The breathy announcement this week with the press conference and 
the interviews and the hundreds of #LibertyCityRising hashtags could be a sign of good things to come for a long-neglected area that has suffered while other parts of Miami-Dade County have thrived. Or it could be a lot of hot air.
But Ladra will tell you one thing it is for sure: Good PR at just the right time.
In media crisis and political consulting circles, this is called changing or redirecting the narrative. It also falls into the reinventing yourself category.
Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s next election might not be until 2016, but amid his admitted “missteps” and a knack for special interests and for finding money at the last minute that the public is beginning to grow tired of, the mayor needs a makeover like the extreme kind you see on cable TV. Already he’s got real contender challengers chomping at his feet– both Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado and county Commissioner Xavier Suarez have said they are considering a run for the top county job — taking every opportunity to step up as leaders in his void.
Read related story: Xavier Suarez petition, barbs keep him in mayoral mix
The Liberty Square projects redevelopment announcement has changed the narrative away from the value adjustment board and the millions we are losing in that process and away from the courthouse tax Gimenez changed his mind about and tried to jam down our throats and away from the overpaid staff and lackeys he has on his bloated administration budget and away from the thousands of parked county cars accumulating dust on our dime. I mean, who wouldn’t want to talk about a shiny, new — if convoluted (read: doubtful) — plan to redevelop one of the most blighted public housing complexes in the country? With computers and tot lots and laundry facilities, no less! That’s what the mayor tweeted about Monday.
Suddenly, the regular at Joe’s Stone Crabs with a standing weekly tee time at the Biltmore Golf Course who flies to Vatican City with his BFF lobbyist and has his car imported from Europe is a champion of the poorest people in the county?
More likely, Gimenez needs something like Liberty City Rising to take the bite out of his disdain for public libraries and police officers and public employees, the contracts and work he gets for those on his friends and family plan, the misspending of our tax dollars and, last but not least, his stadium obsession, which is sure to become an issue during the upcoming campaign.
I mean, this project will be done in phases and the 2,400 residents in 710 units will be relocated temporarily and private partners with connections will “bid” on the commercial components — and all this will give Gimenez “positive” ink and airtime for months. Just like the hugs with the black folks on Monday will be saved for TV commercials and mailers.
What won’t get much airtime is the fact that this redevelopment isn’t even his idea. It was brought to him 
by Michael Liu, Miami-Dade’s new housing director. Liu just got hired in September by the county. He comes from Washington, D.C., where he has worked for the past 15 years, including four years as a stint as Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing from in Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD).
This is a guy who was responsible for the annual appropriations of more than $25 billion, encompassing all public housing in the United States and territories; Section 8 vouchers; and housing programs for Native Americans, Alaskan Natives and Native Hawaiians. A guy whose proudest achievements include reforming the financing of public housing and leveraging subsidies to attract private investment.
Granted, he’s got chops in this wheelhouse. And that is probably why the county is leveraging $74 million — including $32 from the general obligation bond — and getting another $122 million for the project through private funding. But it takes someone who has been here less than six months to figure out how to best address Liberty Square and identify the funding?
This is a good project and it would be hard to find anyone to fault it. 
But it is one thing to want this and it is another entirely to make it happen in a clean and transparent way that doesn’t benefit you and your pals directly. Miami-Dade doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to housing initiatives. Anyone remember the prolongued Scott-Carver project redevelopment? What about the millions earmarked for low-income “home ownership” steered to developers who built nada by former housing director Rene Rodriguez?
The “transformational” change will, indeed, be “historic” — just if it happens.
“We don’t intend to make those mistakes again,” Gimenez said.
Well, forgive Ladra for holding her breath. Because nobody ever intends mistakes.
Yes, it is a good thing that something is finally happening, or looks like it’s happening for these people and this area. But what about the deplorable conditions met by the seniors living in the Robert King High towers on Northwest 7th Street? Will they get some attention, too?
And while everyone might be quick to pat Gimenez on the back for this “bold move,” let’s remember that this was Liu’s idea — after just five months on the job.
Gimenez, who has been mayor for four years and was a county commissioner before that and city manager in Miami before that, is not being a leader here. This is not his initiative to finally take on one of the biggest issues in the county. He’s not a hero.
He’s just an opportunist who has grabbed on to a good idea that came along just in time and is passing it off as his own.
Carlos Gimenez gets Liberty City Rising on a silver platter added by Ladra on
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