Months before the Miami Downtown Development Authority approved a controversial $100,000 gift to the UFC, an organization worth around $12 billion, the agency — funded through a special taxing district of downtown, Brickell and Edgewater property owners — gave more than four times as much to one of the wealthiest sports franchises in the world.
Last December, the DDA voted to give $450,000 — or $150,000 a year for three consecutive years — to FC Barcelona, a global brand that is valued at $5.6 billion, according to Forbes, to support moving their U.S. office from New York to Miami.
But they’re not done. On Tuesday, the DDA’s Economic Development Committee will consider giving $175,000 to the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship host committee. That makes a total of $725,000 in gifts to sports entities in just the last five months.
Read related: Effort to dissolve Miami DDA cites ‘bloated’ salaries, redundancy, UFC gift
Proponents will say that the these funds are incentives to bring these events here. That the economic impact they are a huge return on investment and that Miami’s image continues to be broadcast to the world as an iconic location for events. The UFC Village on Flager, for instance, drew thousands of people downtown that might not otherwise have gone there. And so what that one of the events organized was at a downtown spot owned by one of the board members? It’s just a coincidence.
The college national championship is expected to have at least a $275 million impact on the community. But it is sponsored already by huge billion dollar corporations like Nike, Amazon, Royal Caribbean and AT&T. Why does it need $175K that can be better spent elsewhere?
Plus, it will already be here. It was announced last month that the title game would be played at the Hard Rock Stadium.
“They’re already coming here. They already have the hotels booked,” said James Torres, the president of the Downtown Neighbors Association, who has been pressing to adjust or eliminate the DDA for month, citing bloated salaries and these “incentive” grants that he says are bogus.
“We are not the Greater Miami Visitors and Convention Bureau,” Torres told Political Cortadito. He calls it “another slap in the face.”
He said the money should be spent on the real issues that face downtown daily — the garbage on the street, the homelessness, the street lights that need repair. “They are supposed to combat blight,” he said of the DDA.
Torres, who ran unsuccessfully or commission in district 2, has asked to be given more than three minutes at the next commission meeting so he can make his presentation for removing homeowners from the taxing district to make the DDA more like a business improvement district — currently, residential property owners pay 58% of the annual $13.5 million budget — or eliminating it altogether. He has proposed putting a question on the ballot in November to let voters decide if it should be changed or dissolved.
A line of homeless individual forms under the expressway for the distribution of aid or services.
“Downtown Miami families are being crushed by rising crime, a worsening condo crisis, homelessness, and double taxation,” Torres wrote in a letter to Mayor Francis Suarez earlier this month, before he even learned about the college championship check the DDA might be writing this week.
“This is not economic development. It is exploitation — not by the brands themselves, but by the DDA, which continues to operate as a taxpayer-funded slush fund, ignoring the needs of the people it taxes,” Torres wrote. “FC Barcelona is not a struggling local business or a neighborhood nonprofit organization. It is a multi-billion-dollar entertainment empire. And yet, while residents walk past graffiti-covered sidewalks, homeless encampments, and shuttered storefronts, City officials have joined the DDA in celebrating this latest handout — as if it were some major community victory. It is not.
“Mayor Suarez, you do not pay into the DDA taxing district, yet you’ve aligned yourself with the PR fanfare while remaining silent as Downtown residents plead for fairness. To your credit, you have worked hard to elevate Miami’s global profile — Ultra, Formula One, international marathons, and much more. That work has helped position our city as a world-class destination,” he continued.
“But here is the truth: Miami doesn’t need to buy prestige. Global brands want to be here.
Read related: Miami DDA gives UFC $100K for event, despite protest from downtowners
“We should not be paying them to show up — especially not with money taken from residents who are already stretched thin in the very neighborhoods being exploited,” he added.
Torres told Political Cortadito that the burden adds to an already crushing condo crisis. His own building has had a $21 million assessment. His piece of that is about $12,000, he says. The DDA already takes about $1,200 of his annual tax bill, he said.
Ernesto Cuesta, the longtime president of the Brickell Homeowners Association, has also asked for Brickell to be taken 0ut of the DDA taxing boundaries. He says the DDA stands for “Don’t Do Anything” for Brickell.
Both men were interviewed in a segment last week for CBS4 News — and that was before they learned of the college football championship giveaway that will be considered Tuesday. But it was within days of the announcement that FC Barcelona would be relocating here “with the support” of the DDA and Mayor Suarez attended the celebration.
