The Miami Mayoral debate took place last night at the Miami Science Museum. It was standing room only, people were backed up into the lobby. City Commissioners Tomás Regalado (left) and Joe Sanchez, both vying for Mayor in November, sat up at the dais and took questions.
Nothing new came out of the debate and the only shocking thing might have been the rude audience. They cat called, yelled rude remarks, booed and more. They were a bunch of animals. These are the voters? It wasn't just one candidate's supporters, it was both sides that did not know how to control themselves in the situation. I almost left a few times, but felt that would be even ruder, so I sat through it.
One friend had a woman spit on her when she turned around to ask her to stop yelling nasty things at the top of her lungs. The young girl sitting next to me (she was about 19 or 20) used every curse word in the book as she yelled toward the stage. Why would anyone want to be mayor of this crowd?
The debate was moderated by Michael Putney, Channel 10 senior political reporter. Questions came from the audience which were written down ahead of time in the lobby and both candidates took their turns answering, rebutting, and then asking each other questions between the catcalls.
Basically it's the same thing when it comes to the candidates, most people already have their minds set on who to vote for. Regalado is against overdevelopment, Joe Sanchez feels it brings jobs. The Mercy, 300 Bay Residences project came up. Reglado was for "neighbors first" in this instance and he was against the massive, out-of-scale development. Sanchez felt that Mercy Hospital needed the money. Many Grove residents felt it was the developers who needed the money, out of pure greed, not so much the hospital, which is a private enterprise.
Spot zoning is wrong according to Regalado, Sanchez apparently doesn't mind spot zoning. Most people I spoke with in the audience agreed that it was all about money and had nothing to do with helping Mercy. Perhaps if it was not during the greedy non-stop building boom that was happening all over the city, it might be a different story. But this was during one of the biggest, greediest building periods in Miami's history and this parcel of land was just part of that massive land grab greedfest.
The Marlins Stadium issue came up, Sanchez feels it will bring jobs and that the voters didn't need to vote on the issue of handing millions over the the Marlins, Regalado feels it is a case of the Marlins "robbing the city blind," and wasting taxpayers' money. Also, City of Miami residents may not be getting their fair share of the jobs that are created according to Regalado. The building contracts say "we aspire to hire city residents," not "we will hire city residents."
Both candidates agreed that raising taxes to balance the city's budget is not going to happen. Both agreed that the police and fire unions need to come to the table and agree to take cuts or their staffs will be cut.
Regalado felt that the mayor and commissioners should also take a tax cut and most perks like cars and cell phones should be taken away or limited.
Playing to the Grove audience last night, Regalado mocked Joe Sanchez's "neighborhoods first" motto, saying, "I stood for 'neighborhoods first' before it was the popular thing to do."
Sanchez did jump on that bandwagon a little too late with that one. For many Grove residents he voted against them on every issue that was dear to them and he was never once on the side of the neighborhoods, they feel he was always on the developers' and big money guys' sides and he always voted the opposite way of the district Commissioner, Marc Sarnoff, when Regalado has always voted with Sarnoff on issues regarding Coconut Grove.
The debate didn't reveal anything new. Both candidates are nice guys who are both respectable and likeable and they do care about the city. Hopefully the campaign doesn't get dirty because it will just reflect bad on each candidate personally.
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