Two lawyers appointed to Miami’s overhauled Virginia Key Beach Park Trust board
Two Miami lawyers have been appointed to the recently overhauled board that manages Virginia Key Beach Park.
In October, Miami commissioners ousted the previous board members and named themselves the new board overseeing the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust. Commission Chairwoman Christine King now doubles as the Virginia Key board’s chair. The leadership change sparked outcry from former board members and others in the community who do not trust commissioners to protect Virginia Key from potential threats of overdevelopment.
Commissioners agreed to give King two appointments to the seven-person board. On Thursday, King named attorneys Vincent Brown and Bonita Jones-Peabody to the board. Jones-Peabody is an assistant public defender, and Brown is a former Opa-locka city attorney.
King reiterated that she does not want a hotel to be built on the key, responding to fears from some that the land may now be vulnerable to more intense real estate development.
“I am not building a hotel out there, a Marriott, a Hilton,” she said. “Whatever is done, will be historically and environmentally respectful, and I do not believe this is about me or this body. It is about the community, and it is about revitalizing that space. Period.”
King also said she plans to move forward and unlock millions of dollars controlled by Miami-Dade County to start construction on a long-stalled civil rights museum in the park.
READ MORE: This museum would tell the story of Miami’s segregated era. It has stalled for years
After commissioners confirmed her appointments, King said she plans to hold a community meeting to introduce the new board members and ask people what they want to see happen at Miami’s historic Black beach. She did not set a date for the meeting.
“I want to see what the community has to say,” Jones-Peabody said. “I know the work that has been done, and I appreciate the work that has been done by the previous board.”
Jones-Peabody has worked with the Brownsville Civic Neighborhood Association.
Brown told the Miami Herald that he remembers swimming at Virginia Key Beach when he was a kid.
“Senior skip day was at Virginia Key,” he said, laughing. “I look forward to working with the board.”
Brown, of Brown Law Group, has served on several local boards, including the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority. He was involved in a dispute with Opa-locka in which he claimed he could not be replaced for the rest of his life unless he was paid a $99,000 severance, was fired with cause or left on his own. He was also scrutinized for his role in responding to a corruption probe after he emailed a confidential FBI witness list to all city employees.
Before the appointment, former board members and their supporters said the community has already expressed a desire for a museum to tell the story of the beach’s history. N. Patrick Range II, the grandson of the former Miami commissioner who advocated to preserve Virginia Key, Athalie Range, told commissioners he intends to stay involved and help drive the development of a museum, even though he is no longer chair of the trust’s board.
“You’ll continue to see my face,” he said. “We’re going to continue to do what we have to do to get this museum built. I’m here to help. If you don’t want my help, you’re going to have it, anyway.”
Others voiced support for King and the trust’s new leadership, emphasizing that it was time to move on and work together to get a museum built. Sam Lattimore, a Liberty City resident, said he was disappointed in the way that some have spoken to King about the issue. He commented that the racial makeup of the board, which now has three Hispanic members and three Black members, might not be as important as some say it is.
“Maybe it’s not all about blackness,” Lattimore said. “Maybe it’s about the way that we get through this together. Other groups do it. Why do we have to make a spectacle of ourselves?”
Later in the day, the reconstituted board accepted the resignation of Guy Forchion, who had served as executive director of the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust for years. Immediately after, the board appointed architect Neil Hall as the interim director.
Hall is founder of The Urban Collective, a boutique and design studio focusing on the aesthetics of African art and other unique handmade goods from around the world.
This story was originally published January 12, 2023 at 6:22 PM.
