It’s not often we see residents beg their elected leaders not to cut taxes. But in Coral Gables this year, it’s a resounding cry. Nobody wants the city to increase taxes, but one after the other, residents who spoke at a town hall on Tuesday said they would rather keep the taxes the same than lose services.

Mayor Vince Lago — who did not attend the town hall — has proposed a 2% millage or tax rate cut that would cut about $2.6 million from the city budget. Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson — who did attend the town hall and sorta tried to sabotage it, but failed miserably — is supporting him.

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Melissa Castro hosts community town hall first

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There are seven candidates on the ballot for Miami-Dade Mayor. But really, there are only two.

Eddy Rojas, who owns a valet parking company, is way out of his league here. Alex Otaola, a Cuban-American actor, comedian and podcaster who doesn’t speak English, is out of his mind. Unfortunately, so are the hundreds who will vote for him because of his ridiculous anti-communist platform. Carlos Garín, a TV personality, is a fish out of water. And while Ladra really likes Miguel “El Skipper” Quintero, the trapeze artist who is running just to bring attention to what he says is a double standard in code enforcement, we all know he’s out on a limb.

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Richard Praschnik has a homestead in Lee County

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Let’s thank the Miami Foundation for having and recording a series of forums this month with candidates for several races on the August 20 ballot — and posting them on their website for all voters to see. We are lucky that they think it’s important. It is part of the Vote Miami awareness initiative to increase voter participation, after a 47% turnout in the 2022 election.

They stressed that the forums, which are about an hour long each, were not debates — which is too bad. Ladra misses real debates. But we have to applaud the use of the mute button when the candidates’ time was up. Wish we could do that to sitting electeds.

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Deberíamos haberlo sospechado.

Parece que Frank Artiles está detrás del trasplante de Tampa que han plantado en la contienda para el Distrito 115 de la Cámara de Representantes de la Florida contra el veterano capitán de bomberos y ex presidente del sindicato de los bomberos de Miami-Dade, Omar Blanco.

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