Did you have a nice, loooong weekend? Well, just because it’s a shorter week doesn’t meant there’s not a lot going on.

The cities of Miami and Coral Gables have some controversial items this week sure to pack their respective city halls while South Miami has a dejavu on affordable housing and the county has another one of those “we love soccer” meetings about a proposed stadium in Overtown. We also have yet another march downtown. This one is family friendly!

No, it’s not a typo. I got no notice from the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club meeting in Miami Beach. Maye they are skipping this week?

And since when did Saturday become a day to do political stuff? No, really. Please stop that.

Got an event for the calendar on a normal day of the week? Get me the 411 on your 305 government and club meetings, campaign fundraisers and political powwows and get in the calendar. It’s easy. Send an email to edevalle@gmail.com or invite me on Facebook or hit me up on twitter like some of these people did.

TUESDAY — May 30

9 a.m. — There is going to be a lot of upset residents at Coral Gables City Hall Tuesday. Not only is there going to be a 2 p.m. time-certain discussion item on the commission meeting agenda, thanks to Commissioner Vince Lago, about the police major who spied on resident Maria Cruz during a commission meeting in September — will Maj. Theresa Molina be fired or will she pass go and collect $100,000 and a really fat pension for the rest of her life — there may also be talk about the police shortages and a 5 p.m. time-certain second vote on the controversial 33 Alhambra development that seems to have made some cuts in units and parking, but which nearby residents still don’t want. If you want a seat, get there early. Or you’ll be watching on the TVs outside the commission chambers on the second floor of City Hall, 405 Biltmore Way.

10 a.m. — After deferring it last week, Miaim City Commissioners will consider taking Watson Island back from a developer that promised 16 years ago to turn it into a hotel/retail destination with parking and a marina. Commissioner Ken Russell believes that the developer has missed a deadline earlier this month to start construction. Some city staffers say they did enough to meet that standard. It will certainly make for an interesting discussion as there are a group of Venetian Island residents opposed to the development. They and State Rep. David Richardson wants the process to start over. And maybe it should, considering it was made 16 years ago! The special meeting begins at 10 a.m. at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive.

6 p.m. — The city of South Miami may finally be moving along on the long-promised Madison Square affordable housing project along Southwest 59th Place at 64th Street, next to the St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church. The South Miami Community Redevelopment Agency will consider transmitting the proposal with a variance for four stories rather than the maximum two and another variance for reduced parking. This has been talked about for years but has been held up by one thing or another. In 2015, the original contractor cancelled its contract with the city over delays in getting the necessary variances. Will we see a dejavu on Tuesday? The project now has been divided into two, the East and the West parts. The CRA will also consider two unity of titles for the 15 properties involved. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in commission chambers at City Hall, 6130 Sunset Drive.

WEDNESDAY — May 31

2 p.m. — An update on the SMART mass transit plan for Miami-Dade is coming up at Wednesday’s Transportation Planning Organization’s Transportation and Mobility Committee meeting. County Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz will ask the committee to amend the plan to extend the bus express rapid transit (BERT) corridor limits of the Florida Turnpike Express. There will also be presentations on the Miami River tunnel feasability study and on the Miami-Dade Quick Build Program. The meeting begins at 2 p.m. in Miami-Dade commission chambers at 111 NW First St.

6:30-8 p.m. — The city of Miami Beach will have a community meeting on the kayak launch project planned for the waterway north of 73rd Street and west of Dickens Avenue, which will take about two months to build and will not affect the community garden. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at the North Shore Park and Youth Center, 501 72nd Street.

THURSDAY — June 1

8:30 a.m. — The Mayor’s North Beach Plan Steering Committee meets at 8:30 a.m. at the Normandy Shores Golf Club, 2401 Biarritz Drive. Ladra doesn’t know where to get an agenda but this group is on a roll. Most recently, and at the behest of Commissioner Ricky Arriola, the committee has been pushing to get a version of Wynwood Yard, an outdoor venue in the popular Miami neighborhood with a lot of food truck events and where Shakira gave an impromptu concert the other day, on the city-owned lots across from North Shore Open Space Park. North Beach Yard would be similar to the original concept, but more retail-oriented. There may also be an organic farm for onsite restaurants to use and for locals to buy fresh produce from as well as an artists’ showcase. It would be interesting to see what the committee follows that up with.

