The candidates running for Miami Beach mayor and city commission agreed to sit down one-on-one with a Miami Herald reporter to weigh in on five topics: the city's budget, business and tourism, parking and transportation, what they consider to be the most pressing issue facing the city, and their own qualifications.

Candidate: Raphael Herman:

Major Issue:

Miami Beach is in a shambles. It is in a very big mess.

Our city very soon will hit rock bottom. I'm the only person who can bring the city back on the road to prosperity.

I'm the proudest son of the city. I'm the sunshine of the city. I speak nine foreign languages, so I will bring tourists from all over the world.

Budget:

You have a lot of stupid people at city hall that are wasting taxpayer's money and don't know what they are doing.

They should be fired and removed and replaced with professional people, educated people, and not the corrupt people that support Mayor Bower and are given a job. We need professional people who know what they are doing and can run City Hall.

Business and Tourism:

I want to build a shopping center on Collins Avenue between 84th and 87th. It's going to be a thousand times more beautiful than Bal Harbour. I'm going to close Bal Harbour. People will want to come to the Beach on the weekend.

I'm a real estate broker with a lot of connections and I speak nine languages. I'll bring in investments from the outside. I will go on TV and advertise to come to America.

Parking and Transportation:

When I am elected, only Miami Beach residents can travel from the causeway to Miami and return back. Anyone who lives outside Miami Beach in another city cannot cross, not with a car, the bridge over Miami Beach. There will be parking lots on the other side of the bay, big parking lots.

They will park their cars at Miami International Airport. We'll build a lot of parking lots and from the causeway they'll cross into Miami Beach only by metro busses.

We will have less traffic on Miami Beach and less pollution.

Qualifications:

I am the voice of the people of Miami Beach.

I'm running for them and I intend to keep the voice of the people.

My door will be open. Anyone who has a problem, no matter how big or small, can come to me and open my door. When I become mayor all that is going to happen. I will turn the city upside down. I'm the heart of the city.

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