In one of my previous posts about Biscayne Park, a certain Village Idiot accused North Miami Councilwoman Carol Keys of being on a “rogue mission” to derail (no pun intended, of course) the village’s application for annexation.

Aside from the fact that Ms. Keys announced at the County Commission meeting that she was speaking as a resident of North Miami and not in her official capacity as a Councilwoman, she also has the responsibility to represent the best interests of her constituents.  That hardly qualifies her as going “rogue.”

In spite of reality, Village Commissioner Fred Jonas went on to write, “You could say CNM “voted [4-1] in favor of the BP annexation,” or you could say they voted 4-1 to withdraw their own application, in deference to BP. It’s the same thing. What do you think happened or didn’t happen?”

Not only did the Mayor and Council of the City of North Miami NOT vote in favor of Biscayne Park’s annexation application, but it also did not withdraw its own application “in deference to BP.”  North Miami’s application, which was filed years before Biscayne Park got the silly notion that they had a right to this parcel, was withdrawn for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with the silly little Village.

Since we cannot rely on whatever “facts” Fred Jonas conjures up to argue his case, I decided to watch a May 24, 2016 North Miami Council Meeting to see for myself.  Near the end of said meeting, Item 10 (Tab F) of the Agenda, entitled Annexation Update, was up for discussion.

At said meeting, and despite Fred Jonas’ false accusation, City Manager Larry Spring was very clear that this item was placed on the Agenda for discussion purposes only in order to obtain the Council’s input on this issue, and not for the purposes of approving or not approving the Biscayne Park application.

Councilwoman Keys and Mayor Smith Joseph spoke first against Biscayne Park’s application.  Councilman Alix Desulme thought it was no big deal and didn’t object.

Ms. Hope Calhoun, the city’s outside council, noted that the Miami-Dade County Advisory Planning Commission approved Biscayne Park’s application “sometime in the middle of last year … 2015.”  Councilwoman Keys clarified that Biscayne Park’s approval was contingent upon whether or not North Miami objected to the application.

At that point, Councilman Scott Galvin requested that the item be continued until a representative from the county could actually be present.

Galvin then clarified that the county is in essence telling the City of North Miami to play nice, or else!  “You get nothing, you get nothing, you get nothing, unless you give up this little strip on Biscayne Boulevard to Biscayne Park.  If you give up that commercial strip to Biscayne Park, you get everything, you get everything, you get everything you asked for elsewise.  That’s what I’m getting is the clear hint.  I’d love it if they stood here and told us that so that we didn’t have to get lost in all of this conjecture.”

Larry Spring made it perfectly clear that his only intent was to get feedback on this issue and that “we have a lot of other serious matters that we are attending to.”

In other words..

Councilwoman Keys concluded the discussion by stating that she doesn’t like “horse trading,” or “things being pushed down our throat,” which is exactly what the county seems to be doing.  “I don’t see why annexation has anything to do with other matters we have before the county.  It’s not right.”

Damn straight it isn’t!

The Mayor specifically asked the City Manager if he was looking for a vote on the issue, to which Larry Spring responded, “No.”

In the final analysis, the North Miami Mayor and Council did NOT vote for or against the approval of the Biscayne Park, but simply asked the City Manager to come back at a later time and present them with a Resolution.

You can watch for yourself beginning on Part 2, hour 51:15.

Citizens forum began in Part 3 of the meeting, during which two residents came up to the podium to speak out against Biscayne Park’s annexation application.  The first resident was concerned about Biscayne Park police encroaching in his city.  He also pleaded with the Council to continue trying to annex it for North Miami.  The second speaker was adamant that North Miami should not pander to the county at the sacrifice of its residents.

Watch for yourself.

The item was on the table again during the June 12, 2016 North Miami Council Meeting, per Tab H of the Agenda.

At minute 22:32 of the meeting, City Manager Larry Spring introduced a proposed resolution authorizing him to “do all things necessary to amend the annexation application submitted to Miami-Dade County for an area known as the ‘Biscayne Corridor East Annexation Area’ in an effort to resolve competing local-government conflicts and facilitate the annexation process to fruition.”

It’s important to note that the “local-government conflicts” refers to the fact that Biscayne Park’s attempt to annex property previously desired by the City of North Miami.

Mr. Spring stated that he brought this resolution back for the purpose of asking the Mayor and Council for a “general authorization” to allow him to “take the necessary steps to alleviate” the conflicts between North Miami and Biscayne Park.  His recommendation was to move forward with the annexation application for areas east of Biscayne Boulevard and not with the area to the west of Biscayne Boulevard.

He also made it perfectly clear that his recommendation would not include any “endorsement” of any other entity’s [read: Village of Biscayne Park] application for annexation, but merely his concern for the City of North Miami.

Mr. Spring was also careful to state that the “item was generic enough” to allow North Miami to make further amendments to its annexation application.

This is important to note due to Biscayne Park Commissioner Fred Jonas’ erroneous statement, “You could say CNM “voted [4-1] in favor of the BP annexation,” or you could say they voted 4-1 to withdraw their own application, in deference to BP. It’s the same thing.”

Um, no.  Not even close.

Public comment was then opened, during which the sole speaker hoped that Commissioner Jean Monestime, who is his representative, would stand up to fight Sally Heyman’s support of Biscayne Park’s annexation request.  As such, he objected to Biscayne Park’s annexation of this parcel.

Councilwoman Carol Keys voiced her objection to Biscayne Park’s application, and was in favor of giving the North Miami City Manager the authority to study the issue, but insisted that this in no way authorized him to “endorse or consent to any other application regarding this property.”

Councilman Scott Galvin asked the City Manager if he was asking North Miami to “fully withdraw the application,” to which Mr. Spring unequivocally stated that he is not asking the city to withdraw its application, but to “modify it, and eliminate some of the conflicting areas.”

Vice Mayor Alix Desulme noted that the residents still have to approve any annexation requests before it is finalized.  He also noted that he supported the City Manager’s request to amend its own application and to “take the necessary steps to alleviate” the conflicts between North Miami and Biscayne Park.

There was a motion made to approve Tab H by Councilman Philippe Bien-Aime, seconded by Councilman Alix Desulme, and the motion passed by a 4-0 vote.  (The Mayor was not present at that meeting, which is why there were only four voting members as opposed to five.)

You can watch the festivities beginning at minute 22:32 of the meeting.

According to the Minutes of said meeting regarding North Miami Resolution 2016-R-66, the Council unanimously voted to authorized the City Manager to “do all things necessary to amend the [North Miami] annexation application.”

The Council vote had absolutely nothing to with Biscayne Park, but had everything to do with what’s in the best interest of the City of North Miami.

Biscayne Park Commissioner Fred Jonas, who has a very personal beef with me that has nothing to do with politics, continues to try to berate me publicly and claims that I “specialize in getting things wrong.”

Obviously he has a right to his own opinion.

But, he doesn’t have a right to his own facts.

In reality, Biscayne Park’s application for annexing a parcel of land that is in no way contiguous to its own borders, has no access point across a railroad track, and against which it intends to build a wall, is pretty much the dumbest idea yet to ever come out of that silly little village.

And that’s saying a lot.

Stephanie