Ken Russell
speaker
139 appearances
2 recordings
1 series
first heard Mar 2025
last heard 26 Sep
Ken Russell’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
I didn't give a shit that a government subsidized country club golf course was going to disappear and something better come of it. And I don't, you know, you may love golf, but the kids that played there weren't even allowed to sit down. It was so contaminated.
This wasn't golf versus soccer. This was how I wanted it to be a fair deal. The voters had to approve it. They did overwhelmingly. And then I had to make sure the deal had teeth. They are violating those teeth.
You tried to fire them. And now the lease is in violation of the vote we took. And if they still follow it in practice, great. But they're not. And they're undoing it. And they should be held liable for that. They should be held accountable for that. And those hundred acres of new park should still be built and finished.
I voted to fire him because he wanted to leave. I was against what was done to him, and I'm not part of the lawsuit he's brought. He's brought the lawsuit against three commissioners in the city, and in fact, I expect to be subpoenaed very soon on that case that's ongoing.
I was with that chief, but when I realized he no longer wanted to be here, the manager didn't want him to be here, the mayor didn't want him to be here, and of course, the commissioners that were trying to oust him, he wants to leave, I'll vote for him to leave. But I didn't agree, and I stated very clearly at that time, I did not agree with what was done to him.
Voting against every single thing that was being done to to to violate their First Amendment rights and to create this fictitious crackdown on code that was happening all over the city just to whitewash what they were doing to ball and chain. Did you go to the FBI?
Well, that's what I've been doing. I've literally been testifying. I've literally been subpoenaed. I've literally been in depositions.
But that was years later, after all the damage had been done. I'm not the state attorney. I did talk with the state attorney's office on public corruption. And what they interestingly say is a lot of what the city of Miami does is illegal until they vote on it. And once they vote, that makes it legal. And that's a shame.
But they won't go after elected officials unless there's some smoking gun in their hand. So my duty was to vote against bad things, vote for good things, try to make things better. And I'm very proud over eight years of the legislation I was able to pass.
Most of the environmental legislation we have in Miami now is legislation that I wrote around everything from emissions to water quality to development standards and seawalls and everything. Creating the Miami Forever Bond, $400 million to help us with storm surge and sea level rise. I had to play the game with these guys to get these things done. I don't have to play that game anymore.
I don't have to be there. It's not my goal to be a career politician in the city of Miami. I was gone. If I'm coming back as mayor, it's with bombs. I am sick of watching what they're doing, and I don't need to pass minor legislation and horse trade with these commissioners anymore. I can come in on a complete mission to revamp the system. The charter needs to be changed.
We need more commissioners. We need even your voting. We need so many things that can make the system better and attract better people to run for office.
100 percent. When we came to the I brought it two times when we came to the redistricting portion of increasing the district and the votes weren't there. There was nobody there willing to support that motion. And so I started working together with groups like Engage Miami and others to see if there's a petition that could be brought to change the charter to increase.
And that's the main way that needs to be done unless it can be done through the body. Right now they're trying to bring in real term limits. Lifetime Joe was there when I was seven years old. He's still there now after I'm gone. We don't have real term limits, and there's a commissioner now, Damian Pardo, who's trying to bring that.
If he's got the votes for it, which I doubt, the commission will pass it. It'll go on the ballot, and the voters can choose. I think he's got the votes. I hope he does, because it's the right thing. I mean, if Knockwood Manolo returns. It's the right thing for Miami, as well as all of these amendments. And so if we can blow up the city, and not in the literal way that you would like to.
But literally break the... I would not like to blow up the city.
No, if we could break the wheel that keeps turning and these same families over and over keep getting elected, we can make a system that's attractive to better candidates, to better people who would otherwise never want to be a part of this corrupt system, who would rather be entrepreneurs or artists or whatever they want to do successfully in life that doesn't involve politics.
It's not meant to be a lifetime career. Come in, do your service, make the city better, and go back to what you're doing.
To undo it and actually won that vote. We were willing to actually force them to tear down those new buildings that they have finished constructing. You didn't have the votes for that. I did. I passed it.
Yes. They undid it the next meeting. Right, so you didn't have the... No, it actually passed, and then whoever got to them and undid it. Are you saying it passed before it didn't pass?
Showing 81–100 of 139 · page 5 of 7
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