In his letter, Torres asks Suarez to support putting the DDA’s future on the November ballot. “So the broader community can decide whether this agency still has a place in our city. Every day you remain silent is another day our communities are forced to fund a system they didn’t ask for, cannot afford, and no longer believe in.
“How much longer will you allow Downtown and Brickell residents to be held hostage by a bloated bureaucracy that continues to put image over impact?”
The DDA Economic Development Committee meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. and can be viewed via zoom here.
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In the two weeks after the city of Miami scheduled a special election to fill the commission vacancy caused by the death of Manolo Reyes, the two candidates have raised almost $100,000 combined. And local favorite Jose Regalado — of those Regalados — who quit his job as assistant building director to run for office at the request of Reyes’ widow, out-raised urban planner Ralph Rosado, who was basically fired from his job as city manager of North Bay Village (more on that later), almost three to one.
Regalado reported a total of $67,470 in contributions raised through May 2, while Rosado had a total of $26,454, according to their first campaign finance reports, filed Friday.
The contributions in Regalado’s report are also from a diverse group of sources. Meanwhile, the contributions in Rosado’s report include bundles from four sources that add up more than half of his take for the one month period. He’s got $5,000 each from developer Sergio Rok and the owners of the Green Acres Trailer Park, $3,000 from the owners of Adonel Concrete and $2,000 from real estate investor Robert Sckalor.
Read related: Manolo Reyes’ widow comes out strong for Jose Regalado in D4 special election
They both have quite a few contributions from lobbyists, including South Miami Mayor Javier Fernandez, who gave to both candidates, hedging his bets. One interesting gift is a $250 check to Rosado, a rabid Republican, from former Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner, an uber Democrat former state rep who ran against Jose Regalado’s sister, Raquel Regalado, for county commission twice and lost both times. That looks like an obvious example of emotional spending.
Ladra hopes she feels better.
Jose Regalado has some bundles, too. He has $5,000 from gasoline mogul Max Alvarez and $3,000 from developer Jorge Salazar. But there are far more actual people giving to his campaign than to Rosado’s. His expenses are also higher, with more than $10,000 spent on radio and $1,500 for professional photos.
Rosado’s expenses include almost $2,500 in yard signs and $914 for text messages.
Both of the candidates also have political action committees spending money on their respective campaigns.
Rosado has the benefit of Commissioner Joe Carollo‘s PAC, Miami First, sending mailers and paying for other messaging on his behalf. It recently sent a mailer that said Jose Regalado wants to bring red light cameras back to Miami. It’s not true. It’s a tired old Carollo campaign smear he used on Tommy Regalado, the elder son of the former mayor, when both ran for commission in 2017. It was Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado, who was Miami mayor from 2009 to 2017, who championed red light cameras once upon a time.
Read related: Miami’s District 4 candidate Ralph Rosado is backed, helped by Joe Carollo
By the way, so did Carollo, who was city manager in Doral when the city was installing its own traffic cameras.
Regalado has Proven Leadership for Miami, a PAC chaired by Miami River Commission Chairman Horacio Aguirre for the candidate’s father, Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado, who was Miami mayor from 2009 to 2017.
Voters won’t get any information on the PAC contributions and expenses until a month after the election. There will be two more campaign finance reports filed with the city clerk’s office before the June 3 special election: one on the 23rd and one on the 30th, four days before the election — and also the day that early voting begins.
The deadline to request a vote-by-mail or absentee ballot is May 22.
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Miami Commission candidate Ralph Rosado — who is running in the special election June 3 to replace the late commissioner Manolo Reyes — may be a habitual liar.
Last week, Rosado blatantly told Ladra that Commissioner Joe Carollo was not at the park with him, directing his campaign video, on Thursday. But there is a candid phone recording that disputes that, showing Carollo guiding Rosado as he walks with his mother-in-law. Over the last week, Rosado has sent text messages saying he is a lifelong resident or longtime resident of the city of Miami — even though he can’t be both.
But that’s another lie. Rosado lived in Schenley Park, just west of Coral Gables, 3.6 miles outside the city of Miami limits, for at least five years. Records with the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s office show that he and his wife bought the home for $575,000 in October of 2004 and then sold it for a loss, $520,000 in October, 2009. He knows this. He was president of the Schenley Park Homeowners Association at one time.
