#BecauseMiami: Failed City State

Speaker 1 Now's a good time to remember where tequila's story truly began. In 1795, Cuervo invented tequila.
Cuervo. What are you doing here? Cuervo.
Anytime someone says Cuervo, I show up.

Speaker 1 Well, I do know that to be true, but even during ad reads, like Cuervo, I think you could lay out, especially for one of our great partners.

Speaker 4 Sweet, delicious Cuervo.

Speaker 1 Since then, Cuervo has stayed true to its roots. The same family, the same land, the same passion.
Cuervo. So, enjoy the tequila that started it all.
Cuervo. Cuervo.
The tequila that invented tequila.

Speaker 5 Proximo, Cuervo.com. Please drink responsibly.
Cuervo.

Speaker 6 At blinds.com, it's not just about window treatments. It's about you, your style, your space, your way.

Speaker 6 Whether you DIY or want the pros to handle it all, you'll have the confidence of knowing it's done right.

Speaker 6 From free expert design help to our 100% satisfaction guarantee, everything we do is made to fit your life and your windows. Because at blinds.com, the only thing we treat better than windows is you.

Speaker 6 Black Friday deals are going on all month long. Save up to 45% off site-wide, plus an additional 10% off every order right now at Blinds.com.

Speaker 5 Rules and Restrictions Apply.

Speaker 8 This episode is brought to you by Progressive Commercial Insurance. Business owners meet Progressive Insurance.

Speaker 8 They make it easy to get discounts on commercial auto insurance and find coverages to grow with your business. Quote in as little as eight minutes at progressivecommercial.com.

Speaker 8 Progressive Casualty Insurance Company, coverage provided and serviced by affiliated and third-party insurers. Discounts and covered selections not available in all states or situations.

Speaker 10 Another setback for the state in donating land in downtown Miami for the future Trump Presidential Library.

Speaker 10 An appeals court rejected Attorney General James Othmeier's request to overturn a lower court's ruling blocking Miami-Dade College from giving away the land.

Speaker 10 The lawsuit was based on whether the school's Board of Trustees violated Florida's Sunshine Law when it voted to give away the land without providing reasonable notice to the public.

Speaker 14 Andres Rivero of Rivero Mestre is the attorney representing Dr.

Speaker 15 Marvin Dunn, a friend of the show, in his case against Maimie-Dade College Board of Trustees.

Speaker 19 And now the state of Florida has intervened or is trying to intervene.

Speaker 21 Anyway, Andres, I guess, congratulations on this latest ruling from the third DCA last week.

Speaker 17 First, tell us what happened there.

Speaker 26 I guess what this is the Attorney General of the state of Florida, James Uthmeyer, who has been a subject on this program in the past, mostly for his involvement in the Hope Florida scandal, which has become the subject of a...

Speaker 30 criminal grand jury in Leon County and the possible alleged wire fraud and money laundering by a Republican representative in Tallahassee during the legislative session, all kinds of chicanery.

Speaker 35 And what is it that he is trying to do here and that the third DCA put a stop to?

Speaker 36 We got,

Speaker 36 working with my co-counsel Richard Brodsky, we got an injunction against this transfer of land next to Freedom Tower for nothing.

Speaker 36 We got an injunction and they tried to get an emergency appeal to the third DCA where they thought it would get a better hearing to overturn our TRO.

Speaker 36 And the third DCA said, nope, we're going to do this in the normal course. We don't see an emergency here, which I think is a good sign that

Speaker 36 what we believe is true, which is the judges made a careful decision to pull up.

Speaker 37 That's interesting.

Speaker 15 So was he, for lack of a better term, judge shopping?

Speaker 40 Was he looking for, like you said, a friendlier venue?

Speaker 36 Oh, I don't think there's any doubt about it. I think they thought that they had the judges of the 30 DCA, which, by the way, are very good, very fair judges.

Speaker 36 I think they thought that because they were appointees of this governor and the prior governor, that they had a more favorable audience. But that court refused to do what they asked.

Speaker 36 So I think that again is a good sign for it.

Speaker 17 You're saying the court did its job.

Speaker 37 The judges they reviewed the pleadings.

Speaker 44 I don't know if they heard your arguments or not, but like they and they determined what the most just course of action was.

Speaker 28 There are still good judges out there.

Speaker 13 It's funny, every time, you know, I have to do, I have to do, I'm asked to do a sample ballot and post it online so that people have a guide,

Speaker 24 particularly for the races that are more obscure or candidates that they're they're unfamiliar with.

Speaker 17 And the judge races, which I think incidentally is terrible. Judges running for office, I think, is just generally a bad idea.

Speaker 46 They should not be

Speaker 31 in that world, in my opinion.

Speaker 47 That said,

Speaker 17 we have judges who we elect, and nobody knows who they are.

Speaker 42 None of the voters know who they are.

Speaker 30 So I take a lot of time and trouble to learn about them.

Speaker 28 I call a lot of friends in the, you know, in the Florida bar who I would deem to be conservative, who I would deem to be liberal, or at least left of center and right of center.

Speaker 17 Because I don't judge a judge based on who appoints them. Because you talk to people and they say, hey, listen, there's good judges, they're bad judges of all kinds.

Speaker 7 But if they're fair, you know, I don't always win in front of them, but they listen to my arguments.

Speaker 24 They carefully consider them.

Speaker 23 And I think that that's, especially now more than ever, that is an encouraging sign that the entirety of the judiciary has not been politicized.

Speaker 36 Absolutely. And, you know, sometimes it's underestimated.

Speaker 36 In our system, and I do a lot of business cross-border to Latin America, this is still a reliable system and we have good judges on that third DCA and in our trial court and we got a great one Judge Mavel Ruiz

Speaker 52 that said because clearly we've had Dr.

Speaker 25 Dunn on the program to talk about this issue and the concern about the gifting of a beautiful parcel right across the street here next to the Freedom Tower listen I think for me I'm somewhat indifferent in that like there's got to be a library hotel and casino somewhere you know for for to celebrate Donald Trump's presidency.

