The city of Doral needs about $3.8 million in state funds to finance or complete several different projects that are already approved and address some of the city’s biggest issues: traffic and flooding.

These include storm water improvements to mitigate persistant problem flooding, the stabilization of canal banks, the widening of 87th Avenue, a pedestrian/cyclist bridge over 41st Street by the Turnpike and the installation of air monitoring devices near the Medley landfill and Covanta Waste to Energy facilities.

City Council members will get an update Tuesday at a legislative priorities workshop from lobbyists Ron Book and Jose Diaz on efforts and pathways to secure state funding or grants for these projects.

“These have been identified by staff as the most important projects right now,” said Mayor J.C. Bermudez. “We have a lot of infrastructure problems.”

Some of the projects are already in different stages of development:

• The stormwater improvement monies are for two sub basin projects already in the pipeline — one along Northwest 29th and 31st streets between 79 and 82nd avenues and another along Northwest 82nd and 84th avenues between 56th and 58th streets. Both projects include installation of new manholes, new inlets, exfiltration trench, solid pipe, and asphalt restoration. The first one, which is pending payment to the county to acquire the permit) is estimated to cost $700,000 and the city of Doral wants the state to appropriate $350,000. Construction is scheduled to begin already for the second project, which is estimated to cost $1,076,270. The city is requesting half, $538,135, from the state.
• The stabilization of approximately 1.3 miles of canal bank at the Northline Canal along Northwest 25 Street between 87th and 97th avenues and at the Dressels Canal adjacent to Northwest 52nd Street between 97th and 102nd avenues is in the design stage. The project, which includes a pedestrian/bike path along 25th Street, is projected to cost $1.5 million and the city is requesting $750,000 through budget appropriations.
• The design is about 60 percent complete for the widening of Northwest 87th Avenue between 27th and 33rd streets from three to five lanes. The project includes drainage improvements, curb and gutters, sidewalks, street lighting, and modifications to the signalized intersection at 82nd and 33rd. This project will be the continuation of the widening of NW 82 Avenue and will match the five-lane typical section of the portion of NW 82 Avenue (NW 33 St. – NW 36 St.) that is currently under construction by the adjacent development (CityPlace). Funding for that project will come out of next fiscal year’s budget and is estimated to cost $1.9 million, of which the city will seek $1.15 million in FastLanes grants from the Department of Transportation.
• A pedestrian/bicycle bridge over Northwest 41st Street near 117th Avenue to “help improve safety by avoiding the need to cross six lanes of traffic” is still in the preliminary planning stage after being approved in September. The city is waiting until after the Northwest 117th Avenue bridge over 41st Street is completed by the Florida Turnpike Enterprise. The estimated cost for the pedestrian bridge is $3.8 million but the city must apply now for Transportation Alternatives Program funding in 2021 or 2022.

Other items might make it into the discussion with lobbyists Tuesday afternoon.

Among those is the possiblity of getting federal or state environmental protection grants for the purchase of ambient air monitoring devices (estimated cost is $80,000 each) to install in the communities adjacent to the Medley Landfill and Covanta Waste to Energy Facilities. Data from these devices will “help make odor detection less subjective and will help identify the presence of noxious gases.”

Bermudez said he may also ask lobbyists for an update on any bills or legal recourses to recoup some lost hotel taxes from AirBnB, as is happening in other municipalities, and also on legislative efforts at condo association reform after the abuses of some boards were exposed by both El Nuevo Herald and Univision 23 last year.

“I’m getting a lot of complaints from homeowner association members on some of these issues.”

The legislative priorities workshop begins at 2 p.m. at Doral City Hall, 8401 NW 53rd Ter.

Is it February already? Holy moly! Time flies even when we’re not having fun.

Last week was momentuous, not just from the stuff we knew was going to happen, like the megamall approval by the Miami-Dade Commission, but from the stuff we didn’t, like the sanctuary cities buckle by Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, which may finally be the straw that brings the emperor down (more on that later).

In fact, we’re sure to hear more about that later this week (see Tuesday). But please don’t blame me if Miami International Airport shuts down due to protests and we didn’t know about it.

But here are some of the other things that we do know are happening.

As always, please keep sending news about meetings, campaign rallies, political club powwows and other events to edevalle@gmail.com. We missed a Republican club shindig because we didn’t know about it (wonder how many others did, too).  So please make sure Ladra knows about your event. This is your Cortadito Calendar, after all.

