My Naive Hopes for a Good City Agenda in Coral Gables

  • Prepare and discuss an overall NEW AGENDA for the City of Coral Gables to face the major pending problems, such as unfunded benefits, taxation, staffing and organization;
  • City Manager should routinely report to taxpayers progress on the budget and organizational changes;
  • The city needs a new Code of Ethics;
  • Change the election dates for Coral Gables to coincide with national and state elections.
  • Prepare and publicly discussion a long-range financial plan for the City of Coral Gables
  • Target a freeze and/or reduce actual amount of taxes paid by citizens (not millage rates) during the next three years;
  • Accelerate a plan of reducing pensions and health benefits, especially for firefighters and police;
  • Prepare a plan and publicly discuss how to reduce unfunded pension liabilities during the next five years;
  • Have a community town hall meeting at least twice a year to discuss the budget and other current issues;
  • Develop a realistic and flexible agreement with the Biltmore that protects the taxpayers not just now, but in the coming years;
  • Undertake a review of financial mechanisms and the defective EDEN system to establish a modern, functional accounting of spending and revenues.

Five Environmental Essentials for South Florida–Tropical Aududon Society

I urge you to read this perfect examination of the five biggest environmental concerns for our community.  Governor Scott is doing great damage to our environment.

http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1102678839080-255/5+environmental+essentials.pdf

Seems Like No Leadership, Just Big Spenders

The city of Coral Gable is replicating a model that we have seen before.   These are the elected officials, politicians starting their next campaign, indifferent voters giving birth to indifferent politicians who have pharaonic dreams about big money and big projects.  They see the future of the city as glamorous spending on capital projects to which they may attach their names, like empty museums of the all-so-brief history of the city.  Renaissance of what–I thought we had a great quality of life already.

Backward budgeting–get the money first and then spend it all on who-knows-what, pitting the citizen groups against each other to see who gets the most.

Democracy and Renaissance in Coral Gables

I believe there is a lesson to be had about our so-called democracy in Coral Gables–the candidates are financed by the few, the government is selected by the few and there are very few who are concerned with the day-to-day decisions of government.

We can only wish that these “few” do not drive the city down the same road of financial and administrative mismanagement of the last ten years, through their decisions to borrow, spend and tax its citizens during the worst recession in US history.