Proposed change of election year is part of the ruse
There’s a new political action committee in town. It was formed late last month, just in time to get involved at the last minute in the special election in Miami’s District 4 to replace the late Commissioner Manolo Reyes, which was won Tuesday by the PAC’s chosen candidate, Ralph Rosado.
But that might just be the beginning.
Floridians for Good Government filed paperwork with the Florida Division of Elections last month, naming Raul Diaz as its chairman and Jose “Pepe” Riesco as the treasurer. Diaz and Riesco also play the same roles at Miamians for Sensible Government, another PAC that has worked with Jesse Manzano , Rosado’s campaign manager, and gotten $35,000 from Miami For Everyone, which is the PAC for Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.
So it’s safe to say that Floridians for Good Government is another Baby X PAC.

And it’s also likely that it will be used not just for the D4 campaign, but to fight against the referendum question that may be put on the ballot for the lifetime term limits, which would strengthen current term limits by prohibit electeds from skipping one term and coming right back.
Because Rosado’s support of the term limits and the ultimatum from Suarez to change the election date first are all part of the ruse.
Here’s how it goes:
Las malas lenguas say that Suarez threatened, through proxies, to veto the lifetime term limits unless the sponsor, Commissioner Damian Pardo — who looks like he is being fooled, maybe again — agrees to move the elections to even numbered years, which would extend everybody’s terms by a year and has already been threatened by legal action by at least two of the 2025 candidates (more on that later). Lo and behold, Pardo announced Wednesday morning — the day after newly-elected commissioner Rosado won his special election in District 4 — that he was going to put it on the agenda for the next meeting, June 12, at the same time as the term limits. He had said earlier they would be discussed at different meetings because they are not connected.
Bullshit.
Read related: Ralph Rosado and Joe Carollo beat Jose Regalado in Miami D4 special election
The mayor wants another year to campaign for Florida governor or whatever is next, because he has no place to go right now. The anxiously expected ambassadorship to Saudi Arabia is seemingly not a thing, so he’ll hang out as a postalita, no-show mayor and benefit from his public role and documented side gigs as much as possible..
Carollo could get 12 more months of taxpayer paid legal representation on his multiple lawsuits and can always run for mayor next year — even though, this year, he could very well be the frontrunner with the current clown car of candidates.
Because, here’s the thing, they have no intention of letting lifetime term limits become reality. The change in the election can be done by ordinance, in the next month or so before qualifying in September. Rosado has already said he is in favor of it. He’s also said he is open to the idea of the lifetime term limits, but wants to hear from his new colleagues, which means he likes Chairwoman Christine King‘s idea of making former electeds wait two terms before they can run for the same office again.
Either way, any enhanced or expanded term limits — watered down or not — have to be approved by voters. And that is something that can be fought in the court of public opinion. The campaign consultants that work for Carollo — and Carollo himself, who makes money off every campaign — is banking on it.
The stated purpose or scope of Floridians For Good Government is “to support or oppose candidate and ballot.” It looks like the word “question” was left off at the end of that sentence.
Ladra is 99% certain that this PAC is going to be used to push a no vote on the lifetime term limits. Sources have said that Suarez and Carollo are both making calls to raise money for it. With enough dollars, they can define the charter change as an unnecessary communist move to limit voters’ choices — or something like that. And an obvious sure thing gets completely muddied and instantly becomes a wedge issue.
The PAC is also affiliating itself with President Donald Trump and his “Make America Great Again” slogan. The D4 special election mail had the slogan matched with Rosado’s name and “Make District 4 Great Again.” This works with a lot of Miami voters and is likely to be the tone of several campaigns this year — or next.
Read related: Miami commissioners could extend terms, gain a year for themselves, mayor
Once the lifetime term limits are rejected by voters, it’s too late to change the election back. That boat will have sailed. So Pardo’s concept of sacrifice — that it’s worth another year of Carollo to get rid of him for good — might not really be worth the risk. Because it may not work out that way.
Floridians For Good Government will have to file two campaign finance reports between now and the November election, where the lifetime term limits could be on the ballot. One is in July and the other is in October, for the second and third quarter of the year.
Ladra will be on top of that to shine a light on who is backing, and who could benefit, from extending the current electeds’ terms by a year.
