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
Lopez v Gross-Kellogg and the battle for House Dist. 113
IN A DISTRICT that has historically elected Democrats, State Rep. Vicki Lopez is running as a moderate Republican to keep her spot. House District 113, which covers Key Biscayne and coastal Miami.
Know for her work on condo issues, she is fending off a challenge from Jackie Gross Kellogg, the leader of Key Biscayne Democrats who says she will restore bipartisan balance after decades of Republican rule in Tallahassee.
We talk to both candidates about some of the top issues facing voters and what has been at times a nasty campaign.
The views expressed in the following program are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily represent those of the Key Biscayne Independent or Miami Fourth Estate. Portions were pre recorded. She will
Unknown:she will always be my
Tony Winton:friend. Live from Miami, Florida. This is anti social, the podcast and sometimes a radio program where we bring you current events with maybe just a little bit of calmness, you know, and tranquility, a little bit too much. Yeah,
Jan Dillow:we try.
Tony Winton:I'm Jan Dillow, Tony Winton, and well, you know, we're here in political season. It's, you know what the good news about it is. Here we are on october 24 as we're recording the show. It's really only a couple of weeks, I
Jan Dillow:know, less than two, right? Yeah, yeah. It's, well, it's been, it's gonna be a long two weeks, I think, for us and for our guests. And
Tony Winton:you know, what's worse? I mean, just so much this particular day, the last 48 hours for us in the Key Biscayne Independent, been very busy, because we had not one but two council meetings this week in Key Biscayne. We had not one but two criminal sentencings going on in in state court today. And of course, we have this podcast say so it's like this is like a 48 hours of incredible news intensity. What I don't understand is, is that normal for like, village councils to, like, schedule extra meetings as they're in a lame duck scenario? It
Jan Dillow:seems weird, right? Yeah,
Tony Winton:I think it's a little weird, like, you know. And they actually talked about last night having another meeting before they're out of office, having to do with the Richard Nixon helipad in Biscayne Bay, and whether or not that connects to the Big Dig stormwater project.
Jan Dillow:Our story said it was the last, it was the last one for Allison. They
Tony Winton:theoretically could keep meeting until actually there's the new one is sworn in, right? I'm not encouraging it. No, okay,
Jan Dillow:maybe it would be a distraction from what else is going on, though. Well,
Tony Winton:we have our guests here today, two very interesting guests wrapping up the season, though, for
Jan Dillow:us, Vicky Lopez and Jackie Kellogg, right?
Tony Winton:And they are the candidates Republican and Democrat for House District 113 which covers key, Biscayne and much of coastal Miami. And we did flip a coin, and then we threw the coin flip away, just to accommodate people's schedules. But so, but that way it worked out is representative Lopez is going to go first so, and she's been on the program before. So welcome back. Thank
Vicki Lopez:you so much. Tony, thank you, Jen.
Tony Winton:Well, there's been a lot of angst in this race. It's drawn a lot of how should I say there's been a lot lot of attention paid to it. And I guess I wanted to start off with something that just came out today, and I'm sure you're already aware of it. This is a story that comes from a another publication. It's in the same organization we are in the Jacksonville tributary, and it has to deal with your connection to this company called bus patrol and legislation in 2023, House Bill 741, which you were one of, I want to say, about a dozen co sponsors of it eventually passed on a bipartisan basis in Tallahassee, and it has to do with the fact that your son, I guess, later became Vice President of Government Affairs for this company. And what they do is it's kind of like red light cameras, but for school busses. If you've never heard of this technology, right, someone blasts past the school bus, and then it captures the that's what that's what the business is. And the legislation allowed school districts to implement this program and set up rules on how it worked. And so this story goes into quite a bit quite detail, but we wanted to have you come on the show and and have the opportunity to address it
Vicki Lopez:Sure. So, you know, it's interesting. I think the reporter from the Jacksonville tributary who wrote the article doesn't really understand what co sponsor means. I must co sponsor a great deal of bills that really just say I agree. You know, I support this bill. I have no access to whether or not it gets heard or whether or not it moves through committee, it's simply an act of sort of support. So the reporter is saying that somehow my support prior to my son actually even working for the company, was an issue, and then once my son became Vice President of Government Relations, there was a second tweak to the original bill, of which I co sponsored. As well, because I co sponsored the first bill. And for me, it's all been about child safety, pedestrian safety. We've had deaths occur across the country, and some here in Florida, and it's an issue. And we know it's an issue because the first day, 14,000 people were going around a school bus. So for me, it's really, I'm kind of accustomed to it. It's a it's part of the political world that we live in. People want to subscribe some sort of, you know, suspect, full kind of activities. It's really not at all. I don't inure any benefit. My son didn't inure any benefit because the bill was not specific to a vendor, specific to a region. It
Tony Winton:just authorized school districts to, yeah, and anybody
Vicki Lopez:could apply for that. And and have, across the state, there are several vendors who have already, you know, been awarded that bike school boards. And so the school boards actually are the ones that are charged with the responsibility, if they choose to move forward, to determine their own ways in which they would contract with a company. So for me, it's really, I just see it as yet, a hit piece in a campaign. And, you know, honestly, I'm, I'm accustomed to it, you know, this is part of the, I think this is part of what you will see if you run for office. It's
