\u201cTime to Go!\u201d<\/p>\n
Those were Key Biscayne Mayor Joe Rasco\u2019s final words to sign off Tuesday night\u2019s Village Council meeting, the last such gathering he presided over during consecutive two- year terms (there is a Village workshop later this month, however).<\/p>\n
Councilman Michael Bracken led a brief standing ovation by Village officials and the audience gathered in Village Chambers.<\/p>\n
Vice Mayor Oscar Sardi\u00f1as opened the floor to thank Rasco and also Councilman Ed London, who is also termed out.<\/p>\n
Speaking to London, Sardi\u00f1as said, \u201cI learned a lot, about a lot … thank you for your service and for being a thorn in my side when I needed it,\u201d he added, jokingly.<\/p>\n
Sardi\u00f1as called Rasco an \u201cexceptional leader. I know it\u2019s been my greatest honor to sit by him to watch him lead.\u201d He added that when the community had persuaded Rasco to come back and run for the mayoral role, he did. \u201cHe\u2019s an incredible teacher, guide, friend, brother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fernando Vazquez, who is running in the Nov. 3 election with Sardi\u00f1as, told Rasco, \u201cYou\u2019ve been more than a guiding light to me,\u201d and further acknowledged London\u2019s contributions, saying that even they didn\u2019t agree on things sometimes, \u201cat the end of the day, you showed your wisdom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilman Frank Caplan said Rasco has shown the \u201csame steady hand\u201d as he did at the onset of the Village\u2019s incorporation, always seemingly seeing \u201cthrough the fog where you always have and shine the light where (we needed it).\u201d<\/p>\n
London joked that as much as he questioned on the dais, he goes home and is \u201cquestioned all over again\u201d by his loving wife, Claire. \u201cI\u2019m humbled, I\u2019m honored to have served,\u201d said London, who said he\u2019s heard that some people think of him at times as \u201cdisruptive, overbearing, a few other things, aggressive. … Do you have any idea what it feels like to lose every vote 6-1?\u201d<\/p>\n
He thanked everyone who has made his 20 years (three occasions) possible on Council.<\/p>\n
Numerous other speakers during the public comments, including Gene Stearns, Luis de la Cruz, future Mayor Brett Moss, Louisa Conway and former Fire Chief Eric Lang (who brought two thin-crust pizzas just the way London likes it with onion, Mozzarella and jalape\u00f1os) also thanked Rasco, London, and both Sardi\u00f1as and Vazquez (in case they are not re-elected) for their service to the community.<\/p>\n
Michele Estevez, a longtime community leader and the voice of the Fourth of July Parade Committee, presented a \u201cblue heart\u201d to Rasco and London, praising them for all they have done to keep the Village the paradise that it was intended to be.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Michele Estevez presenting her a \u201cblue heart\u201d to Rasco and London.<\/p>\n
Stearns said, \u201cAnyone who says this is a thankless job is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
He praised Rasco for constantly creating a consensus after \u201clistening to people scream at you, giving you good ideas and bad ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stearns also praised London, saying despite not agreeing with him on everything, \u201cOne thing we do agree on is the love for this community. I think you have been a perfect gentleman, sometimes alone (in a vote), but I think you\u2019ve been an extraordinary gift to Key Biscayne. … It\u2019s hard not to be proud of what you and Joe have done.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of the evening, Mayor Rasco departed from his traditional saying, \u201cAnything else for the good of the order? We\u2019re adjourned,\u201d and instead closed it out succinctly and shared a warm hug with London on the dais.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cTime to Go!\u201d Those were Key Biscayne Mayor Joe Rasco\u2019s final words to sign off Tuesday night\u2019s Village…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[25534,2161,13542,126,140491,25533,123,125,124,127],"class_list":["post-438231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-ed-london","tag-government","tag-joe-rasco","tag-key-biscayne","tag-key-biscayne-village-council-members","tag-mayor-joe-rasco","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-village-council"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}