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 It
might seem unbelievable, but the sad reality is that Doral must wait
for its incorporation.
Our incorporation committee--under the direction of
the WDFHA--is still working very hard to make our dream a reality.
Many of you may remember that since 1996, when our
residents went to the commissioners chambers to demonstrate our
commitment to this democratic idea, the commissioners voted to leave
Doral and others cities in suspense until they could find a possible
solution to the incorporation movement.
Four long years have passed since that date and still
the commissioners have not found a solution to the problem. Many of
those areas that wanted to incorporate came together and created a
group called LINC (Lets Incorporate Now Coalition) to evaluate the
reasons to why the county maintains its rigid position of not allowing
incorporation.
This group, formed by many experts in the
incorporation field, has tried unsuccessfully to help the county with
this so-called problem. The amount of ideas that they've come up with
is too great to include in this article.
I must mention that they had countless meetings with
most of the commissioners, the mayor, county personnel, and just with
about anybody that has to do with this process.
Part of this group went beyond even what was expected
and created a television show called "Good Government Closer to
the People" to inform the people about the benefits of
incorporation. (If you wish to get a copy, please call Mr. Morgan Levy
at 305 591 2222)
When Miami Lakes formed their municipal advisory
committee, a group that was made up of several members of LINC, with
the blessing of the commissioners they continued coming to the
meetings looking for ideas and support for their plan.
To our surprise, the people from Miami Lakes were
afraid and abstained from joining Doral and Palmetto Bay on their
lawsuit against the county. In this lawsuit, we asked the court to
allow us to vote to see whether the community wanted to be
incorporated as was stated in the county charter.
When we won, they were very happy since they were
going to benefit from the decision. However, when the county won the
appeal, Miami Lakes continued their negotiations to reach their own
dream, all the while knowing our opposition to the mitigation payment
that they were willing to pay.
When they presented their case the commissioners acted
and passed the resolution allowing them to vote on whether or not to
incorporate.
However, some commissioners noted that the committee
didn't have any enforcing power, therefore the county could lose their
agreement since the new city didn't have to enforce those payments by
changing their city charter.
While this was cooking, Doral and many other areas
wishing to incorporate asked the commissioners to create their own
advisory committees to negotiate with the county. The commissioners,
in order to secure the agreements, decided to go to the county voters
on October 3 and request a change to the county charter that basically
said that any new city created after September 1, 2000, cannot change
their city charter without the approval of the county commissioners.
Now, to add to the confusion, on September 21 the
commissioners passed another resolution stooping all negotiations with
the advisory committees until after October 3 election. Furthermore,
it was also included in this resolution, that if the charter change is
not approved, there will be no negotiations until the county finds
another way of securing the agreements with the advisory committees.
Coincidentally, at the same time Miami Lakes almost
lost its chance to become a city when the commissioners argued
extensively before finally approving the city by a 6-4 margin.
Apparently, if the charter change does not pass, Miami
Lakes cannot become a city. Many people from Miami Lakes are
supporting this charter change even though they know that they are
creating second class cities, because their desire for incorporation
is too great and they do not care about the rest UMSA.
I believe that the charter change amendment will fail,
but if not Miami Lakes will be our 31st city and the first to pay to
become a second class city.
Many of our commissioners use their famous line that
the rich communities want to leave thee county and leave behind
nothing for the poor areas, but we believe that we do not get enough
services for the mount of taxes we pay.
And while we can prove this is correct, they cannot
demonstrate that by having all that tax money they are helping the
poor become less poor. Remember that over 75% of UMSA budget is used
for police service, yet somehow 11 county commissioners feel that they
can manage a city of 1.2 million people part-time.
They feel that they can do a better job than would be
done by creating over 20 new cities with their mayors, councils, city
police departments, code enforcement, and other great services--cities
with their own identities.
I would ask them: please wake up to reality! Be aware
that your managing style is not effective, that you are there to deal
with airport, the Port of Miami, the Metrorail, county corruption, or
in other words to deal with the big issues, the countywide issues!
Don't forget that our vote is stronger than yours; you need to be part
of this ever changing county.
Work so that you can be remember as the founders of
great cities in the best county of the nation and not as the obstacles
of progress, the inevitable incorporation of the entirety of
Miami-Dade County.
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