It is more important than ever to be all over the Miami city commission like black on beans. Like green on grass. Like bees on sweet. Like government money on a bad idea. Help Ladra stay on top of the commission’s moves and antics with a donation today to Political Cortadito. Thank you for your support!
The post New PAC forms for Miami D4 election and, likely, vs. lifetime term limits appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Evil triumphed over good on Tuesday in the rushed, special election for Miami commission in District 4, to replace the late Commissioner Manolo Reyes., who must be rolling in his grave.
Ralph “Rafael” Rosado, an urban planning consultant and compulsive liar whose campaign was run and funded by Commissioner Joe Carollo, beat Jose Francisco Regalado, who left a really good job at the city’s building department at the request of Reyes’ family to follow his own family’s footsteps into public office.
Which means that Carollo will now get his third vote for the majority and will wield that baton with the same penchant for level-headed justice and service to others that he always has shown. Okay, stop laughing. Because it is not funny that it will be the exact opposite — political retaliation and personal benefit all the way.
Read related: Miami District 4 race is a referendum on Joe Carollo and his abuse of power
The election wasn’t even close, really. Rosado got 55% of the vote to Regalado’s 45%. With less than 11.5% of the 46,500 eligible voters in District 4, Rosado (or, better said, Carollo) won across the board — absentee or vote-by-mail ballots, early voting and Election Day votes, though by a larger margin with the ABs.
The negative tone of a relentless campaign against Regalado and his family waged by Carollo in mailers, TV ads and on the radio — could have turned people off and suppressed turnout, which was also dampened by the rain on Election Day.

Carollo likely spent hundreds of thousands of dollars from his Miami First political action committee to get Rosado elected. We won’t know how much until July, because PACs only have to report quarterly not every month. But some longtime political observers have said it could be up to or more than $1 million.
Regalado raised and spent more transparent money from his campaign, with almost $191,000 compared to $79,500 raised by Rosado, reported through May 29, according to the latest campaign finance reports.
Rosado reported raising absolutely nothing in one recent report. Because he didn’t have to raise money. Carollo was pouring money from his PAC into Rosado’s campaign, mostly attacking Regalado and his family, which includes his father, former Miami Mayor and Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado, sister Raquel Regalado a Miami-Dade Commission and former Miami-Dade School Board member, and brother Tomas N. “Tommy” Regalado, a journalist who ran for the commission seat in District 3 in 2017 and lost.
They weren’t just bashed on the dynasty thing, que ya cae mal. They were called communists and drug dealers and professional campaigners, which is funny because that’s exactly what Carollo is. Crazy Joe, who has a history as a wife beater, also got personal on his daily morning radio show, attacking Raquel Regalado’s son, who despite having autism is a data processor and works, like a lot of autistic individuals, and Tomas Regalado’s supposed romantic dalliances. It was very ugly.
This 43-day election cycle made way for one of the nastiest Miami campaigns Ladra has seen. And that’s saying a lot.
Read related: Miami’s District 4 candidate Ralph Rosado is backed, helped by Joe Carollo
Rosado tried to distance himself from Carollo and has told everyone that he is going to prove he is independent, even though it appears he owes his victory to Crazy Joe, who was at the newly-elected commissioner’s watch party at El Atlacatl, a Salvadoran restaurant on Calle Ocho.
So was former City Attorney Victoria “Tricky Vicky” Mendez, Rosado’s BFF, who was fired last year after several controversies — including her family’s involvement in basically stealing homes from elderly residents and flipping them for huge profits.
So was Beba Sardiñas Mann, the president of the Crazy Joe Pollo Carollo Fan Club, who said she had an unbiased “forum” for candidates (it was really an ambush), and who will now be able to get her illegal street closures in Silver Bluff, the ones that were forcibly removed by the county after a court fight in 2023 (more on that later).
Also there: Former Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who was the first Cuban-born mayor of Miami, Miami-Dade Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez, Brickell Homeowners Association President Ernesto Cuesta, Downtown Neighbors Association President James Torres, who has been accused of aligning with Carollo against Pardo, who was also there along with Commission Chairwoman Christine King.
Commissioner Miguel Gabela, who actively helped Regalado during the campaign, was also there. But he didn’t look as happy as Pardo did.
While there were promises of being congenial and working with all the commissioners, Carollo already lashed out at Gabela on Univision 23 Miami, and Ladra feels Mike will be on the losing side of the vote for the near future.
