Courthouse clean bill of health begs questions, investigation

Courthouse clean bill of health begs questions, investigation

Well, well, well. It appears that there is no huge, life-endangering emergency at the downtown Miami-Dade Civil Courthouse after all. You know… the health and safety hazards like mold and crumbling columns that lawyers and judges told us were killing them slowly day by day or quickly any day now. They lied. The county’s assessment […]

Raquel Regalado hints louder on 2016 mayoral run

Raquel Regalado hints louder on 2016 mayoral run

In what seems like the natural response to a growing organic momentum, Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado gave a strong indication Monday on Miami’s increasingly influencing Gray Zone radio program that she would run for county mayor against incumbent Mayor Carlos “Cry Wolf” Gimenez in 2016. While she officially repeated that she is looking […]

New twitter handle pushes Raquel Regalado to run for mayor

New twitter handle pushes Raquel Regalado to run for mayor

Run, Raquel! Run! That’s the sentiment among many political observers, junkies and activists in the 305 — and probably thousands of voters — about Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado, whose profile has risen sharply in the last few weeks but says she is undecided about running for mayor of Miami-Dade. Her recent victory over […]

Get in line! List of 2016 would-be mayoral challengers grows

Get in line! List of 2016 would-be mayoral challengers grows

Tuesday’s election isn’t even over and many political observes, pundits, junkies, consultants and potential candidates are already sorta looking further into the future — as in November 2016. Everybody’s talking about who might run against Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos “Cry Wolf” Gimenez, who thinks he’s got it in the bag and really needs to be taught a lesson. And […]

Courthouse tax debate: Scare tactics vs. common sense

Courthouse tax debate: Scare tactics vs. common sense

I’m surprised it’s not in a mailer already, but look for one in which proponents of the new courthouse tax on the ballot Nov. 4 say the building is unsafe because of the asbestos. That’s one of the arguments made by former U.S. Attorney Roberto Martinez, who went on This Week in South Florida earlier […]

Black Dems joins Raquel Regalado as courthouse tax critics

Black Dems joins Raquel Regalado as courthouse tax critics

There’s a real debate going on about the $393-million that rich, big wig lawyers want to get from your taxpayer dollars for a brand new, shiny 600,000 square foot courthouse that is bigger than what we need in the heart of downtown. We have Miami-Dade School Board Member Raquel Regalado to thank for that. In […]

Courthouse bond ‘blank check’ is an injustice to voters

Courthouse bond ‘blank check’ is an injustice to voters

Don’t let the proponents of the bond referendum for a new civil courthouse fool you: This is not about Cielito Lindo. The question that commissioners voted to put before voters on Nov. 4 is not about raising taxes to restore the historic downtown courthouse to its rightful glory. It is not about the health of […]

Political Pics of the Week: Freedom and Food and Wine

Political Pics of the Week: Freedom and Food and Wine

The uber cool South Beach Food and Wine Festival in Miami Beach competed over the weekend with a couple of Freedom rallies — events that are always a big political draw in the 305. As some electeds joined both the Venezuelan and the Cuban communities to draw attention to the abuses in both dictatorships, others […]

Political pics of the week: More toy drives, holiday greetings

Political pics of the week: More toy drives, holiday greetings

The days between Christmas and New Year’s typically make for a slow week in politics and government. So, there were fewer public events and photo ops than usual, so our new “Political pics of the week” segment — where we take a look at what our electeds did via visual images — is short, but […]