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Democrat candidate Richard Lamondin steps up for absent Maria Elvira Salazar
Looks like Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar is still allergic to her own constituents. Like other Republican lawmakers across the country who keep ducking the angry mobs that want to roast them over tariffs and immigration, Miami’s own absentee rep is no different.
Enter Richard Lamondin. Never heard of him? You’re not alone. He’s a Miami-born entrepreneur, an environmental guy with no political résumé, but plenty of chutzpah. And tomorrow night he’s stepping onto the stage Salazar won’t touch: an actual town hall.
That’s right. While La Elvira hides behind press releases and Fox News hits, this newbie is inviting people to St. James Baptist Church in Coconut Grove to talk about real issues — healthcare, housing, small business survival, immigration, all the stuff people have been wanting to scream at Salazar about but never get the chance because she won’t face them.
Lamondin’s pitch is simple: The difference in leadership has never been more clear. Salazar won’t show up. I will.
Read related: Cuban American congress members stay silent on TPS, immigrant detention
There could be another Democrat biting at the chance to face Salazar heading into an August primary with Lamondin. Robin Peguero, a former prosecutor who was a lawyer for the U.S. House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot who lives in Coral Gables and teaches at St. Thomas University’s College of Law. Former Key Biscayne Mayor Mike Davey, who lost a primary to Miami-Dade School Board Member Lucia Báez-Geller — who decided to try for Florida House District 106 against Rep. Fabián Basabe instead (more on that later) — withdrew from the race last month, three months after he announced, and endorsed Peguero.
“We need someone who understands the legal process inside and out, who comes from an immigrant family, who converses with ease in a district where people speak to you first in Spanish, then English,” Davey said. Peguero’s father is from the Dominican Republic and his mother is from Ecuador.
Now, are either of these political newbies ready for Congress? Who knows?
Salazar, a Cuban American, is one of three Republican congressional incumbents in Florida being targeted this cycle by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The other two are Cory Mills (District 7, Deltona) and Anna Paulina Luna (District 13, Seminole). But this is familiar territory for Salazar, who faced nationally-backed opponents each year since she beat Democratic U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala in 2020. Despite that, Salazar won re-election last year with more than 60% of the vote.
Lamondin’s green — and not just in the eco-business sense. But one thing’s certain: if he keeps showing up where Salazar won’t, voters are going to notice.
Read related: Internal poll has Richard Lamondin in striking distance vs Maria Elvira Salazar
And he already has lined up some key people to help him amplify his message, aside from uber political consultant Christian Ulvert, who is handling his campaign. Lamondin will be joined Tuesday by representatives from the ACLU of Florida, a group of pastors, and dozens of Miami residents who are tired of watching their congresswoman disappear when it’s getting hot in here.
The town hall is from 7 to 830 p.m. Tuesday at St. James Baptist Church, 3500 Charles Ave.
So maybe Lamondin isn’t just some political rookie tilting at windmills. Maybe he’s found Salazar’s weak spot: She can’t take the tough questions from the people she supposedly represents.
And if María Elvira Salazar won’t show up for her constituents, why should her constituents show up for her next November?
If you would like to see Ladra write more about next year’s midterms in Florida, consider making a contribution to Political Cortadito. And thank you for supporting independent, grassroots government watchdog journalism.
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Pinecrest already cut proposed tax hike before first public hearing Tuesday
Well, it’s that time of year again when homeowners open their mailboxes and get that little love letter from their city: the tax bill. And in at least nine Miami-Dade cities, it’s going to sting more than usual. Some of these hikes are jaw-dropping.
But for property owners in Pinecrest, it’s not as bad as it could be. In July, the city council approved a ceiling tax rate of 3.86 — or $3.86 per $1,000 of taxable property — which was a 64% tax rate increase. Sixty-four. That’s not a typo.
People got really riled up, however, and after three budget workshops — where one imagines there was screaming and chairs thrown — the council lowered that rate to 2.503, which amounts to an increase of about 15 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. The average home in Pinecrest is valued at $2.1 million and that homeowner would pay an additional $314 in taxes under the proposed 20125-26 budget.
This is the rate that will be discussed at the first pubic hearing Tuesday.
“Resident input played a key role in guiding the Council’s decision-making, leading to the newly proposed lower rate,” says an update on the city’s website. So, now it’s only a proposed 6.5% increase.
Does that mean that the village pulled a bait and switch, intentionally setting a high limit to make a smaller increase more palatable? As in, ‘Whew, we dodged a bullet?’ But not really.
While residents will see the higher 3.86 millage rate figure on their tax bills, “this was solely a statutory requirement and not the final rate under consideration,” the Pinecrest website states. Florida law requires municipalities to set a proposed millage rate each July. Municipalities can go lower, but cannot go higher than this figure. And they can go lower still through the final budget hearing Sept. 16.
Read related: Miami-Dade’s billion-dollar disconnect: Tax collector flush, county in the red
During the budget process, people expressed concern that the increase was to pay for a discount version of The Return of Parrot Jungle and what some have said are unneeded projects like the SUP.
No, not ‘Sup, like your teenager greets you. SUP stands for “shared use path,” and the one on Ludlam Road could cost taxpayers a cool $4 million for just one stretch. That’s the second phase of a bigger plan to lace 11.2 miles of SUPs across the leafy village, with curbs and road widening included, because Mayor Joe Corradino apparently thinks Pinecrest is the Netherlands.
Because it is a predominantly residential community with limited commercial businesses and no industrial properties or tourism revenue, Pinecrest relies heavily on property taxes to fund nearly all village services. Mirroring Miami-Dade, this year’s budget process in Pinecrest has been challenging, with budget pressures that include:
Police equipment upgrades and competitive compensation to retain officers.
Inflation affecting insurance, materials, and operational costs.
Reduced state and federal funding.
Essential infrastructure maintenance.
Maintaining a $5 million emergency reserve for disaster response and federal funding delays.
The village has announced that it will still fund the following capital improvement projects:
Fred “Who?” Voccola could be a Francis Suarez reboot for Miami mayor’s race
Looks like there’s a new kid sniffing around the mayor’s race. Well, not exactly a kid — he’s 51 — but definitely new to Miami’s political playground.
