Remarks by Gerardo Vildostegui
85 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 3 of 4
- Play at 15:59
“I would happily start. It's hard for me to see who's moving there, so.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 16:10
“All right. Please start the timer now, though. All right. What I would like to say, first of all, because it gets bandied around a lot, the mayor throws around this number that he got $12.5 million for the town. That seems to come straight from his campaign literature. It's not substantiated as far as I know. And I think if you're going to be moved by that to vote for this, we should get clear documentation of what money he's claiming. A lot of the money that we got in recent years had to do with grants that were applied for many years ago. Many people helped to get that happen, like…”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 28:02
“Well, if I may, and I want to say to you directly, Mr. Mayor, I have no animosity towards you. That was never a motive. What I what I question here primarily is that this is structural. This is institutional. The reporting requirement is a protection against anybody going to Tallahassee for reasons that are not related to the town. If you get rid of that, what's to stop somebody, anybody who has a business or another interest from going to Tallahassee and lobbying for that on the town's dime? So I'll answer that very quickly.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 28:43
“No, no, no. Listen, please. As the chair, you have given me the floor and I would like to make my comment now. You question my motive. I'm explaining...”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 29:09
“Why did you do it? You got to do it. This is not all right. The reporting requirement is to make sure that people don't do the wrong thing. And why would we get rid of that if people aren't doing the wrong thing? That's not personal, that is institutional. That is good government policy, okay? The second thing is you claimed that the calendar was transparent. I made record requests in 2023 about those trips and they came back empty. so and the the meetings don't tell you what was discussed i encourage everybody on the commission do a public record request for my memo from the safe streets…”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 31:07
“I don't know where she lives. I have no knowledge.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 40:15
“I do. Thank you. Well, I want to hear especially, Mr. Mayor, your point that this is motivated by spite fails because the Quintana Roo sister city was created, in fact, by the Burkett Commission. So the Burkett Commission repealed its own sister city. And that shows that this isn't being done out of any desire to erase. It was done out of principled reasons. And that's the proof right there that the Mexico City is on this list. principal reasons let me explain these for anyone who wasn't part of the discussion and i thank vice mayor paul for bringing the sister cities organization into the…”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 56:59
“No, I'm sorry. I'd like to speak on this item as well.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 57:06
“Wait, we haven't even had a discussion. This is important. This is important. All in favor? I'm missing submission.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 57:19
“Commissioner Weingart? Yes. Wait, there's no discussion. How can there be no discussion of an item?”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 57:30
“Point of order, I want to ask the parliamentarian. How can we have a vote without any chance for discussion? There was no opportunity. The vice mayor got a chance to speak. We should all have a right to speak. Come on, what is this? And I have facts that are relevant to the vote that need to be stated.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 57:47
“So, please, I would like a chance to speak right now.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 57:56
“Vice Mayor, can you give me a chance to speak? You know this is important to me. Vice Mayor, don't call the roll right now. I have facts to offer.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 58:51
“I do have a privilege motion then. I move to suspend the rules.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 59:00
“I think the parliamentarian, I think a motion to suspend the rules. All right.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 59:08
“No, I'm trying. who's not letting me speak.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 59:49
“No, please let me talk. Let me say something that you don't know. Vice Mayor Van Martin? Vice Mayor, please, don't do this.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 1:00:35
“Look, the discussion of the current plaque is completely not based in reality. The existing plaque recognizes Mayor Danziger and the previous commission. This vote is being based on false information. I'm trying to screen share the existing plaque. If you go and you look at it, it is- Commissioner, it's a yes or no at this point.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 1:01:06
“I'm so disappointed in those of you who called the question no. Understood.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 1:01:42
“No, these are too important to be lined together like this.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 1:01:51
“These are like six ordinances. No, this is ridiculous.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 1:01:59
“The process is discussion items. This is this is this is rushed and this is a garbage process. Understood. Commissioner Wangot.”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 1:20:26
“All right. So I think that there really isn't time to go through these issues individually. I do want to speak later to Commissioner Weingart's concerns about the office and to some of the specifics. But I'm going to take a very big picture stance here to begin. The mayor presents what's happening here with these ordinances as a simple reversion to past practice. But that's really not, I think, the right way to view this. The departure from past practice, I think happened during the Danziger term. The law stayed the same, but things happened that never happened before in Surfside. You had a…”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 2:14
“Okay, so. Point of order, could the attorney please clarify the time?”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026
- Play at 11:28
“All right. So, you know, I believe we're discussing an ethics ordinance. And I, you know, I said earlier, you don't repeal an ethics ordinance unless you're looking to do unethical things. A good starting point here. Look at the 2024 ordinance that's being repealed. Look at it in your agendas. The third whereas clause says why that ordinance was passed. It was passed in the interest of good government. If you look at the whereas clauses for the new ordinance that's being proposed today, you won't find any reason given. Even the spin doctors at the town attorney's law firm couldn't come up…”
Town Commission · Aug 6, 2026