Why change 100 years of elections? Who really benefits?
Opinion By Melissa Castro, Coral Gables Commissioner
For nearly a century, Coral Gables has held its elections in April. That was not random. It was intentional. It ensured that local elections stayed focused on local issues like development, traffic, infrastructure, and the character of our neighborhoods.
Now, right as concerns about overdevelopment reach a peak, there is a push to change that system. That is not timing. That is strategy.
A recent survey conducted the week of February 18, with a sample size of almost 400 respondents of Coral Gables voters makes the stakes clear. Overdevelopment ranked as the number one concern, with 47% of residents naming it their top issue and 74% placing it among their top three priorities. Corruption followed closely, with 54% ranking it among their top concerns.
Read related: Coral Gables voters to decide their city’s future — from their mailboxes at home
Residents are not asking for faster growth. They are asking for control. And yet, at the same moment those concerns are rising, the rules that determine who makes those decisions are being rewritten.
Recent reporting from the Gables Gazette (ANALYSIS: New density, old strains – Concurrency and the future of North Gables) 
highlights more than 900 residential units proposed within just a few blocks in North Gables, raising serious concerns about traffic, infrastructure, and neighborhood character.
What changing election timing actually does: It changes who shows up. It changes who has influence. And it changes who wins.
April elections are local by design. The voters who participate are engaged in city issues. November elections are not. They are dominated by national races, higher spending, and outside influence. Political science research from the University of Chicago Center for Effective Government shows that when local elections are moved to coincide with national cycles, campaigns become more expensive and more influenced by well funded, organized interests.
And in local government, one of the most organized and well funded interests is the development industry. Research from Harvard Kennedy School has shown a direct relationship between real estate contributions and increased development approvals.
So let’s stop pretending this is neutral.
When more money enters local elections, influence shifts. When influence shifts, development decisions follow. And when that happens, overdevelopment accelerates.
Read related: Coral Gables voters to get sweeping charter changes ballot only by mail
There is another reality that cannot be ignored. Coral Gables has a large base of long-time, consistent voters who have 
participated in April elections for decades. These are residents who follow local issues closely and show up specifically for them. Moving elections to November does not “expand” their voice. It dilutes it.
Because November ballots are crowded. Local races get buried. Researchers at Citizens Union call this ballot roll-off, where voters participate in high-profile races but skip the local contests that directly impact their neighborhoods.
So what happens? Local voters participate less. Outside influence participates more.
That is not more democracy. That is a shift in power.
And we have not even addressed the most important point: This is not just a policy change. These referendum questions amend the City Charter, the governing document of Coral Gables. In many ways, it functions like a local constitution. Changing it is not temporary. It rewrites ho
w power operates in this city, and once those rules are changed, they are not easily undone.
So again, the question is not complicated.
Who benefits?
Because it is not the residents who are already raising concerns about overdevelopment, traffic, and transparency. It is the interests that benefit from more influence, more access, and faster approvals. This is not about convenience.
It is about control. Control over elections. Control over development. Control over the future of Coral Gables. According to the Florida Bar Journal, local governments control zoning, land use approvals, and development processes. These are the decisions that determine how quickly growth moves forward and how it affects neighborhoods.
So before supporting this change, ask yourself one simple question: Why change 100 years of elections if the result is giving up local control? Because once this shift happens, it will not be easy to reverse. And the consequences will not be theoretical. They will be built into our neighborhoods.
Coral Gables Commissioner Melissa Castro was elected in 2023 by 59% of the voters and was appointed last year by the Florida League of Cities to serve as Vice Chair on the Florida League of Cities 2025-26 Development, Code Compliance and Redevelopment Committee, one of the League’s five Legislative Policy Committees. This opinion piece reflects research, her personal views only and does not represent the official position of the City of Coral Gables. No city resources were used in the preparation of this article, which is not paid or sponsored content.
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Rachel, how sad that you support a misogynistic bully and alleged adulterer over a single mom and business owner trying to focus on residents. Let me guess, you voted for Trump right? Also, what does it matter that you lived in The Gables longer than she’s been alive?
100% agree with Castro here. This proposed change has Shady Lago and his cohorts written all over it, clearly to benefit his developer friends and line their pockets. I will vote NO on all of them, time to battle back against Lago’s continued push to sell out our city.
Poor Tom Wells. Still upset he lost to a total nobody. A guy who never sat on a board. Never spoke at commission meetings. A guy who popped out of nowhere and still managed to win. Goes to show how bad of a candidate Wells was. Poor guy wrote a small dissertation to distract from his endless failures. Vote YES. Even the failing Miami Herald says so. Fingers crossed Wells runs again. You know whats funnier than losing once to a nobody? Losing twice!
If Lago wants to get rid of the commissioners, why doesn’t he just get them off Office like Maria tried to do it to him. I think he’s in love with the commissioners and we’re not speaking of Lara. I think it’s just like how siblings fight that’s all. We are dislike Lago either way, but we still keep them in office.
