Ralph Rosado, an urban planning consultant and longtime Miami resident who is running in the special election next month in District 4 to replace Manolo Reyes — who died unexpectedly at 80 after having a health setback — was spotted filming a campaign video at Douglas Park Thursday afternoon. Also spotted: Commissioner Joe Carollo, acting as director.
In a candid camera video provided to Political Cortadito late Thursday, Marjory Carollo is also on the set, holding a clipboard, as Rosado walks along with his mother-in-law, on Joe Carollo’s cue.
It’s not the first sign that Rosado is Carollo’s candidate for the June 3 special election. But it’s the most evident one that he is heavily involved in Rosado’s campaign. He needs that third vote now that Commission Chairwoman Christine King is going along with almost everything he says. Commissioners Miguel Gabela and Damian Pardo are pretty much lost to him.
Read related: Miami voters to fill Manolo Reyes’ District 4 seat with June special election
Carollo already talked Rosado up on his weekday morning radio show, saying the day of the special meeting where commissioners met to decide whether to appoint someone to the seat or go to a special election, that he thought Rosado was the best choice.
Crazy Joe was not at the kick-off for Rosado’s campaign at La Carreta on 8th Street Thursday night. Almost nobody was. It was a small crowd and did not seem too excited, judging by the video taken by community outreach strategist Nadir Perez and shared on his Instagram. Rosado told Ladra that “a lot of residents” went.
“I have not sought out the endorsement of anybody on the commission,” Rosado said, adding that Carollo may prefer him to Jose Regalado — son of former Mayor Tomas and brother of Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel — who is running against him and has the Reyes family’s endorsement. “He doesn’t love some of the other people on the other side. There’s some bad blood.”
Ya think?
Rosado, the former city manager at North Bay Village, also said he had been all over the city Thursday recording video for the campaign and denied that Carollo had been at the park with him. “No. He was not directing. He wasn’t there,” Rosado told Political Cortadito. When Ladra told him she had video of Carollo and his wife at the park with him and his mother-in-law, and asked if he wanted to change or stick to his answer, Rosado hesitated a little. Then he said, “I’ll get back to you.’”
Of course, he did not. And yeah, no, I wouldn’t want to own up to it either, Ralph. We get ya.
But it is very clear from this video taken from a car parked at the park that Carollo is directing here.

There’s been a rumor that former Commissoner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who has been walking and knocking on doors in his threatened run for mayor, is helping Regalado. It might even be a whisper campaign from Team Rosado to balance out the Carollo baggage. But that is nonsense. Regalado’s campaign team is sister Raquel Regalado, Alex Miranda doing digital and the like, Emiliano Antuñez doing canvassing and mailers, maybe. ADLP would not fit in.
Read related: Jose Regalado resigns city job to run for Miami commissioner in District 4
Maybe it’s just because everyone expects Diaz de la Portilla and Carollo to run against each other for mayor.
Or maybe it’s because the political action committee that is printing materials for Jose Regalado is called Proven Leadership for Miami, while ADLP’s is Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade. Proven Leadership for Miami is chaired by Horacio Aguirre, who once ran against Diaz de la Portilla in District 1. The chairman of the Miami River Commission is very good friends with Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado, whose campaign gave the PAC $2,880 this January in its last recorded contribution, according to campaign finance reports, which indicate it was used in the property appraiser’s race, as well.
Rosado’s PAC, meanwhile, is Citizens for Ethics in Government — I know, and he’s Carollo’s candidate! — which has raised $268,740 since November — $100K of which is his own — more than half of it in the first quarter this year, according to campaign finance reports. He has hired Brian Goldmeier as his professional fundraiser and Jesse Manzano as his campaign consultant, the same team that recently helped Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago get re-elected.
Both Manzano and Carollo served as consultants to former Miami-Dade Mayor now Congressman Carlos Gimenez on his 2016 re-election campaign.
