Miami Lakes residents have an opportunity to grade the town government’s performance in numerous areas by answering a comprehensive survey that will also help leaders update the strategic plan, “Imagine Miami Lakes 2025.” Miami Lakes hired ETC Institute to measure community satisfaction about the town as a place to live, work, raise children and retire. The confidential survey, available in English or Spanish, also asks about the...

If you’ve ever wondered how much taxes are collected and how that money is put to use, the Town of Miami Lakes has launched Transparent Miami Lakes, a website that lists all sorts of financial documents. Visitors to the site will find lots of data to pour through, including the town’s budgets for revenues and expenses. You can even look through the municipality’s checkbook, and see how much a vendor has been paid over time. The site...

Rhoda has a problem: though she’s a newly hatched alligator in the Florida Everglades, another baby gator named Horace doesn’t like her orange and blue skin, and he bullies her. How Rhoda overcomes being an outcast and learns to celebrate what makes her special is the plot of the new children’s book published Nov. 24 by former Fla. Gov. Bob Graham. “I wrote this story for my grandchildren and girls and boys of their...

U.S. CongressSen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.7400 SW 87th Ave., Ste. 270 Miami, Fla. 33166305-596-4224Twitter: @SenRubioPressOfc. hours in Miami: Monday - Friday9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Ofc. hours in Miami Lakes Town Hall: 3rd Wednesdays11 a.m.-1 p.m.Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.415 Clematis St., Ste. 201 West Palm Beach, Fla.33401561-514-0189Twitter: @SenRickScottRep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami 8669 NW 36th St., Ste. 100 Doral, Fla. 33166305-470-8555Twitter:...

Dedicated volunteers worked for years to make Miami Lakes the 31st municipality in Miami-Dade County, an accomplishment that was achieved two decades ago. Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid said of the importance of local government, “You can’t speak to your president, you can’t speak to your governor ... but you can speak to your mayor, you can speak to your councilmembers to make sure that your community is improving,” Cid said. It takes a...