Miami is a fast paced community with a rapid fire news cycle. Our blog keeps you current on the most important issues affecting the tax payers of Miami-Dade county. Read, share, comment, and as always let us know what topics you want us to tackle.
Unregistered lobbying leads to removal of old oaks for Coral Gables WaWa
Two old oak trees on Grand Avenue in Coral Gables were cut down to make way for an entrance into the Wawa gas station and convenience store that is planned for that corner, despite the opposition of many residents and parents at the elementary school across the street.
WaWa will pay a little more than $17,400 for “tree mitigation,” according to emails obtained from the city.
Dark money PAC attack in South Miami special election hits Hispanic hopeful
A mailer that landed in the homes of South Miami voters Wednesday tries to paint one of the candidates in next week’s special election as pro-development.
But it was paid for by the same political action committee that smeared the three Hispanic candidates in the mayoral race last year. It is tied to former Mayor Philip Stoddard and his handpicked successor, Sally Phillips.
Two Coral Gables commission races head into runoffs in two weeks
They may have a new mayor already, but Coral Gables voters aren’t done picking the two commissioners who will serve alongside Vince Lago. Both commission races will have runoffs, as expected, on April 27.
The Group 2 race looks more lopsided and Jose Valdes-Fauli, brother of the current mayor, Raul Valdes-Fauli has a lot of work to do. Rhonda Anderson heads into the runoff with the momentum — and a 16-point lead over Valdes-Fauli, mostly fueled by her staunch anti-development stance.
Vince Lago is the new Coral Gables mayor in heated and divisive election
In the end, the attack mailers on Coral Gables Vice Mayor Vince Lago didn’t work. His signature on a letter to Carollton School from parents and alumni protesting new curriculum on race relations didn’t sway voters. The withdrawn Miami Herald endorsement didn’t matter much.
Lago was elected the mayor of Coral Gables Tuesday in a race against Pat Keon that had gotten pretty heated in the last week or so. And by a very comfortable lead — 58% to 38%, a near perfect reflection of the polls done before any of the Carrolton stuff came to light. Jackson “Rip” Holmes got 4% (Ladra thought he would do better this year).
As freed Cuban political prisoner faces eviction, where’s Sen. Marco Rubio?
There has been a lot of press about the possible eviction of Ana Lazara Rodriguez from her longtime home.
The 82-year-old woman is not terribly unique in that hundreds if not thousands of Floridians like her have lost or are losing their homes due to some less-than-honest bank moves (more on that later). But she’s newsworthy, apparently, because she’s a Cuban anti-revolutionary activist who spent 19 years in prison under Fidel Castro, the longest period of any female political prisoner.
Coral Gables election wraps up on Tuesday, but 6,800+ have already voted
The rain Sunday didn’t dampen the early voting crowd in Coral Gables as much as Ladra thought it would. There were almost as many voters as on Saturday, for a total of 1,554 ballots cast at the Coral Gables library.
Another 540 vote-by-mail or absentee ballots were stuffed into the drop box — 254 on Saturday and 286 on Sunday. That makes it a total of 2,094 votes just over the weekend.
Despite one stupid, preachy letter, Vince Lago deserves to be Coral Gables mayor
He made a mistake.
As many people (and voters) now know, Coral Gables Vice Mayor Vince Lago signed a letter from parents and alumni at the Carollton School of the Sacred Heart way back in September that opposed increased education about racism and black history in the wake of the George Floyd murder and ensuing protests for justice and police reform.
In Coral Gables commission contests: A woman and anybody but Javier Baños
Coral Gables voters will be able to cast early voting ballots this weekend for the first time in municipal elections. The election ends Tuesday. As of Friday, almost 4,800 have cast absentee or vote-by-mail ballots already.
Many people have asked Ladra to make recommendations in the commission races, even though we’re going to end up with runoffs in both contests. Everyone knows that Vice Mayor Vince Lago is the only real choice for the mayoral race, despite the one stupid letter he signed (more on that later). But the commission races are harder.
ADLP gets an attorney to go after the press for reporting his illegal partying
He really should know better.
Miami City Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla had an attorney send an email to Ladra and several other journalists who reported on the illegal nightclub he was caught at in February, demanding a retraction and that we cease and desist with any follow-up coverage.
Body cam video shows ADLP at illegal club; tells code inspector to ‘Walk away’
Officer says he pushed her and caused a hip injury
