The city of Miami has its first inspector general in former Miami Police Maj. Antonio “Tony” Diaz, who retired from the department after 33 years in June. This is who the commissioners have chosen to be their independent watchdog.
¡Pero por supuesto! Did you think they were really going to tie their own hands?
Diaz is, by all accounts, a great guy with a clean record who is fair and friendly. So maybe he should just enjoy his retirement. Because it might be an emotional battle for him to investigate his old pals, bosses and colleagues. And when he does, there could be accusations of some bad blood or something. It’s just not smart to go with such an obvious insider choice.
Read related: Retired Miami Police Maj. Tony Diaz could be named city’s Inspector General
It’s not like the city had a lot of prospects, though. Two of the eligible applicants withdrew. Suddenly, they were no longer interested for whatever reason. Did they know the fix was in? Another candidate was not selected for an interview by the selection committee. The four finalists on the shortlist that were interviewed May 29 were Diaz, Christopher Paul Failla, a U.S. Navy vet who worked at the Office of Inspector General for the Architect of the Capital, which preserves and maintains the historic buildings, monuments, art and inspirational gardens on the Capitol campus; Karuna Khilnani, who worked as assistant to the city’s auditor general, a position that was eliminated by voters when they approved the IG instead; and Adam Layton, assistant special agent in charge at OIG for the Department of Health and Human Services.
But Diaz was better?
Yes, according to the selection committee, which was comprised of a bunch of professional people that Ladra does not like to be second-guessing. They are:

Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Howard Rosen, chief of Special Prosecutions office.
Judith Bernier, an associate teaching professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Florida International University and director of the Center for Labor Research and Studies. She is also chair of the Miami-Dade commission on Ethics and Public Trust where she has served since May of 2014.
John Vecchio, special agent in charge at the FDLE, where he’s worked for almost 28 years. He also worked as an adjunct professor at the Institute of Public Safety at Broward College.
Miami-Dade Public Defender Carlos J. Martinez, elected in 2008, and re-elected in 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024 without opposition. The first Cuban-American Public Defender and the only elected Hispanic public defender in the U.S. He manages an office of about 400 employees, handling approximately 75,000 cases each year.
West Miami Police Chief Pedro “Pete” Delgado, who has been with the tiny department for almost 24 years.

These are not a bunch of yahoos that don’t know the ramifications of picking the wrong person. So Ladra is going to give them the benefit of the doubt. But there’s still doubt.
After all, Chief Manny Morales and the leadership at the police union are fans.
Almost 80% of the voters approved of establishing an inspector general’s office last August. And Ladra can’t help but wonder if this is what they had in mind. Is he really going to be a watchdog or is he going to be more like a lookout?
The unanimous vote at the July 24 meeting means that City Manager Art Noriega — who probably should be investigate for a number of things — will negotiate the contract with Diaz, which will include his salary and benefits package. The contract will be for four years and Diaz can only be fired without cause by a four-fifths vote, according to the resolution.
The city’s estimated budget for the inspector general’s office in 2025-26 is $2.1 million,
Read related: Miami voters win on inspector general, lose on ‘outdoor gym’ referendum
“I’ve always worked with purpose and the reason I want this position and am interested in this position is really to make a difference,” Diaz told the commissioners at the July 24 meeting, adding that his track record — which includes a stint as head of internal affairs — has shown he does not play sides.
“My investigation is always going to be based on facts and not influence. I am not going to intertwine this office with any politics,” Diaz said. From the podium. At a commission meeting. At City Hall.
And Ladra also hopes he meant investigations, plural.
“I’m going to do the right thing for you and for the city of Miami,” Diaz told the commission, as if those two things could coexist.
We should see soon enough. This is not a position that will take very long to get tested.
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When elected officials want to make it easier to sell off public land, it’s usually not about efficiency. It’s about opportunity — for someone.
And it’s usually not the public.
The Miami City Commission last month voted to put a referendum on the November ballot so that the sale or lease of city-owned land can be executed with a simple four-fifths vote on the dais. Right now, any sale or lease of public land has to go to a public vote. But this change would allow four people to sell public land. No public vote would be needed. So the right the public has today to approve or reject any property deal would be taken away.
