Builders get a BOGO special and Miami gets… flooded
Miami commissioners are set to vote Thursday on yet another Damian Pardo special. The Miami commissioners has proposed a shiny new ordinance that would let developers double the allowable density in some of the most flood-prone, overdeveloped corners of the city — as long as they drop a little something into a new “Resilience Trust Fund.”
Because nothing says climate adaptation like building twice as much in an area already underwater.
The plan, which the Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board already waved through in October, would let developers buy their way into supersized projects by paying into a city-managed fund for pump stations, seawalls, raised roads and other resiliency window dressing. Think of it as Miami’s first-ever Build-and-Flood program — the more you build, the more we promise to spend trying to keep it from flooding.
And of course, the first two “Resilience Fund Areas” just happen to be… both in Edgewater. You know, the neighborhood where a regular afternoon rain can stall your BMW for the day.We need more condo towers there.
Oh, and Watson Island, too. Because why stop at Edgewater when you can add incentives right where two mega-developments just happen to be waiting? It’s like playing a game of follow the bouncing bulldozers.
The proposal claims to be targeted at “high-demand areas,” but as usual, Miami’s definition of “targeted” is suspiciously specific. Both RFAs slice through Edgewater from the Julia Tuttle to NE 8th Street — an area already plastered with cranes and high-rise renderings.
Read related: Miami’s Watson Island liquidation sale to developers for lowball $25 million
Just last month, the Urban Development Review Board stamped its approval on a 47-story tower with nearly 500 apartments on Biscayne Boulevard. And Sam Nazarian’s crew is cooking up a branded condo tower down on 29th Street. Miami’s Edgewater is undergoing significant development with numerous residential, mixed-use, and commercial high-rise projects. Major developments include a large-scale Edgewater Collective project, the Braman Motors mixed use campus, the ELLE Residences and Edge House Miami — a 57-story monolith (rendering right) — all contributing already to the area’s transformation into a denser neighborhood. 
Now the city wants to sweeten the deal even more, with a zoning BOGO: Buy one density, get a second one free when you help pay for the pumps.
Developers can even get a 15% discount if they tug on their green cap and offer to do some of the infrastructure work themselves. What could possibly go wrong?
Even the chair of the city’s Climate Resilience Committee, Aaron DeMayo, couldn’t help pointing out the obvious last month. “Somewhat ironic that we’re incentivizing additional development capacity in an area that is already flooding significantly,” he is quoted as saying in the Coconut Grove Spotlight.
Somewhat ironic? It’s Miami. It’s perfectly on brand.
Still, the committee voted to support it. Because of course it did.
Neighbors and urbanists are warning that doubling density — especially in neighborhoods already bursting at the seams — will overwhelm Miami’s already-limping infrastructure and speed up gentrification. If history is a guide: sí, claro.
The ordinance also allows new RFAs to be created at any time by, you guessed it, another ordinance. In Miami language, that’s a standing invitation: If developers want a new hotspot, we’ll draw them a new map.
As usual, Pardo declined to talk about it. But a canned statement in his District 2 newsletter insisted the ordinance will “only apply to a portion of Edgewater.”
Sure. Today. But like every other “only here, for now” zoning gift, it can grow legs at any future meeting when nobody’s watching — or when the right lobbyist is. Las malas lenguas say city staffers have already said they plan to expand to the Transit Oriented Development overlays commissioners approved earlier this year that already jack up building heights and densities around rail corridors. Layer this onto that, and Miami’s development map is starting to look like SimCity played by a teenager with unlimited cheat codes.
Read related: Miami approves TSND zones to bring ‘affordable’ housing to transit hubs
Naturally, neighbors are concerned. A flurry of emails to the commissioner’s office was answered by his community liaison for Edgewater and Morningside, Bradley Mills, who sounded more like a lobbyist than a public servant.
“The proposed legislation…involves the creation of an Edgewater Resilience Trust Fund with the use of density bonuses. This legislation is the culmination of several meetings over many months and comes as a direct response to the request from Edgewater property owners and resident groups,” Mills wrote in an email Wednesday, adding that the climate resilience committee and the planning and zoning board both support the measure.
“The legislation does not double the density in the City of Miami. The double density is already in the city’s comprehensive plan and was adopted in 2017. Applicants can already achieve density increases through the City’s TDR and TDD programs and through our Public Benefits Program. Density can already be increased in certain transects across the city to the same threshold; this program merely offers an additional way to achieve the same density increases allowed in the Comprehensive Plan.”
