Plans for the Amerian Dream megamall — billed as the largest retail center/amusement park in the U.S. — will go before the Miami-Dade County Commission for the first time Wednesday as they seek changes to the county land use and development master plan maps. And the two big topics will be traffic and tax breaks.

After all, we are talking about 3.5 million square feet of retail, a 350,000-square-foot amusement park, a 350,000-square-foot water park, a miniature golf course, an indoor ski slope, a lake with underwater submarine rides and water skiing, a 120,000-square-foot entertainment zone with restaurants and nightclubs, a youth sports center, one or more hotels providing 2,000 rooms and enough parking to accomodate all of that.

Traffic is the main concern plaguing both those who opppose the megamall and those who are in favor. There should be plenty of public speakers Wednesday as commissioners consider amending the Comprehensive Development Master Plan, the first step to allow for the mall’s construction.

“I would just hope the plan they show us has a robust transportation plan that allows people to get in and out relatively easily,” said Commission Chairman Esteban Bovo, who otherwise supports the mall because of the jobs it will create — Ladra has heard anywhere from 30,000 to 46,000, with 15,000 being permanent — and the $35 million or so in tax revenue that it is estimated to provide beginning the first year of operation, he said.

“Make no mistake, it’s going to have an impact,” Bovo said. “If what they submit to the board does not show a transportation plan that works for them and for us — and they know this — then this is not going to fly.”

A lot of folks also want promises that developer Triple Five Group is not going to seek tax breaks either from the county or the state — not even through the creation of a special taxing district that would divert tax dollars from the county’s general fund and earmark them for infrastructure and traffic mitigation that the mall’s developers would otherwise have to pay from their own pockets. Impact fees are estimate to cost Triple Five close to $120 million.

“At no time has anybody represented to me in any kind of way that they plan to come to us for financial support,” Bovo said. “He can go to the state and get transportation dollars, but the county is not going to entertain using property taxes to support this project.”

Triple Five sure talked to Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez about a tax break. Gimenez admitted to the Herald that they had been asking for subsidies since Day 1.

Read related story: Mega mall gets public land on rushed timeline

But they already got a tremendous deal on the land, didn’t they? After months of secret negotiations with Gimenez, the mayor in 2015 lobbied the state to put the land — 80 some acres they had already identified they needed to complete their accumulation of properties — on the surplus properties list so that the county could buy it at government-to-government prices. Then he sold it to the developer without getting appraisals or putting it out to bid — for the same government price, $12.3 million. That’s $153,750 an acre, which Ladra is sure is way below market value. So, Gimenez had the county act as a pass through for a special government price on 80 acres of land for a private megamall development. We should hope there’s no more coming from the public trough.

Gimenez told the Miami Herald that he had told Triple Five the county was not interested in diverting any taxes through any “tax increment financing” or special taxing district mechanism and that he had told them so. But the developer has tapped government financing before, for the Mall of America in Minnesota and the first American Dream mall, which is an unfinished empty shell in Meadowlands, N.J. And one of Triple Five’s lobbyists, former State Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla — who coincidentally sponsored legislation last year to allow counties to create their own tax increment financing districts for commercial developments — wouldn’t commit to a no and told Herald reporter Doug Hanks that it was too early for any conversation about public funding.

Too early? Pffft. Here’s a translation of that: Yes, we are going to seek public dollars wherever we can but we just don’t want to talk about that until we get the ball rolling and it is too difficult or cumbersome to stop it.

Diaz de la Portilla also told Ladra that this was just the first of at least seven to nine public meetings and steps for the megamall development. If the requested changes to the CDMP are approved by the commission Wednesday, that gets transmitted to the state for review by several agencies which could set conditions for further approvals. Then it comes back to the county in April or May for zoning changes and the development agreement. That’s when the real wheeling and dealing is supposed to start.

The flagship DLP also said that the only real opposition is coming from competing malls (who, in a funny twist, hired Gimenez pal and fundraiser Alex Heckler as their lobbyist). But Ladra has talked to residents in Miami Lakes and Palm Springs North, as well as environmentalists, who are concerned about the impact. Some business leaders have also quietly questioned the wisdom of such a huge megamall development at a time when retail sales are suffering nationwide (which may be why the New Jersey version of the American Dream is not yet awake).

