| Carlos Alvarez | |
|---|---|
| 6th Mayor of Miami-Dade County | |
| In office November 6, 2004 – March 11, 2011 |
|
| Preceded by | Alex Penelas |
| Succeeded by | Carlos A. Giménez |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1952 (age 59–60)[1] Havana, Cuba |
| Political party | Republican |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Florida International University (B.B.A.) |
| Profession | Police officer Politician |
Carlos Alvarez (born c. 1952) is a Cuban American politician, and the former mayor of Miami-Dade County. He was first elected mayor in 2004, and re-elected in 2008. His mayoralty ended in March 2011 after a recall election.[2] In both mayoral elections, he listed his party as "No Party Preference",[3] although an article in the Christian Science Monitor described him as a member of the Republican Party.[4]
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Carlos Alvarez was born in Cuba around 1952. When he was eight years old, his family emigrated to Miami.[5] Alvarez received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Florida International University in 1974. In addition to his FIU degree, Alvarez completed training at the Senior Management Institute for Police and the FBI National Academy.
In 1976, Alvarez joined the Miami-Dade Police Department.[5] He was promoted through the ranks and, in 1997, became director of the MDPD.[5] He served as director from 1997 to 2004. His tenure as director was called "relatively free of trouble, at least by local standards" by the Miami New Times, although in 2004 a group of policemen who served in the department described his management style as marked by "favoritism and retaliation".[6]
Carlos Alvarez ran for mayor in the 2004 Miami-Dade mayoral election, and defeated his opponent Jimmy Morales.[7] He became Miami-Dade County's sixth mayor, replacing Alex Penelas. In 2007, Alvarez successfully launched a referendum to give the mayoralty more power, giving him direct control of the county's bureaucracy.[8]
Alvarez was re-elected as county mayor on August 26, 2008, for his second term.[9]
In 2009, Alvarez led a successful effort to spend hundreds of millions of dollars of the city's money to build a new baseball field for the local team the Florida Marlins.[8] In August 2009, The Miami Herald revealed that Alvarez had recently given pay raises to close aides of his, including chief of staff Dennis Morales, whose new salary was over $200,000 a year.[8] In September 2010, Alvarez pushed for a 12% increase in the property tax rate.[8]
An effort to recall Alvarez began in October 2010, backed by billionaire businessman Norman Braman, a former owner of the football team the Philadelphia Eagles, due to Alvarez's simultaneous tax increases and pay raises for county workers.[8] Braman spent over $1 million of his own money on the effort.[4]
Alvarez was recalled in a March 15, 2011 election. Over 88% of the voters in the recall election, or 176,000 people, voted to have Mayor Alvarez recalled.[10] The election was the largest municipal recall vote in United States history,[4] and the 2nd largest in the U.S. of any kind, after the 2003 recall election of California governor Gray Davis.[8] Alvarez officially left office on March 18, 2011 when the county canvassing board certified the results.[2]
Alvarez is the father of two sons and one daughter.[5]