Coral Gables Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli got up on the wrong side of the bed again.
Valdes-Fauli , whose arrogance and discourtesy drips in acrimony, was particularly rude and ungracious Tuesday at the Coral Gables meeting to discuss the zoning code update (read: rewrite). More so than usual.
It all started when someone reminded him how rude he was at the first reading, where he went on a tirade and then stormed out, never to return and listen to the constituents concerns and comments.
“No one, no one objected to the mayor’s infantile behavior,” said Leon Kellner, who was fed up with the “utter disdain city government has shown the residents.”
He accused city staffers and commissioners alike of mischaracterizing the process with terms like “modernizing, updating and streamlining,” when it was a “wholesale rewrite.”
And particularly Commissioner Pat Keon of “continuing the lie.
“This is the same person who wants our vote as mayor.”
Read related: Coral Gables Commission oks zoning shift for Crafts Section, not Miracle Mile
Valdes-Fauli tried to cut him off.
“I am not done,” Kellner yelled.
“You are limited to three minutes,” Valdes-Fauli said.
But he wasn’t that strict or mean with those who supported the zoning changes. And he also didn’t mind hearing from them over and over again while he chided the opponents — including multiple commission candidates — who had spoken at every community meeting.
Or was he trying, and failing, to prove that there had, indeed, been 28 of them?
Next he cut off Sue Kawalerski, president of the Riviera Neighborhood Association and the Gables Neighbors United, who apologized to Kellner for the “abuse” by the mayor and then reiterated how the post-pandemic process for public input was flawed and inadequate.
“The proposal was presented as a fait accompli, to the surprise of residents,” she said, adding that the city should open the debate up and not make any final decisions until after the new commissioners are elected in April.
“Sixty-eight people have spoken,” Valdes-Fauli told her, though Ladra thinks it’s much more than that. “And this is the fourth time you’ve spoken. If that’s not public participation, I don’t know what is.”
Read related: What’s the rush? Residents urge Coral Gables leaders to listen, slow upzoning
But when Brooks Miller, an attorney who had not yet commented, said he felt the arguments were disingenuous, the city had failed to communicate with residents and that the changes were “gifts to developers,” Valdes-Fauli snapped at him for not having appeared before.
“This has been going on for three years. Where have you been?”
O te peinas, o te haces papelillos, Alcalde. Make up your mind.
The faces on some of the zoom screens were priceless. So was every chug that perennial candidate Rip Holmes took from his jug of prune juice. Mayra Joli, one of the commission candidates, had another dramatic breakdown. Valdes-Fauli suggested she check her blood pressure.
Veteran Gables activist Maria Cruz started to give the dates of the meetings and the people who attended — who are not residents — and the mayor interrupted her. “You’re interrupting me,” she told him. “Yes, I am,” he said.
Later she told Ladra that she is used to it.
“I learned from the master. He interrupts me so I’m going to interrupt him.”
She was disappointed none of the commissioners intervened. “I don’t understand why they don’t put their foot down and say ‘Stop. There’s no reason whatsoever to talk that way,” Cruz told Ladra. “I would like to see the commission say something or censure him.”
Yeah, well, don’t hold your breath.
Coral Gables Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli disrespects and insults residents — again added by Ladra on
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