{"id":374115,"date":"2026-08-17T23:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T23:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/374115\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T23:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T23:50:10","slug":"whos-running-for-council-in-key-biscayne-this-week-will-decide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/374115\/","title":{"rendered":"Who\u2019s running for Council in Key Biscayne? This week will decide"},"content":{"rendered":"

The more things change, the more they stay the same, as it appears that a group of well-known community figures are headed into the election season for Key Biscayne Village Council.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the three open Council positions, incumbent Vice Mayor Oscar Sardi\u00f1as , former Council Member Luis de la Cruz, and Claire London have filed. The deadline is noon Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Claire London, a candidate for Village Council, speaks at a meeting Feb. 13, 2024. (KBI Photo\/Tony Winton)<\/p>\n

The Big Dig stormwater project, scrapped earlier this yea<\/a>r, is shaping up to be a major campaign issue, and the contentious topic is one that many of those running for office have either spoken out on\u2013\u00a0 or have other connections to.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brett Moss, a former council member, is already the mayor-elect and will take office in November, because no one else sought the job. After supporting the Big Dig initially as a council member, Moss became a vocal opponent as costs started to soar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sardi\u00f1as, who is wrapping up a four-year stint on the Council, has been a reliable vote for outgoing Mayor Joe Rasco and the administration of Manager Steve Williamson, including the Big Dig stormwater plan. A business development consultant, Sardi\u00f1as has also been active in the nonprofit and education areas. He hopes to address declining enrollment at the K-8 Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also planning a return to the Council is Luis de la Cruz, a former council member and another vociferous critic of the Big Dig effort. He previously ran for mayor, losing to Mike Davey in 2018<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Luis de la Cruz, a former council member, speaks in opposition to the Big Dig, Nov. 18, 2025. He is running to return to the Council (KBI Photo\/Tony Winton)<\/p>\n

London has not held elective office before, but is hardly a newcomer. She has long been active in a number of Village improvement groups, including one that helped transform the Council Chambers into a theater, the Key Biscayne Film Festival, and the Dog Park. She is also married to outgoing Council Member Ed London, who was the Big Dig\u2019s most persistent critic. In a statement, she said that undergrounding utilities would be her priority.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Incumbent Fernando Vazquez, who campaigned four years ago as \u201cyour flood control engineer,\u201d said he is planning on filing for re-election. His was a pivotal vote that scrapped the Big Dig project and said water quality and discharges into Biscayne Bay were top priorities for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fernando Vazquez, a member of the Key Biscayne Village Council, speaks during a meeting Sept. 29, 2025 (KBI Photo\/Tony Winton)<\/p>\n

Also on the ballot is a change to the Key Biscayne Village Charter intended to limit future big stormwater projects. If approved by voters, a referendum would be required<\/a> to authorize large projects costing $50 million over a three-year period.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Vazquez had yet to file papers to run at publication time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Editor-in-Chief<\/p>\n

Tony Winton is the editor-in-chief of the Key Biscayne Independent and president of Miami Fourth Estate, Inc. He worked previously at The Associated Press for three decades winning multiple Edward R. Murrow awards. He was president of the News Media Guild, a journalism union, for 10 years. Born in Chicago, he is a graduate of Columbia University. His interests are photography and technology, sailing, cooking, and science fiction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The more things change, the more they stay the same, as it appears that a group of well-known…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[31765,52983,49686,25534,113,2811,589,25535,87517,63440,123,125,124,51168,22688,10545,16452,127],"class_list":["post-374115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-big-dig","tag-brett-moss","tag-claire-london","tag-ed-london","tag-education","tag-election","tag-featured","tag-fernando-vazquez","tag-k-8-center","tag-luis-de-la-cruz","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-mike-davey","tag-oscar-sardinas","tag-referendum","tag-stormwater","tag-village-council"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}