Transit critic wins back Miami-Dade seat after ouster for fighting 836 extension

One of the leading opponents of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s transportation agenda won his seat back on a county board after an appeals court ruled his ouster violated the law.

The Third District Court of Appeal restored Coconut Grove lawyer Paul Schwiep to the county board that oversees the more than $200 million generated by Miami-Dade’s half-percent sales tax for transit and road projects.

In late 2018, commissioners effectively removed Schwiep from the Citizens Independent Transportation Trust at the urging of Gimenez after Miami-Dade lawyers cited a county rule barring board service by someone suing Miami-Dade over a policy decision. His removal was triggered when commissioners declined to waive the rule for Schwiep.

Schwiep is the lawyer on Tropical Audubon’s legal challenge of the proposed 13-mile extension of the 836 into West Kendall, a project endorsed by the County Commission and championed by Gimenez in his role as chairman of the toll agency that would build it.

Schwiep sued Miami-Dade to take back his seat. In August, a Miami-Dade judge ruled Schwiep’s role in Audubon’s administrative action fell short of the lawsuit required to remove him from his unpaid board seat. The appellate court agreed, and county lawyers this week said Schwiep could retake his seat.

Along with opposing the 836 extension, Schwiep pushed for a Metrorail extension in South Dade over the rapid-transit bus plan that Gimenez enacted in 2018. It will be funded by the “half-penny” tax.

Gimenez’s office had no comment on the decision. Schwiep issued a statement that said in part: “This administration decided to waste time and energy on a personal vendetta rather than address our mobility crisis.”

This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 2:00 PM.