Attorneys for former Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla will have to wait a little while if they want their $1.3 million from the city’s taxpayers, because his successor, Commissioner Miguel Gabela, wants the city to more carefully review the invoices.
The city commission could have approved the payout on Thursday, and Gabela said he understands that the city is technically liable because ADLP was a sitting commissioner when the accusations were made and he was suspended after being arrested on charges that included bribery and money laundering. But Gabela was able to convince his colleagues to defer 4-0 (Carollo stepped away) so an outside attorney can “go over the records that have been submitted to us,” because, well, they seem sus.
“Look, it’s clear that we’re going to pay. That’s not in play. The question is how much are we going to pay, and what is fair and what is inflated,” Gabela said. “This isn’t going to be settled today.”
He suggested the appointment of an independent attorney “to examine what has been given to us on the bill, and make sure what is in there is correct what is incorrect is taken out, and then we decide on a number.
“It’s a question of a dollar amount,” Gabela added, as if we didn’t already get that he wants a second opinion.
Doing the math, if all the attorneys were each paid $500 an hour, they would have had to work 2,600 billable hours between them on ADLP’s defense. That’s dedication! Maybe that’s why Diaz de la Portilla got off?
The bill the city got was divided into six parts, for five different lawyers and then a separate and unclassified $110,000 with no attorney’s name attached, that everyone assumes is for Diaz de la Portilla’s time and trouble.
Read related: City of Miami may pay $1.3 mil for Alex Diaz de la Portilla’s criminal defense
The lion’s share of the ADLP legal fees, or $705,055, goes to Kuehne Davis Law and his main attorney, Benjamin Kuehne, who also represented Commissioner Joe Carollo in the federal First Amendment lawsuit that got the two Little Havana businessmen a $63.5 million judgement, the appeal of which was lost just last week
The rest of the monies would be spread out as such:

$208,000 to Collazo Law Firm and attorney Yesenia Collazo, the former chairwoman of ADLP’s Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade PAC, who also got a questionable $175,000 grant from the city’s anti-poverty funds from the former District 1 commissioner five months before he was arrested.
$121,723.33 to Susy Ribero-Ayala, who was already paid $16,110 last summer from ADLP’s PAC and represented him in the civil case on the alleged shakedown for the new Rickenbacker Marina contract.
$98,535 to Richard Diaz., which is also the name of an attorney that has represented Commissioner Joe Carollo.
$86,097.50 to Gunster, a law firm that is friendly with Mayor Francis Suarez, an attorney.
$109,926.81 goes to “costs as reimbursement for legal fees and costs in the case.”

Kuehne was at the commission meeting and spoke during the public comments, just to tell commissioners he was there if they had any questions. But they didn’t ask him anything.
On Friday, the attorney told Political Cortadito that the city’s move to assign a lawyer to review legal bills is a common one.
“While this step will unnecessarily delay payment of the earned legal fees, I will work with the lawyer to expedite the process of obtaining payment,” Kuehne wrote in an emailed response to a request for comment.
“As the Commission recognized, Alex Diaz de la Portilla is absolutely entitled to payment of his legal fees for his successful vindication against the now-dismissed criminal charges. His exoneration was the expected and correct result of his actual innocence.” Kuehne said.
“His legal team is proud to have vigorously represented Alex in the scope of his public service commitment. No elected official should be put through what Alex has overcome in his defense of the weaponized misuse of the justice system. Respect is due the thoughtful and correct decision of the Broward County State Attorney’s Office for recognizing this abuse of the criminal process.”
Read related: ADLP gave $175K in Miami anti-poverty funds to political pal in Doral
Commission Chairwoman Christine King wanted to just sign the checks. “One thing I don’t want to see is this drag out,” she said. “I’m satisfied that the bill is fair.
“This was a horrendous miscarriage of justice. Horrendous! It just goes to show what can happen when people overreach.“
Wait a minute. Let’s back up.
Diaz de la Portilla was arrested in September of 2023 after investigators learned that he and attorney William “Bill” Riley, a lobbyist for The Centner Academy, had funneled more than $300,000 in payments to the commissioner’s political action committee, and his lavish lifestyle at the luxury East Hotel in Brickell, in exchange for the school’s near total control of a public city park. There were thousands of dollars worth of food ordered from room 801 and a rented a penthouse and several guest rooms rented for a watch party for Renier Diaz de la Portilla’s failed bid for county commission. There was an all-expense trip to Boston for ADLP and his then girlfriend, now estranged wife in a bitter divorce battle.
There are receipts.
“But he was not even charged,” King moaned at the meeting, like she could be another one of his delusional groupies.