Speaker 17 And it might as well be in Miami or downtown Miami.

Speaker 29 The issue here, of course, is that you have a piece of property owned by a very important college.

Speaker 11 I say very important for the education of our community, very important to the economy of our community.

Speaker 47 They are in downtown Miami, which means there's not a lot of place to go.

Speaker 35 There's not, property is scarce, property is expensive.

Speaker 34 They've got this parcel they bought many years ago for $24 million.

Speaker 26 It's now worth potentially up to $350 million in the market.

Speaker 17 And they want to give it away to a billionaire politician. And they wanted to do it

Speaker 21 secretly with a meeting that was not properly noticed.

Speaker 17 They rubber stamped it.

Speaker 47 They sent it up. I mean, this was pretty

Speaker 41 shady, man.

Speaker 60 And you're not letting them get away with it.

Speaker 61 And so now what?

Speaker 36 There is so much wrong with the way this went down, but the legal issue, just to be clear with your audience, the legal issue is they tried to do it in the dark.

Speaker 36 And we have a sunshine in government law. What we're looking for is we're going to take discovery and we're going to find how did this go down? How is it possible?

Speaker 36 You gave no notice. And then seven days later, you had a unanimous vote at 8 a.m.
They called the meeting at 8 a.m. Did the pledge, did a moment of silence, and voted by 8.03.
And then by 8.11,

Speaker 36 Uthmeier has a slickly produced video about the whole deal. How do you do that? How do you know that you're getting the vote and

Speaker 36 that you can produce the video and put it up? We're going to find out what happened.

Speaker 23 You're saying the fix was in.

Speaker 13 I think I'm putting the pieces together in my head very slowly.

Speaker 36 I will say this. Given that notice, nobody who wasn't in on the deal could know what was going down.

Speaker 16 So let me ask you this.

Speaker 40 Why not just, on the part of the Miami-Dade College Board of Trustees, and of course, I know this went up to the cabinet, the governor's cabinet in Tallahassee, where they're very quickly rubber-stanted as well.

Speaker 17 Why not just null and void the whole damn thing, notice it properly, publicly,

Speaker 56 a public meeting.

Speaker 17 Now, it'll be a bummer because a lot of people will probably show up.

Speaker 29 I've seen the polling.

Speaker 37 Even Republicans are against this land grab in this way without getting at least fair market value for this piece of property.

Speaker 26 But they could listen to a bunch of angry people for a few hours and then rubber stamp it irregardless. And then it goes up to the town.

Speaker 26 And they get rid of you.

Speaker 49 They get rid of Dr. Dunn.
They get rid of all this Hazarai.

Speaker 14 Why not just do that?

Speaker 36 Besides everything else, we're lacking common sense in our state. And I'm a native.
I'm a native and I love Miami, but this makes no sense. We suggested in court.

Speaker 36 Judge Ruiz said to him, why don't you just, you got the power. Just call the meeting right and take your vote.
Take the heat. Sometimes things happen, Billy.

Speaker 36 I will say sometimes when you have 80% of the people against you, maybe that's why they want to do it. But why don't they just do it again? Common sense.
Just do it. You got the votes.

Speaker 52 I'm wondering, though, does this have to do with

Speaker 40 I don't know any of the folks on the board of trustees.

Speaker 3 They clearly were down to do this however they did it.

Speaker 41 Whether it was legal or not legal, you will litigate that.

Speaker 27 But they did not want the whole production.

Speaker 60 They did not want the media there. They did not, they were out by what, 803?

Speaker 64 It was like pledge vote out.

Speaker 63 They did not want public comment. They did not want faculty.

Speaker 47 They did not want students.

Speaker 28 They did not want the former president of Miami-Dade College, who helped facilitate this transaction in in order to secure the future of this institution for the faculty and the students and our community and have room to grow.

Speaker 18 They clearly don't want that.

Speaker 17 So is that what this is about? They just like, this needs to just happen.

Speaker 17 Like, let's just fight it and see if we can't, you know, like basically it's like worst case scenario, last step will be subjecting themselves to the scrutiny of their own community, which will include, if the polling is accurate, a majority of Republicans in Miami-Dade who might want the Trump

Speaker 57 library, hotel, and casino here, but not like this, not with this kind of terrible deal for the taxpayers.

Speaker 36 Yeah, and I got a separate, look, I'm just the lawyer who's saying you did it the wrong way. And it is important, like process is important, and they shouldn't be hiding it.

Speaker 36 But basically what you're saying is right.

Speaker 36 They must be afraid of doing it in the open because maybe they intuited how unpopular it would be to give away maybe the most valuable asset of the public college, the biggest public college in the United States with a massive minority student population.

Speaker 36 This is not like a rich elite university. So maybe they wanted to hide what they did.

Speaker 36 We want to make it so that they have to confront the people whose land they're giving away for nothing. And this is really important.
I need you and your audience to understand.

Speaker 36 There is no guarantee the way this is being given that a presidential library will be built there.

Speaker 36 The only thing that's required is that a component of a library, museum, or conference center be built within five years.

Speaker 36 I don't want a hotel with the ticket booth for the presidential library at Mar-a-Lago to be in downtown Miami. We should get something out of it.

Speaker 45 I don't have a dog in this fight.

Speaker 46 Obviously, I want Miami-Dade to have the ability to grow.

Speaker 17 I think by student population, it's the largest university or by enrollment. It's like the largest university in the country.

Speaker 23 It's just an important institution.

Speaker 44 I want them to have the ability to, you know, grow and prepare for the future.

Speaker 16 Barring that, I want them to have the money.

Speaker 21 I mean, they made a great deal here, as it turns out, buying this parcel for $24 million and having the potential in this market to make a third of a billion dollars from it.

Speaker 56 Like if nothing else, that should go to the university and the endowment or whatever,

Speaker 68 the account that enables the school, the faculty, the students to benefit from it.

Speaker 50 Isn't that capitalism?

Speaker 24 Isn't that free market?

