All Miami City Commission business has been postponed until mid-June after last week’s session ended abruptly when a dispute between commissioners derailed the agenda before any official work could begin.
Chaos erupted at City Hall May 22, with no official business addressed, after accusations of harassment between Commissioners Miguel Gabela and Joe Carollo brought the proceedings to a halt and forced an early recess. The allegations center on claims that Mr. Carollo has been sending city code enforcement personnel to Mr. Gabela’s properties to cite violations, which Mr. Gabela says is retaliation tied to his role as chair of the Bayfront Park Management Trust.
All city matters planned for the May 22 agenda have now been pushed to the next regular gathering on June 12.
The session opened with nearly 90 minutes of public comment dominated by debate over the Miami Downtown Development Authority’s (DDA) proposed 19% tax hike. The agency, which operates on an annual budget of $11 million to $13 million, is funded by a special tax levy, with 42% from commercial and mixed-use properties and 58% from residential properties in the authority’s district.
Of that, the DDA says more than $9 million goes directly to programs and initiatives, keeping operational expenses under 30%. Supporters argued the tax increase is essential to sustain services, citing things like 4,500 bags of trash collected monthly, over 1,100 inches of graffiti scrubbed, 22 blocks power washed, 650 extra police patrol hours, as well as additional security cameras, small business grants, cultural events and entrepreneurship programs. They say these are critical, especially because downtown’s population has surged from about 30,000 residents a few years ago to roughly 130,000 today.
Opponents, however, blasted spending as bloated and misdirected, pointing to spending like $450,000 on the FC Barcelona soccer team, $100,000 to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) held in April at the Kaseya Center, and nearly $3.9 million annually for staff salaries and benefits, with executive pay totaling over $625,000. Public surveys, they said, showed 85% of respondents opposed the UFC grant and 56% supported dissolving the DDA entirely. One downtown resident suggested converting the authority into a business-funded improvement district and holding a public vote on its future.
While the tax debate drew passionate testimony, it wasn’t what ultimately shut the meeting down. Toward the end of public comment, Commissioner Gabela’s wife, Mariela Gabela, took the microphone in tears, accusing Commissioner Carollo and his staff of harassment.
She told the commission that people had been watching her home “night and day,” following her and her family to restaurants, and photographing her, saying “He [Carollo] has been messing with my livelihood since 2023. He has the sergeant at arms over there take photos of me and watch me day and night. I’m the wife of an elected official, and that guy over there is always watching me, and his employees are always taking photos of me and watching.”
When public comment ended, Mr. Gabela attempted to bring up a last-minute discussion item regarding the harassment allegations, but Chair Christine King said she wanted to first take the commission’s temperature on how to proceed. With the clock approaching 12:30 p.m., she noted she had a prior commitment and would not be able to return for the afternoon session, though the remaining commissioners would still have a quorum.
Mr. Gabela pushed back, saying his discussion item was urgent and directly connected to the harassment claims. “I need your vote on this because I’ve been targeted by the City of Miami code enforcement department because of doing my job on the Bayfront Park Management Trust, and Commissioner Carollo is harassing me. He wants my house to be investigated when I have done nothing wrong.”
Tensions between the two commissioners have escalated since Mr. Gabela took over the trust chairmanship earlier this year, following Mr. Carollo’s decision to step down amid what some residents called a “cloud of chaos” tied to allegations of financial mishandling.
Just two days before the commission meeting, Mr. Gabela called an emergency session of the trust on May 20 to open the books and share details from an initial audit he said uncovered mismanagement, though Mr. Carollo has publicly rebutted those claims.
As Mr. Gabela pressed to address the harassment issue, he threatened to walk out if Ms. King refused to allow the discussion to be taken up before the rest of the agenda. She recessed the meeting abruptly at 12:24 p.m., and as Mr. Gabela exited, Mr. Carollo, who had been silent until then, called after him from behind the dais, “Why don’t you quit whining?”
With the commission unable to move forward, all agenda items were postponed until June 12. By then, the dais is expected to be back at full strength, as the special election to fill the vacant District Four seat is set for June 3, with early voting the weekend before.
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