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Hyper-partisanship is killing the politics of our beloved Country. Now, more than ever, we need to do what we can to send Representatives to Congress that while they have their own priorities and positions on issues, they are willing to cross the imaginary wall between our two major parties and strive for common sense compromise.
In District 26, there is only one candidate that has proven time and time again that he can do just that, Miami-Dade County Mayor, Carlos Gimenez. His opponent is already ranked as one of the most partisan members of Congress. She tends to spend a lot of time criticizing decisions made, rarely providing solutions and has a poor record of accomplishment in Washington.
Mayor Gimenez is a born public servant. He started his career as a firefighter, answering the call to any who needed help. He voluntarily joined the City of Miami S.W.A.T. team as a medic. He very quickly became one of the youngest Chiefs in the City’s history. And let’s not forget that when he became City Manager he started his tenure with bananas littering the steps of City Hall and finances in ruins. How did he leave the City? With the lowest taxes in 50 years, a balanced budget and reserves that eclipsed anything seen at the City before or since. That is a track record of success and it did not end there.
As a County Commissioner, Mayor Gimenez was the loudest voice against the $3.2 Billion Marlins Stadium. He was a constant stickler for all issues regarding the budget doing what he could to keep the Alvarez administration in check. His work on the Commission led to him rising to Mayor in 2011 during our last economic catastrophe and immediately went to work providing the largest tax cut in the history of Miami-Dade County. For all the complaints of the service cuts back then, especially about the Pet’s Trust and the library system, he went to work and found a way to make Miami’s new state of the art animal shelter a “no-kill” shelter. As far as libraries are concerned, today there are more libraries in the County than when he started with expanded hours of operation.
We have also seen Mayor Gimenez in times of crisis. When we were threatened by what could have been a direct hit by a category 5 storm, Mayor Gimenez was so concerned by the potential need for shelters that he went out into the field himself as he worked with other agencies to almost double the capacity in less than a day. We dodged that bullet, but he made us ready if the need would have arisen.
And remember Zika. We had some in the community that objected to the use of nalen spraying to counter the disease as recommended by the CDC. The result, Miami became one of the only cities that eradicated the disease. And today, his response to covid has been measured and instructed by the health experts that we all must rely on. The positivity rates are down and there is no doubt the difficult decisions that Mayor Gimenez made deserve the credit for this irrefutable truth.
And as far as economic recovery, I want the guy that helped guide Miami-Dade to less than 2% unemployment rate before covid stopped the economy in its tracks, an all-time record. He guided the County in our recovery from the recession with historically amazing results and the entire Country could use his common sense and know-how now more than ever.
For these reasons and more, we at Community Newspapers are proud to ENDORSE Mayor Carlos Gimenez for Congressional District 26.
El alcalde Carlos Gimenez sera’ uno bueno para el Congreso.
this is got the the ridiculous endorsement I every heard. what up with this disillusionment with this guy. enough with this guy’s and you won’t me to believe I want this guy in congress really !!!. you entitled to your opinion as I’m entitled to mine. but this paper though serves a purpose it has lost me on this one. unbelievable.
One of the most ineffective, and capricious mayors. He “rules” Miami-Dade as though it was his personal fiefdom. His responses to the coronavirus pandemic has been nothing but arbitrary decisions and whose effectiveness lags behind our neighbors in Broward, palm Beach and Monroe counties. He and he alone is the driving force behind the decimation of our service industry.
I thought that Carlos Gimenez misspent our money on things we not only did not need, but had actually voted against, like the new civil courthouse. Just because every judge wants his own courtroom and the courthouse is veritably empty most of the time, there is no reason why it could not have been remodeled at a much lower cost than a new building. The estimate they did was a fake. If new buildings cost less than remodeled buildings, then Miami-Dade Public Schools would as a matter of policy tear down old schools and build new ones, which they almost never do. And the Court Capital Infrastructure Task Force, on which I was on, could not have been more one sided – on the side of building a new courthouse. They never really thoughtfully considered remodeling the existing one, although I proposed that it could be done. So instead of a few million to remodel the existing building, in 30 years it will cost at least $1 billion. This is an outrage and a waste of money which legitimately we need to fix the traffic problems in the county.
And what about his sons lobbying on behalf of projects? Should that not count against him? And what about all those tolls which were allowed to proceed on 836, which most normal people cannot afford, if they have to commute daily. And lastly, why has the west side of town never gotten any Metrorail extension as we were promised? Traffic is intolerable. He could have at least synchronized the traffic lights, but did he? No. He’s been a disaster. I don’t see how you could support him. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell has the interest of the people of her district. Gimenez will get rid of the Affordable Care Act and with that, thousands in her district would be left without insurance. Again, do you really want to support him?