An effort to officially name the neighborhood known as Little Haiti has drawn a bit of controversy as it goes before the Miami city commission on Thursday.

Again.

Haitian leaders have been wanting this recognition for years. They say the area deserves to have its cultural and historical impact acknowledged. But some residents and activists are against the naming — a fight they already waged about three years ago.

See? That part of town is also known as Lemon City, which has a rich little history of its own. Developed by African American and Bahamian pioneers — many of whom built downtown, Coconut Grove and Coral Gables and the Flagler railroad — and named for the trees that grew wild in the area, Lemon City was home to one of the county’s oldest schools, the Lemon City School, and its first library. It is the birthplace of Winn-Dixie, after the grocery giant’s first store opened there in a neighborhood market.

Lemon City’s history goes back to 1850. It’s population in 1895, a year before the incorporation of Miami, was 300 — bustling for that era. There was a hotel, a post office, three general stores, a barbershop, a real estate office, a bakery, a sponge warehouse, two or more saloons, a restaurant, a blacksmith, a livery stable, a sawmill and a photo studio. There were 13 ships moored on Biscayne Bay and the area became a commercial trading center.

“Miami owes a great debt to the African Americans and Bahamians who are really the pioneers of our city,” said Peter Ehrlich, who owns property in the area and will speak at the commission meeting today against the renaming.

“It was a mix of people. There’s no reason to single out one nationality or another,” Ehrlich said. “We beat it back three years ago. And that was a very contentious hearing.”

It likely will be again. Ehrlich will be joined by several other community activists, including Enid Pinkney, a preservationist and community activist who wants it to remain Lemon City.

So we can expect it to get as ugly as it got when this very same thing was proposed by then Commissioner Michelle Spence Jones? After hours of heated and divisive debate, the matter died. A big difference this time is that this resolution is sponsored by Commission Chairman Keon Hardemon, who did not return several calls from Ladra over the course of three days. I talked to Kiara Garland, his media liaison, twice but not to him. He’s very busy, she told me.

According to a Miami New Times story, however, the fear is that rich white people will buy property and gentrify Little Haiti into a trendy, artsy, upscale and out of reach neighborhood and change its character in the process, a la Wynwood and South Beach before that.

Of course, there’s no reason why they wouldn’t still do that. Unless Little Haiti is not as attractive a name as Lemon City — or Little River or Buena Vista. Of course, there’s no talk of gentrification on the resolution Miami city commissioners will consider today. It says that the name change should happen because the Haitian community is so vital to our cultural diversity and to the relationship between Haiti and the U.S. — and because the Greater Miami Visitors and Convention Bureau markets the neighborhood in its tourism promotions.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t still Lemon City, does it?

Deputy City Attorney Bernaby Min says both names can coexist.

“This just recognizes the area,” he told Ladra. “We’re not publishing maps.”

The Miami City Commission meets at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, beginning at 9 a.m.

Riding high off recent poll results that show him the clear frontrunner, former Congressman Joe Garcia — who wants his job back and is running against his former friend Annette Taddeo in the Democratic primary — will open his campaign headquarters in Palmetto Bay Saturday, where the village’s old town hall used to be.

This is the first campaign office, in the same place he’s had an office for two campaign years. But he plans on opening two, one in the Kendall area, probably closer to FIU. 

It does not mean Garcia has Palmetto Bay Mayor Eugene Flinn‘s nod. “I haven’t even thought about it yet,” said Flinn, who beat Taddeo for the #2 runoff slot against Lynda Bell in the 2010 commission race. 

He said he would likely make an endorsement, but not for a few weeks.

Palmetto Bay was chosen because a lot of the 2014 volunteers lived in or near that area and, one staffer said, because Garcia needs to hit the ground game ball rolling since he sorta jumped into the race last minute (per usual).

“This is really Perrine, or across the street, and the target area is West Perrine and Kendall,” said Kevin Chambliss, a campaign staffer. “We get a lot of volunteers from there.”

