After almost two years of nada, a political action committee for Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez reported this month that it raised $5,000 in the last days of August, raising eyebrows across the county about what Gimenez, who is termed out in 2020, will do with it.
Will he run for mayor of Miami in 2021 against Francis Suarez, as some have speculated? Is he eyeing the Miami-Dade Sherriff’s seat, an independently elected office that will hopefully be created after it passes voter referendum in November? Is he raising funds for his daughter-in-law Barby Rodriguez‘s rumored run for city of Miami commission (more on that later)?
Or is this just to raise money to help Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Esteban Bovo become the next mayor so the Gimenez friends and family plan is protected?
Or is it simply to fight the Miami strong mayor referendum he has so publicly and vehemently opposed?
All are good options. And it could be several of these at a time. But Ladra thinks the 2021 Miami mayoral race is a good bet.
It’s hard to imagine Gimenez giving up any of the power he has grown accustomed to abusing. He is also his family’s cash cow. I am certain someone close to him is telling him what great name rec he’s got and not to tarnish the brand with a fly-by-night city commission bid by a boozy, badmouthed bimbo who is, really, a long shot in the cold dark.
Read related: Carlos Gimenez abuses power in election interference for lobbyist son
Besides, some might say this is Gimenez’s dream job. This is where he was fire chief. This is where he was city manager. It would make for the perfect trifecta if Gimenez were to end his career as mayor where he started his career as a paramedic so long ago.
Sure, the budget is smaller, so there’s less to go around for everybody on his friends and family plan. That’s why he’s supporting Bovo. That way CJ and his wife and his brother and sister-in-law get to feed from both troughs. (Three, if you count MDX, and you probably should). And, in Miami, there are only three of five people to convince, rather than seven of 13.
Las malas lenguas say that BFFs and international travel mates Ralph Garcia Toledo and Alex Heckler are already making calls, asking for contributions.
The $5,000 contribution to Miami-Dade Residents First was made by PDS Development, the Palazzo Del Sol builders that earlier this year secured a $90 million loan to develop luxury condos on the island. It seems small, especially for someone who raised and spent around $10 million in his last re-election bid. And one might think that he would want to come out the first time after 24 months of nada with a little more than a single figure K.
But it was made the 28th. Which makes us very curious about what the September report will look like.

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Lobbyist Ron Book, who secretly worked against the Miami-Dade Commission during the last session in Tallahassee — even though we pay him to work for us — by sneaking puppy mill language into not one but two failed legislative bills, could have lost his juicy contract Tuesday to lobby for the county in Tallahassee because he didn’t request a waiver as required. See? Lobbyists are allowed to work against taxpayers on an issue, as long as they get a waiver from the county first.
Even if that did make any sense at all, it seems like Book would rather pedir perdon que pedir permiso. He did not seek a waiver when he worked for the Petland chain of stores this past session and against any municipality’s ability to regulate the sale of puppies from puppy mill breeders that put profits before the animals’ welfare and needs. Aventura, Margate and Hollywood all have local ordinances banning puppy mill sales that would immediately be null and void. Miami-Dade doesn’t have one — yet, because Ladra was told that one of the commissioners is writing an ordinance as you read this.
Read related: Animal activists beat Ron Book, squash 2 puppy mill bills in Tallahassee
A rule is a rule. And other lobbyists have been let go because of conflicting interests, most recently Ballard Partners because of their representation of Uber in Tallahassee while the ride sharing company was still hammering out regulation details in the 305. Several speakers urged the commission to deny Book a waiver after the fact.
“Mr. Book has acted as some sort of double agent getting money from both sides of an issue. Usually double agents work in secret with opposing sides,” said Michael Rosenberg, co-founder of the Pets’ Trust Miami, an initiative that passed a non-binding referendum in 2012 to fund a massive low-cost spay and neuter operation throughout the county.
“Mr. Book found a willing legislator to insert a few sentences hidden in a bill of over a hundred pages, whereby tangible property sold in stores would be beyond the control of the county. The tangible property was really describing dogs and cats because the client Mr. Book represents was also paying him to make sure Dade County commissioners and commissioners across the state could not restrict animal sales in retail stores in their communities,” Rosenberg said, adding that Book should not only NOT be given a waiver but should also have to make up for his lapse in judgement by working on pro-puppy legislation.
Truth is, the mercenary, er, I mean lobbyist clearly crossed the conflict of interests line.
But Book was given an 11th hour reprieve Tuesday when the item was deferred at the request of Commission Chairman Esteban Bovo, who said he wanted Book to be present to defend himself before any action was taken. There’s no hurry, he said, because Book — who skipped the meeting to be with another client even though he knew he was on the agenda — can’t stab them in the back again until next year, at the earliest.
Maybe the other client Book was meeting with was Petland, you know, to plan their 2019 strategy.
But the real reason that Bovo gave him a reprieve is because the chairman is running for mayor in 2020 and Book is known as a prolific fundraiser who was able to get his own daughter elected to Senate. Surely, Bovo will hold this out as long as he can so that he can squeeze Book for as much mayoral matrix moolah as he can.
Lucky for us, we have Commissioner Rebeca Sosa holding Book’s feet to the fire. She said she wants him back before the commission sooner rather than later to resolve this. Hopefully, she will put it on the agenda for the very next meeting.
“They were already working in Tallahassee this year without asking this commission for a waiver. I have a big problem with that,” Sosa said. “Either they work for the county, or they work for someone else.
“They are not here today. Why? When they knew this was on the agenda?”
Because Book is used to getting his way, even when he is not in chambers. Because there’s always someone who wants to be mayor.

