It’s not a huge surprise that the Wawa gas station and convenience store planned across the street from G.W. Carver Elementary was the focal point of a Coral Gables candidate forum Thursday night organized by a coalition of parent-teacher associations.
And Ladra imagines that nobody’s answers satisfied the group of concerned parents and residents who have sued to stop the development.
Almost all the candidates at the forum — hosted by Gables Insider with the PTAs and PTSAs of Coral Gables High, Ponce de Leon Middle School and GW Carver Elementary — seem to have surrendered to the WaWa coming. They suggest making the most out of it with free water and tree relocation.
Only a couple said they would aim to reverse the decision.
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“Everything is possible,” said Mayra Joli, the crazy nodding lady from the Donald Trump town hall in Miami, a long shot candidate in the Group 2 race. “We have the power to stop it and we will.
“If I’m commissioner, I’d rather be sued by the developers than be sued by the residents.”
A group of concerned parents and residents have formed the non-profit Gables Accountability Project and sued the city to stop the construction of the WaWa, approved via a secret legal settlement reached with the developer, the Lola B. Walkers Homeowners Association and the county, which had donated the land for affordable housing. They say the city broke its own rules about public notice to fast-track the development.
Attorney David Winker, a sort of legal super hero, is representing them in what the city called a frivolous lawsuit. Yeah, right. So frivolous that they then turned around and hired Holland & Knight attorneys to defend them from this frivolous lawsuit.
There are 1,492 signatures against it on a Change.org petition.
Both Vice Mayor Vince Lago and Commissioner Pat Keon looked like they would rather be anywhere else than talking about the WaWa development — because they were there when it was approved in 2015. They could have taken responsibility and said they were wrong and would readdress it… but… nooooooo.
“The WaWa project is most likely to go forward,” Keon said, seeming almost happy, like the cat that ate the canary. Then she tried to give parents a science lesson. And Ladra is pretty sure she rolled her eyes.
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“I think we need to understand how highly regulated gas stations are. It is highly unlikely that there will be fumes or anything toxic in the area that will affect the school across the street,” she said, adding that crosswalk concerns can be addressed with the county.
Keon — who likes to say she is a nurse though she hasn’t practiced medicine in a long time — must have forgotten the Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control recommendations that gas stations be built more than 1,000 feet from schools and playgrounds. The WaWa’s six pumps will be about 300 feet from the drop-off/pick-up point for Carver kids.
Lago, who is Ladra’s choice, was not much better, trying to distance himself from the project. “In 2003 is when this started,” he said, adding that the zoning change from residential to commercial — to allow for mixed use and a community center — was in 2008. And that he was elected in 2013.
Oh, but wait. He is trying hard to save five oak trees on the property that WaWa apparently needs to uproot. He met with their attorney just this past week to find a way — “at a minimum” — to save or relocate the trees.
Trees? He’s trying to save five trees?
Read related: WaWa Whaaaat? Coral Gables to get a gas station across elementary school
Ladra knows Lago is super green — his house runs 100% on solar and he has a bunch of trash-reducing legislation — but this seems like a slap in the face to the parents, teachers and residents who think that this corner in a historic district across from an elementary school is not where a WaWa that sells cigarettes, beer and junk food belongs.
Besides, he was in office when the settlement was reached in 2015.
Only perennial candidate Jackson “Rip” Holmes ripped the proposal. “The WaWa thing is bad. I support the lawsuit against it,” he said, adding that it would be better for the city to do nothing with the land and sit on it.
Holmes might do better than he ever has this year.
Most of the commission candidates chose to make lemonade rather than throw the lemons back.
“I think it’s detrimental but unfortunately it’s done and I don’t know how it can be reversed,” said Jose Valdes-Fauli, the brother’s mayor, adding that the money it generates should go back into the city.
Tania Cruz-Gimenez, the daughter in law of the congressman, said that as a lawyer she understands “you’re not going to undo a settlement.” But because the ground hasn’t broken yet, there’s time to negotiate details to make it less, um, er, terrible.
“Then let’s learn from this lesson so it doesn’t happen again,” she said.
Read related: Coral Gables candidates forum has no surprises, no sass — no standouts
Candidate Claudia Miro, a county employee and single mom who was president of the Miami-Dade Republican Women’s Club Federated, was one of several candidates who suggested the city enter into a partnership with WaWa so they, say, donate water for the school’s field days or “soil and seeds” for a vegetable garden.
Rhonda Anderson, who is also an attorney, said she would work to add crosswalks and other traffic calming devices to mitigate the impact on the school “I wish I could tell you that I can make a gas station go away, because that would not have been my choice,” she said.
In the Group 3 race, only Javier Baños — the Joe Carollo protegé — said he would work to reverse the 2015 decision. “We should go back and request that this settlement be undone and start from the beginning,” he said.
