Florida Senate District 36 ... by gimleteye

The Herald story today frames the race for Senate district 36 race as who is the better Republican. Who is closer to Rubio or Crist? That line ignores the most important piece of Miami-Dade political history as it relates to development. The real issue is the shape-shifting of Miguel Diaz de la Portilla from a developers' nemesis to a full throated advocate, and in particular, developers who need zoning and land use changes. The Herald article alludes to the issue in a single sentence: "As a commissioner from 1993 to 2000, Diaz de la Portilla was known as a moderate with a solid grasp of policy details, whether it came to curbing development and school crowding or pushing for neighborhood zoning councils." That's not the half of it.

I knew Diaz de la Portilla, then, and worked hard with him as a civic leader to pass initiatives that threatened to arrange the deck chairs on Miami-Dade's development Titanic. The 2/3rds requirement for county commission votes on zoning passed in 1993. It was Diaz de la Portilla's signature initiative. Developers were apoplectic that instead of a simple majority, that they would have to marshall 2/3rd support to change underlying zoning on land use. The battle turned County Hall into a circus and engaged hundreds of citizens in turnouts at the county commission. (Javier Souto's vote that sealed the deal in one of his finest demonstrations of meandering elocution.) This was long before the housing boom, although its pieces were all laid out for the public at the time. The Latin Builders Association was furious with Diaz de la Portilla. I can still recall them storming out of the County Chamber in a black cloud when it was clear they had lost. Things change.

In recent years, I watched Miguel Diaz de la Portilla savagely berate a citizen at a CDMP hearing at an Urban Development Boundary hearing. These days he shows up on the side of development teams organized to move the UDB. Today they contribute the maximum to his campaign. Moderate? Once upon a time, Diaz de la Portilla could freely articulate everything that is wrong and upside down about Miami-Dade's development Titanic. What is in the heart of Miguel Diaz de la Portilla? Does anyone know?