Serafin Sousa Jr. is running for a Group V seat on the Coral Gables City Commission in the Apr. 11 municipal election.
A resident of Coral Gables since 1979, he attended Miami Dade Community College and the University of South Florida receiving a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. In 1993, he co-founded Delta Consulting Engineers (Delta), where he was in charge for the management and engineering of complex urban reconstruction, road and bridge projects.
In 2006, Sousa founded Consulting Fabricating and Construction, which he actively manages. CFC is one of the leading general contracting companies involved in building new buildings and homes, as well as revamping older ones, mostly in the Gables but also all over South Florida.
Sousa is married and the father of three children.
Sousa responded to the following profile interview questions:
What motivated you to run for office?
My unique skills in managing large scale improvement projects. The residents need a person with a different point of view and skills to successfully manage our capital improvement projects, so these projects will be fiscally sound and well-orchestrated into the vision for our City Beautiful.
What do you think are the three most important issues facing the city today?
The city faces old and unique challenges, as never before. These challenges are revealed by:
• Congestion due to population growth from within and from outside the city.
• Overcrowding, which strains our infrastructure to accommodate this growth; these two will inevitably result in more crime.
• The ongoing Streetscape projects need to be addressed ASAP to restore normality to the affected areas. The livelihood of a lot of residents depends on it.
These combined with global warming, sea water level rising and aging infrastructure (example: Coco Plum Bridge), will require the new board of commissioners to have a different set of skills and vision to be able to face and act on these challenges.
Do you think the city does a good job of soliciting and listening to citizen input on projects?
No, the city does well in complying with a given set of standards to communicate or relay to the citizens the upcoming projects, but it is obvious that the methodology does not have the reach required since most of the projects are contested after implementation.
Point in hand is the artwork installed in the Segovia circles. The city puts the burden on the citizens, instead of on itself to make sure the projects are well liked and accepted
Do you think that Streetscape was the right use of resources aht time?
It is my belief that the business district was due for an overhaul, but the implementation failed miserably. The current board of commissioners does not have the necessary skills or experience to deal with these types of capital improvement projects. Keep in mind that the BDI is a big portion of our operating budget and they need to be treated as first class citizens. My priority will be to allocate the resources necessary to finish these projects as soon as possible. I will assemble the current players to implement alternative construction and contracting methods
Is the city managing development properly?
There is always room for improvement. A different set of skills is badly needed to address current and future development properly and resolve our current and future challenges.
Should High Pines and Little Gables be annexed?
Only if it makes sense to our city and our way of life. Ultimately it will be up to the citizens of those communities to accept the annexation once we have decided that it is in our best interest annex them. Both Little Gables and High Pines communities will put some strain on our services monetarily and serviceability wide that will need to be addressed.
Why are you the best person for the job?
• Background and experience. My engineering and contracting backgrounds give me a unique set of skills to manage infrastructure work, combined with my eco-friendly tendencies (in January 2014 a 9KW photovoltaic system combined with a solar water heater were installed in my house), gives me a unique advantage.
• I have been a resident since 1979 which gives me a unique perspective on how Coral Gables was and what it has become.
• Impartiality. I am running my campaign without a single contribution, which will allow me to be uniquely impartial and have our citizens’ best interests in mind.
Our infrastructure is decaying, our bridges are at the end of their service life along with the environmental challenges that faces us, makes lay people like myself with infrastructure back ground and familiarity with the area uniquely suited to be the next commissioner of Coral Gables.
