Coral Gables | Coral Gables Watch

Future of Merrick Park Mall Owner in Serious Doubt

December 1, 2008 Leave a comment

The Coral Gables Gazette reported on a discussion of the City Commission about the possible bankruptcy of the General Growth Properties, Inc., owner of the exclusive Merrick Park Mall. The mall has had serious problems for some time because it is focused on very high income consumers. Also, the mall has had difficulties in establishing a local and regional image.

…Mayor Don Slesnick expressed his dismay at the situation and offered little in the way of action, except to ask for divine intervention.

“Let’s hope and pray that this (bankruptcy) does not come to pass and that our shopping center is good to go for the future,” Slesnick said.

As well as getting a status update from mall officials, Slesnick said the city needed to find out what would happen to the mall if its parent company ceased operations, wondering aloud whether the mall would continue to operate if General Growth went under.

It has been obvious for years that the mall represented a serious strategic mistake by trying to locate a high-end mall in a largely middle- to upper middle-class community. The mall has had a large turnover of stores in trying to adjust to interested consumers, and this seems to have largely failed.

Filed under Community, Coral Gables

City of Coral Gables “Values”

November 12, 2008 Leave a comment

It is worth contemplating the “values” that underpin the Commission, management and employees of the City Beautiful (as seen regularly in the E News of the City). The recent events surrounding the retirement of the City Manager bring into question whether these values are being fully respected in the conduct of city business–there are citizens who say they are not. They certainly remain as significant guiding principles for the future of the City.

CITY OF
CORAL GABLES

MISSION
Dedicated people providing exceptional services to residents, businesses and visitors while preserving our heritage.

VALUES
Accessibility
Accountability
Competency
Dedication
Innovation
Integrity
Loyalty
Responsiveness

CITY COMMISSION

MAYOR
Don Slesnick

VICE MAYOR
William H. Kerdyk Jr.

COMMISSIONERS
Maria Anderson
Rafael “Ralph” Cabrera Jr.
Wayne “Chip” Withers

INTERIM CITY MANAGER
Maria A. Jimenez

CITY ATTORNEY
Elizabeth M. Hernandez

CITY CLERK
Walter J. Foeman

Filed under Coral Gables

More than enough truth

October 6, 2007 Leave a comment

There’s a whiff of the lynch mob or the lemming migration about any overlarge concentration of like-thinking individuals, no matter how virtuous their cause.
– PJ O’Rourke

Filed under Community, Government

Presentation to Commission on 2007-2008 City Budget (3)

October 6, 2007 Leave a comment

I respectfully recommend that the City Commission undertake the following urgent measures:

Approve a millage rate of 5.000.

Instruct management to prepare and implement an urgent plan to consolidate departments and units, reduce staff numbers, hold the line on salaries and benefits and reorganize critical departments such as Building and Zoning.

The Commission should conduct in depth quarterly public workshops and hearings on the 2007-2008 budget execution based on well defined benchmarks for management.

Start now to create a clear vision for next year’s budget so that further reductions can be made a year from now without further delay.

We together–city government, residents and businesses–will be facing “years of scarcity” and it is urgent that the Commission and management take steps to substantially cut current and future city spending. This will send a message to our citizens, businesses and city government staff that the time of taxing and spending is over. Now is the time to change the culture of spending and taxing of our Coral Gables government.

We have heard an appeal to protect the “quality of life” in Coral Gables and this a respectable goal. Hopefully, “quality of life” is not a metaphor for more government spending. A better metaphor for quality of life might be a “program for times of scarcity” benefiting us all.

What we need is a budget that fits these “times of scarcity” and not “times of abundance”.