The commission seat runoff in Coral Gables has gotten nasty with back-to-back hit mailers attacking former Commissioner Ralph Cabrera with lies and innuendo.
They come from the same Jensen Beach political action committee that sent three anti-Cabrera pieces in the first round — so we know now they are on behalf of candidate Jorge Fors.
But we don’t know who is paying for them.
Leadership for Florida’s Future has no contributions or expenses listed through March, even though at least one of their mailers landed before March 22. And the next reports, which will reflect any activity in April, aren’t due until the second week in May — which means we won’t know who paid for the attacks until after the election.
That’s not a coincidence. That is by design.
Read related: PAC says it did NOT send hit piece on Ralph Cabrera — so who did?
Fors’ campaign manager continues to insist it isn’t them.
“I have no idea where it comes from,” said Steve Marin, who worked with the Leadership for Florida’s Future PAC in 2018 and billed them $63,000 for what he said was work on state primaries.
“I work with 20 PACs,” Marin said. “I have one print house, one mail house, and if I mail it, I have my number on it.”
It’s not his number on the mailers, but Marin has worked on campaigns the PAC has worked on before.
Curiously, the PAC used a different permit number on the mailers sent in the runoff. Ladra can’t find out whose it is — but the Florida Division of Elections or the State Attorney’s Office, which has been asked to look into it, could.
The PAC is run by Michael and Debbie Millner, who told Ladra they didn’t send the first one in March. Subsequent attempts to reach them have not been successful. And they have not returned several messages, so perhaps we shouldn’t believe it.
Read related: State attorney looks into mystery mailers in Coral Gables election
After all, Leadership for Florida’s Future is known for its negative shady work, mostly (if not exclusively) on behalf of Republican state candidates, as far away as Orlando and Sarasota. Closer to home, the PAC was used in 2017 by the Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz campaign for the special senate race against Annette Taddeo.
Diaz also had Marin as a consultant.
And political observers have pointed out that the mailer used the same font as another Marin client, Andrew Vargas against State Rep. Javier Fernandez in House District 114 last year.
So what’s the interest in this little ol’ Gables race? Who is paying for the Cabrera hits?
It could be developers and real estate interests, some of whom have already contributed to Fors’ campaign, according to his latest campaign report. Because while Ralph is for smart development, he has said repeatedly that he would defend and stick by the city’s current and strict zoning code.
It could be the hourly no-tell motels who, like Fors, are against annexation of Little Gables, where one of those establishments flourishes.
Whoever it is, however, is lying.
One of the mailers says Cabrera is pro development But photos used to scare the anti-development voters are of Brickell Avenue, not downtown Gables. And, as stated earlier, Cabrera vows to hold developers to as of right density and height standards, not an inch more.
Read related: In House 114 race, Andrew Vargas won’t speak for himself; lets PACs attack
The other mailer brings up an old and unsubstantiated accusation against Cabrera from a resident who was angry that he wasn’t able or willing to close her street. Police investigated the incident and, after witnesses told them it never happened, found it to be bullshit.
“Exceptionally cleared” is what it says in the police report, which changed the woman’s status from “victim” to “reporting party.” She didn’t even go to the police right away because first she wanted to talk to her lawyer.
But Fors and those in his campaign want to keep as many Cabrera voters as they can from the polling places Tuesday. They know he will perform better on Election Day. And they can’t afford that.
This is voter suppression and voters would be wise to ignore it.

