Delayed project has merchants begging for help 
Ladra doesn’t know who needs to hear this at City Hall, but East Flagler Street is not supposed to be a ghost town.
Black Friday is going to be blacker than usual on Miami’s oldest commercial corridor, where mom-and-pop shops — the same ones the politicians love to trot out during campaign season — are dying slow, painful deaths behind barricades that haven’t moved in nearly a year.
That’s right. Eleven months without a single pebble lifted, according to shop owners who have been watching the empty construction zone like it’s one of those Miami reality shows where nothing actually happens.
And after 4.5 years of this disaster? The only sparkling new thing on Flagler is the creative vocabulary of excuses.
Danny Moshe, co-owner of Miami Discount Center — a store he has run with his wife Jacqueline for more than 40 years — is so desperate he cried out to the highest office on a local news program. “President Trump, please help us,” he said to CBS News Miami last week. They’ve survived recessions, rent hikes, hurricanes, crime waves — but apparently they can’t survive a city project that’s supposed to help them.
“It’s two years almost and nothing is moving,” Danny told CBS. “Nobody is coming.”
Jacqueline adds: “We have to work seven days a week just to pay a little bit of the bills.”
Read related: Downtown, Brickell residents still question Miami DDA benefits, future
When longtime Downtown merchants are literally calling on the former president for help because they can’t get answers from the City of Miami or the Downtown Development Authority, that’s not just a red flag — that’s a five-alarm fire.
The grand five-phase plan was supposed to transform Flagler into a “curbless, festival-style” pedestrian paradise with brick pavers and fancy drainage. Very European. Very Instagrammable.
Very not happening.
Phase 1 opened in July. Mazel tov. Now, we’re in Phase Nope.
Everything west of NE 2nd Avenue? Crickets. Barricades. Dust. Ghost town. The construction company that was doing the work, Lanzo Construction, vanished like a Brickell renter who didn’t get their deposit back. The city won’t say why. Maybe something about FPL finding some “problems” with the plans?
Meanwhile, the small street retail businesses are the ones footing the bill. “Excuses,” says one owner. “Abandonment,” says another.
Daniel Cohen, owner of Sneak Peek Luxury — a high end sneaker shop — says he’s down 65% in sales. The only reason his store hasn’t closed is because his landlord gave him a break.
“Not one pebble or shovel was lifted for the better part of 11 months,” Cohen said. “They just keep finding problems.”
Read related: Miami city commission set to give away historic Olympia Theater — for $10
This summer, the Miami Downtown Development Authority, which has spearheaded the project, celebrated the reopening of — wait for it — two whole blocks of Flager Street after more than four years of construction hell. The makeover, launched in 2019, is touted as a full five-block transformation project to activate and bring life back to the street.
The DDA said in a statement that it has tried to mitigate the situation.
“The Miami DDA has been fully engaged in supporting Flagler businesses throughout construction and we remain committed to helping them navigate this period while the city manages the project,” said DDA Executive Director Christina Crespi in a statement. “We’ve provided more than $700,000 in grants to small businesses and provided direct support through our free permit clinic. We’re also working hard to bring customers back to the corridor. Our recent holiday lighting celebration is proof of that. The even drew more than 2,000 visitors and generated a 323% increase in foot traffic compared to last year.”
Cohen calls BS. That flashy holiday lighting celebration didn’t bother to promote the struggling local businesses who could desperately use a few hundred customers.
Because why help the actual merchants when you can take selfies with twinkle lights?
Also, by the way, $700,000 is about what the DDA spent last year on public relations and marketing — in salaries.
Read related: Effort to dissolve Miami DDA cites ‘bloated’ salaries, redundancy, UFC gift
Downtown Neighbors Association President James Torres, the lead force behind the effort to dissolve the DDA, said the project’s delays are yet another example of how the agency has failed the community.
“The DDA was instrumental in this project and it is now the road to nowhere, creating more blight in the downtown area,” Torres told Political Cortadito. “And many small businesses are closing and not making it.
“A Thanksgiving update on Flagler falling apart. Sad,” he said. “Honestly, the DDA gives downtowners nothing to be thankful about.”
Flagler Business Improvement Executive Director Terrell Fritz didn’t mince words in an email to businesses: “I assure you the BID has done nothing but facilitate, advocate, challenge, protest and be ignored for most of the 4.5 years of this fiasco.”
Ignored. For four and a half years.
What Flagler Street is supposed to look like once the project is done.
And city spokesman Kenia Fallat‘s response? Very polished. Very generic. Very… let’s say City Hall-ish: “We remain firmly committed to the continued revitalization…” yadda, yadda, yadda. Vibrancy. Character. Bonding company. Stakeholders. “World-class Miami.” We’ve heard it all before.
Meanwhile, real world Miami is watching their livelihoods evaporate behind plastic barricades and a construction plan that works about as well as the elevators at the MetroMover stations.
The real story: Small businesses are drowning while the city argues about whose fault it is.
This is the same city that can fast-track billion-dollar deals for developers in 30 seconds flat, but somehow can’t reopen a street that’s, what, six blocks long?
But sure — let’s blame the contractor, the bond company, FPL, COVID, the supply chain, the moon phase, Mercury retrograde…
Meanwhile, the Moshes are watching 40 years of sweat equity circle the drain.
“Open the street,” Moshe said. Simple. Straightforward. The kind of thing a functioning city government should be able to do.
And the city better hurry. Before there are no businesses left to “revitalize.”

