Development colors Coral Gables mayor’s race in weeks leading up to election
With about three weeks to go until Coral Gables’ Election Day, the expensive and contentious mayoral race is heating up into a campaign characterized by attack advertisements, some dark money and finger pointing on the topic of development.
So far, more than 1,800 voters have already made their choices on who they think should be the next mayor of the scenic, waterfront city of about 50,000 come April 13.
Two of the mayoral candidates — Commissioner Patricia Keon and Vice Mayor Vince Lago — have dug into the perpetual hot-button issue in recent weeks, each accusing the other of being in the pockets of the real estate industry. But the commissioners, both elected to serve on the dais in 2013, may have more in common than they portray, which some experts note can confuse voters when deciding who to check on their ballot.
“One of the problems the candidates have is they both have had very similar voting records on the dais,” FIU political science professor and Gables resident Dario Moreno said. “In a way, there is some issue separating the two.”
Moreno added that while the Gables used to be a place of hyper-local politics characterized by door-to-door campaigning, much has changed in the last few years. Between their campaign accounts and political committees, Keon and Lago (who has been campaigning for longer) have raised about $370,000 and $715,000 respectively. Both candidates have accepted donations from real estate developers and architectural firms.
“Over the years, it has been more and more ... there are mailers everywhere. And a lot of phone banking,” Moreno said. “I think it’s really interesting in that sense.”
In addition to Keon and Lago, perennial candidate Jackson “Rip” Holmes is also running to replace retiring Mayor Raúl Valdés-Fauli. He switched from the crowded Group Two commission race 30 minutes before the qualifying period ended, hoping to play spoiler.
The mayor serves a two-year term with a $40,761 annual salary.
Patricia Keon
Keon is a 72-year-old registered nurse, who was reelected to the commission in 2017 to a second four-year term. Before she served in Coral Gables, she worked as a policy aide to then-Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jimmy Morales, who currently serves as the chief operations officer for Miami-Dade County.
Keon graduated with a nursing degree from Barry University. Keon worked at New York University Medical Center and later at Jackson Memorial Hospital. She also has a master’s degree in public administration from Florida International University.
She contends that her record and her opponent’s have been “pretty similar,” in that they both have supported efforts to address traffic calming, climate change and transportation.
While Lago recently stood out as the lone no-vote on a controversial rezoning of Miracle Mile, they both have ultimately voted to approve some notable development projects in the past like the Agave Ponce group’s massive $600 million The Plaza Coral Gables. But the recent flood of attack mail, digital ads and video campaigns would suggest there is a pro-development candidate and an anti-development candidate.
“I think some of this whole anti-development posture that Vince has taken on is campaign related,” Keon said.
The ads have been largely funded by political committees Coral Gables First, which is raising money on behalf of Lago, and Floridians Against Career Politicians, a political committee formed last fall by Broward attorneys Jason Haber and Jason Blank. The political committee has spent about $245,000 on mail since it formed in October 2020.
Haber and Blank — who run more than 60 political committees — also serve as the chair and treasurer of Keon’s political committee, South Florida Accountability Project. Keon says she does not know who is sending the advertisements.
“Obviously, there is someone out there that is not happy with what he’s done,” she said. “He needs to sit down and take a good, hard look at why.”
Keon says voters should support her because of her commitment to “the things that touch the residents” of Coral Gables like the redevelopment of the Coral Gables War Memorial Youth Center, an effort she leads as a member of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. She also noted some recent endorsements from Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins and the Coral Gables Professional Firefighters Association, among others.
She says if elected, she would also hope to address the city’s storm drainage plan, restart the conversation around bike lanes in the city and work on ways to incentivize smaller development.
Vince Lago
Lago, 43, earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from FIU as well as a master’s in construction management from the Engineering School at FIU. He is an executive at BDI Construction Company, a firm that focuses on commercial construction.
He told the Herald that he was disappointed by the amount of negativity in the campaign, and accuses Keon of instilling a “false narrative in an effort to confuse the voters.” He doesn’t agree with the premise that he votes similarly to Keon, noting no-votes on projects like Gables Station, Miracle Mile and the height portion of the Agave project.
He says the way his opponent has campaigned shows that she “doesn’t have the temperament and the transparency to lead this community,” he said.
“I am doing everything by the book, and I feel like my opponent should know better.”
Lago said voters should support him because of his track record of openness with the city. He has pointed out in recent forums and debates that he has an open-door policy and holds biannual town halls for residents to voice their opinions. He also lists his legislative record on his website, noting that a large portion of the legislation passed through the commission were proposals he drafted and worked on.
He said he understands why development is top of mind for voters, as they are seeing large projects under construction taking up space in their neighborhoods. The Miracle Mile zoning update has been “in your face and in the news,” he said. As mayor, he said he would work to bridge the gap between residents and developers in a way that “respects our history.”
“I am the only candidate that will listen and be present every single day,” he said. “People like Pat Keon haven’t been committed to this community in eight years.”
Lago has been endorsed by the last four Coral Gables mayors, among others. His campaign also initially listed former Gables Commissioner Maria Anderson on his endorsement list without her consent but has since recanted. Lago says the mistake was a staff error.
Jackson ‘Rip’ Holmes
Holmes is a perennial Coral Gables commission candidate and commercial real estate agent, who jumped into the mayor’s race from the crowded Group Two race where he originally filed to run.
Holmes, 69, is mostly self-funded. In a YouTube video posted shortly after he switched his candidacy, Holmes acknowledged that his chances may be “equal to the amount of money I’ve made.”
He believes the Gables needs a stronger downtown and has been pitching the city to bring a department store to Miracle Mile for several years. He also has come out against the rezoning of the Mile and has made many pitches on different ways the Gables can lower taxes.
In 1988, Holmes was convicted of threatening former governor Jeb Bush, who was under the protection of the U.S. Secret Service at the time his father, George H.W. Bush, was vice president. Holmes served three years in federal prison and was released in 1991.
On his campaign website, Holmes says the issue was a family misunderstanding and that Bush is his “personal hero.”
This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 3:24 PM.