Billy Corben vs. ‘Shev’ Jones means nobody loses No, it’s not a joke. It’s not a gimmick for his podcast or a campaign stunt against Gov. Ron DeSantis. Billy Corben, the award-winning documentary filmmaker who is also a potent activist — especially in the city of Miami — and an acerbic observer and commentator on South Florida Politics, is really running to become the next chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, which is one of his favorite targets. Is he going to start blasting himself? Ladra wouldn’t put it past him. Corben may not seem at first blush like a likely candidate for leader ..read more

Residents can’t call board members, but lobbyist can Miami-Dade Commissioners deadlocked last week on a vote to deny a requested land use and zoning change for an assisted living facility to be built on a vacant lot in Killian where there are 12 duplexes currently approved. With two commissioners absent and Commissioner JC Bermudez recusing himself, the vote ended 5 to 5. Then they deadlocked on a vote to approve it. The item should have died right there, sending the developer and his team back to the drawing board to start anew. But after the two tie votes, Commissioner Rene Garcia made a mo ..read more

DEVELOPING BREAKING STORY: Christi Tasker, a two-time candidate for Miami Commission in District 2, was arrested last week after she allegedly interrupted a police traffic stop in her Brickell neighborhood. A video taken by an anonymous passerby shows she was forcibly taken to the ground before she was handcuffed. At one point, it looks like an officer placed a foot or a knee on her back. This incident may become a problem for police, who look like they may have overreached. Tasker, 48, was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest without violence. She screamed “Help me,” as she wa ..read more

The first Coral Gables commission meeting Tuesday after the required recall petitions for Mayor Vince Lago were submitted last week was long and a bit awkward for everybody. Ladra cringed a few times. Lago said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was investigating the recall effort and accused the new three amigos — Commissioners Melissa Castro, Ariel Fernandez and Kirk Menendez — of plotting against him to help the recall, which is being led by his old friend and the trio’s ally, activist Maria Cruz. He crowed about the internal purchace-card audit that, he said, showed no real inapprop ..read more

Miami City Commissioner Miguel Gabela wanted the city to stop payments to attorney Ben Kuehne in cases where he was representing former Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla in civil court. Kuehne is also Diaz de la Portilla’s attorney in his felony criminal case on money laundering, bribery and other public corruption charges. But before he could vote on a resolution he brought to the commission last week, he got news that ADLP had already replaced Kuehne with former Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi, who was charged with federal bribery and extortion charges himself, caught in an FBI ..read more

And Vince Lago hasn’t raised any PAC money in a year The establishment candidate propped up against Coral Gables Commissioner Kirk Menendez by the mayor and his cronies has not raised an extraordinary amount of money. Not even close to what was expected. At least that we know of. According to his campaign finance report, attorney Richard Lara — who announced at the February 27 commission meeting that he would challenge Menendez — reported $47,175 in contributions all in March. And while there are a lot of real estate and development interests listed in the occupation field, there are not a lo ..read more

Ed Hudak says city can be a ‘transfer portal’ for cops The city of Coral Gables and it’s police union might be headed to an agreement after the 38 vacancies were discussed during Tuesday’s commission meeting and the mayor and commissioners agreed that filling those positions and approving a contract were priorities. “The contract is obviously part of the issue,” Chief Ed Hudak said, citing other reasons, like officers who move for family reasons. There are 15 officers with applications to other departments, he confirmed. But Hudak has also pretty much given up on retention. “The way to recrui ..read more

For a second time in a month, a group of Killian residents will go to County Hall Tuesday morning to try to fight the proposed development of a two- and three-story, 216-bed assisted living facility with a 126-space underground parking garage in their mostly residential neighborhood. Miami-Dade Commissioners will consider changing the Comprehensive Development Master Plan and zoning for the vacant 1.6-acre lot on Southwest 122nd Street, just off the South Dade busway, and near Vineland Elementary School, from residential to commercial. More than 800 nearby residents have signed a petition sayi ..read more

Angelica Pacheco starts ‘Dime Hialeah’ YouTube series In advance of a state amendment on the ballot that could legalize recreational marijuana use in Florida, Hialeah Councilwoman Angelica Pacheco — who says the skunky scent of pot already permeates the City of Progress — wants to outlaw marijuana smoking in the city’s public places. But Mayor Esteban Bovo seems to think that’s unnecessary. “I don’t know what Hialeah you travel in, where there’s a stench of marijuana everywhere,” Bovo said at the April 9 meeting, where he wouldn’t even put the item on the agenda. So Pacheco traveled Hialeah f ..read more

After a somewhat ugly tussle between the Village of Palmetto Bay and the residents who live adjacent to a 2.5-acre parcel that each wanted to buy from Miami-Dade County, there seems to be the possibility of a compromise. “Have you had a conversation about splitting the baby,” asked Commissioner Raquel Regalado at a committee meeting last week where the Village was sent back to do just that. First a little background: The fight got tense earlier this month after County Commissioner Daniella Cohen Higgins proposed selling the surplus property — a Florida Power & Light easement that must rema ..read more