Miami-Dade Commissioner Jean Monestime announced Thursday that he was suspending his campaign and blamed the coronavirus spread and COVID19 infections that have hit his community particularly hard. Yeah, okaaaay. That must be the new version of “I want to spend more time with my family.” Monestime, who still has two years left on his term […]
Updated: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an emergency order on Friday that suspends the Florida statutes that require a quorum be present in person for government meetings and that they be conducted in a specific public place. This means that the Miami city commission, which had been pushing for the approval, might be able to meet […]
In a poem that sounds a lot like the décima rhythmic pattern of our Cuban youth, Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez released his first mayoral campaign radio ad Wednesday, basically mocking his biggest challenger in the eight-way race for county mayor, former mayor Alex Penelas. “Penelas, Penelans, que pena me das,” it starts, which translates, sorta, to “Penelas, […]
Former Mayor Alex Penelas has collected more than $3 million between his campaign account and his political action committee and his publicists think it’s such a good thing they sent out a press release (that they can bill for, of course). It’s not so great once everyone learns where the money is coming from. “Miami-Dade […]
UPDATED: Former Miami-Dade Commisioner Juan Zapata has dropped out of the county mayoral election after realizing that a countywide race was more difficult than he thought. He posted his exit on Facebook around 9 a.m: Dear Friends, Regrettably things did not come together the way I would have liked and that a campaign of this […]
Ladra got the most interesting phone call Monday, on the eve of the first debate for the Miami-Dade mayoral candidates in 2020. It was a push poll, likely for former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas. Why? Penelas was the only candidate that my interviewer spoke positively about during a nearly 20 minute Q&A (okay it took […]
Years past, residents would come to the Miami-Dade County budget hearings to beg for the restoration of police jobs or library hours or to save grant funding for this or that community-based organization. This year, the majority of the speakers at the first hearing for the $9 billion 2019-2020 budget on Thursday had one request: […]
It wasn’t a secret. Everyone expected Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who is termed out this year, to run for mayor to replace Carlos Gimenez, who is also termed out, causing an open seat dash. And some of the other wannabes reacted to the announcement better than others. Former Commissioner Juan Zapata, who was the first […]
As expected, Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez made his mayoral dreams official Friday when he announced publicly that he was going for the top county post vacated by his nemesis, the termed-out Carlos Gimenez. “I want to put the resources of this county to work for the residents and taxpayers in a way that is both […]
A contract extension approved by the Miami-Dade Commission last month for one of the firm’s involved in the bridge collapse at Florida International University will get another look at the next commission meeting. Commissioners last month approved an 18-month extension for Munilla Construction Management — which is five months into a bankruptcy filing after the March 2018 […]