So, nothing new to see here, folks. Just a little something extra.
Mills says the ordinance simply “unlocks a tool under the Miami 21 Zoning Code for the Edgewater area that builds infrastructure, provides home ownership opportunities, and funds public benefits important to the neighborhood.” There’s that lobbyist speak. He also raised the Live Local Act boogeyman saying it negates “these public benefit opportunities.
“In short, this legislation offers options for the Edgewater community that are important to the area and no other area.”
Not yet.
The commission will likely pass this on first reading — because they almost always do — and kick it to a second reading where developers will show up with glossy renderings and commissioners will congratulate themselves for “addressing climate resilience.”
Meanwhile Edgewater will still flood if someone sneezes on Biscayne Boulevard.
And Miamians will be left wondering: Are we really building resilience? Or are we building the problem faster than the pumps can catch up?
Ladra knows the answer. So do you. So does Pardo.
The city commission meeting starts at 9 a.m. Thursday at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, and can also be seen online on the city’s website and its YouTube channel. The full agenda can be viewed here.

You can help get more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and political campaigns to our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

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Rolando Escalona, who got into the runoff for the Miami District 3 seat with former Commissioner Frank Carollo, didn’t just get two new endorsements this week. He got two full-throated “por favor, anyone but a Carollo” testimonials wrapped in veteran creds and political déjà vu.
Both Rob Piper and Oscar Elio Alejandro — the two guys who finished right behind Escalona in the Nov. 4 free-for-all — have climbed aboard the rookie’s runoff campaign. And while they’re saying nice things about Escalona, make no mistake: These endorsements are really aimed squarely at the House of Carollo, where political dynasties go to fester.
Alejandro, who nabbed 12% of the vote, didn’t even try to sugarcoat it. He backed Escalona because he wants to “put an end to political dynasties controlling our local government.”
Translation: Miami has had enough of the Carollo brothers’ time-share on District 3.
He had even tried to sue to block Frank Carollo from the ballot because of the city charter amendment voters passed that implement lifetime term limits for anybody who has already served two terms in any seat. Frank Carollo was commissioner before his brother was, from 2009 to 2017. But a judge denied that motion last week. Frank Carollo stays on the ballot because it would disenfranchise the voters who chose him on Nov. 4.
Read related: Judge lets Frank Carollo stay on the ballot — for now — and voters cry foul
What about disenfranchising the voters who overwhelmingly approved the lifetime term limits with almost 80% of the vote. It’s possible that after almost two decades of one Carollo or the other haunting the dais, they may be ready to change the locks.
And then there’s Piper — a Marine Corps vet who once led a recall effort against big bro Joe Carollo and now gets to oppose Frank Carollo. That’s full-circle Miami politics, gente. Piper said voters spoke “loud and clear against recycled politicians.” Translation: He’s tired of reheated Carollo, too.
So, here we are, heading into a Dec. 9 runoff where Escalona — a restaurant manager turned political hopeful who worked his way from busboy to boss — is up against another carbon copy Miami career politician, complete with family franchise.
And now the two men who finished behind Escalona — who took 17% to Carollo’s 38% in the general — are saying he’s the guy to break the mold.
The candidate says he’s building a “coalition” for integrity, accountability and basic city services that actually work. Imagine that! He’s going to need boots on the ground because Frank Carollo is outraising and outspending him about 3 to 1, according to the last campaign finance reports, with transactions through Nov. 7.
He also keeps saying the election is “about people, not politics,” which is adorable in a place where politics is a full-contact sport often fought with subpoenas and secret recordings.
Read related: Miami voters sue to keep Frank Carollo off the runoff ballot after term-limit win
Still, his story resonates. Eleven years ago, he arrived from Cuba with nothing but ganas and worked his way up to managing 150 employees and earning a political science degree at FIU. Now he wants to overthrow the Carollo regime in Little Havana, East Shenandoah, West Brickell, Silver Bluff and parts of the Roads. Ambitious, sí. But not impossible.
And with Piper and Alejandro — both Democrats — now endorsing a Republican, in a supposedly “nonpartisan” Miami election, you can feel the anti-Carollo coalition forming like a tropical storm.
This isn’t just about Escalona gaining support. It’s about a district that is tired. Tired of drama. Tired of dynasty. Tired of the same last name on the ballot.
District 3 voters get another say on Dec. 9.
And if these endorsements mean anything, Ladra wouldn’t be surprised if what they say is: “Basta ya. Time for something — and someone — new.”

