A
rendering of the proposed American Dream Miami retail theme park in Northwest
Miami-Dade. The County Commission approved zoning and land-use changes for the
project on Thursday, May 17, 2018, with a 9 to 1 vote. Commissioner Daniella
Levine Cava cast the lone no vote. Triple Five
American Dream mega-mall is trying to
oust the only commissioner who voted against it
BY DOUGLAS
HANKS
·
July 25, 2018 08:21 PM
Updated July 25, 2018 10:33 PM
Daniella Levine Cava
was the only Miami-Dade commissioner to vote against the American Dream Miami mega-mall and theme
park in
May, and now the Canadian-based developer is the top donor to one of her
opponent’s campaign.
Gus Barreiro, a
former state representative challenging the South Dade commissioner for
Miami-Dade’s District 8 commission seat, has received nearly $7,500 in campaign
contributions from donors tied to American Dream developer Triple Five,
including a $1,000 check from CEO Syd Ghermezian. The known donations tied to
Triple Five account for about 60 percent of Barreiro’s nearly $12,000 in
campaign donations.
Another $100,000 went
to a state political committee Barreiro said is supporting him, Citizens
Alliance for Florida’s Economy. Solomon Saraway, who is related to
the Ghermezian family through marriage and was identified as a Triple Five
executive in a 2009 campaign donation in Minnesota, gave $25,000 to the
committee on July 12. Three firms connected to him each gave $25,000 to the
committee on the same day as well.
Barreiro said he met
with Triple Five to talk about financial support before he joined the
commission race in June, about four weeks after the County Commission voted 9-1
to give final approval to the $4 billion retail theme park in Northwest
Miami-Dade. He talked about his support of the project, and he said the
Ghermezians agreed to support his campaign.
“I met with the
family,” Barreiro said of the Ghermezians, whose family-owned company is best
known as the developer of Minnesota’s Mall of America. “I’m happy to receive
their support.”
The two are running
for the nonpartisan District 8 primary on Aug. 28. A third candidate, Johnathan
Burke, has raised about $2,000 for his campaign.
Miami-Dade
Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava is running for reelection as Miami-Dade’s
District 8 commissioner.
Barreiro said he was
“taken aback” to hear Levine Cava object to the fact that American Dream
planned to create mostly low-wage jobs, a figure based on the company’s
economic-development forecast showing 60 percent of the 14,000 jobs would pay
less than $25,000 a year.
“Everybody wants
high-paying jobs,” Barreiro said. “But you have to start somewhere.”
Levine Cava, running
for a second four-year term on the 13-member commission before term limits kick
in, has a significant financial advantage over Barreiro, whose brother, Bruno,
resigned his District 5 commission seat earlier this year to run for Congress.
Her campaign alone
has raised nearly $500,000, not counting money directed to an allied political
committee, Changing Florida’s Future, which has nearly $400,000 in the bank.
Donors to Levine Cava include top developers and companies with county
contracts, including Landmark and Transportation America.
Ghermezian
representatives did not respond to requests for comment, including one Barreiro
said he delivered to his contact with the family.
The mall factor may
be helping Barreiro raise other dollars. Meryl Fixler Berdugo, a Broward real
estate agent, spoke to the Miami-Dade commission on January in favor of the
project,
which sits just south of the county line. She also gave $1,000 to Barreiro’s
campaign. After a brief phone conversation Wednesday, Berdugo was not available
for an interview about the donation.
Levine Cava, who also raised
environmental concerns about the 175-acre project at the edge of Miami-Dade’s
urban development zone, said she had a pleasant conversation after the vote
with a representative of a foundation tied to Triple Five. “I was really
surprised,” by the Barreiro donations, she said.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article215507785.html
Miami-Dade County commissioner Jose ‘Pepe’ Diaz
speaks with Mayor Oliver Gilbert of Miami Gardens at the county commission
meeting where the American Dream Mall project was given final zoning approval
on May 17, 2018. Diaz sponsored the legislation approving the project, which
sits in his district, but also sponsored a resolution that preemptively banned
county subsidies for the $4 billion retail theme park. C.M. Guerrero cmguerrero@miamiherald.com
He backed the subsidy
ban for American Dream mega-mall. Now he’s targeted for defeat
BY
DOUGLAS HANKS
August 01, 2018 07:00
PM
Updated August 02, 2018 04:05 PM
Lily Stefano ran against the mayor of Medley two years ago and lost. This
summer a lawyer she didn’t know representing a client he wouldn’t name asked
her to try and unseat another incumbent: Miami-Dade Commissioner Jose “Pepe”
Diaz.