This kind of independent, government watchdog reporting is crucial to transparency and democracy. Help shine a light on the darker corners of our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

The post Flagler Street fiasco: Downtown Miami ‘makeover’ is more like a make-under appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Something stinks at Miami-Dade County, queridos, and it’s not the trash at the illegal dump sites Commissioner Kionne McGhee keeps complaining about. No — this is an entirely different kind of smell. A political one. A transactional one. A “wait, what did they just do?” kind of stench.
Let’s start at the beginning, because this story needs a flow chart.
The county’s Violence Prevention & Intervention Division — the outfit that runs domestic-violence shelters, injunctions, and victim services — had a division director vacancy gathering dust for years and years. They just kept shuffling people under interim leadership and hoping nobody noticed.
Then in July of 2023, something magical happened: Shareefah Robinson sued her employer, the non-profit Children of Inmates, for wrongful termination after she became a whistleblower on what she called fraudulent use of state funds by the president of the organization and “dear friend” of McGhee’s. Robinson also said they owed her back pay.
And just four days later, after years of nada, Miami-Dade County suddenly posts the long-vacant Violence Prevention and Intervention Division director job within the Community Action and Human Services Department. For a 14-day window.
Ladra has shoes that were on sale longer.
Read related: Miami-Dade committee punts hard on Kionee McGhee’s non-profit slush fund
Then things started moving inside CAHSD — which was divided last budget cycle into two departments — like someone flipped a panic switch. In October 2023, then Assistant Director Ivon Mesa — founder and chair of the Miami-Dade Human Trafficking Coalition — gets removed. Booted. Shipped off to the corrections department. Then, in January of 2024, guess who was suddenly introduced as the new division director? Lawsuit-filing Shareefah Robinson. Through the rest of the year, there’s a bunch of turnover, allegations against her, two complaints with the county’s Human Rights and Fair Employment Practices Division, cease and desist letters.
Meanwhile, Robinson’s lawsuit against Children of Inmates was quietly sitting in court, like a loaded gun.
And then, poof, it went away.
On or about November 6 or 7 of last year, while Robinson is safely in her new county director chair, her lawsuit is dismissed for failure to prosecute. Not settled. Not adjudicated. Just… oops, we no longer care. There had been no activity in ten months, the motion to dismiss states. If you do the math backwards, that means January — when she got her new job.
Very county employee with a new six-figure salary of her.
Robinson — who let her marriage and family therapy license from the Florida Department of Health expire in 2022 —  is making $140,545 a year. Not only is that over the $137,125 cap on the job description, but it looks, from her resume, that Robinson may not be as qualified as other candidates, including internal candidates that had been working in victim services for years. She had been a clinic director at the Fort Lauderdale Comprehensive Treatment Center and the chief programming officer at Touching Miami With Love — another nonprofit that gets money from Miami-Dade County in partnership with organizations like The Miami Foundation and The Children’s Trust to fund initiatives for youth activities, parenting programs and adult training in Homestead, Florida City and Overtown.
Oh, and before that she was chief operating officer at Children of Inmates, where she was either fired for stealing time or for being a whistleblower, depending on who tells the story.
Read related: Kionne McGhee has own Miami-Dade budget town hall to focus on non-profits
Fast forward to the Sept. 18 county budget meeting, when McGhee — who has been dodging calls, texts, carrier pigeons, smoke signals and telepathy on this subject — casually announces: “I receive $175,000 from Children of Inmates.”
The same nonprofit Robinson sued. The same nonprofit whose lawsuit magically evaporated after Robinson was handed a division director job. The same nonprofit tied to the timeline of her suspicious fast-track into county leadership. The same nonprofit that got $250,000 from the county in the 2025-26 budget.
So let’s pull it all together: A woman sues a nonprofit for wrongful termination. She says the non-profit’s president, Shellie Solomon (McGhee’s girl) — who he recently honored at the Miami for Hope gala (what?) — is using the organization’s money to pay for her own parent’s care. The non-profit is tied to McGhee, who secured funds for it when he was a Florida state representative and has listed it as a revenue source in his financial disclosures for years. Four days after the lawsuit is filed — four days — a county job that’s been empty for years suddenly opens up, but only for two weeks. Leadership is rearranged. The woman suing the non-profit gets the job. And her lawsuit dies a quiet death.
But, no, no, I’m sure this is all just a coincidence. Miami-Dade County would never use jobs as bargaining chips. And commissioners would never have any influence over hiring in departments they oversee. And nonprofits would never pay commissioners who vote on budgets affecting them. Nunca. Jamás. Qué va.
Ay, please.
Read related: Miami-Dade might skim a little off the top of contracts — for the nonprofits
This entire thing smells like a politically arranged hush-hush settlement where the payout was a six-figure salary and great benefits. And Ladra is left with questions: Why was a critical job left open for years but rushed open days after a lawsuit was filed Why was it posted for only 14 days? Why did key leadership get removed or shuffled during the process? Why did the lawsuit die only after she was secured in her job?
And, most importantly, how did a county commissioner get involved to help his employer and his “good friend?”
McGhee hasn’t answered calls or texts for more than a week. His last text back was on Veteran’s Day. And he knows what it was about. In the last text on Wednesday, Ladra wrote that his silence would be taken as a no comment. “But you know why I am calling. If you can provide any information as to why Shareefah Robinson’s job was not a payoff to get her to drop her lawsuit vs Children of Inmantes, please call me. Thank you.”
He didn’t call me. Probably because he can’t unconnect the dots.
Robinson couldn’t be reached at her county office day after day. Ladra left messages. They were not returned.
But don’t worry. Ladra isn’t letting this go. Not when it’s domestic violence services — real life-and-death work — being used like political currency. The whole Violence Prevention and Intervention Division needs to be audited and public records need to be requested.
Stay tuned. Because the lawsuit might be dead, but its ghost is just coming to life.

This kind of independent, government watchdog reporting is crucial to transparency and democracy. Help shine a light on the darker corners of our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

The post Did Miami-Dade’s Kionne McGhee ‘buy off’ a lawsuit with a county job? appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

