The city of Coral Gables wants to terminate the lease with Fritz & Franz Bierhaus — a German restaurant that has become very popular, especially for soccer games — but has given the owner three weeks to come up with a proposal at market value rent so he can stay. This is the restaurant where […]
Coral Gables City Manager Peter Iglesias can count. Only because he knows he has three votes, can the manager lash out at Commissioner Ariel Fernandez like he did at Tuesday’s city commission meeting. Se puso feo. “You are the most disrespectful person,” the manager told him. They were talking about the lease at Fritz & […]
After several hours of discussion and passionate public comment, the city of Miami Commission deferred making a decision on the repeal of the ordinances that allow LED billboards on city parks and a moratorium on approving any such signage for 30 days while new rules are adopted. Basically, they passed the buck to the state, […]
Miami-Dade County has never been better positioned. That was the message sent by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava at her fourth (and, perhaps, final) State of the County address Wednesday. “The state of the county is strong,” Levine Cava said to a packed house at Zoo Miami after the district Commissioner Kionne McGhee and Commission Chair […]
A steam cleaner, a lint roller, pots and pans, three sets of silverware, Celsius fitness drinks. These are just some of the possibly questionable expenses that Coral Gables taxpayers are on the hook for when the city pays the bills on the purchase cards for a number of employees. And nobody would be the wiser […]
The city of Coral Gables could join other municipalities in a lawsuit against the state to overturn legislation passed last year that requires municipal electeds to submit a more detailed financial disclosure document known as Form 6. It’s a war against transparency. Currently, city commissioners have to file Form 1, which has far less information […]
Seems that former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla doesn’t have enough to worry about with the felony charges against him for money laundering, bribery, unlawful compensation and criminal conspiracy. He’s also trying to get his childhood house back from the bank. The five-bedroom Little Havana house where Diaz de la Portilla and his […]
First to burn: City Attorney Tricky Vicky Mendez Ladra is still reeling from the last Miami City Commission meeting. So much torture and pleasure at the same time. So much happened in a span of eight and a half hours. Forgive the tardiness, but we’re still shellshocked over here. And there’s already another promising meeting […]
For weeks, maybe months, Miami City Attorney Victoria Mendez has boasted that she has the three votes she needs to keep her job. But that may have changed recently. A source at City Hall says Tricky Vicky can read the writing on the wall and will likely announce her retirement, effective in April, at the […]
Rumors of Manolo Reyes’ impending death are vastly exaggerated. The Miami commissioner was diagnosed with leukemia last year, but has apparently responded well to treatment and is on the mend. And – after what he’s seen the city go through in the last couple of months — he’s also on a transparency and accountability tear. […]