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Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez is termed out and cannot run for another term. So says a lawsuit filed Monday by a former mayor that seeks to keep him off the ballot this November.

Hernandez was council president and automatically became the mayor when former Mayor Julio Robaina resigned  in May 2011 to run for Miami-Dade mayor. The city charter says he is to serve the remainder of that term until a special election is called to fill the vacancy. That happened in November of 2011, when voters chose Hernandez over both former Mayor Raul Martinez and former Sen. Rudy Garcia.

Because Robaina won that term in 2009, Hernandez had to run for re-election again two years later in 2013. He won again, handily, getting 81 percent against former Mayor Julio “The Other” Martinez and Juan Santana.

The lawsuit filed Monday by attorney Jose “Pepe” Herrera on behalf of Julio Martinez says the city charter, which states “no person shall serve as mayor for more than two consecutive terms.” It doesn’t say two “full” terms, the lawsuit says. It doesn’t say two whole terms. In fact, it doesn’t have any adjectives at all. Just two conservative terms. Which Hernandez has served.

Read related story: Hialeah hoodlums recruit from the Carlos Gimenez gang

“Simply put, a term is a term, and absent any durational adjective, section 2.01 of the city charter must be construed to its plain meaning and grammatical syntax,” the lawsuit states, adding that Hernandez’s argument that a partial term cannot be counted could be intentionally manipulated to “avoid the intent of the electorate” that passed term limits in 1996 and who didn’t include the word “full” when describing the two terms.

That would indicate that Hernandez, who launched his re-election campaign in March, can’t run again.

The lawsuit was filed against Hernandez, Hilaeah City Clerk Marbelys Rubio-Fatjo and Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor Christina White. There will be a press conference Tuesday morning at Herrera’s office, 2350 Coral Way, Suite 201. Herrera is representing Julio Martinez pro-bono. “I like protecting the public interest and dislike bullies. It’s why I went to law school,” Herrera told Ladra.

Looks to Ladra like he’s got a case. Could we finally get rid of Hernandez based on a technicality?

“He paid Grodnick, but he can’t pay me off,” said former Mayor Julio “The Other” Martinez (photographed), referring to former Hialeah City Attorney William Grodnick, who apparenty provided an opinion to the mayor before he retired some months ago that says he does have the right to run again.

Funny enough, Grodnick had the exact opposite opinion in 2008 when then-Councilman Esteban Bovo wanted to run for a fourth term. Bovo, who was elected to fill out the term vacated by the indicted former Councilwoman Maria Rovira in 1999, had not served three full terms — the limit in the charter — but only two and a half. Grodnick told Bovo back then that he could not run again.