Both Alex Bucelo and Kirk Menendez want to “form a partnership” and “build that bridge,” respectively, between the WaWa and the school community. As if opening a dialogue would fix things.
Phillip “PJ” Mitchell did not participate in the forum. And he wasn’t missed.
There wasn’t much else to the forum. Rip knows former Gov. Charlie Christ. Keon rambled on about being a Tree City U.S.A and how that helps with oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. Kirk Menendez wants to expand the radius of the electric Freebie.
And we confirmed again that Alexander Haq actually exists. Or was that one of the kids from Gables High?
The forum can be seen on the Gables Insider Facebook page.
Coral Gables candidates focus on WaWa gas station settlement in schools forum added by Ladra on
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” It’s important to add, that the rush hour traffic , crossing Dixie, is bumper to bumper, at a snail pace.”
About 3 years ago I spoke to an FPL supervisor about the rolling brown outs which happen here in Doral when summer starts .
He told me Doral has exceeded the amount of people it is legally zoned to have and by a substantial amount .
I work at night so avoid it all , in fact going to now sleep for 12 hours , lol but the 3 weeks a year I work during the day the traffic here is just one big parking lot .
Coral Gables made a deal to move a maintenance depot for its popular trolley bus one block outside its city limits , Miami Herald 2012 , and that’s on the same stretch of road, Main Hwy, as this new commercial property. It’s important to add, that the rush hour traffic , crossing Dixie, is bumper to bumper, at a snail pace.
I was able to keep up with the first graders asking their staged questions until it devolved to “do you support planting trees” and “do you do you support electric vehicles”.. OK I get it. it’s a middle school PTSA thing
But
At this point I am going with the Rip-Tonya-Jolie ticket. They will be wildly entertaining atvCommisioner meetings, yes, some are nuts and all are totally transparent Sort of wisdom of the crowd governance..IMO couldn’t do any worse than a group that was so desperate to exclude black residents from the city thought a 24- hour convenient store/ gas station next to a little kids school would be preferable
Thank you Ladra.
The article, is thoroughly informative as I had no idea how “they” came up with the idea of putting a Wawa not just across an almost historical school in a definitely historical neighborhood, but right smack in one of the most complicated intersections which I know, having been guilty myself of flouting the law to get through it.
But more than that it gave me peace of mind as I had not decided who among the candidates is best suited or less unsuited for the leadership Coral Gables next April.
Thanks a bunch.
Andres
Indictments. People should go to jail! What happened to the promised (and needed) affordable housing? Follow the money!
Ladra:
The real lesson for us is how the city yet again avoided addressing resident concerns in approving this project. Forget about the merits. Focus on whether we residents are going to continue allowing elected and unelected city officials to ignore or work around city rules on public notice and steal from us our right to participate in how we are governed. We residents have the absolute right to have a say in how our city operates and a fair opportunity to influence the debate.
And I do not know if any of these forum participants really support that. Ms. Keon and Mr. Lago held office during much of the development of this project, meaning they own it and the fumes surrounding it (pun intended). I have not heard the other candidates discuss open government in our city. And it is “our city”. None of the residents running for office get more of a say over it than those of us not running for office.
This forum sounds like it was a tremendous disappointment. From the report above, only Ms. Cruz-Gimenez said we should “learn from this lesson so it doesn’t happen again”. Everyone else wants to sue or make lemonade.
But you can’t make lemonade from a turd, and, project merits aside, the city and two of these candidates shat on residents by denying us our right to meaningfully participate in and be fairly heard on an important public issue. Due process is the very foundation of our country, but one living in Coral Gables wouldn’t know it from the way this and several other city actions, projects and initiatives have come together over the years.
Only tyrants slam City Hall’s doors in the faces of the governed. Don’t dangle free water, trees and vegetable gardens as a way to heal this wound. Why not just tell us to “eat cake”. That worked so well for Marie Antoinette. Sic semper tyrannis.
Jackson “Rip” Holmes is the best candidate because he truly cares about City Beautiful. Folks he is the only candidate with no strings attached to him.
Let’s get behind him. Everybody else is all talk, including Ladra’s choice Lago. Lago has ties with the City of Miami. He got elected as Gables Commissioner in the same manner that Javier Baños is trying to get elected. Lago’s brother was an aide to Francis Suarez when he was a Miami City Commissioner. Vince got Suarez and Sarnoff to assist him with fundraising efforts back then. Marcelo Llorente also fundraised for him.
Ladra- the Truth always matter. Do you agree?
No mention that Tanya was simultaneously on the Zoom debate from the backyard patio of someone holding a fundraiser for her. I watched as she was double dipping her time even before the election. So early in the game to show us that her priorities are all about the $$ and not taking this forum seriously.
You’re right about Rip. Never considered before this debate.
Also, I had to turn the volume down each time Ms. Jolie spoke. She was spicy and watching the other candidates holding back their smiles was worth the watch.