You can help get more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and political campaigns to our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

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Miami City Hall is at it again, mismanaging public land like it’s a clearance rack at Ross.
The city commission on Thursday will consider what looks like a fire sale on Watson Island, and the only ones getting a bargain are — surprise! — the developers.
On the agenda for the last commission meeting before the city gets a new mayor and a new District 2 commissioner (timing totally coincidental, por supuesto), Commissioner Damian Pardo is sponsoring an item to sell 3.2 acres of Watson Island to IG Luxury LLC — a Delaware company, because of course — for a grand total of $29 million.
Except, not really. Because Miami has to cut a $4 million check to the State of Florida just to lift deed restrictions on the land the public already owns, because it was given with the caveat that it stay public. That means taxpayers net $25 million.
Except, not really. Because the city already had to pay a $20 million settlement in what is arguably a botched lawsuit (thanks “Tricky Vicky” Mendez) from the former lease holder who didn’t do anything for 15 years. That means taxpayers net $5 million.
Read related: Miami City Commission to consider two Watson Island developments
On waterfront land worth at least 50 times as much. It’s at least 10 times the $25 million on paper. According to a new appraisal received Monday — three days before the vote — the land is valued at $257 million “with use restrictions” and $342 million without them.
Why do those numbers matter? Because Miami voters approved a ballot measure last year authorizing the sale of the land for “fair market value” — not a penny less. The actual ballot language said “shall City Charter be amended to revise existing leases at 888 MacArthur Causeway, sell 3.2 acres of leased property to tenant for fair market value of not less than $25,000,000, reduce overall development, extend term 24 years, waive bidding and authorize, at no cost to City: $9,000,000 contribution to affordable housing plus infrastructure improvements; timeshare units become condominiums; mixed-uses to include office; and expanded public waterfront and pedestrian promenade along Biscayne Bay?”
Forget all the bells and whistles, which is what Pardo and Commission Chairwoman Christine King will call “public benefits” Thursday. The key words here are “fair market value.” That is what 62% of the voters approved.
And this ain’t that.
The city is selling Watson Island for about 10 cents on the dollar. Even Walmart marks things down less aggressively.
This is going to be the most valuable land giveaway since, well, the Donald Trump library — and hotel — on downtown Miami-Dade College land.
It’s going to be interesting to watch Pardo defend this and explain why the land is not really worth $300 million. He’s a finance guy, after all. He must know it’s a bad deal. That’s probably why he didn’t return a call and a text from Ladra. Again.
But this is the same guy who tried to cancel this year’s mayoral and commission elections, extending his term by a year, and is under fire from Coconut Grove to Morningside for upzoning and pouring concrete.
Read related: Miami Commissioner Damian Pardo loses support, inspires recall threats
The backup documents insist this deal magically meets the voter-approved “fair market value” requirement because $25 million is the minimum floor written on the referendum. Which is like saying $500 for a 1982 Datsun 280ZX is “fair market value” because someone once paid that price for one in Hialeah. That is not how math works.
Taxpayers have already eaten a $20 million settlement with the first Watson Island developer, who sat on the land for 15 years, did nothing, and still walked away richer than most of the families the city claims this $9 million “affordable housing contribution” will help.
That $9 million — negotiated by Chairwoman King — is laughably tiny considering she is waving goodbye to more than $200 million in new revenue that could actually build, preserve, or rehab affordable housing across the city. It’s like dropping a gold bar into the bay and celebrating because you found a quarter under the sofa cushion.
Developers BH3 Management and Merrimac Ventures — who purchased the lease from Flagstone Island Gardens in 2023 — need four of the five commissioners to vote yes. It would authorize the city manager to negotiate everything — the purchase agreement, the CBA, deed modifications, the quitclaim deed, estoppels, amendments, lender docs… basically a blank check. It would provide a private residential and hotel project for IG Luxury, a subsidiary of BH3 IG — fancy names to distract you from the fact that this is public waterfront land being privatized.
This isn’t a negotiation. It’s a goodbye letter.
And what if Art Noriega is no longer the city manager after the Dec. 9 mayoral runoff? One of the candidates, former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, has already said he will immediately replace him (maybe with former Police Chief Jorge Colina). Would he or Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who is in the runoff with Gonzalez, veto this sweetheart deal?
Ladra suspects yes — which is precisely why this is coming up now and not next month.
Pardo’s office is making the argument that the land is actually only worth $25 because that’s what the value of the lease is.