Read related story: Carlos Hernandez lies again — under oath this time

“He contradicted himself.  But when you are three months away from retirement and Carlos tells him to do something… it’s just n opinion. A city attorney can do that and be wrong,” Martinez told Ladra. “You can’t buy me off. Now, we are going to a real judge.”

Martinez, bless his soul, doesn’t want to run for office. “No, I’m not going to run for shit. I just don’t want him to run,” he said, pardoning his own French. “We in Hialeah voted for our mayors to be limited in office to eight years. Now he is going to be there for 11? No. I don’t think so.”

Which of these ballot bandidos will run for Hialeah mayor if Carlos Hernandez can’t?

While Martinez won’t run himself, he has plenty of ideas for who might be interested in an open seat once Hernandez is barred by a court from the ballot: Bovo himself, though Ladra thinks he is eyeing the county mayor’s seat, Sen. Rene Garcia, who is termed out, Council President Luis Gonzalez — who, las malas lenguas say, got peeved that Hernandez wasn’t giving him the seat, as promised — and even Councilwoman Isis “Gavelgirl” Garcia-Martinez, who was on the outs with Hernandez at the end of last year but seems to have patched things up because she won’t return anyone’s calls.

Ladra hears former State Rep. Eddy Gonzalez, who has threatened to run for Hialeah mayor like the boy who cried wolf, is making too much money in the private sector, lobbying and “consulting” in government affairs.

Someone has to be thinking about it already. Herrera, who is on a roll recently, has a case here and Hernandez is due some cosmic karma.

Our only fear is that he would run for county commission or — dare I say it? — senate. God help Hialeah.

Miami-Dade Commissoner Esteban Bovo wants the Florida Department of Transportation to open up the Northwest 170th Street bridge over I-75 so that people who live on the west side in Hialeah — where more development is coming, including the American Dream Miami mega mall — can cross over more easily to the Palmetto Expressway and 87th Avenue.

And, of course, vice versa.

But many residents in Miami Lakes and the unincorporated Palm Springs North — who believe the cut-through traffic would destroy their residential neighborhoods — don’t necessarily want easy access to the west side and are none too happy about having the bridge opened to vehicular traffic.

“The traffic we have now is bad enough. This is going to bring more gridlock,” said Robert Scavuzzo, president of the Palm Springs North Civic Association. He is upset that this is coming onto the agenda without any public input on the impact it would have to their neighborhood.

Bovo will ask the commission on Wednesday to urge the FDOT to open up the bridge, a two-lane road built at least as far back as the 1980s for absolutely no reason (read: someone made money off that), because “extending NW 170th Street over I-75 may minimize traffic congestion and increase the flow of traffic, benefitting those who reside and work in the area,” according to the resolution. Key word: May.

It may minimize traffic congestion? Now we’re urging the FDOT to open a bridge to traffic on conjecture?

“About four or five years ago, these bridges — really bridges to nowhere — had no reason to be opened and activated,” Bovo said, talking about both the 179th and the 154th street bridges, which he says will eventually be opened also. “That has changed. You have substantial development there now.

“I firmly believe that this is going to alleviate an area of congestion that is basically gridlock. It’s going to bring connectivity,” Bovo told Ladra, using one of his favorite buzzwords. “This is an area of Northwest Dade that has been very sleepy for a long time and, unfortunately or fortunately, depending on whose lens you are looking through, it is waking up with a lot of development.

“Both bridges are going to be required to alleviate the traffic that is coming.”

Read related story: American Dream moves along without any ifs, ands or buts

But Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid says he can’t support Bovo’s resolution without a traffic study that says it’s definitely going to help congestion and flow. Not that it may help.

“We do things a little differently in Miami Lakes. We base our actions on fact,” Cid told Ladra.

“They keep saying it’s going to help connectivity in the area, but we’re skeptical,” he said, adding that he would send an email to Bovo on Tuesday and would be at the meeting Wednesday to oppose the resolution. “We think it’s just going to change traffic patterns and make traffic worse.”