That brings us back to the taxing district thing, which could possibly offset the losses of a down retail market. While it’s supposedly too early to talk about tax breaks, Diaz de la Portilla said he would be willing Wednesday to talk about anything that commissioners ask him about it. So commissioners better ask him about it! Ladra is talking to every single one of you. We are all watching.

Read related story: American Dream lobby team = casino connections

Although, really, Ladra doesn’t know how much we can believe what the developer and/or their mouthpiece says. The American Dream application says the project, once complete, will attract 40 million visitors a year. That’s more than twice as many as the 19.3 million people who visit Disney’s Magic Kingdom annually. So you’re really telling us there’s going to be more visitors here than at Disney World? Really? Does a ski slope in South Florida have that much pull? 

If that is the case, then the transportation plan better be freaking magical.

There’s also an application at Wednesday’s meeting for a zoning amendment to the land development map for a mixed-use project on a neighboring site by the Graham Companies. This project has a proposed 3-million-square-foot business park with retail, offices, industrial space and hotels, as well as 2,000 apartment.

And that, alone, is expected to generate more than 10,000 new trips by 2020.

It’s good to have palanca. Just ask Jesse Manzano-Plaza.

The political consultant and strategist, who ran the campaign of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez (at least until the mayor was forced into a runoff when others were brought in), got a break Tuesday when the members of the Bayfront Park Management Trust Board voted to keep him on despite having been absent from at least five meetings from June to December.

It’s a bit ironic that the guy who made up that mayoral candidate Raquel Regalado had missed multiple meetings as a school board member — when she had missed none, just skipped the presentations part — hasn’t gone to a meeting in at least six months. In fact, Manzano-Plaza missed enough meetings to get booted off the board if not for a special waiver that seems to have been invented just for him.

Guess he was too busy campaigning, going on radio shows, making stuff up and obsessing about soccer. Wonder how many meetings he misses during his next campaign.

Read related story: Jesse Manzano and Carlos Gimenez together again for 2016

Apparently, Manzano had missed the June 28, July 26, September 27, October 25 and a December 2016 meeting of the Bayfront Park Trust Board, a nine-member board, led by Miami City Commissioner Frank Carollo, that manages Bayfront Park and Museum Park. 

Board members used to get voted off for missing three consecutive meetings or four meetings in a calendar year, according to the city code. But the city somehow rewrote the rules so that Jesse could stay on.

“It’s a new thing that the city clerk came up with,” Timothy Shmand, director of the Bayfront Park Management Trust, told Ladra Tuesday afternoon.

“The amended city code provides a board member subject to removal the opportunity to seek and obtain one attendance waiver during the board member’s tenure on a particular board,” Shmand wrote to the board members on Jan. 13. “The BPMT board is asked to consider such a waiver for Mr. Jesse Manzano-Plaza.”

The email says he missed four consecutive meetings but Shmand told Ladra he also missed a meeting in December.

It was a unanimous decision. Except Jesse didn’t vote. Naturally. That would be too much, no?

Read related story: Who does Carlos Gimenez spokesman really represent?

Why did Shmand ask to keep him on?

“He adds to the board,” he told Ladra. “He’s got insight into the way things happen in Miami that are valuable. When I need an opinion or advice, he’s always available.”

Yeah, um, well, except the last six months.

Reports would include data on no-bid contracts

Three days after he was sworn in earlier this month, new Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Esteban Bovo sent a couple of memos to all the commissioners and several staffers telling them this is his show now and we’re doing things a little differently.

Not because he flagrantly doled out committee chairs to his pals. Everybody new chairman does that. Ah, tradition.

No, Bovo set the tone with what seem like some relevant changes that would better inform the commission and the public before decisions are made, increase transparency on no-bid contracts and waivers and reform the county auditor’s office — which is so clueless, it failed to catch and report the garage full of parked, unused hybrid county vehicles, the Frost Museum emergency, the special taxing district fiasco and the scam at the airport involving the light fixtures.