“For background, there was no ‘public’ land on Watson Island as it was under a long-term lease arrangement,” wrote Pardo’s community liaison Bradley Mills in an email to residents last month. “Had this joint venture not moved forward, we would simply have what currently exists on Watson Island (without the below listed benefits and revenue to the City of Miami) plus a 300 room hotel potentially for 74 years.”
Not public land?
The property is “encumbered by the existing 99-year lease owned by BH3 Merrimac,” said Greg Freedman, one of the principals of BH3 with Nitin Motwani.
“The property is subject to existing restrictions limiting what can be developed,” Freedman said in a statement. “The $29 million purchase price far exceeds the minimum sale amount of $25 million approved by voters and reflects the highest valuation calculated by multiple independent appraisers, as approved by both the city and the state of Florida.”
Key word this time: Minimum. The ballot language literally required “fair market value,” not “bare minimum we can get away with.” And how does $29 million “far exceed” $25 million, anyway?
A BH3 Merrimac rendering of Watson Harbour’s promenade
The city charter required the administration to also solicit appraisals of the land on a “fee simple basis,” as if there was no existing lease in place and that led to comparisons that were not fair, the developers argue. These are the appraisals that pegged the property at $247 million without restrictions and $342 million with.
“The City does not own the land on a fee simple basis, has not owned it for more than 20 years, and would not own it for an additional 99 years as the land is encumbered by the lease rights owned by BH3 Management and Merrimac Ventures. To be clear: the City of Miami presently only owns the right to collect contractual rent payments for the next 99 years pursuant to the lease rights owned by BH3 Merrimac,” Freedman said, and it sounds a lot like a ransom note, don’t it?
“BH3 Merrimac is also paying an additional $9 million above and beyond the purchase price as a contribution towards affordable housing, infrastructure, and resiliency improvements in the City,” Freedman added, just for good measure.
Oooooh, how generous. It’s not like you’re getting the deal of the century.
Freedman’s argument is that BH3 Merrimac — which is already calling the project Watson Harbour on its website — has already invested more than $110 million in acquiring the lease rights and making infrastructure improvements to the property ahead of development. “Once this sale is approved by Commissioners, BH3 and Merrimac will proceed with developing the mixed-use destination that voters approved in November of 2024,” he added.
Key words, Greg: “Fair market value.”
Former Commissioner Ken Russell, who just came in third in the Nov. 4 mayoral clusterbunch, says this might feel familiar to Miamians. “This happened with Melreese, as well,” Russell told Political Cortadito, referring to the giveaway of Miami’s only public golf course to Jorge Mas and company for the construction of Miami Freedom Park, a real estate complex disguised as a soccer stadium. “They wanted to pay the value of the land as contaminated, not once it was cleaned up. Just as commissioners can tomorrow, I was able to use my position in that vote to demand the higher appraisal.
“I don’t know what mental gymnastics they’ve had to do to justify this price,” Russell said of the $25 mil.
The developers in this case are also framed as “good guys,” same as Miami Freedom Park, but some might also call them good bandits. Because what they are getting is unprecedented and, frankly, insane. The city is selling a piece of property, not a lease. They should get the value of the property, not the value of the lease.
Read related: Miami Freedom Park gets its full $20 million back for 58-acre public park
“If we’re going to get rid of it forever, and it will no longer bring residual value to the city, I would owe it to my constituents to get the maximum appraised value,” Russell told Ladra. “You go with the highest one, especially in a no-bid situation. You sell it for what it’s truly worth.”
After all, there are single family homes in Coconut Grove that are priced at $25 million — and more.
Expect some public speakers to resist this. Residents. Public land advocates. People who can read a spreadsheet. Anyone allergic to corruption perfume.
But with Pardo and King behind it, Ladra won’t pretend this isn’t greased to pass. Commissioners have a tradition of going along with district commissioner initiatives, even though this would be a huge financial loss for citywide taxpayers.
And Miami has a long tradition of undervaluing its own land so private equity can come in and flip it like a Magic City Airbnb.
Because let’s be clear about this: The city is giving away a piece of Watson Island — some of the most valuable land in the state of Florida — for pennies, while pretending it’s doing the public a favor.
This isn’t a community benefit. This isn’t a fair market value sale. This is a giveaway, plain and simple.

You can help get more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and political campaigns to our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

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Well that didn’t take long.
Not even an hour after State Rep. Vicki Lopez was appointed to the Miami-Dade County Commission to replace Eileen Higgins — who is in the runoff for Miami mayor — Anthony “Tony” Tony J. Diaz, one of the five who applied for the position, rushed to file for her now-vacant House seat. The special election hasn’t even been set yet.
