Lines to join millionaire auto dealer Norman Braman's petition drive to recall Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez have grown so long, organizers have had to open four additional offices.
There are now six petition busy recall centers throughout Miami-Dade, three of those in Hialeah where residents are particularly disgruntled.
In Miami Lakes, the recall sentiment extends to its own government. Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi attended a Thursday rally to sign the petition and encouraged other residents to follow.
"I want to be the first mayor of Miami Dade county to officially sign my signature as Mayor of Miami Lakes to recall Carlos Alvarez because of the tax increase he is imposing," Pizzi said. "The middle class of Miami-Dade is mad as heck, and we're not going to take it anymore.''
Already angered by Alvarez' push to publicly finance the new Marlins stadium when documents later revealed the team was earning millions, Braman launched the recall after Alvarez and his commission approved a property tax increase while authorizing raises for county employees.
"I expected it to taper off each day, and it's only intensified," Braman told CBS of the outpouring. "This is what this effort is all about. It's about empowering the people of the community."
Recall organizers need 52,000 signatures by December 5 in order to force a special election. Braman was unable to give a tally to date, but with long lines winding outside current offices and the launch of recallmayoralvarez.org, he plans to exceed his goal.
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For his part, Alvarez has formed his own political action committee, hired a lawyer, and remarked pointedly that the recall effort, in his opinion, wastes valuable county resources when his final term expires in November of 2012.
But momentum appears in Braman's favor.
"We are being inundated with people who have other locations they are offering,'' he told the Miami Herald. "It's been overwhelming, absolutely overwhelming."
