There might be another candidate declared soon for the Miami-Dade County race for mayor in 2016 — but we’re not talking about Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who says he is still considering the contest. Former Commissioner Joe Martinez, who lost against Gimenez in 2012, must smell the blood in the water and has strongly hinted that he […]
The biggest problem about Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Mr. Giveaway” Gimenez‘s proposal to sort of privatize Vizcaya — putting operations in the hands of a non-profit board that can raise and spend monies without the cumbersome public, transparent processes of government — isn’t that it smells like another land grab or inside deal. It isn’t that it […]
Concerns about Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s reorganization and expansion plans for Vizcaya Museum have been mounting and will have to be publicly vetted at a commission workshop to be set in the near future. Gimenez, in one of his famous last minute Friday memos, requested a workshop “in light of the public comments and media […]
With zero discussion, and more than two months before the first budget hearing — and the loud boasts about not raising taxes begin — Miami-Dade Commissioners gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a tax increase for more than 116,000 property owners. Yes, a tax increase. In June. The administration has found that these property owners, in […]
Miami-Dade County will see close to 9% more taxes come in next year thanks to increased property values and new construction, according to a report delivered Monday by Property Appraiser Pedro Garcia. Whew! Maybe now we can open all our libraries all five days of a work week? And even add weekends to those that […]
Next month, just as county employees hunker down to prepare and/or brace for next year’s budget, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Mr. Giveaway” Gimenez, his chief of staff, at least five other county employees and a few of his lobbyist pals will travel to France for the Paris Air Show and a side trip to Marseille. Ah, […]
UPDATED: The mayor has appointed two women to two department director positions that had been left vacant in recent weeks — and both get about $30,000 more a year. Inson Kim, his longtime advisor who followed him from the District 7 commission office to the 29th floor, will be the director of the Community Information […]
With elections in November looming in four of Miami-Dade’s biggest cities, and eyes on the local and state elections in 2016, the political action committees are coming. Folks like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera have shown that you don’t need hefty personal accounts if you raise the heavy-lifting funds for […]
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Mr. Giveaway” Gimenez‘s plan to privatize Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, transferring operations to a non-profit board like the one at the county-owned Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, comes just as the public park and tourist attraction considers a $50-million plan to renovate its existing space and expand across the street. […]
Commissioner Sally Heyman says that Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez is dragging his feet intentionally on installing red light cameras on some of the county’s most dangerous intersections. The county’s Municipal Services Committee voted Wednesday to reject all five of the bids received for the implementation of 150 cameras — in phases of 50 at a […]