MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

OFFICAL BULLSHIT PREVAILS IN MIAMI BEACH

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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

20 January 2015
By David Arthur Walters
MIAMI MIRROR
The mere appearance of fighting corruption has gotten many a politician into office, yet
corruption usually prevails however corruption may be defined. Now it is becoming increasingly
clear that systemic corruption prevails in the administration of the City of Miami Beach despite
the bullshit about customer service plastered all over town by the faux reform mayor and his
right hand man as they give their own regime credit for winding up the projects of the previous
regime, which they duly scandalized to get themselves into office.
True, a few department heads and scores of minor bureaucrats were disposed of. Jimmy
Morales, Esq., the new city manager, bragged about the terminations as if he had really
changed the world at the chopping block.
True, the mayor and his henchman deserve credit for a few accomplishments. Alas that the
citys communications department dutifully keeps the public in the dark on the bad deeds while
inadequately propagandizing the good deeds.
Of course the mayor does not allow comments from anyone other than carefully selected
friends on his Facebook pageonly Likes will dowhere he posts pictures of himself with his
pal Bill Clinton and other VIPs, along with scores of photos of himself being flattered by F-type
sycophants at various events.
What overly hopeful residents will have here once the smoke clears is a lot of sizzle and very
little steak, and the sizzle will be an insult to suspended intelligence. Less than one-hundred
percent appreciation from the press is not appreciated. Good news is better than none at all,
and authoritative sources must be had to sell advertisements, so professional journalists snivel
for their crumbs
Morales was shoed-in by the faux opposition to manage the city although he had absolutely no
experience in managing a city, let alone managing a city chartered to be managed in a
businesslike manner, nor does he have any experience managing a big business. Nonetheless,
he is distinguished by his academic achievements and by several awards for his leadership of
public programs. He was well regarded as the city attorney for the City of Doral, itself
scandalized by corruption allegations at the time he bailed out to the beach. He had previously
been a commissioner for Miami-Dade County.
It is said that Morales aspired to be governor, but that was unfeasible, although he would
definitely be a better governor than the one Florida presently has. If only he were his own man,
he would be a good strong mayor if he hired a competent city manager. The problem with
becoming governor was that few people inside and hardly anyone outside the county and has
heard of him. He is a relatively minor politician and lawyer, perhaps because he is a nice guy in
a vicious world where nice guys finish last. He is a definitely a homeboy, a political insider well
connected to the local rent-seeking old cronies, some of whom he attended high school with.
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He proved his sincerity when he cried when he got the city manager job. It is perhaps a safe
harbor at the end of his career, if he does not buck the system.
So a number of heads rolled as city employees were blamed for the systemic corruption. The
scandalized former city manager, Jorge Gonzalez, blamed it on a corrupt commission, which he
said he had finally dared to buck after over a decade on the job, and was therefore forced to
resign.
However, the building department and its code compliance division, the proverbial root of
corruption, were left virtually untouched by the faux reformers. Indeed, the building
department is still referred to as a racketeering or RICO operation run by The Untouchables.
We shall see why when we examine discourse with its overseer below.
Morales, with the commission in agreement because it admittedly agrees with almost
everything he recommends, and naturally so since he is apparently doing its political bidding,
did not fire Stephen Scott, Esq., director of the building department. Instead, he demoted him
to assistant director, bringing in Mariano Fernandez, the scandalized building official of City of
Miamis building department, to head up regulation of construction on the beach.
Hernan Cardeno, Esq., a sworn police officer and purported FBI coordinator, was left in
command of the code compliance division, but it was made its own department to be directed
by him. Robert Santos-Alborna, now his assistant, is the former director of the division, who
had been temporarily relieved of his duties to be investigated by or to assist the F.B.I. in its
investigation.
The pretext for appointing Cardeno to direct the newly created code enforcement department
was his vaunted integrity and stellar resume, absent any empirical record that he had improved
the performance of code compliance since he was placed in command during the F.B.I.
investigation. There have in fact been a few improvements along with the usual negligence,
selective and discriminatory enforcement along with continued comparison of the black-shirted
code officers to mafia soldiers. The evidence either way is merely anecdotal since calls for a
thorough audit have been ignored by an internal auditing staff also left intact by the city
manager. The computer is blamed for many of the faults rather than the idiots that sit between
the keyboards and monitors. Why the IT staff has not been replaced by the new manager is a
wonder.
I have already amply reported my detailed concerns that code enforcement has not improved
in several important respects since the new regime took over, notwithstanding the sincere
efforts of its handsome and suave director, who appears to be well liked by the code officers
and the ones he did not fire. Not only is Cardeno confronted by the same old systemic
corruption, he is the unwitting victim of the self-justifying bullshit of the new regime. He has to
be a team player to survive, while the affluent politicians he caters to require only a few
thousand votes from an otherwise apathetic public to secure their part-time positions.