It’s almost like he had the paperwork pre-filled. Maybe even pre-notarized. Maybe even sitting in the car with the engine running outside the Supervisor of Elections.
Because honestly, the timing couldn’t have been tighter if he’d synchronized it with Commission Chair Anthony Rodriguez’s gavel.
Read related: Miami-Dade Commissioners silence voters, appoint District 5 replacement
And judging from his own words, Diaz kind of did plan it all along.
“I feel my talents are better suited for 113, but when the vacancy opened I thought I could adapt,” Diaz told Political Cortadito Tuesday night. But he also, at one point, thought he could “adapt” to the Miami District 4 seat, filing to run in the special election before withdrawing.
Diaz was obviously frustrated at the county process to fill the vacated seat. He said he held out hope that the commission would not take the right from voters and had already started to advertise on the side of county buses.
“Nobody even took my calls or talked to me. That was the funniest part, having a room of people saying ‘I’ve met and know them all and each of them is great,’ when they wouldn’t know me if I shook their hand,” Diaz said about the Tuesday meeting where Lopez was appointed. He added that Commissioner Juan Carlos “JC” Bermudez was the “only one nice enough to return my call and ask about me.”
He told Ladra “the dream has always been Tallahassee even since my address was [in House District] 112 and Jose Javier and Dominguez were duking it out. Yeah, that was 13 years ago.
In his House candidacy announcement, Diaz says it “pains [him] to see the growing pains facing Florida.”
Ladra is pained too, but mostly by the déjà vu of Miami-Dade’s revolving-door political ladder. One commissioner steps up, another wannabe steps in, and everybody else is left dizzy.
Read related: Let the jockeying begin to fill Eileen Higgins’ Miami-Dade commission seat
Diaz — known a the fruit tree prince of District 5 — owns a horticulture business and a print shop and says he wants to bring solutions to the people. Which is cute, because the first solution he seems to have found is: Run for whatever seat just opened up.
House District 113 covers Silver Bluff, Little Havana, The Roads, Brickell, Coconut Grove and all of Key Biscayne — many of the same communities that just got Lopez appointed over their own desire for, you know, an election.
And now they get Diaz, who is suddenly ready to become the next Tallahassee power broker.
Diaz also wants us to know he has a degree in public administration and will work “tirelessly” to fix the state’s challenges.
Ladra wonders if that work begins now, or after the next nursery shipment comes in. (Your mango tree order will be ready after the legislative session, cariño.)
Diaz also promises to “sponsor and co-sponsor legislation with members across the aisle to put divisive rhetoric to bed.”
Very sweet. Very noble. Very campaign-season-slogany.
But let’s be real: if he wanted to put divisiveness to bed, he probably shouldn’t start his campaign by lunging for the warm seat Lopez just vacated before the upholstery even settled.
Talk about a choreographed dance.
Lopez applies for the commission seat. Rodriguez hustles to get her appointed. Special election gets crushed on sight.Lopez wins 7-5. Minutes later — boom — Tony Diaz is running for House 113.
Ay, Miami. It’s like watching a telenovela produced by the Supervisor of Elections.
The only predictable thing is that more candidates will pile into this race. Some serious. Some delusional.
But for now, Tony Diaz is first out of the gate — just as if he’d been waiting for the starter pistol.
And, mi gente, that pistol went off Tuesday at exactly 7–5.

You can help get more independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and political campaigns to our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

The post Tony Diaz doesn’t waste a minute – files for House seat vacated by Vicki Lopez appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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The fix was always in for Vicki Lopez
Well, District 5 will not get to vote, after all, to replace its outgoing Miami-Dade commissioner. Instead, Miami-Dade commissioners did what they’ve now done twice in five years: they chose for the people. Because nothing says “democracy” like elected officials refusing to let residents elect anyone.
In a 7-5 vote Tuesday, commissioners appointed State Rep. Vicki Lopez — a Republican, Tallahassee regular, and condo-reform crusader — to fill the seat vacated by Eileen Higgins, who abandoned it effective earlier this month to run for Miami mayor.
Lopez wasn’t even in the room. She was in Tallahassee. But that did not matter. Este bacalao ya estaba corta’o.
Read related: Push for special election could throw wrench in Miami-Dade D5 appointment
In other words, this outcome wasn’t exactly shocking. The good money had been on Lopez from the moment Higgins announced her intentions. Or really even before that. Because Commission Chair Anthony Rodriguez, who has been Lopez’s biggest booster (a favor to House Speaker Danny Perez?), had a trick up his sleeve — a legislative hold on anything having to do with special elections.
