VICKI LOPEZ is the Republican running to succeed outgoing Democrat Nick Duran in the district representing much of coastal Miami in the Florida House of Representatives.
A former Lee County legislator, She served time in prison, but had her sentence commuted by President Clinton, and courts later found she had committed no crime. Learn about this episode an how it impacted her life, as well as her positions on the issues in this episode of Anti-Social
VICKI LOPEZ is the Republican running to succeed outgoing Democrat Nick Duran in the district representing much of coastal Miami in the Florida House of Representatives.
A former Lee County legislator, She served time in prison, but had her sentence commuted by President Clinton, and courts later found she had committed no crime. Learn about this episode an how it impacted her life, as well as her positions on the issues in this episode of Anti-Social
The views expressed on the following program are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily represent those of the Key Biscayne independent portions of the following program were pre recorded
Tony Winton:[MUSIC]
Unknown:MUSIC
Tony Winton:Live from Key Biscayne, Florida, this is Anti-Social, the interview show where we've learned that anger is not attractive. Unless you're on Twitter. I'm Tony Winton,
Thom Mozloom:Or you're Angelina Jolie. Anger looks good on her. I'm Thom Mozlom. Sorry. It's Saturday, man. Oh, got me up early to expect what's gonna happen.
Tony Winton:Well, you made coffee
Thom Mozloom:thing I did. I well. Coffee is.I guess that's subjective. What I made is dark.
Tony Winton:It's a dark beverage that was brewed in a Mr. Coffee. Yes. So we'll call it coffee. It's it's coffee esque.
Thom Mozloom:All right. Well, you know, I'm actually pretty excited cuz I love this series. I love when we get to interview candidates. Joining us in the studio today is candidate Vicky Lopez, who has a very difficult job because you're running for a seat that was once occupied by our friend, Nick.
Tony Winton:Nick Duran. Yes. He's like a good guy decided to leave government for a while
Thom Mozloom:Well, yeah, because he's smart. But But Vicki, you're here? Why would you do this to yourself?
Vicki Lopez:Well, first of all, thanks so much for having me, Tony and Tom, in You're right. Some people have said you should have your head examined. And I agree with you, Nick Duran is a great guy. And I think he probably just got fed up. Or more importantly, he has a family. And he wanted to spend some time with him. So very respectful of those who have served and have made decisions to move on. It's tough to be a Democrat in the Florida Legislature. So I mean, that probably played a little bit into it. I have to say that I think it would have right, so moving into the 2022. The Florida House looks like it's gonna have a supermajority. And the last time we had a supermajority was in 2010. And I have a clear recollection of looking out from the debt from the gallery. And many Dems didn't show up. Because they really felt like they couldn't get anything done. And I think that's been since 1992. We've had a Republican Trifecta with a Republican in the governor's mansion, and certainly leadership in both the House and Senate being a you know, led by Republicans. So I think it's always difficult, you know, and then I think that's one of the reasons why I'm running because the seat opened up. And it you know, I'm, I'm a very center right candidate, and this just was the most perfect seat for me. And so, I think having the access to leadership is going to be really important. And that's one of the reasons why I ran, I said, you know, if I can, I feel like I can get something done. And the district has so many needs. I think that's been that's been really alarming. As I've knocked on doors, I'm here we are in Key Biscayne. And it has extraordinary resilience requests and desires. It's a barrier island. And so you know, it's constantly worrying about sea level rise about resilience projects about you know, whether or not it's going to be, you know, underwater anytime soon. Right.
Tony Winton:We were talking about that before the show, Hurricane Ian and that's the part of the state you hail from right. Lee County, Ground Zero
Vicki Lopez:Ground zero. So when I grew up, so I was born in Tampa and moved to Fort Myers when I was about five or six, and spent my years there going to school. And it's interesting because my parents were educators. And so my mother didn't have me go to the school of my mother must have been a school choice person at that time because I was supposed to go to Fort Myers high. Instead, I went to Cypress Lake High, which is where all the people from Fort Myers Beach from Sanibel, and Captiva went high school. So I spent a lot of my years in ground zero, and I'm heartbroken because there's no way that you can rebuild the character, the old character of Old Fort Myers Beach of Sanibel of Captiva. And, yes, I mean, we were very lucky that we weren't hit, but it should be an eye opening experience for all of us that had we been hit, what would have happened here?
