West Grove neighbors ask city to keep community together under redistricting plan
Residents of a historically Black section of Coconut Grove say they’re worried that a proposed plan to redraw the city’s voting map and alter representation in City Hall would weaken their ability to influence political decisions by dividing their community among two commission districts.
The preliminary proposal, presented for the first time at a public hearing Monday, includes a change that would carve out a piece of the West Grove and move it into District 4, the majority-Hispanic district to the north. The change would mean that some residents who have for years been represented by the commissioner who serves all of Coconut Grove (currently Ken Russell) would be instead represented by the District 4 commissioner, currently Manolo Reyes.
The idea drew opposition from across the Grove. The area was first settled by Miami’s Bahamian pioneers more than a century ago, a history many residents referenced when they asked commissioners to keep the neighborhood together and represented by one commissioner. Several people from the Grove said they worried if a portion of the neighborhood were to be moved to District 4, the strength of the Black vote in Coconut Grove would be weakened.
“It appears what was presented today intentionally discriminates and disparately impacts the voting rights of Village West Black residents by diluting their political impact,” said Rev. Nathaniel Robinson III, pastor of Greater Saint Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Grove. “Although it might be small, we do have a political impact.”
The change was one of several presented to commissioners Monday by the city’s redistricting consultant, attorney and lobbyist Miguel De Grandy. De Grandy will take the next two weeks to make revisions based on feedback from commissioners, then the city will hold public town halls to present the new maps before a final vote in March.
After hearing a few dozen residents speak in favor of keeping the Grove together, De Grandy said that the area in question has about 5,000 people, and about 2,400 are Hispanic, nearly 500 are Black and about 1,900 identified themselves as white, according to U.S. Census data.
De Grandy and his partner Steve Cody, a Palmetto Bay councilman, political consultant and suspended lawyer, showed maps that would shift district boundaries across the city in an effort to balance the population of each district and evenly distribute political power. The once-a-decade process allows the city to study Census data and shift district borders to comply with federal voting laws.
The data showed that District 2, which includes most of Miami’s coastal neighborhoods stretching from Coconut Grove up through Brickell, downtown and Edgewater and Morningside, grew so much that it was overpopulated compared to other districts.
To even things out, De Grandy took western swaths of Miami’s coastal neighborhoods and moved them into abutting districts to the west. Under the proposal, District 1 would extend further east along the Miami River, District 3 would add a sliver of Brickell southeast of The Roads, District 4 would absorb part of the West Grove and District 5 would add Midtown, among other changes.
Most of the people who spoke from the public were from the Grove, where City Hall is located, and most spoke in favor of keeping the Grove intact. A representative from the League of Women Voters said she was working with a coalition of local activists to monitor the redistricting process.
“The proposed redistricting map would dilute the Black community to the point of being obsolete, “ said Rev. Willie F. Ford Jr., pastor of St. Matthew Community Missionary Baptist Church on Day Avenue. “We are surrounded by encroaching affluence and we would lack the numbers we need to have a voice in our own destiny. So many West Grove residents have been displaced as the character of the Grove continues to change, and none of the new properties being built are affordable.”
Commissioner Ken Russell, who represents the Grove, asked his colleagues to push De Grandy to leave the West Grove untouched in his revision, but no other commissioner supported the motion. De Grandy did say it was possible to keep the Grove together if the boundaries for District 3, which covers Little Havana, were pushed further east to include more of downtown and Brickell. There didn’t appear to be enthusiasm for the idea.
Russell commended neighbors who came out to advocate on their own behalf and for each other.
“The folks here didn’t come to say ‘Keep the white Grove white and keep the Black Grove Black,’” Russell said. “They said keep the Grove the Grove, and I thought that was beautiful.”
Commissioners Joe Carollo, Reyes and Alex Díaz de la Portilla responded to some of the concerns by saying they represented divided neighborhoods across their districts, which are majority-Hispanic.
“This is not a unique affront to Coconut Grove or anything like that. It’s happened before for decades here,” Díaz de la Portilla said.
Among other tweaks suggested by commissioners, De Grandy was instructed to “consider” using U.S. 1 as a border when adjusting boundaries in the south end of the city, which could allow him to keep the Grove together. The maps presented Monday are a starting point for what will be at least a month-long effort to revise the initial proposal and publicize the next draft.
Commissioners are expected to receive an updated draft Feb. 22, and they scheduled a special meeting for 10 a.m. on Feb. 25 to discuss the next draft.
Commissioner Christine King, the commission’s chairwoman, assured the public that commissioners would hold community meetings to present the next draft of the maps and get input in late February and early March. The city could pay about $135,000 to cover costs for the elections department if the city plan is not finalized by early March. But with King’s encouragement, the commissioners agreed that the value of holding public hearings was more important than the cost of getting a final map approved quickly.
A final vote on the new voting maps is expected to happen at another special meeting at 10 a.m. on March 11.
“The starting point of this plan matters because that builds momentum,” said Andy Parrish, who lives in the Grove and has been a developer of affordable housing. He made a suggestion that perhaps the commission should grow, an idea raised months ago by Russell that did not gain any traction with fellow commissioners.
“Instead of tweaking this plan you may want to rethink it entirely and increase the number of districts,” Parrish said. “The emphasis needs to be on preserving neighborhoods.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2022 at 7:17 PM.
