Chairman Anthony Rodriguez can claim the chaos
In what is one of the most egregious abuses of power that Ladra has witnessed in decades of government reporting, the Miami-Dade Commission sat silently by while a resident who had gone to County Hall to have her voice heard was violently dragged out of Commission Chambers last week by at least four officers and eventually arrested on trumped up felony charges.
And the cowards have not said anything since.
While they all bear responsibility for allowing this to happen, unnecessarily, the biggest burden falls on Commission Chairman Anthony “A-Rod” Rodriguez, who caused a lot of confusion in his hasty attempt to mute the large crowd that had gone to speak against an agenda item at Thursday’s meeting that would authorize an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on reimbursement and public records for detainees (more on that later).
Read related: Miami-Dade could go above and beyond to help ICE with local detainees
Rodriguez said that if even only one person spoke, then that would be the public hearing and nobody could speak about the issue again if it were taken up later (fully knowing it was not going to be taken up later). This was confusing people, especially since the county attorney said that no, they could speak later. Which means Rodriguez was lying. The item also said the agreement would be retroactive, so people were wondering if that meant it had already been implemented.
In a video shot by The Miami Herald’s Doug Hanks, (who also captured the featured image above) Camila Ramos is dragged from the Miami-Dade Commission Chambers June 26.
Camila Ramos, a real estate agent who went before the commission to oppose the agreement, was still in jail Friday afternoon, nearly 24 hours after she was dragged out of county hall. According to the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department’s online inmate search, she was at the Turner Guilford Knight corrections center until she was released around 4 p.m., with a $7,500 bond on charges of aggravated battery of a police officer and resisting arrest with violence.
Another protester who was also arrested was also released.
Attorney Bruce Lehr, who is representing Ramos, told Political Cortadito that the first charge was already changed from first degree felony aggravated battery to battery, a third degree felony. This is based on the allegation that she struck a police officer in the face with a closed fist. But anyone who watches the video can see that Ramos was not in control of her own body as police grabbed her by her arms, her wrists, her legs and even her hair to drag and carry her out of commission chambers. She may have hit someone by accident while she was flailing about.
In fact, the video taken by The Miami Herald should come with a disclaimer for gratuitous violence.
“No, no, noooo,” she is heard saying as they surround her and grab her. “I’m just asking about the process. I just asked about the process.” She goes limp. She probably weighs 110 pounds soaking wet.
“Let go of me, let go of me, let go of me, let go of me” Ramos wails, and everybody stands by and does nothing. She grabs a man’s sleeve as they drag her off, but he just smirks. “No! No!”
Ladra is not sure it’s her or someone else who says “Stop what you’re doing.” Then Ramos tells the officers that she’ll leave on her own. “Let me go. Let me go. I can stand and I can be quiet. No! Let me go. I have a right to understand this process.”
They ask her if she can walk. She says she needs to take a breath. So they keep dragging her out.
That kind of escalation was completely unnecessary.
And not one commissioner had the nerve to stand up for this constituent. They let it continue to escalate as people in the audience watched completely in shock. Someone could have simply said something like, “Hold on a second. Let her leave on her own two feet. Ma’am, contact my chief of staff outside the chambers and I will hear your concerns. I’m sorry about this.”
That would have taken guts. But it’s much easier to let this just happen and then, well maybe so many people won’t show up to public meetings and get all up in their business.
That”s why, instead, “We will have order in this chamber,” is all that Rodriguez repeated. At one point he smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “We will have order in this chamber.”
Quite tellingly, none of them have been reachable. Calls to Rodriguez, Sen. Rene Garcia, and commissioners Juan Carlos “JC” Bermudez, Oliver Gilbert, Eileen Higgins, Danielle Cohen Higgins and the communications director for Commissioner Marleine Bastien, were not answered nor returned. And, while all of them are quick to make sweeping statements about local, state and national issues — especially to support or oppose something Donald Trump did — not one single statement had been issued as of Friday morning.
Read related: Miami-Dade leaders react to Donald Trump’s new ‘xenophobic’ travel ban
Only Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who also did nothing as they dragged Camila Ramos away, made a statement Friday that spoke about the general chaos — Rodriguez at one point recessed the meeting and came back — but made absolutely no mention of the total police overreaction and violation of Ramos’ rights (more on that later).