The opening a few years ago of Northwest 87th Avenue, which was controversial back then too, is an example. “Although it was good for Northwest Dade on connectivity, it was bad for Miami Lakes,” Cid said.

In fact, the town council voted unanimously last year to reject any attempt to open the bridge without a traffic study — paid for by either the county or the private developers on the west side of I-75 who are pushing for this — that finds it will benefit the people of Miami Lakes. Which, let’s face it, is a long shot. Opening that bridge might benefit the people west of I-75, who only can get out via 138th or 183rd streets. But it’s unlikely that it will benefit the people on the east.

Except to make it easier to get to the American Dream Miami mega mall.

Bovo and other sources close to the American Dream discussions told Ladra, however, that the owners of the mega mall are not the ones pushing for this. They are working on other entrance and exit points that would be less disruptive to the surrounding residential neighborhood — there has been talk of developing ramps directly onto the property from the Turnpike or I-75 — and their traffic study indicates no need to have the Northwest 170 Street bridge opened.

Though, certainly, it would be a welcome bonus, wouldn’t it?

Read related story: Miami Lakes mayor wants a piece of American Dream pie

More likely, several sources say, this is being pushed by Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez — a Bovo pal and ally — on behalf of and in partnership with

There’s more. Please press this “continue reading” button to “turn the page.”

The saddest part about Friday’s Miami-Dade Commission meeting wasn’t that commissioners ignored the fearful cries and pleas of more than 100 people who urged them to reject Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s directive to hold illegal immigrants arrested in Miami-Dade for an additional 48 hours so they can be picked up by federal authorities.

It was pretty sad as speaker after speaker got emotional when they told their own similar story about coming here as a child or of parents or siblings who came here as children fearing persecution by the government or criminals elsewhere. It was a real tear-jerker when they heard from children whose parents have been deported and who can speak about having families ripped apart, even though Chairman Esteban Bovo systematically cut them off when they reached the one minute mark and barked aggressively at them.

But no. What’s even sadder was seeing how stupid some of our commissioners are.

Ladra is not using that word loosely. I know it’s charged. I hate the word. I’ve always told my daughter there are no stupid people, only stupid acts.

But then I saw the commission meeting Friday and there is no other word that would better describe them. Clueless is not strong enough. Dumb is too innocent. They’re happily, blatantly stupid. Either that, or they’re complicit with Gimenez for other reasons and simply don’t care about the consequences of their punitive actions. Because why else would they ignore the facts?

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

Let’s go one by one more slowly on the facts they chose to ignore and show why their rationalizations are silly, shall we?

Fact one: The county attorney told them that we were already complying with the federal law. The county already shares information with ICE — names, photos, fingerprints, arrest forms – to comply with the Safer Communities regulations. Commissioners read this sentence slowly: We were already complying with the federal law. That means there was no need for Gimenez to make the change within 24 hours of the president’s executive order in defiance of your very own resolution. Obviously, this quickness concerned the commissioners who voted to keep the 2013 resolution: Jean Monestime, Daniella Levine Cava and Xavier Suarez each said that the mayor’s move was at best premature. Why don’t the others question the motivation for that lickety split speed? We were already compying with federal law and had reason to challenge any designation as a sanctuary county.

Fact two: The very definition of sanctuary city or county or region has not been established and several other municipalities are challenging it as well. 

Fact three: This order isn’t going to just affect criminals. And, by the way, we were already honoring detainer requests on the worst criminals so Rebeca Sosa saying she didn’t want rapists back on the street was fear mongering at its worst.

Deputy County Attorney Michael Valdes said that detainer requests are issued when ICE has probable cause “that the individual has committed a violation that allows them to commence deportation proceedings.” When Joe Martinez asked, the deputy county attorney said it again. “ICE can issue detainers when they say they have probable cause that this individual is subject to removal proceedings, they’ve violated immigration laws.”

Well, that includes every single illegal immigrant, doesn’t it? Every illegal immigrant, by virtue of being here illegally — having crossed over without documents or overstaying a visa — has commited a violation of immigration law. Let’s repeat that for you slow commissioners: Every illegal immigrant could feasibly have detainers put on them because they violated federal immigration law or laws. Including these moms, photographed left, who told commissioners they worry about who will care for their children.

