In the end, the mayor was not strong enough.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez fought hard to expand his powers, and voters finally granted him his wish last year. As strong mayor, Alvarez now enjoys greater authority over the county's bureaucracy. But he's so far proved no match for the real power structure: the forces of development.
Alvarez had tried to stop a measure that would allow construction of a Lowe's and an office park beyond the Urban Development Boundary, the crooked line that is designed to contain westward sprawl.
Tuesday morning, with the silence of the cynics, the commission voted 8-4 to override the mayor's veto.
''It's not a defeat for Carlos Alvarez,'' the mayor told The Miami Herald's Matthew Pinzur on Tuesday. ``It's a defeat for Dade County.''
Unfortunately, it's a defeat for Dade County and Carlos Alvarez. It's also proof that a strong mayor is not a cure for all that ails us.
Maybe no one will ever be able to stop the westward march of greed. Still, one wishes the mayor had shown more fire on the dais. Instead, his weak delivery echoed the moral exhaustion of a ruling body that ignored state analysts and its own planning department to vote with developers.
NO FIREWORKS
The guy who addressed the commission before the vote was less Alvarez the Lion-Hearted than Alvarez the Once-Brave Knight Worn Out From Fighting The Dragon. ''The vetoes are self-explanatory,'' he said. ``And I don't think I need to go into detail.''
To which a woman sitting near me at the back of the chambers whispered: ``Uh-huh, yeah you do.''
Most of the commissioners showed no reaction. The vote took less than five minutes, with no discussion.
It passed 8-4. In the minority: the four commissioners who have voted to hold the line on development: Katy Sorenson, Sally Heyman, Dennis Moss and Carlos Gimenez.
When it was over, chairman Bruno Barreiro said: ''With that, we move on.'' And so they did.
Used to be, county commissioners would at least engage in the pretense of democratic give-and-take. That the likes of Natacha Seijas and Pepe Diaz -- who becomes more disappointing by the day -- would prefer not to talk about all this stuff is understandable.
UNINSPIRING
But many had bigger hopes for Alvarez, whose sober style appealed to voters tired of the insider deals and corruption that have long marked county politics. No one says you have to be a gifted speaker to be mayor. But a little more inspiration would have been nice.
''I don't believe this is the time to be moving the Urban Development Boundary,'' is not going to make it into the next edition of Great Speeches In History. It's certainly not going to persuade a couple of key commissioners to change their minds.
Alvarez still commands loyalty for his honesty, a rare thing in local politics. And he remains among the best in that bunch. But too often his political skills have not matched his high principles.
One look at the mako sharks circling county chambers Tuesday morning and you understand the origins of Alvarez's weariness. In such an environment, it's easy to take refuge in one's own saintliness.
But politics demands more than that: It's a messy, bruising game fueled as much by self-interest and guile as it is by good intentions.
The kings of concrete are strong. To fight them, you have to be stronger.
