Witness arguments continued Monday in the trial against Commissioner Joe Carollo. The plaintiffs allege that the commissioner retaliated against them for supporting his political opponent and that their tenants and those who do business with them also suffered.
Today the jury heard from restaurant owner Sanguich, who testified that she and her husband worked tirelessly to resolve the issues with the city and in the end all doors were closed to her because of what she called “sabotage by Joe Carollo”. “
Rosa Romero and her husband Daniel Figueredo quit their careers and invested all of their life savings to open their dream business, another kind of Cuban sandwich shop in the heart of Little Havana, thus began Rosa Romero’s trial testimony on the federal lawsuit against the commissioner. Joe Carolo.
In October 2017, they opened the Sanguich business, which received a lot of attention from the community and the press. The container was located at Calle 8 and Avenida 16 in a property owned by the Burlington Group, owners: Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla.
He said that shortly after opening, more than 20 police officers and the code department showed up at the establishment and pointed out the lack of authorization to operate.
The woman told the jury they had applied for all the licenses they felt were necessary to open what she described as a temporary structure on private property. He pointed out that other neighborhoods in Miami have this type of food container.
Romero said they did everything they could to comply with the new demands the city placed on them, but in his words it was all “sabotaged by Commissioner Joe Carollo for his vendetta against Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla.” .
She said she requested a meeting with Joe Carollo during which he told them he had no problem with his business, but there was a problem with the property they were on. He described a second raid despite obtaining additional permits. And that they threatened to arrest them if they continued to operate the business.
Rosa Romero said that in a final meeting with the commissioner that was attended by city attorney Victoria Méndez and then-administrator Emilio González, the meeting became very tense because Carollo told them shouted at it and said that on his corpse they could operate in the city of Miami.
The couple ended up opening in a mall edict, west of the original site.
During cross-examination, a lawyer for Carollo asked her if the commissioner himself had participated in any of the raids, to which she admitted that she had not, but stated that he commanded city employees and that the only time she saw Carollo was at her house. business when she discovered him late at night taking pictures of her working.
The defense has yet to begin for Joe Carollo who has claimed he is innocent of all charges against him.