Commission votes to name Miami street after commissioner who exploited office

A former Miami commissioner, once banned from returning to office, is getting his name on a public street. The Miami City Commission unanimously voted Thursday to co-designate five blocks of NW 14th Terrace from NW 32nd Avenue to NW 37th Avenue as “Angel Gonzalez Way.”

Each sign will cost $500, according to a spokesperson for Miami-Dade County Public Works, which oversees street-sign maintenance.

The resolution said the move honors “Gonzalez’s exemplary service, achievements, and meaningful contributions to the city.”

But Miami resident Elvis Cruz said: “It just doesn’t pass the smell test.”

Gonzalez pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of exploiting public office in 2009. He resigned from the District 1 seat, accepted a sentence of six months of probation and agreed not to seek public office until 2010.

Cruz and two other residents spoke against the decision during public comments at Thursday’s commission meeting.

City Commissioner Miguel Angel Gabela, who represents District 1, proposed the resolution and criticized those who opposed adding Gonzalez’s name to a street.

“Is it also your intention, of the people we have given names to, that also don’t have a beautiful past, and now take their names away because of the hypocrisy that I’m seeing of (people) who don’t live in the district?” Gabela asked one resident speaking against the resolution during public comments at Thursday’s commission meeting. “This man, former Commissioner Angel Gonzalez, did a lot of things for my district.”

Historian Paul George, of HistoryMiami Museum, told CBS News Miami that controversy over street names is hardly new.

“We’ve probably had people that we’ve regretted naming them during their lifetime because things cropped up or were kind of negative,” he said. “That’s become a real problem, I think, in Miami.”

Miami-Dade County Commissioner Keon Hardemon is pushing to add song lyrics like “Trick luv da kids” and “We da best” to some Liberty City street names.

“We’re trying to change the names on the street to our music,” Hardemon explained to a Liberty City resident in March.

In that case, Hardemon said he believes the move creates a tourist attraction.

Cruz, though, said adding Gonzalez’s name to NW 14th Terrace is another kind of sign for Miami.

“This is very much a symptom of the sort of corruption that the city of Miami has been known for for many years,” Cruz said.

This report was produced by Miami Herald news partner CBS News Miami.