Tony Winton:And that came up in our candidates forum that we had last week earlier this week. We were in the cone for an extended period of time we went through Irma again didn't get the full force of that. The first full scale evacuation of Key Biscayne. And that storm caused amount of damage even with as far away as II and was it still knocked out power to 1000s of people in Key Biscayne for most of the day. And so these resiliency issues are a big issue in our local local election as you're running for office. What is what is what is your view on that? And what what is the role of the state legislature and what can you bring to the table?
Vicki Lopez:So I think, I think the role of the state is prominent, when it comes to resilience issues. I'm, I'm a little bit disturbed. And I mean, I guess I'm gonna tie this to affordable housing. So I know that they wanted to fund resilience projects, but they chose to fund them from our affordable housing trust fund. So the Sadowski Fund, which was created in 1992, was to provide affordable housing, right, so any any sale of real estate, the documentary stamps, goes into this fund. Well, last year, the legislature decided, well, we have resilience projects that we have to fund. And instead of making that a priority, they did it at the expense of affordable housing. So they split the fund, which they had been writing for years. And they said, Okay, look at we'll do resilience projects from this fund, and will lessen the amount of money that's that's, you know, available for affordable housing. And I say both of them are critical, especially now post pandemic, and especially on the coastal communities, which is district 113. I mean, it runs from Northeast 29th Street in Edgewater, and comes all across the coast. I've got the port in that district. And then it comes all the way down to includes all of Key Biscayne. And then it has North Grove to Southwest 27th Avenue. So we're talking resilience is a priority, and the state's going to have to make it a priority without stealing funds from affordable housing, which is also a priority.
Thom Mozloom:So you have this breath of of land and this populous along the coastline, including the barrier islands. And it's a number of communities. It's the city of Miami, it's the Miami Dade County, obviously, it's Key Biscayne, it's coconut grove, we can't afford the resilience projects that we need to do. We just simply can't. So we're going to need state funding. If you just look at the Rickenbacker Causeway and the bear cut bridge, that bridge is the one way in one way out. And we saw this in action during hurricane in how at what point can you help the state step in? And either state funding federal funding grants and lobby so that we can afford to stay afloat?
Tony Winton:Is that the kind of thing FDOT for example, should be doing? Absolutely. There's a State Park at the end of our island?
Vicki Lopez:Correct. And I think it's going to be cobbling together all of the agencies. You know, I think part of what's been happening is that, you know, and I think, you know, this gridlock in government, right, I mean, the federal government is viewed by our, you know, the the state government is, you know, they're the dems, you know, and I have always been a person who worked with everyone, we've got it, we've got solutions we've got to find, and we've got to work together. And I think it's coupling not only the federal government, the F dot, it's also, you know, the Army Corps of Engineers, which plays a huge role in all of this. But but also, you know, look, you you bonded yourselves$100 million for resilience projects, hearing the key
Thom Mozloom:you have to say it right.
Tony Winton:Okay, Thom, just wants to play the sound effect
Thom Mozloom:do you have it
Tony Winton:he does, you know, because this is the $100 million
Thom Mozloom:$100 million.[music]
Tony Winton:Yeah, okay. sorry
Vicki Lopez:It's, it's pretty amazing, because most people wouldn't, most communities wouldn't do it. So this tells you that your local government and your residents have made this a priority. So we have to join you. We have to be able to match funds, we have to help you with the study's like, for instance, it was very interesting. I was saying before we came on, that I asked for the legislative priorities for this year. And I think it's important because, you know, you got to ask yourself, and this is from the village. This is from the village, right. So for instance, matching funds for the Army Corps of Engineers beach and backbase study, we should absolutely be able to do that. I mean, it's only $400,000. It These are small amounts. But they're important because they join in partnership with others that are also working on Well,
Tony Winton:let me ask you a question. You're running as a Republican. Yep. The there's a trifecta that you just
Thom Mozloom:mentioned, you literally are taking the question out of my mouth. You're running.
Tony Winton:And what the governor did last time is that there was a unit on very wide bipartisan agreement on a long list of projects, including projects for Key Biscayne Crandon Boulevard, and the governor started doing them. And then he had a news conference with the Republican leadership standing behind him, and they're all kind of squirming as he's boasting about whacking the budget that they passed. So I guess my question is, sounds good, but how do you get past that?
Vicki Lopez:So? So I think it's a good question. And I often wonder, did he veto some of the projects here? Because the representative was not a Republican, right?
