MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

Lincoln Road and Washington Avenue

SIGNIFICANT MIAMI BEACH MALADMINISTRATION

Signs of Official Ignorance, Incompetence, and Negligence on Lincoln Road
3 February 2014
By David Arthur Walters
MIAMI MIRROR
Miami BeachA most significant sign of the maladministration of the City of Miami Beach is
the hundreds of unpermitted signs that the citys code compliance officers pass by every day
without a glance. Scofflaws are thus encouraged to break more serious laws, and opportunities
for corruption are multiplied. Indeed, who knows what other laws are routinely broken with
impunity behind the scenes, thanks to the ignorance, incompetence, negligence and corruption
of public officials?
I asked a designer noted for her interior designs, paintings, and big city murals if I should
complain about the big advertisement for Zara that appeared at Lincoln Road and Washington
Avenue as its new store was under construction there. Speaking on the condition of
Page 1 of 5

MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

anonymity, she said she understood my Signage Scofflaw Theory, but was sick and tired of
hearing me complain about all signs simply because they were unpermitted. No, I should not
complain about the Zara sign, she said. I should only complain about signs that are crass and
garish.
I took her advice, so I did not bother to ask city officials if the attractive Zara advertisement was
permitted. Nor did I complain about the For Rent sign in the window of the office above that
advertisement, even though it was obviously not permitted because it did not have a permit
decal affixed to it as is required of temporary real estate signs.
The citys Code of Ordinances Section 138-41 used to require that Each sign requiring a permit
shall be clearly marked with the permit number and name of the person or firm placing the sign
on the premises, so the public would know what was permitted. That requirement was
apparently dropped to keep the public in the dark and reduce the number of complaints,
except for temporary real estate sales and rental signs, which must receive a permit decal. A
permit decal can be purchased with no questions asked except for name and address at the city
garage on payment of $25 per decal.
Temporary construction signage must be approved by the citys planning department pursuant
to a design review process. The fact of the matter is that few temporary construction signs
are submitted to the planning department for review, including the large and often garish
wraps one can see on construction site fences everywhere. Some conscientious real estate
and construction companies and architects do buy temporary real estate sign stickers to place
on signs mounted on construction sites, skipping the design review process. A company that
does business as Permit Doctors and charges fees to conduct private inspections and to
expedite permitting including signage permitting does not bother to get its own signs permitted
unless someone complains. And people are disinclined to complain in Miami Beach because the
prevalence of the primitive law of retaliation on the beach.
As for temporary real estate signs, only a few companies bother purchasing the decals,
especially since the new regime headed by City Manager Jimmy Morales, Esq. was installed. His
assistant, Joe Jimenez, Esq., who oversees the citys code compliance, building, and ethics
issues, and Hernan Cardeno, Esq., director of the code compliance department and an FBI
liaison, have done little to make sure the temporary signage code is enforced unless someone
complains, although they drive by scores of violations every day.
Cardeno and his chief administrator George Castell were asked to contact David Muhlrad, the
citys first code compliance chief, about the hundred or so unpermitted rental signs or signs
with expired permits in front of his apartment buildings. The finance department said the
revenue from signs is miniscule, but a phone call might result in $2,500 in revenue from that
Page 2 of 5

MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

sourceof course compliance and not revenue is the objective of the ordinance, and neither
will be had absent enforcement. Nearly a year has passed by and the unpermitted signs still
stand.
Mariano Fernandez, the new building official installed by Morales immediately after Morales
took office, denied that it was his responsibility to initiate action to remove all unpermitted
signs, as per Sec. 138-11(c) of the signage ordinance. The city attorneys office, however,
agreed that the provision applies if Fernandez so desires, since the key word in the building
official may initiation proceedings is may. Hence he enjoys the discretion and sovereign
immunity of a king of yore.
Code administrator Castell denied that signage ordinances provide for fines for disobeying the
signage requirements in respect to construction sites. However, the code provides for referral
of citations to the citys special magistrate, who may impose substantial fines.
Several unacknowledged and apparently futile recommendations were made to the city
administration and several city commissioners for the complete overhaul of the signage code to
make it easier to comply with and to facilitate enforcement. It places an unnecessary and
ridiculous burden on real estate companies and apartment building owners as it stands. Yet it
should be enforced as it is.

Overwhelming Temporary Real Estate Signage at 721, 723, 727 Lincoln Road

I emailed Castell and Cardeno about the Terranova Corporations real estate advertisements on
space the company is offering to lease at 721, 723, and 727 Lincoln Road. My design consultant,
who shops on chic Lincoln Road every week, advised me that this is the very kind of signage
that should be objected to. She characterized it as overwhelming.
Terranovas website advises that the company, Floridas leading commercial real estate
advisory firm, is involved with over $1 billion in commercial real estate assets for its clients and
its own portfolio. Terranova provides asset and property management, leasing, tenant
representation, dispositions, financing, construction management and development services.
Terranova was founded in 1980 with the operation of a commercial property for a local
Page 3 of 5

MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

partnership. Since then, Terranova has grown to become one of South Floridas leading
commercial real estate firms, growing a portfolio that now includes more than several million
square feet of retail, office and industrial properties.
721, 723, and 727 Lincoln Road are part of a recent $342 million partnership deal with Morgan
Stanley Real Estate, hyped as one of the largest deals in South Florida history, with Terranova
remaining as owner and managing member of the properties.
If the real estate advertisements in the windows had little white permits with red numbers
affixed to them, I would have passed them by, disgusted by the crassness that had been
permitted, without bothering to make inquiries. But the signage, which appeared to be
advertising not three but a single address without a street number, bore no such decals.
I was surprised when Cardeno forwarded me an email from his officer, Herbert Jimenez, to the
effect that the signage had been permitted, not as a temporary real estate signage but as
construction signage approved by the planning department for three separate albeit adjacent
addresses. I checked permit manager and discovered that, indeed, minor demolition permits
had been pulled to prepare the properties for rental.
At least this respectable company bothered to get a permit, and not the easy $25 permit, but a
design review permit, for which it actually submitted drawings. However, the drawings did not
include the big 5,863 TOTAL SF advertisement on the door of one address:

Furthermore, the signage does not conform to Section 138-133(c) specifying that, The sign
area for window signs shall not exceed ten percent of total window area. The area contained

Page 4 of 5

MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

in renderings, decorative or artistic portions of such signs shall be included in the sign area
calculation, in accordance with the provisions herein.
Moreover, the signage shall not exceed one square foot per three linear feet of street
frontage, not to exceed 75 square feet. On the whole, which is 75 feet in width along the
road, the signage amounts to approximately 290 square feet, two addressed having about 75
square feet each, and one have 140 square feet.
I asked code officers why there was no form filed in the online system for the investigation of
my inquiry, and whether I could assume that the code department was reporting that my
inquiry was invalid, and whether a code officer had actually taken a personal look at the
signage.
If an investigation were conducted, code officers who work Lincoln Road every day would
discover in a five-minute walk to get a Big Mac that they have missed several unpermitted signs
in the immediate vicinity, from 400 thru 600 Lincoln Road

Again and again I have averred, to no avail, that the maladministration of the citys code
compliance department in respect to signage is indicative of ignorance, incompetence,
negligence, and perhaps corruption at every level of government including the city managers
office, the mayors office, and the city commission. Bugs will be found almost every rock
overturned. They do not care because they do not have to care, at least not until the
honeymoon is over and people wake up to the reality of whom they have married this time.
##

Page 5 of 5