To The Editor,
Recently, at a City Commission meeting regarding the development of 110 Phoenician Avenue, opponents of the development showed video indicating potentially fraudulent testimony at prior commission meetings. Everyone should watch the clip:
I have no opinion on the merits of the proposed upzoning or the project itself. But these videos appear to be evidence of an orchestrated fraud on the proceedings and the city itself. Someone may have paid these people to appear and provide false testimony. The issue is, who paid them? The issue is not the witnesses themselves. It appears that someone with a financial interest in the project may have facilitated a fraud. The commission should be outraged and follow the money, urgently.
And yet, the mayor, vice mayor and even the police chief show no real outrage and refuse to focus on the real issue: Who paid the witnesses to appear and lie? The mayor instructed the city attorney to investigate the testimony provided by people who appear to have been recruited and prepped by financial interests to commit fraud on the city. The police chief indicated perjury is a low priority and unlikely to be prosecuted, again focusing on the alleged perjurers themselves rather than the possibility of fraud by the entity or individuals who may have paid the witnesses to lie about their residence and provide false testimony.
The attorney for the developer was present, and yet no one on the commission asked the attorney if he knew anything about this alleged fraud or directed the attorney to speak with his client and report back to the commission regarding it.
Our commission simply shrugs its shoulders and effectively says there is nothing we can do. The project has been planned for five years, the upzoning is approved, and it must go forward because of state law and the tangential benefit to a worthy school.
Financial interests on this project may have paid people to commit fraud, but the project is a “go” despite this evidence of possible malfeasance. If someone is willing to promote a project using perjury, what else are they prepared to do or lie about?
Ends rarely justify the means. Our city will in the end be the poorer for it.
Tom Parker
Coral Gables
Great letter Tom. Thank you for pointing out the obvious.
This project should have been stopped long ago and it shows that apparently the developer will do whatever it takes to push it through. They are changing four (4) zoning codes for this project. That opens the door for more development in this low rise area of the neighborhood. All the major tall buildings are on Ponce de Leon Blvd and Douglas, not East Ponce by the Woman’s Club. This is going to change the street/neighborhood FOREVER.
The promoters of this project are also tugging at the heart strings of everyone because of the Crystal Academy School. However, the construction is going to take a minimum of three (3) years so where will the children attend school during this time? No one has mentioned this. Everyone mentions the disruption but isn’t moving the children during the construction period and then moving them back the most disruptive? Why doesn’t Crystal Academy make an arrangement with a public school, already set up for teaching? So many public schools are at their lowest enrollment now because everyone is sending their kids to charter or private schools. Public schools have empty classrooms. Perhaps a Public/Private agreement would be ideal for everyone and the kids would only be relocated once.