MONDAY — Jan.  30

6 p.m. — The city of South Miami’s Historic Preservation Board will discuss the Sylva Martin Building, which is the only historically designated property owned and maintained by the city. Right now, the building adjacent to City Hall at 6130 Sunset Drive, houses city administrative offices one of the district offices for Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez. But it has been many things. Built in 1936 to serve as a community center, this historic building has also been a venue for clubs and fraternal organizations, a hurricane shelter, a polling place and a public library before the one adjacent to City Hall was built in the 1970s. What’s next? Go to the meeting at City Hall and find out.

TUESDAY — Jan.  31

10 a.m — Miami-Dade’s Legislative Delegation will present have a public hearing at FIU, 11200 SW 8th St. The delegation — our elected state reps and senators, both Democrat and Republican — base their legislative priorities on these public hearings so it is important that people attend. County commissioners may attend to discuss their own pet projects or programs. Among the topics open for discussion: economic development, education, environmntal concerns and natural resources, health and human resources, mental health issues, public safety, special taxing districts, children and family issues, That’s why the delegation has the Grand Courtroom in Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall until 3 p.m.

2 p.m. — The Doral City Council will have its own workshop on legislative priorities with details about each project, including storm water improvements, the stabiliation of canal banks, the widening of 87th Avenue, a pedestrian/cyclist bridge over 41st Street by the Turnpike and the installation of air monitoring devices near the Medley landfill and Covanta Waste to Energy facilities. On the table: close to $3.8 million in potential state funding (more on that later).

4:30 p.m. — Immigration activists and people who are just plain outraged that Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez would kowtow to President Donald Trump so quickly with the detention of immigrants plan to peacefully protest his actions, again, at County Hall, 111 Nw First St. Watch them be blocked out of the building, again, like they were on Friday. This event was posted by a new page on Facebook called Recall Gimenez, which is the best thing that’s happened in nine days.

6:30 p.m. — Miami-Dade Democrats will meet to discuss getting local campaign finance reform. The participants at the meeting will share information about efforts around the country and start drafting “a plan of action to tackle this issue locally.” This is probably new Florida Democratic Party Chairman Stephen Bittel‘s idea, only because the powwow is at the same building where Terranova, where he CEO and President, has their offices. Or maybe it’s just a perk.

WEDNESDAY — Feb. 1

7:30 p.m. — The West Miami City Commission meets at West Miami City Hall, 901 SW 62nd Ave. The agenda had not been posted online as of this weekend. But this is where Sen. Marco Rubio got his start so who knows if there’s another future presidential candidate in the making over there. The people sure like their West Miami electeds; the elections were cancelled last year after nobody bothered to challenge any of the incumbents, Mayor Eduardo Muhiña and commissioners Candida Blanca and Luciano L. Suarez.

THURSDAY — Feb. 2

6 p.m. — The Miami-Dade Democratic Party is having a fundraiser to help elect more blue candidates in 2018 and 2020. This looks like another one of Bittel’s actions in his first 100 days, since he is one of the hosts. Other hosts include Rafael A. Velasquez, Luciana Velasquez, Raul F. Rodriguez (who is lending his home for the event), Marcos Azevedo, Juan C. Cuba, Cynthia F. Seymour, former Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Gongora, Miami Beach commissioners Kristen Rosen-Gonzalez and Michael Grieco, who is running for mayor, and political consultant Christian Ulvert, who is likely running somebody else for mayor. Awkward. There’s also a special guest and a $1,000 “champion” contribution gets you a dinner reception with him or her — the $2,500 host level gets you a photo! — but Ladra doesn’t know who it is. Could it be DNC Treasurer Andrew Tobias? Really? Don’t worry. Contribution levels start at $25 and you still get a churrasco dinner. For more information: Rafael Velasquez at rvelasquez@sunsetgroup.org or 305-303-9098.

Once again, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez is going to be on the wrong side of history.

Thursday’s decision to kowtow to the petulant policies of our new president, Donald Trump, is a new low for Gimenez, who has instructed the corrections department to start detaining illegal immigrants that are arrested on unrelated crimes until federal authorities can pick them up.

This flies in the face of long standing county policy not to enforce federal immigration detention orders that dates to way before it was made official in 2013 with an ordinance that, for whatever legal reasons, states that the county refuses to indefinitely detain inmates wanted by immigration not because it was a “sanctuary city” — or that it was the right thing to do — but simply because the feds don’t reimburse the costs.