Thom Mozloom:Yes,
Vicki Lopez:it's politics.
Tony Winton:But he did it to both parties
Vicki Lopez:he did. He did listen to me. Listen, I mean, I know, I know this. Well, I know the system and the game very well. And I think, you know, part of my role as a Republican is to meet with the governor and say, Listen, this is important to my district, fine. If you're going to, I mean, of all the places, if especially if we flip this seat, you need to pay close attention to what's happening in my district, right. I mean, so I, I'm hopeful, I want to, I want you to recognize that I'm actually hopeful that a Republican can talk to the Republican leadership and the governor and say, these are the important projects for me, but more importantly, it should be for you. I mean, that's the bottom line in my book,
Thom Mozloom:all right, you You speak like a political consultant, then
Vicki Lopez:I've been a lobbyist for a long time. And
Thom Mozloom:I've worked in politics for 15 years. And there have been many times that I have looked at the slate of candidates that we run, and I say, I hate all of these people, I should just run myself. Is that where you are?
Vicki Lopez:You know, I think since I'm such an old school Republican, and I actually knocked on a door and someone said, Oh, I didn't think that there. Were any of you left,
Thom Mozloom:you know, you talk like a Democrat? Well, especially about climate change and resilience?
Vicki Lopez:Well, I mean, you can't, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize the impacts of climate change here. Right. I think part of my role is to sound the alarm and say, look, there are conservative ways in which you can address climate change. The good thing is that it's not just Democrats that should be worried about it, Republicans should be worried about it. And the American conservation coalition is now talking big time about climate change. Right. So I think it's always bringing people together. I think part Tom of why I sound like a Democrat is because I'm old school, right? Like I had to cross the aisle, you might remember that I was asked to lead a very controversial issue by Governor Bush, which was prisoner reentry work. That was big, dumb work, big, big, dumb work, right. And yet, we were able to bring conservatives together at a table with Democrats, we found solutions that actually worked, we we made systemic reform that helps people who are coming out of prison. And so I think part of it is that I'm just used to doing that I'm not, I'm a good listener. I'm not a divisive person. I'm always looking for solutions, always trying to find middle ground. And I know that this sounds for those of us that have been doing this work for 30 years, like I have, it doesn't sound strange. It just sounds strange in this environment,
Thom Mozloom:right? Well, the rhetoric is the rhetoric and campaigning is different than leading your campaign literature, literature. And on the trail, you talk about cutting taxes. That's a big Republican talking point. But the stuff we're talking about with resiliency is high dollar stuff. Yeah. So how do you cut taxes and raise spending? What's the where does the money come from?
Vicki Lopez:well i think it's, it's net neutral, right? In other words, we're probably wasting a lot of money some places and not please. Oh, kidding. Well, I mean, I've been in government a long time, I used to say, tell the government to line up all the employees count one, two, tell the twos to go home. And you'll never know the difference, right. And I'm a strong fiscal conservative, and I feel like we need to find the places where we're not where we're not getting the best bang for our buck, and, and redirect those funds into places that are not only necessary, but where we can, in fact, make up make a big change. Right. And I think in this case, certainly for the island, it's in resilience. I mean, and luckily, the governor has been, you know, when he started his his term, he sounded like a Democrat when it came to resilience. He's been a big supporter of the Everglades foundation. So you know, I mean, he felt he funds a lot of these projects. So my question is, Are my job is to tell them to fund mine. You know what I mean, fund them in my district. Thank you very much.
