Eileen Higgins was sworn in on Thursday as Miami’s first woman mayor in front of a crowd of cheering supporters in downtown Miami, and promptly promised to change the way the City of Miami does business by treating residents like customers.
The afternoon ceremony at Miami Dade College drew a standing-room-only crowd of well-wishers, including outgoing Mayor Francis Suarez, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, city commissioners, county commissioners, and the new mayor’s parents.
After taking the oath of office, Higgins spoke for 13 minutes, hitting some well-rehearsed campaign lines and checking off a list of issues she has pledged to address: housing, affordability, transit, jobs, flooding and, above all, the city’s broken permitting system.
“What residents were telling me (on the campaign trail) was broken systems were standing between them and what they needed. What they were asking me was, transform how the city works and start treating them like customers. In other words, create a city government that makes life better. And we will do that,” she said.
“Everyone deserves a city that works for them.”
Building permits and the high cost of housing have become emblematic of the city’s broken systems, and Higgins vowed to fix that.
“We will deliver housing that people can actually afford and prove that it is possible to build the homes you need by issuing permits in record time,” she said.
The new mayor thanked supporters for powering her 19-point victory over runoff opponent Emilio Gonzalez. She thanked her staff, she thanked Suarez for his contributions as mayor, and she thanked her parents.
“They did something. They raised me with values. Get up every day, work hard, and do what’s right. So, mom and dad, thank you so much, I love you,” Higgins said.
Higgins delivered her address in English and Spanish, and she closed with a message to the voters who didn’t support her. And with another promise.
The message, she said, was pretty simple – “I am here to serve everyone” – but the promise may prove more complicated to deliver.
“Every person who calls City Hall will find a voice at the end of the line, ready to help,” she promised. “If you live here, you matter.”
In advance of Thursday’s ceremony, Higgins made her first personnel moves, naming her chief of staff and appointing a nine-member transition team that will provide advice and guidance during her first 100 days in office.
Her choice for chief of staff was no surprise. Higgins, who served on the Miami-Dade County Commission until recently, will bring her top county aide – Maggie Fernandez – with her to City Hall.
The nine members Higgins chose for her transition team represent a variety of backgrounds and experience. Transition team members include:
- Carlos Migoya, president and CEO of Jackson Health System.
- Gepsie Metellus, executive director of Sant La, a social services agency serving Miami’s Haitian community.
- Jose Bermudez, managing director of JAB Miami, director of government affairs at CREI Holdings, and a board member at the Latin Builders Association.
- Matt Haggman, chief strategic initiatives officer at Right to Start.
- Marta Viciedo, an urban planner who co-founded Transit Alliance Miami and led the local Better Bus Project.
- Michele Burger, a partner at LSN Partners, a government affairs consulting firm.
- Rebecca Fishman Lipsey, president and CEO of The Miami Foundation.
- Terry Murphy, a veteran county employee and currently a vice president at Public Affairs Concepts.
- Tina Brown, chief executive officer at OYC Miami, a nonprofit organization founded by Alonzo Mourning that is active in Overtown and surrounding neighborhoods.
What? No Billy Corben on the Mayor’s staff? A glaring omission, obviously. Let’s just all hope and pray that our new mayor can right the ship that is currently sailing toward the edge of Miami-Dade County’s flat earth.
I hope she vetoes the Watson Island discounted land sale.
Commissioner King is a good choice to continue to chair the City Commission. She is the only one of the commissioners last month who publicly stated she thinks it is time for the City of Miami, as the premiere city in Florida, to “stand up” to both Miami-Dade County and the State of Florida by telling them that the citizens of Miami will not be “one size fits all” dictated to when it comes to zoning. She said that high-rise apartment buildings of twenty and more stories have their place—but not everywhere. Existing neighborhoods need to be preserved.
Let’s hope she means it, and can get the rest of the commissioners and new Mayor Higgins to “stand up” as well.