Miami’s new mayor-elect says the circus is over
Miami Mayor-Elect Eileen Higgins held her first post-election press conference Wednesday, and the gist is that La Gringa no vino a jugar.
If Francis Suarez turned City Hall into a political Airbnb — you know, a place where he crashed between photo ops and travel jaunts — Higgins made it clear she’s coming to actually live in the building. Clean the kitchen. Fix the plumbing. Throw out the dead plants. Maybe fumigate.
And above all: turn off the damn reality show.
Read related: La Gringa Eileen Higgins makes history with Miami mayoral election victory
“First of all, the temperature on the dais has to go down,” Higgins told reporters at her campaign headquarters — in that measured, school-principal tone she uses right before she assigns homework. “People must treat each other with respect. The era of commissioners yelling at one another and threatening to punch one another is going to stop.
“We have a new dais. We have new ideas and we certainly have people (who) are quieter and behave, in this case, in a more 
gentlemanly manner.”
She didn’t say the words Joe Carollo, but it was understood.
In Spanish, Higgins said what everyone has been thinking for years: the city’s meetings have become “más o menos un reality show.”
Honestly, that’s generous. Some meetings make an episode of La Casa de los Famosos look like C-SPAN.
Frankly, she’s got it a lot easier now that Commissioner Carollo has his last meeting Thursday. Joe i the msatch that sparks the fire, the kerosene that feeds it, and the guy running around the chamber tossing lit cigarettes just to watch the flames dance. There’s no way the rest of them, as clownish as they can be in their own right, can live up to the legend. Commissioner Miguel “Tony Soprano” Gabela won’t be goaded into a fist fight with Ralph Rosado or Damian Pardo. Joe Carollo termed out. He has gone to Shangrila. And his brother Frank Carollo lost to Rolando Escalona.
Suddenly the dais looks less like WrestleMania and more like… well, a workplace.
“We have a new dais, new ideas, and certainly people that are quieter and behave in a more gentlemanly manner,” Higgins said.
That kindness should also extend outside of City Hall, with “a government that treats residents as if they are customers,” Higgins added. She mentioned the permitting process nightmare and saying the city has to become more efficient, “has to be more modern in how it embraces technology.”
Higgins, also touched on affordable housing — her bread and butter issue — and the city’s controversial 287g agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which they entered this past summer. Suarez didn’t veto it and never said a thing. Classic Francis. Very on-brand for a mayor who showed up to the border trying to look serious, then ran for president for two weeks.
Read related: Miami could join 250 Florida cities with 287g contract to help ICE vs immigrants
The new mayor, on the other hand, has been a critic of state-level immigrant crackdowns and made it plain on Wednesday: “The 
city should never have entered into that agreement,” she said.
“This is the first election where when I speak to residents, it’s not just about frustration, it’s also about fear. They’ve never been afraid of their government before. And now they are,” Higgins said.
Can she get Miami out of the agreement? Maybe not. She was honest that the rules are unclear. But she can minimize the involvement “There’s no reason for our police department to be in the job of federal immigration enforcement.
“We are an immigrant city,” she said. “We have always been an immigrant city.”
That sound you hear is half of Miami exhaling in relief.
She also plans to replace City Manager Art Noriega, but not until after the holidays. And she said she would prefer to have a national search to find the best person for the job. What a concept!
Because here’s the thing: unlike half the people who say they want to fix Miami politics, Higgins — ever the note-taking nerd — actually brought a plan. A literal one. According to the Miami Herald, she has a thick, running, 300-item “mayor do” list that Ladra hears she’s been carrying around like a political security blanket.
Three. Hundred. Items.
Suarez didn’t even show up three hundred times.
Read related: Francis Suarez is the absent Mayor VIP of Miami — MIA at the worst time
Higgins says she will attend every commission meeting. Every. Single. One. Not just the morning ceremonial photo ops before slipping out the back for a donor lunch. She’s going to sit there, in the chamber, looking at them like a mom watching her kids 
take a math test — chancla in hand.
Higgins is not an outsider, which is exactly why the insiders should be nervous.
She’s known for drilling into policy until staffers run out of coffee, asking 20 questions when most politicians ask zero, working to actually fix real problems — like Miami-Dade’s broken suspended-license system — instead of staging them for Instagram.
The soonest Higgins can be sworn in is Dec. 17. Which means Suarez gets one more week to look busy, hand out certificates, and take a few more selfies before he packs up his ring light. He’s leaving office as the city’s first TikTok-flavored mayor, and Higgins is walking in as Miami’s first-ever woman mayor — and the first Democrat in nearly three decades.
It’s going to be a sharp contrast.
Higgins says she’ll be in the room. She’ll be hands-on. She’ll be focused. And she has — and this is the wild part — a fully organized punch list for her first 100 days.
Not a slogan. Not a podcast. Not a crypto pitch. An actual to-do list. A Miami mayor with a plan. Dios mío.
Eileen Higgins promised to “stop the chaos.” But turning off Miami’s political reality show won’t be easy. Chaos has been profitable for some people. Entertaining for others. And it has been normalized for way too long.
If Higgins can pull this off — even halfway — it won’t just be a new era. It’ll be another miracle.
The first one? The Carollos are gone.
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4 City Commissioners took developer money AKA bribes and gave $340 Million of taxpayer land on Watson Island to two sleazy scumbags. Francis Suarez should Veto! Oh wait… he’s probably getting paid too. Eileen Higgins hasn’t said a word. So… business as usual. Someone text Billy Corben.
