MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

Miami Beach Mayor Unresponsive to Espanola Peace Plea

17 February 2015
Filed by David Arthur Walters
MIAMI MIRROR
City of Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine has not responded to my plea on
18 March 2014 to do something to resolve a conflict arising from the citys
code compliance departments pathetic administration of the sidewalk code
in the citys historic Espanola Way district.
Complaints about the lack of and selectivity of enforcement had prompted
Antonio Halabi, who controls the Flame restaurant on Espanola Way, to
complain about unpermitted seats being set out to capture visitors before
they got to his restaurant, among other code violations. His competitors
subsequently visited his restaurant and threatened him, and code
compliance officers allegedly retaliated against the Flame. However, the
citys sidewalk coordinator was forced to resign, and city officials rushed to
permit more seats for Mr. Halabis competitors.
On 26 March 2014, eight days after my plea was made to the mayor, Mr.
Halabis landlord, a company controlled by Scott Robins, filed an eviction
suit against Mr. Halabi. That followed a threatening letter to Mr. Halabi,
dated 7 March 2014, the first item therein complaining that Mr. Halabi was
threatening the other tenants. Those tenants had been fined as a result of
Mr. Halabis persistent complaints.
Mr. Halabi has refused, on the advice of his attorneys, to discuss the
eviction suit and his counterclaim against Mr. Robins. He is incidentally a
prominent public figure influential in politics, and a friend and partner of
Mayor Levine in several projects, one of them a virtual partnership with the
city in a Sunset Harbour development.
Copies of my plea for peace to Mayor Levine were sent to Melissa Dunn,
Esq., an executive for Mr. Robins companies, as well as City
Commissioner Ed Tobin, Esq., City Manager Jimmy Morales, Esq,.Hernan
Cardeno, Esq., the director of the citys code compliance department.
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A copy of my letter appears below. Mr. Halabi, in a public record letter to
Mr. Cardeno, has disclosed a plan to assist the citys code compliance
department by forming an non-profit organization that will among other
things publish an informational newsletter to thousands of businesses and
residents so they may respond appropriately to various issues that they
may or may not be aware of that affects their community.
-XYX-

---------- Forwarded message ---------From: David Arthur Walters <miamimirror@gmail.com>

Date: Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 12:25 PM
Subject: Honorable Mayor: Please Help With Ideal Resolution of the
Espanola Way Affair
To: Mayor Phil Levine <PhilipLevine@miamibeachfl.gov>
Cc: "Tobin, Ed" <EdTobin@miamibeachfl.gov>, "Morales, Jimmy"
<JimmyMorales@miamibeachfl.gov>, "Cardeno, Hernan"
<HernanCardeno@miamibeachfl.gov>, Info@robinscompanies.com
18 March 2014
Mayor Philip Levine
CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Subject: Resolution of the Espanola Way Affair
Honorable Mayor:

I appeal to you for your assistance in resolving a conflict that has

arisen along Espanola Way due to the pathetic administration of the
citys sidewalk caf code. I am absolutely certain that the optimum
resolution will be in the best interest of the entire community since
it will also entail some of the administrative reform you spoke of
during the mayoral campaign.
I have written three articles on the subject of which the
administration is well aware yet the maladministration continues. I
want my last article to be a celebration of success.
In sum, Antonio Halabi, owner of the Flame Caffe & Grill, has suffered
substantial financial losses due to the negligent, discriminatory, and
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selective enforcement of the sidewalk caf code by the Code Compliance
Division of the Building Department. His efforts to protect his
business resulted in direct and indirect retaliation from the city.
Direct retaliation, for instance, included trumped-up charges brought
against him in the local code magistrates court, which is critically
considered to be an extortionate political tool. Although there was no
such violation on the books for which Halabi was accused, the
magistrate insisted on imposing a fine and refused to rehear the case,
which was deemed so politically important due to Halabis complaints
of maladministration that it was personally directed by former city
manager Jorge Gonzales appointed director. And that is not all.
An instance of indirect retaliation involved punitive actions taken
against smaller businesses, pointing out Mr. Halabi along the Way as
the complainant even when his complaint was anonymous, while giving
passes or minor tickets to major violators, with the consequence that
every business on Espanola Way was set against him. Even yesterday, as
he walked along Espanola Way with a Miami Herald reporter, he was
hectored by a bully as they counted the illegal seats along the Way.
Perhaps as a reformer yourself, you will understand how he must have
felt when his good intentions were greeted with rank contumely.
The night before, for the second time since I started my
investigation, I personally counted scores of illegal seats set down
at the Washington Avenue mouth of the Way to absorb the flow of
tourist traffic before it reached restaurants towards the end of the
block. I advised Mr. Halabi to call Code Compliance. It appears that a
small-fry with a few extra chairs was fined $500 while the big
violators naturally motivated to hog the traffic were apparently
ignored. And that is not all.
Even Mr. Halabis landlord has joined the neighbors, impliedly
threatening him in writing with eviction for harassing his neighbors
because he has asked for just administration of law.
It seemed to me that the landlord had thus condoned the longstanding
misprision of city officials and unlawful behavior of his tenants.
However, it has now been called to my attention that your friend and
partner Scott Robins controls the property, a jewel in his investment
portfolio, and that it would be unlikely for him to intentionally
approve of misbehavior detrimental to his property interests and the
press reputation that he advertises in press releases as excellent.
Wherefore please be sure than he gets a copy of this letter so he is
fully apprised of this Espanola Way Affair.

