Anti-Social
We' not anti-people, just anti-social media. Interesting topics, with some logic, originating from the island paradise of Key Biscayne, Florida.
Anti-Social
Council Candidates: Nancy Stoner
NANCY STONER is one of six vying for three seats on the Key Biscayne Village Council. We get right into it with her views on the $300 million "Big Dig" project that some argue should be paused.
Stoner is a construction and real estate attorney and mediator -- listen and find out more about her.
Important Election Dates
- Mail ballots go out - Sept 26
- Last day to register — Oct. 7
- Last day to request mail ballot — Oct. 24
- Early Voting Oct 21 - Nov. 3
- Election Day - Nov. 5.
The views expressed in the following program are those of the hosts and guests, and do not necessarily represent those of the Key Biscayne Independent or Miami Fourth Estate. Portions were pre recorded
Unknown:and again and again. I think I will have I think she will come. Will always be my friend.
Tony Winton:Live from Miami, Florida. This is anti social, the podcast where we look at events and items in the news try to make them sensible instead of being drowned by crazy stuff on social media. I'm Tony Winton
Jan Dillow:and I'm Jan Dillow.
Tony Winton:Well, Jan, we're back with our next episode in the series of interviews for people with a very high and exalted office. It
Jan Dillow:is a very important office, particularly over the next four years.
Tony Winton:We're talking, of course, about the kibasken Village Council. This show focuses on things about the island paradise, and it is election season. We have six individuals running for the Village Council. One incumbent is running for reelection, and then that means there are five new people running for council who have not been on council before, and one of them is here in the studio, and we're very happy to have Nancy stoner with us. Welcome to Anti-Social.
Nancy Stoner:Thank you so much for having me. I'm so glad to be here.
Tony Winton:So I mean, we ask very simple question. Tell us a little bit about who you are and why are you running?
Nancy Stoner:Well, as you know, my name is Nancy Stoner. My grandchildren call me fancy. I've been living on the key since 1983, I believe. And I'm a practicing attorney. I do real estate, residential, commercial, and I do some construction law. I work in a law firm that, and I've been there for 15 years, and that is a construction specialty firm, and I'm the real estate department all by myself, and very active resident of Key Biscayne. I'm been active since I've lived there, active in the athletic club when my children were young, and been very active in the Key Biscayne Beach club and volunteered in political things throughout the years.
Jan Dillow:How long have you lived in Key Biscayne?
Nancy Stoner:30 something year since 83
Tony Winton:and so this, has you ever held elective office before? I know you work as a special magistrate, right, correct? That's
Nancy Stoner:an appointed office, right?
Tony Winton:Appointed office.And for our listeners, that is the governing body that enforces the village code, basically code violations of various kinds.
Nancy Stoner:That's correct. We hear cases where people have been cited for various code violations, right?
Tony Winton:So, but this is the first time for elected office, right? Correct?
Nancy Stoner:What made you decide to magistrate, excuse me, an appointed office, right?
Tony Winton:So, what made you decide to run?
Nancy Stoner:Well, I have felt that very privileged to have lived in the key all these years. I've had a wonderful life. I've had a wonderful opportunity to raise my children with a life that no other children outside of the key really can enjoy. And now my grandchildren, some of them are living on the key and in my family, service is a virtue, and I have the time to serve now, so I'm very eager to do so.
Tony Winton:So just public service in general, not a particular need or issue that you think needs addressing in Key Biscayne,
Nancy Stoner:no, not a particular need. Okay, well,
Tony Winton:we're going to start off with question, some of the questions we've asking all the candidates here. And number one has to be the we call KB, Key Biscayne Independent, the Big Dig, the the technical name, I guess, is the Resiliency, Infrastructure Adapta tion Program.
Jan Dillow:I couldn't have said that
Tony Winton:But yes, yes. I, you know, anyway, we just call it the Big Dig. But the the the this is,
Jan Dillow:but it encompasses, basically changing or modifying this storm water system away, you know, away from a gravitational and expanding it so that it will take, you know, we'll be able to take more water on the beach, the beach renovation, the renourishment and the undergrounding of the utilities, right?
