Commissioner should at least be removed from Bayfront Board Trust
A group of Miami business owners, community leaders, concerned residents and, perhaps, some former elected officials will descend on Miami City Hall at 9 a.m. Tuesday to demand the resignation of City Commissioner Joe Carollo, who was found last week to have violated the First Amendment rights of two property owners in Little Havana who were awarded a $63.5 million judgement
Carollo and his attorneys have said they will appeal Thursday’s jury decision that found him liable. But the trial was a brutal exposition of the commissioner’s abuse of power and reign of terror on Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla and everyone who did business with them or leased their properties, all political retaliation because Fuller’s venue hosted an event for Carollo’s 2017 opponent.
This unofficial group aims “to denounce the decades of corruption and continuous harassment inflicted by Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo upon small businesses and residents who dissent politically,” says a press release distributed by Daniela Clavijo, a Little Havana activist.
“Press conference speakers and attendees, representing a diverse cross-section of the city’s ideological, ethnic and geographic spectrum, will demand Joe Carollo’s immediate resignation,” the press release says.
Read related: How can Miami’s Joe Carollo pay $63.5 million damages in federal jury award?
Carollo was ordered to pay $63.5 million in damages for violating Fuller’s and Pinilla’s First Amendment rights by weaponizing the police, fire and code enforcement departments to target their properties for political retribution after they supported Carollo’s rival, Alfie Leon, in the 2017 election. His abuse of power was made clear by witnesses who testified.
Sources say that among the speakers are the owners of the popular Sanguich de Miami sandwich shop who testified at the trial. Rosa Romero and Daniel Figueredo, testified that Carollo told them he liked their idea, but not their location — a Fuller property. Romero said the city made their business suffer and were targeted by code enforcement and that it was “blatantly obvious” they were “collateral damage” of Carollo’s war with Fuller and his partner.
Especially since the harassment stopped when they changed locations.
Former Mayor Tomas Regalado, who said he plans to run for mayor in 2025 — or sooner if Mayor Francis Suarez is removed because of his conflict of interest (read: bribes) — said Carollo is one of the main reasons the city is a “dumpster fire.” He also says Carollo is not the kind to resign.
“No. He’s going to double down,” Regalado said.
Former Miami City Manager Joe Arriola, who came this close to recalling Carollo in 2020 — with more than enough signatures that were challenged by the city — won’t be at City Hall Tuesday, but he fully supports any effort to oust Carollo from office, he told Ladra.
“They should have called a grand jury on him years ago,” Arriola said, adding that people had approached him last year about repeating the recall. But now he hopes that Gov. Ron DeSantis suspends him from office.
Ladra doesn’t have much faith in DeSantis or even Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle, who had to pass on the investigation into corruption served up by former Police Chief Art Acevedo because an attorney in her office is related to someone who works at the city.
Read related: Miami’s Joe Carollo has $1.4 million in PAC to fund any appeal of jury verdict
And it’s unlikely that Carollo will resign or admit to any wrongdoing. But hopefully the verdict — and the testimony that led to the verdict and the outrage that is now coming out of the woodwork — will cause the U.S. attorney and the SAO in Broward County to finally step in and charge Carollo with, at least, abuse of power. That’s been proven.
Meanwhile, at the very least, the commission could act to remove him from the chairmanship of the Bayside Park Trust and put District 2 Commissioner Sabina Covo in his place.
The press conference calling for Carollo’s resignation will be at 9 a.m. in front of City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive.
Diverse group of Miami stakeholders call for Joe Carollo’s resignation added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