6 p.m. — Soccer in Overtown? Some people love the idea. Others hate it. There will be a community discussion on Thursday about the sale of Miami-Dade county owned property in Overtown to David Beckham and partners so they can build the Major League Soccer stadium they have been talking about for years. Miami-Dade “officials” and staff are expected to be at the YWCA, 351 NW 5th St., but the notice on the county website doesn’t specifically say that Mayor Carlos Gimenez will be there. He was at the first one of these community meetings but there are at least two more next week.

SATURDAY — June 3

9 a.m.-1 p.m. — Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban Bovo and the town of Miami Lakes will host a family fun day picnic at Picnic Park West, 15151 NW 82nd Ave. There will be a farmer’s market, free rides, music, and raffles.

11 a.m.-2 p.m. — The March for Truth in downtown Miami Saturday has attracted a bunch of politician candidates. Tallahassee Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, perennial candidate (Senate 40 this time) Annette Taddeo, Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez and Miami Beach Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez — both of whom have announced plans to run for Congress next year since Ileana Ros Lehtinen is retiring — will be at the anti-Trump demonstration, organized by a coalition of groups that include Women’s March, Indivisible 305, Indivisible Miami and RiseUp Florida. They demand truth and transparency, including an impartial investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and ties to President Donald Trump and so many of his friends and family. To get people to go, they are also briging food trucks, musical acts and face painting. No joke. Bring the whole family to the political march! Festivities begin at 11 a.m. at the Stephen P. Clark Center, 111 NW First St.

11 a.m.-2 p.m. — If you don’t know your Hurricane 101 yet, you must not be from around here. The Village of Palmetto Bay is offering a town hall on hurricane preparedness this Saturday at the municipal center, 9705 E. Hibiscus St. And here Ladra thought for sure Palmetto Bay Mayor Eugene Flinn would be at the march.

Miami seems to be a forgiving town, politically speaking.

Miami-Dade Commissioner Xaver Suarez is a respected leader and viable contender for the county mayor’s post in 2020 despite having been removed from his Miami mayoral seat in 2007 due to widespread absentee ballot fraud in the 2006 city election.

Miami-Dade Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz continues to sit there on the dais and sites the law and champions law enforcement even though he clearly beat a legitimate DUI rap in Key West last year. He was acquitted, but we’ve seen the video.

Former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez was re-elected three times after he was indicted and convicted on eight counts of extortion and racketeering (he appealed and was acquitted in 1996). He’s so past that history that he recently hosted none other than presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in his home.

And Ladra’s favorite former Congressman, David “Nine Lives” Rivera was re-elected after that incident where he allegedly ran a mail truck off the road to keep his opponents’ negative mailers from hitting voters’ mailboxes and, despite an alleged investigation that has gone on longer than most federal mafia racketeering cases, is still running for office as recently as last year. And probably next year.

Read related story: Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz arrested on DUI charges in Key West

Now add political consultant Al Lorenzo to the political comebacks of the 305.

Lorenzo was the fall guy for the absentee ballot fraud scandal that engulfed the 2012 elections. Deisy Cabrera, the Hialeah boletera caught carrying ballots to and from Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s Hialeah campaign office, had worked for Lorenzo in previous campaigns. Lorenzo (photographed right) claimed she wasn’t working for him in 2012, but he was fired from the mayoral campaign because the limelight exposed that he had hired an ex felon, Jerry Ramos, to work for him (read: he was fired for AB shenanigans but Gimenez didn’t want to admit that).

His other client, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle — who never saw an absentee ballot fraud case she couldn’t summarily dismiss or otherwise turn her head to — didn’t fire Lorenzo, but told him to take Ramos off her campaign that year. She was facing a real challenge that year and couldn’t afford to lose the ABs.

Well, Lorenzo has been quietly working under the radar. Mostly on judicial campaigns, where there is very little media attention. Several sources close to Gimenez told Ladra that Lorenzo was involved in the re-election campaign last year (maybe getting paid via the $6,000 a month to former Miami Mayor Joe Carollo?) But last year, las malas lenguas say he was also involved in the campaign of founding first and now newly (again) elected Doral Mayor J.C. Bermudez. He is not on the Bermudez campaign reports either, but the idea is that he is Diez’s partner.

Read related story: Sasha Tirador may be losing her touch with absentee ballots

And 2017 promises to be good, too, because it looks like Lorenzo willl work on the campaign for Miami Commission candidate Ralph Rosado (who is filed for 2019 but will move to this year once Commissioner Francis Suarez resigns to run for mayor).

