Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy Morales will likely get a four-year contract extension at Wednesday’s meeting and a salary increase to $305,736.
In a move that is largely a rubber stamp vote, Morales — who was hired in 2013 for $255,000 a year — will also get an increase in retirement contribution, from $7,000 to what the IRS allows, an increase in car allowance to $800 a month.
But he may also have to deliver on several beach projects since, for the first time, there seem to be goals and objectives attached.
Read related: Jimmy Morales contract extended at ‘secret’ meeting, raise coming
It’s a rubber stamp move because the city commission already discussed this in secret at a committee of the whole meeting last month. The only commissioner to dissent then was Michael Gongora, who did not like the secretive way the contract extension was pushed.
Why this had to be discussed first at a meeting that has no real public notice and no real public participation, at a meeting in the manager’s conference room rather than the public commission chambers, is beyond anyone’s comprehension. As is why this was added to the agenda at the last minute.
Ricky Arriola, who chairs the finance committee and was charged with negotiating the terms, sponsors the resolution, which was added to the agenda late Tuesday in what seems like yet another attempt to get this passed with as little public input as possible.
The contract comes with a goals and objectives that basically amount to a list of deadlines: the Beach Walk, Lincoln Road renovations and the convention center hotel within three years, city automation and electronic filing of permits within two years, and significant progress on Bay Walk and the North Beach Town Center, among other projects.
Some of the deadlines are in four years — which is at the end of the contract.

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One incumbent already decided not to run for re-election. An activist and would-be challenger withdrew from another race within days. A former commissioner who resigned to run for Congress wants her seat back and a former State Rep wants to run for another.
Oh, and then there’s the candidate who can’t keep it in his pants.
The Miami Beach elections are nine months away and talk about un parto. It’s already so interesting it might just beat Miami and Hialeah this year in terms of sheer entertainment.
Oh, it’s boring on paper. Mayor Dan Gelber is running basically unopposed. He has a challenger, but Ladra is not certain Konstantine Gus Manessis — who only has sustainable growth on his website as an issue and nothing about who he is — can whip up either the political machinery or grassroots support he would need to beat Sy Gelber‘s boy. Ladra thinks he’s vulnerable to the right challenger and hopes someone turns up between now and qualifying deadline in September, if only because debates and choices are good for the community.
The only real race, according to documents filed with the city clerk’s office, is in Group IV, where three candidates have declared: Michael David Barrineau, Steven Jay Meiner and Rafael Velasquez. If the last name sounds familiar, it could be because he ran for office before.
Or it could be because he was accused of exposing himself to a city commissioner.
Velasquez was a commission candidate and a friend and supporter of Kristen Rosen Gonzalez — the former commissioner that might jump back in the fire — when he reportedly unzipped his pants and exposed himself to her. It happened in her car after a campaign brainstorming dinner with wine. He then ran to the state attorney’s office to say she made the whole thing up but no woman would believe KRG would intentionally want to be known for that over anything else. Oh, and then there are the two other women who came forward to describe uncomfortable language and body rubbing.
Read related: Bravo! Kristen Rosen Gonzalez says Rafael Velasquez ‘Weinsteined’ her
It will be great to see Rosen Gonzalez get back into action. She was forced to resign her seat last year in the middle of the campaign for Congress after the state legislature changed the rules precisely to try to keep District 27 red. Not just because she is a true public servant and a voice for some of the city’s disenfranchised, but also because either way it’s going to be, um, interesting: She could file in her old group, against the guy who exposed himself to her — and wouldn’t that make for some awkward debates. Or she could file against Ricky Arriola, who needs someone to challenge him now that activist Monica Matteo-Salinas withdrew mysteriously just three days after filing to challenge the incumbent.
Did Arriola threaten her? Matteo-Salinas was tremendously vague in her Facebook post:
“Last week I made the decision to launch my campaign for the Miami Beach Commission Group 5 race. This decision was in pursuit of my dream of running for elected office and serving the community I love so deeply. My hope in entering the race was to build a campaign built on integrity and a burning desire to help make Miami Beach the absolute best it can be.
That said, in one short week it has become abundantly clear to me that the timing is not quite right for me. Therefore, I am ending my candidacy for Miami Beach Commissioner effective immediately. While this is one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make, I know in my heart it is the right one.
Thank you so much for your understanding and support!”
Matteo-Salinas told Ladra it was “nothing nefarious,” but still wouldn’t go into details. “There are things I can discuss and things I won’t,” she said. A complete about-face from the day she filed when she said “I have a big mouth – and an even bigger brain. And I’m not afraid to use them!”
Read related: In Miami Beach, Ricky Arriola has a challenge — Monica Matteo-Salinas
Arriola becomes the only incumbent other than the mayor, now that Commissioner John Elizabeth Aleman announced she would not run for re-election. (Are the rumors of an investigation into pay for play true?) But that seat is not likely to draw a lot of names. That’s because former State Rep. David Richardson — a little less ambitious after losing the Congressional primary to Donna Shalala — is basically a shoe in. Whoever Blake Young is, Ladra thinks he or she just hasn’t heard about Richardson’s announcement.
Ladra has also heard that Adrian Gonzalez, a restauranteur who has run for office before, is thinking about throwing his hat in. And certainly more of the several dozen people who applied for the KRG vacancy not knowing the fix was in for Malakoff — anyone of them could run.
The qualifying deadline isn’t until all the way in September. So it could get even more interesting before then.