Tony Winton:So those are the three main phases. Could include some raising of streets as well. A lot of resiliency projects under this umbrella. And cost estimates, you know, have been all over the place. Uh, they're currently, currently, uh, depending on which phase, how you're calculating them, is somewhere in the order of 300 to three 50 million. But there's a movement by some folks to re examine the path that the village council set a couple of years ago, and what basically, sort of have a do over almost. Re, examine the assumptions. Re examine the type of system that might be needed. Where are you on this issue?
Nancy Stoner:Well, first of all, it's my understanding that the village council has not adopted a plan for resiliency for the entire village. Right now, they're focusing on phase one. So the hundreds of millions of dollars is not really what, what is being talked about now. It's, I don't remember the last number, because it's ranged, I think, in the 70 million area, right for phase for phase one. Phase one, which is the school, the school area, which is one of the worst areas. And if you've ever been there during a rainstorm, on occasion, the rain goes up, up your shin, to the knee at the drop off and pick up area. So it's, it's, it's pretty bad. I'm in favor, in general, of of proceeding with an installation of a new stormwater drain system. The system we have now is, first of all, not a system. It's a patchwork of different drainage sections. It is nearing the end of its useful life. No one really knows exactly what the status of it is. So we don't know if some of the wells are cracked. I know over the years, the village has done a good job renovating some of the the wells, and I know now they are cleaning the pipes regularly, but it's very interesting. I live right by the beach club, and there are a couple of catch basins right there on Ocean Drive. And I'm not sure it was last week or the week before the village had their guys out there, pumping everything out, pushing it through whatever they do, but cleaning it, doing their cleaning service. And yesterday, or the day before, we had some rain. It wasn't the worst rain, but it was. It was a little bit of rain. And I've been looking at the storm sewers, at the catch basins, and the water is about two inches from the grate. And I think it may be high tide now, so the water table may be higher, but two inches above the grate when we didn't even have a deluge that lasted very long is pretty impressive. So I think that's just an instance of this. The system is outdated. And the most important thing is, our weather system is changing. The scientists have told us it's changing, and we need to look forward and be prepared for that.
Jan Dillow:Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, I think that that is true, and we're actually, I mean, in terms of, I think the king tides aren't for, you know, another couple of weeks. So, yeah, it's something that is an issue that needs to be taken care of or looked into, at any rate. And so I guess the next issue that we kind of have been talking to people a lot about is the E bikes, and you know the tragedy that happened on the key. Do you have a view on the way that the council approached this? Do you think they could have done it quicker? Or is there was there some other issues that you think needs to be addressed there?
Nancy Stoner:Well, as were many people, I experienced frustration at the dangers that I saw with some people, not just children, but adults as well, not observing traffic rules while they were on these e bikes and related type vehicles, as I understand it, Key Biscayne, the municipality, is preempted by Tallahassee from regulating that kind of equipment, so they could ban everything, but they can't make reasonable rules. They can't require helmets, they can't require driver's license. They can't require a minimum age for use. They can't regulate the speed or the power of the locomotion the motor. So it's an all or nothing situation, and Megan's death was horrific. It's still. Terrific. Just speaking about it gives me chills. Everybody knew and loved her. She was a joy. And the problem is a lot of people do use the micro mobility equipment, and the village didn't really have the opportunity. The only thing they could do is the total ban, which, of course, now they have done. But I will tell you, there's been a lot of pushback on that. I remember reading with shock that someone wrote on some electronic social media thing that it was only one death, and that was didn't warrant stopping and banning all of the micro mobility. It was a shocking statement. On the other hand, micro mobility has its its uses, so if the village could regulate in some fashion, which I believe they are trying to acquire that authority, I think will all be safer, and I think everyone will be happier.
Tony Winton:I guess that some of the criticism, though, and one of one of your rivals for this office, it was on the show last week, was that the village really had the option all along to do what it did. It could enforce State law, which basically says no motorized devices on sidewalks. That's a state law, and it had the ability to do that all along. And it also could have limited the uses on village streets, and it chose not to. Basically, some might argue, you know, trying to get a perfect solution, in the future sometime, instead of dealing with an immediate crisis, do you think that the village acted looking back? I know Hindsight is 20/20 but do you think the village waited too long?