Speaker 36 Billy, listen,

Speaker 36 but the thing that's so important is for your listeners is don't get fooled again. You're going to hear there's politicians on that board and they're saying, oh, it's just a parking lot.

Speaker 36 Billy's making the point. That piece of land was bought for $24 million.
It's worth somewhere between $200 and $350 million.

Speaker 36 Don't let them fool you. Businesses, capitalist businesses, would land bank.
That's a tremendous investment. Billy's got you.
You got this, Billy.

Speaker 36 Why would you make a tremendous investment, get your college college ahead, and then give it away for nothing, and maybe not even get a library? It makes no sense.

Speaker 36 Our public officials in this county, I'm a native, do this all the time. They take our land and they give it away.
Don't let them fool you again.

Speaker 29 And they give it away to rich people, to billionaires. They don't even give it away to people who really, who really need it or really benefit from it.

Speaker 28 It just makes rich people even richer.

Speaker 21 That's the thing, too. Donald Trump's a rich guy.

Speaker 43 He's constantly reminding us of that.

Speaker 29 And he's that much more richer, I don't know, as of this year, by several multiples, in fact.

Speaker 57 So buy it, man.

Speaker 24 Not to mention, he's getting hundreds of millions of dollars donated to presumably some sort of foundation specifically for the purpose of building and operating a presidential library.

Speaker 66 So use some of that money.

Speaker 26 Benefit this community, benefit the city, benefit your constituents, benefit what is effectively community college students and faculty.

Speaker 63 And Andres, before we go, I want to ask you kind of a personal question.

Speaker 21 You mentioned, you know, this is not Harvard or even in the University of Miami.

Speaker 33 This is not a rich private institution with a significant endowment and a ton of donor.

Speaker 21 It does have a lot of successful alumni who do give back and contribute. But beyond that, Marvin Dunn is also not a billionaire or millionaire.

Speaker 56 He is an author, former educator, a community activist.

Speaker 19 And you seem very fired up.

Speaker 52 about this.

Speaker 3 Like this feels like this is not a gig for you or a money generating client or job for you, but you seem very passionate about this.

Speaker 17 So I wanted to ask you kind of about that.

Speaker 21 I mean, listen, everybody means it costs money to sue and it costs money to be involved in litigation.

Speaker 11 I don't need to get into your finances or your deal with Dr.

Speaker 26 Dunn, but this to me feels like something, at least in the pro bono state of mind.

Speaker 65 Is this like a passion project for you?

Speaker 36 Yeah, Billy, I don't have any, there's no, this is pro bono. And Richard Brosky, too, I want to make sure I mention him.
He's my co-counsel. And Dr.
Dunn.

Speaker 36 This is what he's doing. He's a brave man because there's a lot of people I've talked to and

Speaker 36 a lot of affluent lawyers who are afraid to get involved. Now, you know, things are the way they are now.
Friends of mine who are afraid to be involved or they won't do it because it's for free.

Speaker 36 We need to step up. Our judiciary system is still sound.
And hey, remember, at the end, I'm talking right now about the notice. Let's just do it the right way.
They have the power.

Speaker 36 Let's do it the right way.

Speaker 12 Andres Rivero of Rivero Mestre. You can find him at Riveromestre.com.

Speaker 43 Thanks so much. Good luck.

Speaker 17 Come back and update us sometime soon.

Speaker 36 Thanks, Billy.

Speaker 71 What does Zinn give you? Not just smoke-free nicotine satisfaction, but real freedom. Freedom to do what you love and choose your rewards.

Speaker 71 With Zin Rewards, you can redeem points for premium tech, outdoor gear, and gift cards to your favorite retailers.

Speaker 71 Find your Zen and keep finding rewards that fit your lifestyle at zinn.com/slash rewards.

Speaker 71 Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Speaker 1 Folks, the leaves are turning. The weather's getting a little chillier.
That means the football games are more important. That means football time should be Miller time.

Speaker 1 Game day hits different with a Miller light in your hand. From jaw-dropping touchdowns to fantasy heartbreaks, my fantasy season's over already, but you know what makes that better? Miller time!

Speaker 1 It's the beer that's been there for every moment. 50 years of great taste, simple ingredients, and that iconic golden color you can spot from across the room.
And here's the kicker.

Speaker 1 It's just 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. The original light beer since 1975 and still hitting different five decades later.

Speaker 1 So whatever your game day looks like, remember Miller time is always a good time. Miller Light grape tastes 96 calories.
Go to millerlight.com/slash stan to find delivery options near you.

Speaker 1 Or you can pick up Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time.
Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

Speaker 72 For generations, Miami has been a haven for those fleeing communist tyranny in South Africa.

Speaker 72 I mean, if you take a look at what's going on in parts of South Africa, look at South Africa, what's going on. Look at South America, what's going on.

Speaker 72 You know, I'm not going to, we have a G20 meeting in South Africa. South Africa shouldn't even be in the Gs anymore because what's happened there is bad.
I'm not going. I told him I'm not going.

Speaker 72 I'm not going to represent our country there. It shouldn't be there.
Take a look at what's happening in different parts of South America.

Speaker 72 Take a look at what's happening in different parts of the world.

Speaker 5 What the f is he talking about?

Speaker 72 They're coming all over the place.

Speaker 5 What the f is he talking about?

Speaker 69 They're fleeing South Africa?

Speaker 66 They're fleeing the communism of South Africa to come to Miami.

Speaker 14 It was in Miami.

Speaker 19 It was ABF. I used to suffer from ABF.

Speaker 18 Then I changed my diet, my

Speaker 2 exercise, a little KO pectate.

Speaker 25 I got over my ABF.

Speaker 26 ABF is the America Business Forum.

Speaker 11 You might remember

Speaker 73 plenty of peptobismol in that building.

Speaker 28 It was right across the street here at the FTX arena, forced you to take refuge here in the building, actually, for days on end

Speaker 63 because you could not leave, was on lockdown.

Speaker 47 And so this American Business Forum had illustrious guests from all over the world, including the president of the United States, who really wanted to speak to the South Africans of Miami who fled communism.

