Looks like that shiny new Trump Presidential Library and Hotel in downtown Miami may be shelved.
Historian, professor and activist Dr. Marvin Dunn filed a lawsuit this week to stop the transfer of prime downtown land next to the Freedom Tower — yes, that Freedom Tower, the one that symbolizes liberty and exile and means so much to so many Miamians — from Miami Dade College to the state.
The lawsuit says the college’s trustees broke Florida’s Sunshine Law when they quietly voted last month to deed over the property to the Florida Internal Improvement Trust Fund, which just so happens to be controlled by Gov. Ron DeSantis and his cabinet — the same folks who, surprise surprise, turned around and voted to gift that same land to Trump’s library foundation.
In other words, no open discussion, no transparency, no real public notice — just a “potential real estate transaction” that somehow turned into a high-rise shrine to the Orange One.
“We’re seeking an injunction against the transfer of the land to the state on the ground that the decision to give the land to the state was made in violation of the Government in the Sunshine Act,” said Dunn’s attorney, Richard Brodsky, a former state legislator who knows his way around Tallahassee’s shadows.
Read related: Miami Dade College gifts Donald Trump land for his library — and a hotel
Brodsky points out that Miami Dade College is still listed as the owner on the property appraiser’s website — which means, technically, the deal isn’t done. That gives a judge a window to block the transfer before the deed changes hands for good.

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Like a petulant brat who doesn’t like to be told “no,” Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago defied everyone and betrayed both his colleagues and his constituents this week when he displayed an Israeli flag in his window at City Hall, even though the commission had voted against raising the flag because of the outpouring of community opposition.
This should prove that he doesn’t care what anybody thinks.
Read related: Coral Gables commission backs off Israeli flag at City Hall after backlash
Lago hung a U.S. flag morphed with the Israeli one in the historic window of his office on the second floor Tuesday. He was so proud of defying the community sentiment that he posted a photo of it on Instagram, along with a photo of three young men — Ladra suspects his podcast pals — with Israeli flags prancing around at the park across the street.
“On October 7th, 2023 the world witnessed an unspeakable, heinous act as 1,200 innocent men, women and children were killed and 250 people were taken hostage by Hamas. It was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Lago wrote. “Today, we remember them and celebrate their lives as sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, neighbors and friends. Lives forever altered in an instant, by hatred and a lack of tolerance.

“We will always stand on the side of justice and our allies (Israel), never forgetting the freedoms we have as Americans.”
He also felt a need to make sure that everybody knows the “first photo is of the Mayor’s office over looking the front of city hall.”
Was that for the benefit of the Isreali consulate and embassy in Miami? After all, they were invited to “collaborate” on the post.
It certainly looks like the park protest was coordinated with the mayor’s office. There was no permit needed, said Gables spokeswoman Martha Pantin. “Individuals do not require a permit to display items such as flags, provided they do not block ingress, egress, or interfere with traffic flow,” she wrote in an email responding to a question.
Guess that means that anyone can show up tomorrow with flags from Palestine, Iraq, China, Russia, Libya. In fact, employees are also free to display another country’s flag from the windows of their offices and city vehicles, Pantin said.
“We do not have specific personnel rules regarding the display of personal items like flags, as long as they are not offensive in nature. Any items deemed offensive would be addressed in accordance with our standard policies.”
Perhaps they’ll tweak the official definition of “offensive.”
Read related: City raising an Israeli flag causes fuss and fury at Coral Gables City Hall
Pantin said “after checking with dispatch and the manager’s office, no calls or complaints were received regarding this matter.”
That was in an email sent at 4:51 p.m. It is not Pantin’s fault that she hadn’t yet seen the email sent 20 minutes earlier by Katherine Shehadeh, a resident who spoke at both public meetings against raising the Israeli flag on public property at a time when the world was denouncing what many — even inside Israel — are calling a genocide of the Palestinian people.
“In advance of next week’s meeting, where I know there will be further discussion on this point, I want to be sure everyone is aware of this post on the mayor’s official Coral Gables account that he made jointly with the Israeli Consul General, a foreign official, tagging a number of Coral Gables media outlets and his political action committee,” Shehadeh wrote in her email to Lago and the commissioners. “I want everyone to consider the moral and ethical implications of using their public office this way, particularly on a matter that was already addressed democratically and respectfully within the commission’s chambers.”
And that’s is the issue here. If Lago had posted an Israeli flag on his personal social media and raised a flag at his house on San Amaro Drive, there would be no problem. Like when Palmetto Bay Councilman Steve Cody posted something about the assassination of Charlie Kirk being ironic because of his stance on the Second Amendment. People wanted to skin Cody alive and demanded his resignation — which he has politely declined — but he wasn’t speaking as a commissioner.
