Looks like developers saw the Coral Gables Commission pass the controversial Paseo de la Riviera development and started salivating at the mouth.

Because now, Coral Gables city officials are working with an architectural firm to develop a South Dixie Corridor Master Plan for existing and potential future redevelopment opportunities along 2.5 miles of U.S. 1 that goes through the City Beautiful. Key word: Potential. The idea, the city says, is to creat a new “Coral Gables Corridor” with a “unique experience” for drivers, transit users, pedestrians and cyclists — all along one of the most traversed and congested thoroughfares in Miami-Dade.

And the Riviera Neighborhood Association — whose members have sued to stop the Paseo project — is back up in arms. Because they know that the idea really is to build more projects like the hotel and apartment complex planned for the Holiday Inn property that was passed by the commission in 2015.

Read related story: Coral Gables Paseo project up for final approval

Most members will be at tonight’s meeting, even though the community was split in half for two meetings, “whether by accident or design,” according to an email from the RNA. “Whether by accident or design, the meeting invitations split the Riviera Neighborhood into two separate meetings,” said the email sent Sunday, with copious use of exclamation marks. “We stand together to have our united voice heard and tomorrow night, our voice will be heard!”

The group wants the city to stick to its current zoning codes and land use designations, without any of the overlays like “multi-use” or “transit oriented development,” which they correctly identify as code words for upzoning.

“The developers love the ‘overlays’  because they allow them to build whatever they want and give cover to our commissioners who love the developers!”

The Riviera Neighborhood Association wasn’t able to stop the Paseo project (rendering to the right) from getting approved 4-1, with Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick being the only no in December of 2013. But their lawsuit certainly has kept developers from breaking ground. Paseo attorneys tried to have the court dismiss the case, which says that the changes made are inconsistent with the city’s master plan, but the circuit court judge denied their motion. Now, they are appealing that decision.

And, apparently, the city is changing that master plan. 

Tonight’s meeting at 6 p.m. is the first of three community meetings the city planned for residents and “stake holders” to chime in on this new Master Plan. It’s at the Holiday Inn where the Paseo project is supposed to be, 1350 South Dixie Hwyd. Expect some developers and lobbyists to be there. They’ll be the quiet ones.

Ladra guesses the city is looking at the south side of U.S. 1 because the north side is where the county is planning to develop the Underline, a linear park and bikepath from Dadeland Station to Brickell.

Wednesday, the meeting starts at 6 p.m. at Shannon Rolle Center, 3750 S. Dixie Highway and Thursday it’s back at the Holiday Inn.

For questions, contact the City of Coral Gables Economic Development Department at 305-460-5311 or visit: www.coralgables.com/US1MasterPlan.

Love is in the air. But just because it’s Valentine’s Day this week doesn’t mean we’ve taken a break from our love/hate relationship with local politics, right?

This week is chock full of events, government meetings and fundraisers — ending with nothing less than the much-anticipated (for some, dreaded) public hearing and Miami-Dade county commission come-to-Jesus meeting on Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s 180-degree turnaround on detainer requests for illegal immigrants. If last Tuesday is any indication of what we can expect, there will be dozens of people ready to blast the mayor for his decision to kowtow to President Donald Trump threats against sanctuary cities.

Read related story: Miami-Dade: Esteban Bovo cuts public speech on i-word

As always, please keep sending news about meetings, campaign rallies, political club powwows and other events to edevalle@gmail.com. Show the Cortadito Calendar some love.

Oh, and happy Valentine’s Day.

MONDAY — Feb. 13

6 p.m. — A bunch of lawyers and Gene Prescott, the guy who owns the company that runs the Biltmore Hotel, will have a fundraiser for Coral Gables Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick, who is running for mayor. The legal hosts are Roland Sanchez-Medina, Tomas Gamba, Araly Herrera, Leslie Lott, Carlos Garcia, Ben Reid, Brian Barakat, Bruce Jay Colan, Gene Hernandez (once president of the Cuban American Bar Assocition), judicial kingmaker Hector Lombana and Steve Zack, former president of the American Bar Assocation (2010-2011). The list is illustrious if only because Ladra doesn’t think there’s one single land use attorney (read: lobbyist) among them. These are all business mergers and acquisitions, personal injury, criminal defense and intellectual property lawyers. Naturally. This is Jeannett Slesnick, we’re talking about…not the most development friendly elected, ya know? The party is on to about 7:30 at — where else? — Prescott’s digs, the Biltmore Hotel, 1200 Anastasia Ave.