Fred Voccola, a tech bro with a billion-dollar company under his belt and its name on the arena where the Miami Heat play, is suddenly flirting with a run for city mayor. Why? Because he’s sooooo frustrated with corruption and “all this crap that goes on in City Hall.”
Ladra has to ask: Was it really the city’s failed stunt to delay the election, as he says, that finally pushed him over the edge? Or was it Mayor Francis Suarez whispering in his ear? You know? One tech bro to another.
Because this smells a little like a Baby X recruitment project. Suarez, who is termed out, needs someone to protect his “legacy” as the crypto-tech mayor and see his pet projects through. And while his dad has indicated an intention to run, former Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who was also the first Cuban-born mayor of Miami, is just too old school.
Read related: Ken Russell qualifies for November Miami mayoral race; ADLP dips one toe
And he also knows that papi is an underdog among the known potential candidates, who include current Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, former Miami Commissioner Ken Russell, former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla — who was suspended after his 2023 arrest on public corruption bribery and money laundering charges that were later dropped, but lost a re-election bid to Miguel Gabela — and former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, the one who sued the city to get the cancelled mayoral and commission races back on the ballot. Francis is all about Francis.
So, who better than another wealthy “outsider” who buys into the Miami-as-Dubai fantasy?
After all, they do seem to admire each other. Suarez even had Voccola on his Cafecito Talk podcast three years ago. You can still see it on the mayor’s X feed.
Voccola says he can’t be bought. “Ain’t nobody gonna bribe me,” he told The Miami Herald last month, bragging that there isn’t enough money in the world. That might be easy to say, however, when you’re the co-founder and CEO (he just stepped down in January) of a software company with more than $1.5 billion in revenue had have personally parked $200,000 (or so he says) in your very own political action committee, Leadership for Miami’s Future, which filed paperwork with the state division of election last month, but was first called Moving Miami Forward.
He even dared people to try. Cute. But Miami doesn’t do cute — it does complicated. It likes messy.
The would be candidate, who sounds like a Francis Suarez reboot, also told the Herald last month that he wasn’t committed yet to the race — but voters started to get text messages over the weekend that indicate a campaign is in the works.
“Kaseya Co-founder Fred Voccola wants you to know: That park in your neighborhood that hasn’t been completed — it’ll be another year. The stalled drainage project causing your streets to flood — you’ll have to wait until after the next King Tide,” a text that came over Sunday afternoon reads. “The nearly $1 billion in lost economic impact from the Miami Marine Stadium Corruption Scandal — gone.
“And they’re al part of… the city of Miami’s 15% corruption tax.”
Ladra doesn’t know what Kaseya exit he pulled that number out of. Or if someone who serves on the FIU Board of Trustees with former Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, a lobbyist who funnels campaign money from billboard companies and others into the PACs of electeds, can recognize corruption when its sitting right next to him.
“It’s the invisible 15% tax residents and businesses shoulder — it’s the price of inefficiency and rampant corruption across our city,” the text from Voccola read. And it sounds like the man is underselling — just 15%? — possibly for the first time ever in his life.
Read related: City of Miami election year change won’t make November ballot, after all
Voccola co-founded Kaseya and served as its CEO for about a decade. During that time, he moved the AI cybersecurity and IT management software company from Boston to Miami in 2018, and Kaseya expanded significantly, reaching over $1.5 billion in annual recurring revenue, growing to more than 5,000 employees, and executing 18 strategic acquisitions. In January, he stepped down as CEO and moved into the role of vice chairman. He remains responsible for long-term strategy and innovation, helping to steer the company toward a potential future public offering while the board seeks a new CEO.
Fred Voccola and Francis Suarez mutually admire each other in an episode of the mayor’s Cafecito Talk podcast in 2021.
Prior to Kaseya, Voccola had leadership roles at several software and internet technology firms. He was co-founder and president of Identify Software (later acquired by BMC Software), co-founder and CEO of Trust Technology Corp. (acquired by FGI Global) and president and general manager at Yodle (acquired by Web.com). He has also been affiliated with Nolio, Intira, and Prism Solutions.
He was the keynote speaker last April at the Miami Tech Summit at — where else? — the Kaseya Center, and delivered the Miami Dade College commencement speech to the class of 2025 three months ago (he promised to learn more Spanish if he gets invited back).
But among the tried and true super voters of Miami, Voccola has no name recognition. He has no campaign infrastructure. No track record in local government. What he does have is cash. Lots of it. Enough to write his own ticket onto the ballot with less than 10 weeks to go.
And let’s not forget the receipts: hundreds of thousands in donations to Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Rick Scott, and the Republican National Committee. That’s not exactly outsider status, no matter how much he wants to say he’s “not really political.”
Let’s see if Voccola really goes through with it, however. It’s all fun and games until you have to have to disclose all your financial business for everyone to see. Qualifying started Friday, but doesn’t end until Sept. 20. The election is Nov. 4. But with the number of candidates signed up or threatening to run for office, there’s likely to be a runoff.
Voccola insists Miami could be the first “AI-first city in the world.” But how out of touch is that? Voters in Miami are more concerned about potholes, parks, and police overtime than about ChatGPT running city government. Will the people who can’t afford rent in this “Dubai of the Western Hemisphere” connect with a billionaire Republican tech mogul who just parachuted into Miami politics?
Maybe. Stranger things have happened here. But if Voccola really wants to “destroy” the first person who tries something shady, he might want to start with the guy who talked him into this race in the first place.
Help Ladra cover this year’s city of Miami general election by making a contribution to Political Cortadito. And thank you for supporting independent, grassroots government watchdog journalism.
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Palmetto Bay budget hearing Monday could focus on “The Woods” property
Palmetto Bay may be the “Village of Parks,” but right now it looks more like the Village of Political Theater. All over a patch of 8.7 acres of woods that have been sitting untouched for a century.
