A West Dade homeowners' group requested Tuesday that Dade County School Board members Frederica Wilson and Rosa Castro Feinberg abstain from today's vote on proposed sites for a new elementary school for Doral Park children. Representatives of the West Dade Federation of Homeowner Associations cited a "potential conflict of interest" if Castro Feinberg and Wilson voted, because the two serve on the board of directors of the nonprofit ARISE Foundation. Neither board member said she planned to refuse herself.

ARISE, led by environmentalist Edmund Benson, has led opposition to a school site in Doral Park that lies within a three-mile radius of a county incinerator, medical waste incinerator and two landfills.

The West Dade Federation has repeatedly insisted that the air quality in Doral is safe for a school, while Benson has warned the area is not a healthy environment for children.

Board members will vote today on alternative sites in Miami Springs, to which West Dade children would be bused if the Doral Park site is rejected.

In a letter to the school board, federation members criticized Benson for accepting contributions to his nonprofit foundation from Montenay International, the parent company of Montenay Power Corp., which operates the county incinerator at 6990 NW 97th Ave. "At the very least, (Castro Feinberg and Wilson's) undisclosed participation in the ARISE Foundation, coupled with the Foundation's undisclosed links to the waste-disposal industry in Dade County, creates the appearance of impropriety which violates the spirit if not the letter of the Florida Code of Ethics...," wrote Jim O'Connell and David DeMaio, federation members.

"That's ridiculous," replied Castro Feinberg, who said she sits on several nonprofit boards and has never abstained from voting on issues that would affect the organizations but not her personally. "What does one more public service commitment have to do with whether I should vote on something?"

Benson maintains that the board members' and Montenay's participation in ARISE was never secret. He disclosed both in his nonprofit tax filings, available for public inspection. Wilson and Feinberg have attended events sponsored by ARISE.

Wilson said she would abstain only if asked to do so by school board attorney Phyllis Douglas. Douglas, who hadn't seen the letter faxed to the board, said she didn't see the vote as a conflict of interest, because neither member would receive financial or personal gain from voting on the issue. Said Wilson: "I would hate not to be able to vote, because I feel so strongly about the children inhaling filth all day. I'm still new at this and I don't know what constitutes a conflict of interest."

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