The Miami Beach leg could still be the “backdoor” to a larger, more lucrative county contract

Mayor Philip Levine seems to have backpedalled some on his Loopy Loop.

Earlier this year, Levine defended his beloved train to nowhere, a stand-alone , two-mile, $245-million streetcar that would loop from 5th Street to the convention center and eventually — maybe someday — connect to BayLink or whatever connector was finally moved on by Miami-Dade County. He was hell bent on moving independently of the county and city of Miami with an accelerated bidding process that favored the most expensive firm. He led the commission in a vote to accept the “unsolicited proposal” last December. The move was criticized by many — including Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado — because it could result in the loss of state and federal funds.

Last week, however, after growing public discontent, Levine sent an email blast saying that any Beach train would only be part of a county-connecting project — one of the six corridors approved in the SMART plan is the Beach connector — and said he would hold off on final negotiations.

Read related story: Forum on controversial Beach ‘train to nowhere’

“We will not sign any agreement that commits financial resources to the plan until we have full commitments from Miami-Dade County that they are willing partners in this endeavor and that they are fully committed to a real connection,” he wrote. “This is instrumental, as our taxpayers alone should not bear the full responsibility of building a rail corridor that connects Miami Beach to the City of Miami. But, we know that for it to be a successful system, connectivity throughout Miami Beach and key points in Miami are essential.

“We cannot allow ‘grandstanding’ for political ‘points’ to slow down the progress that we’ve made. This is why my commitment to you remains unchanged. I will ensure that a transparent process through open dialogue continues and that ZERO tax dollars are committed until we have the full support from our local, state and federal partners and then and ONLY then will this vision be brought back to the commission for their consideration.”

Instead of a vote on any agreement, Levine is now presenting a resolution to the commission Wednesday that puts the brakes on the Loopy Loop and also calls for a voter referendum to approve any final contract. 

But this about face doesn’t come out of the blue. Levine can read poll results.

Some voters in Miami Beach received a phone call for a poll earlier this month. They were asked between 10 and 15 questions about the train before they were asked the favorability of several Beach politcos (more on that later). It was an obvious push poll, two residents said, with each question placing the train “in the best possible light.” But we know it didn’t work. Because the result is that Levine is now backing off.

But not really.

The resolution Levine is putting before the commission on Wednesday will only put negotiations on hold. It doesn’t scrap the project to start the process again. It doesn’t throw the train out altogether. It simply “parks” the negotiations until the county moves forward with its part of the formula — or until after the elections next year, whichever comes first.

Because Levine doesn’t want the train to be a campaign issue. If what we’ve seen at public meetings is true, Ladra imagines it polled very badly. Candidates attached to the train — such as Levine or Commissioner Ricky Arriola, who is widely believed would stand in for the mayor should Levine seek higher office — could be more easily challenged with that albatross around their necks. Especially by someone like Comissioner Michael Grieco, pictured left, who is widely rumored to be eyeing the mayor’s seat (more on that later) and whose profile has been growing as he distances himself from his onetime ally. Grieco blasted the mayor for inviting the Cuban government to open a consular office in Miami Beach. And last week, Grieco blasted the train to nowhere in an op-ed piece in The Miami Herald. In fact, he’s not even sure that a train is needed at all, even as part of a BayLink.

So, Levine slowing down on the train track is not him coming to his senses, folks. It’s strategic. And the mayor has every intention of bringing the wireless light rail streetcar back.

He owes it to Alex Heckler, pictured right, a lobbyist who has raised money for him and who represents the Greater Miami Tramlink Partners led by Alstom, the troubled vendor chosen after a trip to France. Heckler also raised money for Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez with Levine in the last election cycle. Why is Gimenez important in this story? For the same reason the streetcar is coming back: Because this Miami Beach deal is a back door to the county part of this project, which will cost millions more. If the Beach branch of the BayLink connector is already in the works when the county awards its own contract, points can be awarded to the contractor who has “shovels in the ground” and/or the county can piggy back on the existing contract, advocating for the same system to be used throughout because this vendor — who might otherwise be the least qualified and most expensive — has a unique criteria that the others don’t: They are already here.

Read related story: Uber as public transit is a bad, temporary bandaid

Plus, guess what? The Alstom systems are not interoperable with others. They have some kind of proprietary secret GPS mechanism that they don’t share with other operators either. So, doesn’t that mean that if they get the Beach contract, they would have to get the county contract if we want them to work together? Sure sounds like it.

