Nobody left happy from the Miami-Dade Commission meeting Tuesday where our electeds dealt with the county’s $6.2 billion budget for the first time as a whole. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez can’t be happy that all three of his recommended tax rates — for the general fund, the fire department and the libraries — were not rubber […]
Miami-Dade Commissioners have a choice today: They can allow Mayor Carlos “Cry Wolf” Gimenez to establish his legacy as the man who decimated our police department, libraries and public services while doling out millions in corporate giveaways. Or they can show what true leadership looks like and actually set a tentative increase in the property tax […]
While the Miami-Dade Commission considers firing 700 workers and slashing services and making employees sacrifice their benefits, the county spent close to $1 million this year on fancy new pavers for the parking lots at three county facilities. No, not libraries or neighborhood service agencies or cultural centers where hundreds of constituents come and go. These octagonal, terracotta-colored […]
At first blush, it may seem like a difficult decision. But it’s really a no brainer. Because the the circuit court race that pits former School Board Member and State Rep. Renier Diaz de la Portilla against Assistant City of Miami Attorney Veronica Xiques Diaz is really a choice between a promise and a puppet. Sure, Baby DLP can be […]
By BRANDON LARRABEE/THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDATHE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, July 11, 2014 — Members of Congress, candidates and political observers are grappling with the fallout of a judge’s Thursday ruling that two of the state’s congressional districts were illegally drawn for partisan reasons.Lawyers on Friday were preparing to ask Leon County Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis to move quickly to prescribe a remedy for the flawed map. Meanwhile, Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown […]
Former Congressman David “King Nine Lives” Rivera announced Friday that he would “suspend campaigning” that in the congressional primary for his old seat in District 26, and “launch” instead a campaign for a state House seat in 2016. But, while he was mincing words, Rivera told Ladra in a short telephone interview that he had […]
If (read: when) former Congressman David “King Nine Lives” Rivera drops out of the race for Congressional District 26 and runs, instead, for state House race in 2016, it may not be in District 105 where he lives, which is the seat now held by State Rep. Carlos Trujillo (R-Doral). Rivera could move to District 118, […]
UPDATED: As predicted by Ladra, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez announced this afternoon that Alex Ferro, the mayor’s director of external affairs, will take over as his chief of staff when Lisa Martinez leaves the first week of August. Ferro has been with Gimenez since he joined the 2011 recall campaign in the second round after his cousin, […]
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Mr. Givewaway” Gimenez and several commissioners believed that they were about to dole out $62 million Thursday in gifts — well, grants from the Building Better Communities general obligation bond — to fund small economic development projects for neighborhoods from Palmetto Bay to Opa-Locka. Among those projects, there was $18.5 million earmarked for […]
Awwwwww. Ain’t that sweet? Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Cry Wolf” Gimenez and Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz snuggled up with some cute little puppies Wednesday in Doral as they debuted the county’s new HOPE Mobile, which will travel around from place to place in an effort to drum up more pet adoptions. While we don’t know how […]