On paper, the property known simply as “The Woods” technically belongs to Miami-Dade County. But since 2019, the Village of Parks has been leasing it for the grand sum of $10 a year, promising trails and park amenities that never sprouted. Instead, what’s grown is the political posturing.
Now, as Monday’s budget hearing looms, Vice Mayor Mark Merwitzer is out front waving the green space flag, warning residents that Mayor Karyn Cunningham and her administration want to give the land back to the county — “abandoning” it and leaving it wide open to developers.
Read related: Palmetto Bay residents urged village to save Coral Reef Park tree…so they did
“This was supposed to be a park,” Merwitzer said, calling the move a “betrayal” of everything the village supposedly stands for and having a “press conference” about it last week.
Cunningham, meanwhile, says the vice mayor is making mulch out of molehills. She points out the Village has already tucked $9,000 into this year’s budget for maintenance and will be bringing a resolution in October to officially designate the parcel as parkland — a move that would keep it from development.
“There is no proposal to develop this land,” the mayor said in a statement, accusing the VM of straight-up demagoguery. “Residents deserve honest conversations about the budget, not political theater.”
But Merwitzer calls the $9,000 a joke and says that the village is under a “contractual obligation” to the county to turn the 8.3 acres into a pocket park by the middle of next year. “If we do not do that, the county has every legal right to take away that land form us and turn around and sell it to a developer,” the vice mayor said on a social media post over the weekend, urging residents to go to the first budget hearing at 7 p.m. Monday at Village Hall, 9705 Hibiscus St.
Many residents have already gotten flyers about the hearing delivered door to door.
And if you think The Woods are in danger, wait until you see what happens to your patience.
Because let’s face it: this isn’t just about the woods. It’s about who gets to play the hero in Palmetto Bay’s soap opera. Merwitzer wants to be the defender of green space. Cunningham wants to be the responsible steward of taxpayer dollars.
And residents? They just want their so-called Village of Parks to act like it.
If you would like to see Ladra write more about Palmetto Bay government and issues, consider making a contribution to Political Cortadito. And thank you for supporting independent, grassroots government watchdog journalism.
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Trump finally gets his G20 at Doral — porque nunca dejó de quererlo
Ladra could have told you this was coming.
Donald Trump has been salivating for years at the idea of hosting the world’s power players at his Doral playground, the golf resort he scooped up in bankruptcy and turned into his Miami-Dade monument to himself. He tried to stick the G7 there back in 2020 until COVID got in the way. He wasn’t about to let another shot slip by.
So now, in 2026, the G20 summit of world economic leaders will land in… wait for it… Doral. Not “Miami,” like Trump kept repeating last week– with Miami Mayor Francis Suarez beaming and falling all over himself to thank him at his side in the Oval Office — but Doral. You know, that suburb best known for traffic or arepas.
Trump said the Trump National Doral was perfect because of the weather and nearby airport and insisted that we, the people of “Miami,” wanted it. Pero claro, who wouldn’t want thousands of cops, Secret Service agents, motorcades, barricades and headaches right in time for Art Basel? Doralites already know what traffic looks like when there’s a junior golf tournament. Multiply that by a hundred, add a few heads of state, and you’ve got December gridlock.
But make no mistake: this is all about Trump finally pulling off what he couldn’t in his first term. He has always wanted his name in the backdrop of world leaders’ photo ops, his Crystal Ballroom on the evening news, his private cabanas whispered about in security briefings. He gets to say he brought the G20 to Miami-Dade — while really bringing it to the only piece of real estate that matters to him.
And Suarez? Ay, the mayor couldn’t thank him enough, practically calling Trump the savior of the hospitality industry. “I know you own many hospitality assets and properties,” Baby X said. Wink, nod.
Read related: Donald Trump’s Gold Visa puts the American Dream up for sale for $5M
Never mind that the city of Miami won’t be hosting squat. It’s Doral that will be on the map, as Doral Mayor Christi Fraga quickly reminded everyone, already polishing the welcome sign.
“Doral is ready to shine. From business to culture, we’ll showcase our city on the world stage,” Fraga posted on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Residents of Doralzuela, where thousands of Venezuelans have remade their lives after fleeing the dictatorship back home, might not be as enthusiastic. The same president who is now trying to deport more Venezuelans than ever — even those who had legal protections just five minutes ago — wants to showcase their adopted hometown as his shiny global stage. He’ll fill his resort with heads of state while ICE fills planes with families.
Trump swears he and his own family won’t profit from the decision. ¿De verdad? At a resort he owns? Where every suite, cocktail, and catered lunch gets rung up at Trump National Doral? Ladra will believe that when the Venezuelan cartelitos stop laundering money through Doral condos.
So sí, the world is coming to Doral. But don’t let the White House spin fool you. This isn’t about Miami’s “global city” moment.
It’s about Trump finally getting to show off his golf course to the planet — even if he has to snarl traffic, crash Art Basel, and make Miami look like a backdrop for his resort ad in the process.
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Ken Russell qualifies for November Miami mayoral race; ADLP dips one toe
With a lucky 13 candidates expressing interest in the Miami mayoral seat, now that Francis Suarez is termed out, only one qualified on opening day Friday: Former Commissioner Ken Russell.
Russell has been openly campaigning for months, after entering the race in March. The former District 2 commissioner resigned in 2022 to run for congress and lost in the Democratic primary against Annette Taddeo (who then lost against Maria Elvira Salazar).
Meanwhile, another former Miami commissioner, Alex Díaz de la Portilla — yes, the same one who was suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis after getting slapped with bribery and money laundering charges in 2023 — filed his first paperwork.
Diaz de la Portilla, who has been campaigning in the shadows for months, didn’t qualify, however. Candidates have until Sept. 20 to do that. All he filed was a statement of candidacy and a form appointing a treasurer to a campaign account. Maybe he is still putting his financial information together. It’s pretty complicated. Or maybe he’s still threatening to run and won’t qualify.
Read related: Alex Diaz de la Portilla is knocking, giving out mameys to be Miami mayor
“The ‘threat’ became a reality, mi gorda,” he texted Ladra Friday evening, after he sent a new photo of his same ol’ goodie bag, except now it has three mameys, an avocado and some sanitizing wipes in it. Did he have those left over from COVID supplies?