6 p.m. — Meanwhile, also in Coral Gables: Residents will get their first community meeting on the creation of a South Dixie Highway Master Plan, a blueprint to find development and redevelopment opportunities along the 2.5 miles of U.S. 1 in the City Beautiful (more on that later). This meeting at the Holiday Inn, 1350 S. Dixie Hwy., is only the first of three meetings, so Slesnick can miss it for her shindig above. The other meetings are also at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Shannon Rolle Center, 3750 S. Dixie, and Thursday back at the Holiday Inn.

6:30 p.m. — Looks like Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez cancelled on the Women’s Republican Club of Miami Federated. The official reason is a schedule conflict. Unofficially: He doesn’t want to have to talk about his about-face on the federal detention requests (even though it would be a mostly friendly and Trump supportive crowd). But now the guest of the monthly meeting Monday is Allen J. Thompson of Americans for Fair Tax (fairtax.org or flfairtax.org), a non-partisan 501 C(4) organization. Thompson will talk about the FairTax Plan, which advocates for tax reform, including the replacement of income tax with a national sales tax. Members of the club can attend for free, guests must pay $10 — which pays for the “complimentary” appetizera at John Martin’s Irish Pub, 253 Miracle Mile.

TUESDAY — Feb. 14

9 a.m. — Coral Gables Commissioners will meet to consider the North Ponce Infill regulations for redevelopment between Douglas Road and Ponce de Leon in North Gables, to create a more visible “connection.”  These regulations, by the way, allow for increased density of up to 75 units per acre. Is this going to encourage a condo canyon to North Ponce? There’s also an update on the status of the retirement board time certain at 9:45. There’s also an amendment to the city code removing the human resources director from the retirement board and add the director of labor relations and risk management. The commission meets at City Hall, 405 Biltmore Way.

WEDNESDAY — Feb. 15

6 p.m. — That second South Dixie Highway Master Plan meeting, again, is at the Rolle Center, 3750 S. Dixie.

6:30 p.m. — SAVE, formerly SAVE Dade, will have a political powwow on Wednesday for LGBT activism in a post-Trump America. “On November 9th, SAVE promised that despite the rise of Donald Trump, we would mount an all-out fight to keep Florida moving forward on LGBTQ equality,” reads the Facebook invite. “2017 presents a huge [cute!] opportunity to lay the groundwork to win back Florida – and SAVE knows how to win here, But first we want to hear from you.” The human rights organization boasts having won 14 pro-equality seats and getting pro-equality legislation passed at dozens of towns and cities across the state. But there is much work to do, especially now. The townhall titled “Save Your Rights in the Trump Era,” is at CIC, 1951 NW 7th Ave., Suite 600.

THURSDAY — Feb. 16

5:30 p.m. — The elected leaders in Cutler Bay must got money burning a hole in their collective pocket. They are having a workshop Thursday on the “visioning” for the town for the next two years and, apparently, that includes the “acquisition of property,” (more on that later) according to the agenda, which is pretty much that. One line: “Visioning for next two years — acquisition of property.” The meeting is at Town Hall, 10720 Caribbean Blvd.

6 p.m. — The people who love the South Dade Pine Rocklands will have their monthly meeting at the Tropical Audobon Society, 5530 Sunset Dr., to discuss their ongoing efforts to save the little patch of environmentally endandered land near Zoo Miami.

6 p.m. — Last chance to have a say in the shaping of a new “Coral Gables Corridor” at the last town hall on the South Dixie Highway Master Plan at the Holiday Inn, 1350 South Dixie Hwy.

6 p.m. — In Miami Beach, residents are getting increasingly organized against a City Hall that seems indifferent to their demands. Miami Beach United will have a panel discussion Thursday to let residents know about their “rights to know” what decisions and plans are being made by their city electeds and the administration. Speakers include former City Commissioner Jorge Exposito, Stop The Train Chairman Robert Landsburgh, activist Mark Needle, former commission candidate Mark Samuelian and Glenda Phipps of the North Beach Neighborhood Alliance. It’s at the Miami Beach Woman’s Club, 2401 Pine Tree Drive.

