as many slices as possible. It was supposed to be very targeted,” Zapata said, asking about how the projects would be funded. Osterholt said that the projects would be staggered and paid on the back end.

Zapata also asked what kind of background check had been done on those who were getting the public money, saing that he had information that indicated one of them had a $15 million fine to resolve a fraud case. “How do you think this makes us look, Mr. Osterholt? This is not about him, it’s about taxpayer dollars. And I have a big issue with the way this has been handled.

“I am appalled by all this,” he said, saying the Building Better Communities bond program had become “The mother of all slush funds.

“This does not serve the public interest. The entire process, the administration’s willful deviation from established policy, has me very concerned,” he said.

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9 Responses to "‘El Zorro’ Zapata rides again; kills $62 mil gifts to ‘insiders’"

  1. THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTH AND IT IS ABOUT TIME THAT EVERYONE SHOULD SEE IT. MR MAYOR YOU WERE NOT ELECTED FOR THE JOB THAT YOU ARE DOING, SO PUT YOUR BIG BOY PANTS ON AND HELP THE PEOPLE THAT THOUGHT YOU WERE THE ANSWER ( I KNEW ALL ALONG THAT YOU WERE NOT ) THIS COMMUNITY DESERVES SOME ONE WHO CARES “NOT YOU”, IF YOU CAN’T HELP, PLEASE GO AWAY AND TAKE YOUR FAMILY WITH YOU:(

  2. I thought the County was broke,yet they want to give out all this cash for these useless businesses or programs.The Mayor wants to shut down a police station but not the art museum,one hundred twenty million for an art museum,really Mr. Mayor! No company wants to relocate to a place where the quality of life sucks.All these places want to incorporate and become their own little kingdoms but want County money for their little pet projects.

  3. Lynda Bell had no other choice than to vote to defer it. Her race is generating a lot of heat in District 8 and anything she said to pass the legislation, and also help her buddy Wayne Rosen, would have come back to bite her on the butt in the campaign. Plus, the political optics were not good. We’re cutting sworn law enforcement officers, while giving large wads of cash to millionaires to projects that supposedly have a community benefit. I thought conservatives were against bail-outs. In all truth, if Palmetto Bay needs a parking garage, it should find a way to build it and pay for it. If a private company wants to expand its operations at one of the general aviation airports, it should find a way to pay for it, too.

  4. This was the Mayor’s deal. Cindy Lerner, the frail looking Genius of Despair and another woman who admitted she could be wrong showed up and they were quickly dispatched by Tim Schaefer of Palmetto Bay who actually spoke with facts. Palmetto Bay actually wants the parking garage to help with their development.
    Anyway Bell did not push for it and voted for the deferral, even seconding the motion.

  5. Hey Zap,
    Dude WFT? your killn’ me over here. Ya, I know she’s dumber than a box of rocks but her poll numbers are sinking faster than a power boat in the bay on the fourth of July. She does what’s she’s told and I need to be able to count on the bitch’s vote next year.
    JLL’s attack ads are for shit and all she has for a resume is that stupid fence thing, everything else she has is either recycling somebody else good idea or coming up with her own bad ones.

    Zap, bro, she needs this porker for her district or the party’s over. This Levine Cava is making all kinda noise about inside deals and sport franchises, clearly she aint’ no playa

    Whata u need? Just tell my peeps, it’s yours.
    Signed
    Your BFF
    CG

  6. Are we talking about Building Better Communities GOB, dating back to 2004?
    If so, at least in my district, the allocations were very specific; so much so, that staff tells me that to be reallocated, they have to be (1) within the same commission district and (2)the same general category of projects as originally approved by the voters. There were some countywide, generic allocations for WASD infrastructure, which in committee we have earmarked for connections to areas previously underserved, as proposed by Commissioner Monestime – with a view to fomenting economic development. But I am not aware of any other unspecified, countywide GOB monies as described here.
    Will definitely look into it.
    XS

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