Tony Winton:You let's talk a little bit your political background from and we'd be remiss for our listeners, if we didn't raise it, you had a running with the law, absolute right. So and ultimately, the case was commuted by President Clinton, tell our listeners about that experience. And it would be life changing for anyone. You're still in the political, you're still doing it, which is like, okay, there's some grit there. Tell us about tell us about
Vicki Lopez:yes So 25 years ago, when I was a Lee County Commissioner, I had a relationship with a male lobbyist, and he turned out to be my husband in the end, but I had been asked a question, so I'd had Two relationships one with a lobbyist at the beginning of my term. And people felt like I couldn't be an independent thinker. And I've always been an independent thinker. And I was actually offended by the fact that people thought that if you are dating someone, somehow you have lost your mind. And you're now transferring, you know, your, your, your mind into theirs. So anyway, when the when I started dating the second lobbyist, the press asked me what my relationship was, and it was a professional as well as a personal one and had and had I not probably had the relationship before and been found myself in the front page of the paper over a personal relationship, I probably would have answered, it's professional and personal, but I only answered that it was professional. And months later, the government alleged that somehow my relationship with this lobbyists had led me to vote in favor of his clients. And so I was, believe it or not charged with one count of bribery, and one count of honest services, mail fraud, and that charge was because I put in the into the mail, the answer, what's your professional relation? You know, what's your relationship? So using the mail, the government said that I had further perpetuate perpetuated the bribery scheme. It's very complex. Here's the bottom line, I was found not guilty of everything, because every time there was a question about his clients, I voted against him. So there was the jury was able to see that there was no bribery whatsoever. There was no quid pro quo, the part that that they got stuck on and they asked the judge, what does honest services mean? Because she admitted on the stand that she'd lied to the newspaper. And the judge didn't give them an explanation. So they found me guilty on one count of, of honest services fraud. And the juror came to my sentencing and said, This is all huge mistake. We just thought that, you know, that was nothing. And now you're telling me she's going to prison for it. So I was sentenced to 27 months in a federal prison, I did 15 and a half months. And then President Clinton did commute my sentence. And then 11 years after coming home, the Supreme Court ruled on a case very similar to mine. And the end, it turned out that you can't be convicted of mail fraud, if you were not convicted
Tony Winton:you were convicted for a crime that you should never have been charged. with
Vicki Lopez:Correct. but okay, so then then you have choices to make in your own head, right. There's nothing that anyone can do to erase the impact of that experience. What I can do is not be defined by it, right? So I went on to do great work and criminal justice. And I felt like it was a calling, I felt like, you know, there's no one in that I know, that could speak to this without having had the personal experience. Does
Tony Winton:that experience make you more compassionate to people who are accused, people who had like you had to go through, and I know this, because I've talked to people I and it's in my own family, where people have been unjustly accused, and how disruptive it is to someone's life? Does it make you more compassionate?
Vicki Lopez:Oh, my God, a
Tony Winton:different view of the criminal justice system?
Vicki Lopez:Absolutely. I was always a compassionate person. This made me realize that bad things happen to good people, right. And it doesn't describe the person, it's, you know, and I and I spend a lot of time speaking inside prisons to people that are already out of prison, because I want them to know that it will not define them if they don't allow it. Right. I was just at transition Inc. This week. And it was very emotional. I have to tell you, 25 years later, I can still break down, when, especially when I'm in a crowd of people who are making it, despite the odds. It's just inspiring. I mean, it's hopeful, it's, it's everything it should be if you believe in second chances and look, but for the for the grace of God go any of you who could end up in a bad situation, you know, it's, it can happen, right? So I think what it did for me is that it one it gave purpose to my own experience. But it also has allowed me to to help people who are coming out of prison really return to their best self.
Thom Mozloom:This type of rhetoric is kind and compassionate and thoughtful. It is the opposite of our political climate. It is how are you going to either change the political climate if elected, or be heard amongst the shrill, argumentative nonsense.
Vicki Lopez:So someone said to me, at the very least, what do you think you'll be able to accomplish? And I said, at the very least, I hope there'll be an example of the light in this darkness. Right? I happen to be a person. Someone just recently in my party was shocked that I was actually talking to Senator Jason pizzo, who is a friend of mine who does great criminal justice work and since I'm losing Senator Jeff Brandis, who was leading a lot of this work in my party, I've always had so much respect for Jason as a former state Attorney, who's really looking at this from a different lens and they were like, why would you ever say Speak to him. And I said, Well, that's where you and I will differ, right? Jason is a good person who happens to not be a Republican, but who cares. He's trying to do the right thing. And so I'm going to work with anyone who's trying to do the right thing. And I, that person was so stunned that they didn't say another word. And I think that leading by example, I will probably be one of the oldest people in the house, with the most experience dealing in the process. So I hope that people will respect that. But more importantly, I'm looking for them to respect the way I operate, right? I want people to see that I'm not afraid. And I'm not. I this, this experience will not define me. I'm already well defined. Thank you. I'm going to define it. That's my goal is to show people how it used to be done. Listen, I worked across the aisle so often, and no feelings were hurt. No one said an unkind word about anyone. We argued greatly. Yeah. And that was part of the whole debate. But then at the onion had a drink together. You know, I don't know where those days
Thom Mozloom:are the good old days. I remember that, too. Now, I can't work. I try not to work in politics, because I'm not supposed to be able to like the people who are on the other campaign. Listen, right?
