Many of us used to watch Mr. Rodgers' Neighborhood, which seems eons ago.
Well, here in Mr. Rooks' neighborhood things run quite smoothly.
We enjoy the protection of the states' finest: The Miami-Dade Police Department and we also enjoy the presence of an equally fine police department, that of North Miami Beach.
Since we are retired we have become watchdogs, as are other retirees in the Skylake area. Often I sit in the front yard in the morning reading the paper and I see police cars going to and fro here at the corner of Northeast 188th Street.
I even see the occasional Florida Highway Patrol car go by too. And if that weren't enough, I also spot North Miami Beach Citizen Patrol's gray SUVs go by as well. That's just in the morning hours. At night I see far more police cars in the area as well.
There is a sneaky petition that has traversed the joint North Miami Beach/Miami-Dade portions of Skylake for yet another patrol for the surrounding area, which will cost another $1,000 a year as a special taxing district, if this lunacy becomes a reality.
Some people said at a recent North Miami Beach Council meeting that they may have signed without understanding what they were signing.
It is my feeling that from a legal standpoint the petition, partially gained by disinformation, will be disqualified when it goes before the Board of County Commissioners, assuming it comes to that.
The Board of County Commissioners voted last year -- if memory serves me right -- that this sort of practice as well as other fraudulent practices regarding petitions was to be classed as a misdemeanor of some sort.
The whole point of my letter is that we simply are not in need of this roving patrol any more than we needed to gate our community.
Check for yourself. The County crime stats are available online as well as the NMB crime stats. For county link to: http://gisims2.miamidade.gov/MyNeighborhood/home.asp. For NMB link to: www.citynmb.com/index.asp? Once you have taken the time to check these two sites for Skylake you will see that it is ludicrous to want this additional tax burden.
Aren't prices high enough without shelling out more long green?
BRIAN ROOK
SKYLAKE