FRIDAY — Feb. 17

10 a.m. — This is it. We saved the best for last and end the week with the meeting to end all meetings — the Miami-Dade County Commission meeting to ratify or reject the mayor’s immigration detainer requests directive. If there is a quorum, that is. There are rumors already that there won’t be — which seems like a strategic move if they already know there won’t be.  Was that the plan all along? Every single commissioner should make an effort to be there, whether they support the mayor’s measure or not. Every district deserves to be represented in a matter that affects so many lives. Ladra can’t imagine that commissioners would be so descarado as to not come to the meeting and force a cancellation due to not having a quorum. Especially after so many people were not allowed to speak last week. They’re going to delay them again? Not smart. Expect this meeting to happen and to go long as both the pro-immigrant side and the pro-Trump side finally have their say. County commissioners could send a strong message to the mayor if they vote to do anything other than what he said — and they should. If only to send that message that he cannot act in a totalitarian fashion. It is one thing to be a strong mayor, and it is another entirely to be a tyrant. Even Commissioner Sally Heyman, who at first had supported the mayor’s actions, seemed to have an about-face of her own Sunday on WPLG’s This Week In South Florida, where she said she hoped someone would sue the county and force the decision to be made in the courts. It’s going to be an interesting way to end the week.

Coral Gables Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick is going to ask her colleagues Tuesday to put the future of a controversial sculpture of flowers on Segovia Street in the hands of voters, with a referendum on the April ballot to relocate the $1 million work of art to almost any place else.

But it’s an uphill battle. Commissioners already voted earlier this month to reject a petition by area residents who are upset not only at the aesthetic they say is incompatible with that part of the City Beautiful, but also with the process by which it was put there, with no public input. Petitioners gathered more than 1,500 signatures, way short of the 6,000 that are required by city ordinance for a citizen petition to make it on the ballot. The vote was 4-1, with only Slesnick supporting the citizen-driven action.

“I may not even get a second,” Slesnick told Ladra. But she’s going for it anyway. 

One thing is for sure: Such a measure on the ballot would certainly not hurt her mayoral campaign. People driven to vote on that question would likely vote for Slesnick over former Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli. Slesnick told Ladra that was not her motivation.

“I’m doing it because I believe people ought to have a say. There was a different city manager who ran things his way. It was done in a closed process,” the commissioner said, adding that there was little to no public input on the selection and placement of the sculpture. The selection was made during the reign of former City Manager Pat Salerno, who was pressured to resign after he was caught lying to commissioners.

“I want things out in the open. What’s wrong with letting the people of Coral Gables vote on whether or not they want it moved? I’m for listening to the people,” Slesnick said. “I’ve gotten more mail on this issue than any other issue in the Gables, except maybe the Paseo development.”

Well, wait… didn’t she lose that fight?

City staffers have repeatedly said that there were a number of public hearings before Passion, the sculpture by Alice Aycock, chosen from 180 applicants, was approved unanimously at a November 2014 meeting purchased and placed on the traffic circle a block west from City Hall on Biltmore Way in July. It wasn’t installed overnight, they say. But residents said they were caught unaware and are overwhelmingly against it. They say it is distracting to drivers and not in keeping with the historic Mediterranean vibe of the area. Some don’t like the artwork itself. Most say they like it fine, just not there.

Other locations that have been brought up, and which admittedly seem more compatible, are Fairchild Tropical Gardens, Ponce Circle Park and, more recently, Country Club Prado.  Ladra likes Ponce Circle Park because it looks like it would look really spectacular from the high up in the highrises that surround it.

Obviously, commissioners don’t want to have to move it (and everybody knows that is how the vote will turn out right?). Mayor Jim Cason has said that he believes such a move would hurt the city’s Art in Public Places program. That’s why they rejected the petition when they could have certainly voted to make an exception and accept it.

