North Miami mayoral election could decide city’s future. Here’s what’s at stake for residents
North Miami mayor Alix Desulme campaigns door to door on a hot Wednesday in a neighborhood along NW 129th Street, often speaking with residents in Haitian Creole. He’s well known in District 4 and has most of these votes in the bag.
Desulme was North Miami’s District 4 council member until he was appointed mayor in December 2022 when then-mayor Philippe Bien Aime resigned to run for a seat on the Miami-Dade Commission.
As Desulme converses with voters in Creole, he tells the Miami Herald that one asked him, “Why is anyone running against you?” He shrugs.
“It does help when they’ve known you for a while,” he tells the Herald as he walks around the neighborhood.
But, he says, “I take everybody seriously. Until 7 p.m. Election Day, everything is on the table.”
Meanwhile, over in District 3, mayoral candidate Hector Medina is knocking on doors at the Clarence House apartment complex along NE 121st Street. He chats with a woman in Spanish about the election. They discuss why he’s running, and Medina offers her a ride to the polls.
“I’m the only Latino running,” he tells her. “I want to be an asset.”
Should Medina, a retired doctor, win the upcoming mayoral race in North Miami, he would become the first Latino mayor to helm the city, which is predominantly Black and Haitian, but has an increasing Hispanic population (about 32%). The two face challengers in former State Rep. Daphne Campbell and entrepreneur Naomi Esther Blemur, both Haitian-American politicians. The three Haitian-American candidates could potentially split the Haitian vote.
All four of these candidates bring with them their own baggage: Desulme, who was appointed mayor in 2022, subverted the 2023 election process, extending his own term. Medina subsequently sued the city over the move. Campbell came under fire for residency issues and was found to violate state financial disclosure laws in 2022. And Blemur, whose husband is currently incarcerated for financial crimes, came under fire for anti-LGBTQ posts during a run for Agriculture Commissioner in 2022.
These candidates face off at a moment when North Miami’s community is concerned about the direction of the city, which is almost 100 years old. There’s a decaying water plant that is badly in need of repair amid a flurry of development projects that residents say are causing flooding to the streets. There’s also still bad blood because of the ousting of former city manager Rasha Cameau, who residents praised for her leadership and problem-solving capability. Not to mention the fact that North Miami City Hall was shut down for a week over the summer because of hackers.
Those issues came to the forefront at an Oct. 21 mayoral candidate forum hosted by the Greater North Miami Chamber of Commerce, in which candidates stated how they would approach systemic issues the city has been facing.
Lack of faith in elected officials
For many residents, the biggest criticism was that the city delayed the elections for mayor and council seats.
Desulme was appointed mayor almost two years ago, and both he and the city council moved the city elections from May 2023 to November 2024, aligning them with federal elections, essentially extending their terms without input from voters. That change led to a lawsuit filed by Medina, who’d already filed campaign paperwork to run for mayor, to have elections moved to their original date.
Ahead of the mayoral forum, residents also expressed frustration about the council firing former city manager Rasha Cameau in a 3-1 vote. Outgoing council member Scott Galvin was the sole no vote. Desulme was not present for the vote, but had voiced his displeasure with the attempts to fire her.
During its May 7 meeting, council members cited several reasons for Cameau’s firing, including “lack of acceptable oversight and effective leadership” and “failure to follow council members’ direction,” according to various media reports at the time of her firing.
Three council members who voted to fire Cameau are also the subject of a lawsuit filed by North Miami resident Eileen Bicaba alleging a violation of the charter when council members voted to fire Cameau. Bicaba, who spoke to the Herald days before the forum, said she filed the lawsuit to “shed light on the violations of Sunshine Law and charter violations by council members.” She also has a website detailing the aftermath of Cameau’s firing.
“She was loved and respected across the board, from developers to employers to council to city staff,” said general contractor JP Quirino at Monday’s forum. “And I feel like the current Council dropped the ball on that, and they’ve got to be held accountable for their vote for that. If we get another diamond in the rough, I don’t want them to let that slip through the cracks as well.”
Water, flooding and development
At the forum, mayoral candidates fielded questions from a moderator regarding the constant flooding of streets and the poor water pressure and other issues that affect them because of the aging water plant.
Desulme wants to tackle the water plant, an issue he and Medina agree is a problem. “You have communities where the water pressure becomes a problem on a daily basis,” Desulme told the Herald prior to Monday night’s forum.
Still, he said he doesn’t support halting construction until the water plant is fixed when asked by a moderator at the candidate forum.
“I don’t know if you could put a moratorium [on new construction] until you have the water plant,” he said, adding the city is in the process of getting federal funding for upgrades for the plant. “I don’t think that would be a good idea in terms of the city.”
At the forum, Blemur said there needs to be an assessment of the water department, including fees paid by residents, to determine how the city will pay for a new water plant. “At the end of the day, no one sitting here is going to want to put back into a pot that they told you you have been putting in and you’ve seen nothing come out of it,” she said.
Bicaba said she’s been frustrated with the city’s choices for quite some time.
“We need them to stop giving away city resources, like selling land to developers. We need to build a new water plant and to take care of all the infrastructure issues to stop the flooding,” she said, adding that she wants the city to curb development in her neighborhood, which she says has exacerbated the flooding problems in her community.
District 4 resident Judy Brown is also concerned about the city’s aging water plant.
“Our water plant is 62 years old, and it’s being held together by a thread and a band-aid,” she said. “The water pressure is very low, and you have all this construction that’s going on. Once it’s come online, it’s not going to be able to handle it.”
Campbell said that rain giving way to flooding in the city was also a problem. “My plan is to make sure I work with stakeholders (and) work with other resources to make sure we change the system to alleviate the issue in the city,” she said.
What voters want
Ahead of the forum, some voters remained undecided, but all candidates seemed to have some support.
Quirino told the Herald he was leaning toward voting for Blemur. “She’s fresh,” he said. “She’s not part of the existing group,” he said referring to the city council, “but again, that could change.”
Like others, Nicole Sauvageau has voiced her concerns about the city’s future, but said she’s backing Medina.
“He is always looking out for other people and involved in the community, whether it be council meetings,” she said. “He’s passionate, he’s compassionate, and he loves the community.”
Bicaba declined to say who she was voting for, but put it simply: “I’m looking for someone with balls.”
This story was originally published October 25, 2024 at 2:10 PM.