Rosado will have his first chance to show his supposed independence next week at the June 12 commission meeting, which promises to be a doozy after the last commission meeting ended abruptly in chaos when Carollo and Gabela went after each other verbally. But not with the lifetime term limits ballot question which is on the agenda. That’s a ruse (more on that later).
There are other things to watch where he is going to be Carollo’s puppet pocket swing vote, like the street closures at 22 locations in Silver Bluff, which is also on this Tuesday’s agenda.
Other items on the agenda include the sale and development of condos and a waterfront park on Watson Island, a no-bid concession agreement for Miami Marine Stadium and a presentation by the Miami Downtown Development Authority, which has come under fire recently for some of the six figure checks they give to billion dollar brands and which some residents want to abolish, trying to justify its existence.
Read related: Effort to dissolve Miami DDA cites ‘bloated’ salaries, redundancy, UFC gift
The term limits, which is proposed by Commissioner Damian Pardo, would prohibit anyone who has served the maximum terms as commissioner or mayor to run for that seat again in the future. Right now, an elected can skip a term or two and run again, like former Commissioner Frank Carollo, Crazy Joe’s bro, is doing this year in District 3.
If voters pass the lifetime limits, which seems easy enough, it could stop Carollo from running for mayor, as he has threatened to do this year, because he already served the maximum terms. There’s also a controversial proposal coming to move the election to even years, extending current terms by a year, which is also on the agenda, just not this agenda for next week (more on that later). This is being proposed under the guise of avoiding a legal challenge if either of the Carollos are elected this year at the same time the charter amendment on lifetime term limits are approved.
Carollo and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who also supported Rosado, have both come out against the lifetime term limits. Suarez would also be barred from running for mayor or for commissioner, since he served the maximum terms in both posts.
Rosado has publicly said that he generally likes the idea of the lifetime term limits. But he has also waffled on it and said he wants to hear the debate from his colleagues — as if they haven’t talked about it enough. More likely, he will support the watered down version that King has floated about forcing electeds to wait out two terms instead of just one before running again.
Because he knows that his buddies Carollo and Suarez — another unlikely pair of strange political bedfellows — are already raising money to fight it and push a no vote (more on that next).
It is more important as ever to be all over the Miami city commission like black on beans. Like green on grass. Like bees on sweet. Like government money on a bad idea. Help Ladra stay on top of the commission’s moves and antics with a donation today to Political Cortadito. Thank you for your support!

The post Ralph Rosado and Joe Carollo beat Jose Regalado in Miami D4 special election appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Francis Suarez and Joe Carollo want to stick around
In a perfect example of how a good idea can get twisted and turned into an evil plan, the city of Miami Commission is poised to consider a change to the municipal’s biannual election year — from odd to even, to coincide with state and national elections — that would end up extending the terms of all the current electeds by a year.
That means that Mayor Francis Suarez and Commissioner Joe Carollo — who are both facing term limits and are, reportedly, the ones behind this move — will get to stick around until November 2026. Commission Chairwoman Christine King would not have to campaign for re-election until next year.
This idea will be brought to the commission, not this month but at a a later time, by Commissioner Damian Pardo. It is not part of the measure he will bring to next week’s meeting to put lifetime term limits on the ballot, so that, if voters approve, electeds in Miami can’t sit out a term and run for the same seat later.
“These are not things that are tied together,” Pardo told Political Cortadito on Wednesday. “One thing is not contingent on the other.”
But the election year change, when it comes back at a subsequent meeting, is related to the term limits, because there are several candidates already running in this year’s election who would be excluded under the lifetime term limits (i.e. former Commissioner Frank Carollo for his old seat and Joe Carollo for mayor, where he already served from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2001. They and the charter amendment would be on the same ballot. And Pardo says he is trying to avoid a legal challenge.
Read related: Voters in Miami may get to strengthen term limits and ban political retreads
“I asked the city attorney what happens if the candidate and ballot initiative pass at the same time,” Pardo told Political Cortadito. “And he said that may be a challenge that works.”
“If we move the elections at the same time as we’re making the lifetime term limits, it won’t be clean. It would be challenged,” he said. “So we wait another cycle.”
How about we wait another cycle on the change of the election date? Lifetime term limits are not a bad idea. But it’s not worth keeping Carollo and Suarez around for a year. We’re almost rid of them. Can’t we do this later? After they’re gone?
