The whole ugly episode last week with the public removal of Claudia Miro from the Coral Gables planning and zoning advisory board because of some bogus attendance issue could really be about stacking the citizen committee with yes men or developer-friendly members.
That could be why Mayor Vince Lago sent Miro a series of angry messages after the July 12 P&Z meeting — and even subtly referenced her livelihood.
“I just heard what happened at the PZAB board. To say that I am disappointed is an understatement,” Lago began. “Congratulations! I only wish you knew what you just did.”
What she did was vote for someone other than former Commissioner Wayne “Chip” Withers, who is apparently the swing vote that Lago needs to keep his developer friends happy. And it apparently got her removed from the board by Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, who said Miro missed too many meetings of the most important board in the city. Records show that Miro missed seven meetings, but only three were unexcused. She was present at 14 meetings.
Read related: Shake-up, power grab at Coral Gables P&Z board as Claudia Miro is ‘fired’
In a public scathing email, Anderson said she warned Miro about her absences, indicating that perhaps being a single mom made it too difficult to serve. Miro said in an email response to Anderson that she was never warned.
Withers scoffs at the notion that he is developer friendly. Or that he is helping to stack the P&Z board. And while he is as fine an addition as Javier Salman, who Miro did vote for, Withers — who had been serving on the board for the past four years as former Commissioner Jorge Fors‘ appointment — could not tell Ladra who asked him in May or June if he would be willing to continue serving as the board’s appointment. Maybe it was the city manager. Maybe Mayor Lago was there. He doesn’t recall.
He told Ladra he was interested in serving to keep development from encroaching into adjacent residential neighborhoods, something he had seen happening in recent years. And he doesn’t care if Miro was pushed out because of her vote for someone else.
“Whether she was singled out or not, a commissioner has the right to appoint who they want and to remove who they want,” said Withers, who has only missed one meeting in the last two years.
Read related: November vote in Coral Gables = a power play by bitter Mayor Vince Lago
But that doesn’t explain why Lago was sooooo emotionally invested.
“I don’t trust you,” he texts Miro sometime after 9:30 p.m. on that Wednesday night. Miro swore she had no idea he wanted her to vote another way and said Salman was a family friend to whom she had committed her support long ago. Lago didn’t care.
“People make decisions and forget how they get to the dance,” he said, which suddenly makes us want to know how she got to the dance. Then he made some vague reference to her position as a lobbyist for the Freebee transportation service. Seemed a little like a veiled threat, mixing the two unrelated things. And it is the reason Miro won’t return my calls and texts, someone close to her told Ladra: The fear of political and professional retaliation. She could lose her job over this.
“So you are going to drag my business with Freebee into this because of [a] planning and zoning vote? You and I have never touched the subject of PZ. I will let you sleep on it,” Miro texted Lago that Wednesday night. “I know that you are upset but are also a fair person ad this is not a fair shake down. Let’s cool off and reconnect again I a few days. This is to like you at all. Have a good evening.”
“No need to sleep on it,” the mayor shot back. “You cut a deal and hurt the city. Best of luck! Don’t waste your time on me. You are on the win of side.”
Does he mean she is on the winning side?
Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago blasted Claudia Miro via text after P&Z vote added by Ladra on
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[…] when she booted Claudia Miro, now in her second run for office, off the planning and zoning board because she didn’t vote how the mayor wanted? It seems that Rhonda has tied her trailer to Lago’s […]
[…] Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago blasted Claudia Miro via text after P&Z vote […]
[…] vote to put former Commissioner Wayne “Chip” Withers on the board, as Lago obviously wanted. He sent her a series of butt hurt text messages after her […]
[…] put former Commissioner Wayne “Chip” Withers on the board, as Lago obviously wanted. He sent her a series of butt hurt text messages after her […]
[…] Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago blasted Claudia Miro via text after P&Z vote […]
We attended Belen, and it doesn’t hurt to be in a good environment , where one pays attention to the work at hand, a nd enjoys that others demonstrate high expectations for you..Contrary to what one may expect from a regular order , the quality sought for its students, is docility, discipline follows in step
” Lago is not a Belen Alumni, for better or for worse.”
Lol
Ahhhh the controversial Jesuits who picked up arms and fought .
