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Miami – Another business owner accused Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo of abuse of power.
Esther Alonso doesn’t want the city to turn Virginia Key — enjoyed by nature lovers who rent paddle boards, kayaks and bikes from her business — into a homeless camp.
Surveillance video shows police officers arriving at the Key Outdoor Center in Virginia on Friday afternoon to detain and intimidate Alonso.
“If you refuse to sign this form, I’m going to have to physically take you to jail,” a Miami police officer said.
Alonso said she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It was very embarrassing for her to have a police officer threaten to take someone to jail for not signing a form.
Authorities were with two inspectors from the Miami Code Enforcement Office who accused her of operating without a certificate of occupancy and owing more than $140,000 in rent.
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Alonso, a Miami tenant, denied the allegations.
“I sent checks,” Alonso said, which “went missing,” and as a Cuban American, she was quick to recognize the “abuse of power.”
Carollo is spearheading a plan to build tiny houses on key urban property in Virginia to keep the homeless out of cities. In July, commissioners voted 3-2 in favor of the pilot program. Commissioners Ken Russell and Manolo Reyes were the dissenting voices.
Before Alonso spoke, it was clear that Carollo was abusing his power against city employees, who faced similar allegations that led to the commissioner’s indictment.
Bill Fuller, the owner of the Little Havana nightclub Ball and Chain, accused him of abusing his power to punish him for supporting a political rival.
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Former Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo has accused him of misusing Miami Police Department resources to “pursue” his personal agenda.
This week in South Florida: August 7
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