Developers are pushing forward plans to demolish a significant portion of Miami First Presbyterian Church, one of Brickell’s last remaining historically designated landmarks, to make way for an 80-story, mega high-rise tower.
But the Brickell community has mobilized, formed a dedicated resident committee, Brickell Stronger Together, and submitted a formal appeal to contest what they say is the unjust declassification of the church’s historic designation. Or part of the church property, anyway. The item will be heard at Thursday’s city commission meeting. The appeal is formally submitted by Lawrence Silverman on behalf of IconBrickell Condominium No. Two Association.
Developer darling lobbyist Iris Escarra is representing the church, which wants to sell the back lot — now rented to a school and food trucks on occasion — to developers who want to build an 80-story residential tower at 619 Brickell.
Founded by Henry Flagler, the church, at 609 Brickell Avenue, is considered a focal point in the community’s heritage. A development there could reportedly disturb a mausoleum and native burial grounds. The congregation, which is active to this day, was founded in 1896, before the city of Miami was founded, originally in a downtown location. Much of the architectural features were saved and transported to the new location, giving it its historic, Mediterranean style, and its landmark designation.
Read related: Effort to dissolve Miami DDA cites ‘bloated’ salaries, redundancy, UFC gift
Critics of the plan say that more concrete will also add to Brickell’s already insufferable flooding and more residential units will bring more nightmare traffic. Last year, the city’s historic preservation board voted to amend the 2003 historic designation of the church property by shrinking its boundaries to exclude the back lot, making way for the development.

Ernesto Cuesta, president of the Brickell Homeowners Association, which represents more than 90,000 residents, is supporting the appeal, “to prioritize the voices of the community over the interests of developers.” He told Political Cortadito that he would not be able to attend the meeting Thursday, but wrote a letter to commissioners on Wednesday expressing his position.
“The Brickell community has long championed a balanced approach to development — one that respects historical integrity while accommodating thoughtful progress,” Cuesta wrote. “We support the historic preservation of the entire church. Thank you for your attention to this critical matter.”
Read related: Miami may sell historic building’s Brickell lot to private developers
The church has already entered into a “transaction and development agreement” in 2022 that provides the developers, 13th Floor Investments and Key International, the right to acquire the property and doesn’t change the actual footprint of the church building, leaving it adjacent to the new high-rise. This would still alter the historic nature of the church, opponents say.
While the developer has marketed their plans for a luxury, waterfront condominium tower as part of the “Manhattan of the South” vibe that Brickell has going on, residents worry about increased traffic congestion, heightened noise and air pollution, endangerment of ancient trees and green canopy, as well as the closure of a neighborhood school, Key Point Christian Academy.
The proposal has attracted the attention of Carolina Isabela Florez, better known as Caro the Tour Guide, who has quite the local following of South Florida history lovers on Instagram.

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The city of Miami commission meeting Thursday is a doozy.
There are agenda items on two potential ballot questions — one strengthening term limits and another setting up a redistricting committee — on the extension of the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency, the establishment of a needs assessment for the Allapattah CRA, a $135 million Parrot Jungle/Watson Island transaction, controversial amendments to the construction noise mitigation ordinance and the appeal of a historic preservation board decision that declassified the historic designation for part of Miami First Presbyterian Church to make way for an 80-story residential high rise.
Pace yourselves. Ladra expects there to be hours of public comment.
The noise waiver ordinance, alone, is expected to draw a crowd. It has not been significantly changed since the 1980s, said Commissioner Damian Pardo, who is sponsoring the amendment, which would expand the hours of permitted construction operations and make other changes to the construction noise mitigation process that critics have said are beneficial to developers.
Pardo said the amendments are “resident-led” and add protections.
“Our noise ordinance update tackles illegal and excessive noise in our communities. This initiative puts noise waivers under a magnifying glass — ensuring that activities requiring them meet higher standards of transparency and accountability,” the commissioner posted on Instagram.
“It’s about identifying bad actors early, protecting our neighborhoods, and making sure our communities remain places where people can live and thrive in peace,” Pardo said. “And while there are those people using dog whistles to build their profile, political ambitions or readership, we encourage residents to contact us, work with us productively and provide their feedback in order to create policies that serve our residents.”