Um, yes, he was. Diaz de la Portilla was booked into the county jail on 14 charges, including felonies. There were the well-known bribery and money laundering charges, but also counts of unlawful compensation, criminal conspiracy, official misconduct, campaign finance violations, and failing to disclose gifts. The former commissioner, who has threatened to run for mayor, should have been charged with witness tampering, too, after he harassed an ex staffer to keep her from testifying.
The charges were later dropped. But Diaz de la Portilla was originally charged with, it’s worth repeating, 14 different crimes. The only miscarriage of justice here is that there was never a trial. But that’s because our esteemed Miami-Dade State Attorney Kathy Fernandez Rundle had yet another conflict — she knew Riley’s family — she had to pass the case along to Broward, where the prosecutors didn’t care as much and just decided it was not worth their time and effort.
Read related: Miami’s Alex Diaz de la Portilla arrested on corruption, pay-for-play park deal
Gabela, who beat Diaz de la Portilla in 2023 with a comfortable 8-point lead to take over the District 1 seat, is taking the time and effort with the bill. He said it was not political. “For me it is not a question of who is right or wrong. I’m not even touching that.
“I’m tired, since I got here, of paying attorneys fees left and right, left and right, left and right,” said Gabela, who compared the city’s legal expenses to a piñata party and has also questioned the legal fees paid by the city for the civil case against him filed by Diaz de la Portilla, over his residency requirements, and the whistleblower case against Carollo by the two former Bayfront Park Management Trust employees who said they were forced to resign after they found financial discrepancies that indicate the commissioner abused his power as the chair of the agency.
Gabela has also asked for the city to seek reimbursement from Carollo for defense fees in the civil case brought against him by two Little Havana businessmen, which he lost the latest appeal on. Those expenses are estimated at around $5 million.
“I wonder who’s making a referral fee here,” he quipped Thursday. “This should be examined because this isn’t coming out of our pockets. It’s the taxpayers at the end of the day.”
City Attorney George Wysong read the statute that requires the city to pay “reasonable and necessary” costs for a case that stems from something a city official or elected did while on the job. “This case is eligible for reimbursement,” Wysong said.
Eligible? Maybe. It’s arguable if conspiring with the owners of the school to give away a public park for hundreds of thousands of dollars is part of a commissioner’s job. But okay. In Miami, maybe. Reasonable? That’s the issue here.
“It’s a question of the dollar amount,” Gabela said.
Wysong said he will get an “independent counsel” to look at it and come back to the commission with a recommendation in September, “based on a thorough review of the bill.”
In a text message Friday, Diaz de la Portilla told Ladra that he welcomed a second look. But his answer also seemed to warn that the city should be careful what it asks for.
“I want the same. He and I agree,” Diaz de la Portilla said, referring to Gabela. “It’s a tally closer to $2.2 million, without punitive [damages].”
The post Attorneys for ADLP must wait for city’s ‘thorough’ review of $1.3 mil legal bill appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Dignity? In this bill? Don’t buy the branding
Isn’t it a little adorable when members of Congress dress up immigration bills like they’re offering you a free spa day instead of a seven-year parole sentence with no chance of freedom?
Actually, no. It’s sickening.
Under fire for having absolutely no spine when it comes to Donald Trump‘s  mass deportation fiesta in the U.S., Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar — a former TV host moonlighting as a lawmaker — is touting the “Dignity Act of 2025” like she’s Mother Theresa of the Migrants.
But she’s actually more like Maleficent.
According to Salazar and Democrat Congresswoman Veronica Escobar from Texas — who doesn’t realize she is being used — this “bipartisan breakthrough” would let some undocumented immigrants, only those who’ve been here since before 2021, apply for a shiny new seven-year temporary legal status. There’s no path to citizenship, no access to federal benefits, no skipping the long line of check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Oh, and the lucky immigrants get to pay restitution, too. Because clearly, working for years under the table in a field or kitchen or paying social security taxes for benefits they’re never going to get isn’t sacrificing enough.
Read related: Cuban American congress members stay silent on TPS, immigrant detention
“If you’ve been here more than five years and you do not have a criminal record, and you have been working and paying taxes, in construction, hospitality, agriculture, slaugter houses, uh, fisheries, dairies, you can come out of the shadows, and pay $7,000 over seven years plus one percent of your earnings for seven years. You can go home for Christmas or bury your mother, and you can come out and buy homes and continue contributing to the economy, paying taxes and working in those jobs that other Americans don’t want to participate in,” Salazar said on CBS News earlier this month.
Isn’t that generous?
She said it would be a special, separate “dignity status,” not a green card. “There’s no path to citizenship for seven years. And if you want to renew it for another seven, perfect!”
Perfect!