Ironically, the police officer in this lawyer prides himself in being a straight-shooter, so proud

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that, suffering from institutional blindness, he does not realize that some of the inferences he
makes from the information he has on hand are simply bullshit designed to fend off criticism.
As the philosopher Harry Frankfurt pointed out in On Bullshit (2005), his bestselling bullshit
about bullshit, sincerity itself, when someone does not know what is really going on, is the most
dangerous form of bullshit, far more dangerous than deliberate lies.
Whether the content of bullshit is true or false does not matter as long as it excuses the status
quo, dismissing any positive suggestions embedded in constructive criticism.
And everyone is more or less guilty of bullshitting in this day and age, even yours truly. A.C.
Weinstein, one of the citys great bullshitters after he left the local newspaper and went to
work for Mayor Mattie Bower, told me that I qualified for CANDO artist housing (there is no
such thing) because journalists are bullshit artists. The last thing he said to me was that the
public mistakenly thinks that public officials know what is going on. May A.C. rest in peace.
Morales, once himself a special master for the city, managed to have the special masters
replaced, because, he said, he wanted to take the special master or administrative magistrate
facility in a new direction. It must be understood that the quasi-judicial special master facility
is not a court or independent judicial branch of city government created to hear local code
enforcement cases, nor are special masters appointed by a real court, but the agency is rather
an arm of the city administration. I myself have witnessed one demonstrably inexperienced
hence incompetent special master in action, dutifully condoning the code compliance
departments unconscionable action after looking up the wrong thing in the code book.
In fact, the special master facility is a honey pot for local fix-it attorneys. If you have the
wherewithal, and you probably do if the fine is very large, the problem can be easily fixed for a
fee. The little people must pay up comparatively small fines in full or cough up a big retainer.
Babak Movahedi, a former special master, with the support of his chief special master, Abe
Laeser, tried to actually apply the law to the building department and code compliance cases
before him instead of going along with the administration and the fixers. That angered a
number of officials including city attorneys, who, to their credit, agreed that special masters
should enjoy a modicum of independence, and that the rather opaque proceedings should be
brought into the light of day with a better record system and the broadcasting and videotaping
of hearings for public consumption. The public would find that ring of the city circus very
entertaining, but too bad, Morales threw the wrench into the compromise. The public is left in
the dark.
The directors of the code compliance and building departments are not wholly at fault for
departmental faults. After all, they too are underlings. They oversee the quotidian operations of
their departments, but assistant city manager Joe Jimenez, Esq. is their superior.
Jimenez was the assistant city attorney for the City of Doral, one of several Doral officials
Morales who abandoned that version of the mythical Ship of Fools for the City of Miami Beach,
which itself was veering crazily off the course to paradise. Wealthy cruise ship publicist Philip
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Levine was recruited to purchase a commission majority and figurehead the salvage operation
for rent-seeking cronyism.
Jimenez, who is also in charge of Ethics for the city, certainly knows how to bullshit for his
mentor. When Morales wants troubling information dismissed, Jimenez serves as his
troubleshooting defense lawyer. He has gained a reputation for being a hardworking man with
a dismissive attitude. One may sympathize with him given the crap his boss puts him up to.
Anyway, both of these members of the Florida Bar, if they are excellent lawyers, must be
commended for their public-spirited charity for not going back to the law firms on their
resumes instead of working as city employees.
Morales, in response to my concerns about corruption in respect to the collection of building
permit fees, referred me to Jimenez, stating that Jimenez oversees the building department.
Fernandez, the building official, had already stonewalled me on the issue. Jimenez said that his
opinions in the matter could not be attributed to Morales. And Morales absolutely deferred to
Jimenez without a word. .
The reader may be aware of how the previous city administration was scandalized by the
allegations of fired fire inspector David Weston, to the effect that millions of dollars in permit
fees were not being collected by the building department because owners were understating
the construction costs on which permit fees were calculated. I happened to have independent
information indicating that values were habitually understated on building permit applications.
Weston said he was fired for blowing the whistle. Morales, shortly after taking office, promised
me that he would not brush that subject under the rug. And that is just what he did, using the
human resources department to that end.
I persisted with the undervaluation issue, particularly in respect to a Sunset Harbour penthouse
where the contractor on behalf of the owner, a developer who had signed blank permit
applications forms, had proceeded to build out the completely empty space after obtaining a
permit to partially demolish a nonexistent bathroom and kitchen that appeared on old plans for
a full buildout that had never actually come to fruition. The fee was $947 for a declared
construction value of $6,000. So I suspected that the plan was to do a million dollar buildout as
if it were just a kitchen and bathroom renovation, cheating the city out of about $30,000 of
regular fees.
