Miami’s first official Build-and-Flood™ pilot program is on. Last week, the Miami City Commission gave final approval to an ordinance that will establish a “resiliency infrastructure” slush fund and allow for double allowable density in Edgewater — from 150 to 300 units per acre. Same deal, same sponsor, same developer perfume lingering in the air. […]
New Mayor Eileen Higgins suggests taking a year away Like a bad ordinance in a file drawer, waiting for a new haircut and a better excuse, Miami Commissioners are once again pulling out the proposal to change the election calendar — the same idea that was laughed out of court when commissioners tried to give themselves […]
In Miami-Dade government, nothing really changes — it just gets reassigned And so it was this week, as Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced yet another strategic personnel realignment just in time for what she herself describes as a “critical and challenging” budget year. Translation: brace yourselves. Out goes longtime budget chief David Clodfelter, the […]
If Miami’s new Mayor Eileen Higgins thought her first gavel strike would come with a ceremonial smile and a welcome bouquet, City Hall disabused her of that notion quickly. Very quickly. After the ceremonial but legally required acknowledgment of the Dec. 9 runoff results at Thursday’s commission meeting, things really start to roll. Applause. Smiles. […]
Political amnesia: The day Edmundo González became optional Well, that didn’t take long. South Florida’s elected leaders have perfected the political pirouette — and Venezuela just watched them spin 180 degrees without missing a beat. After months — months — of pounding their chests, waving flags, and solemnly declaring Edmundo González Urrutia the rightful president of […]
Kendall has spent decades being talked at — by developers, planners, politicians, traffic engineers, and anyone with a westward-pointing map and a bulldozer. This Wednesday night, Kendall gets to do something radical. It gets to talk about itself. The Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations is hosting another Kendall Talk reunion, but this one isn’t about […]
Trump talks oil, we watch a regime change in real time So let’s dispense with the fairy tale right away. This past weekend, the United States didn’t “assist democracy,” didn’t “help the Venezuelan people,” and didn’t conduct some tidy law-enforcement operation against a bad hombre with a cocaine habit. The U.S. bombed a sovereign nation […]
He partnered up with Larry Spring in November Oh, look. City Hall’s revolving door is spinning again. Before Art Noriega even finished clearing out his desk as Miami’s city manager — his last day at work is the next meeting Thursday — he had already lined up his next hustle. And not quietly, either. Paperwork […]
Francis Suarez didn’t just leave City Hall. He left the city. He closed. Just days after officially exiting public office, Miami’s former mayor — newly free of pesky disclosure requirements and public information requests — quietly upgraded his lifestyle with a $7.4 million home purchase in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, just north of Sunset Drive. No […]
Does anybody want to know how much it is costing Coral Gables taxpayers to go after the War Memorial Youth Center Association? Because, apparently, it’s going to cost $500 to find out. Ladra did a public records request for all invoices from and payments made to outside attorney Israel Reyes, who is the one who […]