This time there’s an audience, pero igual
Ladra would like to congratulate the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees for finally holding a real public meeting on the Donald Trump Library land giveaway — or, as it will go down in history, The Hialeah Shuffle.
Because make no mistake: Tuesday morning’s “do-over” vote — in which the bootlicking board reaffirmed their decision to giveaway 2.6 acres of prime real estate meant for the school’s growth to their cult leader like it was a promotional tote bag — was less about transparency and more about checking a Sunshine Law box while keeping the public at arm’s length. Far from the downtown campus this impacts, far from students, far from the faculty, and far from the local downtown residents with the most at stake.
Seriously. Why else would you move the meeting from MDC’s central Wolfson Campus — you know, across the street from the land in question — to an 8 a.m. meeting in Hialeah? Ladra sees you, Board. That’s called crowd control.
And yet, even in Hialeah, even fighting rush hour traffic, nearly 80 people showed up. Imagine how many would have packed the room downtown. Ladra imagines it, and the trustees probably did, too. Which is precisely why they drove everyone out to the Ciudad Que Progresa for this little performance of “public engagement.”
Read related: MDC Trustees to vote again on Trump library land; still smells like a done deal
Let’s be clear: The re-vote was never in doubt. The trustees were going to vote yes again no matter who spoke or what they said. A couple of them had made that abundantly clear. Tuesday wasn’t a decision-making meeting; it was a legal maneuver to wipe away the stink of that September vote — the one they took without letting anybody know what land they were giving away, to whom, or for what purpose.
That’s the vote that triggered university professor and historian Dr. Marvin Dunn’s Sunshine Laws lawsuit. The one that says the college’s trustees broke Florida’s Sunshine Law when they quietly voted to deed over the property to the Florida Internal Improvement Trust Fund, which just so happens to be controlled by Gov. Ron DeSantis and his cabinet — the same folks who, surprise surprise, turned around and voted to gift that same land to Trump’s library foundation.
In other words, no open discussion, no transparency, no real public notice — just a “potential real estate transaction” that somehow turned into this giveaway.
Dr. Marvin Dunn leads a protest at the Freedom Tower weeks ago.
And Dunn, who has become a one-man moral megaphone in this mess — and also organized “Stop the Steal” protests in front of the Freedom Tower — showed up Tuesday to remind them: “This sham meeting will not get rid of my lawsuit.”
Woof.
Despite this re-vote, Judge Mavel Ruiz hasn’t dismissed Dunn’s lawsuit, and she already blocked MDC from transferring the deed once. Dunn’s attorney, Richard Brodsky, said it wasn’t over yet: “We will conduct discovery, depositions, document request and the like to get the bottom of what happened here.”
Meanwhile, the college’s lawyer compared Dunn’s transparency lawsuit to “the lawfare the 45th and 47th president faces every day.”
Ladra eye-rolls in Spanglish.
Read related: Lawsuit challenges MDC giveaway of downtown Miami lot for Trump library
Tuesday’s meeting wasn’t a public hearing. It wasn’t livestreamed like regular meetings. Some speakers were even told they needed “permission” to speak until Chairman and former State Rep. Michael Bileca walked it back at the last minute. Very Sunshine adjacent.
Most of the speakers were against the giveaway. Ladra wasn’t there, but Politico’s Kimberly Leonard live tweeted the whole thing (bless her heart) and kept a pretty solid count, and several local TV news channels also recorded and aired snippets.
Many noted that it might not be the best use for the land, which was purchased by the college un 2004 for projected student growth and used as a parking lot in the meantime. One man called the location — next to the Freedom Tower, a beacon for local immigrants — “an abomination.” Trump’s treatment and policy toward immigrants has been cruel and unusual.
“The irony of building this facility next to the Freedom Tower, Ellis Island of the south, is too rich to pass up,” said award-winning documentary filmmaker and local activist Billy Corben.
He also warned that it may not just be a library. There has been talks about building a hotel next to it as well.
“It’s a real estate deal guys, that’s all,” Corben told board members. “I presume some of you own property in the county, residential, commercial. Why don’t you donate it for free to the present? Of course not. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous for me to even say it or suggest it. It was absurd when you heard it out loud.
