Coral Gables candidates focus on WaWa gas station settlement in schools forum

It’s not a huge surprise that the Wawa gas station and convenience store planned across the street from G.W. Carver Elementary was the focal point of a Coral Gables candidate forum Thursday night organized by a coalition of parent-teacher associations.

And Ladra imagines that nobody’s answers satisfied the group of concerned parents and residents who have sued to stop the development.

Almost all the candidates at the forum — hosted by Gables Insider with the PTAs and PTSAs of Coral Gables High, Ponce de Leon Middle School and GW Carver Elementary — seem to have surrendered to the WaWa coming. They suggest making the most out of it with free water and tree relocation.

Only a couple said they would aim to reverse the decision.

“Everything is possible,” said Mayra Joli, the crazy nodding lady from the Donald Trump town hall in Miami, a long shot candidate in the Group 2 race. “We have the power to stop it and we will.

“If I’m commissioner, I’d rather be sued by the developers than be sued by the residents.”

A group of concerned parents and residents have formed the non-profit Gables Accountability Project and sued the city to stop the construction of the WaWa, approved via a secret legal settlement reached with the developer, the Lola B. Walkers Homeowners Association and the county, which had donated the land for affordable housing. They say the city broke its own rules about public notice to fast-track the development.

Attorney David Winker, a sort of legal super hero, is representing them in what the city called a frivolous lawsuit. Yeah, right. So frivolous that they then turned around and hired Holland & Knight attorneys to defend them from this frivolous lawsuit.

There are 1,492 signatures against it on a Change.org petition.

Both Vice Mayor Vince Lago and Commissioner Pat Keon looked like they would rather be anywhere else than talking about the WaWa development — because they were there when it was approved in 2015. They could have taken responsibility and said they were wrong and would readdress it… but… nooooooo.

“The WaWa project is most likely to go forward,” Keon said, seeming almost happy, like the cat that ate the canary. Then she tried to give parents a science lesson. And Ladra is pretty sure she rolled her eyes.

“I think we need to understand how highly regulated gas stations are. It is highly unlikely that there will be fumes or anything toxic in the area that will affect the school across the street,” she said, adding that crosswalk concerns can be addressed with the county.

Keon — who likes to say she is a nurse though she hasn’t practiced medicine in a long time — must have forgotten the Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control recommendations that gas stations be built more than 1,000 feet from schools and playgrounds. The WaWa’s six pumps will be about 300 feet from the drop-off/pick-up point for Carver kids.

Lago, who is Ladra’s choice, was not much better, trying to distance himself from the project. “In 2003 is when this started,” he said, adding that the zoning change from residential to commercial — to allow for mixed use and a community center — was in 2008. And that he was elected in 2013.

Oh, but wait. He is trying hard to save five oak trees on the property that WaWa apparently needs to uproot. He met with their attorney just this past week to find a way — “at a minimum” — to save or relocate the trees.

Trees? He’s trying to save five trees?

Ladra knows Lago is super green — his house runs 100% on solar and he has a bunch of trash-reducing legislation — but this seems like a slap in the face to the parents, teachers and residents who think that this corner in a historic district across from an elementary school is not where a WaWa that sells cigarettes, beer and junk food belongs.

Besides, he was in office when the settlement was reached in 2015.

Only perennial candidate Jackson “Rip” Holmes ripped the proposal. “The WaWa thing is bad. I support the lawsuit against it,” he said, adding that it would be better for the city to do nothing with the land and sit on it.

Holmes might do better than he ever has this year.

Most of the commission candidates chose to make lemonade rather than throw the lemons back.

“I think it’s detrimental but unfortunately it’s done and I don’t know how it can be reversed,” said Jose Valdes-Fauli, the brother’s mayor, adding that the money it generates should go back into the city.

Tania Cruz-Gimenez, the daughter in law of the congressman, said that as a lawyer she understands “you’re not going to undo a settlement.” But because the ground hasn’t broken yet, there’s time to negotiate details to make it less, um, er, terrible.

“Then let’s learn from this lesson so it doesn’t happen again,” she said.

Candidate Claudia Miro, a county employee and single mom who was president of the Miami-Dade Republican Women’s Club Federated, was one of several candidates who suggested the city enter into a partnership with WaWa so they, say, donate water for the school’s field days or “soil and seeds” for a vegetable garden.

Rhonda Anderson, who is also an attorney, said she would work to add crosswalks and other traffic calming devices to mitigate the impact on the school “I wish I could tell you that I can make a gas station go away, because that would not have been my choice,” she said.

In the Group 3 race, only Javier Baños — the Joe Carollo protegé — said he would work to reverse the 2015 decision. “We should go back and request that this settlement be undone and start from the beginning,” he said.

Both Alex Bucelo and Kirk Menendez want to “form a partnership” and “build that bridge,” respectively, between the WaWa and the school community. As if opening a dialogue would fix things.

Phillip “PJ” Mitchell did not participate in the forum. And he wasn’t missed.

There wasn’t much else to the forum. Rip knows former Gov. Charlie Christ. Keon rambled on about being a Tree City U.S.A and how that helps with oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. Kirk Menendez wants to expand the radius of the electric Freebie.

And we confirmed again that Alexander Haq actually exists. Or was that one of the kids from Gables High?

The forum can be seen on the Gables Insider Facebook page.

Coral Gables politics, Pat Keon, Vince Lago

Coral Gables candidates focus on WaWa gas station settlement in schools forum added by Ladra on March 19, 2021
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