Company tied to hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions For at least five years, Miami-Dade County has been contracting out select bus routes and neighborhood circulators to a private company owned by prolific campaign contributors. Transportation America, which also goes by the names of Limousines of South Florida and Super Nice STS, has other contracts […]
Everybody wants something. While there may be a discussion Thursday, the Miami city commission vote on the Miami Freedom Park real estate giveaway is likely a ways off, as commissioners still have not had a chance yet to make their public asks (which are different from campaign contributions). And this will be the first public […]
Baby Brother is back at it. Renier Diaz de la Portilla, the youngest in the family’s political dynasty, is running for Miami-Dade County judge — again. RDLP filed paperwork Monday with the Miami-Dade Elections Department showing he opened a campaign account and designated himself as treasurer. He is currently challenging Fred Seraphin, the first Haitian-American […]
City takes over catering, event space May 2 DEVELOPING STORY: There’s no hearing this week. The city of Coral Gables apparently settled with Coral Grand, the operators of the Coral Gables Country Club, late Wednesday, on the eve of a three-hour evidentiary court hearing and a week after it moved to seize their property. The […]
After a short trip to Poland, where he visited with Ukrainian refugees and saw the relief efforts first-hand, Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz has created a process by which county employees can have a direct impact on the lives that have been uprooted by the war. It’s good to see electeds travel for a […]
Take if from former Miami Marlins President David Samson — because he knows a bad deal when he sees one. Samson is the narrator of a new mini documentary video about the Miami Freedom Park deal, a 99-year, no-bid lease of the city of Miami’s largest public park for a real estate complex of stores, […]
UPDATE: Someone stopped him. This was deferred indefinitely. Can you picture a Miami Dade Commission Museum? Wax versions of Commissioners Sally Heyman and Jose “Pepe” Diaz? Miami-Dade Commissioners on Tuesday could direct the mayor to come up with a plan to establish a museum about the 13-member single district commission and its history. A report […]
The historic Coral Gables Country Club is open for business as usual. For now, anyway. While the contents may have been “seized” Wednesday by a strange middle-of-the-night court order in the midst of a dispute between the city and the operators, there are fundraisers and birthday parties and galas planned through the end of the […]
Is there another no-bid deal for his wife’s friend? The Ultra Music Festival this year was a resounding success, according to all accounts. The city got much fewer complaints from downtown residents about the noise and trash left by the crowd of more than 150,000 people over a three-day weekend. The ingress and egress were […]
The long fight over the operation of the Coral Gables Country Club took a Draconian turn Wednesday when police arrived to evict the company that has leased the historic public property for more than a decade — and which has been at odds with the city over the terms (read: payments) for years. Employees and […]