Speaker 5 I don't even know.

Speaker 47 I mean, now, at the risk of sounding like Matthew McConaughey at the end of a time to kill, I'm going to say, now imagine.

Speaker 45 It was Biden who said that dumbass shit.

Speaker 33 I mean, now just imagine that.

Speaker 69 People would be like, 20th Amendment, 20th Amendment.

Speaker 17 Just amazing.

Speaker 76 But that wasn't the only highlight, Roy, of what was happening across.

Speaker 70 Did you not get across the street at all for any of these events?

Speaker 53 No.

Speaker 45 Oh, it's a shame.

Speaker 54 That's really a shame.

Speaker 2 It's also a shame that like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog didn't go over there and cover.

Speaker 5 Yeah, what was Schmeicher?

Speaker 2 What was Robert Schmeicher?

Speaker 77 Seriously. So

Speaker 21 one of my favorite things about the pandemic and what it did to Miami as all the Roscon man bros who were Me Too'd out of Silicon Valley and wherever else they came from, you know, the tech bros and the Miami coin people and everything coming down here.

Speaker 18 There was this whole trend, this almost sub-genre of Twitter and social media where people who have been in Miami for three days wanted to tell us what Miami is and like wanted to redefine Miami really in the consummate, almost Miami hustler way to give him a tip of the hat, to sell more people on coming to Miami to kind of make the Miami tech hub thing happen and so a lot of people didn't necessarily come here to Miami because they wanted to contribute to community and help build this place up but rather they couldn't buy the government they wanted back in whatever home city or home state that they came from.

Speaker 28 So it brought a lot of good with it.

Speaker 17 It brought a lot of investment with it.

Speaker 12 It also brought a lot of bad hombres

Speaker 37 and had a lasting impact on Miamians that I think, by and large, has not been positive because people who live here can't afford the houses that they built with their own hands.

Speaker 13 But one of the more humorous descriptions I thought of Miami comes from Ken Griffin, one of the richest men in the world, the CEO of Citadel, who is building a multi-billion dollar high-rise to move some sort of part of their base of operations.

Speaker 13 I think their main headquarters is still in like New York and maybe still a bit in Chicago.

Speaker 21 But you just have to hear him describe a Miami that is like

Speaker 33 unrecognizable to those of us who have been here.

Speaker 80 Right. And so if I look at Miami and I look at why Miami is so successful, the focus on education, the focus on public safety.
These are safe streets. We live in a safe city.
The focus on community.

Speaker 80 This is a city that has great pride in what we've accomplished together and what we will accomplish ahead. I've lived in a failed failed city-state.
I lived in Chicago for 30-some years.

Speaker 80 You can't live in a city awash in violent crime and feel proud to call that place home. So I'm grateful for the leadership in the state of Florida and from this great city of Miami.

Speaker 80 This is a great place to call home.

Speaker 5 I mean,

Speaker 22 I don't necessarily disagree with the last, very last thing that he said, but like, what is what?

Speaker 28 Education, safety.

Speaker 17 When he did say, when he referred to Chicago as like like a failed city-state, that I recognized.

Speaker 23 The idea of a failed city-state, that spoke to me as Miami.

Speaker 74 Now, now you remember the end of seven? Morgan Freeman said, The world is a fine place and we're fighting for. And he agreed with the second part.

Speaker 12 Yeah, that's basically that.

Speaker 15 Yes, I agree with that.

Speaker 17 Yes, it's a cool place to live, but like I didn't recognize anything else that he said.

Speaker 44 Now, a guy like that, though, to his credit, with that kind of money and that kind kind of power, is attempting to will that as well.

Speaker 21 Like with just sheer force of personality is like trying to manifest that, not just with his words, but with like kind of like inspiring other people.

Speaker 7 And he's investing a lot of money down here, to be fair, but like, that's not what Miami is now.

Speaker 33 That might be what Miami is like in his dreams and what he's attempting to help to build here, but that is not in any way recognizable as the city that we, well, like I say, everybody outside of Miami loves to hate it, and all of us in Miami hate to love it.

Speaker 48 But you'll never believe who else was there, Roy.

Speaker 2 Do you know?

Speaker 74 No, who?

Speaker 82 Ponzi Postalita.

Speaker 14 Oh, so yes, you remember Francis Suarez, Ponzi Postalita.

Speaker 5 Good job.

Speaker 77 Underhanded man-child fail, son.

Speaker 75 He was there actually conducting some of the interviews.

Speaker 32 And

Speaker 45 you have to see this humiliating clip of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez being clowned to his face by the third richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos.

Speaker 11 Also a Miamian, by the way, graduated from Palmetto Senior High School, and his first job was working at a local McDonald's.

Speaker 14 Here he is now. He's done pretty good for himself.

Speaker 83 Miami should have an AI application that reads your building permit for a new house or a new building, and it should give you a yes or a no in 10 seconds.

Speaker 83 And if the answer is, oh, and if, and if the answer

Speaker 83 and if the answer is no, it should tell you the six things you have to change to get a yes. And why does it take months and months and months to get a building permit? It doesn't make any sense.

Speaker 9 He just described a business that I would love to create.

Speaker 5 Exactly.

Speaker 17 Bezos is straight up roasting Francis.

Speaker 21 Like he might as well be in a cajachina, this guy, okay?

Speaker 57 Calling out his incompetence and corruption.

Speaker 66 And Francis Suarez is, he thinks it's hilarious.

Speaker 69 He's laughing and he's clapping, like covering his lips, like, because like it's hilarious, bro. Like how broken and corrupt this city is, bro.
How can I help myself, bro?

Speaker 3 In Miami, we are definitely not woke.

Speaker 26 So he doesn't.

Speaker 64 He not only doesn't get the joke, he doesn't get that he is the joke.

Speaker 22 And then he has the absolute audacity to say, This is the business I'd love to create.

Speaker 52 For serious bro,

Speaker 76 then why haven't you?

Speaker 21 He's been an elected official in the city of Miami for 16 years.

