Part of the outrage with the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority ‘s plan to extend the 836 with the Kendall Parkway along the western edge of the county — and the eastern edge of Everglades wetlands — is the amount of money that went to the slick PR campaign for the yes vote.
MDX reportedly spent at least $150,000 just on a mailer that went out to voters or homeowners in the West Kendall area that has been promised alleviated traffic. The gripe is that they used toll dollars to provide only an option to support the parkway, and not one to oppose it, not that it’s an incredibly inflated amount that looks bogus to lots of legitimate mail vendors.
But what if Ladra told you that what MDX spent on the total “educational campaign” was more than twice that much? And what would you think if you knew part of that money went to Barby Rodriguez, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s daughter-in-law.
Barby Rodriguez-G, as she calls herself works for one of the companies who got part of the MDX pie. EV Services was paid $60,000 of the 836 extension project funding, which from the requested public documents that Ladra has gotten so far — and it doesn’t look like I’ve gotten everything — is close to $390,000.
Read related: Barby Gimenez shows up to no-show job on county dime
And that’s just through May! How much you want to bet it goes over half a million already?
Those are toll dollars spent on PR to convince the public that they need the Kendall Parkway.
EV Services, where Barby Rodriguez is a “public information officer,” is one of three companies that have been paid since at least March to push the Parkway with an “educational campaign.” Bermello, Ajamil & Partners (billed $69,950) and HNTB (billed $258,568.40) are the other two. Both of those are architecture, civil engineering consulting and construction management firms that expect to make hundreds of millions more building the six lane, 13-mile highway estimated at a $1 billion cost.
So the companies who stand to make millions are the ones “educating” us on the project?
That’s for, according to the invoices provided by MDX, various presentations, a briefing with Sen. Annette Taddeo and with Congressman Carlos Curbelo‘s staff, attending weekly meetings, receiving and responding to emails and calls about the Kendall Parkway, drafting radio messages, “printed and cut” 100 more support Kendall Parkway cards, “researched area of 167th avenue for database,” worked on final Spanish translation for a flyer the website, reviewing the script and elements of an educational video, outreach to community leaders and homeowner associations, coordination with content producers and distributors, and multiple mailers, among other tasks.
So if they are handling the “educational campaign” and outreach what is EV Services, which does nothing but public relations (read: propaganda), doing? Or are they just on there for a flat $60K because of the ties to the mayor?
According to one of the March invoices, EV Services did:

Preparation of Leadership Track Educational Campaign and outreach to community leaders, businesses, HOAs and special groups
Attendance in weekly strategy meetings related to Kendall Parkway
Assistance in preparation of collateral materials for Kendall Parkway educational materials
Assist in preparation of digital content for educational campaign
Attendance at coordination meetings with content producers and distributors

So, pretty much they all did the same stuff.
And how much more does EV Services stand to make? And how much of that goes directly to Barby? And did she have to do anything or is she just there so they get the contract?
Ladra is still getting more public records and will report further on this.