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A Miami Beach community activist and PTA mom has filed to run against Miami Beach Commissioner Ricky Arriola in this year’s November election.
Monica Matteo-Salinas, chair of the board of the Miami Beach Community Development Corporation, filed paperwork on Friday to run for the Group V seat, which is currently occupied by Arriola, who is only in his first term. So let’s not mince words: This is a challenge.
Bold move for a political newcomer.
“Am I excited? Yes. Am I scared? Gulp, yes,” Matteo-Salinas wrote on her Facebook wall. “But it has always been my DREAM to run for office. Win or lose, this is who I am. From PTA mom to community activist, I have a big mouth – and an even bigger brain. And I’m not afraid to use them!

“My journey starts today. Stay tuned!”

But Matteo-Salinas is not entirely new to the political scene. She has served as Florida Director of the Campus Election Engagement Project, a non partisan effort to increase the student vote in federal, state and local elections, for the last two years. Simultaneously, she was campus coordinator at Miami-Dade College for the Institute for Civic Engagement and Democracy and Vice President of Advocacy for the PTA at her sons’ school.
She also spent three years as a development manager at Catalyst Miami, a non profit that helps other non profits on the ground with community building initiatives and that was founded by Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine-Cava. She is an advocate for human rights, quality education & affordable housing.
Expect her to get a lot of Democratic Party support.
Also expect years of mismanagement at the Miami Beach Community Development Corp. — which received millions in city grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Develoment to become a campaign issue. There have been maintenance issues at public housing units, a six-figure deficit in the budget and friction with Miami-Dade County, which has taken over at least two properties. An audit of finances in 2013 found evidence that funds were misspent on ineligible expenses. The executive director resigned, two city officials quit and a third was fired.
But Matteo-Salinas, who inherited many of those problems when she joined the board in 2015, has taken steps to rectify the issues. But she may come under fire for efforts to turn the Capri Apartments into market-rate housing, which happened after she came on board.
Read related: Miami Beach mayor invites Castros to open Cuban consulate
She has to be better, though, than the hand-picked lackey that former Mayor Philip Levine put up there to vote for his items. Arriola — who went to Cuba as a tourist and wanted to bring a Cuban consulate back to Miami Beach — has since aligned himself with Mayor Dan Gelber.
Just a couple of weeks ago, he voted to make another lackey, former Commissioner Joy Malakoff, a commissioner again, to serve out the remainder of the term vacated by Kristen Rosen-Gonzalez.
Ladra would not be surprised if he simply backs down and doesn’t run for re-election.

