Miami ballot referendum on outdoor gym at downtown park is misleading

There are three referendum questions on the ballot for city of Miami voters, but only the first two are easy yeses.

The first question would remove the city’s general auditor and the second question would replace that person with an inspector general, who has more investigative powers. That’s easy. Voters have to vote yes to both so that the city can get serious about cracking down on corruption and graft.

What happens if voters vote no to the first question and yes to the second? Nothing, really. The Inspector General that is installed can probably take over the auditor’s duties in her or his or their office. And then the first referendum can be offered again, with better language because there’s already an IG.

Then there’s the third question, which is a hard no. It really shouldn’t be on the ballot in the first place.

The third referendum asks if the city shall “keep the already installed outdoor gym equipment like in many of our parks at the City park located at 1075 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, FL 33132, also known as Maurice A. Ferré Park, to enhance recreational facilities and promote community health and fitness for all our residents?”

Who wouldn’t say yes to that? It sounds awesome. But it’s not.

Sneaky Commissioner Joe Carollo got that question on the ballot in a meeting where the district commissioner, Damian Pardo, wasn’t even there. This was after the city’s planning and zoning board and the commission voted to remove the gym equipment at the park, which was installed without a permit and against the city’s master park plan.

Downtown residents don’t want it. The equipment obstructs their view. It takes up green space. It is not welcome. It is not needed in this neighborhood where most people have gyms in their buildings. Ahhhh, says Carollo. That’s “elitist!” Other people will want to drive from Coconut Grove and Allapattah to use the gym equipment at this “regional” park.

Really? Really? And pay $20 to park?

Well, then, put the equipment closer to them!

“The residents here don’t want the gym equipment at all,” Pardo says in a video posted on social media. “They had just wanted green space. Their input was never sought. They are so furious and they have been protesting this issue for so long.”

They took the matter to the planning and zoning board, who sided with the residents last year because the gym — which was installed by request from the Bayfront Park Management Trust, which Carollo chairs and which also created the dog and cat sculpture walk — is not included in the city’s master plan.

“Here’s something that was thrown together without community input, and it’s a slap in the face to every resident in the city,” board member Adam Gersten said at the November 2023 PZAB meeting. “Look at South Pointe Park in Miami Beach, which was heavily master planned. Why can’t we have nice things like that in Miami? It’s never going to happen if we don’t do something about the changes occurring in Ferre Park.”

The city commission upheld the board’s decision, which means the equipment must be ripped out and the green Earth must be restored where it had been paved over.

Oooooh. Carollo didn’t like that. His response was to shove this referendum onto the ballot at the last minute, a referendum that is misleading because it doesn’t include all the facts and history about this gym equipment and is asked citywide. Why would anyone in Flagami vote no?

Because they can’t let Joe Carollo get away with this. Especially when he’s planning a soccer field and pickle ball courts. It’s like he’s sticking his middle finger up at the process.

The question also asks if the city should “keep the already installed gym equipment,” which is misleading because that equipment is supposed to come out. The city is dragging its feet and las malas lenguas say it is to wait until after the Aug. 20 election. Could they keep it anyway, even if it is a violation of the master plan and was voted to be removed?

Carollo says the park doesn’t belong to the downtown residents, even though that population is growing extremely fast and uses the Maurice Ferre and Bayfront parks more like neighborhood parks. Both are in Downtown Miami, so they are, sort of, everyone’s parks. Even, perhaps to Joe’s disdain, those of us who live in unincorporated Miami-Dade.

But they are not Carollo’s parks.

Vote no on question number 3 in the city of Miami. Don’t let Carollo go around the decisions made by the planning board and the commission to get what he wants over the downtown residents, who he has already characterized as the enemy.

Miami ballot referendum on outdoor gym at downtown park is misleading added by Ladra on August 6, 2024
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