Let’s call this what it is — probation with a W-2. A legislative fig leaf trying to (1) cover up the chaos caused by masked ICE agents raiding workplaces and (2) tamp down the protests that have been sprouting up all across the U.S.
But you immigrants shouldn’t get too comfortable. While you’re paying taxes and contributing to the economy like a model guest at a dinner party you’re never invited to join, the bill also calls for a nationwide E-Verify mandate, just to make sure you never forget you’re being watched.
And, of course, there’s beefed-up border security, because the best way to get GOP support for the bill is to throw more money at the wall (figurative or literal). Salazar says, quickly and as often as she can, that this is not amnesty, because that’s a dirty word for Republicans, and touts the bill as the first “common sense” solution in decades.
“For 40 years, every president and Congress has looked the other way while millions have lived here illegally, many working in key industries that keep our economy running. It’s the Achilles’ heel no one wants to fix,” Salazar said in a statement. “The Dignity Act offers a commonsense solution: Certain undocumented immigrants can earn legal status — not citizenship — by working, paying taxes, and contributing to our country.
“No handouts. No shortcuts. Just accountability and a path to stability for our economy and our future.”
Handouts? Shortcuts? Ladra would argue that working your fingers to the bone in agriculture and food service for decades without papers or protection, paying federal taxes without getting benefits, and constantly looking over your shoulder scared you’re going to be ripped from your home is about the opposite of a shortcut.
Read related: Maria Elvira Salazar takes credit for judge extending TPS for Venezuelans
Salazar didn’t come up with this on her own and out of the goodness of her heart. She is taking a cue from her false God, Donald Trump, who popped up on Fox News last month to tease his own “sort of” plan for “temporary passes” — but only for agricultural, hotel and restaurant workers, because nobody else wants to pick our fruits and veggies or wash our dirty dishes. And while he’s still leading the charge to deport as many people as possible, he doesn’t want anyone messing with the production of U.S. tomatoes, because, ketchup.
Or cheap labor.
“We’re going to let the farmer sort of be in charge,” he said. So, feudalism is making a comeback? Or is it more like slavery?
Ladra is sort of surprised that Salazar, hasn’t proposed that the immigrants who are already in detention can work the fields. Hey, maybe the government can issue branded ankle monitors and call them “Freedom Bands.”
Meanwhile, ICE continues to raid facilities like it’s Black Friday at a big box store — the most recent example being two ag centers in Southern California where over 200 workers were arrested. Recent raids in Florida have targeted construction and landscaping businesses, resulting in the detention of more than 100 individuals at a Tallahassee worksite alone. At least six people detained at Alligator Alcatraz — the cruel and unusual punishment facility where detainees have report maggots in their food and being left out in the sun for six hours — have been rushed to a nearby hospital for medical care (more on that later).
All of this has prompted lawsuits, protests and violent clashes.
And so much dignity.
Actually, Salazar wouldn’t know dignity if it was lucky enough to slap her in the face. This is the same woman who toured Alligator Alcatraz and said it was just great. She sat on the beds and they were really soft! Everybody there said they were just chillin’, she told the press after her chaperone visit.
“They had three metal toilets with a little wall to cover people when they’re doing their business. They had two telephones where they can call their attorneys or loved ones… [and] some grass where they could run or do some exercise,” she told the media after her tour earlier this month. “It meets the highest standards.”
Three metal toilets with a little wall just scream high standard and oh-so-much dignity. At least she didn’t say what Gov. Ron DeSantis said — that these conditions are better than what the detainees have at home. Es un ignorante.
Meanwhile, Democrat lawmakers who visited the makehift plastic prison in the Everglades said that detainees begged them to be let out of this nightmare. One man shouted that he was an American citizen. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz called the facility an “internment camp” and said “apalling” conditions inside were completely inhumane.
“They are essentially packed into cages,” Wasserman Schultz said of the detainees. “These are really disturbing, vile conditions and this place needs to be shut down.”
This can’t just be a partisan disconnect. Who’s lying?
Ladra’s money is on Salazar, who lied about keeping TPS protection for Venezuelans when it was really a California judge who did that. And she just keeps digging a deeper hole, making herself more vulnerable for next year’s midterms.
Read related: Internal poll has Richard Lamondin in striking distance vs Maria Elvira Salazar
Richard Lamondin, a environmental tech entrepreneur who has filed to run to replace the congresswoman, said her proposal is more political theater than it is true reform. “Just more broken promises for families who have lived, worked, and contributed to our communities for decades,” he called it.
“And while my opponent blames immigrants, it’s Washington’s failure to tackle inflation and bad policies like tariffs that are hurting our economy,” Lamondin said in a statement. “As a business-owner, I’ve seen it firsthand: tariff-driven price hikes have disrupted supply chains and made key products harder to find — with constant uncertainty making it harder for businesses to grow, plan, and hire.
