The Year in Review 2024
Editor’s Note
The Year of Dysfunction
Each year we run our Year in Review, covering events in Coral Gables. This year, for the first time, we have included some notable political events, few of them positive. The 2023 election is now fully impacting how the business of the City Commission is conducted, and it’s not been pretty.
Some things were predictable. Commissioner Ariel Fernandez ran an anti-establishment campaign, appealing to voters worried about over-development. He carried Commissioner Melissa Castro on his coattails in a runoff marked by the lowest voter turnout in years. We expected antagonism from the two. What was not expected was that Commissioner Kirk Menendez would join them and create a 3-2 voting block that now rules the city. Mayor Vince Lago and Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson have no way to overcome that block, which has made some bad choices.
The most stunning was the firing of City Manager Peter Iglesias, and his immediate replacement with Amos Rojas, Jr., a retired federal marshal with no experience in government, finance, or construction, all required for the job. His only qualification apparently is that he answers to Commissioner Fernandez. There was no vetting process, no national search, no other nominations – even Commissioners Castro and Menendez seemed taken by surprise. Both, nonetheless, slavishly voted yes.
What Faustian deal was cut to win Commissioner Menendez’s votes on every issue is not completely clear but will become so before the next election. Maybe it was the 101 percent pay raise that Menendez needed. Regardless, he is clearly off his moral compass, so much so that even former mayor Dorothy Thomson – a woman he considered his mentor – begged him not to fire Iglesias, as did a dozen other city leaders. He did so anyway, blurting nonsense about Coral Gables becoming “a cesspool of corruption.” It wasn’t – at that point.
The consequences of the gang-of-three supporting Commissioner Fernandez’s wrecking ball agenda are unfortunate. One example: their ill-fated trip to Tallahassee for state funds. They came back with none, versus the mayor and vice mayor’s annual pilgrimage, which last year brought back $3.48 million. State lawmakers were not impressed by how things were being run, such as the gang-of-three’s plan to borrow $60 million to immediately rebuild City Hall, which is in no immediate danger (see story page 20). That will cost taxpayers another $40 million in interest payments.
Meanwhile, the threesome has turned City Commission meetings into nasty free-for-alls, stripping the mayor of his power to run them, of his personal assistants, and even his ability to speak directly to city employees. City staff have been investigated for fraud at Fernandez’s behest, and, though cleared, live in fear of firing; the mood is entirely depressed.
There is little that can be done until next year’s April election, when Menendez is up for reelection against Richard Lara. Only citizens writing their commissioners can have an effect. We urge you to do so.