Jan Dillow:very long and involved history of 30 years for you, yeah,
Vicki Lopez:and that history is old, and honestly, you know, I have to tell you, it's one of the things that worries me most, because if my history continues to be brought up 30 years later, what does that say for the people that have come home from prison and who really believe they're going to get a second chance? In reality, they may not, and I'm hearing from a lot of them just recently around this and, you know, it is troublesome. It'll be something that I'll be talking about, quite frankly, in the months to come, whether or not someone can ever escape their past, especially when they're doing well. And so, you know, the I think it bears the question, Does second chances really, you know, really exist for people that
Jan Dillow:kind of brings up the whole idea of, like, felon, felons voting right in Florida, yes,
Vicki Lopez:exactly. I mean, you know, for so many people who have come out of prison and still have their felony, they are not, you know, able to vote. They've made it so onerous the the process, and the only time it was really quite acceptable was under Governor Crist, when he automatically restored people's civil rights if you applied for them. And so this is a much more complicated issue that really is highlighted in this article, but it's it's been part of my past two years ago, when I ran people said the same thing. You talked about it on this program 100% and listen, I actually told my story on the House floor, because we had two people who were falsely incarcerated for 40 years who were asking for, you know, financial claims. And I remember looking straight up at that at the gallery and telling them my story and why it was so important for me that they be there, because they had, in fact, been, you know, incarcerated falsely. And it was just a moment in time where everybody just froze on the floor. Because, you know, it's real, it's a real story. I've told it 1000 times, and it's, it doesn't surprise me that it would come back out again. I mean, it is, it is politics, you know. And I'm, I'm pretty accustomed to this by now. What
Jan Dillow:with the Republican committee that allowed that? Isn't it? A Republican committee basically the governor and other officials that decide whether or not people will be able to vote again or have had their rights restored?
Vicki Lopez:Well, it's, it's two ways. It could be the legislature who could remember that they interpreted the amendment that gave ex felons the right to vote, and so then they put in certain hoops and bounds that people had to go through, such as paying all of their fees and actually going through all of their probation. So that's one place, and the other place, of course, is the governor and the Cabinet certainly sit as the the authority to restore civil rights, and they could it. Could certainly change their rules. There it's but it's been done over the last four different governors have had four different ways of doing it.
Tony Winton:You mentioned the campaign, and I do want to talk a little bit more about that, because we have, you know, we had an incident that involved our publication. There was an ad that was sponsored by the, I guess it was the house Campaign Committee, and it mentioned this our publication, which we complained about because it was inaccurate. I never got a response to that complaint from Mr. Perez, Representative Perez, so that's, was the chair of that organization. Could you address that? Yeah, so
Vicki Lopez:I found out from actually, one of your former reporters, John Pacenti, that what they had quoted was incorrect. And I said, then it shouldn't have been used. It's very simple. I mean, it should be that if you've got something to say about someone and their viewpoints. That you accurately cite your source. And so I learned it wasn't, and told them, I don't think you should be using, you know, sources that are already telling you they didn't. They that's not them. So, yeah, unfortunately,
Tony Winton:all right, let's, there are a lot of big issues going on the state, so let's try and get to that. Yeah,
Jan Dillow:there's, there's a couple of things that like that are going on in the state, and things that are also specific to you. So we want to talk a little bit about your voting record. It's my understanding on abortion, that you've voted or that you voted against the six week abortion ban, but I believe you're on record as supporting the 15 week is that true? I am
Vicki Lopez:I? Am I? When I ran for office, the legislature had already moved to 15 weeks. And I said, I'm good with 15 weeks as long as it has exceptions, and those exceptions must be rape, incest, human trafficking, and, of course, the mother's life,
Jan Dillow:okay. And so how are you going to be voting on amendment four? I'm
Vicki Lopez:going to vote yes on amendment four. Unfortunately, they have left us no choice. I think that 15 weeks, and I can tell you this, I spoke to a physician who heads one of the largest OBGYN practices in Florida, who is personally pro life, but yet he's talking to me as a physician, and he said, 15 weeks is good. Vicky, trust me, it's enough time for a woman to do all the things that she must do, and then to make her personal decision with her physician. So as long as, as long as that worked in my, in my book, for a physician, I was good with it.
Tony Winton:What do you think about how it's going to play out in that this in the state, though, because obviously the governor, the rest of your party, very different position.
Vicki Lopez:Yeah, they do have a very different position. And I don't know it looks, it looks like it had a real high percentage. I think it was passing the bar, but just recently, the polls show that it's now down to 60% I think a lot of that has to do with not only misinformation, but disinformation that is being spread out there. And one of them is that somehow parental consent is being removed and it is not. And that is so very, very clear is
Tony Winton:that in the actual text of the Yes, it is, yes, it is.