After two months of insisting that their September vote to hand over 2.6 acres of prime downtown real estate next to the Wolfson Campus for Donald J. Trump’s presidential library was perfectly fine, even though nobody knew about it, the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees suddenly decided Tuesday to take a “do-over” and hold a new vote.
A public one. With real notice this time. Where actual human residents can show up and say what they think.
They want a gold star for this. Ladra wants to roll her eyes all the way back to the Freedom Tower.
Read related: Lawsuit challenges MDC giveaway of downtown Miami lot for Trump library
Because make no mistake: They didn’t have a change of heart. They didn’t have a transparency epiphany. They got caught. They’re only re-noticing the vote because Miami historian and college professor Marvin Dunn sued to stop the giveaway and a judge granted the temporary injunction, basically telling them there is a “substantial likelihood” they violated the Sunshine Law when the voted Sept. 23 to convey the parking lot property — bounded by Northeast 5th Street, Northeast Second Avenue, Northeast 6th Street and Biscayne — to the Florida Board of Trustees for them to pass along to the Trump library foundation.
Dunn has already organized several protests and the court has already blocked the college from transferring any land while the lawsuit moves forward, and then set a trial for August of next year. The college was also denied a motion last month to expedite an appeal of the ruling that granted the injunction.
In other words, they kept losing in court. Which is exactly why MDC Board of Trustees Chair Michael Bileca, a former Republican state rep, shrugged and said, essentially: Whatever, let’s just revote and move on.
It wasn’t courage. It wasn’t conscience. It was CYA. And impatience to get the deal signed.
Dunn filed the lawsuit days after the vote, accusing the trustees of violating Florida’s Sunshine Law, because the notice was “unquestionably inadequate, and therefore unreasonable,” according to attorney Richard Brodsky.
Read related: Miami Dade College gifts Donald Trump land for his library — and a hotel
The college’s only public notice before the vote, posted a week before its Sept. 23 meeting, vaguely said the board would “discuss potential real estate transactions.” The agenda posted the day before didn’t even specify which property — let alone that the trustees were about to hand over 2.6 acres of prime downtown property worth more than $200 million that the school bought in 2004 for future growth and has been using as a parking lot in the meantime.
“This was not in any way, a typical or run-of-the-mill ‘real estate transaction,’” Dunn’s lawsuit states.
On Tuesday, Dunn celebrated the news.  “We won,” he told The Miami Herald. “This is what we wanted them to do. Re-notice this and give the public a chance to appear and express our views, so we won. They caved.”
He’s already planning to pack the room at net’s week’s meeting, Dec. 2. He might not need to work too hard for that. The outrage has been organic. Ladra expects hundreds of people to show up. Better bring cafecito and comfortable shoes. And maybe some Xanax. Because here’s the kicker: Get ready for the board to vote the same way again — to give away the land. They basically said so already.
Not one trustee has hinted they’ll change their vote. Not. One. Ladra knows how Miami works. You don’t schedule a revote unless you already counted. In fact, Trustee Marcell Felipe — who always manages to sound annoyed that democracy takes time — complained the lawsuit was “a gigantic waste of taxpayer money” and said: “Let’s get it done, let’s put it to bed.”
Translation: We already know what we’re doing. This meeting is a formality. Show up, don’t show up — we’re still giving Trump the land.
Just look at who the trustees are: Bileca, Felipe, co-founder of the now defunct MegaTV and chairman of the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, former State Reps. Jose Felix Diaz, Miami-Dade School Board Members Roberto Alonso and Mary Blanco — both originally appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis — Ismare Monreal, the chief operating officer at the city of Hialeah and a former legislative aide at the Florida House, and Juan Segovia, a homicide detective at the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.
The real gigantic waste of taxpayer money, however,  is the planned giveaway for the only presidential library in the nation planned with a hotel. Because of course it is. This land bought in 2004 for future growth and has been used as a parking lot in the meantime. Today’s value is estimated at more than $200 million.
Read related: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez gave Trump a key to city; gave us the finger
Trump’s foundation wants to raise $950 million — that’s almost a billion dollars for you English majors — to build this “legacy” project next to the Freedom Tower. MDC has not disclosed a single concession or benefit they negotiated for students or the college. Not one scholarship program. Not one academic partnership. Not one promise of anything.
They’re giving away 2.6 acres of prime downtown Miami real estate on Biscayne Boulevard and getting… what, exactly?
Silencio.
This new meeting might get loud. But it’s for optics only.
A little sunshine to make the lawsuit go away. A little public comment to make it look community-driven. A little performance of democracy before the unanimous trustees do what they came to do.
But hey — at least the public gets to say what they think about this to their faces this time.