Vicki Lopez:No, no, I'm gonna tell you this. I don't know one. rules here. But me. I am the maker of my own experience. And I fully intend to be Vicki, and everyone who's in the process knows Vicki. As a matter of fact, someone said, if there's any Republican who can flip the seat, it'll probably be Vicki because Vicki is just Vicki. She's independent. She's fierce.
Thom Mozloom:She talks in third person she does. Bob Dole, yes. Bob Dole.
Vicki Lopez:Yes. But you know, I'm inspired when they say that I really am. Because that tells me that they do know who I am. They do know. And listen, my party is going to be in for a big surprise.
Tony Winton:We have just a few minutes left. So we could do a little lightning round here. On some issues. Big issue in this election is everywhere. abortion rights, abortion access, what's your position?
Vicki Lopez:My My position is clear. I think 15 Weeks was a fine move, when I'm not in favor of is not having exceptions, one size does not fit all. And in particular, women who have been forced into a situation should not be forced into another 115
Thom Mozloom:weeks is actually more lenient than the original roe. Roe v. Wade came with a 13 week. Yes, yeah.
Tony Winton:Do you think that the Florida constitution, which has the right to privacy would prevent any changes from 15 weeks?
Vicki Lopez:I don't know. I'm waiting to see what the court cases. I mean, I know that there's arguments on both sides. I'll be very interested to see how the courts rule on this one
Tony Winton:big debate Governor DeSantis involved in I guess some people would call it woke culture don't say gay. What's your position on that? It does? It does. A lot of people are concerned about it.
Vicki Lopez:I totally agree. And I'm not sure why they picked on gender identity. Here's what my position is. I think education should go back to the basics. I mean, my sister's gay, and she was against you know, pinpointing them i i would have picked up Jeff Brandis his amendment, which was no sex, why should a five year old be talking about sex, they need to be talking about colors, and friends and tolerance and loving everybody. And so I'm I'm not for the don't say gay. I'm for the let's get back to basics and education. We don't need to be talking about any kind of sex from age five to third grade.
Thom Mozloom:We talked about resilience, but we didn't talk about the ecology as a whole. Where do you stand on, you know, corporate pollutants and, and water quality? And, you know,
Vicki Lopez:yeah, I'm a huge supporter of water quality, obviously. I mean, it's part of you know, where we're going to be here in the next five to 10 years. So I think corporations need to be responsible. We need to get we need to highlight the bad actors, punish the bad actors, and applaud those that are actually trying to do it. Right.
Thom Mozloom:And what about the tone and tenor of politics? We touched briefly on it. But what is the solution? And how do you think we get back to more decorum and civility?
Vicki Lopez:I think electing more people like me, people that are in the center? No, I believe that more people that are in the center, we've elected people that are on the far right or far left. And that's been part of the problem with primaries, I think. And I think we just need to start electing people that are either center, left, center or center, right, people that are accustomed to working together.
Tony Winton:Alright, time for your closing statement. We give people 90 seconds for your
Thom Mozloom:closing argument. Why you Vicki?
Vicki Lopez:So I just want to say that I think what distinguishes me for my opponent is my years of experience. I think I'll hit the ground running. I also think being a Republican will give me you know, extraordinary access to not only leadership but to the governor. I think I'll be able to come less things and I'm I've proven myself I am a I've been working in the community for over 30 years I sit on the board of the greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and happened to be the vice chair of their public their government affairs committee and we are working on all of these issues as a group together and so I'm excited about extending that now from going from the outside in now I'm going to go from the in out and that's how I'm going to end a what I think was a very successful career
Thom Mozloom:a centrist in Republican clothing.
Tony Winton:Vicki Lopez candidate for the state house of representatives here in Key Biscayne the election is November 8 ballots are in your already in the mail and you still have time to register to vote that that window is still open. So if you haven't registered, please go ahead and register Vicki Lopez. Thanks for being our guest
Vicki Lopez:thank you so much it's great.
Tony Winton:And we are back on antisocial as Vicki Lopez exits the room. Our guest here and, Tom. We're getting more accustomed to our new recording digs.
Thom Mozloom:Yeah, the environment is except the door the door. But I have made coffee. I think I did I coffee. I figured out coffee. I have not yet figured out how to open the door easily. But I'm getting there. I'm getting there. It's not it's it's it's not the network. No. It's on the island. It's here on beautiful cubist it is.
