The Aug. 2 luncheon meeting of the Palmetto Bay Business Association (PBBA) departed from its usual format to host a candidates forum. In the meeting room at Christ Fellowship Church, 8900 SW 168th Street, 73 people attended, with 10 political office seekers and 10 judicial candidates appearing.
PBBA Board chair Hal Feldman welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained how the forum would work. Assistant chair Pam Mayers coordinated the list of candidates who would speak and helped time each one. All candidates were given three minutes to introduce themselves and briefly state their background, accomplishments and why they were running for office, either for election or reelection.
The judges went first with David C. Miller, Vivianne Del Rio, Kristy Nuñez, Olanike Adebayo, Mike Mirabal, Milena Abreu, Eleane Sosa-Bruzon, Yery Marrero, Elizabeth Espinoza and Christopher Pracitto.
Next were the candidates seeking political office at state, county or municipal level:
Javier Enriquez, a Republican running for Florida House of Representatives in District 114; Dr. Jeff Solomon, a Democrat running for Florida House of Representatives in District 115.
For the District 8 Miami Dade County Commission seat, incumbent Daniella Levine Cava with challengers Jonathan A. Burke and Gus Barreiro.
For the Village of Palmetto Bay Council candidates included Patrick Fiore for District 1; Marsha Matson and Bob Buzzelli for District 3, and for mayor the incumbent Eugene Flinn and challenger Karyn Cunningham. There are other candidates running for the council who did not attend the forum.
The luncheon meal was provided by Paella Party Catering.
Feldman said he was pleased with the turnout and the overall meeting.
“The PBBA Board was dedicated to providing our members with as much information as possible before the elections,” Feldman said. “We were pleased to get so many candidates participating and felt we got great material data with which to vote intelligently.
The PBBA welcomes the general public to join us at one of our lunch meetings for relevant information about Palmetto Bay.”
For more information about the PBBA visit www.pbbaonline.com/.