But we know that’s not the real reason. Because the cost is about $50,000 a year, according to the Miami Herald. That’s really not the reason. The reason was that we are a community of immigrants. Those of us who are lucky enough to be born here or have come here legally know someone who has not. They work hard cleaning and building our homes, fixing our roofs, taking care of our kids and cooking or serving our meals. Many if not most of them are decent people fleeing hardship, war, poverty and repression, trying to make a better life for themselves here.

Now, because Trump threatened to withhold federal funding — more than $350 million that is used in all kinds of services, from transportation to meals on wheels — the mayor is bending to his will. Just like he did when he almost gave Trump our public golf course on Key Biscayne. Is this a consolation prize?

Read related story: Carlos Gimenez’s next mancrush giveaway to Donald Trump

It’s a cowardly move.

Let me be clear: Ladra is all for comprehensive immigration reform that really works to make us safer. This is not it and does not do that. This net is far too broad and will have the unintentended (we hope) consequences of catching visa overstays who have been in this community working and paying taxes and following the rule of law for decades, who are mothers and fathers and students and caretakers, and puts them in deportation proceedings because they were are caught driving without a drivers license. This will split up decent, hard working families with no criminals in it. And the real criminals who are arrested for bigger crimes and typically get held longer anyway and are already sent to immigration proceedings because they are in the system that long, they will keep coming back because they are criminals and we’ve done nothing to change the porous borders.

Gimenez could have stood firm. He could have defended the immigrants — residents of his very county — instead of just bending over with a smile. He wouldn’t have been alone. The mayors of cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Syracuse and Austin have defied the order. Their legal counsels have told them that the president’s ability to just turn off the federal funding spigot is limited. There’s also a legal question as to what constitutes a sanctuary city. Miami-Dade is a county, after all, made up of 37 municipalities. Did Gimenez, who took a $15,000 contribution from Donald Trump for his campaign and went to the president’s inauguration, even consult the county attorneys or did they just not impart the same advice?

Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida American Civil Liberties Union, included his own legal opinion in a statement he made reacting to Gimenez’s move.

“At least, a court order is required, not simply a request from a federal official to keep someone detained behind bars,” Simon said. “We will resist every attempt by our government to punish immigrants, regardless of their immigration status.

“The decision made today by Mayor Giménez goes against the long history of Miami as a city of immigrants. It also goes against the advice of experts in police administration that these policies, such as Gimenez has just supported, only serve to create a wall of mistrust between the police department and our immigrant community,” Simon said.

So, what? Gimenez doesn’t need this community anymore. He certainly doesn’t need our votes ever again. He just won re-election and is termed out of office after these next four years. What he may need is for Trump to stay nice to his son, CJ Gimenez, a lobbyist who worked for The Donald in Doral and is now banking on those ties to get federal lobbying clients. 

The president sure reacted to the mayor’s actions quickly, posting on twitter about it just hours after the announcement. Like someone flagged him to the Miami Herald story. Potus tweeted: “Miami-Dade Mayor drops sanctuary policy. Right decision. Strong!”

Read related story: Mayor’s son lobbies Trump with silent, same ‘ol partners

A group of immigration rights activists have organized a protest outside Gimenez’s office at 11 a.m. Friday morning. Ladra hopes he’s not playing golf at the Biltmore Hotel. And also that the demonstrators all have their papers because the mayor could call la migra on them.

The Facebook invitation to the “Gimenez SHAME ON YOU!” protest says that Gimenez “has BETRAYED the immigrant community by bowing to Trumps racist, xenophobic, and illegal policies.  DEMAND that Mayor Gimenez and ALL elected officials in Miami-Dade County side with all immigrant women, children, and men.”

It also says that those who cannot attend can call 305-375-5071 and tell Gimenez that Miami-Dade needs to continue to be a welcoming place for immigrants.

“I’m disgusted,” said Juan Cuba, chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party. “Miami-Dade County should be a sanctuary county. We should reject Donald Trump’s hateful immigrant rhetoric and policies and make sure our elected officials represent our residents.

“There are hundreds of thousands of families who will wake up tomorrow afraid of what this means for them.”

That’s how many of us felt Nov. 9.

As expected, the American Dream megamall project passed its first hurdle — if one can even call it a hurdle — at Wednesday’s meeting of the Miami-Dade County Commission as they voted to move forward with a proposd change to the county’s Comprehensive Development Master Plan that would allow the development of the massive retail and enterainment complex.