Chambliss admitted that Team Joe was feeling high still from the results of a poll earlier this month that gave Garcia a giant 25-point lead over Taddeo.

But, he added, they are working hard to make it prophetic instead of ironic.

“We know we have to prove those polls,” he said. “It’s almost like one of those things where its too good to be true, so we are going to think it is too good to be true and we are going to keep working hard.”

Read related story: FL26 — Joe Garcia goes from zero to hero in 60 seconds

It’s not so good to be true if you think about Taddeo’s streak. She is a three-time loser with a commission seat, a congressional seat (a different one) and the LG position in the “defeated” column. It stands to reason that people would be drawn to an alternative.

Garcia, who wants and will likely get his rematch against freshman U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, will speak to volunteers and supporters at the grand opening of the new HQ, which starts at 1 p.m. at 9845 E Fern Street (just off of U.S. 1 and 175th Street).

Miami Lakes voters were in a giving mood this week, saying yes to and overwhelmingly passing every single one of the 10 charter amendments proposed to them — most of which take powers away from the mayor, making it a mostly ceremonial position.

They also made Mayor Michael Pizzi‘s re-election pretty much a pipe dream.

The most important of the amendments forces a runoff for the mayor’s or any council seat should nobody get 50 percent plus one vote in the first round. Pizzi faces at least three serious challengers in November. Two of them are Council Members Manny Cid and Ceasar Mestre and the other is founding Mayor Wayne Slaton, who Pizzi handily beat mano-a-mano in 2012. It is unlikely that the embattled incumbent, who was arrested on bribery charges since his last time on the ballot, would get 50% in that field.

Read related story: Miami Lakes: Manny Cid becomes #3 to file for mayor

He’d be forced into a runoff, most likely against Mestre or Cid, which means he could easily lose his seat. Ladra says there’s a good chance he doesn’t even run.

Pizzi did not return a call or email seeking his comment. But the other amendments that passed — with between 59 and 76 percent of the vote — are also aimed at his unique powers or duties.

That was the intent of the charter amendment committee. Chairman David “Doc” Bennett, the mayor’s longtime nemesis who has to be proud of himself, said it was bringing the town back in line with its original incorporation mission. The mayor is just one more vote in the Lakes, like each of the council members, Bennett said. There is no strong mayor form of government.

“It’s mostly a ceremonial position,” he told Ladra. The amendments were meant to clarify some areas where the ceremony apparently became too official.

Read related story: Miami Lakes charter changes aim at mayoral power

One amendment takes the appointment of the town manager and town attorney from the mayor’s purview and puts it in the council’s. Another gives the council the right to name the town lobbyist (used to be the mayor’s job). Any council member who can get three to agree can now call a special meeting, which was something only the mayor could do before. One amendment actually states that the town has a council-manager form of government.

They are so over the mayor in Miami Lakes that they had to put it in writing.

It might have something to do with the series of events set off after the August 2013 arrest of Pizzi on federal bribery charges. He was snared in the same sting that nabbed Sweetwater Mayor Manny Maroño for expediting what they knew were bogus grants in return for thousands in kickbacks. Maroño was sentenced to three years in prison. But Pizzi — or, rather, his quite expensive legal dream team of 17 attorneys — won an acquittal. This despite the testimony that he took a $3,000 bribe from a lobbyist inside an office closet.

After the trial, Pizzi had to sue to get back in office. The city fought his return, but eventually gave up after losing several legal fronts. Then he sued to recoup the legal costs of his criminal case and his civil lawsuit against the town. The whole affair is said to have cost the town about $1 million in legal fees. And Ladra doesn’t know if that includes his attorneys’ costs or not.

Read related story: Michael Pizzi wins Round 1 vs Miami Lakes for legal costs

But Pizzi’s winning streak ended Tuesday when voters rejected his call to vote no to all the amendments.

Pizzi did not return a call for comment. But Bennett said he was “weakened.”

“His base didn’t come out to vote for him. Or he couldn’t convince them,” he said.

True dat. Pizzi, or at least a PAC that we all suspect is Pizzi, had sent out a mailer urging voters to reject all the charter amendments.

