Who Is Miami-Based Commissioner Joe Martinez? Facts About the Official from Miami-Dade
Joe A. Martinez, the former commissioner of the Miami-Dade Police Department, presided over an outstanding department for 17 years. Throughout the course of his career, he was awarded in excess of seventy different honors and distinctions.
In 2016, he gained reelection after having served the people who live in his district for the previous four years without holding any official office.
Country Walk, Hammocks, Kendale Lakes, Bent Tree, and Lakes of the Meadows are some of the unincorporated communities in West Dade that he represents in the county government.
The department honored him with the Officer of the Year Award in 1992, and the Hispanic Police Officers Association named him “Officer of the Year” on two separate occasions.
Who is Joe Martinez?
Joe A. Martinez, who is now a commissioner for Miami-Dade County, was selected to represent the people of District 11 for the first time in October of the year 2000. In the past, he served as both the vice chair and the chair of the committee for budget, planning, and sustainability.
In addition to that, he will preside over the Public Safety Committee as its chairperson going forward. In addition to that, he has served on the committees for Government Operations, Housing and Community Development, Airport, Tourism, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs, among others. The Unincorporated Municipal Services Area Committee was one of those committees.
The year 1984 marked the beginning of Commissioner Martinez’s career in public service, which he began by joining the Miami-Dade Police Department as a patrol officer.
Between the years 1988 and 1992, he worked as an investigator for the General Investigations Unit and worked his way up through the ranks. After that, he rose through the ranks, becoming a police sergeant, then a police master sergeant, and finally a police lieutenant.
Joe Martinez: Who Is He?
An extensive investigation into allegations of public official misconduct revealed that Joe Martinez, a commissioner for Miami-Dade County, is suspected of having accepted a bribe in the amount of $15,000 while serving in his official capacity. On Tuesday, the man, who is 64 years old, turned himself in to the authorities in Florida, according to his attorney. Martinez was suspected of receiving bribes from the proprietor of a grocery store in order to sponsor legislation that would have reduced the number of citations for storage infractions issued to the business. This accusation was included in a warrant for Martinez’s arrest. Martinez had previously criticized the probe, which began in 2017 after receiving a tip from an unknown source, as being “politically driven.” On Tuesday, he was arrested and booked into jail on two felony counts of unlawful compensation and one count of conspiracy to commit unlawful compensation. Before being released on bond, he was incarcerated for around five hours. “The prospect of a public official soliciting funds to benefit himself or his business associates is both illegal and offensive,” said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle in a news conference. “The prospect of a public official soliciting funds to benefit himself or his business associates is both illegal and offensive.” “There are a lot of decent people that put in a lot of effort in the government, and they respect and honor the trust that the public places in them.”
The Arrest Case Of The Miami Commissioner
On Tuesday morning, Joe Martinez surrendered himself to the authorities in the midst of an ongoing investigation into corruption. Martinez was observed entering the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center at 9:15 a.m., approximately 15 minutes before he was brought into the jail.
According to the records kept at the detention facility, he is suspected of accepting illegitimate compensation and of conspiring to get such compensation. His bond was set at $12,500.
Later on Tuesday, Martinez was scheduled to appear in bail court. Once there, however, the judge found out that he had already posted bond. After some time had passed, he was eventually granted his freedom and released from jail.
According to the statement, the allegations are “based on false claims stemming from his private practice career as a consultant while he was a private individual and not an elected official.” This information is based on the fact that the defendant was a private individual at the time the allegations were made.
However, the charges are connected to money that Martinez is alleged to have collected in exchange for his assistance in resolving a disagreement over cargo storage containers between the owner of a local supermarket and the owner of the property where the containers were stored.
On November 6, 2012, Juan C. Zapata was elected as a Commissioner on the Board of County Commissioners for Miami-Dade County, making him the first Colombian-American to hold this position.
Zapata has been a resident of West Miami-Dade since 1977. He has built a reputation for his dedication to the neighborhood in which he lives, which led to his election to the West Kendall Community Council in 1996 and then to the State Legislature in 2002. In that same year, Juan C. Zapata made history by becoming the first Colombian-American to be elected to the state legislature of Florida. After then, he won re-election a total of three times.