“We need comprehensive immigration reform that honors our values, strengthens our economy, and includes a real path to citizenship. And we need leaders who understand the stakes and deliver results – not more political stunts that trade dignity for headlines,” Lamondin said, adding that she has introduced this same legislation twice before and each time failed to even get the bill out of committee.
So, while Salazar and Escobar slap a bipartisan bow on their undignified, halfway house of a proposal, vamos a hablar claro: This isn’t a path forward — it’s a temporary hall pass for people to keep doing the dirty work no one else wants to do, while pretending they’re not in legal limbo.
Ladra knows a PR campaign when she sees one. And calling this a “Dignity Act” is like calling a cage at Alligator Alcatraz a “tiny home.”
Maybe next time, Salazar should try honesty and real dignity instead of branding.
The post Maria Elvira Salazar’s ‘Dignity Act’ is about zero dignity and all a big act appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Rosie Cordero-Stutz says she inherited rising costs
The newly-elected Miami-Dade sheriff is not happy about the dollar amount that Mayor Daniella Levine Cava‘s proposed budget sets aside for her new, constitutional office and has sounded the alarm in recent days, warning that proposed cuts could leave the sheriff’s office disarmed and dangerously under-resourced at a time when public safety concerns are rising like the summer heat.
Sheriff Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz put in a request for fiscal year 2025-26 for a hefty $936 million — nearly $94 million more than what was budgeted when it was the Miami-Dade Police Department last year. According to a sheriff’s spokesperson, Levine Cava allocated $50.4 million, leaving a significant shortfall of $43.4 million.
Cordero-Stutz says it’s not for new bling. She needs more in order to keep 911 response times from rising and fill up to 200 vacancies.
“Make no mistake,”the sheriff wrote in a sharply-worded plea disguised as an “open letter” published in Community Newspapers. “A reduction of this magnitude puts the safety of our entire community at risk.
“The proposed budget reductions for public safety threaten to undermine the very foundation of our operations. These cuts will force us to reduce the number of sworn deputies and hinder recruitment at a time when demand for service continues to rise.”
At the county commission meeting last week where they approved a flat tax rate for next year and a budget that currently reflects a $402 million shortfall countywide, the sheriff warned the board about the consequences and “respectfully asked” for her full budget.
“Anything less is defunding the police,” Cordero-Stutz said.
Read related: Facing $400M budget shortfall, Miami-Dade cuts senior meals, lifeguards, more
The funding is not for shiny new toys or some bloated cop wish list. Well, not her wish list. More than two thirds of the increase ($64M) is just to honor existing contracts the county signed before the sheriff’s office even officially existed, Cordero-Stutz says.
In other words: It’s the county’s tab. And now they’re sticking her with the bill.
So, when voters decided in 2020 to bring back the elected sheriff — and 57% of Miami-Dade voters said yes — the county’s reaction was to go on a spending spree? Of course, the handoff is now coming with strings attached and unfunded promises.
One example Cordero-Stutz cited are the collective bargaining agreements the commission approved in 2023, which locked in raises, cots of living hikes for retirees and training incentives, among other things.
There were also zero academy classes this year because of budget shortfalls, Cordero-Stutz explained. That means no new recruits. “As a result, we are currently carrying more than 200 vacant sworn positions, as of July 15th, with more expected by year’s end,” Cordero-Stutz wrote.
That means whole areas — like Kendall, which has just 180 deputies to cover 42 square miles and over 80,000 residents — are left stretched ‘very thin,’ just like we like our Serrano ham sliced at Publix.
With the next potential field of recruits not coming in until mid-2026, “we face a serious staffing gap that impacts service and safety,” Cordero-Stutz wrote. Her proposed budget is focused on filling all existing vacancies. The request also includes 54 new civilian positions. Not because she’s building an empire — but because decades of backlogged staffing have left critical operations understaffed and overworked.
“Full staffing is essential to enhance public safety, improve response times, strengthen investigations, and support the well-being of our deputies,” she wrote.
With the FIFA World Cup on the horizon and cyber threats lurking behind every login, is this really the moment to penny-pinch public safety?
Read related: Miami-Dade could cut back services, give millions to FIFA for World Cup
Apparently, that’s a question the county commission will have to grapple with. Last week, after some debate, they approved the mayor’s proposal for a flat tax rate, which means that property owners will pay more taxes, but only because property values increased. To pay the same amount of taxes, the county would have had to adopt a “rollback” rate, and they didn’t do that. Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez was the only one who voted against the budget because he said residents needed and deserved a break.
