Attorneys for former Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla will have to wait a little while if they want their $1.3 million from the city’s taxpayers, because his successor, Commissioner Miguel Gabela, wants the city to more carefully review the invoices.
The city commission could have approved the payout on Thursday, and Gabela said he understands that the city is technically liable because ADLP was a sitting commissioner when the accusations were made and he was suspended after being arrested on charges that included bribery and money laundering. But Gabela was able to convince his colleagues to defer 4-0 (Carollo stepped away) so an outside attorney can “go over the records that have been submitted to us,” because, well, they seem sus.
“Look, it’s clear that we’re going to pay. That’s not in play. The question is how much are we going to pay, and what is fair and what is inflated,” Gabela said. “This isn’t going to be settled today.”
He suggested the appointment of an independent attorney “to examine what has been given to us on the bill, and make sure what is in there is correct what is incorrect is taken out, and then we decide on a number.
“It’s a question of a dollar amount,” Gabela added, as if we didn’t already get that he wants a second opinion.
Doing the math, if all the attorneys were each paid $500 an hour, they would have had to work 2,600 billable hours between them on ADLP’s defense. That’s dedication! Maybe that’s why Diaz de la Portilla got off?
The bill the city got was divided into six parts, for five different lawyers and then a separate and unclassified $110,000 with no attorney’s name attached, that everyone assumes is for Diaz de la Portilla’s time and trouble.
Read related: City of Miami may pay $1.3 mil for Alex Diaz de la Portilla’s criminal defense
The lion’s share of the ADLP legal fees, or $705,055, goes to Kuehne Davis Law and his main attorney, Benjamin Kuehne, who also represented Commissioner Joe Carollo in the federal First Amendment lawsuit that got the two Little Havana businessmen a $63.5 million judgement, the appeal of which was lost just last week
The rest of the monies would be spread out as such:

$208,000 to Collazo Law Firm and attorney Yesenia Collazo, the former chairwoman of ADLP’s Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade PAC, who also got a questionable $175,000 grant from the city’s anti-poverty funds from the former District 1 commissioner five months before he was arrested.
$121,723.33 to Susy Ribero-Ayala, who was already paid $16,110 last summer from ADLP’s PAC and represented him in the civil case on the alleged shakedown for the new Rickenbacker Marina contract.
$98,535 to Richard Diaz., which is also the name of an attorney that has represented Commissioner Joe Carollo.
$86,097.50 to Gunster, a law firm that is friendly with Mayor Francis Suarez, an attorney.
$109,926.81 goes to “costs as reimbursement for legal fees and costs in the case.”

Kuehne was at the commission meeting and spoke during the public comments, just to tell commissioners he was there if they had any questions. But they didn’t ask him anything.
On Friday, the attorney told Political Cortadito that the city’s move to assign a lawyer to review legal bills is a common one.
“While this step will unnecessarily delay payment of the earned legal fees, I will work with the lawyer to expedite the process of obtaining payment,” Kuehne wrote in an emailed response to a request for comment.
“As the Commission recognized, Alex Diaz de la Portilla is absolutely entitled to payment of his legal fees for his successful vindication against the now-dismissed criminal charges. His exoneration was the expected and correct result of his actual innocence.” Kuehne said.
“His legal team is proud to have vigorously represented Alex in the scope of his public service commitment. No elected official should be put through what Alex has overcome in his defense of the weaponized misuse of the justice system. Respect is due the thoughtful and correct decision of the Broward County State Attorney’s Office for recognizing this abuse of the criminal process.”
Read related: ADLP gave $175K in Miami anti-poverty funds to political pal in Doral
Commission Chairwoman Christine King wanted to just sign the checks. “One thing I don’t want to see is this drag out,” she said. “I’m satisfied that the bill is fair.
“This was a horrendous miscarriage of justice. Horrendous! It just goes to show what can happen when people overreach.“
Wait a minute. Let’s back up.
