#1264 Mayor Dermer's legacy: 'Quality of Life' November 5, 2007_ __ _ __ - v
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MIAMI BEACH ~~ -~ _ ~
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r ermer s e
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Mayor David Dermer is
stepping down after six
years as mayor of Miami
Beach.
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BY TANIA VALDEMORO
tvaldemoro@MiamiHerald.com
Seven years ago, Miami
Beach Commissioners David
Dermer and Nancy Liebman
were bickering over the ambi-
ence of Lincoln Road. She
hated the expansive sidewalk
cafes, the out-of-control
nightlife and the tabletop dis-
plays of fake food.
As a joke, Dermer gave he'r
a rubber chicken. "We were
playing around. The issue
was, should you allow rubber
:;food for food displays oh Lin-
coin Road?" he said.
~~ But Liebman soon gave the
':rubber chicken back to
Dermer, when he became
mayor in 2001. The toy came
with a warning: "Keep up the
r quality of life!"
°~ ~ Dermer, 44, says he's done
~~~~just that. Aslow-growth
activist and populist who
~~ rode an anti-development
wave into office in 199?,
Dermer steps down this
month with a solid "good gov-
ernm.ent" record and an envi-
able popularity rating that
reflect his broadened agenda
and sharpened .political
smarts.
`MOST EFFECTIVE'
"I would say he's the most
effective mayor we've had
,since I've been watching city
politics for 50 years. He han-
dles his office with great skill
and has great support from
the people," said former
Mayor Seymour Felber.
Dermer, the son of a for-
mer Miami Beach mayor,
made his own mark on .the
city by sponsoring a series of
leading-edge initiatives. They
included: the state's first law
requiring sexual offenders
and predators to stay 2,500
feet away from schools, parks
and day care centers; the first
local laws forcing a city to
divest its pension funds of
links to Iranian and Sudanese
regimes; and the county's first
`.`Cultural Arts Neighbor-
hood" that encourages afford-
able housing for artists and
cultural workers.
Dermer emerged on the
.e ~r3~---~ political
scene in 1996
as chairman
of the Save
~''~ r Miami
tip; Beach move-
ti ~~,~~.. ment. Its
v ~
` ~~ `~ goal: to stop
h Sv
overdevel-
DERMER opment in
South Beach.
Activists gathered enough
signatures for a ballot initia-
tive -whether to change the
city charter so that increases
in zoning density along the
waterfront would require a
public vote. Despite being
outspent $1.5 million to
$20,000 by developer
Thomas Kramer, who
opposed the measure, the
charter amendment passed in
1997. Months later, Dermer
won his commission seat.
"I was an activist outsider
fighting a hostile govern-
ment," Dermer, an indepen-
dently wealthy lawyer who
no longer practices, has said.
While he now brushes off
requests to discuss his legacy
or future, Dermer clearly
wants his work fostering fis-
cal restraint, ethics and open
government to endure.
In September, he opposed
a $95 million bond referen-
dum proposed by Commis-
sioner Simon Cruz, who is
running to replace him. By
raising taxes, the bond would
have paid Mount Sinai Medi-
ca1Center for its Miami Heart
Institute campus and con-
verted the site in a city
park. The commis ion backed
off that plan after Dermer
said the bond lacked a
required economic impact
analysis and residents. com-
plained about the costs.
"My hope is that future
office holders will have the
political will to rebuff a con-
federation of special interests
coiled and lurking, ready to
strike and plunder the city's
treasury by tightening the
noose of debt around the neck
of every taxpayer," Dermer
said in his recent farewell
speech.
Dermer has been intent on
reducing the influence of spe-
cial interests. He sponsored
ethics laws that force lobby-
ists to register and bar them
from appearing before boards
on which their colleagues sit,
and other laws prohibiting
vendors, developers and
firms seeking city contracts
from making campaign con-
tributions.
HIS LATE FATHER
His strong anti-corruption
stance comes from his late
father, Jay, a reformer who
beat President Franklin Roo-
sevelt's son, Elliott, .and
served as mayor from 1967 to
1971. Jay Dermer fought the
hotel industry to open the
beach to the public. He also
opposed commissioners who
granted insider deals to
rezone land along the beach,
because that led to the cre-
ation of the "condo canyon"
inMid-Beach, said Kent Har-
rison Robbins, a David
Dermer ally.
"The apple doesn't fall far
from the tree," he said.
Former Commissioner
.~
Martin Shapiro said the youn-
ger Dermer set a new tone
after he succeeded Mayor
Neisen Kasdin, who had been
Dermer's political nemesis.
~thepoor.org, or by phon~;~"'~`°'°""'
~,
Dermer "held the State of the
City [address] at City Hall,
where the people .are, note
hotel luncheons sponsored ~~~
,~
the chamber of commerc~~,w
Shapiro said. '~" ~'
Kasdin said Friday th~t~`
Dermer has been graciousac~
.~~ ~t
him. He called him an effec=
tive politician "who has a
keen sense of what the public
wants and how to communi-
cate that."
Still, Dermer has alienated
some people with a few of his
stands. He opposed Bay Link,
a proposed light-rail train
connecting Miami Beach to
downtown Miami. He threat-
ened to have Miami Beach
secede from the greater
Miami Convention & Visitors
Bureau because of how it
spent the city's resort taxes.
And in 2004 he stumped fo~~
President Bush, whose pro=rs=
rael stance he admires,`'
despite being a Democrat.
He later supported the Vise h
itors Bureau after the city
worked out a new contract
with the, group, but said he
has no regrets on the other
two issues.
Though Dermer fought
with City Manager Jorge Gon-
zalez over Bay Link, he put
those differences aside later
to work with him on the new
sex offender rules and the
cultural arts district.
"He's always quick with a
one-line zinger that is
intended to elicit a chuckle,"
Gonzalez said.
Dermer, a divorced father
of three sons, gently deflected
queries about his future, `
answering with a smile: "If
there's something of a public r
nature, I'll let you know."
As for leadership at City
Hall, soon to see not only a
new mayor but three nevi
commissioners, he says: "The
time has come to get new
blood in there!"
MiamiHerald.com ITHE MIAMI HERALD
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MONDAY NOVEMBER5 2007 I _~B: SOUTH
FLORIDA EXTRA
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