In a desperate attempt to get votes in North Gables, commission candidate Jorge Fors is stirring up annexation fears.
Fors — who is running for the seat vacated by Commissioner Frank Quesada — walked North Gables streets last week, passing out petitions to stop the annexation of Little Gables, 
an unincorporated Miami-Dade enclave just south of 8th Street.
Only problem is, the process is pretty far along already, having been approved by the existing commission. Police Chief Ed Hudak told them that it would be better from a public safety standpoint. Gables Police and Fire Rescue already have to go into Little Gables all the time. It would be better f they can patrol it proactively and get the tax dollars for the services provided.
Read related: One thumbs up, one thumbs down after Coral Gables candidate forum
The annexation application — one of two, the other being the High Pines area just south of Sunset — is at the county level now, having passed the planning and zoning committee in December. Basically, it’s headed to a vote the full county commission and then a vote of the people in Little Gables.
But those kind of details don’t matter in a campaign. What matters is emotion. Some people in North Gables are unhappy about bringing Little Gables into the fold. Some are angry that they never got a chance to vote to let them in.
And Fors is taking advantage of that. He is the least known candidate in a four-way race against former Commissioner Ralph Cabrera, onetime interim city manager Carmen Olazabal and downtown p
roperty owner Jackson “Rip” Holmes. He needed something to set him apart — other than the Homestead exemption fraud. Annexation was low hanging fruit. Early in the campaign, Fors sent a mailer out about annexation. Then he hit the streets with the petitions. Last Thursday, annexation was even turned into a campaign issue at the Coco Plum Woman’s Club candidate forum.
But can he really do anything if elected? He would only be one of five votes. And should he even try?
Read related: Coral Gables candidate Jorge Fors had illegal Homestead exemption
“When there are very limited issues to talk about — crime is not an issue, the state of our city is not an issue — certain candidates feel the need to drum up issues that don’t exist,” said Commissioner Vince Lago. “The police chief 
stood up and said that annexation is in the best interest of the city to patrol the area because it provides a more natural border and closes our geo fence.”
Little Gables has a penchant for drugs and prostitution, mostly from the trailer park and the Wishes Motel on 8th Street that rents by the hour.
Lago and City Manager Peter Iglesias — who got rid of two trailer parks in his previous life at the city of Miami — believe that they can incentivize property owners to redevelop and bring their properties up to Gables code. Lago says he even wants to see a city park for North Gables residents.
There have been at least five public community meetings about annexation since 2016, including one hosted by Miami-Dade Commissioner Rebeca Sosa. How much you wanna bet that Jorgie Come Lately didn’t go to one? He did not return several calls and texts to his cell phone.
Perhaps what Fors has shown is just how uneducated he is about the issues.
Coral Gables candidate Jorge Fors stirs annexation fears for votes added by Ladra on
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Rather than make a baseless argument on leadership, promote your candidates agenda, or be petty and make perplexing comment like: Dear Ralph, oops, Maria, I will base my argument on facts and let the people who read this decide for themselves:
1) You agree that none of this is not a done deal so I won’t get back into that.
2) There is no requirement that we accept Little Gables and High Pines. I’m still waiting for someone to show me where it says that.
3) Here is the memorandum prepared by Miami-Dade which clearly highlights that Coral Gables is getting the raw end of this deal. https://www.miamidade.gov/incorporationandannexation/library/reports/coral-gables-little-gables-staff-report.pdf
Little Gables Stats:
-1,196 calls to the police in 2017.
-126 calls related to crimes in 2017.
– 51 calls in 2017 related to situation which poses a potential threat of serious injury or loss of human life which may require swift police action; e.g., assault, robbery, or burglary of an occupied structure in progress; hazardous chemical spill; toxic gas leak; serious motor vehicle crash in which the extent of injuries is unknown; etc.
