‘Not man enough?’: Bodycam shows Miami Beach commissioner’s confrontational approach

When a Miami Beach marine patrol officer was sitting in his boat near the unit’s headquarters at the Maurice Gibb Memorial Park pier late last month, he noticed something unusual on the nearby dock: Miami Beach City Commissioner David Suarez arguing with a local boater.

The officer quickly turned on his body-worn camera to capture their interaction. A second officer, who was returning from lunch, also noticed the dispute and walked over to try to intervene.

The newly released body-camera footage, which shows the freshman commissioner telling a boater he isn’t “man enough” and grilling a marine patrol officer about boating laws, is emblematic of Suarez’s confrontational approach as he pursues an ambitious agenda during his first year in office.

Since his election in November, Suarez has been relentless in his quest to crack down on people who live on boats in Biscayne Bay and to address other “quality of life” issues like homelessness — and has quickly found himself at odds both with members of the public who oppose his initiatives and with longtime city administrators he has maligned, ranging from the fire chief to the parking director.

The Jan. 25 incident at the Maurice Gibb Memorial Park pier is a stark depiction of Suarez’s willingness to butt heads with residents and city employees to achieve his goals. In the video, Suarez is seen riding a scooter and approaching Carlos Leon, who lives on a sailboat in Biscayne Bay and has led a charge against Suarez’s efforts to push live-aboards out of the waters near Miami Beach.

“You don’t want to say it? You’re not man enough to say it?” Suarez asked Leon as the video began.

Leon told the Herald that before the video started, he had exchanged words with Suarez after unexpectedly seeing the commissioner at the pier. As Suarez was walking away, Leon called the commissioner a “p----,” and Suarez came back and asked Leon to repeat it, according to Leon.

“You’re not man enough to say it again?” Suarez said, according to the video.

After a brief exchange, Suarez told Leon: “At the end of this year, you’re not gonna be living out here.”

The bodycam video, obtained by the Miami Herald through a public records request, also demonstrates Suarez’s willingness to challenge public sector employees in Miami Beach.

After the dispute with Leon, Suarez approached a marine patrol officer, Sgt. Duane Rezende, and asked if “growth” of marine life such as algae and barnacles on a boat could contribute to it being tagged as derelict. Just one day earlier, Suarez had posted a video of himself in a wetsuit, capturing footage of what he described as the “horrible” condition of boats anchored in the bay.

“I’ve been doing this 17 years. I’ve never written a ticket for growth,” Rezende told Suarez.

Suarez pushed back, saying Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials told him otherwise at a recent meeting. “That’s just coming from the lieutenant colonel himself, from FWC,” he said.

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During their 40-minute interaction, Suarez made two phone calls to FWC officers and put them on speakerphone as he sought clarification. In the second call, FWC Lt. Col. Alfredo Escanio said that while growth may be an indicator of other problems, it doesn’t necessarily mean a boat is derelict.

“Not happy with my response, [Suarez] began asking me the same question repeatedly, questioning my knowledge on derelict vessels,” Rezende later wrote in a report about the incident.

Suarez declined to comment or to answer a list of detailed questions from the Herald for this story.

‘Please manage this issue accordingly’

Suarez, 39, the marketing director for a skin care company, entered the Miami Beach political scene in 2021 as he spearheaded efforts to prevent short-term rentals in his South of Fifth neighborhood. His activism led to a ban on apartment hotels — buildings with a mix of apartment and hotel rooms — in the area and a city investigation into permitting issues.

Since his election, he has shaken up City Hall with his confrontational, hands-on style of politics.

At his first commission meeting in December, he proposed that the city remove a dock that boat dwellers rely on to get food and water at a nearby Publix, saying his goal was to cut off their access to supplies on the mainland in response to resident complaints and environmental concerns about boats anchored in Biscayne Bay. The City Commission approved the item, and the dock was removed Dec. 19.

READ MORE: Boat dwellers protest as Miami Beach shuts down dock they use to go get food

Suarez has also pushed for stricter enforcement for boaters, forwarding emails to City Manager Alina Hudak from residents complaining about “illegal charter activity,” dinghies docking to seawalls and live-aboards camping in a park near Lincoln Road.

“Please manage this issue accordingly,” Suarez told Hudak repeatedly in emails obtained by the Herald.

Such direction from a commissioner to the city manager is unusual under Miami Beach’s form of government, in which elected officials are part-time employees tasked with setting policy and typically show a level of deference to the city manager and full-time employees who run day-to-day operations.

The Miami Beach city charter doesn’t address how elected officials should engage with city staff, but the city’s independent inspector general, Joseph Centorino, has urged the city to adopt new language addressing those interactions and barring elected officials from giving orders to the manager and her employees.

Suarez has said he is seeking information and accountability, not giving orders. But his scathing criticism has rattled several city leaders — including Hudak, who said she felt “so disrespected” after Suarez blasted her performance during the December commission meeting.