There are increased fees for violations, a tougher process for applicants and an easier process for city staff to revoke a waiver or permit, he said. But critics worry that it also allows staff, not the city manager, to provide a waiver or a permit and that repeat violators will be let off the hook.
“And the kicker? Pardo claims this came from residents — yet most neighborhoods oppose it,” said DNA Vice Chair James Torres, a onetime D2 commission candidate. “The DNA wasn’t consulted, and he ghosted reporters when pressed for answers. Community quality of life is on the line.”
Pardo should withdraw this and concentrate on passing his very important referendum for the November election, which would ask voters if they want to extend term limits, creating “lifetime” limits for electeds who have already served two terms in that same position. He has said it is not to target his colleague on the dais, Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, a two-time former mayor who has threatened to run again, though he hasn’t filed. But it would affect Carollo’s possible aspirations.
Read related: Voters in Miami may get to strengthen term limits and ban political retreads
In fact, it could change the dynamics on the commission for years to come, blocking people like former commissioners Frank Carollo, Willy Gort, Keon Hardemon and Marc Sarnoff from running for the same office again. Frank Carollo has already filed to run for commission in District 3, where he served twice before.
In a city like Miami, where recycling is usually about campaigns and not the environment, this is huge.
The other proposed ballot question for a proposed charter amendment that would prohibit the redrawing of City Commission districts with the intent to favor or disfavor a candidate or incumbent, establish a Citizens’ Redistricting Committee to draw districts after each Census and when required by law and provide a process for the naming of such a committee and getting its proposals to the city commission.

The commission Tuesday basically has to instruct City Attorney George Wysong to come back with the ballot language for the November election because this public referendum was part of the settlement agreement that the city reached last May after several residents and organizations sued in 2022 over the last time the districts were redrawn, saying that the districts were gerrymandered to favor partisan incumbents. Which it was.
But the item still should produce some interesting discussion — or bloviating from a particular commissioner (read: Carollo).
Several people from the public will likely speak to support the appeal of the declassification of the historic designation given to Miami First Presbyterian Church, which hopes to sell the back lot to developers who want to build an 80-story high-rise. There is a lot of opposition and the president of the Brickell Homeowners Association president wrote the commissioners to support the appeal (more on that later).
The items on the CRAs are interesting because there are three of them and two that seemingly compete. A resolution to expand the Omni CRA into Allapattah, sponsored by Commissioner Miguel Gabela, may be withdrawn, and probably will be if another resolution to accept and approve a “finding of necessity” to establish Allapattah’s very own CRA is passed first. That needs assessment states the areas to be “slum and blighted” and establishes the need for an Allapattah CRA with the prosed boundaries of SR 112/Airport Expressway to the north, I-95 and NW 7th Avenue to the east, the Miami River to the south, and NW 19th Avenue to the west.
Read related: Compromise may be reached at Miami commission on Omni/Allapattah CRAs
Then maybe the long-awaited Omni CRA life extension — needed to complete several projects in the pipeline and held hostage over the Allapattah situation for months — will finally pass. It is also on the long agenda, sponsored by Pardo, again.
Ladra hopes that this is the last time these two communities are pit against each other. At least on this.
The item on the Watson Island property seems pretty important, too. It would authorize the city manager to sell 5.4 acres of city-owned property near Parrot Jungle Island to developers for $135 million to develop residential and commercial uses, “and to return the balance of the property to the city for use as a new public waterfront park to be constructed by the developer.”
Also on the agenda is a memorandum of understanding with the management organization of The Underline’s “investment, operations, programming, maintenance, and management,” which would also authorize the city manager to spend up to $8.7 million in the 2025-26 fiscal year from the general fund, and a gazillion other things that seem pretty important.
It seems almost certain that several things will be withdrawn or deferred early on, which happens with some frequency and often leaves speakers in limbo after they’ve made plans to be at City Hall for a particular item.
