So, remember that sculpture park of dogs and cats that Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo wants to pay almost $1 million for? You know, the one he and his wife Marjorie sprung (read: forced) on the Bayfront Park Management Trust that led to the resignation of one board member?

Well, the city’s Arts in Public Places committee has kind of taken the wind out of his sails.

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Coral Gables Vice Mayor Mike Mena is under fire for his vote last week to sell a city-owned parcel used as a surface parking lot near the Village of Merrick Park to his bosses in a no-bid secret deal that nobody knew was coming.

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Is a lobbyist still a lobbyist if nobody hears a sound?

Former Miami-Dade Transit Director Alice Bravo attended a meeting with other lobbyists last month with Miami-Dade Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz about a piece of a $50 million contract for design and engineering services at Miami International Airport. Bravo, who resigned from her $250,000 earlier this year, can’t lobby anyone at the county for two years after she her exit. And Diaz would have us believe that she was not there to influence him.

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The code enforcement officer who caught Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla “creating jobs” at an illegal nightclub in February was fired on Wednesday — just as she and her lawyers had predicted.

Suzanne Nicholson was terminated, purportedly, for not cooperating with the city’s alleged “investigation” into the incident in which she said Diaz de la Portilla pushed her and caused her to injure her hip. Nicholson, who has since claimed workman’s compensation, had been ordered to appear before the human resources director to make a statement on Monday.

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It may be two years away, but newly-minted Coral Gables Vice Mayor Mike Mena just lost any chance he had to be re-elected in 2023.

No, it’s not just because of the condescending matter in which he dismissed resident-driven ideas from newly-elected Commissioner Rhonda Anderson, who proposed amending the zoning code to require approval and notice for “as of right” commercial developments. The Gables Insider correctly called Mena’s arguments mansplaining. It was also pathetic.

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Newly-elected Coral Gables Commissioner Rhonda Anderson is already delivering on her campaign promises, proposing sweeping changes to the zoning code at her first commission meeting Tuesday.

Anderson sent Mayor Vince Lago and her colleagues a memo on May 4, just over a week after winning the April 27 runoff, detailing a bunch of suggestions that include making certain zoning changes go before the commission, as well as a moratorium of sorts on the Mediterranean bonus that allows developers more intensity for Mediterranean designed projects.

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