Diaz de la Portilla was arrested in September of 2023 after investigators learned that he and attorney William “Bill” Riley, a lobbyist for The Centner Academy, had funneled more than $300,000 in payments to the commissioner’s political action committee, and his lavish lifestyle at the luxury East Hotel in Brickell, in exchange for the school’s near total control of a public city park. There were thousands of dollars worth of food ordered from room 801 and a rented a penthouse and several guest rooms rented for a watch party for Renier Diaz de la Portilla’s failed bid for county commission. There was an all-expense trip to Boston for ADLP and his then girlfriend, now estranged wife in a bitter divorce battle.
There are receipts.
“But he was not even charged,” King moaned at the meeting, like she could be another one of his delusional groupies.
Um, yes, he was. Diaz de la Portilla was booked into the county jail on 14 charges, including felonies. There were the well-known bribery and money laundering charges, but also counts of unlawful compensation, criminal conspiracy, official misconduct, campaign finance violations, and failing to disclose gifts. The former commissioner, who has threatened to run for mayor, should have been charged with witness tampering, too, after he harassed an ex staffer to keep her from testifying.
The charges were later dropped. But Diaz de la Portilla was originally charged with, it’s worth repeating, 14 different crimes. The only miscarriage of justice here is that there was never a trial. But that’s because our esteemed Miami-Dade State Attorney Kathy Fernandez Rundle had yet another conflict — she knew Riley’s family — she had to pass the case along to Broward, where the prosecutors didn’t care as much and just decided it was not worth their time and effort.
Read related: Miami’s Alex Diaz de la Portilla arrested on corruption, pay-for-play park deal
Gabela, who beat Diaz de la Portilla in 2023 with a comfortable 8-point lead to take over the District 1 seat, is taking the time and effort with the bill. He said it was not political. “For me it is not a question of who is right or wrong. I’m not even touching that.
“I’m tired, since I got here, of paying attorneys fees left and right, left and right, left and right,” said Gabela, who compared the city’s legal expenses to a piñata party and has also questioned the legal fees paid by the city for the civil case against him filed by Diaz de la Portilla, over his residency requirements, and the whistleblower case against Carollo by the two former Bayfront Park Management Trust employees who said they were forced to resign after they found financial discrepancies that indicate the commissioner abused his power as the chair of the agency.
Gabela has also asked for the city to seek reimbursement from Carollo for defense fees in the civil case brought against him by two Little Havana businessmen, which he lost the latest appeal on. Those expenses are estimated at around $5 million.
“I wonder who’s making a referral fee here,” he quipped Thursday. “This should be examined because this isn’t coming out of our pockets. It’s the taxpayers at the end of the day.”
City Attorney George Wysong read the statute that requires the city to pay “reasonable and necessary” costs for a case that stems from something a city official or elected did while on the job. “This case is eligible for reimbursement,” Wysong said.
Eligible? Maybe. It’s arguable if conspiring with the owners of the school to give away a public park for hundreds of thousands of dollars is part of a commissioner’s job. But okay. In Miami, maybe. Reasonable? That’s the issue here.
“It’s a question of the dollar amount,” Gabela said.
Wysong said he will get an “independent counsel” to look at it and come back to the commission with a recommendation in September, “based on a thorough review of the bill.”
In a text message Friday, Diaz de la Portilla told Ladra that he welcomed a second look. But his answer also seemed to warn that the city should be careful what it asks for.
“I want the same. He and I agree,” Diaz de la Portilla said, referring to Gabela. “It’s a tally closer to $2.2 million, without punitive [damages].”
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… Bayfront Trust, affordable housing, traffic calming
The Miami Commission agenda for Tuesday’s meeting is 123 pages long and has almost 90 items — and that’s counting the 14 consent agenda items as one. There are 17 public hearings, 25 proposed resolutions, four ordinances on first reading, three ordinances on second reading, an emergency ordinance on “aggressive panhandling,” eight discussion items, 15 planning and zoning items and 15 items under “board and committees” that are mostly appointments that never get made.