Nancy Stoner:I'm not going to point fingers and I'm not going to try to assign blame and at all. I think behind the scenes, there was a lot of discussion about how to deal with it and make everybody happy. There are a lot of residents who use these machines. And it's, it is a shame. It's more than a shame. It's just a it is horrific, what happened, but it happened, and we need to move forward and figure out a better way to go,
Jan Dillow:right, I guess you're saying to sort of, you need to learn from that, and everybody needs to be everybody needs to be heard before in some of these issues, more recently, we've also seen there's been a we at Key Biscayne independent have been writing about, and there have been, you know, a lot of news stories related to things that we don't usually hear about on Key Biscayne. And I guess, in particular, I'm thinking about the the gym coach Olea, who's been on trial or is facing trial for for child abuse. So do you have thoughts on that? And in particular, I guess in Key Biscayne, we had a, you know, an instance where he was banned from the community center, and yet he was still teaching on Key Biscayne, did he have you been following that issue? I
Nancy Stoner:have not followed it super closely. I have a general idea of what happened. My understanding is that, and being a lawyer, I do understand that there can be all kinds of allegations that law enforcement hands may be tied until the worst happens. So it's a very, very complicated situation, and not an easy one to address, unfortunately, before something bad happens,
Tony Winton:more closer to home or more recently, I guess, Justin, this is a current event. We had another school shooting, this time in Georgia. Very sad, scary images of students, you know, being let out of classrooms, and another lockdown, and everything else it seems to be happening with, you know, to call it regulars, to really not, not do justice to the how frequently it's happened. And we asked other candidates, you know, there's discussion about putting metal detectors now in schools, even even in it's happening, yeah, happening in Broward, maybe happening in Dade County. What do you think about that? I think
Nancy Stoner:we have to do everything to keep our children safe. And it is a sad state of affairs that our children our grandchildren have to live with fear. But I think as long as there are automatic weapons out on the street, we have no choice.
Jan Dillow:It is a sad state of affairs, and it is horrible when it's children. Are dying. But it's also horrible when you know you've got to be a when you're a teacher now and you are facing, you know, a life or death situation just to teach children. So that one is a one that kind of is close to my heart as well. So one of the things that is kind of straight up your alley is the is the silver sands development. So we've in the last meeting silver Sands was the first reading was approved unanimously, and it's going to bring, you know, a lot more people into, well, it's going to bring more people in condominiums to to the key. Do you have a view on looking at that? When it was, I guess it was the question of whether it was, you know, the idea was it was going to be condominiums, or it could have been a hotel. Now we only have one hotel on key, Biscayne. What are your thoughts on that? Well, first
Nancy Stoner:of all, if this had been a hotel, considering the purchase price, it would have been an extremely expensive hotel, so it wouldn't have been a replacement for what has been purchased. From what I understand it is expected that there would be less traffic and fewer residents and not a significant impact on the school with condominiums, because it will be presumably a second or third home for many people, although you do have to plan on it being full with a family in each unit and one or two children. So I understand that with a hotel there, you would not only have the residents coming, the guests coming and going, and may be in each their own rental car, but then you have all the service people coming and going and needing to park. So we have a real density issue. We have a traffic issue. We have a parking issue. So from what I understand at this point, going the condominium route would would be less impact in terms of traffic and density.
Tony Winton:And that was, that was the recommendation of the village staff, that that, given the alternatives to, you know, some person has a right to redevelop their property, right to sell their property, given the alternatives, that was the least, least least bad, right?
Nancy Stoner:Well, I must say that I went to a workshop and where the developer did a presentation, and everyone at the time was asking, Are you going to have the restaurant? Are you going to keep the name the same name? Everyone has such nostalgia for the silver sands. So that's what makes Key Biscayne special. People have great nostalgia for the times gone by and for for our current times,
Tony Winton:right? I should point out the developer said that he's going to cancel the plans for a public restaurant 600 seats, was with the initial thing that was submitted. And there's also the impact of, you know what the developer is saying going to be a very large addition to the tax base that you know might help offset some of the costs for the first thing we were talking about.