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

The post MDC Trustees to vote again on Trump library land; still smells like a done deal appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

What a difference a chat makes.
It turns out that the big, scary socialist bogeyman that Miami politicians loved to weaponize in the recent mayor’s race — New York’s free Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, the one they tried to tie around Eileen Higgins’ neck like some kind of communism-flavored cowbell — is now, apparently, Donald Trump’s new bestie.
Yes, that Donald Trump. Yes, that Mamdani. And yes, the political world is spinning so fast Ladra’s cafecito almost spilled.
And while South Florida’s self-proclaimed defenders of freedom from the Red Menace are usually the first to jump on a microphone to scream “¡SOCIALISMO!” at anything from bus shelters to bike lanes, the Mamdani–Trump meet-and-greet last week has somehow left them all shockingly, suspiciously, strategically quiet.
The silence is so loud you can hear the echo bouncing off the windows at Versailles.
Read related: Partisan divide is strong in Miami mayoral race, Gonzalez vs Higgins
National outlets went into overdrive after Mamdani emerged from the Oval Office, where he had a surprisingly cordial and friendly chat with Trump and a whole lot of photographers.
CBS News had the receipts. AP confirmed the tone. Time, Newsweek and the Washington Post chronicled the confusion — especially among MAGA hardliners who suddenly didn’t know whether to clap, cry, or Google “Is socialism still bad?”
One conservative pundit called the moment “baffling.” Another warned the base to “play the long game.” Others were still rebooting their internal hard drives.
Meanwhile, progressives didn’t know whether to applaud or check the fire alarm. Some activists praised Mamdani for showing up and demanding real housing policy. Others muttered “betrayal” and “publicity stunt” between sips of overpriced cold brew.
But the best reaction? Oh, mis amigos, that would be the Florida Republicans — so chatty, so dramatic, so eager to compare Eileen Higgins to Fidel Jr. during the campaign — who suddenly went full monastic vow of silence.
Where are Miami’s anti-socialist avengers now? Let’s check in on the usual suspects:

Miami and Miami-Dade commissioners who shrieked “Mamdani! Mamdani!” into every microphone like it was Beetlejuice? Crickets.
State legislators who used “socialism” in their campaigns more often than “traffic,” “affordability,” or “take responsibility for anything”? Nada.
The politicians who smeared Eileen Higgins with guilt-by-association because Mamdani maybe aligns with her on transit or housing? Mute. Off. Airplane mode.