But 6,000 for a citizen petition seems excessive in the Gables, where the last election drew 7,800 voters and Mayor Cason was elected by fewer people (4,424).  Even Commissioner Frank Quesada, who won with 73% of the vote, was elected by 5,305 people, almost 700 fewer than the required magic number. In 2013, both commissioners Patricia Keon and Vince Lago were elected with just over half the required petition signatures.

Ladra believes this number of roughly 6,000 — or a little more than since it’s 20% of the registered voters — was set in stone during or after the truck ban petition put the parking of pick up trucks on the ballot. And it seems like the number is high. Should it take twice as many people to get a question on the ballot as it does to elect someone?

And here’s the thing: It’s going to be on the ballot one way or  another — either in the transparent form as a referendum or as a campaign issue for Slesnick. Because the active residents who collected the signatures can use all that energy to help Slesnick win the mayoral race. And who do you think the 1,500 signors are going to vote for?

Certainly Lago and Keon, who may both face opposition in their re-election, could avoid negative mailers that say they refused to let the people decide by just letting the people vote. What do they have to lose?

But if they vote no Tuesday, they could lose their seats.

UPDATED: A Coral Gables Police major has been suspended with pay while Internal Affairs investigates an incident Wednesday in which she was caught allegedly spying on a resident at a commission meeting at City Hall.

And Political Cortadito has learned that the State Attorney’s Office may also be looking into it.

Maj. Theresa Molina, who served as acting chief for a short while in 2014, allegedly even took cellphone photos of text messages that Maria Cruz was sending commissioners in which she was asking to speak on an issue they were discussing.

After Cruz spoke about the 30-some police vacancies and her dissatisfaction with the city’s fix — a program where civilian employees and security guards patrol North Gables in fancy golf carts as “eyes and ears” of real police officers — she told Molina to stop watching her.

“Stop texting the commissioners,” Molina shot back, within earshot of everyone in the room.

Watch the Coral Gables City Commission yourself here

It was so loud that City Attorney Craig Leen heard Molina at the other end of the commission chambers and told the resident “You are allowed to text commissioners. Let’s be clear about that,” he said. Commissioner Vince Lago interrupted him and blasted Molina, saying that residents could text or call him whenever they wanted. He then proceeded to give his phone number at the public and recorded meeting.

“This is a problem. I wasn’t going to say anything because… Maria texted me. She texted me,” Lago said. “Now we have a problem. Now we have a big problem. Because the issue here is I take great pride in that resident calls me, writes me a text message, writes me an email…  but I have a concern when the resident comes up to me at the intermission, while we’re in a moment when we are celebrating something spectacular in the city, and the tell me that while they were texting me they were being watched by a police officer.

“If you want to text me while I’m on the dais, it’s very simple,” he said and then read out his phone number. “Call me. Text me… That’s my job. My job is to interact with every single employee and every single resident in this community and business owner. And I will never stop doing that.”

“I never, never thought I would be in Cuba again,” Maria Cruz told Ladra Friday. “I have never heard that in this country people have to be afraid to speak.”

Cruz said she had gone to the commission meeting to speak against the city’s new Neighborhood Safety Aide program, which is basically a bandaid that uses civilians in go-carts to cover the 30-some vacancies in the department and cut into an alleged spike in home and auto burglaries perceived by residents in North Gables (more on that later), including 14 car break-ins over Labor Day weekend. The city has also hired security guards to patrol the area at night.

When she was told she was not going to be able to speak, Cruz started texting commissioners. “Please, please, I need to speak on this. Get me recognized,” is what she texted, she told Ladra. That’s when she got two mysterious texts back from an unrecognized number.

“Maria, stop texting,” said the first.

Then, “Ojos,” which literally means eyes, but is a Spanish translation for “someone’s watching.”

This is how Gables Mayor Jim Cason fights crime — by cutting big red ribbons on fancy go-carts for paid security guards. Photos courtesy Ariel Fernandez

Later, there was a break while commissioners went downstairs and outside to the street level to see the fancy go-carts, which Cruz calls the Mickey Mouse cars. She said someone else from the audience told her that Molina was keeping an eye on her and had possibly taken a picture of whatever she was texting.

So back in commission chambers, she started her two minutes with that bit of Big Sister news.

