Remember the Pets’ Trust?
A whopping 64% of us approved this initiative on a non-binding ballot question in 2012. It aimed to direct budget dollars for animal services to a massive spay and neuter program to take care of the stray and abandoned dogs and cats that are overpopulating, particularly in the southwestern part of Miami-Dade. The Miami-Dade Commission and then-mayor Carlos Gimenez decided to ignore us.
Otherwise, it would have been a mandate.
But on Thursday, Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado told a packed room of Kendall residents — including Pets’ Trust co-founder Michael Rosenberg — that she would sponsor an agenda item for the commission to reconsider the initiative. She confirmed that to Ladra later in the evening.
Feeling generous, she also said the city of Miami could have the Coconut Grove Playhouse, over which the two governments have been fighting for years. Miami-Dade wants to gut the building and redesign it with a much smaller theater and space for retail and parking. A group of residents has sued to stop the development. And she said she’s willing to let them have it.
Read related: Miami-Dade Pets’ Trust back at county with a new chance
“If they have a plan, if they have the funding and they’re really going to restore it and not just build condos there,” Regalado told Political Cortadito. “They’ve never provided an alternative plan.”
Those were the two big ticket items that Regalado announced at the town hall meeting — other than the fact that her father is running for mayor of Miami, again. She also talked about flood insurance, condo assistance, the Accessory Dwelling Unit item that she sponsored to allow for more efficiencies as a form of affordable and workforce housing (more on that later), a new state law that would put some zoning decisions in the hands of staff, and, of course, septic to sewer conversion, Regalado’s obsession.
She also congratulated the Save Calusa group for their efforts to fight the development of 550 homes on the abandoned Calusa Golf Course, which has turned into a natural preserve for endangered birds and other species.
Amanda Prieto, the leader of Save Calusa, sat in the front row and told the commissioner how residents are frustrated that they haven’t had a voice in recent zoning changes. Prieto asked Regalado for advice on how improve the public input process to ensure residents’ voices are not just heard, but valued.
Read related: Construction disruption starts at Calusa after court invalidates zoning change
“Calusa residents were happy to have the first opportunity for open questions with Commissioner Regalado since she was elected in 2020,” Prieto told Ladra after the meeting. “While we were disappointed she didn’t offer specific improvements to the public input process in local zoning decisions, we were thrilled she gave a specific shout out to Save Calusa for our successful efforts in preserving the Calusa Rookery.”
And here Ladra thought it was going to be a rough audience.
“The Kendall Federation board members were very impressed with the presentation by Commissioner Raquel Regalado,” Rosenberg said. “The commissioner made several important announcements, including that she would like to sponsor and be supportive of the Pets’ Trust and that if the city of Miami wanted the Coconut Grove Playhouse, she would gladly hand over that issue to them.
Read related: Playhouse ‘restoration’ ain’t what 2004 voters had in mind
“We will all be watching to see if this happens,” added Rosenberg.
Rosenberg told Ladra that he texted Miami Mayor Francis Suarez about the offer and that Suarez texted back: “I would love to have it.”
Ladra would be surprised if the city of Miami has not already reached out to Regalado.
Raquel Regalado at town hall says she’ll sponsor, support a Pets’ Trust program added by Ladra on
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Thank you I just watched both videos.
Jose,
Call me at 305 439 3571. As I wrote…..call the rescue groups. Reach out to the people that try to help animals in the Southern End of our county.
Watch this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EJeK__FbYU
Or this….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH4ItF6k3uo
Go to Animal Services and watch the people being turned away.
There are simply too many animals, and the continued overpopulation out paces our ability to spay/neuter surgeries.
Dr .Rosenberg ,
Why do you think the animal situation in Miami Dade County has become worse than ever. ?
As a veterinarian and President of the Veterinarian Association, Dr. Marta Lista knows, or should know, the animal situation in Miami Dade County is worse than ever. If you don’t believe it, call any of the rescue groups. If you still don’t believe, visit Miami Dade Animal services and watch people being turned away because there is no room to take in any animals. Ask the people that are being turned away what they do when they are turned away. (You don’t want to know the answer in some cases.) And, if you still need more proof, drive the back roads in the southern part of our county. Look for dead and starving dogs.
Ask the community volunteers that try to take care of our community cats what the situation is like. Or, you can answer my phone that rings three or four times a week with requests for help because someone has poisoned some cats, or shot some cats, or beaten some cats. Or, the calls for help because a shopping center, or condo association announces they are going to round up the cats and have them killed.
Dr. Lista is starting that same false narrative that was used in the past of the Pets’ Trust wanting to build new buildings. (The plan is to retrofit old existing structures for spay/neuter clinics.) When people voted for the Pets’ Trust, they knew what they were voting for and they knew that most of the funding was for high volume spay/neuter surgeries to try and end the animal overpopulation problem. The voter’s knew this! I lived in a animal cage for three days during that time….spreading the word about the plan. The voters knew!
