UPDATED: For at least 20 years, the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club has provided a safe place in Miami Beach for civil political discourse on everything from city government projects and issues to county issues to developments of regional impact to state policies and legislation as well as an independent public forum for candidate debates in local elections.

But perhaps no more.

An email last week told us that Tuesday’s meeting would be the last because Manolo’s Restaurant, in which it is currently being held, will be partially demolished to make space for a new hotel addition at the rear of the property along the east side. Demolition along the south end of the 600 block is already taking place in the rear, according to an email from breakfast club creator David Kelsey.

“The development idea is that the very deep stores can give up their rear portions to accommodate a five story hotel or condo structure and still have ground floor retail along the front,” he wrote.

Read related story: Get breakfast and up to date on Miami Marine Stadium

And the breakfast club is just a casualty? This is one of the few equal opportunity, bipartisan, open and free public forums there are left. It has hosted not only politicians like Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, but activists like Peter Ehrlich and candidates for city, state and congressional office as well as city leaders like the police chief and city manager. Okay, so maybe it has served more as a bullhorn than a hot seat, but that’s it’s role. It would still be a shame to let it go.

Packed house at a Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club meeting at David’s Cafe for Levine’s first campaign in 2013

Ladra sent Kelsey a couple of emails to find out if there was any chance they could continue at another venue. After all, it used to be at David’s Cafe before it moved to Abuela’s Cuban Kitchen before it moved to Manolo’s. I mean, it couldn’t come at a worse time — as this year’s election of a new mayor (Levine announced already that he wasn’t running — for that seat, anyway) and three commissioners.

Kelsey, president of the South Beach Hotel and Restaurant Association, got back to me Monday morning, after this post was published. He said that the meetings have been moved six or seven times but that it’s not easy to find a new place. He looked at six other eateries that didn’t work before finding Manolo’s two years ago.

“If a restaurant already has any breakfast business, they don’t want it to be disrupted,” Kelsey said. “If they don’t have any breakfast business, and are open for lunch, they don’t want to bring in staff and pay them just for this group.”

Kelsey also said he would be open to continuing the meetings, but that more people need to show up.

“It’s very discouraging. We have not had good turnout in the last few weeks even though we have had good guests,” Kelsey told Ladra. “Let’s see what happens Tuesday. If there’s a lot of interest in keeping it, I’ll look for a new place.”

Read related story: Bruno Barreiro to speak at Beach Tuesday Breakfast Club

There are other fans who also want to keep the club it going.

“The Tuesday Morning BreakfastClub has always been a place for residents to voice their concerns and demand that government listen,” said former Commissioner Michael Gongora, who hopes they can find another new home. “It would be a shame not to have this group of activists listening and monitoring to what happens,” Gongora said, “especially now with an open Mayoral seat and Commission seats likely to follow.

“It’s time for the residents to have a voice at City Hall again,” he said, adding that he is reaching out to other restaurant owners to see if the club can be moved to another venue.

Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez noted how the club unified the community, even as others tried to divide it. “Whether you were rich or poor, Hispanic or Jewish, black, white or other, Dave Kelsey’s Breakfast Club welcomed everyone, and we must all be grateful to Dave Kelsey for that,” Rosen said.

“This is a loss for us all and represents the winding down of a certain generation of South Beach activists,” Rosen said. “Miami Beach is losing one of its critical political forums, and it breaks my heart to see it end.

“Someone needs to continue the tradition. It shouldn’t have to close.”

“Miami Beach United will continue its community efforts to keep the Breakfast Club spirit alive,” said Mark Samuelian, a former commission candidate and member of the MBU executive board who called the Tuesday morning meetings an “amazing and valuable Miami Beach institution.”

Ladra suspects that finding an alternate space to save the civic club and its meetings from oblivion will be the main topic of conversation at the last meeting this Tuesday at Manolo’s, 685 Washington Ave. Read: I sure hope so.