Building department officials ignored my pleas until Jorge Gonzalez, city manager, provoked
building officials into inspecting the site. Around $400,000 of construction had already been
completed. The total signed contract, a copy of which was leaked to the building department
and its building official, was for $997,453.40 before add-ons.
A stop work order was issued. Another blank permit application was filled out and filed, with a
total construction value of $400,000, upon which the regular permit fee was charged. I insisted
that a double permit fee be charged as required by code, the double amount being a fine for
starting construction without a permit. I followed up on the issue because, although I was told
by building officials that the fine was never waived, contractors said that it was sometimes
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waived and nobody knew the difference. The motto stated by an unlicensed contractor who
rented license numbers for permitting purposes was, Everybody does it, everybody knows it,
nobody cares.
The building department finally charged the double-the-fee fine, changing the permit fee from
$24,532 to $46,945. Do not worry about the owner: he would eventually deduct far more than
that in late completion fees from the unlicensed, de facto general contractors billings, perhaps
knowing that the contractor would not get any balance at all if the whole scheme were exposed
in court.
Efforts were soon made by city officials to obtain authorization from the state building
commission to waive double permit fee fines providing that owners came forward and
confessed to doing jobs without permits before being caught red-handed. Of course the timing
of amnesty requests from owners could be manipulated for corrupt purposes. It appeared that
a bullshit waiver program was needed to cloak monkey business as usual.
As for the Sunset Harbour permit that I was concerned with, I was informed by the building
official that the cost of construction did not matter since the city had changed its assessment
method, from charging a percentage of the values, to charging fees based of how many square
was involved in the construction. The new method was effective Feb. 1, 2010.
Well, that was not quite true. According to Tony Gonzalez, the operations manager of the
building department, a small percentage of the value stated on applications was still being
charged after the change to defray sanitation impact and county code compliance costs, and
the valuations were also used to trigger the application of FEMA flood requirements. So the
$600,000 difference between $400,000 stated on the permit and the $1,000,000 stated on the
invoice could result in underfunding of those programs amounting to several thousand dollars
on this permit, and, if the undervaluation process were widespread, it could amount to a
million or more dollars uncollected and distributed.
Weston said he took this kind of shortage with the inspector general for the county, pointing
out that the county was affected. The inspector general, lacking resources, is not interested,
however, in investigating the events originating in the City of Miami Beach.
Wherefore I persisted with my attempts to get the city to at least calculate the correct fee if not
to collect it, to no avail, thanks to Jimenez, who beat around the bush several times, and not
only declined to demonstrate how a fee would be calculated on a hypothetical $1,000,000 for a
6,000 square foot condo buildout, but, after declaring that current permit fees are based on
construction cost valuations subject to a minimum determined by square feet, reduced the
stated value of the actual contract from $1,000,000 to $352,000.
His explanation for his reduction in value illustrates how bullshit works for City of Miami Beach
corruption when the administration has discretion to do anything it damn well pleases in these
crucial financial matters.

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Most importantly, he noted, paraphrasing Section 554.80(7) of the Florida Building Code, It is
important to note that the Building Department is not a revenue generating department.
Permit fees are intended to cover the cost of operating the Department and should not provide
a windfall to the City. Granted, there are years when the building boom provides the City with a
surplus, which may only be used for the operation of the Department in future years when
development slows.
He denied that he meant to imply, on behalf of his boss, that fees would not have to be
collected because the build department broke even with its costs for the year.
Your conclusion that the City Manager doesnt want to collect permit fees because he doesnt
think that the Building Department is not a revenue generating department is a bit off the
mark. For one thing, the Manager never said such a thing, I did. Secondly, I never stated,
implied or hinted at not wanting to collect fees.
The city manager neither admitted nor denied that he did not want to collect the fees: he
simply stonewalled me with utter silence, relying on his troubleshooter to get rid of me. So
what about the fees?
Jimenez proceeded to deduct certain irrelevant costs merely associated with construction
from the $1,000,000 construction invoice:
Yes. The cost of construction stated to the city determines the permit fee. However, there is a
minimum construction cost per square foot. There are other costs associated with construction
that are irrelevant to the permit fee, such as the cost of a toilet. If a homeowner installs a ten
thousand dollar toilet as opposed to a five hundred dollar toilet, the level of review from the
Building Department is the same. Therefore, those types of costs are not calculated as they do
not increase the level of plans review or inspection. Consequently, it should not be a factor in
determining a permit fee.
I specifically wrote to you that certain costs associated with permits application review and
inspection are irrelevant to the costs of that review and inspection. For example, the
contract you provided indicates that a certain type of flooring was installed in that project.