READ MORE: ‘So disrespected by you’: Miami Beach city manager put on defensive by new commissioner

Suarez’s approach has also forced his fellow elected officials to walk a delicate line as they seek to support the type of tough-on-crime, quality-of-life measures that they campaigned on, while distancing themselves from Suarez’s abrasive style and fierce critiques of city staff.

Mayor Steven Meiner, who billed himself as the “law-and-order mayor” in campaign literature, has backed many of Suarez’s initiatives but criticized his actions at the December commission meeting.

“I agree with the premise that we all want things to be better,” Meiner said. “[But] on every item you’ve brought today, you’ve attacked our city manager. I don’t think that’s constructive.”

Others have applauded Suarez’s demands of the administration.

“He is really making some changes and holding people accountable in the city,” Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez said during a Feb. 1 discussion with Suarez on Facebook Live.

Suarez has publicly defended his approach by saying that the city is slow to address residents’ problems and that he was elected to hold the administration accountable in making Miami Beach safer and more peaceful — a central focus for residents in the tourist hub. Other elected officials have called for changes to city departments in recent years, lamenting red tape that makes it difficult for residents and business owners to navigate City Hall.

Suarez spelled out his viewpoint in a Jan. 3 email to a resident.

“The reason nothing changes is because the only constant through so many … elections are the city staff,” Suarez wrote. “They are your typical government bureaucrats who hold on to power by doing the bare minimum with zero accountability.

“I am doing my best to at least change our current leadership,” he added. “The light is at the end of the tunnel.”

Harsh words for city staff

Suarez’s criticism of the city administration has extended beyond the issue of boaters.

In December, when police told Suarez a pro-Palestinian protest was planned for the following day outside Art Basel, Suarez emailed Hudak to say that elected officials should have been informed sooner.

“The failure to provide us with this information when it first came to the administration’s attention is very disappointing,” he wrote. “Is there anything else that we should be aware of that you might be holding back on?”

On Feb. 1, Suarez emailed officials the results of a mold assessment he commissioned and paid for at a fire station in South Beach — an unusual step that reflects his willingness to work outside city norms and even spend his own funds on issues he’s passionate about. The report, Suarez wrote, showed that “our guys are breathing in toxins every day.”

Fire Chief Virgil Fernandez responded that morning, thanking Suarez for sharing the report and assuring him the department was looking into it.

“Virgil, spare me your sudden performative attention to detail regarding the conditions of respiratory systems at fire station No. 1,” Suarez wrote back. “In my opinion, this dereliction of duty and concern for the men and women who work under you is a stain on your overall excellent reputation.”

The next day, Suarez walked into the fire station, shirtless, and began taking photos, according to a pair of memos written later that day by firefighters to their superior. One of the firefighters, Melissa Ramirez, said she told Suarez he needed to put a shirt on.

“The man condescendingly replied that he was Commissioner David Suarez,” Ramirez wrote. “I replied back saying, ‘I understand, but you still need to put a shirt on.’ He then proceeded to leave and nothing else was said.”

The second firefighter, Eric Cento, confirmed Ramirez’s account and said he, too, told Suarez to put on a shirt.

Suarez declined to comment on the incident.

Even the city’s parking director, Monica Beltran, has faced Suarez’s disapproval. When Beltran emailed Suarez a map of the North Beach neighborhood on Dec. 4, Suarez, who is exploring a residential parking permit system in the neighborhood, said it wasn’t the map he had requested.

“I really hope this is some kind of Monday joke,” Suarez wrote, explaining what he was looking for instead.

Beltran wrote back that the map she sent was the one he had asked for. “I respect you too much to joke,” she said.

During his Feb. 1 conversation with Rosen Gonzalez on Facebook Live, Suarez was eager to affirm a resident’s displeasure over an interaction with the city’s interim facilities and fleet management director, Elizabeth Miro.

“Let me tell you, Elizabeth Miro is on my s--- list,” Suarez said.

In emails to Miro earlier this month, Suarez questioned why fountains at South Pointe Park had not been operational for two years. When Miro replied that the city is working to address plumbing issues there, Suarez fired back in an email at 1:46 a.m.

“Our residents and I do not want to be given excuses. We simply want our taxpayer funded facilities to function as intended,” he wrote. “Are you sure that you are capable of continuing to manage our Facilities Department efficiently?”

Hudak, the city manager, rushed to Miro’s defense.

“Your pattern of addressing our directors in such a disrespectful manner is fundamentally wrong,” she wrote. “Your constant demands and directives of her and others are bordering on ignoring our city charter.”

Suarez disputed that characterization, saying he was not giving demands but “simply asking for data/information from one of our directors.”

Through a city spokesperson, Hudak, Fernandez, Beltran and Miro declined to comment on their interactions with Suarez.

The spokesperson, Melissa Berthier, said in a statement that the city’s professional staff “remains committed to excellence in all aspects of serving our community and maintains the utmost respect for our elected officials, residents and stakeholders.”