“If you wouldn’t do it with your property, don’t do it with the college’s property.”
Read related: Miami Dade College gifts Donald Trump land for his library — and a hotel
Democratic Party Chair Laura Kelley broke it down to the bottom line: Giving public institutional land to a politically affiliated private foundation undermines MDC’s neutrality and distracts from educating students. There has been and will be backlash.
A recent poll shows 74% of Miami-Dade residents — including 59% of Republicans, 94% of Democrats, and 69% of independents — are against this scheme.
But on Tuesday, there were also a number of speakers who were supportive of the move. That included a group of Miami Young Republicans who were on a field trip — Ladra hopes they carpooled — and our very own Republican Supervisor of Elections Alina García, who loves the idea of a Trump library, “regardless of whether you like the President or not,” she said, while definitely liking him.
“It’ll be a great tourist attraction, a place for our kids to go learn about the office of the presidency,” Garcia said.
Other supporters also noted that it would be a great tourist attraction and an “honor” to have the Trump Presidential Library in the city’s downtown. One man urged the board not to “cave to a woke and angry mob.” He really didn’t need to worry.
After the speakers had their say, almost three hours worth, the board had its script. Board Member Roberto Alonso, who also serves on the Miami-Dade School Board (and was first appointed there by Gov. Ron DeSantis), told WSVN Channel 7 that it was “a great opportunity to listen to the feedback and to take that into account on our vote.” Ladra calls BS.
For all the trustees’ claims that they wanted to “hear from the community,” they revealed next to zero new information about what MDC is getting in exchange for land appraised at $67 million and likely worth hundred of millions more.
No public negotiations. No benefit agreements. No cash. Not even renderings. Allegedly there is $3 million earmarked for “architecture and engineering,” pero nobody can see a single drawing? Dale.
Read related: Donald Trump’s Thanksgiving social screed serves hate instead of turkey
In fact, the last time MDC sought to develop this exact same property — in 2016 — they wanted $20 million plus student-focused cultural amenities. This time MDC gets…checks notes…zero dollars a promise that Trump’s billion-dollar legacy tower will somehow, someday be good for the college. Y ya está.
The only thing we got from Bileca was justification. They did it in Boston. They did it in Austin. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, sits on 9.5 acres donated by the University of Massachusetts — but in 1976, 13 years after JFK was assassinated. The University of Texas Austin donated 30 acres for the Lyndon B. Johnson Library (okay, before he died).
Trustee Marcell Felipe even told the public they should be grateful — because according to Trump advisor Steve Witkoff, “Miami was lucky” to get chosen. Other cities would “donate the land and pay to build the library,” he claimed.
So, by that logic, MDC should feel honored to give the land away for free. Even tu abuela would call that gaslighting.
The trustees — five in person, two by phone — voted unanimously again to hand the land to the state’s Internal Improvement Trust Fund, which already approved giving it straight to Trump’s library foundation. MDC officials promise they’ll negotiate conditions later, maybe even get a revenue share someday, if something profit-making appears.
But once you give away prime Biscayne Boulevard real estate, that leverage is gone faster than a taxpayer dollar in Tallahassee.
The only requirement the state placed on Trump’s foundation? Start construction within five years.
No student impact analysis. No community benefits agreement. No financial return to the college. No transparency.
But hey, why start doing any of that now?
At least they got their redo vote. In Hialeah. At 8 a.m. With the board members’ minds already made up.

You can help get more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and political campaigns to our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

The post MDC Trustees rubber-stamp Donald Trump library land giveaway — again appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Just when we thought the list of people running for a seat that doesn’t even have an election date yet was long enough, aquí vienen former Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro and onetime congressional candidate Gloria Romero Roses — business leader, community builder, assisted living maven — are now the newest contestants in the Florida House District 113 Hunger Games, er, race to fill Vicki Lopez’s suddenly-vacant seat now that she was appointed to the Miami-Dade District 5 seat by the county commission.
And we have two primary sweepstakes.