Where are all the warnings? Where is the outrage? Where are the dramatic press releases about Trump being infiltrated by Marxist ideology with a dash of saffron?
Apparently, when Trump himself plays footsie with the socialist boogeyman, the anti-socialist brigade suddenly develops a very convenient case of laryngitis.
Maybe they’re drafting a resolution condemning socialism except when Trump does it. Maybe they’re waiting for talking points from Tallahassee. Maybe they’re all just stunned that Dear Leader didn’t run Mamdani out of the Oval Office with a Bible and a canister of tear gas.
Even former City Manager Emilio González, who has recently promoted his endorsement for Miami mayor from The Donald, made like the Mamdani-Trump bromance was no big deal. But maybe he won’t honk that horn so loud now.
Read related: A GOP hugger vs. a developers’ darling — Miami’s mayoral race just got defined
While the national press dissected every angle — the optics, the messaging, the very awkward grin Trump flashed while Mamdani spoke — Miami’s political class remained curled up in the fetal position, rocking gently and whispering “This doesn’t fit the script.” Political observers have gently pointed out that local electeds are doing political calculus, trying to figure out whether this meeting makes socialism cool now or whether they’re supposed to spin it as a masterstroke of negotiation.
Real-estate insiders are nervously watching, wondering if Trump’s sudden willingness to speak about housing affordability could actually intersect with Mamdani’s policy ideas. Developers don’t care about ideology — just whether zoning changes make them money.
But the most terrified people in South Florida right now? The anti-socialist cheerleaders who spent the last election season fundraising off fear and fables.
Now they’re caught between defending Trump (mandatory), and denouncing Mamdani (instinctual), and reconciling the fact that their hero and their villain just sat down for a chat (impossible).
As if the universe wanted to rub salt in their wounds, the very same day Mamdani and Trump met, Congress — with heavy Florida involvement — advanced a symbolic resolution condemning socialism and denouncing it in all its forms. It was sponsored by Miami Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar and, even though she’s been scaring constituents about socialism since her first election, Mamdani’s name did come up.
“The Mamdani socialist agenda is seeping into our country like poison,” said House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain. “Republicans won’t let it take root.”
Um, except at the White House?
Read related: GOP candidates repeat the ‘won’t lose my country’ mantra in campaign ads
The MAGA base was baffled. Progressives were amused. Miami politicos suddenly remembered they had “no comment at this time.”
Even the ones who weaponized Mamdani’s name like a campaign cudgel couldn’t bring themselves to utter a single syllable. The silence is almost sweet.
So, what does this mean? It’s not so hard. Trump will talk to anyone who makes him look statesmanlike. Mamdani will talk to anyone who will listen to his housing points. And Miami’s politicians will talk about socialism — except when doing so could look like they’re criticizing Trump.
It’s not that they don’t have opinions. It’s that they don’t have permission to say them yet. Once someone in Tallahassee or Mar-a-Lago decides the official line — “genius move,” “nothingburger,” “deepfake,” whatever — the talking will resume.
Until then? They’ll stay quiet and hope nobody remembers all those speeches, tweets, and mailers where they swore Mamdani was the biggest threat to democracy since salami on a medianoche.
The Cortadito conclusion: Trump met with the socialist our local politicos used to frighten Miami voters. Mamdani walked out standing his ground, unshaken, and pretty clearly amused. The national press went nuts. The MAGA base short-circuited. And South Florida’s loudest anti-socialist crusaders — the ones who slandered Eileen Higgins with guilty-by-retweet nonsense — have suddenly turned into mimes.
If Ladra didn’t know better, she’d think they were embarrassed.
But let’s be real. They’re not embarrassed. They’re just waiting to see how to spin it so they don’t have to admit the obvious: Their whole “Mamdani = Evil Socialist Threat” act was a cheap campaign scare tactic that just blew up spectacularly in their faces.
Until then, the silence will have to do.
And oh, qué rico it is.

