A year and some months after former City Manager Kelvin Baker got the boot from North Miami Beach, he managed to find a job in the one city in south Florida where being corrupt is a job requirement – Opa-Locka.  Today at 1:00 p.m., during a specially called Council Meeting, the mayor and council moved to approve Baker’s appointment as City Manager.  This is a match made in heaven.

Opa-Locka made the news a couple days ago in a story entitled The South Florida cop who won’t stay fired.  The Miami Herald reports,

“Sgt. German Bosque of the Opa-locka Police Department has been disciplined, suspended, fined and sent home with pay more than any officer in the state.

He has been accused of cracking the head of a handcuffed suspect, beating juveniles, hiding drugs in his police car, stealing from suspects, defying direct orders and lying and falsifying police reports. He once called in sick to take a vacation to Cancún and has engaged in a rash of unauthorized police chases, including one in which four people were killed.

Arrested and jailed three times, Bosque, 48, has been fired at least six times. Now under suspension pending yet another investigation into misconduct, Bosque stays home and collects his $60,000-a-year paycheck for doing nothing.”

That’s only the most recent scandal to hit “The Great City of Opa-locka.”  I’ve been able to dig up dozens of articles, mostly from the Miami New Times since, unlike the Miami Herald, it maintains a searchable database of articles longer than six months.  Like two decades longer!  Here are some examples of Opa-locka scandals since 1992:

December 23, 1992:  To Catch a Cop:  Part 2

March 23, 1995:  Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

April 23, 1998:  Our Hero the Drug Dealer

September 21, 2000:  Blood in the Streets

March 29, 2001:  Smooth Operator

June 20, 2002:  Opa-locka Officers Confess To Drug Law Violations

April 26, 2007:  Baghdad West

September 14, 2007:  Report Details Former Opa-Locka Official’s Election Fraud (starring none other than the son of Thomas Pinder, who twice ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the North Miami Beach City Council)

October 31, 2007:  Judge Rules Against Opa-locka’s Friends and Family Water Plan

January 31, 2008:  Opa-locka Boots the Boss

August 10, 2009:  Lawsuit Claims Opa-locka Slumlord Stole Thousands While Tenants Died

May 26, 2011:  Opa-locka Police accused of massive corruption

May 26, 2011:  Clarance Patterson, Opa-locka Manager Resigns in Wake of Police Corruption Probe

June 6, 2011  Opa-locka Police Sue City, Which They Allege is Run Like a Dictatorship (Complete Text of Suit Included)

August 1, 2011:  Opa-Locka Mayor Myra Taylor Fined $1,500 in Ethics Complaint

August 26, 2011:  Opa-Locka Mayor Myra Taylor Misused City Funds and Needy Children

September 23, 2011:  City commissioner implicated in Opa-locka corruption case

Novenber 17, 2011:  Opa-locka Police Captain Arrested for Protecting Murderous Drug Ring

November 21, 2011:  Police Captain Denied Bail in Federal Drug-Trafficking Case

February 9, 2012:  Opa-locka Mayor’s Husband, Son and Sister Arrested for Campaign Fund Fraud

If any of those aren’t bad enough, Opa-locka also has the “distinction” of having “The Most Disgusting Bathroom in Miami.”

And now, Opa-locka’s Claim to Fame is a brand new City Manager in the person of Kelvin Baker, who brought his special type of scandal to North Miami Beach in the form of:

1.  Overseeing the largest employee heist in our city’s history to the tune of $2.6 million, which resulted in Baker’s employee Marty King’s extended vacation in the hoosegow (after Marty was given a three month paid vacation to stay home, courtesy of NMB taxpayers);

2.  Accusing the city council and residents of racism for not believing his bullshit, and calling the NAACP to a budget meeting to amp up the intimidation factor;

3.  Raping our water department’s reserves, which resulted in a downgrade of our credit standing with Fitch, in order to “balance” the budget; and

4.  Accusing two council members of violating Sunshine Laws with no proof whatsoever.

Among other things.

I’d give you links to these articles if I could, but the Miami Herald doesn’t have them posted anymore.  Luckily, I still have the text version copies of them, so email me if you want them.

After applying and being rejected for management positions at the cities of Boynton Beach and Davie, Kelvin Baker finally found a home in what is arguably the most corrupt city in Florida, possibly the entire country.  I’d wish Opa-locka well, but apparently the Mayor and Council aren’t even remotely concerned about the character of the people who sit on the dais, much less collect a taxpayer funded paycheck.  Whatever Mr. Baker’s salary, Opa-locka is getting exactly what it’s paying for, and obviously exactly what it deserves.

The potential stories of this unholy union should keep the Miami New Times and the Miami Herald (and hopefully, this blog) in business for the next two decades.  Let the press rolling begin.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”