Qualification ended at noon Friday for the April Coral Gables elections that nobody really knows about and all three seats on the ballot became contests with a last minute entry against Commissioner Frank Quesada and a free-for-all of six candidates in the open seat vacated by termed-out Commissioner William “Billy” Kerdyk. Activist Enrique Lopez, who […]
Call it the year of the Missus. Following Hillary Clinton‘s ambitions for presidency and, at the local level, Teresa Sarnoff‘s desire to replace her hubby on the Miami city commission, Coral Gables realtor and former first lady Jeannett Slesnick has filed to run for the commission seat vacated by Vice Mayor Billy Kerdyk. Slesnick filed […]
It didn’t take long for Coral Gables Mayor Jim Cason to answer Ladra’s question of why someone so disinterested in the city and the concerns of its residents would run for a third term as mayor. And, in fact, his response proves my point: He’s running because nobody else did. Or, rather, because someone else […]
Who’s going to run against Ralph Cabrera for mayor of Coral Gables? Nobody knows yet. It’s like they’re drawing straws. We’re pretty sure it ain’t gonna be incumbent Mayor Jim Cason. For months, folks have been hearing of his switcheroo plan, the one by which he steps down to let Commissioner William “Billy” Kerdyk, who […]
The hire Friday of Cathy Swanson Rivenbark as the new Coral Gables city manager could be the best news the City Beautiful has had in months. The former head of the city’s Economic Development department — and mother of the Coral Gables Farmer’s Market — left the city to be assistant city manager in Hollywood. […]
Longtime Coral Gables Public Relations Manager Maria Rose Higgins-Fallon was unceremoniously transferred to the city’s police department in what seems like a retaliatory move by one or more of the administrators left behind by former City Manager Pat Salerno. Bumped down from the job she’s been doing for 11 years, down from Public Relations Manager […]
It’s homecoming season in the high school world and it looks like Coral Gables is getting ready to crown Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark their own queen. Swanson — who was the city’s economic development director before leaving to Hollywood, where she is now manager — was at Human Resources Monday to be fingerprinted, the only one of […]
Round two in the search for a new Coral Gables City Manager has produced a few interesting names that seem head and shoulders above the candidates on the last shortlist — which ended in a fiasco when the commission picked a guy who later did not pass a general background check. Among them: Former Miami-Dade […]
When former Coral Gables City Manager Pat Salerno resigned abruptly in April, city commissioners apparently did not have enough confidence in Acting City Manager Carmen Olazabal to leave her alone on the job as the city’s top administrator — even though she got a 20 percent raise to rise to the occasion. So they hired […]
After a five-month process that included a trolley tour of the historic City Beautiful and the wining and dining of five finalists, Coral Gables made history by naming its first black city manager. Whoops. Nevermind. Some people are calling it the curse of Pat Salerno. After a long and excruciatingly public process bungled by a bad background […]