‘Not a bad American dream story’: A changing North Miami Beach swears in first Black mayor
North Miami Beach Mayor Michael Joseph stood stoically as he addressed the crowd of people Tuesday night during the city’s induction ceremony at the Julius Littman Performing Arts Theater. The ceremony, which included performances from the North Miami Beach Senior High School band and the Fulford Elementary School orchestra and a solo performance from singer and musician Sir Diego Brazil, marked his first public speech after being elected the city’s first Black and millennial mayor.
“This wasn’t supposed to be me,” said Joseph, 43, before telling the story of his Haitian parents, who immigrated to the United States. His father worked as a janitor and his mom a maid. He told the audience about how he worked his way through undergraduate and law school.
“Not a bad American dream story. But mayor? Being young and thinking about life goals, being mayor isn’t at the top of the list,” said Joseph, who grew up in Miami’s Little River neighborhood. “But God has a plan for me, like he has a plan for all of us. I never thought my name would be added to the list of such great pioneers and trailblazers in our community.”
Joseph beat out incumbent Evan Piper, who won a special election in December 2023 to replace ousted former mayor Anthony DeFillipo. With his win, Joseph becomes the first Black mayor to lead the city.
“It’s humbling, but I have a job to do as mayor outside of that,” Joseph told the Miami Herald, saying he stands on the shoulders of pioneers such as U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, late former Miami Gardens mayor Shirley Gibson and former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Betty Ferguson. “The community has trusted my judgment, my leadership style. They just want me to get the job done.”
Joseph, a civil rights attorney and graduate of St. Thomas University School of Law in 2010, will lead a city that has a minority-majority with Black and Hispanic residents comprising 40% and 41% of the population, respectively, according to the U.S. Census.
According to 2020 census data, about 8% of Miami-Dade’s Haitian American population lives in North Miami Beach. Haitian Americans even gained a majority on the city commission, which had previously had a group of four white commissioners that held a strong voting bloc in the 2010s, with the election of Daniela Jean in 2020, the Herald previously reported. They later lost that stronghold during the 2022 elections, but in the following two years, votes often swung 4-3 in Haitian-American officials’ favor.
Joseph’s win comes two years after he and two other commissioners – McKenzie Fleurimond and Daniela Jean – refused to come to city commission meetings in protest of then-mayor DeFillipo, who was accused of violating the city charter by not residing in North Miami Beach. DeFillipo was arrested on voter fraud charges and was subsequently removed from office in May 2023 by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The move halted city business and Joseph, who lives with his wife and son in the Sunray West neighborhood of North Miami Beach, was widely criticized for his decision to boycott commission meetings. He was later sued by fellow commissioner Jay Chernoff for failing to attend for 120 consecutive days. Joseph was removed from his post, but was later reinstated by a judge.
Former North Miami Beach commissioner Barbara Kramer, who was critical of commissioners’ decision to not attend meetings, said that moment is hard to look past.
“For me, it’s always going to be a tough obstacle to get over. Maybe he’ll do a great job and that was the past,” she said, adding that people had projects they were waiting to get approved.
Still, Joseph says, the voters trust him.
“If you’re honest with the community, they will always back you,” he said. “And I’ve always stood on that thought process and that’s why I believe I was elected mayor.” Part of that, he said, meant being transparent with voters throughout every step of government.
Tuesday’s induction echoed a pulsating message of unity and leadership. Outgoing mayor Evan Piper congratulated Joseph on his win and applauded his leadership skills.
“Your success is our city’s success, and I hope I can speak on behalf of the residents in expressing confidence that your leadership will bring meaningful progress to our community,” he said.
Joseph’s win wasn’t the only historic one on election night: Voters elected its first Asian-American commissioner, Lynn Su, to commission seat 7. Su beat out former commissioner Paule Villard, who also found herself in several controversies including her involvement in the city’s Publix gift card giveaway, which critics noted was largely held in a predominantly Haitian neighborhood and neglected the city’s Orthodox Jewish community.
“There were people who actually said that I would never get elected because I am Asian, because I was deemed to be of the wrong affiliation, because I haven’t lived here long enough, and because I don’t have a voter base yet, despite all the odds and all the doubters, the volunteers I have mentioned today, stood by me,” she said at the swearing in ceremony on Tuesday.
Right now, Joseph wants to get to work. There are a litany of issues that need to be addressed, he said, including affordable housing, economic revitalization, and septic to sewer conversion.
But in his first 100 days, he’s hoping to build consensus among the commission to accomplish those goals and remain transparent with voters.
“I think that’s what they’re looking for,” he said. “They want to make sure the city runs and the community stays safe and that trash is picked up and the resources are being utilized to its best use.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2024 at 7:06 PM.
