It’s so painfully obvious she gets under their skin
For almost 12 hours Tuesday, Coral Gables Commissioner Melissa Castro took the hits from her colleagues on the dais like a professional boxer who is used to being in the ring for extra rounds with opponents who don’t fight fair.
And even though she was not able to move a single one of her 10 agenda items forward at the very long commission meeting, Castro said she felt victorious because the board voted to put the election year change on the ballot, rather than making the change by ordinance all by themselves. That is something she has been fighting for since May.
“What I most wanted, I got,” Castro told Political Cortadito Wednesday. “And that is that the people will get to vote on when they have their elections.”
Read related: Coral Gables commissioner Melissa Castro challenges election date change
She didn’t get the date she wanted. Castro — who was censured by her colleagues last month for trying to get an opinion on the election change from the Florida attorney general — would have put the question on the next regularly-scheduled election ballot in April of 2027, when her first term expires. Mayor Vince Lago wants the election to be in April of next year (more on that later), and that’s what he got, of course. He is confident that voters will approve the change and wants the next municipal elections in November of 2026, cutting Castro’s term by five months.
Because he’s really out to get Castro and Commissioner Ariel Fernandez — two underdogs who beat his handpicked candidates in 2023 — gone as quickly as possible. In fact, at one point Tuesday, Lago blurted out that he had polled Castro five times. “You’re below 15%. You’re upside down, two to one.”
Five times! That sounds like an obsession. Unless, you know, he’s just lying. It wouldn’t be the first time.
But “upside down, two to one” suggests that Lago polled Castro against someone in particular. Could it be Ivette Arango O’Doski, the Lago candidate she beat by 18 points two years ago? Rumors have circulated that someone is recruiting Cecilia Slesnick, the daughter-in-law of former Mayor Don Slesnick and the late Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick, to run against Castro (more on that later).
But the commissioner just smiled Tuesday and told Lago to chill out. “Don’t be so worried. Don’t be so preoccupied. I would never go into something I can’t win,” she said, practically winking at him.
It’s also not the first time that Lago behaves obnoxiously and acts aggressively toward Castro. But it’s gone from ignoring or sidelining her at public events and refusing to take photos with her after she won — other electeds apologized for him at an Underline event — to badmouthing and embarrassing Castro at the Carnaval de Barranquilla event in downtown Coral Gables in April, just one day after Lago was sworn in post reelection, calling her a “venomous snake” and “bad news” in front of dignitaries and city staffers. And in front of Castrro’s son.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago lashes out at Commissioner Melissa Castro
And while the commissioner is a fully grown woman who has a master’s degree in industrial-organizational psychology — maybe that’s how she does it — Lago talks down to Castro as if she was a little girl. He openly laughs at her legitimate concerns is if she wasn’t elected by a wider margin than he was last April. It’s a disrespect to the voters, the constituents, the residents.
“Let me provide you with a little clarity,” he tells her, just a variation of the same tone he treats her with in every single commission meeting.
But it wasn’t only L’Ego who took every opportunity Tuesday to bully and harangue Castro, who can’t possibly have a good idea as far as the mayor and his minions are concerned. The expedited permitting for residents who wanted to pay more for the service — which would also have been a new revenue stream — was shot down before they could even start a trial period. On Tuesday, the commission completely shot down her motion to expand the noise ordinance to ban construction in the residential zones before 7:30 a.m., instead of 8 a.m. which is the rule now.
Let that sink in: Castro wanted to give residents one more hour of peace in the mornings. Particularly one elderly handicapped woman who keeps getting woken up by the construction of The Village, a luxury townhome development on Malaga Avenue. And the LALalalala group thought this was a bad idea? Ladra is surprised Commissioner Richard Lara didn’t say that the people elected them to keep the early construction noise going.
That’s their excuse for everything: “The people elected us, so this is what they want.”
“It’s obvious that if I say I have some free bread for the city, they will say no,” Castro said. And it’s become pretty obvious to everyone else that she is right. In fact, Ladra expects them to say the bread would be tainted.