Take out the board appointments and that’s still a whopping 74 items.
Some of these are pretty important and expected to draw a large crowd of opponents, usually, or supporters, rarely, in what’s going to be a spillover turnout. Bring a folding chair. The commission is slated to vote on the proposals by Commissioner Damian Pardo to take lifetime term limits to the voters and change the election year to 2026, extending everyone’s terms by a year. Both these things are expected to have dozens of speakers and lengthy back and forth on the dais.
Commissioner Joe Carollo, who is known for drawing things out and loving the sound of his own voice, will bloviate for hours.
Read related: Miami lifetime term limits, election year change intertwined, like bait & switch
Commissioner Miguel Gabela has a number of interesting items on the agenda, like the termination of the existing agreement for the audit of the Bayfront Park Management Trust — which was chaired by Carollo, who is accused of misusing the its funds — and the authorization for the Trust to contract with its own external and independent auditor to conduct a forensic audit. And he wants his colleagues to approve the Trust’s $30 million budget.
He also wants the city manager to take “any and all steps necessary” to enter into an interlocal agreement with Miami-Dade or another local governmental entity to refer all “non-criminal complaints” regarding violations of the city code made against sitting elected officials. This is, on paper, in order to avoid any appearance of bias, impartiality, and perceived or real conflicts of interest. But it’s also probably a reaction to Carollo presenting photographs of Gabela’s home at the last commission meeting and questioning if he has violated zoning laws against the number of boats he can have tied to or number of cars he can have parked on his property.
But the best Gabela measure is a resolution to issue a subpoena to William Ortiz, Carollo’s chief of staff, to answer questions about his role in the said “investigation” of Gabela’s use of his properties. The city charter allows the commission to issue subpoenas to witnesses “for the purposes of investigating official acts and conduct of a city official.” Isn’t that what he wants the county to do?
A controversial item on a 287g agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, for city police officers to be deputized and conduct immigration enforcement, “may be deferred,” as it said on the online agenda Monday evening. It sorta has to be deferred now that they said it “may be deferred.” Which is good. Because the 80-some items that are still on the table are going to take the meeting into the wee hours of the morning.
Read related: Miami could join 250 Florida cities with 287g contract to help ICE vs immigrants
There should be a rule against this. Oh, wait. Ladra thinks there is.
According to the city’s municipal code, in Sec. 2-33, the “total number of items that may be scheduled on a regular city commission agenda shall not exceed 60 items,” and “all matters on the consent agenda shall count as one item.”
Is that why they have this meeting identified as a “special meeting?” To get out of that? There’s nothing special about it. It is the same meeting that they cancelled or rescheduled from June 12, because Commissioner Christine King‘s father died and she had to travel for the funeral. So why is it now a “special meeting”?
Ladra expects a lot to be deferred when the agenda is set, before public comments, which means that people who go to speak on a particular item may not be able to speak, and get sent home or back to work after making the time to be there. This happens way too often in the city of Miami — people have complained already at several meetings — and needs to be addressed as an issue.
But that’s probably not gonna happen Tuesday. Because there are other time-suck items that may not be deferred, which include:

A personal appearance by someone at the Miami Downtown Development Authority to “inform the commission and the public about their mission and the work they do.” So a promotional ad for the DDA at a time when some residents are calling for the end of a special tax on residents that funds it — and the budget may grow from $13 million to $21 million next year (!) — or to put it on the November ballot for the public to decide. There’s also a resolution sponsored by Pardo to accept $1.2 million from the DDA to spend on increased policing within its boundaries.
A resolution approving a proposal from Motorola Solutions, after a competitive process, to provide portable smart radios along with related “enablement” and training for $30 million over the next seven years.