Remember when Ladra told you last week that the race had already gotten muy interesante with three candidates running: Antonio Javier “Tony” Diaz and Frank Lago, who will now battle with Barreiro in a Republican primary, and Democrat Justin Mendoza Routt, president of both the Historic Bayside Civic Association and the Miami-Dade Young Democrats, who is backed by the same machinery that put the former D5 Commissioner Eileen Higgins in office and is running her Miami mayoral campaign.
Romero Roses has now forced a Dem primary — and she’s bringing a 40-year résumé, an MBA, and a press release so polished it practically winks at you. Growing up in South Florida after coming from Bogotá and being raised by her single mom — a nurse who worked double shifts, so we checked all three political bio bingo squares right out the gate — Gloria says Miami is “at a crossroads.” And honestly, con la renta como está, who can argue?
Read related: Three wannabes are vying for House seat 113 — but there’s no election yet
She says working families and seniors are getting priced out while Tallahassee politicians are busy fighting over drag queens and pronouns. And she’s not entirely wrong. She’s running because Miami “deserves leadership that solves problems, not creates them.”
That’s una indirecta if Ladra ever heard one.
Her platform is a painfully familiar list of staples: Affordable housing, childcare, elder care, insurance… basically the full Miami survival kit.
Romero Roses says she wants to expand access to capital for housing, speed up project delivery, and roll out “smart growth,” which is the development buzzword of the day. She also calls childcare “economic infrastructure,” which Ladra actually agrees with — considering it costs almost as much as college tuition.
Then there’s her deeply personal Alzheimer’s story: nine years of caring for her mom, which led her to operate an assisted living facility and advocate in Tallahassee and D.C. Miami-Dade has the highest Alzheimer’s rate in the country, she notes, and she says she wants to create something called an “Elder’s Trust.” Ladra is not entirely sure what that means yet, but it sounds like something abuelo would approve of.
Insurance? Of course. Everybody running for anything in Florida in 2026 is required to mention insurance reform at least twice in every speech. Gloria says she’s seen how skyrocketing premiums are hurting families and small businesses and promises “data-driven, practical reforms.” Where have we heard that before?
She wraps it all up with a line about leadership you can trust, stability, affordability and a pep-rally “¡Pa’lante!” — which is a great slogan unless someone else in the race already bought the domain name.
Florida House District 113 encompassesKey Biscayne, the Roads, Brickell, Coconut Grove, Little Havana, and more. It’s an interesting mix of voter demographics.
In 2012, the Democrats pit Romero Roses against then Congressman King David “Nine Lives” Rivera. Ladra called her Annette Taddeo 2.0. Barreiro, meanwhile, had resigned his county commission seat in 2017 to run for congress and also lost. He also flirted with running against Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo. And last month, he submitted an application for the commission appointment, but was passed up.
Still, make no mistake: Barreiros’s jump into the GOP primary among two relatively unknowns is going to change the landscape. And Gloria’s entry shakes things up for Democrats who are hoping to flip the seat.
HD 113 was already a political game of musical chairs, with viable candidates jockeying for a district that still doesn’t have an election date. That officially makes it the hottest seat no one can sit in yet.

You can help get more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and political campaigns to our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

The post Two more jump in: Bruno Barreiro, Gloria Romero Roses join HD 113 race appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Miami Beach Commission runoff candidate Monique Pardo Pope — yes, the same Monique whose family history Ladra still can’t believe is real — is now the subject of an official Florida Bar inquiry after documentarian and professional Miami trouble-stirrer Billy Corben accused her of lying about his legal record. And, folks, the Bar doesn’t just open files for fun. Only one in four complaints even get this far.
But apparently Pardo Pope’s mouth — or her typing fingers — have gone far enough that the Bar wants to take a closer look.
According to the letter Corben got this week, the Bar is looking into his complaint that the candidate intentionally lied about him after he revealed those now-infamous family details: that she is the daughter of serial killer Manuel Pope, a former Sweetwater cop who idolized Adolf Hitler, murdered nine people in the ‘80s, tattooed the family dog with a swastika, and was executed by the state via lethal injection.
Corben also resurfaced her old social media posts calling her dad her “hero.” She has since deleted them — but the internet is forever.
