Florida mayor shocks meeting attendees with 'racist' comment about Hispanic commissioner
A Florida town commissioner accused the mayor of bigotry after he suggested that she didn't understand the English language, according to a report.
Surfside mayor Shlomo Danzinger and commissioner Nelly Velasquez frequently clash during town commission meetings, but their disagreement Wednesday shocked onlookers as the mayor referenced her ethnic background when asking her not to interrupt, reported the Miami Herald.
“Does anybody know how to speak Spanish to tell it to her?” Danzinger said, as attendees audibly gasped.
Danzinger justified his comment when asked later by the newspaper about his remark.
“[I was] trying to get information clarified to the commissioner," the mayor said. “It appeared that Commissioner Velasquez was having difficulty understanding, so I thought perhaps maybe it was a language barrier.”
Velasquez told the Herald she considers the mayor's remarks to be racist, saying she was born in the U.S. and speaks English "perfectly," and she added that she feels Danzinger treats her unfairly during meetings because she's a political rival and a woman.
“It’s discrimination, and it shouldn’t be happening,” Velasquez said. “That’s just not right at any level for an elected official — especially the mayor, who’s the presiding officer — to be doing that.”
Recent meetings have been marked by clashes, and Danziger last week asked police to escort former mayor Charles Burkett from a meeting after he broke meeting rules by speaking directly to a commissioner in his public comments, and Velasquez said the mayor "shut down" her remarks at that same meeting when she criticized his relationship with a developer.
Velasquez also clashed with Danzinger at Wednesday's meeting over a proposed charter amendment that would require all commissioners to be Surfside residents, and she believes that's aimed at her because she rents an apartment in the town after selling her home there.
“This is discrimination,” Velasquez said. “What is it, because I’m Hispanic?”
One former commissioner, Surfside resident Eliana Salzhauer, agreed with Velasquez that the mayor is a "racist, homophobic misogynist with a gavel," but Danzinger insisted he wasn't.
“Ask our town manager, who I supported and entrusted our entire town’s operations to, who is Hispanic, how I feel about the Hispanic people," he said.