This is becoming a habit with these commissioners.
Read related: Miami-Dade Judge: Miami Commission can’t cancel election without public vote
This proposal to ease restrictions on how the city can sell or lease non-waterfront public land was proposed by City Manager Art Noriega, not a city commissioner because that would be political suicide. But none of them pulled it for discussion, so the resolution was approved without a single question raised.
What properties would be affected? Which properties would be off-limits, besides waterfront land? Who determines “fair market value”? Who is waiting in the wings, ready with an offer?
There was even the ballot question attached to the July 24 reading:

“SHALL THE CITY CHARTER BE AMENDED TO ALLOW THE CITY COMMISSION, BY A FOUR-FIFTHS VOTE, TO APPROVE THE SALE OR LEASE OF NON-WATERFRONT CITY-OWNED PROPERTY WHEN FEWER THAN THREE PROPOSALS ARE RECEIVED AFTER PUBLIC NOTICE, PROVIDED THAT OTHER SAFEGUARDS, INCLUDING FAIR MARKET VALUE AND VOTER APPROVAL FOR WATERFRONT PROPERTY, REMAIN IN EFFECT?”

The City of Miami’s Department of Real Estate & Asset Management (DREAM) manages an estimated $17.5 billion real estate asset portfolio, which includes 513 properties, 139 million square feet of islands, three marinas of over 1,300 boat slips, moorings and dry racks, retail malls, hotels, office buildings, multifamily buildings, theaters, stadiums, parking garages, historic properties, long term ground leases, upland and submerged lands.
The resolution states that these “recommended revisions will promote the efficient, transparent, and fiscally responsible management and disposition of City-owned non- waterfront property, particularly in instances where market interest is limited.”
What does that mean? It sounds like bureaucratic fine-tuning — but Miami doesn’t have a good track record when it comes taxpayers’ assets. This looks like another loophole in the making, just waiting for the next sweetheart deal to slip through.
Right now, in addition to going to a public vote, the city has to advertise the property and get at least three bids before approving a deal. That’s called competition. That’s called transparency. That’s called giving the public a shot at knowing who’s trying to buy public property. And for how much. And for what purpose.
This change? It says, “Nah, don’t worry about all that.” Fewer than three proposals? As long as it hits “fair market value” and gets a four-fifths vote from the commission, it’s a go.
Read related: Miami commissioners vote to negotiate sale of historic Olympia Theater
Let’s be honest: This is like hanging a “for sale” sign with invisible ink. The average taxpayer won’t see the deal until it’s done, the price is locked, and some lucky friend of a commissioner or mayor is already picking out floor samples.
There is talk that this could be related to the future sale of the Miami Police headquarters property downtown. It could also open up the floodgates on unsolicited offers to redevelop a number of public housing buildings.
Sure, the city says this doesn’t apply to waterfront land. Miami voters still have to approve the sale or lease of any waterside property. For now, anyway. Because everyone knows how these things evolve. First you carve out a little exception. Then you find a way to stretch it. Then you say, “Well, it worked fine for inland properties, soooo…”
Next thing you know, a former park becomes a condo tower, and the public gets a press release and a commemorative plaque.
Proponents are going to say there’s nothing wrong with getting the public to vote on this. But then they’ll spend millions to fool the voters into thinking it’s a good idea.
Ladra thinks it’s a bad idea. Not because she hates streamlining — but because she knows exactly who benefits when public oversight gets called red tape.
And it’s usually not the public.
The post The city of Miami wants to sell your public land with no public vote appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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While there is a new chairman at the Miami Downtown Development Authority in freshly minted City Commissioner Ralph Rosado, it looks like the 58-year-old agency, which is tasked with assisting and incentivizing business in the urban core — hasn’t exactly shaken off the stink of recent scrutiny, with legit questions still swirling around its bloated budget and some very curious decision-making.
New face, same ol’ funk.
A number of Brickell and downtown condo dwellers have been complaining to the city commission and the administration about the DDA since the 15-member board voted earlier this year to give $100,000 to the UFC, a sports organization worth an estimated $12 billion. A closer look revealed that the agency had also given $450,000 — $150K a year for three years — to woo the FC Barcelona soccer club headquarters from New York to Miami, and $175,000 to the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship host committee for, well, good measure maybe.
