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1.... CIVIL DISTURBANCE: Establishment of an R 89-84 1-43 ,:,.
ad hoc committee selected from Cvertown 1/18/89
residents, police officers working in
the area and a liaison to the City :
Commission; charge committee with _
responsibility of investigating
community relations between police and
area residents; grant subpoena powers
to said group; allocate an initial
. amount of $25,000 for committee's
expenses, and provide interim reports
to the Commission on its activities.
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1� 0
MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING OF THE
CITY COMMISSION OF MIAMI, FLORIDA
On the 18th day of January, 1989, the City Commission of Miami, Florida,
met at its regular meeting place in the City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive,
Miami, Florida, in Special Session concerning the creation of a fact-finding
body in connection with the circumstances surrounding the current civil
disturbance in the City of Miami.
The meeting was called to order at 11:37 a.m. by Mayor Xavier Suarez
with the following members of the Commission found to be present:
ALSO PRESENT:
Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Commissioner Miller J. Dawkins
Vice Mayor Victor De Yurre
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
Cesar Odio, City Manager
Jorge L. Fernandez, City Attorney
Matty Hirai, City Clerk
1. CIVIL DISTURBANCE: Establishment of an ad hoc committee selected from
Overtown residents, police officers working in the area and a liaison to
the City Commission; charge committee with responsibility of
investigating community relations between police and area residents;
grant subpoena powers to said group; allocate an initial amount of
$25,000 for committee's expenses, and provide interim reports to the
Commission on its activities.
Mayor Suarez: The position is that Commissioner Kennedy's office has advised
us that she will be here in the next five minutes, so maybe we can get some of
the preliminaries over with by the time she gets here and be ready to start
deliberating.
An invocation was delivered by Mayor Suarez; Vice Mayor De Yurre then led
those present in a pledge of allegiance to the flag.
Mayor Suarez: The special session of the Miami City Commission is convened in
accordance with Charter provisions that I don't have in front of me. Mr. City
Attorney, do we need to state that in the record?
Mr. Fernandez: That you do have a quorum? -yes.
Mayor Suarez: No, the Charter provision - you want us to go ahead and state
on the record, because I don't have my memo in front of me, that allows the
calling of a special session that I always refer to.
Mr. Fernandez: Yes. Pursuant to the notice that you put out last night, you,
as Mayor of the City of Miami, pursuant to Charter provision may have called
this meeting, and you properly called it.
Mayor Suarez: And the purposes are stated to be considering a matter of
urgent public import, namely, the creation of a body "fact-finding" is
stated here - but a body, however we structure it - in connection with the
circumstances surrounding the current civil disturbance in the City of Miami,.
That wording was suggested by the City Attorney's office, I believe.
Mr. Fernandez: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: We tried to make it as neutral as possible and give this
Commission all of the leeway that I think you would like. For the benefit,
since we're waiting for the Commissioner, for the benefit of the media from
outside of Miami, if there's any out there, and I gather there is, we have a
r
1 January 18, 1989
5
i
peculiar law in the State of Florida that applies to this Commission that says
that each one of us may not discuss other than in a public forum, in a
Commission meeting like this, or otherwise before the public and media
assembled, any substantive item that we might act on. And so if we are
carrying on in front of you things that in other communities I'm sure
Commissioners would already have discussed, or a City Council would have
already discussed with the Mayor, or vice versa, or with each other, and in a
way that seems rather frank and open, I guess that was the intent of the law.
It's also very difficult to function in emergency situations under that
stricture that we have, but there you see it. And so, as soon as ... But I
think we do reflect at this point, and I believe Kennedy has spoken on it, I
think Commissioner Dawkins was the first to publicly suggest some sort of an
investigative body that the Commission would impanel and I think he suggested
it essentially as an ad hoc committee. In other words, one to deal with this
particular set of circumstances and not be a standing, or what is typically
called an independent review panel, although I don't know that Commissioner
Dawkins went beyond stating that we needed an investigative body that was
independent of the Police Department itself and would not simply be the
traditional way of doing things internally in the City. Other than that
particular proposal, we have not discussed with each other, and indeed could
not until just now, how this body might function, what it's powers might be
and how many members it would have, and how we would arrive at appointing
those members. So, Commissioner Dawkins perhaps it might make sense, since
you were the first to propose...
Mr. Dawkins: No, I'll wait till Rosario comes. I wouldn't want to repeat
anything. But what I'd like to do, Mr. Mayor, is, first thing, publicly
apologize to an officer who I got into an argument with yesterday. As we were
in Overtown, some youths were taunting us and this officer was shuffling his
feet and jittery and I was telling him he shouldn't be nervous and I said some
other things, and when I walked around and looked into his face I was shocked
because it was an individual who has been... who I've known the whole eight
years I've been on this Commission, and he's been a professional the eight
years I knew him, and then when I looked into his eyes and I saw his eyes
swollen from no sleep, I saw a beard where he had not shaved, and I could
easily understand how this man could be nervous and what -have -you. But what
really ticked me off was when I finished talking to him and went over to
approach the other individuals, one of them said to me: "We don't think no
more of you than we do him, and we'll get a rifle and kill you, too!" And not
one of them was over fourteen. So we have a serious problem and we must
address it. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner. Let me go ahead and make a statement too on
another interesting occurrence this morning. I was the recipient of a phone
call from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and it was a comforting thought to know that
he had Miami in his thoughts and prayers and had possible suggestions on how
we might deal with the situation here. Actually, I don't even want to say
that because he was careful not to be proposing things. He simply said: "How
can I support, how can I help?" And I want to tell all the Commissioners that
that line of communication is definitely open for each of the members of the
Commission if you see fit, if you wish to reach him. He has, himself, taken
the initiative of opening it and we appreciate that. I did not call him, he
called me, and that's always that much more appreciated. I also want to say,
since I have my mayoral opponent of the last campaign here with me, Arthur
Teele, that, once again, we had an offer of support that was initiated by
himself, not by me, which makes it doubly worth while and valuable. And he
called me and offered me all of the help he might give. He's also a citizen
of the City of Miami. We get a lot of offers of support from people who don't
live in the City and I think I reflect the Commission consensus in saying that
we much prefer to have support in advisory capacities from citizens of the
City and he's already been with me to some forums, and I'm happy that he's
here. One other person that I invited, and I don't see him here just now, but
hopefully he'll show up as we make a little time here waiting for Commissioner
Kennedy, is the fellow who prosecuted many of the so-called River Cop cases
under the U.S. Attorney's Office and was, in fact, the head of the Public
Corruption Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office up until maybe three months
ago when he joined the law firm that I now practice with. Another peculiar
aspect of our form of government, for those of you who are not from the City,
is that we don't get paid very much to be on this Commission - specifically
$5,000 a year - so we must make a living elsewhere. Anyhow, he has joined my
law firm and he offered to advise us on ways in which, if we were to impanel
this review board today, that we could start actually investigating without in
2 January A, 1989
any May interrupting or interfering with what our own Police Department and
the State Attorney's Office may be doing. His name is Chuck Senatore, and if
he arrives I hope that my aides bring it to my attention in case he has some
suggestions.
Mr. Dawkins: Like the Mayor said, a Republican called me, or had one of his
people call me this morning and said he stands by ready to do all that he can
do, and that's our Governor, and he called my office this morning. I mean, he
had my office called and said that he is ready and willing to do all that he
can to help us solve our problems.
Mayor Suarez: As long as Commissioner Dawkins had the humility to apologize,
and I'm not going to be as specific as he was because I don't quite reach that
level of humility, but let me say that I also have to apologize, and I will do
so in private to officers that were at the scene that first evening, for a
couple of decisions and actions made that at some points may have endangered
their lives unduly. But I'll do that privately because it's that much more
difficult to do it publicly. Some of the other things that were done on
Monday, I think, were effective and helpful in the overall handling of this
problem. I want to introduce... Chuck, why don't you, as long as we're
waiting for a Commissioner, would you mind... This is Chuck Senatore, an
attorney and former Assistant U.S. Attorney in charge of public corruption and
prosecutor of how many river cops cases?
Mr. Chuck Senatore: Well, not just river cops, but there are several police
corruption trials that we had done.
Mayor Suarez: One of the things you were mentioning to me this morning, just
a few minutes ago when you offered to give us unpaid legal counsel, had to do
with what kinds of things we could actually investigate without interfering, I
presume, with what the State Attorney and Police Department would be expected
to be doing around this time, and that I know that indeed they are doing.
Mr. Senatore: You're going to have probably three separate bodies
investigating the matter. You're going to have the City of Miami Internal
Affairs, you're going to have the FBI, and the State Attorney's Office. Each
of those will be three different investigative bodies who will be developing
their own leads and probably wanting to talk to a lot of the same witnesses.
Depending on the kind of power you'll be able to give your board, there are
certain things you might want to begin immediately. For example, there are
probably certain records in the department as to the nature of the training as
to the use of deadly force that the officer in question had been able to take
advantage of. You might want to go back not only into his case jacket as far
as his own background (which I understand from watching the news has been
done) but also the nature of the training he received and the nature of what
kind of interchange he had with respect to training he received. You might
also try to get an idea as to the extent of common practices and briefings
which might have been made with respect to the use of deadly force. The
witnesses, I guess, will have been apparent as to the people who actually
witnessed the shooting. To the extent that you don't want to prejudice other
investigations, assuming you can get the cooperation of the other local law
enforcement agencies and the U.S. government, you might want to debrief these
people as soon as possible. Bring them in, talk to them, try to get an idea
as to...
Mayor Suarez: You're suggesting that that would have to be done in
conjunction and in cooperation with and with the approval of the State
Attorney's Office, for example, if, indeed, they are investigating that, or
the U.S. Attorney's Office if they are investigating - through the FBI,
typically?
Mr. Senatore: What customarily happens is that law enforcement agencies, when
they talk to witnesses, certainly have an interest in protecting these
witnesses from undue interference from other sources. Sometimes there are
pressures on witnesses from non -law enforcement sources in normal criminal
investigations, not to change their testimony, but between outside influences
and the passage of time, recall can be altered or can sometimes fade away, so
what you want to be able to do is to reach an understanding with the law
enforcement agencies that are debriefing these people and perhaps either have
a representative there or have an opportunity to debrief these people as soon
as possible so that you get the facts on the record as they're fresh and not
through the prism of time and external influences. I assume that they'll also
3 January 18, 1989
have detectives, FBI agents, people who will also be gathering other sorts of
evidence and following up leads, to the extent...
Mayor Suarez: Let me ask a question on that. Mr. Manager, do you know if,
indeed, as we have heard, there is an FBI investigation? Have they notified
us on any score on that point?
Mr. Odio: I did talk to the U.S. Attorney yesterday and since there is a
possible violation of civil rights, I think that there is no question about it
that they will investigate that, and they have ordered that investigation to
proceed.
Mayor Suarez: And of course the FBI works in conjunction with and many times
subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Attorney's Office so...
Mr. Odio: Yes, they do.
Mayor Suarez: Sometimes people misunderstand how those agencies interact.
I'm sorry, I interrupted a point you were making precisely on that.
Mr. Odio: I'm just informed by the Police Department that they have
officially notified the Internal Security that they are going to proceed with
this investigation.
Mayor Suarez: So that adds another body.
Mr. Senatore: So that's three layers, that you have. Internal Security for
the Miami Police Department. You have the FBI and the civil rights
investigation, which is often coordinated out of Washington, and then you have
whatever investigation of state criminal violations that the State Attorney
would institute. The thing is that to the extent you can get the cooperation
of local law enforcement, once you begin this process, leads develop and you
have police officers following leads, you have detectives following leads, you
have FBI agents following leads, and to the extent that you can secure their
cooperation and have the benefit of the work they have done, you will be able
to marshal facts more quickly based upon the work and the effort done by each
of these agencies. And, to the extent that they can do so without prejudicing
their own investigations, you would have a body of facts to judge quickly.
Considering the nature of what's happened, and I'm sure the community wants to
get to the bottom of it as soon as possible, that would probably be the best
angle to take initially. So, between talking to witnesses, getting the
cooperation of law enforcement and actually looking through records as to the
nature of the training and other matters involved in the preparation for the
on -duty activities, that can be done virtually immediately.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you, and it's particularly appreciated that you believe
that something can be done right off the bat because you know a lot of times
it happens that the Commission wants to act on something and other bodies tell
us that we really can't do something until another investigation is completed,
or whatever, and that's not what we'd like to do, and I don't believe what the
community's asking of us. At this point, I would ask Commissioner Dawkins to
go ahead and delve forth into his proposal because I don't see Commissioner
Kennedy. I presume she'll be here shortly and, of course, we'll take her
input at that point. Mr. City Attorney, if indeed you believe that we ought
to have some kind of independent counsel at some point, please advise us.
Obviously, Mr. Senators's ruled out of that, being my partner, but we thank
you, Chuck, and you can always remain as an unpaid legal advisor, certainly to
me, and maybe to the body, depending on what the Commission chooses to do.
Mr. Senatore: Anything I can do to help, Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you, sir.
Mr. Dawkins: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner Dawkins.
Mr. Dawkins: Our problem is that of community/police relations. That's our
problem. Now, all through the other incidents, it has been: "die are the
sufferers and they are the perpetrators. We have the citizens and the nation
who look upon our Police Department as being corrupted, drug dealers, and we
also have citizens who look upon them as being executors. Then we have the
4 January 18, 1989
s
police who perceive the citizens in a way. You cannot expect policemen to
know that "X" number of guns have been stolen and are in the neighborhood, and
that "X" number of shotguns and Ouzis and other instruments of deadly weapons
are in the neighborhood, and not be jittery. But they you also have the
citizens' perception of the police, and that is: "We get shot, and that's
it". Now, every time something happens in my neighborhood, i.e., the black
community, this Commission knows nothing but a blue ribbon review board, and I
have found all blue ribbon committees to be expensive, they come up with
beautiful bonded reports which are filed away and nothing happens. Members of
the blue ribbon committee do not reside in the area. Therefore, in my
opinion, they have difficulty relating to those individuals in that area. And
after all of the blue ribbon reports, and you file it away, it's business as
usual. There is a need for an independent review of this incident. What
brought this incident on is the use of deadly force. Whether it's deadly
force used by citizens and kill police, or whether it's deadly force of police
killing citizens, we don't need it. Now, you have black policemen who kill
black people and nothing happens. You have white police who kill black
people, and the blue ribbon committees look it and nothing happens. You have
Latin members who kill black people and nothing happens. Our neighborhoods
are unsafe because of the abundance of guns which produce deadly weapons. I
am proposing a review committee because I feel that one is needed to
investigate what has happened and to find a solution to what happened, but if
that review board is to have credibility, it must have some or all of the
following things. It must have subpoena powers in order to call witnesses and
put them under oath. It must have two attorneys to work and draft things to
ensure that they are lawful and legal. It must have members from the Police
Department on it, and it must have members from the Overtown area only, and
those members must be selected by people in the Overtown area. I have no
right to sit here and say that - and I use this only as a name - that Elmer
Cohen should be the one on that committee because he's Overtown, that's not my
right. It's up to the people in that community to get together and select
what they want. It's up to this Commission to decide how many people should
be on that committee and it should be half policemen and half citizens of that
community. And after we have this committee, made up of people from that
area, and they interview and do this and they report back to this Commission
their findings, then this Commission must take whatever action is necessary to
help citizens appreciate the police and help the police to appreciate the
citizens and see how to stop the use of deadly force. At the proper time, I
will make a motion that such a committee be established. Thank you, Mr.
Mayor.
NOTE FOR THE RECORD: Commissioner Kennedy entered the meeting at 11:57 a.m.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you, Commissioner.
Mrs. Kennedy: Let me second the motion and, Mr. Mayor, first of all apologize
for everybody for being late. It is very important, Commissioner Dawkins,
that we establish this committee because we have to find out a lot of
questions. We have to find out, first of all, did the officer act responsibly
or did he not? Was he fully aware or was he not? And if there was any hint
of racial discrimination then the people of Overtown deserve an answer. They
are the ones who have been suffering from all this and we have to get to the
roots of this problem before deeper wounds are created that it will take
longer to heal.