Except it’s still just a threat. He could have filed the forms he filed Friday months ago. Why didn’t he just qualify while he was at it?
ADLP might also still be thinking about it. Political observers say he may have a better chance at running to replace Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins — who has announced her own Miami mayoral bid — in the county’s District 5. He has run and lost there before. Right now, the only potential candidates are former State Rep. and onetime Miami Beach commissioner David Richardson, who lost a bid for tax collector last year, and former Miami Commissioner Joe Sanchez, who lost the 2024 Republican primary for Miami-Dade sheriff, who is rumored to be asking around to see if he can get the funds (more on that later).
Filing and qualifying ain’t the same thing. There are ten other candidates who filed way before ADLP did. It does not mean they will all qualify. Higgins submitted petitions last month to qualify, but still has to submit her financial statement and other documents. Former Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, the one who sued the city and got the election back on this November — after three commissioners tried to cancel it — is expected to qualify soon.
The others on the maybe list are former Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, the current mayor’s dad, who was mayor of Miami twice, first elected in 1985 as the city’s first Cuban-born mayor, onetime congressional candidate Michael Hepburn, former Miami-Dade Community Council Member Christian Cevallos, perennial candidates Max Martinez and June Savage and first timers Alyssa Crocker, Ijamyn Joseph Gray and Linda Anderson, who doesn’t stand a chance as an official member of the Socialist Workers Party.
Let’s see how many of them pan out. But it’s almost guaranteed there’s going to be a runoff after the Nov. 4 election. And a poll last month indicates that contest could be between Higgins and Gonzalez.
Read related: Poll has Eileen Higgins in Miami mayoral runoff with Emilio Gonzalez
Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo has also been threatening to run, coyly tossing out the notion that he may or may not on his daily morning “Loco Joe Show” on AM radio and attacking Gonzalez and Higgins on the regular. But he still hasn’t filed a single page with the city clerk.
Russell was the first and only one to qualify on Friday. He filed everything in the morning: the oath, a change in campaign treasurer, his financial disclosure and a voluntary, signed statement that he will adhere to fair campaign practices (let’s see if ADLP does that).
“It’s official,” Russell posted on social media. He said he will issue a statement over the weekend.
Russell likes to tell the story that his political career started with a sandbox. When the city wouldn’t clean up the contaminated park where his kids played, he rallied his neighbors and did it himself. It’s a great origin story.
From there, he parlayed the “dad with a mission” vibe into a seat at City Hall, where he talked about affordable housing, sea level rise, police accountability and fair wages. His current campaign is centered on affordable housing and fighting the corruption he says has so obviously taken over City Hall. “Miami must stop paying tens of millions of dollars in legal fees to defend the corrupt practices of elected officials and their staff and put that money to good use: Improving our neighborhoods,” he writes on his Ken Russell for mayor website.
Since leaving City Hall, Russell has been a lobbyist and consultant, most notably for the Florida chapter of the Sierra Club, a position he may have lost because of pressure from Higgins.
Read related: Eileen Higgins pressures Sierra Club and Ken Russell resigns as lobbyist
Before politics, Russell, who speaks five languages (six, if you count Miami Spanglish), was an international yo-yo salesman (yes, really), which took him to more than 50 countries. Now he says he’s ready for his toughest trick yet: cleaning up Miami City Hall the same way he cleaned up that little park.
“It seems like a mugshot is a prerequisite for running in the city of Miami,” Russell told Political Cortadito. “Voters are over it and they are not letting Alex near the cookie jar again.”
The charges against Diaz de la Portilla — 14 felony counts from a public corruption investigation — stem from a pay-to-play scheme in which the commissioner was accused of taking campaign contributions totaling more than $250,000 to giveaway a public park to the owners of a private school outside his district. Actually in Russell’s old district. The charged were dropped last November, just weeks before trial. It was being handled by the Broward State Attorney’s Office after our esteemed Miami-Dade SAO, Kathy Fernandez-Rundle, recused herself. ADLP, who was arrested weeks before his re-election failed (lost to Commissioner Miguel Gabela), has been calling them politically motivated from day one.
Ladra bets we’ll continue to hear that refrain again and again as he continues to paint himself as some kind of victim. Like Donald Trump. But taxpayers will be the real victims if the city of Miami ends up paying his $1.3 million in criminal attorneys’ fees.
Anyway, Gabela is not termed out until 2027 and ADLP didn’t want to wait. Besides, the mayor’s office has always been his pipe dream. He has talked about it at least since he lost the state rep race in 2012 to Jose Javier Rodriguez.
And while he had not opened a campaign account before Friday, Diaz de la Portilla raised $278,000 in the second quarter, through June 30, for his political action committee, Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade. That includes $100K from the same couple he was accused of taking bribes from. The Dean has also been posting more regularly on social media, but for some reason started a brand new Instagram account in recent weeks, where he has basically been writing love letters to himself.
Read related: David and Leila Centner give fresh $100K to Alex Diaz de la Portilla PAC
“My commitment to the community is not measured by speeches, but by constant presence, by a sincere embrace and by truly listening to every neighbor,” he posted Aug. 25. “Being with our seniors, sharing with families, and walking through every corner of our communities is what inspires me and gives me the strength to keep moving forward.
“I firmly believe that leadership is built hand in hand with the people. Not from a distance, but from closeness sharing joys, concerns, and dreams. Politics only has meaning when it turns into concrete solutions that improve people’s lives, and that has always been my commitment.”
Cue the violins and the photo ops: Alex hugging viejitos in parks, handing cafecitos to abuelas, and pretending this is about anything other than clawing his way back into political power — one creepy abrazo at a time. It’s too predictable.
There are a whole two weeks for ADLP to make good on his threat, or Carollo for that matter. If Crazy Joe throws his hat into the clown car, he could be the second Carollo on the ballot. Brother Frank Carollo, who was the commissioner in District 3 before Joe, has filed paperwork to run for the same seat again. But the only one to qualify in that race is Yvonne Bayona, president of the Miami Historic East Shenandoah Homeowners Association.