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The purchase of a home on Old Cutler Road, to convert it into a fire station outpost, and regulations for motorized scooters are among the agenda items at the Coral Gables commission meeting Tuesday, the first since City Manager Peter Iglesias was given the permanent job.
Some people are unhappy about the way that Iglesias got the top administrative post after Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark‘s forced exit without any type of national search or even look around town.  There may be some residents who bring it up during public comments, but the city manager’s position and the police structure and the relationship between the two is not on the agenda this week for the first time in a while.
What they will discuss includes the purchase of Cal Rosenbaum’s residential property at 7000 Old Cutler Road for the purpose of “preserving landscaped open space and renovating the existing house for use as a fire station to enhance fire rescue response time to the surrounding neighborhood.”
Read related: Coral Gables manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark quits job in battle with chief
It seems odd that this is the first some might hear about the purchase of this property, which is right adjacent to Cocoplum Circle (see aerial photo here). Has there been any study as to whether the location is the best option? Have other homes or properties even been identified? In fact, how did this one come onto the city’s radar?
The city has already gotten a multitude of assessments which vary from $1.3 to $3.9 million, depending on whether the prperty is used as residential or commercial. The city’s proposal, of course, is to pay top dollar: $4 million as is.
There are $1.5 million available in state grant funds and $2.3 million would come from impact fees, leaving $200,000 from the general capital improvement budget.
Why would the city pay the highest amount? Even the property advisory board recommended $3 million.
And that’s likely not the end of the expenses. What would it cost to turn the house into a functioning station? And how would that impact the community around it?
Read related: New proposed Coral Gables police and fire HQ raises concerns, ‘propaganda’
The city, which is in the process of building a new public safety headquarters for police and fire, currently has three fire stations. The main one at 2801 Salzedo Street (photographed here), which shares space with the police department, is in such bad shape that some equipment is parked outside so it doesn’t get damaged. This station would be replaced by the new public safety building. Fire Station II at 525 South Dixie Highway is crumbling, with firefighters sleeping in trailers in the parking lot. And Fire Station III at 11911 Old Cutler Rd., may still have mold issues.
Maybe before the city gets into another fire station, it should bring the ones it has up to par and finish the main public safety building. It doesn’t seem that this is such a bargain deal that it has to happen right now. There’s even a clause where the residents get to stay for two years paying no rent. This is a sweet deal for Cal Rosenbaum, who asked the commission in 2015 to buy his home so he could move out of the Gables because of overdevelopment. I kid you not.
What’s the hurry?
“Fire response to the City’s central areas has been challenging due to travel distances and access limitation caused by traffic congestion and lack of alternate travel routes for its existing fire stations,” says the memo in the commission agenda package. “Locating a fire station somewhere near Sunset would help to narrow the gap between the existing fire stations and allow faster response times to communities such as Coco Plum, Gables Estates, Hammock Lakes, and portions of the University of Miami.”
It’s bonus that the lot they are looking at has a lot of wooded ground and 136 trees that would create a buffer to the firetrucks in an expanded garage. “This area primarily consists of residential so staff wanted to ensure the location had minimal [visual] impact to the neighborhood,” the memo says.
Maybe we’ll see what the neighborhood says Tuesday.

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DEVELOPING STORY: After a series of major missteps, a protracted and seemingly personal battle with the popular police and several threats, both public and private, to quit her job, Coral Gables City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark resigned Monday after almost four years at the helm of the City Beautiful.
Police Chief Ed Hudak wins.
The big question on everyone’s lips is: Does Cathy take Assistant City Manager Frank Fernandez with her?
Probably. You can’t be the city manager and the top sworn police officer in the city, which Fernandez is — the crux of a lot of the city’s problems. Las malas lenguas say that Assistant City Manager Peter Iglesias — who may or may not have resigned previously — will be named interim until a replacement is found.
The resignation comes one day before the next commission meeting and two weeks after the last one, in which Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli basically called Swanson Rivenbark a liar.
The discussion item was Commissioner Mike Mena‘s, who was reporting on the ongoing “talks between the city manager and the police chief,” which is better described as mandatory crisis counseling with commissioners. It’s come up in several commission meetings and was likely to come up again on Tuesday.
But Commissioner Vince Lago told Ladra Monday that he would not let it become a drawn out swan song. “It is time to move forward and concentrate on Coral Gables businesses and its residents,” Lago said. “The separation agreement hasn’t been signed. But we expect to name an interim city manager at tomorrow’s meeting.”
As Ladra writes this on Monday afternoon, the ink is not even dry on Swanson-Rivenbark’s resignation and exit package, which may not be finalized until Monday evening. More details to come as story develops.
Swanson came back to Coral Gables in 2015 after Pat Salerno resigned abruptly, rather than face questioning about lies he told the commission. She immediately started to make changes, hiring her  people from Hollywood, including Fernandez, who she put in charge of public safety.
 
 

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Controversial use of security guards under fire

The election is over, but Coral Gables residents still got a scary, campaign-style flyer in their mailboxes this week that questions the city’s decision to hire security guards to fill the gap of police shortages in the City Beautiful.

“Public safety alert! Your families safety is at stake,” is says on one side, over a photo of three heavilly-armed SWAT-like police officers in front of the Village of Merrick Park, where a gunman killed two people and then himself last month.

“With a rise in crime, we can’t afford any mistakes,” it says, adding that $610,000 “of our tax dollars are being wasted on security guards. Instead of hiring certified police officers to fill the highest vacancy level that our police force has ever seen.”

It then tells residents to call the mayor and commissioners “and tell them to protect our families,” listing their numbers at City Hall.