Vicki Lopez:So it appears to me that there has been on both sides. You know, it's interesting. If you watch the commercials that are playing, you know, you'll, you'll see one for, one against, and neither of them do this issue any justice I believe. I believe that there's scare tactics on one side, there's scare tactics on the other, there's disinformation, misinformation. And I would just suggest that all the voters do their own research. You know, don't listen to what everyone else is saying. Look at the amendment language and decide for yourself. If that's something that you can live with. You
Tony Winton:are you were talking before the show. I guess you're getting dubbed as the condo queen. I didn't that was your words. You said, No,
Vicki Lopez:that is actually Florida politics words, I might add, they coined that, and it's stuck.
Tony Winton:Okay, well, I'm not using it but, but you have obviously been attached to a lot of legislation here, and we were just, we had a story today involving and the key biscuit independent. You can read about a criminal case that maybe will get resolved tomorrow. I don't know. There might be a depending on what happens. And then we've had yet a word of another set of charges involving the hammocks that the Miami state attorney is prosecuting, looking back at that and what happened there, what needs to be done in the area of condos. And of course, we have the whole financial aspect as well, right?
Vicki Lopez:So there are many issues about condos that I will be working on when I'm elected, not the least of which is, do we have enough controls in place? As as we all know, the state attorney doesn't have a lot of money. She barely has money to hire competent people and keep them. But I do believe that the hammocks case in particular, I have not yet seen, and now the new condo case in the in the Aventura area is beginning to let us know that we need more, I think, more regulation. And I hate saying that, because I'm not, you know, I'm a person of less regulation. However, we have to pledge to condo owners and to Hoa owners, which are which are two different things. By the way, the hammocks is a homeowners association, and condos are run by condo associations. But nonetheless, all of them deserve to know that they are their their assets are being safeguarded, and their condo boards are acting on their behalf and not on their own. So I think giving more more jurisdiction to to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to conduct random audits, I mean, somebody's got to start looking into this. Now, we made a lot of progress in condo 3.0 by putting in criminal penalties on a lot of issues, not the least of which is elections, because that's how they're staying in power. They become corrupt, and then they stay in power by by making sure that the elections are rigged. So there's, there's certainly some things, I think, more more oversight and more auditing, until we can get the bad actors. Out of those seats.
Tony Winton:What about the surf side rules? Now that a lot of you're seeing it statewide, I guess there's going to be a special session condo
Jan Dillow:fees. Well,
Vicki Lopez:I don't know that there'll be a special session. I know there's been a call for it, but that's a number one priority, at least for me. So you remember that it was the year before I got elected, they passed this law that, you know, obviously mandated milestone inspections and reserves. And then the first year that I get elected, then we bring in a little more clarity and transparency to the bill, because nobody knew what it what it was all about, because it was passed so quickly during a special session right after Surfside tragedy. So I think what we're looking at now is, how do you balance the safety of buildings? For instance, two months ago, we had to evacuate 19 buildings in Broward County and two in Jensen beach because they were not safe for people to live in. So we can't have we certainly can't have people dying or buildings collapsing. But we also have to understand we can't put people out on the street. So I think one of the things that I'm looking at is, how do we identify, first, where's the issue? Because really, the vast majority of condominiums are here in Broward, Miami, Broward and Palm Beach County, and the vast majority of the very old buildings are here. So we have to determine there will be data that will be collected. So at the end of the year, when everyone is completed, or should have completed, their structural integrity reserve studies, we're going to know first of all, what are the increases in condo fees, which are different, because those can be budgeted. That's what the CERs is a prospective budget tool. The Milestone inspections that happen at 30 years and above every 10 years thereafter, is where you're seeing the big special assessments. And why? Because it's being done in very old buildings who weren't maintained over the years. And
Tony Winton:that's the question, right? So do you think there's the possibility of easing some of these requirements, as some are calling for, or perhaps some kind of financial assistance, a low interest loan program? What I
Vicki Lopez:think the financial assistance is probably more in line with it, although I'm already hearing pushback from some members that are saying, Why would my constituents, you know, were there no condos? Why would my constituents have to bail out yours? And I was like, Oh my gosh. I mean, at this juncture, we've got to look at, you know, we're Floridians. We've got a Florida problem. And I think the financial just like Miami Dade has the interest free loan. If you make up to 140% area median income, up to$50,000 I think we could probably do that for for those that truly demonstrate need, which would be our retirees, people on very fixed incomes. I mean, we've got to do something, and at some juncture, we've got to start asking ourselves, what do we do with these old buildings? Because actually, the real estate market reflects that no one wants to buy a condo in an old building. They want new amenities. They want the new bills and bells and whistles, and so at some juncture, you're probably going to see a lot of condo terminations. Well, we're
Tony Winton:waiting for this rule, right? Yeah, the third DC. Well, there the Biscayne 21
Vicki Lopez:issue is really going to going to give us some some indication, because developers have cooled to the notion of getting involved in condo terminations, but at some juncture, the the amount of money that it will cost to bring the building up to code is, is more than anyone. Yeah, let's,
Jan Dillow:I think we, I think we need to go back and talk about what the building 21 is. It's a condominium, yeah, this game 21 was, yes, you can probably do it better than I, but it's a condominium that an older condominium that already they didn't they already start to So,
Vicki Lopez:yes, so Biscayne 21 was a 60 year old building on on probably the most prime real estate in my district, on the has two unobstructed views of the bay on the end of 21st on the water, and a Land Trust began to buy up many of those units, and we're offering between market to two times market rate, right? So by the time the developer was contacted by the condo board, the land trust already owned almost 90 93% of them, right? So they sold them to the to the developer. The developer, there were 10 other people that were holdouts, and those are the ones that sued the developer. And then the lower courts here determined that the the other owners had a right to sell, and that they had to sell because the building had already, you know, they were majority owners. And then the 10 owners actually then appealed to the Third Circuit District Court of Appeals, and theirs were the Third District Court of Appeals sided with them, so the building is an eyesore in my district right now. It is a shell. It has a crane in the middle of the parking lot, and they can't do anything with it until the third DCA decides whether or not it will meet en banc, meaning all of them will meet to determine whether that's a good whether they should proceed with that original opinion of the three member court. So I think, look, you know, I studied at the FIU metropolitan center. They have been studying these old buildings Since 2017 and they are telling me that there is a huge problem. Because what I did not know was in the late 70s, early 80s, apartment buildings. Were converted into condominiums, and those are not really suitable for condo living. And so now we're going to see the effects of the of no one having taken care of these buildings. And now at this end of the of the spectrum, which would be the 3040, 5060, years that they're in bad shape. And now, what do we do? So it's a conundrum, for sure, but we have to make sure that we not we keep people safe, but we don't throw them out of their homes. And that's going to be my, my big task. As the only member of the Florida House of 120 of us, I'm probably the only person who really understands this, to the extent that I do.
