School Board member says he sleeps in Pinecrest, but he owns a Kendall home outside district
Veteran Miami-Dade school board member Lawrence Feldman cited “family reasons” when he announced he would not be seeking a fourth term last July.
But some charge that Feldman, 70, stepped down because a misrepresentation about his address that could result in felony charges and a fine caught up to him.
Recent evidence suggests that Feldman — a longtime board member for District 9 and a past chair of the Miami-Dade County School Board — has been living outside of the district over his last three terms. The district goes from the Dadeland Mall area, south through Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay and down to Homestead and Florida City.
Feldman’s voter registration records list his address as a 400-square-foot studio at the Monterey Gardens of Pinecrest condo and single-family home complex, a property valued around $150,000, according to Miami-Dade property records.
In September 2016, however, Feldman used a West Kendall address to donate $200 to Democrat Jeffrey Solomon’s state house campaign, according to campaign finance records first reported by Political Cortadito.
His wife, retired school teacher Avis Carol Feldman, is registered to vote at the West Kendall address, a four-bedroom 2,500-square-foot home located in school board member Lubby Navarro’s District 7. The Feldmans purchased the home in 1978 for around $54,000, according to Miami-Dade property records.
Feldman was at the West Kendall property Thursday doing yard work when the Herald requested a comment.
“Since 2008, when I was elected, I’ve been a lawful resident of Pinecrest. What I do in my day is not of your concern. I sleep in Pinecrest,” he said.
The Herald asked neighbors to confirm Feldman’s residence in West Kendall. Nearby residents said they either did not know him or did not want to comment.
Residency requirements for school board members were established in 1982, when Florida’s Division of Elections determined that an elected member “must legally reside within a school residence area, if elected, throughout his or her term of office,” not just on Election Day.
Submitting false information in connection to voting or an election can result in a third-degree felony charge, punishable with a fine of up to $5,000 and five years in prison, according to the Florida Election Code.
Issue first raised by Miami political blogger
Suspicions that the board member has been living outside of his district were first raised by former Miami Herald reporter Elaine de Valle, now a political blogger, at Political Cortadito in 2016. She raised them again in July, when she suggested that Feldman abandoned the race “because someone threatened to expose this very easily confirmable fact.”
De Valle charged that Feldman first registered for the race in District 9 because of the competition in District 7.
In 2008, Feldman ran and beat District 9 incumbent Evelyn Greer, former mayor of Pinecrest. He ran unopposed in 2012 and 2016. He had been a principal at Devon Aire K-8 Center in southwest Miami-Dade.
In 2010, Carlos Curbelo, then a political aide, was elected to the District 7 school board seat. He vacated the seat after he was elected to represent Florida’s 26th Congressional District in 2014. In 2018, Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell defeated Curbelo.
Navarro, the District 7 incumbent, said Wednesday she did not have any information about the charges.
“I have the honor of serving this district since 2015. I am focused on my district,” she said.
The race for District 9
District 9 School Board Candidate Nancy Lawther, whom Feldman endorsed last October as his successor, came to his defense in a Facebook post, where she called Political Cortadito’s article a “political smear.”
“This uncalled for attack is unfortunate at a time when some families must wait in food bank lines and many fear for their children’s return to school,” she said.
Lawther did not address Feldman’s residential history and did not reply to the Herald’s requests for comment.
Lawther is running against four other candidates to replace Feldman: 30-year Pre-K to post-secondary educator Esther “Shelly” Fano; Miami Killian Senior High Assistant Principal Justin Koren; former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Dennis Moss; and businesswoman Luisa Santos.
Previous wrong addresses of Miami elected officials
In 2011, State House Republican Sen. Frank Artiles was forced to admit he didn’t live in his Miami-Dade district. In 2017, Artiles, then a state senator, resigned over a racial slur scandal.
The same year, former Miami State Rep. Daisy Baez, a Democrat, resigned from office after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor perjury charge for listing a friend’s address on a voter registration form.
Baez’s plea deal included serving one year of probation, paying a $1,000 fine and taking an ethics course.
This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