Read related story: Miami-Dade special taxing districts = free-for-all shell game?

In fact, no one can remember a single audit in more than a decade that has exposed any major errors (and there have been many) or led to any change in policy. Because they get all their information from the administatrion, the Office of Commission Auditor  just regurgitates whatever Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and his top cronies say. The auditor’s reports mirror those from the Gimenez administration. This from a department that costs $2.5 million in taxpayer funds.

Bovo talked about making changes when he was sworn in Jan. 9, about wanting the auditor to have more teeth and provide the commission with more tools to do the job. Three days later, he sent a memo that indicates his desire to expand the office of the auditor’s analytical role and have them prepare legislative reports with historical data that would be due by 5 p.m. the day before any committee meeting — beginning next month.

These reports would include:

• An overview of legislative items assigned to each committee
• A detailed analysis of items that involved the expenditure of county funds or that have been identified by the mayor’s office as having a fiscal impact
• A detailed analysis of proposed county contract awards and requests to reject all bids
• A detailed analysis of mayoral requests for bid waivers and legacy contracts (which is another way to say bid waiver)
• A legislative history and relevant contextual information pertinent to legislative items appearing on a committee agenda
• Information requested by the committee

Pay particular attention to the third and fourth bullet. Because while Bovo and Gimenez are pals and allies, this could signal that Bovo is not necessarily going to rubberstamp all the mayor’s gifts to those on his friends and family plan. Asking for a detailed analysis, or list, of bid waivers and legacy (or no-bid) contracts and requests to reject all bids may also send a message to the mayor: Stop doing that.

Bovo should add “emergency purchase orders” to the list, like the $1 million “emergency purchase agreement” with Crystal Mover Services on Tuesday’s agenda, to extend their services, operating and maintaining the people mover at MIA’s north terminal, for 60 days.

In other words Bovo’s changes come late and Ladra, for one, can’t wait to see the first of these reports.

Read related story: New Miami-Dade committee structure — winners and losers

Not everyone is convinced, though. Former Commissioner Juan Zapata, who long railed against the lack of information from the auditor’s office, tweeted the day after Bovo’s swearing-in, to say that the idea was lofty.

“Moving audit staff to committees wont work. Info & systems controlled by admin. They love to play games. #lackoftransparency,” he tweeted on Jan. 10. When Ladra pressed for more details, Zap sent a text.

“Auditor’s office is not staffed to be able to deal with that task and the commission has no independent source of info,” he wrote. “All sources controlled by the administation,” he wrote. “I had legislation that would have eliminated the requirement that commission auditor be a CPA. It needs to be an analyst and the office should be about government performance, not chasing info that never gets acted upon.”

Others warned that the current employees in the office don’t have the skill set for legislative analysis. Basically they just add and subtract.

Bovo did not return calls and text messages. But his legislative aide, Alex Annunziato, whose own profile is considerably elevated now (and who should be chief of staff), told Ladra that all but two of the 20 positions in the auditor’s office are for accountants. But that could change. Vacancies could be filled by people with more of a legislative background.

“It ought to resemble more an auditor at the state level… An independent, investigative function,” Annunziato said.  “They should provide historical analysis and data so the commission doesn’t have to solely rely on the administration’s information.”

An auditor that is truly independent. Imagine that.

Another less dramatic change Bovo is making is to the commission staff briefings.

Aides used to meet on Fridays before a commission meeting with the preliminary agenda and go over their respective boss’ items one by one, but offered very little backup material. Basically they read the title of each item tomando cafe y hechandose fresco. Bovo moved the meetings to 1:30 p.m. Monday or the day before the commission meeting, which is when the agenda closes and there are no more changes. He will also require commission aides and/or departmental personnel to really work for the item if there is a cost associated with it.

“You have to come down and you have to be able to justify the expense,” Annunziato said.

“We want to sit down and rehearse the meeting, see what items we can dispense with first that will get as many people from the public, who have taken time out of their day to speak, back to work as soon as possible,” Annunziato told Ladra Friday.

Items that are more controversial or complex will be taken earlier, “when people are still fresh,” Annunziato added. “We’re going to have a script.”

