Although the election isn’t until February, the buzz about who’s running for mayor and who’s not is getting louder and louder every week.
Let’s see the latest: Mark Lago wants to be your mayor and so does Bruce Baldwin and Lina Sierra. Jumping on- board is Mary Scott Russell and my bud, Horace Feliu both of whom just filed to run for mayor.
And of course, there could be the spoiler in this race, the current Mayor Phil Stoddard, who we have reported numerous times has termed out, BUT, we went back and took a look at the ordinance, and it sure looks like Mayor Phil could serve one more 2-year term.
Now, that would be something else, wouldn’t it? Hmm.
So, let’s see, Commissioner Walter Harris headed up a “secret meeting at a public park,” and a small group of semi-active residents got together to form what appears to be a coalition of “how can we get our candidates, whomever they might be, elected?”
So you gotta imagine this: Walter had been told by the top guys at city hall that he could not hold an election campaign event on city property, but he didn’t care about that and did it anyway, under the cover of darkness, hence the new phrase “PARK IN THE DARK.”
But you gotta give credit for his ingenuity, as he now claims that the meeting was actually held on the sidewalk and the swale at Dante Fascell Park and was not actually in the park itself. OMG, are you kidding me?
Moving forward, the next meeting was moved to some guy’s home on SW 62 Ct and magically people came from all over town, from over here and from over there and from way, way over yonder to participate in this 62nd Court “election get together.” After the massive crowd filled the street outside the 62nd Court home, they were corralled into the back yard and so then there were the dozen (or so) that are going to overthrow the city government. As they stood in the back yard creating their secret sauces, one by one they heard a buzz coming from the sky right above them. And Viola, there it was, a drone-yup a drone-recording them as they planned their takeover of city hall, Yup, it’s true, how funny is that? And I’ve seen the video and it’s amazingly clear. So, there ya are. Another day in the city of Pleasant Living!
Let’s see what else: looks like there are some folks that are ready to take on Commissioner Bob Welsh, because, as what has been told to me, some folks feel as though he became a developers’ dream commissioner. Furthermore, I’ve been told the greenies of the city feel betrayed by Bob. Frankly I don’t get it, but be that as it may, let’s see if the anti-growth, not in my back yard voters have the muscle to throw Bob out and install their own new anti-growth person.
BTW, can’t wait to see if the northwest of Sunset Drive and SW 62 Ave will blossom into a really large vegetable garden brought to you by the South Miami Hospital and the great folks at Baptist Health. Yup, that seems to be a really, really strong possibility and also that the process to bring that to fruition could begin relatively soon. Pretty neat idea, huh?
Been hanging out at Casa Cuba and with so many political candidates from all over wanting to get some face time, they’ve been showing up in droves.
Here’s just a small spattering of what’s going on over there and it should be noted they were not sitting with each other:
Ran into former Congressman Carlos Curbelo, County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, State Senator Annette Taddeo, former State Rep Robert Ascencio, South Miami Commissioner Lou Gil, Real estate developer Wayne Rosen, Dusty Melton, Al Lorenzo, Jose Luis Castillo, Miami Dade County Commissioner Xavier Suarez, Levi Meyer, Andy Korge and at one point or another at least a dozen of South Miami Finest, including the Chief Rene Landa. And oh, yes, saw Horace Feliu and Commissioner Josh Liebman chowing down at separate tables.
Got any tips? Contact me at 305-669-7355, ext 2249, or send emails to michael@communitynewspapers.com