Miami Beach Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez wasn’t getting her phone messages. She wasn’t getting invitations sent to her for events. She missed meetings that she wasn’t told about. She wasn’t getting her message out to the senior citizen centers where she campaigned among the seniors who elected her.

And that’s because her aide may have been working against her.

David Zaret was hired by Mayor Philip Levine, who has been bullying Rosen Gonzalez since before she won her seat a little more than a year ago against one of Levine’s plantidates. He tweets more about Commission John Aleman than he does about his boss, who Aleman went after with her since-abandoned kiss-and-tell ordinance.

Read related story: Miami Beach commissioner wants electeds to kiss and tell

David Zaret

“I felt like I had a Benedict Arnold in my office,” Rosen Gonzalez told Ladra. She couldn’t fire him. So she did the next best thing: “I changed my locks and moved that double agent into the mayor’s office.”

Rosen Gonzalez was the only commissioner who was not allowed to hire her own aide. Her choices were vetoed by the mayor, who gets to approve any hires the commissioners make. She has a problem with that. And on Wednesday she will try to convince her colleagues to put a referendum before the voters that would allow them to hire and fire their own staff.

Zaret has ignored her directives, she said. “I tried to fire him six months ago. I told the chief of staff he wasn’t doing anything that I asked him to do,” she said. “She refused.”

Zaret also ignored calls and emails from Ladra. The first email came back with this message: “Your email has reached the office of David Zaret, however, he is no longer the aide for Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez. If you are attempting to reach the Commissioner, you may do so by emailing her directly.”

He also does not speak Spanish, which Rosen Gonzalez says is important to be able to communicate with her constituents and represent them properly.

“When I get calls from Spanish speakers, my aide can’t help and bounces it over to the mayor’s aide,” she said. She doesn’t get the information or gets it late. “My constituency has suffered and I’ve had to work twice as hard.”

Recently, the commissioner was invited to a cocktail party. The host hand-delivered the invite in a gold box with a purple ribbon. You think she’d remember such a thing. But she never got it. Or sent regrets. Or knew about it — until she ran into the host who said she was missed.

“I was embarrassed,” she said. “I don’t care about not going to the event, but I want to be able to say ‘thank you’ to the person who hand delivered the invitation. And I just happened to run into this person. Who knows how many other things I’ve not gotten that I don’t know about?”

One would think that Zaret would be fired from his job. Anyone who so blatantly fails to perform would be. We will know he’s a spy when he gets rewarded with a new job, instead. Maybe he will be reassigned to Aleman’s office. He’s such a fan, after all.

Read related story: A tale of two aides — Fired and Hired

Ladra bets that Aleman votes against Rosen Gonzalez’s initiative. But the other commissioners really ought to take it seriously. In order for commissioners to be truly independent, they need the freedom to hire and fire their own staff — and to be able to trust that their staff isn’t really working for and taking care of someone else. 

Don’t forget the word fire. Because the mayor can also fire an aide out of spite or revenge. Anyone remember Alex Fernandez? He was former Commissioner Deede Weithorn‘s aide until Mayor Ego fired him for supporting former Commissioner Michael Gongora in the 2013 mayoral race. Fernandez is better off now, working for a county commissioner.

And last week, the spy may have been in Rosen Gonzalez’s office. But tomorrow it could be in yours, Commissioner Michael Grieco. Or in yours, Commissioner Micky Steinberg. 

If Rosen’s item fails — as is likely since Commissioners Joy Malakoff and Ricky Arriola have proven before to be in the mayor’s pocket, as well as Aleman — then she should take the matter to a petition and get it on the ballot despite them. Don’t get comfy just because you got rid of one spy.

There can always be another.

Week two of our new feature, The Cortadito Calendar: A weekly calendar of political powwows, government meetings and events with electeds.

Stay informed. Get engaged.

If you know any political happening that should be included in the Cortadito Calendar, please email the information to edevalle@gmail.com. And thank you.