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Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, who was first appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and then elected for the first time last year, will host the county’s first ever “Faith and Family Festival” Saturday on the Youth Fair grounds.
The free event will include fun activities for the whole family: live music, basketball tournaments, bounce houses, a talent show, face painting, a petting zoo, and a special guest speaker. There will also be a food distribution to 2,000 families in need and representatives from county and state agencies for assistance will be available, according to the press release.
“The event is open to people of all faiths,” says a press release from the District 11 office.
There goes separation of church and state.
“We’re about to do something that has never been done before,” Gonzalez says in an Instagram post last week. “Doesn’t matter what faith you have, c’mon down. We’re going to pray for Miami-Dade together.”
Roly Gonzalez of Share Your Heart and Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez talk about the Faith & Family Festival.
Um, there might be a reason it’s never been done before. It’s inappropriate and seems a clear violation of the separation of church and state that is one of the pillars of the U.S. democratic government system. Are we dismantling that, too?
A big fan of Donald Trump — as evident by his social media posts, which also include bible verses and quotes from the Old Testament — Gonzalez may not be a big fan of the constitution. He recently responded with an “amen” to Trump’s post about bringing religion back to America.
David Gonzalez, his communications chief, stressed that the event was open to everyone. “It’s about bringing folks together of all faiths,” he said. “It’s interfaith. It’s not just one faith pushing an agenda.”
Really? Because Ladra will bet you’ll be hard pressed to find a Muslim there.
Read related: Kendall residents oppose early talks for development of waste transfer facility
David Gonzalez, who is no relation to the commissioner, said there’s already some crossover of religion in county government.
“Isn’t it already there? We pray at the beginning of commission meetings,” he said.”There’s a seal above [the commission dais] that says ‘In God we Trust.’”
Gonzalez ran in 2022 for State House in District 119 because God told him to, he said then. But the Guatemalan-born personal injury attorney’s platform was more in hardline with the  GOP than it was with any heavenly body. He lost in the primary to Juan Carlos Porras, but raised $110,000 for the bid, according to his campaign reports, which is a lot for a newbie.
Two months after the loss, Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed him to the county commission to replace former Commissioner Joe Martinez, who was suspended after he was arrested on public corruption charges of conspiracy and unlawful compensation. Martinez was convicted in November, but his attorneys last month asked for a new trial (more on that later). Las malas lenguas say the appointment was a reward to then Lt. Gov. Jeannette Nuñez, now the president at Florida International University (I know!) and the campaign consultant she shared with Gonzalez, David “Disgustin’ Custin.”
Then, after serving as an appointment for two years, Gonzalez was elected for the first time last August with 57% of the vote against two lesser known candidates (but Bryan Paz-Hernandez got 26%, which is not bad for a newbie so we’ll hear from him again).
The festival was timed for the first Saturday after the National Day of Prayer May 1. There will be vendors and food trucks who pay for the privilege to be there, but all those proceeds, after expenses, will go to Share Your Heart, a non-profit program that is part of another non-profit, The Victory for Youth, that “recruits, trains, and screens caring adults who desire to serve their community in meaningful ways as a volunteer chaplain” and partners with government agencies and non-profit organizations to “respond to referrals for children, families, and vulnerable adults who have been identified as in crisis or distress,” according to the group’s website.
Read related: Miami-Dade taxpayers fund $1 mil move for Commissioner Rob Gonzalez
It’s not the same as Jar of Hearts, the non-profit that used to be represented by Gonzalez and then got a $10,000 county allocation two months after he was appointed. This is a different non-profit. Just sounds the same.
David Gonzalez likened the event to the Hometown Heroes Parade and Festival that Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins has in District 8 in the Fall or the annual CountryFest that Commissioner Anthony Rodriguez has at Tropical Park.
But it’s really not the same.
The Faith and Family Festival is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 3, at the Miami-Dade Fair & Expo Center, 11201 SW 24th St. Don’t know what time is the prayer circle for Miami-Dade.