At least that is what one must assume from this photograph (left) posted on Facebook Wednesday by political consultant Fernando Diez, who helped elect Miami Commissioner Ken Russell as well as Bermudez. Russell was also in the photograph. Maybe Al helped the yoyo man, too (Russell’s father invented the yo-yo). Lorenzo is seated third on the left, next to Rosado’s wife (in pink).

“Happy to have spent my birthday with my wife Mariana Parra and good friends Ken Russell, Ralph Rosado,” post Diez, who is sitting next to Russell on the right side of the table at Casa Juancho Restaurant.

Ladra loves Rosado’s comment:  “The gang! We were very happy to have spent the evening with you as well. Happy birthday, Fernando!”

The gang indeed. Should we call them the Absentee Ballot Raiders?

And does this mean that former Miami-Dade Commissioner Pedro Reboredo, who resigned in 2001 after he was caught paying ghost employees for work that wasn’t being done, could run for office again. Of course it does!

Miami City Commissioner Ken Russell was not able to get even a second on his motion to fire City Attorney Victoria Mendez Thursday.

Russell had made the move to terminate Mendez because he said she intentionally withheld emails that he had asked her for. He said the 26 emails not provided to him painted a different picture than the ones he got when he made the same request of IT — which was that Mendez was helping a developer get approval for a lot split in Coconut Grove to build five houses on one property. He said he lost trust in the city attorney.

But as if that wasn’t enough, he also mentioned another instance in which Mendez made him uncomfortable — when she advised him to get a cell phone services that would help him avoid having to make his text messages public.

“My very first week in office, in my very first meeting with Ms. Mendez, her first advice to me was which phone company I should use because it erases your text messages sooner,” Russell said at the meeting.

“It’s Sprint by the way.

“And my heart sank because this is not what I wanted to hear from the city attorney,” said Russell, who added that he stuck with AT&T.

Which made Ladra wonder who uses Sprint. So I asked. And the answer is nobody. Unless Commissioner Frank Carollo uses the service provider, because he was the only one that couldn’t be reached over the weekend.

Commissioners Willy Gort, Keon Hardemon and Francis Suarez each said they, too, use AT&T.

Certainly not what Ladra expected.

It seems odd that everybody would ignore the city attorney’s advice, but Suarez — who has been critical of Mendez on other professional issues — also said that the city attorney had never advised him to use a particular cell phone company.

“She’s never said anything remotely similar to me like that,” he said.

He wouldn’t go as far as calling Russell a liar.

“I don’t think he’s a dishonest person. I also don’t think she’s a dishonest person. We get told a lot of things,” Suarez said.

And since he uses AT&T, whatever he gets told in text, stays put for longer.

Miami City Commissioner Ken Russell lost his first political battle Thursday when he failed to get any support whatsoever on his move to terminate City Attorney Victoria Mendez after she failed to provide all the emails he asked her for about a certain Coconut Grove lot split and development.

He didn’t even get a second to his motion.

Russell has said that Mendez, who makes $215,000 a year, intentionally withheld some of the emails he requested on the development application for a lot split on Battersea Road. She gave him 13 emails dating back to November 2015. When he requested the same email search from IT, he got 39, and the conversation started in October. The attorneys even provided the city attorney with draft language for the resolution.

“The whole 39 told a different story,” Russell said.

A drawing composite of one of the five homes to be built on Battersea

The freshman commissioner says the emails show that Mendez went above and beyond to help the developer get a positive ruling on the application to divide the property into five lots so he could build five homes. The original ruling from planning and zoning was that the application needed a document called a warrant. The emails suggest Mendez shopped it out to different attorneys on her staff until she got the decision she was looking for.

She also assured Javier Vazquez, an attorney/lobbyist for the developer with whom she is rather friendly, that she was doing all she could to resolve the issue. And one email indicates it might not have been an easy sell.

Read related story: Miami commissioner wants attorney fired for missing emails

“Javier, we’re having a hard time on this. Let’s talk next week,” she wrote on Oct. 30 last year. This was after she had told an assistant city attorney to talk to him and “see how we can figure out.”

That email was among the ones that were withheld from Russell. So was the one that had been sent by Assistant City Attorney Amanda Quirke the day before, on Oct. 29. “I spoke to Javier today. I reviewed this issue at length with planning and zoning to see if we could get to the same interpretation, but we could not,” Quirke wrote. “This is an unplatted lot that has had a house on it for more than 50 years. It is a building site, and no building site shall be diminished in the NCD without a warrant.”

Quirke was no longer needed for meetings after that, as Vazquez indicated in an email Oct. 30 to Mendez’s assistant Marta Gomez about a meeting she was trying to reschedule for when Quirke would be back.

