When most citizens have a problem with the county government they maybe write their commissioner, show up at a meeting or leave an angry comment with The Miami Herald. Not Norman Braman. The billionaire is once again throwing his over-sized wealth and influence around and is launching a recall effort against Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez. Braman's latest efforts come after Alvarez supported a property tax rate hike in order to bridge the gap in next fiscal year's budget.
"Mayor Alvarez was responsible for presenting a budget to the Miami-Dade Commission that reduces by only 1 percent the current operating budget and at the same time calls for a major increase in the real estate millage tax," Braman said according to The Herald. "This outrageous tax increase has been enacted while citizens are suffering."
Braman, who has a net worth of about $1.5 billion and according to the latest Forbes 400 is the 269th richest person in America, is no stranger to leading massive efforts in local politics. Back in the early '80s the former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles led a successful campaign to derail plans to refurbish the Orange Bowl so that the Dolphins could continue playing at the historic stadium. Recently, he led less successful attempts to derail a plan to build the Marlins Stadium on the Orange Bowl site and to curb publicly funded development in downtown.
Braman had previously threatened to also start recall petitions against any commissioner who voted for the tax hikes but says he's not moving forward with those plans yet.