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The day after Congresswoman Frederica Wilson visited the ICE Krome Detention Center in Miami-Dade to investigate claims of overcrowded, unsanitary, dangerous and inhuman conditions, a female Haitian detainee died at the Broward Transitional Center, another ICE facility 58 miles to the northeast.
On Friday, Wilson will be joined by Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick to visit the ICE facility where Marie Ange Blaise died last week. They will go in at 9 a.m. and tour the facility for 90 minutes, according to a press statement from Wilson’s office. There will be another press gaggle right outside afterwards at 10:30 a.m.
Read related: Frederica Wilson: ICE is building a tent city at Krome to house more detainees
Earlier in April, Wilson visited Krome but said she didn’t find the overcrowded conditions that had been reported and seen in videos taken by detainees and shared in social media. She suggested the federal government bussed detainees out for a “field trip” and cleaned up to cover up the real conditions detainees are living with.
How does she know they won’t do the same thing in Broward?
Blaise, 44, was arrested Feb. 12 as she tried to board a flight to North Carolina from the international airport in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, according to a public statement by ICE. She did not have a valid immigrant visa, ICE said, and was issued a Notice of Expedited Removal immediately. She was first taken to a custodial facility in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and sent the following week to the Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana. On April 5, ICE transferred her to the Pompano Beach Detention Center at 3900 Powerline Rd.
She wasn’t even there three weeks when ICE reported she had died.
Her death is under investigation.
Cherfilus-McCormick suggested on Wednesday on the House floor that Blaise did not get needed medical care while in ICE custody.
“Marie had been complaining about chest pain for hours,” Cherfilus-McCormick, the only Haitian-American Congress member, said. “They gave her some pills and told her to go lie down. Unfortunately, Marie never woke up.
“Her loved ones deserve answers. They deserve accountability,” she said.
ICE denied keeping Blaise from medical care and said all detainees get the proper treatment.
“ICE remains committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments,” the agency said in a statement. “Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay. All people in ICE custody receive medical, dental and mental health screening and 24-hour emergency care at each detention facility. At no time during detention is a detained illegal alien denied emergent care.”
But that is during normal operations. These facilities are reportedly stretched beyond capacity. At Krome, Wilson reported seeing a plexiglass or plastic tent had just been built to house up to 400 immigrants. Guards are likely overwhelmed and raw. The detainees are scared out of their minds. It is a recipe for disaster.
It certainly hasn’t been smooth going. At least six people have died in ICE custody so far this year, according to the agency’s own reporting.
Read related: Campaign ramps up vs Miami’s Cuban, Republican congressional delegation
“This Administration’s deportation process has been sloppy and reckless since Day 1. No due process and no transparency,” Cherfilus-McCormick said to her colleagues. “Just families being illegally ripped apart and left to fend for themselves.
“In severe instances, innocent people have actually died,” she said.
“Immigrants are being treated without basic dignity and being denied medical care,” Cherfilus-McCormick said. “It is this neglect and cruelty that is really hurting our American families who are being deported at this moment. We must have transparency. We must have justice.”
It seems like White House and ICE care about as much about a death on their watch as the Cuban-American Republican congress members who haven’t done much if anything to object to what’s been happening. Five days after Blaise died, ICE giddily announced it had arrested 66,463 people without legal immigration Status, deporting 65,682 in the first 100 days of Trump’s second presidency? Has anybody bothered to find out what happened to the other 981?
And it doesn’t look like the Trump administration is going to back off its aggressive tactics — recruiting local police and the United States Postal Service, raiding schools, snatching college students off the street or the spouses of U.S. citizens at immigration meetings — anytime soon. ICE just said that last week’s Operation Tidal Wave in Florida netted more than 1,100 detainees and Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday he wants the National Guard to act as immigration judges to deport people faster.