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As far as I was concerned at first glance, the Espanola Way Affair is
due to shameful mismanagement of private and public resources.
Who am I to judge? I was employed in the travel industry, real estate
development, and shopping center management in my youth. I was
fortunate to work under the direction of persons retired from the
first lunar landing module project, an intelligence commander fresh
from Vietnam, a lowly bookkeeper who took up architecture and wound up
owning a third of the hotels in a popular resort destination, and a
master builder and developer from Germany. I made humble contributions
towards attracting and keeping tourists and good tenants in a way so
cooperative that the government mistakenly thought it included price
fixing. Whatever the price, it did not prevent the occurrence of one
of the most colossal overbooking fiascos in the history of the travel
industry involving thousands of tourists more than eager to pay it.
I imagine your vision is far keener than mine given your great fortune
in the travel business and real estate development. I am more
interested in ideas than the things of this world, and consider myself
fortunate although I live well below the poverty line in squalid South
Beach quarters. I would rather die laughing than scowling over
millions. I have been dubbed an honorable village fool by a high
official for not recognizing that our beautiful city on the beach has
the best of all possible city governments.
However, whether we happen to be foolish or wise, we are talking about
obvious, simple techniques in this case, not about the possible social
applications of rocket science. Simple things can be and should be
done to attract and capture business along both blocks.
Most importantly, all the tenants should associate together regularly
to serve their mutual interest in that very special place called
Espanola Way. Instead of vicious competition along Espanola Way, why
not have spirited cooperation? The Espanola Way Society should be
created to do just that.
Espanola Way should be promoted as an entity. For example, special
fiestas, carnivals, street fairs should be held regularly all along
the Way, and in and around the large plaza between the blocks, with
suitable measures to quickly clear the Way in case of emergency. And
why not put a Spanish style fountain in the plaza?
Espanola Way should self-regulate itself in a cooperative way. Since
the Code Compliance Division is notorious for its historical
unreliability, corruption, and unwillingness to enforce the code
unless someone else can be blamed for making complaints, hence is
unlikely to change except briefly for scandalous periods subsequent to
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FBI arrests, a private monitor should be appointed by the Society to
serve as host along the Way while making sure that extra chairs are
not put out until all the sidewalk cafes are full. And then seating
would be placed out according to an agreed upon system. And fines,
when rarely imposed by the negligent bureaucracy, would be shared
accordingly by those who do not opt out of the system. An attorney
truly devoted to the interest of his or her clients would deal with
unfair fines and with legislation.
Everyone concerned stands to profit in one way or another, materially
and/or spiritually, from the ideal development of Espanola Way, so
that it becomes the truly outstanding aspect in every stakeholders
portfolio.
The beneficiaries would naturally include Mr. Halabi, who may, with
your assistance and that of your colleagues, recoup his losses and
more, and perhaps even be sufficiently compensated for the severe
distress he and his family have suffered at the hands of code
compliance officials. Then perhaps Miami Beach will fulfill the dreams
he had of the United States of America in his youth instead of being a
living nightmare and a black eye on the nation.
It is with that in mind that I pray that you and your colleagues,
together with the city administration, will immediately arrange some
sort of preliminary powwow and palaver with all the tenants, to hear
them out, explain reforms, and assist them in the promotion of
Espanola Way so everyone has a chance to succeed to the best of their
respective abilities.
Sincerely,
David Arthur Walters
As Editor
Cc
Scott Robins
Ed Tobin
Jimmy Morales
Hernan Cardeno
Letter attached

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