I do not believe it. Damian Pardo was at every single one of her fundraisers. And is moving forward with all his illicit scams even more empowered. So someone must have given him the nudge it will be business as usual in a dress. Also Adler and Integra and etc donated exorbitant amounts of money to her campaign. It still looks like full steam ahead. She could have issued a public statement on the Watson Island sale and all these things they passed through. But she chose not to. Interestingly people are angry because a lot of people voted for Emilio and kept it silent. No one knows where this “landslide” came from.
”Mr. Arias sees criminals all over the city of Miami”
How so ?
Everything he has said is true , I have no idea where he was born , etc nor does that matter but he speaks the truth .
I lean left but agree with him on this ( I was born in Cuba ) .
I lean left on issues as I subscribe for real government health care for CITIZENS who do not have it so on that I break away from Republicans but Democrats living in la la land rather not see taking in the entire world is simply draining our finances .
I hope you never need to go to a hospital ER at some off hour as you will be waiting all night / am behind a brigade of illegals .
Now if you want to say I am a hypocrite @hole for wanting deportation yet I was not born here I agree with you but under Biden / Harris we were engulfed and not your parents type of immigrants .
I work at night and can tell you stories you would not believe , never mind my opinion ask any cop who works at night till am , in fact ask anyone who works those hours .
Mr. Arias sees criminals all over the city of Miami. I will ask him to show proves that they are all immigrants.
By his last name, not Scandinavian to me, and more of Spanish origins, perhaps Mr, Arias either was born here from Hispanic, immigrant parents, or actually came from a Latin American country, better known as shithole country, as our potus likes to call them, unfortunately repeats the immigration/criminal racist narrative of the present administration. It really hurts me to see folks like Mr. Arias drinking the koolaid. No hay peor estilla que la del mismo palo.
Eileen is going to need a bulldozer!
Is She going To leave her Corruption Bag Outside City Hall ? Our Only Airport Is Chalk’s Seaplane at Watson Island ?
Hooray for Higgins
Angry Taxpayer,
Hope you get my reply but GREAT video , I sent it to family , etc , it should be shown in High Schools here
”Miami operates on a completely different economic engine ”
” New rules changed / parking requirements for buildings slashed by 80 percent / Developers with deep pockets call the shots / most money comes from outside – global wealth / high buildings destabilize Miami’s foundation as grounds sinking / etc , etc , etc
How Refreshing!!! I love what the future has in store for Miami under her LEADERSHIP!!! What a difference…I think her constituents also bare responsibility to respectfully assist her office to bring about the much needed change the city needs so much, without being the loudest baby in the room, so professionally, think what’s best for all and not what I need as was the case most recently. People have a responsibility to support her with accurate and professional feedback. Help make Miami great again! Congratulations!
I don’t now but getting rid of the enabler of France is first step the problem is who is in cahoots and playing double agent and how much is it going to cost the tax payer this cleaning house has to be methodical we start with the thinking that everybody has had to play the game to survive working at city hall their has to be way of doing this no city hall is perfect wish their was a good plan on how to start and finish the process and do we waste time putting more effort in getting rid of all bad actor’s and not running the city Good Luck Mayor Higgens
The best part was seeing Noriega’s equally corrupt wife at today’s commission meeting, smiling WIDE as everyone clamored to take a picture with con man Art. They’re both laughing at the city, at taxpayers, at voters, at everyone — they fleeced you guys alive. And she’s supposed to be the next president of the LBA. What a joke.
A major cleanup of City Hall officials has been much needed and long overdue for decades and hopefully the tides will eventually be turned over with new leadership that will provide accountability, more efficient and cost effective essential local government services All residents depend upon daily.
In ref to the proposal of the City PD not assisting Ice and Border patrol in order to detain illegal / criminals currently roaming the streets committing crimes daily this could undoubtedly be very precarious policy for the incoming Mayor to implement since the public safety well-being of ALL residents should NEVER be compromised. In addition, the city could lose millions of dollars of funding it currently receives from federal and or the state just like several other Cities throughout the Nation which have been financially penalized that is simply not beneficial for All residents nor for the city.
Time will eventually tell in which direction the city will go in which, I truly hope will go in the proper direction for the sake of ALL residents.
Soo Much Manure ?
First step is getting rid of the corrupt City Manager, Art Noreiga. Second step is getting rid of
all the Francis Suarez bros who helped Suarez line his pockets with money from developers and lobbyists. Third step is telling lobbyist Melissa Tapanese her lies will no longer be accepted. Fourth step is appointing a new Planning Director who honors the Miami 21 Zoning Code and who is not on the payroll of developers seeking “special treatment”.
Art Noriega, ran out of chips this time. No frat boy mayor, no more JOE cover, since he orchestrated the Ball and Chain fiasco with PD while orchestrating releasing the PD Chief at the time. Then came the video on youtube when they played the soundtrack to the Godfather and they have been scratching their backs since.
Don’t worry though we gave away so much to the developers that his new job is already sealed. Now we watch all the people that were provided cover these last few years fall like dominos as the revenge tour begins for all the citizens plagued by the good ol boy network.
Watch the video and do the math on the children pissing away our land to the good old boy network that made a mayor rich while in office.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUGW90uoxAA
What a relief that Miamians have finally come to their senses and voted for Ms Higgins ! No more Carollo’s either ….and I don’t even live in Miami (but in unincorporated Miami-Dade)
Glad to see Noriega go but it’s already too late for any kind of justice. He has been leveraging his role as city manager and funneling tax dollars to grease hands and land his next gig. He’s a low-life criminal. He should be behind bars.
I’m really happy about her win. She has a tough road ahead of her. I wish her much success.