But he was outdone by none other than former Florida Gov. and U.S. Senator Bob Graham, whose family helped found Miami Lakes. Yes, freaking Bob Graham weighed in on the tiny town’s amendments by sending his own mailer urging his neighbors to vote yes to all the amendments.

And he honed in on the runoff question.

“The majority vote amendment is by far the most important one to vote YES on because it stands for making sure that your vote COUNTS,” the Senator wrote on the mailer. The door hanger had a photo of him older than this one here. “Our mayor and town council should be comprised of individuals that the majority (over 50 percent) of the voters have chosen to represent our beautiful town of Miami Lakes.”

And that’s how freaking Bob Graham took out Muscles Pizzi.

Every day now, Ladra hears the same ol’ thing, like an echo: “Joe Martinez is going to file today.”

The rumor going around for weeks now is that Martinez, the former Miami-Dade County Commission chairman who lost a mayoral bid in 2012, is going to run against Commissioner Juan Zapata for his old seat. Las malas lenguas say Mayor Carlos Gimenez is tired of Zapata’s critical mouth on the dais and has encouraged Martinez in an effort to get rid of Zap. Martinez has reportedly said yes, he’ll do it, but only if Gimenez can get $300,000 for his campaign.

The Chairman, as he likes to be called, would not confirm any of these things about Gimenez and the warchest, though he has said for weeks that he is seriously considering a run for his old seat in District 11. Of course, he was also at one point reportedly considering a run for county clerk and a run for sheriff, if that position ever becomes available.

Read related story: Joe Martinez mulls county challenge to Juan Zapata

But last week he went so far as to open a new political action committee. You know, so Gimenez has a place to send the mulah. Together for a Brighter Future opened on Friday the 13th. It lists Zaray Cabrera, a Miami Springs CPA, as the chair and treasurer. The paperwork states it will be advocating in a Miami-Dade commission race and Martinez told Ladra that it is his.

He also said this week that a little ol’ thing like total knee replacement surgery was not going to stop him, even if it does make knocking on voters’ doors a little more difficult.

“Yes, but not impossible,” Martinez responded to a text message I sent him this week, with a photo of his stretched out leg and ouch!

“Additionally, many people know me. [I’d be more like] reintroducing myself,” he wrote.

When I told him that people keep saying, every day, he was going to be appearing at the elections department “this morning” or “this afternoon,”  he answered with one word: “Soon.”

Then, in the next breath, he says he is still “exploring the landscape.”

UPDATE: Two hours and 20 minutes later, el muy sin verguenza filed papers to run. Why all the cloak and dagger stuff, Joe?

Zapata already has one challenger, Felix Lorenzo, who loaned himself $2,000 and doesn’t seem like much of a threat. Zap raised $135,000 and still had a little more than $100,000 at the end of April.

Commissioners Audrey Edmonson and Dennis Moss, who are also up for re-election this year, have each drawn opponents as well (more on those races later).

Finally, one of the infamous rivalries in Doral is going to battle on the ballot: Former mayor J.C. Bermudez and Councilwoman Sandra Ruiz both want to be the mayor.

Bermudez announced last month — though he has been rumored to be mulling it over since a poll showed him blowing Boria out of the water last year. Ruiz, who is termed out, jumped in Thursday morning — like Ladra knew she would. She couldn’t let this opportunity get away.

“I’m ready. I have this side of me that says ‘Enough is enough,’” said Ruiz, who is termed out anyway. “There are some things I’ve been wanting to do. I’ve been asking a long time.”

But her hands are tied by the administration and Mayor Luigi Boria.

“I have a different vision for the city,” said Ruiz, who supported Councilman Pete Cabrera‘s run for mayor against Boria in 2012.

Read related story: Doral inquiry — a political, preemptive strike against JC Bermudez?

While Doral is not a strong mayor form of government, which means council members have the same vote, the mayor does set the agenda, leads the meetings and acts as chief administrator at City Hall.

