A Miami vision of our future?

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Sept 28, 1998 | by Ellen Sugarman

Miami, a microcosm of cultural diversity, is plagued by corruption, racism, poverty and drugs. The city's problems may be a precursor of tumult in a multicultural America.

According to Travel and Leisure magazine it is "the most unfriendly city in America." Fodor's International says it's the country's "most unsafe" destination. And George dubbed it the "most corrupt city in America." Judging from these and other "Wish you weren't here!" postcards, America's long honeymoon with Miami seems to be over, a casualty of the city's serial political scandals, a history of corruption in high places, rampant crime and a chilling climate of alienation and violence.

Unless you're living or traveling there, none of this might seem to matter except that Miami also may be the nation's capital of multiculturalism, a showcase for the demographic bouillabaisse the country seems destined to become -- and a harbinger of the consequences of dramatic change.

Former Miami city commissioner Humberto Hernandez recently pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank, wire and mail fraud -- crimes for which he could be sentenced to as many as 14 years in prison. In March, Mayor Xavier Suarez was booted out of office after just four months when a state investigation found extensive voter fraud (see "Voters caught in Miami Vice" March 16). Suarez was dubbed "Mayor Loco" by some for his occasionally erratic behavior, including his onetime threat to sue the Miami Herald if it didn't improve its coverage of him. Replacing Suarez with Joe Carollo didn't end the high jinks at city hall: Carollo launched an aggressive campaign to rid the place of Suarez cronies by firing the city manager -- three separate times -- even as the city commission kept reinstating him.

State and federal corruption fighters have real job security in Miami, thanks to the nearly 300 city or Dade County officials already indicted, a list that seems to grow longer daily. This year and last, entire city departments have come under scrutiny. For instance, the Miami-Dade building department has been cited by a grand jury for failing to enforce the building codes, taking kickbacks for permits and ignoring serious flaws in a large construction project. Director Lee Martin, Chief Inspector Carlos Valdes and Assistant Director Reinaldo Villar have been indicted (all three deny the charges) and removed from their positions. Valdes also was charged with operating his own construction business while on the county payroll and greasing the skids by inspecting his own jobs.

Last November, a Miami Herald team investigating county road projects discovered that more than $1 million had been paid for "phantom road work" which never was performed. The paper also found "staggering overcharges" for other work, including one six-figure bill that had been paid twice. Moreover, Herald reporters found that no inspections had been performed on some work and that records had been falsified. As a result of the revelations, officials were fired and an audit was conducted. Contractors blamed unreliable subcontractors; the county blamed "computer glitches"

Little wonder that the city boasts the lowest credit rating in the country next to Washington. A year ago, Standard & Poor's responded to the city's $69 million deficit by giving its debt the equivalent of junk-bond status. Florida Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles has placed Miami's finances under the control of a state oversight board. And just last month, with a city deficit hovering at $30 million and a budget proposal dismissed by members of the control board as "an insult to our intelligence," the oversight panel gave Miami an ultimatum: Clean up your act or the state will take over city operations!

Everyone complains, yet so far no one has come up with a solution to the political corruption and greed that critics say are gripping Miami. A few are breaking the politically correct silence to blame at least some of the problem on the city's ethnic divisions. Dario Moreno, a professor of political science at Miami International University, incurred the wrath of fellow Hispanics when he went on the CBS News magazine 60 Minutes in January and criticized Miami's Cuban community for the city's corruption. Today Moreno believes the situation is getting better, crediting the Herald, in part, for motivating the change.

"After years of denial, now with all the indictments and the thing with the mayor, the city has come to the decision that it does have a problem with corruption," Moreno tells Insight. "After years of silence, the business community is beginning to create a civic culture of no tolerance. If people take a cynical view, then politicians will no longer be able to play the ethnic card." Moreno is referring to Cuban officials who've gone on Hispanic television and radio to claim they're victims of racial prejudice. "One of the reasons people supported corrupt politicians was ethnic loyalty" according to Moreno: "He may be a crook, but he is our crook."

Miami's Cuban community, which pulls most of the city's political strings and a lot of the purse strings as well, has been vocal of late in calling for an end to the corruption. In June, Cuban business leaders held a mesa redondo (round table) to try to find a solution. And Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penellas recently appointed Paul Phillips as "ethics czar" to polish the county's tarnished image with ethics training for county employees and stricter controls on lobbyists.