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# Happy 45th Birthday, Commissioner. Who Gets the Presents?
- URL: https://friends-of-south-dade.ghost.io/happy-45th-birthday-commissioner-who-gets-the-presents/
- Published: 2026-08-03T18:18:25.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-03T18:18:24.000Z
- Author: Pete Kendall 

Dear Neighbor 

 Today is Danielle Cohen Higgins’ **45th birthday**.  
 Ordinarily, the birthday girl **receives the presents.**  
 At County Hall, Danielle seems to prefer handing them out.  

 Her record includes supporting **the giveaway of County-owned land to developer BlueNest for $10,** voting to **push development farther into environmentally sensitive South Dade,** and sponsoring changes that made it **easier to consider moving the Urban Development Boundary.**   
 These decisions may be wrapped in phrases like “affordable housing” and “increasing housing supply,” but **developers and politically connected insiders are the ones with their names on the gift tags.**  
 And Danielle does not forget the people closest to her.  
 In 2022, she voted with the majority to **more than double each commissioner’s annual compensation package**, from approximately $61,100 to $138,500\. That included increased expense and automobile allowances and larger retirement contributions. **The raise was hidden inside the County’s massive budget and approved by a 7–5 vote.**   
 Now she wants voters to approve **another grift ... ummm ... gift**.  
 Cohen Higgins is sponsoring a proposed Charter amendment for the November ballot that would **create an unelected salary commission** to decide how much County commissioners should be paid. Commissioners would no longer have to endure the embarrassment of publicly voting themselves another increase. **Someone else could do it for them.**   

 So happy 45th birthday, Commissioner Cohen Higgins.  
 **The cake and frosting are yours.**  
 The land, development rights, and public money **belong to the taxpayers.**  
 Yet somehow, **we always seem to be the ones paying for the presents.**