Funny, he didn’t mention that in any of the interviews leading up to Tuesday’s decision. Ladra talked to Rodriguez at least twice about the decision-making process. He never said the special election was not an option at all. He declined to answer the phone after Tuesday’s vote and did not respond to text messages. He knows what he did.
Rodriguez didn’t just resist a special election. He didn’t just argue against it. He blocked it. When Vice Chair Kionne McGhee tried to introduce a motion to have a the decision made by the people, Rodriguez shut him down like a nightclub bouncer who’s already told you three times you are not on the list.
“You’re not recognized, Mr. Vice Chair,” Rodriguez said, in the kind of tone that he normally uses to hush members of the public who come to speak on an issue.
Translation: The script is written. Sit down. Shut up.
Commissioner McGhee, who voted against the appointment, made the point loud and clear: “Today is not about who gets to fill the seat,” he said. “It’s about who gets to choose.”
Exactly. District 5 residents — from Little Havana to Fisher Island, from downtown Miami to South Beach — will now get Lopez whether they like it or not. At least until August, when she’ll have to run to keep the seat. But by then she’ll have the advantages of incumbency, staff, and county visibility — the whole package.
Read related: Let the jockeying begin to fill Eileen Higgins’ Miami-Dade commission seat
Lopez’s appointment wasn’t strictly partisan. Commissioner Oliver Gilbert, a Democrat, made the motion to appoint her. And several commissioners praised her as a strong leader, even if they disagreed with the process. But las malas lenguas say this was orchestrated by Democrats to push for a special election in House District 113, which they think they can win after Nov. 4’s national results.
But make no mistake: seating Lopez gives Republicans a temporary one-member advantage on the officially “nonpartisan” board. Ladra puts “nonpartisan” in quotes because we all know what’s up.
Among the few public speakers who called for a special election was former Miami City Commissioner Joe Sanchez, a former contender for the sheriff’s seat, who had applied for the appointment but asked commissioners to hold an election — basically because he knew he wasn’t going to get picked.
“It’s about respecting the voices of the people,” he said.
Three others submitted applications for the appointment: former Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, onetime Miami commission candidate Anthony “Tony” Diaz, — who already filed for the state 113 race (more on that later) — and former Miami Beach Commissioner and state rep David Richardson.
In a short video posted on Instagram after the meeting, Diaz called the decision a “coronation,” which showed a level of astuteness for this newbie.
“It almost seemed like a choreographed dance,” Diaz said.
“Rodriguez made the asinine argument that the elections would not be good elections, as did Gilbert, because there would be low turnout,” he added, citing that the June 3 special election for Miami’s District 4 commission seat got almost 20%. “We can’t force people to go vote. But we sure can give them a chance.”
But Rodriguez called his appointment maneuver “the democratic option.” You can’t make this stuff up. Because, apparently, democracy now means: We appoint someone so more people can vote later, because letting fewer people vote sooner is undemocratic.
Got it.
One of the stated reasons is cost. A special election in February could have cost up to $1.2 million. But this is the same commission that threw $46 million to the FIFA World Cup host committee and the same commissioners who considered a plan to buy a building on Quail Roost Drive for $160 million, while two appraisal firms valued it at an average of $122 million.
In other words, they find the money when they really want to.
Commissioner Raquel Regalado, who also voted against the appointment — as did commissioners JC Bermudez, Rene Garcia and Micky Steinberg — threw some justified shade at the outgoing commissioner, who is facing a Dec. 9 Miami mayoral runoff against the city’s former manager, Emilio González. If Higgins had resigned effective months earlier, the county could have held the special election for the District 5 seat on Nov. 4, when Miami and Miami Beach voters were already heading to the polls for their municipal races and ballot questions.
“An election doesn’t have to cost money,” Regalado said. And she’s not wrong.
Read related: Eileen Higgins officially resigns Miami-Dade seat to run for Miami mayor
But Higgins didn’t want to cut off the bully pulpit that also served as a fundraising strategy. Some could say she timed her resignation in a way that all but ensured an appointment. Lopez was always the favorite, and that triggers a special election that Democrats and some consultants, ahem, would be very happy about.
But whether it was intentional or political convenience, the result is the same: voters got cut out.
Instead of a choice, they get Lopez, 67, who already represents a chunk of District 5 in the Florida House. She’s known for condo reform, pushing to ease financial requirements for associations. She’s also been part of state talks to lower property taxes — the same ones county leaders say would blow a crater in Miami-Dade’s budget if Gov. Ron DeSantis gets his referendum.
