MDC Trustees rubber-stamp Donald Trump library land giveaway — again

This time there’s an audience, pero igual
Ladra would like to congratulate the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees for finally holding a real public meeting on the Donald Trump Library land giveaway — or, as it will go down in history, The Hialeah Shuffle.
Because make no mistake: Tuesday morning’s “do-over” vote — in which the bootlicking board reaffirmed their decision to giveaway 2.6 acres of prime real estate meant for the school’s growth to their cult leader like it was a promotional tote bag — was less about transparency and more about checking a Sunshine Law box while keeping the public at arm’s length. Far from the downtown campus this impacts, far from students, far from the faculty, and far from the local downtown residents with the most at stake.
Seriously. Why else would you move the meeting from MDC’s central Wolfson Campus — you know, across the street from the land in question — to an 8 a.m. meeting in Hialeah? Ladra sees you, Board. That’s called crowd control.
And yet, even in Hialeah, even fighting rush hour traffic, nearly 80 people showed up. Imagine how many would have packed the room downtown. Ladra imagines it, and the trustees probably did, too. Which is precisely why they drove everyone out to the Ciudad Que Progresa for this little performance of “public engagement.”
Read related: MDC Trustees to vote again on Trump library land; still smells like a done deal
Let’s be clear: The re-vote was never in doubt. The trustees were going to vote yes again no matter who spoke or what they said. A couple of them had made that abundantly clear. Tuesday wasn’t a decision-making meeting; it was a legal maneuver to wipe away the stink of that September vote — the one they took without letting anybody know what land they were giving away, to whom, or for what purpose.
That’s the vote that triggered university professor and historian Dr. Marvin Dunn’s Sunshine Laws lawsuit. The one that says the college’s trustees broke Florida’s Sunshine Law when they quietly voted to deed over the property to the Florida Internal Improvement Trust Fund, which just so happens to be controlled by Gov. Ron DeSantis and his cabinet — the same folks who, surprise surprise, turned around and voted to gift that same land to Trump’s library foundation.
In other words, no open discussion, no transparency, no real public notice — just a “potential real estate transaction” that somehow turned into this giveaway.
Dr. Marvin Dunn leads a protest at the Freedom Tower weeks ago.
And Dunn, who has become a one-man moral megaphone in this mess — and also organized “Stop the Steal” protests in front of the Freedom Tower — showed up Tuesday to remind them: “This sham meeting will not get rid of my lawsuit.”
Woof.
Despite this re-vote, Judge Mavel Ruiz hasn’t dismissed Dunn’s lawsuit, and she already blocked MDC from transferring the deed once. Dunn’s attorney, Richard Brodsky, said it wasn’t over yet: “We will conduct discovery, depositions, document request and the like to get the bottom of what happened here.”
Meanwhile, the college’s lawyer compared Dunn’s transparency lawsuit to “the lawfare the 45th and 47th president faces every day.”
Ladra eye-rolls in Spanglish.
Read related: Lawsuit challenges MDC giveaway of downtown Miami lot for Trump library
Tuesday’s meeting wasn’t a public hearing. It wasn’t livestreamed like regular meetings. Some speakers were even told they needed “permission” to speak until Chairman and former State Rep. Michael Bileca walked it back at the last minute. Very Sunshine adjacent.
Most of the speakers were against the giveaway. Ladra wasn’t there, but Politico’s Kimberly Leonard live tweeted the whole thing (bless her heart) and kept a pretty solid count, and several local TV news channels also recorded and aired snippets.
Many noted that it might not be the best use for the land, which was purchased by the college un 2004 for projected student growth and used as a parking lot in the meantime. One man called the location — next to the Freedom Tower, a beacon for local immigrants — “an abomination.” Trump’s treatment and policy toward immigrants has been cruel and unusual.
“The irony of building this facility next to the Freedom Tower, Ellis Island of the south, is too rich to pass up,” said award-winning documentary filmmaker and local activist Billy Corben.
He also warned that it may not just be a library. There has been talks about building a hotel next to it as well.
“It’s a real estate deal guys, that’s all,” Corben told board members. “I presume some of you own property in the county, residential, commercial. Why don’t you donate it for free to the present? Of course not. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous for me to even say it or suggest it. It was absurd when you heard it out loud.
“If you wouldn’t do it with your property, don’t do it with the college’s property.”
Read related: Miami Dade College gifts Donald Trump land for his library — and a hotel
Democratic Party Chair Laura Kelley broke it down to the bottom line: Giving public institutional land to a politically affiliated private foundation undermines MDC’s neutrality and distracts from educating students. There has been and will be backlash.
A recent poll shows 74% of Miami-Dade residents — including 59% of Republicans, 94% of Democrats, and 69% of independents — are against this scheme.
But on Tuesday, there were also a number of speakers who were supportive of the move. That included a group of Miami Young Republicans who were on a field trip — Ladra hopes they carpooled — and our very own Republican Supervisor of Elections Alina García, who loves the idea of a Trump library, “regardless of whether you like the President or not,” she said, while definitely liking him.
“It’ll be a great tourist attraction, a place for our kids to go learn about the office of the presidency,” Garcia said.
Other supporters also noted that it would be a great tourist attraction and an “honor” to have the Trump Presidential Library in the city’s downtown. One man urged the board not to “cave to a woke and angry mob.” He really didn’t need to worry.
After the speakers had their say, almost three hours worth, the board had its script. Board Member Roberto Alonso, who also serves on the Miami-Dade School Board (and was first appointed there by Gov. Ron DeSantis), told WSVN Channel 7 that it was “a great opportunity to listen to the feedback and to take that into account on our vote.” Ladra calls BS.
For all the trustees’ claims that they wanted to “hear from the community,” they revealed next to zero new information about what MDC is getting in exchange for land appraised at $67 million and likely worth hundred of millions more.
No public negotiations. No benefit agreements. No cash. Not even renderings. Allegedly there is $3 million earmarked for “architecture and engineering,” pero nobody can see a single drawing? Dale.
Read related: Donald Trump’s Thanksgiving social screed serves hate instead of turkey
In fact, the last time MDC sought to develop this exact same property — in 2016 — they wanted $20 million plus student-focused cultural amenities. This time MDC gets…checks notes…zero dollars a promise that Trump’s billion-dollar legacy tower will somehow, someday be good for the college. Y ya está.
The only thing we got from Bileca was justification. They did it in Boston. They did it in Austin. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, sits on 9.5 acres donated by the University of Massachusetts — but in 1976, 13 years after JFK was assassinated. The University of Texas Austin donated 30 acres for the Lyndon B. Johnson Library (okay, before he died).
Trustee Marcell Felipe even told the public they should be grateful — because according to Trump advisor Steve Witkoff, “Miami was lucky” to get chosen. Other cities would “donate the land and pay to build the library,” he claimed.
So, by that logic, MDC should feel honored to give the land away for free. Even tu abuela would call that gaslighting.
The trustees — five in person, two by phone — voted unanimously again to hand the land to the state’s Internal Improvement Trust Fund, which already approved giving it straight to Trump’s library foundation. MDC officials promise they’ll negotiate conditions later, maybe even get a revenue share someday, if something profit-making appears.
But once you give away prime Biscayne Boulevard real estate, that leverage is gone faster than a taxpayer dollar in Tallahassee.
The only requirement the state placed on Trump’s foundation? Start construction within five years.
No student impact analysis. No community benefits agreement. No financial return to the college. No transparency.
But hey, why start doing any of that now?
At least they got their redo vote. In Hialeah. At 8 a.m. With the board members’ minds already made up.

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