Martinez said that they someone needs to commit a criminal violation to be arrested. Sure, okay. But, fact four: It can be for a traffic violation or having a driver’s license suspended or something as minor as shoplifting. He also said that the arresting officer doesn’t know the shoplifter is an illegal immigrant, but is he thick or what? Nobody was saying we don’t want the shoplifter to be arrested. We just don’t think the shoplifter should be deported if there is a detainer on her/him. The shoplifter should be processed like any shoplifter and released on bond or on his or her own recognizance. We have already honored a detainer on someone who was arrested for panhandling. Commissioner Martinez, fact five: panhandling now can get you deported.

Read related story: Carlos Gimenez will be grilled on sanctuary cities decision

The few speakers in favor of the change understand this. They want all illegal immigrants deported. That is their end game. They supported Trump because of that. They support this change in policy because it deports everybody.

Gimenez said repeatedly that “law abiding immigrants, legal or illegal, have nothing to fear.” But that’s just not true. He is lying, surprise surprise. Fact six: Law-abiding illegal immigrants — even though they may have abided by every other law — could, logically, have detainer requests issued for them. Certainly, people who have missed hearings have had detainer requests issued. And under this new administration it is quite logical to think that more people will be detained to fill the increasingly privatized federal prisons that get fed our federal dollars, per bed or illegal head, which is what Ladra suspects this is really about.

Let’s provide a real, live example: A Venezuelan single mother who works at a restaurant in Doral could get pulled over for a traffic offense or even a broken tail light. She may have a suspended driver’s license because she overstayed her visa or she has no license at all. She gets arrested for that minor traffic offense. Miami-Dade County Corrections officers send her information — name, fingerprints, photograph — to all the other law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and ICE. Immigration is the one that says “hold that person please.” They don’t have to give us a reason. All they have to do is give us a form that has a box checked that says they have probable cause. 

Worse, if she hears the neighbor next door being beaten by her husband, she won’t call the police. “What for? So they ask me for my papers?” Fact seven: It doesn’t matter that Gimenez and several commissioners promised over and over that police officers would not act as ICE agents. What matters is the climate of fear that is created is one where people are not about to take that chance. Perception is all that matters here. Law enforcement experts and more than 40 legal experts who have written the mayor and urged him to rescind his order all agree: This change makes us less safe, not more, as it drives a bigger wedge between the immigrant community and law enforcement. No matter how many times you say that police will not be rounding immigrants up, people are just not comfortable with that staying true.

Read related story: Protesters have demands for Carlos Gimenez on sanctuary

Plus, there’s the little fact eight: Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez volunteered to be on a committee that would define the role of local law enforcement agencies in the federal pursuit of illegal immigrants. He said so in a Miami Herald story after attending a Washington D.C. conference of police chiefs where Donald Trump spoke.

“You know the illegals. You know them by their first name. You know them by their nicknames,” Trump was quoted as saying at the Major Cities Chiefs Association and Major County Sheriff’s Association conference. “You’re in the neighborhoods: You know the bad ones, you know the good ones. I want you to turn in the bad ones.”

Perez was quoted as saying: “It’s clear that they haven’t established any policies yet. It’s still too soon.” But he added that he volunteered to serve on a committee to help define whatever that federal-local cooperation would look like. It won’t always be “too soon,” after all.

Ladra sure wishes someone would have mentioned that at Friday’s meeting. Because what exactly does that mean? Gimenez and several commissioners said they wouldn’t allow our local cops to start asking us for papers. But what happens if (read: when) the federal government threatens to take federal funding away if our local law enforcement agencies refuse to cooperate in the way they deem fit? Why is Perez playing a role in framing that cooperation?

Here’s fact nine, whichwas lost on Commissioners Jose “Pepe” Diaz and Joe Martinez and Rebeca Sosa — who each pathetically fought for the my-exile-story-is-better-than-your-story prize — while they said over and over again that we were talking about criminals: Our county was already honoring detainer requests on the most dangerous criminals under the 2013 resolution. That resolution still provided for the continued transfer to ICE of anyone charged with a forceable felony — such as homicide, rape, battery, assault, armed robbery — and anyone charged with a non bondable offense, such as murder. 