“This is not a joke
or anything like that,” Manuel Diner, a Broward County lawyer, said in the
voice mail Stefano said she received in June. “I represent a client who is
eager to have someone of your quality and experience and professionalism run
for office and hopefully take a seat on the County Commission.”
In a follow-up phone
call, Stefano said Diner named the District 12 incumbent as the target and
said: “We need to get that a-hole out.”
Diner did not respond
to interview requests. His reported passion for ousting Diaz adds him to a list
of people linked to the American Dream Miami mega-mall who are trying
to have someone replace the four-term commissioner.
Diaz is the hometown
commissioner for American Dream, a proposed $4 billion retail theme park by Triple Five, the Canada-based
developer of Minnesota’s Mall of America. In May, Diaz sponsored legislation
Triple Five had sought for several years: final zoning approval for the
175-acre project on undeveloped land in Northwest Miami-Dade, where the Florida
Turnpike meets I-75. American Dream would bring the largest mall in America to
Miami-Dade in a complex so large it plans to have an indoor ski slope,
submarine rides and an amusement park.
.
Diaz also sponsored
legislation that Triple Five resisted: a preemptive ban on granting county subsidies for the
project. American Dream didn’t ask for public dollars. But in the run-up to the
May 17 vote on final zoning approvals, rival malls paid for television ads and
robo-calls pressuring commissioners to approve a ban on public money.
“It’s a great job
creator,” Diaz said of American Dream in a recent interview. “”But the people’s
money cannot be used.”
The commission
ultimately approved a watered-down restriction — one that future commissioners
could waive with the same majority vote needed to approve a subsidy.
That seemed to
placate American Dream on the political front. The family behind Triple Five,
the Ghermezians, have become top donors to county incumbents since launching
the project in 2014. The donations continued to roll in for Diaz after the
vote. His campaign and an affiliated political committee, We the People, have
received more than $30,000 from American Dream since the May vote to approve
the project with the subsidy ban.
Manuel Diner, a Broward County lawyer, speaks
before the Miami-Dade County Commission on May 17, 2018, at one of his multiple
appearances supporting the American Dream Miami retail theme park.
This week, an
American Dream lobbyist issued a flattering statement about Diaz and emphasized
the company wanted him reelected.
“It was through
Commissioner Diaz’s leadership that American Dream Miami and its 25,000 new permanent
jobs are close to becoming a reality for our community,” said Miguel Diaz de la
Portilla, an attorney and former state senator. “That’s why we raised over
$60,000 for his campaign and will continue to vigorously help him in his
reelection efforts.”
But this summer also
saw campaign dollars and efforts working against Diaz that tie back to the push
to approve the American Dream project:
▪ Diner, a solo
practitioner with a Weston address on his website, was one of the most
persistent public supporters of the American Dream project before Diaz and
other commissioners.
“I was determined to
be here today,” a hoarse Diner told the County Commission on May 17, saying he
had left his “sick bed” to attend the final vote for American Dream’s
hard-fought zoning approval. He said he hadn’t missed a single public meeting
about the proposed retail theme park since the approval process began in 2017,
and strongly supported the venture. “It will be a world attraction, just as
Disney World is.”
Weeks later, Stefano said
she received the surprise voice mail from Diner. The June 14 message, obtained
separately by the Miami Herald, does not name Diaz but Stefano said the lawyer
confirmed that was the target for his anonymous client. Stefano, a District 12
resident, declined the offer, saying she supported Diaz. The charity manager is
now running for the Medley City Council.
▪ A Diaz
challenger, Rafael Pineyro, has received nearly $5,000 from a Broward family
with a member who was a public supporter of the American Dream project.
Meryl Fixler Berdugo
appeared with a toddler in her arms at the first County Commission meeting on
the American Dream application in January 2017, telling the board that Triple
Five’s plans for a retail theme park would give parents and grandparents a
welcome alternative. “I’m tired of going to your malls and sitting in a little
pit area to play,” she said to laughter from the audience, “and have nothing to
do.” .
Berdugo, a Parkland
real estate agent, has not given to Pineyro’s campaign. Her brother, Marc
Fixler, gave $1,000 to him. Their sister and brother-in-law, also of Parkland,
gave $2,000. Another $1,800 came from Fixlers who share the Parkland address
that Berdugo gave when she spoke before the commission last year.
In 2012, Marc Fixler
and Berdugo formed a charity, AZ Yashir, with a Jacqueline Ghermezian that was
dedicated to supporting hospitalized people. Fixler could not be reached for
comment.