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If anyone thinks this extension of the 836 known as the Kendall Parkway is about transit and alleviating the gridlock in the western edge of Miami-Dade County, ask yourself this question: Why would we build a bus stop to nowhere?
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Mr. Giveaway”  Gimenez, who has made this the crowning jewel of his final term — and, perhaps, his administration — didn’t wake up the other day suddenly concerned with transit solutions. If that were true, he wouldn’t be stealing millions in People’s Transportation Plan monies to pay for the operation and maintenance of a mediocre at best bus service and limited MetroRail. He would not be pushing so heavily for this Parkway band-aid that will only end up putting more cars on the street.
No, ladies and gentlemen. This is about money. This is about all the campaign contributions that Gimenez took over the years from the property owners who own tracts west of the Urban Development Boundary.
Gimenez is not building a bus stop to nowhere. He is building a bus stop to future development.
Read related: Rumors persist of a new recall effort to oust Carlos Gimenez
If the commission gives final approval to this Dolphin Expressway extension over protected wetlands on Thursday — a plan criticized for its lack of detail because it doesn’t even have a precise route or locations for bus depots, a rendering of which is photographed here — it will prove only one thing: that the UDB can be moved. And once we’ve opened Pandora’s Box, da lo mismo chicha que limonada. The next logical step is to move it again to build something.
Ladra’s money is housing, which is an issue like transit. Glade Villas or something like that. Then come the shopping centers and schools to serve the new neighborhoods.
It’s called a slippery slope. And we are on the tippy top of it looking down.
Because after we move the UDB under the guise of facilitating transit, they will bring it back. Especially if people don’t show up Thursday with pitchforks and demand a stop to this nonsense that is being rushed and railroaded through. There is a lot of private property west of the UDB and those property owners, you can picture them salivating right now, will say “There was no push back! You already moved it once and nothing happened!”
The second time it will be under the guise of affordable housing choices. Just wait.
After all, developers already tried to build a 60-acre warehouse and office complex just west of the line three years ago — citing the planned extension as a plus. They were denied then. But how much you wanna bet the group of developers is salivating, waiting to come back?
Read related: Carlos Gimenez is raising funds for his PAC again — but for who or what?
Are we so desperate for transit solutions that we will accept a temporary halfway fix that puts in jeopardy our long term environmental resiliency? Is transit so horrible that we are willing to take a bite out of our future health?
Let’s forget, for a second, that this is environmentally unsound, that this does not expose sensitive lands to potential development. Let’s forget, momentarily, that it undermines the so-called SMART plan that has real transit solutions. Let’s forget, for a second, that there could very well be alternative sites for routes and bus depots within the UDB and that this has not been explored enough.
This is not a long term solution because building more roads and widening the existing ones does not solve congestion. It only brings more. The Kendall Parkway, which MDX spent at least $150,000 in ads promoting (more on that later), will become The Kendall Parking Lot in five fat minutes. Even Sen. Marco Rubio is against the idea because it puts the Everglades restoration plan at risk. And some lofty promises about MDX buying 1,000 acres of wetlands elsewhere to make up for it doesn’t really help us here, does it?
Nobody except developers will tell you it’s a good idea to move the UDB. Actually, some scientists might. Since the UDB was drawn, and it’s really an artificial line in the sand, we’ve learned more about sea level rise and water flow in the Everglades. There is a theory that the line should be redrawn around actual flood zones, which would call for a more jagged boundary and, very possibly, include areas already developed. It’s probably the right thing to do, but it won’t happen because even the scientists don’t want to touch the UDB.
Once you move it, you show it can be moved.
Laura Reynolds, a consultant with Friends of the Everglades, was quote in the Miami Herald saying what everybody is thinking, which is that nothing the commission promises Thursday about holding the UDB line matters. “The reality is a six-lane highway will force future commissions to move it,” Reynolds said.
So, no, this is not about Gimenez getting religion and seeing the light on transit for the people in West Kendall, an area he never, ever goes to, by the way. This is more likely about developers telling him, “Oye, you’re coming to the end of your last term, bro, and you said you’d move the UDB. Get creative.”
It is up to the 13 commissioners to stop this.  If they don’t, we can really never trust them again. Restrictive covenant will mean nada. Conditions on development agreements will mean nada. Any language they add to “guarantee” there is no future development beyond the UDB or that developers won’t use the Parkway as a motivator will mean nada.
Their word will mean nada.
Tell the mayor and MDX: We are really not building a bus stop to nowhere. Look east.

