Remarks by Melissa Castro
70 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 3
- Play at 2:46:50
“THIS IS AN INTERESTING WOW, THAT'S PRETTY LOUD. THE MICROPHONE. THIS IS AN INTERESTING RESOLUTION AND IT'S REALLY A SHAME THAT THE MAYOR COULDN'T GRANT ME THE RESPECT. to go ahead and call my item before this one. My item was an item to execute a national search. But getting back to Joe, Joe Gomez was hired by the, according to the mayor, unqualified candidate, city manager, Amos Rojas and Alberto Parajus. And I think they made a great decision because As my colleagues have said, Joe Gomez has been great to work with, not only with them, but with me. But this vote right here is not a vote for…”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 3:01:21
“Yeah, so I want to make this extremely clear. This is not a vote against Joe Gomez. This is a vote for a national search. If a national search was good enough to campaign on, it should be very well good enough to govern by. Promises matter. Process matters. But most importantly, consistency matters. My vote is no.”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 3:47:12
“Since this is a quasi-judicial item, I want to go ahead and city attorney put on the record that there has been ex-party communications.”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 3:47:24
“No, no. I mean, everything's a public record. It's been mostly emails.”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 5:37:33
“Yeah, there is separate, a lot of different points I want to go ahead and raise. But before I do, I want to go ahead and I want to call Chief Hudak to the podium because I have very, very, Very important question regarding the testimony of attorney David Winker. I believe, not I believe, during the last commission meeting when this item was presented, all of these, because it's a quasi-judicial item, were sworn under oath. Am I correct, city attorney?”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 5:38:15
“Okay, so given those facts, is this a crime?”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 5:40:13
“The second point I'm going to go ahead and raise after I went ahead and I saw the testimony of Attorney Winker is, number one, I was in disbelief of what I was watching. I especially don't think things like this happen in Coral Gables. But to stand before a commission, raise your hand, swear to tell the truth, and then provide false information, that is not public participation. That is a direct attack on the integrity of this process. You cannot swear to tell the city the truth and then give those false information and then expect us to pretend, hey, it doesn't matter, it's okay. You're here…”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 5:48:47
“I think an important point here is that we need to keep in mind is that development can be rebuilt, but history cannot. First, I want to point out that the developer contributed $10,000 to the mayor's pact 12 days before the vote. Now the mayor is being asked to vote on that developer's project. The ask, what is the ask? change the zoning more than double the allowed height, demolish the Garden of Our Lord, and transform a property of historic significance. Some votes approve buildings. Others define a city. This is one of those votes. Residents can obviously draw their own conclusions, but I…”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 5:52:03
“There's a big difference between development and over development knowing the difference is a really big part of this body now.”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 5:52:41
“We constantly talk about preserving the history and the character of Coral Gables. With this vote, we're talking our walk or we're walking our talk. No.”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 6:41:14
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 6:42:06
“I couldn't agree more, but after the meeting that we had, you did open me up to questions.”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 6:42:15
“And I went ahead and I took that opportunity to be able to connect with you personally. So no disrespect to the city manager, but that was an agreement you and I had.”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 6:42:32
“Listen, all I want to do is support the agreement, okay, in good faith. BUT I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THE THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO ME AND TO THIS COMMUNITY ARE ADDRESSED PROPERLY. AND I WAS SEEING THAT SOME WERE ADDRESSED AND SOME I'M QUESTIONABLE ABOUT. I WANT TO VOTE YES. OKAY? I WANT, I MEAN, I CANNOT BE MORE PROUD FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI TO BE IN CORAL GABLES EVEN THOUGH IT'S THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI. But between this reading and next reading, let's go ahead and flush. There was three points there. Let's go ahead and talk about specifically some of the ones, maybe not here right…”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 6:53:45
“Yes, I'll go ahead and reiterate some of the requests that I had. on top, surface-wise. One of the first things that was of great importance was the Centennial Park and that the language is airtight, that it's a passive park. This is not Central Park. This is not Ponce Park. This is benches, anything that is to maintain the park as passive. You know, walkways maybe, nothing more. Trees. I put the language there. I drafted some language. But I think the expertise of the city attorney, if that is okay with you, we can flush that out a little better. The second thing I requested was direct…”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 8:13:32
“Yeah, so I have a question. Was this final conclusion presented to the residents of Baltimore Way?”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 8:14:25
“So you're telling me that this is on the record, right? Because I've had several residents come to me.”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 8:14:33
“Okay. And then the other one is? Yeah, they said that they never agreed for staff to go ahead and pick the trees. That's something they're saying. I'm not aware.”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 8:14:45
“These residents are saying that they never agreed for the city to go ahead and pick out the trees.”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 8:15:29
“Can you tell me when was the date that this was presented to the Billmore Way residents?”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 8:15:45
“Well, yeah, that was a date that I went ahead and I wrote on my memo. But after that, there were substantial changes. Nothing else was presented to these residents?”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 8:16:00
“So these residents really don't know what's coming?”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 8:16:07
“The presentation right now? Is that how they're finding out?”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 8:16:17
“I'm so sorry. I'm not understanding what you're saying.”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026
- Play at 8:16:27
“Yeah, but it's my turn. No, no, but it's not. No, no, no. This is my time. Commissioner. We've had a good meeting. Commissioner. Relax, okay? Let me finish my conversation. Let me help you.”
City Commission · Aug 25, 2026