Nobody has qualified in the District 5 race, where King may face one or two challengers: Frederick Bryant and Marion Brown have both filed some paperwork with the city clerk’s office indicating their intent.
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City of Miami election year change won’t make November ballot, after all
Cancelled: The special Miami commission meeting Friday to put two questions on the November ballot — one to change the municipal election year and another to approve a new and improved Marine Stadium deal.
Also cancelled: The November referendums on both those things.
There was no quorum at the meeting Friday, said City Manager Art Noriega, who added that the marine stadium item was not ready anyway. Apparently, Commissioners Joe Carollo, Miguel Gabela and Christine King had better things to do. Carollo missed his morning “Crazy Joe Show” on America Radio for “city business,” but we don’t know what that was, if not the meeting.
“We were going to defer one or two items anyway and I think that may have led to the fact that we don’t have a quorum,” Noriega told a room full of people who were there to speak on both items and apologized. He said “there are new dynamics” to the marine stadium deal, which means that is the one that was going to be deferred.
Read related: Miami Marine Stadium’s revival plan could be on city’s November ballot
“We are still full steam ahead on getting the marine stadium done. So, don’t be disheartened that we’re not going to get it on the ballot in November,” Noriega said. “We are still 100% committed.”
Not so much commitment on the other item, though: The election year change that has caused much hand-wringing and legal expenses on the city’s part after three commissioners tried to move this year’s mayoral and the districts 3 and 5 elections to next year — effectively giving themselves an extra 12 months in office — without the voter’s permission. Mayoral candidate Emilio Gonzalez sued to stop it from happening and four judges told the city to stuff it. Then, both Mayor Francis Suarez and Commissioner Damian Pardo — who had sponsored and championed the change by ordinance — said they were going to put it on the ballot as quickly as possible.
Turns out, it’s not going to be possible this year.
“As for the other item, I really don’t have a perspective on that, and if it will come back or when,” Noriega said, not even saying what the other item was.
And did he just say “if?”
How did this very important piece of election reform, so important that commissioners were willing to cancel an election and give themselves and extra year in office, suddenly get on the back burner. Oh, wait…
“Guess it’s not important if it didn’t give them an extra year in office,” former Commissioner Ken Russell posted on his social media, where he also posted a photo of himself qualifying for the mayoral race, the first of an expected boatload of candidates to do so on the first day Friday. The deadline is Sept. 20.
But it was still going to give them an extra year in office. There’s just no hurry now.
A source in Pardo’s office said Friday that as the last opportunity for the commission to approve the ballot language and submit the question to the county supervisor of elections.
The election change referendum would have asked voters whether to align City of Miami elections with state and federal cycles to increase participation and reduce costs. If approved, it would begin in 2032, which means that those elected in 2027 (districts 1, 2 and 4) and those elected in 2029 (districts 3 and 5) would get a bonus year in office.
“This single five-year period would exist solely for that purpose. Those elected during those cycles would have voter approval for the additional year,” Pardo said. “More importantly, this reform would not affect the terms of the current mayor or commissioners.”
Read related: City of Miami drops legal fight to change/cancel election, takes it to voters
Well, that last part is not entirely true. It might affect Pardo and commissioners Gabela or Ralph Rosado. Only Commissioner Carollo and Mayor Francis Suarez are termed out. Chairwoman King will be termed out after the next term, if she is reelected in November.
Pardo did not return calls and texts to his cellphone and district office. His chief of staff, Anthony Balzebre, also did not return a call and a text. At this point, it might be Pardo’s orders to ignore Ladra. But an outside public relations consultant sent out a really lame statement on the commissioner’s behalf:
“We’re disappointed that two voter referendums could not be heard today due to a lack of quorum. The special meeting was scheduled to advance two items to the ballot: moving City of Miami elections to even-numbered years and advancing the Miami Marine Stadium item.
“Both were drafted ballot questions so residents, not commissioners, would make the final decision, but for those resolutions to move forward, a commission vote was required. With only two commissioners present, short of the three needed for a quorum, the meeting could not proceed, and the commission did not take any votes,” Pardo said in his carefully crafted message, where he again stressed the importance of increasing voter participation from 20% to 70% or more.
But he didn’t limit his comments to his precious election reform.
Ron DeSantis wants to make Florida the first state to scrap vaccine mandates
Just weeks into the new school year, Gov. Ron DeSantis and his right-hand anti-Woke doc, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, are taking aim at something else that has kept Florida kids healthy for decades: vaccines.
At a press conference Wednesday, Ladapo said the state is going to eliminate every last vaccine mandate, because forcing kids to get shots to go to school is “wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.” Yes, he really said vaccines were like slavery.
But he offered zero details about how this would actually work. Right now, all 50 states and D.C. require certain vaccines for students to attend school. We’re talking the basics: polio, diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B. Stuff that stopped wiping out kids a generation ago thanks to public health, not thoughts and prayers.
Read related: Gov. Ron DeSantis sends Florida DOGE squad to sniff out Miami-Dade budget
Florida would be the first state to toss those requirements out the window.
Doctors and public health experts are calling it exactly what it is: reckless. Dr. Rana Alissa, president of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said vaccines are especially important in schools because, let’s face it, they are like petri dishes. Smart parents take precautions at home when it’s back-to-school time so they don’t get sick, too.
South Florida has already seen declining vaccination rates. Miami-Dade’s kindergarten immunizations have slipped almost 3% since 2019. Broward dropped by 10%. In 2024, there was a measles outbreak in Weston that infected seven kids at Manatee Bay Elementary. This year, the CDC has logged more than 1,400 measles cases nationwide, including six in Florida.
Miami-Dade School Board Member Luisa Santos told Roberto Rodriguez-Tejera on Actualidad Thursday morning (and it’s so nice to have him back, even temporarily) that there are already exemptions for religious and medical reasons. Nobody really asks any questions, though. And there has been a sharp increase — from 3,700 in the 2019-20 school year to 7,200 last school year. Statewide, Florida had 10,556 non-medical exemptions in the 2024–25 school year, the second-highest total after Texas, according to the Center for Disease Control.