But what is more surprising is that there were no ifs, ands or buts.

Commissioners didn’t set any conditions on the development of the 200-acre plot north of Northwest 170th Street between the Turnpike and I-75 into six million square feet of retail, restaurants and amusement park features — like an indoor ski slope and a water park and an indoor lake with submarine rides and performing seals — that aims to attract up to 30 million visitors a year and that will no doubt wreak havoc in that corner of the county.

Read related story: American Dream mall seeks first county approval

They set no limits on Canada-based Triple Five, the family-owned company that built Minnesota’s Mall of America and wants to build American Dream Miami in the county’s farthest Northwest corner. They requested no promises to use no public money or prioritize locals when hiring for the 14,000 promised permanent low-wage jobs or protect the wetlands that are part of the property they got for government-to-government prices in a sketchy deal authored by Mayor Carlos Gimenez or mitigate traffic impacts or invest in infrastructure or never turn it into a casino destination, as they may do with their New Jersey version of the American Dream (more on that later), or even cap admission fees for the amusement parks that so many delusional supporters think their kids and grandkids are going to hang out at after school every day.

Not one. That’s a lot of stuff to leave up in the air.

“The battle really is in April or May, whenever it comes back,” said Commissioner Joe Martinez.

The vote Wednesday simply sends the proposed change down the pipeline to the state agencies that will review it for transportation, utility and environmental compliance before sending it back to the county with notes and conditions of their own. To be fair, commissioners do get a few more bites at the apple.

But Ladra is not so sure the developers are going to be in a mood to negotiate once they have their ball rolling. Heck, they don’t even believe traffic is going to be a problem to mitigate.

“Twenty years from now, traffic is going to be less than it is today,” said Triple Five Chief Executive Officer and patriarch Don Ghermezian, even after he already got what he wanted. He said people would work from home on computers. “All this traffic? Twenty years from now, it will be zero.”

Zero? Ladra couldn’t stop laughing. Then it hit me how serious this is: Is this ludicrous vision of a fantasy future going to be guiding the negotiations for an eventual development agreement? A development agreement, by the way, that may include some form of tax break in the form of kick-backs through a special taxing district or deferred tax payments or economic incentive grants or whatever they come up with next.

That’s a real issue. Especially since the mayor admitted that the developer had repeatedly verbalized the intention to get public dollars to pay for some of the infrastructure improvements that they should be responsible for. Maybe that preclusion, at least, should have been negotiated on Wednesday. Gimenez told them he said no, repeatedly. So it shows that they are already being persistent.

This was an opportunity to get that off the table, and to set some standards, some criteria and some conditions for the project. And our county electeds — for all their talk about no public dollars — blew their chance to get it in writing. Only Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava, in her first show of real spine — knowing she would be the sole dissenting elected didn’t stop her — voted against sending this amendment to Tallahassee as is. The vote was 10-1 (commissioners Audrey Edmonson and Jean Monestime were absent).

“I know it’s the process but the process doesn’t lend itself to the magnitude of this project,” Levine Cava complained. “It should be like a development of regional impact.”

She said she read the Miami Herald story about the tax break that Triple Five got in Bloomington, the Minnesota home of the Mall of America which agreed to a special tax district that funded costs for parking garages and new roads hasn’t gotten a single dime from the property on its tax rolls since it opened 25 years ago. Now that it will, the city may have enough new revenue to lower the average resident’s tax bill by five percent.

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

“I’m not opposed to this project. I see the economic benefit,” Levine Cava said. “The question is, at what cost? When will we be able to reap the benefits?”

That’s a question that wasn’t answered Wednesday. Lots of questions weren’t answered. 

“If we delayed, some things could be included in the covenant,” Levine Cava said, practically imploring. “Agreeing to move forward without seeing an agreement …”

Is crazy? Is absolutely nuts?

Now, we have to wait until April or May, when they come back with whatever the state agencies say and to review any requested zoning amendments and an eventual development agreement. I guess that’s when they’ll ask for stuff. Not developers. Oh, they’ll ask for stuff, of course. A ton of stuff they didn’t dare ask for now. But that’s also when our elected representatives will start to represent our best interests. Or at least we hope they will.