Read related story: City uses legal muscle to gag Coral Gables activist 

Coral Gables has 22 or 23 official vacancies, but because of officers who are on military duty or on injured leave or special details, the city is really short more than 30 patrol officers. And this drain has been going on for years. Many people in the city and in the department blame Assistant City Manager Frank Fernandez, the director of public safety, who acts como si fuera el police chief and who changed the qualifications for hiring at the city, making it much harder for candidates. Nobody who wants to be a Coral Gables Police officer must be 21, have a bachelor’s degree and can have no more than five traffic tickets in a lifetime, for example. No more than three in the past five years.

The city has repeatedly defended itself by saying that the Gables is holding out for a better caliber officer. But that’s what they also said last year around this time, when there were 17 vacancies and 11 new hires on the horizon. A year later there are at least five more vacancies.

They’ve got to change tactics before they’re down to zero.

The mailers that began to arrive Thursday were paid for by a political action committee called Citizens for a Safe Coral Gables, which is curiously not listed in state or city records. It’s address is a suite (P.O. Box?) across from City Hall.

Oh, and Ladra is pretty sure the three police officers in the picture are city of Miami or county cops who also responded to the Village of Merrick Park scene.

Beause there aren’t enough police officers in Coral Gables.

The city of Coral Gables wants to silence a North Gables activist who asks too many questions, so it sent him a threatening “cease and desist” letter from an attorney who used to be a county judge.

Oh, and it cost taxpayers $5,000.

Ariel Fernandez, a vocal North Gables resident who ran for office two years ago, got a letter from former Miami-Dade Judge Israel Reyes — who is outside counsel for the city an on behalf of Assistant City Manager Frank Fernandez — that wasn’t necessarily an official cease and desist letter, perse, but obviously had the same function and intent. And that is to shut him up and shut him down.

“This correspondence is intended as an intervention tool to deescalate the hostilities toward Director Fernandez, while at the same time ensuring that your absolut First Amendment Constitutional right to petition your government so as not to deprive you of any access to city officials,” the letter states.

Read related story: Don’t ask, don’t tell! Coral Gables policy is golden silence

“The city welcomes and encourages your participation in the governance of the city of Coral Gables, as it does to all its residents. However, as you are aware, the First Amendment does not protect potentially libelous statements when made with reckless disregard as to the falsity of the statements or with knowledge that said statements are false.

“It is the city’s sincerest desire that you refrain from this type of conduct in the future,” Reyes said in the letter offering to set up a meeting with the assistant city manager to discuss the issues in person.

Ariel Fernandez is adamant about getting the answers in writing. “I’ve been at this for a year and a half and some of the questios have been answered but he always says ‘Let’s sit down and talk.’ He refuses to put the rest of the answers on paper. I don’t want to talk. I want written answers.”

Answers he still has not gotten.

Because rather than answer them, City Attorney Craig Leen says City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark asked him to look into stopping the email barrage. Leen turned to Reyes, a respected attorney who has done a lot of work for the city as outside counsel. “I thought it was best to get someone independent,” Leen told Ladra, adding that the letter is not a violation of Fernandez’s first amendment rights.

“The constitution does not protect libelous speech,” Leen said, adding that “factually incorrect and damaging” remarks in emails the email, citing the words Reyes used “potentially libelous.”

Read related story: Coral Gables picks Cathy Swanson as top administrator

And therein is the keyword, ladies and gents: Potentially. Which means not really. Which means that this little $5,175 exercise in futility was, in fact, something other than a legitimate legal maneuver. Like maybe a third-world strongman tactic to gag and intimidate an active and vocal citizen who has the electeds’ ears.

What’s more, it could be interpreted as witness tampering, seeing as how Ariel Fernandez was there at City Hall and took a picture of Gables Police Maj. Theresa Molina taking a picture of a resident’s cellphone while she was texting (more on the progress of that investigation later). It would be easy for a logical mind to connect these threats with that case and hear the words “shake down” whispered in your head.

“I feel intimidated,” Ariel Fernandez said. “They want me to stop raising the issue.”

The issue is the shortage in police officers, which at last count was at 22 or 23 or something — the highest number of vacancies the department has ever had. Frank Fernandez, director of public safety and the defacto police chief, has hired security guards and championed closed caption television and his idea of police recruiting is putting a old-timey sign on U.S. 1 saying “Police Officers Wanted.” He was brought to Coral Gables from the city of Hollywood by Swanson-Rivenark soon after she came back to the City Beautiful as top administrator in 2014 and has been a controversial figure since the beginning. Ariel Fernandez is certainly not the only one “trash talking” him.

