A longtime activist, and president of the Kendall Federation of Homeowners, has filed to run for county commission in District 7, to replace the termed-out Xavier Suarez, who is running for county mayor.
Michael Rosenberg, best known as co-founder of the Pets’ Trust, filed paperwork for the race on Wednesday. He joins an already 
crowded and interesting field in the Aug. 18 primary: former Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner, former Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado and former cop Rafael Sanchez. The two top vote getters will face off in the November general.
While Mike’s intentions have been rumored for weeks, there is still time for another late game surprise: The qualifying period, which started Tuesday, doesn’t end until noon June 9.
“I believe all that I’ve done as a community activist could be amplified by the hundreds or even the thousands if I had the resources of the Miami-Dade Commission,” Rosenberg told Ladra Wednesday afternoon. “I could do so much more in that role to help people.”
This could be worse news for Lerner than for Regalado, a one-time mayoral candidate who has the incumbent’s endorsement, or Suarez, who has the incumbent’s last name but is otherwise unviable anyway, because Ladra suspects Rosenberg will peel more voters from her. Lerner has sorta made the non partisan race partisan and Rosenberg is an alternate Democrat for anyone who doesn’t like Lerner or her push for a special tax in Pinecrest to connect septic tank homes to county water.
Read related: More lies from a desperate Carlos Gimenez vs Pets’ Trust
This was already a fun race. And I like Mike. A lot. He has gone above and beyond for this community as an activist and could be a true believer public servant in a sea of seasoned politicos. Many of whom he knows and maybe owe him.
But this won’t be easy for Rosenberg — he says he aims to raise at least $80,000, which is much less than the two women will have but exactly what his P.A.G.E. 2020 — and he has a mixed history.
Rosenberg, whose main source of income is a photo imaging company in California, was the main force in getting more than 60 
percent of the voters to agree to pay a special tax for the population control of stray dogs and cats. He famously spent three days and two nights in a cage at Miami-Dade Animal Services to make his point and promote the Pets’ Trust initiative. He loudly protested the county commission’s betrayal of that vote. He is a frequent speaker at county commission meetings on multiple issues, meets with commissioners and, as president of the KFHA, has held multiple town halls and candidate forums so he knows how to work a crowd. And he’s real. Sometimes he’s real annoying, but isn’t that what you want in your lawyer and/or county commissioner?
It’s why some people love Joe Martinez.
After surviving a heart attack, Rosenberg campaigned to educate people about cardiovascular health. His interests have grown from animal rescue to public health to transportation to extending county offices further into impoverished neighborhoods. His website, which is still under construction, will show his position — and what he has done already — on these and other issues. He does have the street cred.
And yet, while his Pets’ Trust group succeeded at the ballot box, they failed politically. Even after they hired lobbyist Ron Book to help them out — or maybe because they did, since Book was later working for a puppy mill company at the state level. They pushed, unsuccessfully, for statewide legislation to force the county to respect the non-binding referendum. And when that didn’t work, they formed a political action committee to back other candidates against incumbents — and lost most of the time. He also failed to recall then Commissioner Lynda Bell.
Rosenberg makes a lot of sense a lot of times and asks the right questions, but he sounds out of touch at other times, like his support for the development-driven West Kendall Parkway, which is an 836 extension over the Urban Development Boundary, threatening wetlands and setting the stage for development at the exit — at least a gas station and fast food joint — or it would be a bridge to nowhere.
Read related: Kendall Parkway to nowhere is an intentional slippery slope for UDB
The KFHA board voted in favor of it because, Rosenberg said, the people in West Kendall need relief from the daily traffic nightmare that keeps them in their cars and away from their families for three hours a day. And the support is on the condition that the commission also moves to change the requirement for development over the UDB to a super plus majority, or 11 of 13 commissioners. There is already legislation requiring a super majority. But Rosenberg said the threshold should be higher.
Still, one would think that someone with Rosenberg’s civic experience would know that extra roads do not help congestion but, rather, create more. And that District 7 is not in West Kendall.
The race may center, however, on another controversial subject: The mega development planned for the Calusa neighborhood — a 
proposed 550 homes built on an abandoned golf course — which has been indefinitely delayed due to COVID19 but could come before the county commission for the release of a covenant and other zoning changes any day now. A growing number of residents hope the county waits until they can gather to protest and get more signed petitions.
Lerner has tweeted about it, telling the homeowners on Twitter that she was committed to keeping the 99-year covenant intact.
But Rosenberg lives there. “I taught her everything she knows about Calusa,” he said.
He was also a big supporter of Regalado during her 2016 mayoral campaign. So why not support her again?
“I can bring county residents something they’ve never experienced before, and that’s. commissioner who listens to them,” Rosenberg said before reciting his phone number. “People can call me directly. I’ll talk to everybody. I’m not saying that Cindy or Raquel are bad. I’m just offering people something they’ve never seen before.”
Is that una directa on Suarez?
Rosenberg knows he has a steep learning curve.
“I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know all the answers to the questions we’re going to have,” Rosenberg said. “But I’ve learned along the way what needed to be done to get the answers. When I have the experts at the county at my beck and call, I’ll get the answers that I can’t get right now.”
Does that mean that electing him would put Deputy Mayor and budget director Jennifer Moon and Transit Director Alice Bravo in charge or Lester Sola? That could be a problem.
Read related: Calusa golf course covenant to be killed for massive Kendall development
He may also face some ground opposition on his home turf. That’s because he is a member of the Save Calusa Trust, otherwise 
known as The Ring, which is the group of homeowners adjacent to the golf course who formed to fight developers but have since sold out to support the zoning change for what las malas lenguas say is between $200,00 and $300,000 (not everyone gets the same) and six more linear feet in their back yards.
If he’ll sell out his neighbors, who’s to say he won’t sell out the rest of us?
Rosenberg, who says he can’t talk about the deal under a gag order for all the Ring members, told Ladra he “didn’t know what was going on until the deal came out.” Still, he will benefit from it. And he sorta defends it.
“The fact is 75% of the homeowners can vote for the covenant to be released,” he said.
Hope that’s not a campaign slogan.
Kendall activist Michael Rosenberg files for District 7 county commission race added by Ladra on
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