Miami Gardens passes Formula One resolution despite resident protests
Betty Ferguson spent her entire political career fighting for Black and brown people. The city of Miami Gardens might not even exist if it weren’t for her efforts. So it should come as no surprise that hours before the city council was scheduled to vote on a resolution that would pave the way for a Formula One race, she was stationed outside City Hall.
“It’s a game to them,” Ferguson told the Miami Herald ahead of the meeting. “It’s an insult to us.”
Ferguson was among the more than 25 people who gathered Wednesday outside City Hall to protest a resolution backed by Mayor Rodney Harris creating a community benefit package for the F1 race slated to begin in 2022 at Hard Rock Stadium. The proposed memorandum of understanding, which passed on a 5-2 vote, included a $5 million commitment to the city, the creation of a STEM program and a host of other conditions that race organizers would have to follow.
In Ferguson’s view, the resolution’s terms don’t go far enough.
“For this resolution to come up out of the clear blue, without the residents being aware of it ... [it’s] pretending like they are addressing our concerns [but] it’s just not true,” Ferguson said. “So we want them to know that.”
Protest signs calling for Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross to “take your knee off our health, quality of life [and] safe environment” and boldly proclaiming “we choose children over greed” lined the intersection of Northwest 185th Terrace and 27th Avenue in front of City Hall. At the front of the line sat former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Barbara Jordan, whose opposition to F1 has remained firm, despite terming out in November 2020.
“Mr. Steve Ross may have all the money in the world,” Jordan said prior to the meeting, “but as much as he values what he has, I value my house and my community.”
Neighbors Bettye Cepeda and Bernice Belcher-Miller, both four-decade residents of Miami Gardens, thought their twilight years would be spent in a quiet neighborhood. The F1 race would assure that that wouldn’t happen, they maintained. With an anti-F1 sign in hand, Cepeda listed her many issues with the race — including the effects on children, the pollution, the noise — but she was particularly worried about the loss of generation wealth within Miami Gardens.
“Who is going to want to purchase a home in an area that has racing once a year, that’s very noisy [and] has health hazards?” Cepeda, 73, said. “The property values, in my opinion, may decrease.”
Added Belcher-Miller, 75: “We’d be prisoners in our own home.”
Wednesday’s meeting was just the latest episode in a saga that began in 2018, when Ross tried to bring a Formula One race to Downtown Miami. When residents objected, Ross moved the race to Hard Rock Stadium, where it drew similar opposition from the city council and locals alike. In October 2020, just eight months after the county commission narrowly defeated a move to block F1, a group of Miami Gardens residents, led by Ferguson, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing the county and then-County Mayor Carlos Gimenez of racial discrimination.
Wednesday night, the public comment portion of the meeting lasted nearly two hours, with most speakers imploring the city council to vote against the resolution. One speaker compared it to Judas selling out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver; another said it echoed West Africans trading other tribes into slavery. Daniella Pierre, president of the NAACP Miami-Dade branch, condemned the resolution, citing her organization’s commitment to climate justice.
“We boldly rise up against systems that spew out carbon and toxic pollutants into communities of color,” said Pierre. She added that the homeowners had NAACP support not just locally but at the state and national level as well.
Former Miami Gardens Mayor Shirley Gibson specifically took issue with the resolution’s economic incentives. As the city’s first mayor, she recalled hearing many promises that an incoming entity would bring monetary growth. And when it didn’t, Miami Gardens was left worse off while outsiders became rich, she said.
“The way [the resolution] is now, it’s not beneficial to the city,” Gibson told the council.
Eight people spoke in favor of the resolution. Each touted the Dolphins’ long track record of community service, the potential economic development or some combination of both.
“Our work in the community is long and we’re proud to continue it with this partnership,” said Jason Jenkins, the Dolphins’ senior vice president of communications.
Prior to the actual vote, city attorney Sonja Dickens clarified the measure’s impact, explaining that the resolution wasn’t a decision whether to actually hold the race — Hard Rock Stadium is zoned for auto racing and the county ultimately would have the final say, Dickens noted — but rather to enter into a partnership with the Dolphins. Included in that partnership are requirements specific to the event, including timing — races can’t start prior to 2:30 p.m. on a weekday or after sunset — and noise barriers. Other set parameters, deemed “community benefits,” included paid internships for local students and an allotment of discount tickets for the residents.
By the time the meeting ended after 10 p.m., most of the protesters had cleared out. One of the few holdouts was Brenda Martin-Providence.
“I’m disappointed,” Martin-Providence admitted. “But now, this is when the work starts.”
This story was originally published April 15, 2021 at 11:22 AM.