And, to boot, there are a lot of well-paid and overlapping staff positions with bloated salaries.
Some residents say they don’t want a 15-member board of insiders spending their tax dollars on things like trolley paint jobs and soccer club wooing while residents juggle $20 million assessments and skyrocketing insurance bills.
Read related: Ka-ching! Miami DDA is doling out more checks to billionaire companies
Leading the charge is James Torres, president of the Downtown Neighbors’ Alliance and an unofficial spokesperson for fed-up condo owners. “We want a divorce,” Torres said. “They’re double taxing us.”
““This is about fairness and democracy,” Torres said. “All we’re asking is for the City to give residents the opportunity to decide for themselves whether this additional tax should continue. No other community is forced to pay this surcharge, and it’s time to ask: should we?”
Torres has tried to engage the city in finding a solution. He has suggested the city change the structure and make the DDA more like a business improvement district, taxing only the commercial property owners and businesses — not the residents. And if the city doesn’t want to do that, then he wants them to put the future of the DDA on the ballot.
At the last commission meeting, Commissioner Joe Carollo moved to put a nonbonding question about the DDA on the November ballot. But it died for lack of a second.
Rosado, who was quick to abolish the Bayfront Park Management Trust, has said that the budget was possibly bloated and that there needed to be reform, including more residents on the 15-member board.
Brickell’s not happy either.
“Brickell is not downtown. Downtown is not Brickell,” said Ernesto Cuesta, president of the Brickell Homeowners’ Association. “This is taxation without representation. We don’t see the services.”
Ladra gets it. Condo life ain’t cheap. Especially if you’re getting hit with a $12,000 special assessment and a bonus tax for a group that, according to many residents, does nada for their quality of life.
Read related: Effort to dissolve Miami DDA cites ‘bloated’ salaries, redundancy, UFC gift
The DDA is made up of 15 hand-picked board members tasked with “economic development” in downtown. But more than half of its funding — 58 percent — comes from residential property owners. You know, the folks who actually live here. The same folks who are footing the bill for DDA pet projects like the $450K to FC Barcelona to move their U.S. office here and open a souvenir shop on Flagler. Because apparently what Miami really needed was another overpriced jersey store.
But wait, the DDA says, it’s all for the greater good: economic development, business grants, license plate readers, and a free trolley that still somehow manages to pass you by. And the agency does have its champions. But most of the people who spoke in favor of keeping the DDA at last week’s commission meeting — and every meeting where this has come up — are board members or employees or businesses that have benefitted from their grants. In what looked like a desperate PR campaign, former homeless people who are now employed by the DDA — known as “yellow shirts” because of their uniform — were paraded before the commissioners, pleading to save their jobs.
The DDA partners with Camillus House to provide economically disadvantaged and formerly homeless individuals opportunities for employment in what they call “the Downtown Enhancement Team,” so they get training and experience to reenter the workforce. Among the jobs they do: Street sweeping, litter and illegal dumping removal, graffiti abatement, sidewalk power washing and landscape installation and maintenance.
Oh, and serving as props for the DDA’s advocacy at commission meetings.
In reality, the DDA allocates just 1.25% of its $22 million budget to address the homelessness crisis that residents face every day. And that $22 million budget has grown from $13.5 million last year. That is more than a 50% increase. Some of this is given back to the city, for enhanced police patrols as one example.
Meanwhile, downtown residents are still feeling less safe, the historic Olympia Theater is on the auction block, and the Miami DDA is celebrating the long-overdue reopening of — wait for it — two whole blocks of Flager Street.
This is the Flagler Street promised in 2019. It doesn’t look like that, yet.
Yes, two. After three years of construction hell — that’s 40 months of barricades, bulldozers, broken promises and busted businessess — City Hall, the DDA and the Flagler Business Improvement District want a pat on the back for reopening a fraction of what was supposed to be a full five-block transformation project originally launched in 2019.
Leaders blame the delays partly on the COVID pandemic. “There have been a few issues with getting the contractor to stay on schedule,” Terrell Fritz, the director of the Flagler BID, told CBS News Miami in a story aired Wednesday.