Again, ask any one in animal rescue how bad it is, and then ask yourself, why haven’t the vets been helping, proactively helping these animals these past ten years? WHERE ARE THE VETS?
Ideally, the veterinarians would work with us for the betterment of the animals. I just don’t understand why they won’t do it. Do they not realize that all these animals need help, and not just the ones that can afford their services and visit their offices.
Bronwyn Stanford the Director of Miami Dade Animal Services recently said, “every day is a crisis”. We agree. Now, if only the veterinarians could see it.
However, if there any veterinarians that want to know the plan, the truth, the reasons, the hope, we have for our animals, feel free to call me at 305 439 3571. I just ask you to please not listen to rumors and falsehoods. Just call me. We are ready to work together, as we have always been, to solve this animal overpopulation problem and would gladly work with willing veterinarians that feel the same, and willing veterinarians that want to help us make sure the process is maximized to help as many animals as we can. Let’s do it together.
The voters did not approve The Pets Trust Plan. We approved in a non binding straw ballot to increase funding for services for animals. We have a new Animal Services facility now that we didn’t have then. Let’s support the existing facility and community projects and not build new facilities which are expensive to maintain as the Pets Trust proposes. The Pets Trust wants to increase property taxes by over $20 million per year to fund these new facilities. There’s better ways to help animals in our community. .
It is necessary to correct frequently repeated false information made once again by Regalado in this article regarding the Coconut Grove Playhouse. The misinformation has already been proven to be false. Falsehood #1—“There has never been an alternative plan to the County demolition plan.”
We know this statement to be false because— (and this shows how profoundly uninformed Regalado is on the playhouse issue)—1. Raquel’s own father, former City Mayor Tomas Regalado wrote a publicized letter which not only acknowledges the long existing alternative plan by Mike Eidson, but says Tomas Regalado would give $10 million from City of Miami bonds on the condition that the alternative plan was implemented rather than the County plan.
And 2. A 2016 email (published on this blog) sent from County Official Michael Spring to Mike Eidson proves there has always been an alternative plan—WHICH THE COUNTY PLANNED TO IMPLEMENT. There was an “MOU” (a working agreement) between former County Mayor Gimenez and Mike Eidson to this effect.
Falsehood #2—“There is no funding for an alternative plan.” This blog already proved this to be false and you can see it by going to https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157084591333561&id=208678153560. Mike Eidson raised $11 million for his visionary alternative playhouse plan.
To the contrary, it is the County plan that lacks funding and even worse is that the County is fraudulently misusing taxpayer funds that we voted to restore the theater. As City Mayor Francis Suarez publicly announced, “The County is spending ZERO dollars on the restoration of the Playhouse.”
One other correction needed that is published in this Political Cortadito article is that the County plans to “gut” the inside of the Playhouse. The County plan is to DEMOLISH the entire theater not gut it.
We wish Regalado would speak out loudly and aggressively in favor of the Calusa residents and against the speculators who want to demo the golf course. And why didn’t Regaldo speak up when corrupt Miami pols voted to demo Melreese Park? Melreese impacts MIA.
Must Of Our Commissioners Make “GREAT ” Promises But They Never Materialize ? Bovo and Sosa Lied To The Limousine Driver When They Where Manipulating The Code 31 To Allow Uber & Lyft To Operate W/O Licenses or REGULATION Wait Till We Get Uber In and You ( The limousines) Will Be On The SAME Level .. WE KNOW THAT NEVER HAPPENED But The BRIVES/DONATIONS DID ? In A COUNTY W/O ETHICS Who Will Investigate ?? Maybe When WE GET a SHERIFF in 2025 Not Control By The POLICIANS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you commissioner Regalado for finally bringing attention to this dire problem. The Pets” Trust backing should be beneficial./
Ladra:
You didn’t mention the other important issue which I think you should look into – the fact the state in the My Safe Florida is interpreting “single-family” homes as just independent single-family homes and not townhouses and duplexes. The US Census Bureau defines single-family differently and Commissioner Regalado says the Comprehensive Plan does as well. This is important because the My Safe Florida Program are providing grants for hardening your home for such things as impact windows and roofs, but the program is discriminating against people who own townhouses and duplexes. Even though the state law regarding the My Safe Florida Program does not define single-family, the administrators of the program are saying that it is only for single-family independent homes. It’s very unfair.
She was quite supportive and you did not address this issue. I would love for you to look into this issue and write about it.
In the middle of a hurricane of divisive laws approved by the Legislature to pave the way for a presidential run by an ambitious demagogue, I’m glad that at least Regalado is proposing to implement what the voters had already approved: Miami-Dade Pet’s Trust.