Tony Winton:We had another big political event that you were a moderator of.
Thom Mozloom:Oh, the debate? Yes. Yes. That was an interesting experience. Second one.
Tony Winton:Yeah, it was the that was the second one different from the first it wasn't.
Thom Mozloom:We were missing. We were missing Katie. But it was you know, Fausto drama all the way leading up to the moment that the bait started, which is seems to be his MO with us. You know, it's the, you know, is he showing Is he not showing? Is he showing? Is he not showing he walked in with, you know, two minutes before we actually went live, which was rude. But his performance was significantly better than the first debate. He I think he actually did well in this debate. Because he held his temper. He, he avoided being too obnoxious. Although I think one of our one of our panelists would disagree with me.
Tony Winton:He also used has raised this issue now in the past couple of weeks. It's a change in his position, because when he was on the show in July, we asked him about the zoning matter on the roof on the ballot. And he did not have a position. He said his word that he used was punt. Yeah, well, he's,
Thom Mozloom:he needs leverage. I mean, you know, if you look at the primaries, and you look how far behind he was, and treat that as a poll, he has to find differentiators. And, you know, if you could, you know, scare Key Biscayne into believing that Joe Rascoe is going to you know, build high rises in backs density and, you know, turn the island into little Manhattan, you know, some voters might believe that it's like, at the federal level telling voters that candidate A is going to take away your Social Security, Social Security density issues have that type of gravitas here on the key and so he's gonna He's gonna beat voters with that two
Tony Winton:by four. It's an interesting question though density first of all, not only just because it's, it's completely new. We wrote a story about the completion of work of the strategic vision board, which is a body that has been worn for several years it had a professional urban design firm, assist them with a number of Charettes here in Key Biscayne. Those are like public meetings. There was a survey they were 1000s of hits to a separate website and They've come forward with this wish list of changes. And you mentioned Katie Petros, she was one of the people on the Key Biscayne Council who voted for it. I love Katie, by the way, she defended the work of the vision board, which has now written a letter accusing Fastow Gomez of misleading the voters about what the plan did and what the plan stands. Yeah, I
Thom Mozloom:mean, I gotta be honest with you politics. That's what campaigning is, at some level. You're, you're embellishing facts and details in order to get people to emote for you or emote against your candidate.
Tony Winton:Some people would say that's what bad politics is.
Thom Mozloom:Well, that's what politics is today. I think it's not great. But that's the that's what it is. And it's now it's a cartoon of what it used to be. I mean, if you go back 100 years you have, you know, surely there there are fistfights. Right. So it's nothing new. This is what politics is. I think. I think what's interesting, though, is when you look at the, in this particular way,
Tony Winton:oh, duels? Yeah, Hamilton.
Thom Mozloom:Yeah. Yeah. Not gonna take my shot. Sorry. I think, you know, the charter amendments are super interesting in this particular election, because they're Joe rhaskos. Charter amendments, if you want to know, get a peek into that candidate.
Tony Winton:There was nine commission that's in the village charter, and he was one of several people on the commission. But yes, in this election there, Joe rhaskos of men, right. His his
Thom Mozloom:campaign platform, you're voting not on the candidate, not just on the voted for all of them. Yes. Yes, he did. Yeah. So that's, that's I mean, it's fascinating. Well,
Tony Winton:but what's also interesting is, is that it is a fair question, too, because it's the voters being decided to talk about the amendment. Should the charter of Key Biscayne be amended to allow the village council to make zoning changes without a public vote? That's the case in most municipalities.
Thom Mozloom:That's that's typical politics. I understand that particular structure, when Key Biscayne was first Incorporated,
Tony Winton:but it's not part of the first incorporation that was added later. It's specifically due to the Sonesta hotel property. Oh, it was added in a special election not held on a regular election day, there was a relatively low turnout, and that the charter was amended. Because after the way that that whole drama about the redevelopment of that property unfolded. So it wasn't part of the original founding fathers of Kivus. Gain, yes, originalist originalist? Or was the debt cap that was also not Well,
Thom Mozloom:I mean, the dead cap is interesting. I mean, if you stare at your future, and you know that you have these massive projects, just the ones that are on board right now, you've got stormwater that has to be addressed, and you have undergrounding, that has to be addressed. Those two projects alone, without question are going to cost more than you can borrow. So if you don't raise the debt cap, now, you can't actually do those projects until after the next election
Tony Winton:unless, unless you do them in sequence and then dig the roads twice.
