Issues

So many issues face us. With your help, I can tackle them and we will make our community a better place. Click a below topic to read more on my platform on the issues

From the sight of construction cranes which are appearing throughout Miami-Dade County, my real estate training tells me we are beginning to pull out of The Great Recession. As we know, Miami-Dade County, as indicated by the numbers of foreclosures, and the unemployment rate, has been as hard hit as any area of the country.

As I advocated during my losing 2011 Campaign, City Manager Salerno did engage his considerable business skills, which had earned him a reputation as a premier economy improver in Sunrise, and Coral Gables, through refinancing its debt, is engaged in large scale infrastructure repair of our streets, sidewalks, buildings, and monuments. If you need work, and can help with construction, APPLY FOR WORK WITH ONE OF THE CONSTRUCTION CREWS YOU SEE IN CORAL GABLES’ STREETS!

Most of us do work other than construction, and I have been hard at work trying to improve all other aspects of the economy. Please see my detailed description, in the ECONOMY PAGE, of my “2-Point Proposal to End the Mortgage Meltdown and End The Great Recession”, as well as my 11 year long effort to rescue our Miami-Dade County “Gateway to Latin America Economy” from the damage done to it, indirectly, by the 9/11/2001 terrorists.

The economy continues to be our Number One concern, and if elected, I will dedicate myself to bringing more businesses, and jobs, to Coral Gables.

I have long been involved, since 1997, in trying to bring department stores to the downtown, to provide lateral growth in the business sector, while preserving Coral Gables' legendary, and sacred, residential charm and character.

Since my return to Coral Gables in 1998, particularly during The Housing Bubble years, I have been heavily involved in efforts to control the rise in property taxes. Thanks to then-State Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, I lucked into helping negotiate the final draft of Florida's Constitutional Amendment One, seeking to lower property taxes, approved by Florida's voters in 2008. I helped convince the Florida Senate President to add a 10% annual cap on rises in commercial property taxes. I filed a 2007 Complaint with the Miami-Dade County Inspector General's Office, still pending, alleging illegal procedures in the County Appraiser's Office's procedures for assessing property's taxable value.

I believe YOU, the taxpayer, have the right to decide where YOUR money is spent.

I have campaigned for other candidates in Coral Gables, and it is my impression that you, our taxpayers, apparently have three top priorities for the City's Budget. 1) Police, 2) Fire, and 3) santitation / trash pickup. Your Priorities for the City Budget will be my priorities!

Please let me know how you feel about this, where YOU want YOUR MONEY to be spent.

You can reach me at contact@ripholmes.com, or phone me on my cell at 305-338-5000.