Miami commission takes over Virginia Key Beach board, reducing number of Black members
Miami commissioners have taken over the agency that manages Virginia Key Beach, the city’s historically Black beach, by naming themselves trustees and ousting the current majority-Black board.
After a commission vote Thursday, one Black person, Commission Chairwoman Christine King, sits on the board for the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust. Thursday’s vote allows her to appoint two more members to complete a seven-person board of trustees where a majority of members will not be Black.
“It’s ridiculous,” said N. Patrick Range II, the outgoing chairman and grandson of Miami’s first Black commissioner, Athalie Range. “I don’t know what reasoning they could have for making this move.“
The change comes days after the city’s auditor released findings that suggested the trust’s leadership should implement financial controls and improve its accounting practices — recommendations some commissioners had characterized as “malfeasance” even though the audit made no mention of wrongdoing or financial impropriety.
The takeover of the board also follows a public disagreement between the trust’s leadership and commissioners who voted to create a city-sponsored homeless encampment on Virginia Key to the north of the beach park. Range and others criticized the concept, which was eventually shelved for the rest of the year after public outcry and an alternative approach was promoted by Mayor Francis Suarez.
King said the homeless plan had nothing to do with the shakeup of the trust.
“For me, it has nothing to do with the tiny homes issue,” she told the Miami Herald. She acknowledged that the issues came up simultaneously, including an audit that was set into motion before the COVID-19 pandemic.
King said she had originally intended to act as a liaison between the commission and the trust board to work on issues that were first discussed during budget hearings, including half of the trust’s $1.6 million budget being spent on salaries for staffers and consultants.
Other commissioners moved to name themselves as the new board, the plan that eventually passed Thursday. After the meeting, King said she intends to use her relationship with County Commissioner Keon Hardemon, a political ally, and other county officials to work on unlocking $20 million that was set aside more than a decade ago for construction of a Black history museum. The county has held up the money while waiting for a commitment from the city of Miami to help with the museum’s ongoing operational needs.
“Change is not necessarily negative. It doesn’t have to be. Change is uncomfortable because of the unknown,” King said after the meeting. “Change will be a good thing if we’re able to realize the mission of the Virginia Key Beach Trust. And that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Dozens of people, including Black community leaders and advocates, asked commissioners to delay or reject the proposal during hours of public testimony Thursday morning. Many expressed the importance of allowing the Black community to have seats on the board of the city beach that was once segregated, a touchstone in Miami’s Black history.
Many spoke in support of the current board and trust employees, who have long sought to develop the museum despite facing financial challenges.
“The board is uniquely positioned to develop the proposed museum and park so that it would not only educate present day Miamians on the area’s Black history but will also be a tourist attraction,” said Carole Jackson, second vice president of the South Dade Branch of the NAACP.
Hours later, commissioners had a short discussion in which they considered a compromise that would allow commissioners to have a choice between sitting on the board or designating a representative to sit for them. City Attorney Victoria Méndez said that was not possible due to state laws limiting the ways that elected officials can hold two offices at once.
After the vote, Range said he didn’t understand why the change was necessary because ultimately, the commission had to approve the board’s spending anyway.
“It makes no sense. The whole purpose of the trust being set up in the first place, was to ensure that the community had a voice and had participation,” Range said. “They’re clearly going against that. That says to me that they have some other goal in mind. What that is, and why they cannot work with us to understand and accomplish that, I don’t know.”
This story was originally published October 13, 2022 at 6:12 PM.
