Kevin Burns - Haiti Observer Blog

Can a White Man Win in Haitian-Dominated North Miami? Two-time former North Miami mayor (2005 and 2007) Kevin

Burns is doggedly trying to beat out Dr. Smith Joseph in a second runoff race for a third term as the city's mayor. Unfortunately for Burns, he happens to be white, and the black electorate makes up 59% of North Miami (35% Haitian-American) citizens. Last year, 2013, Burns faced black candidate Dr. Smith Joseph and Haitian-American Lucille Tondreau in a mayoral special election. He pushed Joseph out of the race and entered a runoff against Tondreau, who defeated him with 56% of the vote.

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It is always good to ask questions and this particular questions is being discussed in many Haitian barber shops and parks where Haitians are gathered to play Dominos.

Just a quick history on the situation of North Miami Mayor Lucie Tondreau. Following her election as the new Mayor of North Miami this year, the election was contested by former mayor Kevin Burns, a former mayor himself but not of Haitian descent, on the ground that Lucie Tondreau did not meet residency requirement to run for office.

There is another level to the story. According to some of the supporters of Mayor Lucie Tondreau another former mayoral candidate, Dr. Smith Joseph, who happens to be Haitian-American, is also collaborating with the non Haitian-American Kevin Burns to remove Mayor Lucie Tondreau from office.

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Civic leader and Haitian-American, Lucie Tondreau, has become North Miami's first female mayor. She beat incumbent Kevin Burns with nearly two-thirds of the vote, in an uncontested election.

Seven-year old Lucie and her family escaped Haiti in 1967 during the violent dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier. They relocated to Montréal where Lucie grew up. After traveling in the Caribbean and Africa, Lucie returned to New York and worked as a journalist, becoming deeply involved in the Haitian Diaspora community. She hosted both her own television and radio programs, and wrote on Diaspora issues.

Lucie eventually realized she could be of more service to Haitians arriving in Miami, who needed help assimilating. She re-settled permanently in Miami, and became a champion for voting and human rights issues. She also participated in delivering aid support to survivors when natural disasters occurred in Miami (a hurricane) and Haiti (the earthquake), in 2005 and 2010.

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The amusing lively election in North Miami have failed to reach a conclusion. With 23 out of 30 districts reporting, the 2 council elections and the Mayoral election are now headed towards inconclusive results and none of the candidates have received 50% votes. The report was unofficial.

Kevin Burns and Lucie Tondreau were competing for the Mayor's office. Kevin, who was formerly a mayor of North Miami, received 33.2% votes while Lucie, an activist of Haitian community, received 27.5% votes.

For the council election in District two, the two competitors were Carol Keys who captured 49.5 % votes and Mary Irvin who captured a modest 26.4% of the votes. Philippe Bien-Aime, a new face in politics, captured 41.3% of the total votes while the opponent - the former councilman of the city, Jacques Despinosse managed to bag a mere 27.4% of the total votes.

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