Read related: Coral Gables: Developers, lobbyists lead, giving $753K to elect Richard Lara
Lara sounds like he is chastising her constantly and Lago is dripping with disdain when he addresses Castro. It is so nauseating that at least two residents mentioned it during public comments.
“Please Mayor Lago, I’m disappointed in your frequent condescending of her ideas and comments,” said Lisa Detournay, a resident of the Riviera neighborhood who also added that Castro had asked good questions and that she was unaware of some of the things the commissioner had brought up about the mobility hub (more on that later).
“You guys speak so poorly to Ms. Castro,” said another lady on Zoom. “You may not be raising your voice, but what you say is so embarrassing.”
Castro, who is very much underestimated and smarter than they think — or maybe they know just how smart she is and can’t stand it — just sits there and takes it all in stride. She got very upset and cried publicly after the Carnaval event because she was embarrassed in front of Colombian leaders and her son. Ladra spoke to people there who said the mayor was out of line.
On Tuesday, Castro seemed to just ride it out in stride. She knows she was right about letting the voters decide on the election date. So, she might turn out to be right about some other stuff, too. She can play the long game and watch as Lago and the others — particularly Lago — self destruct.
But the bullies she has to sit with in the meantime are not amusing. They are abusive. Ladra would venture to suggest they are creating a hostile work environment for her.
“I can handle it,” Castro told Ladra. “They’re the ones who are looking terrible.”
The one who looks the worst is Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson. Instead of defending the only other woman from Lago’s and Lara’s intentionally demeaning comments and constant mansplaining — or at least deflecting for her — Anderson joins the bully bandwagon. instead. It sometime looks like Anderson is jealous of Castro. It’s hard to watch.
She should have been Castro’s mentor. Not her nightmare to the right.
Anderson did not return a call from Ladra. She never does. Lago, who doesn’t return calls or texts either, would probably punish her harshly.
But after the long meeting Tuesday, a meeting where Lago took every opportunity he could to disparage Castro, the mayor sent a congratulatory message to his daughter, Catalina, who turns 11 this week. Perhaps he should think of his daughter more when he viciously and needlessly attacks the woman sitting next to him at the commission meetings.
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Even before Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins officially threw her hat in the ring for the Miami mayoral race, the Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee was sending out text messages linking the front-running Republican candidate, former City Manager Emilio González, to Donald Trump.
Then Tuesday, a day after Higgins submitted her resign-to-run resignation at the county, the Republican Party of Miami-Dade came out with a social media post that links her to New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who has served since 2021 as a member of the New York State Assembly from the 36th district, based in Queens. A member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, he is the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City in the 2025 election.
There’s that word: Socialist. Miami voters are in for a brutal campaign season.
And if you think it is too early for partisan politics to be creeping in, remember that there are just over two months until Election Day Nov. 4.
Read related: Eileen Higgins officially resigns Miami-Dade seat to run for Miami mayor
First blood was drawn by the Dems, warning that Gonzalez could be “Miami’s first MAGA mayor.” It cites a Washington Times story from June that calls him a surrogate for Donald Trump.
Gonzalez says he is going to be a mayor for all the people, Democrats included. But there’s no denying his red stripes. He worked in the George W. Bush administration running U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and then returned to Miami-Dade, where he served as CEO of Miami International Airport before coming to Miami as city manager.
He emerged as a major critic of President Joe Biden immigration policy and became a founding member of Veterans for Trump, a bilingual surrogate for candidate Trump, a transition team member for the President-elect and was just named a senior fellow at the Trump-connected America First Policy Institute.
And, most importantly, he was the closest behind Higgins in an internal poll announced by her campaign earlier this month. She led with a high 36%, followed by Gonzalez with 15% and former Commissioner Ken Russell, a onetime Democratic candidate for congress, clocked in at 12%. He’s so far sitting pretty, avoiding any attacks as Emilio and Eileen duke it out.
Not to be outdone, the Miami Republicans posted on their Instagram account a response to the two texts against Gonzalez.