“I know many people in our community have concerns about this issue, and it was unfortunate that yesterday’s meeting escalated the way it did when people were there simply to make their voices heard,” La Alcaldesa said in her statement. “It’s critical that all residents have the opportunity to address their elected officials on topics impacting our community, and I’m glad that the Board ultimately did hold a public hearing so that residents could be heard.
“Public input is an essential part of an accessible, accountable local government and as elected officials we should encourage all residents to exercise their right to participate in local decision-making.”
What happened Thursday will not encourage anyone to participate. In fact, it will serve as a chilling factor and keep people away from County Hall for public comments. Wouldn’t that make Rodriguez and Gilbert, who has been slow to hand over the chairman’s reins, happy? They are the biggest champions of silencing the citizens and have both often stymied the First Amendment rights of other speakers throughout the years.
Rodriguez often cuts comments from two minutes to one minute because there are just too many people who want to speak. Nosy busybodies. He has also shut the mic off in mid sentence more than once. That’s what he did recently to Kendall activist Mike Rosenberg, founder of the Pets’ Trust Initiative and president the Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations. But first, Rodriguez warned him, as caught in this video clip posted on YouTube.
“Mr. Rosenberg, I think you’ve been made aware to stay on topic, on the item you’re here to speak on,” the chairman told Rosenberg at the May 20 meeting, where the activist had gone to speak about an idea to help save stray animals. An item on the agenda about banning the feeding of strays had been withdrawn, Rodriguez said, so Rosenberg had no right to speak on it. Rosenberg says the agenda was not set until after the public comments, so the item was set to be deferred but had not yet been. It was not a pretty exchange.
“It didn’t say withdrawn yesterday when I looked at the agenda. It changed somewhere overnight,” Rosenberg said.
“I’m not going to debate that right now,” Rodriguez told him.
Rosenberg knew he would be cut off. “I’ve seen it before,” he said. But he cited rules that showed the reasonable opportunity to be heard was before the setting of the agenda. Or he began to, anyway, before Rodriguez interrupted him.
“We don’t ask questions from the podium,” Rodriguez said. We don’t? Then where is it that the public can ask questions of matters before the commission? And Rosenberg wasn’t asking a question, by the way. “You’re down to a minute, 20,” the chairman added. But when Rosenberg — the only speaker at that meeting — started to speak again, he was cut off because Rodriguez did not want to hear about it for even 80 seconds.
That’s asking too much? That our electeds listen for 120 seconds?
“Just ask yourself if this would encourage you to want be a part of this board of county commissioners and be involved in our community,” Rosenberg told Political Cortadito. “Two hours to get downtown and 90 minutes to get home. Only one speaker and they stopped me.”
Yeah, no. The answer is no.
There is a long history at Miami-Dade of cutting speakers off or discouraging. public comment in other ways. Some of the rules are ridiculously obvious for their single intent to curve public discourse. If you speak at one meeting, you can’t speak at another, even if more commissioners are there the second time. Chairpersons before Rodriguez — Gilbert for sure but also Chairmen Esteban “Stevie” Bovo and Jose “Pepe” Diaz — have also been known to thwart any public comments from constituents.
Read related: Miami-Dade’s Esteban Bovo cuts public speech on i-word
But it has never risen to the level of Thursday’s escalation of intimidation.
According to one person who was at the chambers on Thursday when Camila Ramos was dragged out, the officers were shouting and one who was there even had a rifle. Another person said that the members of her group were pushed and shoved by police officers. Why is there an officer with a rifle at a commission meeting? What’s next? The National Guard? It certainly did seem like what happened Thursday would not have happened if hostilities toward protesters had not been turned up nationwide.
What the commission wants to do is to stifle any criticism. The attitude Rodriguez puts on during meetings is precisely intended to thwart public comment. He couldn’t care less. We need more people like Camila Ramos willing to stick her neck out to say that our comments and opinions matter.
And less cowards on the county commission.
While they stayed spinelesslessly silent after what happened Thursday, all the way in Surfside, Mayor Charles Burkett sent an email Friday morning to his staff as a warning that this should not happen in their town. “This is really bad. I can’t think of any good reason why a situation like this ought to evolve with a woman on the floor with two very strong police around her,” Burkett wrote.
“We must never allow something like this to happen under our watch.”
Don’t you wish some county commissioner had said that?
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Whether or not the city of Miami cancels this year’s election, effectively extending the mayor’s and commissioners’ terms by a year, all depends on Commission Chairwoman Christine King.