It also means that commissioners will have a lot of work to do before the budget is finalized after two hearings in September to find the funding for the sheriff’s office needs within the existing revenue parameters.
Levine Cava said in a press conference last week that the county had increased spending on public safety by 8% each year while she has been the mayor.”Today, we are facing a new and difficult fiscal reality,” she said, placing much of the responsibility for the $402 million countywide shortfall on the rollout of the five new constitutional offices.
But the sheriff isn’t taking the blame sitting down.
“Let me be clear,” she says. “I am not asking for enhancements. I am asking the board to fund a budget that meets the financial obligations made before the Sheriff’s Office even came into existence—and allows us to continue protecting this great county to the best of our ability.
“Every dollar in this proposed budget is directed toward one goal: keeping the people of Miami-Dade County safe,” Cordero-Stutz says. “These investments are not about expanding government — they’re about ensuring we have the trained personnel, resources, and infrastructure required to meet the challenges of modern law enforcement and deliver the high-quality service our residents expect and deserve.”
In other words: She’s just trying to pay the bill someone else racked up, keep the lights on, and maybe — just maybe — run an academy class or two so she doesn’t have to answer emergency calls with an empty bench.
So, Miami-Dade voters got their brand-new sheriff. But what else did we get? A bill due that isn’t funded, a public safety system teetering between ‘responsive’ and ‘underwater’ — and a county mayor and commission that has a little more than two months to decide whether it wants to back the badge or balance the budget on it.
“At the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office (MDSO), our mission is clear: to protect and serve this community with integrity, dedication and compassion,” Cordero-Stutz wrote. “From the 911 call takers who answer your most urgent cries for help, to the deputies on the streets, from our Cyber Crimes Bureau tracking digital threats, and to our Strategic Response Team handling the most high-risk situations — we show up, every single day, committed to keeping this community safe.”
Well, as long someone pays the bill.

We all have bills to pay. Help support grassroots government watchdog journalism with a contribution to keep Political Cortadito brewing. Thank you for the encouragement!

The post Miami-Dade Sheriff to county leaders: Budget cuts handcuff public safety appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

The Olympia Theater, a beloved but distressed 1926 Beaux Arts jewel in the heart of downtown Miami, could go from historic cultural treasure to charter school annex at Thursday’s city commission meeting. Commissioners will consider selling the Flagler Street structure to Sports Leadership and Management Miami, a 6-12 charter school operated by none other than Academica, a for-profit charter giant with major political ties.
And all for the bargain price of a cafecito con un pastelito.
The plan is for SLAM to “buy” the theater and the adjacent 10-story office building for $10 — yes, ten American dollars — and in exchange, they promise to restore it to its former glory and use the theater space for only 180 days a year. That’s less than half the time. And, you know, it’s not in writing. There’s no actual promise in the contract. We just have to trust them. They also promise to provide community cultural events and programming. Just you wait and see!
SLAM’s current campus at Northwest 12th Street
So, the school itself would operate out of the building, while the theater would serve as a cultural hub — managed by the same folks who run a sports-focused charter school, who have no experience restoring gilded ceilings or booking symphonies.
Not to worry! Fernando Zulueta, the big boss at Academica, says they’re going to make an “enormous investment.” He estimates $50 million in repairs and renovations. How much of that is public money, charter dollars, tax credits or straight-up fairy dust remains to be seen.
The concept has been brought to the commission by the Department of Real Estate and Asset Management, which apparently no longer wants to manage the Olympia Theater, which is also known as the Gusman Cultural Center for Performing Arts, named after Maurice Gusman, a Ukrainian-born philanthropist who renovated it and donated it to the city of Miami in 1975. It has been pitched as a generous act of civic salvation. “We’re saving the building,” they cry. “We’re doing this for you!”
Because nothing says ‘historic preservation’ for the ‘public goo’ like charter school real estate deals.
But Mayor Francis Suarez — who might or might not be back from his vacay home in the Bahamas — recently told the Miami Herald that he is the one who put together this shady transaction after a phone call from a “friend” who knew about the “behind the scenes” deal, which is another way to say it was a backroom, secret pact.
“It’s fair to say that I helped connect all the dots,” Suarez is quoted saying.
Tell me this is an inside deal, without telling me it’s an inside deal.
Read related: Secret giveaway of Miami’s Olympia Theater is on city commission agenda
This agreement first popped up on the June 26 commission agenda to most people’s surprise. There was some resistance, an editorial in the newspaper. A lot of concerned speakers at public comment. So, it was deferred to the meeting Thursday. There has been some public outreach in the meantime: A community meeting and a Zoom call with the city manager. There is a petition on Change.org that picked up 986 signatures to save the Olympia in a matter of days as of Wednesday night.