Thom Mozloom:Right? Right. But even still, even still, you can't afford to do them. But you're going if you would have to push both of those projects off until some election in the future, where you could raise the debt cap. It seems to me to be intellectually disingenuous to suggest that these projects are a priority for the island and not raise the debt cap right now.
Tony Winton:It's begging the question, certainly. And I'm
Thom Mozloom:like super conservative fiscally. Like, I'm the guy who would generally say, you know, we should check our spending.
Tony Winton:But it's important to remember and this is a parallel to the $100 million bond. No, we're not going to play the sound effect a second time. Question from two years ago, because, again, it's not the actual borrowing of the funds, not a singer dollar has been borrowed under the note. It's that requires two public hearings by the village council and a supermajority vote. That is not a
Thom Mozloom:political kludge. It is something that one side can use. But it doesn't make any sense. It's just a differentiator, right?
Tony Winton:The density issue is actually a more prescient, and here's the density issue. The current zoning code, as it is now would allow redevelopment of much of cran and Boulevard and that was one of the positions taken by the strategic vision board is that if you don't fix the zoning code, you could have these big boxy structures up and down Crandon Boulevard. It's it's exactly the it is a problem that they identified and said we want to be able to control it through amendments to the zoning code. Right. Interesting to me is if I make just shifted slightly is the this assertion over and over again, that density equals bad. Okay. without thinking it through a little bit. Yeah. What in the rest of Miami Dade County, it Dade County. There is a an here as well. This is a more affluent place. There's a housing crisis. There is an affordability crisis. Rents are skyrocketed everywhere. Do you know what the rents are and Key Biscayne? If you're a young family or single person trying to start out you're not living on Key Biscayne? Yeah, the employees don't live here. They have to come in they we have to import workers from outside of the island. If they have an issue. They don't care. I don't think the voters here care. But But let me turn that let me turn that density issue of the senior citizen housing question as well.
Thom Mozloom:Let me turn that away from residential and talk about commercial okay, because that's where you're talking about redoing your density in the commercial areas right mixed. So if I'm if I own a building, I can no longer make enough money to pay for that building off the rent, I would have to jack the rent so sky high, that the shopkeepers that you like the restaurants that you like, those people can't afford it. The only way to make that building profitable and have me redevelopment. Let me scrape this one down and build a nice structure that's modern, that's beautiful. That's LEED certified, that's hardened. Let's do all the things that keep us gain would like as a developer, I can't do that if I can't make the money back on rent and the rent would be so high that you won't be able to get the empanada shop in there,
Tony Winton:right, which is why mixed use developments are are common in urban.
Thom Mozloom:If you like business, if you like a thriving small business community on Key Biscayne, you have to look at the density issues along crendon Boulevard and in your commercial core. That's just the only way to do it. But if you are of a of a specific political ilk, you can say density bad. It is as stupid as saying build a wall. Yeah. Because how far into the Gulf? Are you going to build that wall? Because in Florida, right that they come by boat. It's it sounds good. But here I get the I get the idea. But here
Tony Winton:it is in this campaign. Right. You have Mr. Gomez, leveling this charge. And you have Mr. Rascoe, saying, Yes, I we need to make this change for a number of reasons. And I too am opposed to increasing density. That's crazy is what he said to the debate. Yeah, the so so both, both of them are aligning, saying this this premise that density is bad. Isn't it safer to say that planned?
Thom Mozloom:But that's not what that's not what the Festo campaign is running on the Fastow campaign is running on you can't trust the council. The current leadership can't be trusted. That's what he's saying. That is a dangerous, dangerous platform. Everything that he says about density, everything that he says about resilience is I'm against it, because I don't trust the current leadership. But you can trust me, man oh, man, that that is? To me that's super dangerous, because it exposes him to well, when he gets it. Suppose he gets elected. Well, do we trust him? How long do we trust him? What about the other council members? Do we trust them? How does he lead? How does he sit as mayor on a council of people who has openly said I don't trust? Where does this go? I mean, I think we have to get back to a we're all on the same team type thinking.
Tony Winton:The problem is right politically, and I think you'd agree is that if you're in a trailing position, Mr. Rascal clearly the front runner based on the primary results, if you're in a trailing position, you really have very few options, right? Yeah.