“So it is something this community for different reasons is already saying, ‘I’m going to take this exemption,’” Santos said. “But that puts the whole community at risk.” Particularly immunocompromised children, teachers and staff.
But not yet. Santos explained that students are still required to be vaccinated to be in public schools this year. DeSantis and Lapado can get good press for their red meat base from this, but the state lawmakers would have to make that change for next year. That’s almost a sure bet though, since the Republican-led legislature has been sharpening their anti-woke talking points.
Mirroring the national debate, local parents and leaders are mixed on the topic. Some anti-vaxxers and GOP champions are cheering the move.
“Florida continues to lead the way on medical freedom,” posted Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, who has been trying to grow his political profile since he led the county’s drive against fluoride. “Proud to stand with the MAHA commission in protecting every Floridian’s right to make their own health decisions free from mandates and government overreach.”
Others worry that there could be outbreaks.
“Are we losing our minds? This is getting ridiculous and pathetic,” Congresswoman Frederica Wilson posted on X.“Are we trying to kill millions of innocent children? Childhood vaccines save lives. Abolishing them is INSANITY.
“As a former teacher and principal, I know how vital childhood vaccinations are. Ending vaccine mandates puts the whole community at risk of preventable diseases. Decades of research show the effectiveness of vaccines, and we cannot just disregard the health of our children,” Wilson said. “Joseph Ladapo’s tenure as Florida’s Surgeon General has been marred by misinformation and harmful narratives. Enough is enough — Governor DeSantis must fire him, or Joseph Ladapo must resign before more harm is done.”
Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith kept it short: “Today is a great day for chickenpox, measles, and polio in Florida.”
Miami-Dade School Board Member Steve Gallon III seemed offended by the slavery comment. “The comparison of vaccinations to the horrors of slavery is incredible,” he posted.
‘This is devastating news,” Jill Roberts, associate professor at the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health, told Axios Tampa Bay. “You’re going to leave kids susceptible to diseases that are deadly and have lifelong consequences.”
Even Republican Sen. Rick Scott was scratching his bald head and told Marc Caputo, “Florida already has a good system that allows families to opt out based on religious and personal beliefs, which balances our children’s health and parents’ rights.”
United Teachers of Dade, the local labor union for teachers in the county’s public school system, issued a statement calling the plan “deeply concerning,” because it could expose vulnerable children to preventable disease. “From our standpoint, for decades, school vaccinations and requirements have played a role in keeping classrooms healthy,” said UTD spokesman Ricky Junquera, who was also a political advisor for former Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in her 2024 race for Senate.
Osmani Gonzalez, president of the Miami-Dade County Council of PTAs, was far darker: “This is the type of policy that creates the possibility of preventable tragedies and the unnecessary loss of children’s lives within our schools,” he told The Miami Herald.
And Ladra can’t help asking the obvious: Why are we pretending polio and measles are woke?
Because that’s what this is really about. Not health. Not kids. Not science. It’s about the next culture war headline for a governor desperate to keep his name in lights — even if it means Florida becomes the testing ground for preventable epidemics.
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Miami Marine Stadium’s revival plan could be on city’s November ballot
Miami commissioners are dusting off the Marine Stadium dream again.
Yes, the same stadium that’s been rotting since 1992’s Hurricane Andrew. The same Brutalist concrete beauty on Biscayne Bay’s Virginia Key, whose neglect preservationists have been crying about for decades and has been listed as a historic since 2018 . The same architectural treasure that the National Trust for Historic Preservation has listed it in the 11 most endangered historic places.
The same project mayors keep calling a “legacy.”
The commission will have a special meeting Friday to decide whether to put a ballot question on the November election asking Miami voters if they’re ready to hand the keys to the shuttered landmark and the Flex Park next door over to a private entity — that will only charge the city $500,000 a year.
City Manager Art Noriega is already polishing the PR.
“We’re finally at a point where we have a plan and a trajectory for the renovation of Miami Marine Stadium, that incredible historic venue, a gem in the city of Miami…. lost to all of us for such a long time,” City Manager Art Noriega says in a hype video he dropped on Instagram last week. “This will reactivate that stadium. This is something we’re all going to be proud of in the next few years.”
If Ladra had a nickel for every time we’ve heard that, she could pay the higher tolls proposed for the Rickenbacker Causeway — which, by the way, might soon look more like U.S. 1 on event days.
Read related: Third DCA says no, again; Miami loses third try to cancel November elections
Noriega was short on details, however. All we know is that after decades of false starts, broken promises and glossy renderings gathering dust, the city issued another public solicitation for a private operator to restore and run the architectural and waterfront landmark. Apparently, they selected Global Spectrum L.P., a venue management company that is rebranding itself as Spectra. It has managed public events in the United States, Canada and the Middle East.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who has made it clear that the Miami Marine Stadium revival is on his last term bucket list, has had extensive business and political dealings with countries and organizations in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Dubai — connections that have drawn scrutiny regarding potential conflicts of interest with his role as mayor and as an attorney for an international law firm.
Suarez has pitched the Marine Stadium revival as a legacy project. But this is the same guy who has spent years jet-setting, crypto-pitching, hobnobbing with celebrities, creating content and running for president. Now, in his final months, he wants voters to hand him the ribbon-cutting for an icon that’s been rotting away for more than three decades during which it has become a magnet for graffiti artists and taggers.
The city’s capital improvements department shored up the structure two years ago and posted a YouTube video about it, saying it was the beginning of the renovation. The repair of corroded grandstand support columns reportedly cost $3 million.
But the renovation stalled, again. Now, Baby X clearly wants to fast track this legacy project.
Ladra could find no trail linking Spectra to Mayor Suarez. Zero. Nada. Which is surprising. He is a senior partner at DaGrosa Capital Partners, which invests in sports, healthcare, and real estate. Keyword: Sports. And he has also received payments from a real estate developer with a Miami project for consulting services. Who knows how many side gigs Suarez has.