The first reading of an ordinance to move the Miami city elections from odd to even years, effectively cancelling this year’s election and extending the mayor’s and commissioners’ terms by a year — passed 3-2, with King and Commissioners Ralph Rosado and Damian Pardo voting in favor. Commissioners Joe Carollo and Miguel Gabela voted no.
But King said she was only voting in favor for the first reading, so she has reservations. And, hopefully, enough people have advised her to vote no on the second round.
Read related: Miami Commissioners pass election date change — and steal an extra year
The biggest reason, however, that King’s vote may swing the other way is that, as she likes to remind everyone at almost every meeting, she is an attorney. So, she knows this action is going to be challenged. Perhaps even by the state.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on Wednesday doubled down on his opinion that the city could not move the elections year without first going to the voters for approval. He says the city charter, and the Miami-Dade County charter, supersede the state law that City Attorney George Wysong has relied on.
“The State will not tolerate such an unconstitutional deviation,” Uthmeier wrote in a letter to Mayor Francis Suarez and the commission. “You should immediately cease the process of enacting the ordinance to move the date of municipal elections and change the terms of office for elected officials in the City of Miami. The citizens of Miami deserve — and are entitled to — the right to make this decision, directly.”
He cited the city charter, which says the election is in odd years, and the county’s Home Rule Charter, which requires the 37 municipalities in Miami-Dade to take any major charter change to the voters.
It seems logical. From what Ladra has known from decades covering government, local rules can be stricter than state rules but not looser. And then municipalities have to follow those stricter rules.
Uthmeier says there will be “consequences” and has threatened to “consider taking all available options.” The state is not the only one who has threatened to sue. Several would-be candidates for mayor and commission — including former Commissioner Ken Russell, former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, mayoral candidate Michael Hepburn and Little Havana activist Denise Galvez Turros, who is running for commission in District 3 — have also threatened to take legal action.
Many of them and other critics have called this nothing but a power grab.
Read related: Miami lifetime term limits, election year change intertwined, like bait & switch
“If Commissioner Pardo were truly serious about reform, he’d be fighting to expand representation, not restrict it,” said Downtown Neighbors Association President James Torres, a onetime commission candidate in District 2 and frequent critic of Pardo’s.
“One of the most impactful proposals raised in recent months — is to increase the number of City Commission districts from five to nine. Miami has nearly half a million residents — yet only five commissioners. Many cities of similar or even smaller size have nearly twice as many districts, giving neighborhoods a stronger voice and better access to their government. It’s time we caught up,” Torres said.
“When you expand districts, you bring government closer to the people. You make sure that places like Downtown and Brickell — vibrant neighborhoods with growing populations — finally have a seat at the table. That’s how you empower voters. That’s how you strengthen democracy. Not with bans. Not with backroom extensions. But by making sure every corner of this city has a voice.”
There is currently a petition being circulated to put expanded districts on the ballot (more on that later).
Uthmeier also posted his letter on X, the platform formerly known as twitter. “Home to thousands of patriotic Cuban Americans who know better than most about regimes that cavalierly delay elections and prolong their terms in power, the City of Miami owes to its citizens what the law requires,” Uthmeier wrote.
In light of Uthmeier’s strong words, it is possible that Commissioner Rosado, who voted in favor of the outright change — giving himself five years instead of four in his first term — goes back also and decides to take it to the voters, instead.
But King, the attorney who is always trying to avoid legal battles, knows that this is one giant lawsuit waiting to happen and will most likely switch her vote based on that. It gives her cover.
The meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, and can also be watched live online at the city’s website and on YouTube.
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Newly-elected Miami Commissioner Ralph Rosado has been in office for less than a month. But, already, he somehow knows that the Bayfront Park Management Trust is superfluous and needs to be abolished.
Sound familiar? That’s because Commissioner Joe Carollo, who poured perhaps up to $1 million into Rosado’s campaign through his political action committee — and even directed his TV ad in a park — has been trying to do it since he was caught using the trust monies as his own political piggy bank.
This is the first of Rosado’s payback. There is no other reason.
Rosado lives in and represents District 4, which is furthest away from the downtown urban core of all the districts. The Bayfront Park Trust was never part of his campaign platform. It’s possible he didn’t even mention it once in his campaign.
But it sure would make Carollo happy.
