When elected officials want to make it easier to sell off public land, it’s usually not about efficiency. It’s about opportunity — for someone.
And it’s usually not the public.
The Miami City Commission last month voted to put a referendum on the November ballot so that the sale or lease of city-owned land can be executed with a simple four-fifths vote on the dais. Right now, any sale or lease of public land has to go to a public vote. But this change would allow four people to sell public land. No public vote would be needed. So the right the public has today to approve or reject any property deal would be taken away.
This is becoming a habit with these commissioners.
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This proposal to ease restrictions on how the city can sell or lease non-waterfront public land was proposed by City Manager Art Noriega, not a city commissioner because that would be political suicide. But none of them pulled it for discussion, so the resolution was approved without a single question raised.
What properties would be affected? Which properties would be off-limits, besides waterfront land? Who determines “fair market value”? Who is waiting in the wings, ready with an offer?
There was even the ballot question attached to the July 24 reading:

“SHALL THE CITY CHARTER BE AMENDED TO ALLOW THE CITY COMMISSION, BY A FOUR-FIFTHS VOTE, TO APPROVE THE SALE OR LEASE OF NON-WATERFRONT CITY-OWNED PROPERTY WHEN FEWER THAN THREE PROPOSALS ARE RECEIVED AFTER PUBLIC NOTICE, PROVIDED THAT OTHER SAFEGUARDS, INCLUDING FAIR MARKET VALUE AND VOTER APPROVAL FOR WATERFRONT PROPERTY, REMAIN IN EFFECT?”

