Residents claim Miami proposal would strip away taxpayer input in park projects

An item on the City of Miami commission agenda is stirring up controversy after residents claim it would eliminate public input in projects on city parks. 

“Parks are for the people. We have the right. We should have the right to help decide what goes into a city park. These are our neighborhood parks. We use these parks every day,” said Nicole Desiderio, a resident of Miami. 

Commissioners are expected to vote Thursday on an agenda item regarding what’s known as “warrants.” Currently, if residents don’t approve of a project or warrant, they can appeal it. 

Commissioner Damian Pardo says the proposal “moves to eliminate all warrants in the City of Miami.”

“What the warrant process does, it notices properties when there is an installation in a park,” he said. “As an example, gym equipment. It also provides for an appeal process if residents choose to appeal that action.”

Desiderio and Pardo claim this warrant item was raised after gym equipment was installed at Maurice Ferre Park. Some residents went against the project.

There is currently an open court case on the gym, with a hearing scheduled next year. Commissioner Joe Carollo supported the outdoor gym project and was frustrated with residents going against it. 

“Why is it that over 40 of Miami’s parks, in the city of Miami, have outdoor exercise gym equipment, people use it all the time, they have no problems – but in this park, they say nobody would use it, they don’t want it, they claim,” Carollo told NBC6 in August. 

Commissioner Christine King said in a statement that there is “no effort on behalf of the City of Miami Commission to get rid of citizen participation.”

“The warrant requires notification to abutting property owners of a park. Parks serve a much greater population than the abutting property owners,” she said. “Moreover, the Parks Master Plan provides for exercise equipment in parks, which was created with community input. The residents’ voices have and will continue to be heard regarding parks in their neighborhoods.”

The commission meeting is scheduled for Thursday at 9 a.m. at City Hall. 

“They are going in a roundabout way to try and change the Miami code to now allow the gym to stay but it now affects all parks in Miami,” Desiderio said.