Speaker 16 And during that time, he's done nothing but exploit his public position for private profit.

Speaker 17 His net worth exploding from negative $100,000 to over $12 million now.

Speaker 28 And during his tenure, Miami has become a notorious shakedown town, a predator city where government officials victimize their own residents and business owners.

Speaker 11 Remember, we had Daniel Figueretto on the show, the owner, well, along with his wife Rosa, of Sanguich, a fabulous local restaurant chain or sandwich chain.

Speaker 50 And he talked about opening a 500-square-foot restaurant.

Speaker 23 right across the street in Outpost in Bayside here in downtown Miami.

Speaker 17 It took him like three years just to get that little 500 square foot restaurant open.

Speaker 5 So if Francis Suarez wanted to do something other than help himself, where has he been?

Speaker 32 How can I help?

Speaker 35 And then he says the quiet part out loud.

Speaker 9 A big building in Miami is a multi-billion dollar enterprise. So you're talking about half a billion, a billion dollars

Speaker 9 in lending costs. Yes.

Speaker 9 A daily carrying cost, one day of interest, $200,000 to $400,000 per day yes so every day that it takes it costs the developer the ultimate user four hundred thousand dollars yes and that doesn't count the frustration of course not which is which is infinite which is infinite infinity

Speaker 53 you see

Speaker 77 vapid nipple baby with the brain of a mosquito

Speaker 75 oh miss francis mr mayor you're brilliant you were super smart here's the thing roy it's in that four hundred thousand a day that he was talking about.

Speaker 55 That's where people like Francis get paid.

Speaker 17 That's where the grifters live and make their living.

Speaker 33 The real estate lawyers, the architects, building code inspectors, the TOs, the Primos, the expeditors, the people in charge are all invested in the broken system.

Speaker 17 So they have no incentive to fix it because it makes them so much money.

Speaker 15 And honestly, Roy, if you you think about it,

Speaker 26 that waste and corruption is a significant part of the Miami economy.

Speaker 33 So if we were to make the government as efficient as Bezos is suggesting, we'd put the city out of business.

Speaker 55 Like we'd put, like the economy would probably just collapse here

Speaker 13 because so many people make money in that waste and in that grifting space there.

Speaker 85 Yeah.

Speaker 85 You're absolutely right.

Speaker 2 Thank you, Roy.

Speaker 5 We don't do efficiency well here.

Speaker 26 No, I mean, it doesn't.

Speaker 67 Efficiency doesn't pay.

Speaker 17 Just like preservation doesn't pay. The idea is to kind of knock the old shit down and put up the new shit because it's in that period of redesigning.

Speaker 17 and creating the plans and hiring architects and hiring land use attorneys and real estate lawyers and lobbyists to go.

Speaker 33 And then you have to go to the planning zoning appeals board. Then you have to go to the city commission.
Then you have to go to the county commission.

Speaker 17 Then you got to go to Durham.

Speaker 7 Then you got to, you know.

Speaker 17 And here's another thing I would point out.

Speaker 12 You notice that Francis Suarez opens by saying, like, oh, like, bro, like, like, these big, big buildings, bro, like, like, like, that's like a

Speaker 38 billion dollar, like, multi-billion dollar project in a high-rise.

Speaker 27 He's going right into a multi-billion dollar high-rise, like luxury condo or, you know, Class A office space.

Speaker 21 You know what he's not talking about?

Speaker 50 The small businesses where most people

Speaker 17 try to make their living in this town. Like I said, a 500 square foot restaurant.

Speaker 17 Those small business owners who have to spend years that they don't have and hundreds of thousands of dollars that they don't have.

Speaker 11 I don't feel so bad for a major duty developer, a billionaire who has to spend $400,000 a day financing a building.

Speaker 47 That's their business.

Speaker 2 Some small business owner who just wants to get a permit from the city to open a sandwich shop or to open a store or an art gallery or a little restaurant, whatever it may be, they don't have the time.

Speaker 46 They don't have the money.

Speaker 37 They can't grease the wheels the way city officials can shake down wealthier clients.

Speaker 23 But what's really fed up about it is, of course, it's the rich people and the highest end folks that get away with almost whatever they want to do, whereas the little guy or the little girl gets crushed by this system.

Speaker 5 Hashtag because Miami.

Speaker 45 It's one of the few things I probably won't miss about Francis Juarez, but it certainly marks his tenure.

Speaker 17 And to see him being called out to his face by the third richest man in the world, and he just laughs, just laughs.

Speaker 58 And he's, I know he doesn't get it, but he is laughing at all of us and the way that not only took advantage of us, but we let him take advantage of us.

Speaker 21 And there was absolutely no accountability for it whatsoever.

Speaker 81 This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Man, these days are getting way too short.
It's dark at like 5 p.m. I'm instantly ready for bed.
And look, this time of year, it can be tough.

Speaker 4 People get busy, seasons change.

Speaker 81 And before you know it, you haven't checked in on your friend in months.

Speaker 81 So this November, BetterHelp's reminding you to reach out, text your people, call your mom, grab coffee with that friend you've been meeting to since like May. It always feels good after.

Speaker 81 You're like, why didn't I do that sooner? It's the same thing with therapy. Reaching out can feel weird at first, but once you do it, it helps.

Speaker 75 BetterHelp makes it easy.

Speaker 81 They've got over 30,000 licensed therapists and have helped more than 5 million people. They've been at it for more than 12 years, guys.
They've got a 4.9 rating from more than 1.7 million reviews.

Speaker 81 This month, don't wait to reach out. Whether you're checking in on a friend or reaching out to a therapist for yourself, BetterHelp makes it easier to take that first step.

Speaker 81 And our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/slash DLB. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash DLB.

Speaker 86 Folks, fuel your game day with the unbeatable crunch of Hampton Farms, the official peanut of bowl season. Perfect for sharing with friends, tailgating outside the stadium, or cheering from the couch.

Speaker 86 Grab a bag from the produce aisle of your local grocery store and savor the game one peanut at a time. Let's get nutty.

