Whiting takes estimated cash lead as Menendez spends $36,970 in one week
Where the campaign money is moving, a change to an Oct. 31 show, and a daily tapas happy hour on Giralda.
In the week that ended Oct. 2, Nestor Menendez's Group IV campaign took in $1,750 and paid out $36,970. By the Gazette's estimate, that one lopsided week moved the cash lead to Group V candidate Nikki Whiting.
Dominique "Nikki" Whiting, a Group V candidate, has an estimated $60,978 left, by the Gazette's count of reported contributions minus spending. That is the most of any candidate with reports available. The shift came in the week that ended Oct. 2, when Group IV challenger Nestor Menendez took in $1,750 and paid out $36,970. By the Gazette's estimate, that week cut his campaign's cash by 43 percent, leaving the Menendez campaign roughly $46,467 by the paper's count from earlier and current filings.
Whiting also spent more than came in that week, raising $11,000 against $16,030 in spending. Menendez still leads in total fundraising with $124,170 raised so far, and Whiting is second at $107,055 raised overall. The Gazette's figures are estimates from reported contributions and spending, not bank balances, but they show where the money is moving.
Within three days, Menendez and a political committee tied to Mayor Vince Lago paid one consulting firm, Big Tuesday Media, a combined $80,556. The records alone do not show coordination, illegal contributions or improper influence.
City plans survey of its longest-running businesses to keep them here
Questions about lease renewals and expansion plans are headed to some of Coral Gables' oldest businesses, as the city teams up with the Miami-Dade Beacon Council on a countywide effort. Economic Development Director Belkys Perez said the survey will start with the longest-established firms and some of the biggest employers, aiming to spot any that may be thinking of leaving. Keeping a business, she told the Economic Development Board, takes less work than recruiting a new one. Perez also reported that the central business district had about 12,000 employees in 2019 and roughly 12,400 in the first half of 2026, about 3% higher. Employee visits sit at about 1.1 million, or roughly 92% of the 1.2 million logged before the pandemic, because many workers now keep hybrid schedules.
Four new restaurants open in Coral Gables
Bar Zorro, a new Spanish tapas bar at 146 Giralda Ave., pours $10 cocktails during its daily happy hour from 5:30 to 7 p.m. That happy hour also brings $8 wines and $5 beers, while Bar Zorro's cocktails otherwise cost $18 each, from fruity spritzes to stiffer drinks made with bourbon, mezcal or gin.
Pizza Bear has taken over the former MKT Kitchen space at 1831 Ponce de Leon Blvd., where a wood-fired oven in plain view turns out sourdough pies under a disco ball. Order at the counter and fetch your own plates.
Ami Ami, at 318 Miracle Mile, comes from owners Milena Damchevski and Dushan Drakalski, originally from Macedonia, who moved here from Vienna. Its menu draws on their European roots, from Austrian Kaiserschmarrn to sesame gevrek, a Macedonian bagel, and the $15 Sesame Citrus Crunch Salad on Ami Ami's lunch menu mixes cabbage, broccoli, oranges and candied cashews.
Le Macaron French Pastries, at 392 Miracle Mile, sells its macarons for $3.10 each, in flavors from pistachio to cookie butter.
Day of the Dead lucha libre show drops little-person wrestlers
Some Parks and Recreation Advisory Board members objected at a recent meeting to plans for little-person wrestlers in the lucha libre show at Coral Gables' Day of the Dead celebration on Oct. 31. Within hours, those performers were dropped, according to people close to the city, though the exhibition itself is still expected to proceed. In Mexican lucha libre, these wrestlers are known as micro-estrellas, or microstars. Maiz and Agave Restaurant is sponsoring the wrestling event. Community Recreation Director Fred Couceyro told the board the city's power over special event permits is limited: "I’m not allowed to deny a permit for something that is legal and able to be done just because I don’t like the subject matter." Separately, the Mexican Consulate plans its own celebration at Ponce Circle Park from 4 to 9 p.m., featuring music, dance, food and traditional performances.
Gladys Gómez-Rossié, a founder of UM's Cuban Heritage Collection, retires after 59 years
Gladys Gómez-Rossié started at UM's libraries in 1967 and retired on Sept. 30 as community relations coordinator for the Cuban Heritage Collection. She came to the United States at 14 through Operation Pedro Pan. She was one of five Cuban women whose push to save their homeland's history helped build what the university calls the biggest archive of Cuba materials anywhere outside the island. Their collecting began decades before UM formally united its Cuban holdings as the Cuban Heritage Collection in 1998.
Seraphic Fire's first Gables concert under new director, Friday
- When
- Oct. 16 · 7:30 p.m.
- Where
- First United Methodist Church of Coral Gables
- Address
- 536 Coral Way
Seraphic Fire sings at First United Methodist Church, 536 Coral Way, at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 16. It is the ensemble's first Coral Gables concert under artistic director Dr. James K. Bass, who took over in June from founder Patrick Dupré Quigley. The program, Serenade to Music, includes four works: Ralph Vaughan Williams' piece of that name, Eric Whitacre's When David Heard, Dieterich Buxtehude's Ad manus and Caroline Shaw's To the Hands. Vaughan Williams wrote the Serenade in 1938 as a tribute to Sir Henry Wood, a conductor who helped launch London's Proms concerts.