Vote for Miami’s charter amendment

On Nov. 8, residents of the city of Miami will have an opportunity to vote Yes to enforce the city’s charter and the Citizen’s Bill of Rights.

What does this mean for us as a community?

It means that we as residents will be empowered to hold city of Miami officials accountable for violations to our charter.

It means that we as a community will be able to challenge what we perceive as government abuse of the public’s best interest.

In a court of law, the right to sue is called “standing,” and this amendment confers upon our residents that right.

The charter question asks: the “Citizens’ Bill of Rights,” be placed at the beginning of the charter, be amended to expressly require the city to abide by the charter's provisions …”

While I believe that our government makes every attempt to abide by and honor our charter, I also believe that our residents have the right to have their grievances heard in court and not be prohibited from doing so based on procedural technicalities.

This right is no doubt a powerful tool and one that enables us to safeguard our public lands and parks, taxpayer funds and basic rights, and puts the public’s interest before wealthy private interests.

Through this amendment, our goal is to continue creating good government and reinforcing accountability.

We trust that our residents will use this privilege for the betterment of our city and the protection of our charter.

Our residents deserve this right and indeed deserve a good government that works for them.

For these reasons, I encourage city residents to vote Yes on Amendment 224 to enforce the Charter and the Citizen’s Bill of Rights.

This story was originally published October 30, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Vote for Miami’s charter amendment."