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The word is out there again: Recall
Every so often, there are rumors about a recall of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez — who made his lucky break on the recall of another Carlos — since he was elected after a special and historic mayoral recall.
It happened early last year, after Gimenez cozied up to our racist U.S. president and betrayed this community on sanctuary cities and a few years before that when he proposed to close down libraries and fire police and firefighters. Both times, thousands of people protested and many of them begged for a recall, but no actual petition ever materialized.
In 2014, there was an actual — albeit emotionally-fueled and feeble — recall attempt by a bereaved, retired firefighter father whose son died in a boating accident after the mayor cut fire boat services. Jack Garcia was not able to raise much money for his cause, however, and suspended the campaign after six weeks, calling it a victory because Gimenez restored fire boat services.
Read related: Carlos Gimenez recall is recalled after budget concessions
Today, it’s a number of insults and abuses: The $100k raise he wants, the hiked water fees, the stealing of the half-penny tax to pay for operations, the refusal to build rail to the south, the travel on taxpayer dime, the pushing for the Kendall Parkway MDX extension, the abuse of power to help his lobbyist son, the parceling away of our county piece by piece to his friends and family.
There is definitely an anti-Gimenez sentiment en la calle and Ladra thinks it would not be difficult to collect the 60,000 or so valid signatures we would need, especially during early voting next month and on Nov. 6, when hundreds of thousands of eligible voters head to the polls for the midterms.
Read related: Termed out Mayor Carlos Gimenez gives self undeserved 70% pay raise
But let’s face it: Recall efforts cost money. A lot of money. Just ask auto mogul Norman Braman, who bankrolled the ouster of former mayor Carlos Alvarez to make room for the rise of Gimenez. Ever wonder if Braman is even a little bit sorry? It would cost even more now because Gimenez can raise a ton against it from the interests that benefit from him staying in office.
So, who besides Braman has the kind of money that could make a recall happen? Well, maybe father and son Suarez.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez — who has half a million in his Imagine Miami PAC — wants to be county mayor in 2020 but Gimenez is going to do whatever he can to stop him. And the mayor is already giving Baby X, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, a major challenge on the strong mayor referendum. A recall of Gimenez now can save the fam some future headaches.
First, article 8.02 of the Miami-Dade municipal code requires we send a proposed draft petition, including ballot language, to the county clerk, who must give it the legal green light. Any elected official is eligible for recall, but it must be one year since last elected. Check on that.
Read related: Mayor Carlos Gimenez clan involved in Joe Carollo lawsuit vs strong mayor
Then we have to get four percent of the eligible voters of Miami-Dade to sign that approved recall petition. That’s four percent of 1,406,082 (as of last July, so it might be a little more). That means you need to get 56,243 signatures. Or maybe 80,000 signatures or so to make sure that 60,000 are good.
That does not seem insurmountable with the upcoming election coming. Not if you have enough people collecting signatures.
You can also appeal to the nearly half million people who voted for the Pets’ Trust initiative only to have Gimenez slap them in the face and refuse to respect their vote. I’d be willing to bet we can get 50,000 just among them.
Once we collect the signatures, we have to present them back to the clerk for canvassing and confirmation. Once they are confirmed, they go to the county commission, which then has to set the recall election no more than 45 to 90 days after they were confirmed.
That means we could be rid of Gimenez by February. Que alivio.
This is also arguably our last chance to recall him before his term is up in 2020 — and Gimenez can do a lot of damage between now and then. So if anyone is in any kind of position to help fund a recall effort — and yes, X, Ladra is talking to you — please don’t let this timely opportunity slip by.
It’s now or never.

