Joe Carollo’s war with Virginia Key smells of future development coming
Developing story: Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo lo tiene metido con Virginia Key.
It’s not just the ludicrous idea of shipping the city’s homeless to an encampment on the historic property. It’s not just the retaliatory raid he orchestrated on the concessionaire who had been there for five years.
At the city’s first public hearing on the 2022-2023 budget, Carollo suggested not only denying the additional funding requested by the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust to hire five more staffers, but taking back the $300,000 already budgeted.
“This is one trust, one organization that, unlike the Liberty City one and others, has not been run properly,” Carollo said.
Is that true? Or is this just part of the campaign that Carollo seems to have waged against Virginia Key — which some observers believe are steps to have the property eventually developed.
Guy Forchion, executive director of the trust, didn’t much of a chance to rebut or set the record straight.
But chairman Christine King said she wanted more time to see what to do with Virginia Key, which was the historic beach for African-Americans and she wants to take a bigger role in its future. She asked for the budget item on the Virginia Key Trust to be deferred to Sept. 20.
This Tuesday, there will be a rally outside City Hall by activists who are outraged at the idea of housing the homeless there.
This story will grow during the day as more details are added. Come back and check it out later.