Not only was Lago’s post on his official city profile, he went ahead and did this after a great deal of public debate — overwhelmingly against his idea of solidarity only with Israel — and his colleagues on the commission agreed to have some non-political show of remembrance instead. This is in your face defiance. More proof that Mayor L’Ego, who did not return calls and texts from Ladra, is a sour loser and a bully who only wants to get his way.
Is he always going to do whatever he wants despite what the commission votes democratically? Isn’t that what a dictator is?
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago, allies bully and browbeat Melissa Castro
“It’s troubling to see the mayor once again ignore both the comission’s decision and the clear message from residents who asked us to keep City Hall neutral,” Commission Melissa Castro told Political Cortadito. “This isn’t leadership. It’s self promotion.
“Time and again, he’s shown that it’s not about residents want, it’s about what he wants,” Castro added. “Coral Gables residents came to City Hall twice to express their desire for neutrality, and the commission listened. We made a collective decision to keep our government impartial and focused on unity, not politics.
“When the mayor defies that vote and uses City Hall to advance personal agendas, it undermines public trust. A mayor should lead by example, not by personal ambition.”

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First in a series of profiles about the Miami mayoral candidates
Miami mayoral candidate Michael Hepburn says he’s “on the verge of making history” as Miami’s first black mayor. That’s a bold and confident statement — and one Ladra has heard before from more than one well-intentioned candidate whose campaign never made it past early voting.
Hepburn, a Miami native whose family roots in the city go back to 1896, is one of the other seven — not one of the six candidates considered frontrunners in a race that will certainly end in a runoff. But he is, arguably, the most exciting.
Running on a working-class platform he calls a “love letter” to his hometown. The non-profit executive, self-proclaimed sports and entertainment entrepreneur and civic advocate says he’s connected with 25,000 Miami households and stands as “the first Black Miamian to ever execute a bonafide viable campaign” for the city’s top job.
That “viable” part is where Ladra cocks her head a little.
Because while Hepburn’s passion is undeniable — his press releases and his website read more like a halftime pep talk than a political announcement — the climb to City Hall is a steep one, lined with big names, big money, and big egos. Hepburn, by his own admission, is “not a millionaire” and “not a recycled elected official.”
Which is exactly what Ladra likes about him — but also what makes this a long shot.
Read related: Primetime politics: Local 10 News puts Miami mayoral hopefuls in the hot seat
Hepburn has one notable endorsement — from entrepreneur Maxwell “Max” Martinez, who dropped out of the race before qualifying. Martinez, who placed second in the 2021 mayoral race against Francis Suarez, said he met Hepburn during that race, when Hepburn was running for city commission. He’s not only impressed with his work ethic, he also thinks that Hepburn can help drive policy and he likes that he’s a fresh face.
“The other names on the ballot have all been in office — you’re currently living in the results of their work,” Martinez, a fellow Democrat, said of Hepburn in a story in Florida Politics last month. “Mike fights the right way, and he’s never bowed to developer money or special interests.”
His campaign finance reports reflect that. Of the $36,000 and change he has reported raising, almost $34K comes from himself. The rest are in small donations, no bigger than $100. There are a lot of $44 contributions, to signify that he would be the city’s 44th mayor.
Hepburn, who won a Miami Herald Silver Night at Miami Central High, ran for commission in 2021 in District 5 and came in third, behind former appointed incumbent Commissioner Jeffrey Watson and Commission Chairwoman Christine King, who won that race with 65% of the vote and is up for re-election on the November ballot. This year, you can see many of King’s yard signs with Hepburn’s.
That’s by design.
“Because of District 5 is why I have a path to the runoff,” Hepburn told Political Cortadito. He didn’t want to compete with King for votes. He wants to share them with her.
“If I can cultivate my base and also galvanize those other communities in the city, then I have just as good a chance as anybody else,” Hepburn said, adding that the black vote is underestimated. There were 18,000 Miami black voters in the 2024 presidential election.
“They’re not engaged locally but they’ve never had anyone to vote for,” Hepburn told Ladra. “We’ve always been relegated to our district. I’m the first person who looks like me to run for mayor.”
Hepburn also ran for state rep twice and congress once — so this is his fifth try for public office — and has volunteered with the Miami Parks & Recreation Advisory Board’s Community Emergency Response Team, as a charter member of AmeriCorps and a co-founder of the Allapattah Neighborhood Association.