When the Miami New Times asked her about all that back in September, Pardo Pope fired back by claiming Corben had “lost a defamation case” because he “made a career of slinging mud.”
Except that never happened.
Read related: Miami Beach commission candidate is daughter of cop-turned-serial-killer
Corben — who, love him or hate him, has the Emmys and Murrows to back up his career — pointed out that the only defamation case he’s ever been involved in ended with his side winning a six-figure fee award under Florida’s anti-SLAPP statute. That’s the opposite of losing.
So he sent her a cease-and-desist letter. Because of course he did.
And two months later, she still hasn’t retracted her statement. Which is how we end up with a Bar complaint landing on her doorstep six days before her runoff election. Feliz Navidad.
Corben’s complaint quotes the Florida Bar’s own rules, including the parts that say lawyers should not engage in “dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation” and shouldn’t go around disparaging people with false claims.
Corben calls her words “unambiguously dishonest” and adds a law nerd burn — pointing out that a lawyer with more than a decade of practice should know better than to lie about the outcome of a case from her own judicial circuit.
Ouch.
Read related: Miami Beach commission runoff: Two women, one seat — and the city’s future
Now, Pardo Pope has until Dec. 10 — the day after Miami Beach voters choose whether to send her to the commission dais — to respond. Then Corben gets 10 days to rebut. Ladra suggests stocking up on popcorn.
Meanwhile, voters in Miami Beach’s Group 1 race to replace termed-out former Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, who lost a bid for mayor, have a choice between Pardo Pope, a Republican with deep pockets (a third of which are her own pockets), and Democrat Monica Matteo-Salinas, who actually finished ahead of her in the general with 23.2% of the vote to Pardo Pope’s 20.1%. Pardo Pope only squeaked into the runoff by less than a point over Brian Ehrlich.
In a week, voters will know if who they chose will be representing them while also juggling a Florida Bar investigation.

You can help get more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and political campaigns to our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

The post Miami Beach Commission hopeful hit with bar inquiry days before runoff appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Resilience trust fund’ scheme still needs final vote
If you blinked at the last Miami City Commission meeting, you might have missed the moment the city basically admitted it has lost control of its own skyline. But don’t worry — it’s on video.
Commissioners advanced yet another density-doubling bonanza, this time wrapped in a shiny “climate resilience” bow, even as they all — except Commissioner Damian Pardo, who sponsored it — sounded increasingly like they’re sick and tired of watching developers run the place like it’s an open bar where taxpayers are picking up the tab.
The supposed trade-off? Developers get to build twice as dense in certain neighborhoods if they kick in some cash for things like pump stations, seawalls, rain gardens and — I kid you not — native tree plantings. Because if Miami is going to drown, at least we’ll have a gumbo limbo to hold onto.
Nevermind that these are things that should be required regardless.
Read related: Miami: Damian Pardo has a developers’ dream in density-for-dollars deal
Commission Chair Christine King, whose District 5 is ground zero for displacement, gentrification and speculative towers, delivered the line of the day: “You can plop down a 55-story building anywhere you want.”
She wasn’t exaggerating. Thanks to the county’s Rapid Transit Zone (RTZ) takeover and Tallahassee’s Live Local Act, the city is basically a landlord renting out its authority to the state. King is so fed up she floated suing the state, like the county is doing now, to claw back some local control.
Miami suing Tallahassee? Ahora sí que estamos en Disney World.
But the part that had Ladra choking on her cortadito was the core irony of this whole “resilience trust fund” scheme: You fix flooding by… wait for it… building more in flood zones?
Even the chair of the city’s own Climate Resilience Committee said the quiet part out loud: “I find it somewhat ironic that we’re incentivizing additional development capacity in an area that already is flooding significantly,” said Aaron DeMayo.
Edgewater, the Venetian Causeway, Watson Island — all areas that turn into Atlantis after a good summer storm — will now be ground zero for bonus density if developers simply pay a fee. Mira qué cute.
Pardo insists this is all very responsible planning and that “some developers really care about the character of the neighborhood.”
Ladra will give you all a moment to stop laughing.