Ladra’s not saying a makeover wasn’t needed. The new look — with its fancy brick pavers, outdoor café space, and what they’re calling a “festival streetscape” — does add a little Paris flair to the gritty downtown core. And yes, it’s great that Bespoke Barber Pub owner Clara Henao got to hang a liquor license next to the clippers thanks to some DDA assistance. Cheers to that.
But while the DDA touts this reopening as a “success story,” three blocks remain a construction zone. Officials say the dominoes will fall faster now — but after 40 months, Ladra’s not holding her breath.
Behind closed doors, the story is different. “We’ve put in millions and millions of dollars,” a resident said at the most recent DDA board meeting. The video was posted on Twitter by Torres.
“We’ve put in street furniture and every single piece of street furniture is either damaged, scratched, has huge chunks taken out of it.” By the time all of Flagler Street is open, “the assets we invested all these million of dollars on are already going to be 25 or 50% into their lifespan.”
Read related: Op Ed by DNA President James Torres: Miami doesn’t need a DDA anymore
If this is what the added DDA tax buys, it’s no wonder Brickell and Edgewater residents want out. They should demand a refund.
Because when you can’t get five blocks of downtown paved in under half a decade, it gets a little harder to sell the story that the DDA is “enhancing quality of life.”
Unless, of course, your idea of “quality” is dodging scaffolding while waiting for a trolley.
Still, Torres and other residents aren’t buying it. In a recent survey by the Downtown Neighbors’ Alliance, about 56% of the 850 respondents said the DDA hasn’t made life better. Maybe because the DDA’s idea of improving safety is buying more cameras while sidewalks crumble and scooters fly like weapons of war.
He and those who think like him say that if the DDA truly stands behind its value to the community, it should welcome this opportunity to let taxpayers decide. “Let our people vote. It’s fair, democratic, and long overdue,” Torres said.
While the commission took no action on Thursday, the DDA opponents in Brickell and Edgewater and downtown still want some relief. Not more red tape. Not more marketing gimmicks.
And definitely not more soccer swag.
The post Downtown, Brickell residents still question Miami DDA benefits, future appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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It’s good to have friends at City Hall. Just ask Chelsea Granell.
The longtime Coral Gables staffer — who was Mayor Vince Lago‘s chief of staff with no staff — quietly got another sweet little promotion in June. She’s now the director of Governmental Affairs  — basically the city’s chief lobbyist — leading legislative the municipality’s strategy at the local, state, and federal levels. The position gives her direct access to the movers and shakers in Tallahassee and D.C. She’ll be the city’s point person on legislative funding, preemption threats, and policy alignment.
The title bump comes with a pay bump of 10%. Granell, now makes $110,300 a year. She previously made $91,165 as chief of staff, a position that Lago invented just for her, because he really had no staff. One part-timer for a few months but that’s it.
Granell also had the inside track for the city lobbyist job. There was no job posting. No pool of candidates. City Manager Peter Iglesias — who was brought back to his position by Lago in May — just handed her the job. It was a direct appointment. Was he paying back the favor?
This move also puts her under the supervision of the city manager. So Lago is no longer her boss — directly. But he is Iglesias’ boss.
City spokeswoman Martha Pantin told the Coral Gables Gazette, which first broke the story, that this is “strictly a title change.” Yeah, a title change with a 10% raise. City Hall says the pay bump is “customary.” Tell that to the cops and firefighters. The guys who pick up the garbage and fill the potholes.
But even if it is some automatic HR policy, what might not be so customary is changing  the job description dramatically to make your preferred candidate eligible.
Because the old job description for the previous version of this job — Government Affairs Manager, back when it was held by Fernando Weiner and before him Naomi Levi Garcia — required a Juris Doctor from an ABA-accredited law school. In other words, a law degree. A requirement was that one had to be a lawyer.
But for Granell’s appointment? Poof. That requirement disappeared. Now all you need is a bachelor’s in poli sci or something “related.” How convenient.
Read related: Mayor Vince Lago brings Peter Iglesias back as Coral Gables city manager
Instead, Granell holds a real estate license. Maybe that swung in her favor?