A resolution, sponsored by King, authorizing the city manager to execute a no-bid contract for a 99-year lease of city property at 1199 NW 62nd Street to Yaeger Plaza Partners for the development of an affordable renting housing project. It is proposed to have 135 units — studios, one bedroom and two bedroom units — for individuals and families whose income is greater than 22% of Annual Median Income (AMI) but no greater than 80%. There would also be a ground floor of retail and a clinic to provide affordable primary health care for low and moderate income individuals. Last October, the city’s Housing and Commercial Loan Committee approved awarding $3 million in Miami Forever bond funds for the development of the project.
A resolution, sponsored by Carollo, to transfer $2.4 million of Community Development Block Grant funds earmarked for economic development in District 3 in previous years to the Department of Real Estate and Asset Management to purchase six parcels, with a combined market value of almost $8.5 million, according to the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser. Where is the city going to get the other $6 million? Oh, wait, actually it’s another $12 million because the city is proposing to pay $14.5 million in total for all the properties, at Southwest 8th Street and 9th Avenue, are owned by Auyantepuy Investments, which is represented by attorney Barry Simons and has a Doral address that is the same address, and same suite number, for Garam Global Solutions, formed May 19 by Gabriel Rodriguez and Alejandro Machado. Auyán-tepui, which is phonetically practically identical, is the most visited and one of the largest tepuis, or grouping of tabletop mountains or “mesas,” in the Guiana Highlands. In Venezuela.
The transfer, sponsored by Gabela, of $586,000 in CDBG funds allocated in 2020-2021 (why is that still around?) from the housing and community development department to parks and recreation for improvements at Charlie Delucca Park in District 1.
A resolution authorizing the city manager to negotiate the sale of 5.5 acres of city-owned land on Watson Island, next to the Jungle Island theme park, to Ecoresiliency Miami for a cumulative total of at least $135 million and the development of condos, commercial spaces and a public waterfront park. That includes $15 million to the city for affordable housing projects. For this to move forward, it will require a four/fifths vote Tuesday. The final lease agreement would have to be approved by a public referendum vote.
A resolution authorizing, by a four/fifths vote, the five year extension of a concessionaire contract with Eventstar Structures for the provision of tent structures at Miami Marine Stadium Park.
A resolution authorizing the city manager to “expeditiously request” the Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) consider proposed traffic flow modifications to 22 locations in the residential neighborhoods of District 1 to ease cut-through traffic and speeding during morning and afternoon rush hour — and exempt the required balloting process for property owners.
A resolution, sponsored by Carollo, authorizing the city manager to “expeditiously request” the Miami-Dade DTPW consider traffic flow modifications at 26 locations in the residential Silver Bluff neighborhood, where a bunch of illegal street closures were ordered re-opened by a judge in 2023 after Miami-Dade sued the city. Again, the move would “waive the required resident concurrence and exempt the balloting process in order to expeditiously proceed with the design and construction of traffic calming devices.”
Not to be left behind, Commissioner King has sponsored an item also authorizing the city manager to “expeditiously request” the Miami-Dade DTPW consider traffic flow modifications at 10 locations in District 5. She also wants to skip the required resident concurrence and exempt the balloting process. Why ask?

There are also some complicated planning and zoning matters having to do with changes in zoning and land use, appeals of denials and at least one amendment to the Miami 21 code having to do with attainable housing and density.
Ladra is tired just reading the agenda.
Take your vitamins. Drink cuban coffee. Bring a snack. The commission meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive. It can also be seen live on the city’s website.
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The political battle between Miami commissioners Joe Carollo and Miguel Gabela — which began in earnest after Gabela took the chairmanship of the Bayfront Park Management Trust from Crazy Joe — erupted into a full blown war this week with several bombs launched. It culminated Thursday at a city commission meeting where Gabela’s wife accused Carollo of, basically, stalking them, and, after which, Chairwoman Christine King, like a frustrated parent with unruly kids, stopped the meeting abruptly.
Like a cease fire.
Nothing from the agenda — aside from the presentations and accolades — got done. Nothing.