“What we’re doing is a change in the culture this first hundred days, and we are seeing success,” Homeland Security Spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told National Public Radio, which is doing a great job while it still exists.
“But we’re going to see those numbers increase in the next hundred days.”
What? The number of detainees that die in custody?
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There’s a new battle potentially brewing between residents and the county government over a possible new waste facility — and, no, its not the will-they-or-won’t-they incinerator to replace the one that burned down in Doral.
A storage company with a 5-acre property in West Kendall wants county approval of a zoning change to build a waste transfer station off Southwest 136th Street and 127th Avenue — and residents nearby are, predictably, up in arms. They hope that, because the site is less than two miles from Miami Executive Airport (formerly Kendall Tamiami Airport), the federal government’s regulations will stop it.
But that didn’t work so well for the Miami residents who were against Miami Freedom Park, the mega real estate complex which is just a soccer kick from Miami International Airport (even though the issues are different). So they are organizing and trying to fight the proposal.
Read related: As Miami-Dade stalls again on incinerator, state legislators take it on
Secure Storage of Miami, Inc., owned by Jorge Pernas and Delfin Pernas, according to Florida Division of Corporation records, has a zoning application at the county to change the zoning from IU-C (industrial conditional) to IU-3 (industrial unlimited), which would apparently allow for the waste holding facility near several residential communities and next to an existing railway for trains to ship the garbage to landfills in the north. Miami-Dade has been increasingly shipping our solid waste in trains and will do so for the foreseeable future as the commission decides where and how — and even if — to rebuild the waste-to-energy incinerator destroyed in a fire more than two years ago.
Secure Storage purchased the West Kendall property in 1980 for $125,000. Today, the property — which looks like it is being used as a storage lot for trucks and construction or industrial equipment — has an assessed value of $464,000 and a market value of $1.4 million.
That would likely go up a lot if the property’s zoning is changed.
The proposal went before the county’s Community Council 11 on March 24 and was unanimously denied. But the property owner has appealed that decision, and the application is going through the county’s Regulatory and Economic Resources Department for review. It could end up back before the community council — it was denied without prejudice — or in front of the county commission for an appeal of their decision.
The letter of intent sent to the county by the applicant’s attorney in January does not state what they plan to do with the property if the zoning change is approved. Seems sneaky. Because a report on a “cursory review” by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, dated April 14, says the intent rather clearly.
“While there are no plans associated with the zoning hearing request, according to RER’s Staff Report to Community Council No. 11, the applicant is seeking a zone change to IU-3 in order to operate a solid waste transfer facility, with the transfer being conducted to rail cars for outbound transportation,” Ammad Riaz, chief of aviation planning, wrote to RER Development Services Assistant Director Eric Silva.
Riaz also said that property is within the airport’s “critical approach zone” and the applicant needs a determination from the Federal Aviation Administration, which can take up to four months. He also said that one of the prohibited uses is “landfills…and any associated uses that attract or sustain birds and bird movements.”
That’s one of the worries residents have, as well. “These type of facilities attract birds and can cause plane accidents,” said Julio Forte, who lives in nearby Venezia Lakes. “Think of the catastrophe we could have on the ground.”
It’s not that far-fetched, considering all the aircraft accidents that there have been lately.
“This site will bring a foul smell, health hazards, and will lower our property values as no one will want to live near a waste station,” Forte said. Other residents who have expressed concern live in Three Lakes, Azzura, Courts at Tuscany and Caribe at Bonita Lakes, among others.
Many have health concerns.
“The Environmental Protection Agency, the Urban Institute, the National Institute of Health, they all have studies that say these things produce chemicals that lead to respiratory problems, asthma, birth defects, heavy metal poisoning,” Forte told Political Cortadito. “This is a well-established community and we’ve been here for over 20 years. Nobody moved here to have a dump site next door and be exposed to all those things.”
