Business owners, politicians, community leaders, hospitality workers, waitresses, bartenders, drag queens, seniors and the families of hundreds of service workers have come out against a Miami Beach ballot question that could rollback the last call for alcohol sales from 5 a.m. to 2 a.m. Opponents say there is no indication crime is worse in those […]
Miami Beach voters have a familiar straw ballot question to answer before Nov. 2: Do they want to ban alcohol sales in South Beach after 2 AM? It’s the same question voters solidly rejected in 2017, by a very comfortable 65% of the vote. Sort of a mandate. So why’s it coming back? That’s a […]
Despite issues with labor, blacks, he gets a key No. 2 post When Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy Morales said early last month that he was leaving the city for greener pastures, he claimed he didn’t have another job option. But Ladra and many others didn’t believe him. Nobody leaves a $306,000-a-year job with nothing […]
There doesn’t have to be a looming election for another mystery mailer to turn up in mailboxes in Miami Beach. This one, that landed last week, targets Mayor Dan Gelber and calls him a dictator for closing beaches and businesses for too long in response to the COVID19 pandemic. There’s even an image of Gelber […]
With less than two weeks left before qualifying, a third candidate has filed to run against Miami Beach Commissioner Ricky Arriola. Stephen Cohen, a real estate investor specializing in the South Beach luxury condo market, on Tuesday joined Raquel Pacheco, a retired soldier, business owner and PTA mom, and Jonathan Welsh, a healthcare marketing executive, in the race to unseat […]
Miami Beach commissioners could move Wednesday to put two bad ballot questions — that wold allow developers to have more height and density on their projects — on the November ballot. It’s really unbelievable that this would even be considered. It’s premature at best, giving in to special interest at worst. And it’s not just […]
Miami Beach Commissioner Ricky Arriola finally has not one, but two challengers. After months of flying solo and successfully scaring off one would-be opponent, the only incumbent commissioner seeking re-election has himself a race. Raquel Pacheco, a retired soldier, PTA mom and small business owner, and Jonathan Welsh, a PR and marketing executive at Care […]
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 […]
For the past three years, select electeds in Miami Beach have used a city non-profit to “provide assistance to worthy and qualified community needs and projects.” But it looks like a slush fund of special interest money to dole out for political favors and even votes. One Miami Beach, Inc., a 501c3 formed by resolution […]
Last week, Dan Gelber became the mayor of Miami Beach. This week, he is using his new political platform to back former Miami Beach Commissioner Deede Weithorn‘s bid for state rep in District 113. This is Gelber’s first endorsement since his victory Nov. 7, but with 82% of the vote, it probably won’t be his […]