“My client cannot afford to keep waiting. Respectfully, we know Amanda’s opinion on the matter. We are simply wanting face to face time with Vicky to give her our interpretation,” he wrote.

Mendez chimed in: “Have Goldberg come up to speed with alternatives and we can still meet without Amanda.”

There’s more. Please press this “continue reading” button to “turn the page.”

Today’s City of Miami Commission meeting is expected to get heated when Commissioner Ken Russell asks for City Attorney Victoria Mendez to be fired for intentionally withholding documents he requested regarding the rezoning of a fast-tracked residential development in Coconut Grove.

And there’s likely to be some push back, specifically from members of the Cuban American Bar Association, of which Mendez, a former state prosecutor, was once president.

There’s still an independent counsel reviewing her opinion, which allowed the development to break ground, and the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust is looking into the withheld emails between Mendez and the developer’s lobbyist — emails that could indicate the attorney was helping the developer get the zoning they needed, in violation of the city charter.

But Russell can’t wait for the result of those inquiries.

“Everybody is trying to make it a matter of a charter violation but it’s become more than that,” Russell told Ladra late Wednesday. “It’s really about a working relationship and having trust in your attorney. I’ve lost that trust.”

Russell had already called for Mendez to be fired earlier this month after he discovered that she had not provided him with the public records he had requested regarding the development of five single family homes on a 50,000-square-foot property the developer wants re-platted into five separate properties.

At first, the developer was told they needed a special permit, known as a warrant, to split the lot. The zoning department denied the request. The developer then sought a new opinion from the city attorney’s office — which, lo and behold, issued one saying no warrant was really needed.

“It was a minor zoning issue, but something wasn’t adding up,” Russell told me. “I thought the city attorney had issued a flawed opinion in regards to zoning. That was the beginning of the rabbit hole.”

Mendez, who makes $215,000 a year, first tried to discourage him. There is nothing there, she told the commissioner. She herself requested the ethics investigation and has said that the emails, which she insist only show normal communications between attorneys on complicated zoning issues, were not intentionally withheld. She says Russell is simply being political for his constituency — he represents the Grove — and doesn’t like the opinion.

She was right about that last part.

“It’s such a Frankenstein of an opinion. They really did some gymnastics to be able to approve this for the developer,” he said.

So, Russell requested public documents including all the emails between the attorney’s office and the developers or their representatives. He got about a dozen. Thinking that something was still not adding up, he asked the IT department to do a search for emails using he same search criteria. This time, he got 40-something. That means there were more than two dozen emails that had not been included before, including exchanges between Mendez and attorney Javier Vazquez, the lobbyist for the developer and the city attorney’s friend.

“All the emails withheld show an entirely different story,” Russell said. “Every department issued a strong opinion as to why this was wrong. She shopped it to one attorney, but when she didn’t like that opinion it was a bad opinion. She took it to a second city attorney. Again it was a bad opinion.

“Through correspondence with the lobbyist, she says she’s working on it but she’s having a hard time,” Russell said.

That right there should be reason enough for commissioners to support Russell’s move to terminate Mendez, who became the city attorney three years ago. The withholding of public records is unacceptable in and of itself — and, from what I understand, it is a pattern with the Miami city attorney’s office. Just ask Grant Stern (more on that later). But the fact that she went out of her way to provide a favorable opinion to a friend is a big problem. Planning and zoning didn’t seek a legal opinion from the city attorney. They didn’t need it. They are certain that a warrant is needed to split the property. Vazquez asked for her opinion. And Mendez doesn’t work for Vazquez. She works for the commissioners and, by extension, the people of Miami.

To add insult to injury, she told a Miami Herald reporter earlier this month that Russell, her boss, just doesn’t understand. Isn’t that a violation of attorney client privilege? I mean, couldn’t a developer use that against the commissioner — hence the city — in a court of law. “He didn’t understand so that’s why he voted against us.”

Commissioners considering her ouster Thursday ought to think about that. Because today, it’s Russell. Tomorrow, it could be you. And how many lawsuits would comments like that bring the city?

For Russell — a freshman who was elected in a grass roots wave last year to replace Marc Sarnoff in a race against the much better financed Mrs. Sarnoff — it’s gone beyond those very serious professional improprieties.

“It goes to a question of trust. I know she was withholding documents from me, documents I need as tools to do my job. To me it’s very simple, very black and white,” Russell told Ladra. “How are we going to work together after this?

“If I get voted down, it’s going to be an awkward two years.”