Nancy Stoner:Plus they're also going to do some of the storm water, at least intermediate, intermediate improvements, so that there won't be stress on the neighborhood caused by their presence, and to relieve some of the existing stress, we're
Tony Winton:getting close to the end of our segment, because we want to give everybody the same amount of time. But I do want to say, say that the current Council, you know, including the mayor, is six males and one female, and you're the only female candidate running. And I guess the question is, you know, sometimes we hear about the decorum on the council, the way the candle Council handles business, what's your approach? And if you wish to speak, it's a you speak to the gender issue. How does that play into connecting with voters.
Nancy Stoner:I'm running as a candidate. The fact that I'm a woman is just a fact I'm happy to serve. I haven't myself witnessed any lack of decorum. I think, in particular, the
Tony Winton:mayor walked out of a council meeting at the last meeting. That's
Nancy Stoner:that is a very, very unfair accusation. He was having surgery the next morning. He had told everyone before that he had to go to the hospital in the morning at five o'clock or something, and he he didn't storm off. He was frustrated, and it was nearly 1130 and we had had repeated, repeated, repeated five minute extensions. And I'll tell you, quite frankly, I sat in my seat, and it was very hard to sit there for those long hours. So I think he was I. And I would presume, if he's having surgery, that he was in some degree of pain. So pain makes you a little cranky, and so if he looked like he was unhappy and frustrated, I think it might have been because of that.
Tony Winton:But in terms of what you would bring to the discussion, you think, you don't think that the civility is an issue or or the way the council does business, not, not an issue from the way, from where you sit. I
Nancy Stoner:do not. I think this, this outgoing Council, and for the three people, Frank, maybe will not be leaving, but for the three people who are up, the seats that are up, I think it's been an excellent Council. I think they've done a great job. I think they've gotten along very well despite disagreements, serious disagreements, on a lot of issues, and I I hope I can fill the shoes that are are being made available now if I'm lucky enough to get elected. All
Tony Winton:right? Well, before we get to the closing statement, I will only say one thing, brevity is the soul of wit. Okay, it is time for your closing argument. So if you would, Nancy Stoner, Mike is yours.
Nancy Stoner:Thank you again for having me. I have lived on Key Biscayne since incorporation was a mere aspiration of a few ambitious residents. I have seen how self governance has provided keeper scanners with the power to improve our quality of life, despite oftentimes intense opposition, opposition to the very move to incorporate, to having our own Fire Rescue Department, the village green, the community center, I've supported and volunteered in The effort to achieve each of those precious goals, and our lives have benefited and been enriched as a result, even while keeping our millage rate lower than any other, excuse me, municipality in the county, I'm running for council precisely because I continue in the vision of an ever improving quality of life for US, for more and better services, more and better programs, and I'm determined to achieve those goals. I'm an independent thinker. I'm unafraid to question, challenge or voice my disagreement. I've been a lawyer for over 40 years, 15 in a construction litigation firm. I have the ability to analyze issues and as a mediator, I'm trained to bring consensus. Like all Kiba scanners, I love my island community, and if I am lucky to be elected to council, my experience, my skills and my dedication should serve our community well. Thank you so much for having me.
Jan Dillow:Thank Yes. Thank you for coming on the podcast, the anti social podcast,
Tony Winton:and we will be back right after this. You
Jan Dillow:and we're back. I'm Jan Dillo
Tony Winton:and I'm Tony Winton, and our guest is getting ready to leave the studio here at our home, away from home. Yep, the WLRN studios. And once again, we always have to thank our hosts, because they're just so nice to us. Yes,
Jan Dillow:they really are. And it's, it's really great. You guys should all like come and talk to us if you have something to say to the community, because it's really a great spot to be recording. It's very professional.
Tony Winton:We are going to actually talking about our lead, the lead question. We're asking all these questions about the Big Dig, and I'm sorry, I know people don't like that name. That's
Jan Dillow:why I wanted to like explain it. I mean, you did a great there was, you wrote a good piece recently which talked about it in a very succinct way, yes,
Tony Winton:but, but the we are actually thinking of having a debate, because there is this, you know, group of folks who really think that the current stormwater system can handle it at least for a while longer, and that this project needs to be basically, seriously re examined.