In fact, nothing in those emails seems that far-fetched. Not that Frank Fernandez is undermining Police Chief Ed Hudak — especially since he originally tried to make him co-chief with someone else until the city attorney stopped him because the charter won’t allow it. Not that he’s trash-talked Hudak and urged others to trash-talk him. Not that he’s spying on residents like in Castro’s Cuba — not when we still don’t know what exactly happened with that police major who took a photo of the residents phone at City Hall (more on that later).

Not even the assumption that the city managers are colluding to keep information from the public. Know why? Because it’s happened before. We’re still traumatized by the ghost of Pat Salerno, the former city manager who resigned abruptly only after he was caught lying to commissioners about safety on Ponce de Leon Boulevard. Last week, several commissioners were shocked to learn that a former city employee had stolen $85.000 from false alarm fees without anybody noticing. So maybe Ariel’s statments — the ones that aren’t just a matter of opinion — aren’t that false, after all?

Read related story: Gables city attorney: ‘There can only be one police chief’

“Everything in there can be corroborated,” Ariel told Ladra about his emails. Even the one about Frank Fernandez telling a citizen to trash-talk the chief. He said he can name that citizen “if push comes to shove” and can prove every other allgation that he has made.

Sure, Ariel Fernandez can be pesky pain in the ass. His demanding emails may seem overwhelming all at once, but here’s the rub: his first email was rather friendly, telling Frank Fernandez that he was taking advantage of his “open door” policy and invitation to ask questions. And the second one was after he got no response — three weeks later. He got increasingly upset as he got ignored in what amounts to a political runaround. Y se puso un poco fresco. Ladra would have growled a little, too.

But here’s the most  important part, he’s a resident. Ariel Fernandez is a taxpaying property owner. He is a voter. He has been the direct victim of crime in his neighborhood. He has every right and pre-requisite, if there were any, to ask questions of the city managers or any employee — and he deserves to have these very questions answered.

So do we.

Ariel Fernandez’s original 25 questions for Assistant City Manager Frank Fernandez:

1. How many vacancies do we currently have for uniformed Police officers?
2. Data-wise, what direct effect does each vacancy have on the number of committed crimes?
3. How many vacancies do we have for first responders in the Fire Department?
4. How many vacancies do we have for support personnel in the Police Department?
5. How many vacancies do we have for support personnel in the Fire Department?
6. To what factor or factors do you attribute these vacancies?
7. How many recruits do we have in the Police Academy?
8. When initiatives do you currently have in place in order to fill these vacancies?
9. By what date do you expect for all vacancies to be filled?
10. What steps will you take to increase interest and applicants for these vacancies?
11. In how many crimes have your Public Safety Aides intervened?
12. Are the Public Safety Aides properly trained to intervene in the event of a crime in progress?
13. Are the Public Safety Aides properly equipped to intervene in the event of a crime in progress?
14. What is your relationship with the representatives of the company providing CCTV for the City?
15. Do you/or have you ever had a personal relationship with any City vendor who is currently under contract for services to the Police or Fire Department? If so, who and what is the relationship?
16. The condition of the Public Safety building continues deteriorating. When we first met you told me this was your top priority. What is the status of the replacement of the Public Safety building?
17. Why was the company that was asked to prepare the RFP for the City also allowed to submit a bid? Isn’t this a conflict of interest?
18. We all know the immediate action taken by Chief Hudak following the incident at City Hall where Major Molina was spying on a resident. What actions have YOU taken to ensure the privacy of residents is not violated by Majors who directly answer to you and not Chief Hudak?
19. This incident has left a very bad impression of your ability to serve in your post. What assurances do you give residents who believe you are not fit to do your job?
20. How many private security guards are still patrolling our streets?
21. When can we expect actual certified Police officers to replace them?
22. How much (exactly) is this program costing the City?
23. Where is the funding coming from?
24. Who authorized for this funding to be used for this reason?
25. Due to the high amount, didn’t this requ.ire Commission approval?

It is important to note that the answers that did come, came from the city attorney’s office. The ones in bold are still unanswered.

But Ladra is working on it now.

Shhhhh. The city of Coral Gables wants you to shut up.

If you’re a pesky citizen who asks too many questions, like North Gables activist and onetime commission candidate Ariel Fernandez, you get a weak ‘cease and desist’ letter from a fancy outside attorney (more on that later). If you’re an employee of the City Beautiful who talks to activists like Fernandez or city commissioners, giving them unfiltered information about city services or, maybe, police shortages or, um, theft of alarm fees, you could get fired.

And forget meetings in the afternoons so that more residents who have to work during the day can go and give commissioners their two cents on land use or development issues or the police shortages. Three of five commissioners have quashed that idea.

Maybe it should be called the City Bashful.

