Miami Commission ends Bayfront Park Management Trust in surprise vote

After what turned out to be yet another City Hall cage match between Miami commissioners Joe Carollo and Miguel Gabela, the commission voted to abolish the Bayfront Park Management Trust. Not right now. But by January of next year.
This was Commissioner Damian Pardo‘s brilliant idea. Both he and Gabela folded fast like a pair of vinyl strap lawn chairs. And they didn”t have to. It looked early on like they could have killed the whole concept of ending the Trust with a 2-2 vote because Commission Chairwoman Christine King had to leave after the lunch break. Carollo even said he didn’t want to take up the item because he knew it could be killed with a tie. Didn’t they get it? And when Commissioner Ralph Rosado said he wanted to hear the item, they had the opportunity to do just that.
And they blew it. Damn newbies!
Read related: Miami’s Ralph Rosado aims to kill the Bayfront Park Trust for Joe Carollo
In the end, the Trust was finished with a surprising 3-1 vote. Surprising because Carollo voted against it and Pardo and the new Bayfront Trust chair, Gabela — who had been fighting for the Trust’s survival somewhat aggressively — voted for the abolition. Next year, the management of both Bayfront Park and Maurice Ferre Park — and the millions that Bayfront takes in from vendors and events — will be in the control of the city manager’s office.
Or something. They have six months to figure it out. Maybe they can vote to reinstate the Trust, instead.
Rosado, elected last month to replace the late Manolo Reyes, was the one who sponsored this item. But alert readers might recognize it as a stunt Carollo pulled in February. That was one month after he and the city were sued by two whistleblowers who were forced to resign from the Trust after they found financial discrepancies that indicate fraud and abuse by Carollo, who was the chairman for the past seven years. There is no way the two things are not related.
Rosado said it was his own idea. He’s been watching the Bayfront Park Trust for years and it’s an embarrassment, he said. It’s a distraction and a black eye on the city of Miami.
But Carollo first proposed this in February, right after he was accused of using the Trust funds as his own personal political piggy bank. And his accusers have the receipts.
Also, Rosado he had just told the commissioners to give the Miami Downtown Development Authority a chance to address issues that were brought by residents who don’t want to be taxed anymore so that the agency can just give the money away to billionaire brands like the UFC and FC Barcelona, while paying bloated salaries for duplicated position.
So, the DDA, which was established in 1967, deserves another chance. But the Bayfront Trust, created 20 years later in 1987, does not? Check.
Carollo, who was removed as chair earlier this year after the allegations of his abuse of the funds surfaced, claims the park flourished under his management. Millions in revenue! Events galore! The fountain danced! And the grass practically trimmed itself!
Read related: Commissioner Miguel Gabela set to expose more Bayfront Park Trust issues
But Gabela has launched an investigation and financial audit into the Trust’s finances under Carollo’s leadership, which might be why he wants it abolished now, not later. It’s hard to interview witnesses if they are scattered to the winds.
It was hard to watch Gabela cave in to Carollo, especially after he was so vehemently against the abolition. Turning up the volume and getting personal with jabs — he flashed a picture of Joe in his wifebeater shirt and reminded folks about that arrest — it almost seemed at one point that he was going to throw a chair.
Carollo accused Gabela of trying to politicize the Trust and stage a personal vendetta. Gabela countered by pointing out the pile of lawsuits, the whispers of mismanagement, and the fact that an actual forensic audit is in motion something that would normally make most public officials go quiet, but not Carollo, whose middle name might as well be “Litigation.”
It’s all gotten so familiar, you could almost set your watch to the shouting.
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