Read related: Joe Carollo wants to abolish Miami’s Bayfront Park Management Trust
Earlier this year, Carollo was sued by two former employees who said they were forced to resign, or basically fired, after they uncovered massive amounts of discrepancies in the Bayfront Trust’s books. Carollo has been accused of abuse, fraud, and the corrupt mismanagement of the funds — which he used to pay for District 3 events and to give questionable contracts with friends and neighbors who may have given him kickbacks. He was chairman of the agency, which oversees Bayfront and Maurice Ferre parks, for seven years.
In February, he put an item on the agenda that would abolish the Trust and replace it with a new “Division of Bayfront Park and Maurice Ferre Park” within the Department of Parks and Recreation. It wasn’t because this was a good idea. For seven years, Carollo defended the Trust as an important agency operating what he called the city’s Central Park.
It didn’t happen. Instead, Carollo was removed as chair Commissioner Miguel Gabela was appointed chair.
In May, the new executive director, Raul Miro, announced that the Miami-Dade Inspector General’s office had launched an investigation.
“Based on the facts uncovered thus far, there is significant evidence that Joe Carollo, as chair of the Bayfront Trust, violated his fiduciary responsibility to the Trust, misused Trust assets and employees, entered into no-bid contracts without cause, misappropriated Trust funds to pay for his Commission Office expenses to further his own political ambitions, and fostered an environment of intimidation for employees,” reads a statement issued by the Trust in May.
Read related: Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo and the Bayfront Fountain of corruption
“The Trust will take swift action if wrongdoing is found, including referral to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement,” it reads. “Concerns regarding potential misuse of Trust employees for non-Trust functions, including supplementing city staff and potential conflicts with union contracts and insurance, are also being considered for referral to the State Attorney’s Office.”
There’s no reason to think that if the Bayftont Trust goes away, the investigation goes away, too. But, still, this is Crazy Joe’s way of lashing out and trying to hurt those he feels are hurting him. Which includes Gabela, the new chair of the Bayfront Trust, who launched the investigation and has been bashing Carollo openly in commission meetings. Bless him.
Gabela did not return calls to his phone. He has an item on the agenda to approve the Bayfront Trust’s $30 million budget for next year.
Rosado did not return calls to his phone. Carollo never returns calls.
And while the investigation would likely continue, even if the Trust were abolished, it’s just Carollo being his petulant child self and breaking the toy when he can’t play with it.
The Miami city commission meeting begins at 9:30 at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, and can also be watched live online at the city’s website and on YouTube.
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The historic structure could become a charter school
DEVELOPING STORY (more reporting is being done): Miami commissioners are about to give themselves an extra year in office, and everyone is talking about that. But nobody is talking about the giveaway of the historic Olympia Theater on Flagler Street to developers of the largest charter school company in the state, maybe the country, with more than 200 schools across the U.S.
They may also be giving away millions of dollars worth of “transfer development rights” — or “air rights” from above the downtown Miami property — that could be sold to developers nearby.
This is a no-bid deal on Thursday’s agenda. It has no sponsor, which means it was cooked up by Mayor Francis Suarez and the city manager through the Department of Real Estate Asset Management. The manager would be authorized to “negotiate” and execute the sale with a “quit claim deed” of the Olympia, built in 1926 as a silent movie palace, to the owners of Academica to use for their Sports Leadership and Management charter school. You know? The one that is hyped by Miamis own Pit Bull.
Expect him to be paraded out at the public hearing, like a show pony, for public comments.
This needs four out of the five commissioners to vote approve this. None of them have said a word since the agenda briefing, which means they may not really care. Maybe it’s a horse trade. They’re thinking, “Francis wants it and what the heck?”
Read related: Complaint vs Miami Mayor Francis Suarez may show Sunshine Law breach
What the heck is that it is one of Miami’s most treasured — and last — historical gems. Former City Commissioner Ken Russell — who is running for mayor and is the only one that brought it out into the public light — calls it Miami’s “greatest cultural asset.”
Political Cortadito was unable to reach any of the commissioners but left messages with commissioners Miguel Gabela, Damian Pardo and Ralph Rosado. Ladra tried to reach DDA Director Christina Crespi, but was told she was not working and referred to the agency’s public relations firm. A call to Gary Ressler, a board member of the Miami Downtown Development Authority was not returned. Neither was a call to the Flagler Business Improvement District.