Mayor Suarez: I've got an idea that I've been mulling in my mind on an issue
that should not consume our time but obviously is going to be important, which
is the composition of any such board, and it would take into account the
statements made on the preferences and priorities established by Commissioner
Dawkins as to consulting the community of Overtown on the appointments and
having as many of the members be from that area, and also would take into
account what I understand to be, first of all, the classic functioning of this
Commission and the standard functioning that each Commissioner gets a certain
number of appointments, which simplifies our delegation of responsibility
because I think Commissioner Plummer made a statement to the effect that for
appointments of a high level on an unprecedented board like this you'd like to
have some control over the person you delegate this authority to, and he may
very well choose to restate that, if he would like. And I heard Vice Mayor De
Yurre talk about the possibility of a certain number of appointments per
Commissioner and perhaps a larger number by myself and, although I think you
5 January 18, 1989
said something like two/two/two/two and three by myself for a total of eleven
I've also taken input from many people on the maximum number. Art Teals gave
me some ideas on that and other people in the community. Justice Department,
Community Relations representative also gave me input on that and I think the
general feeling is it should never exceed, hopefully, nine, but maybe eleven
under this particular plan. And the plan would be as follows, Commissioners.
I offer it to you so that we can maybe get to the more important issue of what
powers the panel would have and how quickly it would begin functioning. The
proposal would be that each Commissioner would, indeed, be entitled to two
appointments and I would be entitled to three. I would then pool my
appointments and Commissioner Dawkins's appointments of five altogether, and
have those be selected by Commissioner Dawkins from submissions by the
Overtown community. Now, that doesn't mean that the other Commissioners
cannot also select from Overtown and, indeed, they are encouraged to do so,
but one of the first things that comes to mind when you try to decide a panel
of this sort is, do we even restrict it to the City of Miami? I can think of
some people - Reverend, we were talking about this morning - I can think of
some people who are very respected in this community. One that called me
yesterday and offered to help and said that he would serve on such a committee
who's not even - I don't think he even lives in the City - and I'm referring
to Dewey Knight.
Mr. Dawkins: He lives right in the heart of the ghetto down the street from
me.
Mayor Suarez: OK, so Dewey does not have a problem with residence, but some
others might live outside of the City. We, of course, have the prerogative of —
saying that one absolute criterion would be that they have to live in the City
and if the Commission so decides I think that would probably be a good idea.
So that would be the proposal that I have at this point for lack of any other. _
A total of no more than eleven, two appointed by each Commissioner excepting
myself and Commissioner Dawkins, and I would pass over my three if the
Commission so agreed to Commissioner Dawkins, or it could be the two of is,
Commissioner, if you want to do it jointly. We'd have to do it in the public
eye because of the Sunshine Law. And the two of us would select five which we
would select essentially from the Overtown area.
Mrs. Kennedy: Mr. Mayor, let me just ask you. I was just handed a list of
people who have been calling my office. Now, my question is, shouldn't this
be a cross section of the community instead of just people from Overtown?
Mayor Suarez: I'm sorry?
Mrs. Kennedy: Shouldn't there be a cross section of the community?
Unidentified speaker (off mike): No.
Mr. Dawkins: Let me say something before you say something, please,
Commissioner. I feel, personally, and I am not being dictatorial, but I will
only participate in a review panel to review the incident in Overtown of
police and citizens of that area. I do not need anybody coming from Key
Biscayne, I don't care how well his intentions might be. I don't need nobody
from Kendall. I don't need anybody from nowhere. I don't need anybody from
northeast Miami. I need the residents in that area to come and tell us what
their concerns are. I walked out there in my lunch hour yesterday and I
walked out there yesterday afternoon from three o'clock to six o'clock, and I
feel that that's the only way. But there again, that's only one vote up here,
and whatever this Commission does, everyone out there has to know that our
concern is the total community, but I cannot, in good faith, sit up here and
tell you that I will vote for anything other than a review committee made up
of police and citizens from Overtown to deal with the incident the day before
yesterday.
Mrs. Kennedy: OK, no problem.
Mr. De Yurre: Mr. Mayor...
Mayor Suarez: Mr. Vice Mayor.
Mr. De Yurre: I have a very deep concern, and that is that we are reacting to
some degree to a lot of pressure that is going on and I'm trying to act and
rationalize this situation,. trying to put a lot of these feelings aside and to
6 January 18, 1989
'2
see exactly what we're trying to accomplish here. If we're trying to
accomplish an appeasement of the community, then maybe it will work for a
while, maybe it'll work, maybe it will not work. If we're talking about a
situation dealing only with what's happened only in the last 48 hours, then
maybe - and I throw that in as a consideration - maybe that's not the way to
go, because I have a feeling that if we go through with this we may have the
Mercado family here tomorrow saying: "Hey, I want an independent review from
Allapattahl" And something may happen in Liberty City and they want an
independent review, and we're setting a precedent that we may have independent
reviews every week, every month. We may have a whole bunch of independent
reviews. I feel that - and I'm throwing this out for consideration - first of
all, I'm in accord with Miller that we got to deal with our problems, with our
people in the City of Miami. We don't need nobody from Key Biscayne, or...
Mayor Suarez: I was going to ask about that. Do we have a consensus on this?
Mr. De Yurre: ... or Coral Gables, or, you know, in Cocoa Plum.
Mayor Suarez: Let me cut through that and say, do we have a consensus that,
whoever they are, they certainly have to be from the City of Miami?
Mrs. Kennedy: Absolutely.
Mr. Plummer: Mr. Mayor, I really don't have any problem with that. The only
problem I have is the name which I'm going to proffer. I don't know the
residence of that individual. The name I was going to proffer for whatever
committee was - a phone call I received this morning - Mr. Dick Gerstein. And
I'm not sure where he lives. He has shown an interest... Dick Gerstein. He
does live in the City? Because I think the man is eminently qualified. He
lives in Bay Pointe, I'm told.
Mrs. Kennedy: Yes.
Mr. Plummer: So that will be my nomination.
Mr. De Yurre: If I may continue. I think that if we're going to create
something here today, it should be something of substance, not a Band Aid type
of thing to deal with an issue that has come about in a matter of hours. I
propose for consideration that we create a panel with perpetual existence, not
just for this issue, but for ongoing issues that may arise in our community.
And, Lord knows, unfortunately that something may happen in the future and
this will not be the last one, and if we can create, pretty much like what the
County has today, which is an independent review panel, that we can structure
it with recommendations from the community as to who the members are, along
with our recommendations, that we can create a long-standing board that people
can go to in dealing with issues that concern employees of the City of Miami,
such as the Police, Fire, or any other employee that we may have and problems
that are related with our City government.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner Dawkins.
Mr. Dawkins: I would have to take issue with my colleague. If he says the
people in Allapattah may want an independent review board, and others, if
001
incidents happen of the magnitude of what happened in Overtown, then it should
be investigated. The only way we shouldn't have any investigations is not
have any incidents. Now, I have no problems accepting JL's recommendation to
a board. I said two attorneys had to be on it. Dick Gerstein is an attorney.
If that's one of the attorneys he's going to assign, I have no problem with
it. But somewhere, if you and us up here are going to demonstrate in my
—
opinion to that area that we are sincere and concerned and that we do not
intend - you see, these are the same people who blue ribbon committees have
investigated and they still... This shouldn't have to come out, but I'm going
to bring it out. A blue ribbon committee investigated the McDuffie. MCDuffie
happened in that area. The same blue ribbon investigated Neville Johnson,
right in that area and the same thing happened. And now we've got another
blue ribbon committee to investigate the same thing? No, no. You see, the
blue ribbon committee is not made up of the affected people and I think..,
Mr. Mayor, in all due respect, this may not be the answer. I don't know, air.
'f
You may be right. This may not be the answer, but somewhere we've got to
start to give the people over there the thought that we are sincere and
concerned about them.
rg
� x
7 January 18, 1949 . _
5 y }[
Mayor Suarez: I'll may this. We may be able to solve all of the concerns if
we impanel a permanent board of eleven with five at all times to be appointed,
to be left for any ad hoc situation and initially be those five from Overtown.
Now, I'll tell you who the person was that came foremost to my mind, and he
Is, of course, a resident of Overtown, as my initial appointment, would have
been Bill Perry, Sr., who's in the back. So, just to throw out names, and I
think he would have been agreeable and he is a resident of Overtown and also,
of course, of the City of Miami. But we have Anne Marie Adker awfully close
to the mike, and we have some other people - the Rev. Austin from Overtown...
Mrs. Kennedy: And Rev. Tom Ferguson, also.
Mayor Suarez: Right, although unless he moved to Overtown, he used to - I saw
on the national media...
Ms. Anne Marie Adker: Northeast.
Mayor Suarez: ...that Dr. Ferguson
moved from the northeast in a hell
the northeast, anyhow.
Mr. Plummer: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Yes, Commissioner.
lived in Overtown, and I thought unless he
of a hurry, I always knew that he was up in
Mr. Plummer: To speak to the discussion of my colleague, Commissioner
Dawkins, if we're making a committee of permanency, which I am very much in
favor of because I always object to government by crisis and you make
mistakes. I question that we're going to have to have people, if we look at
what's been happening the last two days, Liberty City, in fact, has been much
hotter than what Overtown was from its inception and, in fact, I think you're
going to have to have representatives from Liberty City. I think you're going
to have to have representatives from Overtown and I think you're going to have
to have representatives from the black community in Coconut Grove, so I would
hope consideration would be given. We have been very fortunate at this
particular time of no problems in Coconut Grove, but there is no question in
anybody's minds that we've not had just problems in Overtown. Last night, of
course, the main thrust was in Liberty City, so I would hope that when we get
the people who are directly involved that we would get a section of Coconut
Grove, Overtown and Liberty City.
Ms. Adker: Mr. Mayor...
Mayor Suarez: Wait, Anne Marie. Commissioner.
Mr. Dawkins: Mr. Mayor, it was not my intention to establish a permanent
board. My concern was to establish a board to investigate and come up with
findings on the incident that happened the other day, and I will say, again, I
don't see how we're going to improve police/community relations if we do not
have a review board made up of police who can tell their side of it to the
citizens and the citizens can tell their side of it to the police and we come
up out of this with something and some kind of a trust bond between, if no
more than the members who participated on the committee. So I am not
fostering a permanent committee. If someone up here is doing that, I have no
problem with it. And then you make up the members from anywhere you want, but
my concern is to investigate what happened in Overtown and how it happened,
why it happened, and for those individuals - the police and the citizens - to
sit down and tell us how it won't happen again.
Me. Adker: Mr. Mayor -
Mayor Suarez: Wait a minute, Anne Marie. One more point, Commissioner
Dawkins, you've heard one proposal by Commissioner Plummer of one individual,
an attorney, a former State Attorney, and I believe your statement was that it
made sense because we needed a couple of attorneys and he is a citizen of
Miami. So obviously, you'd be prepared to vote, because I'd like to have, a•
unanimous vote on whatever we do today. I think it would be important to the
community. You'd be prepared to accept a board that would include some s-
members...?
t l
Mr. Dawkins: No, sir, I would vote only - me, personally, and maybe nobody {f
also would be able to vote - I would vote only for a board made up of citizens
January IS 19$9"
of Overtown area and policemen to deal with the situation that happened in
Ovartown. That's the only one I will vote... Now, after we establish that
board, if you are desirous of establishing a permanent board, then I have no
problems with us voting unanimous on that, but I cannot vote for anybody who
does not live in Overtown to investigate a blue ribbon committee dealing with
the incident over there. I just personally can't do it.
Mayor Suarez: Would you have a problem, since I believe you mentioned here as
an aside to myself that - and let me put it on the record - that you might
vote for a situation where we ended up with two bodies deliberating, with a
situation that, for example, we appointed five members from Overtown
specifically to investigate the incident in Overtown as an ad hoc board, and
at the same time, a group of an additional six - and I would defer my
appointment if you would, Commissioner Dawkins, to the rest of the Commission,
knowing that they would appoint people that are the kind of people we would
need.
Mr. Dawkins: Mr. Mayor, you're still hearing me but you're like my wife,
you're not paying attention) I keep telling you, I will only vote for
committee to investigate that incident.
Mayor Suarez: Now, wait a minute. If she doesn't listen to you after all
these years, why should I7 I've only lived with you for a couple of years on
this Commission)
Mr. Dawkins: I've been saying I will only vote for a committee to investigate
that incident in Overtown made up of police and citizens of Overtown. And up
here I keep hearing that if we give you give people from Overtown and five
from Cocomo, Mississippi, will you accept it? Not
Mayor Suarez: But, I mean, you would vote for a motion that would impanel
five people from the Overtown to address...
Mr. Dawkins: And five policemen only, and then if we want to come back and
establish an eleven -member permanent committee and get them from anywhere you
want, you got me.
Mayor Suarez: Of course, in the definition of policemen, do you count former
police officers?
Mr. Dawkins: No.
Mayor Suarez: You're talking about...
Mr. Dawkins: Former police officers were not in... You see, we've got to get
people who deal with this every day, who can sit down and say, "Hey, look, I
go out in Overtown and they spit on me I don't like itl And that's why I
_ don't like it. I go out in Overtown and they give me the fly signal. I don't
like it." And then the guy says, "I do it to you because I don't like the way
you ride by and don't speak to met" A former policeman can't deal with that
because it doesn't happen to him and that's why - I may be all wrong, but I
definitely feel that we've got to get police and citizens to sit down and talk
and find out what happened. This happened between citizens and police. It
did not happen between former policemen. It didn't happen between bankers.
It didn't happen between citizens and nothing. And I just feel that strongly
about it, Mr. Mayor.
Mr. De Yurre: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Yes, Mr. Vice Mayor.
Mr. De Yurre: And I want to come back later to the independent review panel
concept, but, right now, if we listen to what we're saying, we're talking
about reasons why things happen and my feeling was that we wanted an
investigation of what happened Monday. We're not looking for the reasons why
it happened. We're looking... my feeling was that we wanted to find out what
happened Monday afternoon at approximately 6:00 p.m. Because if we're talking
about something also, and I think that's what I'm hearing -
Mr. Dawkins: Mr. Commissioner, how could you talk about what happened It you
don't find out why it happened. I mean, it's all one thing. The how and why
is the same thing, I think Mr. Commissioner.
9 January 18, 1909
'W
Mr. De Turret Well, then, if we're dealing with that, then we got to look at
a concept of more permanency.
Mr. Dawkinst I don't have nothing with that. Let me tell you what I hear, _
and maybe I'm wrong, but I want my fellow Commissioners to tell me if I'm
wrong. My fellow Commissioners are saying every time something happens we
create a crisis board. They're saying we want a board of permanency that is
ongoing at all times, that you do not have to come here like this. I have no
problem with that. But I have a problem with that board investigating what
has happened when we've had those kind of boards - Let me tell you, the
people in the community are not going to be satisfied with the findings of a
blue ribbon committee, and they said that to me, and that's why I'm saying
that to you. Now, we can sit up here and create it and we're creating another
problem because the credibility of the report will be in doubt, and they don't
want it. But, there again, I've been speaking. Maybe we want to hear from
some of the citizens.
Mr. De Turret I don't think we're talking about a blue ribbon committee. I
don't think anyone's mentioned that word here, and I don't think that's what
we're talking about.
Mr. Dawkins: What is it then? - if you're going to name everybody....
Mayor Suarez: Frankly, I thought that an ad hoc committee to investigate a
particular event sounds a lot more to me like a blue ribbon committee that
people have learned not to feel too comfortable with than a permanent,
standing, independent review panel, which this Commission and many other
governments throughout the country have struggled with and, of course, I know
that the Police Department and the union are not going to be too pleased for
us to set up because they really resist that. The independent review panel
typically has all the powers of an ongoing board of investigation or inquiry
and may or may not have subpoena powers or share them with the City Commission
which can have them if we ourselves are a board of inquiry and has a lot of
clout and a lot of permanency and a lot of permanency and a lot of solidity.