That’s going to be welome news to the activists who are used to being made wait hours and hours, right Michael Rosenberg?

During his re-election campaign last year, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez could not distance himself fast or far enough from then Republican candidate for POTUS Donald J. Trump. Our Republican Cuban-American mayor even urged Trump to drop out of the race and endorsed Hillary Clinton late in the race — in a blatant grab for black and anglo Democrat and last minute undecided votes.

At one point, after he was forced into a runoff, his campaign considered having him change from Republican to Democrat.

Gimenez could have embraced his ties to The Donald, who went on to become president. After all, he once tried to give Trump our public golf course on Key Biscayne and his son, CJ Gimenez, lobbied for Trump in the city of Doral.

An election changes everything for some people and recently those ties have been proudly reclaimed.

Read related story: Carlos Gimenez’s next mancrush giveaway to Donald Trump

The mayor took Thursday and Friday off to travel to D.C. with his wife and son, lobbyist CJ Gimenez, for the inauguration.

For Junior, it’s not just a pleasure trip. It’s business. And it is interesting who his silent partners may be.

CJ announced his branching out into his own lobbying firm earlier this month. Corporate papers for Hemispheric Consulting Group were filed Dec. 22 with the state, listing CJ’s wife, Tania Cruz (who used to be a rabid Democrat, no se ahora) as the registering agent. The company will work on behalf of South and Central American and Caribbean interests who need to lobby the federal government.

Pero por supuesto this was coming. The boy has always used his political ties to his own dad as a business opportunity. You think he wouldn’t use a connection to the leader of the free world? There’s just some doubt as to whether he really branched out on his own.

Ladra didn’t get the press release sent out Jan. 5. Naturally. CJ doesn’t love us. But it was sent to and published by Herald county reporter, Doug Hanks:

“Carlos J. Gimenez, a Miami-based public affairs specialist, announced today that he is part of a team launching Hemispheric Consulting Group LLC, a new entity established to provide guidance, analysis and advocacy before the Federal government.  HCG will focus primarily on foreign policy, international trade, environmental and energy related issues with a strong emphasis on Latin American interests.

Until recently Gimenez served as Vice President and General Counsel of Balsera Communications, a public affairs and media relations firm.  A lawyer by training, he previously worked on land use, government relations and regulatory issues as an attorney.

During the last three years, Gimenez served as lead consultant for The Trump Organization’s activities in South Florida and was directly involved in the redevelopment of The Trump National Doral Miami Resort, the World Golf Championship and the Miss Universe Pageant. He also frequently served as a spokesperson for the Trump Organization with English and Spanish media.

“Having worked closely with the President-Elect over the last three years I can personally attest to his laser like focus on resolving issues in a direct and accountable manner.  His election presents a great opportunity for the entire hemisphere, not just our country.  My objective is for our Hemispheric Consulting Group to be a bridge between North and South as part of that process.”

Gimenez continued, “Latin America will see that the Trump presidency is an opportunity to redefine bilateral relations in a positive and compelling way.”

One of Gimenez’s partners in HGC, Ambassador Julio Ligorria, added, “Our company can bring to Latin America the correct insight into the approach that President-Elect Trump will have.  Carlos, our team and I have worked closely over the years and I appreciate how much he understands the importance of strong bilateral relations.  We are very bullish on what will come under President Trump.”

Gimenez will serve as Managing Director of HCG.”

It certainly presents an opportunity for him, doesn’t it.  And for his Freddy Balsera, too.

See? Some people at first thought CJ’s announcement and the words “until recently” meant he was leaving Balsera Communications, where he “worked” for the past three years as vice president and general counsel. The quotation marks are there because anyone who knows CJ knows that the mayor’s son is not a workhorse. He’s used to coasting because of who his dad has always been — the city of Miami manager, a county commissioner and then mayor. I’m not going to say he’s lazy. But because other people have said that, I know he is not known for a super duper work ethic. Hey, I might coast too, if I had a political sugar daddy.