“The Miami-Dade Democratic Party and their candidate Eileen Higgins are running scared — and for good reason. They know voters are fed up with their record of higher taxes, reckless spending, government waste, and misplaced priorities,” reads the message posted Monday. “Instead of defending their failed record, they’ve resorted to smear campaigns and desperate attacks against Republican candidates.
“Miami families deserve honesty and leadership, not fear mongering and political games,” they wrote.
Read related: Poll has Eileen Higgins in Miami mayoral runoff with Emilio Gonzalez
But the very next day, they couldn’t resist to succumb to fear mongering and political games, posting a photo collage of Higgins and Mamdani with a warning: “Miami is a refuge for New Yorkers seeking liberty and freedom. Now, Miami faces the same future as New York City if Eileen Higgins @eileenformiami becomes mayor in November. We cannot afford to turn over our city to a radical liberal lunatic.”
Seriously? Can you say hypocrite?
This year’s Miami mayoral election is going to be a doozy. Help Ladra cover all the angles with a contribution today to Political Cortadito and its signature independent watchdog journalism. Thank you for your support!
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Town manager, council member say it won’t be 36%
The Miami Lakes Town Council has set a tentative property tax rate for next year — and brace yourself, Lakers, because it’s higher than anything you’ve seen in nearly a decade. The new ceiling? It’s 2.6372 mills, or $2.63 for every $1,000 of taxable property value. That’s before all the exemptions, of course.
That’s a whopping 36%  increase and, according to the Miami-Dade property appraiser, it’s the second highest tax rate hike after Pinecrest (more on that later).
But don’t freak out yet. Council members swear this is just a “placeholder” while they sharpen their pencils and poke around the $24.9 million proposed budget to see if they can trim a little fat or scare up some new revenue before the September hearings. And the administration has already found enough savings to cut the originally proposed tax rate.
That’s going to be the good news presented at a budget workshop Wednesday night. But Ladra bets it’s still gonna get hot.
Miami Lakes has been bragging about its “tax diet” for years, cutting the millage in 2017, 2018, 2019, and again in 2023, hitting a so-called “all-time low” in 2024 and then going flat this year. Town Manager Edward Pidermann says the belt’s so tight now, the town is choking.

“The multi-year reduction of millage has placed cumulative pressures on town revenues and its ability to provide a high standard of public services,” Pidermann wrote in a July 29 memo. Translation: The town just can’t keep delivering champagne services on a beer budget.
Back then, the manager had proposed a tax hike last that would take Miami Lakes back to the 2006-2007 rates — and would bring in $13.1 million, which is $2.8 million more than last year. Enough to cover everything, including that $500,000 legal settlement with former Mayor Michael Pizzi. Yes, that Pizzi. Because Miami Lakes just can’t get rid of him.
Read related: Miami Lakes votes to pay former Mayor Michael Pizzi $1.7 million for legal fees
For the average homeowner with a taxable value of $293,906, the jump would mean an extra $166 next year. Because everything costs more: contractors, insurance, retirement contributions, and of course, a 5% raise for town staff. And let’s not forget the elephant in the budget — police. Always police.
The biggest line item in the town’s ledger is the $12 million contract with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, sucking up almost half the general fund (48.5%). Next year that bill climbs another $836,194.
The council only capped the tax rate July 29. That means they can make it lower but not higher. And Councilman Bryan Morera told Political Cortadito on Tuesday that he never intended to move forward with the 37% increase, which was a worst case scenario. “Given the information in front of us at that last meeting, I did not have the math to support changing the recommendation,” Morera said. “But there’s plenty of room to come down.”
Property taxes only make up 53% of the town’s general fund — the pot that pays for crossing guards, code enforcement, community events, and yes, those little league parks. The rest comes from fines, permits, utility taxes (16.5%), FPL franchise fees (6%), and intergovernmental revenue (20%).
Morera said he was glad to hear that the town manager had already found ways to make the tax increase less painful.
