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AUGUST 10, 2018
IN THE CITY OF MIAMI THE VINDICTIVENESS OF BUREAUCRATS WHO'VE BEEN CAUGHT DOING WRONG IS ALL THE WORSE FOR THEIR ARROGANCE IN REFUSING TO MAKE AMENDS
In July of 2017, when Commissioner "Sellout" Russell first introduced the idea of creating a Historic District in the West Grove, he cited the 20 or so shotgun wooden houses built by the early Black pioneers of the City of MiamI as the reason why he wanted to see a Historic District created.
By the time that his proposal became an amendment to the city's Historic Preservation Ordinance in October of 2017, the number of the shotgun wooden houses had increased to 51, and the idea of creating a Historic District had been abandoned and a decision was made by the city's Planning Department that Russell supported, to create a new category within the Historic Preservation Ordinance that would be called "Multiple Property Designation."
There were several ways that the number of shotgun houses went from 20 to 51. One of those was to label each side of a duplex as a separate residence for purposes of counting the number of affected residences, and the other was to include several houses that had, before the historic preservation process had begun, were scheduled to be legally demolished.
One of those houses belongs to an 84 year old woman named Jackie Rose, and the house sits at 3514 Frow Avenue. Rose and her daughter attended all of the community workshops held by the city's Planning Department, and at the June 11th meeting, she spoke about how the city had treated her, and how they had illegally incorporated her house as one of the 51 shotgun houses on the list to be protected through the Multiple Property Designation process, that in the process stopped the demolition permit issued by the city months before the whole issue of creating an historic district had ever been discussed.
Dear Tamara,
Thank you very much for your timely response to my inquiry.
Note that the Appeal period for the removal of 3514 Frow Avenue just ended at 5 PM today. Up until this time, the removal of the property from the List could have been appealed. Now, Ms. Jackie Rose can finally move forward.
To allow me to better understand the basis of the Zoning Administrator’s decision--you are asking Ms. Rose to initiate the Demolition Permit process all over again when it was City of Miami staff that failed to take proper care in the research of 3514 Frow Avenue, negligence on the part of the Historic Preservation staff in failing to adequately research 3514 Frow Avenue before putting it on the List, and because it was negligently placed on the List, it caused the denial by the Zoning Administrator.
At the July 16, 2018 Historic and Environmental Preservation Board meeting for the “Final Designation” of the experiment by the Historic Preservation staff in the “thematic” ”Wood Frame Vernacular Residences of Coconut Grove Village West Multiple Property Designation,’” Warren Adams, City of Miami Preservation Officer, at the beginning of the Board meeting admitted that the Historic Preservation staff had not undertaken adequate background research when they included 3514 Frow Avenue on the initial List of potential properties for designation. Additional research by staff showed that the property was not eligible to be on the List, and staff at their own recommendation, asked the Historic and Environmental Preservation Board to remove it from the List—and it was removed.
So, if I am to understand the logic of your e-mail—you are stating that Ms. Jackie Rose, an 86-year old law abiding taxpaying resident of the City of Miami, must apply for a new Waiver Application for the Demolition of 3514 Frow Avenue because the previous application was denied by the Zoning Administrator due to the fact that “the property was slated for historic designation.” Since we now know that it was the negligence of City staff that placed 3514 Frow Avenue on the List—the admitted failure to take proper care in the serious task of placing a property on the Historic Designation List—you are still holding Ms. Jackie Rose at fault, and requiring her to apply for a new demolition Waiver because the appeal period on the Denial of the Initial Waiver has lapsed?
In the words of Mr. Joseph Welch at the June 9, 1954 exchange with Senator Joe McCarthy during the McCarthy Hearings in Washington, DC re Communists, comments made because of Senator McCarthy’s unwarranted behavior, he stated, “You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”
What you are proposing may be in accord with your bureaucratic procedure, but it is certainly no way to treat your boss, a City of Miami taxpayer. Have you left no sense of decency?
Please reconsider your decision in light of the clear explanation of the facts. The decision to place 3514 Frow Avenue on the designation List was based upon the admitted negligence of Historic Preservation staff. It is simply not right for government to treat one of its elderly citizens in such a manner.
My best regards,
Frank
Frank Schnidman, J.D.; LL.M.