Read related: Miami’s District 4 candidate Ralph Rosado is backed, helped by Joe Carollo
In 2008 he bought another house in Schenley Park for $223,000 and took another loss, selling it for $145,000 three years later, according to the county records. And there was another house he bought, under the company Rosado Investment Group, in 2006 for $320,000 and sold in 2010 for $450,000, at last making a profit.
Rosado still owns a home in Schenley Park, which is an unincorporated Miami-Dade community, through his family trust. It has a market value of $1.24 million. The subdivision is called “Rosado Estates.” He also owns three vacant lots valued at more than $1 million in the same neighborhood through a company called Rafael Rosado and Leocadia E. Rosado, LLC.
He used the Rosado Investment Group address in Schenley Park when he ran for state rep, losing the Republican primary in 2010 among a crowded field. The winner was Michael Bileca, who went on to beat Democrat Lisa Lesperance and win three re-elections after until he was termed out in 2018.
That’s not something you forget.
County records also show that Rosado and his wife Maria also owned a home in Tamiami that they sold in 2005 for $300K. They purchased their current 4-bedroom, 2-bath home in the Coral Gate neighborhood of Miami in 2014 for $180,000. What a steal! the house today has an assessed value of more than $560,000 and a market value of more than $900,000. That’s one hell of an investment.
Read related: Miami voters to fill Manolo Reyes’ District 4 seat with June special election
But it’s been just over 10 years, not 30 years, like he says in another text message. In a mail piece, Rosado says he’s been a district resident for nearly 25 years. His messages are conflicting: Is he a “lifelong District 4 resident,” or “someone who has lived in Miami for over 30 years” or in the district for “nearly 25 years?” Which is it?
The answer: Neither.
Rosado seems adverse to the truth. And that’s probably not what Miami voters want in a commissioner. Their other choice is Jose Regalado, who resigned his position as assistant building director to run after Reyes’ widow asked him to. Jose Regalado is the son of former Miami Mayor and now Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado and brother of Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado. This is his first run for office.
In 2017, when Rosado ran against Manolo Reyes for the seat, he sent a mailer saying that he “spearheaded an initiative to hire 100 new officers.” Um, what? He wasn’t an incumbent. He spoke during public comments at commission meetings in favor of hiring more police officers, but he did not spearhead anything.
Read related: Candidate Ralph Rosado exaggerates ‘his’ police initiatives
A few days ago, he posted a photo of himself during a press conference about a park renovation — standing at a city of Miami podium as if he were an incumbent. It’s disingenuous.
Last month, he was caught in an outright lie after he got direction from Carollo while recording a video ad at a park. Rosado lied to Ladra and first told her Carollo was not there. “He was not directing. He wasn’t there,” Rosado said. When told that there was a candid camera video of him walking with his mother-in-law as Carollo walked backwards in front of them, with Marjory Carollo nearby holding a clipboard — is she always holding a clipboard? — he said, “I’ll get back to you.”
He has not. Rosado also did not return calls Wednesday, but he did text that he lived in the city of Miami from 1972 to 1984, from 1999 to 2002 and from 2010 to the present, including a few years at a home his wife owns while they worked on their home, Rosado told Ladra. But that is still not his whole life.
And we can’t believe what he says, anyway.
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In the race to replace the late Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes in District 4, Ralph Rosado has Joe Carollo on his side and Jose Regalado has Chacha Reyes, the late commissioner’s widow on his.
It’s no contest.
The voice of Chacha Reyes is on the radio practically every hour in Spanish, urging voters to support Regalado — son of former Mayor and now Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado and brother of Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado — in the June 3 special election, like it was what Manolo would have wanted. And she should know. She was married to him for 56 years before the commissioner died last month at the age of 80.
“This is Chacha Reyes speaking to you,” the 30-second spot starts. “My family and I are going through very difficult times because of the loss of Manolo. But, despite that, we are very concerned about who is going to occupy his seat and continue to serve the residents of District 4.
Read related: Miami voters to fill Manolo Reyes’ District 4 seat with June special election
“And we have decided, thinking of you, that the one who can do it is Jose Francisco Regalado, because of his integrity, his knowledge of the city of Miami, and the example he had in Manolo and his father, Tomas Regalado. We ask that on June 3, you vote for Jose Francisco Regalado,” she says in the ad.
Chacha Reyes never recorded a radio commercial for her husband, even though spousal support is a pretty common campaign commodity in Miami politics. “I’m not political,” she told Political Cortadito. “I supported Manolo, but invisibly.”