Jan Dillow:So you, you're on in I think you're in favor of supporting making it easier for developers to replace these older condos definitely,
Vicki Lopez:if the board decides right, because you can there, the declaration documents of each condominium actually determine how you would terminate a condo. Right? It's kind of like a corporation. It tells you how you will do it. And so in some cases it's 100% approval. In some cases it is 80% but in some cases, because in statute, there's what's known as an economic waste provision. If, if the cost to bring the building up to speed is, you know, to code and to make all the repairs is more than what the building is worth, then you can exercise 80% which is what that's that's the provision that we're gonna all be seeing with Biscayne 21 it
Jan Dillow:does seem like it's going to be a big issue if you've got people that you know want to live there, and maybe they don't make that income cut off, because the fees, along with insurance, are really, really, really,
Vicki Lopez:they can be very high, especially when you're living in an illusionary world where your condo fee may have been $500 all these years, but that's because nobody's doing any work on your building. There's
Tony Winton:so much deferred maintenance. Yeah, sure. Which is the tragedy of Surfside? Which
Vicki Lopez:is because, my God, 98 people would be actually Tony. 98 people would still be alive today if Miami Dade would not have been recertifying buildings at 40 years, but rather, at 30 years, because the building collapsed around 38 and a half.
Tony Winton:We're almost out of time. So, yeah, I did want to give you, and it's more of a general political question. You're running in it. You know, you're running for re election. It's a Democrat leaning district, not anymore. Well, it's
Vicki Lopez:not. Republicans are now outnumbered. Registered Republicans now outnumber the Democrats. But guess who outnumbers us? The NPA, well, that's,
Tony Winton:I was gonna say it's, we've got this big swing. But the question is, in this district, we're also in a presidential election year your and we'll give you a chance to do your closing argument. But the larger political situation, the way people feel about the national presidential election, how do you how does that come up in your conversations with voters?
Vicki Lopez:So what's happening with voters is almost unprecedented. I have Democrat Hispanics voting for me. I have, obviously the Republicans are voting for me, and most of the MPAs in my in my district are leaning right. I think it has to do with the economy, the economy, the economy. I don't think anyone's worried about anything else. That's certainly what's happening. I am actually closing the gap this year, this time last election, I was probably trailing the Democrat opponent by 4000 votes. I'm now at 125 votes, and we will probably close that gap tonight. Apparently, that we, the Republicans have come out to vote in unprecedented ways. I've never seen anything like it. They just flipped Miami Dade to a red today. So that's it's a phenomenon. I can't understand it, except to tell you that I know what the voters are saying at the door, and for many of them, I think in my case, they just know me as a person who's common sense and who really cares about her community and who's worked super hard and has demonstrated it for the last two years. So, you know, I always say I am knocking on doors respectfully asking people for their vote because I want I've considered this an honor and a privilege to represent District 113, it is vast, it is diverse, and what goes on in Key Biscayne has nothing to do with what goes on in Little Havana and what goes on in edgeworter has nothing to do with what goes on in North Grove. So I have made it a point to get into the community and to really get to know my not only my constituents, but what those issues are, and have really brought home unprecedented money, as well as made in this case. Now that we're talking to the Key Biscayne independent, I have made ki biscane a name for itself in the Florida House. Prior to my election, nobody even knew where Key Biscayne was much less that it was in the Miami Dade County. And I think that a lot has to do with the fact that I'm in the majority party one and that I'm moving into leadership. So I have a voice in every room now, and I intend to use that voice, should I be re elected, and when elected, to really kind of beef up what I've already started about Kiva scan, which was, remember, there's micro mobility, there's flooding, there's the traffic. Tech, there's the state park. There are so many things that no one ever spoke about, and so I'm really grateful for this opportunity to talk to my voters, obviously through the keep us gain independent podcast, but also just grateful to have such incredible support this year. It's it's been really unprecedented. Vicky
Tony Winton:Lopez, State Representative, thank you for being our guest on anti social. Thank you, and we'll be in We'll be back after this. You
Jan Dillow:now we're back. Well,
Tony Winton:we have as representative, Lopez leaves the studio. Our next guest has come in. Her opponent,
Jan Dillow:yes. Welcome. Jackie Kellogg, Hi. Thanks
Jackie Kellogg:for having me.