Thom Mozloom:And I like Joe, but Joe is really laid back and he's not going after Falster. I mean, Joe's really, really laid back like he's a good guy, and I like him a lot. But he's not addressing this issue head on. And it's it's certainly weakening his position. I think he's going to win the election. But I think he's going to win the election because people don't like phallus doubt not because they generally are all for Joe. I think there's going to be a contingency of those.
Tony Winton:There is unease about the future of Kivus gain from from all the events that are happening around us, threatening category four borderline category by category five storms that easily could have hit our island. Are we going to be subject to continuing rising seas? And what will the plan work won't be sufficient? Will insurers still still
Thom Mozloom:be able to keep his job going to be a strong leader?
Tony Winton:Well, or do you have a strong leader and his name is Steve Williamson, the village manager, and you actually follow the theory of council manager form of government, which is we set the big policy direction and let the manager lead. That's
Thom Mozloom:right. This campaign, this this particular campaign for mayor, you have one candidate saying, I don't trust the council, and you need a strong leader like me, and you have the other candidate saying, let's talk about some of the issues that we're facing. So in his rhetoric, the other candidate is demonstrating he's not the strong leader. Your position is a much better campaign. Like there should be somebody pivoting saying, we don't need a strong leader. We have one. It's the manager.
Tony Winton:The village council picked a that's an army colonel. Yeah. To run the village. Yeah, he's running it like an army colonel. Yeah, that's you. That's what you picked. And that's what you're getting. So the question is, do you this is really kind of in the background, I hope our listeners are least getting my mark. What I'm raising here is, is that it's really a right track. Wrong direction election. Yeah. Do you think the village of Key Biscayne is on the right track? Or is it headed in the wrong direction with basically the leader who is not any of the people on the ballot? It's Mr. Williamson. Yeah. And that is really he's the guy who's mapping out the Rickenbacker plan, the traffic plan, and a very ambitious, so capital projects. That's the issue. So you're saying
Thom Mozloom:you're saying that the mayor is not the leader. And yet there's two guys spending more than $100,000. To get that position? Our
Tony Winton:this former government council manager form of government, the Chief Administrative Officer of the village, is the manager yet that the mayor is
Thom Mozloom:as a bully pulpit, but only has one vote and gets to set the agenda. Yes. So that's the really the strength of the mayor's which which can be defeated by majority vote, right? Yes. Right. Well, which brings us back to the council election, which is going to be how many seats are we filling out?
Tony Winton:We have three seats, five candidates, and all of them except Mr. Herrera has been on I did see Mr. Herrera earlier this week on Andy he just come on hang with us. He there was a debate about the competing news organization the other night, which we'll analyze a little bit later but but the the he was at that he told me that he was coming on the show. He just needed to schedule some time. So all right, microphone is open Vicki's left the room, Mr. Herrera, come on in.
Thom Mozloom:There you go. Oh, we should remind that no candidate has ever won an election in Key Biscayne. Without coming on this show, for the time that this show has been on the air. It's a it is a there has been no correlation. There has been no candidate since this show started. Who has won an election that did not appear as a guest.
Tony Winton:little towns in New Hampshire with the President,
Thom Mozloom:I don't know just saying okay, if you're a campaign manager, you should be aware of that you should be thinking to yourself if I want if I want my candidate to win this show seems seems to be a prerequisite. Right? Well,
Tony Winton:thank you. I somehow we have to work that into a jingle or something. Can you know that's what I meant to ask you? Can we get a jingle? And we have one well, we have a we have a song but I do know a jingle like a you know, like singers in the back that very, you know, like 6070s radio you know, now that's to data
Thom Mozloom:if you want to be silly listened to Tom and Tony. Something like that.
Tony Winton:Okay, the news. I'm kidding. I'm really good use. Well, I will do my show I normally would just gonna talk about the Key Biscayne independent. We have a number of big stories there, including and I hope I will commend you if you haven't read it to check out the story about a really sad story about a person I know who worked here at this church as a handyman sometimes. And Brian, Brian ledger, and that story is you know, we these are folks who people pass by on the street. You see them all the time. Yeah, longtime fixture sad, sad fatality. And, and there'll be memorial service here later this month, and please read the story about Brian ledger. Okay. That's all I've got time. All right, dude,
Thom Mozloom:let's get out of here. Very good. Everybody. Thank you for listening and thank you for supporting the Key Biscayne independent. My name is Tom moslem.
Tony Winton:I am Tony Winton. Be safe, everybody I will always be my friend. There