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There seems to be some question as to whether or not Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez  is going to actually increase his own salary. While county commissioners approved a budget Thursday that maxes it out at $250,000 — which is $100K more than he makes right now — Gimenez was coy with the media about whether or not he would apply the budget maximum.
One minute he says he thinks he deserves it and the next he tells a Miami Herald reporter that he “may give money back.”
Then why ask for the increase?
Read related: Termed out Mayor Carlos Gimenez gives self undeserved 70% pay raise
Don’t be fooled (again). Gimenez — who was rebuffed when he asked commissioners to restore the seat’s pre-2011 $325,000 salary last December in a mid-year budget amendment — has every intention of hiking that salary up. He has three great reasons to do it:
1. He gets to pad his pension
The Florida Retirement System formula pays benefits on a fixed formula and is determined by age, years of service and “the average of the highest five or eight fiscal years of pay.” By jacking his own salary up $100,000 for the last two years to $250,000, he significantly improves that average.
FRS pensions for elected officials are calculated at 3% for each year of service (poor ol’ regular employees only get 1.6%). Gimenez has 16 years, including seven as commissioner before being elected in the recall election of 2011. That adds up to 48% of the average of the best five years salary. Three years at $150K and two at $250K makes an average of $190,000 a year. And 48% of that is $91,200 a year.
And then he gets that for the rest of his life. Along with a $131,000 a year pension from the city of Miami, where he worked as a firefighter, fire chief and city manager.
2. He can hurt the strong mayor initiative in Miami
The biggest sticking point so far in the move to bring a strong mayor form of government to the city of Miami, which Gimenez has publicly opposed, is the salary question. The way the Miami measure is written, the mayor — Francis Suarez and whoever comes after him — would make 75% of the county mayor’s salary and benefits. Repeat, salary and benefits.
Read related: Mayor Carlos Gimenez clan involved in Joe Carollo lawsuit vs. strong mayor
If the mayor gives himself a raise to $250,000 a year, that likely brings his total package up to close to $400,000. That means that Suarez would get a salary of $300,000. This is truly an outrageous amount that voters are not likely to support — which makes it the perfect rallying cry for the anti strong mayor campaign. Watch for mailers that focus on the potential $300K salary Suarez — who currently makes $97,000, part of an compensation package worth $130,000 — would rake in if the referendum passes. That makes for a heavy no argument.
3. It’s $200K more in two years
He’ll be ballin’ with a free, extra $100K a year for no good reason. It adds up to $200K these last two years and, since we figure he can squirrel some of it away, he can continue to afford fancy trips with his wife to Asia and Paris on the public dime.
In fact, Gimenez has been living off the public teet for so long, he feels like this is the next natural step.
Unfortunately for us, there is very little we can do about it. But if Ladra recalls correctly, insane, six-figure salary increases were among the reasons that former Mayor Carlos Alvarez got recalled in the first place. Yes, the Marlins stadium deal was part of it, but the increase in taxes to pay for extravagant salaries was part of it.
Maybe it’s time we start talking about recalling another Carlos. At the very least, it’ll screw up his potential pension average a little.

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When was the last time you got a six figure raise?
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez gets a $100,000-a-year raise, nearly doubling his salary to $250,000 a month beginning in October, because, well, because he can.
As strong mayor, he is his own boss and can apparently decide to give himself a raise whenever he wants. No performance evaluation. No bargaining. No nada.
If you will recall, Gimenez cut the mayor’s salary when he was first elected post recall in 2011. He brought the salary of $325,000 — which fueled the Carlos Alvarez recall as much as the Marlins stadium deal — down to $150,000. Now that he’s termed out, he wants more. The county commission approved a budget Thursday that includes the pay raise, without any real discussion as to whether the mayor deserves it.
When was the last time you got a 67% raise? When was the last time you received a raise without a performance evaluation?
“Based on what? Raises should be based on something he’s done,” said former Commissioner Juan Zapata, a potential mayoral candidate for 2020. “Has he lowered taxes? Has he fixed any major problem?
“This is not the right amount. This is not the right time. It makes no sense to normal human beings,” Zap added. “I don’t know anybody whose paycheck has gone up more than 60%.
“It’s an insult. It’s offensive.”
Read related: Carlos Gimenez has new role as rainmaker — soliciting for 10 PACs
So let’s do what the commission failed to do, shall we? Let’s give Gimenez — who has been spending less time at work and more time soliciting contributions for his chosen political gang — a performance evaluation.
On infrastructure he gets an F. On everyone’s number one problem, transit, he gets an F. He promoted the smart plan during his last mayoral campaign and promised new rail in TV commercials only to say later that there was no money for rail and he was going to buy buses instead. That makes him a liar.
He says there is no money for rail but he forgets to say that it is because he has been stealing the half penny tax voters approved in 2002 to pay for more rail in order to pay for operations and maintenance. He want to keep stealing those People Transportation Plan funds this year to the tune of $90 something million.
On investments he gets an F. He may brag about the state of the economy, but that’s mostly state-driven, something Rick Scott can brag about not him. The mayor must be evaluated based on people’s investment in unincorporated Miami-Dade. And developers would rather be water boarded.
On management he gets an F. The level of services provided by Miami-Dade has diminished while the fees for those services have gone up. That’s just backwards. Services up and fees down deserve a raise, not the other way around.
On economic development he gets an F. Gimenez may say to look at the airport and seaport. But those are self-sustaining economic engines that he can’t crap up. What did Miami-Dade get for all his little trips abroad? What new businesses has he brought? How has he diversified our economy?
What big problem has he fixed?
Do we have a new civil courthouse to replace the really toxic one making people sick? Have we restored all the library hours and park services cut in 2013 and 14? Do we have a seamless procurement process that is not plagued with problems, complaints and accusations of cooked deals? Do we have happy county employees? Do we have open, transparent government for real?
No, no, no, no and no.
At the same time, we are rewarding a man who abuses his office and power often and usually to benefit himself or someone on his friends and family plan.

