I followed Ms. Nash's suggestion and got a copy of the divorce settlement that  revealed that on August 19, 2016, Steven Zelkowitz had signed away his rights to the home on 420 NE 95th Street, which had been his residence when he ran for Village Council.

I've had all kinds of encounters with public officials over the last 7 years that I've been writing this blog, but I've never encountered an elected official who has turned out to be as sleazy as Miami Shores Village Councilman Steven Zelkowitz. His continued refusal to reveal where he lives has been a source of concern for a growing number of residents since last year, and his latest reason for why he refuses to provide the address of his supposed new Village residence should be viewed as a tacit admission that he really doesn't "live" in the Village, and hasn't done so since he moved out of his house on 95th Street in the summer of 2016.

I was first made aware of the issue of Zelkowitz's residence problem when I was given a copy of a supposed legal opinion written by Village Attorney Richard Sarafan.

My decision to really focus on this issue and write a story however, came after I received an unsolicited letter from Allison Leigh Nash, Zelkowitz's ex-wife that she posted on Facebook in May, after I had posted a short post questioning Zelkowitz's refusal to reveal where he lived.

Ms. Nash's letter suggested that I should take a look at her divorce settlement, which she implied, would counter allegations made by Sarafan in his legal opinion. That opinion had been written in response to an official inquiry made by former Councilwoman Ledesma about the rumors that Mr. Zelkowitz was not living in the Village thereby violating the requirement that he had to live in the Village in order to remain on the Council.

Here is her letter.

It would seem that what had prompted Ms. Nash to write her letter were the following two statements made by Sarafan  in his legal opinion to Councilwoman Ledesma.

In short, Steven Zelkowitz on August 16, 2016, ceased being a legal resident of Miami Shores, and allegedly - based on the comments of a email that was circulated among residents sometime that fall - he moved into a condo on Brickell Avenue with a new girlfriend.

Since January 24th, when the Village Attorney's letter started being circulated, a number of residents began expressing open concern about where Zelkowitz lived, and that in turn prompted me to raise the question on Facebook, which elicited Ms. Nash's response.

That in turn led to my detailed story written on April 26th, which included links to copies of all of the documents that I've cited here and others, including a belated police report that Zelkowitz filed against Ms. Nash for allegedly putting the hair removal product Nair in his shampoo. My April 26th story, with all the documents can be found HERE.

At the May 16th Council meeting, I showed up to ask Zelkowitz, on the record, where he lived.  His response was that it was, "None of your business, sir."

The issue of his name continuing to be included on the Property Appraiser's records was one that Zelkowitz had previous raised, and that had been rebutted by Ms. Nash in another letter that she posted on Facebook which was subsequently removed by the Facebook administrator of that page when she banned me for upsetting the delicate sensibilities of the folks on that page by my  pointing out that several of the folks who regularly made comments tended to whine too much.

In any event, I left the Council meeting early, and was not present at the end of the meeting when Zelkowitz decided that he expand on why he believed he was entitled to refuse to reveal his address to me.

That reason he claimed, was related to his 13 year old daughter being traumatized after reading my previous stories about his behavior.

Because I have worked hard to earn a reputation of neither suffering fools or disrespectful public officials gladly, or otherwise, I returned to the Village Council meeting on June 20th, to once again ask Mr. Zelkowitz where he lived.

Zelkowitz once again refused to reveal where he lived. Instead he stated in lived in Miami Shores, and then stated that the Property Appraiser's records showed that his name was on the title of the house on 95th Street.

In claiming that his name was still on the title, Zelkowitz clearly intended to confuse the issues of property ownership with place of residence. One need not "own" property in order to qualify to hold office in the Village.

What kind of irresponsible sleaze would do this to his child?  

The issue involved is simple and straightforward. The Councilman, based on significant evidence, has been accused of living outside the Village, thereby disqualifying him to remain on the Village Council.

If these allegations are wrong, then Zelkowitz can simply put an end to these allegations by providing his new address, and everybody moves on.

He refuses to do so.

I find it really reprehensible that he would stoop so low as to accuse me of traumatizing his daughter as a result of his own behavior.  Every allegation that I have made about Zelkowitz's behavior as a Village Councilman, I have documented in detail.

In addition, there is no small irony that Zelkowitz would want to lay claim to a high ground of parental concern for his child when his ex-wife had this to say about his behavior during their divorce.

It would seem that perhaps Steven Zelkowitz has engaged in what is known as projection, by claiming that I've traumatized his child.

At the end of the day however, my question remains the same: What's your home address, Steven Zelkowitz?