Forte, who also says there are 18 schools within a five mile radius, says it is more egregious than the rebuilding the incinerator in Doral — which has gotten major resistance — because that was there before the nearby homes were built and bought. “But we were here first,” said Forte, who has taken to social media to get his neighbors to help him “prevent this project from being built.”
So has Maria Teresa Acevedo, the owner at Pacheco International Realty and a resident of the Three Lakes neighborhood. She is worried about the potential contamination of Three Lakes and the endangerment of local wildlife. Zoo Miami is also nearby, she said. And there will also be increased noise, pollution, industrial activity, heavy truck traffic and road safety issues on streets that are not designed for industrial use.
“This site was never part of the original proposal and was suddenly introduced, leaving residents uninformed and out of the decision-making process,” Acevedo said. She and Forte have urged their neighbors to write emails to Miami-Dade Commissioners Kionne McGhee, whose district the property is in, Roberto Gonzalez, whose district includes the airport, and Raquel Regalado, who has constituents who live nearby.
Forte said the only way the neighbors learned about it was because someone saw a sign leaning over on the corner of 127th. “Nobody in the surrounding community knew about it.”
Lack of notice and outreach to residents was the main reason the community council denied the zoning change request, said Cristhian Mancera, chairman of the Community Council No. 11. “There was no time to study the impact,” Mancera said. “We were unanimous against it because of the concerns from the community. So they can meet with residents.
“These people bought their homes, some for $500,000, and now they’re going to have a garbage warehouse there?”
He said the applicant’s multiple attorneys promised a fence and air fresheners to mitigate the stench — really? How many rearview mirror hanging Christmas trees would they need for that? — but seemed to act as if the council didn’t matter and the zoning change was a foregone conclusion.
“There was no commitment to listen or pay attention to the community,” Mancera told Political Cortadito. “Their answer was, ‘Why meet with those folks?’”‘
Read related: Op Ed by KFHA’s Michael Rosenberg: ‘Kendall Talk!’ makes Kendall strong
The denial has given the community time to organize.
Three out of every four people who attended the Kendall Talk! town hall Tuesday hosted by the Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations earlier this month were there to hear and talk about the waste transfer station proposal, said KFHA President Michael Rosenberg. “They don’t want a garbage dump in front of their house,” he said.
Among the people in the standing-room-only crowd, was a staffer with the office of Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez. He may have known this topic was going to come up. He calls the county airport in his district “my airport” on occasion. Or she could have been there to hear what people had to say about fluoride in the water.
David Gonzalez, the commissioner’s communications director, said that there had been some emails sent to the district, but that the commissioner could not talk about it with any resident because of the Jennings Rule, which prohibits ex-parte communications by electeds on quasi-judicial matters, like a zoning change.
Calls to Kionne McGhee and his chief of staff were not returned. Deputy Chief of Staff Janie Olvera told Ladra she didn’t know anything about a waste transfer station.
But commissioners will likely hear about it soon, during public comments. Forte said he and a large group of neighbors are ready to go to whatever meeting when the appeal will be heard — to fight it.
“This is just bad for everybody, all concerned,” he told Political Cortadito. “It’s criminal that they would even consider putting a site like this in the middle of a community.”

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The seven items that newly re-elected Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago asked the city clerk to put on the agenda for next week’s special meeting of the city commission include “addressing current city manager and protocols for hiring charter officers.”
Many have speculated that this means Lago will bring back former City Manager Peter Iglesias, who was unceremoniously fired in February of last year at Lago’s loud objections by a new majority on the commission that may have been reversed with this month’s elections. Iglesias has been spotted at high profile events lately — like the swearing-in ceremony, where Lago thanked him, and the centennial gala Tuesday night, where he was hobnobbing with the mayor through the crowd.
Las malas lenguas say that Lago campaigned on bringing Iglesias back. It’s ironic because there was a whisper campaign against attorney and Gables activist Tom Wells, who lost against Lara, that said he had made a deal to name former Commissioner Kirk Menendez, who lost the mayoral race to Lago in the first round April 8, the city manager.