“This morning, I felt like I was back in Cuba,” she told them. “I was texting someone — actually, I was texting you people — and I found a police major was keeping track of what I was texting.

“Am I under surveillance here? Do I need a security company to protect me? This is not Cuba, Mr. Cason.”

Read related story: Gables police shake-up makes new manager top cop

Two days later, Cruz told me she was still shaken.

“If a high ranking officer in your police department is willing to do this,” Molina asks, “what happens when one of her people that I have offended finds me on my way home late at night and stops me for some made up reason?

“It’s scary.”

It’s also unacceptable, said Commissioner Vince Lago, whose family was imprisoned in Cuba under Fidel Castro’s rule.

“I don’t stand for that BS,” Lago told Ladra Friday. “What happened at that meeting was completely contrary to what our city stands for and how we treat our citizens.”

The commissioner is completely taken with the idea of the safety aides, who he calls city ambassadors. They are not only another set of eyes and ears for the police he said. They patrol only by day, while residents are at work and are supposed to take packages left at homes and leave notes for the residents so they can claim them later. They are supposed to help residents with the groceries if it’s raining. He also said the security guards, hired overnight when a majority of the break-ins happen, have already had a positive impact reducing nighttime car burglaries.

But that did not excuse Molina’s actions, he added.

“Major Molina’s behavior was completely unacceptable. It paints the city in a bad light,” Lago said.

Ariel Fernandez, an active citizen who ran for commission in 2015 and has sent letters to the commissioners about burglaries to his home and on his street, said he saw Molina keeping tabs on Cruz.

“I did see Molina holding her phone up over Maria like someone would to take a picture,” Fernandez told Ladra. “Anytime Maria moved forward, you know how people move when they are sitting and texting, Molina would move forward. When Maria moved back, Molina would move back.”

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

He said that when the commission broke to look at the golf carts, Molina stepped aside to speak briefly with Assistant City Manager Frank Fernandez, who City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark brought to the City Beautiful with her from Hollywood and who has been the bane of the police department’s existence and the citizens of North Gables since.

It was Fernandez’s idea to bring in the nighttime FPI security guards, which may be the same guards he hired in Hollywood, where Swanson-Rivenbark got in trouble for filling too many positions with temporary contractual workers. A Broward inspector general’s report blasted the then Hollywood city manager over spending close to $1 million on temporary employees when all she was allowed to spend without city commission approval was $50,000.

Most of the temps placed by the agency contracted in Hollywood were in the police department.

Some Gables police officers and firefighters — as well as residents — are worried that the same thing is happening all over again in Coral Gables, where Fernandez has apparently changed the criteria for applicants so that it is nearly impossible to fill the vacancies. Among the more drastic requirements: no more than five moving violations in a lifetime and 10 letters of reference.

“If you are leaving your department, you don’t want to tell anybody until you have a job somewhere else,” said one police officer who said there have been less than a dozen hires since Fernandez came on board — which is less than half the officers hired by Chief Ed Hudak the year before.

Hudak started the IA investigation into Molina’s actions before the meeting Wednesday ended. On Friday, he declined to comment pending the outcome.

Meanwhile, the city blew through its overtime budget for the year back in May.

And another officer left the department Thursday.

Controversial development item to be heard at 1 p.m. today

The Coral Gables Commission will give final consideration today to zoning and land use variances needed for the $160-million Gables Station mixed-use development to rise on the 200 block of South Dixie Highway, just across from the swanky Village of Merrick Park.

Developers want to build two condo towers with 460 luxury units, 60,000 square feet of retail, almost 1,000 parking spaces and a 147-room hotel where a car dealership sits now. But they need variances on height and density. In total, it is more than 600,000 square feet — or six times the size of the Aloft Hotel.

The zoning in that area is overlaid. That means there are two standards. The one passed in 1999 that limits buildings to four stories along the U.S. 1 corridor (and for good reason) and the one from before that which, as of right, allows 10 stories. But the developer wants to go further — to 14 and 16 stories for the two towers.