Read Full Story

As usual, las malas lenguas were right: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago is no longer warming a chair at BDI Construction. Pero why? Pick your poison.
Is this more fallout from the FBI’s sniffing around developer Rishi Kapoor’s influence over Miami Mayor Francis Suarez — a.k.a. Lago’s political BFF? Is this a pre-emptive cleanse before Commissioner Melissa Castro’s anti-kickback ordinance hits the fan? Or did Hizzoner just blow one of his trademark ’roid-rage gaskets at the office and poof — hasta la vista?
When Ladra dialed BDI last week, the receptionist sounded like I had asked for Santa Claus. “Who?” After repeating the mayor’s name — slowly — she finally said, “He’s not an employee of BDI anymore.”
Why? Where’d he go? Was he fired? Pushed? Paid to disappear? She didn’t know. “I just know he no longer works here.” Translation: Don’t ask me, lady. I’m not touching that mess.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago has more city business than we thought
The exit details are the new parlor game in the City Beautiful. Did Lago jump? Was he shoved? Or was the man who insists on calling himself a “business owner” shown the door by the actual business owners?
Because — newsflash — state corporate records list Carlos and Teobaldo Rosell as the owners of BDI. Lago did start a company with them, BDI Holdings, in 2022 but it was administratively dissolved in 2023. Was he pretending to own 33% of the other company? And folks who know the Rosells describe them as decent, honorable people — the type who probably don’t want a Lyin’ Lago strutting around town claiming their company like he bought it on Amazon Prime.
Como siempre, the mayor ghosted Ladra’s calls and texts. Maybe he’s busy dusting off his resume and making phone calls. Or…
Another rumor is that Lago — who hasn’t publicly announced his separation from BDI —  is cooking up his own company. Perhaps something with Suarez, who is termed out and packing up his desk.
According to his sparse and neglected LinkedIn profile (he still hasn’t changed his employment status), Lago was a “project executive” at BDI for almost 14 years — longer than he’s held elected office — having started in January 2012, a year before he was first elected commissioner in 2013. And yet, he lists no other work experience, which we know is adorable fiction. Lago has collected LLCs the way other men collect cologne samples.
There’s Hammer Lake Construction and Design, created in 2022 with perennial candidate Norman Anthony “Tony” Newell. There’s his self-proclaimed part-ownership of a downtown coffee shop — so maybe our mayor’s next career is as a barista. “Double-shot latte with a sprinkle of corruption, coming right up.”
Lago is also a licensed real estate agent tied to former Hialeah Councilman Oscar de la Rosa’s boutique firm — the same one that made a $640,000 commission off that Kapoor building on Ponce de Leon Boulevard.
Read related: Developer who paid Miami mayor also rents from Gables Mayor Vince Lago
And let’s not forget Capitol Equity LLC, which Lago formed with de la Rosa in 2021. It died quietly the next year. RIP.
And thanks to the Miami Herald, we also know Lago is part owner of a Ponce de Leon storefront that rented to Kapoor’s Location Ventures for more than $12,400 a month as a sales office — even though the space sat empty. That’s over $152,000 for air-conditioning the dust bunnies.
Business savvy? Claro que sí.
One thing seems almost certain: Vince Lago will land on his feet. Firmly. Deeply. Maybe with both shoes in the mud.