Gables Commissioner Melissa Castro doling out some much needed and all too lacking common sense. My suggestion is local residents heed her advice and listen, it’s not only sound advice but also cautionary. Having grown up “in the area” and worked in “downtown” a short walk from Miracle Mile for years, it’s amazing to me just how much Coral Gables has changed from the Woolworth days. Sure the number and quality of restaurants and activities has increased exponentially but has all that growth and “progress” come at the expense of quality of life for residents? As kids we used to love riding bicycle in the Gables as the neighborhood was so quaint, peaceful, welcoming and the brightly colored sidewalks were second to none. These days the volume and speed of traffic is an issue and quaintness has long been relegated to historic homes perhaps. Take back your exclusivity, take back control of government while you still can, or you too will find yourselves as I did, when riding the bus to school as a kid in the 80s as we passed the vacant and bordered shut Biltmore Hotel (my favorite) with conversations about its history of a hospital during WW2 and claims of it being haunted, and an unexpected feeling of nostalgia. Don’t be relegated to the past with disrepair as your future. Take back your glory and make Coral Gables quaint, luxurious, peaceful, welcoming, but nonetheless great again. Fight for a return to wholesomeness.
I have lived in Coral Gables longer than Comm Castro has been alive. I agree 100% with the changes proposed. I am and have been supportive of Mayor Lago. Our city is better because of Mayor Lagos’ leadership. Something that I will never say about Comm Castro. I find her to be an immature complainingand negative presence in the dais. I can’t wait until she is voted out.
We must change if chnage is for the better. These changes are for the better.
Coral Gables has a long history of electing grassroots candidates that sacrifice family and work time to protect the City’s history and quality of life. One example is Mayor Dorothy Thomson who cast the tie-breaking vote in 1980 AGAINST REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS seeking to raze The Biltmore Hotel and replace it with high density condos and apartments. The Biltmore is celebrating its 100-year anniversary because of that grassroots candidate. Moving elections to November eliminates grassroots candidates because of increased campaign costs to compete with simultaneous messaging from TV ads, mailouts, emails, texts, Facebook and Instagram posts for Federal, state and county campaigns. Voters are overwhelmed and lose interest in local issues because the focus is on the national and state elections and which party wins. Per Mayor Valdes-Fauli in 2016, we should not contaminate our local election with federal and state issues. And per Mayor Lago in 2016, “it is important to have the ballot be freestanding Coral Gables issues.”
People vote the same way in November and April (except for this disturbing vote-by-mail process forced upon us by Mayor Lago). We need more informed voters in April, and the City needs to take steps to engage and educate voters – it has done nothing. But if someone chooses not to vote in April, it is still a choice – respect it. Informed, engaged voters hold elected officials accountable. Uninformed voters do not. Diluting informed voters greatly increases the incumbency advantage of elected officials. Mayor Lago has declared to run for reelection as Mayor. His charge to change our 100-year April election history is for his own self-interest! He needs to dilute informed voters to be reelected based on his lack of decorum. Please VOTE NO to these proposed Charter amendments.
Thank you Commissioner Castro. It’s more than apparent that this is a pro Lago, Lara, and Anderson shady tactic to keep on helping their developer friends. Vote “No” on anything Lago wants.
”In any event, many Cubans will return to their home island later this year”
I think you are giving Trump way to much credit and can not fathom a Cuban USA Citizen going back to Cuba to live as it is destroyed .
Perhaps a tiny bit might go back to start businesses which involve tourism but since regardless of new leader if that ever happens the TYPICAL Cuban corruption will be staggering as far as pay offs , etc so not sure about even a tiny percentage going back .
Havana ran well when the Italian MAFIA / Meyer Lansky aka Hyman Roth in Godfather ran it .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEI3mN5Wee4
Thank you Gerry for forwarding this to me. As a proud Coral Gables resident, this issue truly matters to me on a personal level. Our April elections are part of what has always made our city feel local, connected, and heard. It’s when neighbors who genuinely care about Coral Gables show up to vote on the issues that affect our daily lives; our streets, our traffic, our neighborhoods, and the character of the place we call home.
Moving elections to November doesn’t feel like progress to me, it feels like losing something important. I worry that our local voices will get lost in the noise of national politics, and that the decisions shaping our city will no longer reflect the people who live here and care deeply about it.
I can’t believe I’m even taking my time on Good Friday to write this.
I want to keep things the way they’ve worked for generations. I want to continue voting in April, where our community stays at the center of the conversation. Please don’t take that away from us.
Jesus help us all!
This is saying what a lot of people are already thinking. You don’t make major changes like this through a mail-only election and expect people not to question it. The low turnout, the confusion, the way this was handled, it all matters. Residents deserve a process that’s clear, fair, and actually reflects the will of the people. This kind of reporting is important because it puts the spotlight where it belongs. Vote no on all questions.
Suggested compromise:
1. Hold elections in November, which is the most widely used election date; but
2. In odd-numbered years, so there is no overlap with federal or state elections.
In any event, many Cubans will return to their home island later this year, so Coral Gables will likely find itself underpopulated!
Changing elections to November is common sense legislation. The mayor vice mayor and commissioner Lara all won campaigns with this being one of their promises.
Well stated by Comm. Castro. Most agree and will vote NO on Gables Referendum Election. Thanks to her for speaking out with sound rationale.
I’m a DC-area import since about 16 years, where voters are inundated with local, a large swath of state, and national news, and where voters in one state may sometimes ask why that state or local policy isn’t being offered here. For nearly a century, voters have proven they can separate national noise from local priorities. The idea that Coral Gables residents suddenly become less informed, less focused, or more easily influenced simply because more races appear on the ballot doesn’t reflect who we are.
This community is highly educated, deeply engaged, and fully capable of weighing both national and local interests simultaneously. Concerns of overdevelopment, traffic, and transparency don’t disappear in November. Our voters don’t forget what matters to their neighborhoods just because a presidential race is on the same page.
Coral Gables has always been defined by thoughtful, attentive civic participation, which votes while others don’t. Trusting voters means trusting them every month of the year.
Spot on