Because they haven’t so far. Gimenez has simply acted as a pass through, a real estate broker, if you will — for 80-some acres that we bought from the state — after convincing Florida officials to put it on a surplus land list — for a government-to-government price. Rather than put it out to bid or see what else could happen there, we then passed the savings along to the developer — again without any quid pro quo guarantees of what will happen with it. That’s not looking out for our interests. That is looking out for their interests.

Read related story: Megamall gets its public land on rushed timeline

Is the commission doing that again by delaying any talk about the ifs, ands or buts. Won’t it be too late to start asking for concessions after the fact? I mean, how hard can we really negotiate on the back end of the deal? Isn’t the front end when we have the most leverage? Once the wheels are rolling, Triple Five knows that the county will not want to roll it back. They have the advantage.

Then there’s the issue of covenants. Levine Cava’s intention was good, but what good are covenants when in the next breath (read: the next item), commissioners actually considered breaking one only halfway through its 99-year life?

After approving the CDMP changes, or voting to send them down the pipeline (same thing), commissioners looked at another application to redevelop a golf course into 600-some townhomes. That item wasn’t rejected outright, as it should have been. Even after 42 people who would be directly affected spoke against it, the change was simply deferred (more on that later).

But it certainly brings into question what good any agreement signed by Miami-Dade County will be.

Especially when we’ve started by giving them the upper hand.

Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid believes the American Dream mega mall have a bigger impact on his town than anywhere else. And, so, he thinks they should be compensated.

Cid wrote a letter last month to Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and Chairman Esteban Bovo stating his desire to have not only 100 percent of the impact fees spent in Northwest Dade but also a recurring amount of tax dollars to be funneled to Miami Lakes.

“As you are already aware, our community is concerned and is monitoring the progress of the proposed American Dream Miami project. We are anxiously awaiting the agreement between MDC planners and the mall’s developers that will outline a proposal to address the traffic impact.

What is abundantly clear is that Miami-Dade County will receive millions of dollars in impact fees and millions of dollars on a recurring basis once the mall is open. My request is to have 100% of all the impact fees stay in Northwest Miami-Dade County, both in the incorporated and unincorporated areas, to alleviate the impact on our roads and public services. Additionally, to assist us in dealing with the day-to-day traffic impact, Miami Lakes should receive a percentage of all recurring revenue on a yearly basis to fund our strategic transportation initiatives, which will hopefully alleviate the mall’s impact for Miami Lakers (attached you will find our transportations initiatives list with a cost as of July 2016).

As elected officials, we represent the people’s interests. Ensuring that we get the best deal possible for our residents is paramount. I look forward to working with you both on this very imporant issue for Miami Lakers.”

In other words, is Miami Lakes for sale? Because what Ladra is hearing is that they would oppose this development unless they get a piece of the American Dream pie.

Ladra expects Cid to be at the meeting Wednesday when county commissioners consider changes to the Comprehensive Devlopment Master Plan, the first of many applications to amend land use and zoning requirements in the way of the megamall’s development.

Read related story: American Dream megamall seeks first county approval

Once open, the American Dream megamall would provide close to $35 million a year in property and sales taxes. The Miami Lakes wishlist of transportation projects cost about $12 million. But the key word here is recurring and Ladra is sure that Cid and his colleagues in Miami Lakes can find other projects that they “need” to mitigate whatever impact the megamall has.

Cid has talked about a 15% size piece of the pie, though he has said it should be proportional to the impact on the town.

But if they get a piece, won’t Hialeah wan’t one? Hialeah Gardens? Ladra is sure they have wish lists of their own. How about Broward?

How many pieces does the pie have?

Plans for the Amerian Dream megamall — billed as the largest retail center/amusement park in the U.S. — will go before the Miami-Dade County Commission for the first time Wednesday as they seek changes to the county land use and development master plan maps. And the two big topics will be traffic and tax breaks.

After all, we are talking about 3.5 million square feet of retail, a 350,000-square-foot amusement park, a 350,000-square-foot water park, a miniature golf course, an indoor ski slope, a lake with underwater submarine rides and water skiing, a 120,000-square-foot entertainment zone with restaurants and nightclubs, a youth sports center, one or more hotels providing 2,000 rooms and enough parking to accomodate all of that.

Traffic is the main concern plaguing both those who opppose the megamall and those who are in favor. There should be plenty of public speakers Wednesday as commissioners consider amending the Comprehensive Development Master Plan, the first step to allow for the mall’s construction.

