MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

City of Miami Beach Code Compliance Issues

David Arthur Walters< miamimirror@gmail.com> Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 10:36 AM To: "Morales, Jimmy" <JimmyMorales@miamibeachfl.gov> Cc: Raymond Martinez <RaymondMartinez@miamibeachfl.gov>, GeorgeCastell <GeorgeCastell@miamibeachfl.gov> Mr. Morales: Greetings.

Attached is your copy of a message to George Castell at Code Compliance. I suggested in the P.S. that you may have an idea on coordinating with the state the enforcement of a specific state law. You will notice my remarks in the letter about about the Legnedary "Blue Van" with a handicapped permit used as a warehouse by an able-bodied unlicensed peddlar for years. I estimate the lost parking fees run into the thousands of dollars. License 128 YLG Handicap Permit A B1000254 In addition, I am attaching some articles on the subject of code enforcement around the year 2010. They may seem novel now, in light of the tremendous improvements made by Compliance and the MBPD until now, improvements that Jorge Gonzalez said, in my interview with him shortfly before he took the Bal Harbour job, for which he was highly recommend by MB officials, that he alone had ordered, However that may be, a great deal of credit is due to MBPD and Code. My only apprehension is the possibility of backsliding now that the public clamor has subsided. I can only hope that you will have time to peruse some of the material and find some of it useful.
Sincerely, David Arthur Walters

4 November 2013

George Castell Code Compliance Administrator CITY OF MIAMI BEACH Follow Up: Code Compliance Issues

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Dear Mr. Castell: First of all, I thank you very much for following up on several apparent code violations I brought to your attention since we met at the Las Olas Caf on 16 July 2010, and I took to heart what you said, We depend on people to keep us informed so we can enforce the law. We did not hit it off very well at the time. Just to show you how good first impressions are, I thought the nice new guy who attended the meeting, Raymond D. Vasallo, should replace you, but the F.B.I. arrested him. So you have my apologies for being a bad judge of character! Compliance officers have done a far better job since those troubling times, when I ultimately agreed with you that your departments enforcement was not selection, an d determined it to be random instead. I just hope the coverage does not taper off now that the clamor has subsided. The compliance officer I most recently spoke with said that there are so many violations everywhere and so few officers that it is impossible to keep up with them all. Here again, public cooperation is important to your departments success. I still often notice what appears to be violation. I say appears because I do not know how to access the computer records that Compliance officers utilize, and, I am not altogether familiar with the specific application of the Code. I apologize for my ignorance. I will appreciate it if you send me an Internet link to the system you use. I will then inform the interested public of its location. There are a few items I have to follow up on: 1 OCEAN DRIVE Jorge Perez One Ocean Drive project, as we discussed, has a fence banner nearly all the way around the block advertising various businesses including but not limited to interior designers, and architects whose license numbers were not displayed on their signs as require by a state law that is not enforced from lack of state inspectors in the county, and lack of cooperation with your good facility, which is allowed by state law but has not been city ordinanced. The state regulatory agency told me that it does not fine businesses for not displaying license numbers on their signs because the law is merely to achieve compliance by asking business to make the display. This philosophy of compliance without punishment is widespread in other areas of the law, even the county ethics commission has cited it to me, and the laxity is one reason the law is not enforced and obeyed. I believe the license numbers are important and should be proudly displayed because the public believes when they see these signs that the contractor is legitimate. Further, the fact that contractors, including, I note, a major public works contractor for our city, have not displayed license numbers gives me cause to believe that, if someone does not comply with such an obvious,

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simple requirement, then they must be disobeying far more complex code requirements and thus endangering the public. As for the signage itself, you know that my interest is in obtaining some revenue for the city for the privilege of advertising. The massive advertisements around the One Ocean Drive project, in high end, high traffic South Pointe, was tastefully done. You said you were going to check with Planning to see if it was authorized, and I wondered how much revenue the city obtained for such advertising, for if it were little or none, then I would advance the proposition that codes should be changed to allow for collection of fees equal to fair market value for such advertising. Now the signage has been concealed by a blank screen, but is still visible to pedestrians on the sidewalk. The screen is interrupted by a huge, distasteful red-letter advertising covering the front of the restaurant property on the block, as follows: 36 OCEAN DRIVE I left a message with you about this property on Sunday, 27 October at 11:42 am. The huge ads are FOR SALE and PRAKRAS & COMPANY PREMIER RESTAURANT BROKER. Also SPICY INDIAN RESTAURANT COMING. Notice BCC 12030 dated 23 October is on the door for designation of the building as an unsafe structure due to expiration of the certificate of occupancy. I saw no permit stickers on the signs then or on 3 November. 321 OCEAN DRIVE There are two large contractors signs inside the fence COASTAL CONDOMINIUMS. I left you a voicemail about this on 27 October at 11:53 am, and nothing has changed as of 3 November. The fence conceals the contractors license number from public view. I saw no permit stickers on the relative new signs. Whether the signs are permissible without a permit I do not know. The contractor implies in its advertising on the fence that the project is a joint venture with OSHA. 335 OCEAN DRIVE I left a message for you on 27 October at 12:00 pm about this hotel property, which has a sign above the front door: GPA CONCRETE ENGINEERING& REPAIR, G. BATISTA & ASSOC. There is no permit sticker on the sign. 304 OCEAN DRIVE There is also no sticker on this FOR SALE BY VINCE PELLEGRINI BROKER NATION sign. Of course there may not be a single violation in all the above except for the missing license numbers. One might think so since the conditions have lasted some time, two of them for a year or more. So it would be a good idea to find some means for concerned citizens to follow up on such items without wasting your time on what may be dead ends.

