Surprise! Voting has started for Little Gables annexation to Coral Gables

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Surprise! Voting has started for Little Gables annexation to Coral Gables
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The residents of Little Gables, an enclave of unincorporated Miami-Dade nestled in North Gables, are voting right now on whether or not they want to be part of the City Beautiful, paying taxes into Coral Gables and getting services — most importantly police and fire — from Coral Gables.

It came as a surprise to at least one city commissioner that those steps were already taking place — and that ballots — which apparently only have a “yes” option — have to be in by Oct. 9. There is a community meeting about it on Sept. 27 at the city’s new police and fire headquarters, 2151 Salzedo St.

Commissioner Ariel Fernandez was a guest on the Tomas Regalado weekend TV show, when the former Miami mayor asked him about the voting that is taking place. “It was the first I heard of it,” Fernandez said. “As a sitting commissioner, I was not aware the city was taking these steps.

“I don’t understand how ballots can go out without the commissioners knowing about it,” he said.

Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago may have conflict of interest in Little Gables

Fernandez told Ladra that City Manager Peter Iglesias — who, las malas lenguas say, is getting ready to leave (more on that later) — told him the steps were voted on and approved by the prior commission.

But he still will bring it up at the commission meeting Wednesday. “I want to know how much has been spent so far,” he said.

The city also has a new page on its website dedicated to explaining the annexation of both the Little Gables and High Pines/Ponce Davis, and while city officials may say it’s unbiased, the language tends to persuade towards annexation not against it. It’s like the city is making the case for annexation.

But of course the annexation is on the fast track. Let’s remember that the largest contiguous property there is the trailer park. And that the owner, Titan Development, hires Lago’s lobbyist brother to represent them in unincorporated Miami-Dade. He can do much more for Titan Development — which wants to build a “Moorish Village” — if the property were in Coral Gables, which would also be an automatic address upgrade.

Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago, con ganas, pushes annexations on fast track

It’s such a conflict of interest — and there is so much there — that Lago even brought it up at a commission meeting earlier this year, in which he dramatically read an affidavit he had signed saying he had no connection through family to anyone or anything in the Little Gables. Lo and behold, he didn’t include siblings in his fake affidavit, a relationship that definitely falls under the conflict of interest.

In fact, Lago should recuse himself from any annexation votes, like he recused himself recently in a vote on a project owned by Location Ventures, a developer that rents a space in Coral Gables from Lago.

Which makes it funny — funny strange, not funny ha ha — that the ballot only has one option: Yes. There is no place for a voter to express disagreement with the project — or any lobbying done for it.

Ladra supposes that to vote no, all a Gables voter has to do is not return it and put the ballot in the basura.

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Surprise! Voting has started for Little Gables annexation to Coral Gables added by on
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17 Responses to "Surprise! Voting has started for Little Gables annexation to Coral Gables"

  5. Can we get a few facts straight?
    1. Little Gables has been at the annexation game for over 30 years, this is no surprise to anyone, including Mr. Ariel Fernandez, who prior to the election supported taking annexation to a vote.
    2. This is no surprise to Coral Gables residents since there have been MANY public hearings and community meetings held and the majority of residents, particularly in North Gables, support this.
    3. The majority of Little Gables residents want the opportunity to vote on this matter. A few years ago, 68% of residents wanted it.
    4. This petition (not a VOTE) is required by Miami Dade County in order to BEGIN the application for annexation. 20% in support is the requirement.
    5. Miami Dade County rules state that enclaves such as Little Gables should be annexed to surrounding municipalities
    6. Little Gables is surrounded by Coral Gables on three sides
    7. The representation of Mayor Lago’s brother was a LONG time ago. The trailer park owner has been and is represented by another law firm unrelated to Lago.
    8. Trailer park residents are being swayed by the County fire union to their disadvantage.
    9. No one is getting kicked out. Let us remember they live in less than desirable conditions where the County has failed to assist
    10. Little Gables area is served by Miami-Dade Police out of the Mid-West District Station, 8 miles away from the neighborhood; Fire Rescue is served by Miami-Dade County Fire Department from Fire Station No. 40, 2 miles away.
    In case of an emergency, this is not an acceptable distance to serve this neighborhood.
    11. Little Gables residents have been denied an opportunity to vote on this matter because of politics
    12. County Fire Union has been the major opponent to this because of money and greed. They could care less about the residents and what residents want.

    Let’s allow the process to play itself out and ultimately allow the democratic process to play itself out.

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  6. … lago fails to disclose his conflict of interest… helps his little brother who represents little gables developer… uses gables money on website and bogus vote for political purposes… how much abuse from a mafioso will gables take???

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  7. So many strange things about this “petition”, spoke to some residents at the trailer park and they said they “heard” something about the annexation, but have never received any information about it. The very people that will get kicked out of their homes are not even aware of what is going on. The majority, and most everyone knows this, don’t speak English so it would be really great if Mr. Lago would take the time to inform them in person and in Spanish that he intends to kick them out. In addition, all registered voters in Little Gables can vote in favor of the annexation even if they are tenants? How can tenants determine the fate of a neighborhood when they may not be living there forever? I guess when politicians want something they do whatever it takes to make it happen. I certainly do not want to be controlled by the City of Coral Gables and much less by Vince Lago. VOTE NO TO ANNEXATION

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  10. Since the vote is only a “YES option” they will probably won’t even open the ballots to count them. Anything coming it will be count as YES so I will say if you are against anexxation Trash IT as the piece of paper it is. It looks like they don’t care about asking the community if we are for or against and with only a return of 20% of the total YES ballots sent to the community, they will begin the process for annexation. Never seen a vote like this, not even under dictatorship when we were asked to vote yes or no for Pinochet to continue in power, would you imagen if that vote had been a YES only option. Shame on Coral Gables who sent this vote to our community!!

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  11. I strongly and completely support Little Gable’s annexation to Coral Gables. It was how it was intended to be since the beginning of Coral Gables. I welcome them and support Mayor Lago for supporting this endeavor. Welcome aboard. and lets finally get rid of that eyesore of a trailer park.

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  15. Sounds like the ballots will be counted, and the YES will be the only winning number. Who’s going to catalogue the NO’s? I wouldn’t want to be incorporated in Coral Gables with their super high taxes and micromanagement. That would be the end of that family neighborhood.

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