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Environmental entrepreneur Richard Lamondin Jr. — a Miami native and self-made water conservation businessman — announced Wednesday that he is “considering” a run next year against Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar in Florida District 27 after much “encouragement.” This may seem early, but the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently just put Salazar on its national list of vulnerable GOP-held “Districts in Play” targets in 2026.
What makes Lamondin think he can do any better than former State Sen. Annette Taddeo, who lost to Salazar in 2022 (57% to 43%), or former Miami-Dade School Board Member Lucia Baez-Geller, who just lost against Salazar by 20 points in the Trump Train November election? Answer: Democratic political consultant extraordinaire Christian Ulvert, who will likely be Lamondin’s campaign manager.
Ulvert authored an optimistic memo this week that highlights recent victories by Democrats across the state and country, results that he says indicate there are opportunities for the Democratic Party.
“April 1st was no April Fool’s Day as election results across the nation showed voters from all parties reject extremism and embrace pragmatic, balanced leadership,” Ulvert wrote.
From a Chicago suburb council turning Democratic majority to the historic victory of Susan Crawford against Elon Musk‘s money in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race to the two special elections in Florida’ 1st and 6th Congressional District , which were both lost to Republicans but marked significant gains in Republican strongholds, Ulvert and other Democrats suggest these results show that flipping the House in 2026 is within reach.
One prominent example was how Gay Valimont, who lost the race for Floridas 1st Congressional District to Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis (57 to 42, won by three points in Escambia county, which went to Donald Trump by 19 points in November. That’s a 16-point gain. And Trump endorsed Patronis.
“Democrats must seize this moment by recruiting and supporting young, pragmatic candidates who are not afraid to speak up and speak out,” Ulvert said.
And Lamondin, who has been hitting Salazar on the platform formerly known as twitter since late March, might be the perfect example of that.
Read related: Cuban American congress members stay silent on TPS, immigrant detention
The 36-year-old is co-founder and CEO of ecofi, environmental services company dedicated to demonstrating that sustainability is beneficial for business, which he and his brother built from the ground up. The company boasts saving over 10 billion gallons of freshwater and preventing more than 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions while saving property owners $100 million in utility costs. He started in 2012 with a company called CondoSavers that aimed to reduce the water costs for condominium owners. Basically, they installed efficient toilets.
This evolved into ecofi after he and his brother Lawrence realized that “the high cost of utilities, particularly water & sewer, presented an opportunity to do great things for the environment while benefiting businesses and residents,” Richard Lamondin said in a Medium interview published last summer. “We slimmed down our services. We focused on water conservation…
“Today, we have grown to be much more than just an energy and water conservation company. We are now the sustainability team for the real estate industry, supporting them in whatever they need on their journey,” Richard Lamondin said.
These are good campaign points. It also seems to be a possible source of campaign funding.
Richard Lamondin in a Miami Community News podcast posted on YouTube four years ago.
Another good campaign point is his Italian immigrant wife, Martina Spolini, who is executive director of Rebuilding Together Miami-Dade, a non-profit that helps low-income, vulnerable homeowners, small business owners, and community organizations by providing critical home repair and accessibility modifications at no cost. One of its principal aims is to preserve current affordable housing. The couple have a 3-year-old son.
All of this is campaign gold.
A graduate of the University of Southern California with a degree in international relations, Lamondin has been recognized as Endeavor Miami’s Entrepreneur of the Year and named one of South Florida Business Journal’s 40 Under 40. He serves on multiple nonprofit boards focused on community development and youth empowerment, including Project Transforming Hope, Engage Miami, and the ADAPT Foundation.
He sounds like a Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava appointment.
“As a proud native Miamian and firm believer in the power of our democracy, the promise of the American Dream, and the duty we have to protect one another, I’m grateful for the encouragement to run for Congress,” Lamondin said in a statement. “Our communities are calling for action, not empty political slogans.
“It’s time to focus on making life more affordable, protecting our neighbors, and giving small businesses and working families a real chance to rise. My success didn’t happen overnight. Like many of my neighbors, I have struggled with medical debt and the rising costs of insurance, housing, and childcare,” Lamondin said. “It doesn’t have to be this way.
