MDC Trustees to vote again on Trump library land; still smells like a done deal

After two months of insisting that their September vote to hand over 2.6 acres of prime downtown real estate next to the Wolfson Campus for Donald J. Trump’s presidential library was perfectly fine, even though nobody knew about it, the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees suddenly decided Tuesday to take a “do-over” and hold a new vote.
A public one. With real notice this time. Where actual human residents can show up and say what they think.
They want a gold star for this. Ladra wants to roll her eyes all the way back to the Freedom Tower.
Read related: Lawsuit challenges MDC giveaway of downtown Miami lot for Trump library
Because make no mistake: They didn’t have a change of heart. They didn’t have a transparency epiphany. They got caught. They’re only re-noticing the vote because Miami historian and college professor Marvin Dunn sued to stop the giveaway and a judge granted the temporary injunction, basically telling them there is a “substantial likelihood” they violated the Sunshine Law when the voted Sept. 23 to convey the parking lot property — bounded by Northeast 5th Street, Northeast Second Avenue, Northeast 6th Street and Biscayne — to the Florida Board of Trustees for them to pass along to the Trump library foundation.
Dunn has already organized several protests and the court has already blocked the college from transferring any land while the lawsuit moves forward, and then set a trial for August of next year. The college was also denied a motion last month to expedite an appeal of the ruling that granted the injunction.
In other words, they kept losing in court. Which is exactly why MDC Board of Trustees Chair Michael Bileca, a former Republican state rep, shrugged and said, essentially: Whatever, let’s just revote and move on.
It wasn’t courage. It wasn’t conscience. It was CYA. And impatience to get the deal signed.
Dunn filed the lawsuit days after the vote, accusing the trustees of violating Florida’s Sunshine Law, because the notice was “unquestionably inadequate, and therefore unreasonable,” according to attorney Richard Brodsky.
Read related: Miami Dade College gifts Donald Trump land for his library — and a hotel
The college’s only public notice before the vote, posted a week before its Sept. 23 meeting, vaguely said the board would “discuss potential real estate transactions.” The agenda posted the day before didn’t even specify which property — let alone that the trustees were about to hand over 2.6 acres of prime downtown property worth more than $200 million that the school bought in 2004 for future growth and has been using as a parking lot in the meantime.
“This was not in any way, a typical or run-of-the-mill ‘real estate transaction,’” Dunn’s lawsuit states.
On Tuesday, Dunn celebrated the news.  “We won,” he told The Miami Herald. “This is what we wanted them to do. Re-notice this and give the public a chance to appear and express our views, so we won. They caved.”
He’s already planning to pack the room at net’s week’s meeting, Dec. 2. He might not need to work too hard for that. The outrage has been organic. Ladra expects hundreds of people to show up. Better bring cafecito and comfortable shoes. And maybe some Xanax. Because here’s the kicker: Get ready for the board to vote the same way again — to give away the land. They basically said so already.
Not one trustee has hinted they’ll change their vote. Not. One. Ladra knows how Miami works. You don’t schedule a revote unless you already counted. In fact, Trustee Marcell Felipe — who always manages to sound annoyed that democracy takes time — complained the lawsuit was “a gigantic waste of taxpayer money” and said: “Let’s get it done, let’s put it to bed.”
Translation: We already know what we’re doing. This meeting is a formality. Show up, don’t show up — we’re still giving Trump the land.
Just look at who the trustees are: Bileca, Felipe, co-founder of the now defunct MegaTV and chairman of the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, former State Reps. Jose Felix Diaz, Miami-Dade School Board Members Roberto Alonso and Mary Blanco — both originally appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis — Ismare Monreal, the chief operating officer at the city of Hialeah and a former legislative aide at the Florida House, and Juan Segovia, a homicide detective at the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.
The real gigantic waste of taxpayer money, however,  is the planned giveaway for the only presidential library in the nation planned with a hotel. Because of course it is. This land bought in 2004 for future growth and has been used as a parking lot in the meantime. Today’s value is estimated at more than $200 million.
Read related: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez gave Trump a key to city; gave us the finger
Trump’s foundation wants to raise $950 million — that’s almost a billion dollars for you English majors — to build this “legacy” project next to the Freedom Tower. MDC has not disclosed a single concession or benefit they negotiated for students or the college. Not one scholarship program. Not one academic partnership. Not one promise of anything.
They’re giving away 2.6 acres of prime downtown Miami real estate on Biscayne Boulevard and getting… what, exactly?
Silencio.
This new meeting might get loud. But it’s for optics only.
A little sunshine to make the lawsuit go away. A little public comment to make it look community-driven. A little performance of democracy before the unanimous trustees do what they came to do.
But hey — at least the public gets to say what they think about this to their faces this time.

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