So, why don't we hear from some of the members of the community? Reverend.
Rev. Willie Starkest First of all, good morning to you, Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Please.
(Unintelligible comments off mike)
Mayor Suarez: Well, I run the Commission. Reverend.
Rev. Starkest Mayor Suarez, City Manager, and the Commission. First of all,
my name is Reverend Willie Starkes. I'm the president of the board of
directors of Town Park North, an Overtown cooperative, and let me first state
that both of the young men that died from this incident lived in my complex,
and that's one reason why I'm here. Now, I go along with this independent,
s standing review panel, but first of all, and I think I speak for most of the -
Overtown community - I'll let the rest of us here speak, they may concur, they
may not. But I agree with Commissioner Dawkins. The Overtown community,
right now, is concerned about an ongoing problem in the Overtown,
particularly. I know it's throughout the City and it's throughout the County,
but if you, some of the other members (I hope they have that pamphlet), of the
ten young men that have been killed, mostly in the Overtown area, by police
officers. Now, what we need is an immediate investigation of this type of
incident, especially this one, particularly. And we feel that we can come up
no less than having those who live in that community, who are there every day,
.who have to go through these ordeals, be the one that can say what is right
for us and what is not. I wholeheartedly concur that John Doe that lives in
Carol City, Biscayne Bay, or wherever they may live that runs into the
community every time there is a crisis, can better tell me how to live in my
house. Now, believe me, I take all the advice and all the help I can from
everybody, but unless we have the proper representation from the community
involved, then the people in that community are not going to be satisfied with
whatever the findings are. That is our greatest concern. We need members w:
from that community who live there, who are aware daily of the situation, to
be a part of this, to have their input that can go back to those people in the
street and say we have "X" amount of confidence in our City officials.
10 January 18,
y5
1909
Mayor Suaret: Reverend, one question that comes to mind, and in line with
comments made by Commissioner Dawkins that we ought to have some police
officers, do you know, off the top of your head, some who live in Overtown?
Can you give us any names? Because sometimes putting a name behind an idea
helps us to trove along with deliberations, as Commissioner Plummer has done by
suggesting the name of a prominent attorney. I've tried to do that by
suggesting Bill Perry, Dr. Bill Perry. Do you know, off the top of your head,
any that you would recommend, who live in Overtown?
Rev. Starkest Mayor, that's the problem. I don't know of any that lives in
Overtown. Maybe some of the other members do.
Mayor Suarez: OK. We're going to get to Anne Marie and she might know of
some.
Mrs. Kennedy: Or, Lieutenant Longueira, maybe you can compile a list for us
while we listen to the rest.
Mayor Suarez: In the meantime, why don't you, Lieutenant, so that we,
procedurally, can... Just give us some names of police officers, presently in
the City of Miami, who live in Overtown. Mr. Manager, do you want to make - ?
Ms. Adker: You don't have any!
Mr. Odio: We have a problem with the FOP. I have three names of people that
I would appoint on the police side to deal with this, and one of them is an
expert in this type of police work. I'm going to assign Howard Rasmusen to
work with the panel, if you so constitute it because he has dealt with this
for many, many years.
Mayor Suarez: By the way, Mr. Manager, to cover the record and act in
accordance with the Charter, do you recommend some sort of a board to be set
up by this Commission?
Mr. Odio: Yes, I do. And that's why I was thinking of Rasmusen, and I have a
sergeant that I have a lot of respect for. He happens to be black and he will
be appointed. His name is Gerald Darling.
Mayor Suarez: Where does Officer Darling live, does anybody know, off the top
of their heads? Not in Overtown, Anne Marie?
Ms. Adker: No.
Mayor Suarez: OK. Anne Marie Adker, please go ahead, whatever you want to
suggest to us.
Ms. Adker: I really appreciate your allowing me to speak at this moment. I
i
—
am in full agreement with your board, whatever you want to call it. However,
—_
that board is a later thing. What I need right now to take back to the
_
Overtown community is an immediate, an immediate action. The board would have
to be comprised of whomever you want to put on. I need the investigation that
—
has been going on now for about 48 hours - am I right? How many hours since
Monday - it began? I need to know what has happened in that investigation and
I need to know when that investigation will end, whether it would be tomorrow
or Friday. You're giving me a blue ribbon or an independent panel review
board. We've dealt with them in the past. Nothing has happened. I need
something to take back to my people now. I need to know that there is an
investigation going on. That's what I need.
Mayor Suarez: Anne Marie, one point on that. We have now confirmed that the
=
FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office is investigating.
Ms. Adker: Somebody called me at four o'clock this morning and informed me
that the FBI is in here, and I got that information from St. Louis.
Mayor Suarez: I don't even know how I got mine. I think I heard it on the
media.
a
Ms. Adker: One of those numbers. We sit around, we talk...
V-
Mayor Suarez: But Anne Marie, there's two other investigations that, are
proceeding and you certainly can take that back to the community and lets
NF
11 January 18,
i I1
Y7!t
confirm those two. Obviously, our Police Department is investigating and, of
course, the State Attorney's Office moved within hours of the incident to
begin formally the investigation.
No. Adker: But where is the investigation at this moment? - is what I want to
know. You're talking about an independent panel review board that's going to
get the information from the Police Department... You know, several weeks ago
I delivered a letter to each one of you asking you about the justification of
the Office of Professional Compliance which is about the same thing. Now I
want to know where this investigation is novel
Mr. Dawkins: Mr. Mayor -
Mayor Suare.- Yes, Commissioner.
Ms. Adker: when I get back to Overtown I need to tell these people something.
See, if I had this information, may, yesterday evening, I could have avoided
the Miami Arena. Do you understand? Give me something to take back.
Mr. Dawkins: Mr. Manager -
Mayor Suarez: OK, Anne Marie. Commissioner Dawkins.
Mr. Dawkins: Mr. Manager, is it a law, a regulation, a something that when
incidents like this happen that there is a report, or an interview, or
something, and it should be completed in 72 hours?
Mr. Odio: Janet Reno informed me of that fact that we would know within 72
hours.
Mr. Dawkins: Beg pardon?
Mr. Odio: Yes, there is something about 72 hours.
Mr. Dawkins: It is 72 hours?
Mr. Odio: Yes, sir.
Mayor Suarez: What you're saying is that the State Attorney indicated that
she expected to have something within 72 hours?
Mr. Odio: Yes.
Mr. Plummer: That's just one report.
Mr. Odio: One report.
Mayor Suarez: But that's...
Mr. Dawkins: But, see...
Mr. Odio: Let me add, Commissioner...
Mr. Dawkins: Wait a minute now, hold it. I'm not interested in Janet Reno's
—
report. Does anything in our Charter or our regulations say that when an
incident like this happens that the administration should do a report and get
It out in 72 hours?
Mr. Odio: Not to my knowledge.
Mr. Dawkins: All right, then, as Mrs. Adker says, how long does it take for
us to review this and come up with, quote unquote, some findings?
Mr. Odio: Well, it's a criminal investigation in this aspect and it depends
• on how fast - and this is from what I have learned in the - is that you have
_
to get the witnesses together. You have to interview the witnesses and put
all the facts together. It depends, Commissioner. But we are trying to get
E
it within 72 hours, also. That's the promise I had from Perry Anderson.
Mr. Dawkins: All right, let's do this. Mr. Mayor, will you ask the Manager
=_
to find out what the status of the City of Miami's investigation is and let
Mrs. Adker sit down, and when he f Inds that out, he will tell you, and Mrs.
Adker can come back to the mike and you can tell her what's she's requesting.
`
12 January ld, 1909
I 5.
vuuS.J • al.
Mayor Suares: Too, there'll be two aspects of the answer, Mr. Manager. One
is, what is our participation in the criminal aspects of the State Attorney's
Investigation, She stated it yesterday to be a joint investigation, by the
fray, Commissioner.
Mr. Odio: It is a joint investigation.
Mr. Dawkins: It's triple, it's threefold the FBI's in there, now.
Mayor Suarez: And then, of course, I think the Commissioner also needs to
know from the administrative standpoint where are we in regards to this
office, or as far as any disciplinary action, other than the fact that he's
been relieved of duty, temporarily?
Mr. Odlo: He was immediately relieved of duty.
Me. Adker: With pay.
Mayor Suarez: Please, Anne Marie.
Mr. Odio: We have a contract with the union, and that's part of the contract,
and we have no choice in the matter.
Mayor Suarez: But the point is, when can we have a status report of what the
City's intentions are, if that is proper, as to the officer in question? Is
that...?
Mr. Odio: There is a process by law that a police officer has the Bill of
Rights, number one. Once we have the facts...
Mayor Suarez: Let me clarify something on the police officer's Bill of
Rights. It is State law, I believe, right?
Mr. Fernandez: Yes.
Mr. Odio: It is a State law and we have no choice on that matter. Once'the
facts are together, that officer, under his rights, will be heard by a board
of five members, composed by policemen, and then at that time they will find
whether he is guilty or not of this, but that's nothing to do, and that's why
I never wanted to bring this process up, which is administrative. The most
important part of this is the criminal aspect and if he is charged, then we
can take steps at the time, if he is charged.
Mrs. Kennedy: All right, Mr. Mayor. It seems to me that whatever report,
until the State Attorney files charges, the community is not going to be'
satisfied, so I think that it is extremely important to have the State
Attorney's report.
Mr. Odio: But she said again, yesterday, in public, when we met at Culmer
that it would be 72 hours, that had Ray Havens working on this matter, and I
do trust Ray a lot. Also, the FBI normally waits ...
Mayor Suarez: I think Mr. Ray Havens, to clarify for the public — Anne Marie, _
I think you know who he is, of course, but anyone else - he is a special
investigator. I think he's the highest investigator...
Mr. Odio: He's the chief.
J
Mayor Suarez: ...Chief investigator in the State Attorney's office. He was
at one of the Overtown forums yesterday.'—
Mr. Odio: Not only that, the FBI normally takes weeks before they avers say
that they are going to investigate. This time the were on it }
y yesterday. � N
lA�
Mayor Suarez: So, two potential criminal investigations are being pursuad;
and one of them, the State Attorney's one, we have some indication that' thenN —
will be a fairly quick report back to the community, Anne Marie. Why 4ott't era 3 ,x
keep moving to...�—
Me. Adker: I'm not f inished l
w
13
r
Mayor Suarez: Please.
No. Adker: What I would like to ask them. What good would this independent
panel review board do? We all know the problem. We know the problem. We
need a solution to it. That's the whole thing in a nutshell, to when you put
your independent review panel together, which seems to me is going to
prolong - I don't need you to prolong whatever... You're saying no?
Mayor Suarez: We cannot legally interfere with the other ones that are taking
place now. I guarantee you that.
Ms. Adker: All right.
Mayor Suarez: We want to give the community the impression that we are doing
something that is going to resolve quicker action than the other things that
are taking place. You're right about that. And Commissioner Dawkins is
right...
Ms. Adker: No, this is what I'm talking about, your independent review. It
cannot be a quicker action than what has been going on with...
Mayor Suarez: There is another possibility because, although it sounds like
we'll get a fairly quick report on one of those two, they also may take a long
time. Sometimes the citizens feel that we ourselves, as their elected -
representatives from the City of Miami, should be figuring out a way to _
investigate and report back to them in a way that a State Attorney doing a —
criminal investigation is not able to report back to the community.
Ms. Adker: Mr. Mayor, you are the bureaucracy. I am the human being over in
Overtown. And, believe me, they expect me to them something, OK?
Mayor Suarez: The only thing an independent review panel can do that the
State Attorney's investigation and federal investigation, FBI, under the U.S.
Attorney's Office cannot do, or will not do - I do not know that they cannot
do, but they will not do - is make recommendations on how to avoid this in the
future and how the City can put together whatever kinds of tools we can do to
avoid that, be they administrative, bureaucratic, whatever you might call it.
Rev. Starkes: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: I want to move on, Reverend, quickly because...
Rev. Starkes: OK, quickly, I have five proposals, and I speak now on behalf
of the total black community, including , NAACP, Miami Christian
_
}
Improvement Association, and all the other organizations. We propose that a
new independent citizens review panel be created to assume the sole role of
investigating complaints filed by citizens and their families who claim to be
-
_
victims of excessive police force which resulted in either death or injury.
Number two, that this new independent citizen review panel have subpoena
50
power. Number three, that this new independent review panel be fully funded
by the County or State and have staffing and government resources adequate for
=
}
effective - and I quote effective - functioning.
-
Mayor Suarez: Are you excluding, when you say that, the City funding.
■'':
Rev. Starkes: No, I'm... Beg your pardon?
Mayor Suarez: Are you excluding the City?
-
Rev. Starkes: No, I'm not excluding.
_
Mayor Suarez: Because some people feel, sometimes, that if you fund it from
the very City that is being, whose officer is being investigated, then you
lose some independence, but if we have to wait for County or State funding, we
-
might not get off the time for a certain amount of time, and I don't mean that
in derision of the County or the State, just it's a fact of life that we can
act on our own funding now and we cannot act on the County and State. Go
.
ahead.
-
Rev. Starkes: OK, I will include, then, City, County or State. And, number
four, that this independent citizen review panel membership shall be selectedr
by a community organization such as the one I named, or be part of the
-
14 January 18, 1989
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C AV
selection and that the members of this panel must be independent of police
departments, county agencies, government institutions and professional
organizations. And, again, I'm talking about ongoing, not this one we're
talking about for this incident. And that the Dade County State Attorney
shall assign an Assistant State Attorney to assist the staff of this new
Independent citizens' review panel. Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: OK, Reverend, thank you. On the subpoena powers, one quick
question to the City Attorney. Can you tell us how that might work and how it
cannot work, legally, if there are any restrictions on that?
Mr. Fernandez: If it is the desire of this Commission in creating this body,
It may be created with a power to issue subpoenas.
Mr. Billy Hardeman: Mr. Mayor, my name is Billy Hardeman, 655 NE 48th Street,
City of Miami. I personally do not think we need another board of any type to
investigate or study. We have investigated and studied black folks to death.
No more studies, I personally think, are needed. What we need are some
results. We've gotten, again, ten - as I told you yesterday - ten people, ten
black males that have been killed, dead, in the grave, by South Florida
policemen, all white, mostly Latin. Now, at some point, this has to be
addressed. Janet Reno's record, when it comes to prosecuting police officers
is very, very poor. Roy Black beats her ass every time. We have to do
something to stop that. I propose that not only - that we involve - take it
to a different level, away from civil rights, perhaps, or human rights
violation that maybe Amnesty International, maybe the United Nations Human
Rights Committee, but somebody needs to look into the human rights violation
of black men in South Florida. The police are shooting us like we are black
birds. We are human beings. It's dangerous to be a black male in South
Florida, so I appeal to you, to the City Fathers, to the City Mother, to all
concerned citizens, we must make the justice system work. When a police
officer is killed, fry the person that do it, but when a police officer kills
a black person, then his behind needs to go to jail or be fried, just like the
average citizen. Thank you.
Mr. Raymond Fauntroy: Mr. Mayor...
Mayor Suarez: Mr. Fauntroy.
Mr. Fauntroy: ... Commissioners, Ray Fauntroy, SCLC. I wholeheartedly agree
with Mr. Hardeman. I am now handing to the City Clerk a list of proposals
from the SCLC and other organizations in this community. I would like to also
say that we really don't need another blue ribbon panel. You are the panel,
elected by the people. What we're hearing is that you cannot give us a just
and fair assessment of what's happening and we are recommending, first, that
the officer responsible for these deaths be arrested to show good faith to
these young people that something is being done. We recommend that an
immediate and complete investigation, for the record, be held into this
Incident and that a...
Mayor Suarez: When you say, for the record, do you mean in public?
Mr. Fauntroy: For the record, yes, because you've already stated that an
investigation is under way. But, for the record, we are also calling for an
investigation.