He is the executive director and principal of Reimagine Miami Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit he founded in 2021 that supposedly helps cover college expenses for public high school graduates — and has reportedly already doled out more than $160,000 to students. Funding sources could not be identified. Ladra could not find the non-profits 990s online, but small charities with gross receipts of under $50,000 are not required to file them.
Among the long shot would-be also-rans, Hepburn is a star. He’s already got some name-rec and he’s hitting the right populist notes: promising to lower the cost of living for working people, stand up to special interests, fire the city manager, and restructure the mayor’s office into five focused functions with 44 policy actions — a level of detail most Miami candidates haven’t even imagined.
He also vows to “take back the power of the dais” and “stand up against corruption,” which in this city is practically a campaign requirement. If you don’t say you’ll fight corruption in Miami, are you even running?
Read related: One-liners and other memorable moments from Miami mayoral debate
Hepburn’s plan touches on all the civic buzzwords: affordable housing, climate resilience, neighborhood safety, and uplifting children and seniors. But to break through the noise, he’ll need more than a heartfelt letter — he’ll need cash, coalition, and credibility beyond community boards. He couldn’t even get the 5% needed to be on the stage at the Downtown Neighbors Association’s mayoral debate last month, and called for the community to boycott the event.
He also suspended his campaign for a bit in June to try to recall Commissioner Damian Pardo for sponsoring the ordinance that moved the city elections from odd-numbered years to even-numbered years, which effectively cancelled this year’s mayoral race, where he had already been campaigning for months. Years? Another candidate, former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, filed the lawsuit that forced the city to rescind the ordinance (it was found to violate the city and county charter) and put the race back on.
That said, there’s something refreshing about Hepburn’s tone. He sounds like someone who actually rides the bus, who has waited at a hot corner for the 7, the 11 or the 27A, and who still believes that City Hall can be fixed from the inside.
Maybe it’s naïve. Or maybe it’s the kind of earnestness this city needs after years of headlines about FBI probes, absentee mayors, and million-dollar condos no one lives in.
Either way, Hepburn is right about one thing: it’s personal.
And if history is made in November — and that’s a big if — it won’t be because of money or dynasty names. It’ll be because enough working-class Miamians decided to believe in one of their own.
The post Michael Hepburn writes ‘Love Letter’ to Miami, but will voters actually read it? appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Political palanca is pushing the gas pedal
It looks like the BusPatrol program is still parked in neutral — and the Miami-Dade School Board could decide Wednesday whether to tow it away or try to fix it. And three members are very connected to BusPatrol lobbyists pushing for the program to be reinstated.
Six months ago, after rampant complaints, Sheriff Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz pulled the plug on the “school bus safety” camera program, which had been in operation since June of last year and issued more than 144,000 citations. Ticketed drivers said there were mistakes and no real process to contest the fine. At least 8,600 citations have been contested.
The BusPatrol plan was supposed to be a turn-key solution that cost the district nothing. Cameras would catch motorists who passed stopped school buses, read license plates, and tickets would go out automatically, and the company would share the revenue with the district. But it turns out that “turn-key” really meant turn a blind eye.
Now, the district is still trying to figure out what went wrong — and how to get out of the ditch.
According to an audit report requested by School Board Member Roberto Alonso and released last month, the program was never properly vetted, didn’t include any clear chain of communication between the district, the sheriff, and the courts, and ignored public problems BusPatrol had already experienced in other states like New York and Pennsylvania.
But that didn’t stop then-Chief Operating Officer Luis Diaz from pushing it through last year. Nor did it go through the usual competitive bid process, because it was revenue-generating — meaning 70% of every $225 ticket went straight to BusPatrol, and the other 30% went to the district. No violation of policy, the auditors say. Just a terrible idea that looks good because it has netted the school board more than $9 million so far.
The program hit the road in June of last year — and blew the engine before 12 months. An investigative story by The Miami Herald and Tributary found that hundreds, maybe thousands of innocent motorists were getting $225 tickets even when they were driving on the opposite side of a raised median, which is perfectly legal. But the cameras apparently didn’t know that. And BusPatrol didn’t care. Because there was no clear way to contest them, many ticketed drivers just paid the fine. Even on bogus tickets.
Read related: Miami-Dade Sheriff to county leaders: Budget cuts handcuff public safety
In May, Sheriff Rosie said basta and hit the brakes. She announced on X that she was immediately suspending all citations. And Alonso requested the audit that basically confirmed what everyone suspected: Miami-Dade Public Schools never really vetted BusPatrol before signing on the dotted line. According to the district’s own internal auditor, the BusPatrol contract slipped through a loophole in the district’s procurement rules. Because it was “revenue-generating” and under $50,000 on paper, the deal didn’t have to go through a competitive bid process.