In the 1990s she served on the Lee County Commission and was once convicted of fraud — a conviction later vacated, after she served 15 months in prison. That chapter always resurfaces, but commissioners seemed unbothered by it on Tuesday. Similarly, they didn’t seem to remember that her family members got cushy jobs with Bus Patrol — the company outfitting school buses with cameras — after she ushered the law that allows for the cameras to catch vehicles that illegally pass.
This is Miami. What’s a little fraud and favoritism among friends?
Read related: Miami-Dade School Board to revisit flawed, ‘connected’ BusPatrol program
District 5 is a political kaleidoscope: Little Havana, downtown, Brickell, Fisher Island, South Beach, parts of Mid-Beach, Silver Bluff, and Shenandoah. It includes the priciest real estate (property values) in the county. It’s diverse, high-turnout, high-profile, and high-stakes.
And Tuesday, it got a commissioner chosen by seven people on the dais, not the tens of thousands who live there.
Rodriguez insisted he was “supporting democracy” by blocking a special election.
“I am giving, with my vote, the constituents of District 5 a voice,” he said.
Except the only voice District 5 got was his.

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Even Joe Sanchez now says “Let the people vote”
Well, well, well… look who suddenly found religion in democracy.
On the eve of Tuesday’s big Miami-Dade Commission showdown over how to fill the District 5 seat vacated by Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who is in the runoff for Miami mayor, the winds have shifted so hard you can practically hear the papers flapping around at County Hall. What used to look like a smooth, quiet glide into an appointment — with State Rep. Vicki Lopez waiting in the wings like the belle of the backroom ball — has turned into a full-blown special election uprising.
And the most ironic, if not surprising rebel? Joe Sanchez. The former Miami Commissioner, Florida Highway Patrol mouthpiece and failed Republican candidate for Miami-Dade sheriff is one of the five people who submitted what we can only call official applications, as if this were a Parks & Rec job and not a coveted seat representing tens of thousands of residents on the county commission.
Read related: Let the jockeying begin to fill Eileen Higgins’ Miami-Dade commission seat
“District 5 deserves to vote,” Sanchez said, loudly and publicly Monday, but not for the first time. Surrounded by a handful of alleged supporters and curious onlookers outside the Supervisor of Elections office Monday, Sanchez stepped up to the mic to declare that the commission should forget the appointment and let voters choose their next commissioner.
Ladra is sure this has nothing to do with the fact that Sanchez — who can count — is not the favorite to get the appointment tomorrow. That distinction still clearly belongs to Lopez, who has probably been polishing her acceptance smile. There are three others who threw their names into the hat — former county Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, who resigned to run for Congress (and lost), which opened the door for Higgins; former Miami Beach Commissioner and State Rep. David Richardson, and Antonio Javier “Tony” Diaz, who withdrew earlier this year from the special election in Miami’s District 4 to replace the late Manolo Reyes.
“This is not about politics — it’s about the people,” Sanchez said Monday. “And it’s about respecting the voices of the residents who live here, work here, and raise their families here, like I have.”
Not really, Joe. It’s about math.
Sanchez also dragged out a D5 resident, Dixie Rodriguez, who said she showed up because she wants her community to have a say. “District 5 is strong, diverse, and deeply engaged,” she said. “We deserve representation and the right to choose who speaks for us… Every resident — from Downtown to Little Havana to South Beach — deserves a say.”
Several commissioners agree with her. Commissioner Sen. Rene Garcia has consistently voted for elections over appointments. And on Monday he told Political Cortadito that he would do the same now. “People deserve to have their voices heard. I’ve been clear on that,” he said.
But, but, but, it’s going to cost money. His fellow commissioners are going to whine about the $500,000 to $1.2 million or so — because they can’t nail down a figure — that a special election could cost. “Take it out of the $40 million for FIFA,” Garcia said. It’s actually $46 million, but preach!
Read related: Lobbying starts to fill Eileen Higgins’ D5 Miami-Dade commission seat
Commissioner Oliver Gilbert is the one who has an appointment rather than an election on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. The city charter states that a vacancy — and Higgins’ resignation was effective Nov. 5 — “shall be filled by majority vote of the remaining members of the Board within 30 days, or the Board shall call an election to be held not more than 90 days thereafter.”
Anyone appointed would only serve through the net county-wide election, which is next year, so August. And the typical trend of incumbency means that whoever is appointed will have an advantage at election time. That may not hold true here, but is there any other reason to have an appointment besides saving some money, which is a pittance really when you take a wide look at the county budget?
