A Case Study: Miami Dade County

As I stated before, it is time for New Orleans to look for a new way of doing government. The City Council passed an amendment for an Inspector General to oversee the way the city does its business, but added in that the City Council would be in charge of the Inspector General. Kind of like the inmates running the asylum or the fox in the hen house in my opinion. Councilman James Carter pulled out the "Race Card" and the whole thing broke down into a racial divide amongst the City Council.

What I am really tired of is hearing the elected officials in New Orleans use reverse racism as a way of political posturing. In order for New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana to recover, we need to set aside the race card and start working together.

My blog highlights an idea of a new Greater New Orleans municipality that would represent all of the (1.5 million) people of Orleans and the surrounding parishes. We all need to be able to come together and have a voice in rebuilding our great city. This is the way to do it. The people who live, work and are affected by the decisions of New Orleans need to have a voice in what goes on in New Orleans. We need to stop political posturing and start rebuilding lives.

Here is some information gathered from Wikipedia.org on Miami Dade County.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami-Dade_County,_Florida

Law and government
Main article: Miami-Dade county law and government

Miami-Dade County has operated under a unique metropolitan system of government, a "two-tier federation," since 1957. This was made possible when Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1956 that allowed the people of Dade County (as it was known then) to enact a home rule charter. Prior to this year, home rule did not exist in Florida, and counties were only able to exercise those powers specifically granted to them under the Florida Constitution and state law. Local laws could only be enacted by a special act of the Legislature.

Federation, not total consolidation
Unlike a consolidated city-county, where the city and county governments merge into a single entity, these two entities remain separate. Instead there are two "tiers", or levels, of government: city and county. There are 35 municipalites in the county, the City of Miami being the largest.
Cities are the "lower tier" of local government, providing police and fire protection, zoning and code enforcement, and other typical city services within their jurisdiction. These services are paid for by city taxes. The County is the "upper tier", and it provides services of a metropolitan nature, such as emergency management, airport and seaport operations, public housing and health care services, transportation, environmental services, solid waste disposal etc. These are funded by county taxes, which are assessed on all incorporated and unincorporated areas.
Of the county's 2.2 million total residents (as of 2000), approximately 52% live in unincorporated areas, the majority of which are heavily urbanized. These residents are part of the Unincorporated Municipal Services Area (UMSA). For these residents, the County fills the role of both lower- and upper-tier government, the County Commission acting as their lower-tier municipal representative body. Residents within UMSA pay an UMSA tax, equivalent to a city tax, which is used to provide County residents with equivalent city services (police, fire, zoning, water and sewer, etc.). Residents of incorporated areas do not pay UMSA tax.

Structure of county government
The Executive Mayor of Miami-Dade County is elected countywide to serve a four-year term. The Mayor is not a member of the County Commission. The Mayor appoints a County Manager, with approval and consent of the Board of County Commissioners, to oversee the operations of the County Departments. The Mayor has veto power over the Commission. The current mayor is Cuban-born Carlos Alvarez.
The Board of County Commissioners is the legislative body, consisting of 13 members elected from single-member districts. Members are elected to serve four-year terms, and elections of members are staggered. The Board chooses a Chairperson, who presides over the Commission, as well as appoints the members of its legislative committees. The Board has a wide array of powers to enact legislation, create departments, and regulate businesses operating within the County. It also has the power to override the Mayor's veto with a two-thirds vote.
The election of Commissioners from single member districts came to be in 1992 after a group led by attorney and City of Miami Commissioner Arthur Teele, Jr. with the support of some African American and Hispanic civic leaders, challenged the at large election system in the courts, arguing that the present system did not allow for the election of minority commissioners, despite the fact that African American Commissioner Barbara Carey-Shuler had been elected several times. The court, under the ruling of Judge Graham, created the single member district election system. To many in the community, this was the first giant step towards a parochial system of representation, resulting in a general loss of interest on issues of regional importance and focusing instead on neighborhood issues.[citation needed]

Reorganization of constitutional officers
Florida's Constitution provides for four elected officials to oversee executive and administrative functions for each county (called "Constitutional Officers"): Sheriff, Property Appraiser, Supervisor of Elections, and Tax Collector. Each of these offices were reorganized and became subordinate County Departments. Today these positions are appointed by and report to the County Manager.
The most visible distinction between Miami-Dade and other Florida counties is the title of its law enforcement agency. It is the only county in Florida that does not have an elected sheriff, or an agency titled "Sheriff's Office." Instead the equivalent agency is known as the Miami-Dade Police Department, and its leader is known as the Metropolitan Sheriff and Director of the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Independent judiciary
The judicial offices of Clerk of the Circuit Court, State Attorney, and Public Defender are still branches of State government and are therefore independently elected and not part of County government.

Please do not be afraid to respond to these ideas. We live in a free and independent society whereby Freedom of Expression is one of our God given rights. I myself am not so naive as to think that this idea is the only way or that this will happen overnight. More than likely it will take decades to get past the divides and political posturing that keeps New Orleans from moving forward. Is this why we are called the "City that Care Forgot"? Are our elected officials too wrapped up in their own personal agendas to do the job that they are elect for and actually represent their constituents? This idea of restructuring our city government to include all of the people in and around the Greater New Orleans and the surrounding parishes just makes too much sense. Maybe this is why our elected officials do not want to discuss it.