There are eight referendum questions on the Miami Beach ballot, including two that are carefully camouflaged giveaways to rich millionaire developer friends of Mayor Dan Gelber. Even former Mayor Philip Levine — who was caught in a secret meeting with Gelber and developers trying to form a political action committee to turn South Beach into […]
Voters in Miami Beach will have to wait until November to vote for a person in the special election to fill the vacancy left by the sudden death of late Commissioner Mark Samuelian. And the really good questions, like what to do with the historic Deauville Hotel (more on that later) will be taken to […]
Most people were shocked when they learned that Miami Beach Commissioner Mark Samuelian died Wednesday. Mayor Dan Gelber announced the death late in the commission meeting, one of several recent meetings that Samuelian had missed, right before they took a 30 minute recess. “Mark was a brilliant and thoughtful man who cared deeply for our […]
Two ‘new’ commissioners the community already knows, and well Miami Beach voters chose two longtime City Hall regulars and resident advocates as commissioners in Tuesday’s runoff election — despite the deep pockets running against them. Former Miami Beach Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, who left in 2018 to run for Congress, is back in office with […]
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber won re-election easily Tuesday. Like Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, Gelber had basically no opposition. But instead of getting 80% of the vote, like Baby X did across the causeway, Gelber won with 62%, which is still a comfortable victory if not an overwhelming mandate. He also won on his pet […]
There are 16 people running for four seats in Miami Beach, but many of them are somewhat known to voters already. They include incumbent Mayor Dan Gelber and Commissioner Mark Samuelian, former Commissioner Kristin Gonzalez Rosen, who left her office to run for Congress, and repeat candidates Stephen Cohen, Blake Young, Raquel Pacheco, Michael “Mike […]
There won’t be a mayoral race but the three commission races in Miami Beach this November drew four candidates each for a total of 12 names on the ballot. You just know there’s going to be at least two runoffs. The only other incumbent is Group 5 Commissioner Ricky Arriola, who has drawn three solid […]
One incumbent already decided not to run for re-election. An activist and would-be challenger withdrew from another race within days. A former commissioner who resigned to run for Congress wants her seat back and a former State Rep wants to run for another. Oh, and then there’s the candidate who can’t keep it in his pants. […]
It looks like the fix was in after all. Political observers in Miami Beach have been saying for weeks that Joy Malakoff had the inside track to be appointed interim commissioner, replacing former Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, who was forced to resign mid-term to run for Congress. On Wednesday, Malakoff got it. At first, it […]
The Miami Beach commission will appoint someone later this month to fill the seat of Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, who was forced to resign when she ran for Congress by a Republican law aimed squarely at the Democrats in the race to replace U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. City commissioners should reject the GOP measure’s calculated retroactive effect […]