Bar Admissions: Florida, California, New York, District of Columbia Former Distinguished Professor of Urban and Regional Planning
Former John M. DeGrove Eminent Scholar Chair, Florida Atlantic University
P.O. Box 11339
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33339
Email: schnidmanf@earthlink.net
Cell: 954-599-8715
Jackie Rose joined other owners of shotgun houses who felt that their rights were being abused and hired attorney Frank Schnidman, a nationally recognized expert on urban and regional planning, who until last year had been the Chairman of Florida Atlantic University's Urban Planning Department.
One of the first things Schnidman was able to accomplish was to have her house removed from the list of the 51 houses that the city's Planning Department wanted to include in their Multiple Property Designation.
That should have been enough to restart the permit that Rose had been issued to have the demolition of the house take place.
Unfortunately, this is Miami we're talking about and when the elected politicians aren't conspiring with their deep pocket contributors by screwing the residents, the bureaucrats are trying to match them by just fucking over the residents who piss them off.
And that's what's happened with Jackie Rose.
First, they screwed her over by illegally putting her house of the list of the 51 shotgun wooden houses they wanted to preserve, and when she got a lawyer who succeeded in getting that decision overturned, then the folks at the Zoning Department decided that they'd screw her for having the temerity to challenge their illegal behavior by notifying her that even though the demolition process had been illegally halted as a result of their behavior, if she wanted to the demolish the house, she would have to start all over again, and pay all the fees and go through all the bullshit, because thanks to their malfeasance, her demolition permit had expired.
Oh, and just to rub salt into the wound, when she first tried to get the permit reinstated, they told her that they had lost the file on her house.
As I often say, you can't make this shit up, especially since I've previously written about the antics of Devin Cejas, the Director of the Zoning Department, whose behavior, both before, and during his time as a City of Miami employee has been questioned.
These people lied, cooked the process to illegally include her property on a list of houses that they all but demanded needed to be preserved, and when she succeeded in getting that decision overturned, they retaliated by telling her that she needed to start all over and spend another $2500.00 to get a new permit.
Here is the letter that Jackie Rose's attorney wrote to Tamara Frost, the Zoning Manager, when he learned of this decision.
This on it's own would be bad enough, but it gets worse.
As a result of all the stress created by this bullshit, Jackie Rose, was forced to go to a cardiologist, and he informed her that any continued stress over all of this could kill her.
So, to step back from all of this she decided that as unsavory as the extortion attempt was by the Zoning Department that she refile and repay the costs of obtaining a demolition permit, she would do so, and turn everything over to her daughter to handle.
That prompted Schnidman to senda new letter to Tamara Frost.
Dear Tamara;
I write to let you know that Jackie Rose is going forward to start the Demolition Permit process all over again, and will pay all fees and costs under protest, with the recognition that when the process is finished she reserves the right to seek refund or reimbursement of all fees and costs incurred in repeating an application process that was sidelined through the admitted negligence of City officials.
Please understand that she is doing this after consultation with her family and her cardiologist. She just cannot take the stress anymore and it has taken a significant toll on her mental and physical health and well-being. She must stop now and allow her daughter Rhonda to take over the responsibility for moving forward with their jointly owned property. From this point forward, Rhonda will be handling all interactions with the City.
Sadly, Jackie Rose, who has spent decades as a significant contributor to this community, and has truly enjoyed building her career and business in Miami, and after decades of simply enjoying life in Miami, now in the twilight of her life feels that City staff (who have no real ties or commitment to the City of Miami) and selected historic preservation advocates who have never even visited her property, have treated her as a criminal, and have said many negative things about her at public meetings. When she in good faith offered the Dade Heritage Trust the structure on her property for if they would remove it and preserve it, there was no interest, only smirks. In fact, the Dade Heritage Trust actually got up in public to say that they had submitted a document with legal analysis to the City Commission that supports the ability of Miami government to do this historic preservation without having to worry about the impact on property owners (but they did not mention the document that they submitted to the City Commission that stated that for best practices and fairness to property owners, Hearing Board members must visit a site before voting on its historic designation—something the HEP Board members did not do).
In a quiet moment, may I suggest that you think about the real-world impact you have on people’s lives, and think about the responsibility of a government official to serve the public, not treat them as adversaries. The question you should all be asking yourselves: “Would I treat my own mother this way?”