Information is so bottled up in Coral Gables that, as the Miami Herald just reported, there were no tweets or Facebook updates on the police department’s accounts during the recent shooting at the Village of Merrick Park. A policy change last year routes all tweets and Facebook posts through the red tape morass of the city manager’s office for approval — which sort of goes against the grain of the immediacy of police twitter alerts.

It seems that City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark wants to control all the information getting out -bnd keep as much of it from getting out as possible. Even to commissioners, who were shocked to learn this month that a former employee had been arrested in March for stealing $85,000 from the city by diverting false alarm fee checks to her own bank account.

Swanson-Rivenbark also sent an email out earlier this month as “an important reminder to all department directors that each of you are to communicate to our office and to the city commission through your assigned assistant city manger with the exception of finance, internal audit and communications, which reports directly to me.

“The reporting encompasses all written and verbal communication,” she wrote, careful to say that they should, of course, provide information when asked. She doesn’t want to get accused of being a Pat Salerno (ooops, too late).

Read related story: Coral Gables picks Cathy Swanson as top administrator

“In the event that a city commissioner reaches out directly to you for information, please provide the information to them and inforn your assistant city manager so our office may be kept informed and ensure proper follow-through,” she wrote ominously. Define proper follow-through, Ladra says.

“This includes attendance at meetings involving a city commissioner,” the city manager continued.

So now department directors must also report on commissioners’ attenance at meetings? Like a chivato?

“The purpose of this established reporting structure is to ensure the highest level of efficiencies, coordination and timely implementation.” Swanson-Rivenbark wrote. But that seems like a stretch. The twitter policy certainly isn’t more efficient or timely. More likely, this ensures that commissioners are kept in the dark and the manager is the only one who really knows what is going on — including whatever any of the commissioners know or said.

And Ladra suspects that it is meant to have a chilling effect. When she says, “In the event that a city commissioner reaches out directly to you for information,” it sounds an awful lot like, “Yeah, right. What would they be doing going to you? We will suspect you went to them no matter what.”

Ladra wonders if the commissioners have noticed any sudden stopgap in information after the May 4 email where Swanson-Rivenbark also asks department directors to share the policy with staff and confirm receipt of the email “so I know each of you are aware of the appropriate protocol.”

So, it sounds like a gag order and smells like a gag order and walks and talks like a gag order, but the city manager calls it protocol.

Read related story: Gables City Attorney says ‘There can only be one police chief’

This email comes on the heels of a letter sent by an outside counsel to Ariel Fernandez after he sent a series of emails to Assistant City Manager Frank Fernandez (no relation) about the police shortages and public safety, copying Swanson-Rivenbark and other city employees and commissioners. The letter from former Miami-Dade Judge Israel Reyes tells Fernandez that his words are “potentially libelous” because he is making inaccurate assertions (more on that later). But most of the assertions that Fernandez made in his emails, even the ones cited in the Reyes letter — which is not a formal cease and desist but has the same threatening tone and intends to have the same chilling effect — was information provided to him, in most cases, by city employees. Some of it might have been inaccurate. But some of it was not (like the police chief being undermined by the city manager’s office). And there is no doubt in Ladra’s mind that this is the kind of thing Swanson-Rivenbark wants to nip in the bud. 

It’s also protocol for all city commission meetings to be held at 9 a.m. — and don’t expect that to change anytime soon to make them more accessible to more people. Commissioner Vince Lago asked the city clerk to poll his colleagues to see if they would be willing to begin meetings at 5 p.m. once a month, or every other meeting, to give more residents the opportunity to partipate in the democratic process through municipal government. But it got shot down by three of the voting members on the commission.

According to a May 15 memo from City Clerk Walter Foeman, two members of the commission opposed the 5 p.m. start time for the second meeting of the month. “Another member of the commission said she preferred meetings to start at  9 a.m.,” Foeman wrote, and we can assume that is Commissioner Pat Keon, the only she on the dais now. “Another commissioner said that both times worked for him; and the requesting party voted yes, to have the meetings begin at 5 p.m.”

Ladra’s sources say that newly elected Commissioner Mike Mena was the one who didn’t care one way or another and that Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli and Commissioner Frank Quesada were against it. Keon said it would be too hard on staff, who had to report the next day at 8 a.m. But a lot of other small cities have night meetings and it would definitely increase the number of people who could participate.

Ahhh. There it is, ladies and gents. Ladra cannot help but think that the true intention of not having meetings at 5 p.m. is to thwart participation. And it’s a pattern.

Because if you live or work in Coral Gables, the city administration and three of the electeds don’t want to hear from you.

So, shhhhhhh.