Our state governor was in Little Havana last week on hand to distribute vaccines to the Bay of Pigs veterans at a press conference at the Brigade 2506 house.
“We are inspired by folks who are willing to stand up and fight for freedom,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said, just a little over a month after the Capitol riots.
And it floats a new half-penny tax to save Biscayne Bay
It’s never too early to start thinking about the 2022 race for Miami-Dade Commission, where there will be five open seats due to term limits and an opportunity for voters in District 8 to elect their commissioner, finally.
There are already five candidates each in the District 2 race to replace Commissioner Jean Monestime and the District 8 race, where Danielle Cohen Higgins was appointed in December. Cohen Higgins is one of them.
Look out, Group 3. Here comes Alex Bucelo.
The sleeper candidate who jumped into the race to replace Coral Gables Commissioner Pat Keon — who is running for mayor — may be a 28-year-old newbie whose Papi is greasing the wheels. But he’s made an impression on people who are betting on him.
Looks like Miami Mayor Francis Suarez talks out of both sides of his mouth.
Last summer, after he made a backroom deal with David Beckham and Jorge Mas to turn Melreese Golf Course into a $1 billion real estate/retail/office complex with a hotel and, oh yeah, a 25,000-seat soccer stadium, Suarez and his new business partners made certain promises to protect the First Tee program, a not-for-profit that provides golf lessons and mentoring to kids who might never otherwise play the game.
Suarez even lauded the program as honorary chairman of the group’s young ambassador’s board and said “The First Tee of Miami is an organization that has a great impact on our community by providing character education to the youth of South Florida. I congratulate all of the future young ambassadors on your desire to make a difference in your community. The future of the First Tee of Miami looks bright because of you.”
But now he wants to erase that future and asks the city commission on Thursday to direct the city manager, city attorney and independent auditor to take “any and all actions necessary regarding any improper occupancy or any use of city of Miami owned premises by unauthorized business entities including but not limited to the Melresse Golf Course.”
Read related: Miami Commission should kick no-bid soccer shopping complex out of Melreese
Including but not limited to? Please! He is obviously targeting Melreese to pave the way for Miami Freedom Park.
The mayor told Miami New Times that he simply wants the organization to provide the documentation that he has asked for about 15 or so entities using the golf course address at 1802 NW 37th Ave. They have 30 days to produce the documents, which include financial records for each of the companies — even though the city already has most of those documents and explanations from the group’s attorney about other entities that don’t exist anymore.
It certainly seems heavy handed, at the very least, and more like a first step in booting the non-profit from the property because, after all, they are an inconvenient obstacle to the big real estate deal. Suarez doesn’t want little kids in matching t-shirts coming to the meetings when the retail complex disguised as a soccer stadium starts negotiating with the city.
That’s just bad optics.
Perhaps there is something in the agreement with Delucca Enterprises that limits or prohibits the use of the address for other entities, even though they are all tied to the same organization one way or another. That would allow the city to find the Deluccas in default and give them cover to force them off the property.
Read related: Miami’s Francis Suarez loses big as Miami voters reject strong mayor measure
This is going to cause some major drama at the city commission meeting Thursday as Ladra fully expects Commissioner Willy Gort, whose district Melreese is in, and Commissioner Manolo Reyes, who has spoken against the Freedom Park plan, to balk.
And don’t forget the kids in the t-shirts.
Suarez is working hard to become a one-term mayor and making it easy for Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez to take it from him in 2021.
More on that later.
