Coral Gables Magazine June 2026: Banking on Jorge

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Editor’s Note

The recent referendum which took place toward the end of April – the first write-in vote in the history of Coral Gables – was remarkable by several measures. First, it led to important changes in the City Charter, the details of which are outlined in our Politics page. Second, the vote demonstrated sober judgments on the part of voters. During the weeks when ballots were being mailed there was some very aggressive messaging to vote in a certain direction – blogs and emails from various groups that wanted all the charter amendments rejected.

We ourselves did not advocate for either a yes or no on any item, but simply reported the pros and cons as they were openly and objectively discussed by the Gables Good Government Committee, which does its level best to look at our local issues in a fair and balanced way. At the meeting we attended, both the pros and cons of each item were given plenty of airtime.

In the end, 29% of the registered voters of Coral Gables approved six of the eight changes. And they did so by decisive margins, and despite claims from the antichange groups that proclaimed all sorts of nefarious motives and “dark money” behind the referendum. Such nonsense. The questions in the referendum – changes to the city charter – were openly discussed in public forums presided over by former Mayor Don Slesnick, one of the most transparent and honest politicians ever to assume that role.

What is equally noteworthy is that a turnout of 29% of registered voters was considered a high number. Less than a third of citizens decided important course changes for the city. The good news is that one of the changes approved – and by a large margin – was to move the city’s bi-annual elections from April to November to coincide with national elections. The idea was to dramatically increase voter participation. Those opposed felt this would reduce the quality of voters in favor of quantity – that only those who are truly motivated about the issues should decide them. Again, nonsense. One of the reasons City Hall has been dysfunctional over the past few years is because a tiny minority elected a couple of unqualified candidates. Democracy always works better when the voice of all the people, not just a few, is heard.

We look forward to a much higher turnout this November.

JP FABER
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
CORAL GABLES MAGAZINE