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

The post Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago no longer works at BDI Construction appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Miami District 5 Commissioner Christine King, who cruised to re-election with a North-Korea-level 84% of the vote, was sworn in last week at City Hall surrounded by supporters, staff, church folks, youth groups, neighborhood leaders, and of course, the ever-present political padrino Keon Hardemon, whose fingerprints are still all over D5 like pastelito crumbs on a guayabera.
But there was someone missing — her father, who recently passed away. And when King talked about him, that’s when her voice cracked. Even Ladra’s cold little political heart moved a bit. (Just a bit.)
Her mother beamed with the kind of pride only a Caribbean mom can radiate — the kind that can warm a room and intimidate half the dais at the same time. You know who you are.
King, raised in Miami since the age of five, is the first Guyanese American ever elected to the Miami City Commission and the first woman to serve as chair. She talked about the “honor” of representing District 5 — and for once, it didn’t sound like boilerplate politician talk. Between the grief and the gratitude, she let the audience see the human behind the title. Rare for the 305, where over-polished speeches are practically an Olympic sport.
“This was a thank you campaign,” she said, thanking everyone for “allowing me the privilege and honor to serve. I do not take that responsibility lightly.”
Next to her mother, she broke into tears talking about her dad. “I lost my dad this year and that was really hard and it is still really hard. Which is why I’m tearing up now. Because he’s not here. But he is here.”
She said she lived “a fairy tale” life and thanked her family, her staff, her constituents and her mentors, including Billy Hardemon and former State Rep. Roy Hardemon, who died last week but was mentioned a few times.
“This life that I’ve been gifted by God is so full and my cup runneth over. I get to do things to improve the lives of families in District 5 and that’s what this job is about.
“Being able to work with commissioner Hardemon together to serve our community has been transformative for our community.”
Termed-out Mayor Francis Suarez was exuberant in his remarks.
“She is someone who has a tremendous fighting spirit,” Suarez said. “She has a fighter’s spirit, but she does it with a mother’s touch and with a soft hand. I remember when she was first elected and my chair had left our city, that I said I need someone who can keep the guys under control.
Read related: No runoffs in Miami as incumbents and Christine King score big election wins
“She said no at first. She literally told me no. She said, ‘No, I’m not ready. I just got here.’ I said, “No, no, no no, you are ready. You are made for this. Your personality is perfectly balanced to manage the people who are up here.”
Later, Commissioner Miguel Gabela said what everyone was thinking: “You’ve had a hard time working with us, you know, keeping us straight at times here. We’ve had a little bit of trouble on and off,” Gabela said. Ladra wonders if he means the time he got up and almost punched Joe Carollo.
Said Damian Pardo: “You do an amazing job of keeping the boys in line.”
During her words, King said “irrespective of what you all may hear, these are great guys. And I love them all… they are part of my fairy tale.”
Yeah, they’re all there: the big bad wolf, the tricky troll, the evil stepfather.
Suarez said King has a calming voice — which has been useful and has been useless at some meetings — and credited her with “making sure the agenda happens.” Suarez called her “a loyal friend… a loyal ally,” good, transparent, honest — and Ladra doesn’t know how those things can coexist.