Read related: What corruption probe? Mayor Francis Suarez enjoys Egypt wedding, Miami F1
So, let’s not get complacent. Given 305 politics, “nothing to see here” often comes with a wink and a whisper. We’ll keep our ear to the ground. If Spectra starts sponsoring private gala dinners with the mayor, Political Cortadito readers will be the first to know.
According to an article this week in Miami Today, the company is working under the name OVG360, or Oak View Group, which incorporated in Florida on July 22. So it’s brand new. Principals are Alexander and Maria Rojas of Kendall. Alexander Rojas also opened another corporation in April, 3CM Development, with Hector Muruelo, senior project manager at Terra, and a veteran of residential and hotel development.
Spectra has managed the Miami Beach Convention Center for 12 years and Oak View won a new contract with the city in April.
One rendition of what a renovated Miami Marine Stadium might look like.
Their proposal for the marine stadium project is all bells and whistles: better acoustics, expanded seating, an eco-friendly Flex Park, “world-class” everything and fancy new food options. Breakwater Hospitality (The Wharf, Pier 5, JohnMartin’s) and Groot Hospitality (restaurants and nightclubs) is in the mix. They promise to pour $10 million into the facility — half after the opening and the other half five years later. In return, they want a 10-year contract with three possible 10-year renewals, a $500K annual management fee, plus commissions on sales, sponsorships and a cut of the booze and burgers.
In other words: everybody makes money if the place makes money. Which sounds fair until you remember how often these “public-private partnerships” end up being a public expense and a private payday.
Ladra was unable to get details on who actually pays for the restoration, which was last estimated to cost about $62 million. The commission approved $45 million in bonds for the project in 2016, but the ability to access to funds has expired. Earlier this year, city leaders discussed funding the restoration with a new bond, historic preservation tax credits and/or tax revenue from local convention facilities development. The National Historic Trust and the Friends of the Miami Marine Stadium (former state house candidate Daniel “Danny” Diaz-Leyva is a board member) have also been allegedly fundraising for this for years.
The 6,000-seat stadium was designed by the late renown Cuban-born architect Hilario Candela when he was 27 years old. When it was poured in 1963, its 326-foot, fold-plate roof was the longest span of cantilevered concrete on earth. It was used as a backdrop to the 1967 Elvis Presley movie Clambake. There were performances by Jimmy Buffet and others and a political rally for Richard Nixon. It was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 2018.
This month, it was used as a backdrop for a GQ cover photo of football player and “America’s sweetheart” Travis Kelce, a copy of which could already set you back $14.99 on eBay.
Read related: City of Miami drops legal fight to change/cancel election, takes it to voters
The marine stadium deal is the second ballot item Miami commissioners will discuss Friday. They are also teeing up a referendum on moving city elections to even-numbered years, after courts slapped down their attempt to give themselves an extra year in office. So, Miamians may be asked to bless both an “election reform” and a management deal for the marine stadium in the same election the city tried to cancel just weeks ago.
Will voters bite? Maybe. After all, the nostalgia for the marine stadium and the glory days of powerboat races, rowing regattas, Easter Sunday services, and boat-in concerts under the stars on Biscayne Bay runs deep. But Ladra can’t help but wonder: Is this really about saving a landmark for the people?
Or is it about delivering a shiny new venue to the same old power players who always seem to score these city contracts while providing a new, positive footnote for the mayor’s Wikipedia page?
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Coral Gables commission ‘fires’ development watchdog P&Z member
Melissa Castro gets last laugh, appoints Kirk Menendez
Sue Kawalerski became the latest casualty of the Vince Lago Revenge Tour last week, when the Coral Gables Commission did something longtime City Hall watchers couldn’t remember ever happening before: They voted to boot a sitting member of the Planning & Zoning Board against the will of the commissioner who appointed her.
But later, right before the meeting ended, Commissioner Melissa Castro pulled a surprise replacement rabbit out of her hat, and dramatically announced that she would then appoint former Commissioner Kirk Menendez — who ran Mayor Lago this year after calling him corrupt — because she is someone she can trust who knows the city.
You could hear a pin drop in commission chambers. People thought Lago was going to spontaneously combust.
With a 3–1 vote, the commission had already yanked Kawalerski, a thorn in developers’ sides and a vocal critic of overbuilding, right out of her seat.
Read related: Coral Gables moves to ‘fire’ longtime activist from planning zoning board
The official excuse? A slick, 18-minute hit reel put together by Coral Gables TV and presented by City Manager Peter Iglesias, showing Sue arguing with staff, sparring with board members, and pressing Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado about rapid-transit zoning at a July meeting. She was “publicly berated,” Iglesias said. But that was only the proverbial last straw.
“This is not about silencing a voice or punishing a vote. This is about upholding the standards of integrity of the planning and zoning board,” Iglesias said, adding that because it is a quasi judicial body, it has to fair, impartial and defendable in court.
“Board members are expected to ask difficult questions and represent residents, but they must also conduct themselves with professionalism and respect. When the conduct falls short of these standards it jeopardizes the city’s credibility, undermines the residents ability to challenge incompatible projects and ultimately harms the community we serve.”
He read from talking points. City spokeswoman Martha Pantin would not tell Ladra who wrote the talking points for him.
“This resolution has nothing to do with how Ms. Kawalerski voted on any issue. Board members are free to interpret facts and cast their votes according to their judgement,” Iglesias read, hardly looking up from his notes. “The concern here is her conduct and comments at recent meetings, which are prejudicial, disrespectful and derogatory.”
Lago and his loyal bobblehead soldiers, Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson and Commissioner Richard Lara nodded gravely, and claimed it was all about “standards.”
Standards? ¡Por favor! If Iglesias, Anderson or Lara really cared about standards, they should focus on Lago, who is constantly demeaning and insulting labor leaders, colleagues and residents from the dais. This wasn’t about Kawalerski’s “outburst” with Regalado. This was about control. About tightening the grip on the P&Z board so it won’t push back against big projects.
Lago even dragged out old grievances, accusing Kawalerski of tossing papers at him once — how dare she! — and they rehashed unfortunate comments she made years ago about Asian UM students and that may have been taken out of context. Ironically, Iglesias didn’t know if they were Japanese or Chinese students. Maybe he thinks they are the same.
