A group of active and engaged — and fed-up — residents of Coral Gables has sent out an email blast endorsing Ariel Fernandez in the city election, calling his opponent the “developer’s insider.”
Attorney Alex Bucelo, who lost a bid two years ago to Commissioner Kirk Menendez, has the development and real estate investment money in his campaign account and his political action committee to back up the claim.
Plus the fact that Bucelo — and also Ivette Arango O’Doski — is being pushed hard by Mayor Vince Lago and the other two commissioners doesn’t sit well with activist residents who don’t like the direction the Gables is heading and feel that development is out of control.
“The current and former elected officials who are turning the Gables into Brickell 2.0 and are endorsing Alex Bucelo have only one goal: Keep their Developer-Friends happy,” says an email blast from Gables Neighbors United, sent to 21,000 Gables residents over the weekend, according to chairwoman Sue Kawalerski, who is also president of the Coral Gables Neighbors Association.
Read related: For independence in Coral Gables, vote Melissa Castro and Ariel Fernandez
The subject line is “Naked, Dirty and Afraid.” And that part was the “naked truth.”
The dirty tricks are the negative and false attack ads run by the Bucelo campaign.
“Just like on the national level they are telling lies about the opponent….the true local champion for residents, calling him a ‘socialist,’ saying he’s for developers when he hasn’t taken a dime from them and even threatening him from the highest offices in City Hall! Aren’t you sick of these people, their perverted tactics, and their LIES?”
Negative ads don’t always work in Coral Gables, where a majority of the voters are more sophisticated than in other places where that red scare works well. The fact that they are paid for by dark money funded political action committees with no clear way to follow the money makes it worse.
But it also shows that the Bucelo camp feels threatened by the grassroots campaign that Fernandez has waged.
Read related: Faker Alex Bucelo wants voters to think he has police & fire support; he does not
“The smear campaigns are clear signs they are AFRAID. AFRAID their developer-puppet-candidate will lose to the only candidate who will continue to expose what’s really happening at City Hall and keep residents informed,” the email says,
“You only have to look at who they associate with to figure out who they will favor,” it says. The Anglo version of “dime on quien andas y te dire quien eres.” The email blast calls Fernandez the “residents’ insider.”
Fernandez publishes a website called the Gables Insider that often covers the political shenanigans in the City Beautiful. Unlike Political Cortadito, he also has restaurant reviews, feature stories and Canes football.
The PAC has not made any recommendation in the Group 4 race. Kawalerski, the chairperson of the PAC and president of the Coral Gables Neighbors Association, said that the group was set to meet with Melissa Castro this week. But for sure they will not endorse Arango O’Doski.
“She’s a puppet being put there by all the developers,” Kawalerski said.
That group also has Jackson “Rip” Holmes and Sean Patrick McGrover running but the best they can do is force a runoff, and it’s unlikely.
Active Coral Gables resident group backs Ariel Fernandez — and hard added by Ladra on
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Dear Ms DeValle:
WHY ARE YOU REFUSING, IN WRITING TO ME, MY REQUEST THAT YOU EXPLAIN TO POLITICAL CORTADITO READERS THE FOLLOWING.
How Citizens United allows developers to to donate over 4 times more, than all voters combined — i e to ‘buy’ City Hall –, and how we can reassert democracy.
The US Supreme Court decision of Citizens United, in 2010, said that Corporations have Constitutional rights to make unlimited donations to political campaigns, through political action committees, to influence Election outcomes.
This dystopian decision not only vastly impacted national politics, its impact has also descended to local City and County elections.
In Coral Gables, according to former candidate and CPA Javier Banos, developers now contribute more than four times as much money to influence Coral Gables Elections, as all Voter political contributions combined.
Since “money talks”, this has resulted in a de facto DEVELOPER-OCRACY.
Candidates know that money — enabling a candidate to reach voters via canvassing, phone calls, texts and mailers — wins Elections, so they pattern their platforms, and their governance, to the campaign financing Developers’ desires, not to the 1/5 campaign financers, the Voters themselves.
That resulted in the Coral Gables City Commission secretly re-writing the Zoning Code from 2016 to 2019, leaving voters in the dark, and arguably resulted in the Miami-Dade County Commission deciding, recently, to allow development into the Everglades, across the Urban Development Boundary.
How we can reassert democracy. Amending city charters to require voter approval, via Referendums, of all major developments.
The City of Miami Beach, and the City of Key Biscayne, amended their Charters, and now require Voter Referendum Approval of all new major developments.
Recently, billionnaire developer Stephen Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins, sought permission of the Miami Beach Commission to massively redevelop the famous Deauville Hotel.
The Miami Beach City Commission gave tentative approval, but in the required Voter Referendum, Miami Beach voters rejected, and voted down, billionnaire developer Stephen Ross’s plan to massively redevelop the Deauville Hotel.
Conclusion
We in Coral Gables need to follow the lead of the City of Miami Beach, and the City of Key Biscayne, and amend our City Charter, to require Voter Referendum approval of all major developments.
WHY ARE YOU COVERING UP THE TRUTH FROM YOUR READERS?
Sincerely,
Jackson Rip Holmes
Its hard to choose between un comemierda y un sapo.
Be SMART : VOTE FOR THE ONE W/ LESS MONEY from Contributions/ Lay Away Bribes that Way That Person Will NOT Be on The Developers Payroll ?
A picture is worth a thousand words… Puppet Alex in the same frame with the master puppeteers, the mayor, the former mayor and the developers’ attorney. These people have been screwing is all up for the past two years… Are we really going to let them keep doing it for another two? Telling-It-Like-It-Is Got it right: if Ariel doesn’t win, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. And it will be on us, the residents… Let’s get out the vote for Ariel next Tuesday, and show everyone that we neither want nor need Brickell 2.0 in our City Beautiful.
Grassroots vs. Big $$$. Ariel has run an excellent campaign, so if he loses, the Gables is permanently screwed.