Elections, Change and Turmoil From Miami to Surfside

he city of Miami’s special election came to a close Feb. 27 with Sabina Covo taking the seat for District 2. The new commissioner won with approximately 30% of the vote.

Covo is a former journalist and current owner of a communications company who lives in Coconut Grove. Her $55,000 campaign put her in second place for monetary contributions after former county judge Martin Zilber, who garnered more than $184,000 but only 12% of the vote. Covo locked in support from 1,861 residents in an election with less than 13% voter turnout.

In other city news, the Wynwood Business Improvement District (BID) is up for recertification this spring, which commissioners are set to approve before it goes to a vote among more than 400 property owners within district boundaries. The BID is a self-taxing independent authority that supports Wynwood’s services and growth as a cultural and arts center.

Here’s what’s going on in other municipalities around the Biscayne Corridor.

North Miami

Five North Miami residents have filed a lawsuit against the city council’s recent decision to postpone its regularly scheduled May 2023 election to November 2024, which was done in an attempt to coincide with the general election cycle. Several individuals rallied in front of North Miami City Hall Feb. 21 to protest the move.

The lawsuit argues that the extension violates the city’s charter and criticizes the effect it has in extending current councilmembers’ terms by 18 months. Hector Medina, who had previously filed paperwork to run in the May election and is now one of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs, is additionally concerned about the cost of the public-private partnership that the council has championed to revitalize its downtown.

North Miami Beach

The saga continues in North Miami Beach, where business has now stalled for at least two consecutive months as Black commissioners protest the mayor’s questionable residency status. At the Feb. 21 meeting, Commissioners Fortuna Smukler, Jay Chernoff and Phyllis Smith condemned the continued absences of Commissioners Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond and Daniela Jean. Smukler even went as far as to remove the nameplates of the missing commissioners from the dais, stating they can have them back when they return.

Repeated hearings on the issue have not resolved the conflict. On Feb. 8, Judge Valerie Manno Schurr said that a trial will be required to determine whether Mayor Anthony DeFillipo could continue to act in that capacity in spite of mounting evidence that he has moved to Davie. The involved parties are aiming to conduct that trial before March 20.

In the meantime, Chernoff has filed a lawsuit to remove Joseph from the commission on the basis that the latter has reached the number of meetings a commissioner is allowed to miss. In fact, the city charter states that a commissioner’s seat becomes vacant only after a period of 120 missed days. Joseph’s first absence was on Dec. 20, marking 63 days at the time of the February meeting.

In a new development tied to the mayor’s residency question, The Miami-Dade State Attorney's office is now investigating allegations that DeFillipo may have committed voter fraud in the past election.  

Surfside

In a visual presentation at the Feb. 14 commission meeting, Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danzinger snuck in disparaging images of former Mayor Charles Burkett and former Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer to take a poke at his most vocal opponents. Danzinger sarcastically remarked that he had no idea how the images found their way into his PowerPoint presentation.

The presentation was primarily meant to deny allegations that the mayor had taken an undisclosed trip to Dubai to meet with representatives of DAMAC Properties, who are poised to develop the former site of the Champlain Towers South collapse. Danzinger maintains the trip was overall personal in nature, and that family members of the collapse’s victims were well aware of his efforts to meet with developers during his visit.

Miami Shores

A tied vote, continuous deferments and now failure to comply with public notice requirements have all plagued the Miami Shores comprehensive plan, which came back for yet another vote Feb. 21 with two new councilmembers. The new village council voted 3-2 to approve the widely protested plan in a legally required redo of December’s first reading, which was previously reported on in the Biscayne Times.

The plan was amended to lower density in the downtown area along NE Second Avenue from four to three floors; require any multiuse property at NE 105th Street and Biscayne Boulevard to be 80% residential, while raising the maximum height from 35 to 40 feet; indicate that taller buildings shall have a greater setback from single-family residential homes than lower buildings in the land adjacent to Barry University; and reduce floor area ratio (FAR) from three to two along Biscayne Boulevard between 87th Street and 93rd Street.

Also at the Feb. 21 meeting, a resident from neighboring West Little River in unincorporated Miami-Dade County cautioned how the planned filling of Silver Blue Lake by Lake Sana Development could potentially raise water levels in the Biscayne Corridor. He encouraged the Miami Shores community to protest the filling by speaking out March 16 at the Gwen Cherry Boys & Girls Club.