Part of the outrage with the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority ‘s plan to extend the 836 with the Kendall Parkway along the western edge of the county — and the eastern edge of Everglades wetlands — is the amount of money that went to the slick PR campaign for the yes vote.
MDX reportedly spent at least $150,000 just on a mailer that went out to voters or homeowners in the West Kendall area that has been promised alleviated traffic. The gripe is that they used toll dollars to provide only an option to support the parkway, and not one to oppose it, not that it’s an incredibly inflated amount that looks bogus to lots of legitimate mail vendors.
But what if Ladra told you that what MDX spent on the total “educational campaign” was more than twice that much? And what would you think if you knew part of that money went to 
Barby Rodriguez, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s daughter-in-law.
Barby Rodriguez-G, as she calls herself works for one of the companies who got part of the MDX pie. EV Services was paid $60,000 of the 836 extension project funding, which from the requested public documents that Ladra has gotten so far — and it doesn’t look like I’ve gotten everything — is close to $390,000.
Read related: Barby Gimenez shows up to no-show job on county dime
And that’s just through May! How much you want to bet it goes over half a million already?
Those are toll dollars spent on PR to convince the public that they need the Kendall Parkway.
EV Services, where Barby Rodriguez is a “public information officer,” is one of three companies that have been paid since at least March to push the Parkway with an “educational campaign.” Bermello, Ajamil & Partners (billed $69,950) and HNTB (billed $258,568.40) are the other two. Both of those are architecture, civil engineering consulting and construction management firms that expect to make hundreds of millions more building the six lane, 13-mile highway estimated at a $1 billion cost.
So the companies who stand to make millions are the ones “educating” us on the project?
That’s for, according to the invoices provided by MDX, various presentations, a briefing with Sen. Annette Taddeo and with Congressman Carlos Curbelo‘s staff, attending weekly meetings, receiving and responding to emails and calls about the Kendall Parkway, drafting radio messages, “printed and cut” 100 more support Kendall 
Parkway cards, “researched area of 167th avenue for database,” worked on final Spanish translation for a flyer the website, reviewing the script and elements of an educational video, outreach to community leaders and homeowner associations, coordination with content producers and distributors, and multiple mailers, among other tasks.
So if they are handling the “educational campaign” and outreach what is EV Services, which does nothing but public relations (read: propaganda), doing? Or are they just on there for a flat $60K because of the ties to the mayor?
According to one of the March invoices, EV Services did:
- Preparation of Leadership Track Educational Campaign and outreach to community leaders, businesses, HOAs and special groups
- Attendance in weekly strategy meetings related to Kendall Parkway
- Assistance in preparation of collateral materials for Kendall Parkway educational materials
- Assist in preparation of digital content for educational campaign
- Attendance at coordination meetings with content producers and distributors
So, pretty much they all did the same stuff.
And how much more does EV Services stand to make? And how much of that goes directly to Barby? And did she have to do anything or is she just there so they get the contract?
Ladra is still getting more public records and will report further on this.
MDX spent $400K on PR, including $60K for mayor’s daughter-in-law added by Ladra on
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