As Amazon continues to look at Miami-Dade as a possible home for its second headquarters, our region got a B+ ranking last month among the 20 cities being considered and county Mayor Carlos Gimenez went on Bloomberg TV Wednesday to make our case.
Unfortunately, he had to lie.
“Well, I really think Miami-Dade is the city of the future. We are building it right before your eyes,” he said on Bloomberg Markets TV’s “Mini Moment” feature, sounding very much like a used car salesman.
Even though Miami-Dade is a county. Maybe he feels he is already the city of Miami mayor.
“Our technology sector here has grown by 40 percent in the last six years,” he said, and I don’t know what that base was because it doesn’t seem like we’ve gotten that much more techy. Can anyone confirm this?
“We are a top ten college town. We have great weather. We have, uh, a great infrastructure,” he continued, because, yes, it’s hard for even him to say with a straight face.
Read related: Carlos Gimenez lies and cheats to keep control of billions
Sure, if you only count our airport and seaport, which have had billions of dollars of investments because they are proprietary funds, paid by user fees rather than tax dollars. But if you look at the county infrastructure paid for by taxpayers? Transit infrastructure? Woeful.
And aren’t we still under a federal consent decree or order to upgrade our wastewater collection and treatment system? Why, yes, we are mandated to make $13 billion in improvements by 2028 after the county was sued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for violations to the clean water act.
And what have we done to make us more resilient to sea level rise, besides talk about it an awful lot?
“And we have great talent. What better example of this than Mr. Bezos came from here and maybe that’s a little bit of a home court advantage but we have so much more to offer.”
Like what? The high cost of housing? Almost half of our residents pay 40% or more of their income toward their mortgage or rent. There is a dire need for affordable or workforce housing, but that’s not on the mayor’s agenda.
We also have a higher number of foreclosures than the national average, and they are still increasing, with 30% more foreclosures in July than the same month last year.
And while we have our first A-rating and no “F” schools for the second consecutive year, our public schools are suffering because our legislators keep siphoning funds from them to put into the charter school industry that contributes to their campaigns.
Oh, and the corruption. Not just in Miami-Dade, where the mayor has given jobs to his best friend and his daughter-in-law and no-bid contracts to his friends and contributors. Have you heard of Hialeah? Sweetwater? Opa-Locka? Google it.
Read related: MDX spent $400K on PR, including $60K for mayor’s daughter-in-law
Even Commission Chairman Esteban “Steve” Bovo agrees.
“It ain’t gonna happen. We’re not equipped for it,” he said at a commission meeting last year when Amazon first floated Miami as a possibility.  “We’re not equipped to draw 50,000 new jobs in here because we don’t have the ability to let those people move around in our community.”
And the B+ rating that CNBC gave us in August — based mostly on South Florida’s lack of technological workers — is pretty good, but not great. Austin and Dallas were both given an A.
A surprising part of the Bloomberg interview was that Gimenez doesn’t even know if or when Bezos has been back in town. You’d think he would have reached out for a meeting.
“Frankly if he comes back, and if he’s visited, he will notice that Miami and Miami Dade County is not the same place that he left some years ago,” Gimenez said.
Read related: Carlos Gimenez taps commissioner to block return of the 1/2 penny funds