Chelsea Granell and Vince Lago at the Alhambra Parc launch event earlier this year.
Remember, she was one of the real estate agents, with Lago, who hung their license at Rosa Commercial Real Estate, the brokerage firm owned by former Hialeah Councilman Oscar de la Rosa, stepson of Hialeah Mayor Esteban “Stevie” Bovo, and that got a $640,000 commission for the sale of a Ponce de Leon building to Location Ventures and developer Rishi Kapoor, who we was also paying Miami Mayor Francis Suarez at least $170,000 for “consulting” while seeking approvals for a development in Miami.
To be fair, Granell also has a Master of Public Administration from FIU. And she is no City Hall newbie. She’s been climbing the Gables ladder since 2014, from senior commission liaison to chief of community engagement (are those two jobs really different?) to her recent post managing the mayor, er, Ladra means his office. Before going to the Gables, according to her LinkedIn profile, Granell worked for a year as a special projects analyst at Miami-Dade County’s housing department.
According to the city’s website, she led Coral Gables’ participation in the Bloomberg Mayors Challenge in 2018, netting the city a $100,000 innovation grant. She’s also not new to the sausage-making machine in Tallahassee, and reportedly helped secure $2.5 million in state funding in 2022. So that’s what earned her this position? Something she did three years ago?
Maybe it’s because she was a judge in the Miss Miami Competition earlier this year?
Read related: Mayor Vince Lago’s personal affair with chief of staff becomes campaign fodder
None of that explains why the bar was quietly lowered — unless, of course, to make her eligible because they don’t want anyone else.
“Chelsea has been employed by the City since 2014 and has developed a deep institutional knowledge,” Iglesias wrote in a Human Resources form justifying the direct appointment. “She has gained policy expertise, legislative insight, and stakeholder-management skills that closely mirror those required for the Governmental Affairs Director position.”
In other words: “She’s one of ours.”
Granell’s closeness to Mayor Lago — and rampant rumors that she is more than just his staffer — might be a better explanation. Las malas lenguas are split on this: It’s either a reward for good behavior or a payment for silence and amnesia.
Meanwhile, Granell isn’t just climbing in the Gables. She also sits on the Florida League of Cities’ Municipal Operations Committee, the Miami-Dade Commission for Women (she was Kevin Cabrera‘s appointment and, perhaps, as another favor to Lago. and is a card-carrying member of the American Society for Public Administration. Her resume has all the right acronyms. Ladra suspects she may run for office.
And what about the role she left behind? According to the Gazette, Lago hired two new staffers to split Granell’s former duties — Lora Lastra as Chief of Community Outreach and Nicole Guevara as an administrative assistant — at a combined cost of $119,000.
But what’s got eyebrows raised — except Vince Lago’s perfectly coifed ones — it’s how quietly this was done, and why the legal requirement was changed without so much as a peep to the public. Key words: Personal palanca.
Because in Coral Gables, transparency is optional, loyalty is currency, and the mayor’s favorites get special treatment.
The post In Coral Gables, mayor Vince Lago’s chief of staff gets promotion, pay bump appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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On the heels of the court ruling last this week that the Miami election year change was unconstitutional because, well they skipped the pesky part about asking voters, Coral Gables Commissioner Melissa Castro has doubled down on her push to revisit the city commission decision in May to move their municipal election date the same way.
She has asked City Attorney Cristina Suarez to draft a repeal ordinance to reset the election to April of odd years, a resolution for the city to repeal its vote to join any lawsuit against the state on this issue and a resolution for a referendum and suggested ballot language, because, well she doesn’t want to leave that to the spin the city administration might put on it.
She also asked City Clerk Billy Urquia to call a special meeting so the city commission can (1) “reevaluate our election rescheduling in light of the court’s ruling,” (2) discuss “corrective measures” to return to the April 2027 schedule or place the matter before voters in a binding referendum and (3) “protect the city from avoidable legal exposure.”
Read related: Judge calls Miami election change unconstitutional; is Coral Gables next?
