Records indicate that Coral Gables commission candidate and attorney Jorge L. Fors has committed Homestead exemption fraud for several years. Fors owns a condo in Little Havana, unit 205 at 1039 SW 5th Street, where he has paid taxes, claiming a Homestead exemption since at least 2010, the furthest that the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s office posts […]
From the Where Are They Now? file: Former Miami-Dade Commissioner and onetime mayor of Homestead Lynda Bell is running for state office — in North Florida. Bell, who is town manager of Sneads (pop. 1,796), filed earlier this month to run in the special election for House District 7, vacated by State Rep. Halsey Beshears after he was […]
Our local state legislators have been going to several reunions in different districts and neighborhoods, bringing Tallahassee to us and talking with voters about the upcoming 2019 Florida Legislative Session, which starts March 5. State Reps. Javier Fernandez (114) and Dotie Joseph (108) were at the “legislative briefing and brunch” put on by the League of […]
Juan Zapata is still the only official candidate for Miami-Dade mayor in 2020 — and he is making the most of holding all the dance cards: His campaign got a big head start last week with an interview on Univision’s local Channel 23. The former commissioner was interviewed by Erika Carrillo, the same reporter who was […]
With the qualifying deadline upon us and the Coral Gables Election only 46 days away, candidates continue to raise funds for their campaigns — and spend it, at an alarming rate in some cases. Sometimes what’s more important isn’t how much a candidate has raised but how quickly it gets spent and how much is […]
What looked like a sleepy, mismatched mayoral race and incumbent slam dunk in Coral Gables has turned into an exciting rematch and likely turnover: Former Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick has decided to run again. Slesnick, who lost her first mayoral bid two years ago by a scant 187 votes, has made an appointment with the city […]
One incumbent already decided not to run for re-election. An activist and would-be challenger withdrew from another race within days. A former commissioner who resigned to run for Congress wants her seat back and a former State Rep wants to run for another. Oh, and then there’s the candidate who can’t keep it in his pants. […]
Maria Cruz is a Coral Gables activist who is not afraid to speak. She does so quite often at commission meetings, letting the mayor, commissioners and city administrators know exactly what she thinks. She has no hair on her tongue. She asks for more public records than Ladra and keeps her neighbors and friends informed […]
UPDATED: Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy Morales got a three to four year extension on his contract at a secret meeting Tuesday in his own conference room. Commissioners also voted 6-1 to have the finance chair Commissioner Ricky Arriola negotiate a raise to bring back to them. The only dissenting vote was Commissioner Michael Góngora, who […]
When Audrey Edmonson took over as chair of the county commission last month, she mentioned term limits that will force her to step down in November — and lamented there’s going to be a brain drain because of it. “The board will never have as much combined experience as it does today,” she said. “There […]