TUESDAY — Dec. 13

2 p.m. — The Unincorporated Municipal Services Area Committee meets. This board oversees the municipal services provided to residents who live in the unincorporated areas of Miami-Dade — addressing areas of slum and blight, policies governing incorporation and annexation procedures, zoning issues, code enforcement issues, areas of slum and blight, the Urban Development Boundary and the public library system, among other things.

WEDNESDAY — Dec. 14

9 a.m. — Miami Beach Commission meets. Look for Mayor Philip Levine to formally backpedal from his very unpopular train to nowhere proposal with a resolution urging the county to step it up on their end (more on that later). The agenda is packed with all kinds of important items — historic preservation, economic development, lease renewals. There will also be a discussion about the creation of a dedicated fund for homeless services and for affordable/workforce housing to come from short term rental violation fines. Is that a slush fund we didn’t know about? In another item: Commissioner Kristen Rosen-Gonzalez will present former Sen. Gwen Margolis with a proclamation honoring her lifetime of public service.

5:30 p.m. — After months of hard work — and I am talking about having to explain themselves to everyone they know — the Trump campaign volunteers will be treated to a Christmas party at Las Vegas Restaurant on Coral Way, 11995 SW 26th St. Have some nog for Ladra.    And a proclamation of achievement will be given to Sen. Gwen Margolis for a lifetime of service.

THURSDAY — Dec. 15

9:30 a.m. — Miami-Dade Commissioners meet to discuss the Comprehensive Development Master Plan (CDMP). This document expresses Miami-Dade County’s general objectives and policies addressing where and how it intends development or conservation of land and natural resources will occur during the next 10-20 years, as well as the delivery of county services to accomplish the CDMP’s objectives. This CDMP establishes the broad parameters for government to do detailed land use planning and zoning activities, functional planning and programming of infrastructure and services.

6 p.m. — Want an update on the SMART plan to improve transit? The Citizens Independent Transportation Trust will get one from Miami-Dade MPO Executive Director Aileen Bouclé at its next meeting Thursday. Also on the agenda: A resolution urging the county to issue $200 million in transit surtax bonds.

FRIDAY — Dec. 16

9 a.m. — The City of Miami’s Bayfront Park Trust Management will meet to finalize preparations for their New Year’s Eve event. The meeting is open to the public in the conference room at the Bayfront Park Trust building, 301 N. Biscayne Blvd.

Proponents and opponents of an imagined light rail train that loops around South Beach will discuss the pros and cons of the project at a community forum Thursday night organized by Miami Beach United.

Last we heard, there are three possible deals on the table, all from qualified bidders. Proposals are due Nov. 3. But everybody seems to believe that Alstom is the favored vendor after Mayor Philip Levine and City Manager Jimmy Morales traveled to France to meet with them. Morales was instructed by the commission to begin negotiations with Alstom in July. 

The rail, which the community is calling a streetcar, will loop around South Beach from the convention center to 5th Street and from Dade Boulevard and Alton Road to Washington Avenue. It is expected to cost about $387 to build and $16 million a year to operate (at first because that grows). And it is projected to take five years to build.

This comes after Levine, Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez apparently lost their marbles and agreed last year to seek their rail systems separately. They abandoned plans for Bay Link that would cross the MacArthur Causeway and connect the Beach with downtown Miami until later. And they basically rejected more than $8 million already secured in state funding for a new study. All each city had to provide was $417,000. And they might still be able to get federal funding. 

Supporters say the loop is a good first step to the eventual Bay Link and that it will take cars off the street.

Opponents it will make traffic worse because it will cause chaos on Beach streets as they are torn up once again and because it’s made for tourists. Most locals would rather walk five blocks than go around what they call “Levine’s loop” or “the train to nowhere” and many say it is a waste of taxpayer funds. It could also be called the Alex Heckler express since the lobbyist (who just hosted a fundraiser with Levine for Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez) is the one promoting this idea.

“Nobody wants this taxpayer paid train to cater to tourists,” said Commissioner Kristen Rosen-Gonzalez. “Levine has not listened to all the residents who do not want that train. And there are a lot of them.”

