Developer's pawn, County Commissioner Barbara Jordan by gimleteye

Her brother, Otis Wallace, is mayor of Florida City. Her sister, Sandy Walker, a lobbyist for big developers, is already in trouble with the law. We can only imagine the conversation around the table at Sunday dinner.

Today County Commissioner Barbara Jordan's “affordable housing ordinance” will be heard, in a first reading.

The original version provoked such an outcry by affordable housing advocates that Commissioner Jordan was forced to withdraw it in a pique of fury and anger.

Imagine real people getting in the way of her plan!?

Jordan's bullshit initiative surfaced during the Urban Development Boundary controversies. She had schemed with developers to use the affordable housing issue as a wedge to split citizens and environmentalists.

For more than a year, Jordan worked behind closed doors with representatives of the builders, and especially Lennar, putting the plan in place to "pit the browns against the greens."

What Jordan, her brother and sister want is traction for Florida City Commons, a billion dollar Lennar project that will shed tens of millions to the politically connected, one way or another, if it can get permits.

But Governor Bush slammed the brakes on the county commission applications, with the exception of Hialeah's.

And affordable housing advocates were having none of what the builders cooked up, because the Jordan ordinance had NOTHING to do affordable housing.

It is all about, and has always been all about, more suburban sprawl.

When the applications for moving the Urban Development Boundary collapsed in a heap of recriminations—lead by commissioners Martinez and Dim Bruno and the de facto chair Seijas—developers were furious.

They pulled the affordable housing ordinance from the table. Builders don’t give up anything, without getting something they want.

Now what the builders want—in return for concessions to affordable housing—is to take away power of the community councils.

Community councils have turned into a colossal pain in the ass for developers. For them, it is so much easier to buy the county commission.

And so what the builders want is small and affordable “affordable housing councils”, where affordability is defined by how easy it will be to rig the outcome of their deliberations.

It is not called the “free” market for nothing. Of course, the story reported in today’s Miami Herald of the first reading of the “new” affordable housing ordinance only puts a faint gloss on reality.

As for the Miami Dade county commission, every single day the majority of the thirteen member commission does a better job making the argument for an executive mayor than Carlos Alvarez could ever do, himself.

Hialeah, rise up!