The Cortadito Calendar is back for month of May

The Cortadito Calendar is back for month of May

The Cortadito calendar is back in time for May. Yes, we missed the last couple of weeks in April but, other than the Gables runoff, nothing important was happening. Ladra needed some time off. This week, we resume with a few meetings and candidate events. But there must be more going on. Please make it […]

Mike Mena (read: developers) win Gables race, as expected

Mike Mena (read: developers) win Gables race, as expected

In their first run-off ever, Coral Gables voters on last week picked Mike Mena, a land use attorney who has never served on any city board or committee, over longtime activist Marlin Ebbert, a retired schoolteacher who was backed by the a group of residents irate about recent development decisions. It was 54 to 46 percent. […]

Frank Artiles resigns and an old rival, Juan Zapata, could run

Frank Artiles resigns and an old rival, Juan Zapata, could run

Could El Zorro come to the rescue again? One of the names being batted around for a special election to replace disgraced former Sen. Frank Artiles — who resigned Friday after making inappropriate and racist comments earlier in the week when speaking to a few colleagues — is his all-time rival and nemesis, former Miami-Dade […]

Frank Artiles resigns, but still needs to apologize to Hialeah

Frank Artiles resigns, but still needs to apologize to Hialeah

State Sen. Frank Artiles resigned Friday for having a racist rant earlier in the week, but only after it became increasingly clear that he had no other choice. Nothing was getting done in the final weeks of session was the capitol turned on Artiles’ words to his colleagues, including calling Senate President Joe Negron a […]

Frank Artiles must resign despite sorry-not-sorry apology

Frank Artiles must resign despite sorry-not-sorry apology

It didn’t take long for newly-minted Sen. Frank Artiles to misbehave now, did it? It shouldn’t take this long for him to resign. A known bully and hothead who punched a college kid in the face at a bar and who wants to kill a Florida black bear, Artiles was in the news again Tuesday […]

Michael Gongora raises $70K — but not from Club Madonna

Michael Gongora raises $70K — but not from Club Madonna

Former Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Góngora is getting a good head start on his bid to get his seat back, raising $70,000 (including a $20,000 loan to himself) for the Group 3 race in his first month. By comparison, the two others bidding for the open seat — because Commissioner Joy Malakoff doesn’t want to be […]

Dan Gelber raises mayoral money fast, and spends it fast

Dan Gelber raises mayoral money fast, and spends it fast

The mayoral race in Miami Beach is going to be expensive as both candidates have already raised almost $800,000 between them. Ladra fully expects this to go over the million dollar mark before the November election. Commissioner Michael Grieco — who loaned himself $25,000 in December — has raised the most with $459,367. To be fair, he […]

Six candidates vie for three seats in Miami Shores election

Six candidates vie for three seats in Miami Shores election

The next mayor of Miami Shores is the lucky one among six council candidates who gets the most votes Tuesday. That’s how they do it there in The Village Beautiful. Six wannabes vie for three “at large” seats. The two candidates with the highest number of votes will serve for four years and the one who […]

Michael Pizzi sued for post-bribery mayoral battle legal fees

Michael Pizzi sued for post-bribery mayoral battle legal fees

Former Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi is out of the limelight and out of politics, losing the mayoral election last November to Manny Cid. But he’s not out of the legal debt stemming from that elected office. Pizzi has been sued by Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, one of the lawfirms that represented him during […]

Ebbert, Mena head for runoff in Gables commission race

Ebbert, Mena head for runoff in Gables commission race

The four-way Coral Gables commission race becomes a two-way race as longtime activist and everybody’s favorite tia abuela Marlin Ebbert heads into a runoff with land use attorney with hipster facial hair Mike Mena. And Mena heads into it stronger, having garnered 44.5% of the vote Tuesday to Ebbert’s 33%. Retired Gables Police Sgt. Randy Hoff […]