Dear Editor,
The Spotlight’s recent article Village Council: A Legacy on Life Support reveals much more than just the imminent demise of what was once a moderately strong voice for Coconut Grove’s residents. It shows what happens when any citizen initiative treads on the protected toes and turf of any of our city commissioners. They don’t like it!
After Key Biscayne, Aventura and Pinecrest all successfully seceded from Miami-Dade County, Coconut Grove tried (unsuccessfully) to secede from the City of Miami. But for Hurricane Andrew in 1992, it might have happened.
That nearly-successful effort scared the Miami City Commission enough to allow the creation of the Village Council (VC). For a while, the VC’s deliberations and recommendations were given more than lip service by the commission, and the Grove benefitted.
Without getting into the recent implosion of the VC, the VC’s dysfunction is the direct result of its neutering by the City Commission. As VC member Chris Baraloto said, “Our group needs power, funding or both.”
Good luck getting either, or even finding citizens who are willing to put in unpaid hours on a Village Council whose recommendations have been, and will continue to be, completely ignored. It’s a chicken/egg thing: “We won’t listen to you because you have no power or funding, and we’re not going to give you any power or funding.”
The solution, in my opinion, is to have nine city commissioners, instead of just five, and for each of those nine commissioners to encourage and support village councils in each of their districts.
Then each commissioner will be able to say, “My Village Council has advised me…” and expect the other eight commissioners to give due deference to what each commissioner proposes for his/her district, just as once used to happen in a smaller and less diverse Miami a long time ago.
City-wide issues would require a five-vote majority, so all nine commissioners would have to listen to the voices of their own constituents while balancing the needs of all the city’s residents. After what we’ve suffered under the last few City Commissions, it’s worth a try.
Anthony Parrish
Coconut Grove
