Hialeah’s first budget hearing for 2025-26 last week turned into another political telenovela, with interim Mayor Jacqueline Garcia-Roves and Councilman Jesús Tundidor digging into their rival tax-cut proposals like two kids fighting over the last croqueta. And since the council is still missing a seventh member to break ties, nothing got done Thursday. Nada. The […]
It was like a shadow government meet-and-greet Just when you thought that the old Hialeah politics mix of evil alliances and public distrust were behind us, along comes a secret society supper vibe from former mayor Esteban “Steve” Bovo, joined by ex-mayors Julio Robaina and Carlos Hernández. The bad boys of the City of Progress […]
Fellow commissioner estimates tab is $30 million Remember when Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo got slapped with a $63.5 million jury verdict for abusing his office by “weaponizing” city departments to go after someone who had supported his opponent? Well it’s still costing taxpayers every day — and Commissioner Miguel Gabela estimates it at between $27 […]
Steve Cody thought it would be clever to call the murder of conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk a “fitting sacrifice.” It sounded to some like the Palmetto Bay councilman literally cheered a political assassination. But it might have been political suicide. Because now, some residents and other elected, including Village Mayor Karyn Cunningham and Vice Mayor […]
Part 1 in a series of county budget coverage stories By the time Miami-Dade commissioners wrapped up their first budget hearing at 4:33 a.m. Friday, the only people left in the chambers were the diehards. And a very tired staff who must have had a lot of cafecito. But most of the 240 speakers during […]
It must be election season in Hialeah because, suddenly, everybody wants to give away tax cuts like they’re pastelitos. Interim Mayor Jacqueline “Jackie” Garcia-Roves — who is running to keep the job she was handed when former Mayor Esteban Bovo went to D.C. to lobby and be with his wifey — called a press conference […]
Looks like Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar is still allergic to her own constituents. Like other Republican lawmakers across the country who keep ducking the angry mobs that want to roast them over tariffs and immigration, Miami’s own absentee rep is no different. Enter Richard Lamondin. Never heard of him? You’re not alone. He’s a Miami-born […]
Well, it’s that time of year again when homeowners open their mailboxes and get that little love letter from their city: the tax bill. And in at least nine Miami-Dade cities, it’s going to sting more than usual. Some of these hikes are jaw-dropping. But for property owners in Pinecrest, it’s not as bad as […]
Looks like there’s a new kid sniffing around the mayor’s race. Well, not exactly a kid — he’s 51 — but definitely new to Miami’s political playground. Fred Voccola, a tech bro with a billion-dollar company under his belt and its name on the arena where the Miami Heat play, is suddenly flirting with a […]
Palmetto Bay may be the “Village of Parks,” but right now it looks more like the Village of Political Theater. All over a patch of 8.7 acres of woods that have been sitting untouched for a century. On paper, the property known simply as “The Woods” technically belongs to Miami-Dade County. But since 2019, the […]