Is a lobbyist still a lobbyist if nobody hears a sound? Former Miami-Dade Transit Director Alice Bravo attended a meeting with other lobbyists last month with Miami-Dade Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz about a piece of a $50 million contract for design and engineering services at Miami International Airport. Bravo, who resigned from her $250,000 earlier […]
Former Miami-Dade Transportation and Public Works Director Alice Bravo was back at County Hall this month, visiting Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz April 15 with a group of lobbyists who are pushing for a totally clean and “flawless” bidding process to be tossed out and started anew. Was she just hanging out? Was she on […]
La Alcaldesa steps into second procurement mess in as many weeks Two weeks after she withdrew her recommendation for an airport construction supervision contract due to the meddling of a politically connected family and their lobbyists, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava apparently wants to throw out another perfectly good bid process and start over — […]
Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz seizes power, fills void Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz is flexing again and could get his colleagues to strip Mayor Daniella Levine Cava of more power by taking certain offices and departments from the mayor’s purview. The commission already voted 10-3 in March at first reading to give Diaz […]
Remember when former Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez threatened to close libraries and did slash their budgets, cutting hours and days of operation, in 2013? Seven years later, not only are the libraries almost back to full hours, but the tiny storefront branch in Hialeah Gardens has been replaced with a cutting-edge, 13,500-square-foot facility more than […]
The Miami-Dade County commission committees — where the real wheeling and dealing for county contracts occurs — were repartido, or handed out, last week to the new batch of commissioners. And it’s clear who the chairman’s favorites are and who, ahem, are not. New Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz, who was sworn in under way […]
The county torch will be passed again this week and Miami-Dade Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz will become the chairman of the board for the next two years, his final two years on the dais before he goes back to Sweetwater to run for mayor, a position he was first elected to in 1999. He gets […]
That didn’t take long. Less than 24 hours after the Miami-Dade Commission waived an ethics rule that bars freebie trips from county vendors for hurricane relief reasons post Dorian, Mayor Carlos Gimenez flew to the islands Friday with four county commissioners, a deputy mayor and an assistant fire chief. They took off from Signature Flight Support at Miami […]
Sweetwater Mayor Orlando Lopez must be feeling the heat as the days get closer and closer to the runoff for his seat against former mayor and longtime nemesis Jose M. Diaz — and, perhaps, his ouster from City Hall. Because on Monday and Tuesday, a week before the runoff, a mailer landed in some voters’ […]
Add Miami-Dade to the growing list of governments and politicians that recognize Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela. The county commission on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution sponsored by Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz to join the United States in recognizing the president of Venezuela’s congress as the new leader. The commission also approved a separate Diaz resolution […]