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 […]
Leaked audio of a September Zoom call organized by former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine shows that current Mayor Dan Gelber offered developers and real estate investors an inside track to get their projects built — in exchange for contributions to a political action committee. You scratch my back, I’ll get your mixed-use mega complex […]
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 […]
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 […]
Former Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas — who lives pretty much secluded from politics, commenting now and then on Univision 23 but from afar — has come out of relative political obscurity to promote former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine‘s gubernatorial run. It is his first endorsement since Penelas left office in 2004. “Friends, On Monday, […]
Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine has been pushing for the Ocean Drive ban on alcohol sales past 2 a.m. since Memorial Day weekend, saying that this is the only way to curb the crime in that area. But the cops seem to disagree. Last week, the Miami Beach Police union joined other groups and business leaders […]
Voters in Miami Beach could change the character of the city’s most famous and celebrated street with a ban on outdoor alcohol sales after 2 a.m. if a referendum on the Nov. 7 ballot is passed. But they have no information from the city about the impact of such a measure — which would change the […]
Former Miami Beach City Commissioner Michael Góngora will confirm weeks of speculation and file Monday for the commission race in Group 3. Góngora was a commissioner from 2009 to 2013 in that seat before he ran for mayor in 2013 against Philip Levine. He also lost a race for Florida senate last year, but only because […]
Commissioner Michael Grieco was the first to file paperwork last week to run for the top dog seat after Mayor Philip Levine said he would not be seeking re-election. But you can bet he won’t be the last now that there’s no millionaire incumbent. Already there have been reports that former State Rep. and Senator Dan […]