Mayor Suarez: So that the general public be advised of what is transpiring.
Mr. Fauntroy: Yes. A complete and immediate investigation into the command
level of the Police Department of the City of Miami. These incidents would
not continue to happen if they were not allowed to happen, and a complete and
immediate investigation into the training policies of the Police Department of
the City of Miami. This officer, had he been properly trained, as we have
stated before, had he been properly trained, would never have drawn his
firearm and fired in this situation. So we want that investigation to begin
immediately. We also want a criminal investigation into the federal funds
sent to Miami for the revitalization of the African American community. We
are sending this request to the U.S. Attorney and asking for that
investigation, and we'd also like to have all funds designated for the African
American community redirected to a committee of African Americans, selected by
African Americans community to be held fully accountable and responsible for
the revitalization of the African American community. We have a very serious
15 January 18, 1989
problem in this community and we can no longer accept the frustration of
procrastination. We must get on with dealing with this issue, that this
officer must be held accountable for his actions, or we're going to hold this
Commission accountable for your actions. We are sincere in our efforts and
something must be done. The Super Bowl is Sunday and the world is watching
Miami. My phone has been ringing all night. I've gotten calls from all over
the world regarding this issue. We do not intend for this continue. We want
to stop our brothers and sisters on the street and we want something done
about this issue. We do not want to wait for an independent review panel to
take its time to decide whether these young men were murdered or not. I also
have other concerns here as to why the City Manager would say that he has more
jobs for people who don't have work permits when we have people on the street
who are looking for jobs and can't seem to find them. We want to know why our
people are on the street - African Americans on the street - without homes,
when we see that the City is building and assisting Nicaraguans coming into
this community to give them homes and housing and set them up with jobs. We
want to know why the Mayor would say that blacks now feel like third class
citizens as opposed to second class citizens with the influx of immigrants.
Who are the first class citizens here? We are really concerned about many
things in our community. Our Haitian brothers are being escorted to jail, are
being turned around and taken back to Haiti, while others are being brought
Into this community. We want something done. We want good faith effort by
this body, immediately, so that we can resume or go to a life of normality
here as a total part of this community. So we urge you that you, one, move
quickly to resolve these issues, take into consideration what we have
suggested to you, and act quickly. Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: Mr. Fauntroy, thank you. One point you made is interesting in
that I know after 1980 a substantial amount of federal funds were received in
the community. No particular accounting has ever been given to the people and
one of the problems with it is that the community affected was not empowered
to act on those funds and have those available, and I think your suggestion on
that score makes very, very good sense. We recently had a very small loan
program that some of the people here were involved in and we didn't do a lot
of things right with it, but one of the things we did do right is that we
involved the community in deciding how the money would be spent and who would
get it and, to the extent that we did that, it was one of the few things we
did right in regards to that.
Mrs. Kennedy: Mr. Mayor, the Manager is indicating that he would like to
answer Mr. Fauntroy on the work permits.
Mayor Suarez: I suggest we keep hearing from the general public. Go ahead.
Mr. Fauntroy: May I just respond to your... The United States General
Accounting Office did a study, an investigation, and they did come up with
some findings. We just did not take it to the next level. I think that what
would solve that problem would be that an African American committee, selected
by our community, be responsible and handle those next funds that come in and
those funds that were sent here so that we can get on with revitalizing our
community.
Mayor Suarez: I'm going to personally take you up on that suggestion - if the
Commission supports me on any funds that we are able to obtain.
Mrs. Kennedy: If I could take two seconds and let the Manager address that
issue, Mr. Mayor. I think it's important to clarify.
Mr. Odio: What, on the black - on the Haitians?
Mrs. Kennedy: On the work permits.
Mr. Odio: Well, I haven't seen Mr. Fauntroy for a long time, which I don't
know if it's good or bad[ Most people that live in this community are aware
that the Bobbie Maduro stadium was opened December 12th for the black American
homeless and other homeless and it was only two days after that, that when we
154 human beings living in a two -bedroom house that the Fire Chief brought to
my attention that we had a health condition that the City stepped in and asked
them to close that house immediately and we would have had to put them out on
the streets. I'm talking about 23 children, their mothers that are widows
from the war, and some single men that have been abandoned when they were
fighting a warfare against the Communists in Nicaragua, and they had to flee =
their country because they were being persecuted by a Communist government.
16 January 18, 1989
s-_
r -=�T
Mayor Suareu: Mr. Manager, before we get into foreign policy, let me just may
that...
Mr. Odlo: Mr. Mayor, I am entitled to answer what he said.
Mayor Suarea: Mr. Manager, let me suggest that we state now clearly that any
help given to that particular group is going to be essentially private and by
one...
Mr. Odio: Please, Mr. Mayor, let me say. The question of these 154 people
that were abandoned, again, we had to move them into Bobbie Maduro, which was
already opened as a shelter so that they would not be wandering the streets of
Miami. That we fed them - yes, the community fed them. We have not used one
dollar of City taxpayers' money to feed these people. That they got job
offers, yes they did, but they were not job offers, and they could not work
because they had no work permits. Since we opened the shelter, we have placed
65 black Americans in jobs. We have sent 26 of them to drug rehabilitation.
We have fed them every day, three meals a day, which are numbering 250 of
them, every day. We still have 175 black Americans living in the stadium and
they are being fed three times a day. We hope that we will be moving them
next week to Beckham Hall, and we will keep providing food and shelter for the
black Americans.
Mayor Suarez: So completes our report on the homeless effort and the
Nicaraguan effort. Now let's get to the matter at hand. Sir?
Mr. Clarence Williams: Yes, I'm Clarence Williams and I would - getting away
from the Nicaraguan, the Haitian issue, I think that what we're here to do is to address the murder of two black people in Overtown, and I don't think that _
we should cloud that issue with other issues, and I feel that if this
Commission is to establish any type of panel, I want to suggest to you that
you do not shove down the throats of other black people who don't necessarily
have the interests of that community at heart - I heard a lot of name -
throwing - I'm going to suggest to you that you go into the community and find
people who live in that community and whose pulse beat is that community, that you reach into that community and find people and talk to people and get those
people's input and that you act on them. -
Mayor Suarez: If I may interrupt you for a second, the suggestion has been
made that we have both police officers and attorneys, at least some attorneys.
Mr. Williams: I have no problem with that, but...
Mayor Suarez: Let me just say one thing about the second part of that. We
_ haven't found, right now, any police officers that live there, unfortunately.
Do you have any idea on any attorneys? I know we have one prominent attorney.
- He was elected to judge in the last election from Overtown. I don't know if
—_
he still lives in Overtown but I know he's been living in Overtown.
Mr. Williams: No I don't. What I'm
e , going to ask you, Mr. Mayor, is that in
0 your selection of people on this panel, that you find people who are genuinely
concerned and who genuinely want to see changes and justice, that you embody
F these people into that panel and let's try to keep it as non -political as
' possible.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you. I heard in the back, and I'd appreciate it if you'd
use the mike, but it did reach me as clear as can be, the suggestion of George
'-- Knox. He is a City of Miami resident. He is an attorney. He does not live
' in Overtown, but he satisfies some of the other criteria that we've been
=
talking about. Miss McMillan.
Ms. Johnnie McMillan: Johnnie McMillan, president of the newly -formed Miami.-
- Dade NAACP, citizen of Dade County. The NAACP is very concerned and supports
fully the efforts of the Mayor and the Commissioners in quickly bringing
resolutions to the disturbances within the past few days within the City of
Miami. We're calling for, as every other organization has and will, a full-
investigation and will certainly monitor that effort to be sure that it comes
- quickly to an end. We are concerned about the violation of the civil rights
of the victims and their families, which ought to be all of our concerns,
initially. In addition to trying to resolve the issue to the point that it
will not continue within the ensuing few days. Whatever means needs to be met
17 January 1$, 1989
t
during these few days to do that we certainly would hope that you, having the
responsibility will do that. The proposal by Commissioner Dawkins will
certainly assist in having those residents feel more comfortable about what
you're being charged with in terms of helping them. I think they need to feel
that you do care and that you are concerned about them, as a temporary
measure. Additionally, the NAACP is concerned about the long term measure.
One of the problems we've had here within the Miami community is, time and
time again, riot after riot, we talk about what we're going to do and we make
an attempt via written plans and panels and blue ribbon committees. We are
accustomed to them, but we do know that at some point one group of us - and we
hope that that group will be you, as elected officials of the City of Miami -
should stand up and create something that will truly make a difference for all
of its residents for a long period of time. Specifically, what am I talking
about? There has been proven, throughout this country, and if you will look
at the old Kerner Commission report and the Kerner Commission effort, there
was an effort not only to address what is happening now - we understand that
the most immediate problem is the relationship between the police and the
community in Overtown and in other parts of the City of Miami. That needs to
be addressed, but there are some underlying problems that brought all of this
about. The underlying problems include the menace of the drug trade. It
includes segregated housing. It includes the lack of educational opportunity
for our residents. It includes just the overall lack and inadequate health
care problems that we have. So there is a long term, overall effect of the
total human being within the Overtowa and the City of Miami area. We hope
that whatever is created, and we certainly are in support of an independent
review panel that is not politically driven, but one that truly will make the
difference, that you will consider that. But one thing about having an
independent review panel is something that we don't talk about much here and
that is that it must be funded properly. You must have attorneys. You must
have an investigative staff. You must have those persons who can provide the
kind of support to that effort that will truly, truly make a difference. We,
within the NAACP, can appreciate the responsibility of those charged with
enforcing the law. However, we cannot afford, and will not afford to tolerate
or condone unprofessional or unlawful activity on the part of those charged
with enforcing the law. Therefore, we are asking you to take a very, very
close look at your decision today. We do hope you will consider very
seriously what Commissioner Dawkins is asking you to do but, in addition to
that, that you will consider a very long term, down depth look at the total
individual. There are so many under -girding problems that are causing that
total relationship to come to where it is now. Not only between the police
and the citizens, but the citizens themselves, deserve to be looked at. We
will be very supportive as the Commission does this process. We will be
monitoring and providing professional assistance as we can. We do have legal
staff. We have talked with our national legal staff and do have ready to
support the City in trying to make things better for all of us here in the
Miami -Dade community. The City of Miami has an opportunity now to be a model
for the rest of the country. Please take a look at that Kerner Commission
report, take a look at the way it was structured and hopefully you will get
some technical assistance from its efforts, long term, not only short term
band aid. You need the band aid. When you're bleeding, you need a band aid
quickly, but you also need long term efforts on safeguards for preventing
future bleeds. Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you. And thank you for the involvement you've had up to
now and the support you've given our office in the things we're trying to
accomplish. I think you're right that whatever we do today would have to have
a short term impact in terms of some investigations, some result, and at the
same time propose some changes in the department, obviously, so that would be
long term, or even short term solutions, but not just investigating the
incident but proposing what we are going to do about it to avoid future
incidents. And that's my way, also, of answering the Vice Mayor who was
questioning about that, exactly, assuming we do something here, would it be
charged only with investigating the incident? And the answer is no. It would
have to investigate the incident, make proposals, make recommendations, refer
to the State Attorney or to the U.S. Attorney, or to a Grand Jury. Do
whatever the situation calls for.
Me. Vanessa Haynes: My name is Vanessa Haynes and I live in the heart of the
City. I'm here as a concerned citizen and I agree with the majority of the
issues stated here. I'm here because I'd like to ask a question. I heard
that it takes about 72 hours to get reviewed at the State Attorney's office
and the time that's involved in conducting the investigation. My question In,
18 January 18, 1989
how long did it take to find housing, to find jobs, to find permits, to find
funding for those refugees that came over? I've been here just about all my
life. I don't have a permanent job. Do you understand? I have to beat the
pavement every day, but then they come in and it's right away, so I agree with
Ms. McMillan. There are a lot of subtle, undermining, underlying things that
are happening and, in finding a solution to the problem, I ask that you check
your own heart, you know, you check yourself, and seriously look for a
solution that would really not just add heat to it. Really find a solution to
this problem because it is a problem. It is a serious problem. So my
question is, how long did it take to get funding for the Nicaraguans and how
long did it take to pass paperwork to get housing for them? How long did it
take to find permits? I mean, how long?
Mayor Suarez: We really have been only marginally involved in anything having
to do that. It has been essentially a voluntary effort so we don't have any
jj particular time. We don't...
j
Ms. Haynes: OK, so my point is that if you don't know how long it took to
is get... Do you understand what I'm saying - the specific funding, the housing,
and everything? If I understand correctly, it didn't take a matter of 72
hours. Am I correct?
Mayor Suarez: Well, that particular problem has been -it sort of hit us about
three weeks ago when the house was in really bad shape that they were living
in, and the offer, for example, of the housing that we got was like two days
ago, I think, from the Catholic archdiocese of Miami.
Ms. Haynes: OK, I understand what you're saying, but what I'm trying to say,
the point I'm trying to get across is, we need something done now. They had
something done right away, why can't we?
Mayor Suarez: OK, let me give you a report. The Lieutenant just said that, I
believe, at two o'clock today, Ms. Reno, the State Attorney, will get her
report from her investigators and the other officials, such as the coroner,
and so on, and what she'll do from that point forward I can't tell you, but
it's at two o'clock today she will get that report and then that's the 72
hours we've been referring to. Then, I think it would be well - we will
convey to her the need to tell the community, as you have expressed to us,
where we are in that investigation. After the two o'clock report is made to
her, maybe she'll make a decision at that time. I can't tell, but we'll
convey to her the request of the community that she then report to the
community.
Ms. Haynes: So your answer to my question was you don't know how long it took
to get funding for the Nicaraguans?
Mayor Suarez: Well, no, I gave you a timetable.
Ms. Haynes: I didn't hear you.
Mayor Suarez: I said that roughly three weeks ago the problem of the house
that was overcrowded with a hundred and some people and had all the sanitary
problems was brought to our attention.
Mr. Odio: Mr. Mayor, we got no funding for the Nicaraguans.
Mayor Suarez: Yes, there's no funding, so all we could do is move them over
where the homeless have been moved, to the Miami Stadium until we got
voluntary donations, which started coming about that time - the media covered
it a lot - and they've been coming until now. And as of now, I think that
we're in the position of moving them to private donated locations.
Ms. Haynes: OK, so then, when they came over - not the funding - how long did
it take you to react to the problem? How long did it take ►you to come up with
a solution?
Mayor Suarez: I try to react to every problem that faces me instantly. You
know, sometimes I get solutions, sometimes I don't.
Mr. Odio: As a matter of fact, I waited so that, you know, I knew about this
house for three months, and what I did this, I ordered that we just don't
close the house for three months knowing that we had no other place to go.
OK?
19 January 18, 1989
Mayor Suarest You know, we've got to stick to the matter in hand, finish this
deed, deliberations...
Mrs. Kennedy: And let's stick to the issue.
Mayor Suaress We're going to take the two of you, and then we're going to
finish. Bill Perry will be the last, and then the Commission's got to
deliberate for itself and reach a final determination. Ma'am. Try to keep it
as short as you can - hopefully, two minutes, which is the allotted time in
the Code.
Ms. Rose Fountain: Yes, I'm a concerned citizen. My name is Rose Fountain
and I am not here to address whether you are going to have a review board or
whatever. What I am here to emphasize is that I understand what rights are
and activism and that's what I have seen over the years when we have
situations like this. I have been previously involved in these type of
situations but not from this point of view, and what I'd like to emphasize
again is that activism - I consider myself an activist, and I think that that
Is what we really need to look at right now. I think as we address the
situation, I think that should be one of the concerns because people are
constantly talking and emphasizing the black needs, the white needs, and I am
not here to address that. What I am here to address is the activism in our
community. And, to put it bluntly - I don't know any other way to put it,
but - it seems to be whenever these situations come about that we address
boards, we address having panels, we address those type of things, and the
only thing I would like to emphasize is that activism? If you've got people
who are genuinely concerned about the rights of others I think it will have a
proper effect.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you for your statement.
