Roger M Craver

1000 Venetian Way #804

Miami, Florida 33139

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

The Commissioners
The City of Miami
3500 Pan American Drive
Miami, Florida 33133
Dear Commissioners:
I am one of the litigants in the case against the City regarding the Flagstone
development on Watson Island.
This letter serves to remind the Commission of four instances in the last
several years when the Office of the City Attorney has withheld material
information from the Commission.
(By the way, I am not referring to the separate issue of the Office of the City
Attorney habitually violating Florida Public Records law. As a result, we
litigants and the City itself have needlessly spent hundreds of thousands of
dollars in legal costs battling in the courts over access.)
The first example goes to the heart of your roles as Commissioners where
information you were required by law to have was deliberately withheld. In
short the Commission were forced to vote without the information they
deserved.
Specifically, on May 8. 2014, the Commission voted to modify the lease with
Flagstone, the developer of a mega-project on Watson Island. At the time,
the lease required a minimum annual rent payment of $2 million which had
been set 10 years earlier in 2004. At the time of the 2014 vote, although
the City Attorneys office had in its files an appraisal from 2013, and
another which at least DREAM had in its files since April, 2014 that showed
the annual rental value as $7.2 million.

PAGE TWO

All of these appraisals were not provided to the Commissioners. As you know,
the City Charter requires that [The city commission is prohibited from
favorably considering any sale or lease of property owned by the city unless
there is a return to the city of fair market value under such proposed sale or
lease.
The second reminder is that in July 2014, the Commission held a hearing on
whether Flagstone has properly met its June 2nd deadline to commence
construction of its marina. At this hearing, the City Attorneys office, to put it
charitably, forgot to mention to the Commission that the City had not issued a
permit for the construction a specific requirement before commencing
construction. That omission was material.
The third reminder came to light because of Section 119 of the Florida
Statutes. Because the City Attorney did not comply with the Public Records
request from May 5, on August 15, one of my neighbors went to court to
obtain a copy of the permit. At a hearing on September 5, Judge Trawick
ordered the City to provide all permits and other records. The city did not do
so. Six months later, in March of 2015 a copy of the permit mysteriously
arrived at our attorneys office.
We have evidence subsequently received through court order that the City
knowingly and with intent stopped producing current emails and records
dating from May 5, until ordered by the court. Ms. Mendez participated in that
delay, postponing a meeting requested by the Office of Communications and
other city officials seeking to respond to the public records requests in a
timely manner. Id be pleased to provide the written record for that period if
that would be helpful.
Even worse, the permit that was eventually delivered was dated August 15
60+ days after the date Flagstone was legally required to commence
construction. Let me repeat that: August 15th, not June 2nd as required by
law. We sought an immediate hearing to seek a contempt citation. Though
the Judge issued a show cause order to the City, he ultimately did not
sanction the City, but suggested that we consider pursuing various perjury
actions with the State Attorney.
When the Commission voted to amend the lease in May of 2014, the Office of
the City Attorney stated at the time that if the Commission didnt vote for the
modification, the City would be in breach and liable for a payment to the
developer.

PAGE THREE

The Assistant City Attorney said she had documented evidence to support a
potential claim of $58 million.
However, the Assistant City Attorney did not inform the Commission that the
evidence to which she was referring was only an unsubstantiated twoparagraph letter from the developers accountant, evidencing that the City did
not have documented evidence.
Nor did the Assistant City Attorney inform the Commission that from
2012 to and including the day of the Commission vote, the developer
had been in breach of his contract as determined by the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection.
The fourth reminder also stems from May, 2014. Then Deputy City Manager
Alice Bravo, made a presentation to the Florida Cabinet acting as Trustee for
Watson Island. Having been alerted that questions would be raised about the
absence of a legally required traffic study, Ms. Bravo stated that she indeed
had a traffic study and that it met all requirements.
BUT there were three problems with what Ms. Bravo told the Cabinet.

First, that study had never been presented to the Commission before its
vote.

Second, despite regular requests, that study had never been released
as a public record.

Third, when the study was finally obtained, it unambiguously did not
meet State requirements because it did not measure potential traffic
implications on MacArthur Boulevard itself the only access and egress
from Watson Island, nor did it measure intersections in both Miami and
Miami Beach. It measured only traffic once a vehicle had exited onto
Watson Island.

Under oath in a subsequent deposition, Ms. Bravo stated that she had
received the study from Flagstones lobbyist only an hour before the Cabinets
hearing.
Problem one: she misrepresented the contents to the Florida Cabinet.
Problem two: there is no way she could have honestly said that the City had
an acceptable study when the City could not have seen it or reviewed it.

PAGE FOUR

The City Attorney was present at this Cabinet meeting, contributing

her own violation of the law in permitting that untrue statement to
stand.
Tragically from the standpoint of both Commissioners and taxpayers, The
Watson Island lease agreement is not a case of an isolated accident or
misunderstanding. I am taking the liberty of attaching a list of 37 violations
of law or process committed by the City regarding the Flagstone Development
since 2010.

There is a long pattern of abuse by the City Attorney. Her actions to distort,
disguise and deceive and disguise have led to a culture of corruption. If you
truly believe in integrity in our Citys government you will put your words into
action.

The solution is obvious.

Sincerely,

Roger M. Craver

CC: The Mayor

CC: The City Attorney