Audio reveals Miami Beach mayor met with developers about South Beach rebuild
THE AUDIO CLIP IS BEING CITED BY CRITICS OF THE PUSH TO OVERHAUL SOUTH BEACH’S PARTY SCENE AS EVIDENCE THAT THE EFFORT ISN’T ABOUT CRIME, BUT MONEY.
In a private meeting with developers and business and city leaders last month, Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber solicited ideas to redevelop the city’s entertainment district and promised his political support as his predecessor discussed raising campaign cash to promote their efforts.
“I commit to you this: If you want something on the ballot because it needs to be on the ballot, I’ll put it on the ballot,” Gelber said during the video meeting, which was also attended by City Manager Alina Hudak and recorded by one of the attendees. “I’m prepared to do whatever we need to do and support any idea, even if it’s not particularly popular.”
With an election looming on Nov. 2 and a referendum on the ballot seeking support to roll back drinking at bars to 2 a.m., an edited audio clip of the meeting — published online Monday by one of Gelber’s political opponents — is now being cited by critics of the push to overhaul South Beach’s party scene as evidence that the effort isn’t about crime, but money.
“You don’t get rid of crime through over-development,” said Jean Marie Echemendia, who is Gelber’s most well-funded opponent and published the nine-minute recording on a website that she set up to spotlight Gelber’s political donors.
In an interview Monday, Gelber said the allegation that the referendum is meant to benefit developers is “almost a moronic claim.” He told the Miami Herald that he didn’t say anything during the meetBasabe ing that he has not said publicly and said he wanted the group of developers and business representatives, who were also Miami Beach residents, to provide their insights.
“I’d like to hear their ideas,” he said. “If somebody says they want to tear something down and it’s historic, we’re not going to support it, obviously.”
Philip Levine, a businessman who was mayor until 2017, when he stepped down and Gelber was elected, also participated in the call. He told the Herald that the meeting was not secret and that the working group is loosely organized. No political committee has been created, said Levine, who suggested establishing one on the call.
“There’s no formal organized group,” he said. “It’s just anybody who’s sick and tired of the chaos in our community.”
THE RECORDING
The audio released and circulated Monday was recorded by Fabian Basabe, a former Miami Beach Commission candidate who sent an edited snippet to Gelber’s foes in the upcoming Nov. 2 election.
Basabe, a former reality TV actor who was disqualified from running in the Group 2 commission race for not meeting a residency requirement, said he watched the 8 a.m., Sept. 13 meeting on his computer while recording the audio. He said he waited a month to release the audio because he was trying to give Gelber the benefit of the doubt but now believes the public should be aware of the discussions happening behind closed doors.
“I feel like the public’s voice is less and less heard,” he said.
provided the Herald with a longer recording that he said captured most of the meeting. The Herald does not have an exhaustive list of who attended.
During the meeting, Gelber stressed that he didn’t want to be a part of any conversation about a political campaign, especially with Hudak in attendance. But the mayor, who for months has talked about turning South Beach into a “live, work, play” area, also noted that he preferred to keep the group informal to avoid the red tape that comes with forming an official city committee.
Gelber, who has pitched the reimagined South
Beach as a way to reduce crime and disorder, asked the developers, including Richard Finvarb and Michael Shvo, to come up with development incentives or ideas for new projects to transform the entertainment district into an area with fewer bars and more offices, residential buildings and art galleries.
He offered the services of city staff to work with the developers and business representatives to decide whether the administration would approve specific proposals, such as offering extra height and density to buildings along Collins Avenue.
“We need people to look at this area and say, ‘How can we build something?’ ” Gelber said.
If staffers are supportive, but the commission doesn’t approve a given land-use change, Gelber said he would find a way to put it on the ballot for voters to decide. (The 2 a.m. referendum was placed on the Nov. 2 ballot by vote of the city commission long before the Sept. 13 meeting was held.)
“I’m convinced that you all are fully able to harness, frankly, your genius, your resources, your imagination, and tell us what you would do to some of these blocks, what you think would work,” Gelber said at the meeting. “And come up with the ideas. And we will promote them. We will promote them and we will implement them and we will set you loose in this but we’re going to have to do it in a responsible, informed way. But I think we’re game for that.”
Levine, who led the meeting, proposed forming a political committee to back candidates who support Gelber’s vision for South Beach.
“We need to utilize whatever influence we have to push those six commissioners to follow the vision and the agenda of the mayor and the manager to make the city safer,” Levine said. “In other words, nothing can happen unless we exercise our power with those elected officials to have them ... move forward.”
Levine said the group will work on recommendations to redevelop the area, but Gelber will likely need to form a city committee to consider the ideas.
He said the assembled business leaders, including developer Russell Galbut, support Gelber’s 12-point South Beach plan — which includes giving developers incentives to connect buildings on Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue over the Ocean Court alley. Gelber, who released the plan in late March, envisioned giving voters a choice if commissioners didn’t approve the incentives. But he said his vision would not entail height increases on Ocean Drive buildings.
“There’s no plan for high-rises,” Gelber said.
Still, the idea of Gelber and Levine — who are both campaigning for a 2 a.m. rollback — meeting with developers led to renewed criticism from Gelber’s political opponents.
“Listen below to Filthy Phil Levine and Dirty Dan Gelber talking about forming a PAC with developer money to get those elected to the commission that they can sway, to agree with their redevelopment of the entertainment district,” Echemendia’s website read Monday morning. “This is what the crime is all about. Their greed is our misery.”
Gelber said locals hardly visit South Beach anymore, and that the late-night drinking business model is fueling the crime and disorder in the streets. Bar owners disagree that they are to blame. They have mounted a campaign to oppose the 2 a.m. referendum, with some venues spending tens of thousands of dollars. Gelber and Levine have lent their voices to a campaign supporting the 2 a.m. ban, but it is not as well-funded.
Gelber said he would be pushing for the redevelopment of the area with or without the 2 a.m. referendum. But for the disorder to stop in South Beach, he said, both a 2 a.m. last call and new investment must be in place.
“We’re not gonna change this area if we don’t do anything,” he said Monday.