Mr. Henry Givens: Mr. Mayor, my name is Henry Givens. I'm probably one of
the persons who was most closely connected to the 1982 shooting in the video
arcade in Overtown. I think Commissioner Dawkins and Commissioner Plummer
were the two sitting members of this Commis0sion during that time. I was
appointed ... 0
Mayor Suarez: Where do you reside now?
Mr. Givens: I reside at 10500 S.W. 129th Street, in the Georgetown Villas in
Georgetown, Grand Cayman.
Mr. Dawkins: And he has a summer home in the Bahamas.
Mayor Suarez: Do you have any other homes you want to put in! Go ahead.
Good to see you doing well, air.
Mr. Givens: I had the pleasure of serving on that blue ribbon panel and, if
history would repeat itself, I would be reluctant to do so. Although I was
Involved in the operation of that business in Overtown, I later understood
that I did not have the sensitivity of those people who lived in that
environment had. Although I was there on a daily basis. They had something
that I didn't have. I think the point I'm trying to make is that to go back
to the position that Commissioner Dawkins is taking and that position is, is
that the people in that community ought to be given an opportunity to
determine those people who would represent them on such a panel so that those
persons would have accountability back to the community. What we've had in
the past is that there's no accountability back. I had accountability because
I was a business person in that community, but for those persons who lived
there, I certainly did not represent their views, and I think we did the job
as best we could. But I would strongly urge you to let the people in that
community make the recommendations for people to serve on that committee, and �.
I trust that you would not get away from Commissioner Dawkins's proposal on
that particular item. Thank you very much.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you. For the benefit of the media from out of this area,
the moment we hear an address that has a hundred or something either Avenue or
Street, we know it's outside the City of Miami. Our boundaries don't go .F
beyond, I guess, ninety some on the northeast area, as far as streets and
avenues, I don't think we go beyond 72nd, 73rd.
20 January 18, 1989
_
! �1
Rev. Ronald Peters: My name is Rev. Ronald Peters. I'm pastor of the New
Covenant Presbyterian Church on 4300 N.W. 12th in the City of Miami, and I
rise at this time simply to express my support for the proposal of
Commissioner Dawkins that we have a review panel composed of fifty percent
citizens from the Overtown area and fifty percent representation from the
Police Department. One of the things that really is of concern is
Commissioner Dawkins's opening statement about what he heard from a fourteen -
year -old. We have a very large disaffected youth community because our
youngsters are not stupid. Although they may not be able to read as well as
some, they may not be able to articulate in the fashion that we are here, they
know when they cannot get jobs, they know that it's very easy to get crack on
the streets and they know what's going on in their communities. They
understand the disillusionment. They also understand the bureaucratic delay
that we have that prevents things from happening so, I think the lady said,
she needs something to take back to the community now, and I would hope that
Commissioner Dawkins's proposal is not watered down so that it becomes
indistinguishable from something that's going to be permanent and ongoing so
that we rotate the citizens of Overtown off and rotate and rotate another
crisis on, but that this specific incident, I mean, not be swept under the rug
because that would only feed in to the real impression that a lot of people
have already that our concern is not really with the murdered young men, that
our concern is not really with the citizens of that area, that our concern is
to give Miami the best possible image that we can during Super Bowl Week, and
I think we have to get away from that and the best image that we can give for
Super Bowl Week is to deal with the problems that gave rise to Monday night.
Thank you.
Mr. De Yurre: Mr. Mayor.
(Applause)
Mr. De Yurre: I'd like to... maybe we can get something more accom...
Mayor Suarez: We're going to hear from you and from Bill Perry...
Mr. De Yurre: Yes.
Mayor Suarez: ... but if you want to go ahead.
Mr. De Yurre: I just wanted to see if we're going in the right direction on
this Commission has, as we have a consensus on this. We're talking about
creating a board composed of 5 citizens from the Overtown area to be
recommended by the Overtown community. We're talking about five officers,
police officers, that work in the Overtown area to be recommended by the
Police Administration and what I would like to see is if we could have an
eleventh individual appointed by you which would oversee and act as our
liaison between that board and the City Administration. Is that pretty much
in hand with...
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Sure.
Mayor Suarez: Why don't you make that in the form of a motion?
Mr. De Yurre: OK, I make that into a motion.
Mrs. Kennedy: Second.
Mr. Plummer: Mayor, I will vote favorably on that motion if the intent is
that the Chief of Police, Perry Anderson, makes that selection, not the
administration, the Chief.
Mr. De Yurre: Well, he is the administration there.
Mayor Suarez: No, but to clarify, to clarify, the Chief.
Mr. Plummer: I want to make sure that the intent is there.
Mrs. Kennedy: Right.
Mayor Suarez: OK.
21 January 18, 1989
Mr. Plummer: I have no problem with that whatsoever if he is making that
recommendation. Now, Mr. Mayor, I think one of the things that we are missing
here, even with the so-called two committees or this one, which, as I
understand, is what scope of authority will they have? I think that's very
important.
Mayor Suarez: Would you like to decide that and discuss that before we act on
this motion or would you...
Mr. Plummer: Well, I think, you know, if there's going to be any meaning to
the committee, from the onset, they've got to know what is their sense of
direction and what is the scope of their authority?
Mayor Suarez: OK, let me ask...
Mr. Plummers Because if you, you know, you appoint ten people...
Mayor Suarez: No, you're entirely right. It's just a matter of when we're
going to ascertain that. Did the maker of the motion or Commissioner Dawkins
want to try to give a stab at what would be the charge to this committee?
Mr. De Yurre: I think that...
Mayor Suarez: Its scope of its...
Mr. De Yurre: I think that, you know, if we're going to do something right,
you know, we should give it as much leeway as possible in its investigations,
In its deliberations. I have no problem with giving them, you know, the full
extent of the authority that we can convey to them.
Mr. Plummer: Mr. Mayor, let me express my concern.
Mayor Suarez: I'm sorry, as regards to the incident that took place,
obviously....
Mr. De Yurre: As it regards to the incident, and ongoing...
Mr. Plummer: That's what they're looking at.
Mayor Suarez: And recommendations to be made for a change in the department
in the City, in the Mayor's office, wherever, that they feel that changes
ought to be made.
Mr. Plummer: All right, the point that I'm trying to get at, Mr. Mayor, if it
were just the local Police Department doing the investigation, there could be
areas of public perception of curiosity as to whether or not it's true. But
we now know for a fact that there are three different bodies that are
investigating this matter. One is our own department, one is the Dade County
State's Attorney which is their... State of Florida State's Attorney, and the
Justice Department. We all know that the Justice Department does not move
quickly, we know that. But, Mr. Mayor, I am going to be totally opposed if in
any way this committee or any other committee was in any way construed to be
interfering with the normal procedure of ongoing investigation. I don't think
there is...
Mayor Suarez: Is that - let me clarify that that, of course, is the intention
of the maker of the motion and will be built into the mechanism to carry it
out with the advice of the City Attorney, I mean, wo cannot in any way
interfere and, of course, the City Manager. We cannot in any way interfere
with any of those three investigations that are pending and that are required
by State law and Federal law.
Mr. Plummer: But, Mr. Mayor, my...
Mayor Suarez: And the constitution.
Mr. Plummer: I don't think anyone here would question the Justice Department.
We have worked with them in the past, they are thorough, they are complete,
The point that I guess I'm really getting to and the crux of what I'm
concerned about is subpoena power. Subpoena power previous to the completion
of those investigations could, in fact, interfere and that concerns me.
22 January 18, 1489
M
!Mayor Suarez: We are mindful of that fact that subpoena powers of matter that
is under pending investigation by at least three other bodies, two of which, I
believe, have subpoena powers in conjunction with the court, could create
situations of possible interference. We have not decided that issue, so why
don't we leave that particular power out of consideration from the motion,
take it up and get advice f rom City Attorney and discuss that in a later
motion?
Mr. Plummer: The other area of concern, the five people from the Overtown
area, In that going to be that a committee will select ten names and this
Commission will make a selection from those names?
Mayor Suarez: How does the maker of the...
Mr. Plummers How is it going to be determined who, from Overtown, is, in
fact, selected?
Mayor Suarez: ... the maker of the motion propose that we do the final -
selection after the recommendations?
Mr. De Yurre: I, personally, but I'll go along with what the majority would
like to have, I personally want - my feeling is that we talk about the Justice
Department, the FBI, the XYZ, the ABCs, but the community has to feel
comfortable with whatever results are going to come out. And, you're going to
find people out there that are going say, well that's the FBI and that's this
department.
Mayor Suarez: How do you propose the mechanism for selection of those people
once they're recommended by the various community organizations there? - I
mean...
Mr. Dawkins: On what panel? You see...
Mayor Suarez: This panel. How do you propose the five members from
Overtown...
Mr. Dawkins: I will go out there if everybody else is afraid to go or this
_ Commission can go and meet with the people in that area and have them have a
town meeting or something and let them tell us, A, B, C, D or F.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner, the only concern I have in regards to that is
that it would be ideal to have a mechanism established in the action today
that will be...
Mr. Dawkins: All right, the mechanism is that these five members be selected
by residents of that area. I don't know no other way to put it.
Mrs. Kennedy: OK, so...
Mr. Plummer: But how do you come about that determination?
Mrs. Kennedy: Yes, how do you decide that?
Mayor Suarez: How can we put that in...
Mr. Dawkins: Another thing I'd like to say is this, OK? Nobody up here
intends for the review committee to investigate the incident that happened
Monday to be in place of, in conjunction with, or after the FBI investigation,
the City of Miami's investigation, or any other investigation. Our concern, and I keep saying over and over, the concern of this committee should be the
use of deadly force against black folks. That's the charge of this Commission
or committee. Now, if they want to subpoena somebody that Janet Reno wants to
subpoena, we'll wait till after they go to Janet Reno if that's what we have —
to do. But don't let somebody say to this committee that I got to go talk to
Janet Reno, I can't talk to you all.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner, would you accept in the motion and would you
second the mechanism being and would you move it, that the names be submitted
by the community, any and all members of the community, and finally selected
by two members of this Commission, being yourself and myself together?
Mr. Plummer: I would prefer they all five would make the selection.
23 January 18, 1989
!S �
Mayor $uaras: OK, then it's.., is that consensus, report back to us with the =
submissions and we make we're going to have to call a special sessien vary
quickly.
Mr. Flummers Fine.
Mrs. Kennedy: That's fine.
Mayor Suarers OK.
Mr. Dawkins: So what are you saying, we're going to tell that community....
Mayor Suarez: Submit...
Mr. Dawkins: to submit ten names, fifteen names, of whatever... no, I
have a problem with that. And the problem I have with that, and the problem I
have is there again, we're picking who they may not want. I tell you what I
will accept. If we tell the community to bring us five names.
Mrs. Kennedy: Yes, they will bring the names to us and then we pick out of
that list.
Mr. Dawkins: That'd be, I mean, that give us five names.
Mayor Suarez: And all of the various community organizations will try their
best to reach an agreement on that? I see Jackie Bell shaking her head.
Ms. Jackie Bell: Mr.... I'm Jackie...
He. Anne Marie Adker: How could Jackie Bell shake her head?
Mayor Suarez: Please, please, please, please, Anne Marie Adker, we heard you,
we heard you and we will hear...
Ms. Adker: I mean, she don't live in that community...
Mayor Suarez: Ma'am! Ma'am!
Ms. Adker: ... never done anything for that community and I am very insulted.
—
Mayor Suarers You can't be insulted when you haven't even heard the person
say anything.
Ms. Adker: I am insulted.
Mayor Suarez: Anne Marie, please have a seat.
Ms. Bell: I am Jackie Bell, I am the executive director of New Washington
Heights, 1600 N.W. 3rd Avenue. I would like to ask this body, this
Commission, to come to that community and have a meeting and invite the
]MEN
residents of our community. Let them tell you at that meeting who they want
to be on this board. That will solve all of the problems.
Mayor Suarers OK, we're going to have to continue hearing as long as we've,
started already, and if you don't mind, as the maker of the motion,
suggestions on how we can solve the mechanism, and if you could specifically
address that, otherwise I think Bill Perry wants to address that and I believe
Mr. Teals wants to address that issue. Do you have any comments on that?
We'll let you speak in any event on all these issues.
Mr. Robert Holland: I have several comments, Mayor. First I'd like to thank
you as well as the Commissioners for allowing me to speak before you today.,-
Secondly, I would also like to iterate, I guess I also know now why Rosa Park
,.
had a seat at the front of the bus, tired feet. Thanks for_ hayjng. sRippgsj
over me. Anyway...
Mayor Suarez: Could you also give us your name, please.
`• `?,�
Mr. Holland: Anyway...
Mayor Suarez: Could you give us your name for the record, plehse'and address.IN
s
$i1
4
4 Janµory 4$, 1"9
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V V
Mr. Holland: The name is Robert Holland, the address is 1490 N. W. 43rd
Street. I come here with several concerns, one, to reiterate the concerns of
Commissioner Dawkins that the review panel that's appointed should be
appointed with the full power that it can be endowed with and that the
residents located or impaneled on that panel should be from the Overtown area
chosen by those people. I may that for several reasons. Throughout our
tenure here in Miami, the black citizenry of Miami have always had their
representatives hand picked by the power structure, and I think now is the
time that we, those that have been disenfranchised out of the system, actually
choose people who will voice our concerns, not their own concerns or the
things that they may want to do in order to affiliate with the dominant
structure, but those people who actually will voice our concerns and, again, I
think that's what Mr. Dawkins' recommendation comes in very vitally by
allowing the citizens of the Overtown area to pick those people whom they wish
to serve on that panel. Therefore, they will feel as if they've been justly
treated, whatever the outcome of the situation may be. Second, there was a
proposal put on the floor by Commissioner De Yurre. The proposal was a second
commission or a second panel...
Mayor Suarez: Yes, a standing independent review panel which...
Mr. Holland. Right.
Mayor Suarez: ... I don't believe we're going to be able to address today.
If you want to give us your thoughts on that very quickly.
Mr. Holland. I would like to give my thoughts. As the young lady from the
NAACP pointed out as well as the gentleman, Mr. Fauntroy, pointed out, the
problems faced by the black community are much more severe than a riot
incident here or a riot incident there. It's a whole economic imperative
system and a political system that's totally out of place, and the priorities
of the Commission of the Dade County Commissioners, of the State Legislatures,
as well as the United States, everyone has the priorities mixed up because of
who votes for them. Once you're elected, you're there to serve the people,
not the people who voted for you, but the people because that's what
government is all about. And once this government decides to stand in and
allow the loans or the grants to come into the areas like Liberty City and
Overtown and Coconut Grove to black folk, not Koreans, not Latins, not that we
have anything against them, but allow us to set up some economic imperatives
where we can respect ourselves and then we can respect everyone else who comes
into our community. But the way the situation stands now, we have no economic
imperatives, we have no black professionals in our own areas, and then you
fault our kids for growing up wanting to emulate drug dealers when the only
thing they see are the materials things that the drug dealer has and the
society holds materials things up as being status symbols and then they say,
that's what I want to be like when I grow up. We can't fault them, we have to
fault the system; and once we decide that we don't have all the money to
always to throw up an Arena or the Grove area had the shopping district here,
always in the black communities - before then, there was nothing you can do in
the community. All of a sudden when some philanthropist comes along or
someone with some good idea where the City can make additional money, which is
good business sense, you want to jump onto that. But set up the economic
imperatives now in those areas and don't allow them to rot away so that
investors can come in and get some cheap land. And I think that's the view
that the second panel should take by sitting year round to voice those
concerns and investigate into those. Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: And get into economic priorities.
(Applause)
Mayor Suarez: I'm disposed and really Bill Perry had asked to speak and he
was the last one. I will let you make a very quick statement, ma'am, after
that and then Art Teele and that is it. Ma'am you've already spoken so Art
Teele will be the last speaker. And your's please, I heard you yesterday at
length...
Ms. Jeannie Brecken: I know, I will be brief. I have specifically to the
issue.