There are “restoration requirements” quoted in the agenda item, but no details. They are also sprinkling in the mention of Miami-Dade College for “educational programming” — because the college is an excellent steward of historic properties — but there are no details or guarantees. But none of that should matter because this is a secret, backroom deal to turn the theater over to a serial campaign donor with no real public discourse. There could be better things to do with the property. We don’t know. Because it has not been an open, competitive process.
“The city is moving too fast,” said James Torres, president of the Downtown Neighbors Association and onetime candidate for the District 2 commission seat. “Everything the city does should go through an RFP process. Enough of the giveaways.”
“This stinks of a bro deal to me,” Russell said. “Nobody has spoken up publicly about this, so they’re trying to do it quickly and quietly.”
Russell told Political Cortadito that the city should throw away this deal and start a new request for proposals. He is certain that the city can get a serious offer from someone who can build a boutique hotel or something more appropriate than a school and simultaneously operate the theater. The city also still has $60 million or so from the Miami Forever bond monies for cultural projects, which could be used to partner with someone for the restoration of the facility itself, he said.
“So, when they say there’s no money, that’s a lie. When they say there are no interested parties, that’s a lie,” Russell said.
The fate of the Olympia Theater has been in the air for years. There used to be a non-profit that operated and programmed the city-owned property. But that’s gone. A deal for Miami-Dade College to operate the theater died with former President Eduardo Padron. Then, the Related Companies submitted an unsolicited bid to build a hotel, which was also a surprise and came onto an agenda without any previous knowledge. It was withdrawn. In 2022, a request for proposals ended in failure — probably because the city wasn’t willing to put any of their own funds into the restoration.
Just last year, the city got another proposal from Orlando Alonso at OAMusic Production and Management to operate the theater and develop a boutique hotel on the property. The Cuban American actor and producer 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. They met with city officials and commissioners twice in 2024 and made their presentation.
“But there was no incentive or support from the city whatsoever,” Alonso told Political Cortadito. “I have a team that is ready to present a plan, but I think this opportunity has nothing to offer now that they have worked something out in secret.”
Ladra would go so far as to say that the city was already secretly working with Academica on a plan last June when they met with Alonso. In fact, it was about a year ago that Suarez had Fernando Zulueta, the owner of Academica, on his podcast, where he called Zulueta a “genius” and “someone who has revolutionized education.”
He is also a serial political campaign contributor, though Ladra could not immediately find contributions directly from him to Suarez’s political action committee.

Alonso plans to speak at Thursday’s commission meeting. “It’s going to be another school auditorium, which is what it’s been for the past 25 years,” he said about the charter school plan.
The Olympia is one of several venues that hosts the Miami Film Festival. But, this year, there were only two or three movies shown there. He compared the Olympia to the Lyceum Theater or the Apollo in New York City and said it has great potential.
“It should be having 300 concerts a year and full time operation and not only a three day film festival,” Alonso said. “It could have comedy acts, ballet, cinema, orchestras. It is not a one pony show.”
“Where is the artistic vision? I’m not saying the Olympia could not collaborate with an educational institution, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.”
His proposal is not a pipe dream. He said in an op-ed published in the Miami Herald — published a couple hours after Political Cortadito posted this story — that Howard Herring, president of the New World Symphony had “formally endorsed the proposal” and offered to lend his support to make it happen.
This story will be updated as new information is obtained and digested.
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Lifetime term limits moved forward to November ballot
There will still be an election in the city of Miami this year — but it might be for a charter amendment, not for candidates.
Miami commissioners on Tuesday took the first step toward moving city elections from odd to even years, which extends everybody’s terms by 12 months, including Mayor Francis Suarez (who worked behind the scenes to make this happen) and Commissioner Joe Carollo, who were both termed out this year and has been threatening to run for mayor. Elections for mayor and two commission seats scheduled for Nov. 3 could be moved to Nov. 4, 2026, if the ordinance passes on second reading later this month.
Maybe.
Ladra expects a bunch of lawsuits. Not just from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who said in an opinion issued last week that any such change would first need to go to a public for approval. Candidates who have already been campaigning this year — including former Commissioner Ken Russell, former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez and perennial candidate Michael Hepburn — might also take the city to court over this. Is the city disenfranchising voters?
Carollo, who has been threatening to run for mayor this year, voted against it. So did Commissioner Miguel Gabela, who got into it with Carollo later in the meeting on the Bayfront Park Management Trust (more on that later).
