Miami commissioner explains vote delay on settlement over gerrymandered map claim

MIAMI – During This Week In South Florida on Sunday, Miami Commissioner Miguel Gabela said the delay in replacing the unconstitutional city-drawn districts’ map was to ensure it gets done.

Gabela said the map was set to split Coconut Grove to “accommodate” Commissioner Joe Carollo’s house and to protect ex-Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla, whom Gabela unseated.

On April 10, Judge K. Michael Moore ruled the city commissioners had designed maps by “sorting its citizens based on race” — making them unconstitutional.

“This is how we got into this problem,” Gabela said.

Carollo, a former mayor, and Commissioner Manolo Reyes denied the candidate-favoring gerrymandering claim during public meetings, and on Thursday said they want to prioritize diversity.

The chapters of The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union agreed to a settlement prompting the city to pay over $1.5 million in legal costs after a 2022 lawsuit claimed the city’s reconfiguring was racially gerrymandered.

Moore agreed it violated the 14th Amendment.

Aside from the legal fees, the plaintiffs have a proposed map placing Coconut Grove entirely in District 2 and all of Overtown in District 5. They also want a ballot question and a redistricting committee.

Gabela said Commissioner Damián Pardo, elected in November to represent District 2, was not at the meeting on Thursday. He had supported settling a lawsuit in January.

“It was going to be a 2-2 vote and nothing was going to happen, so rather than it fail I rather defer it until Pardo gets back,” Gabela said.

Commissioner Christine King voted with Gabela to defer the vote. Gabela said he expects Pardo and King to vote in favor of the settlement, just as he plans to do, and Reyes and Carrollo to vote against it.

“If we don’t vote for this map, we are not going to be in control,” Gabela said about the risk of growing legal fees.

The settlement doesn’t “affect the qualifications of any incumbent commissioner,” so Carollo would continue to represent District 3 even though his house will be in District 2.

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