Here’s some advice, Miami-Dade: On Heat park promises, get it in writing this time | Opinion

If the fight to get a public waterfront park at the Miami Heat arena that was promised to Miami-Dade County voters back in 1996 has taught us anything, it’s this: Get. It. In. Writing.

Miami-Dade County leaders need to remember that now, when there are seemingly encouraging new developments in the decades-long saga of the promised park on Parcel B, a small slice of land on Biscayne Bay, behind the arena.

If the Miami Heat and county’s commitment to build this park had been written down 28 years ago — when voters generously agreed to allow the Heat to build its arena on a prime chunk of government-owned waterfront land — we might not be in the position we are today.

To be clear, that position remains: No park. Just parking — for the Heat. Miami-Dade residents trusted the park would be built. But it wasn’t.

As the Miami Herald recently reported, the basketball team is negotiating with Miami-Dade County over a plan to convert the 3-acre parcel into a combination of recreational space and temporary parking. The government-owned spot might be open to the public year-round.

Parcel B was among the subjects of the “Broken Promises” series of editorials that won the Miami Herald a Pulitzer Prize in 2023.

A county proposal drafted last summer by the Parks and Recreation Department sounds pretty good: The county would remove paving near the waterfront, plant trees, install a playground and a walking path. The area closest to the arena would become the new parking area for the Heat on game days, but revert to recreational use when the arena is dark.

That amounts to a compromise. The people would get the park they are owed, or at least a version of it.

It’s not what we were promised in 1996. The land was supposed to become “a fantastic new waterfront park for all of us to enjoy,” according to then-Heat coach Pat Riley, in a pitch complete with frolicking children, soccer games and passing sailboats. But this proposal doesn’t sound bad.

Except there’s this: A draft agreement a team lobbyist sent to the county in October doesn’t actually mention transforming any part of Parcel B into a park, the Herald reported.

And this: The team would have control of the whole chunk of land when the arena is open.

Also: The team would require that Miami-Dade — the actual owner of the property — give the Heat 45 days’ notice if the government or other group wants to the use the land for its own events.

There’s one nod to the people. The agreement does protect public access to a narrow strip of city-owned baywalk that hugs the waterfront.

But there’s no specific language about the park and no requirements for public access during game days.

Under the deal, the Heat would pay the county $2 million. The agreement would last as long as the team plays in the arena.

The $2 million would be great. The county could spend it developing the park. But, overall, it sounds like the Heat is still calling the shots.

Why is there such reluctance to build this tiny sliver of a park? We cannot allow VIP parking for the Kaseya Center, as the arena is now named, to take precedence over a promise made to the people of Miami-Dade that has remained unfulfilled for almost three decades.

The arena, remember, has long been built.

Keon Hardemon, the Miami-Dade commissioner whose district includes Parcel B, told the Herald that he supports the team using a “portion” of the land for parking, adding that the “predominant feature will be a world-class park.”

Meanwhile, Natalia Jaramillo, spokesperson for County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, said the county thinks the “waterfront portion” should remain open the public on game days.

Here’s what we think. A deal is a deal. The people of this community deserve the park. The county and the Heat need to make good on this promise.

And with the hard experience of the last 28 years, we have learned this much: Get it in writing.

Click here to send the letter.