If successful, the Stronger Miami campaign would add four new seats to the City Commission, prohibit political gerrymandering, and reset the city’s election calendar.
A new coalition that includes Coconut Grove residents has launched a petition drive to propel political reform at Miami City Hall by amending the city’s charter.
The proposed changes pushed by the Stronger Miami campaign would add four new seats to the City Commission, ban political gerrymandering, and require city elections to be held on even-numbers years to promote higher voter participation.
The effort is backed by One Grove Alliance, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, and the civic non-profit group Engage Miami.
Grove resident Andy Parrish is the chairman of the Stronger Miami political committee established on March 28. The petition drive was announced on Monday.
Supporters of the Stronger Miami initiative say the charter amendment will drive up voter turnout and boost representation in city government.
“The Stronger Miami amendment is written to create a city that works for everyone,” ACLU of Florida communications director Gaby Guadalupe said in an email to the Spotlight. “Each element works together to tackle corruption, improve government’s responsiveness to the people, and create a system where voters choose their politicians – not the other way around.”
To force political change at City Hall, organizers are seeking to gather the 26,000 signatures from Miami voters needed to place the charter referendum on the November 4 election ballot. To do that, the signatures would “ideally” be gathered by July 1, followed by a verification process, said Engage Miami executive director Rebecca Pelham.
But even if those signatures aren’t gathered and verified in time for the November election, the campaign will continue, Pelham said.
“The thing about local charter initiatives is there is no specific deadline. There is a path for 2025, and there’s a path for a special election in 2026,” she said, adding that campaign organizers would “rather see something sooner rather than later.”
Marlene Erven, president of the Coconut Grove Park Neighborhood Association and a director of One Grove Alliance, said Stronger Miami petitions will be circulated at her association’s annual barbecue on Saturday. Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo is expected to attend the event.
Pardo, whose district includes Coconut Grove, declined to comment for this story.
“We are organizing to identify events where we can place tables with petitions to get more signatures,” Erven said.
Swelling Districts
Pelham of Engage Miami said holding elections on even years when people decide who should be the next governor, senator, or president will save money and encourage more voters to participate in city elections. In a city with about 456,000 residents, less than 16,000 people voted in Miami’s 2023 election, she noted.
“This means a very small number of people are making important decisions that impact everyone in the city,” Pelham said in a statement. “Moving city elections to even years when other statewide elections are held will encourage more people to participate in local elections and be involved locally.”
As for why there should be nine people on the City Commission instead of five, Pelham said Miami’s population was significantly smaller when the city enacted single-family districts in 1997. As a result, the population of each commission district has swelled to around 90,000 people, which is too large, she argued.
“Nine is great because we have so many different neighborhoods and so much diversity in the City of Miami, and nine seats reflect that half a million people live in this city,” Pelham said.
Yet not everyone thinks adding more seats on the commission will bring needed reform. Morningside activist Elvis Cruz said adding more seats will not stop big money developer interests from dominating Miami politics.
“Right now, (developers) give campaign contributions to five commissioners. They will be able to give nine commissioners much more (money) than the average resident,” Cruz said. “The good guys are already stretched thin dealing with a three commissioner (majority) on any given issue. Now they’ll have to deal with five.”
But Erven said nine seats will make it harder for politicians to form a block large enough to dominate city politics. “To control everything that goes on in this city, you just have to get three people together on the commission and that’s it,” Erven said.
In addition, Erven said a nine-district commission means her neighbors can elect a commissioner focused on the needs of Coconut Grove.
“Our commissioner represents Morningside, Brickell, Downtown, Midtown, and Coconut Grove,” Erven said. “The focus is not totally on our area. It is just spread out.”
District Fallout
Stronger Miami backers don’t want to just add more commission seats. They want to make sure future commission districts align with real neighborhoods.
“It’s about redrawing maps that truly represent residents and not about (politicians) drawing maps that best represent themselves,” Pelham said.
Which is why the proposed charter amendment includes the following clause:
“No redistricting plan or district may be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party. Districts must respect neighborhoods and follow major geographic boundaries.”
Indeed, the idea of adding more single-family districts gained traction in 2022 when Miami commissioners pushed a redistricting plan that divided Coconut Grove into as many as three districts. The plan moved the Coconut Grove home of Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo out of District 2 and into Carollo’s District 3.
Carollo did not return phone calls from the Spotlight regarding the referendum effort, nor did other members of the Miami City Commission.
That map was ultimately scrapped after the ACLU of Florida and Dechert LLP successfully challenged the map in federal court on the grounds that it unconstitutionally divided neighborhoods based on racial grounds.
During the litigation, Miami’s legal team said the districts were formulated to virtually guarantee three Hispanic seats, one African-American seat, and one non-Hispanic white seat.
That led to a federal judge ruling last year that Miami officials crafted a “racially gerrymandered” map that reduced Miamians to their racial backgrounds and denied residents “equal protection” under the 14th Amendment.
A new map that reunited Coconut Grove and other neighborhoods was approved by the City Commission on a 4-to-1 vote last year as part of a court settlement. Carollo was the lone dissenting vote.
The settlement also required the city to place a referendum on the November 4 ballot asking voters to approve a Citizens’ Redistricting Committee to oversee future changes to the city’s voting map.
To fulfill that requirement, commissioners will need to approve ballot language for that referendum by September 20, ACLU spokeswoman Gaby Guadalupe said.
Such a committee can help create a map that can accommodate nine district commissioners, Pelham said.
“If the nine-district initiative passes, a new map will be needed, and the Citizens’ Redistricting Committee will play their part,” Pelham said.
Editor’s Note: Mel Meinhardt, publisher of the Coconut Grove Spotlight and a director of One Grove Alliance, is a lead organizer of the Stronger Miami campaign.
Good morning! It is sad to realize that our commissioners with their legislation are more interested in protecting the developers and not the constituents. Modification of construction hours from 7 am until 5 pm Monday thru Saturday is creating a negative impact on the citizens. We, the constituents have a right to some peace and quiet in the early hours and especially on Saturdays.