The residents of Little Gables, an enclave of unincorporated Miami-Dade nestled in North Gables, are voting right now on whether or not they want to be part of the City Beautiful, paying taxes into Coral Gables and getting services — most importantly police and fire — from Coral Gables.
It came as a surprise to at least one city commissioner that those steps were already taking place — and that ballots — which apparently only have a “yes” option — have to be in by Oct. 9. There is a community meeting about it on Sept. 27 at the city’s new police and fire headquarters, 2151 Salzedo St.
Commissioner Ariel Fernandez was a guest on the Tomas Regalado weekend TV show, when the former Miami mayor asked him about the voting that is taking place. “It was the first I heard of it,” Fernandez said. “As a sitting commissioner, I was not aware the city was taking these steps.
“I don’t understand how ballots can go out without the commissioners knowing about it,” he said.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago may have conflict of interest in Little Gables
Fernandez told Ladra that City Manager Peter Iglesias — who, las malas lenguas say, is getting ready to leave (more on that later) — told him the steps were voted on and approved by the prior commission.
But he still will bring it up at the commission meeting Wednesday. “I want to know how much has been spent so far,” he said.
The city also has a new page on its website dedicated to explaining the annexation of both the Little Gables and High Pines/Ponce Davis, and while city officials may say it’s unbiased, the language tends to persuade towards annexation not against it. It’s like the city is making the case for annexation.
But of course the annexation is on the fast track. Let’s remember that the largest contiguous property there is the trailer park. And that the owner, Titan Development, hires Lago’s lobbyist brother to represent them in unincorporated Miami-Dade. He can do much more for Titan Development — which wants to build a “Moorish Village” — if the property were in Coral Gables, which would also be an automatic address upgrade.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago, con ganas, pushes annexations on fast track
It’s such a conflict of interest — and there is so much there — that Lago even brought it up at a commission meeting earlier this year, in which he dramatically read an affidavit he had signed saying he had no connection through family to anyone or anything in the Little Gables. Lo and behold, he didn’t include siblings in his fake affidavit, a relationship that definitely falls under the conflict of interest.
In fact, Lago should recuse himself from any annexation votes, like he recused himself recently in a vote on a project owned by Location Ventures, a developer that rents a space in Coral Gables from Lago.
Which makes it funny — funny strange, not funny ha ha — that the ballot only has one option: Yes. There is no place for a voter to express disagreement with the project — or any lobbying done for it.
Ladra supposes that to vote no, all a Gables voter has to do is not return it and put the ballot in the basura.
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