King wasn’t buying it. “If this makes sense for his district, that’s fine, but I don’t want it in District 5,” she said. Translation: Build your resilience-for-rent towers in Edgewater — not on my side of town. That should tell us something.
Read related: Miami blinks on Watson Island deal — kicks can, saves face, still smells fishy
Then came the affordability farce. Planning Director David Snow — oh to be a fly on his wall — tried to pitch the ordinance just another one of the city’s many giveaway plans for developers who promise “public benefits.” There’s increased density for preservation, there’s increased density for affordable housing. “This is an opportunity to establish a new program for resiliency.”
Pardo stressed that the opportunity for increased density is already there, but that this “tool” would let the city get $35,000 “per door” to use exclusively in resiliency efforts.
Finally, when commissioners asked if any of this even mattered — since developers can ditch the whole program and just build taller under state and county rules — Pardo insisted they’d still choose the city’s more restrictive option because, well, they care.
In Miami? Where? Name one.
We’ll wait.
Meanwhile, the skyline keeps growing and the ground keeps sinking.  And that’s the story here: Miami’s elected officials are starting to say out loud that they’ve been boxed out of their own zoning code. Yet at the same time — in the very same meeting — they’re still approving new incentives that grease the wheels for more height, more density and more displacement.
Because in Miami, even the pushback comes with a developer-friendly asterisk.
The “resilience trust fund” still needs a second commission vote later this month. But unless commissioners grow a backbone between now and then, get ready for more density, more flooding, and more City Hall double-talk about how it’s all going to save us in the end.
Ladra’s not holding her breath — except maybe when walking through Edgewater during high tide.

This kind of independent, government watchdog reporting is crucial to transparency and democracy. Help shine a light on the darker corners of our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

The post Miami commission pushes climate fix by doubling development density appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Only in Miami does a sitting member of Congress host a book signing about dignity while refusing to take a single question from the very people whose dignity she’s been chipping away at in Washington.
That’s exactly what happened the other night in Coral Gables, where Republican Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar held a cozy, closed-door event to promote her new $29.99 book, Dignity Not Citizenship. A short presentation, a few pleasantries, some staged applause — and boom, that was it. No Q&A. No accountability. No conversation with the community she claims to represent.
Ladra has seen more transparency at an HOA meeting.
But it makes sense. Answering questions would mean explaining the truth behind her so-called Dignity Act, the immigration bill she’s been parading around Washington like it’s a gift to immigrants. Spoiler alert: It’s not. It’s a caste system — a legislative maze that keeps millions of immigrants forever in limbo, permanently denied citizenship, locked into a “half-person” legal status. A Dignity Track, a Redemption Track, a Just-Be-Grateful-You’re-Here Track. Pick your caste. None come with equality.
It’s an ugly structure with a pretty name, the kind of political Photoshop that tries to hide discrimination under soft lighting and a Spanish-speaking spokesperson. And the Latino community knows a scam when it sees one. We’ve lived through enough of them.
Read related: Maria Elvira Salazar’s ‘Dignity Act’ is about zero dignity and all a big act
That’s why the closed-door policy at the book-signing was such open hypocrisy. If you thought anybody could walk in to the Coral Gables museum — a public venue that gets money from a number of sources, including the city of Coral Gables — and ask her about it, think again. Activists Thomas Kennedy and Billy Corben were stopped at the entrance and not allowed inside. Kennedy had pre-registered and had taken Corben as his plus one.
Maybe the congresswoman didn’t want to be fact-checked in real time. Maybe she knew Corben was going to call the 150-page book “a thirst trap for the president,” to whom she dedicated it. Maybe she knew Corben was going to expose the fact that her plan is nothing original, just a revamped version of the same ol’ plans presented by Marco Rubio the Gang of Eight and even Barack Obama.
Gasp.
Or maybe she knows that the people who know her best — the ones who’ve watched her vote with the Trump-Miller anti-immigrant wing every single time — are the least likely to buy her book.
You know who did buy the book? Coral Gables Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, who looks a little starstruck in the social media photos.
In her short little speech, Salazar blamed the White House for the mess at the border, as if she hasn’t voted to block bipartisan immigration reform, slash asylum protections, and keep Dreamers dangling like political piñatas.