In fact, there are all kinds of red flags on the selection or recommendation of Tramlink/Alstom that perhaps should be investigated. In a bid protest letter sent to City Manager Jimmy Morales in July, Mark Stempler, an attorney representing a competing proposal from Connect Miami Beach, says that the Tramlink Partners plan should not have been given top ranking because it deviates from the Beach’s own procurement requirements in several ways: 

• It fails to satisfy a “critical requirement that the proposed “Vehicle/Systems Technology” will be interoperable with the Direct Connect Project (read: no guarantee it can connect to the mainland branch).
• It fails to demonstrate that it could even deliver, based on the fact that the proposed streetcars and ground power supply systems that Alstom has used in Europe have NOT been certified to operate in the U.S.
• It fails to meet the city’s stated standards for “character, integrity, reputation or judgment,” based on the City’s finding of “prior admissions of misconduct” by one of the GMTP team members stemming from bribery and corruption charges, including the payment of a then-record $772 million dollar fine to the U.S. Government.

The gist is that these irregularities in applying the same standards to all gave Tramlink Partners and Alstom a greater advantage. Especially with the character flaw one. Because unproven corruption allegations were noted in the case of partners with Connect Miami Beach — but the proven charges against Alstom seemed to be okay. 

In fact, the city may be wiser to go with Connect Miami Beach, the second ranked firm. Particularly after they pointed out last week, in a Dec. 7 letter to Morales, that the $245-million pricetag is much higher than the price on its comparable projects — at $107 million per mile rather than the $45-$55 million per mile quoted for projects in Cincinnatti, Kansas and Milwaukee.

That’s twice as expensive. Is it because of Mr. Heckler’s fee? Or are there other people getting paid off along the route?

After returning from his vacation with fellow totalitarians Fidel and Raul Castro, Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine wants to invite his new friends back home for a barbarian barbecue. So he’s floating the idea of opening a Cuban consulate office in his city.

Some people are not so eager to welcome that.

There was a small protest last week in front of City Hall. Commissioner Michael Grieco has proposed a resolution to oppose the consulate (more on that later). Even former Commissioner Jonah Wolfson, a onetime Levine ally, has gone on the airwaves and local TV to blast the idea. And there will likely be a lively discussion tonight at the meeting of the city’s Hispanic Affairs Committee.

“The Cuban-exile community has been an important part of Miami Beach’s success and identity. As such, the opinions of the Cuban community should be considered and respected when forming an official position on such a sensitive matter,” said committee chairman Alex Fernandez.

“As a son and a grandson to Cubans who lost everything while fleeing their country, I have a very strong personal opinion on whether a Cuban consulate should be welcomed in Miami Beach. However, as an appointed member to this committee, it is my duty to ensure that my vote properly represents the opinion of you – the community – not myself,” Fernandez said in a statement.

“This is a decision we need to make together as a community,” Fernandez told Ladra, adding that he knows full well how difficult it will be to represent everybody.

“I empathize and join in solidarity and demand the respect of the Cuban exile community that lost everything to the Cuban Castro regime and that suffered a significant loss of loved ones,” Fernandez said. “I also think we need to listen to those who are separated from their family and would like to visit their family on the island.

“We are grateful that we can have a diversity of opinion here, whereas in Cuba you cannot,” he said. “We need to give those poeple in Cuba the example that as Cuban Americans we are able under the rights guaranteed to us to be at the table and come to an agreement on how we can move forward on such a delicate issue.”

Former Mayor Matti Herrera Bower went on Radio Mambi Monday morning to urge people to go to the meeting and voice their opinion. “If it’s going to be done, it should not be done without the public’s input,” she said.

“I would have never done that and it looks like a slap in the face to the Cuban community that has suffered so much. But if people do not express themselves then it looks like it was well done. What we need is for people who are against it to speak,” Bower said.

“There are people who have suffered who have lost so much. Some of them have been jailed,” Bower said. “The president expects changes in Cuba. We should wait until those changes come, until there are human rights in Cuba, and then open the consulate.”

But then Miami Beach might have more competition. Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado has already soundly rejected any kind of Cuban consulate in his city, and we assume it is until there are real democratic changes in the island country he fled as a Pedro Pan child.

The Miami Beach Hispanic Affairs committee meeting is at 6:30 p.m. today at City Hall, 1700 Convention Center Drive.

What they should also take up is how Levine and Miami Beach Commissioner Ricky Arriola — both of whom were elected with a lot of Cuban American senior support — went to Cuba without the approval or even prior knowledge of the rest of the commission, becoming the first elected officials from the 305 to do so in more than 50 years.

They didn’t go as private citizens. They went as Miami Beach electeds riding Obama’s tyranny train. Although they were not part of the official POTUS trip, they timed it so it would look that way and Levine — who obviously has political aspirations beyond the Beach and is rumored to be eyeing the Governor’s mansion — gave multiple TV and radio and print interviews.

The two — who were followed around by their political consultant, Christian Ulvert — were ferried about by government officials and treated like dignitaries. They got government-run tours and practiced tai-chi in Revolutionary Square. They got official gifts and returned the favor with a commemorative Miami Beach coin of their own.

They had a sit-down, face-to-face interview with senior KGB-trained Cuban spy Gustavo Machin.

It’s as if Levine was really at home in the oppressive regime that is Havana.  No wonder he wants to bring a bit of Havana home with him.