Pardo also thinks that it’s worth the bitter pill we’d have to swallow to get a higher turnout on Election Day. The difference would be from the 10-15% range to the 65 to 80% range. That would completely stop the Joe Carollos and Alex Diaz de la Portillas of the world from getting elected because there are not enough turkeys at Thanksgiving or pastelitos to buy that many votes. Pardo says it more diplomatically.
“That changes the kind of commission candidate you get,” he said. “You will have to appeal to a different demographic. The entire political landscape in the city of Miami changes. Boom!”
He says it is something that he came up with todo solito, and not because Suarez had threatened to veto his term limits thing unless he did this, too, like las malas lenguas say.
But who would benefit the most? Suarez and Carollo.
Suarez has hinted a possible run for governor in 2026 and could use the bully pulpit and fundraising palanca that the incumbent mayor of the state’s most important city would bring. He may also want another year to solidify his legacy and get projects like the Miami Marine Stadium redevelopment started and Miami Freedom Park closer to finished for the postalita photo opps.
And Carollo just knows he’s not going to win a citywide mayoral race and, thus, has no place else to go. Doral just got a new city manager (more on that later), so going back there is out.

That’s why it looks like City Attorney George Wysong has been researching this. He told the Miami Herald that the City Commission has the authority to move the election back one year all by themselves, without having to go to a referendum. What The Herald story didn’t say was that Wysong is relying on Florida State statutes that are really for “continuity, ease, practicality and efficiency,” said former Commissioner Ken Russell, who has filed to run for mayor.
“They are misusing the statute. It’s an overreach for self serving purposes.”
The commission, Russell says, can’t just wave a magic wand and change the election year.
“By charter, we have odd year voting elections,” Russell said on TikTok, where he is campaigning a lot. He said that a change can be put on the ballot by citizen petition or by a commission vote. “But the voters get to decide.
“There will be an election this year for mayor and there will be a change of leadership.”
He looks like he’s ready to challenge it. There goes Pardo’s reasoning.
Other candidates that may be in the running include Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, and former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, who also reacted negatively, of course. “This is wrong,” he posted on social media. “This is a blatant power grab.
“Career politicians want to extend their terms, bypassing voters — in exchange for letting them weigh in on reforms. It’s straight out of the Maduro playbook,” Gonzalez wrote, referring to the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. “The voters must decide and no one is talking about them or to them.”
In what must be a sign of the apocalypse, Diaz de la Portilla agreed with Gonzalez and Russell. “Charter does not allow that,” he texted Ladra late Thursday about the ordinance. “It has to go to the people.”
Read related: Petition aims to add Miami commission districts, change election to even years
That is what a citizen-led petition drive announced last month wants to do — take it to the people. Led by Coconut Grove activists Mel Meinhardt and Anthony “Andy” Parrish, the Stronger Miami political action committee aims to change the election date to even years to increase turnout. They have created a coalition with a group of activist organizations and must collect around 26,000 signatures by sometime in the summer to get the question on the November ballot.
They are also petitioning to put two other questions to voters: Extending the commission from five to nine seats and codifying the fair district guidelines that were mandated by a judge.
The change in election cycles could result in the loss of a year instead, which Pardo said he was amenable to. But that seems to disenfranchise the voters who elected them with a four-year term in mind. So, Ladra is not sure she likes that idea, either, unless it becomes effective after their own next election. Cutting the term short would be wrong, unless voters approve it themselves and have fair warning.
And that’s another big reason why this shouldn’t even be considered. Because nobody told voters that terms would be extended for a year, either.
Help Ladra keep them honest. Consider making a contribution to Political Cortadito today and support independent watchdog journalism. There are important elections this year. Thank you.
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The Florida Bar last week dismissed two complaints filed by former Miami Commissioner Ken Russell — who later announced that he would run for mayor (more on that later) — against former City Attorney Victoria Mendez and Mayor Francis Suarez, who is an attorney, after the latter gave the Miami Freedom Park developers back the $20 million they had promised to provide for “other green space” and parks throughout the city.
But they still make for interesting reading, hinting at a potential Sunshine Law violation and the possibility that nobody ever intended to make good on that promise.
Russell makes the first disclosure of a 2022 meeting at the mayor’s house where the developers were present and where he was urged to go along with a plan that the public benefit be “under the control” of then District 1 commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who was later arrested on bribery and money laundering public corruption charges, which were later dropped.