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For the past three years, select electeds in Miami Beach have used a city non-profit to “provide assistance to worthy and qualified community needs and projects.”
But it looks like a slush fund of special interest money to dole out for political favors and even votes.
One Miami Beach, Inc., a 501c3 formed by resolution in 2014 at former Mayor Philip Levine‘s request, has raised almost half a million dollars through last year — much of it from vendors and contractors and lobbyists with business before the city — and it has used the funds to buy computers at Nautilus Middle School, team uniforms at Miami Beach High, movie tickets and art classes and paella parties for seniors and more than 1,500 frozen turkeys for the holidays.
Many of these bribes, er, gifts to the community were right before the elections in 2015 and 2017. What a coincidence!
It’s not like Levine hasn’t done this kind of thing before. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate was caught red-handed, while in office in 2014, directing funds from city vendors and contractors to a shady political action committee. Relentless for Progress was even mocked for its initials, RFP, the same initials used in procurement to solicit “requests for proposals” on government projects. Levine had to hastily distance himself from and eventually dissolve the PAC.
Then, when nobody was watching, he turned around and formed this slush fund, er, non-profit — giving donors another outlet.
The resolution says the mayor is the chairman and appoints two other commissioners as members. Levine appointed former Commissioners Joy Malakoff and Jonah Wolfson, who was his partner on the shady Relentless PAC (photographed right). When Wolfson’s term was up, Levine replaced him with his new BFF, Commissioner Ricky Arriola.
After newly-elected Mayor Dan Gelber was sworn in, he became the chairman and he appointed Commisssioner Micky Steinberg to replace Malakoff, who did not seek re-election but was offered a $50,000 “community outreach” contract with the city last week that she turned down days later after it raised a bunch of eyebrows. Gelber also wants the funds to be used primarily for “educational enhancements” and not “willy nilly.”
Related: Ex Miami Beach Commissioner Joy Malakoff gets, then drops juicy $50K city job
But we wouldn’t even know about this shady non profit if it weren’t for Commissioner Michael Góngora, who had asked about it at last week’s meeting. He said that since the non-profit was operating as a fundraising arm of the city’s, that expenditures ought to be brought to the commission for approval.
“Only three of the seven members ever control the use of those funds. I’m concerned about raising money as a commission but I never have a say in how those monies are dispersed,” Góngora said. “If it’s going to be the official 501c3 for Miami Beach, we should at least know what the organization is doing.”
Gelber, who doesn’t seem the most transparent anymore, tried to shut him down. “It’s not quite public money… it’s not any public money at all,” he said.
Commissioner John Elizabeth Aleman said she agreed with Góngora. “I don’t question the expenditures. They were noble and worthwhile. But it was not transparent to me,” she said. And then she basically admits that the whole idea was to shake down city bidders and vendors.
“We thought there were city of Miami Beach procurement contracts that could have an element, a good will in them, to benefit the community, the schools,” Aleman said, adding that, sure, alumni and others could also donate. “But we were looking for something more consistent that could be counted on at a certain level each year.”
Oh really?
Arriola got defensive, which made him look guilty right away.
“I just take exception because I know what’s going on here. There’s a hint of something nefarious. Phil, Ricky, Joy using this… all the money came from Philip and I,” Arriola said.  “I’m not stupid. There’s a nefarious inference when comments have been made in the past about One Miami Beach and Mayor Levine and I just take exception when it’s us donating our salaries to it. Pretty much 100 percent of the funds came from us, even though it’s your pet projects that we’re donating our salaries to.”
But Ricky is either really bad at math or a liar. Because while he may have felt generous in 2016, giving his $34,750 salary and benefits package to One Miami Beach, Inc., that was not where all the non-profit’s money came from. And he didn’t do it any other year. It appears that Levine did give two years worth of salary and benefits for a total of $97,275.
Arriola lied to everybody at that commission meeting Feb. 14 and everybody watching it on TV or online. That’s a violation of a county ethics ordinance.
Related: Levine and Wolfson on defense for shady PAC
But the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust ought to look into more than just that. Because the reason Arriola lied was the donations that are there from many contractors and vendors who are prohibited from giving campaign contributions precisely because they have dealings with the city. Was this a legal loophole around that? This sure looks like another pay-for-play scheme, just like the shady PAC.
Among the contributors:

$40,000 from four development companies at One Fisher Island
$17.500 from David Mancini and Sons, real estate developers and pipeline specialists
$10,000 from Terranova Corporation
$10,000 from Lanzo Construction
$6,300 from Boucher Brothers, who run most if not all the city’s beach concessions
$5,000 from Beach Towing
$5,000 from Treemont Towing
$5,000 from Laz Parking
$5,000 from lobbyist and Levine pal Alex Heckler

