So far, the major consequence of electing two new somewhat anti-establishment commissioners to the five-person Coral Gables Commission is that the Mayor of Coral Gables, their chief target, is acting kinda grumpy (or worse).  A motion to fire the City Manager (we have a weak-Mayor system, so the City Manager is the most powerful official in the City) failed 3-2. I lost confidence in the manager when I read about the secret attempt to put a Wawa and gas station across from Carver Elementary, and his intervention in a zoning application by a private developer.  After a long period of t ..read more

The final results from the Coral Gables Commission runoff election for Group IV are in, and it’s a more-than-1000 vote margin for Melissa Castro over Ivette Arango O’Doski. Given the paltry turnout of 17.54% that is a very decisive result. Thank you neighbors! In addition to being a personal win for Ms. Castro, this has to be seen as a significant defeat for Mayor Vince Lago, who organized a slate and large sums of money to support it in a losing effort for Groups IV and V. It remains to be seen how much of this vote was against developers, how much was against Lago himself, how much was agai ..read more

Local elections produce a lot of mailers, big colorful oversize cards with smiling candidates, often surrounded by family or carefully diverse constituents. Most of them fit one of two templates: The first type are boringly generic about how The Candidate loves Coral Gables, has lived/worked/dreamed of the City for eons, and will fight to “preserve” it or “protect” it from crime and other unnamed horrors.  They’re for trees (parks) and against high property taxes and red tape–even thought that’s Coral Gables’ middle name, and indeed strong zoning and competent and honest enforcement of pl ..read more

May I suggest a vote for Melissa Castro in the runoff election for the upcoming Coral Gables Commission election? The reasons haven’t changed from my earlier recommendation: although Ivette Arango O’Doski is the sort of youngish, smart, person it is good to see get involved in local politics, she’s running with, and bankrolled by, the wrong crowd–her supporters and backers are more pro-development than I feel comfortable with.  Plus, while the election in the first round of Ariel Fernandez to the seat in Group V is a blow to the attempt to create a pro-development Mayoral electoral and mo ..read more

All the votes are in!  Registered Voters: 33,002; Ballots Counted: 6,903; Voter Turnout: 20.92% Congratulations to Ariel Fernandez who is elected Commissioner in Group IV for a four-year term.  Let the fireworks begin? Ivette O’Doski led the pack in Group IV, but with 47.26% that is not quite enough to prevent a run-off election against Melissa Castro who–despite having a much smaller campaign budget–managed to get 39.43% of the vote (that’s just under 8% less than O’Doski).  There will be a runoff between the two on Tuesday, April 25, 2023.  So either way, there will be a ..read more

TL/DR: I’m voting for Melissa Castro in Group 4, and Ariel Fernandez in Group 5, in the upcoming Coral Gables Commission election. Please don’t forget to vote. Absentee ballots have dropped for the Coral Gables Commission election that is due to take place on Tuesday, April 11, 2023: Residents can vote early or drop off mail-in ballots at the Coral Gables War Memorial Youth Center, 405 University Drive, on April 1, April 2 and April 8 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. — or in person on Election Day at your assigned precinct. Three seats on the five-person commission are up this year, but one of the seat ..read more

Promoted to Ian from TD9, the soon-to-be category 3 (at least) storm has a new projected track. The current projection, still much subject to change,is significantly westward of Friday’s, now avoiding south Florida entirely, before making a now more-leisurely turn to the East, weakening a bit, and heading straight for Tallahassee. If Ian does hit Tallahassee, don’t hold your breath for claims from local divines that Ian is divine retribution for the recent actions of Gov. Evil and the state legislature.   The post Ian Recalibrates, Aims for Tallahassee appeared first on Discourse.net ..read more

It’s a cliched scene in old war movies: Sentries are looking out at the world from their fort or embankment, and saying, “It’s quiet out there. Too quiet.” Well, that’s what it felt like to South Florida this year as we looked at the weather maps. After meteorologists predicted a bumper crop of named hurricanes this year, what storms there have been acted as if Miami were dosed in super-hurricane repellent, with every storm that even looked as it it might come here, aiming elsewhere from an early stage–and staying that course. Seems now that the quiet might be over. While a five-day track is ..read more

Circuit Court Group 3: Line 91 Judge Lody Jean Group 20: Line 93 Judge Robert Watson Group 34: Line 95 Ariel Rodriguez Group 52: Line 96 (former) Judge Jason Bloch County Court Group 5: Line 99 re-elect Judge Fred Seraphin (this one is important!) Group 19: Line 101 Judge Jeffrey Kolokoff Group 42: Line 103 Judge Scott Janowitz If you’d like to know why I’m recommending these judicial candidates, see Voters’ Guide to Miami-Dade Ballot, Judicial Elections (Part 1: Circuit Court) and Voters’ Guide to the August 2022 Miami-Dade Ballot, Judicial Elections (Part 2: County Court) FWIW, in the School ..read more

Well, it wasn’t a debate.  For one thing, two candidates didn’t turn up.  In Group 2, Jose Valdes-Fauli was a last-minute no-show due to a medical emergency.  In Group 3, Kirk Menendez was a no-show … saying that he had an obligation with his son, which he was not able to get out of, although the moderators didn’t share this with us until right near the end; apparently they don’t check their email very often…. So the event was rebranded as an ‘informational session’ for an hour with each of the two remaining candidates (and the 120+ viewers). The moderators, Leon Kellner & S ..read more