The whole ugly episode last week with the public removal of Claudia Miro from the Coral Gables planning and zoning advisory board because of some bogus attendance issue could really be about stacking the citizen committee with yes men or developer-friendly members.
That could be why Mayor Vince Lago sent Miro a series of angry messages after the July 12 P&Z meeting — and even subtly referenced her livelihood.
“I just heard what happened at the PZAB board. To say that I am disappointed is an understatement,” Lago began. “Congratulations! I only wish you knew what you just did.”
What she did was vote for someone other than former Commissioner Wayne “Chip” Withers, who is apparently the swing vote that Lago needs to keep his developer friends happy. And it apparently got her removed from the board by Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, who said Miro missed too many meetings of the most important board in the city. Records show that Miro missed seven meetings, but only three were unexcused. She was present at 14 meetings.
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In a public scathing email, Anderson said she warned Miro about her absences, indicating that perhaps being a single mom made it too difficult to serve. Miro said in an email response to Anderson that she was never warned.
Withers scoffs at the notion that he is developer friendly. Or that he is helping to stack the P&Z board. And while he is as fine an addition as Javier Salman, who Miro did vote for, Withers — who had been serving on the board for the past four years as former Commissioner Jorge Fors‘ appointment — could not tell Ladra who asked him in May or June if he would be willing to continue serving as the board’s appointment. Maybe it was the city manager. Maybe Mayor Lago was there. He doesn’t recall.
He told Ladra he was interested in serving to keep development from encroaching into adjacent residential neighborhoods, something he had seen happening in recent years. And he doesn’t care if Miro was pushed out because of her vote for someone else.
“Whether she was singled out or not, a commissioner has the right to appoint who they want and to remove who they want,” said Withers, who has only missed one meeting in the last two years.
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But that doesn’t explain why Lago was sooooo emotionally invested.
“I don’t trust you,” he texts Miro sometime after 9:30 p.m. on that Wednesday night. Miro swore she had no idea he wanted her to vote another way and said Salman was a family friend to whom she had committed her support long ago. Lago didn’t care.
“People make decisions and forget how they get to the dance,” he said, which suddenly makes us want to know how she got to the dance. Then he made some vague reference to her position as a lobbyist for the Freebee transportation service. Seemed a little like a veiled threat, mixing the two unrelated things. And it is the reason Miro won’t return my calls and texts, someone close to her told Ladra: The fear of political and professional retaliation. She could lose her job over this.
“So you are going to drag my business with Freebee into this because of [a] planning and zoning vote? You and I have never touched the subject of PZ. I will let you sleep on it,” Miro texted Lago that Wednesday night. “I know that you are upset but are also a fair person ad this is not a fair shake down. Let’s cool off and reconnect again I a few days. This is to like you at all. Have a good evening.”
“No need to sleep on it,” the mayor shot back. “You cut a deal and hurt the city. Best of luck! Don’t waste your time on me. You are on the win of side.”
Does he mean she is on the winning side?
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