Just as Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine is ramping up his campaign for governor, here comes the bad news about his mayoral record. It was bound to happen -- Levine is a strong personality looking to swell his public profile and on the whole city residents are decidedly unhappy.
Levine’s career has been described by many as “rule by executive order,” by a man trying to make headlines and aspiring to have the name "Levine" in big national newspapers like the New York Times and the Washington Post.
But the mayor has made more headlines for failed projects, shadowy PACs, unpopular building proposals and generally just squandering taxpayer money.
One of Levine's biggest problems during his time as mayor has been his “train to nowhere” -- a standalone, $245 million streetcar which would loop around the city and possibly (but not definitively) connect to some other train Miami-Dade would agree on.
According to the Miami Herald, out of Miami Beach’s 90,000 residents and 20,000 hotel rooms packed with visitors, only about 7,000 trips are made each day on the city’s trolley system.
Despite the small numbers, Levine and the city decided to move ahead with the proposal, spending $10 million on environmental studies for a light rail train. Voters in Miami Beach vehemently opposed the train, which would have taken up two lanes of traffic in an already congested part of town.
The project itself would have cost $245 million and required another $22 million a year in upkeep.
Many residents said the plan wasn’t a novel idea to better the city, but a suggestion on how to better the financial interests of one of Levine's elite friends, real estate developer Russel Galbut -- a recurring theme in Levine's mayorship.
Miami Beach residents said the “train to nowhere” was part of an effort to up-zone a property for Galbut on Alton Road so he could personally benefit and make money off the deal.
Local website Political Cortadito said Levine and the train were chugging along, full speed ahead, until their December 2016 poll came out.
Voters were asked by phone about the train, with many questions attempting to frame the light rail in a positive way. The results must not have been good, though -- or Levine didn’t want the train to become a campaign issue -- because shortly thereafter, he pumped the brakes on the plan.
The "train to nowhere" wasn't even Levine's most controversial move. Even more alarming was his 2015 "Relentless for Progress" initiative, which revolves around a political committee with his career ambitions at the helm.
Sources told Sunshine State News "Relentless for Progress" involved Levine calling up anyone doing business with the city of Miami Beach and shaking them down for money.
Any company that wanted to do anything in Miami Beach had to give up cold, hard cash to the RFP PAC, they said.
Many quickly forked over the dough. In just a few months, Levine and Miami Beach Commissioner Jonah Wolfson, who started the PAC, had raised over $1 million.
The PAC used the money to run campaign ads for Levine, produced by Republican media consultant Adam Goodman.
Once Levine ran the commercials, the PAC then took out a three-page ad in the Miami Herald, attacking journalists who reported on the shady sources of the committee’s money, since most of it came from $100,000 checks from politically-connected developers and lobbyists.
After that, some say polls indicated Levine wasn’t doing so well, so the ads were cut. Wolfson abruptly shut down the PAC.
Wolfson said he returned money to contributors, but sources told SSN the leftover money was actually never returned to donors.
Critics call Levine part mob boss, part sugar "dandy" -- often seen making the Miami Beach rounds, chauffeured by drivers while flanked by bodyguards.
In 2014, Levine hired bodyguards to "protect him," with some of them reeling in city-paid salaries as high as $65,000 a year.
And that’s new for Miami Beach. The city’s last mayor, a tiny Cuban-American woman named Matti Herrera Bower, had no posse, no bodyguards, no entourage. She used to drive herself around in a Lincoln from the 1980s. Her only occasional driver was not a hired hand, but Adonis Garcia, a friend and the the local head of the firefighters' union..
Residents have not been quick to jump onboard with Levine’s proposals since he was reelected. In fact, they’ve firmly rejected virtually all of his suggestions.
Developers and Miami Beach residents clashed over a proposed redevelopment which would have put a massive condo over Ocean Terrace. Citizens criticized the project because the two developers behind it, Sandor Scher and Alex Blavatnik, had been big Levine donors.
Blavatnik gave $200,000 to the RFP and his company, Saxony Beach, donated $100,000 shortly thereafter, the Miami New Times reported. Residents eventually voted down the proposal.
Levine also tried and failed to convince voters to put a Cuban Consulate in Miami Beach, an idea which caused controversy in a city with a high Cuban-American population.
Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado, whose father was imprisoned as a journalist for 20 years under the Castro Regime, rejected the idea outright.
"I think it's a bad idea," he said. "I think it creates problems more than bring revenues to the city."
Levine’s problems have only seemed to snowball in recent months. Now he doesn’t show up to City Commission meetings at all, with visions of the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee dancing in his head.
Others agreed -- but explained the Consulate wasn't Levine's only bad idea.
“Since his reelection, Levine has been unable to convince his constituents to support any of his initiatives: Ocean Terrace redevelopment, his slate of commission candidates, the convention center hotel, a Cuban Consulate, the light rail train to nowhere -- all failed,” said Levine critic Billy Corben.
Miami Beach residents, meanwhile grow unhappier than ever.
"He’s not liked by [pretty much] anybody except a small group of people," said one. "The residents and business people of Miami Beach are not pleased."
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