Well, except MetroRail, Jeff. MetroRail is exactly the same. Not a single mile of rail has been added since it was built and opened in 1984, even though voters here approved a half penny tax in 2002 to expand the line. Gimenez has been using that money to balance the budget, paying for operations instead of improvements. That’s how he balances the budget.
Oh, and they don’t really listen to voters here. That’s typical. They steal the half penny tax that we approved specifically for expanded MetroRail and they also failed to initiate the Pets’ Trust program that voters approved by 65% in 2012.
But they didn’t mention that on the Bloomberg show. A reporter did ask Gimenez “What new debt are you taking on? New P3 projects to make sure Miami’s infrastructure is up to par?”
Rather than answer her questions, the mayor went into a state-of-the-county-like speech.
“We’ve already invested heavily into our airport. It is our leading economic generator so we’ve spent well over $3 billion over the last 10 years. We basically have a brand new airport there,” Gimenez said. “We invested over a billion in our seaport. We dredged it so it would be Panamax ready. That means we can accept the large cargo ships that are able to traverse the Panama Canal.”
Then came the hard part.
“W are investing millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars in our transportation infrastructure. We just uh,  improved, or we, oh, um, uh, approved some new highway projects to make our transit, uh, even better.”
Read related: No-brainer Miami-Dade Commission approves Kendall Parkway despite so much
Really? How is the Kendall Parkway, completed in four or five years if there are no delays, going to make our transit — which by then will be far worse — even better? The pressure valve will be at the very western end of the county, going south, after you’ve traveled more than an hour from downtown.
“We compare pretty favorably with our competitors in terms of commute times.”
That made Ladra laugh out loud.
“We are also really well connected to our neighbors. We just have a brand new rail line and passenger service to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach…all those things are infrastructure improvements that we are working on,” he said, but forgot to add “when I figure out how my kids and friends can get in on it.”
The mayor ended the interview thumping his chest when the reporter asked him about the last budget approved.
“We didn’t have to raise taxes. As a matter of fact, we lowered our taxes 11 years ago. I mean, when I became the mayor we had the biggest tax cut in Miami-Dade history. We’ve kept those tax rates flat during my administration. We haven’t had to raise any taxes.
Then the doozy: “We are providing the same or better services than we provided back in 2011 without raising taxes because we tightened our belts.”
You closed libraries — hours are still reduced at some branches — and had rolling blackouts at fire-rescue stations, remember? You are still cutting bus routes every year.
Read related: On library shortfall, Miami-Dade’s Carlos Gimenez falls short
You’ve also balanced the budget with stolen half-penny sales tax funding from the People’s Transportation Plan for the past ten years, seven of them with you at the helm, Gimenez. Bet you haven’t told Jeff Bezos that!
Don’t get me wrong. I’d love for Amazon to make its second home here. Not just for the jobs and economic impact but for the cache que te da to have been chosen over Denver and Atlanta.
But I don’t want to reward Gimenez and his pals on the commission for their bad behavior. If Amazon comes, they’ll pat themselves on the back and tell us how right they were and how we were wrong to demand rail. Or, worse, that we don’t need it.
That would just be another lie.