Pidermann had warned that keeping the current flat rate instead of raising taxes would mean slashing police patrols, skipping a $300,000 infrastructure fund contribution, cutting back on tree trimming and park maintenance, and saying goodbye to new playground equipment. Also: no staff raises, fewer town events, and no council travel.
Some folks might not mind that last one. Electeds can travel on their own dime.
Read related: Critics say Miami-Dade 2025-26 budget could possibly put public safety at risk
But on Tuesday, the town manager told Political Cortadito that changes had already been made after last week’s council meeting, where he got direction for modifications. “Therefore, the most recent version of the General Fund budget that will used in the workshop tomorrow night as the starting point for discussion has some changes,” Pidermann said.
Those changes include:

Increasing the franchise fee agreement with FPL from 3% to 6% — which generates an additional $1,125,000 in FY 2025-2026 and an additional $1.5 million in subsequent years.
Suspend for one year a Miami Lakes ordinance that restricts surplus funds generated by the FPL franchise fee. Normally all funds generated by the FPL franchise fee over $1.27 million must be used for certain infrastructure categories.
Drop the proposed millage rate from 2.6372 presented in July to to 2.2459 — which is still higher than the current 2.0732.
All town committee budgets shall remain flat from current fiscal year.
The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for staff salaries shall be reduced from 5% to 3%.

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Shady lobbyist defends Florida’s ‘Stop WOKE’ Act
So, former Miami Commissioner turned mega-lobbyist Marc Sarnoff has found himself a pulpit in the Wall Street Journal, of all places, wagging his finger at America’s universities for being too “woke” and praising Ron DeSantis and Jeanette Nuñez for saving Florida’s ivory towers from the Marxist-Islamist menace.
Eyeroll.
Yes, that Marc Sarnoff — the guy who made his political bones selling out Coconut Grove to developers and now cashes in by shilling for giant LED billboards that blind drivers on I-95. Also the same Sarnoff who is one of the lawyers defending none other than Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo in his never-ending parade of lawsuits.
But sure, tell us more about moral clarity, Marc.
Before he took his turn lecturing from the Wall Street Journal soapbox, — in a piece titled “The Stop WOKE Act Makes Florida Campuses Safe for Jews” — Marc Sarnoff polished his reputation on Miami’s development stage, leaving a trail of controversies, whispers, and vote-trading smoke behind him.
Back in 2006, Sarnoff unexpectedly ousted an incumbent by warning voters that large-scale developer donations come with expectations: “When somebody gives you half a million dollars, they expect to get a return on their investment,” he said. Fast-forward to 2015, and his critics embraced that language, slamming him with a “Sarnoffopoly” campaign flyer that portrayed him and his wife (who ran to succeed him) as a political dynasty bankrolled by boosters like The Related Group and other deep-pocketed developers.
Read related: Mrs. Sarnoff makes the move for her hubby’s hand-me-downs
Remember the bloodline brag? Sarnoff once claimed to be the grandson of radio and TV pioneer ‘General’ David Sarnoff, the Russian-American media executive who launched NBC, the nation’s first TV network. That turned out to be straight-up fiction. After relatives and the David Sarnoff institution publicly denied any connection, he scrambled to scrub the claim from his biography, according to the Miami New Times.
Then there’s his staffing insider maneuver. Sarnoff feigned surprise when two of his own aides resigned — only to be hired days later in much more lucrative positions at the Omni CRA, which Sarnoff controlled. That’s not a coincidence. That’s nepotism.
After he left office and started lobbying for Orange Barrell Media, Sarnoff also fast-tracked digital ad kiosks — even as competing businesses pleaded for fair process and access. The Florida Bulldog in 2020 published a story that shows him quietly steering ordinances in favor of one company that would net Miami millions in ad revenue, raising eyebrows in City Hall. Critics called it a backroom pipeline for corporate gain.
Sarnoff has accepted hundreds of thousands from billboard companies for his political action committee, Truth is the Daughter of Time, which he then funneled to candidates like Carollo and former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who was arrested in 2023 on public corruption charges, including felony bribery and money laundering. The charges were dropped last year.