That’s why the forum tonight might turn into a train-trashing session. MBU’s stated goals are to:

• Educate residents on the Miami Beach Light Rail Project with some background on Miami-Dade County SMART plans
• Provide residents with “pros and cons” regarding the plan
• Identify ways residents can be engaged throughout the planning process
• Generate ideas and feedback for the Miami Beach Light Rail Plan

Nowhere does it say stop the train. But there will be people who want to do that. Robert Lansburgh, who leads the Stop the Train movement (more than 700 likes on Facebook) is participating. So is Michael Barrineau, president of the South of Fifth Neighborhood Association. There are also light rail advocates like Mark Needle, an active resident of the Flamingo Park neighborhood.

Activist Frank Del Vecchio will attend. He said the city has not answered 11 questions that the West Avenue Neighborhood Association has about the train’s impact to residents. He is concerned that the city has already entered into consulting contracts worth more than $6 million and hired staff dedicated to advance the project.

The questions are: 

1. What are the consultant reports and when are they due?
2. Are the reports public record and how can they be accessed?
3. Will the reports address the particulars of elevating tracks along the route addressing Sea Level Rise? 
4. Separated out, what is cost of streetcar? Of  street raising? Of pump stations? Of intermodal transit facilities?
5. Will the reports provide a construction budget and timetable?
6. Will the street raisings be separately budgeted?
7. What Streetcar and related items are in the recently approved 2016/2017 (both operating and capital)
8. What is the current timetable for city commission consideration of and action on the Streetcar project: (Please identify the action item and the scheduled or expected date of consideration, and type of action required (Resolution, Ordinance, Budget amendment, Contract approval, etc.)
9. Will the studies identify the required number of intermodal transit facilities, the minimum required capacity of each for number of trains to be serviced and stored, and the minimum number of vehicle parking spaces to be provided?  Will the locations, either specific or approximate, of such facilities be provided?
10. What agencies other than the City of Miami Beach are required to approve any aspect of the project, including configuration of State Roads located in Miami Beach that are included in the route?  If State Roads are included in the route whose responsibility will be the raising of those roads for sea level rise purposes?
11. What is the nature of the approval or approvals required?  Please cite the relevant requirement(s).

Del Vecchio also has loads of other questions about connectivity and how committed the county and Metropolitan Planning Organization are to connecting light rail since they’ve been talking more and more about rapid bus transit. Furthermore, he points to some study that indicates traffic could actually increase because of left turn limitations caused by Levine’s loop.

Hopefully, these questions will be answered Thursday night at the forum, titled “Are We On The Right Track?” It will begin at 6 p.m. at the Miami Beach Woman’s Club, 2401 Pine Tree Dr. (Free parking at the Hebrew Academy).

But Ladra doubts the conversation will end there.

Let’s call it the kiss and tell ordinance.

Miami Beach Commissioner John Aleman wants to introduce legislation that would require all the elected officials in the city to disclose — on a printed form — the names of anyone they have sexual relations with that could benefit from their vote.

It’s on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting. Really.

Disclosure requirements on the Beach already force electeds to name any family or business relationships that could benefit from commission action and public officers must recuse themselves before the discussion on any such beneficial item begins. Aleman’s ordinance would amend the city code to add “personal relationship” to that and further defines that as “a close personal relationship such as a long-term friendship, or a dating, sexual, or romantic relationship, that would cause a reasonable person to conclude that the public officer is likely to act or fail to act as a result of the relationship, or which appears to a reasonable person as inappropriate in the context of the proper discharge of the public official’s duties in the public interest and gives an appearance of impropriety.”

Because this is 2016, after all, and sexual doesn’t necessarily mean romantic. Or dating.

So does that mean hook-ups count? Do crushes? Because Ladra has heard that those longtime, unrequited longings can be just as influential on one’s decision-making process as a bonafide boyfriend.

The common thought among Beach activists and political observers is that this is retaliation against Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, political payback for squashing a $1 million gift to the Shore Club redevelopers at the last meeting in September.