Read Full Story

Is a Miami-Dade county commissioner intentionally delaying the removal of the half-penny People Transportation Plan sales tax from the general operational budget? And is he, or she, doing it on behalf of Mayor Carlos Gimenez?
That’s what it looks like.
It’s been more than a month since the Citizens Independent Transportation Trust, a 15-member body created to oversee the People’s Transportation Plan funded with the half-penny sales tax, voted to rescind an agreement that gave the county permission to use the funds — which voters approved in 2002 to expand rail and bus service — for operations and maintenance.
Their intention was for Gimenez — who campaigned two years ago on adding rail lines (this photo is a screen grab from a TV ad) — to stop balancing the budget with PTP monies starting this year. The resolution, passed Aug. 23, basically recommends the commission “end the greater flexibility in the use of county transit surtax funds for the operation and maintenance of the existing transit system to be effective commencing with fiscal year 2019-2020.”
Read related: No brainer Miami-Dade Commission approves Kendall Parkway despite so much
It rescinds a 2009 board decision that gave the county the ability to use the funds for maintenance and operations after the county said it needed the reallocation because of budget shortfalls after the 2008 recession.
“The resolution was put forward to make the law reflect the desires of the CITT and citizens to expand transportation versus operate the current system,” said CITT member Evan Fancher, who proposed it. “If we make the law reflect our desire to return money to its intended use, next year’s budget will be presented with the money put back toward expansion instead of operations.”
That was wishful thinking.
Last week, before the final budget hearing, Commissioner Xavier Suarez tried to put something on the agenda to approve the CITT’s recommendation, but he was blocked. Another commissioner asked to sponsor legislation first, County Attorney Abigail Price-Williams told him, without telling him who it was but suggesting he schedule a Sunshine meeting.
Without knowing who it was? How is he supposed to do that?
Suarez says that’s either disingenuous or “complicit” in what appears to be an intentional effort to delay the “unwinding unification” of the PTP and general budget funds.
“Prior to the receipt of your legislative request another Commissioner requested to be the Prime Sponsor of legislation that conflicts and/or overlaps with your request,” Miami-Dade County Price-Williams wrote to Suarez on Thursday. “Once the first legislative request is finalized, we will send you that item for your consideration in case you wish to be listed as a Co-Sponsor.  Alternatively, upon our receipt of written confirmation that the first legislative request is released, we will work with your office to complete your legislative request.
“You may also wish to discuss this matter with the first requesting Commissioner at a sunshine meeting called for this purpose or at a publicly noticed meeting,” the attorney ended, signing her email “Take Care, Abi.”
Read related: Rumors persist of a new recall effort to oust Carlos Gimenez
But who is the first commissioner? The one who can hold this up indefinitely? Ah, “Abi” wouldn’t say.
Las malas lenguas say it’s Commissioner Rebeca Sosa, who has long been known to support Gimenez in everything he does. “Sosa is holding up the process. Doing the mayor’s work,” said one source.
We’ll find out.
Attorney Paul Schwiep, a member and former chairman of the CITT, has asked for all written communications regarding the agency’s resolution to end the subsidies.
The next day, Commissioner Suarez joined that public records request “which hopefully will elicit any and all communications, including telephone messages, emails, and texts between your office and other county officials,” he wrote in an email to Williams, where he basically accused the county attorney and/or her staff of playing politics.
“You have stated that there is another commissioner who is interested in this matter moving forward.  However, you did not identify the commissioner – yet suggested that I have a Sunshine meeting with this unidentified commissioner. In light of the above, putting my request on hold is at best disingenuous and at worst complicit,” Suarez wrote.

“It is your obligation as well as ours, and the mayor’s, to comply with this action by the CITT, which effectively dissolves a contractual agreement,” Suarez wrote, adding that it was more important to comply with the will of a citizen board than pander to commissioners.
“You have indicated that it’s your policy to only prepare legislative requests that may ‘overlap or conflict’ consecutively rather than concurrently, and only if the first legislative request is ‘released.’  I do not believe this policy supersedes the legal obligation to respond to the CITT’s resolution in a timely manner in accordance with Ordinance 02-177. The Board’s failure to do that is a matter of considerable concern.”
Suarez ended the email promising to find out exactly who is behind the hold up.
“I am intent on getting to the bottom of what appears to be an effort to ignore, delay or permanently frustrate the CITT’s clear mandate that rescinds the county’s right to continue diverting surcharge funds to balance the budget.”

