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“When you compare us to other cities, Coral Gables’ crime statistics are even more scandalous. Our crime rate per 100,000 residents was 4,735. That is higher than Miami Dade (4,051), Hialeah (3,187) and Hialeah Gardens (3,823). The city of Doral, which has a similar population to us, had 196 burglaries last year – half the amount of Coral Gables. It is evident that criminals feel very comfortable cruising through our streets,” he wrote.
“The chilling stories we hear about neighbors being held up at gunpoint outside their homes, in addition to the thousands of break-ins and acts of auto vandalism, are appalling and outrageous. This grim reality should be absolutely unacceptable to us as Coral Gables taxpayers and the only way to stop this crime epidemic is to stand up and demand swift action from our Mayor, Commissioners, City Manager and Police Chief,” Balsera wrote, not blaming the uniformed patrol and lashing out at the mayor.
“I speak to them every day about this problem and can assure you that they take pride in protecting us and are as frustrated as we are. The responsibility for our lack of safety lies squarely on the shoulders of our city leaders beginning with Mayor Jim Cason and Police Chief Dennis Weiner. ”
Wow. Cabrera must be wondering where Balsera was last year when the former commissioner was the only voice on the issue.
He told Ladra Tuesday he felt vindicated — probably for the second time in a row — but also saddened that the issue was not addressed sooner and that perhaps some crimes were not avoided. “We knew this was happening in 2013. The numbers don’t lie,” Cabrera said, referring to the discrepancies even back then with the figures between the city and the FDLE.
If Weiner doesn’t resign before that, we can expect to watch him call the numbers “moving target” at Thursday’s meeting. But it’s not like this has not been part of the culture at the City Beautiful.
The police chief, after all, was hired by former City Manager Pat Salerno, who also lost his job last April amid allegations he was fudging numbers. 
Salerno, whom Cabrera also criticized for years, lied to commissioners about accidents on Ponce de Leon Boulevard that were due to vision issues caused by city-planted palm trees and left most of the information provided to him by police off his own report to the commission.
Read related story: Gables Manager Pat Salerno felled by lie to commissioner
Commissioner Lago, who was the one that caught Salerno in a lie, says he is concerned that the very same thing is happening again.
“One hundred percent,” Lago told Ladra. He pointed to an issue he had with Weiner earlier this year over response times. The police chief was able to lower them from one meeting to the next, but when Lago asked how, he was told that certain calls were removed from the formula.
“So we’re back to the Pat Salerno style of administration which is through half truths,” Lago said. “If there is bad news, I want to know it now. I don’t want it to fester and grow into a larger problem.”
Numerous calls to City Hall from the press and concerned residents following several news stories about the spike in crime caused Olazabal — who everyone says is just Salerno in disguise — to issue a statement.
“We take any threat to the safety of our residents very seriously, and addressing their concerns is our top priority. At this stage in the process, we are evaluating a number of options and we will be discussing an action plan at our next commission meeting on Thursday,” she said in a released email.
Olazabal told Ladra that she was meeting with the police chief and other top staff Wednesday and would have a better idea of those options and that action plan by the afternoon.
“The meeting is not about the numbers themselves. It’s about the strategies moving forward,” Olazabal said.
Well, then, how much do you wanna bet that it’s a waste of time having Weiner at that meeting?
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