There are some questionable disbursements, too. Who got the 100 tickets for the Florida Grand Opera? More than $6,000 of computer equipment for we-don’t-know-who and one hell of a TV for $1,000 for North Beach Elementary, both at Best Buy. A $5,000 donation (?) to the Miami Beach Housing Authority, it says for “housing,” and $106 worth of racing gloves, purportedly, for a turkey giveaway.
Then there is the thousands that went to different animal hospitals, from Doral to South Miami, for “animal welfare,” Levine’s latest fetish, including $10,000 to the Alton Road Animal Clinic for “kitten medical treatment.” Is that one really sick kitten or many kittens?
But maybe the most glaring issue is at least seven different paella and centennial parties at senior centers that are absentee ballot hubs conveniently right before the elections in 2015.
Investigators can start by talking to Gloria Campos, who was paid or reimbursed at least a couple of thousands from One Miami Beach and apparently helped with the paella parties.

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Last week was interesting. We had a bunch of protests of not just Donald Trump but also Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who was the first and only big city mayor to acquiese to Trump’s demands on sanctuary cities.

This week, we get to have fun watching Gimenez and Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Esteban “Stevie” Bovo do everything possible to avoid talking about the mayor’s 180-degree turnaround on the county policy, in violation of a county resolution. It’s not on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting because the chairman scheduled a special meeting just for that. Guess they expect it to take a long time, huh?

Ladra has a feeling however, that even though it’s not on the agenda, it will be discussed. If only in public comments. Activists are encouraging people to go and tell Gimenez off while his supporters have also encouraged people (more on that later) to go and show their support for “law and order.”

Let’s hope it doesn’t end in chaos.

As always, please keep sending news about meetings, campaign rallies, political club powwows and other events to edevalle@gmail.com. This is your Cortadito Calendar, after all.

MONDAY — Feb. 6

3 p.m. — The City of Miami’s Historic & Environmental Preservation Board will meet to receive a presentation, open to the public, of a “historical assessment report” on the Coconut Grove Playhouse. While this is a discussion item only, Playhouse boosters are expected to show up en masse to support continued efforts to restore and reopen the landmark (hopefully more than just the outside facade, or is that battle lost already?). Chairman Keon Hardemon could allow public speakers to make comments — if he’s so inclined. The meeting is in commission chambers at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive.

TUESDAY — Feb. 7

9:30 a.m — The Miami-Dade Commission meets and tries not to talk about that immigration detention thing. Even though there’s a special meeting called just for that on Feb. 17, it’s going to be hard to get through the whole meeting without taling about it just a little bit. Maybe that’s why the agenda is packed with a lot of items to keep commissioners busy. Topping that list is a whole lot of water and sewer contracts related to the consent decree forcing the county to upgrade it’s system. At least six different contracts for a total of more than $50 million (more on that later). There’s also a $38-million contract with Garney Companies on the table for the design, build and installation of a 48-inch diameter water main pipe. Yes, you read that right: A $38-million water main pipe. Also on the agenda: An ordinance creating a special stadium taxing district for the county and Miami Gardens to share, a $1 million grant for the construction of two “replacement libraries” in Doral and Hialeah Gardens, a $6 million contract for roof repairs at Miami International Airport and a $14.5 million “legacy” contract for security communications maintenance at MIA. Yes, you read that right: A $14.5 million contract for security communications maintenance.

9 p.m. — And you thought the debates were over when the president was elected. Wrong.  This Tuesday, Democrat Sen. Bernie Sanders and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz — both of whom lost the nomination to run for president — will face off live on CNN in a heated debate about the future of Obamacare. Florida International University students in a group called Turning Point USA Panthers are hosting a “fun watch party” at the Graham Center Pit. But it looks like it may only be fun for Republicans, since they bill it as a debate between “Socialist Senator Sanders and Constitutionalist, Free Market Advocate Senator Ted Cruz” and included the hashtags #BigGovSucks and #FreeMarketsFreePeople. Don’t wear your “I’m with her” button.

WEDNESDAY — Feb. 8

9 a.m. — It’s a busy day for the Miami Beach commissioners, who meet to discuss a bunch of things, including an amendment to the city code on maximum building heights and allowable exceptions in commercial zones and the design and development of a skate park at 72nd Street. They will also consider new zoning regulations for West Avenue and the 600 block of Washington Avenue and the purchase of two new “skywatch towers” for the police department and $2 million worth of new equipment for the fire rescue department as well as regulations for sidewalk cafes and a $30 million contract for improvements to West Avenue. Also on the agenda: the second reading for Commissioner Ricky Arriola‘s moratorium on medical marijuana sales (more on that later) and demolition moratoriums on North Beach and on Tatum Waterway properties. Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, who joined protesters of the Gimenez immigration betrayal last week, also plans to ask her colleagues to declare Miami Beach a sanctuary city. Told ya it was a busy day for them. The meeting is in commission chambers at City Hall, 1700 Convention Center Drive.