Read Full Story

If anyone thinks this extension of the 836 known as the Kendall Parkway is about transit and alleviating the gridlock in the western edge of Miami-Dade County, ask yourself this question: Why would we build a bus stop to nowhere?
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Mr. Giveaway”  Gimenez, who has made this the crowning jewel of his final term — and, perhaps, his administration — didn’t wake up the other day suddenly concerned with transit solutions. If that were true, he wouldn’t be stealing millions in People’s Transportation Plan monies to pay for the operation and maintenance of a mediocre at best bus service and limited MetroRail. He would not be pushing so heavily for this Parkway band-aid that will only end up putting more cars on the street.
No, ladies and gentlemen. This is about money. This is about all the campaign contributions that Gimenez took over the years from the property owners who own tracts west of the Urban Development Boundary.
Gimenez is not building a bus stop to nowhere. He is building a bus stop to future development.
Read related: Rumors persist of a new recall effort to oust Carlos Gimenez
If the commission gives final approval to this Dolphin Expressway extension over protected wetlands on Thursday — a plan criticized for its lack of detail because it doesn’t even have a precise route or locations for bus depots, a rendering of which is photographed here — it will prove only one thing: that the UDB can be moved. And once we’ve opened Pandora’s Box, da lo mismo chicha que limonada. The next logical step is to move it again to build something.
Ladra’s money is housing, which is an issue like transit. Glade Villas or something like that. Then come the shopping centers and schools to serve the new neighborhoods.
It’s called a slippery slope. And we are on the tippy top of it looking down.
Because after we move the UDB under the guise of facilitating transit, they will bring it back. Especially if people don’t show up Thursday with pitchforks and demand a stop to this nonsense that is being rushed and railroaded through. There is a lot of private property west of the UDB and those property owners, you can picture them salivating right now, will say “There was no push back! You already moved it once and nothing happened!”
The second time it will be under the guise of affordable housing choices. Just wait.
After all, developers already tried to build a 60-acre warehouse and office complex just west of the line three years ago — citing the planned extension as a plus. They were denied then. But how much you wanna bet the group of developers is salivating, waiting to come back?
Read related: Carlos Gimenez is raising funds for his PAC again — but for who or what?
Are we so desperate for transit solutions that we will accept a temporary halfway fix that puts in jeopardy our long term environmental resiliency? Is transit so horrible that we are willing to take a bite out of our future health?
Let’s forget, for a second, that this is environmentally unsound, that this does not expose sensitive lands to potential development. Let’s forget, momentarily, that it undermines the so-called SMART plan that has real transit solutions. Let’s forget, for a second, that there could very well be alternative sites for routes and bus depots within the UDB and that this has not been explored enough.
This is not a long term solution because building more roads and widening the existing ones does not solve congestion. It only brings more. The Kendall Parkway, which MDX spent at least $150,000 in ads promoting (more on that later), will become The Kendall Parking Lot in five fat minutes. Even Sen. Marco Rubio is against the idea because it puts the Everglades restoration plan at risk. And some lofty promises about MDX buying 1,000 acres of wetlands elsewhere to make up for it doesn’t really help us here, does it?
Nobody except developers will tell you it’s a good idea to move the UDB. Actually, some scientists might. Since the UDB was drawn, and it’s really an artificial line in the sand, we’ve learned more about sea level rise and water flow in the Everglades. There is a theory that the line should be redrawn around actual flood zones, which would call for a more jagged boundary and, very possibly, include areas already developed. It’s probably the right thing to do, but it won’t happen because even the scientists don’t want to touch the UDB.
Once you move it, you show it can be moved.
Laura Reynolds, a consultant with Friends of the Everglades, was quote in the Miami Herald saying what everybody is thinking, which is that nothing the commission promises Thursday about holding the UDB line matters. “The reality is a six-lane highway will force future commissions to move it,” Reynolds said.
So, no, this is not about Gimenez getting religion and seeing the light on transit for the people in West Kendall, an area he never, ever goes to, by the way. This is more likely about developers telling him, “Oye, you’re coming to the end of your last term, bro, and you said you’d move the UDB. Get creative.”
It is up to the 13 commissioners to stop this.  If they don’t, we can really never trust them again. Restrictive covenant will mean nada. Conditions on development agreements will mean nada. Any language they add to “guarantee” there is no future development beyond the UDB or that developers won’t use the Parkway as a motivator will mean nada.
Their word will mean nada.
Tell the mayor and MDX: We are really not building a bus stop to nowhere. Look east.

Read Full Story

Well, what do you know? Pushed into a corner by a majority of Miami-Dade County commissioners and an army of activists and angry residents to restore the funding cuts he proposed for transit services (bus routes and Metrorail hours), Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez suddenly found at least $16.2 million we didn’t have before.

More found money!