Ladra would laugh if it weren’t so damaging to the thousands of families living in fear because Donald Trump ended TPS for Venezuelans and others — while María Elvira stayed silent.
Dignity, huh?
While the congresswoman was busy selling autographed copies of her book — which is really just a bespeckled narrative of her dead legislation — two Democrats running against each other to unseat her were outside talking to actual constituents.
Environmental entrepreneur Richard Lamondin, the son of immigrants, delivered blistering remarks calling out Salazar’s two-faced routine. Robin Peguero, a former federal prosecutor and fellow Democrat in the FL-27 race, also showed up to speak with voters and join protesters demanding accountability.
Read related: Richard Lamondin challenges Maria Elvira Salazar with ‘town hall’ in CD27
Along side them, community members held signs, chanted, and reminded anyone passing by that while María Elvira won’t hold a town hall, she will make time to sell books about compassion and fairness she hasn’t bothered to practice.
“Dignity isn’t a slogan and it’s not something you sell,” Lamondin said. “It’s how you treat people — especially when their lives, families, and futures are on the line. And on that test, she has completely failed this community,” he said about Salazar.
“You cannot preach dignity on a book tour while staying silent as Donald Trump ends Temporary Protected Status for thousands of families, including telling Venezuelans it is safe to go home while, in the same breath, calling Maduro a brutal narco-terrorist and deploying the US Navy,” Lamondin said. “Those two things cannot be true at the same time. You can’t have it both ways.
“You cannot talk about dignity while families with no criminal record live in daily fear of deportation,” he said. “The majority of people in ICE detention have no criminal record. These aren’t dangerous criminals. These are parents, workers, and caregivers being hunted like animals by our own government.
“That’s not dignity. That’s cruelty.”
Lamondin reminded the crowd that most people in ICE detention have no criminal record and that Salazar’s alignment with Trump’s anti-immigrant policies is what keeps families in fear, not any book tour and he laid out his own vision: certainty for Dreamers and TPS holders, modernizing visa processing, strengthening the border without cruelty, and a fair pathway to legal status rooted in actual dignity — not the trademarked kind.
Peguero was more blunt on his attack of the Congresswoman and her lack of accountability.
“We have not seen our congresswoman in a very long time, and, in fact, the first thing that she does when she actually comes out of hiding is to sell books to put money in her own pocket,” Peguero told a group of supporters or protesters or both.
“She got to collect her fat congressional paycheck, her gold-plated congressional health care while our government was shut down for 45 days because she refused to extend the ACA subsidies,” he said. “This district has the number one, uh, ACA enrollees in the country. People are going to see their healthcare double and triple their premiums.
“You want people to have actual dignity, not just a slogan you throw on a book that you sell for 20 bucks, again to enrich yourself,” Peguero said, giving the tome a $10 discount already. “What she wants is to continue to exploit our friends and our neighbors, who have been here for 30 years, who have paid their taxes, who have contributed to our economy, who have no criminal history and to say you can never become an American citizen.”
He’s not wrong. The congresswoman hasn’t done a real town hall in ages. She won’t stand in front of her constituents and explain her voting record, her silence on TPS, or her support for policies that divide immigrant families. But she’ll happily sit at a table and sign $30 hardcovers about how much she supposedly cares.
Ladra has seen grifters with more subtlety.
Read related: María Elvira Salazar strikes again, takes credit for money she voted against
The whole thing reveals what the community already knows: Salazar is more interested in the performance of dignity than the practice of it. Just like the dishonest self-promoting posts on the community allocations she voted against. The photo ops, the applause lines, the branding — all of it louder than the reality that she continues to vote with the extremists pushing the harshest immigration agenda in modern history.
Because the truth is simple: The Latino community is not half a person. We are not a caste. We are not political props. We are full citizens — with full rights — and we deserve representation that treats us that way.
And no book signing is going to paper over that.

Help keep the community informed through independent government watchdog reporting like what you read in Political Cortadito with a contribution. Just Click here. . No amount is too small — or too big. Ladra thanks you for your support.

The post Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar signs books, dodges questions, and sells “Dignity” appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story