That is an example of an irrelevant cost. All flooring is inspected the same way. There are a
number of other examples of irrelevant costs in this unverifiable document, such as painting,
baseboards, the costs of the closets and the TV and audio installation. In addition to other
irrelevant costs itemized in the document provided, my calculation of irrelevant costs comes
out to approximately six hundred thousand dollars. In other words, the relevant costs of
construction amount to three hundred and fifty two thousand dollars. Consequently, the
permit application was correct.
Certainly Jimenez could not be so stupid, I surmised. His mistake is in thinking other people are
stupid enough to be fooled by his bullshit, which goes even beyond bullshit into deliberate
lying.

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There is no such thing as irrelevant installation costs associated with construction. Such costs
are construction costs, just as a rose is a rose is a rose. The cost of labor installing a floor is a
construction cost, just as is the material. The notion that permit fees might be charged only on
construction labor and overhead, and not materials is appealing but is not realistic or
appropriate. Take, for example, the flooring. Not only the work but the flooring material, for
example, must be permitted. The flooring line item he refers to is described on the contract as
follows:
Install stone floor throughout apartment and balconies and upper deck as per plan (material
by contractor). Install tile at all bathroom walls as per plan. Install interior soundproof
insulation throughout the exterior and waterproof on balconies as per plan. $225,000.
Should we deduct the wood, concrete, and other materials from structures when we assess
permit fees? Should we deduct the installation, leaving us nothing to charge the fee on?
Jimenez had plastered the subject with la plasta de la mierda. In doing so, he gave me the
opinion that he is either incompetent, certainly incapable of overseeing the building
department, or dishonest, which might qualify him for the task as it is normally done.
That is not to say that some costs associated with construction are not assessed, and those
deductions differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. I pointed out to Jimenez that, in one
jurisdiction, the city expressly included, for example, all costs associated with construction of a
kitchen except the refrigerator. Of course furniture would not be included, and, furnishings had
been separately charged on the particular job I presented as an example.
Some jurisdictions, such as the University of Florida, expressly describe what is included as costs
on which permit fees are charged: The cost shall include total value of work for which the
permit is being issued, including materials and labor and all related electrical, mechanical,
plumbing equipment, gas systems, and permanent installed building systems.
I asked Jimenez for the citys similar schedule of permit fees. It did not specify what must be
included in calculating costs.
Alas that I am a slow thinker, because it was only then that a bulb when off and it dawned on
me what he was concealing with his bullshit as an agent of the administration and commission.
They had in effect rolled back the reforms that the previous regime had made to reduce the
opportunity for corruption in the building department.
On April 16, 2008, subsequent to the arrest of several city employees, Jorge Gonzalez described
to Mayor Matti Bower and the commissioners several improvements he had made to curb
corruption. At that time permit fees were being assessed on a hybrid job valuation/square
footage basis.
AlE Affidavit for Job Value and Total Gross Square Footage: Creation of a new form, which
requires execution by the Owner/Developer, Architect and Contractor, enabling the Building
Department to verify and ensure that permit fees are assessed according to the fee ordinance
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and to establish accountability, and create an audit trail for the proper collection and
assessment of permit fees. This step also requires a licensed, independent third party to certify
the estimated job value and the gross square footage, which become the basis for the building
permit fees. This procedure also creates a paper trail that can always be referred to during the
process. Previously, this information in many cases was provided by the developer or owner
and not verified.
In 2010 that method was ascertained to be too costly and complex for adequate enforcement.
The commission ordained that building fees be assessed on a square footage basis. Come to
think of it, that method presents the easiest way to check an owners statement about the work
to be performed, simply by measuring out the number of square feet. Indeed, the
misstatement of construction costs is so prevalent that the county appraiser considers
construction cost inputs from the various jurisdictions as mere estimates.
So now the affidavit swearing to construction costs would no longer be required, although the
value would still have to be stated on the permit applications. A small portion of the fees were
charged on the value and not on square footage. Further, an owner could seek relief if square
footage fees exceeded 10% of the construction costthat aspect was also dropped with the
next reform.
In 2014, the city commission, following the administrations recommendation, as it almost
always does according to Commission Michael Grieco, the mayors right hand man, reverted to
the construction cost method of assessing fees.
No affidavit of job value or audit of stated values is required. Why bother with that when Joe
Jimenez, Esq., who oversees the building and code compliance departments and the citys
ethics, is there to add and deduct from contracts whatever suits the occasion? Needless to say,
the occasion may very well be an opportunity for moral and criminal corruption. All seems well
as long as Peter can be robbed to pay Paul so the city can break even. Such is the Miami Beach
way of doing things.
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