Finally, after an embarrassing misstep last month with a report that was short on numbers and remorse, Miami City Manager Art Noriega has submitted a new report about the way the city handled furniture purchases from his wife’s company since he was appointed — and it sounds a lot like the old report.
It’s also still about $90,000 off the mark.
Noriega’s new report, which is to be presented Thursday to the city commission, indicates that the city bought $354,288 worth of furniture and accessories from Pradere Manufacturing between 2020 and 2023, accounting for 16.1% of those purchases during that period. But the WLRN story that blew the top off this scandalous abuse of public trust said the city has been billed $440,000 since Noriega took the city manager’s job.
Read related: Miami City Manager leaves gaping holes in explaining wife’s city contracts
It might not be the much bigger gap in his first report, which only counted $228,234 in sales from Pradere, but Ladra believes Joshua Ceballos and Daniel Rivero, the journalists who first reported on this conflict of interest, more than she believes Noriega.
In another slide, Noriega says the city purchased $767,339 in funiture and accessories from his wife’s business from 2010 to 2019. Why did he start in 2010? He was actually the chief executive officer at the Miami Parking Authority for 20 years before becoming the city manager in 2020. Could it be because a year before the window in his slideshow, in 2009, Noriega hired Pradere Manufacturing to do a full remodeling of the corporate offices in downtown Miami, to the tune of $569,865?
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The report also still has that tone that just drips with disdain and justification. He still shakes responsibility, blaming a 2006 city resolution that lets departments purchase furniture through a state contract that is at fixed prices. And he almost too joyously points out an error in a Miami Herald story that originally reported a purchase of 12 chairs for $7,500 as the purchase of a single chair.
Well, Art, you didn’t even do the first search for the purchases right?
“As City Manager, I recognize the opportunity for improved transparency and clear boundaries regarding any business conducted within the Office of the City Manager,” Noriega writes in conclusion. “In as such, I will preclude any future dealings with Pradere Manufacturing by my office for the remainder of my tenure as City Manager.”
But, wait one Little Havana minute. Didn’t he already say, in a 2020 memo that he would recuse himself from “any and all involvement, decision making, and approvals” between the city and Pradere? Yes. Yes, he did. The manager proudly includes it in this new report. So what’s different about this conclusion?
Read related: Miami’s Art Noriega still has some ‘splaining to do re wife’s work in city
“There has been no personal financial gain resulting from the vendor relationship between Pradere Manufacturing and the City of Miami,” Noriega adds. “Today, my wife has and continues to be a salaried employee of the company.”
Yeah, but how much has that salary from her family business increased since she started selling to the city of Miami?
To be sure, Michelle Pradere-Noriega has been posting photos with her parents lately to make it look like abuelo y abuela still have a day-to-day presence in the business. They don’t.
This new dog and pony show has one less slide than the one Noriega wanted to present in March. So there’s less information now that it’s complete? Should we wait for the informational video?
After The Miami Herald reported the inconsistencies in the first report, Noriega cancelled an interview with them and the city then issued a statement Tuesday admitting the mistake, but blaming technical difficulties, or “anomalies in the tracking system.”
Will this new report last through the afternoon? If Noriega doesn’t withdraw it, the commission should reject it.
New report on furniture buys by Miami Manager Art Noriega is still 90K short added by Ladra on
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