Letters to the Editor

Manny Losada
Miami

Schmuck Man
A few less words, a lot more meaning: Joe Geller, chairman of the Miami-Dade County Democratic Executive Committee, should have been a man of fewer words. Rather than having said, “I'm just the schmuck who takes the heat,” he more correctly should have said, “I'm just the schmuck.” Then the egomaniacal, do-nothing Joe Geller would have been correct.

Harvey Slavin
Hollywood

ERRATUM: The August 10 “Kulchur” column (“What Makes Alvaro Run?” ), by staff writer Brett Sokol, contained several reporting errors. Miami attorney Victor M. Diaz, Jr., was misidentified as a member of the Miami Beach Design Review Board. He is a member of that city's Historic Preservation Board. Neither the Design Review Board nor the Historic Preservation Board voted to deny the Miami City Ballet a certificate of occupancy, as reported in the column. At an August 1 meeting, the two boards, meeting jointly, unanimously requested that the Miami City Ballet resubmit proposed modifications to the exterior design of its new building. The ballet company's certificate of occupancy was not at issue. (Currently the Miami City Ballet operates under a temporary certificate of occupancy.)

Also the quotation from the Miami Herald attributed to Miami City Ballet board president Mike Eidson was subsequently clarified by that paper. According to the Herald, Eidson and Diaz “concur that during the [telephone] call, Diaz never threatened retaliation against the ballet himself, but only warned that others might retaliate if the ballet opposed Miami-Dade's “Cuba Affidavit' policy.”

The Citizens Accountability Network, which Alvaro Fernandez once served as president, no longer exists. It has been reconstituted under the aegis of the League of Women Voters.

Former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Joe Gersten was not the “predecessor” of former commissioner Bruce Kaplan, as reported. Kaplan's 1993 election from District 5 was the first under the county's newly created system of district voting.

Also Kaplan was not convicted of mortgage fraud as reported. As part of an April 1998 agreement with the State Attorney's Office, Kaplan pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of filing false financial disclosure forms. He also resigned from office.

New Times regrets the errors.