That meant no formal vetting, no references from other school districts, no testimonials. Staff told auditors that they relied on word of mouth and a Google search.
“We found a lack of evidence that BusPatrol and the overall program were sufficiently vetted prior to entering a contract,” the audit says. In plain English: They didn’t do their homework.
Turns out, the so-called turn-key program in one neat package — cameras, ticket processing, coordination with law enforcement, even court services — wasn’t what it was promised to be. The audit said the district “was not prepared for the scope of coordination needed” among the different agencies.
BusPatrol, of course, insists everything was done by the book. In a statement, the company pointed out that the audit confirmed the procurement process followed the rules — technically. But the auditors also “legal” doesn’t mean “smart.”
Superintendent Jose Dotres sent a memo to the schools police chief ordering him to work with the sheriff’s office to “fix the citation review process.” But the scope of the problem — and the lack of due process — was so bad that a class action lawsuit was filed in March against BusPatrol, alleging that Miami-Dade drivers were denied their right to contest the fines. According to a story aired by NBC6, an attorney for the motorists said the program “prioritized revenue generation over rights.”
Ya think? According to the audit, BusPatrol got around $22 million for 10 months of work.
In part, the complaint filed in court says BusPatrol “not only deprived citizens of Miami-Dade of their property without lawful justification, but also enriched the defendants at the expense of the public under questionable legal and ethical circumstances.”
So, just another day in 305 politics?
Read related: In Miami-Dade, first day of school jitters come with ICE deportation fears
BusPatrol wouldn’t explain much. In a statement, the company said the lawsuit was a “frivolous and baseless attempt to undermine a critical student safety issue in Miami.” For details about the saga, company executive Steve Randazzo told reporters only: “You’re going to have to ask the sheriff’s office.”
She’s not your biggest fan, dude.
But don’t worry, BusPatrol has friends in high places. And we don’t mean just State Rep. Vicky López — a potential replacement for Eileen Higgins on the county commission — who ushered the law that allows for Bus Patrol to install cameras in Miami-Dade school buses, and just happens to have her son and her brother-in-law on their payroll.
Since the suspension, as the Herald reported last week, the company has hired two politically connected lobbyists: David “Disgustin’” Custin and Tania Cruz Gimenez. Custin ran school board member Danny Espino’s 2024 campaign — for which Espino paid him more than $56,000 — and also worked for Mary Blanco, who paid him about $106,000. His gravy train in Tallahassee — former Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez and former State House Speaker Jose Oliva — is over, so he’s making his bed at the school board. Hey, he’s gotta sleep somewhere.
Cruz Gimenez, who helped elect Cordero-Stutz — and is now helping Miami District 3 candidate Denise Galvez — is married to Carlos “CJ” Gimenez, who is the son of the congressman but, more importantly for this story, the nephew of School Board Chairwoman Mary Tere Rojas.
Now Espino, Blanco and Rojas are key players in the fate of the BusPatrol program. Shouldn’t they all recuse themselves?
Instead, Espino has become the program’s biggest cheerleaders. At a committee meeting last week, the attorney proposed hiring the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings to handle the ticket challenges virtually. He said the system already works in Hillsborough County and could “provide the sheriff comfort” that there’s due process for drivers. He is sponsoring the revisions proposed to the board Wednesday.
Superintendent Jose Dotres tried to pump the brakes, warning the board not to promise the district would cover the administrative costs of those hearings. “We just have to be very cautious in saying that we are going to bear the cost,” he said.
The board votes on Espino’s proposal Wednesday. The meeting starts at 11 a.m. at the school board meeting downtown, 1450 NE Second Avenue.
Ladra bets there’ll be a lot of hand-wringing and finger-pointing — but not much accountability. Because in Miami-Dade, bad deals like this one always seem to have friends behind the wheel.

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Here we go. The political season just got real.
Miami-Dade’s Elections Department has mailed out the first batch of vote-by-mail or absentee ballots for the upcoming Nov. 4 municipal elections in Miami, Miami Beach, Hialeah, Homestead and Surfside — which means the mailboxes in those zip codes are about to get a workout.
About 39,000 ballots rolled out of the county’s elections warehouse in Doral Monday morning, and were loaded onto a U.S. Postal Service truck under the watchful eye of the media and Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Alina García, who made sure everyone saw the process. Cameras rolling, ballots stacked, democracy in motion.