But if it still seems like the city is in a hurry to shed any responsibility for the theater, it’s because it is. The city manager’s excuse about it being because the school year is about to start is BS. This is about a lawsuit.
The Gusman family, heirs of the theater’s original owner, are suing the city, citing a “reverter clause” that says they get the building back if the politicians screw up its maintenance and operations. Spoiler alert: They did. That’s what’s caused the urgency here. There is no way they are going to be able to turn those 80 antique apartment units into classrooms in a month. City Manager Art Noriega lied to residents when he said the rush is to accommodate students. It’s to accommodate developers.
The family’s lawyer, Timothy Barket, practically yelled at the public during last week’s heated community meeting, telling the crowd:“You’re not losing your building, because this was never your building!” Ouch.
He also said they were tired of broken promises and needed to move forward and were not willing to look at any other public private partnership RFPs. “We’ve done that. We’ve been bit by this dog before,” Barket said.
“The Gusman family is sick of the city of Miami.”
Ah, civic engagement! Nothing builds trust like a millionaire’s lawyer telling residents they have no stake in a public treasure.
“They’re the ones trying to force the giveaway of the property,” said former Commissioner Ken Russell, who is running for mayor and has publicly come out against the agreement on social media and in a press conference where he basically said the city was lying. They say there is no money to help restore the Olympia Theater. Russell, who left office early to run for Congress, said the city had $79 million in Miami Forever Bond monies to use on cultural facilities and that an oversight board had recommended the Gusman restoration be funded, at least in part, with that. The commission voted for it, he said.
“It’s there. Line items. That money is there,” he said.
Those who support this agreement say they believe this is the best way to save the building. The mayor, the city manager and District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo, say the city can’t afford to restore the theater, and the school is willing to pour $50 million into the historic renovation. The deal is sweetened with the city’s own reverter clause that says it gets the property back if SLAM fails to fix the place up or stops using it for public education purposes that they swear they will have. Again, just trust them.
Oh, and the city could lose the property anyway in the lawsuit from the Gusman Foundation.
But at least there’s a fighting chance. Especially if the city finds a better option while the lawsuit drags on in court. Critics of the proposal say the city has not exhausted all alternative uses. There was an RFP a few years ago, but it was flawed because the city refused to put any skin in the game. There are still dollars from the Miami Forever Bond, which were supposed to go to the theater anyway but were diverted to, um, “more important” projects, like road surfacing and storm water drainage improvements.
The city hasn’t said how much is left of the bond monies or how much they can get for the air rights, which are development rights they can’t use because of the historic footprint but can sell to another developer to use nearby. These are unanswered questions that could be addressed through a more thorough competitive process. Let SLAM and Academica submit a bid. If it’s the best, and there are truly no other better options, then at least there was a public process.
But this city commission are the same folks who cancelled an election — without asking voters.
Commissioner Pardo, who sponsored the change in election year that effectively cancelled this November’s mayoral and commission election, has particularly gone out of his way to promote the deal on social media. On Wednesday, he answered five of the most common questions he said his office got about the agreement. He made sure to tag Suarez, too, so he gets his brownie points.
Pardo cites “in-writing safeguards and guaranteed commitments,” ad well as Miami Dade College being a partner, which is echoing the applicants. He sounds more like their lobbyist than the District 2 commissioner.
“The city has never had, nor is it expected to have, the funds to restore the Olympia,” he said in a post on Instagram. Pardo doesn’t call or text Ladra back anymore because I don’t just believe everything he says anymore.
He also said that while people are now saying the city should fund the renovation, they also prioritize public safety, parks, traffic calming, street improvements, infrastructure for flooding and resiliency, affordable housing and more. “City residents also prioritize lower taxes,” he said. ¡Que cínico!
And Ladra has a feeling those words are going to come back to haunt him when he wants to do something.
Read related: Ka-ching! Miami DDA is doling out more checks to billionaire companies
If this is really about historic preservation, why does the theater get handed over to a charter school network with deep political ties and real estate ambitions? And why did the whole thing appear on the City Commission agenda last month with barely enough notice to post it on a bulletin board at Publix?
Why did people like pianist Orlando Alonso, a Cuban-American actor and producer who had talks last year with the administration about redeveloping it as a Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall, not even know it was happening until someone told him it was on the June agenda? Alonso formed a team of developers and professional theater operators from his experience and contacts in New York at Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center and has worked for six years to develop a plan, he told Ladra. They met with city officials and commissioners twice and made their presentation.
It fell apart when the city failed to offer anything in the form of grant monies or bond funds to help with the pricy renovation. But let’s be real: The Academica scheme was already in play. Ladra is sure it was discussed last year around the same time that Suarez had Zulueta on his podcast, where he called Academica CEO a “genius” and “someone who has revolutionized education.”
