Hailed as a fix for Miami’s flooding woes, the $400-million Forever Bond program pitched to voters in November 2017 was supposed to usher in an era of climate-change resiliency.
Yet almost a decade later, the two leading candidates for Miami mayor this year pointed to the program as a prime example of City Hall dysfunction.
Where’s the money, they asked.
“We don’t know where that money has been spent, how it’s been spent, they haven’t even started the projects they claimed they should be doing,” Eileen Higgins, Miami’s new mayor, said at one point during the campaign.
“All of that needs a deep dive,” she said.
That’s a concern shared by former Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, the godfather of the bond referendum, which easily passed just a week before he left office.
“When it was approved, I’m 100 percent sure we had the capacity to sell bonds without raising taxes,” Regalado told the Spotlight. “Yet I haven’t seen anything done. From a resident’s point of view, it’s an irresponsible act. Delay, delay, delay.”
So, is the Forever Bond program another example of government gone wrong?
Members of the Citizens’ Oversight Board – the panel appointed to track Forever Bond spending – say no. While there have been delays, many projects have been completed, and others are moving forward, they say.
“The bond was being scapegoated as a failure (during the election), but we’re seeing progress being made,” said Ruth Ewing, a Coconut Grove resident and a member of the Oversight Board.
A peek at a City of Miami spreadsheet – shared by Ewing – bears that out. The spreadsheet shows 32 completed projects worth more than $56 million. Altogether, city officials say $103 million in bond money has been spent, a figure that includes projects in progress.
To be sure, there have been delays. But many of those delays can be attributed to the pandemic, to staff turnover, or to changes made to the original bond plan by the city’s five commissioners, current and former Oversight Board members say.
Many of the projects that are underway or complete involve affordable housing.
Of the $400 million in bond spending approved by voters, $100 million was earmarked for affordable housing. Nearly $41 million of that money (40%) has been spent, according to a summary shared with Oversight Board members in September.
Examples include the Platform 3750 apartment building in Coconut Grove, where the city contributed $3.5 million in bond money, and the proposed Grand Bahamas project at 3659 Grand Ave., which the city is supporting with a pledge of $4.2 million in funding.
The city is upgrading a number of its parks as well, thanks to the Forever Bond program. A total of $78 million in bond funding was earmarked for park projects. To date, the city has spent $25 million (32%) of that funding.
In Coconut Grove, the new seawall and bayfront walk at Alice Wainwright Park were funded in part with $2.5 million in bond money. The city has also committed $11 million to complete a new community center at Esther Mae Armbrister Park.
Despite that progress, Sonia Succar Rodriguez, the former chair of the Oversight Board, said far too many resiliency projects that would have eased flooding, like new seawalls in the Brickell neighborhood, have been put on hold due to changes in technology or the loss of state and federal grants.
The lion’s share of Forever Bond money – $192 million in total – was set aside to combat sea-level rise and address the city’s chronic flooding problems. To date, only 16% of that money ($30 million) has been spent, according to city officials.
Examples of proposed flood protection in Coconut Grove include two projects east of South Miami Avenue and south of Mercy Hospital – a $12.4 million project on South Bayshore Lane and East and West Fairview Streets (funded in part with $9.4 million in Forever Bond money), and a $1.1 million project on East and West Glencoe Streets.
Residents who are interested in tracking those and other Forever Bond projects can access information on the city’s website and through the work of the Oversight Board.
The board met three times in 2023, twice in 2024, and three times this year, most recently in September, city records show.
“The information is there. It was and is available,” said Succar Rodriguez, who chaired the Oversight Board until 2022.
Higgins and Miami City Commissioner Ralph Rosado, a former member of the Oversight Board, did not respond when contacted for this story, but Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo said he believes the process by which the city has identified and approved Forever Bond projects has been open and accessible.
“I think the bond has been very transparent,” Pardo told the Spotlight. “And I think it’s essential.”
Pardo doesn’t think $400 million is nearly enough, however. As a result, he said he plans to push for another referendum early next year to raise an additional $500 million in bond funding for infrastructure projects in the city.
The success of that effort may depend in part on how voters view the success of the Forever Bond program.
This story was originally published in the Coconut Grove Spotlight, a WLRN News partner.