“In the coming weeks, I’ll be having serious conversations about the issues that truly matter, and how I can use my decade of entrepreneurial experience and community work to better support the people of South Florida. It’s time for new leaders who show up, work hard, stand up for what’s right, and find common ground.”

Salazar has recently come under fire for misrepresenting herself — again — when she took credit and thanked the Trump administration for reversing the suspension of temporary protected status for Venezuelans, who were on the verge of being deported before a federal judge, not the White House, stopped it. The Trump administration has actually appealed.
Read related: Maria Elvira Salazar takes credit for judge extending TPS for Venezuelans
The congresswoman, a former journalist who once fawned over Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, has a habit of misrepresenting herself. Last year, she took credit for local federal appropriations — even though she had voted against it in Washington.
The daughter of Cuban political exiles, as she likes to remind everyone all the time, and champion of democracy in Latin America has been basically complicit in the Trump administration’s mass deportation of immigrants, wether they are criminals or not. She is one of four Cuban-American Republicans targeted in a billboard campaign funded by the Miami-Dade Democratic Hispanic Caucus and called a “traitor” for her complicity.
And, yet, she will be difficult to beat. Especially by a nobody Johnny Come Lately.
Ulvert doesn’t think so.
“Voters want to see Democrats lead with a bold economic agenda that puts families first, protects every aspect of the American Dream, and advances a foreign policy agenda that truly puts America First by leading with mutual respect, which has been done since our nation was founded nearly 250 years ago,” Ulvert wrote in his memo. “In Miami-Dade, Congressional districts like CD-27 can very much be in play and lead to a competitive environment given that the incumbent congresswoman has carried the district over the last three cycles by an average margin of 12 points.
“Given the numbers we’ve seen over the last two months… Democrats are over-performing by an average of 18 points.”
He says there is just one thing missing: Money.
“Now, it’s up to the national and state parties, along with the party committees to invest swiftly to create the environment Democrats need to win in November,” Ulvert wrote in what sounds like a pitch for his firm to get some Democratic Party money.
“Let’s not wait until the 11th hour to fumble the ball.”
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Miami-Dade Dems launch billboard campaign
The smug mugs of the four Miami-Dade Cuban American Republicans in Washington, D.C., who have sat silently by as the Donald Trump administration rolls back protections afforded to refugees from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua, are now featured on a billboard seen from the busy Palmetto Expressway with the word “Traitors” next to them.
Last week, the Miami-Dade Democratic Hispanic Caucus launched a billboard campaign taking aim at the “Gang of Four” — Sen. Marco Rubio, now Secretary of State, and Congress Members Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Gimenez and Maria Elvira Salazar, who last week had the audacity to take credit and thank the Trump administration for a last minute reprieve to Venezuelans that is actually being appealed by the Trump ministration. They have done nothing while the Donald Trump administration moves to massively deport immigrants, even those with legal status, including more than half a million who had temporary protected status, a legal status that was taken from them in the middle of the night.
They are traitors “to immigrants, to Miami-Dade, to the American Dream,” the billboard says.
The first billboard has gone up on Palmetto Expressway between Doral and Hialeah, two of the cities that are most impacted by the reversal of temporary protected status, which gave legal status to more than half a million immigrants in the U.S. Read that again: The federal government made legal immigrants suddenly illegal in order to boot them out of the country.
“Marco Rubio, María Elvira Salazar, Carlos Giménez and Mario Díaz-Balart have turned their backs on us,” Miami-Dade Democratic Hispanic Caucus President Abel S. Delgado, a Cuban-American, said in a statement. “Rather than standing up for our families, they’ve stood silently while immigrant communities are targeted, detained, and deported.
“They’ve forgotten where they come from — but we haven’t,” Delgado said, promising more would come.
Read related: Maria Elvira Salazar takes credit for judge extending TPS for Venezuelans
Meanwhile, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who is not Cuban but knows how to represent her constituency, has written to Department of Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem to request a tour the Krome Processing Center, an immigration detention facility on Krome Avenue, where immigrants are being held in what many have described as overcrowded, unsafe and inhumane conditions.