“Whoever says it is the same thing has never been elected and walked in the heels of a council member,” said Ruiz, who admitted to getting a little blow back already.

“Forget the fact of who is in it now. The seat itself is so important. You represent the city. You are able to go to other governmental agencies and represent Doral,” she said, in a sideways dig to Boria, whose accented English and brash style are legend among 305 electeds.

“The current mayor hasn’t transferred any of those responsibilities to me, knowing well that I have 14 years plus of experience,” Ruiz told Ladra. “I don’t think my experience has been put to the utmost use.”

Boria is also running for re-election, but Ladra thinks this has already become a two man, er, I mean two person race. This is a longtime rivalry from when they served on the dais together. Ruiz, remember, led the charge to change the name of JC Bermudez Park to Doral Central Park.

JC Bermudez and Sandra Ruiz served on the dais together in 2009

Bermudez vs Ruiz is just such a natural conflict. Like Pepsi vs. Coke, the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Washington Redskins or the Yankees vs. the Mets, Marvel vs. DC, Burger King vs. McDonald’s. Taylor Swift vs. Katy Perry, good vs. evil.

Ruiz casts herself as Perry. “I always seem to be the underdog,” she said, though she has won every council seat she has sought. She only lost one election, for State House in 2010 and lost to Republican Jeanette Nunez (32 to 63 percent).

Maybe that is why the “excited” announcement of Ruiz’s run came from the Miami-Dade Democratic Party?

“One of our top priorities at the local party is electing Democratic leaders to local office and we are excited that Councilwoman Ruiz is stepping up to run for Mayor of Doral,” said Democratic Party Chair Senator Dwight Bullard, who has drawn Rep. Frank Artiles as a challenger to his re-election.

Read related story: David Rivera is baaaack — to his roots in State House race

“She is a true public servant and she has the party’s full support,” Bullard said.

In recent years, the Miami-Dade Democratic Party has focused on local elections in an effort to build the woeful bench it has and promote progressive local policy. They take at least partial credit for the 2014 victories of Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava and South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard and for the 2013 wins by Homestead Mayor Jeff Porter and Miami Beach Commissioner Micky Steinberg.

And this year, Dade Dems are working with the state party’s new “Municipal Victory Project” to elect Democrats to local offices all over Florida.

“Although these races are nonpartisan, the candidates are not. We are already identifying key local races in 2017 and 2018 where we want to make an impact,” said Miami-Dade Democratic Party Executive Director Juan Cuba.

The statement called Ruiz a “longtime Democratic leader” and noted that she was a founding member of the city and the first woman elected to the council. “She is a small business owner, a community leader, and an outspoken champion for the rights and needs of the residents,” it said.

Democrats hold a slight edge in Doral. Not because they outnumber Republicans by a little (with 29.6% registered Democrats to 24.3% registered Republicans) but because the independents or NPAs, who outnumber both, tend to vote Democratic. Especially in presidential elections.

While Obama won Doral easily in 2008 and 2012, the big question is how will Donald Trump’s presumptive nomination affect the turnout? After all, he is a business force to be reckoned with in Doral.

At the very least, Ruiz expects Boria and Bermudez to behave better than the presidential hopeful whose resort is in Doral and who has a key to the city.

“I’m hoping the two men are professional in how they handle the race. I know I will be.”

Somehow, Ladra doesn’t think this will be the example of a civil political contest.

Close to 19,000 voters in Miami Lakes will get a ballot in the mail in the next couple of days that could change the way the city governs for years to come.

Ten charter amendments — not one, not two, but 10 — are on the ballot that are due back by May 17.

It almost went to 12, but two other proposed amendments — one to go back to district seats rather than at large and a controversial measure to rotate the position of mayor among council members — were voted down by the town’s charter committee, realizing, we assume, that the people of the town should be the ones to elect the mayor.

Still, a good number of the amendments on the ballot — mailed out Wednesday by the Miami-Dade Elections Department — seemingly aim to diminish the mayor’s power.

