Maybe Hialeah Mayor Carlos “Castro” Hernandez knew something Ladra didn’t. There was no showdown at County Hall this morning over the proposed maquinita ban that went pop, bing, fizz without any discussion whatsoever in a 4 to 7 vote. Hernandez — whose city is a safe haven for maquinitas, the owners of which donate tens […]
There could be another big gaming showdown in Miami-Dade Commission Chambers today. But it’s not about “big gaming” as in casinos and Disney and Genting and all of that mess. It’s a big showdown about little gaming. It’s about maquinitas. Yes, those blinking, twirling, beeping cash vacuums that have proliferated like acne — or something on a […]
Jeb Bush, Jr., is among nine people up for consideration as members of the prestigious and powerful (read: lucrative) Miami-Dade Expressway Authority board Wednesday by the Miami-Dade County Commission. What’s this 29-year-old son of the former governor know about transportation and urban planning? Well, Ladra would imagine it is the same as some other nominees, including Maritza Gutierrez, a marketing […]
While Coral Gables Mayor Jim Cason faces a real challenge from veteran City Commissioner Ralph Cabrera, the candidate making the biggest splash with cash in that April election is a new first-time runner vying for one of the two commissions seats. Vicente “Vince” Lago, a “project executive” for BDI Construction (read: developer), is the only one of eight candidates who has […]
Just because you got caught with your pants down around your cellphone and have to resign from office and apologize publicly to your wife, doesn’t mean you are down for the count. Politically, anyway. Former (read: disgraced) State Rep. Richard “Raunchy Richie” Steinberg is looking forward to 2016 and a run for his old seat […]
Oh, Ladra loves a parade! These processions of homage to a person, place or period of time are perfect stomping grounds for preening politicos who want to press flesh with the public. The 24th annual Martin Luther King Parade in Miami Monday was no different. Key to the scene were those city electeds who face the ballot […]
The spirited races in the city of Miami election just got a little more spiritual. Rev. Richard Dunn, a two-time former city commissioner, filed to run for District 5 on Thursday. “I just want to finish what I started,” he told Ladra Monday at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Parade. He wants to go back to the […]
Miami-Dade Commissioner Rebeca Sosa became more than just the first Hispanic woman to be named chairwoman of the board of county commissioners Friday. She became the first chair to bring both a sitting U.S. Senator and a Florida governor to her swearing in shindig. Talk about palanca. Even Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who vows to have […]
Ladra is beside herself. Part of the reason this watchdog needed that short sabbatical I took the past few weeks was because of the guilt I feel over having let down the people of Miami Lakes. Sure, I was licking my wounds. Some of “November is coming” came and rolled over me. I was also […]
Either Miami-Dade Commissioner Rebeca Sosa is really as close as she represents herself to be with U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio — who served on the West Miami City Commission when Sosa was mayor there — or she is the one with the good dirt on this high-flying cubanito with the hefty political clout. I mean, this onetime VP […]