In the Coral Gables election today, voters are choosing between hitting the gas or 
putting the brakes on what many have called a recent drive to redevelop much of Coral Gables — going higher and wider and bigger.
And not just in the mayoral contest between Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick, the sole dissenting voice in every single one of the oversized projects recently approved in the City Beautiful, and former Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli, who was booted from office in 2001 because he wanted to build a mega City Hall annex building and close Biltmore Way and has been endorsed by the pro development forces.
Read relatred story: Coral Gables mayoral race takes a nasty, ethnic turn
Certainly overdevelopment — or, at the very least, zoning and land use variances that allow higher buildings with more density and less setbacks — has become the biggest issue of this campaign cycle, overshadowing all the rest, even public safety. Every race has been painted with this brush. The Riviera Neighborhood Association, which feels betrayed by the Paseo project approval despite their repeated objections, have gone so far as to recruit candidates in two commission seats.
Because it’s not enough to replace the mayor with someone less willing to bend the city code for developers. If Slesnick wins, but Mike Mena or Commissioner Pat Keon win their respective commission races, she will still be the lone dissenter on many of those votes. If former Commissioner Wayne “Chip” Withers, who is running against Keon, and anyone else in the other group win but Valdes-Faui gets his seat back, the same thing will happen, 
because Valdes-Fauli will likelyl join Commissioners Vince Lago and Frank Quesada to create a three-vote majority that will basically allow them to redevelop anything they want.
That’s why it is important for voters to elect a clean sweep Tuesday.
Just like they did in 2001, when they elected a new mayor (coincidentally, Slesnick’s husband) and two new commissioners to stop the City Hall annex and reopen Biltmore Way, voters today must elect Jeannett Slesnick, Withers and either Merlin Ebbert or Randy Hoff to stop the railroading that they have seen from developers.
Read related story: Hoff, Mena stand out in 4-way Gables commission race
This is why the group Gables Neighbors United (which is pretty much the Riviera folks) have endorsed Slesnick, Withers and Ebbert. They’ve come up with a nifty little acronym to help people remember: SEW.
Ladra has made it clear that she supports Slesnick, for the aforementioned reasons and also because the negativity of the Valdes-Fauli campaign should not be rewarded. I’m also hoping that Withers wins, even though he has hardly campaigned, for the aformentioned reason — and maybe also because Keon is supremely arrogant and is only going to be worse if she wins this.
And we’d be happy with Ebbert but we prefer Randy Hoff for that commission seat because, in addition to the fact that Ladra still loves her first responders and that he’s earned it through years of service with the police department, he can give us a good handle on employee issues. It’s good to see an employee on the dais. Especially in Coral Gables, where city employees are part of the fabric. Still, there’s likely to be a runoff in this race. But the anti-development forces win on Tuesday if the runoff is between these two.
Either way, voters need to carefully consider each race, not just one, if theyt really want this election to make a difference at all.
In Coral Gables election, only a sweep will change the course added by Ladra on
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