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THE BLUE VAN An informant told me the peddler was arrested but was back out on the streets with a new tricycle peddling his wares according to his regular schedule. An informant told me police officers inspected the van he uses as a warehouse and parks with a handicapped permit the officers were observed having difficulty reading the vehicle identification number. The peddler was seen putting a cover on the meter when he moved the van. He was seen again recently with an obese well-dressed partner with a newer vehicle, a gray square back, used to offload merchandize to the warehouse van, so there may be a widespread organization I dont know. I have not personally seen him for two weeks, when he was making his regular run to the beach. South Pointe residents say they would not inform on him if he were not so rude, and did not block the sidewalk and dump things on it when working at his warehouse van. Finally, a woman who saw me taking notes on Ocean Drive approached me and asked if I wanted to buy a condo. I said no, that I was wondering if the signage was permitted, was just doing some chicken-shit work, nothing to worry much about. Somebody has to do it, she said. Indeed. Best Regards, David Arthur Walters P.S. I shall send Jimmy Morales a copy of this letter as he may have some idea of how to coordinate with the state DBPR on the license number issue.

5 attachments 2013-11-04 Walters to Castell re Followups Ocean Drive.pdf 86K

Las Olas Conference Report.pdf 97K http://www.scribd.com/doc/34611056/Las-Olas-Conference-Report-by-DavidArthur-Walters Random Enforcement.pdf 350K http://www.scribd.com/doc/75590642/Random-Enforcement

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Selective Enforcement South Beach Seventh Heaven & Black Week.pdf 147K http://www.scribd.com/doc/74538601/SelectiveEnforcement-South-Beach-Seventh-Heaven-BlackWeek Voluntary Compliance.pdf 630K http://www.scribd.com/doc/104874991/Voluntary-Compliance

Morales, Jimmy< JimmyMorales@miamibeachfl.gov> Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 11:15 AM To: David Arthur Walters <miamimirror@gmail.com> Cc: "Martinez, Raymond" <RaymondMartinez@miamibeachfl.gov>, "Castell, George" <GeorgeCastell@miamibeachfl.gov>, "Jimenez, Joe" <JoeJimenez@miamibeachfl.gov>

Mr. Walters, Thank you for the information. I will discuss with George and Joe Jimenez a possible strategy with DBPR. Rest assured that we will remain vigilant on code issues, and continue the good work of both the Police and Code Departments. Thanks MIAMIBEACH Jimmy Morales City Manager OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER 1700 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach, FL 33139 Tel: 305-673-7010 / Fax: 305-673-7782 / http://www.miamibeachfl.gov We are committed to providing excellent public service and safety to all who live, work and play in our vibrant, tropical, historic community.

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David Arthur Walters< miamimirror@gmail.com> Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 11:45 AM To: "Morales, Jimmy" <JimmyMorales@miamibeachfl.gov> Cc: "Martinez, Raymond" <RaymondMartinez@miamibeachfl.gov>, "Castell, George" <GeorgeCastell@miamibeachfl.gov>, "Jimenez, Joe" <JoeJimenez@miamibeachfl.gov>

Sir: You are always welcome. My Man on the Street column has received an anonymous comment on the proliferation of handicapped parking permits. I am not close to that subject since I burned by drivers license in 1986. I have noticed a whole slew of handicap permitted cars and vans parked across the street from Rebecca Towers, with able-bodied drivers getting in and out of them with no sign of disabled persons. I even joked with the coin collector one day, that pickings were so slim for him that the city is wasting money having him come around. A security guard who was parking there at the time told me that only fools pay the meter there. MAN ON THE STREET I am appalled at the hundreds of illegal handicap permits, folks jumping out of their cars dont look handicapped to me. I know four people who have them illegally: 1) bought it on ebay 2) has back issues but he plays sports everyday, 3) did not have a doctors note but he faked a limp in front of the handicap permit window, 4) handicapped relative died so he took their handicap permit. Man on the Street is a column created in memory of a high -class lady friend who got mad at me one night and said I was nothing but a low-class man on the street and she would have nothing to do with me if it were not for my mind. Sadly, the high-class men in her life nearly beat her to death on several occasions. At least I had insurance and good hospitals, she said.