She felt strong enough about this race, however, that she had to voice her concerns. She is the one who called Regalado and urged him to run, after all. So, she’s taken a keen interest in his success.
“Jose worked with Manolo. He knows what Manolo thought, what Manolo wanted,” Chacha Reyes said Wednesday in a short telephone interview. “I am the one who called him. He never thought about running for office. He said he would do it first, in memory of Manolo, and second, ‘because you are asking me,’” she said, quoting Regalado, who she calls one of her adopted sons.
“I know he is going to continue Manolo’s legacy,” Chacha Reyes said, adding that there are park renovations and other projects that have been started but not finished. “He wants to do it in Manolo’s memory. He is not going to take credit for what Manolo did.
“He has a lot of experience and has worked for the city a long time. He knows what is going on in the city,” she said. “He would start the first hour working, not learning.”
The late Miami commissioner Manolo Reyes with his wife Chacha and their family.
She still cries every day over the loss. Especially when she goes out and, invariably, people come up to her to say what a great public servant Manolo was or how funny he was or how he helped them with this or that situation. “I’m proud every day of everything he left behind, the mark he left on the community,” Chacha Reyes said.
Read related: Miami Commission honors the late Manolo Reyes with park, honorary title
“And God hope the next politicians learn from him and stop this discord,” she said.
And Ladra thinks that’s the radio ad she should record next.
Meanwhile, Rosado is getting help from Commissioner Carollo, who everyone knows uses the city’s resources to retaliate against his real or perceived political enemies, having been found guilty by a jury of violating the first amendment rights of two Little Havana businessmen in a case where they awarded $63.5 million to the plaintiffs. Carollo also had his mayoral campaign fundraising kick-off last month the same day as Reyes was buried. Tasteless.
Last month, Rosado was caught getting direction from Carollo while recording a video ad at a park. Rosado lied to Ladra and first told her Carollo was not there. “He was not there. He was not directing,” he said. When told that there was a candid camera video of him walking with his mother-in-law as Carollo walked backwards in front of them, with Marjory Carollo nearby holding a clipboard — is she always holding a clipboard? — Rosado said, “I’ll get back to you.”
He has not. On Wednesday, he left Ladra hanging again when she wanted to follow up on that and the misleading campaign text messages going out in which he says he’s a lifetime resident, when he’s not (more on that later). Regalado is.
There’s really no contest there either.
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Coral Gables City Manager Alberto Parjus, whose career spans 35 years at Miami-Dade County and three years as assistant city manager in the city of Miami, resigned Tuesday on the spot at a special city commission meeting where he was likely going to get fired.
Parjus was only on the job for three months, starting after former manager Amos Rojas resigned in February. Parjus had been the deputy city manager since 2022, when he left the Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works as deputy director. Rojas was hired in February 2024, after former manager Peter Iglesias was unceremoniously fired by the old majority. Las malas lenguas say that Mayor Vince Lago, who was re-elected with 55% of the vote, wants to bring Iglesias back.
Lago and his supported candidates, Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson and newly-elected Commissioner Richard Lara, campaigned on the revolving door at the city manager’s office, saying that three city managers in just one year was a sign of dysfunction.
Read related: Coral Gables names Alberto Parjus as new city manager in divided 3-2 vote
Now we have four city managers in four city managers in 15 months, as Deputy City Manager Joe Gomez will be interim city manager until a permanent decision is made. Then it will be five city managers in less than five years.
The effective date of Parjus’ resignation is May 22, but he is on leave until then. Ladra was unable to get his “cooperation and severance agreement” from the city clerk Tuesday or early Wednesday morning, even though it was distributed to the commission at the meeting. But a City Hall source told Ladra it included 20 weeks of Parjus’ salary and all his accrued, untaken sick and vacation time, which would be payable 10 days after the agreement is signed. Parjus’ salary is more than $230,000 a year.
Commissioner Melissa Castro was absent from the meeting as she was undergoing surgery.
“Serving this community, the City Beautiful, has been among the greatest experiences of my professional life,” Parjus said from the dais. Yeah, and the most rewarding, financially.
He thanked his “talented, dedicated” staff and listing the milestones reached, not jut in three months at the top job, but in three years that he has been in the city manager’s office.
“During this time, I am proud of the progress we made together to improve the quality of life for our residents and make our government service efficient,” Parjus said. “We advanced operational transparency, implemented modern project benefit systems and introduced performance indicators and evidenced evaluation tools to support better decision-making.
