Commissioner Miguel Gabela is swing vote on Miami's LED billboard rollback

Says liability, not lobbyist pal, swayed him

The Miami City Commission will on Thursday again take up the proposed repeal of a 2023 ordinance that allows for giant LED billboards in public spaces downtown. And, despite the pleas of dozens of residents during at least four public hearings since January, it is poised to finally fail.

Unless someone can convince Commissioner Miguel Gabela, who has become the swing vote on the measure sponsored by District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo, that the risk of a lawsuit is small.

“That’s the only reason I’m voting against it. My intention from the beginning, I wanted to save the citizens money from the lawsuit that is going to happen if we tear down the sign,” Gabela told Ladra late Wednesday, referring to threats by the representatives of the Perez Art Museum Miami — which leases the city-owned property — that it would sue if the ordinance was repealed.

He will likely join Commissioners Joe Carollo and Christine King to allow for carve-outs.

But Pardo has said time and time again that the repeal does not mean the PAMM sign — or the one at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, which is no longer in play — would come down automatically. They are grandfathered in as non conforming uses because their permits were granted under the old ordinance, which was sponsored by former Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who got $276,500 in campaign contributions to his political action committee from Orange Barrel Media lobbyist Marc Sarnoff — who also spread the money to Carollo and former Commissioner Sabina Cobo.

In total, Orange Barrel Media has spent more than $600,000 in the last three years on this effort, according to the data comprised by Dani Rivera, a disability activist who has become a campaign finance watchdog with a great nose for special interest and a penchant for spreadsheets. Rivera, who expects to be at the meeting Thursday, explains the influence driving the LED billboards ordinance in a striking video on YouTube. Subscribe to her channel and donate to keep her on these efforts.

That’s the same company that stands to make millions from the advertising on the PAMM billboard. And ADLP is the same commissioner who was arrested last September on felony bribery and money laundering charges in another, completely different pay for play case. That seems almost like reason enough to repeal the ordinance without having much legal risk: It was bought and paid for.

Gabela beat Diaz de la Portilla on a campaign that relied heavily on an anti-corruption message, but also on funding from former State Rep. and lobbyist Manny Prieguez, a one-time DLP ally who is now suing the former commissioner over what he says was a shakedown of his client, the operator of the Rickenbacker Marina. Prieguez registered to lobby for Orange Barrel Media in January.

In a call that can only be described as defensive and almost manic, Gabela told Ladra that he was offended by recent comments about his conflict of interest and having sold his vote.

“I am not voting any way or another because of Manny Prieguez,” Gabela said. “He’s my friend, yes. He supported me. Does that mean he owns me? No, he doesn’t own me.”

Gabela said he also met with lobbyist Mike Llorente, who represents another sign company and has lobbied in favor of the repeal, and Downtown Neighbors Alliance President James Torres, who has campaigned hard against the giant billboards and organized a protest over the weekend.

The last time this was discussed, two meetings ago in April, Gabela announced that this had become a fight between lobbyists and that even his friend and supporter, Prieguez, was a lobbyist for one of the sign companies. This was right before he switched his earlier vote in favor of the repeal.

“If I was going to do something dirty, I’m not going to name Manny Prieguez in a public meeting. I’m not stupid,” Gabela said. “What I was trying to do was disclose. Everybody knows a lobbyist involved in this.”

“I am not beholden to anyone, ok? I am only beholden to the taxpayer,” Gabela said, adding that he told them to provide a bond that would indemnify the city and he would vote for the repeal.

Pardo wrote an op-ed in the Miami Herald this week, urging residents to go to City Hall Thursday and demand that the original repeal be passed, with no carve-outs.

“This blatant disregard for the residents’ concerns underscores the need for taxpayer participation. This situation should serve as a clarion call for the city of Miami to move away from special interest-driven policy making and more towards a resident/taxpayer centered approach,” Pardo wrote in the piece.

“The PAMM and Arsht Center argue that advertising revenue from these billboards is necessary to continue funding their operations. I am happy and willing to work with both institutions to identify new ways to generate income. However, these signs installed at the neighborhood’s expense are not the vehicle for that,” Pardo said.

Do the PAMM and Arsht know how much bad PR they are getting from this? Don’t they have any media consultants who can tell them that withdrawing their opposition and removing the signs would do more to bring in new audience members than any 60-second commercial?

On Wednesday, Gabela said he had his own amendment to counter the one offered by Commission Chair Christine King, which seems to have been actually written by Prieguez and passed 3-2 in April, with his swing vote. Her amendment carves out the PAMM and the Arsht signs and introduces some control in hours of operation, level of brightness and content (strip clubs won’t be allowed).

But Gabela’s version is really the same thing — except it carves out the carve-out for the Arsht and leaves only the PAMM. And that really doesn’t matter anymore since the county has said that it has jurisdiction over the sign permit on that county-owned property. Gabela told Political Cortadito that the executive director of the performing arts center sent a letter to the city last week saying they were no longer pursuing the city permit.

So his amendment is just a carve out for the PAMM?

“At least this way, we can regulate it,” Gabela said, but again stressing that his main problem was the legal position the city could be in. The threats have been for up to $30 million.

He said he had been told by former City Attorney Vicky Mendez and the new city attorney, George Wysong, that they were at risk if the repeal passed. But we all thought that Gabela didn’t; trust Tricky Vicky and, if Ladra remembers correctly, Wysong said at the April meeting that the chance of litigation was small. Assistant City Attorney Jihan Soliman also explained how the PAMM was in violation of their lease agreement because they did not get the city’s consent for the sign on its own property.

And back in February, when Pardo’s original repeal was passed on first reading, Gabela voted with the other candidate that won in November, changing his vote from one deferring the item to one approving it. And there were threats of lawsuits then.

Ladra asked Gabela if he could get a third opinion from someone outside the city. He said that if an attorney outside the city assures him that there is no liability, he will vote for the repeal.

For Reyes, it is not enough. He wants the ordinance to be revoked for the PAMM and Arsht to have to remove what they have already built.

Attention all lawyers: The meeting begins at 9:30 at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive.

billboards, Damian Pardo, Miguel Gabela

Commissioner Miguel Gabela is swing vote on Miami’s LED billboard rollback added by Ladra on May 22, 2024
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