The racist group chat scandal tied to Republican student political circles at Florida International University did not materialize overnight, out of thin air. It grew from something. Over time. It was nurtured by an environment that not only tolerated this kind of hate speech, but secretly and subtly encouraged it. Sure, people are falling all […]
Coral Gables City Manager Peter Iglesias just got a shiny new title: Government Engineer of the Year, courtesy of the Florida Engineering Society’s Miami Chapter. It’s the kind of award meant to celebrate technical excellence, ethics, and infrastructure leadership — the best of what happens when engineering meets public service. But is it really just […]
Eight charter changes, zero polling places Coral Gables voters are about to reshape their city government — without ever setting foot in a polling place. The Miami-Dade Elections Department on Thursday will mail 37,332 absentee or vote-by-mail ballots to voters in the City Beautiful to decide the fate of eight charter amendments touching everything from […]
Vince Lago delivers 20-minute lecture on Instagram etiquette At last week’s Coral Gables commission meeting, Mayor Vince Lago devoted nearly 20 minutes of dais time to what may be the gravest threat facing the City Beautiful: An Instagram story. Specifically, a repost by Commissioner Melissa Castro of a video by Florida House 113 candidate Tony […]
Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago likes to talk about political theater, but his recent guest appearance in a supporting role at a Miami Commission meeting deserves its own program insert. Lago showed up to the city commission’s December meeting to support a resolution that would help declare several aging hotels along SW 8th Street in […]
At what point does a political disagreement stop being governance and start looking like, well, fixation? Because Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago just dragged his long-running feud with Commissioner Melissa Castro all the way to Tallahassee — and in doing so, may have revealed far more about his own political instincts and ethics than hers. […]
At this point, it’s no longer fair to say Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago is “unbothered” by Miami New Times. He’s just lying — again. The man is fully, publicly, enthusiastically bothered. Ladra might even say obsessed. Lago is so bothered, in fact, that after spending half an hour at a commission meeting ranting about […]
Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago had another emotional meltdown on the Coral Gables dais this week. But this time, it wasn’t about Commissioner Melissa Castro. It wasn’t about Ariel Fernandez. And it wasn’t about the Coral Gables Gazette or — sadly for me — Political Cortadito. No, this week the target of Lago’s righteous fury […]
Just when you thought Coral Gables politics couldn’t get any more creative, along comes a brand-new political action committee with a very wholesome-sounding name: Good Government for Coral Gables. Awww. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Except Ladra has seen this movie before. And she knows who’s holding the camera. The PAC was formed earlier this month […]
It was only a matter of time before Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago found someone to run against his nemesis, Commissioner Melissa Castro, in her next election, which he is trying to move up by four months. A first-time candidate named Nestor Menendez has popped onto the Coral Gables political scene with an impressively padded […]