Miami-Dade Commissioner Chairman Esteban “Stevie” Bovo may not be so bobo after all.
Bovo acted quickly after he recognized the same mantra coming up in the pro Kendall Parkway speakers on Thursday, after questions were raised about paying for testimony, and moved to stop it before others noticed.
After the first few people stood up and provided what seemed like a scripted speech — name, address, in so-and-so’s district and I support this — he suddenly offered them the option to wave in support.
Just wave in support? Shouldn’t they have to provide testimony as to why?
Read related: Kendall Parkway to nowhere is an intentional slippery slope for UDB
This is important because on Thursday morning, the Miami Herald reported that an FIU student had been recruiting pro Parkway speakers on Instagram.
“Are you or any of your friends available tomorrow 9/27 from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in County Hall,” read the text message invitation posted on Instagram by FIU student Leo Cosio, according to a story by Doug Hanks. “Will get paid $75 to attend and speak in favor of the Kendall Parkway.”
Cosio, president of the student government association on FIU’s Biscayne Campus, posted a screen grab of a text message, with bold-faced lettering offering more details. “If you’re interested DM me,” the headline of the post said. “Script provided.”
That’s what the pro Parkway people, some of whom didn’t live in the affected area either, started sounding like. Like they were scripted. Ladra noticed it. But then Bovo noticed it, too.
Law enforcement should get the names of those people who “testified” at Thursday’s meeting and talk to them about why they went there. I am sure they will find paid speakers on behalf of the MDX, which had already spent at least $400,000 on a slick PR campaign for the Parkway, or any number of other people, including builders and developers who stand to make millions in contracts. It behooves the state attorney’s office to nip this in the bud.
Read related: MDX spent $400K on PR, including $60K for mayor’s daughter in law
They should also talk to Cosio, who took the post down after the Herald inquired about it and has since said he is against the Parkway. If he is so against it, why did he refuse to say where he found it originally or who offered to pay. “Not at liberty to share,” he told a reporter in a direct message on Twitter. Not at liberty to share? Someone subpoena that guy.
And then they should talk to Bovo about what he knew and why he waved them off. Sketchy.
Does Bovo think that the approval of the Kendall Parkway is going to help his 2020 mayoral bid? Or is he just helping his buddy, Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who sneaked his way into chairman of the MDX board and whose lobbyist son works for MDX contractors?

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The long-debated and controversial 836 extension known as the Kendall Parkway was given final approval 9-4 by the Miami-Dade Commission on Thursday, despite so many warnings, questions and concerns.
That doesn’t mean it’s a done deal, however, and not because it still needs state and federal approval that is hopefully not as purchased as county nods. Lawsuits are threatened and Sen. Marco Rubio, of all people, vows to fight the project because the MDX doesn’t want to buy more land for the Everglades restoration project than it needs to build a 13-mile, six-lane expressway through protected wetlands.
There are so many reasons why this should not happen.
Commissioners were warned that studies show new highways like the Kendall Parkway do not alleviate traffic but only cause more congestion long term. There were unanswered questions about the plan, incomplete information about even the precise route, of which there were at least four. And there are myriad concerns about how this will impact the environment, the Everglades restoration plan and promote future development and sprawl.
It didn’t matter. One could tell it didn’t matter as people pleaded for them to take a step back and wait. Transit advocates even presented options that were less costly and wouldn’t endanger our environment and our water table. In the end, our commissioners voted with the builders and the contractors that pad their campaign accounts and with the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, which would manage the $650-million to $1 billion project (read: award bids and dole out the funds).
Of course there were some West Kendall residents for it. They are desperate for any relief that they can see on the horizon from a county government that not only forgets about them but also breaks its promises and steals their half-penny tax dollars to fund mediocre bus service and limited MetroRail.
But nobody explained to these people that if that money were invested in the SMART plan transit solutions, in light rail and rapid bus throughout Miami-Dade in the right places then there would be no need for the Kendall Parkway because there would be fewer cars on the road. Nobody explained to them that there are less costly and better alternatives within the UDB that would not promote future development west over what was once protected wetlands.
They think they have no choice. And they do. Or they did.
Because now that the Kendall Parkway is approved, Gimenez and his pocket commissioners, principally Chairman Esteban Bovo, will fall on this “laurel” and do absolutely nothing else for transit. They don’t have to. They did this.
And while most of the commissioners who voted in favor of this were just re-elected — too bad this highway vote didn’t come before the August election — people should remember that.
They did this.

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