By the way, fact 10: the people charged with murder won’t go to ICE and be deported right away. No. They get tried for their crime here. They do their time here. And only then are they deported afterwards. In other words, there’s time for ICE to get the worst of the worst. This change by Carlos Gimenez only allows people who are arrested for shoplifting or panhandling to be held 48 hours past their bond or release so they can be picked up and deported.

Who is going to take care of their children? Expect the Department of Children and Families to be flooded with a new crop of children who are orphaned by this county commission’s actions.

Commissioners who were too stupid to realize all these things were Bovo, Sosa, Martinez, Diaz — who barely escaped a DUI conviction in Key West last year — Audrey Edmonson, Javier Souto, Dennis Moss, Bruno Barreiro and Sally Heyman, who was the main person to introduce the 2013 resolution that protected immigrants. She said it was the right thing to do then. Friday she said that decision, like this one, had been financially motivated and she sponsored the resolution ratifying the mayor’s change in policy. What changed? 

Because they had every reason and political cover to do the right thing. Not only in 100+ people who spoke in favor of returning to the 2013 policy. But also when the county attorney said that we were already complying with federal mandates for the Safer Communities. And again when the deputy county attorney said any illegal immigrant was at risk. 

Are they not listening? Maybe they’re not too stupid to understand what they’ve done. Maybe they’re just not listening. 

Or do they just not care? 

And is any one of those choices better than another?

The construction of a new Miami-Dade civil courthouse — such an “emergency” in 2014, that leaders, lawyers and lobbyists rushed a ballot question for a courthouse tax that was soundly defeated at the polls (64%-36%) — is back on the horizon.

More than two years later, county commissioners Thursday again looked to address the deterioration of the historic downtown building, known as Cielito Lindo, and the construction of a replacement courthouse. The Chairman’s policy council discussed different potential funding sources and heard from Chief Civil Court Judge Bertila Soto, who has been the lead proponent of a 600-square-foot facility with 60 courtrooms.

There have been two task forces studying the building at 73 West Flagler and the county has spent about $39 million on repairs so far, including $25 million on the facade. But Soto said that there are still $73 million in unfunded repairs that are needed. Where do they get these numbers?

Read related story: Commission approves courthouse fixes, P3 task force

“Our needs at the courthouse are well established,” Soto told the eight-member board, reminding them of not one, but two task force reports on the conditions with recommendations for its fix. “The courthouse needs to be replaced. The building needs to be 600 square feet.”

Commissioner Rebeca Sosa asked if it wouldn’t be better to have satellite courtrooms across the county to cut down on transit and make it more accessible to the users, the constituency. But Soto said that both task forces had come to the same conclusion that one building was a better option. She explained that having satellite courts for criminal and traffic cases worked because it was just the affected party accessing the court. 

“But when you are talking about civil court, the plaintiff might be from Homestead and the respondent from North Miami,” Soto said. “We try misdemeanors and some cases locally, but for circuit, civil and probate cases, it’s different.”

But, she added, they have looked at satellite courthouses that have some space — like the one in South Dade — and they could be used more with the right technology for the meetings that lead up to trials.

What’s at stake, she added, is the health of the more than one million people who go through the doors of the Flagler building every year. “We have judges with upper respiratory conditions. People with eye conditions.”

Read related story: Courthouse tax debate — scare tactics vs. common sense

Really? Then why on Earth hasn’t this been addressed in the two years since a tax to pay for it was shot down by voters? It was an “emergency” two years ago — remember the ominous ads and the talk about mold and unhealthy conditions? — and people are still getting sick? Oh, yeah, guess there was a mayoral election in the way. Commission Chairman Esteban Bovo said at the beginning of the meeting that he doesn’t want to kick the can down the line. But where has he been for the past two years while judges develop respiratory conditions?

“We don’t care who builds this building. We don’t care how it’s built,” Soto said. But Ladra is a bit concerned that our chief judge would be so flippant about such a major capital improvement project and the opportunity that exists for graft. What if the mayor’s son’s construction firm gets to build it? She certainly should care, shouldn’t she?