Jan Dillow:The problem is that, you know, every time you stop and start again, you have to go and you change the specifications. You know, you if you don't start all over again, you take a big step backwards. And every time you take a step backwards, you know you've got to do a lot more funding. You've got to, you got to do a whole nother look at how much it's going to cost, because it's a few years later, and you know how much you know we're getting towards the end of it. So at some point you have to make a decision. Is my opinion,
Tony Winton:yeah. And you know it's, it's true that the first segment really is the current set of contracts that are coming up. They have the 30 cent, percent. Design Build, they'll have the get further along, and then they'll be go out to contract. You're only dealing with zone one,
Jan Dillow:right? But, but they have to connect. Yes,
Tony Winton:the decisions that are being made now have a ripple effect, diameter of the pipes, all this other stuff. So you are kind of setting, even if you don't finish the rest of the project, you are at least setting some of the conditions for the various other phases. And so that is, that is
Jan Dillow:right, it's the they have to interconnect. Yeah. I
Tony Winton:mean, you're dealing, yes, how, what is a diameter pipe? So what is the flow rate, all those other things, you sort of walk working backwards from that. And that was the way, that was the council's approach. The The first step was, what performance standard Do you want to meet? How fast? Yeah, and some would argue it's too aggressive, but that was debated the number a number came in. They said, whoa. So then they they changed the standard a little bit. That brought the numbers down somewhat. And I guess the the thinking is, is that even the current, current agreed performance standard is in the view of some over, overly aggressive, right?
Jan Dillow:And I'm no, I'm no expert on this, but I do think it's good that they're doing the zone one first, because it does seem to have, it's one of the lower areas, and does seem to have the most need for, you know, to be updated. But, you know, everything has to work together. And so it would be really a bad idea if we went, if we went lower, and then it doesn't work for, you know, this area, which is this, you know, the the most difficult to drain. And
Tony Winton:to be somewhat obvious about it, part of this is no one really knows the future. There's modeling, there's predictions. There's all this other stuff. The you know, these are estimates. At the end of the day, we you can see a trend of sea level rise for certain, right? There is a there is increasing rainfall. Is it going to match the predictions and create the conditions the system is designed to manage?
Jan Dillow:Yeah, it is a prediction. But there's a lot, you know. Look, we are in, in where we live. We are blessed to have be right next to Rasmus and NOAA. There has been a lot of research done in Miami. The Southeast Regional compact was done, which had a whole system of Go ahead, right? Well, I
Tony Winton:was going to say, well, we're going to bring you the debate. Yeah, right. Yeah, there's, there are other points of view. No, there
Jan Dillow:is. And actually, even I think the Southeast Regional compact, there was a modification on it from when it first came out. So it's not like it's settled. It's not like the number, you have a number, and I don't think we ever will. I mean, that's just the nature of science and the world and the interactions of the ecosystem. But something's happening, and we need to be prepared for it, and it's a kind of a construction that you're going to do that's going to look out for, hopefully, the next 30 years. So anyway, and then that's
Tony Winton:that we there's two sides to it, and we've just been discussing the the technical aspects of the problem and everything else. Then there's the other kinds of things that that lead into it. What is the tax burden on people? What is the effect on the real estate market? If the work is done or not done, does that change it? What is the insurability?