Tony Winton:Welcome to anti social and to our studios here at W, L, R, N, I
Jackie Kellogg:don't know why you say anti social. You guys are very social. Well, we're opposed
Tony Winton:to the craziness on social media. Got it. That is why that's the social that's it. Got
Jan Dillow:it. Got it. Especially, you know, some of the chats get pretty crazy, as I'm sure that you have seen,
Tony Winton:yes, that's actually how, how the program got its name. It was in response to some of the crazy chat. You
Jackie Kellogg:know what? I don't know why I love chats.
Jan Dillow:You do? I do? Are you a frequent contributor?
Jackie Kellogg:Um, some. Every once in a while, I feel very passionate about something, and I contribute, and then I always feel like, Oh, I didn't get enough thumbs up. Maybe that wasn't a I don't know. That's
Jan Dillow:the thing with us, right? Like, if you do is right, you're like, Hey, did anybody like what I said?
Jackie Kellogg:But I'm very conscious of never replying at like, one o'clock in the morning. Some people do,
Tony Winton:well, we have, exactly we have, we were talking about earlier, about just how hectic it's been this week in the news business, so it's certainly contributing. Yeah, to some of the traffic on the chats. But today the topic is this House race, right? The Florida House representatives, district 113, yes. And I guess we'll start by asking you. Jackie gross. Kellogg, this is be your first foray into elective office, if you are successful, correct? Tell our voters why you think you are qualified.
Jackie Kellogg:Well, primarily, I've been in it. I've lived in Miami since 1975 as you know, I grew up on Key Biscayne, and I raised my children here, and I've been very involved with the community ever since, for a few decades, I've been involved with politics, either getting behind a candidate or an issue, and for whatever reason, this particular time, I was asked for several people to by several people to jump into this race. And I begin to see really how important it is, because we we're facing a lot of issues right now that I think we need better representation in Tallahassee, and that's what I've been doing. I enjoy listening to people I care about, people I care about our community, and I want to translate the voices and take those voices to Tallahassee.
Jan Dillow:Are there any particular areas that you think that you can or that you want to focus on when you when you get there, if you well at this
Jackie Kellogg:point, you know a lot has to do with bringing back some balance to Tallahassee, the Democrats are in a super minority position, and so there's a lot. There are quite a few, I'd say, 14 races that Democrats have a pretty good shot of winning, and it's just a question of really bringing back democracy, because having a super majority, either Republican or Democrat, is not democracy. In this particular case, I think you've seen this past few years, in this past year, even just a few months, a couple of the things that we've been hit pretty hard with speculation of turning our parks into golf courses, losing $32 million in cultural funding from one day to the next, when many institutions were counting on that our you know some close people close to us on Key Biscayne City Theater might be out of business because of that. We've lost ballet. We've lost science education. That's what I'm tied to, environmental science. And so this is so crucial and important to our community. So I would like to be a voice in Tallahassee that has, you know, their ears on the pulse. And in addition, I would say that I am a defender and protector. I mean, I played one for 20 years playing soccer. That's how I'm wired, and that's, that's how I feel. That's what is motivating me to to get up every day and knock on doors and. Talk to people in
Tony Winton:terms of getting to Tallahassee, though, assuming you're you're successful, excuse me, you would be in a minority party position, whether it's a super majority or not. You know that does, that does, kind of does, does put an obligation on you to be able to work with a much larger group of people who are opposed to you or opposed to some of your ideas anyway, 100% I
Jackie Kellogg:mean, I think as a freshman legislator, you're in a position where you're, you're listening quite a bit and seeing, you know, bringing issues to your bringing issues from your constituency to tall housing, and talking about them as much as you can, and building those relationships. Because there's, think there's plenty of bipartisan when you're talking about environmental issues, which Republicans seem to care about, especially when you're when it's election time, it seems suddenly everybody cares about fisca in day and coral restoration and water quality. So let's make sure that gets done, because we are looking at building a lot on very poor infrastructure in Miami, and I can tell you that is giving people pause and stress, but I think that we have the capability at this moment in time and moving forward in a better direction with resiliency. So
Jan Dillow:that's one of the things that you think you can work together with them on. I wanted to ask you also, like, there in this election in particular, there have been abortion and the pro life segment have been it's been a very, very active area with amendment four. I'm wondering what your position is on that.
Jackie Kellogg:Oh, I mean, I'm 100% pro choice. I think that the way that the amendment is broken down, maybe there's room for misinterpretation, as I've seen in commercials. I'm sure you have as well. But what this does is it restores reproductive rights. And this seems to be what the Republicans wanted to bring it back to the States. And from my understanding, the majority of Floridians, something like 68% want reproductive rights. So it will be very interesting if some way or another, Governor DeSantis is able to maneuver this to maintain a six week abortion ban with no exceptions. Yeah, right now I
Jan Dillow:think on amendment four, it's pretty it's pretty much touch and go. It's right around 60%
Tony Winton:last polling I saw is about 60% is where it's at, and that is the threshold.
