Eugene Flinn the "Personal Side"

Eugene Flinn has led the Palmetto Bay Council and the community in its formative years. He has taken on Miami-Dade County and now looks forward to bringing his experience to work to change how Miami-Dade County works. A short list is provided below of municipal team successes:

• The creation of a transparent and efficient government, a government that has saved revenue and acquired grants together totaling nearly $18 million dollars in the first seven years of village existence for use in village capital improvements. A village well-positioned to properly respond to the recently approved property tax reforms and moving to an entirely new level of accountability, public participation, and transparency.
  
  
• This transparency has included a vibrant personal and official village web site where important information is maintained for 24/7 viewing. Complete village proposed budgets are posted online. The Village maintains an after-hours "Duty phone" where any member of the public can reach a live village staffer for public work, code enforcement, and other non-police issues, as well as pioneering "E-Gov" where inquiries can be made and answers are available online 24/7. Weekly police activity summaries are posted each week on the official Palmetto Bay web site.
  
  
• Mayor Flinn has taken full advantage of the current technologies and was one of the first elected officials to regularly send out an electronic newsletter to residents and continues to do so even after he had Palmetto Bay start and send its own official e-newsletter, known as "E-currents." He is also active on his personal web site, Facebook and Twitter.
  
  
• Commitment to quality parks and green space, as being essential to the community well-being. Mayor Flinn has worked hard to improve the quality of life, including a well-supported initiative to create the "Village of Parks" in part through acquiring new village parks and working to improve existing parks. He sponsored changes to the village development plan requiring inclusion of green space in any village mixed-use development districts.
  
  
• Working with the village council to set up a public works program of Village of Palmetto Bay beautification, improved drainage, traffic calming, and street resurfacing.
  
  
• Working with neighboring officials to create government reform legislation " the -anti-shake down- zoning ordinance developed concurrently with the Mayor of Cutler Bay" requiring public disclosure of any attempts to solicit or receipt/payment of actual gifts or payoffs to individuals or groups in exchange for support or silence on zoning issues. This ordinance has been adopted by other Miami-Dade municipalities.
  
  
• He is particularly proud of several initiatives he has sponsored that greatly improve the quality of life for all residents of Palmetto Bay. He is a smart growth advocate, but opposes any high density growth that would negatively impact upon existing single family home areas. He sponsored many ordinances that were enacted by the Council, including those to protect children from registered sex offenders, provide an extra homeowner exemption on property taxes to qualified low-income individuals over the age of 65, and an Ordinance strengthening the lobbyist registration process. Mayor Flinn has also advocated before the Board of County Commissioners, Tallahassee, and in Washington DC on issues that affect our quality of life. Mayor Flinn, and the entire council, have been extremely active in Tallahassee and DC on issues including:
  
  
• Promoting smart growth and protecting of our environment. Mayor Flinn and the Council were one of the first to pass resolutions in opposition to SB 360, a law Mayor Flinn believes guts growth management in the name of illusory short term gain. Palmetto Bay, under Mayor Flinn's sponsorship, has joined the Weston lawsuit to strike down SB 360.
  
  
• Additional safety for our school children in seeking state ban of use of cell phones in school speed zones in 1997 and sponsoring another resolution in 2009 seeking a ban of texting while driving in school zones.
  
  
• Protecting our children's safety and peace of mind through promotion of actual physical and cyber anti-bullying legislation.
  
  
• Fighting for full funding of Florida's important environmental programs such as funding for Florida Forever and Open Space Florida Forever Program.
  
  
• Fighting unfunded mandates from Tallahassee that unfairly shift costs to the local taxpayers.
  
  
• Seeking real solutions to our Florida Windstorm Insurance crisis. Taking on issues including:Ending the arbitrary line that discriminates against residents living east of US1.