It’s no secret that former Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner has been waiting for 
Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez to be termed out or make his move so she can run for the district seat.
On Monday, she made those intentions clear when she filed documents Monday at the Miami-Dade Elections Department indicating she had opened a campaign account.
Read related: Cindy Lerner confronts Rubio, Bush on climate change
In a statement released Monday afternoon, Lerner — who has kept active on issues, particularly sea level rise and infrastructure — made reference to broken promises and traffic.
“I am pleased to announce that I am a candidate to represent the people of Miami-Dade County Commission District 7. I grew up in Miami-Dade County and raised my 3 children in District 7. During that time, I have fought to make our community a better and stronger place for people to live, work, raise their families and enjoy a quality of life. The time has now come to act and address the serious threats to our community that require bold action by the Miami- Dade County Commission.
For too long, leaders have danced around pressing issues from traffic gridlock causing frustrated residents and workers to spend
too much time traveling to and from their homes, work places, schools and other activities. For too long they have paid lip service to the real threat from sea level rise and flooding. For too long they have ordered studies to deal with the real danger to our drinking water and public safety from failing infrastructure.
I am running to represent the people in Commission District 7 because we can no longer afford hollow promises that simply waste taxpayer dollars and provide little results. We need new leadership for the district. In my vision as a county commissioner, the Commission and County Government work together and collaborate with the leaders of the many municipalities to implement solutions to the threats we face in District 7 and in Miami-Dade County. I am running because the clock is ticking and it is Time for Action.”
This sets up a contest between Lerner, a popular Democrat who was also a state representative from 2000 to 2008, and former Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado, a popular and moderate Republican who 
forced Mayor Carlos Gimenez into a runoff in 2016.
Read related: Political musical chairs: Recycled electeds vie for 2020 county seats
Regalado, who briefly ran for Florida Senate and then U.S. Congress last year before abandoning both, switched to the county commission bid and started fundraising in February. She has already raised $19,000 for her county commission bid, according to her last campaign reports. That includes notable small bundles like $2,000 from Norman Braman, $2,000 from lobbyist Jorge Luis Lopez and $3,000 from lobbyist Eric Zichella.
Of course, more candidates are expected in this open seat.
Scratch Coral Gables Commissioner Vince Lago off he list. He is said to be looking at a mayoral run in the City Beautiful in 2021. But former Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff is still in play.
District 7 runs from the southern tip of Brickell Avenue all the way to Miami-Dade College’s Kendall Campus. It includes all of Key Biscayne, Coconut Grove, South Miami, Downtown Dadeland and Pinecrest as well as large parts of Coral Gables and East Kendall near Baptist Hospital.
Cindy Lerner joins commission District 7 race vs Raquel Regalado added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
More of the same…..disappointing. Look around you folks, traffic, no infrastructure, no vision, high crime, and lobbyist running the show all over the county. Garbage in, garbage out.
Alex Dominguez
As Mayor of Pinecrest, Cindy Lerner went out of her way to ally and partner with municipalities on US 1 corridor. She began her career as an attorney for the Guardian Ad Litem Program, looking after the well-being of children caught up in the court system. She won a seat on the Legislature to address the systemic problem with how kids are treated in Florida, then lost her seat to redistricting. As Mayor of Pinecrest, Cindy got up to speed on environmental issues like almost no other elected official in Miami-Dade County, and has stayed active in these issues since terming out. I am confident that, as a County Commissioner, Cindy will actively advance issues relating to environment, transit, and child welfare.
Please keep us from a Marc Sarnoff. The City of Miami might never recover from several of his horrible decisions. Sarnoff works for lobbyists NOT for residents.
They All Promises Much More Than What They Can and Will Deliver way Before They have to Answer to Donors and Lobbyist that help Them on the way W/ Only one Goal in Mind ?
Until a politician leaves office, you don’t know the full benefits and implications of their voting record and how their decisions impact the community. Detractors will point to her heated debates as a reason to dismiss Mayor Lerner, but the proof is in our green spaces, trees, side walks around the schools, the free Pinecrest People Mover, the enhanced, beautiful Community Center, electric charging stations and on and on. Credit should be given where credit is due.
After Mayor Lerner and her cadre, failed to push on Pinecrest voters a tax hike in the name of resilience (because well, county funds don’t exist in their minds) and ya know, residents can “afford” the spendthrift lifestyle of Pinecrest political wannabes, NOW she wants to run for county commission to “fix it.”
If anything is true about Mayor Lerner running for office again, it’s a clear and present danger to our wallets and a continuation of a dysfunctional county government that despite her “leadership” ignored county bond money.
By the way, anyone can apply to the county bond board for the funding of Pinecrest water and sewer infrastructure improvements, whether it gets approved is another matter but the money is there. (Visit the county bond website, download the funding request form and submit!!!)
Cindy all the way we need a clear vision for the future of Miami dade without hesitation Cindy has my vote
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/pinecrest/article50100500.html
This tells you just about all you need to know..
Cindy has proven time and again that she does not have the temperament to serve in office, nor the ability to “collaborate” with others as she suggested in her press release.
If she could not handle dissension over a municipal trolley on the Pinecrest Village Council with Bob Ross , I can not imagine how she would have handled the BRT vs. rail debate had she been on the other side of the dais. I would hope that the residents of District 7 remember Cindy’s “my way or the highway” attitude when they go to the polls in August 2020.
#AnyoneButCindy
Go Cindy Go!