One would put the appointment of the town manager and town attorney in the council’s lap, rather than the mayor’s. Right now, the council simply accepts or rejects the recommendation from the mayor, but cannot put forth a name of their own. Another takes away the mayor’s right to name the town lobbyist with all matters before the county. It would be up to the town manager or council to do so. Still another would give the power to call a special meeting to any four council members. Currently, the mayor alone can call a special meeting. And boy has he.

Do these measures stem from anti-Pizzi sentiment? Sure seems that way, right?

Some think the questions are the result of an embarrassing few years, starting with the August 2013 arrest of Pizzi on federal bribery charges. He was snared in the same sting that nabbed Sweetwater Mayor Manny Maroño for expediting what they knew were bogus grants in return for thousands in kickbacks. Maroño was sentenced to three years in prison. But Pizzi got acquitted, despite the testimony that he took a $3,000 bribe from a lobbyist inside an office closet.

After the trial, Pizzi had to sue to get back in office. The city fought his return, arguing that former Mayor Wayne Slaton had been legitimately elected by the voters after the arrest. But Ladra guesses that this held little water since Pizzi beat Slaton in 2014 with a whopping 68 percent of the vote. The whole affair may end up costing the city hundreds of thousands in legal fees.

Read related story: Wayne Slaton gives up; Michael Pizzi is Miami Lakes mayor

Oh, did Ladra mention that one charter change on the ballot would make the vice mayor the mayor in the event of the mayor leaving his seat and call for a special election if the vice mayor’s term is longer than that of the departing mayor?

Veteran town activist and former candidate David “Doc” Bennett, a longtime Pizzi critic, said the changes were in line with the founding vision for Miami Lakes.

“He’s one vote. He’s just another council member. He’s not a strong mayor,” Bennett said, adding that the mayor’s title was more of a ceremonial one. “He has tried desperately to turn it into a strong mayor form of government, but you still need four votes. Without four votes, nothing happens.

“All we’re doing is expanding the role of the council, not limiting the role or the power of the mayor,” he said. “Aside from ceremonial duties, he has no more power than the council members.”

Although there is actually a question on the ballot changing the form of government from mayor-council-manager to council-manager.

One question on the ballot that is not about the mayor’s power would change the way council members and the mayor are elected by requiring runoffs when the winner has less than 50 percent of the vote. Well, that one’s sort of a no-brainer.

“Someone could have a paper candidate and it could give the win to whoever gets 30-something percent,” Bennett said. “Now you neutralize that tactic.”

That hasn’t really been a problem in the Lakes. The last few election cycles have seen all head-to-head contests, with winners getting more than 50% of the vote anyway. In the last 10 years, only Councilman Ceasar Mestre won with less than 40%. That was in a four-way race in 2008.

But it certainly could affect the election this year, where there is a plethora of candidates running for both the mayor’s seat and the council seats.

The mayoral contest has at least three and presumably four (if Pizzi throws his hat in as expected).  Already, Councilmen Mestre and Manny Cid have filed paperwork to run, as has former Mayor Wayne Slaton.

Read related story: Miami Lakes: Manny Cid becomes No. 3 to run for mayor

But two of the council seats are bursting at the seams with three challengers to Councilman Tony Lama (Robin Brown-Beaman, Jose Nodal Jr., and Xiomara Pazos) and no fewer than six so far running for the open seat vacated by Cid (Cynthia Beyer, Esther Colon, Nayib Hassan, Wendy Milanes, Rosalina Nunez and Alejandro Sanchez).

Interesting that nobody has yet to file in the first seat, where incumbent Councilman Nelson Rodriguez is enjoying a free ride so far. Might that change before qualifying this summer?

Councilman Cid said he has long been in favor of runoff elections and he predicted a good turnout — or return on the mail-in ballots. But he wasn’t sure many of the other amendments would make it.

“Historically, Miami Lakers are very intelligent voters who look at each question. Last time, a large number of charter amendment items were voted down.”

Of course, he is running for that targeted mayor’s seat.

Ballots must be returned to the Miami-Dade Elections Department by May 17 and the town has provided an online guide to the ballot questions.