Candidates for Cutler Bay Town Council want to preserve the hometown feel
Many residents in Cutler Bay talk about the town like a sweet memory. They reminisce about golf cart parades and neighborhood children trick-or-treating on Halloween. Some residents were there before the town was incorporated just 15 years ago and stayed to give their families the same experience. Others are transplants who came for the hometown feel.
For most of the seven candidates running for town council in November’s election — three for vice mayor and four for Seat 2 — their main goal is to preserve that close-knit hometown feeling that residents love.
Michael Callahan has served in Seat 2 on the town council since 2016. Instead of running for reelection this year, Callahan decided to run for vice mayor. The current vice mayor reached the term limit.
“It’s an opportunity to serve the council and the residents in our community in a larger capacity,” Callahan said.
He explained that in Cutler Bay, the town council is unified in its goal and mission for the town. Unlike some other municipal governments, such as neighboring village Palmetto Bay, there’s little political divide and disagreement among leaders.
“We’re all on the same page,” Callahan said. “We want to control traffic, we want to protect the environment and we want to limit development.”
The candidates running for council reflect that unity, overwhelmingly agreeing on the same issues, especially when it comes to development.
“I don’t want to see us having the same issues as Palmetto Bay,” Seat 2 candidate Debbie Waks said. “Development is OK, but it needs to be limited. Otherwise, I’m not sure what makes us different than anywhere else.”
In Cutler Bay, three council members are elected to represent specific residential areas (Seats 1, 2 and 3) and must reside in their district. The vice mayor and the mayor may reside anywhere in the town. Only Seat 2 and vice mayor are up for election.
Vice mayor
Before Callahan, 56, was elected to the council, he served for eight years on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee and was chair of the committee for the last six. Callahan is a facility manager and contractor and has a background in theater and the arts.
Callahan said while he can’t take direct credit, he’s proud of many things the council has done during his time, like a plastic straw ban, the 16-acre land swap for town hall and strengthening land development codes. He said if elected as vice mayor he hopes to help the council continue making strides to protect the environment, work with surrounding communities on traffic issues and build local businesses to generate jobs in the town.
“I want to continue being involved in our community to help shape our future,” Callahan said.
His main opponent is David Zoll, a relatively new resident to Cutler Bay, living in the town for just over two years and in Miami-Dade for about 10. Zoll, 45, who works in finance, was born and raised in New Jersey in a small town. When he first visited Cutler Bay it reminded him a lot of where he grew up and decided to settle with his wife and 7-year-old daughter.
“It seemed like such a nice comfortable place to raise a family,” Zoll said.
Zoll has no previous political experience. If elected, Zoll said he wants to focus on education and making the town “more family oriented than it is today.” Like many other candidates, Zoll is against excessive building and expansion and supports efforts to protect the environment.
“I figured I’d jump in and see what I could do at a local level,” Zoll said.
He added that he would like to see more electric scooters and bikes like the ones in downtown Miami and Miami Beach, as well as more electric car-charging stations in town.
The third candidate, Sean Salazar, said he was unavailable and did not wish to answer any questions about his campaign.
Town Council Seat 2
Suzy Lord, 52, moved to Cutler Bay from Germany when she was 12 years old and her father retired from the Army. She said she fell in love with the hometown feel and environmental landscape Cutler Bay offered. She stuck around to raise her family in the same close-knit community.
“I’m the furthest thing from a politician,” Lord said. “I’m just a people person.”
A paralegal, Lord said if elected she wants to address the growing traffic issues on U.S. 1 and Florida’s Turnpike. One solution she suggested is introducing a ride-share program that would bring residents to rapid transit to limit drivers on the road and relieve the stress of sitting in traffic for residents. She said she also believes in youth involvement and supporting the police to have a safer community.
Lord was appointed to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee in February 2019. She said her involvement in town government began before that when her son served on Cutler Bay’s Youth Council while he was in high school. She said her son encouraged her to give back to the community by joining the committee and running for council.
Like Lord, Waks’ oldest son has been politically involved at the junior level and encouraged her campaign. She said he’s the interim chair of Miami-Dade’s Youth Commission and has worked on a number of local campaigns. For his mom, he’s been the on-the-ground campaign director.
“This political bug runs in the family,” Waks said.
Waks, 60, is a probate and guardianship lawyer. Born and raised in Miami, she left to attend Vassar College, then returned to care for her disabled parents and graduated from University of Miami School of Law. She now works extensively with families of developmentally disabled children and families needing to protect their vulnerable elderly family members.
Waks said she first became interested in running when she saw the condition of the town’s finances. With multiple major projects launched at the same time, she said some of the town reserves were drained and she worried what would happen to the funds if a natural disaster hit.
If elected, Waks wants to preserve the hometown feel by limiting development, investing in small businesses to provide more opportunities for entrepreneurs and working people in town and continue to respect the environment.
Jose Rodriguez, 66, first got involved with public service when he was appointed to the Cutler Bay Communities for a Lifetime Committee. He said he was ready to retire but instead decided to dedicate his time to the community. At the county level, Rodriguez has served on the Miami-Dade County Community Relations Board (CRB) and the Quality of Life Committee. He said he’s running in Cutler Bay to bring his service to the town council in a greater capacity.
“Now I will be able to represent Cutler Bay, not just as a citizen, but as a councilman,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez, whose family immigrated to Hialeah from Cuba when he was 8 years old, first moved to Cutler Bay in 1995. As a contractor and architect, Rodriguez said he’s worked on a number of projects in Cutler Bay and said he thinks his skill set will be an asset on the council as it moves forward with the town center project.
“Who better to bring a gorgeous town center than an architect on board?” Rodriguez said.
If elected, Rodriguez said he would like to see changes in transportation, like offering the circulator bus routes on both weekend days. He added that he would like to see more communication between committees as well as more social programs for residents, especially the older population.
Melyssa Sueiro could not be reached for an interview. According to her campaign website, Sueiro has lived in Cutler Bay since 1997, has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Barry University and a graduate degree in psychology from Loyola University Maryland. She works in the healthcare industry, with both children and veterans. She serves on the Cutler Bay Communities for a Lifetime Committee.
According to her website, Sueiro’s vision for the community includes preserving and improving Cutler Bay’s green spaces, addressing traffic issues and offering services and events that all residents can benefit from and enjoy.
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 5:46 PM.