Read related: Carlos Gimenez son’s firm got $4 million PAC repair job
Did he get a $200 an hour job for his best friend in water in sewer? Did he secure a job for his daughter in law with a county vendor? Did he take yearly junkets around the world on the taxpayer dime? Did he give a $4 million no bid contract to the construction company that employed his son Julio Gimenez? Did he delay an elections department deadline for his other son, the lobbyist CJ Gimenez (photo, right) making a career out of his bloodline?
Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes.
These failures and abuses should not be rewarded with a raise. In fact, any number of these by themselves could be a good reason to fire Gimenez. After all, Alvarez was recalled on similar grounds.
The final part of this review should be to determine if Miami-Dade is better or worse off today because of his “leadership.”  It’s a cost benefit analysis: In the end, does Carlos Gimenez add value or cost us opportunities?
 

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Authorities need to investigate the latest campaign finance report filed Monday by Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, and not because it’s several months late, for which the commissioner should be fined.
One expenditure on the campaign termination report — which closes out the account for the 2017 campaign — smells questionable and should raise eyebrows in law enforcement circles: A $59,820.47 payment for mailers to Tania Cruz on November 20.
Tania Cruz is not a campaign consultant who does mailers, even though she billed almost $100,000 total to Carollo’s campaign for just that. She is an attorney who also got $1,300 paid in the same Carollo report for legal fees, and, more importantly, the daughter-in-law of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez. She is married to the mayor’s lobbyist son, CJ Gimenez, who has become nearly a fixture in Carollo’s office. She was emailed by Carollo’s attorney against the strong mayor referendum two minutes after he received confirmation the case was filed.
Read related: Mayor Carlos Gimenez clan involved in Joe Carollo lawsuit vs strong mayor
She is also, however, the rumored girlfriend of Alex Diaz de la Portilla, (remember that Boston Police caught them smoking in a hotel room together?) who is said to be the real author behind some of Carollo’s more hateful mailers calling Tommy Regalado a communist and  Zoraida Barreiro a whore.
But those mailers would have been sent weeks earlier, like when Tania Cruz (photographed here talking to Carollo’s wife on the campaign trail) got $3,382 on October 13 or $5,640 on October 23 or $5,880.60 on October 25. At the very  least, they would have been covered by the $17,998 paid on November 6, which was when both Regalado and Barreiro were eliminated anyway.
That’s a total of $39,900 to Tania Cruz (aka Alex Diaz de la Portilla) for the first round.
But another $60K would have covered, more or less, 10 mailers, according to sources who are legitimate vendors and do this kind of thing for real. Ten mailers sent between November 6 and the runoff Nov. 20 against Alfie Leon? Seems unusual, at best, a complete fabrication at worst, that there were 10 negative mailers sent.
Read related: Gimenez family hit in Senate campaign… ADLP’s wag the dog?
“It seems calculated, like that was exactly what was left over at the end of the campaign,” said one legitimate campaign consultant who knows what he’s talking about.
“It’s a shell game. No way they sent 10 mailers at the end like that,” said another.
So what did that money really pay for? Or who did it really go to?
Mail is pretty easy to track down and prove. Even the United States Postal Service should have records. This should not be a difficult thing for the State Attorney’s Office to look into.
Or maybe it can be the 18th complaint against Joe Carollo at the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust?

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