Within an hour, Urquia told her it’s not gonna happen. Only the mayor or the city manager can call a special meeting on their own. Castro’s request needed an okay from at least two more commissioners and Urquia said he couldn’t get them. Certainly the solid LAL faction — Mayor Vince Lago and Commissioners Rhonda Anderson and Richard Lara — weren’t gonna make themselves available.
“There’s already an item on the August 26 regular city commission agenda,” the city clerk told Political Cortadito. “There wasn’t a need for a special meeting.”
Castro, who was elected against Lago’s wishes in 2023, called it “a dereliction of duty,” and a blatant FU to the voters.
“Despite a clear and binding appellate court ruling that moving elections without voter approval is unconstitutional, Commissioners Lago, Anderson, and Lara have chosen to bury their heads in the sand, again,” Castro said. “They not only passed an illegal ordinance in May, stripping voters of their voice, but now they’ve refused to even hold a meeting to discuss fixing it.
“I warned that what they were doing violated the Florida Constitution and the County Charter. Now, the courts have confirmed it and they still refuse to act,” she said. “Their refusal to call a meeting is not just a dereliction of duty, it’s an assault on the rule of law. They are gambling with our democracy to protect their own political maneuvering.”
Ya think?
A little background for the newcomers: In May — at a special meeting called by Lago right after the runoff election won by Lara — the Gables commission voted 3–2 to end nearly 100 years of April elections and align city races with state and federal ones, starting in November 2026. Castro and Commissioner Ariel Fernandez were the no votes. From the beginning, they have said the decision belongs to the voters. The change was pitched by LALalalala as a way to boost voter turnout and save money, a trend that is happening across the state. But it also cut current term lengths by five months and, more importantly, skipped the part where voters are supposed to have a say.
Castro asked for an opinion from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier — who provided an opinion to Miami City Commissioner Miguel Gabela saying the change without the voters’ will was unconstitutional — and was literally censured by her own colleagues for it. Because she calls them out for dodging voters — again and again — they can’t miss an opportunity to try to embarrass or shame her. Remember Lago’s behavior at Carnaval de Barranquilla in April? That’s just one of the times that he has publicly belittled and bullied her.
Now, Castro has the courts backing her up. Not only did Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Valerie Manno Schurr rule that the city’s move was unconstitutional — a violation of both the city and the Miami-Dade County Home Rule charters — but the Florida Third District Court of Appeals upheld that decision in a 27-page “body-slam” opinion that said an ordinance is not a tweak of the code.
“It is, in truth, a charter amendment dressed in lesser clothes — fragrant in title but thorned with consequence,” the opinion reads.
The same likely applies to Coral Gables. The city charter states that “elections were to be held on the second Tuesday in April in odd numbered years.” Plain language. April. Odd-numbered years. The city also falls under the county’s Home Rule charter, which says electeds can’t willy nilly change the charter, or the timing of elections specifically, without voter approval. Doesn’t matter if it adds time or subtracts. The law is the law.
Read related: Third DCA strikes down Miami election change; November ballot is on
Suarez, the city attorney, has said that the Gables is granted the power to move the election without going to a vote with a state law. But four judges now have said that the city and county charters trump that state statute.
Meanwhile, the public? Split.
According to a recent online poll by the new, resurrected Coral Gables Gazette, 51% of the readers like the move for its efficiency and turnout bump. Only 48% of the 1,179 respondents said ‘hell no’ to the idea of cutting voters out of the process. This from a publication that L’Ego says is biased against him. But their poll suggests the readers want what he’s selling. Maybe not overwhelmingly, but by a slim majority, which is all the mayor would need in a public referendum.
So what now?
Well, the city’s next election is still set for November 2026. But it’s not over yet. Castro has hired renown election attorney JC Planas — a former state rep that should be our elections supervisor but lost in November to Alina Garcia — and is pressing on.
In an opinion Friday, Planas says the court’s ruling is correct.
“It is evident the move was unlawful,” he wrote Friday to Castro, in an opinion she said she paid out of her own pocket. “The Coral Gables City Charter is clear in its subservience on multiple issues to the Miami-Dade County Charter. Your Charter specifically states in its foreword: “Consequently, while the City has broad home rule powers, it is constrained or pre-empted in certain areas by the Dade County Home Rule Amendment and the Dade County Home Rule Charter that was adopted pursuant to such Amendment.”
