Some of my North Miami Beach readers like to think there is no news worth reporting from outside The Perimeter. They get annoyed with me for writing about any other city, especially neighboring North Miami. According to medical experts, this is a recently discovered condition known as Border Envy.
Before you go googling that, I made it up. But, hey, that was pretty clever, even if I do say so myself.
Nevertheless, every once in a while, a news story breaks and reminds us that the lines really are blurred between the North Miami/NMB city limits, as well as those of surrounding municipalities; thus proving yet again that we do not live in a vacuum.
Justin Bieber’s visit to South Florida beginning on Monday (and still ongoing at press time) is one such story that proves a connection, however tenuous, does exist between not only North Miami Beach and North Miami, but the fair city of Opa-locka, too! Talk about a trifecta!
Not only did these three cities make the national news about pop’s newest, fresh out of diapers bad boy, but created yet another scandal for Opa-locka that it certainly didn’t need. Bieber & Co.’s decision to land at Opa-loca Airport, presumably for the purpose of avoiding a media circus at either MIA or FLL, only added another line item to the long list of troubles besetting the city of minarets. And, no, I’m not talking about Cairo, but Opa-locka, whose founder “wanted to base his city on the One Thousand and One Arabian Nights tale.” Hence, the minarets.
But that’s another topic altogether. Now, where was I? Oh, yeah. Bieber.
CBS Miami’s Gary Nelson dubbed this bizarre tale Biebergate when writing that Opa-locka’s Assistant City Manager David Chiverton was beseiged by reporters demanding answers about the Bieb’s “unauthorized” police escort. The City Manager himself, Kelvin Baker, was noticeably absent from the press conference. Claiming an ongoing investigation, Opa-locka officials still have not released the names of the police officers who were involved. But, rest assured, according to an NBC Miami report posted earlier today, they’re still “working to figure out which officers were involved.”
I’m not sure how difficult a task that can be considering they have like, what, 20 police officers on the city’s payroll? Maybe they need more detectives or something.
Nowhere in any of the tons of news broadcasts continuously running has Opa-locka Police Chief Jeffrey Key made an appearance. He appears to be staying out of the spotlight if at all possible. You may remember that Key, along with an officer by the name of Peter Cruz, were both problem children for North Miami before being recruited by the City of Opa-locka’s City Manager, Kelvin Baker, who left North Miami Beach in disgrace a few years back.
On top of those connections between North Miami, North Miami Beach and Opa-locka, the Miami Herald reported that Justin Bieber partied at North Miami Beach’s King of Diamonds strip club, where he allegedly blew “wads of cash.” Rumors that he dropped $75,000 were disputed as an exaggeration by the club owner, Ricky “Disco Rick” Taylor.
As if Justin’s visit to South Florida didn’t cause enough trouble for Opa-locka (and by extension, put North Miami and NMB in the spotlight), after I started writing this column earlier today, the news broke that Bieber was arrested early this morning in Miami Beach for drag racing and DUI. The Herald quoted MB Police Chief Raymond Martinez as saying, “Tests showed he was under the influence of drugs.”
Obviously, pop-tartlet Justin Bieber is one troubled kid. He has caused more problems for himself and others in his 19 years on earth than some of rock ‘n’ roll’s craziest oldtimers. He’s also obviously in need of rehab, but like so many of the spoiled rich and famous celebutantes before him (Lindsey Lohan comes to mind), his money, popularity, and posse of enablers will allow him to remain in denial until something shakes him out of his chemically induced stupor. Or he dies as a consequence. The Bieb is obviously a train wreck in the making. Hopefully he doesn’t destroy innocent lives before he hits the wall. Make no mistake, his wild ride will end sooner or later, one way or another.
But this column was not meant to become a lecture on the dangers of pampered, and possibly drug addicted, child stars with more money than common sense – although the “Mom” in me couldn’t help but wonder if Justin was raised by wolves. Hence, the side commentary.
What I did want to highlight by writing this blog is that here in our corner of the County we are all connected. Somehow. North Miami Beach doesn’t exist behind a castle wall. Common threads run through almost every event that takes place, whether it be those between NMB and North Miami, NMB and Opa-locka, North Miami and Opa-locka, or even among all three, as this Bieber anecdote illustrates and continues to unfold.
It would be a lot easier for me to stick to writing about only North Miami Beach. It would also be a lot more boring and limited in scope. I’m pretty sure I’ve pointed out enough times that North Miami Beach is directly and indirectly affected by events in nearby cities, especially North Miami, but also by news in Sunny Isles Beach and Aventura. We also have connections to Miami Gardens as both our State Rep. Barbara Watson and Congresswoman Frederica Wilson live there. Plus, thanks to certain Village Idiots, we’ve been known to cross paths with the Villages of Biscayne Park and North Bay Village, too. We are all bound together whether we like it (or even want to acknowledge it) or not.
If nothing else, the mere fact that we all share real estate in northeast Miami-Dade County is a reason to be neighborly.
The gory details of Justin Bieber’s city-hopping, drug fueled bender this week in our town merely highlights how closely we are bound by ties that will always refuse to be broken.
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
P.S. Gotta check out Random Pixels laugh-your-ass-off Bieber coverage from yesterday: http://randompixels.blogspot.com/2014/01/holy-crap-justin-bieber-arrested.html
The little picture is that Bieber seems mostly to need “rehab” in the form of a spanking and being sent to his room without dessert, and maybe even dinner, to think about what he’s done. Before, as you say, he gets himself or someone else hurt or killed. One would cringe at the thought of meeting his parents.
The big picture is the one you so wisely paint about how we really are all in this together. In that CNMB does not have castle walls, and neither does CNM, VBP, or any of the other municipalities you name, we are all closely connected. Even our employees, like professional athletes, get traded from one municipality to another. We all have cooperative agreements involving staffs like police, because crime crosses boundaries, and so does our need to help each other and get help from each other. Although it may have been misguided for VBP or NBV electeds to tell CNMB how to run its operation, the point is made, and what could poison the air or water in one municipality, or dip more deeply into the aquifer, poisons air and water everywhere, and drains all of our water.
So thanks as always, Steph, for a careful and sensitive discussion that should inform and touch all of us. We’re left with each other and what should be our mutual concerns even after the twit leaves town.
There is much truth in saying cities are bound together if only by who has the most corruption. I live in Hialeah and follow this blog. Strange that all the cities have that in common.
Not so strange, Walter. Wherever you have politicians or opportunists (sometimes they are one and the same), the potential for corruption is always present. It’s the nature of the beast.
The last I read Florida is in the top third of corrupted states in the US. I guess we should be proud we are not number 1.