Jackie Kellogg:Well, I, you know, I've lived here my whole life. I have many Republican friends, and many have taken the literature. You might have heard of the post it notes, yeah, you know. And then I'll take that and because they know this is, this is very important, and most important we need to stress, right? There are women, and we've seen this now in Texas, that very much wanted to have a child to be pregnant, and they've not only suffered a miscarriage, and, you know, had high risk of losing their lives, many have now lost the ability to have other children, right? So it feels to me, right, like somehow another women's health issue. It's a women's health issue. And sometimes when I'm dealing with something very stressful, some comedy comes into my mind. I think about, for example, you know, I remember Jerry Seinfeld saying something to the effect, I want a doctor that's at the top of their class, you know, right? Where do all these doctors go that are at the bottom of their class, right? Well, I'm going to tell you, they're going to come start. They're going to start coming to states like Florida, because who would want, right? You work so hard as a doctor, you go to the top schools, you graduate the top of the class to be faced with prison, losing your license to practice medicine, and that is going to affect women's health care with with cancer, not, you know, with IVF, with general health overall. So these are these. That's the whole picture with reproductive rights and
Tony Winton:and your your rival was in the studio here, and she is also voting for amendment four.
Jackie Kellogg:That's great, but she's also been very silent up until two weeks ago, when the flyers started arriving to Democrats that look like they're coming from Planned Parenthood. So I say you have to be Abby, you have to be loud and an advocate all the way.
Jan Dillow:Another thing that's going to be really big, and, I mean, should be really big, Vicky is kind of known as the condo queen. Do you you live in a condo? Right? I do. Yeah. So what? Are your thoughts on the condo situation and the higher income, the higher fees that are associated with it, and and you know, if there's any, do you have any thoughts about possible condo relief?
Jackie Kellogg:There's, there's so much discussion on that, but there is a lot of panic and a lot of stress. And I will tell you that I have spoken and it's primarily from people, say, 75 years and older, that have already budgeted, say, the next 10 or 20 years of their lives to live in this condo, that are now having to make extraordinary decisions selling their condo because it's really a condo crisis now selling their condo at at a lower price than it was two two years ago, for example, and then making this adjustment because they are no they're not going to be able to continue living in Miami. And so there's there's stress there. There is stress on the volunteer condo presidents. If I don't comply with everything, am I looking at prison time? My husband's a lawyer, and he's thinking about like, I don't think I want to be a condo president anymore, right? So fortunately, in places like keep his game, you know, we have a good team of reference, right? For there's a president of the presidents of condo association that's sharing information and empowering condo presidents and boards how to deal and mitigate with the changes. But there are other areas. For example, when I knock on doors in Little Havana, I see I see a lot of empty apartments. I see many eviction notices I see boarded up condos. These are historical buildings, so clearly the majority of the owners have decided to sell, and they're going to be torn down. And that's why this is a very developer friendly bill, and I think that's why we're going to be seeing condos are situated in a, in a in a valuable real estate space that are going to be torn down with something built that is larger, more people living in it, and without really concern of traffic and noise, which is something that many residents care about in these stories about neighborhoods, live local. There's, it's all, yeah, there's live local. But again, it's, it's somewhat connected, because you're just seeing a lot of say, I'm walking around all over Little Havana, Shenandoah, the roads. And if the concern is either about property insurance or that my community is changing, losing its historical integrity, and they want to be part of the process, they want to have a voice and input. This morning, I was at City Hall, and, you know, congrats, it felt like he Biscayne. We had, gosh, it must have been at least 40 residents of coral gate. They all had T shirts made, and they were taking a stand for their neighborhood. They don't want monstrosity built on the site where the Sears building used to be. And I, and again, I understand about we need to have affordable housing, but you have to have local input in that process, because, because you're that, I mean, that's the nature of our that's the nature of Miami, and that's the nature of all of our neighborhoods. And going back to Key Biscayne, I mean, that's how we became the village of Key Biscayne. We took a stand and to say that we want input in the in the zoning and, you know, and how we how our tax money is spent, etc, and model for so many, exactly, and so that, that is the stress that I am feeling and seeing as I knock on doors
Tony Winton:in terms of, though The actual or hearing is perhaps financial relief for people who are in condominiums being faced with large deferred maintenance bills. To be sure, the work should have been done to make the building safe, and the regulations post Surfside are now requiring that, but it's causing the strain on top of property insurance and a top on top of, you know, coming out of a pandemic and all the economic strains that caused. Do you think that that there is some relief that's in order?