“We enhanced financial and budget reports to make them  clear and more accessible, and launched a city asset review program to ensure the responsible stewardship of city-owned  property,” Parjus said, and Ladra can’t help but wonder if that happened after the neglect at City Hall was discovered.
“I am proud of the significant investment made in community assets and services. This includes improvements to the Coral Gables Golf and Country Club, the ongoing restoration at the  Venetian Pool, enhanced code enforcement efforts, the installation of temporary speed tables to increase safety, and several projects to elevate the city’s safety aesthetic and public spaces.”
Under his tenure, the city also changed the building and zoning permitting process “to include customer feedback,” Parjus said.
Read related: Coral Gables City Manager Amos Rojas resigns, leaves next month after one year
“This decision was not made lightly,” Parjus told the audience and the commission. “I am confident the city is well positioned for continued success thanks to its leadership and the commitment of its workforce. I leave with immense gratitude for the opportunity serve this remarkable city and the trust you placed in me.
“Thank you for allowing me to contribute to the legacy and future of Coral Gables.
Lago thanked him for his professionalism and “most importantly, being a gentleman,” he said. “You leave here with your head
The Coral Gales Echo Chamber: Rhonda Anderson, Vince Lago, Richard Lara
held high and you served this community and we’re grateful for your hard work and your integrity.”
Head held high means that he didn’t fight to stay because Lago was going to fire him or force him to resign. That’s defacto what happened. Parjus didn’t resign because he doesn’t like his job anymore. He resigned because Lago was going to fire him.
Or because he couldn’t work with the man.
Anderson said “I will echo the mayor’s comments,” which is what she does now. And immediately moved the item. Like she didn’t want anyone else to do it first. Commissioner Lara, who was sworn in April 25 and hasn’t had a chance to work with Parjus, said the manager’s reputation preceded him and that he also would “echo the mayor’s sentiments” about his head being held high.
Read related: Coral Gables Vince Lago may move to bring back City Manager Peter Iglesias
So, this is what we’re going to get now: an echo chamber.
Commissioner Ariel Fernandez, who wanted Parjus for city manager from the get-go, was the only one who didn’t seem secretly happy, or at least relieved, about the resignation.
“You have served this city with distinction. You have elevated our budget process…where we now can understand better what has been spent in the past in certain areas and what is being spent now,” Fernandez said, adding that the quarterly reports are easier to understand and that the weekly data reports on different activities in all city departments keep them up to date.
“The moment you were appointed city manager, I had former city managers of other municipalities and folks you worked with at the county call to say what a great choice you were to lead our city. I appreciate what you have done for us. And don’t be a stranger,” he said, seconding the item “reluctantly.”
There was no discussion, as there has been in the past, about hiring a headhunter and doing a national search.
Commissioner Melissa Castro was not in attendance, as she had previously scheduled surgery on Tuesday. Castro asked for the meeting date to be changed, but Lago refused.
“I made a formal request to postpone this meeting by just a few days, enough time to recover and attend in person,” Castro said in a statement read by City Clerk Billy Urquia. “That request was denied by the mayor, even though this meeting is not part of our originally scheduled calendar and there’s no real urgency that justified moving forward without full commission participation.
She said that her health came first. “But it is equally important that the residents who elected me have a voice at the table. By proceeding today, this body is depriving Coral Gables of a complete discussion and the balanced deliberation our constituents deserve.
“Every decision I make is guided by what is in the city’s best interest. Preventing an elected official from attending does the opposite. Mayor Lago, I hope this statement serves as a reminder that transparency, respect and inclusion are not optional. They are the foundation of good governance,” Castro said through the city clerk.
Lago was unrelentingly uninterested and rude, thinking only of himself, yet again, reminding everyone that the city had an additional budget workshop in August of last year that he could not attend because he was on vacation, out of town.
“It was the first time I missed a meeting in 12 years,” L’Ego said.
So, that’s just more retribution, then? Check. He is so transparent about that, at least.
Read related: Post-election Vince Lago revenge tour in Coral Gables = political retaliation
Fernandez explained that there are stark — stark — differences between Castro’s absence due to medical urgency and Lago taking a sweet vacation after the mayor himself had scheduled the extra budget meeting. “Staff had been asked to change their schedule, cancel their family trips in order to be there for that meeting,” Fernandez said, adding that there were no other dates available before the deadline to submit a ceiling for the tax rate to Miami-Dade County.
He also made a motion to recess the meeting “until Commissioner Castro is not under a knife in an operating room and can be here in person, voicing the residents’ concerns.”
