Power Shifts in Miami Shores

Miami Shores Village is about to experience a change in direction with the new council majority now composed of three members who have consistently spoken out against a proposed comprehensive plan.

George Burch, a retired veterinarian and lifelong resident; Jesse Valinsky, a 14-year resident and owner of a local Steve’s Pizza; and Jerome Charles, a 44-year resident and communications professional, beat seven other candidates in the April 11 election.

Burch and Valinsky, who came in first and second with about 23% and 22% of the vote, respectively, will serve four-year terms as the two highest vote-getters. Charles, with approximately 21% of the vote, will serve a two-year term.

Burch was additionally appointed mayor during the council’s installation ceremony April 18, replacing former Mayor Sandra Harris, while Valinsky was appointed vice mayor, replacing former Vice Mayor Daniel Marinberg. Both Harris and Marinberg now have two years left in their terms as councilmembers.

The three new councilmembers were endorsed by local volunteer organization Miami Shores United (MSU), formed by residents who led a petition against the controversial comprehensive plan, which would increase density in certain areas of the village. Burch, Valinsky and Charles have all vehemently opposed the plan.

Marinberg and Harris, on the other hand, have been unwavering in their support of the plan. Marinberg, especially, has been the leading voice in favor of it, even taking the opportunity at the installation ceremony to insist that the plan as it is written now is in everybody’s best interest.

His speech was interrupted and berated by the audience, as his favorable comments on the comprehensive plan typically are.

By contrast, Burch’s remarks were consistently applauded, most notably when he announced his plans to create a committee composed of residents who will have the opportunity to express their desires for what’s to become of the village.

“Your home is your biggest investment for most people,” Burch said. “You need to be allowed to have input into what this village is going to be, in my opinion.”

The challenge moving forward will be for the village to not only draft that new comprehensive plan – amending the one already approved on first reading by the previous council, if not entirely scrapping it – but to do so while maintaining decorum.

Things have gotten heated in Miami Shores over the past few months as political campaigns took off and gaps widened between those for and against the comprehensive plan. In late March, Marinberg announced on Facebook that he and Harris had been the victims of anti-LGBTQ+ hate comments and death threats, respectively. It was later revealed that those threats had come from a former Miami Shores resident who now lives outside of the state.

In early April, hostility continued when a letter representing itself as having come from Miami Shores Village painted Burch as a “MAGA extremist” with “anti-Semitic, racist and homophobic views.”

Burch has since denied the validity of those comments, while Village Manager Esmond Scott released a statement claiming the administration was not responsible for writing or distributing the letter.

In any case, the letter clearly had a negligible effect on Burch’s campaign. In fact, some residents have said that the accusations only inspired them to get out and vote. The recent election resulted in a nearly 39% voter turnout, with roughly 600 more residents participating this year than in the last election in 2021.

Those voters also approved all 10 charter amendments on the ballot, which include requiring a referendum for the sale of village property, requiring candidates to have lived in the village for one continuous year, creating a charter review committee and introducing a citizen’s bill of rights.