1. Joseph Xavier Carollo was born on March 12,1955 and is a Cuban-American politician who served as mayor of Miami from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2001.
27 Facts About Joe Carollo
1. 2.
Joe Carollo successfully ran for election to the Miami city commission in 2017.
3.
In 1979, Joe Carollo was elected to the City of Miami commission at the age of 24.
4.
Joe Carollo quickly gained a reputation for making enemies, and in 1982, the police chief Kenneth Harms sent a memo accusing Carollo of seeking political favors for Sheik Mohammed Al-Fassi, bribing the police, seeking career favors for his friends on the police force, and enforcing these demands by withholding budget funds for the police.
5.
In 1986, as a city commissioner, Joe Carollo attacked a plan to develop Watson Island as funded by communists.
6.
Joe Carollo lost his Miami City Commission seat by a wide margin to Victor De Yurre in 1987.
7.
Eight years later, in 1995, Joe Carollo beat Victor De Yurre to retake the same seat on the Miami City Commission he lost to De Yurre.
8.
Joe Carollo brought in Merritt Stierheim as interim city manager to create a recovery plan.
9.
In 1997, with the first Strong-mayor system in the City of Miami's history at stake, Joe Carollo lost his re-election campaign in a runoff election to Xavier Suarez.
10.
Joe Carollo continued his lawsuit alleging ballot fraud in the first round of voting of the 1997 mayoral race.
11.
On March 13,1998, Joe Carollo was sworn in as Miami mayor after the 3rd District Court of Appeals threw out 5,100 fraudulent absentee ballots.
12.
The City Commission voted to reinstate Garcia-Pedroza and Joe Carollo fired him again, a back-and-forth that led to Garcia-Pedroza being fired three times before asking the City Commission to let his dismissal stand.
13.
Joe Carollo opposed preserving the site as it stood because of the possibility of significant tax revenue from Baumann's planned apartment building.
14.
At that point Joe Carollo began a media blitz where he appeared on television more than 50 times, including Rivera Live, Nightline, Hannity, and frequent visits to Miami-area Spanish-language talk radio station Radio Mambi.
15.
Joe Carollo fired City Manager Donald Warshaw, who did not support Joe Carollo's actions in the Elian Gonzalez affair.
16.
November 21,2017, Joe Carollo defeated Alfie Leon in a runoff election to take the district 3 seat on the Miami city commission.
17.
The seat was papal held by his brother, Frank Joe Carollo, who was term limited.
18.
In 2018, Joe Carollo applied for permits on the same space and time that would have held Viernes Culturales in a move to force the festival to shut down.
19.
Joe Carollo criticized him for the statement, calling it "unbelievable," and pointed out that Fidel Castro used the same language to denigrate Cubans in Miami.
20.
Joe Carollo expressed disbelief that Acevedo, himself Cuban, could be unaware of that history.
21.
Joe Carollo brought in a video of Acevedo impersonating Elvis for a fundraiser.
22.
At the swearing in of his replacement, Manny Morales, Joe Carollo played the theme from the film The Godfather, referencing the "Cuban mafia" statement.
23.
In October 2021, Joe Carollo sponsored an ordinance criminalizing tent encampments in the city of Miami.
24.
Joe Carollo pushed a plan to build an encampment on Virginia Key to keep homeless people.
25.
In 1979, Joe Carollo, who was then a police officer, was reprimanded for putting Ku Klux Klan cartoon pamphlets in the mailbox of a fellow Black officer.
26.
On February 8,2001, Joe Carollo was arrested on charges of domestic violence.
27.
Joe Carollo was accused of throwing a terra cotta pot at his then-wife, leaving a golf-ball-sized welt on her head.