Okay, it’s not like, “Oh, there it is! I was wondering where I put those $16 million!” It’s not like he’s a street magician making quarters appear out of thin air. Although sometimes it seems that way, don’t it? That’s because we’ve become accustomed to Gimenez just opening a drawer full of money whenever he is forced to go look for it.  We shouldn’t be too shocked. This always happens at budget crunchtime. In fact, Ladra is only surprised it’s a measley $16 million and predicts that figure could rise as he opens more hidden drawers and trap doors on the 29th floor at County Hall. Look for good news (read: more bait and switch) at Thursday’s budget hearing.

I mean, wasn’t it a $200 million shortfall in 2014 when Gimenez first threatened to fire 700 county workers, including 255 police officers, then it was 130, then 100, then 70 and then — abracadabra — none! The money was found to save all the police jobs. Just as it was found to save the libraries the year before and stop the fire station brownouts the year before that. Was it last year he found $5 million out of the blue to fund The Underline? Or was that the year before? It all blurs togegther, which Ladra thinks is by design (and, wait, is that money parked somewhere? Or was it spent? If so, on what?).

Read related story: Carlos Gimenez’s new bait and switch — pay cuts to benefits 

This year, the bait and switch is with — what else? — transit, the obsession du jour. Gimenez and, by extension, the county budget director, Jennifer Moon, were hard pressed to find the $19 million that had been cut from the transit budget after the first budget hearing earlier this month and dozens of people spoke about the hardship this would cause transit-dependant workers. A majority of commissioners — in a rare but welcome momentary reunion with their respective spines — refused to pass the budget. Commissioner Xavier Suarez suggested dipping into the reserves to cover the transit cuts, but before that could happen, Commissioner Jean Monestime changed his vote and the budget passed 7-6. But staying with Suarez in dissent were Bruno Barreiro, Audrey Edmonson, Barbara Jordan, Daniella Levine Cava and Joe Martinez.

Some said they would vote against it again at Thursday (Sept. 28) meeting if the transit cuts were not addressed. Or even switch their vote. “Yes, for now,” said Chairman Esteban “Stevie” Bovo. I mean, how could they be taken seriously about the SMART plan and expanding mass transit if they were cutting services wholesale?

“We do have a lot of money. We just don’t allocate it properly,” Suarez said.

And, on Wednesday, the mayor proved him right.

“At the first budget hearing, the board made it clear that your priority for funding was public transportation. I share your opinion that in order to be a truly resilient community now and in the future, we must solve our mobility issues,” the mayor said, and suuuure he shares their opinion noooow.

Gimenez found $2.6 million by adding more limited holiday schedule dates to Metrorail and another $4.4 million by cancelling four bus routes that overlapped with free trolleys and municipal circulators. Really? How many years have we been wasting those $4.4 mil? He also “redirected” about $5.5 million in People’s Transportation Plan funds, just when we are supposed to start weaning ourselves off those funds (futher “redirecting” $6 million in road impact fees to replace it), and saved another unexplained $900,000 in overhead. Just like that. Snap!

And voila! You have $13 million for transit.

Read related story: Libraries saved! Carlos Gimenez performs another magic trick

In his memo to commissioners, Gimenez also laid out additional savings of at least $3.2 million he found in “additional carryover,” whatever that is, since the last budget hearing and which he has applied to the commissioners’ wishlist — including $200,000 for an additional doctor to perform spay and neuter operations at the animal shelter (which doesn’t seem like the best use of funding), $500,000 for an additional police cadet class, $340,000 to cut the grass on medians 17 times a year (current budgeting), $250,000 for canopy replacement and $270,000 for 900 more hours of tutoring at select libraries. Another $1 million was found to practically double the Hurricane Irma reserves (and the commission will be briefed at 1 p.m. on clean up and other recovery efforts).

Is anybody else at all concerned with the ease with which these monies were, once again, moved around like peas in a shell game?

“The idea that we were headed into approval of a budget and now, lo and behold, $13 million, $14 million, $15 million appear out of nowhere all of a sudden,” Suarez said in a telephone interview after Wednesday’s government operations committee meeting and you could practically see him shaking his head through the phone waves. He also said that he hopes the mayor can look a little harder and find more funds now for housing and capital projects, too.