There is growing concern about the many large developments going up in the City Beautiful. There have been a number of town hall meetings and hundreds of residents have attended to voice their worries about the impact these developments will have on traffic, quality of life and the already short police department (more on that later). It’s bizarre how much the Gables continues to grow and develop even as Miami-Dade’s condo market shows signs of slowing, due in part to a stronger dollar. By some counts, this is the 14th new project to come on the maps in the past few years.

Activists have called on residents to show up at City Hall, 405 Biltmore Way, at 1 p.m., when the item is being heard time-certain, and urge commissioners to stick to the city’s current master plan and — despite recommendations from staff and the planning and zoning board to approve the upzoning changes — deny the variances. There is an argument that any such upzoning should wait until after the city completes a study about the future use and development of U.S. 1.

Look for Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick to be the main voice of concern on the dais — if the developers are not able to silence her. There might be a move to get Slesnick to recuse herself after she wrote about this development in a monthly newsletter.

But she wrote the piece after she had voted no on all four variances in the first reading — so we pretty much already knew where she stands. Ladra would venture to say that even before she voted, we pretty much knew where the one commissioner concerned about development, who made it a cornerstone of her campaign, stands on what could be a perfect example of overdevelopment.

By the way, as usual, she was the only commissioner to vote no. And Commissioner Vince Lago is the only other commissioner who sometimes votes no on up zoning. The other three pretty much rubber stamp it.

Today’s vote will be on second reading and could give the developer final approval. The project has been on the fast track since May, when it got onto the agenda of two back-to-back planning and zoning meetings. Seems to many that they want to get this approved over the summer, while people aren’t paying too much attention.

Guess that depends on how many people show up at 1 p.m.

Your voice apparently matters. There are several community meetings and charrettes going on in different municipalities asking for the public feedback on important issues or projects.

Anti-development commissioner hosts forum

Coral Gables Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick is hosting a citizens’ forum called “Cranes, codes and collaboration” to discuss the development booming all around the City Beautiful.

Slesnick, who ran on a reduced development campaign and was the sole dissenting vote against the controversial Paseo project on U.S. 1, mailed an invitation to Gables residents to join her from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Biltmore Hotel, 1200 Anastasia Ave., Thursday, Feb. 18, to talk about promoting smart development, reducing traffic and parking impacts and “advancing community benefits,” which is shorthand for “what’s in it for us.”

You can RSVP to commissionrsvp@coralgables.com or call 305-460-5326 to get more information.

Pat Keon and FIU roll out sea level rise series

The other lady on the Coral Gables dais, Commissioner Patricia Keon, is partnering with FIU to offer a discussion sereries on sea level rise, which the city is trying to address with a community vulnerability assessment to identify our at-risk infrastructure and propose adaptation and mitigation strategies to deal with the projected effects.

As part of an effort to raise awareness among residents and business owners, the series will focus on potential future impacts, public policy implications, climate-responsive design of resistant built infrastructure and much more.

The once-a-month chats begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, at City Hall, 405 Biltmore Way, with Dr. Todd Crowl, director of FIU’s Southeast Environmental Research Center, who will provide an overview of causes and local impacts of sea level rise.

In March, the series moves to the Coral Gables Museum on Aragon Aveue, where Dr. Ryan Stoa will discuss the public policy implications of sustainable development in Florida and in April public policy implications of sustainable development in Florida. In April, FIU students from different schools — architecture, engineering, computer sciences, biology, law and public health — will design resilient and sustainable infrastructure for the future.

And here you thought Coral Gables was all about old houses and canopied streets.

For more information, please visit www.coralgables.com/sustainability or call 305-460-5008.

North Beach charrette invites resident input 

The public has been invited to participate in a three-day charrette process for the future development of North Beach, where residents recently defeated a plan to upzone Ocean Terrace.

Through Wednesday, anytime between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., residents can stop by the design studio at the Byron Carlyle Theatre, 500 71st Steet, to see the plans evolve and provide input. This is a unique opportunity to talk with the design team as ideas are developed.

Some of those early plans will be on display at an “open house from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday (tonight). Residents and interested parties will be able to review the community input, the draft plans and illustrations and give feedback.

On Thursday, the “work-in-progress presentation” is from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the North Shore Youth Center, 501 72nd Street, where people can see all the work presented so far.

Read More.