It's Just Sort Of A Strange Looking Photograph

They were tabulating the votes in the city council chambers, the place was overflowing, standing room only. Out here in the lobby there are two big TV monitors. Since they can zoom the cameras in for nice tight shots of the goings on you actually get a better look-see than you would in the council chambers.

Years ago there were ashtrays on the backs of the chairs inside and most of the city officials smoked too. At some point they restricted audience smoking to just the rear of the room. A few years later smoking indoors was banned completely. Now if you smoke you can go through a door in the back of the room to a rooftop patio, complete with a picnic table, some chairs, and the ashtrays! If it's raining tough shit. Smokers don't count. If we did they'd figure out a way to put a TV monitor, or at least a speaker, out there.

Anyway, a few of us were sitting in the lobby keeping tabs on the vote count. One council candidate lost by only fourteen votes so there was a recount for that seat. As I looked up at the monitor the photo of me on my shirt stared straight into the lens. I thought the shot looked kind of cool. I might have looked happier if one of Wannabee Councilman Marcellus's goons hadn't beat the shit out of me at the polls a few hours earlier.

Out Of The Elevator ~ Bedlam In North Miami

I don't think this many people showed up for a North Miami City Council meeting since the council voted to raise the water bill! Not even when they voted to give themselves that ten-fold salary increase plus lifetime health insurance and a generous expense allowance.

But this wasn't a bunch of irate citizens protesting increased taxes. These people were here to make damned sure that their candidates were going to get sworn in, regardless of any traditional niceties like being residents for the required tiime before the election, or whether their supporters at the polls were intimidating voters and other candidates alike. There's some indication that some of the people aren't really legal residents either.

There's a video of the action at the polls complete with cars with out of state license plates bringing people to the polls. There are photographs of my getting attacked and beaten up by a woman at the polls because I was taking pictures. She doesn't live in the city.

The new mayor, Andre Pierre, was sworn in. Now there's some reason to believe that there were irregularities in his campaign also. The bigger problem, which is in the courts now, is a candidate for city council. There is good evidence that he hadn't lived in North Miami for the required full year before filing to run. He'd just lost a race in another city and a lot of his supporting documentation still had him listed as living in that other city.

The bottom photograph shows the other candidate, Michelle Garcia (the blonde woman),sitting with Carol Preger who lost the City Clerk race. Notice the cop? Our candidates shouldn't need police protection. We never needed it before!

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