And poor Loco Pollo Carollo — smiling and satisfied like the cat that ate the canary — had only just gotten there, after leaving his chair empty throughout the entire public comments period, during which Mariela Gabela said he and his staff were harassing her. Yes, that’s Mrs. Gabela, the commissioner’s wife.
Read related: Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo loses Bayfront Park Trust to Miguel Gabela
“He’s messing with my livelihood. He’s been messing with my livelihood since 2023,” Mariela Gabela said, coming to tears and pointing at the empty seat where Carollo should have been. “He has a person outside my house watching me night and day. He has the sergeant of arms over here taking photos of me and watching me day and night. I’m the wife of an elected official, and that guy over there is always watching me and his employees are always taking photos of me.
“This is not a communist country!”

This all actually started on Monday, when Carollo hastily called a press conference to make shit up about both Jose Regalado — the former assistant building director who is running for District 4 commissioner against his puppet candidate (more on that later) — and Gabela, who was made the chairman of the Bayfront Park Management Trust after Crazy Joe was accused of misspending the agency’s budget like a slush fund and was stripped of the title.
The press conference was really a pre-emption of Tuesday’s announced “emergency” meeting of the Bayfront Trust, which Carollo just knew was going to be all about his malfeasance, which it was.
Carollo, who has been known to have people followed and surveilled, distributed satellite photos of Gabela’s house with cars parked on the property and boats in the Miami River behind it. The accusations of code enforcement violations didn’t get much press traction, so he had his Chief of Staff William “Billy” Ortiz send an official complaint to the city manager, which Gabela mentioned on Thursday.
So, Carollo’s press conference was nothing more than trying to set the narrative before Gabela was able to blast his actions on the Trust. Because on Tuesday, two bombs dropped: Gabela had both Cristina Palomo, the former Bayfront Trust board member who resigned because of the Dogs and Cats giveaway, and former Bayfront Trust Executive Director Jose Suarez, who has accused Carollo of misspending hundreds of thousands of dollars — maybe millions — and is suing him and the city for pressuring him to resign.
The meeting was an indictment of Carollo, who was there and tried in vain to defend himself (more on that later). And there is now an ongoing forensic audit and investigation into the use of the Trust funds for Carollo’s personal gain, Gabela said.
Read related: Commissioner Miguel Gabela set to expose more Bayfront Park Trust issues
This alone, is enough of a story to set alarms on fire. There should already have been an investigation.
Then, at Thursday’s meeting, Gabela had a discussion item on the agenda to prohibit electeds from weaponizing any city department — akin to the resolution that Carollo passed that does not allow the city’s police department to investigate them. But when King announced that she would be leaving early, Gabela wanted to take it out of order. She said she would go in order.
“No, no, no. I need your vote. We need to do this because I’ve been targeted by the City of Miami code enforcement department through the city manager because of doing my job on the Bayfront Trust and Commissioner Carollo is harassing me,” Gabela said, while King, who has increasingly been seen as Carollo’s protector, kept interrupting him. She wouldn’t have it.

“He wants my house to be investigated when I have done noth… No, ma’am. No, ma’am. I know what’s going on here. I’ll tell you what. If we don’t do this, I’m leaving right now.”
King called a recess that ended up being permanent. Hopefully, things will get done at the next meeting. Because there is a lot to get done.
Gabela was unapologetic when he spoke to Ladra on Friday.
Read related: Joe Carollo wants to abolish Miami’s Bayfront Park Management Trust
“We’ve had people following us since 2023,” Gabela said, referring to his campaign before he was even elected. Back then, however, we thought it was former Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla who was behind it. He was running against Gabela after being suspended by the governor after his arrest on public corruption charges, including bribery and money laundering, that were later dropped. But Gabela says it’s part of the same cabal.
He also knows that Carollo is trying to derail the results of the Bayfront Trust investigation and change the narrative, which is not going to be good for him.
“This is his way to intimidate people. This is his way of coming after me,” Gabela told Ladra. “He is freaked out. He is scared. We hit a couple of bombs but haven’t hit the nuclear bomb yet.”
