The controversial, mixed-use Paseo de la Riviera project — which would turn the Holiday Inn 
on U.S. 1 into a massive, highrise condo with a retail complex — is coming up for final approval before the Coral Gables commission Tuesday and it promises to be a long and heated debate.
Preliminary approval came after an eight hour meeting in October. Despite deep concerns from neighbors who overwhelmingly object to the size and scale of the development, commissioners voted 4-1 in favor. Only Jeannett Slesnick voted against the project. But the developer, NP International, was told to meet with residents and downsize the project before coming back, or it might not get the same support.
Vice Mayor Frank Quesada said back then, voting in favor of changing the zoning from lowrise commercial to highrise commercial, that he could not support it on a second round if it stayed the same.
But Quesada couldn’t say Monday if he would vote for or against the project, which hasn’t really changed significantly as far as the nearby residents are concerned.
“I’m against the notion that all development is bad. There are good 
projects and there are bad projects,” Quesada said. “It’s really going to depend on what I hear from residents.”
But if it really depended on what he heard from residents, why did he vote in favor the first time?
Riviera neighborhood homeowners and other residents are expected to pack City Hall once again — the meeting begins at 4 p.m. at City Hall — to air their concerns about traffic, overdevelopment and what some call “the Brickellization” of Coral Gables.
A survey done of homeowners last week and distributed by Gables Good Government showed that an overwhelming majority of the surrounding homeowners do not like the idea of two 140-foot, 10-story towers — one a hotel and the other condos — linked by a public plaza lined with sidewalk cafes, restaurants and stores on the existing Holiday Inn property at 1350 S. Dixie Hwy.
They don’t care if it is designed in the Gables special Mediterranean theme, which almost guarantees approval from the commission, or how nice the parking garage is going to be.
Mapped out, the recent survey of homes in the 
Riviera Homeowner Association boundaries shows that a tiny minority, marked in green on the map, are in favor of upzoning the property so that the towers can be built. The vast majority, marked in red, are against it.
Take one look at the map and tell me how you think the commission ought to vote.
It seems to fly in the face of reason that this development has even gotten this far. It got a lukewarm pass from the planning and zoning committee, which voted 3-3 on moving it forward. And residents have been up in arms about it since even the April elections. More than 1,000 residents have signed a petition against it.
But the commission, which is elected by the people, approves it 4-1?
Coral Gables ‘Paseo’ project up for final approval Tuesday added by Ladra on
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IMO the shift most politicians follow toward the dark side is just human nature.
People run for office because on some level they are looking for validation..However their interaction with residents is not always validating, it’s door to door begging for votes, then sitting in their office listening to residents complain about one thing or another…Lets’s face it, no resident ever made an appointment with their local representative just to buy them lunch and tell them what a great job they’re doing…
Staff and lobbyists on the other hand are major ass kissers, whispering sweet nothings in the boss’s ear while showing them with gifts and attention..
So if you’re holding office when it comes time to vote on zoning who would you side with? A few single issue gadflies that don’t live in your district or the generous, handsome wealthy developer who’s alway telling you you’re thin, pretty and visionary?
Yes, it’s egotistical, shallow and stupid, but this is Miami…Some hustlers work the streets and some, the hearing room..
The commission delayed the decision two days to get feedback, and according to Keon she will not be rushed. What a sham. The residents want right-sized development in line with the City’s vision. If commissioners do not have a vision for the area today, they will not make one tomorrow. Their choice is to come up with a good deliberate plan that hears the residents and stakeholders, or to design one parcel on the dais and let a developer build a sore thumb on US 1. The commission should take a stand for the residents, say no until it has a plan, and protect the long term architectural beauty of the city.
It’s very discouraging to see residents concerns and wishes being ignored, not only in Coral Gables but in nearby South Miami. Elected officials quickly forget who they are representing, the residents and taxpayers who are the shareholders in their municipality, not developers. Elected officials should not be “working” with a developer to see what new change will be palatable to the residents. It becomes a game of what type of poison will they swallow. Playing with taxpayers investment in a home, a quality of life should not have to be fought for in fighting in a group of activists at commission meetings.