It’s ridiculous. Or maybe it was projection.
At the swearing-in Friday, which was at the Coral Gables Police and Fire headquarters while City Hall undergoes renovations, the mayor — who beat Menendez and resident Michael Abbott — thanked his friends and supporters and then told Iglesias to “please stand to be recognized,” which he did and got applauded by the Lago-friendly, standing-room only crowd.
Then he proceeded to really lay it on thick.
“You embody everything that is right in government. You are the human spirit. You and I have disagreed, prior to you even being in the city of Coral Gables,” Lago said, referring to Iglesias prior job at the city of Miami and Vinnie’s private sector job in construction. “But you were always right because you did things humbly and you did things for the right reason.
“I am honored to be by your side.”
Be by your side? Not have been, but be?
By then, Lago had already told City Clerk Billy Urquia to schedule the special meeting.
Read related: Coral Gables manager fired, MIA Director Ralph Cutie could replace him
“Per my conversation with the City Attorney yesterday, April 23rd, I would like to call for a special commission meeting on May 6th to take up the following items,” Lago wrote to the city clerk on Thursday, two days attorney Richard Lara won the runoff. He numbered the items:

Commission meeting procedures/legislative protocols for sponsorship
Address Commission salaries
City election date
inspector general
Addressing current city manager and protocols for hiring charter officers
Addressing current Charter review
City reserves

Urquia told Ladra that the agenda will be posted on the city’s website on Thursday.
Three of those things on Lago’s list are similar to items that he tried but failed miserably to get on a referendum last year via petition — rescinding the salary increases approved in 2023, moving the municipal election from April to November and needing a super majority to dip into the reserves for operational or capital expenses.
But the first item, “commission meeting procedures/legislative protocols for sponsorship,” sounds like L’Ego is trying to further control the commissioners he doesn’t like by controlling when and how they can put items on the agenda. What else could it be?
Anderson, Lago and Lara — the new commission majority — at the centennial celebration this week.
Everyone, even Lago, thinks that Lara is going to be the mayor’s needed third vote to move his agenda along. They both campaigned on the same things. But one of those things was having a process for the selection of the city manager. If Lago fires City Manager Albert Parjus, or demotes him and rehires Iglesias, isn’t he doing the same thing he accused rival commissioners Melissa Castro, Ariel Fernandez and Menendez of doing?
Read related: Coral Gables skips search, hires new city manager Amos Rojas on the spot
How many times did he repeat the message that the city “has seen three city managers in two years”? He’s going to make it four?
Neither Lara nor Lago returned calls from Ladra, but several people close to Lago told Political Cortadito that they had advised him not to rock the boat by hiring Iglesias and to tone down the rhetoric.
This will be Lara’s first true test. The first-time elected said during the campaign that the Gables should have a process for the hiring of a city manager. Let’s see if he sticks to that.
“We have the most qualified city manager that we’re going to find,” Fernandez told Political Cortadito Wednesday, citing Parjus’ experience at the county and in the Gables, where he was hired by Iglesias as his No. 2. “We’re heading into the budget season. We are looking at possibly cutting the millage rate and eliminating or lowering the garbage fee.
“This is not the time to change city managers.”
Somewhere, Kathy Swanson Rivenbark is laughing and raising her martini.
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A new political action committee led by Miami activists announced Tuesday the launch of a citizen-led petition to amend the city’s charter, “aiming to create a more representative, accountable and transparent local government.” The petition proposes three changes that would go to voters: holding city elections in even years, expanding the size of the city commission, and adding fair district guidelines.
“We all deserve real representation in government. Too often, our neighborhoods and residents go unheard,” said Mel Meinhardt, a lead organizer for the Stronger Miami PAC and co-founder of One Grove Alliance — which formed in the wake of the illegal and invalidated 2022 redistricting of Miami that cut Coconut Grove into three districts. 