Read related: Miami commissioners Damian Pardo and Ralph Rosado have private lunch
Commissioner Damian Pardo, who sponsored the measure (and had a very good day), Ralph Rosado, who was elected earlier this month to fill the seat vacated by the late Manolo Reyes., and Chairwoman Christine King, after she talked for several minutes against the measure, voted in favor. King said she was just moving it along to second reading. That means that people need to reach out to her before June 26 and convince her to switch her vote and remove her support for this power grab.
Rosado was the swing vote, as everyone expected. But he swung the other way, voting opposite of his benefactor, Commissioner Carollo, who ran and funded Rosado’s campaign, pouring hundreds of thousands into it from his political action committee.
So much for the Reyes legacy that Rosado promised to continue. Manolo would never have voted to give himself an extra year.
Rosado was also the swing vote on the lifetime term limits (again, against Carollo’s “no” vote) that are absolutely part of the election year change, no matter how many times Pardo denies it on the dais. He did tell Ladra earlier that one was “instructive” to the other. What does that mean? Basically, that the election year change — perhaps a positive change for increased turnout that other cities are also making — was only proposed right now to make the lifetime term limits stick. Current term limits allow term-limited electeds to run again after a break from office. If voters pass lifetime term limits in November — which would prohibit former electeds who served two terms from running for the same seat — it would make a mess if they also elected former Commissioner Frank Carollo, who has filed to run in District 3 and brother Joe to the mayor’s seat.
Read related: Miami commission to talk term limits, election date, DDA, Watson Island…
The change in election year will avoid, allegedly, any legal challenges that may come from having lifetime term limits on the same ballot as former or current electeds that would suddenly become ineligible because of that amendment. Even if the change in election year practically guarantees a legal challenge in its own right. It’s a ‘means justifies the ends’ kind of thing.
People spoke both in favor and against the change, citing “dynasty” politics that have reigned in Miami for decades.
Some speakers said that it was worth the “sacrifice” of an extra year of Joe to “get rid of him” forever. His threat to run for mayor is the fear driving most people who support the move is that Carollo would run for mayor this year and win among the current clown car of candidates. While Ladra believes that’s not as much a done deal as they think, it is not “worth the risk,” they say, of another four or eight years of Carollos — because former Commissioner Frank Carollo is running again in District 3.
Among the supporters, was journalist Michael Putney, an Aventura resident who endorsed Pardo and also posted a video for him in favor of the “common sense” change. “Eight years is enough,” he said, citing what he said was “pathetic turnout.”
Joe Carollo said it should be called the Carollo amendment because it targeted him and his brother. “You know very well that you can’t find a candidate who can beat Frank,” Carollo said. “That’s why you want to knock him out.”
Pardo, who lobbied hard for the change, invited other “advocates” to come to the meeting and has even provided them with talking points for both the election year change and the lifetime term limits. So if the public comments sound similar and rehearsed, that’s why. His political action committee paid for a poll that he says shows widespread support. But it was his own PAC doing the poll, not an independent party.
Read related: Miami lifetime term limits, election year change intertwined, like bait & switch
Pardo posted videos on social media, including a clip from a Telemundo interview with former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, basically giving both items on the agenda a thumbs up, and another video of iconic restauranteur Monty Trainer, who must be 120 years old, supporting both measures as well.
But every single comment on that Instagram post is against the change. “This is quite crazy,” says one. “This is so wrong,” says another. “Shameful. Should be sent to the voters. You keep pushing this like you are giving us a choice,” wrote Donald G.
“Moving the elections is all well and good if it’s approved by residents in a referendum. Elected officials voting to give themselves more time in office is not democracy,” said someone under the handle MannyFernandez04.
But Ladra likes Jessica Johnson‘s (at doubleagentjj) comment the best: “Damian, the pesky thing about the democratic process is: it’s tedious and due process matters above all. You seem to be falling into a power grab trap. How many authoritarian dictators said they were dictating in the name of democracy and upholding democracy? All of them.”
There were some public speakers Tuesday who said it was just not worth another year of Carollo and Suarez and that they would support the move another time, after Carollo and Suarez are already termed out. Pardo’s sponsored sister legislation to adopt lifetime term limits — which would make anyone who served two terms as mayor or two terms as commissioner ineligible for that same seat ever again — would be retroactive, which is something that was already challenged in Miami Beach and upheld by the courts. So it would still count against Carollo in the future.
