An $800 mil bid protest plays out on social media

The two highest ranking firms competing for an $800 million contract to improve traffic flow and design and build a new I-395 signature bridge have taken their fight to social media in an effort to put public pressure on the Florida Department of Transportation.

This might be the first time a bid protest plays out on Facebook.

When the politically-connected second place bidder started using the bogus argument that there was not enough public input — and getting electeds like Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and Commissioner Sally Heyman to act on their behalf — the first place firm started a Facebook page called Connect Miami to provide information about the design that was chosen, which includes a double decker expressway and a 55-acre urban park and heritage trail that pays homage to Overtown and our black and Carribean communities (more on that later).

Read related story: I-395 signature bridge standoff is political palanca at its best

Then, a counter Facebook page was created a few days ago titled “Our Bridge Our Choice” with posts are mostly skewered accounts of the FDOT’s recommendation to award the project to Archer Western/De Moya that say there was not enough public input. This, after more than four years, dozens of public meetings and an aesthetic review board with local officials — including Miami-Dade Commissioner Audrey Edomonson — that not only shortlisted the bridges from 18 to 7, but then ranked the five bidders who submitted them. They won an award for public input. Posts include an editorial written by former Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who was one of the plaintiffs that in 2013 demanded more public input in the process and then agreed to the settlement with FDOT on the aesthetics review committee’s structure and role. He is complaining now as a private lobbyists and we do not know if he is working for someone because these bidders do not have to report their “campaign expenses.” Though this is exactly what these pages are and some of the opposition is: Paid.

And then on Wednesday, Sen. Rene Garcia weighed in, posting a letter he wrote to FDOT Rachel Cone a day earlier pn his Facebook page supporting the recommendation and saying that he has full confidence that the state agency process had sufficient transparency and more than the required feedback from the public to move forward.

“It is important to get the transformative 836/395 bridge project started for the commuters of Miami Dade County and more importantly to bring Overtown together again,” he wrote before posting the letter.

Garcia is responding to pressure from the second bidder, Fleur/Munilla, on members of the Miami-Dade Delegation of state legislators, urging them to pressure th FDOT. With a bid protest in the work and pressure from the mayor and the county’s Transportation Planning Organization also beating the Munilla’s drum, the Facebook campaigns are about getting the buzz and public opinion influenced early on. I half expect the pages to post the phone numbers for FDOT to be posted urging people to call them about the bridge.

There’s already a bunch of engagement. But Ladra is suspicious as to how Our Bridge Our Choice got four times as many “likes” in only a few days and wonders if they have a robot or are using one of those paid friend or follow generators. Connecting Miami, which started on or about May 12, has 1,243 friends. Our Bridge was created May 19. Its first post was on May 22. And it already has 4,974 likes? Seems unlikely to be organic.

Also, it is the only one of the two pages to have sponsored ads, which means someone is paying Facebook to get their message out. Probably a lot of money, judging by the number of likes.

Make no mistake. Neither page is an authentic community page. But the One Bridge page is more propaganda than the Connecting page, which has a lot of information and drawings about the winning bridge design and what makes it different and special. Cutting traffic down by 80 percent, for example, is a main feature that the other page doesn’t talk about. And it doesn’t pretend to be a grass roots page like the other one. It is straight up the winning bidder providing information.

Ladra is not sure what this does except get us all worked up in a frenzy and make some opportunistic social media “experts” a little money. Because the FDOT is not about to change its mind and say, “Whooooops. Oh, lookie here. We gave this $800 million job to the wrong people. We meant to give it to the mayor’s in-law. Here you go.” Can you imagine the precedent that would set?

Epecially not just because somebody said something on Facebook, where the FDOT South-Miami Area page — which has existed for months, years maybe (I’m not going to keep scrolling down. You do it.) — has only 368 likes. Which is weird because they post alerts on meetings about plans for expanding Kendall Drive and Krome Avenue and Ladra would have expected more people to be interested.

Maybe they should hire someone and spend a little money sponsoring posts. Then they can post the truth.

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

Oh, and it cost taxpayers $5,000.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Answers he still has not gotten.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So do we.

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

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

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

But Ladra is working on it now.

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

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

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

Maybe it should be called the City Bashful.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So, shhhhhhh.

Cedric McMinn kicks campaign off with a bang of backing

Longtime Democrat activist Cedric McMinn, the public outreach director for Miami-Dade School Board Member Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, is running for state rep to replace Rep. Cynthia Stafford, who is termed out next year. And he’s got Stafford’s blessing.

Stafford is one of the many heavyweight hosts for McMinn’s kick-off campaign event Thursday. Bendross-Mindingall is also on the host committee, naturally. It would be weird if she wasn’t.

Others on the committee in formation (aren’t they all?) include Sens. Oscar Braynon II and Jose Javier Rodriguez, State Reps. David Richardson and Nick Duran, North Miami Councilman Alix Desulme, former Sen. Dwight Bullard, former South Miami Commissioner Brian Beasley, former Hallandale Beach Commissioner Alexander Lewy and a smattering of lobbyist/consultants like Ron Book, Jose Fuentes and Chris Norwood.

It’s an impressive list of endorsements for a first-time candidate — and there’s a guide for giving to the campaign. Hosts write checks for the $1,000 maximum contribution, “supporters” spend $109, “young professionals” are urged to donate $50 and the student discount is steep, for $20.18.