-64 calls in 2017 related to a situation or sudden occurrence which poses an actual threat of serious injury or loss of human life and which demands swift police action; e.g., seriously ill or injured person, shooting, sexual battery, etc
-107 Calls related in 2017 to Uniform Crime Report (UCR) Part I Offenses are those crimes reported to MDPD in the following classifications; murder and non-negligent manslaughter, robbery, aggravated assault, forcible rape, motor vehicle theft, larceny, burglary. The UCR is a standard method of reporting crime, administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) through the UCR Program. The classification for the offense is based on a police investigation, as opposed to determinations made by a court, medical examiner, jury, or other judicial body.
-The memo claims that Coral Gables potential revenue will net $1.1M or so in property tax revenue to the City, but Coral Gables has another memo that shows a $2.7M loss to the city. And knowing how we don things, we are going to overspend and lose money on this as well.
4) Look at some of the services that Coral Gables is promising Little Gables: https://www.coralgables.com/annexation
-The City will be responsible for Road Resurfacing, new drainage, sidewalk repairs, new platting and regular trimming in roads and parks, and new/improved parks.
Site specific regulations will conform to the EXISTING COUNTY CODE (that means Miami-Dade). That means that we cannot force anyone to comply with Coral Gables standards if they meet the code in Miami-Dade (i.e. motels, self storage, trailer park, or anything else that complies with Miami-Dade’s code.)
5) Look at the link posted by CG: https://www.coralgables.com/annexation
“Lawful uses that exist under the code will be Grandfathered.” That means your pay-by the hour hotel.
6) Inconsitancy between little Gables and Coral Gables:
https://evogov.s3.amazonaws.com/media/91/media/132381.pdf
WILL I NEED TO BRING MY PROPERTY UP TO CORAL GABLES CODE?
No, if annexation occurs the City will work with residents and other property owners to adopt a zoning code specific for the High Pines / Ponce-Davis neighborhood containing the basic zoning requirements from the County Code. Zoning and uses that were permitted by the County Code will be legal in Coral Gables. Both the County and City are governed by the same Florida Building Code
You mean the happy endings may go away??? Forget it … I’m against annexation!
OOPS, I forgot to mention that your financial argument is absolutely baseless. Do you know that the County will not allow the City to only take one of the areas. It is either both or NONE. Whatever monies are spent on Little Gables would be more than covered by the tax increase from the other area. NO need to scare the residents with that argument.
Dear Mike, oops, Saul,
Your points are lazy and uninformed. Nothing makes more sense that NOT continuing the status quo, NOT allowing the neighboring trailer park and motels to breed human trafficking, prostitution and drug sales. We have seen how the county has NOT dealt with these issues. The City of Coral Gables has an opportunity to go to bat for north Gables residents by enforcing our motel ordinances and continuing negotiations with the trailer park to eventually find new and better uses.
I would rather see the Gables own, and solve, these problems instead of depending on the inept county to do so. The crime issues are at our front door.
By turning your back on annexation you are allowing these serious problems to remain.
Leadership requires vision, not fear.
I want to correct the record: The vote to annex High Pines passed unanimously, but Little Gables was (3-2) with Mena and Quesada opposing. So it is not a “done deal”….
Obviously, I am against the annexation of Little Gables and it seems like you are making my points for me…..
1) We cannot just take the hourly hotel’s license away (to do so would be a taking) and there is no incentive for them to change their use as they would have done that already. As you know, Miami-Dade’s development/business use code is WAY more lenient than CG.
2) The trailer park Seller wants a ton of money. Again Seller does not care to change the use because as you know, Miami-Dade’s development code is WAY more lenient than CG. You can go higher, more density, etc. If he wanted to do something there he would have done it. Once annexed the residents of CG are going to have to live with that.
3) One thing is when the County cannot do it another thing is ALWAYS being responsible. We are forced to hire more emergency services and as a result we (the residents of Coral Gables) are going to foot the bill! That trailer park is a high crime area!
4) I do not believe anyone in the City and annexing Little Gables is not good for us….This will run a deficit as the City’s assumes that the properties will sell and get reassessed, but if they do not sell then we are going to get stuck with the bill.
