Miami Beach voters to settle two commission races, and Gelber owes residents an explanation | Editorial
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber is back in office, which means he is right back in the ring, wrestling with opponents to decide who will determine the city’s fate. He’s staking his legacy on shutting down the circus of South Beach — the street parties, the violence, the marauding — and nurturing an arts and culture district in its place, somewhere locals will be happy to go, while drawing less raucous visitors.
Voters just made his job much easier by approving the non-binding straw ballot question that asked if liquor sales on the Beach should stop at 2 a.m., three hours earlier than the current 5 a.m. cutoff. Yes! voters agreed.
Of course, he made his job much harder by telling developers during a video meeting, whose audio was leaked, about the potential makeover of South Beach: “I’m prepared to do whatever we need to do and support any idea, even if it’s not particularly popular.”
Really? He would ram an unpopular development proposal down residents’ throats? The mayor has a lot of explaining to about that one. In the meantime, as the city moves forward, in imposing the 2 a.m. liquor ban, Gelber should be more intent on ensuring that any resulting legislation puts people first.
Group I
The major candidates in Group I were problematic in different ways, but the Herald Editorial Board recommended Raquel Pacheco, who came in second and heads to a Nov. 16 runoff against Kristen Rosen Gonzalez. Neither passed the 50% threshold needed to win outright.
Pacheco, the owner of a language-translation business, has done her homework, going on ride-alongs with police, and she supports having more officers patrol South Beach. But she’s also wise to be mindful of overpolicing and its potential for racial profiling. She’s a former president of a condo association, so she knows the maintenance challenges facing older buildings in the aftermath of the Surfside collapse.
We were concerned about the two bankruptcies she’s faced — in 1998 and 2017. Both cases have been closed, and she said she’s paid off most of her largest debt, a Small Business Administration loan.
Rosen Gonzalez, a former commissioner, has institutional knowledge and is still in touch with constituents
On paper, she has the credentials, but Rosen Gonzalez has made many enemies on the City Commission and her behavior has been erratic and inappropriate at times — or an outright abuse of power, as when she used her city email to try to interfere with a police investigation into a political donor.
Group I voters will have another choice to make.
Group III
In Group III, two candidates also are headed for a runoff: Alex Fernandez and Stephen Cohen.
The Editorial Board recommended Fernandez, 35, a Miami Beach Planning Board member and 15-year resident. He’s a legislative assistant for Miami-Dade Commissioner Rebeca Sosa and former aide to two Miami Beach commissioners.
Fernandez pledged to make sure residents have more a voice. He made climate change a focus of his campaign and said he understood the need to change the entertainment district into an arts and entertainment zone — all topics of critical importance to Miami Beach. He has also served on the Police Citizens Relations Committee and the charter review committee, as well as the Miami-Dade Affordable Housing Advisory Board. He has put in the work to educate himself about the workings of government in general and Miami Beach specifically.
Cohen, a 43-year-old investor and community activist, is a South Florida native who emphasized public safety during his campaign. He founded a community Facebook group to discuss city issues that has thousands of users. He ran for a commission seat in 2019 unsuccessfully. He was largely self-funded during his campaign and said he would not take “special interest” contributions.
Voters in Group III have two distinct candidates from which to choose.
This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 9:49 PM.