25 January 18, 1989
t
Mayor Suarez: Remember, we have a motion pending and if you can address
that....
Ms. Bracken: Yes, sir, my names Jeannie Bracken, I live at 1640 N.W. 19th
Terrace. I have specific points on this issue. First of all, I think you are
mistaken, Mayor, we are - I and I'm also associated with PULSE and also the
American Friends Service Committee, closely watching this issue. We are not
concerned -that the Police Department members be from the Miami Overtown area,
but only that the citizens. The Police Department can pick it's own
representatives who drive through there...
Mayor Suarez: We've solved that part of the decision.
Ms. Bracken: Sorry. Second of all, I think I could recommend a quick way to
choose the members of the Overtown citizens doing it block by block...
Mr. Dawkins: Let me cut you off. How could you recommend something for
people who live over there? Give me a break. See, that's why we got the
problem.
Ms. Brecken: If they go block by block...
Mr. Dawkins:• No, no, no, you cannot tell them, I mean, in my opinion, Mr.
Mayor, you can't tell them over there. That's what the... where's the
gentleman who got up and said you're tired of folks telling you what to do in
the community?
Ms. Brecken: I live very close to there, it really does affect me.
Mr. Dawkins: You don't live in there. See, so now skip that one and go to
your next one.
Ms. Brecken: OK, I'd like to see the Overtown people report back within one
week the names that they have so that the time does not allow it to be run on
and I would like to see then that this panel which the American Friends
Service Committee supports, would be reporting back to the Commission on a
monthly basis so that we could monitor this on a regular basis and that....
Mayor Suarez: OK, it'll be at least on a monthly basis, I have a feeling it's
going to be a lot sooner than a monthly basis or a lot more frequently.
Ms. Brecken: But on a regular monthly basis and thank you.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you.
Ms. Brecken: You're welcome.
Mayor Suarez: OK, last two statements of Dr. Perry and then Art Teele.
Mr. Bill Perry: Mr. Mayor and Commissioners, I'm Bill Perry. I reside at 850
N.W. 7th Street Road. In case you don't know that, that is within Overtown.
I live in Overtown and spend a great deal of my time in Overtown and probably
have spent more time in the past two days in the streets of Overtown than any
of your officers that are out there, Nevertheless, we've started this meeting
off with a very simple proposition made by Miller Dawkins that we are in
support of, the Overtown Advisory Committee, as well as Reverend Stock, and
has become so confused, I don't know what we're doing now and it appears to
be, and there's somebody playing games with us, man.
Mayor Suarez: Bill, in taking the input of
the community on the five
community representatives, do you have any idea
on a simple mechanism that we
can...
Mr. Perry: No, no, no, no, no. See, I'm not
going to go in for anything
that's simplistic. We've had a disturbance in Overtown.
Mayor Suarez: OK.
Mr. Perry: There's something still festering in
that community. Now, whether
=
you not up a panel today or tomorrow or aright now, that's not going to have a
a
damn thing to do with the feelings in Overtown.
26
January 10, 1989
°i
Ltt
a�
Mr. Plummer: Boy, you're right.
Mr. Perry: The brother just talked about some economic imperatives. You
know, unless we begin to see something also, there are two Overtowns rapidly
developing. We see the development taking place southwest of 8th Street. We
sea the other Overtown north of - not southwest, northwest Sth Street - we see
the other side of Overtown that I'm referring to where people live and reside
everyday that get no treatment. Until we begin to see some kind of job
training program, some job development program for the people in that
community, you're going to continuously having a crazy cop set off an incident
like you had set off the other day. So what we're asking for is beyond
Miller's panel, we support that, and we want to see that go into effect.
Mayor Suarez: I see what you're saying.
Mr. Perry: But I say we need to take it beyond that and put some things into
place today and...
Mayor Suarez: And I didn't mean to limit you to that motion but I thought
that's what you were going to address, OK.
Mr. Perry: No, no, I - that's gotten so confused that I'm willing to go along
with any part of that because it ain't going to work anyway but we'll go
through the charade. What I'm saying now... beg your pardon?
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It ain't going to work any...
Mayor Suarez: Please, please, ma'am, please, ma'am.
Mr. Perry: No, it's not.
Mayor Suarez: He's the recognized speaker by the chairman and he can give
whatever opinion he thinks is a valid one.
Mr. Perry: The Fraternal Order of Police are not going to let it work, that's
why. Yet, the other part of it is, we're talking about more African American
police officers in Overtown. We've already asked that the ministation that's
located within the confines of the Culmer Center be moved to the shopping
center where there's more visibility. Had that station been open that
evening, there would have been cops present within a few feet of where the
brother got executed. So we're asking that that be expedited and that station
get moved over there...
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Excuse me, I hate to interrupt. I know he asked for a
a readdress.
Mayor Suarez: Ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, you're not recognized, ma'am. Please.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I'd like...
Mayor Suarez: Dr. Perry, complete your statement. Ma'am, please.
INAUDIBLE COMMENTS NOT ENTERED INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD.
Mayor Suarez: Ma'am, you've got to sit down, ma'am.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I was a child when he went through a lot of the
change...
Mayor Suarez: We've got deliberations to be completed, ma'am.
INAUDIBLE COMMENTS NOT ENTERED INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD.
Mr. Perry: Thank you.
5 -
Mayor Suarez: Ma'am, you've had your opportunity to make your statement.
Now, we're hearing from Mr. Perry who lives in the area. Please complete your
statement, Dr. Perry._
Mrs. Kennedy: Excuse me, Dr. Perry, you do have a valid point because the
whole intent of having a ministation is to be visible and if that's where it
-
should be.
Ty
27 January 18 1904
an y ,
n
16
Mr. perry: hall, we asked for that two months ago and nothing has happened
yet. That's why I'm bringing it back. The other part of that is to increase
the number of African police officers, African American officers, in that
community. In addition to the independent review panel, we're asking that
shopping center be revitalized. That's a white elephant - it's not black,
Isn't it amazing? That's a white elephant sitting in our community that's a
total waste. We're asking that, that shopping center be revitalized, the
Overtown Advisory Committee be given authority to manage and supervise that
shopping center, to bring tenants in there, to create jobs for the residents
of Overtovn. The other aspect is, the job placement program that we've talked
about, veil we'd certainly like to see this Commission, before this day is
over, to direct staff to work with residents of that community to get
something in place this week. Thank you.
(Applause)
Mayor Suarez: Mr. Teals.
Mr. Arthur Teele: Mr. Mayor, members of this Commission, thank you. My name
is Arthur Toole. I live in the Park West area, 555 N.B. 15th Street. I want
to associate myself with the remarks of Perry, Reverend Starks and others and
I regret that I'm speaking because there is a motion and I'm going to try to
constrain myself to the motion, but the fact is, is that we are speaking of a
very complicated situation that defies simplistic solutions. Someone has
recommended that maybe there could be a Commission meeting in Overtown. I
recall about 18 months ago, during a political campaign, that there was no
problem meeting in Liberty City, this Commission meeting in Liberty City to
address certain issues and I would merely suggest Mr. Mayor and members of the
Commission, perhaps we should have an open workshop forum because the people
want to know that you care. And much that you're seeing is a cry for help
because there's a lot wrong there and one recommendation, one resolution is
not going to address it. We've got the Overtovn Advisory Committee, we really
need to put our weight and support behind the community organizations and move
forward. Mr. Mayor and members of this Commission, on this motion, I regret
the obvious diversity within our community that we as Africans, Americans have
and we too have to be a part of a solution. We can't just come to the Mayor
and the City Commission and fuss with one another about what the solution is.
We've got to come together in a sense of unity. But to that point, and how we
select, I'm very concerned about - not the Overtovn residents, the five
Overtown residents - as far as I'm concerned we ought to have a lottery.
Everybody plays the lottery now, just let the residents of Overtovn that want
to serve on the committee, they're bonafide, let them go to lottery or let
some one of them name them, let Commissioner Dawkins name them, there are any
number of solutions. But I'm concerned because I've been a part...
Mayor Suarez: I had to interrupt and say there's a lot of Biblical support
for the concept of lotteries to select people to things, but go ahead.
Mr. Teele: Thank you. But I've been a part of this process and I know the
games that get played and I have great respect for the Fraternal Order of
Police. But I think we're going to do disservice a disservice to this
community if we go out here and today act on this resolution and don't have a
clear statement of support from the Fraternal Order of Police for this process
to go forward. Because I can tell you, Mr. Mayor, and members of this
Commission, they can kill it a thousand ways to Sunday if they don't go along
with this deal and that's going to be the worst thing, Mr. Mayor, that could
happen as a result of this. If we go out of here thinking we've got
something, and at the end of it all, the Fraternal Order of Police which has a
legitimate right to represent its membership, but they need to be heard from .
now. Because they are the people who represent the police and we're going to
do a tremendous disservice to the public at large and this community if we're'
not altogether. Not just the black community, but the black community and the
police since they are the subject of this resolution. Mr. Mayor, thank ;you
for time and the members of the Commission.
(Applause)
Mayor Suarez: I was almost inclined to up the ante a little bit and say that
the FOP should come and make their statement of support at the meeting that we
would hold in Overtown of this Commission, but I think that might, be a bit'
much at this point and I think your suggestion that the'FOP be heard on this
28 January 18, 1989
4kt H �Nr !
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x
If you have a position at this point, Mr. Kinne, and, if not, so advise us and
tell us when we might hear from the FOP. That might not affect our
deliberations today and what we decide, but it's always a good idea to hear.
Officer Dick Kinne: For the record, my name is Dick Kinne, president, Miami
Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 20. I don't know what your proposal is going
to be, I don't know what you're going to set up and I really can't comment on
that until I see it. I am concerned about the bill of rights, I am concerned
about our contract, I am concerned about State law and as long as we can do
something that abides by all of that and gives my police officers protection,
maybe we can work something out. But I can't give you a yes or no right at
this point, Mayor.
Mr. Dawkins: OK, I'm a little amazed at you, honestly I am. Now, had you
come here and say I'll sit down and work something out to be sure that we
solve this, I'd a been happy. But you come here defiant, just as Teele said,
and I don't know how Teele perceived...
Ofc. Kinne: You didn't hear what all I said...
Mr. Dawkins: Wait now, wait now, wait now, let me finish. I waited until you
finished. You, in my opinion, and I'll rephrase this. In my opinion, you
come here defiant, saying that I must abide by this, I must abide by that and
I'm not going to do anything that... no, we trying to find a solution to a
problem.
Ofe. Kinne: Miller, that's not what I said.
Mr. Dawkins: OK, all right...
Ofc. Kinne: I said I had concerns about those.
Mr. Dawkins: Uh huh, but you also said that I'm not going to do nothing...
Ofc. Kinne: I was not going to give the Mayor an answer right now.
Mayor Suarez: Mr. Kinne, Mr. Kinne, Mr. Kinne, let me say one thing. The
Commissioner's right on one point. We have built into the motion that it be
in accordance with all of the requirements of the law, and that includes the
bill of rights and that includes any contractual agreements we may have with
the union so we hope that your statement can be taken as he's proposing, to
mean that you will cooperate in trying to support...
Ofc. Kinne: I'll sit down and talk with this Commission.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you.
Ofc. Kinne: I'll sit down and talk with anybody over it, but I wanted this
Commission to know I had some concerns about it.
Mr. Dawkins: Yes, but you see, when you stand up here and say this, OK, I
understand what you're...
Ofc. Kinne: Well, you interrupted me, Miller, you didn't give me a chance to
finish what I was saying.
Mr. Dawkins: Go ahead, go ahead, I'm sorry.
Ofc. Kinne: I repeated it and I said I have no problem with sitting down and
talking at all, I have no problem at all with working with the Commission and
this community. And neither does my police officers.
Mr. Dawkins: That's what I want to hear, OK? See, but when you don't say,
the police officers and us will sit down, it looks as if you have made a
statement and the men got to follow the statement. OK?
Ofc. Kinne: No, I said - I was saying I had concerns and I didn't get to
finish my statement before you interrupted me. But I did get to finish it.
Mayor Suarez: As to those that have to do with State law and the requirements
of the bill of rights and the contractual requirements, we have built that
into the motion that those be satisfied.
29 January 18, 1960
Mr. Dawkins: Well, say aoftthing for - OK, wait a minute, let 90 ask one
thing. Say something to the black community as to your genuine - how you
plan, so that there people can go back and tell the black community what you
swan.
Ofe. Kinne: The Fraternal Order of Police, besides your independent review
boards, got concerns about this community. The majority of your members out
here that are talking to you, are telling you that you got an underlying
problem and economically jobs, community housing. We've been, and the FOP
have been saying that all along. I heard these same arguments 20 years ago.
You still haven't got that problem concern.
Mr. Dawkins: OK, but I...
Mayor Suarez: Mr. Kinne, I think the Commissioner was hoping that you would
get into the issue of the police actions.
Mr. Dawkins: Mr. Kinne, no, no, no. Mr. Kinne, I said that we had a... I
asked that a review panel be established for one purpose, to work on police
community relations. OK? That's the problem we have.
Ofc. Kinne: Yes, sir, I agree.
Mr. Dawkins: OK? The police perceive one thing, the citizens perceive
another but that's what the is about. Are you in favor of that or
not, that's all I need to know?
Ofe. Kinne: As long as we can work it out, I'll help you all I can, Miller.
Mr. Dawkins: That's all I need.
Mayor Suarez: Mr. Teele...
Mr. Toole: Mr. Mayor, I just want to make one point, I...
Mayor Suarez: Before you make that point, would you consult with Reverend
Washington and see if we can get his input and wrap this up?
Mr. Perry: While he's consulting, Mr. Mayor, could someone clarify - I keep
hearing bill of rights. I know of the Bill of Rights, is there another bill
of rights here somewhere that's not being mentioned?
Mayor Suarez: That is a popular name for a state law that ref era to the
—
rights of law enforcement and correctional officers. I think...
Mr. Perry: Are you saying that law enforcement officers have a special bill
of rights?
_
Mr. Fernandez: Yes.
Mr. Plummer: By state law.
Mr. Perry: It goes beyond protection that normal citizens get?
Mayor Suarez: Yes, well I'm reading from one section of state law, 112.532,
subsection one, the title of which in, "Rights of Law Enforcement Officers and
—
Correctional Officers While Under Investigation." So...
-
Mr. Perry: Well, we got a real problem then. If they have rights beyond us.
Rev. William Washington: Mr. Mayor, the Reverend William Washington,
executive director of OIC of Dade County, and pastor of Greater St. James
Missionary Baptist Church. I'm here primarily because I'm concerned about
some things I've been seeing that's taken place under the cover in the
Y
community at this present time. I'm concerned about the life and death of my—
aw.mbers who live Overtown. I'm very much concerned about this because I
%=
remember back in 1980, the Baptist Ministers Council issued a religious
manifesto to this community before the riots of 1980 and I see the signs of
the same thing and really this young lady, this lady that stood up over hero,
that said she needs something to take back to this community, she's right,,
t„
she's right. We need now, and I agree with Mr. Miller Dawkins, we need xo'say
30 January i8, 19`R4
cc
t�
to those people out there in that community, now that this In going to be
done, this needs to hit the papers this evening or tomorrow morning. I'm
serious about this. That religious manifesto that I wrote that was issued to
the Miami Herald and the Miami Times was ignored. And because it was ignored
a lot of people lives were lost. We're dealing with life and death and we had
best do something in this Commission today to let those people know that we're
acting in good faith. We don't have much time. I've seen some under going
things that are going on at gas stations and what have you and we need to act
to calm that community out there. And the quicker we do it, the better it's
going to be for everybody. I have some members who live Overtown, I'm very
fond of and it's a matter of life and death and we need to act and stop all
this quibbling about all of these other different type of issues and get down
to what we can take back and say this is what we're going to do. Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you, Reverend.
Mr. Dawkins: Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner Dawkins.