The mayor, Russell says, threw him out of the house when he would not agree with that. “Get the f— out of my house,” he quotes Suarez as saying.
Read related: Miami Freedom Park gets its full $20 million back for 58-acre public park
Russell has been a loud voice against the switcheroo that passed last month 4-1 on the commission (only Damian Pardo voted no). He has suggested that Suarez be recalled for this, even though the mayor has less than nine months left in office.
He is running for mayor, in part, because he has seen much his work on the city commission undone. This $10 million give away to the developer seems to have been the last straw. Without that promised public benefit, Russell — who was the 2022 swing vote for the Miami Freedom Park lease — has repeatedly said he would have never voted to approve it. He urged commissioners at the Feb. 13 meeting not to approve the Suarez giveaway.

Then, when the commission ignored him and everyone else who spoke against it, he filed the bar complaints.
The incident at Suarez’s $2 million home on Battersea Road takes center stage not just because of the mayor’s foul language, which insiders know he is prone to in private, but because of the sheer blatancy of the Sunshine Law violation. This is the textbook definition of backroom, behind-the-scenes arm twisting. Suarez doesn’t vote so he can talk to all the commissioners about whatever. But here, he was a conduit to a Sunshine violation by communicating that Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla was on board (a yes vote) to try to convince Russell to vote a certain way (to vote yes, too).
Let’s be clear. If what was communicated was open knowledge, something ADLP had said in public or in the media, then there is no violation. But if the conduit is conveying new information in order to cause the crystallization of a vote, behind the scenes, at a secret meeting  in his house with the deal insiders, then that is a violation of the Sunshine Law. He’s creating a predetermined outcome. Handshaking and arm twisting are supposed to be done in public.
“Prior to the vote, Mayor Suarez explicitly expressed his opposition to my amendment,” Russell writes in his complaint. “He invited me to his home, where unbeknownst to me, developers Jorge and Jose Mas were present, and made it clear that his intent was to ensure that all $20 million remained under the control of Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla (in whose district the stadium project would take place) rather than being allocated for the new parks throughout the city. When I refused to change my position, Mayor Suarez abruptly ended the meeting yelling, ‘Get the fuck out of my house.’”
“For years, I never took a meeting with the Mas brothers outside of the office. I wouldn’t even have coffee with them,” Russell told Political Cortadito. “I think it was inappropriate [of the mayor] to even invite me and not tell me they were going to be there.”
He told Ladra he felt the meeting three years ago was irrelevant. It wouldn’t change his vote. “It’s only relevant now because of the new legislation to undo the tenets I fought for,” Russel said.
Read related: Miami Freedom Park developers want their $20 million parks donation back
The other thing that jumped out at Ladra was that it seemed as if there was never an intention to go through with the $20 million part of the deal ($5 million for the Baywalk has, apparently, not been considered for return). Russell’s complaint also says that the the omission of the amendment that he insisted on was deliberate.
“As City Attorney at the time, Ms. Méndez was responsible for ensuring that the final legislation submitted for the Mayor’s signature correctly reflected the Commission’s action,” Russell wrote in the complaint. “However, when Mayor Francis Suarez signed the resolution on May 5, 2022, the key amendment—explicitly included in the Commission’s minutes—was omitted from the final document.”
Thus, “The legislation did not reflect the Commission’s actual vote.”
Ladra is certain that was intentional and not a mistake.
Suarez himself admitted at the meeting last month that the ballot language on the 2018 referendum was intentionally misleading so the city could have legal wiggle room to switch things up later. Was the legislation also written to allow wiggle room. Was that among the things discussed at the mayor’s house meeting with the Mas brothers after Russell left?
In dismissing the bar complaints earlier this month, an attorney for the Florida Bar wrote in letters addressed to Russell that the actions by Suarez and Mendez “do not constitute violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct” and that the issues raised “are political questions beyond The Florida Bar’s jurisdiction and therefore not reviewable by the bar.”
The letter added, however, that it doesn’t have to end here.
“Appropriate remedies, if any, can be sought through the political process and/or the courts.”
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Miami Mayor Francis Suarez made a rare appearance at the city commission meeting last week to push for the return of $20 million to developers of Miami Freedom Park — the boondoggle real estate complex with a soccer stadium in the mix that is being built on the grounds of the old Melreese golf course — even though he tried to make it look like that was always the plan.