Jackie Kellogg:I think there's talk of relief in order as there's pushback to this legislation, but it's not going to come in time for by January, for example, right? Because the assessments are coming down and people need to pay or sell. It's not coming down fast enough, and I think it's again, it's extremely stressful on seniors and young families. So then that's what I'm seeing, and we're talking about areas again, like. A Little Havana. This is the heart of our workforce. And I'm not really sure where these, where all of these people are going, and I'm not sure if that was really considered in this plan to, you know, make condo reform. I understand that in the 27 years of, you know, Republicans in power in Tallahassee that, that now it seems, because of suicide, that okay, we need to remedy this situation with the condos, but we also need to remedy and deal with climate crisis and infrastructure. And I don't think that we should be building and almost doubling the occupancy of Miami Dade without properly addressing the infrastructure first. And I say most people agree with me when we have this conversation,
Jan Dillow:one of the things just to change quickly. There's been a lot of negative ads, particularly against you. I don't think that you've done any. I haven't seen a lot anyway of you against Vicky, but my you know, I guess what I want to do is give you the chance to say, what are your thoughts on transgender sport. I mean, you've been, one of the things that you've done is you were the head of a PT, Coral Gables, PTA, but in keep us gain, you were very, very active in in sports and getting kids involved in sports. So, you know, just, I wanted to give you the opportunity. One of
Tony Winton:the flyers here that, I mean, my mailbox is, oh, full of them, full of them every day.
Jackie Kellogg:Do you know that each one is about $10,000 Yeah, well, so each one of those flyers is estimated at $10,000
Jan Dillow:to send to someone, yes. So in my condo, there's, like, probably
Jackie Kellogg:getting, yeah, it's 20, $30,000 a day. So when I'm looking at a friend who's trying to raise to matching grants for urban paradise, killed $150 and he's $150,000 and he's overwhelmed with that ambition. I'm looking at these flowers. I'm like, something is wrong here? Yeah,
Jan Dillow:I totally
Tony Winton:make you responsible for the entire US economy and the problems of inflation. Well, exactly,
Jackie Kellogg:I'm being pegged with federal government issues or characters or elected officials in the federal government, because, again, Republicans have had the majority in Tallahassee for 27 years, and so the problems we're facing, they should take responsibility for. And since I'm a new candidate and I don't have, you know, a history of legislation, etc, just gonna throw all this crazy town at me.
Tony Winton:But do you feel you got support from the rest of the Democratic Party? I mean, you have some prominent Democrats who are not supporting you,
Jackie Kellogg:so Nikki freed is supporting me. Is awesome.
Tony Winton:Deborah Gilbert, okay,
Jackie Kellogg:so he's a in an I'm just saying it's funny when people ask me this, because suddenly I feel like, am I defending Miami Gardens or something? He's in a non part. He's in a non partisan position, right as a commission, as well as the mayor and everybody else. So I don't, I really don't know him. I do know Eileen Higgins. I do know Daniela Levine Cava. They're, they're pleasant, the level of stress that they're dealing with, I can only imagine, as this election moves forward, right they have. So I'm not going to guess. I'm not going to, you know, guess on that. And honestly, if I spend time on that, that just stress and energy that I don't I don't want to use, but I have enjoyed, and it really, it's been a privilege getting to meet people like Debbie mercel Powell and Nikki freed and watching our Miami Dade Democrat Party get behind this movement, because, again, we are looking at flipping, you know, five to six seats. That's what's needed, probably seven, because there's a Democrat in there. That's not really a Democrat, but that's what's going to bring us back to balance, and that's what's going to bring back democracy and and protect district 113, from crazy ideas like turning Bill backs into a golf course and a pickup ball court.
Tony Winton:All right, we're at the end of the time, so it is time for your closing argument. Please tell our listeners why you should be their choice for district 113,
Unknown:well,
Jackie Kellogg:I would say that again, I've lived in this district since 1975 and I've had the privilege of raising my three children here, I have been a person that has also been asked to step forward with issues in our community for either advocating for public schools, for the infrastructure repairs needed, parks, spaces, artificial turf. Grass, mangrove restorations, climate change resiliency. I've been PTA present for Coral Gables Senior High. I have worked with students through an entire range of socioeconomic situations. I support with all my heart are our students and our and our residents in Miami, Dade, who are working very hard to to live and to build a future in this city, and that's what I feel a representative should do. I have enjoyed meeting residents throughout Shenandoah, the roads, Little Havana. Many of them know me. They remember me from different either from being PTA president at Coral Gables in U high or my my position is central region coordinator from Miami, Dade County Council. So I've had an opportunity to work with many families and to solve their problems and to meet their expectations, and also to introduce them to the beauty and the bounty of our District, which includes Biscayne. Biscayne Bay, our sea grass beds, our mangroves, our arts, our culture and our sports. So these are things that it's in my DNA and what I want to fight for. And you know, I'm going to give it my best shot.
Tony Winton:Jackie, gross. Kellogg, candidate for State House District 113, thank you for being our guest on anti Social. We will be back right after this. You SS Tony and we are back on anti social. I'm Tony Winton and I'm Jan Dillo. Well, our guest is getting ready to exit our wonderful studio hero with our partners at WLRN, and we paid rent today we did in the form of empanadas. That's right, bring them empanadas. You know, maybe we should ask them to be a sponsor. Oh, that's, you know, since we
Jan Dillow:are empanada guy with them, I thought you were talking about W, L, R, M, like, I
Tony Winton:think they've got their own stuff. They've got their own but I'm talking about just, you know, our empanadas. Guy, yeah, absolutely, I agree. That was a hint, if you're listening. Anybody from empanadas, okay, well, Jan, we have, as I said, just a few days left to go really in this election, although I should remind everyone that early voting has started. We have we're putting some stats together on mail balloting in our little area, Key Biscayne, and how that compares to the rest of Dade County. I will say that so far, the Democratic Party folks have been a little bit of a lead, but it is evaporating rapidly.