Fernand Amandi, a Democrat strategist who lives in District 2 and has otherwise supported Pardo’s items, said it was “indefensible,” and that “this sacred decision” had to be made by voters.
“I find myself in the unfamiliar position today where I wholeheartedly agree with Governor DeSantis and Attorney General Uthmeier, and even Commissioner Joe Carollo,” Amandi said, and it did sound weird. Amandi said he would likely vote for Pardo again for another four years. “But not nine years.”
Carollo joked about it. “My wife’s gonna think you have a man crush on me,” he quipped.
Activist Denise Galvez Turros, a public relations specialist and former candidate who has filed to run again — in the same seat as Frank Carollo — asked the commission and Pardo to trust the voters to reject the Carollos. And if they don’t?
“So be it.”
She said that she knew, from walking her district, that people did not want to cancel the election.
“I trust the people of this city,” Galvez Turros told Ladra before the meeting. “They’re awake, immured and ready to speak through their vote this November.
“We don’t need backroom deals,” she said. “We need election. We need democracy.”
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… Bayfront Trust, affordable housing, traffic calming
The Miami Commission agenda for Tuesday’s meeting is 123 pages long and has almost 90 items — and that’s counting the 14 consent agenda items as one. There are 17 public hearings, 25 proposed resolutions, four ordinances on first reading, three ordinances on second reading, an emergency ordinance on “aggressive panhandling,” eight discussion items, 15 planning and zoning items and 15 items under “board and committees” that are mostly appointments that never get made.
Take out the board appointments and that’s still a whopping 74 items.
Some of these are pretty important and expected to draw a large crowd of opponents, usually, or supporters, rarely, in what’s going to be a spillover turnout. Bring a folding chair. The commission is slated to vote on the proposals by Commissioner Damian Pardo to take lifetime term limits to the voters and change the election year to 2026, extending everyone’s terms by a year. Both these things are expected to have dozens of speakers and lengthy back and forth on the dais.
Commissioner Joe Carollo, who is known for drawing things out and loving the sound of his own voice, will bloviate for hours.
Read related: Miami lifetime term limits, election year change intertwined, like bait & switch
Commissioner Miguel Gabela has a number of interesting items on the agenda, like the termination of the existing agreement for the audit of the Bayfront Park Management Trust — which was chaired by Carollo, who is accused of misusing the its funds — and the authorization for the Trust to contract with its own external and independent auditor to conduct a forensic audit. And he wants his colleagues to approve the Trust’s $30 million budget.
He also wants the city manager to take “any and all steps necessary” to enter into an interlocal agreement with Miami-Dade or another local governmental entity to refer all “non-criminal complaints” regarding violations of the city code made against sitting elected officials. This is, on paper, in order to avoid any appearance of bias, impartiality, and perceived or real conflicts of interest. But it’s also probably a reaction to Carollo presenting photographs of Gabela’s home at the last commission meeting and questioning if he has violated zoning laws against the number of boats he can have tied to or number of cars he can have parked on his property.
But the best Gabela measure is a resolution to issue a subpoena to William Ortiz, Carollo’s chief of staff, to answer questions about his role in the said “investigation” of Gabela’s use of his properties. The city charter allows the commission to issue subpoenas to witnesses “for the purposes of investigating official acts and conduct of a city official.” Isn’t that what he wants the county to do?
A controversial item on a 287g agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, for city police officers to be deputized and conduct immigration enforcement, “may be deferred,” as it said on the online agenda Monday evening. It sorta has to be deferred now that they said it “may be deferred.” Which is good. Because the 80-some items that are still on the table are going to take the meeting into the wee hours of the morning.
Read related: Miami could join 250 Florida cities with 287g contract to help ICE vs immigrants
There should be a rule against this. Oh, wait. Ladra thinks there is.
According to the city’s municipal code, in Sec. 2-33, the “total number of items that may be scheduled on a regular city commission agenda shall not exceed 60 items,” and “all matters on the consent agenda shall count as one item.”
Is that why they have this meeting identified as a “special meeting?” To get out of that? There’s nothing special about it. It is the same meeting that they cancelled or rescheduled from June 12, because Commissioner Christine King‘s father died and she had to travel for the funeral. So why is it now a “special meeting”?
