"This government has been created to protect the governed, not the governing. In order to provide the public with full and accurate information, to promote efficient administrative management, to make government more accountable, and insure to all persons fair and equitable treatment"
-Miami-Dade County Home Rule Charter Citizens Bill of Rights-
How many people in Miami-Dade County are wondering why County Manager George Burgess is not held accountable for the corruption, fraud, and scandals? The media has assisted the Manager in deflecting the blame to his subordinates. Elected officials have been silent (with two exceptions) despite the fact that they know George Burgess is being protected. He has hidden long enough and the time has come to call him out.
Think about it. If George Burgess were a Cuban-American with this much scandal under his administration, White Americans would have 800 pounds of bananas if front of the Stephen P. Clark building within 30 minutes and the FBI would have him in handcuffs within (2) hours. If George Burgess were African-American with this much scandal under his administration, he would have been fired on his day off and brought up on public corruption charges by the State Attorney's Office. The only people that can get George Burgess out of county government are the citizens of this county. Mayor Alvarez ran on a platform of government reform and yet we have seen more corruption. We must begin to hold elected officials and administrators accountable.
"No County or municipal official or employee shall knowingly furnish false information on any public matter, nor knowingly omit significant facts when giving requested information to members of the public."
-Miami-Dade County Home Rule Charter Citizens Bill of Rights-
THE CASE FOR TERMINATION OF HIS CONTRACT
The hypocrisy of County Manager George Burgess is endless. The man clearly talks out of both sides of his mouth. The time has come for the people of this county to unite and fight against government corruption. We can start by ridding ourselves of the County Mis-Manager.
THE DISTORTION
In a July 17, 2006 memorandum titled "Year Three Accomplishments" from George Burgess to the Mayor and the County Commission, George Burgess writes the following:
"Building a strong management team has been the cornerstone of my administration."
Lets evaluate this statement.
"Under the strong management team George Burgess," the individual to the left, Raul Masvidal, one of Miami-Dade's most prominent Cuban-American civic leaders, appeared with his lawyer at the State Attorney's Office to face felony charges that he siphoned tens of thousands of dollars from the Miami-Dade County's housing agency. Masvidal is charged with grand theft and organized fraud. If he is found guilty he could face as many as 30 years in prison.
According to investigators from the Miami-Dade Inspector General's Office, Masvidal used county money to buy a $150,000 watermelon sculpture. To hide the purchase, he allegedly asked an art broker to write a fake invoice.
Now the County Manager wants the taxpayers to reward Masvidal & Co. with $27.3 million by purchasing the building at 2525 NW 62nd Street. These are the same men accused of robbing the taxpayers of Miami-Dade County already. Masvidal "partners" include entrepreneur Antonio Junior, who is facing three felony fraud counts for helping a construction firm do overpriced and phantom work at Miami International Airport’s jet fuel depot; affordable housing developer Otis Pitts, who is Masvidal’s partner in a separate development deal that charged the county $3.2 million in excessive management fees and costs unrelated to construction; and lobbyist Alben Duffie, president of the Miami-based Black Business Association, a company that double-billed the county and was reimbursed for questionable expenses totaling more than $230,000 (Source: Miami New Times and Miami-Dade County Documents).
CASE 2
Under the "strong management team" of George Burgess, the Carnival Performing Arts Center approved by the Miami-Dade Commission for $255 million with $100 million set aside to cover "soft" costs for the architect, office management, consultant fees as well as other project costs. The Office of Inspector General reported that the $22 million lump sum amount would be overspent by $4.6 million dollars. Problems with the Performing Arts Center were identified early on in the Inspector's 2003 report. The final cost of the project was approximately $550 million. In June 2007, the Miami-Dade Commission approved a $4.1 million dollar bailout for the Center to resolve its short-term cash flow issues . Supporters of the performing arts center tried to justify the cost overruns as common. However, Marcos Feldman of FIU's Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy says that "lacking adequate quality control " was a primary factor for the performing arts center going over budget.CASE 3
Under the "strong management team" of George Burgess, the Miami International Fuel Farm scandal resulted in the theft of 3 millions gallons of jet fuel which represented a $4 million loss to the county taxpayers. In addition, the Inspector General's 2004 report also revealed that a fraudulent contract scheme cost taxpayers another $1.2 million.
CASE 4
Under the "strong management team" of George Burgess, the Department of Solid Waste was cited for "questionable procurement practices, question costs, and accounting detail irregularities." Bond Engineer Brown & Caldwell agreed to reimburse the County $219,000.
Conclusion
The House of Lies Scandal and the Poinciana Biotech Park are enough in themselves to have the County Manager dismissed. Millions of dollars were wasted and would have continued to be wasted had not the Miami Herald exposed the widespread corruption and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars. More importantly, all this happened under the "strong management team."
Even if you choose not to sign our petition, you should tell everyone you know to contact Mayor Carlos Alvarez at:
Mayor Carlos Alvarez
Stephen P. Clark Center
111 N.W. 1st Street, 29th Floor
Miami, Florida 33128
mayor@miamidade.gov
Collectively, we must let him know that County Manager George Must resign from his position or be removed. The time has come for us to hire an administrator that can rise above race, sex, and religious background. It's time for a new course, a new coalition, a new leadership."
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/burgessmustgo/index.html
"Don't cry about what you don't have, use what you got."
-Jesse Jackson Sr-