Gilbert decided not to answer Ladra’s question as to his rationale. “You can submit questions through my office or through the BCC media,” he texted back. Three times. Which is the kind of thing you say when you have nothing better to say. He could have typed less answering the question.
Read related: District 5 clock is ticking; Miami-Dade looks ready to crown a king — or queen
Also on Monday, the South Florida Police Benevolent Association officially endorsed Lopez for the appointment. “Vicky has been an exemplary public servant … with a passion that is not only awe inspiring, but also extremely effective,” wrote President Steadman Stahl, in a letter that praised Lopez for her work in Tallahassee attending to the needs of law enforcement.
Nothing in the letter, however, about her 1995 indictment on 10 counts, including bribery and “honest services fraud,” when she was a Lee County commissioner in 1995 or about how she served 15 months in federal prison until President Bill Clinton commuted her sentence. Later, a court vacated her conviction. More recently, she’s been accused of benefiting from the school bus camera legislation she championed last year after family members got lucrative jobs in the industry.
But that’s just called “passion” and experience.
It’s hard to ignore, however, the quiet push from the community to leave it to an election. This is not a time of a lot of government trust. Leaders and groups that had stayed mostly silently watching have let their feelings known. Some folks who have no horse in this race, told Ladra they were uncomfortable with the idea of a political appointment — especially with the other commissioners flirting with higher office and multiple personal agendas in play.
Read related: Miami-Dade School Board to revisit flawed, ‘connected’ BusPatrol program
Sanchez, who has spent 36 years in public service — Florida Highway Patrol, Army Reserves, 11 years as a Miami City Commissioner — couldn’t resist the jab. “We know there are discussions happening in County Hall, and backroom negotiations in a struggle to maintain power and control of the Board,” he said. “That is not how decisions about representation should be made.”
“Our district deserves transparency. Our district deserves a choice.”
Ladra has to laugh. Because por supuesto there are backroom negotiations. This is Miami-Dade County government, not a quilting circle. Does Sanchez know what he’s getting into?
But he’s not wrong.
The last two vacancies were filled by the appointments of Danielle Cohen Higgins and Natalie Milian Orbis. The whisper campaign to slide Lopez into the seat with minimal fuss has been in motion since Higgins packed her office boxes. Lopez has met with commissioners, courted lobbyists, and done everything short of measuring the drapes. For a while, the appointment was considered a done deal.
Read related: Is a fix in for the District 6 appointment at Miami-Dade County Commission?
Then… the tide turned. Calls for a special election grew louder. Commissioners started getting uncomfortable. The word “optics” began floating around. And now, mere hours before the vote, the once-confident appointment crowd is suddenly sweating. So are Democrats across the state, by the way, who wanted the Lopez appointment to trigger a special election for a House seat they are convinced they can win.
There’s another wrench in the plan. Two candidates have offered to serve as temporary interim commissioners: Tony Diaz and David Richardson. Richardson has told certain commissioners he would serve as a place-keeper so that nobody would have the power of incumbency to run in less than nine months.
That’s something that Commissioner Micky Steinberg supported when she was in Miami Beach and appointed Joy Malakoff to serve the remainder of former Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez‘s term when she left to run for Congress.
Would Steinberg support that now? Calls to her office Monday were not returned. And it’s not like it would be enforceable. There are plenty of examples of candidates who said they would not run for office if appointed and then ran for office once appointed. Former Miami Commissioner Jeffrey Watson comes to mind.
Then there is the partisan nature of an appointment. Lopez is the leading contender and she would turn the officially non-partisan body (yeah, right) from mostly blue, to mostly red. By one. There are some in the community that believe any appointment should be for someone from the same party as chosen by bipartisan voters as not to have the commissioners themselves stack the deck, so to speak. That would also give Richardson another edge.
Will commissioners go with a handpicked, backroom-blessed loyal insider that some folks have been quietly engineering for weeks? Or will they gamble on a special election that could open the door to an independent wild card with no IOUs and no strings attached? Or will they compromise on a placeholder until they can back their own horse?
One thing is certain, a lot of people — candidates, District 5 voters, lobbyists — will be watching to see which way the wind blows Tuesday.
Because whichever way it goes, you know there will be a storm following.

This kind of independent, watchdog government reporting of our local government and political campaigns is possible because of readers like you who make a contribution to Political Cortadito. To support more of this, click here. Ladra thanks you.

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