Hopefully, the other commissioners will be as unsatisfied with this bait and switch and see it for the mismanagement and evidence of ineptitude that it truly is. Because if a reluctant and petulant mayor found $16 million in a week, how much is really padding the budget that a more motivated individual might find?

And what does this really tell us?

It tells us that there is overlap in functions and services — you think trolleys and buses are the only example of that? — which are also wasting resources we need for other things like full-time park employees and recreational programs and a civilian oversight board for police and compliance officers to investigate possible violations of the human rights ordinance.

It tells us that the mayor and administration are not reflecting the priorities of the commission — or the community — in the budget.

It tells us that we should have zero confidence in the budget that Gimenez produces and the figures he and Moon provide to the commission. After all, they both presented a Doom’s Day austere budget and said that there was no money to be found for anything else — and then, bingo, here’s $16 million.

And it tells us that former Commissioner Juan Zapata was right when he kept insisting, like forever, that the commission should have its own budget director.

Read related story: Miami Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez saves us — from himself

“It’s the same story every year,” Zap told Ladra Wednesday. “Absolutely the county commission neeeds their own budget director and staff. I advocated and filed legislation to push for this for years. Budget staff would misinform my colleages and purposely sabotage my efforts.

“The current process allows for no checks and balances or accountability to taxpayer dollars. It’s a joke and in desperate need for reform,” Zapata said. “If the commission doesn’t take steps to bring about change, citizens should start a petition drive to place the issue on the ballot.”

Why wait? Ladra smells a passion project. And if the people at New Florida Majority or Engage Miami really want to make a permanent and significant difference, here’s something palpable.

The second and final public hearing on the mayor’s proposed $7.2 billion budget begins at 5 p.m. Thursday (Sept. 28) at County Hall, 111 NW First Street, and will be broadcast live on channel 77 and online at the county website.

February is the short month. And it is almost over already. Key word: Almost.

Because first, there are a few more poltical events for the Cortadito Calendar: A town hall without an elected, a film screening, a fundraiser, a party to open a shiny new police station, another moratorium on medical marijuana, more talk about transit and, egads, bromeliads — and, yes, another protest of Donald Trump.

We even have events on Saturday! But Friday is a free day.

As always, keep sending info on your government meetings, campaign events and political powwows to edevalle@gmail.com and keep your Cortadito Calender caliente!

MONDAY — Feb. 20

11 a.m. — Okay. So there is still a protest. The Labor Community Roundtable United Front Against Trump has obtained a permit to peacefully rally against president Donald Trump on President’s Day because “he has attacked every value we embody and does not represent our interests.” The gathering at the Torch of Friendship in downtown Miami, 301 Biscayne Blvd., is called the Miami Not My President’s Day Rally and it will protest not just Trump’s anti-immigration order, but but everything under the umbrella of “the un-American policies of the current White House.” They include the Muslim ban, the border wall, the pipeline that threatens to destroy sacred lands, the White House website purged of certain information, the lack of action on climate change. Why not throw the kitchen sink at him, too? His failure to release tax returns? His constant calling of the media “the enemy of the American people”? His cushy relationship with Putin? His terrible cabinet choices? Ladra has a feeling all of that will be fair game. “Donald Trump stands against the progress we have worked hard to enact. He does not represent our interests. He was voted in by a minority of the American public but governs as if there’s no resistance. But there is — and on February 20th, we will honor previous presidents by exercising our constitutional right to assemble and peacefully protest everything Donald Trump stands for,” says the invite on Facebook. “There is a congressional recess on February 20th that aligns with President’s Day. Let’s rally while our federal representatives are back in town and remind them who they represent.”

TUESDAY — Feb. 21

10 a.m. — The North Corridor Transit Coalition will meet to discuss progress on the north-south corridor along 27th Avenue. Expected to attend: Miami-Dade Commissioners Barbara Jordan, Jean Monesteim and Audrey Edmonson as well as Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert and other officials. Transportation and Public Works Director Alice Bravo will likely be there as well. The meeting is at Jordan’s district office, 2780 NW 167th St.