“I would just hope the plan they show us has a robust transportation plan that allows people to get in and out relatively easily,” said Commission Chairman Esteban Bovo, who otherwise supports the mall because of the jobs it will create — Ladra has heard anywhere from 30,000 to 46,000, with 15,000 being permanent — and the $35 million or so in tax revenue that it is estimated to provide beginning the first year of operation, he said.

“Make no mistake, it’s going to have an impact,” Bovo said. “If what they submit to the board does not show a transportation plan that works for them and for us — and they know this — then this is not going to fly.”

A lot of folks also want promises that developer Triple Five Group is not going to seek tax breaks either from the county or the state — not even through the creation of a special taxing district that would divert tax dollars from the county’s general fund and earmark them for infrastructure and traffic mitigation that the mall’s developers would otherwise have to pay from their own pockets. Impact fees are estimate to cost Triple Five close to $120 million.

“At no time has anybody represented to me in any kind of way that they plan to come to us for financial support,” Bovo said. “He can go to the state and get transportation dollars, but the county is not going to entertain using property taxes to support this project.”

Triple Five sure talked to Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez about a tax break. Gimenez admitted to the Herald that they had been asking for subsidies since Day 1.

Read related story: Mega mall gets public land on rushed timeline

But they already got a tremendous deal on the land, didn’t they? After months of secret negotiations with Gimenez, the mayor in 2015 lobbied the state to put the land — 80 some acres they had already identified they needed to complete their accumulation of properties — on the surplus properties list so that the county could buy it at government-to-government prices. Then he sold it to the developer without getting appraisals or putting it out to bid — for the same government price, $12.3 million. That’s $153,750 an acre, which Ladra is sure is way below market value. So, Gimenez had the county act as a pass through for a special government price on 80 acres of land for a private megamall development. We should hope there’s no more coming from the public trough.

Gimenez told the Miami Herald that he had told Triple Five the county was not interested in diverting any taxes through any “tax increment financing” or special taxing district mechanism and that he had told them so. But the developer has tapped government financing before, for the Mall of America in Minnesota and the first American Dream mall, which is an unfinished empty shell in Meadowlands, N.J. And one of Triple Five’s lobbyists, former State Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla — who coincidentally sponsored legislation last year to allow counties to create their own tax increment financing districts for commercial developments — wouldn’t commit to a no and told Herald reporter Doug Hanks that it was too early for any conversation about public funding.

Too early? Pffft. Here’s a translation of that: Yes, we are going to seek public dollars wherever we can but we just don’t want to talk about that until we get the ball rolling and it is too difficult or cumbersome to stop it.

Diaz de la Portilla also told Ladra that this was just the first of at least seven to nine public meetings and steps for the megamall development. If the requested changes to the CDMP are approved by the commission Wednesday, that gets transmitted to the state for review by several agencies which could set conditions for further approvals. Then it comes back to the county in April or May for zoning changes and the development agreement. That’s when the real wheeling and dealing is supposed to start.

The flagship DLP also said that the only real opposition is coming from competing malls (who, in a funny twist, hired Gimenez pal and fundraiser Alex Heckler as their lobbyist). But Ladra has talked to residents in Miami Lakes and Palm Springs North, as well as environmentalists, who are concerned about the impact. Some business leaders have also quietly questioned the wisdom of such a huge megamall development at a time when retail sales are suffering nationwide (which may be why the New Jersey version of the American Dream is not yet awake).

That brings us back to the taxing district thing, which could possibly offset the losses of a down retail market. While it’s supposedly too early to talk about tax breaks, Diaz de la Portilla said he would be willing Wednesday to talk about anything that commissioners ask him about it. So commissioners better ask him about it! Ladra is talking to every single one of you. We are all watching.

Read related story: American Dream lobby team = casino connections

Although, really, Ladra doesn’t know how much we can believe what the developer and/or their mouthpiece says. The American Dream application says the project, once complete, will attract 40 million visitors a year. That’s more than twice as many as the 19.3 million people who visit Disney’s Magic Kingdom annually. So you’re really telling us there’s going to be more visitors here than at Disney World? Really? Does a ski slope in South Florida have that much pull? 

If that is the case, then the transportation plan better be freaking magical.

There’s also an application at Wednesday’s meeting for a zoning amendment to the land development map for a mixed-use project on a neighboring site by the Graham Companies. This project has a proposed 3-million-square-foot business park with retail, offices, industrial space and hotels, as well as 2,000 apartment.

And that, alone, is expected to generate more than 10,000 new trips by 2020.