Doral City Council boots School Board member from City Hall office after firing wife
Golf-cart shuttles: These are new this year. Operating hours are 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday.
The complimentary shuttles for boat-show ticketholders travel the following routes:
Maurice Gibb Park shuttle goes to Miami Beach Convention Center/ Pride Park.
Kaseya Center/Museum Park Marina shuttle goes to Herald Plaza and Venetian Marina.
BOAT-SHOW PARKING
The boat show has partnered with SpotHero, a parking service that connects people to reserved parking spaces with parking lots, parking garages and valet services.
Miami Beach: The following municipal parking garages will offer free shuttle service to and from the Miami Beach Convention Center to 17th Street and Convention Center Drive from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Sunday:
Sheridan Avenue and 42nd Street.
23rd Street and Liberty Avenue.
Alton Road and Fifth Street.
Downtown Miami: Miami Parking Authority has these lots for boat-show guests.
Park at the College Station garage at 190 NE
Third St. or the Knight Center garage at 100 SE Second Street for the Herald Plaza and Venetian sites. Ride the free Metromover, which has a stop on Northeast 15th Steet east of Biscayne Boulevard.
The College Station garage is $10 for up to four hours and $15 after four hours.
The James L. Knight Center garage is $10 for up to four hours and $20 after four hours.
Want to walk? Municipal Lot 19, at the center of Biscayne Blvd. between Flagler Street and Northeast Fourth Street, or Municipal Lot 5 at Maurice A. Ferre Park at 1075 Biscayne Blvd. can put you near the downtown Miami boat-show venues.
Lot 19 is $5 per hour. Maximum rate is $30.
Lot 5/Ferre is $5 per hour. Maximum rate is $25.
COCONUT GROVE ARTS FESTIVAL
Some of you might want to spend a day at the Miami International Boat Show and another at the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, which runs from Saturday through Monday. The festival runs along McFarlane Road, South Bayshore Drive and Pan American Drive.
Street closures were to begin at 11:30 p.m. Thursday and run through 11:30 p.m. Monday, Miami police said.
No cars will be allowed on South Bayshore Drive from Aviation Avenue to McFarlane Road and from McFarlane to Grand Avenue during the festival.
Expect heavy traffic due to the closures and construction along Southwest 27th Avenue, from U.S. 1 to Tigertail Avenue, police said.
Alternate routes to get to the festival include 22nd or 32nd Avenues from South Dixie Highway.
You can park at the Regatta Harbour garage at 3351 Pan American Dr. and Municipal Lot 6 — the Coconut Grove Playhouse lot. Both are $20. There is on-street parking and other lots, too. Fair organizers suggest taking the Metrorail to the Coconut Grove station.
ARSHT CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts at 1300 Biscayne Blvd. is across the street from the Herald Plaza site and near the Venetian marina and there are numerous shows running at the same time as the boat show.
Among them: Area Stage’s presentation of “Oliver!” running through Feb. 25 and there are 1 p.m. matinees on Saturday and Sunday for that classic musical. The Arsht is also host to a Chris Botti concert at 8 p.m. Friday and one by Julieta Venegas at 8 p.m. Sunday.
The boat show ends at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday — so there could be some overlap.
The theater staff suggests that patrons “plan ahead when coming to an Arsht Center performance.” The recommendation is to pre-purchase valet or self-parking. Self-parking options include designated lots, street parking meters and garages that are within a 5-to-10-minute walk. Parking information can be found at www.arshtcenter .org/parking.
ART WYNWOOD
Viewings are 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The event takes place at The Art Wynwood Pavilion at One Herald Plaza near the boats on Biscayne Bay.
Howard Cohen: 305-376-3619, @HowardCohen
Two weeks after firing the city’s top administrator, the Doral City Council on Wednesday voted to evict her husband — Miami-Dade School Board member Danny Espino — from his satellite office at City Hall, saying his presence presented a conflict.
Espino, the School Board’s District 5 representative, has 30 days to leave the building, where he had kept a regional office since last year.
The 3-2 vote to kick Espino out of City Hall followed a similarly narrow vote on Jan. 31 to fire his wife, Barbara Hernandez, as Doral’s city manager — a vote precipitated by allegations that Hernandez had abused city resources to benefit her husband.
“It’s a sad day in Doral when a few politicians put politics over our families,” Espino told the Miami Herald. “... Political vendettas will not interfere with the responsibilities of my office to serve the parents and children of our community.”
The effort to remove Espino from the office space was brought on by Councilwoman Digna Cabral, who pushed last month to fire Hernandez, saying in a memo to the mayor that Hernandez had made “several questionable decisions” and that Hernandez’s marriage to Espino “has proved to be problematic.”
Cabral said Hernandez had used the city’s publicaffairs department to record, produce and promote videos for Espino, used city police officers to support his political events and distributed drinks from a brewery that he owns at a city-sponsored comedy event.
Cabral argued Wednesday that barring Espino and other outside elected officials from using the space would minimize future conflicts of interest.
“There are many ways for him to be reached,” Cabral said during the meeting. “He doesn’t only represent the city of Doral. He represents many other cities, too.”
Councilwoman Maureen Porras said it was a mistake to bring any outside elected officials to set up shop in City Hall.
“Anyone that’s not an elected official of the city should not have had that space here because of the obvious conflicts and fights that have come up from this,” she said.
Vice Mayor Oscar PuigCorve also voted to deny Espino’s use of the City Hall office.
Rafael Pineyro was the only council member who joined Mayor Christi Fraga in voting against Cabral’s resolution. He said the effort would force Doral parents to drive to downtown Miami to meet with their School Board member.
“Why [are] we denying the access to these families to come to a place where they can meet with their School Board member, regardless of who the School Board member is?”
Espino is well-known in Doral, where he worked as city attorney through law firm Weiss Serota Helfman Cole + Bierman, and his placement on the School Board was linked to politics in the city.
In November 2022, Espino was appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill the vacancy left by Fraga, who had stepped down from the School Board to run for mayor of Doral. Fraga suggested Wednesday that her Doral office would remain open for him if he wants to use it.
Espino told the Miami Herald the council members had approved his use of the City Hall office months ago, just as they did for previous School Board members.
“Suddenly, as things have devolved in Doral, things have changed,” he said.
At the meeting in January, Hernandez said the spare office had been used by former School Board Member Susie Castillo and former State Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez. Hernandez said that instead of firing her, the council could “advocate for more safeguards” or revoke the agreement for Espino’s office space.
“I just want to clear my name,” Hernandez told reporters after the meeting. “I have done nothing wrong.”
Miami-Dade School Board member Danny Espino