Lago was unmoved and again whined about the August meeting. “The change was not granted to ensure I would not be at the meeting,” he said. But he attended via Zoom anyway.
“It was a difficult situation,” he said.
Welcome to the club.
Coral Gables City Manager Alberto Parjus Severance by Political Cortadito on Scribd

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He is not a declared candidate for Miami mayor, and there are some rumblings about him running for the county commission in District 5 instead, but former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla — whose charges on bribery and money laundering were dropped last November — is knocking on doors in his campaign to woo voters.
And he is giving them mameys, which reminds me of a Cuban saying about gumption. Tiene tremendos mameyes.
Pouteria sapota, the mamey sapote, is a species of tree cultivated throughout Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. The fruit, botanically a berry, is about four to 10 inches long and three to 4.5 inches wide and has flesh ranging in color from pink to orange to red. It is colloquially used to describe male genitalia. It can also refer to something “easy peasy” to do. Eso es mamey.
Read related: Alex Diaz de la Portilla’s former staffer says he is harassing her in divorce case
Diaz de la Portilla couldn’t help but send some selfies of himself, his mameyes — the fruit kind — and the senior residents he visited to Ladra over the last few days. There’s no way to know if the smattering of homes he has documentation for each day is all he does before he goes home and pours himself a drink. But at least he’s out there. Even if he is a little handsy.
In three of the photos he sent — and they’re not technically selfies since someone else is taking them — the residents he’s grabby with are wearing red Make American Great Again hats and it seems like too much of a coincidence. Is he giving them away or are they props Diaz de la Portilla takes from door to door for these photo opps?

In one of the others, he is outside with a resident and the man’s little chihuahua, Pelusa, who ADLP said was his preferred candidate for commission in the special election for District 4.
“What a beautiful day to walk,” Diaz de la Portilla texted Sunday. He didn’t walk Monday. He had a fundraiser, though, and divorce court, he said. He did have a case management hearing, according to the county clerk’s records, and his estranged wife, Vanessa Garcia Azzam, had previously asked the judge to force the former to commissioner to attend the hearings, even if by Zoom. So it sounds like he obliged.
Commissioner Joe Carollo, who has also not declared but is also threatening to run for mayor, is out there, too. He was at Smathers Plaza last week celebrating Mother’s Day early. But he’s a sitting commissioner, so isn’t that expected? Yeah, except Smathers is in District 4, not his own District 3.
Still, he didn’t have mameys.
Read related: Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins could join Miami Mayor’s race
There are several other candidates who have filed campaign treasurer reports and candidate oaths, including, most notably, Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, former Miami Commissioner Ken Russell and former Miami city manager Emilio Gonzalez.  qualifying doesn’t even start until Sept. 5. So we won’t know until then who is really running and who is just threatening to.
Diaz de la Portilla’s bag, with the one mamey, and his hand-out piece don’t look like they say anything about the mayor’s seat. “With infinite love,” starts the piece, which looks like a Mother’s Day mailer with a photo of ADLP and his mother, Fabiola. And, in it, he hints at the criminal case against him after he was arrested in 2023 on public corruption charges stemming from the giveaway of a public park to the owners of a private school that wanted to use it for their athletic department.
“There is no judge or court as just as mothers when they know their children have been unjustly attacked,” the piece says. “Today and always, in gratitude, I celebrate my mother and all the mothers who give and sacrifice so much to protect their children and who celebrate when they see their children’s names vindicated, not only by God’s divine justice, but also by the systems of just human law. To you, my sincere words of recognition for a labor of love for your children.”
That’s really specific. But not about which race he’s in. That’s vague.
Just like his goody bag which says only “Courtesy of Alex Diaz de la Portilla,” in his signature neon green.
This is, of course, because the items are paid for by his political action committee, Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade, which reported raising nada in the first quarter this year, but spending close to $108,000, according to campaign finance reports.
Some have speculated that The Dean of Miami politics is waiting to see if Higgins actually resigns to run so he can run in her seat in county district 5, instead, where former Miami Beach and State Rep. David Richardson has already filed.
ADLP texted Ladra to say that he lives in District 3 now.
Wait, isn’t the East Hotel in District 5? And when has residency stopped him, anyway? He lived in his parents’ old house in District 3, the one he later lost to foreclosure, at least part of the time he served as commissioner in District 1.
And does that mean that he’ll jump into the District 3 race at the last minute?
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