After facing a backlash so fierce he resorted to profanity at a town hall, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Javier Souto on Monday released a memo scrapping his push to create the city of Westchester.
With months left before his final term expires after 29 years on the commission, Souto won board approval in January for a study group to consider incorporating the Westchester neighborhood into its own municipal government near Florida International University’s main campus. The proposed city boundaries were between the Florida Turnpike and the Palmetto Expressway, bounded by Southwest Eighth Street to the north and 56th Street to the south. The FIU campus was left out of the proposed city’s boundaries.
Before the incorporation committee had a chance to meet, Souto, a former state senator, is reversing position and preparing legislation to disband the panel. On Monday he sent a memo to the county’s legal department asking for legislation to undo the board’s Jan. 19 approval of the incorporation study.
