It’s that time of year again when the top county official will tell his constituency and the leaders of his realm how the municipality that is Miami-Dade is standing, what great things he’s done this past year and where he’s going if they’ll let him. Expect a lot of the same words and tired phrases […]
As I watched the Miami-Dade Commission meeting Wednesday, it sort of struck Ladra that while “we haven’t recovered completely” from the economic downturn, as Mayor Carlos Gimenez and our commissioners love to say, our county is certainly doing its part to help by being a great and avid consumer. County commissioners spent more than $60 […]
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez doesn’t only have his much-talked about five deputy mayors who, combined, make more than $1 million a year. He’s also got 12 aides, six secretaries, three assistants, three media people and one senior advisor who I think is now his chief of staff. Oh, and two student interns. No wonder Gimenez has […]
There has been much misinformation and downright hysteria about the 5% “group health care contribution” that Miami-Dade employees want to stop giving as per their contract. But very little in the way of basic truth. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Not So Golden Boy” Gimenez doesn’t want us to understand the whole picture. That’s why he goes […]
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez was painted as a liar last week at the impasse hearing. And commissioners who are likely to revisit this matter after he vetoes their 8-5 decision last week to restore the employee’s 5 % group healthcare contribution — not a pay raise, as he’s been cynically calling it on Spanish-language […]
Norweigan Cruise Line is not the only private company to get millions of taxpayer dollars in “marketing incentives” from a Miami-Dade government that is allegedly “tightening its belt.” In addition to the $3 million commissioners approved (in consent agenda, no less) for the cruise company earlier this month, dozens of airlines have received at least $4.3 […]
On the same day, in the same meeting, in the same room where the Miami-Dade Commission voted Tuesday to keep taking 5% from 25,000 or so county employees contributing to a group healthcare subsidy fund that they were promised would end in January, the county gave $3 million away to NCL Cruise Lines. All while Miami-Dade Mayor […]
Three months ago, when the Miami-Dade Commission restored a 5% concession to the county airport and sanitation employees, Chairwoman Rebeca Sosa repeatedly said that she could not give to one group and not the others when their time came. She even used the analogy of her children, saying she couldn’t give one milk and deny […]
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said in July, when he presented his severe budget cuts at a county commission meeting, that he was no magician. But it turns out he did have a few tricks up his sleeve. It’s really no surprise to anyone that no libraries are closing. We heard the drumroll as we saw […]
Several people have wondered out loud whether Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s sudden change of heart on the budget, setting a flat tax rate, had anything to do with Norman Braman and a possible threat at a recall like the one that paved the way for his existence. I mean, all electeds cower at the auto […]