Tara Smith of the county’s Internal Services department (read: procurement) said staff had identified 11 downtown sites — county-owned and underutilized assets — where, plausibly, a courthouse could be built. She said these are sites where the county is actively considering “for potential development” of the courthouse.

Really?

Toppping the list is the current location, though Ladra doubts they would be able to tear down the historic 1928 structure. Besides, selling the building is also being considered as a potential funding source for the new courthouse (couldn’t we enter into a development agreement instead and still own it?). Deputy Mayor Ed Marquez said there has been some  interest in “converting the old courthouse into a boutique hotel.”

Other sites identified include the cultural center where the Main Library and our historical museum are located, the downtown motor pool and lot, and the little plaza/park with public art just north and west of County Hall. All three of those were vetoed by commissioners.

“Green space right now is prime in downtown,” said Commissioner Bruno Barreiro. “For me, that’s sacred.”

And Audrey Edmonson said the one lot in Overtown near the historic Lyric Theater was off limits, too.

“We have plans for that. Take that one off,” she said.

Read related story: Courthouse clean bill of health begs questions, investigation

Later in the day, several County Hall insiders said that there are issues to take off most if not all the sites identified. One source said the list was “laughable.” But the property that is adjacent to the new juvenile courthouse and contiguous to the FEC line, which is apparently Commissioner Sally Heyman‘s favorite spot.

Several commissioners also wondered if this would be a good project for a public-private partnership (duh) and if they should put out feelers to private land owners in the downtown core. Commissioner Dennis Moss , who said he had also talked to the boutique hotel people, said this was a “tremendous opportunity” to use some of those county assets, perhaps along with private parcels, to “really create a new direction for the downtown area.

“If we do this right we have a chance to create something really special,” he said.

Edmonson thought that perhaps getting a footprint with both public and private land could work. Smith told the council that she would come back in 90 days with a cost analysis of using the identified properties for the courthouse and going with a P3 process or a traditional build/design bid.

“There are a lot of rumors out there about interests in the private sector,” Barreiro said. “Before we go into one of our own public assets and spend money on a study, let’s see if a private entity comes forward.”

Heyman said that there was interest from private property owners and they would be reached out to.

Smith said the county assets were identified first because there has been no funding identified for the project. “But that doesn’t exclude private properties.” 

Commissioners decided to seek some input from the Downtown Development Authority at its next meeting.

“At least we were able to at least set the table on this,” Bovo said.

But nobody ever talked about the dinner bill, or funding for construction of any new courthouse. Obviously, going to the taxpayers again is not a good idea and, luckily, Bovo realized that. 

Read related story: Top 5 reasons to vote no on courthouse bond tax

“The voters already opined on the issue,” he said. “I’m hoping that we guide ourselves in a way that does not rely on a bond issue. I think that would probably be dead on arrival.”

Heyman also said they were not considering asking voters to approve another general obligation bond.

Government affairs consultant and lobbyist Al Maloof told the council that his office was involved with a bill filed in Tallahassee this week that would provide a funding mechanism for coutrhouses, libraries, schools, jails and prisons. It is likely a companion bill to federal legislation known as the Public Buildings Renewal Act that allow state and local governments to establish P3s for infrastructure improvements through the creation of at least $5 billion in new private activity bonds for public buildings.

Isn’t that still public money?

Because you know it’s going to be expensive. What was going to cost $390 million in 2014 is going to be more than $450 million when all is said and done. Mark my words. 

Commissioner Jean Monestime wants it to be an inviting space that becomes a city center for a downtown with a growing residential community. A plae for people to meet and have a conversation.

“Our County Hall is not inviting. Our cultural center is not inviting,” Monestime said. “People come here because they have to, not because they want to. Nobody says, ‘Let’s go for a walk to the square.’”

So, we’re talking about a public square, too?

Ka-ching.

“It ought to be spectacular,” said Commissioner Javier Souto. “Showing to the world what Miami-Dade County is.”

Ka-ching.

“All around for acres and acres, it should be spectacular.”

Ka-ching, ka-ching.