BY KAREN GUGGENHEIM
U/Miami News Service
El Portal is a small, diverse enclave between Miami Shores and Miami. It was incorporated on Dec. 7, 1937, by residents eager for strict zoning that would ensure tidiness.
Three small subdivisions -- Sherwood Forest, El Jardine and El Portal -- merged into the Village of El Portal. Its borders include 91st Street on the north, 85th Street on the south, Northeast Fifth Avenue on the east and Northwest Fifth Avenue on the west.
The village's name is derived from the Spanish word puerta, or gate, after two huge wooden gates on Northeast Second Avenue that were taken down in the 1940s.
El Portal has 837 households and 565 families, according to the 2000 Census.
The village also has a growing Haitian-American community, which is evident
in its political landscape. In 2000, El Portal, which was about one-fifth Haitian,
became the first municipality in the United States to elect a Haitian-American
mayor.
El Portal is mostly a bedroom community, with 62.4 percent of the houses built between 1940 to 1959. On street after street, single-story houses sit on small, well-kept properties.
Village officials promote the El Portal Beautification Project to motivate
homeowners to maintain their homes and yards.
Residents, whose median age is 36 years old, can take part in annual town events like the Fourth of July celebration and Mary's Angels, a charity walk for cancer victims in October.
The village was also designated as a bird sanctuary by the state for more than 50 years, which means that the birds and trees cannot be harmed in any way. A nature trail winds its way through the village, and a public tot lot is popular with youngsters.
El Portal also boasts links to prehistoric Indian life at the Little River Mound, a four-foot-high, innocuous grassy knoll that is actually an ancient burial ground. The Little River Mound, located in the Sherwood Forest neighborhood, is the first archaeological site to be publicly recognized and preserved in Miami-Dade County.
The village does not have a commercial district. Residents -- who have a median household income of $39,681, according to the census -- usually go to Miami Shores next door or other nearby neighborhoods to do their shopping.
El Portal has one public school, Horace Mann Middle. The Liberty City Charter School, an elementary, is just outside the village limits.
Village of El Portal
- Year Incorporated: 1937
- Population (2000 Census): 2,505
- Property Tax: $8.70 per $1,000 of assessed value
- Village Hall: 500 NE 87th St.; 305-795-7880; (fax) 305-795-7884
- Mayor: Audrey M. Edmonson, 786-367-0805, aedmonson@villageofelportal.com
- Vice Mayor: Andrew Dickman, 305-335-1303, adickman@villageofelportal.com
- Village Council
Daisy M. Black, 305-754-6141, dblack@villageofelportal.com
Anthony Perea, 786-417-8570, aperea@villageofelportal.com
Mariette SaintVil, 305-467-5875, msaintvil@villageofelportal.com
- Council Meetings: Held on second and fourth Tuesday of every month
- Elections: Held in December during even-numbered years
- Village Manager: Steven Alexander, 305-795-7880 ext: 15, salexander@villageofelportal.com
- Police Department: 500 NE 87th St., 305-795-7870; Acting Chief:
Eugene Morales
- Village Clerk: Regina R. Russell, 305-795-7880, rrussell@villageofelportal.com
- Building Official: Charles Esher, 305-332-6506
- Garbage Pickup: Monday and Thursday; Recycling: Thursday
- Website:villageofelportal.com