“I’m deeply worried about reports of overcrowding and dangerous conditions at the federal Krome Processing Center. We must keep our communities safe while also acting with compassion and human concern,” Levine Cava wrote on her social media, posting the letter she wrote, in which she says that some of the immigrants “now being held in federal facilities, detained indefinitely without a clear process, include green card holders and long-standing members of our community who were contributing to our economy, supporting their families and paying taxes.”
Detainees are seen sleeping on the floor next to each other or in chairs in a viral video that was taken, obviously under cover, by a Mexican detainee near tears and provided to NBC6 Miami. Some detainees have had to sleep outside. They have reportedly not been allowed to communicate with loved ones or legal representation regularly. Some family members of detainees say they are not given enough food or even water. In February, a Ukranian immigrant died at a nearby hospital after getting sick at Krome.
“The increase in detainees being sent to the Krome Processing Center has caused conditions to deteriorate, creating an unsafe and inhumane detention environment,” Levine Cava wrote in the April 3 letter. “Allegations of substandard conditions include inadequate access to water and food, unsanitary confinement, medical neglect and abuse such as prolonged shackling.”
No wonder Marquito doesn’t want to go there. And where are Gimenez and Salazar? Ladra sent an inquiry by email to two of the Gimenez communication staffers asking if the congressman had requested a tour. Crickets.
Instead, on Tuesday, Gimenez held a House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security hearing to assess the security of U.S. travel systems in preparation for high-profile international events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and proclaimed his support for President Donald Trump’s recent Executive Order creating a White House Task Force focused on the 2026 World Cup.
Seems important.
Gimenez and the other three Cuban-American Republicans are also notably absent in a letter sent Tuesday to Noem, signed by 49 congress members who say the closure of several oversight offices last month “raises serious questions about DHS’s transparency and compliance with the law,” according to a story in The Miami Herald. The cancelled guardrails include the investigation of and response to alleged human rights violations in immigration detention centers.
Seems convenient.
Read related: SOS Venezuela: A trendy 2014 Florida campaign theme
Ladra still remembers when Rubio very heavily courted the Venezuelan vote, posing for a photo opp with the country’s flag and then Gov. Rick Scott — who has also been silent — and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera at El Arepazo 2 in Doral. They were joining the community’s protest of the Venezuelan government’s crackdown on demonstrators and asking for U.S. sanctions.
Bet Rubio won’t go order an arepa there today.
“This ‘Gang of Four’ is lying and betraying a community that trusted them—people who fled tyranny seeking freedom,” said María Corina Vegas, a board member of the Miami-Dade Democratic Hispanic Caucus. “As a Venezuelan American who watched my country fall into dictatorship, I see the warning signs. Their complicity is shameful. We will make sure everyone knows exactly the traitors they are.”
The billboard campaign, Delgado said, is the first step in a sustained effort to hold these officials accountable and engage the Miami-Dade community to fight back against anti-immigrant cruelty and political betrayal.
“We will not be quiet. We will not let them hide behind pretend patriotic speeches while our families are ripped apart,” he said. “These billboards are just the beginning.”
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Fresh from his re-election Tuesday, Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago, in his third term now, doesn’t have time to rest. He has to make sure that his commission candidate, who will give him back the majority on the dais that he lost almost two years ago, wins in a runoff two weeks from now.
Richard Lara, general counsel for the Spanish Broadcasting System network of radio stations, got 47% of the vote on Tuesday, which was a majority but not enough to cinch a victory. Lara, who is Lago’s hand-picked pocket vote, heads into a runoff against attorney Tom Wells, who sits on the city’s charter review committee, who came in second with 39%.
“Now we have to get out there and support Richard Lara for the next two weeks. We have a runoff,” Lago said Tuesday night in a short victory speech clip for the A Day In Miami podcast’s Instagram account. The mayor already has one vote with the re-election of Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson — who won with 58% of the vote Tuesday — but he needs another guaranteed ally if he’s not going to stay on the losing end of a 3-2 avalanche for the next two years.
“I’m counting on your support to bring civility, trust and respect back to the city of Coral Gables,” Lago said in his short clip.
He’s one to talk.