THURSDAY — Feb. 9

9:30 a.m. — Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Esteban Bovo’s Policy Council meets. This board aims to identify critical capital needs and innovative transportation funding solutions, develop a courthouse capital improvement plan and a cohesive and proactive sea level rise response plan as well as work on gun safety.

6 p.m. — It’s the first fundraiser for Coral Gables candidate Mike Mena, and attorney has Congressman Carlos Curbelo and State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz among the hosts. The event is at El Novillo Restaurant on 67th Avenue and Bird Road. Wait a minute. Aren’t there any restaurants inside Coral Gables that are good enough?

SATURDAY — Feb. 11

Noon — The Miami Young Republicans are still celebrating Donald Trump’s victory with a Make America Great Again BBQ at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne to kick off the year. “We will be unveiling our game plan to drive the discussion on South Florida’s most important issues and elect the next class of Young Republicans to local office. If you have been thinking about stepping up your involvement, or want to serve in a club leadership position, this event will provide a great opportunity to speak with board members to join the team,” says the Facebook invitation.

Commissioner Michael Grieco was the first to file paperwork last week to run for the top dog seat after Mayor Philip Levine said he would not be seeking re-election. But you can bet he won’t be the last now that there’s no millionaire incumbent.

Already there have been reports that former State Rep. and Senator Dan Gelber, who ran for Attorney General and lost to Trumpette Pam Bondi in 2010, may be interested in the job. Gelber, who is the son of two-time mayor Seymore Gelber, has gotten a bunch of calls urging him to consider it and he is doing just that, said his political consultant Chrisitan Ulvert, who also happens to be Levine’s political consultant.

Does this mean that Gelber is Levine’s hand-picked successor instead of Commissioner Ricky Arriola?

Many on the’s beach have speculated that Levine would run and fund an Arriola bid for mayor. And Arriola was reportedly pit against Grieco in a telephone poll done weeks ago in which voters were asked who they would choose in a head to head if the election were today.

Read related story: Philip Levine ‘parks’ his train after poll — but only for now

This is the same poll in which they were asked multiple questions about the train to nowhere — Levine’s “loopy loop” innercity light rail — which was suspended shortly after, most likely because it bombed.

Did Arriola bomb too?

Sure, there’s plenty of time to think about it. Qualifying isn’t until the first week of September. And Arriola can work on his profile between now and then. But he will likely stay put. Because this being an open seat now opens it up to a lot of more truly viable candidates, including former commissioners Michael Gongora, who lost to Levine in 2013, and Deede Weithorn, who didn’t dare run against him and his money but lost a bid for state rep last year. And Ladra is sure there is a political consultant or campaign guru looking for a young Latina or hombre to run. Because that’s all Arriola has got going for him. 

Grieco has reportedly been considering this mayoral run since last year, when Levine invited Raul and Fidel Castro to open a Cuban governmnt consular office in Miami Beach. Grieco was aghast and blasted Levine for it. He has also been openly against the train. And he believes he can do more to guide the city as mayor.

Levine had sold him out even earlier, when he lashed out at Grieco for voting against an 84% increase in storm water fees in 2014.

Read related story: Miami Beach break-up — Philip Levine and Michael Grieco

He has been fundraising as a commission candidate, for his re-election, and has almost all his $234,000 that he’ll be able to transfer to a mayoral account because we’re sure his donors won’t mind. Grieco also has at least two more fundraisers in the near future. Jay Parker, Steve Temes, Jordan Levy, Stephen Worth, Evan and Rustin Kluge, Brian Sidman and Keith Marks are hosting what Ladra believes is his first fundraiser for the mayor’s run this Thursday at South Pointe Tavern. There will be another fundraiser Jan. 28 at the home of Eduardo Hepp and Randy Bullard.

Candidate Grieco will also have a press breakfast and resident Q&A next Tuesday, Jan. 24, at Cafe Avanti on 41st Street.