6 p.m. — It looks like pot shops and cell phone towers are not wanted in Miami Lakes. The town is the next local government body to consider a moratorium on issuing permits or approving any plans for medical marijuana dispensaries or treatment centers for 180 days. This is what tops the planning and zoning board’s agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. They are also considering a moratorium on telecommunications towers. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at government center, 6601 Main Street.

7 p.m. — The Kendall Dems and the Democrats of South Dade will have journalist Michael Grunwald, former senior national correspondent at Time magazine, speak at their regular monthly meeting at the Unitarian Universalists Congregation, 7701 SW 76th St. Social time is at 7 p.m., the business meeting starts at 7:30 and the speaker starts at 8 p.m.

WEDNESDAY — Feb. 22

9:30 a.m. — The Miami-Dade Commission meets again (for the fourth time in 15 days) and will have mosquitos on the agenda again. A controversial proposal to ban the use of bromeliads in county landscaping was deferred on Feb. 7 after several nursery owners and experts balked at the idea that they are breeding grounds for the Zika-carrying mosquitos. And while it’s gotten less attention, they also may vote to instruct the mayor or his designee to award more than $77 million worth of contracts for various engineering and design services for our state- and federally-mandated water and sewer repairs. These contracts are bunched up, more than one per item, and on the consent agenda so they may not get a lot of discussion (more on that later). Also on the table for Wesdnesday: The creation of a stadium district zoning overlay around the Hard Rock Stadium to be administered by the city of Miami Gardens; bid waivers to increase existing contracts for RicMan and Lanzo Construction work on Shenandoah area water and sewer mains by $5.2 million and $4.3 million, respectively; loaning a developer $17.5 million in housing bond funds for acquisition and development of Hadley Garden Apartments; and a report from Mayor Carlos Gimenez on potential funding for a Miami Museum of Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora (hint: there ain’t no public money except a $100,000 grant). Oh, and they’re going to spend $155 million in aviation funds. The meeting is at County Hall, 111 NW First Street.

6 p.m. — Miami Dade Young Democrats and Downtown Democrats will jointly present a screening of the documentary film 13th, which argues that slavery is being effectively perpetuated in the U.S. through mass encarceration of African Americans. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion on race and politics in the U.S. criminal justice system. It is at the offices of the New Florida Majority, 8330 Biscayne Blvd. The New Majority will also be meeting at 7 p.m. to discuss plans for the April 29 climate march.

THURSDAY — Feb. 23

6 p.m. — North Beach residents are hosting a fundraiser for Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Grieco‘s run for city mayor. The hosts include Brad Bonessi, Diego Caiola, Richard Hall, Rick Kendle, Mickey Minagorri, Dr. Todd and Corey Narson, Betsy and Rudy Perez, Tom Richarson, Luis and Gloria Salom and Daniel Veitia. Wait, isn’t Betsy Perez the plant that Mayor Philip Levine backed against his colleague, Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez. Awkward! Grieco has already raised $340,000 as of Jan. 31. But he wants more to fight former State Sen. Dan Gelber, who filed paperwork at the end of January and has no contributions to report yet. Grieco’s fete begins at George’s Italian Restaurant, 300 72nd St., at 6 p.m.

6 p.m. — Don’t go to the constituent town hall meeting with Sen. Marco Rubio if you actually expect to see the former POTUS wannabe live in person. He has not confirmed. The Facebook event invite says there will be “numerous panelists” and speakers ready to address concerns. This really looks like a protest of his kowtowing to Donald Trump because it is hosted by Indivisible Miami, a group formed to resist Donal Trump’s policies and agenda. Pero por supuesto that he’s not going to confirm! Want to join others in beating him up verbally? Go to the Unitarian Universalists Congregation, 7701 SW 76th Street, which is also where the Democrats of South Dade Club has had its meetings for years. Not very subtle, guys. The town hall is from 6 to 9 p.m.