Suarez said the $20 million, which the public thought were going to the improvement and acquisition of other parks in the city, were always supposed to go to the maintenance of the 58-acre park, which on the MFP website is called Jorge Mas Canosa Park. He said the “language was very clear” in the 2018 ballot question passed by 60% of the voters in 2018 “that $20 million was going to go to a 58-acre park,” he paused for dramatic effect, “or other green space.”
Key words: Other green space.
But Suarez said that those three little words were only included because it was a constitutional question, which meant that it would dictate what the city could and could not do based on what people voted for. “And you want some legal room in case you want to deviate from what the voters themselves wanted,” the mayor explained.
Did he mean legal wiggle room? So this was intentional? Someone knew all along that the $20 million — sold as a public benefit to sweeten the deal for residents — would never go to “other green space?”
Read related: Miami Freedom Park developers want their $20 million parks donation back
The idea, when the 99-year lease agreement was approved in 2022, was spurred by the “no net loss” policy that meant the loss of green space at Melreese would have to be replaced elsewhere, Suarez said. Because of that policy, the city carved out $7.5 million from the $20 mil to give $2.5 mil to commission districts 2, 3 and 5 for the acquisition and development of new parks, he said. District 4 was punished because Commissioner Manolo Reyes always voted against Miami Freedom Park. District 1 was left out because that’s where Miami Freedom Park is.

“Four months later, the property was rezoned, the no net loss issue was resolved,” Suarez said. “That money should be restored based on what the voters want, or the will of the voters.
“This is a city park that the residents voted in favor of allocating $20 millions to,” he said, forgetting the words “other green space,” this time, and reminding everyone that $20 million today are not the same as 2018 dollars.
“It’s like giving The Underline a haircut.”
To sell it (this time) to commissioners, Suarez sweetened the soured deal with an amendment that would allocate $2.5 million to districts 2, 3 and 5 and basically instructed the city manager to find the funds by April. “So that no resident in the city can say that they, in any way, feel disenfranchised.” It was expanded to $10 million — with another $2.5 mil for District 4 — after Commissioner Joe Carollo volunteered to help the manager find the funds.
“I believe I can find the funds for the three districts, because one was getting more, and find sufficient funds to give commissioner Reyes his $2.5 million also for his district,” said Carollo, who should be investigated for how he spent the millions in funds budgeted by the Bayfront Park Management Trust when he was chair for eight years.
“I will work with the manager and I will show him fairly quickly where the money can be found.”
Shudder.
Carollo blasted the media for “so much disinformation out there” and said the city would have had to spend the money to maintain the 58-acre park anyway.
“At no time have we been speaking about the Mas brothers not going to pay us the $20 million, that they are going to somehow do a switch and bait and use the dollars for their park,” Carollo said, referring to Jorge and Jose Mas, who own the Inter Miami team with David Beckham and are developing the property. Well, that’s kind of what happened.

The bottom line is that the commission voted 4-1 to return the full $20 million into a fund to maintain the park at the soccer stadium complex — which will also have offices, restaurants, stores and a 700-room hotel. Only Commissioner Damian Pardo voted against it, but he told Political Cortadito after the meeting that the did so because he did not have enough time to digest what was being proposed.
Reyes voted in favor because he said the resolution was “respecting the will of the people.” But he voted against another resolution that supported the establishment of a Community Development District, which is an  instrument to collect maintenance fees. Basically, the developers are going to tax themselves — as the only “property owners” — to create an avenue for $500,000 to be earmarked for maintenance of the park for the next 100 years.
Read related: Miami Freedom Park scores yes vote for massive stadium real estate complex
CDDs are typically formed where there are residential owners who can leverage the future tax dollars to borrow on a tax-exempt basis. But because this is a wholly commercial development, with no resident board (at least for now), the developers of Miami Freedom Park won’t be able to do that, Suarez explained. “In this case there is no allowance for housing, because it’s next to the airport, so they can’t borrow on a tax-free basis.”
But, apparently, they can still borrow funds, because the mayor said there was another safety net.
“If they defaulted if they did borrow funds, CDDs do not impact the city in terms of, its not a lien against the city property,” Suarez said. “It would be a lien against the lease hold interest.” He said the tenants requested that the city support their application to become a CDD, which is through the county, because “they want to contribute to the operation and maintenance of the park.”
