• Mysterious meeting and a bluff preceded the decision of the Mayor

NOTA:  Debido a las decenas de peticiones que hemos recibido en NHR.com  solicitando que los articulos sean publicados tambien en ingles, les podemos informar que desde hoy martes estaremos publicando algunos de los articulos que más entradas hayan recibido. Así estaremos cumpliendo con las solicitudes de nuestros lectores, ya que a ellos nos debemos. 

MIAMI, March 15, 2013, NHR.com– History repeats itself, as was the case with former Mayor Alex Penelas on February 26, 2001. After initially saying he would not veto the decision, Mayor Carlos Gimenez added fuel to the fire yesterday vetoing the determination of 9 of the 13 commissioners, who later voted unanimous in an 11-0 vote in favor of granting the contract to wrap bags at Miami International Airport (MIA) to the local company SafeWrap.
As justification for his veto Mayor Gimenez in his memorandum to the President of the Commission of Miami-Dade, Rebeca Sosa, and commissioners in general, is the loss of $6.79 million in three years, or $ 2,265,337 per year, based on projections of the company TrueStar, and the exaggerated prices ($20, $40 and $48) that that company would charge. We recall that thepresident of the Commission, Rebeca Sosa, asked the local company SafeWrapnot to increase the price to more than what is currently charged which is $15, saving consumers more than $ 6 million a year, which TrueStar could not meet by having to pay the 65% which was offered in its bid to the County in order to obtain the contract in the MIA.
According to what NHR.com has been able to find, in 2001, when Penelas vetoed the contract for wrapping bags in the MIA, which had been granted to Secure Wrap of Miami, a meeting was held a few hours after the vote of the commissioners where then Mayor Penelas was pressured into vetoing the decision.
Our sources informed us that the meeting took place with Penelas in a Boston Market establishment, with the owner of the company that lost the contract to wrap luggage, the former commissioner of the city of Miami Manolo Reboso, Penelas’ close friend, and lobbyist Jorge Luis Lopez. There was pressure put on Penelas to exercise the veto, and thus it came hours later. On March 8, 2001, 11 commissioners voted against the veto, while Miriam Alonso and Pedro Reboredo Penelas voted to support, making this a stunning blow to the political career of Alex Penelas.
In this case almost the same thing occurred. Our sources have informed NHR.com that during the 48 hours following the vote March 5 (always in March), there were several meetings between TrueStar lobbyist, Pablo Acosta,
his partner Jorge Luis Lopez, and other executives of the Italian company.
During these meetings calls were made, they gathered all of their supervisors and Giussepe Sgobio, General Manager of Sinapsis/TrueStar telling them “Fabio is coming and that they would have to remove them from the airport by force, that they would appeal to the Italian Ambassador and if needed Barack Obama himself. “On Monday the 12th, after pressuring Mayor Gimenez, Sinapsis created a plan that the mayor was not a stranger to. “Sinapsis would sue the County on Wednesday and the mayor would sign the veto on Thursday” the source said, and it did.

Also during the weekend, the mayor ordered his assistants to go to the airport and bring back documentation necessary to the plan, several
employees of the mayor occupied the mayor’s designated parking spot at the airport and waited for the documents, the plan was on.
The Chairwoman of the Commission Rebeca Sosa said “she did not understand why the mayor vetoed the decisions made by a supermajority of the Commissioners, including herself” and added, “Maybe he has to make a point, we have consciously voted on what we were doing.”
It is noteworthy that it was the same Carlos Gimenez who recommended the commissioners last year reduce $ 2.5 million from Sinapsis Trading USA’s original offer of $ 11.1 million they had promised, which is equal to $7.5 million over three years. “At that time Gimenez did not think that MIA would lose $ 2.5 million a year,” or estimated “potential loss of $ 7.5 million for the airport would require raising landing fees charged to airlines per 1,000 pounds in landing, as Gimenez stated in his veto,” said our source.
When all of the commissioners and the Chairwoman of the Commission herself,Rebeca Sosa,  thought they ended this process and everyone hoped that the issue would not return for many years, the mayor suddenly stir the hornets’ nest again and returns with the controversial case of suitcases wrapped at the airport. As the never forgotten journalist Humberto Lopez would say: “and it continues…”