Hardemon also had nothing but good things to say about his “number one partner” in the community, who he bonded with before either was elected. But he couldn’t help but take a few digs at the former county commissioner without naming her (Audrey Edmonson).
“To see these four years pass by so quickly, it’s like a blink of an eye,” he said, talking about the prrogress she’s made working with the county and the state. “I’m proud of the progress that you made. You made women in this town look good. I hope my daughters grow up to be somebody just like you, who can do something and say I can do it as a lady and look good doing it.”
Um, what? Cringe.
Read related: Miami-Dade Commissioners silence voters, appoint District 5 replacement
Even newly-appointed Miami-Dade Commissioner Vicki Lopez, less than 24 hours after her own swearing in, had some words of encouragement and support, calling King her sister and her “partner in crime.” Whoops. Hopefully, Lopez doesn’t mean the bribery charge she was slapped with when she was a Lee County commissioner in the 1990s.
“The thing that impressed me the most about her is that she led with her heart. She has cared deeply not only about her district but about the entire city,” Lopez said, adding that she had worked with King as a state rep on some projects and issues. “Some in her district and some not in her district. She never wavered in her commitment to the city.”
Still, this is Miami, and nobody gets a coronation without a bit of context.
There was never really a contest in D5. Marion Brown, a construction executive, and Frederick Bryant, a retired teacher and community activist really wasted their time running against her.
King — who previously served as Chief of Constituent Services for Miami-Dade County and later as president and CEO of the MLK Economic Development Corporation — has been the hand-picked successor to Hardemon, who went on to the Miami-Dade Commission, since before the commission slapped him in the face and appointed Commissioner Jeffrey “Who” Watson, who sorta promised, but not really, not to run for real and then got stomped in 2021 when Christine took 65% of the vote.
The chairwoman has some first-term wins: affordable-housing action, rental assistance, millions secured for Overtown, youth and workforce investments, homelessness programs, climate initiatives, beautification projects, and her signature “Constituent Tuesdays,” where anyone can show up and bend her ear without an appointment.
She promised more of the same in Term Two — more affordable housing, more youth programs, more senior support, more mental health access, more homelessness strategies, more resilience projects, and more neighborhood partnerships. All good things. All needed. All ambitious in the little four-year window Miami politicians get before redistricting, chaos, or FBI raids disrupt everything.
Read related: Rolando Escalona picks up two anti-Carollo endorsements in Miami D3 race
The only person beaming harder than King and her mom was Hardemon — the man who helped launch King into office back in 2021. The political godfather. The one person whose nod means more in District 5 than most outside it realize.
This wasn’t just a swearing-in; it was a reaffirmation of the District 5 political lineage. A continuation. A passing of the torch that never actually left the family.
But to King’s credit, she has grown into the role on her own terms. And on Thursday, as she promised to keep fighting for residents being pushed out of the neighborhoods they helped build, it felt… genuine. Emotional, yes. But, also, earned.
District 5 has seen its share of political turnover, drama, and reinvention. But for the next four years, it looks like Christine King isn’t going anywhere.

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

The post Miami Commissioner Christine King is sworn in, returned to her throne appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story