That’s how wide McMinn’s expected support base will be in a district that is predominantly black and Democrat and poor. It includes sections of Miami, Hialeah, Miami Gardens and Opa-locka.

He must have been 12 when he started volunteering for local, state and national political campaigns, including Mindingall’s, Braynon’s, Kendrick Meek’s (congressional and senatorial), John Kerry’s (2004) and Barack Obama’s (2008 and 2012). It was just a matter of time.

Based on the strength of the host committee, Ladra will say that former State Rep. James Bush III, who has run for everything from congress to leadership at the UTD and lost a bid last year to get on the Miami-Dade School Board, is going to face another uphill battle. If each host at McMinn’s shindig gives the suggested $1,000 contribution, the kid starts off with at least $25,000 raised the first month. Bush has only raised a little more than $1,000 since January.

Bush served in that same district two separate times. He was first elected in 1992 and termed out in 2000. Then, he returned in 2008, but left two years later to run against Congresswoman Frederica Wilson (he lost).

Oh, maybe that’s why he doesn’t have the heavyweight host committee.

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.

Summer is coming.

As we enter the last full week of May, we realize that the usual summer political doldrums should not hold true this year, since we have the special eletion in Senate District 40 to keep us entertained as well as municipal elections in the county’s four largest cities just gearing up.

But Miami-Dade County is already suspiciously quiet. So we’ll have to get by with a big meeting in Doral and club gatherings and candidate events — even Roger Stone telling stories — to pass the time meanwhile.

Did Ladra miss something? Get me the 411 on your 305 government and club meetings, campaign fundraisers and political powwows and get in the calendar. How? By sending an email to edevalle@gmail.com or inviting me on Facebook or hitting me up on twitter like some of these people did.

MONDAY — May 22

6:30-8:30 p.m. — Roger Stone is back again. Must have to sell those books. This time, he is the guest speaker for the Women’s Republican Club of Miami Federated’s May Forum features Stone — billed as author of “The Making Of the President 2016: How Donald Trump Orchestrated a Revolution — Monday evening at John Martin’s Irish Pub, 253 Miracle Mile. He’s an interesting guy and tells great stories, for sure. But you have to guess what’s true and what’s gibberish or part of his delusions. Ladra can’t go but boy do I wish they would Facebook live it.

TUESDAY — May 23

8:30 a.m. — The Miami Beach Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club continues its candidate parade with another candidate for commission. They’ve already had five other commission and both mayoral candidates on the podium. They’re going to run out of candidates soon if more people don’t file. This week, we will hear from commission candidate Mark Samuelian, who also leads the actvist group Miami Beach United. Former Mayor Matti Bower, who is still so far not running for anything, serves as moderator at the morning meetings, which are at Puerto Sagua Restaurant, 700 Collins Ave. Questions can be submitted in advance via Facebook or email TuesdayMorningBreakfastClub@gmail.com.

6:30-8:30 p.m. — The Miami Young Republicans will kick off their Leadership Speaker Series with a bang. First, former Miami-Dade School Board Member and onetime county mayoral hopeful Raquel Regalado “will make a special announcement.” Ladra suspects she will formally announce her candidacy for congress. Then they are having a panel discusssion on “Women Impacting Miami” about leadership development and journeys in business, public policy, and philanthropy with Diana Arteaga, director of Government Relations at the city of Miami, Cuban American Bar Association Vice President Maria D. Garcia, a partner at ZP&W Law, and Isis Pacheco, a vice president at Interamerican Bank. The disussion will be moderated by Jessica Fernanez and Rey Anthony and it is at CubaOcho Museum and Performing Arts Center, 1465 SW 8th Street.

6:30-8p.m. — Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Grieco, who is running for mayor, is having a “friend-raising” reception meet and greet at the Mondrian Hotel, 1100 West Ave., Tuesday evening. “Food and drink will be served,” the Facebook invite says, but Ladra doubts its open bar, so take some cash (but not for the candidate; he can only take checks).

WEDNESDAY — May 24

5 p.m. — The Doral City Council will to consider a proposal to develop a park in the north part of the city and a variance request from Miami-Dade to put a second monument within 100 feet of the first at its new Pet Adoption Center.  They will also look at expanding different zoning categories that can be combined in mixed use districts (like downtown), establishing parking requirements for assisted living facilities, a possible moratorium on workforce housing and changing the zoning from business and office residential to high density residential for 10 acres north of 41st Street between 107th and 109th avenues. It’s gonna be a busy night at City Hall, 8401 NW 53rd Terr.

THURSDAY — May 25

5-6:30 p.m. — A campaign kick-off event for Cedric McMinn‘s bid for state rep in District 109, where Rep. Cynthia Stafford terms out next year, will start at 5 p.m. at Jackson Soul Food, 950 NW 3rd Ave. McMinn, who has been chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party and works now as community outreach director for Miami-Dade School Board Member Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, filed the paperwork earlier this month. He will be running in the Democratic primary against former State Rep. James Bush III, a schoolteacher who filed in January and raised $1,000.

SATURDAY — May 27

10 a.m.-2 p.m. — Annette Taddeo‘s “campaign canvass kick-off” for the Democrat nomination to the Senate 40 District race begins at 10 a.m. in West Perrine, 17490 SW 104 Avenue. Taddeo and her team will be canvassing the neighborhood until 2 p.m. For more information, call Manuel Gutierrez, 786-973-9067.