NE MAC is renewed

A March 10 meeting of the "Miami Dade Unincorporated Municipal Service Area Committee" offered a fresh opportunity for our area's residents to butt heads over the issue of incorporation.  There is a link to the March 10 webcast at http://miamidade.gov/wps/portal/Main/webcasting.  You can see all the local celebrities in the "public comment" portion of the webcast.

Appearing to appeal to the Committee to renew the NE MAC were MAC members Kenneth Friedman and Jonathan Morton, along with MAC finance committee member Alan Hecht.  Their position was basically "let the people vote" (which is only possible after the MAC first decides there is something to vote ON).

Appearing to torpedo the MAC were Brian and Alica Rook, and the usual gang of people who put those "no to incorporation" signs on their lawns.  Their position was generally "we like things the way they are, so we don't want a MAC to even put the issue to a vote."  They kind of need to address the anti-democratic aspect of their platform.

Although everyone in attendance was focused on the merits for or against incorporating, their points were largely off-topic.  The resolution being considered was not a referendum on the issue of incorporation, but rather a decision on allowing a MAC to continue its study.

Rook did have a valid point that the MAC was not representative of the full geographic spectrum of the NE study area, and that it seemed to be stacked with "pro-city" members.  But later in the meeting Commissioner Sally Heyman directly responded to that accusation by noting that she had invited Rook herself to sit on the MAC.  This was a bit of a bombshell, because taking the top "just say no" agitator, and making her a member of the MAC could be an interesting development.

Another interesting point made was "why wasn't the MAC formed after petition by 20% of the area residents?"  It seems like much of the acrimony would evaporate if the "Committee to Incorporate Northeast Dade" or "CIND" would just go out and get a petition signed.  This would give legitimacy to the MAC, albeit retroactively.

After discussion, a vote was held which appeared unanimous: allowing the MAC to continue its deliberations, but without the need to conclude its process without first reviewing the study conducted by PMG discussed earlier in this blog.  Hyman indicated this report would be delivered in JULY (so that's also news).