Frank
Frank Schnidman, J.D.; LL.M.
Bar Admissions: Florida, California, New York, District of Columbia Former Distinguished Professor of Urban and Regional Planning
Former John M. DeGrove Eminent Scholar Chair, Florida Atlantic University
P.O. Box 11339
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33339
Email: schnidmanf@earthlink.net
Cell: 954-599-8715
Shortly after sending this email, Schnidman received a response from Devin Cejas, the Director of the Zoning Department.
Frank Schnidman replied.
It should not be forgotten that this is the same Planning and Zoning Department who has repeatedly been accused of not only bending over backwards to do favors for big developers that included, ignoring the laws, bending the laws, and when none of those would work, they were even caught coaching the Flagstone folks with how to craft the language in a warrant so as to evade the warrant being considered a major change to the specifications of their resort and parking garage.
To now claim that after fucking over an 84 year old woman, becaused of their ignorant behavior, they are incapable of bending the law to allow her to demolish the little wooden house without having to repay $2500, is absolute bullshit, and shows you what a bunch of dirtbag scum are on the payroll at the City of Miami!
NUMBER 80 - AUGUST 15, 2018
FRANCIS SUAREZ WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU, AND ASK YOU TO GIVE HIM MONEY BECAUSE HE'S MANAGED TO GO THROUGH $919,987.07 OF THE $962,983.00 HE'S RAISED FROM HIS DEEP POCKET PALS FOR HIS STRONG MAYOR CAMPAIGN
As just one more example of how little respect Francis Suarez has for the residents of the City of Miami, his campaign committee didn't even bother to gather a real group of Miami residents for the above photo. Instead they used a stock photo intended to show diversity.
Phony is, as phony does.
THE CITY DECIDES TO DO THE RIGHT THING BY JACKIE ROSE
Yesterday, Jackie Rose's daughter Rhonda, received word from Zoning Director Devin Cejas, that the city had decided not to charge her a new permit fee for the demolition of her house in the West Grove, and he also committed himself to helping them get through the process so that this situation can finally come to an end.
As I wrote last week, this was really a situation that should never have gotten as far as it did, but now it's over, and that's a good thing.
I'd also like to point out the importance of having a lawyer who's willing to fight for his/her clients can make in a situation like this. Former professor and attorney Frank Schnidman's letters to the folks in the Zoning Department show what can happen when a lawyer refuses to allow his clients to be fucked over without putting up a fight.
Let's hope that next month when he shows up at a City Commission meeting to appeal the unfair and arbitrary decisions made by the Historic Preservation Board against the 10 folks who he's representing that the Commissioners will take into account that this whole sorry mess, created by Commissioner "Sellout Boy" Russell, was grossly unfair, biased and forced on folks who from the beginning stated unequivocally that they didn't want the city to impose historic preservation status on their houses.
Property rights are supposed to be sacrosanct in this country, unless you're poor, Black or Brown, and then folks like Russell think that they're entitled to impose bullshit restrictions as a way to demonstrate their superior sense of what's good for the community.
I think that it's only fair that if the city wants to continue cherry picking houses to designate as historic, then they should move to make Russell's house historic, on the basis that it's the home of an elected official who has demonstrated that it only took him 2 years in office to become an arrogant, pompous asshole.
Frank's letters are below.
THE ETHICS COMMISSION COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST COMMISISOINER JOE CAROLLO BY BALL AND CHAIN OWNER BILL FULLER WAS WITHDRAWN WITHOUT MUCH OF AN EXPLANATION
A copy of the letter of withdrawal, along with a copy of the 8 page complaint can be read below. The Crespogram will attempt to update this story, but I'd suggest that you check with the Miami Herald & Miami new Times websites because I would expect them to also get on top of this story.
C 18-14-03 Carollo by al_crespo on Scribd
NUMBER 81 - AUGUST 16, 2018
2nd LETTER SURFACES IN THE ETHICS COMPLAINT FILED BY BILL FULLER AGAINST COMMISSONER JOE CAROLLO
See Jerry Iannelli's story in this morning's Miami New Times that details Carollo's behavior as stated in the Ethics Complaint HERE.