During the eight years that Zapata served as a member of the Florida State Legislature, he was the primary sponsor of a significant number of bills that sought to advance the state’s economy, protect the rights of children and seniors, and broaden the range of health care options available to uninsured Floridians. During his time as a leader on many health and human services committees, Zapata gained extensive knowledge in the fields of health care policy and fiscal concerns. Because of the knowledge he had gained, he became a sponsor of legislation to enhance child nutrition in schools, expand access to health care, and lessen the oppressive taxes and levies imposed on homeowners.
Zapata was given places on the boards of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, the Beacon Council, and the Public Health Trust Nominating Council after he was elected Chairman of the Miami-Dade Legislative Delegation in 2008. During his unprecedented three-year tenure as Chairman of the delegation, Zapata proved that a committed leader can produce results by ushering in a new era of cooperation among legislators and locally elected officials, protecting vital infrastructure projects such as the Miami port tunnel, and defending South Florida’s public education system. Zapata also ushered in a new era of cooperation among legislators and local elected officials. Zapata also defended South Florida’s public education system.
Zapata established the non-profit 501(c)(3) organization Read 2 Succeed in order to fulfill a need in the West Miami-Dade community for free tutoring services and to supply children with books and other learning materials. This passion for education stemmed from Zapata’s realization that reading is the cornerstone of education. Read 2 Succeed was also founded by Zapata. In 1994, he established CASA, a non-profit organization with the mission of assisting other immigrants in assimilating into our society and making valuable contributions.
His record of public service includes positions on local planning and advisory bodies such as the West Kendall Community Council, which he chaired for a total of two terms. These positions were either elected or appointed by local officials. In addition to this, he served on the Miami-Dade Commission for Human Rights and presided over the Municipal Advisory Committee that was responsible for creating the first incorporation study for West Kendall. Until very recently, he presided over the Jackson Hospital Governance Taskforce in that capacity.
Throughout the years, the leadership abilities of Zapata have been sought for by a wide variety of organizations, including various national boards of elected officials. At the moment, he holds the position of Chairman of the Educational Fund for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO). In addition to that, he presided over the Board of Hispanic Caucus Chairs and the Labor and Economic Development Committee of the National Conference of State Legislators.
Zapata has been featured in national, state, and local media thanks to the breadth and depth of his expertise, as well as his unwavering dedication to the communities of South Florida, and in particular, his hometown community of West Miami-Dade. Because of his dedication to service and focus on achieving achievements, he has been awarded a number of prestigious honors and recognitions, such as Legislator of the Year awards, as well as the Order of Congress and the Great Cross Golden Plaque from the Colombian Congress.
In addition to his position as a public servant, Juan C. Zapata is also a successful businessman who specializes in the fields of real estate, advertising, and consulting services. Although he was born in Colombia, he has called Miami-Dade County, specifically the West Kendall neighborhood, home for the past more than 35 years. Zapata graduated with a degree in Finance and International Business from Florida International University. While there, he was given the Torch Award, which is the university’s highest alumni recognition, in recognition of his demonstrated dedication, proven results, and demonstrated leadership. Zapata also holds a degree in International Business.
Joe Martinez’s Wife Ana Martinez
Commissioner Martinez, who was born in Miami and received his education at Barry University, is married to Ana Martinez, who is also Martinez’s wife.
The 64-year-old individual has a sizable extended family thanks to the presence of two adult daughters, one son, two adolescents, and a grandson.
In the Instagram post that he created to commemorate his granddaughter’s birthday, Joe made a touching note. He was citing: “I’d like to wish my lovely granddaughter, who is turning 12 today, a very happy birthday! I simply cannot wait to find out what your future holds for you! More, more, more!!”
According to a post that he made on Instagram, one of his daughters, Olga Maria, was supposedly a senior in high school, and the other of his daughters, Joana, was a participant on The Voice.
“Turn on @nbctheVoice tonight to witness all of the fantastic singers and to not only find out who will win on the #Season17 finale, but I am thrilled to tell that you may see my daughter, Joana, perform one last time!”