Wonder if he called him a “friend” there, too.
Also, Ladra doubts anyone else got to make a proposal for $10.
“History is not made in grand moments alone, but in the quiet accumulation of choices,” Alonso said at last week’s press conference to save the theater. “One compromise here. One betrayal there. Over time, they add up — until a people, and a city, forget their soul. And that is precisely what has happened in Miami.
“The mayor of this city — and those who support his bankrupt vision — have erred again and again on the side of destruction,” he said. And everybody certainly remembers the Coconut Grove Playhouse, right? Which was demolished by neglect?
“The Olympia deserves artists and operators worthy of its acoustics, of its beauty, of its potential – and more importantly, worthy of the values it represents,” Alonso continued. “But those pushing this deal do not understand any of this. Because they do not understand beauty. They do not understand legacy. They understand only transactions.
“And when you only understand transactions, you destroy what you cannot monetize. Even the Gusman family—who once stood for preservation – has failed in this moment. They have joined a backroom deal that betrays Maurice Gusman’s legacy,” Alonso said. “When Maurice Gusman saved the Olympia, when he gave it to the people of Miami, he understood something fundamental: that the future of this building could never belong to one person. Its survival depended on all of us – on the people of this city.”
The vote Thursday needs four out of five commissioners to pass. So if just two commissioners think the Gusman’s history is worth them opening the process up, the deal is dead. Or at least delayed. Thursday’s meeting is the last before the summer break. There won’t be another meeting in August, unless commissioners make those arrangements.
Anyone who wants to try to preserve one of Miami’s last cultural and historical gems — not just SLAM-dunk it into a for-profit school portfolio — can make public comments beginning at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at City Hall, 3900 Dinner Key Drive. The meeting can also be watched on the city’s website and YouTube.
The post Miami city commission set to give away historic Olympia Theater — for $10 appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Miami Assistant City Manager Larry Spring, the city’s chief financial officer, announced earlier this month that he was resigning from his position, but it’s not like he has to pack up any boxes.
He doesn’t really plan to go anywhere.
The city commission could tell the city manager at Thursday’s meeting to enter into a contract with Spring as a consultant for his “expert services” on an “as needed basis.”
City rules prohibit any Miami employee, or former employee, from entering into a contract or transacting any business with the city or an agency acting on behalf of the city for two years after leaving the job. Spring’s last day is Aug. 22. The contract would become effective that very day at 5 p.m.
The city commission can waive that provision with a four/fifths vote if it is in the best interest of the city, “as in this case,” reads the resolution.
Read related: Miami CFO Larry Spring resigns from city job — for a private sector gig?
We should have seen this coming. City Manager Art Noriega made a haughty “goodbye” speech to Spring at the July 10 meeting, but hinted that maybe he would hang around City Hall in some capacity.
“The city plans on retaining Mr. Spring as an expert consultant for the City Manager’s office in order to contribute his expertise and knowledge, and assist in city budget matters, city financings, and other city projects that require his expertise,” the resolution states, adding that he will continue to work at Achievement Consulting Group, which he is listed as president of in the Florida Division of Corporation records. He’s been with the company, which “specializes in real estate development, government relations, and financial consulting services.”
So, let’s get this straight. He’s going to be — or has been — heading a company that lobbies for real estate deals while moonlighting for the city as a consultant on those very deals?
“Mr. Spring has held several executive management positions in healthcare, commercial banking, municipal government, real estate, and economic development; and… the city will benefit from Mr. Spring’s, expertise in municipal government, real estate, and economic development,” the resolution says.
You know what the resolution doesn’t say? How much Mr. Spring will be paid for his “as needed” consulting services.
Help Ladra stay on top of the Miami City Hall shenanigans. Please consider making a donation to Political Cortadito to keep the independent, grassroots watchdog journalism going. Thank you!
The post Larry Spring could get consulting gig in Miami even before he retires as CFO appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Something stinks at Tropical Park, and it’s not the horse manure.
Because while Miami-Dade is sharpening its budget axe and slashing around $40 million from the budget for non-profit grants, a baby nonprofit with barely a bank account, zero track record and no actual contact info — but a politically-connected director — just landed a $250,000-a-year payday for 20 years courtesy of our county commission.
That could add up to $5 million and for what? Nobody really knows.
How did this happen? The Miami-Dade Commission, in a last-minute addition to the agenda, voted last week to give exclusive use of parts of Tropical Park as well as a 20-year contract to produce programming and events (like the Christmas festival that replaced Santa’s Enchanted Forest two years ago) to Loud and Live, which also produces other community events like Miami Speed Week and the Coconut Grove Arts Festival. They were selected after a competitive request for proposals process and will bring $40 million to the county over the two decades.