Read related: The end of absentee ballots? Who’s crying in Miami-Dade County?
The bulk of those (21,258) were sent to Miami voters, who are looking at a historic mayoral election to replace the termed out Francis Suarez — with no fewer than 13 candidates — and two commission races, including the District 3 race to replace the termed out Joe Carollo, who is running for mayor. Another 8.041 went to city of Hialeah voters, which seems low.
“Building the public’s trust through secure, fair, accurate, and accessible elections is my pledge,” García said in a statement, adding that vote-by-mail remains one of three ways Miami-Dade voters can cast their ballots — along with early voting and Election Day itself.
On Monday, before the TV cameras, Garcia said that the absentee voting process was safe, even though President Donald Trump says otherwise, because election workers check the signature every step of the way. “Voting by mail in Florida is very secure,” she said.
Maybe it is now, after several local and state laws have changed. And as a former campaign operative for the likes of former Congressman David Rivera and former Sen. Frank Artiles — who paid a sham candidate $50,000 to fix a Florida Senate race in 2020 — Garcia should know better than anyone.
Miami-Dade has a long storied past of absentee ballot fraud and other misgivings. The boleteros who handle these ABs have long been part of the local voting scene. They didn’t just create just an industry. They created a culture.
Read related: Frank Artiles arrested for sham state senate election — but was he alone?
One of the oldest known and possibly most notorious chapters was the 1997 Miami mayoral election. There was evidence of fraud — people casting ABs from Westchester, Broward and beyond the grave — that eventually overturned the election and won The Miami Herald a Pulitzer for investigative journalism (Ladra’s second).
It was pretty quiet on the absentee front until 2011, when several people were caught harvesting absentee ballots during the special post-recall mayoral election and 2012, when a Hialeah ballot ring was investigated by the Miami-Dade Police public corruption unit later decimated by former Mayor Carlos Gimenez after (read: because) he was implicated in it.
Among the characters arrested for some kind of absentee ballot shenanigans: Sergio “El Tio” Robaina, a relative of former Mayor Julio Robaina, Miami-Dade District 13 aide Anamary Pedrosa — who was working in then county Commissioner Esteban “Steve” Bovo‘s Hialeah office when she was caught stuffing ballots into the trunk of her car — and Deisy Cabrera, who got a “pan con bistec” delivered to her in a paper bag by Commissioner Rene Garcia after she was released.
In response, Miami-Dade passed a law that nobody could carry more than two ballots at a time.
In 2013, two men were arrested after they allegedly visited a Homestead home and filled out four people’s absentee ballots against their desires. They also allegedly possessed more than two ballots at a time.
As the use of vote-by-mail or absentee ballots increased, the Florida legislature also responded, with new ID requirements and ballot drop box limits in 2020 and a new law that requires the renewal of absentee or vote-by-mail ballot requests after every major election cycle. Previously, an absentee ballot request would last at least two cycles.
Many of the campaigns for the candidates in these five cities with elections next month have been focused on getting absentee ballot requests submitted. And this is the moment they’ve all been waiting — and fundraising — for.
Stacks of ABs are loaded on a truck and headed for the post office.
Now that those ballots are out, campaign mailers will start hitting doorsteps fast. Expect the flood of glossy flyers, “urgent messages,” and last-minute text “reminders” to vote. Some will arrive so often you’ll start to think your mail carrier’s on the campaign payroll. Then it will be the phone calls from the campaigns to make sure you mailed your ballot back.
This is when campaigns shift from yard signs and social media to the real battleground — the kitchen table. Because once people start filling in those bubbles, it’s game on. Because now that those ballots are out — every candidate, consultant, and campaign manager in the 305 is hitting “send” on a hundred different voter contact plans.
Enjoy the brief calm before your mailbox fills with “friends of,” and “for the future of,” and “we can’t afford four more years of…”
You know the drill.
Let the games begin.

A reminder for voters
If you want to vote by mail and haven’t requested your ballot yet, there’s still time — but pay attention to the fine print.
Under Florida’s new rules, any vote-by-mail requests made before the 2024 general election expired on Jan. 1, 2025. That means you have to renew your request if you haven’t already.
Ballots cannot be forwarded by the Post Office, so if you’ve moved or will be away, you’ll need to submit a Statewide Vote-By-Mail Ballot Request Form with your signature.
And remember: your completed ballot must be received (not just postmarked) by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 4, or it doesn’t count. So don’t wait till the last minute — mail it early so the elections office can contact you if there’s a problem with your signature.
More info, and a link to request an absentee ballot, is at www.votemiamidade.gov.

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