In fact, las malas lenguas say CJ Gimenez only got that job with Balsera because of his daddy and that Balsera was growing tired of him anyway. Maybe it was his teeny weeny work ethic. Maybe it was his instability. CJ is also known to be un fosforito. This post is likely to make him blow up. Maybe it was the bullying he is known for, which was exposed after school board candidates came forward last year to tell the Miami Herald that they were shaken down by CJ, who wanted them to drop out of the race and let his aunt skate in (she won eventually anyway). But the gist is that CJ had become a liability and Freddy was looking for a soft exit.

Read related story: Beware of Carlos Gimenez Jr. at Gables school board forum

Then Trump won the presidential election.

Because, while CJ has been taken off the firm’s drop down menu list for “our talent,” his bio is still on Balsera’s website, the team picture is still up and nothing in that press release states that CJ is not still working with Balsera. “Until recently” he served as general counsel and partner. Maybe now he’s got a different title. Several sources, in fact, told Ladra that he still works at Balsera’s Ponce de Leon Boulevard office and that Freddy — who traveled with him to meet with Trump Jan. 12 — is a silent partner and investor in HCG.

Look at this EFE agency picture from El Pais, where Balsera joins CJ and HCG parnter Ligorria, the ambassador to Guatemala, as well as David Duckenfield, president and partner at Balsera, which by the way was — at least at one point in 2015, when Ladra worked with Freddy on a campaign — representing some coffee interests in, where else?, Guatemala. Ladra wouldn’t be surprised if their first project is some coffee bean tax credit legislation o algo asi.

It certainly looks like they’re still part of the same team and working together. This can’t be a happy coincidence.

The Spanish newspaper reported that the men talked about U.S. policy toward Venezuela, Argentina, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. CJ told the Miami Herald that the meeting lasted no longer than 20 minutes. “Obviously I have a longstanding relationship with Mr. Trump and the organization,” he was quoted as saying, social climber that he is. “We had a discussion with folks on his team that thought it would be beneficial for us to sit down with him for a few minutes and bring up issues related to Latin America.

“I think we can create opportunities for business and cultural ties with Latin America,” Gimenez told the Herald.

There’s that word again. Opportunitites abound.

The photo even has a covenient caption that helps them drive the message: “Los expertos latinoamericanos reunidos con Trump.”

Ladra suspects that CJ and Freddy are still partners in this new endeavor

It makes sense that Freddy wouldn’t publicize his partnership, or answer any of my phone calls or emails about this new endeavor of his and CJ’s. It would be weird to have Balsera, who advised the Barack Obama campaign in 2008 and 2012 and helped Hillary Clinton with at least one event in Puerto Rico — suddenly touting connections to The Donald now that he’s prez. Balsera is a nationally quoted Democratic supporter and consultant who last year said that Trump, for whom the firm did lobbying and PR during the Miss Universe contest, was no longer a client.

Duckenfield is also blue to the core, having served from 2014 to 2016 as Obama’s Deputy Assistant Secretary in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Public Affairs.

Maybe this is a way that they can have access to and influence on leaders in both parties? Ladra is not the only one who thinks so. “It’s like a DBA of Balsera Communications, but with no real fingerprints or names on paper,” said another lobbyist, referring to a division within a company. “He wants to keep his Democratic business, too.”

But Ladra doesn’t think Trump or his people know about this double-agent hypocrisy. Not yet, anyway. I don’t think they know either that CJ’s dad, Mayor Gimenez, the papa opportunist, publicly urged Trump to drop out of the race because of the groping comments. Or announced, on live TV, that he was endorsing Hillary. Maybe State Rep. Carlos Trujillo, a Trump fundraiser and advisor who may be tapped for an ambassadorship, or other lobbyists should tell him.

Because CJ and Freddy may have some stiff competition. They are certainly not the only South Floridians who can claim connections to the guy who is going to be president about midday tomorrow. Lobbyist Brian Ballard — who represented Trump’s interest at the state and was one of his top fundraisers and who may also be tapped for an ambassadorship — comes to mind. As does Sylvester Lukis, Balsera’s former partner.

And those are true believers, there from the beginning. They were with Trump when it was unpopular in Miami-Dade. If anybody wants an inside track to Trump, Ladra would start with those three.

