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.
Diverse group of Miami stakeholders call for Joe Carollo’s resignation
Commissioner should at least be removed from Bayfront Board Trust
Miami’s Joe Carollo has $1.4 million in PAC to fund any appeal of jury verdict
The city of Miami can stop paying Commissioner Joe Carollo‘s legal bills right now. Let him pay for his own appeal with the funds from his political action committee.
Carollo, who has spent more than $2 million of the taxpayers’ money defending himself from a federal lawsuit he lost Thursday, has a neat $1,380,295 sitting in the bank account for his Miami First PAC. If he wants to appeal the jury verdict — which granted $63.5 million in damages to two Little Havana businessmen who were retaliated against for supporting Carollo’s opponent in 2017 — let Carollo put his money where his big mouth is.
Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago gets another ethics hit in $$ from developer
Developing story: The news that Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago is getting monthly rental payments from a developer with several projects in the city is just the latest in a series of ethical lapses and questionable actions by the top politico in the City Beautiful, once a promising rising star in the local Republican Party.
Lago is part owner of a property that is currently rented by Location Ventures, the same developer who is building a luxury condo on Ponce De Leon Boulevard and who has also offered to pay $9 million for a city-owned parcel in the downtown. Location Ventures CEO Rishi Kapoor‘s payments to Lago’s buddy, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, while navigating permits and approvals for projects in that city is already a subject of investigation by the Miami-Dade Commission of Ethics and Public Trust. Lago’s ties to Kapoor, and questions that raises about a potential quid-pro-quo relationship should be looked at, too.
Developer who paid Miami mayor also rents from Gables Mayor Vince Lago
Rishi Kapoor offered to buy a city-owned property for $9 million
How can Miami’s Joe Carollo pay $63.5 million damages in federal jury award?
Attorney says the city should also be liable because of its role in abuse
Jury says Miami’s Joe Carollo abused power to violate 1st Amendment rights
Commissioner may appeal $63.5 million award to Little Havana partners
Raquel Regalado at town hall says she’ll sponsor, support a Pets’ Trust program
Remember the Pets’ Trust?
A whopping 64% of us approved this initiative on a non-binding ballot question in 2012. It aimed to direct budget dollars for animal services to a massive spay and neuter program to take care of the stray and abandoned dogs and cats that are overpopulating, particularly in the southwestern part of Miami-Dade. The Miami-Dade Commission and then-mayor Carlos Gimenez decided to ignore us.
In two months, Daniella Levine Cava raises more than $1.4M for re-election
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is building a war chest to seek a second term in November 2024, raising more than a $1.4 million in just the last two months.
La Alcaldesa collected just a little less than $400,000 in her candidate campaign account — $282,885 in March, when she officially launched her re-election campaign, and $110,942 in April, according to the latest campaign reports. Her political action committee, Our Democracy, did much better, amassing more than $1 million — $811,850 in March and $205,275 in April.
Miami-Dade’s Raquel Regalado to chat with Kendall residents at KFHA event
When Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado goes Thursday evening to a town hall meeting hosted by the Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations, it will be an act of courage.
This is where the Calusa people live. Ladra fully expects some of them to come and pressure her to change her mind on the development of 550 homes on the 168-acre abandoned golf course now that there is evidence that protected Florida birds are nesting there.
Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla nets $633K for PAC in 2 months
Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, whose term ends in November, has raised $640,000 for his political action committee, Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade. But we still don’t know if he’s going to use those funds for a re-election campaign — he has not yet filed any paperwork for that — or a mayoral run, which is what everyone knows he really wants.
Only $8,000, all from the electrical workers union — with which The Dean has a special relationship — came into the account in February. That means the other $633K was raised in two months — $287,500 in March and $345,523 in April.