In other words: The city’s own charter admits it is answerable to the county charter. Especially since the Gables charter has no language to authorize other forms of charter amendments, it must comply with the county charter requirement of a referendum.
The May ordinance to move the election was “an unconstitutional amendment,” Planas said, adding that there has never been a charter amendment in the Gables without going to referendum first.
“This is specifically because such amendments were prohibited by the Miami-Dade County Home Rule Charter,” Planas wrote in his opinion. “While the City of Miami tried to get around this issue by NOT amending their Charter when changing their election date, the Third District Court of Appeal quoted Shakespear and stated that regardless of what Miami called the change, their change of election dates was still an unconstitutional Charter Amendment.
Read related: Coral Gables commissioner Melissa Castro challenges election date change
“In the case of Coral Gables, they blatantly amended their City Charter through an ordinance in violation of the County Charter and the Florida Constitution,” Planas continued. “As the City of Coral Gables is now in blatant violation of the Miami-Dade Charter and the Florida Constitution, it MUST immediately repeal the ordinance.
“Should the City refuse to do so, it can be subject to costly litigation by its residents who were denied the ability to vote on such a change. Such litigation would also involve Miami-Dade County that has historically fought to protect the integrity of its Charter, including in the most recent Gonzalez matter,” he said, referring former Miami City Manager and Miami mayoral candidate Emilio Gonzalez, who sued the city to get the election back on in November.
So, repeal, referendum or lawsuit — this isn’t going away. Too bad for L’Ego and his echo chamber that Commissioner Castro is not the type to sit down and shut up, like they want her to.
“While they hide behind power, I will stand with the people. Coral Gables deserves better and I intend to deliver it.”
Let’s see if voters get the last word. Or if the other commissioners finally look up from their same ol’ talking points long enough to read the charter and the court rulings.

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The post Coral Gables: Melissa Castro shut down again on election change challenge appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Three judge panel slaps city with a civics lesson
Miami’s power-hungry politicos just got benched by the grown-ups.
The Florida Third District Court of Appeal on Thursday handed a stinging, unanimous ruling that the City of Miami’s sneaky little move to cancel the scheduled November 2025 election and push it to 2026 was unconstitutional. Shocker, right?
Not really. Ladra could tell by the way the three judges practically rolled their eyes during oral arguments, that they were not buying the city’s sob story about having the right by state law. There was already a lower court ruling in favor of former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, who wants to run for mayor this year and not next. The DCA just confirmed it.
The city should not appeal this again, throwing good money after bad. Outside counsel Dwyane Robinson — and how much is this costing taxpayers? — said the city is “exploring further appellate options.” Mayor Francis Suarez said so, too, but he may not have the votes from the dais to continue to pursue it. City Commissioner Damian Pardo, who sponsored and fiercely defended the election-cancelling ordinance, indicated he was ready to let it go. This was originally passed with a 3-2 vote, so if Pardo turns, it’s dead.
“We congratulate those who fought hard for their point of view and prevailed in the court today,” Pardo said in a statement, even though the term “point of view” seems like a dig. “We remain committed to increasing voter representation and decreasing electoral costs in the City of Miami and plan to introduce legislation to place moving the elections to even years on the ballot as soon as possible.”
What a concept! Imagine all the pain and suffering he could have avoided if they had just done this in the first place.
Read related: Third DCA seems skeptical of Miami city election change, cancellation
This all started when the City Commission in June passed an ordinance to postpone the election — essentially giving themselves an extra year in office without asking any voters if they were cool with that. Spoiler: They weren’t. Neither were several candidates who had already been campaigning for this year’s race for months already. But Gonzalez was the only one who legally challenged it. The argument was that the city charter and the county’s Home Rule charter both prohibit the city commission from changing the date or year of the municipal election without going to the voters with a referendum first.
And now two courts have agreed.
“The Ordinance is unconstitutional,” wrote the panel of judges in their ruling, which upheld the decision by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Valerie Manno Schurr. They weren’t buying the city’s argument that they were just “tweaking” the code — not the charter. Nah, fam. The judges saw right through that fig leaf.
