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NUMBER 35 - MARCH 12, 2019

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN COMMISSIONER "BIG MOUTH" CAROLLO CLAIMED THAT HE TOLD THE MAS BROTHERS TO LOOK AT MELREESE GOLF COURSE FOR THEIR SOCCER STADIUM DEAL AND THEN VOTED FOR THE  DEAL TO GO TO A REFERENDUM?

if you don't, let me refresh your memory. Here is what Carollo said about his role in getting the Mas brothers interested in Melreese Golf Course:

          "So to me, while there is a big difference in a soccer

          stadium with mls than the golf country club that we have

          there, because there are millions of dollars of publicity. In

          other parts of the world that we can get with a golf course

          there. What I am looking at are strictly the other aspects

          of it that are going to bring the millions of dollars that

          miami needs, that it's going to create the thousands of

          jobs that miami needs. It's going to give us a real mall

          retail place that we don't have for the average miamiian

          to go and enjoy and it's going to give us a real park that

          you don't have to pay $95 in the afternoon, or 80 in the

          morning, to be able to go into, which is beyond the prices

          of what the average miamiian can pay. And having said all

          that, when jose mass for his brother called me, I think it

          was the Friday before you guys were announcing the

          overtime site, I said to him, I said, listen, you guys are

          too smart to invest there. If you guys want to throw

          money at the door you can find a lot better ways of doing

          it. You can't make it work there. And he says, well, what

          do you think. I said, well, the place to go is mel reece, so

          he got ahold of the big brother and they put their heads

          together and I knew that the other incentives that were

          there was going to get their appetite on it. And I knew

          that in order to be able to go against the people that had

          the managing contract there and the influence that they

          have, I needed to recruit some heavyweights to break that

          and give miamiians a real chance."


Of course, that was said last June, when Carollo considered Charlie Delucca and his son - who have the lease to run Melreese - to be mortal enemies, and anything that he could do to screw them he would.

Now that all seems to have changed, and at this week's commission meeting, Carollo has become the lead sponsor in what had up to now been Manolo Reyes' signature cause.

The first indication that things might be changing on Carollo's position was when rumors started circulating late last year that he, supposedly still sulking over Daddy Mas Canosa's challenging him to a duel back in the day after Carollo accused him and former UN Secretary Jeane Kilpatrick of trying to do a deal at Watson Island with a couple of Fidel Castro's cronies, was still festering, and between that, and an opportunity to screw Francis Suarez, he was going to reverse his support to one of opposition to the Mas brothers getting their hands on the golf course.

With Carollo, it's hard to know what is fiction and what is fact, because he's so crazy and vindictive that almost any scheme is possible if it involves some sort of payback against a perceived enemy, and clearly this had all the hallmarks of a Carollo double-cross on the scale of the one he pulled on Maurice Ferre when instead of showing up at a press conference to support his reelection, he accused Ferre of running a racist campaign and backed his opponent Xavier Suarez.

The possibility of Carollo back-stabbing the Mas brothers and Beckham increased when the rumor - never denied - surfaced that Carollo and Reyes had met at the Melreese Golf Course for a Valentine's Day lunch.

And now of course, there is the above Resolution intended to throw a giant railroad tie across the tracks in an effort to hamstring the City Manager's ability to negotiate any sort of contract.

Now, mind you, I was, and still am opposed to the deal to turn over the Melreese Gold Course to the Mas brothers, and procedurally, I don't have a problem with the efforts to hamstring the City Manager, who bears his own responsibility for how sleazy this deal was handled from the very beginning, but what I think is important, and what I think needs to be remembered going forward is that the fight over the Melreese Golf Course was first and foremost a fight that Manolo Reyes took on, and made it his signature issue.

For the above Resolution to now have Joe Carollo's name as the lead sponsor, is indicative not only how Carollo operates when it comes to taking credit for stuff he originally opposed, but it also supports my claim from my story last week about how I alleged that Carollo had made Reyes his butt boy.

At this rate, I figure by June or July Manolo Reyes will be giving Carollo hand jobs like the ladies at the Palm Breach Day Spas at commission meetings, in which case, there might need a reassessment of whether Manolo Reyes deserves to be reelected?

It's Miami. Bitches!

CAROLLO USES REVENGE LEGISLATION LIKE SOME JILTED LOVER USES REVENGE PORN AFTER BEING TOLD HIS WEENIE'S TOO SMALL

At the last Commission meeting, after Chairman Russell invoked the 5 Day Rule as a way to put the brakes on what he felt was obviously a move on the part of Commissioner Hardemon to get a very questionable deal that he had privately negotiated with the developers of the Magic City Innovation District to get past the hurdle of a First Reading, there was a great deal of gnashing of teeth and shouts of outrage from the other 4 commissioners when Russell reminded them that invoking the 5 Day Rule is a motion of privilege that when it's involved, makes  the train come to a complete stop.

His fellow commissioners then got all pissy when Russell also reminded them that commission meetings are supposed to come to an end at 10 PM, or after the item being discussed at 10 PM is completed.

Neither of those issues sat well with Carollo, who in the video below bemoans the fact that, "the code of mutual respect has been broken.."

Really? Mutual respect? This from a thug who behaves like some tinhorn despot in a 3rd world Banana Republic at almost every meeting.

Here is the portion of the video where he makes this claim, and then tells his fellow commissioners that he intends to come back with changes to  the ordinances to stop this outrageous abuse of power.

Sometimes getting what you want is the worst thing that can happen, if not for you, then for a lot of other people.

While I'm all for process and collegiality, the Miami City Commission has never been big on following best practices, and their collegiality is largely rooted in a recognition that they are all co-conspirators in an on-going criminal enterprise. that can only continue to operate as long as no one starts telling the truth, or showing real independence.

That's what's at stake in rewriting the provisions of the 5 Day Rule.

As for the 10 PM cut off, nothing good ever happened at a public meeting that goes on into the middle of the night, especially with a city commission like Miami's!