Jan Dillow:And I mean, and people, you know, there are people that are in homes that are going to feel this more than others. You know, elevated homes may are, you know, are not going to feel it as much, but on the other hand, they may be have a bigger footprint, and so they may be causing more of the flooding. So there's a lot of issues. And I, you know, for the people who've lived here for a long time and who think that, you know, I don't want to pay for this stuff in the future, you know, I don't want to pay for something that I might not even be around for. I mean, that's a valid argument. The question is, though, is the insurance that you brought
Tony Winton:up? Well, yeah, and I would say there's the kicking the can down the road, which is not unique to this problem you're looking at. I guess the mayor Levine cava, asking the legislature, asking the governor and legislative leaders to look at the condominium situation. We have all of these requirements now coming into force because passed in the wake of Surfside that is causing strain on a number of condominium associations. At the same time, you have all these other financial pressures, and so people are and you have property insurance that's been an ongoing issue. So all of these costs, cost costs, cost costs, and then you know, the village council will be, we didn't ask our guest about this, but the village council will be at the next first budget hearing, September 10. Will be coming up on first reading the budget, the manager's recommendation is for essentially a 7% tax increase. And it's not the village is actually lowering its millage rate. That's the proposal. Well, but the because of the property values rising, that means the net dollars out of your pocket still another 7% so, right, yeah, so there's
Jan Dillow:a lot. There's a lot. There are we? Are we behind in terms of getting the budget read for if it's next week? No, no, because I read something earlier this week that seemed to imply that we were behind. But I didn't think, well, the actually,
Tony Winton:the the staff tried to get ahead of it by having more detailed information earlier the but the budget, I believe the budget's been scheduled for September 10 for quite some time. Remember, it's an October 1 figure, Figure fiscal year. So they have a deadline to be done by the end of the month. Yeah, that is,
Jan Dillow:that is kind of tight, though. Well,
Tony Winton:yeah, but I mean, one of the things that's what the way they always do it, there was a, there's there was a there's been the approach that, and we could do a full budget show. Perhaps we should, after we have the first reading the but the approach, you know, typically, is to come up with what this manager or this administration is doing is they come in with essentially the bare minimum number. This is what it keeps the keep the lights on, then they this is an to a greater degree, just I was reviewing the the document earlier today, to a greater degree, I have seen other municipal municipalities do actually then have one line this that adds this to the military, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. And you get to the point say, this is the one we're recommending, and you can keep going, add this, add this, add this. So it's kind of like a menu, you know, how many options do you want on your car, right? Etc. And that's the way it will be presented.
Jan Dillow:Well, that's good, but it also means that you're going to have to have the village council being very amenable to working things out, because when you've got a menu, I mean, just when you go out to dinner with people and you decide to eat family style, it's it's a negotiation. Oh, okay, I think it is a good idea. I
Tony Winton:hope so. Well, we'll close our show with our appeal for money. Okay, I will let you do that this time, Madam Chief Financial Officer of Miami for the state,
Jan Dillow:yes, well, if you enjoy listening to this podcast and to re and to listen to reading the news that's being brought to you by the Key Biscayne independent, and I would point you to some of our recent stories that are telling you things that are going on around you that are not being reported on elsewhere. They're certainly not being reported on by the Miami Herald, and they're not being you are not able to find this information about your community without having local reporters, which is what we have, and what we pay for, and well, using your funds we we are a not for profit. We don't make any money on this. What we're trying to do is to double.
Tony Winton:We're good at we're good at spending too much. I
Jan Dillow:don't know, I keep, I do keep a very tight lid on if you do so, but we want you to understand that we cannot do this without your help. And we very, very much appreciate the people who have been with us for the last four years, because there are many of you, and we appreciate everything that you do, but we are going to what we need, additional funding. And I want to make a special note to say that we are going to be coming up on give Miami Day in November, and we look forward to your support during that period. Thank you.
Tony Winton:Thank you. And so with that, we will end this edition of antisocial next week. We have two more candidates scheduled. We do have commitments from everybody running. We're also going to try, as time permits to bring you the candidates for district seven county commission and also our State House representative as well. So there's a lot to squeeze in in the weeks before Election Day. Go to our website. It will be at the bottom of this podcast. Note, we'll have links to make sure that you're registered to vote to request a mail ballot. You know, this is the time to do it when there's no stress. That's my personal reference preferences. Have the ballot mailed to you,
Jan Dillow:and every election is important. But you know, every time you go in to vote, it's a it's an important time, and you can make a difference
Tony Winton:with that smooth sailing. I'm Tony Winton and
Jan Dillow:I'm Jan Dillo. I The
Unknown:trails of the North coins of the bear cut bridge as the sunflowers itching your head as you return back home, and then the next day, you say you want to go for a ride. You.