But we all know it’s there, don’t we? Where’s the fallout shelter?
The cease fire was also short-lived. There will be a Sunshine meeting in commission chambers on May 30 on “the weaponization of city government.” That’s going to be another indictment on Carollo.
The post Miami Commission clash: Miguel Gabela vs Joe Carollo war heats up appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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It’s been a little more than three months since Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo was accused of using the Bayfront Park Management Trust as a personal slush fund for himself and his political pals. But we’re about to find out that there’s been even more misuse of the public monies during some of the eight years that Carollo was chairman of the city agency.
Commissioner Miguel Angel Gabela, who was made chairman of the Trust after Carollo was stripped of the title, has called for an emergency Trust meeting Tuesday to discuss “newly discovered items identified during the initial review of the organization and to advise the board that additional issues are pending,” according to a press statement sent over the weekend. City officials and trust members — including the new executive director, Raul Miro — will be there, starting at 1 p.m., to “address the findings and outline potential next steps regarding the park’s administration and future.”
Miro was named director last month, because the last director, Jose Suarez, was pressured to leave after confronting Carollo about questionable Trust transactions.
Read related: Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo and the Bayfront Fountain of corruption
Suarez, once Carollo’s chief of staff, and finance director Jose Canto say they were forced to resign after they questioned the “lack of proper accounting practices and procedures that enabled Carollo to use the Trust’s funds to pay for Carollo’s own political ventures, his District 3 political office, his political allies, his District 3 social media provider, a 2007 van to use as a veterinarian mobile that was never used and was likely overpriced, and the commissioner’s holiday party.
“Carollo has attempted to use the Trust to pay or provide premium benefits to Carollo’s personal friends, including paying $20,000 for a yacht party for Carollo, his friends and family, and District 3 Office,” their legal complaint, filed in January, says. Another $45,000 was diverted to the Little Havana Fridays events that Carollo’s started to compete with an already popular event organized by critics — which has nothing to do with Bayfront or Maurice Ferre Park, which is also overseen by the Trust.
“Together, these wrongful expenditures totaled hundreds of thousands of dollars of misused and wasted Trust funds in less than one year, and Carollo has chaired the Trust for the past eight years without any legitimate oversight.”
So, it is safe to assume that some of the other seven years have been looked at, and already there were problems found.
Gabela did not return several calls to his cellphone. He is still mad at Ladra for calling him out on the pensions he wanted to propose last year. But in a statement, Gabela said, “This is a critical moment to ensure transparency and accountability in how we manage one of our city’s most cherished public spaces.”
Ladra does not know why it is an “emergency” meeting. Couldn’t Gabela just bring these issues up at the commission meeting on Thursday, when everyone is going to be there? At least it is going to be at City Hall, not the bunker where the Trust usually meets, so that may encourage more participation. The press release says “all residents, community leaders, and members of the media are encouraged to attend.”
This comes on the heels of a couple of contentious choques entre Gabela y Carollo. They have really gone after each other in the last two meetings, with Gabela calling Carollo a Nicolas Maduro wannabe and Carollo addressing Gabela as Tony. Tony Soprano. Carollo tried to derail the establishment of the Allapattah Community Redevelopment Agency, which he had previously supported, and everyone knows it’s because Gabela is the new Bayfront Trust chair.
Ladra has heard whispers about what they may be ready to reveal Tuesday: More details about discrepancies with the cash receipts from parking — called the “money room,” which held tens of thousands of dollars at a time — and the safety issues that led to the fountain, which just completed a $5.5 million renovation, being closed down again after Carollo rushed to get it open and operating for his big New Year’s Eve bash, which ended up being a long, free commercial for the commissioner, who wants to run for mayor this year.
Read related: Bayfront Park board member resigns on Joe Carollo’s $1 mil no-bid giveaway
But there has to be more. Because Carollo was in charge over there for eight years. A lot of graft can happen in eight years.