Speaker 87 As far as Captain Carr,

Speaker 87 she loves to, you know, she loved to call me a Latin male. I'm a black male.

Speaker 88 Yes, I am.

Speaker 87 And I am non-Hispanic. I was born in this country.

Speaker 87 That's how I feel.

Speaker 84 I have a question for you. Sure.
So you classify yourself today as a black male.

Speaker 88 Yes.

Speaker 84 When you applied for the police department, did you classify yourself as a black male or a white male at the time?

Speaker 87 I think I put

Speaker 87 white male. I don't know if I well, I know I put white male, but I don't know if I put Hispanic.
No, I know. Listen, I know who I am but it's also it's also

Speaker 89 Hispanic male. I'm sorry? You put down Hispanic male didn't you?

Speaker 87 Okay as a man I stand by it.

Speaker 89 When did you have this

Speaker 14 you know

Speaker 89 coming to

Speaker 89 with God moment that you were black? When did God tell you?

Speaker 87 Well I learned that there's people in my family that are mixed and that are black.

Speaker 84 I see. Let's just let's not talk about the degree of blackness.

Speaker 87 Oh no you're blacker than me. That's obvious.
And if you know anything about the one-drop rule, which started in the 20th century, which is what identifies and defines

Speaker 87 what a black male is or a Negro, you would know that if you have one drop of black in you, you are considered black.

Speaker 88 So you're probably black in the middle.

Speaker 88 Can we do a DNA? No, you're probably black.

Speaker 87 Nobody sent me here, nor did the city manager. I am my own man.

Speaker 74 That's right. And you're your own black man, I know.

Speaker 87 Yes.

Speaker 87 So now I'm being attacked.

Speaker 89 Yeah.

Speaker 87 Half of my family is Jewish. Probably didn't know that either.

Speaker 84 Thank you. You're fine.
Thank you.

Speaker 89 Mr. Ortiz claimed that he was

Speaker 89 a black.

Speaker 89 Now he hears Jewish black.

Speaker 89 I'm afraid maybe next month will be, you know, a black Jewish woman. I don't know.

Speaker 45 That is a classic Miami clip.

Speaker 73 This guy, man,

Speaker 5 he's back.

Speaker 59 Your boy.

Speaker 5 Your boy.

Speaker 68 Roy.

Speaker 75 Javi Ortiz.

Speaker 17 That's who you're hearing. The voice of Captain Javier Ortiz.

Speaker 33 This was years ago when he went to a city commission meeting.

Speaker 14 So Javi Ortiz is known as Miami's most corrupt cop, the most controversial cop, the most notorious cop.

Speaker 33 For a while, the most powerful law enforcement officer, I would say, in the city of Miami, because he was just untouchable.

Speaker 75 The guy has something like over 50 citizen complaints, 20 use of force incidents, three suspensions, a termination.

Speaker 57 He has cost taxpayers in excess of $600,000 in brutality lawsuits.

Speaker 76 He got promoted twice, apparently, after in a 2014 lieutenant's exam and a 2017 captain's application, he claimed to be a black male, despite the fact that his original paperwork, his original application to the Miami Police Department, accurately identified him as a white Hispanic.

Speaker 29 And there was an FBI and FDLE investigation in which he was accused by multiple fellow officers for having engaged, this is a quote, engaged in a pattern of abuse and bias against minorities, particularly African Americans.

Speaker 66 And he also, of course, joined Ron DeSantis' paramilitary force, the Florida State Guard, some years ago.

Speaker 54 And that's because when he got fired, it was basically bullshit, according to an arbitrator.

Speaker 17 And he was allowed to come back onto the force.

Speaker 47 But with a caveat, there was this settlement, this crazy settlement.

Speaker 33 Alex DeLuca of the Miami New Times is joining us.

Speaker 21 She broke the story this past week that Javier Ortiz, who was supposed to retire on November 7th, as a result of this settlement, which we'll talk about, is going nowhere.

Speaker 7 He is planning on sticking around here in Miami and continue to be a police officer, a very handsomely paid one at that.

Speaker 5 Hashtag because Miami.

Speaker 47 Alex, let's start with this settlement because this is ridiculous.

Speaker 17 So he gets fired and then goes to arbitration, as is the contract, you know, with the police department. And the arbitrator says you can't fire him.

Speaker 17 You have to hire him back because these were bullshit grounds.

Speaker 34 Because they didn't fire him, Roy, for any of the abuse or any of the complaints.

Speaker 15 What did they fire him for, Alex?

Speaker 90 It was in September 2022. It was an accusation of violating the department's overtime policy that finally did him in.

Speaker 90 So it was nothing having to do with his interactions with the public, really.

Speaker 90 And that was one of the first moves that the newly appointed, then a newly appointed chief, Manny Morales, had made when he first took on his role as police chief.

Speaker 90 So yeah, it wasn't anything having to do with his interactions with the public, which was. the most controversial part of his career with MPD.

Speaker 63 It was the overtime.

Speaker 17 So nobody bothered to fire him for cause before.

Speaker 42 They fire him for cause for this.

Speaker 17 It goes to arbitration.

Speaker 15 They say, no, you have to hire him back.

Speaker 47 But then the incompetent and, I think, unethical city attorney's office engages in this like settlement with him for

Speaker 57 full salary, full benefits, full pension for a certain amount of time, but he doesn't have to work.

Speaker 47 He doesn't have to show up.

Speaker 18 He basically stays home and is allowed outside employment on top of that.

Speaker 70 Am I getting this right, Ish?

Speaker 90 Yeah, he was seemingly, he has been seemingly confined to some sort of night, late night desk job. He was stripped of his gun.
He was made to work directly under the chief.

Speaker 90 But yeah, I mean, under the settlement, he got to keep his rank as captain. He got to keep the pay that came with it.
He was also awarded like several months of back pay for the time that he was out.

Speaker 90 So, yeah.

Speaker 73 So he basically got the Vic Mackey treatment at the end of the Shields run.