Mr. Dawkins: I'd like for the maker of the motion to go along with me. I'd
like to amend the motion to exclude the police in that we have just been told
that they do not know if, by their leader, if they can participate and if the
law will help them to participate and morally, they don't even know if they
can participate. So I'd like to amend the motion and exclude police and just
get citizens to do this.
Ofc. Kinne: The safeguards are there, that's all.
(Applause)
Mayor Suarez: Please.
Mr. Teele: Mr. Mayor, if I may...
Mr. Plummer: Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner Plummer.
Mr. Plummer: Excuse me. I have to disagree with that and let me tell you
why. One thing that I was emphatic about in the intent of this motion, FOP is
not going to select who those five members are. The Police Chief of the City
of Miami is going to select who those people are, and I think if we're going
to have the input of all people concerned, you've got to have, as been said
here all morning, both sides of the issue and I think that there is no one
that I know of that is fairer than Perry Anderson to make that selection. He
would balance those five members with the need of the input that would be very
much important to this situation. And if you don't have both parties sitting
at the table, I'm scared that the results would not be what you're trying to
accomplish. Mr. Mayor...
Mr. Dawkins: Commissioner Plummer. I agree with you. Let me react to what
you said, J.L. I agree with you, OK? -and wholeheartedly, OK. But, I also
must tell that we have the black firemen kicked out of the white firefighters
because the black firemen decided to cooperate. So now, if we decided to have
a review committee and the black firemen - I mean the black police decided
belonged to the Fraternal Order of Police decided that they were going to
participate, then they could kick them out of the union.
Mr. Plummer: I'm not saying the union. Please understand me well. OK?
saying by the Police Chief.
Mr. Dawkins: But, but...
Mr. Plummer: Mr. Mayor, may I...
Mr. Dawkins: OK, go ahead, I'm sorry.
Mayor Suarez: Please, Commissioner.
Mr. Plummer: I merely want to say that as we've sat here now for over
hours, the last speaker impressed me more in my area of concern, than all of
31 January 18, 1989
y
the other concerns. It has been said here that nothing that we do here today
is going to settle the problems of this evening. I am dammed concerned about
tonightl
(Applause)
Mr. Plummer: I am concerned that my policemen, who, for the main part, have r=
shown great restraint, are tired. They've been on that damn street for 36
hours. I am very concerned about that. I saw a policeman last night in the
police station who are doing a job who were about ready to pass out because t
they've been up for 40 hours. We are sitting here talking about and need to,
long term solutions, no question. But damnit, there's going to be a lot of
people hurt and possibly killed tonight and we're not addressing that issue. }
And I want to say to this Commission, whether we think of a curfew, which
maybe is good or bad, the National Guard, which is good or bad, we need to
address some issues before we leave these chambers about the sun going down
tonight)
(Applause) —
Mayor Suarez: Please.
Mr. Plummer: So, I just hope that we're not going to make this, whatever my
colleague, my Blue Brother, makes, but before we leave here, Mr. Mayor, I
don't want that motion to be voted upon and walk out the door. We've got to
worry about tonight and I'm very concerned.
Mayor Suarez: All right, air.
Mrs. Kennedy: And, Mr. Mayor, following along those lines, if we don't have
the police officers talking to the community leaders, I think it defeats the
whole purpose of this committee.
Mayor Suarez: Commissioners De Yurre and Dawkins, it's your motion on the
floor, do you want to modify it or do you want to propose a mechanism for the
appointment of the five citizens from Overtown?
Mr. De Yurre: Let me ask one question. We're talking about a lot of things
that go beyond the incident 48 hours ago. We have an Overtown Advisory
Committee a board, now, their function - aren't we pretty much going hand in
hand with what we're proposing here as far as getting some long term input
from the community?
Mr. Plummer: Hey, they got wiped out last night.
Mr. De Yurre: Does that overlap with what the Overtown Advisory Board does?
Mr. Plummer: That's the first place they hit. Before it was what, Zayres? ,
Mayor Suarez: Well, there's a lot of overlaps, but we obviously have, besides
the short term decision to be made today, we have some long term economic
issues to deal with and I've all of the discussion on that. We've all heard
it for a couple of days. We're going to have to separately decide on how
we're going to attack that and I've been formulating some ideas that I would
-
like to propose to the Commission by memorandum very soon, but let's see if we
can act on this at this point.
Mr. De Yurre: OK, now - OK, so then the function - is it our understanding
-_
that the function of this board that we're creating today is to deal with the
police relation in Overtown?
Mayor Suarez: That's the essential function, right.
Mr. Plummer: Basically.
Mayor Suarez: That's the essential charge.
�-
Mr. De Yurre: OK. That's fine. Then we can deal with the other boards, as
r
far as economic situation, we can do own, whatever we propose and believe.
s
Mayor Suarez: Let me ask one more question as to the latest concern expresss�
here by really all of us, but, specifically by Co mmissioaer Dawkins,
ib(Ilk
32 January 1$, 19.�3,Q
were disposed to appoint the Commission, the board as proposed, investigative —
board has proposed, and if the union were not disposed to cooperate and
support it and if they tried to take any action against any officers that were
appointed by the Chief as the motion reads, could the union do anything to
them for that participation? I know that's a tough legal question.
Mr. Plummer: Mr. Mayor, I don't see that the union would usurp the authority
of this Commission. This Commission, if I understand, now Commissioner
Dawkins has changed a little bit the wording, but if this Commission gives the
-
authority to the Chief of Police and solely to the Chief of the Police, you
know, they can oppose it but it's done.
Mr. Fernandez: Correct.
Mr. De Yurre: Well, it's...
Mayor Suarez: OK, on the mechanism finally, which is the final thing that we
have to decide on the appointment of the five, do you have any suggestions,
either one of you?
Mr. De Yurre: Well, I just want to mention it'll be the City Manager that
directs the Police Chief to select the five.
Mrs. Kennedy: Correct.
Mr. De Yurre: Do we have the authority to direct...
Mayor Suarez: Well, the Commission has directed - can we direct the Chief to
do the appointment himself? I mean, I don't want to skip the City Manager, I
have no problem with the City Manager, but can we do that?
Mr. Fernandez: No, you cannot. You must instruct the City Manager who, in
turn, instructs the Chief...
Mr. De Yurre: OK.
Mr. Plummer: Well, wait a minute now. I've been around too long. This
Commission has every right to set policy. If this Commission makes a policy
that we wish for the Police Chief - and, you know, we're maybe kidding
ourselves because these two guys have been inseparable. OK? They've not done
one thing without the other's consultation..
Mayor Suarez: I think we are kidding... Commissioner, if I may...
Mr. Plummer: ... but still, I think this Commission reserves its right to set _—
policy.
Mayor Suarez: I think we are kidding ourselves on that point. I think if the
intent of this Commission is that the Chief makes the appointment, he can do
it obviously in consultation with the Manager.
Mr. Odio: I have no problem with the Chief making the appointments.
Mr. Plummer: It's absolutely - these two guys for 40 hours have been the _
Bobsey Twins, they've not gone anywhere without each other.
Mayor Suarez:
OK,
that reflects the intent of the motion. I think it is a
fair way of doing
it. Anything on the mechanisms so we can get this issue
resolved?
Mrs. Kennedy:
OK,
so we're talking about an ongoing panel composed of five
Overtown res...
Mr. Dawkins:
No.
Mayor Suarez:
No,
no ad hoc for this particular...
Mrs. Kennedy:
OK,
all right, I was just wrapping up.
Mayor Suarez:
A total of 11 members, five to be appointed by the Police Chief
from among his
officers,
hopefully those that work in the Overtown area or are
knowledgeable
with
the Overtown area, five from the community, one to be
appointed by myself
to be the liaison with the Commission.
33 January 18, 1909
�
,f 4b
+ I
Mrs. Kennedy: Right.
Mayor Suarez: Mr. Vice Mayor or Commissioner Dawkins, do you have any idea on
the mechanisms? Do you want to propose another forum to - it would be nice, I
think, and in line with what was stated by one of the last speakers, it may
have been Art or Mr. Teele or one of the other speakers, Reverend Washington
possibly, that if we could have a mechanism that goes ahead and leaves that
determination to be done very quickly, hopefully today, on those five, or
within the next 24 hours, we could propose a forum in Overtown which would be
a good idea any how, particularly as to economic issues and a lot of other
things. But we ought to get this board impaneled fairly quickly.
Mr. De Yurre: Well, I'm ready to move on it right away so it depends on the
time...
Mayor Suarez: Do you have any mechanism in mind to do that selection of the
five from Overtown?
Mr. Dawkins: The only thing I can see and I don't even know it, but let the
Overtown Advisory Board conduct the voting or whatever, the selection of the
five members. I have no problem with that.
Mr. Plummer: Mr. Mayor, may I also suggest to the maker of the motion that
this panel report to this Commission in a report, at every Commission meeting,
our next one being next Thursday and all subsequent meetings after that we
will have a report if interim reports are necessary, they can make them, but
no less than every Commission meeting a report would be forthcoming.
Mayor Suarez: Do you want to amend your motion to read that the Overtown
Advisory Board will make...
Mr. Dawkins: Will set up a mechanism for selecting the...
Mayor Suarez: We'll set up the mechanism for selecting. Do you want to have
the final appointment be made by yourself or myself together?
Mr. Dawkins: No,.no, let them make a recommendation....
Mayor Suarez: And automatically that...
Mr. Dawkins: ... we approve it.
Mrs. Kennedy: No, we ratify that.
Mayor Suarez: The idea is, that if it has to come back to us, then it can't
start functioning until we have another meeting.
Mr. Dawkins: Let them function.
Mayor Suarez: Do you want to delegate the power to yourself to give the final
approval, yourself or myself?
Mr. Dawkins: No, you, because I don't want - when it go wrong, I don't need
It, I don't used it.
Mr. De Yurre: Mr. Mayor, just get recommendation of five names and we will
-_
adopt those names into the board and that's it. Tell them to select five.
Mayor Suarez: The Overtown, the Advisory Board.
Mr. De Yurre: By tomorrow morning.
Mr. Plummer: Mr. Mayor...
Mayor Suarez: And automatically, those are built into the resolution.
Mr. De Yurre: That's it. I think our purpose is that the community gets what
they feel they can be comfortable with and if they're going to select, .they,
have to be comfortable with those names. I mean, like there's no other May,
k
no two ways about that.
34 January Ik0
S �, _
Mrs. Kennedy: OK, but selected by them or approved by them or approved by the
Mayor?
Mr. De Turret No, no, selected by them. ABCD and B have been selected by
them and that's it.
Mayor Suarezt OK, finally, selected by the board, they're properly r
constituted, we have faith in their decision making abilities and finally x
selected by them, and that's the motion?
Mr. De Turret OK.
Mayor Suarez: That's a second?
Mr. Dawkins: She seconds...
Mr. De Turret Technically, we confirm - I guess there has to be a procedure
where we can ratify it and that's it.
Mr. Plummer: Ratify. Mr. Mayor, I have to discuss one other subject.
Mayor Suarez: How about if we vote on it?
Mr. Plummer: No, it's part of the subject.
Mayor Suarez: OK, please, go ahead then.
Mr. Plummer: Mr. Mayor, this committee is not going to be worth a damn
without staff and without funding.
Mr. Dawkins: And without an attorney.
Mr. Plummer: Well, that staff, whether or not you use independent counsel.
Mr. Manager, I would ask of you, sir, what is a reasonable amount of money
that can be allocated immediately for the purposes of independent counsel and
staff and whatever is necessary for them to go about doing the job that is
necessary? —
Mr. Odio: I was going to...
Mr. Plummer: Of course, excuse me, whatever that amount is agreed upon, that
it would be with the Manager's approval, it has to be. I mean, we just can't
allow people to have a blank check.
Mayor Suarez: Yes, I would have no problem having the motion delegate that
authority to the Manager.
Mr. Odio: Well, I was going to appoint Shirley Irwin to lead the staff
support and let...
Mr. Plummer: Well, let me just offer this and then I'm groping in the dark
but I think we all are at this point. I would ask the maker of the motion to —
allocate an amount not to exceed $25,000 for.. _
Mr. Odio: That's not enough, that's not enough.
Mr. Plummer: Till the next Commission meeting of next Thursday, it is. At
least get them started.
Mr. Odios Oh, OK.
Mr. Plummer:
OK and at that time, you can come back with what is
a rpasonsbe
figure.
,
Mayor Suarez:
Until the Manager rec..._
Mr. Plummer:
We're all shooting from the hip on dollars.
glfl
Mayor Suarez:
Until the Manager recommends a budget for
the '-angoit�
_
investigation....
r
Mr. Plummer:
Exactly. ff
.
y
i 2 I1 Y✓ `'ti"
Mayor Suares: .., twenty-five thousand be appropriated immediately.
Mr. Plummer: Up to.
Mr. Plusmer: Does the maker of the motion accept that? Up to twenty-five
thousand.
Mr. De Turre: That's fine, wa'li get a budget at the next Commission meeting.
Mayor Suarez: And does - did you second the motion?
Mrs. Kennedy: You, I did.
Mayor Suarez: The seconder?
Mr. Fernandez: Mr. Mayor, before you take a vote on that motion, I must call
your attention to the fact that myself or my office would not be able to serve
this committee.
Mayor Suarez: We understand that part of the budget has got to be to
immediately select outside counsel.
Mr. Fernandez: And then, but the process of selection or appointment of that
outside counsel to give legal advice to this committee must also be determined
by you or...
Mayor Suarez: The City Attorney, the City Attorney.
Mr. Fernandez: Fine.
Mayor Suarez: OK. Maker of the motion agree and the seconder agree?
Mrs. Kennedy: Yes, indeed.
Mayor Suarez: Call the roll. Make sure we get Commissioner Dawkins' vote.
Mr. De Yurre: Are you sure we got that matter cleared up?
Ms. Hirai: Yes, yes, I have it.
Mr. De Yurre: OK.
Mr. Fernandez: There is also another point of clarification, Mr. Mayor.
Mayor Suarez: Yes.
Mr. Fernandez: It is understood that this is an eleven member panel.
Mr. Plummer: Correct.
Mr. Fernandez: Five, five and then one exclusively appointed by you.
e+
Mayor Suarez: OK.
Mr. Plummer: To be later ratified by this Commission.
Mr. Fernandez: Correct.
Mr. Plummer: Call the roll.
Mayor Suarez: Call the roll. Now, let me - I hate to bring this up, but, I.'
just heard something that again confuses me a little bit. If we wanted to
begin functioning right away, if you want Anne Marie Adker, if you want
Reverend Washington, if you want Reverent Stark, whoever, to go back to the
Overtown community and be able to report that this can function right sways, VW1
don't need ratification, we are now setting up a mechanism that is automatic
f ratification, are we not? Isn't that the intent of your motion?
Mr. Dawkins: Yes. well, I don't know.
' N
Mr. Plummers Mr. Mayor, I..*
4 �si„tko
{
kr L> f
Mr. De Turret Weil, they're going to give us the five names so I'm just going
to rubber stamp it anyway.
Mr. Plummer: That's all.
Mrs. Kennedy: That's it.
Mr. Plummer: I think legally...
Mayor Suarez: But, until you rubber stamp it, until we have another spe...
Mr. De Turret Till we need to rubber stamp it.
Mayor Suarez: That's what I'm saying, are we not already rubber stamping,
that that's the procedure. They select the names and they're impaneled.
Mr. Plummers You can't do it without naming the names, can you?
Mayor Suarez: And I will select mine which I can do within the next three
hours.
Mr. Plummer: Excuse me, Mr... Mr. Mayor, I'm not trying to be argumentative
but I don't think it's legally that we can do something without having the
names.
Mayor Suarez: I thought we do it all the time. We have resolutions, we
approve and we have blank names and...
Mr. Fernandez: In order for the resolution to be a complete document, the
names of those five individuals have to be inserted in the body of the
resolution.
Mr. Plummer: Yes, and all we do ratify it at a later time.
Mayor Suarez: All right, well I'll tell you what then. If we're going to go
back with the message that we've been requested to go back with, I suggest we =
come back here at 6:00 p.m. and ratify what they suggest to us within the next
four hours.
