A downtown activist and member of the Bayfront Park Trust Management advisory board has resigned because of a no-bid giveaway contract for $1 million worth of public art — dog and cat sculptures, like the Little Havana roosters in — for Maurice Ferre Park, which is also managed by the trust.
But it’s really about Commissioner Joe Carollo, who is chairman of the BPTM, and his handling of that group — and it’s money. This proposal originally was sent to Carollo and his wife’s personal email.
Cristina Palomo, former president of the Downtown Neighborhood Alliance who was appointed to the board in 2017, has been known as the voice of downtown on the nine-member board. She submitted her letter of resignation last week, citing a discussion and impromptu vote at February’s meeting about a sculpture garden project that will cost close to $1 million.
It’s not just because there are other needs more pressing to the residents of the downtown, who want playground equipment more than public art, it’s also because the process was rushed and flawed.
“This item had not been included in our agenda and zero information on this proposal had yet been made available to any board member prior to this meeting,” Palomo wrote in her resignation. So she balked and convinced the chairman to have a special meeting March 8 so board members would have time to go over the proposal, which, by the way, was emailed to Carollo and his wife Marjorie Carollo — not the advisory board, not the Bayfront Park Trust Management, not a city administrator.
This is not the first time that the commissioner’s wife has reportedly been involved in city business. Las malas lenguas say that she has represented some of the artists and vendors who have been featured in the Little Havana Nights events.
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Palomo told Ladra her problem was with the process. There was no bidding, no formal proposal. Just a powerpoint presentation.
From her letter:
“I am a huge proponent of art in public spaces and consider it worthy of such a significant investment. That said, I am very disappointed and taken aback at the process and the way that this was hastily rushed through without a real chance to seek public input and perform our due diligence. We should have received more than just one bid. We should have evaluated more than one concept for the subject matter of the art. We should have discussed in more detail the costs of maintenance and added security associated with the installation and made sure these costs are accurately reflected in our budget. We should have sought out a collaborative approach from our neighbors the museums who will have this work displayed right on their front lawn. The PAMM in particular could surely contribute some valuable input towards a permanent art installation of this magnitude. All of these things are what I would expect we should do to ensure that such a permanent and costly project turn out to be a true community success for the City of Miami.
Instead, we rushed it through after brief discussion, prioritizing a quick installation of this poorly vetted project while the completion of other long promised essential park elements such as canopies for our existing children’s playground, a new dog park and children’s playground at MAF continue to experience delay after delay for years on end.
The proposal included yesterday in our board package was directed via email not to the Board, but instead to what appear to be the personal email addresses of Commissioner Carollo and Marjorie Carollo. This alone speaks volumes about the flawed decision making process under which this board is currently operating. I can no longer justify volunteering my valuable time to operate in this dysfunctional fashion. In my experience, it is impossible to add any value or be effective as a board member when any position taken that disagrees with that of the Chair is misconstrued as a personal attack.
Nonetheless, it has been an honor serving the community and the City of Miami over the past 3 years on this board, and it’s been a sincere pleasure to work with you, Valerie, Karina, Camila, Santravia and the entire dedicated and very hardworking staff of BPMT. Please feel free to reach out to me if I can be of any help as a friend and neighbor of the park who cares deeply about it.
Cristina Palomo
But this is not the first time that Carollo’s meddling on the Bayfront Park Management Trust has been questioned. He has stacked that board with his folks, including his political action committee treasurer Javier Baños, who is running for commission in Coral Gables, in order to get what he wants. Baños has resigned from the board.
“This was the second time I felt I was blindsided by a very big decision costing a lot of money,” Palomo told Ladra.
In 2018, Carollo got the board to fork over $3 million in reserves so that the city could plug a hole in the general fund. Except it wasn’t true. The city’s budget was balanced. So where did that money go? We should find out.
And is he stacking the board so he can steer $1 million in a public art project to a friend? Because that’s what it looks like. Is he getting any of it himself? Because that’s what it smells like.
The next meeting of the Bayfront Park Management Trust advisory board is March 23. Members will discuss and give final approval to the 2021-2022 budget submitted to the city in April. They will also discuss other capital improvements planned for Maurice Ferre Park, including a miniature golf course, some tiki type shelters for birthday parties and the like, an expanded parking lot and electrical upgrades.
Cristina Palomo resignation letter by Political Cortadito on Scribd
Bayfront Park board member resigns on Joe Carollo’s $1 mil no-bid giveaway added by Ladra on
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