And in 2012, Sarnoff was admonished by the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust for failing to report a gift. The commissioner traveled to Brazil for activities associated with the Volvo Ocean Race later that year in Miami. The Greater Miami Convention and Visitor’s Bureau reimbursed Sarnoff for all of his expenses. Miami’s city attorney said that because Sarnoff was taking part in official city business, he did not need to report it as a gift, but the Ethics Commission disagreed. Especially since they also paid for his wife’s travel roundtrip airfare.
Marc Sarnoff has represented Joe Carollo in the 2020 recall against the commissioner and the civil First Amendment case against him for abusing his power with two Little Havana businessmen for political payback.
All told, Sarnoff’s resume reads like a Miami power drama: developmental ambition, coastal real-estate whispers, ethics red flags, nepotism, and showbiz-style big campaign checks. So when he lectures universities about ideological indoctrination, remember: he’s not just speaking from the high moral ground — he’s perched up there atop a pile of conflict-laden foundations.
Sarnoff drops in highbrow quotes from Alexander Pope like he’s writing for the Federalist Society newsletter and then goes full Fox News about “globalize the intifada” chants on campus. His message? Florida is the shining example because DeSantis passed his Stop WOKE Act, gutted DEI, and put political cronies in charge of universities. He even gives FIU’s new and possibly unqualified political-appointee president Jeanette Nuñez — yes, the same Nuñez who spent years in Tallahassee greasing the GOP machine — a glowing shoutout.
Read related: LED billboards could buy their way to Miami streets via campaign donations
Conveniently missing from Sarnoff’s sermon is any mention of actual academic freedom. Or the fact that students in Miami — Jewish, Arab, Black, Haitian, Cuban, Venezuelan, Chinese, whatever — are more than capable of debating tough issues without Tallahassee politicians dictating what’s allowed in their classrooms.
The so-called Stop WOKE Act, or the “Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees” thing — yes, that’s the actual tortured backronym Tallahassee cooked up, because branding — isn’t about protecting anyone from antisemitism, which is real and serious and deserves more than a lobbyist’s op-ed spin. It’s about controlling the narrative, silencing dissent, and reshaping education to fit a right-wing culture war playbook.
Because apparently banning books wasn’t enough, Florida Republicans had to go and ban feelings.
It should be called the ‘Stop Talking About Racism Act’ or the ‘Start Protecting Fragile Feelings Act,’ or maybe the ‘Start MASA Act,” since they like acronyms. It stands for Making America Stupid Again.
Just don’t call it freedom.
DeSantis’ signature culture-war gift to his base, passed in 2022, prohibits schools and businesses from teaching certain concepts about race, gender, privilege and systemic inequality. You know, the kind of conversations that might make people… uncomfortable. The law actually says teachers and employers can’t make anyone feel “guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress” because of race, sex or national origin. Imagine that: a white kid might learn that racism didn’t end with Martin Luther King’s dream speech — and suddenly the state is worried about trauma.
Florida’s Board of Governors has quietly relegated dozens of courses — especially sociology, anthropology, and history—from core degree requirements to optional electives. That means future graduates may skip essential context on systemic inequality—or anything that sounds vaguely “woke”—and still earn a diploma. Schools from UF to FIU are feeling this squeeze. Tenured professors have filed lawsuits.
Of course, courts have already shredded big parts of this as unconstitutional. A federal judge compared it to “1984,”calling it “positively dystopian” for the state to dictate what can and cannot be discussed in classrooms and boardrooms. Even DeSantis’ beloved business donors balked when they realized it could apply to diversity training.
Read related: Gov. Ron DeSantis sends Florida DOGE squad to sniff out Miami-Dade budget
But Tallahassee’s culture crusaders don’t care if it holds up in court. The point isn’t policy, it’s politics. They want to keep the base riled up with the boogeyman of “woke indoctrination,” even if what they’re really doing is dumbing down classrooms and handcuffing teachers.
So now, instead of talking about history, kids in Florida schools get a watered-down version of it. Instead of learning to debate tough issues, they’re learning that free speech has fine print if it makes the wrong people squirm.