But part of the deal was that Loud and Live give $250,000 to a charity of the county commission’s choosing every year for the entirety of the contract.
Read related: Facing $400M budget shortfall, Miami-Dade cuts senior meals, lifeguards, more
And the commission chose A3 Foundation, which is the same organization that got $75,000 in grants this year from Miami-Dade Commission Chair Anthony Rodriguez, and a $125,000 allocation in this year’s budget.
And who’s running this mysterious nonprofit? Francisco Petrirena, chief of staff to Miami City Manager Art Noriega who also serves as the city’s lobbyist in Tallahassee and founded a firm called Biltmore Strategies in June of last year. He is a full-time public employee now moonlighting as the sole paid staffer of a shady charity that’s already raking in state and county dollars despite no evidence of actually doing anything. Or even existing.
The Miami Herald’s Doug Hanks broke this story over the weekend, reporting that the new non-profit had less than $25,000 in the bank last year, no working website, no working phone number and an office address at a townhouse in West Miami purchased for $410,000 in 2016 by David and Jennifer Rodriguez, who seem to have no relation to the commissioner. It’s a common name.
In a phone interview with the Herald, Petrirena said he was paid $80,000 annually by the non-profit as its sole employee. A3 is involved in the organization of CountryFest, the rodeo-style agriculture and horse show at Tropical Park every spring that reportedly brings about 25,000 attendees.
“We help organize the festival,” he told the Herald, adding that the foundation’s mission is to promote agriculture education.
In a phone interview with Political Cortadito, Rodriguez said that the $200,000 in county funds were awarded to A3 because of its agricultural focus and is related solely to the organization’s help with the CountryFest. But Ladra wants the receipts.
While some have speculated that the A3 Foundation’s name is a nod to the chairman’s three children — whose names begin with the letter A, like their dad — Rodriguez also said that he never met Petrirena before became the District 10 commissioner and inherited Tropical Park and the CountryFest event from former Commissioner Javier Souto. And he stressed that the $250K that the foundation is getting from Loud and Live are not the county’s coffers.
“It’s 100% private money,” the commissioner told Ladra. “This is what the county should be looking at — how do we have private businesses that partner with the county support community benefits rather than it being paid by taxpayer dollars.”
But when the county gets to decide where that money goes, it sort of becomes public dollars that belong to taxpayers.
Petrirena also happened to be one of the people who was considered to replace former county Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera, who left after he was tapped by President Donald Trump as ambassador to Panama. Is this the consolation prize after the commission appointed Natalie Milian Orbis instead?
Read related: Kevin Cabrera tapped as Panama ambassador; so who will replace him?
This is not the first grant applied for by the little-known A3 Foundation, created in 2023 by Petrirena — who worked for Doctors’ Health Plans and at Brandeis University in Boston, where he was a student in 2017 — Jose Vasquez and Zenny Mera, who may be a yoga instructor from Doral. Three months after incorporating, the non-profit got Florida Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez to sponsor a budget request of $500,000 “to promote sustainable agriculture, advocate for educational opportunities, and create awareness of community priorities.”
Despite the shockingly vague language, the legislature nearly doubled the allocation to $950,000. Maybe Petrirena has made lots of friends in Tallahassee. That includes $100K for Petrirena’s salary — wasn’t it $80K? — and $400K for “educational resources” and farming scholarships that haven’t materialized anywhere outside a budget line.
So, doing the math, Petrirena’s side gig has been awarded $1.4 million just this year. Where’s the documentation that all nonprofits have to provide to become eligible for county grants? Why doesn’t anyone at the county seem to know what A3’s actual role in CountryFest is?
Look, Ladra is all for ag education and community outreach. But if that’s what the county is really funding through A3, where are the programs? The metrics? The scholarships? The functioning website?
No, this looks less like charity and more like political patronage. Like, dare Ladra say it, money laundering. It can’t be a coincidence that Rodriguez passed legislation earlier this year to exempt CountryFest from those pesky, transparent public bidding requirements.
So what do we have? An elected official funneling public money to a private nonprofit with direct ties to another public official, working full-time in another government — all while normal, longstanding nonprofits with real missions and real staff delivering social services, after-school programs and food for needy families are about to get the rug pulled out from under them.
In this year’s budget message, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said she had to make “painful” choices to fill a $402 million shortfall.
She’s right. It is painful — especially when you see where the money is still flowing.

Ladra doesn’t have political padrinos to give her county funds, but she relies on readers to help support independent watchdog journalism like this story. Please consider making a donation to Political Cortadito today to hold our electeds accountable.

The post Shady charity with political ties gets $450K from Miami-Dade Commission appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story