Change could give Mayor Vince Lago an additional 20 months in office To increase participation and reduce costs, the Coral Gables Commission may move the city’s biannual elections from April to November. But the question is, will they start in 2024 or 2026? The earlier option, moving the April 2025 election to November 2024, means […]
Former Coral Gables Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick, a class act who was involved in many civic organizations and served as First Lady of the City Beautiful for 10 years, died Thursday evening after a long battle with cancer. She was 75. Slesnick, wife of former Mayor Don Slesnick (2001-2010), was first diagnosed with lymphoma in 2014 […]
Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago is a sore loser. Three months after the April election, in which his chosen slate lost to two independent commission candidates, Lago is still being petty and vindictive with the victors. This week, he cropped them out of the photo he posted on Twitter from the Fourth of July celebration […]
Newly-elected Coral Gables Commissioner Melissa Castro was so excited about her first commission meeting on Tuesday, nothing would faze her. Her car wouldn’t start, her heel got stuck in the elevator door, the Uber driver turned the wrong way and made her a few minutes late. But none of it mattered. She was so psyched […]
Coral Gables City Manager Peter Iglesias will live to see another day at City Hall. Iglesias survived an attempt to fire him driven by newly-elected Commissioner Ariel Fernandez, who said at Tuesday’s commission meeting that Iglesias was too secretive and rude to residents and was leading the city in the wrong direction. “The residents have […]
UPDATED: Well, that didn’t take long. True to his campaign talk, newly-elected Commissioner Ariel Fernandez has moved to dismiss City Manager Peter Iglesias. He has put a discussion on the May 9 commission agenda “regarding the termination of the city manager.” Fernandez, who won with nearly 60% of the vote, has had issues with the […]
Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago is not as popular as he thinks he is. There’s no doubt that these recent commission races were a referendum on his leadership. Even though he won re-election with no opposition, Lago worked hard to get his cronies elected. He called people and asked them to put signs in their […]
Newly-elected Coral Gables commissioners Melissa Castro and Ariel Fernandez were sworn in Friday during a short investiture ceremony where they repeated their commitment to put residents first. Oh, yeah, Mayor Vince Lago, who was re-elected without opposition, was also sworn in again. But he didn’t seem to have as happy a day. He seemed pouty […]
The upset was not a surprise. The margin was. Melissa Castro won the commission runoff race in Coral Gables Tuesday against the better funded, establishment backed Ivette Arango O’Doski by 18 points, 59% to 41%. That’s an even wider margin than the mandate given to Commissioner Elect Ariel Fernandez on April 11. “Residents are tired […]
Group 4 race heads to runoff between Ivette Arango and Melissa Castro The residents in Coral Gables won Tuesday after longtime activist Ariel Fernandez, publisher of Gables Insider, who ran on a “residents first” platform, was elected in the commission race in Group 5 with a fat, comfy, 16-point margin, 58% to 42%. Mayor Vince […]