#1114-5 Separate County To Be Project of Civic League –Miami Beach Daily Sun Article 5/20/1964nr~, sJ
MIAMI BEACH DAILY SUN
Wednesday, May 2U, IB64
~~.
:~ :.
Separate County
To be Project
Of Civic League
The Civic League will con-
centrate its efforts on getting
a separate county status for
Miami Beach, says president-
plect Al Mason.
The League, 250 strong, has
already passed a resolution
supporting the separate coun-
ty proposal made by Miami
$each Mayor Melvin Richard.
MASON SAID Tuesday
that the League will select a
committee to study the bene-
fits Miami Beach could derive
by divorcing itself from Met-
Popolitan Dade County.
The committee will present
itS recommendations to the
City Council sometime this
summer.
Also at the top of Mason's
list of League projects for the
coming year is support for
the proposed Miami Beach
seaport.
"BOTH THESE projects
are of great importance,"
Mason said. "Miami Beach
has much to gain by them."
Other new officers elected
this week are Robert Schwe-
del,first vice-president; Louis
Wolfson, second vice-presi-
dent; John Berger, secretary;
Murray Drexler, treasurer;
and Maurice Unger, financial
Secretary.
The new officers will be
installed June 27. Mason, a
local furniture merchant, will
succeed current League Presi-
dent Rocky Pomerance, Mi-
ami Beach Chief of Police.
ELECTED TO the League
Board of Directors were:
Murray Goodman, Sidney
Raffel, Cecil Segor, Norman
Miles, W. Bill Glick, Jack
Silverman, Terry Sponder,
Gilbert Waxman, Walter
Bauer, and Mike Sossin.
Alsa Sidney Wasserman,
Harry Erlanger, Mac Gold-
berg, Joseph Goodman, Ted
Cohen, William Kline, Adrian
Thal, George Whitney, Bill
Coplan, AI Zablo, Dr. Mark
Cirlin, and Dr. Michael Co-
gan.
~aoii~mmiiimuut~i~iim~,mrim!~immiiiiia~~iaimii~~immiimii~
r pp
111 ! /J 5 -!'7~0 7"
Separate County? mother Story from 20's
(The following editorial is
reprinted from the iVTiami
Daily News of April 30, 1929)
Whenever the state legisla-
ture assembles, it is proposed
to create a separate county to
include Miami Beach and
running to a point tc~t_ning
tha Broward county line un
the north. The average •'tren
views this as a whim or car-
rice or ascribes it to a desi?•e
on the part of Beach resi-
dents, now that part of the
county has become populous
and prosperous, to evade
some of the general bm•dens
and strike out on their own
behalf.
Admittedly, at first bush,
the suggestion of a new coup-
. ty does seem some-what gro-
-, tesque, although the very
thing which is requested for
the Beach was granted ~ y the
legislature to St. Petersburg.
In the interest of an intelli-
gent discussion and wit:1 a
view to letting the lay mmd
west of the bay understand
the grievances which underly
their recurring suggestion,
facts which seem to be very
pertinent to the subject
should be made public. There
can be no mistaking the tem-
per of the Beach residents.
They feel they have not been
fairly treated.
For instance, during the
period from 1920 to the end
of the school year of 1927 and
1928, Miami Beach paid into
the general county school
- fund $1,044,000. Of this, the
county board of education
expended for education pur-
poses on the Beach $291,-
659.88. This takes into ac-
count only general taxes and
does not include interest on
state school funds, the one-
mill tax provided by the con-
stitution, the one-cent gaso-
line tax, the fine and forfei-
ture fund nor the interest on
state funds deposited in
banks.
computed that Prom these
items the county board de-
rives on gasoline tax alone
over $234,000. It is asserted,
and so far as we know unde-
nied, that the Beach sold
bonds for $780,000 for the Ida
G. Fisher school, and that the
actual cost of the project was
only $598,782, leaving a bal-
ance of approximately $180,-
000. The claim is that they
sum remaining was used by
the county board for general
school purposes throughout
the county. If this is a symp-
tom of the general policy of
the county board of educa-
tion, common prudence would
suggest that some legal re-
straint is necessary.
The trustees of the Miami
Beach school district make
suggestions as to the teaching
personnel, but is alleged that
nothing very much comes
from them. From 1920 to
1928, inclusive, Miami Beach
paid for county purposes only,
not including Baker's Haulo-
ver, sums ranging from $50,-
000 in 1920 to $353,970 in
1928. It seems to behoove the
general interests of this
Greater Miami community
for some group to interest
itself in harmonizing existing
differences. Unless something
is done, it is highly probable
that the legislature may give
to the Beach the right to
organize a separate county. M1
While this would be a dis-
tinct breakup in the commu-
nity unit and in many re-
spects a highly undesirable
consummation, the Beach
cannot be blamed for looking
after its own interests if the
county continues an attitude
of indifference, if not unfair- "
ness. Apparently it is the task
of the county commissioners
and the county board of edu-
cation to prevent a _
disintegration of units. The
education board seems partic- A
ularly to be in need of good
legal advice. The procedure of
taxing one part of the county
for the definite purpose of
erecting a building and then
using an unexpended balance
for general purposes cannot
be justified in ethics or law.
It has been unofficially