The City of Miami’s Department of Real Estate & Asset Management (DREAM) manages an estimated $17.5 billion real estate asset portfolio, which includes 513 properties, 139 million square feet of islands, three marinas of over 1,300 boat slips, moorings and dry racks, retail malls, hotels, office buildings, multifamily buildings, theaters, stadiums, parking garages, historic properties, long term ground leases, upland and submerged lands.
The resolution states that these “recommended revisions will promote the efficient, transparent, and fiscally responsible management and disposition of City-owned non- waterfront property, particularly in instances where market interest is limited.”
What does that mean? It sounds like bureaucratic fine-tuning — but Miami doesn’t have a good track record when it comes taxpayers’ assets. This looks like another loophole in the making, just waiting for the next sweetheart deal to slip through.
Right now, in addition to going to a public vote, the city has to advertise the property and get at least three bids before approving a deal. That’s called competition. That’s called transparency. That’s called giving the public a shot at knowing who’s trying to buy public property. And for how much. And for what purpose.
This change? It says, “Nah, don’t worry about all that.” Fewer than three proposals? As long as it hits “fair market value” and gets a four-fifths vote from the commission, it’s a go.
Read related: Miami commissioners vote to negotiate sale of historic Olympia Theater
Let’s be honest: This is like hanging a “for sale” sign with invisible ink. The average taxpayer won’t see the deal until it’s done, the price is locked, and some lucky friend of a commissioner or mayor is already picking out floor samples.
There is talk that this could be related to the future sale of the Miami Police headquarters property downtown. It could also open up the floodgates on unsolicited offers to redevelop a number of public housing buildings.
Sure, the city says this doesn’t apply to waterfront land. Miami voters still have to approve the sale or lease of any waterside property. For now, anyway. Because everyone knows how these things evolve. First you carve out a little exception. Then you find a way to stretch it. Then you say, “Well, it worked fine for inland properties, soooo…”
Next thing you know, a former park becomes a condo tower, and the public gets a press release and a commemorative plaque.
Proponents are going to say there’s nothing wrong with getting the public to vote on this. But then they’ll spend millions to fool the voters into thinking it’s a good idea.
Ladra thinks it’s a bad idea. Not because she hates streamlining — but because she knows exactly who benefits when public oversight gets called red tape.
And it’s usually not the public.
The post The city of Miami wants to sell your public land with no public vote appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Miami Assistant City Manager Larry Spring, the city’s chief financial officer, has submitted his resignation and will be leaving the city’s employ — for the second time — in about two weeks.
“As you know, over the last three years, I have genuinely enjoyed the opportunity to be back with my City of Miami family serving the residents,” Spring wrote in his June 19 resignation letter to City Manager Art Noriega. “Under your leadership we were able to achieve a great deal of progress and help position the City for prolonged success and financial stability.
“Thank you for the opportunity to come back. You will never know what it meant to me both personally and professionally.”
The resignation is effective July 18. His salary and benefits were more than $260,000 a year when he was hired in 2022 to oversee seven departments: Finance, grants administration, housing and community development, management and budget, procurement, risk management, and real e90state and asset management.
Spring thanked his colleagues, Mayor Francis Suarez and all the commissioners, ending with something that might hint to what he’s doing next: “Don’t worry, I am not leaving Miami, you will see me again!” 
In what capacity, however? Las malas lenguas say that Spring has left to take a job with a private entity that does have some connection to the city. Say, like, the Watson Island developers or Miami Freedom Park. Or maybe the Miami Riverbridge project, a mixed use complex approved by voters in 2022 that aims to transform the riverfront with three residential towers.
Or is it all the financial audits and investigations that have him running for the hills? Or is it that he can’t stand at the podium one more time and try to talk sensually while Commissioner Joe Carollo rants on in a delusional haze?
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In April, Spring moderated a panel titled “Public-Private Partnerships” at the city of Miaim’s Economic Innovation and Development Department’s Opportunity Zone Summit at the Frost Museum of Science. The panel featured Debra Sinkle Kolsky, President and Owner of Redevco, a South Florida-based real estate firm; Chris Hodgkins, Chairman of Miami Tunnel, the entity behind the city’s transformative port infrastructure project; and lobbyist Neisen Kasdin, Co-Managing Partner of Akerman LLP’s Miami office, a leading law firm specializing in urban development. They discussed how PPPs can drive “impactful projects,” that can benefit community experiences in retail, infrastructure, and urban redevelopment.
“Opportunity zones and public private partnerships are critical to meeting the needs of the City of Miami,” Spring said.
Spring — who worked in the city from 2007 to 2011 — was rehired by Noriega in April of 2020 as a $25,000-a-month financial consultant to assist with Miami’s economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. He was named the chief financial officer in 2022, a position he left 11 years earlier — amid the investigation that eventually found one of his employees had hidden the city’s dire financial situation and basically lied to bond investors.
Spring was never charged, and he said he helped the SEC by testifying during the investigation. But it was around the same time that he let his Richmond Heights home be foreclosed.
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He also worked as North Miami’s city manager for about four years from 2016 to 2020, when he was fired. He left the city with a severance package that included 32 weeks’ pay and a $45,000 SUV. Spring also worked some time as an executive director of “productivity and decision support” at Jackson Health Systems. He has served as vice president/controller of Total Bank and executive director of the North Miami Community Redevelopment Agency.
Larry Spring, right front, with the Miami Parking Authority executive board three years ago.
Since 2011, Spring has also continued to be managing director of, and the only principal listed for, Achievement Consulting Group, a consulting firm that specializes in real estate development, government relations, and financial consulting services. Some of the most notable include the development of Perez Art Museum, Frost Museum of Science, Miami Marlins Baseball Stadium, the Miami Port Tunnel, Midtown Miami Development in Miami, and the Sole-Mia Development in North Miami. Spring also led the bond financing process that funded nearly $1 billion in public infrastructure.
The corporation has remained active as he’s held the No. 2 position in the city administration.
Spring says he holds a bachelor’s degree in management from Tulane University and is a licensed CPA — but in the state of Georgia, not in Florida. According to the city’s website, he has served on several civic and nonprofit boards including the Miami Foundation, Miami Parking Authority, and the Universal Truth Community Development Corporation.
Efforts to reach him and manager Noriega Monday were not successful. But it wouldn’t be the first time a city employee finds a golden umbrella at work. Former City Attorney Victoria Mendez, who was fired last year, cultivated relationships with outside counsels, especially the one that hired her so she can continue working for Carollo and on other city cases.
Who wants to bet Noriega is next?
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The post Miami CFO Larry Spring resigns from city job — for a private sector gig? appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Miami City Manager Art Noriega got a pass Thursday after he explained, to use the word loosely, his wife’s business dealings with the city, while City Attorney Victoria Mendez was removed of her position at the commission meeting on the spot. After commissioners voted 4-1 for Mendez to step down — she will still stay on in “a transitionary role” through June — the new Acting City Attorney George Wysong moved into her seat. Only Commissioner Joe Carollo voted against the change.

“I was born in Allapattah, raised in Flagami and lived in Flagami for 44 years,” Mendez said, thanking God, her family and her colleagues — and choking back what some say were crocodile tears.

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Finally, after an embarrassing misstep last month with a report that was short on numbers and remorse, Miami City Manager Art Noriega has submitted a new report about the way the city handled furniture purchases from his wife’s company since he was appointed — and it sounds a lot like the old report.

It’s also still about $90,000 off the mark.

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City attorney’s future, manager’s excuses on agenda

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Hires fired, former Doral manager as his number two

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