Berdugo, who did not
respond to interview requests, is already a donor to the campaign for Gus
Barreiro, a commission candidate who is receiving extensive financial support from the Ghermezian family. The former state
representative is challenging Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava in District 8.
Levine Cava was the
only commissioner to vote against approving American Dream’s zoning in May, and
Triple Five executives have given more than $100,000 to Barreiro’s campaign and
political committee. Berdugo gave $1,000 to Barreiro in July.
Michael Abadi addresses the Miami-Dade County
Commission on Jan. 25, 2017, in support of his family’s American Dream Miami
retail theme park.
She’s no stranger to
Miami-Dade politics. In September 2016, Berdugo gave $10,000 to a political committee
supporting the reelection of Mayor Carlos Gimenez, an early champion of
American Dream. The same day Berdugo gave $10,000 to Gimenez’s Miami-Dade
Residents First, Triple Five CEO Syd Ghermezian gave the organization the same
amount.
▪ A business partner
to a member of the Ghermezian family donated $2,000 to Pineyro. Nathan Yadgar,
an Aventura business consultant, gave the maximum $1,000 and a company he owns,
NNY Development Group, gave another $1,000.
Yadgar is also a
partner in Say Holdings, a company formed in 2016 to purchase a house on
Northeast 121st Street in North Miami for $425,000. The company sold it last
year for $700,000. One of Yadgar’s two partners in Say Holdings in Michael
Abadi, a Ghermezian son-in-law who also lives in Aventura. The third partner in
the Say Holdings, Murray Sager, shares a Wellington address with another
Pineyro donor, Jason Sager, who gave $2,000 personally and through a business
he owns.
The Sagers could not
be reached for comment. Yadgar, a District 4 voter who appears to be a
first-time donor in a county race, said Wednesday his support of Pineyro had
nothing to do with Abadi. “I just saw what he’s about,” Yadgar said of Pineyro.
“I think it’s time for a change from Pepe Diaz.”
Barreiro identified
Abadi as his main contact with Triple Five on campaign issues as he tries to
unseat Levine Cava. Abadi, who gave $5,000 to Diaz’s We the People in late
2017, did not respond to interview requests.
Abadi and his wife,
the former Shayna Ghermezian, both appeared before the County Commission during
American Dream hearings.
In May, Shayna Abadi
stood briefly with her father, Eskandar Ghermezian, a Triple Five partner and
the company’s top Miami-Dade negotiator, when he introduced some family members
to the board. Michael Abadi addressed commissioners during public comments on
Jan. 25, 2017, without mentioning his family ties. He urged commissioners not
to dismiss the idea of public subsidies for Triple Five. “I think it should be
an issue that’s discussed among the people, the community, to see if it’s an
investment that might be beneficial,” Abadi said.
Pineyro, who used to
be a top aide in the Doral mayor’s office, said he has not met with American
Dream representatives. But he said he did seek the developer’s support since he
values the American Dream project. “I reached out for the opportunity for
support,” he said. “I didn’t hear back.”
He gave up a City
Commission race In Doral to challenge Diaz. The other District 12 candidate is
Patricio Moreno, a former state House candidate who was recruited by the Miami-Dade Democratic Party to run against
Diaz, a Republican, in the nonpartisan race. Pineyro is an independent.
Moreno had raised
less than $2,000 for his campaign in the latest report. Diaz, meanwhile, has
raised more than $400,000 in his campaign alone, with another $300,000 to spend
from his committee.
While Pineyro can’t
hope to outspend the incumbent, he can claim a better fundraising record than
any challenger.
Of the 10 candidates
challenging five commissioners up for reelection on Aug. 28, Pineyro has raised
the most campaign cash: roughly $77,000.
“I’m reaching out to
people,” Pineyro said of his fundraising success. “And I’ve asked people to
reach out to their friends and family.”
Pineyro recently
pulled off a coup for a challenger by securing the
endorsement of a sitting county commissioner: Xavier Suarez of District
7. On American Dream,
Pineyro said he wants Miami-Dade to extract more benefits from the project. “We
still have more to ask of them,” he said. Pineyro said he’s also not ready to
support a ban on local dollars for American Dream. “A blanket ban? No,” he
said. “We have to look at each [request] independently and discuss it.”
Thursday morning, Pineyro sent an updated statement
backing away from a willingness to at least consider the possibility of
government support. “As your next commissioner,” he wrote, “I’ll not approve
the use of public funds for this, or any private project.”
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