5) As a resident of Coral Gables I need to do what is right for CG. This has nothing to do with the color of anyone’s skin as you are insinuating. We are the best City in Dade County (by far) and we should keep it that way. Should we annex the whole county to give them them all the benefits of being part of the City of CG? I do not care about the cutout. Let little Gables become the City of Miami’s problem.
“Could have” etc. You are making a lot of assumptions with the whole homestead thing…..
The trailer park is not good for coral gables in any way. It’s great for them, but not for the residents.
Another biased piece! Very excited to have the trailer park, a self storage, and hourly hotels be featured as an amenities for Coral Gables residents! GUESS WHAT …..YOU CANNOT REVOKE THEIR LICENSE. This article fails to mention that police and fire only go when Miami-dade cannot. If we annex we are responsible for EVERY call and those super low property values will not cover the deficits. All you mention is some alleged fraud that you cannot substantiate as you know he made all payments and reparations.
Saul, these things already affect the quality of life in Coral Gables. You have an hourly hotel with possible human trafficking issues a stone’s throw away. Bringing it into Coral Gables fold will make that establishment illegal. And the trailer park. Sure, uses will be grandfathered in. But there will be incentives for those properties to reinvent themselves.
As far as “when Miami-Dade cannot”… that is all the time. Miami-Dade does not actively patrol the area at all. And they can’t reach it as fast as the Gables so the Gables responds pretty regularly.
The deficit is for the first couple of years. The city manager explained that after that, the city will be getting enough in taxes to pay for the services.
Furthermore, it is indecent to bring in High Pines and not bring in Little Gables. Like the white people of the South are okay but the brown people of the North must stay as outsiders. This area will eventually be either Miami or Coral Gables. It will not remain Miami-Dade. Would you really prefer to have a square cut out of the city’s grid and have it controlled by Miami?
Love, Ladra
PS: The Homestead exemption fraud is pretty well documented. He paid the penalties in January, after he filed to run for office. That means that he could have continued cheating the county out of taxes if he had not. Still fraud. Even if he paid the penalty.
Maria C Cruz I agree with you! Mr. Fors bringing up a non-issue when he has many issues himself. Actually this is something that is GOOD FOR CORAL GABLES and families in North Gables.
1. Police Chief Hudak Says it’s good for Little Gables AND CORAL GABLES. I trust our Chief.
2. Have you seen the map? Are we going to allow City of Miami to take over a square within our city boundary? Maybe they want to allow more happy ending motels and 25 cent vibrating bed industry. In a time were Me Too and women’s rights are so important. This is the single most important reason for me.
Rebecca Sosa has always been one the best Commissioners Miami Dade has ever had, anyone that says different has not been watching the actions of the entire board.
Just Ask Her Why She discriminates The independent limousines , And Allow Uber and Lyft Unlimited # of Vehicles W/O Commercial Insurance , or Regulations and while at it Why She Sponsor a Vote to Allow Taxis 15 Year permits ? Could Have Been Their Contributions ?
The Rebeca Sosa Name continues to Show in All the bad things in this County ? Do Coral Gables Want The Discriminating County BCC to Manipulate Their City ?
Why isn’t the State Attorneys Office already charging him with Homestead Fraud? I believe the County even had a task force to deal with that.
Thank you, Ladra for discussing the real issue about annexation. The residents of Coral Gables trust our Police Chief and he has supported annexing Little Gables! He has publicly said so in numerous occasions. He has clearly said that we need to do it to better protect our boundaries. But, there is a big issue, the motel owners who are able to rent by the hour will not be able to continue doing so. They will not be able to make easy money. Their greed at the expense of the surrounding community could be influencing this election. Someone needs to check who represents them, who lobbies for them……
An additional issue could be to change the topic! If you have admitted wrongdoing by paying a hefty fine for homestead exemption violations, you need to have something else to talk about. Fear tactics may be a way to achieve that goal. Of course, Mr Fors may be underestimating our voters!