And of course, Sarnoff loves it. Because Marc has always thrived in a world where money and influence override messy democratic debate. Now he gets to wrap it all in a bow of “Western civilization” and “citizenship” while his real clients — the billboard companies, the big developers, the entrenched incumbents like Carollo — keep cashing in.
So yeah, the WSJ gave Sarnoff a platform to talk about how “a little learning is a dangerous thing.” Ladra thinks a little self-awareness might be even more dangerous for him.

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Four months after he got sworn in as Coral Gables’ newest commissioner, Richard Lara is finally bringing his first resolution to the dais. You’d think it might be some bold policy idea to set the tone for his term. Maybe something on development, zoning, traffic — or even trees.
Nope. Item F-17 on Tuesday’s agenda is… a street naming. And it’s not even his idea.
Lara is sponsoring a resolution to support the co-designation of a portion of SW 57th Avenue, from Calle Ocho to Coral Way, as “Wayne Russell and Jimmy Fabbricatore Way.” That’s a mouthful. Try to ask directions to that and let’s see what happens.
The naming is to honor the longtime owners and operators of the beloved Duffy’s Tavern — which was done last month by Miami-Dade Commissioner Natalie Milian Orbis. Duffy’s Tavern is technically in West Miami, where Milian Orbis was a commissioner before she was appointed by the county commission months ago to replace Kevin Cabrera, the new U.S. Ambassador to Panama.
Can’t Lara, who has so far been an echo chamber for Mayor Vince Lago, have an original thought?
Read related: Richard Lara sought repayment for gala ticket bought before Gables election
Don’t get Ladra wrong: Russell and Fabbricatore are both respected names in local history and may very well deserve recognition. But the timing makes it look like Lara is borrowing from the county playbook rather than drafting something of his own. After four months in office, Lara’s first big idea is… someone else’s.

The street naming is to highlight significant role Duffy’s Tavern has played in the local community for over 40 years, serving as a gathering place for residents and fans of various sports teams like the Miami Dolphins, Miami Heat, Miami Marlins, Inter Miami, and the University of Miami Hurricanes. It is a way to acknowledge the contributions of Russell and Fabbricatore in building the neighborhood spirit and recognizing Duffy’s Tavern as more than just a restaurant but a cherished landmark.
Duffy’s first opened in 1955 by Martin Duffy. But it might not be there for long. This honor comes a little more than a year after Russell and Fabbricatore sold the property, 2108 SW 57th Ave., and the automotive shop next to it for $4.5 million to Doral real estate agent and petroleum dealer Marwan Shihadeh.
We don’t know what he plans to do with it, but whatever development he plans will have a Duffy-esque address: 2100 Wayne Russell and Jimmy Fabbricatore Way.

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Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago has a new political target in his crosshairs — the Coral Gables War Memorial Youth Center Association, the decades-old civic group that safeguards the land where the city’s youth center now stands. But it’s only because former Commissioner “Coach Kirk” Menendez, who had the guts to challenge him in the last election, is its president.
Just another stop on Lago’s political revenge tour. And bonus: Maybe the city gets to control the property.
The mayor began questioning the non-profit organization only shortly after he was re-elected in April, beating Menendez in the first round with 55% of the vote. Lago says the association has gone dormant, lost its nonprofit status and failed to meet regularly. But the Florida Division of Corporations shows that it files an annual report each year except for one: 2005. It was reinstated in 2006 and filed last year.
This is more than an extended political grudge, a new battlefield for the mayor to blast Menendez. This looks like a land grab.
Read related: Vince Lago, Rhonda Anderson handily coast to re-election in Coral Gables
That’s why Lago says the reverter clause — the language that gives control of the property back to the association if it is not used exclusively for a youth center — is a “cloud on the title” that needs to be lifted. Y, por supuesto, Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson and Commissioner Richard Lara quickly agreed. That’s their role.