The mayor presenting Sue as a racist is rich. Remember when Lago signed a letter in 2020 with other parents and alumni at the Carollton School of the Sacred Heart, where his daughters attend, against teaching any critical race theory? Los pajaros tirandole a la escopeta.
But, hey, Lago wanted Kawalerski out and he would use anything he could throw at her to paint Kawalerski as the problem — which she is, but for developers.
“It’s a pattern of behavior,” Lago told his colleagues last week, adding hat Kawalerski is “ill-prepared and an activist,” as if the latter is a bad thing. She was also the only member of the P&Z board that is not tied in one way or another to the development industry. “What we’re looking at is a lack of professionalism,” Lago said.
Exactly the point. Sue Kawalerski is not a professional on that board. Her role is of that of concerned resident — and she played it to perfection.
Iglesias and Lago and his echo chamber wanted to put the blame on Kawalerski for The Mark development, a pair of student housing towers that are slated to go up where the University Shopping Center on U.S. 1 is across from the University Metrorail station.
“Because of her actions, a developer determined they could not receive a fair hearing before the city’s planning and zoning board. As a result, the project was shifted to the Miami-Dade rapid transit zone process, bypassing the city’s review,” Iglesias said. “This decision has serious consequences. The project can become larger and more massive in scale under the RTZ process. The city lost the ability to manage the permitting process or have meaningful input. The city can no longer impose usage or signage limitations. The outcome is detrimental to the city of Coral Gables and its residents.”
Read related: Miami-Dade Commission takes over Coral Gables zoning near UM Metrorail
Iglesias said he met with her personally to tell her he was going to remove her. “I did not want to blindside her.”
How nice of him.
“This decision is not about one individual. It is about the responsibility we all share to preserve the integrity of the city’s processes and protect the interests of the coral gables residents,” he said. “Removal is a difficult but necessary step to restore credibility, fairness and the effectiveness of the board.”
It looks like Peter rehearsed.
But Ladra is pretty sure the developer would have gone to the county anyway if the city had not approved all its asks.
Commissioner Melissa Castro, who appointed Kawalerski in 2023 and reappointed her this year, was the lone “no” to remove her. She read a prepared statement from Sue, who couldn’t attend because she was at work (the commission didn’t start talking about her until 8:30 p.m., by the way). In it, Kawalerski called the move exactly what it is: a smear campaign to stifle critics of runaway development.
“During my term, many development projects have come before the board and I have always evaluated them based on two criteria: Do they comply with our zoning code and comprehensive plan? And, have the residents directly affected by the projects been effectively informed, consulted, and satisfied with the project,” Kawalerski said in her statement.
“I have voted FOR the majority of the projects that came before me based on those criteria. I voted against the projects which did not satisfy the criteria. Most if not all of those were not compatible with the neighborhood and received very negative responses from the residents” she added. “Only projects that require approval for bonuses, like the Mediterranean bonus which adds more height, or other additional requests not covered in the code, come before the board. In other words, developers come to Planning & Zoning to ask that they be allowed to build something they normally do not have a right to build.
“Far too often, I have witnessed board members showing unrestricted enthusiasm over projects, not asking critical and necessary questions, or staying silent, and then voting ‘Yes.’ I was not one of them. Neither was fellow board member Felix Pardo,” Kawalerski said, referring to the longtime architect and activist who ran against Anderson in April and lost.
Read related: Felix Pardo nabs anti-development base from Rhonda Anderson in Coral Gables
Pardo might be axed next.
In fact, in an email response to residents who protested Kawalerski’s removal — and Castro said there were at least 70 — Lago claimed the whole thing was ”an example of the constant misinformation campaign by Castro and Fernandez.” He also wrote back that “the Bagel Emporium site is NOW NO longer under our control due to the behavior of Sue K., and Felix Pardo.”
Said Kawalersk: “First, the mayor doesn’t even have the respect to call me by my full name. He is laying blame on the two of us, who are fighting for residents. Why isn’t he?”
A few residents agreed. “Sue Kawalerski has been fighting with us on this since before she was on the planning and zoning board,” said a woman who called on Zoom, adding that the residents had simply asked for one less floor and the developer didn’t want to give. “It had nothing to do with Sue. She did nothing wrong.
“You guys never got involved in this. I’ve never seen you at one meeting,” the woman said.
“We are sick and tired of these internal wars,” said Maria Magdalena Estupiñan. “Sue is not the problem. What you’re doing right now is making Sue as an excuse. It’s not Sue’s fault that we’re looking more and more like Brickell. Sue is not the problem.”
Lisa De Tourney, a member of the city’s Parking Advisory Board, echoed that sentiment and said she’s “seen far worse behavior, even up there on the dais.”
Amen, sister.
But Kawalerski isn’t going anywhere. She’s still president of the Coral Gables Neighbors Association and promised this is “just the beginning.” In fact, Ladra bets she’ll make more noise out here than she ever could on the board.
“She may continue to do so as loudly and as often as she wants, but not as a member of the planning and zoning board. That voice is not being silenced,” Lara said with a straight face. He shrugged — he shrugs a lot — and said Sue serves “at the pleasure of the majority” — as if that makes it any less of a power grab.
“There can be no reasonable person that can say there wasn’t berating of officials. To take a different position would be saying this is acceptable behavior — and it’s not.”
Read related: Coral Gables commission launches legal fight with Youth Center group
In the end, the commission should have been careful what they wished for. Because they got rid of Kawalerski, but now they’ll have Menendez in her spot. Whoa, whoa, whoa, Lago said after he regained his composure. He asked the city attorney, practically begging for a yes, if it had to come back to the commission, but Castro had already directed her to bring it back at the next meeting.
Technically, Lago and his lackeys could block the Menendez appointment, which has to be approved by a majority vote. Ladra doesn’t know if there’s a precedent for not accepting someone.
Would that mean that any three votes could block any board appointment? And wouldn’t that just make Lago’s personal political vendetta more obvious?
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