“It is, in truth, a charter amendment dressed in lesser clothes — fragrant in title but thorned with consequence,” the opinion reads, so poetically. Ladra gives that line a standing ovation.
The charter clearly states: Elections “shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in odd-numbered years.” There’s no ambiguity. Any change to that? Gotta go to the voters. This commission thought they could skip that pesky little detail.
The judges said it also violated the county’s constitution. “The City’s chosen method to effectuate a change of its elections substantively alters the City’s own Charter in a manner that conflicts with the ‘exclusive’ method provided for in the County Home Rule Charter for amending municipal charters,” the judges wrote in the 27-page opinion.
This is also a major political loss for Suarez, who’s been working behind the scenes to make this election delay happen and maybe buy himself more time in power, but not for his papi, former Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who was Miami’s first Cuban-born mayor and wants to return to that post.
The senior Suarez tried to take credit for the lower court win, saying he had provided Gonzalez with legal advice. He ran to the news mics after oral arguments Tuesday to get some free publicity. But everybody wants to ride Emilio’s coattails. He has just become the de facto frontrunner in the race because he is cast as the hero that saved an election.
Read related: Miami-Dade Judge: Miami Commission can’t cancel election without public vote
Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, perhaps Gonzalez’s biggest foe and another potential mayoral candidate had gone so far as to try to insert himself in the case. The judges denied him time to speak at oral arguments. Se salvaron.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who has also announced that she is running for Miami mayor, might send out a fundraising text about it, like she did after Manno Schurr’s ruling.
“Our judicial system has once again reaffirmed that the rule of law in fact must be followed and voters will ultimately have the final word in deciding key changes, including when the city holds elections,” Higgins said in a statement that could be misinterpreted as a victory lap she doesn’t deserve. “Upholding the lower court’s ruling to maintain our November 2025 election is a win for democracy and fairness.”
Where were you all this time, chica? Gonzalez didn’t only sue for the city, he sued to defend the county Home Rule charter.
“If we want to move elections to even-numbered years to increase participation, let’s do it the right way: through voter approval. As Mayor, I’ll propose shortening the next ayor’s term and putting the question on the 2026 ballot to modernize our democracy without undermining it,” Higgins said.
Imagine that — a politician willing to give up time in office for the sake of democracy and progress. Miami might not be ready.
Gonzalez and other candidates have also said that they are willing to shorten their terms if the voters choose a new election year.
“This is a victory for every voter in Miami,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “A corrupt group of politicians tried to cancel your right to vote so they could cling to power. They failed.”
The retired U.S. Army colonel spent 22 years “helping to build and defend democracies around the world—and I will never sit back and watch one be dismantled in my own backyard,” Gonzalez said. His attorneys, led by former Florida Supreme Court Justice Alan Lawson, had argued that this is the kind of authoritarian move many Miami residents had fled from in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Read related: Miami Commissioners pass election date change — and steal an extra year
“They tried to silence the public. They tried to rewrite the rules mid-game. They lied about turnout, lied about cost, and ignored our city’s Constitution. And they did it all for themselves,” Gonzalez said. “The courts saw through it. The rule of law held. And now, the people will decide who leads this city—not a backroom vote, not a legal loophole, not a rubber stamp from corrupt politicians.
“Let this be a warning to every politician in Miami: the days of corruption without consequence are over.”
Former City Commissioner Ken Russell, who has also been campaigning for mayor, is the only one of the viable candidates who actively tried to dissuade the city commission from cancelling the election. At the podium during public comment and in social media, Russell warned the city that they were about to do something illegal.
“This was never about good government,” Russell told Political Cortadito, adding that it was always about the self-interests of certain politicians.
He also said it was highly “dysfunctional” to watch the city argue against Home Rule, which municipalities have been fighting for years to prioritize in Tallahassee. Just ask the Miami-Dade League of Cities.
Russell, who called the ruling a “body-slam” was also gracious enough to thank Gonzalez for doing what none of the other candidates did.
“Credit to Emilio Gonzalez gor stepping up and filing the lawsuit,” Russell said. “The other candidates benefitted from it — and so will the voters of Miami.”
Why? Because they will get an election this year.
The post Third DCA strikes down Miami election change; November ballot is on appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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