CJ, Freddy and the other silent partners at HCG, whoever they might be, are Johnny-come-latelys who may exaggerate their influence and are only loyal to one party: The green party.

Expect to hear about transit, jobs and public safety

To the victor go the spoils, don’t they? To the victor, also goes the spin.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez will do what he does best at this year’s State of the County address Wednesday: Pat his own back.

Sure, he’ll provide shout-outs to his apologists and allies — especially Chairman Esteban Bovo, who many say he is grooming as his chosen replacement for 2020 — and largely ignore or smugly chide his critics and naysayers. He’ll thank former Chairman Jean Monestime for his service the last two years. And he might have a person (read: prop) or two in the audience to serve as an example of something great he’s done. Probably a young person who is working thanks to the great efforts the mayor has made.

But be sure that Gimenez will be the star of the show. It will sound a lot like the last address, which sounded the same as the last and so on, and so on. He’s in love with himself.

Read related story: Carlos Gimenez gets a ‘C’ on State of the County speech

He will take credit for the smooth election in Miami-Dade as well as the economic turnaround and the successes at Miami International Airport and the seaport, which is woefully under achieving in cargo sales compared to even Port Everglades (that won’t be in the speech, though) because it is not open 24 hours a day. He will take credit for the new animal shelter, even though it was a mandate from the people and approved in a bond referendum more than a decade ago. He will talk about all the great things he’s done — Gimenez never misses a chance to repeat how he delivered the biggest tax break ever — and all the great things he’s going do do in the next four years. After all, he is sure to remind us, these are his last.

After reviewing past addresses, the things he said after his re-election and the speech he gave at Bovo’s swearing in earlier this month — and talking to several sources inside County Hall and insiders outside County Hall — Ladra has a pretty good guess of at least some of the issues or projects that are most likely to be in Wednesday’s speech. And it’s no surprise that it is the three main issues of the mayoral campaign which he also told reporters would be his priorities after he beat School Board Member Raquel Regalado in November: transit, economic development and public safety in the light of the gun violence plaguing some of our neigborhoods.

Transit will be center stage. Many longtime county observers and insiders say Gimenez will use this speech to lay out his transportation plans. That will likely take up a good part of the first half of his monologue. You know, after he acknowledges his family and talks about leaving the county better for his grandchildren blah blah blah. He hinted in November toward a major announcement soon. Maybe this is soon enough. He will talk about finally making some headway in finishing the six famous corridors that closely match what was promised to voters — except they won’t all be rail (some people will have to compromise for rapid busways). He won’t talk about how he has misspent some of the People’s Transportation Tax dollars so that he could give us that tax break he loves to remind us about, but he may announce which of the six corridors goes first. Spoiler alert: It’s either the South Dade corridor to Homestead or the 27th Avenue corridor to Miami Gardens. He won’t tell people that he increased the transit payroll by $1 million in 2015 with five other six-figure salaries for people to babysit new director Alice Bravo.

He may also talk about his recent trip to Las Vegas, where he attended the AT&T Smart Cities conference and how he himself was the one who made Miami one of the cities tapped for their initiative and get one of the first Smart Cities operation centers, which are supposed to help governments see community conditions — traffic flow, lighting and public safety operartions — in real time and present solutions immediately. Let’s hope he explains what that means exactly and let’s hope it’s not just another layer of beaurocracy that sounds good because it has the word smart in it. Let’s also hope he doesn’t make a lame joke about what happens in Vegas coming to Miami.

Wait a minute. Didn’t the Denver trip last year promise to bring us some transit solutions?

Economic development and jobs will also be highlighted. He will talk about the number of jobs he created, again without going into the details about the type of jobs (low paying and temporary) that most are. He may even say “a job is a job” again, which is easy to say when you are drawing from three pensions and you make $150,000 a year. But now he will talk more about diversification of the economy (almost like he learned from Regalado during the campaign). He will talk about the upcoming projects that are going to bring new jobs, like the megamall planned for Northwest Dade just north of Hialeah — which is coming before the commission next week — and the Miami Wilds theme park planned for the property next to the zoo, which has been broken up into two phases to make it more palatable and easy to get each piece through despite the objections of environmentalists (more on that later). He will talk about smaller projects brought through incentives and public private partnerships and, perhaps, moving forward with the privatization of Vizcaya (more on that later), though he won’t call it that. He will call it a pathway to preservation, or some such nonsense. No, he hasn’t given up on that plan. He just put it on the shelf until after the election. And he will talk about expanding his own legacy program, Employ Miami-Dade, which I suspect is just a feel-good program with a subsidy replacement check instead of a real job and someone ought to investigate how many of those people are still employed afterwards.