Carollo’s control of the Trust has been shady for years. There was a petition to remove him as chair of the Trust in early 2024, before any of the recent allegations were even made. That would include drugs that reportedly disappeared from the vet mobile, which was purchased for $115,000, which seems hugely over inflated and could be one of the kickbacks that the complaint says are rampant in the agency.
Then there is the $1 million spent on the Dogs and Cats Walkway that never went through a competitive process because the sculptures were reportedly provided by a friend of the commissioner’s wife, Marjory Carollo. That led to the resignation of a board member in 2021.
Then there is the outdoor gym that was put in place last year without the proper permitting or process. Was that also a non-bid award? To one of his friends? For a kickback? That might explain why he fought so hard to keep it there.
So, there are likely some big revelations coming on Tuesday. But Ladra also hopes they say that there’s more digging to be done.
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In what seems like an obvious case of political retaliation, Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo — who is still butt hurt over being stripped from the Bayfront Park Management Trust — tried in vain Thursday to stop the Allapattah Community Redevelopment Agency from moving forward.
He used to support Allapattah getting its own CRA, when he and Commissioner Miguel Gabela were pals for a short while, since both of them were mad at Commissoner Damian Pardo. But then Gabela dropped his lifetime pensions idea and Carollo — who is accused of abusing his post and mismanaging funds at the Bayfront Trust — was removed as chairman, which was then given to Gabela, who represents District 1, including Allapattah, and has been fighting to get his own CRA for more than a year.
Read related: Compromise may be reached at Miami commission on Omni/Allapattah CRAs
Carollo tried to make it seem Thursday like his motive for voting against the CRA was to keep the property tax dollars from leaving the general fund to go directly into that neighborhood. It’s also the “reason” why he had the item deferred from the last meeting earlier this month, to find out how much it was going to cost the city. He and Gabela got into it then, too, with Gabela asking how much the city had spent on attorneys for the multiple lawsuits stemming from Carollo’s abuse of power — since he was so “fiscally concerned” — and Carollo calling Gabela “Tony Soprano.”
He said Thursday that the funds for the CRA were the same dollars “we use every day for police, fire, garbage collection and every city service. How will we replace those funds back in. Because when you take money away, there’s only two ways to resolve it: You have to make cuts or you have to find new money.”
Staff tried to explain the CRA projects would be funded by any tax revenue greater than the amount collected on the base year. They can receive 50% of this tax increase or 95%, and Miami Chief Financial Officer Larry Spring recommended the Allapattah CRA be funded with 50%. That means $281.4 million would be diverted to the CRA over 30 years. It would have been $534.5 million at the higher percentage, he said.
But it’s like shouting into a vast void.
Carollo also said that it would take more than five years for enough money to accumulate to make a difference. And if “we’ll assume and make believe he gets re-elected,” then Gabela “won’t even be around when the real money comes in to make an impact.”
He doesn’t know how CRAs work, apparently. Maybe he thinks it’s like the Bayfront Trust, a personal slush fund for the chair.
“This is not money that is being taken from the general fund. It doesn’t exist yet,” explained Pardo, adding that CRAs work with the city and sometimes pay the city’s debts, like the Omni CRA — the extension of which was held hostage while Gabela fought for his Allapattah one — is doing with the port tunnel.
“It is not us against them,” Pardo said.
Read related: Fight over Omni CRA causes new rifts, alliances on Miami City Commission
Either way, Gabela didn’t care. “I don’t need your vote. Call the question.” He must have said “call the question” five or six times. It wasn’t as good as the meeting April 10, where the two yelled at each other and Gabela banged on the dais and demanded to know what Carollo had cost the city in legal fees.
“I want the figure. I want it one my desk,” Gabela told City Attorney George Wysong. “I expect, please, an answer to the question I’ve been asking for a year now. How much has Joe Carollo cost the city in legal fees?”