Speaker 27 No,

Speaker 17 it was a much better deal than that.

Speaker 23 In fact, originally, the former police chief, George Kalina, he got the rubber room treatment.

Speaker 23 He got the Vic Mackey treatment there because basically, Kalina's like, listen, it's too late to fire him for any of these other incidents that he arguably could have or should have been fired for before.

Speaker 7 So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to just relegate him to like a back office.

Speaker 47 I'm going to pay him.

Speaker 21 He's going to be under my command. I'm going to, you know, be able to discipline him if he screws up again, but he's going to have no power.
He's not going to be on the street engaging with people.

Speaker 28 You know, we're not going to get any, hopefully, any more of these complaints about him, you know, physically abusing people or violating people's constitutional rights, which he used to do allegedly all the time right across the street at the FTX arena during heat, playoff runs and all sorts of crazy shit at Ultra over here.

Speaker 17 He was running amok according to these complaints. But what happened was, is the new chief comes in and says, oh, I'm going to make an exam, I'm going to fire this guy finally.

Speaker 62 Listen, if you come for the king, you better not miss.

Speaker 7 When you miss with a guy like this, he comes back more emboldened and powerful than ever.

Speaker 32 So they couldn't allow that to happen once his termination got reversed.

Speaker 17 So instead, they said, listen, we'll just pay you.

Speaker 25 He doesn't work, dude.

Speaker 65 I'm sorry, he doesn't work for the city. He sits at home.

Speaker 41 They're paying him to work at night from home, which means to do little or nothing at all.

Speaker 70 And during the day, he's allowed to get another job.

Speaker 65 So all the taxpayers are doing is paying him to basically get another job, I imagine, and work somewhere else.

Speaker 49 We've invited Javier Ortiz on the show.

Speaker 17 He has never accepted any of our invitations.

Speaker 47 And it turns out maybe the reason why is a clause in this contract, because this settlement, rather, Alex, it required him, it was a certain number of years, right?

Speaker 23 And then he had to, it was a compulsory retirement.

Speaker 54 So what was supposed to happen and what didn't happen and why?

Speaker 90 He was supposed to retire last week on November 7th, but now he is suing the city. He filed a lawsuit on November 6th.

Speaker 90 He's claiming that the city has breached the non-disparagement clause of the settlement agreement.

Speaker 90 And he's claiming this happened when Commissioner Joe Carollo

Speaker 90 made disparaging remarks about him during, I think it was a radio show and called him, quote unquote, the most corrupt cop in America.

Speaker 90 And then also apparently city attorney George Weisong called him quote unquote a former, well, almost former police captain.

Speaker 90 And Ortiz is claiming that these were disparaging remarks that breached the non-disparagement clause of the agreement.

Speaker 45 So Roy, I want to make sure you got this clear,

Speaker 17 that it could very well be because of

Speaker 37 that Javier Ortiz can claim that he was defamed, not defamed, but he was disparaged when Joe Carrollo expressed his otherwise constitutional free speech right to call this guy what the, what do you say, the most corrupt cop in Miami was

Speaker 39 yeah well but this is a pretty popular quote there's articles and headlines and national news stories it was an article in Politico years ago we had Mark Caputo on the program to talk about it about how bad cops stay in power and stay in their jobs and it was almost entirely about Javier Ortiz but the point is is that Joe Corollo basically

Speaker 17 and I'm could I can agree or disagree with Joe Corollo but he's entitled to his opinion he's not entitled to his own facts or to lies or defamation.

Speaker 24 But this is clearly not that.

Speaker 35 But it may, to Javier Ortiz and his attorney's point, violate the non-disparagement.

Speaker 21 By the way, I don't think that there should be a non-disparagement in an agreement with a government.

Speaker 21 Because what you're doing is you're saying that these elected government public officials cannot speak openly and freely about another, in this case, unelected, but still public official getting six figures a year.

Speaker 34 He will get six figures a year from the taxpayers of Miami for the rest of his life because of his very handsome pension here.

Speaker 19 And so I think that was a f up on the part of the city attorney's office, in my opinion.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 85 It's not like you're leaving a private corporation like a media company and going to another media company and you say something about the old media company that you work for.

Speaker 5 It's not that.

Speaker 41 Boy, that sounded very personal, Roy.

Speaker 5 Yeah, yes.

Speaker 28 That was like a hyper-specific example there.

Speaker 7 Are you thinking of anyone or any company in particular?

Speaker 23 And is there anything you'd like to say?

Speaker 73 No, I think I'm going to keep that too much.

Speaker 5 You learn the Corollo lesson.

Speaker 11 You learn the Javier T's lesson.

Speaker 48 Just inside your little Twitter account, little Billy.

Speaker 73 It seemed to me that he had that non-disparagement violation in his back pocket and decided to bust that out on the deadline where you're supposed to retire.

Speaker 57 On the eve of retirement, he busts out this complaint.

Speaker 17 Alex, all of the disparate, allegedly disparaging remarks that he cites in this complaint are all years old, aren't they?

Speaker 90 Well, yeah, one of them, I think think the remark that Koroyo allegedly made was 2023. And then the remark made by Wisong was more recent in February.

Speaker 17 But the Wisong are, by the way, no love loss between me and Wisong.

Speaker 43 I think he's a mob lawyer ghoul.

Speaker 47 But the reality, I mean, he makes Vicky Mendez look competent.

Speaker 30 Tricky Vicky. You already know Tricky Vicky.

Speaker 43 How could I not have that?

Speaker 40 cart a little more handy.

Speaker 5 Do you have that one handy?

Speaker 73 No, I don't.

Speaker 5 Happy Poor.

Speaker 41 That was not the one I was looking for.

Speaker 59 That was definitely not the one I was looking for.

Speaker 7 You know, the one I was looking for.

Speaker 74 You are a vile little man.

Speaker 2 That's what I was looking for.

Speaker 28 So, Wisong said he referred to Ortiz as a, quote, former, well, almost former police captain.

Speaker 43 That's not disparaging.

Speaker 21 That is actually not even an opinion.