“Voters should choose politicians, not the other way around,” Meinhardt said in a statement. “This amendment will reduce political corruption by ensuring districts are not drawn to benefit any specific party or candidate — a fair redistricting system that accurately represents our city.”
Read related: Coconut Grove residents are ignored as Miami carves up D2 in redistricting
A federal judge already ruled in favor of the ACLU and a group of Grove residents who sued after the redistricting and has ordered the city to establish a process, which should include a committee, for redistricting in the future. This petition, Meinhardt told Political Cortadito, would ensure that the mission of that process and committee is to draw fair districts and not gerrymander for partisan or other reasons, like keeping incumbents in office. “It gives the committee direction,” he said Tuesday.
The PAC was filed its paperwork with the city clerk March 28 and is chaired by another Miami activist, Anthony “Andy” Parrish, another redistricting critic who served on the city’s planning and zoning board.
To get the proposed charter changes on the on the November ballot, the PAC needs to have 26,000 signed petitions by sometime this summer. That’s a hard haul. A coalition of groups — which includes Engage Miami, One Grove, and Florida Rising — are getting members to collect signatures.
The petition also aims to divide the city into nine smaller districts, rather than the five there are now, and move the election from odd years to even years that coincide with the state and national elections, to both reduce city costs and increase participation. These changes would make the city government more representative and elections more accessible, the activists say.
“In the 2023 elections, fewer than 16,000 people voted in a city of nearly half a million,” said Rebecca Pelham, executive director of Engage Miami, in a statement from the PAC.
“This means a very small number of people are making important decisions that impact everyone in the City. We need a system that genuinely represents all of us so residents have a real voice,” Pelham said. “Moving city elections to even years when other statewide elections are held will encourage more people to participate in local elections and be involved locally.” 
There’s a question about whether or not this would extend the terms for the electeds who are there when the change comes. It seems that it would. But the activists don’t know about that. And there might be some backroom movement on the commission, anyway, to get that change of year on a ballot as well, but before the November election, to extend the terms of the mayor and Commissioner Joe Carollo (more on that later).
The smaller districts could also drive up turnout because they not only put elected officials closer the constituents they serve, but also create a dais that is harder to influence because three votes are easier to buy than five.
“The solution to the pollution is dilution,” Parrish told Ladra, using a tried and true environmental slogan to describe the Miami political climate. “We definitely have pollution,” he said.
He wold go even further, requiring each commissioner to work out of a district office. “Instead of having them all at Melreese, which is where they are going,” he said, referring to the former Melreese municipal golf course that is going to become a real estate complex with soccer stadium and a new city administration building in it.
Meinhardt said it was illogical that the city has not changed its representation since it was founded 100 years ago, while the population has exploded. “It’s only getting acceleratingly worse,” Meinhardt said. “I looked around the country for best practices. We’ve got like 90,000 citizens for every commissioner. The average in well-run cities is more like 40,000.”
Read related: Miami should have more commission districts for fairness, not fewer of them
Ladra advocated for more districts two years ago when the redistricting kerfluffle led then District 1 Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla to suggest eliminating districts completely.
Miami is the 43rd-largest city in the U.S., according to the 2020 Census, and the core of the nation’s eighth-largest metropolitan area. But cities of comparable size normally have more districts and more electeds.
Atlanta has a population of 498,715, or just about 30,000 more people than Miami. But Atlanta has 15 city council members — 12 elected in districts and three at large. Long Beach, California, just a little smaller than Atlanta and a little bigger than Miami, with a population of 466,742, has nine district council members. The city of Oakland, which is a little smaller than Miami, with 440,646 residents, has seven district council members. The city of Tampa, pop. 384,959, also has seven districts.
Esto no le conviene a los politicians who are there now. They like having the influence that comes with being one of three votes.
That’s why this is a citizen-driven initiative — because the electeds would never go for this. In fact, Ladra fully expect a campaign against it.
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