He may also talk about soccer. He sorta has to. Everybody wants to know what is going on with that.

Read related story: Miami-Dade Police cuts by Carlos Gimenez cause concern

And even though he doesn’t want to, Gimenez will have to talk about the gun violence that has claimed the lives of so many children and young people all over the county, from Miami Gardens to Homestead. The speech was probably edited this week to include a mention of the people injured when shots were fired at the Martin Luther King Jr. Festival Monday. But Ladra hopes he talks about more than just us policing ourselves. And I hope he doesn’t talk about expanding his living room cops again. Taking officers off the street and putting them into the homes of at-risk kids — his brilliant idea last year — is not just a band-aid, it’s a cheap generic band-aid from the dollar store that doesn’t really stick and is falling off five minutes after you put it on. Unless Gimenez restores some of the specialized units he dismantled in 2014 — because he would rather make cuts than fill vacancies — hoods with guns will play across our county. It was reported yesterday that the shooting was perpetrated by rival gangs. And it is time Gimenez wake up to the fact that gang activity has increased since he dismantled the very specialized unit that investigated them and stopped these shootings before they happened.

But that will be one of the many things he doesn’t say.

Like the fact that after the speech Wednesday, the mayor and his lobbyist son are flying to D.C. for the inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump, who he tried so desperately to distance himself from during the election.

Is it too much to hope that Regalado — or someone — will have a response to his address again this year?

The big news this week is on Hump Day, when the county mayor gives his annual State of the County address (more on that later). Expect it to be a full house with every elected under the sun — not just the county ones but the municipal council or commission members and Ladra will even throw in a congress member and a state rep or two.

After all, this is Carlitos’ first big public to do since he beat former Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado in November, solidly winning another four years — people will want to gain favor.

All the lobbyists will be there, too, jostling to kiss the ring. Look and listen for the cheering and applause on cue.

The rest of the week will be ho hum in comparison.

But, hey, help me keep the Cortadito Calendar populated if not entirely always relevant. Please send any news about meetings, campaign rallies, powwows and other events to edevalle@gmail.com.

MONDAY — Jan. 16

8 a.m. — There are no public meetings because it’s Martin Luther King Day. But there is the 34th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 5K Run Walk, which starts at the MLK Plaza Metrorail station, 6205 NW 7th Ave., and the annual MLK Day parade in Liberty City (along NW 54th Street, from 10th to 32nd avenues. You can bet that Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado with his kids, especially Raquel and Tommy Regalado, who many say is dead serious about running for commissioner. All the Miami commissioners will be there, but so will all the candidates. Or all the serious candidates, anyway. If you can’t be there, stalk the Regalados and Commissioner Francis Suarez on twitter.

6 p.m. — Newly elected State Rep. Daisy Baez (D-Coral Gables) will open her district office Monday night at 5542 SW 8th Street. Baez beat Republican John Couriel 51 to 49% (a difference of 1,336 votes) to replace former Rep. Eric Fresen who was termed out and could be running for state senate in two years against newly elected Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez. Why didn’t she just keep the same district office Fresen used on 62nd Avenue and Bird Road? Ladra doesn’t know but will ask tonight.

6 p.m. — The future of Little Haiti will be the topic of discussion at a roundtable townhall-like meeting that begins at 6 p.m. Two proposed developments will be discussed. One is a mega development that would rise where moderate housing is now. Another is an “innovation center” proposed for the abandoned trailer park on the north side of the neighborhood. Activist Grant Stern is moderating the panel. Newly elected Miami-Dade Democratic Party Treasurer Francesca Menes, policy and advocacy coordinator for the Florida Immigrant Coalition — and a Little Haiti native, born and bred — will be there as will several community activists. Stern will produce a podcast for those of us who found out about it late. Ladra will post a link later.

