Daniella Levine Cava meets with commission mates

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Freshly chosen Miami-Dade Commissioner-Elect Daniella Levine Cava seemingly can’t wait to get started.

She’s not only been attending all the commission meetings since she was elected in a heated race against Vice Chair Lynda Bell Aug. 26, she has also been getting to know the district. On Tuesday, she went up into the sky in a helicopter with the coordinator of the Avocado Administrative Committee  to inspect the groves infected by the Ambrosia beetle.

Last month, she participated in her first intergovernmental visit, with Opa-Locka Mayor Lady Myra Taylor.

And she’s been getting to know her future dais mates with a tour of her soon-to-be colleagues’ offices in recent weeks for a series of advertised Sunshine meetings.

And she is not done yet.

Levine Cava, who will be sworn in next month, will meet with Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz this morning to discuss district and countywide issues.

Friday, it’s Commissioner Xavier “Mayor Sir” Suarez‘s turn. He wants to talk to Levine Cava about his economic development plan and “topics of mutual interest” — which may or may not include defeating Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Cry Wolf” Gimenez in 2016. Doesn’t say on the calendar.

She’ll have a short “meet and greet” with Commissioner Esteban Bovo Tuesday morning, right before the commission meeting that Ladra is sure she’ll attend. The calendar says they’ll “discuss priorities” but Ladra wonders if Bovo will impart any of his expertise on absentee ballots.

Two days later she will met with Commissioner Javier Souto — she seems to have the patience to handle him — and the day after that she will meet with Commissioner Bruno Barreiro. Um, ditto.

We assume she already met with the other commissioners. The only other October meeting listed on the online calendar was with Commissioner Jean Monestime on the 8th.

So, as a political junkie and commission dynamics observer, Ladra can’t help but speculate on which meetings are going to go really well — all smiles and actual optimism — and which are going to be, um, awkward. So Ladra is going to create two columns and call them, um, “friendlies” and “walkers.”

Under friendlies we have Suarez, Monestime, Commissioners Barbara Jordan and Audrey Edmonson — both of whom actually were at her victory party on Election Day — Commissioner Juan Zapata andCommissioner Dennis Moss.

Under walkers, who you have to watch out for because they could bite and infect you: Diaz, Barreiro, Bovo, Souto, Chairwoman Rebeca Sosa, Commissioner Sally Heyman.

Does that mean Levine Cava will turn into an important tie breaker? We’ll see soon enough.

Ladra hopes she brings that message to her meetings.

  Daniella Levine Cava, Lynda Bell, Miami-Dade Commission