Read related: Vince Lago, Rhonda Anderson handily coast to re-election in Coral Gables
Claudia Miro, a transit lobbyist at Freebee and one-time assistant to former Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, came in a distant third with 13.5%.
But she’s the darling on Wednesday because both Wells and Lara, and their respective campaigns, will want Miro’s endorsement. Throwing her support — and 1,356 votes — one way or the other could make or break either one of the two runoff candidates.
“I haven’t even thought about that yet,” Miro told Political Cortadito late Tuesday, adding that she was proud of her campaign and had no regrets.

“I would have regretted not running,” she said. “I can hold my he’d up high. I had a clean campaign and ran on my own attributes and qualifications. I still think I was the best choice but, as we know, sometimes the most qualified candidate doesn’t win.”
Ouch.
Well, lots of other people are thinking about her endorsement, and speculating that Miro — who was once Anderson’s appointment to the planning and zoning board until she upset the mayor with a vote and got kicked off — was always a spoiler sleeper candidate who will throw her weight behind Lara.
This could be because she was standing on the same side of the street near Lago during early voting over the weekend.
Or because she has complained about Wells’ negative campaigning.
Wells, whose motto is “neighbors restoring civility” and who signed a clean campaign promise form — the only one in the race to do so — has taken some digs at Miro. She’s noticed.
Or maybe because Sarnoff and Mason Pertnoy, an attorney who represents Lago (and Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo), gave her $1,000 each for her campaign.
Commissioner Kirk Menendez, who lost to Lago 55% to 38%, was more forthcoming in his support for Wells and said in his concession speech Tuesday night that the attention had to be turned to the runoff.
“We have to do everything we can to help Tom get over the hump,” Menendez told a small crowd of family and friends at Birdie’s Bistro. He said he had known Lara for more than 25 years but was voting for Wells because of Lara’s association with Lago.
Read related: Coral Gables candidate Richard Lara has not voted in the city since 1999
“I don’t endorse anybody but I’m voting for anybody who is not linked to those who don’t have our best interests at heart,” Menendez said, and it’s more complicated that it sounds. He is voting against Lara.
“There is still a fight in us left and it’s fighting for Tom. And by fighting for Tom, it’s a fight for our community,” Menendez said.

It’s going to be a hard fight. Lara will certainly have more money and more people working for his campaign. He raised more than $169,000 as of April 3, according to the most recent campaign finance report, and still had about $75K in the bank. Wells has financed his own campaign to the tune of $36,000 plus, according to his reports.
And while the mayoral race is no longer a draw on the ballot, and the runoff hits on Easter week, Lago will use his organization and campaign machinery, as well as financial support, to help Lara win. He will get his people out to vote.
He has to. The mayor will continue to be powerless without Lara on the commission.
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It was over in Coral Gables in about 15 minutes.
After months of campaigning and negative attacks, it only took the first results that trickled in after the 7 p.m. closing of polls Tuesday to know that Mayor Vince Lago and Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson won re-election with comfortable margins their opponents would never bounce back from.
Lago, who is now on his third term, got more than 55% of the vote in the mayoral race next to Commissioner Kirk Menendez, who got almost 38%. Michael Anthony Abbott‘s nearly 7% of the vote wouldn’t have made a difference. Anderson did even better, with more than 58% of voters returning her to office over architect Felix Pardo, who got a little more than 37%, and Laureano Cancio, who got 4%.
Anderson’s strong support was the biggest surprise for many on Tuesday, seeing as how she had seemingly lost a lot of her base as far back as two years ago when she became what many call Lago’s luckiest lackey. Ladra is going to go out on a limb here and say that maybe people found Pardo to be a little pushy.
Did anybody notice that 52 more people voted in the mayor’s race than in the vice mayor’s race? What’s up with that?
The turnout for Tuesday’s city election was more than 29%, which is more than the 20% that participated in the 2023 election — where there was no mayoral race because Lago had no opponent — and more than the almost 29% that participated in 2021, where there were three contentious races, like now.
If the votes are a referendum on Lago and his administration, and many said this election would be, then the mayor may have just gotten a mandate. And if we thought he was an arrogant jerk before, he is really going to be insufferable now. Insoportable.
