Spotlight 193-260324

Good morning. What we’re covering in today’s Spotlight:

The Grove’s Unsolved Murders
The City’s Legal Fees in Election Misfire
The Redesign of Kurt Munroe Park
A Ruling in Old Smokey Lawsuit

Dead — and Forgotten? The Cold Cases of Coconut Grove

Even as overall violent crime declines across the city, a decade of unsolved homicides in the Grove — all involving young Black male victims — has left families waiting for answers while law enforcement remains largely silent.

By David Clary

When Antovis Stanley got out of prison in 2017, he vowed to stay away from Coconut Grove, the place he was born, raised and ran into so much trouble.

Using the skills he learned in a carpentry program behind bars, he landed a steady job with a Miami kitchen appliance store. He found an apartment in Liberty City, bought a car and connected with his daughter.

But in a decision that Jalena Stanley later said she found surprising, her brother decided in 2022 to visit his old haunts for a Christmas Eve party in the West Grove, on Percival Avenue, where a fight broke out and Stanley was shot. Hit with three bullets, Stanley was rushed by ambulance to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Stanley was 43.

Miami Spent $150K on Long-Shot Election Appeal

All of the city’s outside legal fees last summer and fall came after a judge blocked the city’s attempt to delay the 2025 election— including more than $60,000 tied to a rarely granted rehearing widely seen as a legal Hail Mary.

By David Villano

The City of Miami spent at least $150,414.68 on outside legal counsel in its unsuccessful effort to defend a controversial plan to delay the 2025 municipal election — with all of that spending coming after a judge had already ruled the measure unconstitutional, according to public records obtained by the Spotlight.

The legal effort sought to push the November 2025 election to 2026 by way of a commission decree — rather than citywide voter referendum — extending the terms of current elected officials by a year.

A Miami-Dade circuit court judge struck down the plan in July, finding the city could not bypass voters to change its election schedule.

Community Gets on Board with Kirk Munroe Park Redesign

Finalized plans for Kirk Munroe Park are beginning to take shape, almost a year after developers first presented a redesign to the community.

By Jenny Jacoby

After a rocky start to the public design process for an updated Kirk Munroe Park in Center Grove, residents and neighbors are inching closer to a final park design that prioritizes children and embraces the Grove’s natural beauty.

Residents and stakeholders filled City Hall last week for the second of four planned public design meetings, eager to see their previous feedback reflected back to them in the project’s new design iterations.

Unlike the first meeting at Sandbar Sports Grill, where the echo of drink orders and small talk overwhelmed formal conversation, attendees were able to publicly air their specific questions and concerns with the design team.

Old Smokey Lawsuit Wins Class Action Status

Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Spencer Eig has certified the Old Smokey lawsuit as a class action against the City of Miami, ruling from the bench last week after listening to five days of public testimony and argument in the 2017 case. “The Court finds the Plaintiffs have sustained their burden of proof as to each of the necessary criteria,” Eig said at the conclusion of the hearing on Friday. “The Plaintiff(s) met that burden of proof through their expert testimony.” The judge’s decision represents a victory for current and former Coconut Grove residents who were exposed to the toxic ash and smoke produced by the trash incinerator on Jefferson Street in the West Grove — a class of people that could grow to include thousands of families. Old Smokey operated for more than 40 years before closing in 1970. Grove residents sued the city in 2017 after testing found toxic chemicals in the soil of neighborhood properties and public parks.