SATURDAY — Feb. 25

2 p.m. — The city of Homestead has completed the construction of its new police headquarters, reportedly on time and on bubdget. The 55,000-square-foot facility, at 45 NW 1st Ave., replaces the old police station (photographed left) built in 1912, which was outdated and had serious toxic levels of radon and mold, posing health risks to the officers and visitors. The new station, funded with a bond referendum approved by 74% of the voters in 2014, was designed by Rodriguez & Quiroga Architects and built by Munilla Construction Management. Expected to be part of the formula that revitalizes the downtown, the three-story station opened last week on Wednesday. But the grand opening public party — with music, free refreshments and an opportunity to meet the police force — is from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday.

5 p.m. — Libertarians will get together and share their grief and outrage and plans for the future at Republican Liberty Caucus of Miami’s spring quartlerly meeting Saturday at Groovy’s Pizza and Grill, 2770 SW 27th Ave. There will be discussion regarding the RLC National & State Convention in May, about the annual membership drive and the upcoming Tallahassee Days (March 13-14), where members will visit with state lawmakers to discuss their policy priorities. The guest speaker was still TBD as of this posting, but the discussion will likely be about changes in Florida law regarding solar panels and home-based energy generation. For more information, call Hector Roos at (305) 300-7237. There is no cost for the meeting, but you have to pay if you order from the menu.

After Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban Bovo became the board’s chairman in December, he created the Chairman’s Policy Council, a new sort of super committee to take up the most important issues the county faces in the next two to four years — including the renovation of the historic downtown civil courthouse, which was once a $400-million tax grab emergency many moons ago. 

According to the county website, the Chairman’s Council will be responsible for:

• Identifying innovative transportation funding solutions
• Developing a courthouse capital improvement plan
• Identifying critical capital needs, and a corresponding funding plan for the county’s jail system to ensure and promote the humane treatment of inmates while maximizing the safety of county correctional officers
• Developing a coherent and proactive sea level rise response plan
• And preparing a workable county response to gun-related youth affecting our community

That’s a lot of responsibility, ain’t it? It hits all the main community issues and some of the more expensive ones.

And it’s all in the hands of the seven commissioners who voted for Bovo as chairman: Jean Monestime, Audrey Edmonson, Bruno Barreiro, Sally Heyman, Rebeca Sosa, Dennis Moss and Javier Souto. They were rewarded with a  juciy spot on this new and important board while Commissioner Xavier Suarez and those who voted for him were left out.

Read related story: Carlos Gimenez, er, Stevie Bovo wins commission chair

Thursday’s meeting has the eight-member board looking at three $11-million contracts for engineering services for the Department of Transportation and Public Works (including one that has the mayor’s BFF listed as a subcontractor, again). The three contracts look like they are for the same thing — engineering work on a variety of projects, including the study of using driverless vehicles (though we need to get cars off the road, not drivers) — and also include side deals for 41 subcontractors.

But they will also be looking at and discussing different possible transportation funding sources, including:

• Tax increment financing
• Local option gas tax
• Auto tag renewal fees (which is what Suarez has been pushing for but he’s not on the committee)
• Fees on parking violations
• Whatever is left in the People’s Transportation Plan surtax after Mayor Carlos Gimenez takes out millions for operations and maintenance
• Tourist bed taxes
• Monies from the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority
• Public-private transit-oriented development opportunities

Bovo also wants to talk about “deficiencies” in Transportation and Public Works and an update on the construction repairs or renovation to the civil courthouse. 

There’s also a $1.5 million contract to consider for Perez & Perez Architects Planners for an update to the 2008 master plan for the court system and the county jails. That money will come from the Building Better Communities general obligation fund.

The Policy Council — or the Bovo Buddies Bunch, because you can call them that — meets at 9:30 a.m. in commission chambers at County Hall, 111 NW First St.