But nobody campaigned on this, which is their excuse du jour whenever they want to force something: They “know what voters want” because they just ran for office and won. But nobody remembers them saying they were going to take on the non-profit that safeguards the Youth Center. And it is hard to believe voters want this.
The beloved youth center is not just a bunch of fields and playground equipment and basketball courts. It is practically sacred ground. It is a community gathering place and an iconic piece of growing up in the Gables. There’s hardly anybody in the city who hasn’t been there for something — a workout, a baseball game, summer camp, a performance, a community civic meeting.
And Menendez is almost synonymous with it. He grew up playing soccer there, turned into a coach and has been a staple on those soccer fields for decades. More people know him as Coach Kirk than Commissioner Menendez.
The association was born out of the post–World War II “living memorial” for veterans. It deeded the land to the city in 1958, but not without the reverter clause that says the property would bounce back to them if the city ever tried to repurpose it. And for almost 70 years, the city has honored that. Well, except for that one time in the 1960s, when they wanted to tear down Coral Gables Elementary for an office building and rebuild the school on the Youth Center grounds. A court upheld the reverter clause and slapped commissioners back in line back then.
Now, Lago wants that language gone for whatever reason. And he’s placing a cloud on the organization.
“I want to see all its documents, and I’d like staff to come up with a plan of action to contact the board and ask for bank records,” Lago said in July, sounding more like an evil king who wants the association’s head on a platter. He asked City Attorney Cristina Suarez to dig through the association’s books, history and bank accounts. She is supposed to report back on Tuesday, but what she may report is that she hit a dead end.
Ladra confirmed that Suarez sent the non-profit a list of documents she wants to see, including tax filings, investments information, internal memos — but there is no indication that she got them.
“We’re a private entity,” Menendez told Political Cortadito. “Like the Coral Gables Community Foundation, Friends of Gables High, a floral shop.”
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago scores trifecta on post-election revenge tour
“Removing the protective reverter clause in the Youth Center deed would be like getting rid of the security guards and dismantling the security system of a bank because there hasn’t been a bank robbery there for years,” Menendez said.
Because, again, this is really about a land grab. That is why Lago said that “our cherished youth center should not have any cloud on title.” Remember, he’s also a real estate agent.
The real cloud is on Lago’s motives.
If the association were to dissolve or transfer the land, it could potentially make the property — 8.6 acres in a valuable, central location near the downtown — eligible for redevelopment, though the City has publicly stated it has no intention of repurposing the site. For now, anyway.
Lyin’ Lago swears there are no plans to redevelop the property. “The city will never, in my opinion, knock down and build housing there,” he mayor promised. Okay. But what about offices? A theater? Ladra’s heard enough about land deals in this town to know you never say never in Coral Gables.
And who stands to gain if the city got the property free and clear? That’s the multi-million dollar question.
Beyond real estate, a freed-up title could shift political leverage. If Menendez keeps control, he could maintain his influence in Coral Gables civic circles. Conversely, Lago’s push to clear the title may be aimed at cementing his control and undercutting Menendez’s foothold. This isn’t just about property—it’s a battle over legacy, governance, and civic authority. The reverter clause ties into who steers future programming, who decides the site’s purpose, and who has a stake in one of the city’s most visible public assets.
Menendez said that past generations knew what they were doing when they put the protections in place. And it looks like he is not going down without a fight. Last week, the Gazette reported, he made a presentation before the Rotary Club, a good audience for civic pride, nostalgia, and some rare photos — including a 1947 Life magazine cover. His presentation was even titled “The Youth Center, A Coral Gables Story.”
For now, the Youth Center is still open and bustling. Parents drop off kids for basketball, seniors play bingo, and nobody outside City Hall seems to think there’s a crisis. But with a ‘roid-rage-fueled political grudge and a juicy piece of Gables real estate at stake, you can bet this “cloud on title” is going to rain plenty more drama before the storm is over.

Help Ladra keep the spotlight on the shenanigans at Coral Gables City Hall with a contribution to Political Cortadito and the grassroots, government watchdog journalism it brings every day. Thank you for your support!

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