Oct 27, 2009 7:27 pm US/Eastern
Miami's Mayoral Race Revolves Around Commissioners
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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File: Longtime Commissioner Tomas Regalado is running against Commissioner Joe Sanchez for the mayor's seat.
CBS4 News
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Earlier this year Miami commissioner Joe Sanchez announced that he would run for mayor.
CBS
Miami is nicknamed the Magic City. Two sitting city commissioners want to succeed the mayor who presided over much of that sparkle for the past decade. The problem—no amount of magic will make tough decisions go away.
Tomas Regalado and Joe Sanchez are veteran commissioners. Regalado is the frontrunner, in no small measure because of his fame as a longtime radio and television newsman in Miami. He says his voting record is a reflection of his roots. Regalado arrived in Miami on a Pedro Pan flight in 1962, all of 12--years-old, and his lessons stayed with him.
Regalado said, "We grew up thinking we didn't have anything, and we have to save money and not spend money. We were penny pinching."
Joe Sanchez is a former state trooper and a hard charging politician who wielded the gavel as the city commission chairman. He portrays his decade on the commission as one shaped by a big vision.
Sanchez reminded said, "I put together the 2001 development summit which brought in new development to the city."
The condominium construction crane became the symbol of Miami. Unfortunately it is now replaced with far too many foreclosure signs. Sanchez's critics argue he was often too willing to follow the pro-development lead of outgoing mayor Manny Diaz on everything from downtown growth to a new Marlins stadium in Little Havana. Not so, says Sanchez. He argued, "You're going to have a new tax base around the stadium. You are going to have a better quality of life. You are going to have a team called the Miami Marlins. We will be a traveling billboard throughout the U.S., promoting our city."
Regalado, on the other hand, was a no vote on the Marlins stadium and many other major projects, so much so that he is criticized for being reflexively anti-development.
Regalado said, "The fact of the matter is the Marlins are getting a free ride. The city of Miami and the county are putting up all the money."
Both Miami mayoral candidates, meanwhile, acknowledge the other money issue that is a financial time bomb about to go off: Soaring pension costs for union workers threaten to swamp the city.
"We continue to kick the can," Sanchez said, "and put a band-aid on a fatal wound and hope next year will take care of it. My commitment is that my number one issue is to resolve the pension crisis we have in the city."
Sanchez argues Regalado won't make the same tough calls because he enjoys union support in the campaign. Regalado counters that, if elected, he will lead by example. He said, "I would look those unions in the eye and say, look, I am reducing my salary by 30 percent and my pension by 25 percent so you guys have to come to the table, because if you don't, there won't be a city for you to retire (in)."
This much seems certain: Flashy big developments are a thing of the past for now, as both candidates will have their hands full providing basic services from Miami City Hall in the midst of an ongoing financial crisis.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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