A little trivia the character Robert De Niro played in The Mission was loosely based on a real Jesuit who joined the Guarani but he was killed by them after an argument with their Chief .
The Jesuits were becoming defiant so they were stopped by 3,000 Spanish and Portuguese soldiers and hundred or so ” scouts ” who were from another tribe and enemy of the Guarani.
Jesuits taught the Guarani how to make bamboo cannons
‘The Mission’ – FULL MOVIE -1986 -Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons, & Liam Neeson.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vMf4Zw1LIw
Lago is not a Belen Alumni, for better or for worse.
Bill Withers marks a milestone in City Commission history.
” This is like a Mexican telenovela ”
Lol yes , a most fitting example .
This link is from 1998 and nothing has changed because we can not govern without corruption and drama .
”MIAMI’S SCANDALS LOOK BAD FOR CUBANS”
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/1998/06/07/miamis-scandals-look-bad-for-cubans/
Miro has always been a lobbyist even when she got a paycheck from the City of Miami as a staffer to disgraced Marc Sarnoff. Sarnoff hired her because she had a reputation to caving in to connected insiders. This text thread is more proof.
Who will STOP the CORRUPTION in ALL #OURCOUNTY ?
This is like a Mexican telenovela. All we need now is a priest, a wheelchair character that climbed Mount Everest; a silly little boy asking perfunctory questions and Vince as the unsatisfied leader politician, realizing that politics is a dog’s life without a dog’s decency.
As a long time resident of Coral Gables (I’ve lived in the same house for almost 21 years), let me tell you, Vince Lago is the best mayor we’ve had since Don Sleznick. Raul Valdez Fauli was the absolute pits, a wannabe dictator who did not answer to anyone. A total scumbag. Jim Cason was a totally useless “thing” whose only claim to fame was that he had had some desk or another on Cuban affairs in the government. Vince Lago responds to emails late into the night, and my experience has been that he does care about Coral Gables. I voted for him and would vote for him again.
On a totally selfish side… I welcome large developments in the downtown Coral Gables area, I like big and dense cities and Coral Gables is becoming something that I finally enjoy.
Thank you.
Not good news for Coral Gables.
Disagreements and conflicts are the foundation of a democracy. Does Ladra think that a monolithic, conflict absent, government is right ? If she does not, then why make news of a routine thing of government ? Unless it is to trash a political opponent. Then, Ladra is not a journalist anymore, but just another politician.
If the Coral Gables old guard would raise from their graves and see how the quiet city has become another banana republic municipality, just like people here refer to underdeveloped countries political life, they would go into shock.
How immature do you have to be to angry text dump as an adult. Is Lago a teenager from Belen or an adult Mayor of a city?
Lago continues to show his corrupt and insecure character on a regular basis. He is clearly in the developers pocket and us Coral Gables deserve better. I am hoping a new mayoral candidate presents themselves for the next election so we can vote him out
Vince Lago is SCUM
Great info. What is interesting is that Limp Lago is trying to run the City like a mob boss. Pure intimidation and manipulation of people. He is playing Rhonda like a fiddle. He sold to Rhonda that Claudia could be a future opponent and needed to be stopped. Rhonda fell for it and did Limp Lago’s dirty work to regain control of the PZ Board. He has to keep that money making business model going. Kapoor is out, can’t pay the $12k “rent” on 1424 Ponce. Limp Boy has to pay a mortgage or #1424Foreclosure.
How interesting! Mr Withers couldn’t remember who asked him in May or June if he wanted to stay as the Board’s appointment. More or less two months had passed and he couldn’t remember! When asked during the Commission’s discussion about a project that went to the P&Z no more than two years before he didn’t remember either! But, guess what? He remembered projects from over twenty years before!!!! Is this what is usually called “convenient amnesia.” Or could it be a simple case of not telling the truth?
The narrative spin continues. Will Miro share her texts with fellow board members (Kawalwerski and Pardo) where they violated Sunshine Laws as they clumsily colluded to stack the board? This was so apparent, that it continues to blow up in their faces and the clumsiness has spread to the commission dais, where the blow out is damaging Fernandez. Who else would her texts implicate?
Having read the entire text, it is evident that Lago has psychological issues. Anger management at a minimum. And probable corruption.