Okay. But why do they need a CDD to do that? Are they really just trying to borrow money with the lease as collateral?
Suarez stressed all the positives, calling it the best “stadium deal in the world.” He reminded the commission about the $5 million the developers are giving to the Baywalk along Biscayne Bay and the Miami River. Though Ladra thinks they would take that back if there was waterfront at the development site.
He said the $20 million are to shore up the fund because the $500,000 produced by the CDD won’t be enough.
“They want to make sure the the park, which is adjacent to their property, is kept up and maintained,” Suarez said. They didn’t want to leave it up to the city, he said, which “could have years when it maintains it well and years when it maintains it poorly.”
“They want to be able to control that outcome… have the park up to the billion dollar standard that is going up next door.”
“So, this is found money,” Suarez said. “This is money they didn’t have to pay so it’s just going to make the deal better than what it was.”
But what is $20 million in a $1 billion project? Is someone going to argue that the developers — who obviously need better public relations representation — don’t have another $20 million somewhere that they could have used for that? They had to take what amounts to $7.5 million from the city’s taxpayers — because the city manager is going to find that somewhere to fill the hole made by this resolution — to make themselves feel better?
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The post Miami Freedom Park gets its full $20 million back for 58-acre public park appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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The developers of Miami Freedom Park, that real estate complex that comes with a soccer stadium on the grounds of what once was the Melreese Golf Course, want to get out of the $20 million they once promised to spend upgrading and enhancing city parks as part of its sweet deal approved in 2022.
And they got Mayor Francis Suarez to do their dirty work.
Suarez has proposed the establishment of a new special revenue account titled “Park Fund for Miami Freedom Park,” that would use allocated funds exclusively for improvements and maintenance of the 58 acre pubic park” that is part of the complex to be developed by Miami Freedom Park, LLC, which is basically David Beckham and brothers Jorge and Jose Mas, who also own the Inter Miami team. The city said that MFP has already made the first of two $10 million payments for this new special account.
Oh, so special.
Suarez is going to ask Miami Commissioners to let MFP off the hook at Thursday’s meeting. This comes about month after the city put the developers on notice for not paying the second half of their promised park funding and withheld the master permit for the site of the $1 billion development, a retail and office park with restaurants, a 750-room hotel and, oh yeah, a 25,000-seat stadium that will host games for the Inter Miami team.
Read related: Miami Freedom Park scores yes vote for massive stadium real estate complex
This is a bait and switch. Because the development agreement reached in April 2022 in a historic vote for a 99-year lease stipulated that the developers would donate $20 million to be used “for improvements to public parks or acquisition of public parks within the city of Miami.” Not for Miami Freedom Park, but other parks citywide. Commissioner Joe Carollo asked for that. Of the $25 million given to the city in exchange for the pleasure of developing the property and making millions of dollars, $20 million would go to city parks and $5 million would go to the Baywalk on the Miami River and Biscayne Bay.
At least that is what everybody thought. These were even campaign promises made for the referendum vote in 2018 where voters gave the city the green light to begin negotiations. These park improvement funds were one of the alleged public benefits.
Now the $20 million is going to their own project?

What’s next? Maybe they don’t want to make the park 58 acres. Maybe it’s good enough at 35 acres.
Maybe they won’t create 15,000 “direct or indirect jobs” (minus the dozen lobbyists) or the 2,000 permanent jobs that were promised. That was just a ballpark figure.
Maybe they won’t be able to pay the $4.3 million in annual guaranteed rent. I mean, the economy, right?
Read related: Marlins Park’s David Samson: Miami Freedom Park is a ‘billion dollar heist’
These were some of the other things that were promised when the Miami Freedom Park developers were trying to get the deal. They even said they would bear all the costs of maintaining the roads, lights, sidewalks and benches at the new 58-acre park it would pay to build. Now they want their $20 million back to do it.
Back then, Jorge Mas said there was  “no public subsidy” — even though developers did get an $8 million state grant for infrastructure last year.
“There is significant economic benefit from tax revenue and new jobs,” Mas said at the April 2022 meeting “And I have to deliver the public benefits first.”
Before or after he takes back the $20 million he promised?
The post Miami Freedom Park developers want their $20 million parks donation back appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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