Latest news with #Gabela
Axios
30-05-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Accusations fly as Miami officials discuss the "weaponization" of government
A Miami city commission meeting organized to discuss the "weaponization of city government" ended in finger-pointing and shouting. The big picture: Feuding and political posturing among commissioners overshadowed the pleas of restaurant owners seeking reprieve from code enforcement raids that disrupt — or even shut down — their businesses during peak hours. Driving the news: The thrust of Friday's meeting was a list of accusations against Commissioner Joe Carollo, the veteran Miami politician seen as a candidate for Miami mayor, including claims that he is using code enforcement to go after a political opponent. "One person has set our city back many years," Commissioner Damian Pardo said at the meeting. Friction point: Commissioner Miguel Angel Gabela accused Carollo of sending code enforcement to his private properties after Gabela spearheaded an audit of the city's Bayfront Park Management Trust. Gabela says the probe will uncover wrongdoing by Carollo, the former chairman of the Trust. Carollo — who has denied wrongdoing — told the city manager that there were "direct, in-your-face violations" at Gabela's properties. Zoom in: During the meeting, Carollo set up a PowerPoint presentation showing publicly accessible satellite images of Gabela's properties with boats and cars parked in the lot. Carollo also accused Gabela of threatening to fire the city manager if he sent code enforcement to the properties. Gabela denied the claim. "He thinks he can do whatever he wants in this city," Carollo said. Reality check: Carollo was hit with a $63.5 million legal judgment in 2023 after a jury found him liable for violating the free speech rights of the owners of the nightclub Ball & Chain. The jury found that Carollo pushed police and code enforcement to target their properties after they supported one of Carollo's political opponents. The city also agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle a related lawsuit. What they're saying: Gabela, who said he has no open code violations against him, alluded to the legal cases against Carollo but was instructed by the city's legal team to refrain from discussing details, citing active litigation. "This is 2.0 Ball & Chain, what they're doing to me," Gabela previously told Local 10. Gabela's wife recently addressed the commission to accuse Carollo of sending staff to watch her. Meanwhile, Carollo told Axios the city needs to reform its building and code enforcement departments to address concerns made by restaurant owners. "There's a lot of things that need to be reformed. But I don't control that. If I did, I guarantee you they would be done in a much more appropriate way." What's next: Voters will go to the polls Tuesday to elect a new commissioner in District 4 after the death of Manolo Reyes in April.
Miami Herald
05-02-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Miami commissioner to call for Carollo's removal from city agency caught up in lawsuit
Miami City Commissioner Miguel Angel Gabela plans to call for the removal of Joe Carollo as chairman of the Bayfront Park Management Trust, a downtown city agency at the center of a federal whistleblower lawsuit filed by two former employees who made accusations about financial improprieties and accounting issues at the agency. At the next Miami City Commission meeting on Feb. 13, Gabela said he will ask his colleagues to vote on removing Carollo as chairman of the Trust — a post Carollo has held since 2017. The agency, which maintains downtown's Bayfront and Maurice Ferré parks, generates revenue from hosting large-scale events like the Ultra Music Festival. The chairperson role is held by one of Miami's five city commissioners. READ MORE: Former employees sue Joe Carollo, say he used Miami city agency for personal gain Gabela said that he is calling for a 'vote of no confidence' and that Carollo should 'relinquish' the chairmanship 'because of all the controversy that's been happening.' 'And if Carollo wants to go to battle with me because of that, we'll go to battle,' Gabela said. Gabela said he would be open to becoming Trust chairman if Carollo is voted out. That would mark yet another major leadership change at the Bayfront Park Management Trust in the past two months. In December, the agency's executive director, Jose Suarez, and its finance director, Jose Canto, departed from the agency. READ MORE: Joe Carollo taps former Doral city manager to lead downtown Miami city agency The pair filed a federal lawsuit last month against the Trust, Carollo and a Trust board member who is also Carollo's personal accountant, alleging that they were pushed out of the agency after raising concerns when they made 'unsettling discoveries' and set out to fix 'accounting issues' in the agency. Some of those alleged discoveries included the absence of an adequate accounting or auditing system; no policy or procedure to ensure vendors were selected through a competitive bidding process; and no requirement for expenses paid by the Trust to be supported by a contract or invoice. Carollo has denied the lawsuit's allegations, accusing the plaintiffs' attorney Jeff Gutchess of filing the lawsuit as leverage to force the city's hand to settle a different lawsuit involving the operators of the Ball & Chain nightclub, who are also represented by Gutchess. Gabela's reason for wanting to remove Carollo as the agency's chairman extends beyond the lawsuit's allegations. He pointed to comments Carollo made at a City Commission meeting in June that, 'I think there should be a new chairman when we bring this up again in the first meeting of January.' Gabela said that if Carollo is 'a man of [his] word,' he should bow out. Carollo is termed out of his District 3 seat at the end of the year. Gabela said it will ensure a smoother transition for whichever commissioner takes over the agency if they can step in months before Carollo's term ends rather than in late 2025. 'It wouldn't be fair to the new person coming in for Carollo to turn it over in November,' Gabela said. He also took umbrage at the fact that the city recently hired Shutts & Bowen, the law firm that employs former City Attorney Victoria Méndez, to defend Carollo in the lawsuit. 'Somebody has to hold his feet to the fire,' Gabela said of Carollo. Meanwhile, Carollo has a competing proposal that he plans to introduce at the same meeting next week. His proposal would 'abolish' the Bayfront Park Management Trust altogether and instead create a unit within the Parks Department to oversee Maurice Ferré Park and Bayfront Park. Carollo said his proposal is unrelated to the lawsuit. Speaking about the lawsuit at Monday's Bayfront Park Management Trust meeting, Carollo said the plaintiffs are 'cowards' for making what he described as bogus claims. 'I am not a coward,' Carollo added. 'I might be accused of a lot of things. But one that I never have been, never will be, is a coward.'