TUESDAY — Jan.  17

7 p.m. — South Miami City Commissioners will meet to discuss an amendment to the land use code that would permit medical marijuana facilities in the industial and residential/office districts and only with a special use permit. They’ll also talk about a contract for consulting services with Redevelopment Management Associates (RMA) for Phase I of a business improvement district plan. The most curious item on the agenda, however, is the resolution consenting to a potential conflict by hiring Brett Schneider as their outside counsel for labor matters, even though his firm, Weiss Serota, represents developers and other clients that may or want to do business in the city. Basically, they’re saying that they know there’s a potential conflict and they’re not concerned, so long as Mr. Schneider doesn’t directely represent anyone else. Really? The meeting is at City Hall, 6130 Sunset Drive.

7 p.m. — State Sen. Jeremy Ring (D-Margate) will be the speaker Tuesday at the South Dade Democrats meeting at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Miami, 7701 S.W. 76th Ave. What? Were all the local Democrats busy or just too embarassed? The club meets for social time until 7:30, then does business until 8 when Ring speaks.

WEDNESDAY — Jan. 18

10 a.m. — The much anticipated State of the County address comes Wednesday when Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez gets to pound on his chest about how great a job he’s done and tell us about what he wants to leave as his legacy. After all, to the victor go the spoils! The speech, if you want to watch it in person, is open to the public for free at the South Dade Cultural Center, 10950 SW 211th St. Or you can watch it online here. Or you can follow county spokesman and chief Gimenez cheerleader Mike Hernandez on twitter and get the gist. But it’s a fun place to people watch — if you like watching lobbyists and insiders rubbing elbows with electeds from all over. There’s no other reason to go, really. His pat-on-his-own-back speech will be published and analyzed (sorta) in the news media. If you go, it’s because you like the dog and pony show. Admit it.

6 p.m. — The Homestead City Council will get a visit from Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava Wednesday. She will be at the next meeting to provide a summary of the last two years of what she’s done and tell council members what her priorities will be for the second half of her first term, (which still has not yielded all it promised). Homestead will also be the next city to consider a moratorium on medical  marijuana facilities. It’s the city where any cannibusiness makes the most sense, right? Agriculturally? The city council will discuss a 12-month moratorium at its meeting Wednesday at the Taj Majal of City Halls, 100 NE Civic Ct. Other items on the agenda include hiring Greenberg Traurig to do the city’s special tax credit counseling and several board appointments (congrats to Ladra’s pal and good guy Stephen McDuffie , who has worked for both Republicans (Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen) and Democrats (Rep. Kionne McGhee) for getting named to the city’s Community Affairs Board).

THURSDAY — Jan. 19

6:30 p.m. — The Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works is having a community meeting on the roadway improvements scheduled for Southwest 142nd Avenue, from Coral Way to 8th Street. The event is to provide area residents and businesses with information about the constrution phase of the project, which includes roundabouts, sidewalks, curbe and gutter, signatliation and pavement markings, signage and improved storm drainage. Funds for the project come from road impact fees. Plans will be available for review during the first half hour of the meeting at Joe Hall Elementary School, 1901 SW 134th Ave. Staff presentation begins at 7 p.m. with a question and answer period promised afterwards, but the meeting is expected to end about 8 p.m.

FRIDAY — Jan. 20

9:30 a.m. — It’s the first meeting for the Miami-Dade County Unincorporated Municipal Services Area Committee with Commissioner Javier Souto as chairman. Among the items on the agenda is a resolution directing the mayor to find funding sources for a $3 million community center to be built next to the county’s Ronald Reagan Equestrian Center at Souto’s beloved Tropical Park (also the site of a kick-off rally last year for Sen. Marco Rubio‘s failed presidential bid). He also wants the mayor to provide a summary of all Building Better Communities GOB funds provided by district and by municipality. The committee will also talk about amending the county rules for annexation, requiring municipalities to provide a comparison of county and municipal land use regulations before any annexation. The meeting is in commission chambers at County Hall, 111 NW 1st St.