Joe Arriola is an arranger, a fixer of sorts. So when
Marc Sarnoff was elected to the Miami City Commission, Arriola thought it was a
good idea to arrange a sit-down between his pal of 25 years, prominent
developer Jorge Perez, and Coconut Grove's new political capo di tutti.
keen on Perez's plan to build a three-tower condo project on land owned by
Mercy Hospital. So two months before the city commission's first zoning
hearing, Arriola invited Perez and Sarnoff over to his sprawling South Miami
estate for Sunday-morning breakfast.
the two principals together, we could stop a lot of the public posturing,"
Arriola recalled in a 2007 sworn statement. "At the end of the day, they agreed
to disagree and shook hands."
tells me he met with many builders following his win but that he never
spoke to them about specific projects in the city.
"It was to show them I wasn't a three-headed monster," says
Sarnoff, who ran on a controlled development platform.