Miami Freedom Park vote is delayed again - pick a reason, any reason

Miami Freedom Park is still not ready for prime time.

The special city of Miami meeting Friday on plans to turn the Melreese Golf Course into a mega real estate complex with hotel, retail, restaurants, offices and, oh yeah, a soccer stadium, has been pushed back to April 28.

And it was so appropriately scheduled for April Fool’s Day.

Mayor Francis Suarez sent a memo to commissioners Tuesday telling them of the switch. No reason was given. A spokeswoman told the Miami Herald that it was because City Attorney Victoria Mendez would be out of town and unable to attend this very important meeting.

But this is the second time this month an the fourth time this year that the vote on the real estate boondoggle — to benefit InterMiami owners Jorge and Jose Mas and David Beckham — has been postponed. It’s really not ready. And there are so many other possible and better reasons.

There were almost 30 different points earlier this month where the city had not gotten what it wanted, according to outside counsel. Certainly all that hasn’t been resolved in two weeks.

Perhaps the commissioners haven’t gotten everything they wanted, either. They each had their asks. Except Commissioner Manolo Reyes, who has been a solid no from the beginning.

Ladra suspects the mayor doesn’t have the 4 out of 5 required votes. And perhaps this is why he was sitting out the redistricting fiasco and the chaos with the police chief and everything else.

Maybe Baby X lost Commissioner Ken Russell by allowing the carving up of Coconut Grove in redistricting. But if Suarez had sided with Russell — who wants the Freedom Park people to invest in green space elsewhere (read: the Baywalk Greenway) and may already be committed — he would lose either commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla or Joe Carollo, or both.

The delay could also be coming from City Manager Art Noriega, who needs some time to negotiate more perks from the cushy job he’s likely getting with InterMiami after this deal goes through.

This constant rescheduling is also — don’t blink — a good way to wear down the public and desensitize the community to create less visible opposition.

Everybody knows how much they hate any opposition.

Whatever the reason is, this really smelly deal has apparently not been fully cooked yet.

Miami Freedom Park vote is delayed again — pick a reason, any reason added by Ladra on March 30, 2022
View all posts by Ladra →