Rosen Gonzalez, a single mom, had the wherewithal and integrity to ask why the city should waive $1 million in mitigation fees if the developers of the Fusano Residences and Shore Club — luxury condos, starting at $2 million, and hotel units (with a 500-seat restaurant and probably at least one nightclub) — don’t want to build the required amount of parking spaces on the property for the density they’ve proposed. The area, she says, is already a nightmare for off-street parking and cannot absorb more. We can all attest to that. The “area” being South Beach.

Aleman said she wanted to accommodate the developer. But the item was deferred and seeing how its been categorized as a loophole gift to the developer and could be under investigation (more on that later), it is probably dead in the water by now. As it should be.

This is the fallout.

After all, Rosen Gonzalez got wise to the loophole thanks to her “close personal relationship” with Kent Harrison Robbins, a longtime preservation activist who also happens to be a land use attorney (read: lobbyist). Yes, they dated. They are not dating now, but they are still friends. After all, some of us are adults here. And while they were friends with benefits, he did not benefit with any item before the commission. But it really does seem that both she and he are the targets of this legislation.

“It has bothered them because he is telling me what they are doing,” Rosen Gonzalez said. “He was just educating me. I didn’t even understand how to read these land use items. It was like Chinese.”

Robbins helped her because he supported her, as most preservationists did. He never asked for a favor. If you ask Ladra, the one who benefited was Rosen Gonzalez — and, by extension, her constituents. Her education saved taxpayers $1 million that, while earmarked for parking and such like Commissioner Michael Grieco said, could offset general dollars spent in that arena or be used to — here’s a concept — actually mitigate the damage of the new development. And she may have also stopped a possible precedent.

Read related story: Kristen Rosen Gonzalez wins in Miami Beach race

But it’s not like Aleman and Rosen were ever BFFs. Aleman was recruited and backed by millionaire Mayor Philip Levine and ran on his slate next to Betsy Perez, who Rosen beat last year to get on the dais. Rosen is a lone independent in a sea of puppets — the only real elected on the Beach who has never been in Levine’s pocket (because Commissioner Grieco just crawls out 0ut now and then). It’s just that this Robbins educated Rosen on the land use loophole and Aleman wants them to pay for it. Who knows how many other people are involved and may be hurt? Aleman doesn’t care. Because Robbins is making Rosen Gonzalez too damn smart! The point is to intimidate her and bully her. Again. And she won’t be bullied.

By the way, how do you define close friendship? That’s sort of subjective, no? “Do you know how many people I became close friends with during the campaign? And just because I’m dating or sleeping with someone doesn’t influence my vote,” Rosen Gonzalez said.

Amen to that.

“I’m disappointed. This is immature, pathetic — a personal vendetta,” the freshman commissioner said. “This is not leadership.”

The kiss and tell ordinance has been the talk of Facebook this weekend. Rosen Gonzalez urged her friends and supporters — most of whom are aghast — to write to Commissioner Aleman (johnaleman@miamibeachfl.gov) and ask her to withdraw the ordinance. “Tell her there are more important items to worry about. Ask her why she did not vote for my ethics ordinance on prohibiting campaign consultants from lobbying, but is worried about commissioners’ private lives.”

But Ladra would ask you please not to. I mean, can you imagine better blog fodder?! Rosen Gonzalez is not the only person on the dais who checks the single box. In fact, both Levine and Commissioner Ricky Arriola are famously (and curiously?) single. Don’t you want to know who they’re dating? Or just hooking up with?

This ordinance will let us, the public, know who are the playboys with a different flavor of the month all the time and who is completely and utterly alone. It may not rank up there in importance with flooding and sea level rise and overdevelopment or preservation on North Beach or even Zika — but it still makes for good readin’.

Maybe we can have the electeds wear something that lets us know when they’re in a compromising relationship. Oh, I know! A scarlet letter? Or should we just reserve those for the electeds having an affair? Because those will have to be disclosed, too.

Ooooohhh… nevermind. This ridiculous legislation will never see the light of day.