Ladra expects a lot to be deferred when the agenda is set, before public comments, which means that people who go to speak on a particular item may not be able to speak, and get sent home or back to work after making the time to be there. This happens way too often in the city of Miami — people have complained already at several meetings — and needs to be addressed as an issue.
But that’s probably not gonna happen Tuesday. Because there are other time-suck items that may not be deferred, which include:

A personal appearance by someone at the Miami Downtown Development Authority to “inform the commission and the public about their mission and the work they do.” So a promotional ad for the DDA at a time when some residents are calling for the end of a special tax on residents that funds it — and the budget may grow from $13 million to $21 million next year (!) — or to put it on the November ballot for the public to decide. There’s also a resolution sponsored by Pardo to accept $1.2 million from the DDA to spend on increased policing within its boundaries.
A resolution approving a proposal from Motorola Solutions, after a competitive process, to provide portable smart radios along with related “enablement” and training for $30 million over the next seven years.
A resolution, sponsored by King, authorizing the city manager to execute a no-bid contract for a 99-year lease of city property at 1199 NW 62nd Street to Yaeger Plaza Partners for the development of an affordable renting housing project. It is proposed to have 135 units — studios, one bedroom and two bedroom units — for individuals and families whose income is greater than 22% of Annual Median Income (AMI) but no greater than 80%. There would also be a ground floor of retail and a clinic to provide affordable primary health care for low and moderate income individuals. Last October, the city’s Housing and Commercial Loan Committee approved awarding $3 million in Miami Forever bond funds for the development of the project.
A resolution, sponsored by Carollo, to transfer $2.4 million of Community Development Block Grant funds earmarked for economic development in District 3 in previous years to the Department of Real Estate and Asset Management to purchase six parcels, with a combined market value of almost $8.5 million, according to the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser. Where is the city going to get the other $6 million? Oh, wait, actually it’s another $12 million because the city is proposing to pay $14.5 million in total for all the properties, at Southwest 8th Street and 9th Avenue, are owned by Auyantepuy Investments, which is represented by attorney Barry Simons and has a Doral address that is the same address, and same suite number, for Garam Global Solutions, formed May 19 by Gabriel Rodriguez and Alejandro Machado. Auyán-tepui, which is phonetically practically identical, is the most visited and one of the largest tepuis, or grouping of tabletop mountains or “mesas,” in the Guiana Highlands. In Venezuela.
The transfer, sponsored by Gabela, of $586,000 in CDBG funds allocated in 2020-2021 (why is that still around?) from the housing and community development department to parks and recreation for improvements at Charlie Delucca Park in District 1.
A resolution authorizing the city manager to negotiate the sale of 5.5 acres of city-owned land on Watson Island, next to the Jungle Island theme park, to Ecoresiliency Miami for a cumulative total of at least $135 million and the development of condos, commercial spaces and a public waterfront park. That includes $15 million to the city for affordable housing projects. For this to move forward, it will require a four/fifths vote Tuesday. The final lease agreement would have to be approved by a public referendum vote.
A resolution authorizing, by a four/fifths vote, the five year extension of a concessionaire contract with Eventstar Structures for the provision of tent structures at Miami Marine Stadium Park.
A resolution authorizing the city manager to “expeditiously request” the Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) consider proposed traffic flow modifications to 22 locations in the residential neighborhoods of District 1 to ease cut-through traffic and speeding during morning and afternoon rush hour — and exempt the required balloting process for property owners.
A resolution, sponsored by Carollo, authorizing the city manager to “expeditiously request” the Miami-Dade DTPW consider traffic flow modifications at 26 locations in the residential Silver Bluff neighborhood, where a bunch of illegal street closures were ordered re-opened by a judge in 2023 after Miami-Dade sued the city. Again, the move would “waive the required resident concurrence and exempt the balloting process in order to expeditiously proceed with the design and construction of traffic calming devices.”
Not to be left behind, Commissioner King has sponsored an item also authorizing the city manager to “expeditiously request” the Miami-Dade DTPW consider traffic flow modifications at 10 locations in District 5. She also wants to skip the required resident concurrence and exempt the balloting process. Why ask?

There are also some complicated planning and zoning matters having to do with changes in zoning and land use, appeals of denials and at least one amendment to the Miami 21 code having to do with attainable housing and density.
Ladra is tired just reading the agenda.
Take your vitamins. Drink cuban coffee. Bring a snack. The commission meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive. It can also be seen live on the city’s website.
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