Effort to dissolve Miami DDA cites 'bloated' salaries, redundancy, UFC gift

The Miami Downtown Development Authority, an entity that was formed in 1967 to promote the urban core and bring development, has a budget of $13.5 million through a special tax levy on properties within its district boundaries in downtown, Brickell and Edgewater. About a quarter of that is on salaries, some of which seem excessive and redundant.

This has some people talking about dissolving the agency and one downtown activist calling for a November referendum if the city commission won’t do it.

One example of redundant salaries cited is a total of six people working in-house marketing and public relations functions for a total of more than $640,000 in salaries and benefits:

Head of marketing and communications — $157,091
Marketing advisor — $123,203
Marketing department “collaborator” — $53,539
Content contributor — $82,195
Public information officer — 91,957
Brand integrity expert — $134,662

And the DDA also has one of the state’s top public relations firms on retainer for another $175K a year.

Isn’t that a little redundant?

That’s more than $800,000 on marketing and communications, a lot of investment in PR. And, yet, Ladra has never seen any promotion to bring suburbanites downtown, which seems like low-hanging fruit.

What’s a “brand integrity expert” anyway? Why is that needed for downtown redevelopment advocacy?

The redundancy seems to be a theme.

There is a head of urban planning pulling in $177,143 and an urban planning strategist making $107,261. But all urban planning and zoning decisions are made by the city commission through the planning and zoning board. And there are two “enhanced services coordinator” positions — one at $100,692 and another at $89,787 — as well as a head of enhanced services and government affairs making $116,711. There is also a business and grants expert ($104,425), an “office and finance expert” ($106,137), a business development advisor ($107132), a “strategic partnership specialist” ($121,567) and a chief of economic and development strategy ($205,326).

These seemingly redundant salaries are one of the arguments being made by Downtown Neighbors Association President James Torres, who did a public records request for the budget and salaries (posted above) after the agency gave $100,000 to the UFC for events at the Kaseya Center next month. The taxpayer giveaway is what set Torres off and led to his push to dissolve the agency he says is taking advantage of downtown property owners.

At the very least, Torres says, the residents should stop being taxed. The city commission could establish a business district, like in Wynwood, where only the commercial property owners would be taxed for the DDA services. “The residents are paying 58% of this tax,” Torres told Political Cortadito. “If it was truly for the benefit of residents, okay. But there are no discount cards. We have to hire a third party contract for our trash pick up.

“Residents want a divorce,” Torres said.

But DDA Director Christina Crespi says the marriage is strong and that the DDA has evolved over the years.

Fresh from a meeting to discuss efforts to mitigate the upcoming Ultra musical festival — coordination of traffic, communication to residents, working with the county to have the MetroMover open later — Crespi told Political Cortadito that the agency does a lot for the residents and businesses of the area. She cited the freebie circulator, the permit clinic, the downtown enhancement team of former homeless individuals staffing bathrooms at the park, the graffiti clean up (850 incidents of graffiti just this month, she added), the landscaping additions, pressure washing, the urban planning on Flagler Street, which included getting the law changed so bars could stay open longer, and a host of events.

They raise federal dollars, she said, adding that they secured $31 million for the Flagler Street project. And the agency is about to propose a design for a pedestrian bridge under I-95 to connect the the museum park to the north side, the former Miami Herald property. They’ve launched a 3D development pipeline interactive map on their website to keep people informed of construction projects in real time, Crespi said.

But “the real focus is economic development,” she added, justifying the large PR staff and outside contract. “We are marketing downtown globally,” Crespi told Ladra, adding that there are 65,000 followers on their Instagram account. “We provide day-to-day info to residents, create content to promote businesses, incentivize new businesses,” she said.

Of course, she gets paid $265,150 in salary and benefits to say that.

Crespi and District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo, who represents Brickell, downtown and Edgewater, says that Torres is spreading politically motivated disinformation and trying to build his profile with the issue. “In our office, we do not have one complaint about the DDA,” Pardo told Political Cortadito. “There are public meetings and nobody complains. They have been audited and there is a lot of oversight.”

Commissioner Manolo Reyes, the chair of the DDA, who did not respond to phone calls and texts, “is doing a great job,” Pardo said.

In fact, both Pardo and Crespi said that the Edgewater community is asking for their DDA footprint to be expanded up to 36th Street. “Because they want the enhanced services that we provide,” Crespi said.

“If the city abolishes the DDA, who’s going to do all the things we do? The city can’t handle the amount of waste we get here every day,” Crespi added.

But Torres is not entirely alone in his criticism.

Ernesto Cuesta, the longtime president of the Brickell Homeowners Association — who, by the way, is eyeing a run for mayor (more on that later) — also thinks that the time for the DDA may have come to an end. At the very least, he wants Brickell carved out.

“It’s taxation without representation,” Cuesta told Political Cortadito, saying that his area gets no services for their money. “We are not getting any benefits.”

Brickell property owners, because of the million dollar property values, already pays a huge percentage of the city’s budget. Cuesta says the area basically subsidizes garbage service in the rest of the city. And it’s not all of Brickell that gets taxed for the DDA, just a small part. But Cuesta said they don’t need the agency’s promotion. While Downtown Miami is a ghost town on a Wednesday or Thursday night, Brickell is bouncing. And it happened organically, not with the DDA’s help, he added.

A survey of homeowners in the downtown, Brickell and Edgewater areas shows that a majority of respondents also believe the agency should be put to sleep.

Four questions were emailed to 16,578 residents in mid March, and 850 responded, Torres said. Of those more than 56% said the DDA should be dissolved. Another 25% were unsure. Almost 58% do not believe the DDA is “effectively improving the quality of life for Downtown, Brickell and Edgewater residents.”

The numbers jump dramatically when the residents are asked about the UFC giveaway. More than 85% said that it was an inappropriate use of DDA funding, given that the UFC is “a privately held corporation valued at approximately $12 million.”

Torres is going to present the survey at the next commission meeting — he’s asking the city manager for more time than two minutes as a “presentation’ — and he’ll make a suggestion: Let the people decide. The onetime District 2 commission candidate says there should be a referendum question on the November ballot to see if the voters would continue to fund an agency that was created on a typewriter.

“If you believe in the product, put it on the ballot and let the people decide,” Torres said, showing text messages where he has asked to meet with Commissioner Pardo, but there has been no response.

If there are not the votes on the commission to put it to a public vote — and Ladra suspects there are not — Torres said he will try to collect the petition signatures to get it on the ballot. According to City Clerk Todd Hannon, Torres would need to collect 20,475 signed petitions.

That would be a very big task.

Damian Pardo, James Torres, Miami DDA

Effort to dissolve Miami DDA cites ‘bloated’ salaries, redundancy, UFC gift added by Ladra on March 26, 2025
View all posts by Ladra →