Spotlight 152-251031

Good morning. What we’re covering in today’s Spotlight:

  • Election Day: What’s on Your Ballot?
  • A Neglected Nuisance on Virginia Street
  • Where We’ll Be: Our Stellar Event Guide                 

Miami voters will choose a new mayor, two new commissioners, and vote on four proposed charter amendments this year. Election day is Tuesday Nov. 4.   

By Don Finefrock


How much do you love democracy? 

Enough to know what’s on the ballot before election day on Tuesday?

Miami voters will choose a new mayor, two new commissioners, and vote yes or no on four proposed charter amendments. Here’s a sample ballot

Below is a quick guide to the four charter questions on the ballot this year. For more election coverage and candidate profiles published by the Spotlight this year, see the links at the bottom of this story. 


Coconut Grove residents say a long-neglected wall on U.S. 1 is an eyesore and safety hazard, racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines as city enforcement drags on.

By Jenny Jacoby


Few would call U.S. 1 one of Miami’s prettier boulevards, but one spot along the six-lane, chronically congested highway has caught the frustration of Center Grove resident David Rosen.

At the corner of U.S. 1 and Virginia Street sits a crumbling, two-foot-high pink wall with peeling paint and a sagging chain-link fence. Overgrown with weeds and tagged with graffiti, it greets drivers with what Rosen calls an eyesore at the entrance to the neighborhood he loves.



Halloween’s barely out the door, but we’re not done dressing up—just trading cobwebs for culture. The week ahead is all rhythm and shimmer: live music under the palms, art that hums long after you’ve left the gallery, and films that haunt in the best possible way. Style and substance, that’s the Grove way. And come Tuesday 11/4, don’t forget the biggest event of all — Election Day. Mayor, referendums, a brand-new District 3 commissioner. Show up, make it count, and call it democracy with flair. Don’t ghost your ballot.

Bonus Round. Daylight savings ends early Sunday, which means one glorious thing: an extra hour. You could spend it asleep (the respectable choice), or still out somewhere — at the after-after-party that refused to quit, laughing with friends as the clock rewinds itself. Either way, time’s on your side – for once.



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