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Bower in Power
The Hispanic mayor of Miami Beach
makes her mark as a people person
By JIM LUKSIC
Photography BRIDGES ADERHOLD
n a weekday afternoon in late January, Matti Bower parked
her own car - awell-traveled Cadillac DeVille - in front of
Miami Beach's City Hall and stayed behind the wheel as
the leaky sky let loose.
I had been invited to ride shotgun, in effect bumping
Mayor Bower's chief of staff A.C. Weinstein to the back
seat, following a photo shoot at the Botanical Gardens.
The Bob Dylan-esque forecast - a hard rain's gonna fall
-came to fruition before we could vacate the vehicle. Not
a problem for Her Honor, who took advantage of the rain
delay and enclosed quarters by returning a phone call,
affording me the opportunity to ask Weinstein about his
recently elected boss.
"Matti has always placed the interest of residents first,"
says Weinstein, who holds the rare distinction of having
served in the same capacity for the previous mayor, David
Dermer. "It's been a good transition for the city. She puts
everyone, regardless of economic status, on equal footing."
The people made Bower their mayor on November 20
and she, in turn, made history -becoming the first female
Hispanic mayor of a major American city. Prior to the in-
terview, I'd heard from mutual acquaintances that Bower
was genuine, personable, willing to get her hands dirty.
And it's difficult to disagree, judging from Her Honor's
behavior in the vaporous confines of her vehicle: With
the engine running so the windshield wipers continued to
operate intermittently, while Weinstein and I conversed
as passing vehicles splashed the driver's-side window with
dirty rain, Mayor Bower continued speaking calmly to the
interviewer on the other line.
Moments before, the mayor was equally unflappable
while posing for pictures in the Gardens' soggy surround-
ings. Before the skies opened, it had been overcast and
breezy at the leafy park, replete with an apple-red bridge
and lilypad-laden pond.
Within seconds of Mayor Bower's arrival, down came
the wet stuff -sparking concern in my mind that perhaps
Weinstein would postpone the photo opportunity. Not a
chance. Bower shrugged off the precipitation and strolled
to the bridge, as raindrops kept falling on her head; she
proved more concerned about the photographer's equip-
ment than her own coif. ("It's OK," Her Honor contends
in a way that makes you believe it.) Conditions cleared
- at least temporarily -long enough to wrap up the water-
logged shoot. Positive attitude had paid off.
But then, Matti Herrera Bower is accustomed to over-
coming obstacles -even if she doesn't dwell on them. In
a business populated with white males, the two four-year
term commissioner was elected on November 20 (third
attempt was the charm), filling the shoes of termed-out
Dermer. She won in a landslide victory over Simon Cruz
in a runoff and made history in the bargain. Not that the
humble, self-effacing Democratic dignitary goes around
beating her own chest.
"I don't feel that at all," Bower replies when asked about
breaking through the good-old-boys' bureaucratic ceiling.
"I lost the first election (in the mid-1990s) because I wanted
affordable housing, like that was a bad word. Everything
was a battle, so I got used to it." While the mayor was con-
centrating onbucking the tide for preservation, helping the
28 ~nectarmagazine.net~ March 2008
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