Read related: What transparency? 22 reasons NOT to vote for Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago
“The city has spoken, the residents have spoken. Your mayor is back,” Lago said in a short clip on the A Day In Miami podcast’s instagram account. His election night watch party was to be at Wolfe’s Wine Shoppe on Miracle Mile, and the video captures his friends and campaign workers high-fiving it and yucking it up in the background.
“Thank you for your support. Thank you for your trust in me. It’s an honor to serve you for the next two years,” Lago says.
So, what happened? Some people were shaking their heads Tuesday night, flabbergasted that the results would be so lopsided. They expected it to be closer. Ladra is among them. People were given hope by the outcome of the 2023 election, when the two underdogs funded and supported by Lago and his loyalists lost to Commissioners Melissa Castro and Ariel Fernandez.
But those two seem to have benefited from the mayor’s absence on the ballot two years ago. And it was a wrong move by Menendez and Pardo to lean so heavily on the anti-Lago vote and the positive reaction they got when they were door-knocking.
Lago pulls. How else could anyone explain the 47% pole position enjoyed by Richard Lara, Lago’s handpicked candidate in the Group 3 race, going into the runoff with attorney Tom Wells, who was the anti-Lago candidate. Folks agree Lara is a lousy pocket vote candidate. Worse than Alex Bucelo, someone said.
If Lara wins, then Lago will have scored the trifecta (more on that next).
Also, Menendez could not get above the flood of messaging Lago paid for with a hefty campaign treasure chest. According to the latest campaign finance reports, tracking contributions and spending through April 3, Lago had nearly half a million in his campaign account (including a last minute $1,000 from former Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who is now a lobbyist for billboards). He also spent another half a million from his political action committee, Coral Gables First, since January of last year.
Read related: Fundraising for Coral Gables election slows, incumbents count on max gifts
And that $467,000 or so spent by the PAC is only through December. The next report, for the first quarter of 2025, is due later this week. Ladra is willing to bet it doubled.
The Lago campaign was organized and relentless. A drip, drip, drip that started more than a year ago and ended in a barrage that was not about how great a mayor he has been for the past four years, but rather how bad a choice Menendez would be after having voted for commission raises and the hasty firing and hiring of a city manager or two and against a tiny tax break and inspector general. The text messages, mailers, emails and social media posts were almost daily. Like a hammer.
And Menendez, while he blew those issues out of the water in live forum events and wherever he spoke, was not able to counter Lago’s messaging across to more voters. The former assistant Miami city attorney turned real estate agent raised a mere $41,000 in his campaign account. Lago likely spent more than that just on text messages. And how do you message against a “101% raise” headline anyway? It’s complicated.

Menendez also has a PAC, The Coral Gables Way, with zero funds raised as of the end of December and a report that is also due later this week. But Ladra suspects it will not be much. Because he could not amplify his message.
Tuesday evening, the one-term commissioner — he beat Bucelo then won a runoff against Javier Baños with 52% (a 358 vote margin) in 2021 — thanked his family and volunteers at a small gathering at Burger Bob’s, er, Birdie’s Bistro, “not just for being here, but for your friendship, your support, for being such an important part of my life.
“Tonight is not an end,” Menendez said. “It’s just a continuation of what we’ve all done, which is give back to our community, serve our community. It’s not about the politics, it’s about how we can make the lives of others better. And that’s why I ran. And that’s why I was a commissioner. And that’s why you all supported me in this campaign.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago camp uses Jesus image to hit Kirk Menendez
“As they say, God has a plan. And what that plan is, I’m sure will manifest itself sooner or later.”
Menendez said he would likely stay involved in the city as a non-elected.
“The result is not what I think any of us thought. We saw a path forward that we all wanted the city to go. I think that path is still there. It will always be there. And we don’t lose hope. We stay working together, making sure our voices are heard… for a better Coral Gables.
“Not a better Coral Gables for some, but a better Coral Gables for everyone.”
Certainly, Wednesday will see a better Coral Gables for Vince Lago and Rhonda Anderson.
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