Speaker 70 That was 100% factual.

Speaker 17 This was in February of 25.

Speaker 11 He was supposed to retire in November of 2015.

Speaker 64 Like, how is that disparaging?

Speaker 90 Good question.

Speaker 12 Thank you, Alex.

Speaker 15 I live for that kind of validation.

Speaker 75 So, have you talked to Ortiz, to his attorney?

Speaker 27 Do we know what's next here?

Speaker 21 Has there been any comment from the city?

Speaker 90 So, they haven't really played ball with us. I have not heard back from Ortiz's attorney or Ortiz himself.
The city also didn't comment for our story.

Speaker 90 I asked if they could respond to the complaint filed by Ortiz, and they haven't responded. So, it's all big question mark right now.

Speaker 17 More importantly, here's a fun suggestion.

Speaker 24 You may want to give a call to Emilio Gonzalez and Eileen Higgins, the two finalists, if you will, the candidates in runoff for the next Miami mayor.

Speaker 27 They are presumably going to help hire the next city manager and or police chief.

Speaker 43 I would be very surprised if both of those people did not resign, in fact, after the runoff election in the city of Miami on December 9th.

Speaker 21 Seeing the writing on the wall, I can't imagine either of these candidates are going to keep any of these old old Miami Mafia folks around.

Speaker 47 See where they stand on Ortiz.

Speaker 13 I mean, Ortiz was there when Emilio Gonzalez was the city manager.

Speaker 11 And I would love to know about how Eileen Higgins feels about Javi Ortiz.

Speaker 64 He's arguably that man, when he was the FOP president and he was running amok in this city, had a higher profile than any of the police chiefs than anybody ever knew in the country.

Speaker 29 I mean, this guy was everywhere.

Speaker 30 And so I'm sure that Eileen Higgins and Emilio Gonzalez have a take on this.

Speaker 17 And I'd love to get them on the record.

Speaker 7 In fact, if we have them here before the election, I will certainly ask them.

Speaker 17 And far be it from me to tell you how to do your job, but you did tell me.

Speaker 32 Tell me I asked a good question, so I thought I'd offer some.

Speaker 90 No, but it's a good suggestion. I mean, especially right now with the runoff election coming up.
Yeah.

Speaker 17 And certainly with the city not commenting and Ortiz and his attorney not commenting, I suspect my bet here, I don't know what DraftKings has the odds at here. I think this guy stays on the job.

Speaker 75 I think he continues.

Speaker 41 I don't even know if this settlement would be null and void, presumably, but he could continue with a scheme like this stay-at-home scheme for years and years and years, continuing to collect a salary, arguably collect a salary or, you know, outside income from another job.

Speaker 43 Also, I don't even know how that works legally.

Speaker 17 When you're a police officer, okay, sworn on duty, paid by the taxpayers, and you have an outside job, is there some kind of liability?

Speaker 30 You know what I mean?

Speaker 17 On the part of the taxpayers or the city?

Speaker 44 Like that could be its whole other mess.

Speaker 17 And I don't trust the city attorney, as far as I can throw them, to ensure that there will not be some kind of future liability on the part of the city, as evidenced by the current case, which is that the city and the taxpayer are liable for this.

Speaker 21 What's next for you on this?

Speaker 30 This is a, you know, a developing story, Alex.

Speaker 34 What do you think?

Speaker 90 Well, keeping an eye on the court docket, I think you have a good suggestion in reaching out to Eileen and Emilio and seeing what they have to say about this whole situation and just the future of their administration.

Speaker 90 So, and whether it'll include some of the people who have allowed or helped allow Ortiz to stay on the force as long as he has. So, yeah.

Speaker 17 Yeah, this is a city of enablers as well.

Speaker 33 In addition to the corrupt and the complicit, there are the people who have allowed this chicanery to flourish and be the name of the game around here.

Speaker 17 Alex DeLuca, thank you.

Speaker 43 Keep up the good work at MiamiNewtimes.com.

Speaker 90 Thank you for having me.

Speaker 13 We will be off next week for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Speaker 17 Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, Roy.

Speaker 74 Thank you. You as well.

Speaker 2 Thank you very much.

Speaker 21 And our Miami moment this week,

Speaker 42 the MAGA influencer from Daily Wire, Matt Walsh, has some choice words for Representative Maria Elvira Salazar, who, by the way,

Speaker 17 for your edification as you listen to this, was born in Miami.

Speaker 39 Cocaines.

Speaker 91 Latinos made history just one year ago. One in two Hispanics gave President President Trump and the Republican Party a chance for the first time ever.
I've been warning it.

Speaker 91 If the GOP does not deliver, we will lose the Hispanic vote all over the country. In New Jersey and Virginia, Hispanics moved back more than 25 points to the Democratic Party.
When we show up, we win.

Speaker 91 When we forget them, we lose. This is our wake-up call.
We need to keep the House of Representatives in the hands of the Republicans.

Speaker 92 What do you mean by our? What do you mean by we, Maria? Okay, you're Cuban. Your greatest priority is to destroy our national sovereignty and identity.
So there's no we here. You're not American.

Speaker 92 You clearly don't like this country or identify yourself with it. You want to talk about we, go back to Cuba and talk about we.
How dare you? Get the hell out.

Speaker 80 Seriously.

Speaker 1 Now is a good time to remember where Tequila's story truly began. In 1795, Cuervo invented tequila.
Cuervo. What are you doing here? Cuervo.
Anytime someone says Cuervo, I show up.

Speaker 1 Well, I do know that to be true, but even during ad reads, like, Cuervo, I think it could lay out, especially for one of our great partners.

Speaker 4 Sweet, delicious Cuervo.

Speaker 1 Since then, Cuervo has stayed true to its roots. The same family, the same land, the same passion.
Cuervo. So, enjoy the tequila that started it all.
Cuervo.

Speaker 82 Cuervo.

Speaker 1 The tequila that invented tequila.

Speaker 5 Brooksimo, Cuervo.com. Please drink responsibly.
Cuervo.