Jan Dillow:Well, Vicky was saying that it has, yeah, as of, I
Tony Winton:mean, she's looking at, maybe her like, you can count it different ways, in terms of, like, what districts I was looking at a county wide figure, and it got as of midday today, it was very close indeed. So she's correct about that.
Jan Dillow:So it started out with more Democrats. Started out
Tony Winton:with Democratic more democratic people known to be Democrats, because you don't know how people voted, right? Just know what party affiliations they were, and how many people of those people have voted. So that's when they say, are they, as a Democrat, more likely to vote for a Democrat? Yeah, probably. So, yeah. So you can make that that inference. And so far, the Democrats have been leading, but that is now ended, and now as early voting has people are still returning their mail ballots. But as early voting has started, the numbers have gotten closer, and now the Republicans are leading in some split places over the Democrats, and that's, that's the trend.
Jan Dillow:We will find out soon enough. And then,
Tony Winton:of course, people wait to vote on Election Day. The whole point is, I, I, I'm a evangelist for mail voting. Because why would you want to wait in line anyway? Well, from
Jan Dillow:what I understand, the people that I know that do really want, I mean, that really want to vote on election day, they said there's no lines anymore. Everybody's already voted. So I mean, and that's what they even said, because there was voting, they were voting in the community center in Cuba. Scan,
Tony Winton:I will, I will, yeah, I will only tell you that that is not what the elections department thinks. The elections department is worried about lines and they're worried about election day problems. That's why they have been because the because of a change in state law, the number of people who are eligible to vote by mail radically was reduced. They made everyone reset and reset your. Right? That had a dramatic effect on the number of people who voted by mail, and so that that consequently puts more pressure on the other two legs of the system, the early voting and the in person voting on Election Day, and they the election supervisor, Christina White was actually saying a couple of weeks ago that she was worried about potential problems on election day because of the extra load that is being transferred from mail voting to later in the process. That's all I'm saying. Maybe it won't happen. Hopefully not.
Jan Dillow:Well, I think I'm going to vote early. I think I'm going to go do it tomorrow. Okay. Well,
Tony Winton:and you have your choice. You can, most people, I guess, and keep us can use the historic garage location,
Jan Dillow:yeah, yeah. It's very convenient, really, for us, that that is, in fact, the case. And what about you?
Tony Winton:I voted by mail. Yes, I mail came in, I had a glass of wine. Voted all done.
Jan Dillow:You know, the one thing that's really good about that, too, is if you vote earlier, you vote by mail, you can check it and just make sure that it's been received. That is correct, and you don't miss. I mean, you don't, you get a receipt when you vote in person, but it's good to know that your votes actually there and is being counted. You could go online,
Tony Winton:and I already have checked it's already been not only received, it has been counted, which is why Florida kind of doesn't have the same problems other states. Do we talk about the election night? I think the like the presidential election, I doubt there'll be an answer that night. No, no, I doubt it. I think we'll be waiting a day or two, and that, of course, makes it more even more tense, right?
Jan Dillow:Yeah, there's going to be a lot of drama, but there'll be a lot of other states, other things that are decided. You know, potentially, yes, the Senate will be done, and
Tony Winton:our three council seats in Key Biscayne, yeah, that's true. And you will be, you'll be, we're planning a election night broadcast. We haven't gotten the exact details out, but we'll get that out to you seen and and the idea, I hope, would be that will be giving you live results as they're happening in Key Biscayne, and if history is any guide, everything will be over by 830 it's just one precinct.
Jan Dillow:Okay, yeah, it's true,
Tony Winton:yeah. So we don't have to worry about all doing all this extra fancy math. That's for us, relatively straightforward, although we will be reporting, of course, on this race we just talked about today, and then and the State Senate and all the other contests that are matter to us.
Jan Dillow:Yep, well, I think it's time to wrap it up. What do you think? And we will do that by reminding you that we are a not for profit, and the way we get business done is through donations, subscriptions and grants. So if you know of anybody, if you yourself, are willing to step up and be a donor, for a matching donor for a give Miami Day, which is going to be November 21 I believe, please let us know we are always looking for people that will do matching. And please, you know, hit that donate button when you're looking at all the stories that we put out on a daily basis. And
Tony Winton:our fundraising period has is we put a note out just the other day that it is, it has started. And we really do count on your support at the end of every year, and we're grateful for it, and we want to keep bringing you the kind of interviews we just did that you're not going to hear other places about local politics, local issues that are important to
Jan Dillow:you. I'm Dan Dillo.
Tony Winton:I'm Tony Winton. Smooth sailing. Everybody itching your head. You back home.
Unknown:And then the next day, you say, you wanna go for a ride. And when my baby, my lovely