Mr. Dawkins: They can't get out uninteligible to do it.
Mr. Plummer: Mr. Mayor, I will meet with you this evening. I cannot meet
between 5:30 and 8:00.
Mr. Dawkins: But they can't get to the community and get back with names at
—
5:00 o'clock.
Mr. Plummer: That's true.
Mayor Suarez: All right, then, Commissioners, if we must ratify, you're
telling us we must ratify.
Mr. Fernandez: Well, let me put it this way. You don't necessarily need to
ratify if by this vote you're already agreeing that you will accept the five
names that the Overtown...
Mayor Suarez: Thank you, that's what I thought the maker of the motion said.
Are you telling me...
Mr. Fernandez: But they have to be filed with the City Clerk. They have to
be filed - the five names.
Mrs. Kennedy: That's fine, but we don't need to meet again.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you, we got the mechanism now. Is that the intent of the
maker of the motion?
x
Mr. De Turret Yes, sir.
t
Mayor Suarez: That as long as the Overtown Economic Advisory Board made: the
selection of names submitted to the City Clerk, that is automatically im...
SG R^ i
37 January 18, 1989
r �r
3
2,
Mr. Da turret 'ghat it correct.
Mayor Suares: Arad I will make my seleetion and submit
the and of today, working day.
Mr. Dawkins: Oh, for the chairperson.
Mayor Suaree: Too, they will...
Mr. Dawkins:
OK, for the chairperson, no problem, no problem.
Mayor Suarez: But they will select their's and submit it to the City Clerk as
quickly as...=
Mr. Fernandez: Is the understanding that the one person you're appointing,
Mr. !Mayor, will be the chairperson of this committee or that they will appoint
their own chairperson when they most?
Mr. De Turret They can appoint their own, but that person will be like the
liaison between the Commission, the spokesperson. -
Mayor Suarez: They may or may not select that person their chairperson. It
might be useful initially that that person be the chairperson but that's up to
(` them.
Mrs. Kennedy: Clarification. The Overtown Advisory Committee, not the
Economic Committee.
Mayor Suarez:, I'm sorry, Overtown Advisory Committee. Please call the roll12
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The following resolution was introduced by Vice Mayor De Yurre, Who
obved its adoptions
RESOLUTION NO. 89-84
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION CONCERNING THE
CURRENT CIVIL DISTURBANCE IN THE CITY OF MIAMI AND
CREATING AN ELEVEN MEMBER AD HOC COMMITTEE COMPOSED
OFe (1) FIVE MEMBERS TO BE RECOMMENDED BY AND SELECTED
FROM THE OVSRTOWN AREA RESIDENTS; CHARGING THE
OVERTOWN ADVISORY BOARD WITH THE RESPONSIBILITY OF
SETTING UP A MECHANISM FOR THE SELECTION OF SAID FIVE
INDIVIDUALS, AND FURTHER STATING THAT SAID FIVE
MEMBERS SHALL BE CONSIDERED OFFICIALLY APPOINTED UPON
THE FILING OF SAID NAMES WITH THE CITY CLERK; (2) FIVE
MEMBERS TO BE POLICE OFFICERS WHO WORK IN THE OVERTOWN
AREA, SAID OFFICERS TO BE NAMED BY THE CHIEF OF POLICE
WITH SAID NAMES TO BE FILED WITH THE CITY CLERK; AND
(3) AN ELEVENTH MEMBER TO BE NAMED BY THE MAYOR WHICH
MEMBER WOULD ALSO ACT AS A LIAISON TO THE CITY
COMMISSION, WHOSE NAME SHALL ALSO BE FILED WITH THE
CITY CLERK; FURTHER CHARGING THE HEREIN COMMITTEE WITH
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF (a) INVESTIGATING AND REVIEWING
COMMUNITY RELATIONS BETWEEN POLICE OFFICERS AND THE
RESIDENTS IN THE OVERTOWN AREA AND (b) REPORTING ITS
FINDINGS AND MAKING RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE CITY
COMMISSION, SAID COMMITTEE TO RELY ON ADVICE FROM
SPECIAL COUNSEL APPROVED BY THE CITY ATTORNEY TO
ENSURE THAT ITS ACTIVITY WILL NOT INTERFERE WITH OTHER
ONGOING INVESTIGATIONS; FURTHER STIPULATING THAT SAID
COMMITTEE SHALL CONDUCT ITS ACTIVITY IN ACCORDANCE
WITH ALL ASPECTS OF APPLICABLE LAW AND CONTRACTUAL
REQUIREMENTS; FURTHER STIPULATING THAT SAID COMMITTEE
SHALL BE EMPOWERED WITH SUBPOENA POWERS TO THE EXTENT
PERMITTED BY LAW, THE EXERCISE OF WHICH POWERS SHALL
NOT INTERFERE WITH OTHER ONGOING INVESTIGATIONS;
FURTHER ALLOCATING AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $25,000
FROM SPECIAL PROGRAMS AND ACCOUNTS UNTIL FURTHER CITY
COMMISSION CONSIDERATION OF FUNDING AT ITS NEXT
MEETING, AT WHICH TIME THE CITY MANAGER SHALL
RECOMMEND A REASONABLE TOTAL DOLLAR ALLOCATION TO
COVER EXPENSES INCURRED BY THE COMMITTEE; AND FURTHER
-
STIPULATING THAT THE CITY COMMISSION SHALL BE
-
PRESENTED WITH INTERIM STATUS REPORTS CONCERNING THE
COMMITTEE'S ACTIVITY AT EACH CITY COMMISSION MEETING.
-
(Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on
file in the Office of the City Clerk.)
[Note: Encompassed in the table of the herein above
Resolution R-89-84 is the essence of a subsequent
motion by the City Commission granting said ad hoc
—
committee "subpoena powers to the extent permitted by
law."(See p.41)]
Upon being seconded by Commissioner Kennedy, the resolution was
passed
and adopted by the following vote:
AYES: Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
3
Commissioner Rosario Kennedy
—
Commissioner Miller Dawkins
Vice Mayor Victor De Yurre
^t.
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None. 1 �—
Mayor Suarez: What are we going to may about the complete powers,
going to may on back to your question of subpoena powers, are we going
to sey
that they should have all of the powers that we can possibly delegate to'thom?
r �
39 January8r 19±� 7 fah
yTiy
711,
r
Mr. Fernandes:
TO the extent permitted by law would be the proper way of
saying it.
Mayor Suarez:
OK, in the intent of us saying that
is that to the extent that
they should be able to do
they're able to
exert or exercise subpoena powers,
-_
that.
Mr. Fernandes:
That's right, correct.
Mr. Plummer:
And in no way interfere...
rr
Mr. Fernandez:
To interfere...
-
Mr. Plummer:
... with ongoing investigations.
t
Mr. Fernandez:
Correct.
-
Mr. De Turret
So be
Mr. Plummer:
By proper authorities.
Mr. Dawkins: Second. _
Mr. Fernandez: Correct.
Mayor Suarez: OK, I would ask the Commission then for one request that ire do
initially, at least, have my appointment be the chairman of the committee. I
want to be very careful on how we exert subpoena powers which we have never
done.
Mr. Fernandez: If the Commission is of a mind to accept the motion already
voted on with that...
Mr. Dawkins: I'm not on the committee... if the committee can live with it, I
can live with it because I would not be on the committee.
Mayor Suarez: OK, now needed, all right. Built into the motion.
INAUDIBLE COMMENTS NOT ENTERED INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD.
x
Mayor Suarez: It's not going to be by me, it's going to be by the board
Itself and that board will select its own chairman and we are doing exactly
what you're saying, we're doing it without interruptions back there. OK, call 4A*
the roll.
INAUDIBLE COMMENTS NOT ENTERED INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD.
_Mayor Suarez: Please, please, please.
i 7
Ms. Hirai: It amends the prior motion. If you want to, it can be the same
roll call.
Mr. Plummer: It's already incorporated.
F
Ms. Hirai: Yes. It's incorporated, sir.
Mayor Suarez: Oh, we voted on-it•OK?
r ,
Mr. Dawkins: No, no, we did not vote on the motion that we made to dive it Fri
subpoena powers. We did not vote on that motion, did we?
No. Hirai: In that the motion now to give it subpoena powers?
Mr. Dawkins: Yea, that is the motion now, yes.
Mayor Suarez: The full extent. of the powers we can, give ; ti�ea `iac,ul� 4
.Vbpoena powers.
Mr. Dawkins: Did we vote on that?
�6
Hirai' No, air.
! 40
r,'
0
Mr. De turret Ws art now.
Mr. Dawkina: Thank you.
Mayor Suarez: Thank you, Commissioner Dawkins.
ON MOTION DULY MADE BY COMMISSIONER PLUMMER AND SECONDED BY
COMMISSIONER DAWKINS, THE PARAMETERS OF THE HEREIN MOTOR
[GRANTING THE AD HOC COHHITTTES SUBPOENA POWERS TO TH$ $XTRNT `?
PERMITTED BY LAW] WERE INCORPORATED BY THE LAW DEPARTMENT IN TIM
1
TEXT OF R-89-84 (ABOVE) AND PASSED AND ADOPTED BY THE FOLLOWING
VOTE:
AYESs Commissioner J. L. Plummer, Jr.
Commissioner Rosario Kennedy
Commissioner Miller Dawkins r
Vice Mayor Victor De Yurre
Mayor Xavier L. Suarez
NOES: None.
ABSENTS None.
COMMENTS MADE DURING ROLL CALLS
Mr. Plummer: With the full understanding that in no way will this committee
interfere with the proper authorities on an ongoing criminal investigation, I
will vote yes.
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Mrs. Kennedy: With the same provision, yes.
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COMMENTS MADE FOLLOWING ROLL CALL:
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Mr. Dawkins: Now...
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Mr. Plummer: Mr. Mayor, I'm sorry.
Mr. Dawkins: ... do we give it - I mean, or with the $25,000 they `goiag"'to
get...
Mayor Suarez: Initial budget.'
Mr. Dawkins: ... they get the legal.
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Mr. Plummer: That's initial until the Manager... `
Mr. Dawkins: I mean, but they get legal, they get legal.
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Mr. Plummer: That's up to them. OK.
Mr. Dawkins: OK, thank you, no problem.
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Mrs. Kennedy: They're going to need more.
Mr. Dawkins: Go ahead, Mr., go ahead...
Mr. Plummer. Mr. Mayor, I have to beg and I'm sorry that the Police Chief is
not here. I think this Commission needs to hear from the Manager at this
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point, what can we do to try and help out and avert a repeat tonight of the
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last two nights? Is there anything this Commission can do? The community
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leaders are here, the community leaders are not the ones who are the problem-,
They are the help to the solution. Nov, what can we do, what can the -you
know, and I'm not one who says, just throw money at the situation.. What'can
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be done, in your estimation, by this Commission, to try and help this evoni'ng?
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Mr. Odio: Well, I think and mean this sincerely, that from the very ffrst a}
moment, Commissioner, when the incident occurred, Commissioner De Yurre atldr3
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the Mayor were there. Your involvement with the community leaders ,*ad
meetings in the community, that helps quite a bit, to continue that dialogist' 4
with the community, what you're doing now - trying to send a message b k1.io
the Ovortown people and the rest of the black community that you do .csra,ea
='that we're going to do everything possible to bring to • conclusion
investigation as soon as possible. I don't know what else could be done.
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Mr. Plummer: Mr. Manager, here's my area of concern.
Mr. Odio: As far as police...
Mr. Plummer: By virtue of us meeting today, it has got to radiate that this
Commission is concerned. I'm concerned about that guy on 17th Avenue who last
night we caught selling gasoline to kids in plastic bottles. I'm concerned
that this situation, which is the fourth one I've been through, that we have
never ever had as much gunfire as what we are having this time. Does this
Commission need, or can this Commission need, an imposition that, without a
state of emergency, which I'm totally if any way opposed to and it's not
because Super Bowl, Super Bowl be damned, we're still going to be here after
and we're going to have to live with it. Are we empowered to say that the
filling stations have to close down at 6:00 o'clock, are we in the position to
may that ammunition, you know, I don't know the answer and I'm not trying to
be a know it all, but, damn, this gasoline, I have never heard so much
automatic fire that has been going on from automatic weapons. They
confiscated last night AK-47s.
INAUDIBLE COMMENTS NOT ENTERED INTO THE PUBLIC RECORD.
Mr. Plummer: Excuse me? Excuse me, Reverend, I don't know that we have that
power to do such, I'm asking. OK? I set there last night and listened to
that radio with things that you would not - I wouldn't believe.
Mayor Suarez: Mr. Manager...
Mr. Plummer: What can we do, Mr. City Attorney and Mr. City Manager?
Mayor Suarez: Any additional powers? Any additional mechanisms, any
considerations of other suggestions made previously by Commissioner Plummer or
anyone else that you...
Mr. Odio: If I may inform you, Mr. Mayor...
Mr. Plummer: Mr. Mayor, it was not conditions, I'm just trying to say what
can we do?
Mr. Odio: If I may inform you...
Mayor Suarez: No, no, provisions or ideas.
Mr. Odio: ... we had a meeting last night at 4:00 o'clock in the morning with
Fred Taylor and the County Manager, and we have agreed to sit down and review
the situation with Perry around five today. By that time we would have a feel
what was happening the community. Right now, it's very calm, there's one
minor incident that has occurred and they, at that time, were thinking if
needed, that a curfew would be set by the county but we do not feel at this
time that it's necessary and they didn't either. So, I believe the both
Police Chiefs are under control of the situation at this time and we should
let them remain in consultation to decide whether it's needed or not. We
don't want to set a curfew for the sake of setting a curfew.
Mr. Plummer: Mr. Manager, in no way that you've seen and I've talked with
both last evening, what I want this Commission to interfere with the
professionalism of either Chief. But the community is looking to us, us, the
elected officials and I'm asking you, is there anything that we can do to help
alleviate the problem?_
Mr. Odio: I say at this time that you have done plenty, that we should wait
and keep monitoring the situation this afternoon and if need be, I have been
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in touch with all of you and we remain doing so and to trust that the both,"
like I said, the information we're gathering and that we should have together
by 5:00 would be sufficient to them make a determination on what action should
be taken at the time, if any.
Mr. Plummer: OK.
Mr. Dawkins: No, Mr...
Mayor Suarez: Commissioner Dawkins,
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42 January i8, 1900
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3 Mr. bsuktas: Mr. Plumyeer and by fellow Caftisstoasrs, last night they hit the
• flea market on SAth btrest...
1 wimetrin SPEAKERS That's what I'm here for, Commtasioner, please.
,
f Mr. Dawkins: We had a command point - Joe, how many officers did we had In
- front of there last night? I wean, I don't understand how we had... was it
before we got there, Joe, or afterward?
Lieutenant Joseph Longuaira: At the flea market?
• Mr. Dawkinss Tao. Tau know, at Zayre's there. I scan, we had...
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Lt. Longusiras Yell, there were so many people in that flea :market when we
got there, they just ran over us.
Mr. Dawkinos Oh.
Lt. Longueiras I mean, we were frustrated too.
Mr. Plummers You had the roving...
Mr. Dawkins: OK, all right, so it was in operation before we set up. I mean,
It was done before we set up a command point there. Is that right?
Lt. Longuarias Yes, yes.
Mr. Dawkins: OK, thank you.
'UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: OK, that's what I, excuse...
Mayor Suarez: OK, no, sir, no, sir. We were impaneled today, this
Commission, in a special session was called for purposes stated in my memo to
the Commission - thank you - and we have now exhausted those deliberations.
Vo've acted on that. Each one of you who have concerns about things that
slight happen tonight are encouraged to do as you've been doing and My
particular office is available, as I know each Commissioner is, for further,
consultation ideas. If your particular shop was looted or you have concerns
for tonight, please don't hesitate, I'll be upstairs and I think each
Commissioner will be available but as of now, otherwise this Commission is