The answer was still elusive last week. But the CRA motion, which was establishing the business plan and setting boundaries, passed 3-1. It still need to get approval from the county before a CRA can be officially established.
Gabela, who always seems to be looking down when he talks, was also able to pass a resolution so the the city attorney is informed any time legal fees for outside counsel reach $500,000 in any new case where they are retained to represent an elected official. It was totally about Carollo, who has cost the city close to $10 million in legal fees for different cases. “You know the gentleman over there has a truck record, a very bad track record,” Gabela said.
He had originally wanted it to be a $150,000 threshold but changed it to $500K to get the needed vote from Chairwoman Christine King. “Something is better than nothing,” Gabela said.
“As a practitioner, I know cases don’t wrap up in a few months. Cases sometimes take years,” King said, adding that the rule would now apply to future commissioners as well. “I am not going to legislate based on personalities because this doesn’t only affect us.”
But the measure only calls for the city commission to be informed, much as it is informed when another city department is going spend more than $25,000 on something.
“I think we’re talking about transparency and having a threshold where it’s disclosed,” Pardo said.
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The Miami Commission meeting on Thursday was short, less than three hours long, and almost entirely civil. It helped that several controversial items were deferred. But it’s more ’cause Commissioner Joe Carollo was absent for most of it.
Carollo — recently named in a whistleblower lawsuit that alleges he abused his position as chairman at the Bayfront Park Management Trust and used it for personal gain — should have just taken the whole day off. The commission waited for him on the items he had put on the agenda — which then all failed for lack of a second once he arrived. Talk about rejection.
Crazy Joe wanted to create a policy by which all future elected officials and their staff would have to undergo drug tests and background checks and disclose if they had any sealed criminal records. “I’ve been hearing the last year so much the word ‘transparency,’” Carolll said. But he was really retaliating against commissioners who took the Bayfront Trust from him at the prior meeting.
Read related: Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo loses Bayfront Park Trust to Miguel Gabela
“You’re problem is, you’re like Maduro,” Commissioner Miguel Gabela told him at the Feb. 13 meeting, just before being named the new chair of the Trust. “You don’t want to leave.”
“My problem is I’m not a thug or a criminal,” Carollo shot back, apparently forgetting about his domestic violence arrest in 2001 when he was a mayor after hitting his wife so hard he left a welt on her head. His daughter called 911 and said “Help. My dad is hurting my mom! Please come now! Please.”
Is he implying that others are?
Carollo also failed to mention that individuals with sealed records are protected by Florida law from having to disclose any details. But it didn’t matter. Nobody wanted to ride that revenge train with him.
Crazy Joe also failed to get a change to the zoning code allowing for higher solid wooden fences. It seems innocuous enough. Good fences make good neighbors. But he’s such poison right now that nobody wants to touch anything to do with him. Perhaps his mayoral campaign is doomed (more on the later).
Several items were also deferred to the March 13 meeting, and we’ll get back to the important ones.
Others passed without much discussion, including an affordable housing project that seems to have tentative community support. Various Grove leaders — including historic, iconic community giants like Monty Trainer and Thelma Gibson — said the developers need to do more public outreach and include the community’s input in their final design (more on that later).
It was an almost entirely civil meeting until Commissioner Gabela said he just had to speak up on the criminal background checks.”It boggles the mind,” Gabela said, adding that Carollo’s motives were underhanded because he used to have a chief of staff — Gabela declined to name him — who had been arrested for something, he declined to say what. It was former Bayfront Trust Executive Director Jose Suarez, and it was soliciting prostitution in 1998, as reported by Political Cortadito.
“So you weren’t interested [in background checks] a year ago,” Gabela said, because Suarez was named to the Trust last March, “and you are now. It seems to me that you’re bringing this up for a reason.
“I’m not into that. I don’t like to character assassinate,” Gabela added.
That’s too bad. Because Ladra thinks he’d be good at it.
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The post Miami Commission rejects Joe Carollo’s revenge run at historically civil meeting appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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