Carlos Gimenez finds hidden millions — yet again — at budget crunch time

Carlos Gimenez finds hidden millions — yet again — at budget crunch time

Well, what do you know? Pushed into a corner by a majority of Miami-Dade County commissioners and an army of activists and angry residents to restore the funding cuts he proposed for transit services (bus routes and Metrorail hours), Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez suddenly found at least $16.2 million we didn’t have before. More found […]

The Cortadito Calendar for President’s Day week

The Cortadito Calendar for President’s Day week

February is the short month. And it is almost over already. Key word: Almost. Because first, there are a few more poltical events for the Cortadito Calendar: A town hall without an elected, a film screening, a fundraiser, a party to open a shiny new police station, another moratorium on medical marijuana, more talk about […]

Miami-Dade Policy Council’s first meeting: transit, courts, jails

Miami-Dade Policy Council’s first meeting: transit, courts, jails

After Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban Bovo became the board’s chairman in December, he created the Chairman’s Policy Council, a new sort of super committee to take up the most important issues the county faces in the next two to four years — including the renovation of the historic downtown civil courthouse, which was once a $400-million […]

Tight race for commission chair: Xavier Suarez vs Stevie Bovo

Tight race for commission chair: Xavier Suarez vs Stevie Bovo

County Hall is abuzz with speculation about who will become the chair of the Miami-Dade Commission for the next two years. But the only thing that is certain right now is that it won’t be unanimous, like it was in 2014 when the commission showed a unified body behind today’s Chairman Jean Monestime. In a very […]

County Denver trip foreshadows big transportation project

County Denver trip foreshadows big transportation project

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, Commissioner Esteban Bovo, Bruno Barreiro, Dennis Moss and Jean Monestime, plus at least seven other county officials, including Deputy Mayor Ed Marquez and the newly-appointed Transit Director Alice Bravo (more on her later), are heading to Denver next week for a three-day transportation field trip. They will meet with local political […]

Miami-Dade to pay $10 mil for transit grants, firing

Miami-Dade to pay $10 mil for transit grants, firing

It’s not bad enough that Miami-Dade got caught lying to the federal government to get somewhere around $6 million in transit grants that we apparently didn’t use right and now Uncle Sam is demanding we pay back. It gets worse: Some honcho at County Hall had the gall to fire the eagle eye employee who […]

Stevie Bovo talks tough on transit, floats bed tax for projects

Stevie Bovo talks tough on transit, floats bed tax for projects

It was buried in a longish speech about how the new transit and mobility services committee can identify new sources of revenue to pay for the needed transit issues that they are finally paying attention to, but somewhere between Commissioner Esteban “Stevie” Bovo going to Tallahassee to see if MDX funds can be applied to […]