Change would also allow breweries and “fruit stand” like businesses

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It was painful to watch. But worth noting. And Ladra may watch last week’s Miami-Dade Comprehensive Development Master Plan meeting again.

Several Miami-Dade County Commissioners went out of their way and made excruciatingly strange arguments Thursday to defend and promote a land use change that would replace 800 acres of farmland with an industrial park and commercial uses just south of the Florida Turnpike and north of Moody Drive.

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As Miami-Dade grapples with a new COVID-19 surge — and children aged 5 to 17 account for 15% of new infections — kids 12 and over can get a vaccine Friday, along with book bags and other school supplies, at a back-to-school book bag giveaway hosted by Miami-Dade Commissioner Kionne McGhee.

As far as Ladra can tell, he is the first county commissioner to offer COVID vaccines at a back-to-school event in a community that has become polarized over whether students should be mandated to wear masks. But McGhee told Ladra that any Miami-Dade student that shows up will get a shot, while supplies last.

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He wants to revisit light and heavy rail as an option

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Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez is not only running for mayor in 2020 (probably), he’s got a whole slate of commission candidates he is supporting.
“Ordinarily, it would seem a bit early to engage in those discussions,” Suarez said.
But this is no ordinary election. Term limits approved by voters in 2012 mean that five of the seven county commission seats on the 2020 ballot will be wide open. That makes for a unique opportunity to change the make up of the board — and its priorities — which has people coming out of the woodwork.
That “together with the announcement of various eminent candidates for the five open seats, compels me to make my own plans clear – beginning with what issue and which candidates are likely to advance the county in the right direction,” X said.

Read related: Carlos Gimenez taps commissioner to block return of 1/2 penny funds
Suarez, who announced his endorsements last week, naturally would want allies for his administration and indicated that these candidates will support his efforts to separate the half penny funds from operational and maintenance expenses and implement the S.M.A.R.T. plan.
“Winston Churchill defined ‘squandermania’ as diverting taxpayers’ money for useless or improper purposes,” Suarez said, hinting at a word we might see on the campaign trail. “The misuse of the half-cent for 17 years, totaling $1.8 billion, must end in 2020. I am committed to supporting five new commissioners who will see to that.”
Those candidates are:

District 1: Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert, a “dogged champion and architect of Miami Garden’s renaissance as the eminently livable city in the northernmost region of the county. Recently selected chairman of the Transportation Planning Organization, he has fought for prioritizing the northern corridor of the S.M.A.R.T. Plan and to recoup municipal powers over the site of Hard Rock Stadium.”
District 3: Miami Commissioner Keon Hardeman, who “has distinguished himself as chairman of both the Miami City Commission and the SE Overtown C.R.A. His relentless pursuit of tax increment bond monies resulted in $60 million of financing, including affordable housing and commercial/cultural development, that have already transformed NW 3rd Avenue into one of the most desirable places to live, work, and play in the urban core.
District 7: Former Miami-Dade School Board Member and one-time mayoral candidate Raquel Regalado, who “led the effort to complete and promote MAST Academy, as well as bringing the school system to its present ‘A’ rating. She is a vocal critic of ‘squandermania’ of the half-cent surcharge funds and a strong proponent of the S.M.A.R.T. Plan using rail, as presented to the voters in 2002.”
In District 9: State Rep. and Minority Leader Kionne McGhee., considered “the emotional leader of the battle to bring rail to the South Dade transitway. He, too, is a vocal critic of ‘squandermania’ of the half-cent surcharge funds, testifying before the CITT in the 2017 board meeting that led to the resolution calling for the unwinding of unification by 2019.”
In District 13: Former State Sen. Rene Garcia, “one of the most respected legislators ever to serve our county. He is committed to using the half-cent surcharge for its proper purposes. He has been a steadfast supporter of Medicaid expansion in Florida. Like the others in this slate, he believes that a society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens.”

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State Rep. Kionne McGhee will run for the Miami-Dade County Commission seat in District 9 this year that is vacated by the term-limited Dennis Moss. In fact, he’s the hand picked successor.
McGhee hasn’t filed any paperwork and didn’t call Ladra back Sunday, but he was publicly endorsed by Moss Saturday at the Richmond Heights Community Development Corporation Founders breakfast and had told a Miami Herald reporter days earlier that he would back the state rep, who becomes the fourth elected or former elected for sure (there might be five) running for an open county seat due to term limits, approved by voters in 2012, forcing five of the seven commissioners whose terms are up this year to step down.
Read related: Republicans enter House races against Richardson, McGhee
Former State Sen. Rene Garcia, the first to file paperwork, is running in District 13, where Commissioner Esteban Bovo is termed out and most likely running for mayor. Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert is running in District 1, where Barbara Jordan sits now. And former Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado, who lost a bid for mayor in 2016, has officially changed her next race (again) to a bid for District 7, where Xavier Suarez sits now while he runs for mayor, too. The three of them have already opened campaign accounts and filed paperwork.
Because open seats create opportunities for non incumbents, three other candidates have also filed paperwork to run in District 9: They are Pastor Mark Coats of Grace of God Baptist Church in Miami, which is affiliated with Grace Christian Preparatory School, Community Councilman and activist Johnny Farias and attorney and activist Marlon Hill, Southridge High Class of ’88.  According to the latest campaign reports, Coats has raised $24,415, Farias just under $5,000 and Hill filed in February so his first report is due in March.
Read related: Tales for Tallahassee: Quick observations from Dade Days
Farias, the only candidate Ladra could reach on Sunday, said he was staying in the race, even though Moss had already publicly endorsed McGhee.
McGhee is a Democrat who was first elected to the state House in 2012 to fill the seat vacated by Dwight Bullard, who was elected to the Senate. Gosh that seems like such a long time ago. He was able to defend his seat in 2014 against a female Hispanic Republican who didn’t put up much of a campaign and last year he was unopposed.
When he first got to Tallahassee, he turned his desk around so that it did not come between him and his guests. I expect that same kind of accessibility at the county level, where he has been South Dade’s principal champion for rail and not really fast buses. Ladra fully expects that to be the gist of his campaign.

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