After several months of holding the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency hostage, Miami Commissioner Miguel Gabela — who has pushed for its expansion into Allapattah, the heart of his District 1 — looks like he is ready to compromise with a CRA all his own.
Miami Commissioners last month directed City Manager Art Noriega to expedite the establishment of an Allapattah Community Redevelopment Agency and secure funding so that they can begin “priority projects” by the end of February. The proposed boundaries are Northwest 39th Street to the north, Northwest 19th Avenue to the west, Northwest Seventh Avenue to the east and the Miami River to the south.
Read related: Fight over Omni CRA causes new rifts, alliances on Miami City Commission
Commissioner Damian Pardo, who has been fighting to keep the current Omni CRA boundaries, get an extension on its life and create a separate Allapattah CRA, must be smiling ear to ear. He’s also putting his money where his mouth is. Pardo wants the city manager to find a way to “claw back” $2 million in tax increment funding a year, for the next five years, from the Omni CRA to be directed for capital improvements, infrastructure repairs/enhancements and affordable housing projects in Allapattah. It’s on Thursday’s agenda.
That’s guaranteed seed money of $10 million that can be leveraged to get more.

Will Gabela go for it? He has previously said help like that is too little, too slow and that he wants to leverage the future TIF monies an expanded Omni CRA could generate for Allapattah. Will $10 million cut it?

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After his arrest on public corruption charges in the giveaway of a public park to a private school for more than $300,000 in campaigns contributions and gifts — vacations, accommodations, food, booze — disgraced Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla was suspended from office.

Then, officials found even more graft.

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The executive director fired from the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency last month was just the first casualty of Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla‘s wrath — and/or graft.

ADLP was made chairman of the Omni CRA in February and immediately started to retaliate against employees who may have cooperated with authorities in the investigation into ghost employee Jenny Nillo, his longtime lacky. Since former Executive Director Jason Walker was asked to leave the day after Diaz de la Portilla was named chair, every CRA employee has been chased off — except for one.

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Expect more firings, shake-downs, quid pro quo

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Newly-elected Miami Commissioner Christine King had her first city commission meeting Thursday and was praised and complimented by her colleagues on her solid victory Nov. 2.

“You didn’t win, you got a mandate,” said Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who had lobbied hard to appoint her last year to fill the seat vacated when Commissioner Keon Hardemon ran for the county seat. DLP said her getting 65% of the vote was a reflection of her service to the community for the past several years as president of the Martin Luther King Economic Development Corp.

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