Conversations on potentially incorporating a group of historically Black neighborhoods in north central Miami-Dade County are gaining urgency, as residents and community leaders push for Brownsville to be included in an ongoing feasibility study on the matter.
At a meeting hosted last week by the North Central Dade Municipal Advisory Committee (MAC), discussions centered on a major hurdle: whether Brownsville must collect signatures from 20% of its residents to be included in the study area.
While the MAC’s lifetime has been extended several times over the past decades to allow for further exploration on how incorporation could help shape the future of local governance, most of Brownsville remains outside its current boundaries. Only a small portion — between Northwest 54th and 62nd streets, from Northwest 27th Avenue to the Hialeah border — is included in the study.
According to Kenneth Kilpatrick, chair of the committee and president of the Brownsville Civic Neighborhood Association (BCNA), redistricting split the neighborhood between Districts 2 and 3, leaving portions excluded from the study. Leaders are now pushing to expand the boundaries to include the remaining sections of Brownsville.
Push for inclusion
Kilpatrick said the issue is not about automatic incorporation but about access to the information other communities have.
“We are hoping that the commissioners will add Brownsville to the study area without having to implement a physical door-to-door petition, as we have been advised is mandatory in order to get our area included,” Kilpatrick said. “We sorely disagree.”
Kilpatrick argues that the county code allows commissioners to initiate the process themselves.
“What the municipal advisory committee section code basically says is that if the commissioners initiate an action, that they are the petition,” he said. “We prefer that they do that because that saves us time, that saves us money that we don’t have.”
An online petition is currently circulating to raise awareness, but Kilpatrick emphasized that the ultimate responsibility lies with the Board of County Commissioners to amend the existing MAC ordinance.
"It just gives us an opportunity to be in the mix of the probabilities and all the statistics," Kilpatrick explained. "Adding Brownsville, I think, enhances the overall forecast and overall health of the potential city."
Former Miami-Dade Commissioner Dennis C. Moss echoed that point.
“There’s a process where you can go through, and you can basically seek to get signatures of 20% of the area in order to bring that petition before the county commissioners,” Moss said. “That’s never been done. All of the incorporation campaigns were basically spearheaded by the champion commissioners for those particular areas.”
Yvette McLeod, BCNA’s second vice president, expressed frustration over the perceived lack of cooperation from local leadership.
“Our commissioners won’t even allow us to be included in the study, and that’s all we’re asking for right now,” she said. “When it’s time for votes, they come to us, but when it’s something that’s going to benefit our community, we can’t get any cooperation, and that’s a shame.”
Kilpatrick also raised concerns about fairness, citing a 2023 effort by Hialeah to annex Brownsville’s western edge.
“I didn’t see a petition from anybody from Hialeah,” he noted. “My thing is: give us the same opportunity.”
Why now?
Two main factors are driving the interest in incorporation: the 2023 annexation attempt and the changing structure of county government. Kilpatrick pointed to rising costs, projected budget gaps and the expansion of constitutional offices as reasons to seek more localized control.
“There was a $400 million shortfall last year, and there are similar projections that are going to happen, and at some point, somebody’s going to have to pay the bill,” he said. “It just makes more sense now than ever to explore incorporation to make that burden a little less on the folks in our area.”
That uncertainty, he added, has made residents more open to exploring the idea.
“The community has been a lot more responsive lately, simply wanting to know the costs and implications of incorporation,” Kilpatrick said.
He also noted that Brownsville’s earlier exclusion was shaped by political and historical factors, including split commission districts and residents being satisfied with county services at the time.
“The folks in Brownsville at the time were very happy with the services,” he said. “They were very happy with everything, so they didn’t see the need for it at the time. But again, times have changed.”
Moss, who served for more than two decades on the commission, added that his own views evolved as he realized the county's limitations.
“I finally came to the conclusion that the county can’t provide the same kinds of city services that good cities provide,” Moss said. “And I say that not because the county is bad. It’s just that the county has so many responsibilities.”
The cost of independence
The April 1 meeting included a presentation from the Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) detailing the responsibilities of a new municipality.
A city would manage neighborhood-level infrastructure, including local road maintenance, drainage and street lighting, while the county would retain control over traffic signals and major county roads.
Kilpatrick highlighted the frustration of competing for resources.
“You can’t get a street paved in your own neighborhood with taxes in your own neighborhood, because there’s a regional priority for unincorporated Dade,” Kilpatrick said. “To me, that’s enough motivation.”
However, independence comes with a price tag. A budget comparison report showed that Unincorporated Miami-Dade’s municipal service area (UMSA) costs about $566 per resident, whereas Miami Gardens costs $983 and North Miami’s $1,499.
The report concluded that incorporation “does not appear to be a low-cost option,” as residents would still pay county taxes on top of new municipal costs. At the same time, the report highlighted potential benefits, including more local decision-making, greater accountability and the ability to focus on neighborhood needs, such as code enforcement, beautification and economic development.
MAC member Miguel “Skip” Quintero, who worked on the analysis, said the comparison was based on a multi-hour review of similar cities and that the proposed area most closely resembled Miami Gardens in population.
Still, supporters argue that the decision should ultimately rest with residents.
“It’s about your independence,” Kilpatrick said. “It’s about preserving the integrity of the neighborhood. It’s about preserving all that our pioneers before us have worked and built.”
Identity, legacy and control
For many, the debate is about more than just tax brackets. Alfred McCullough, a resident since 1963, described the effort as essential to preserving the community.
“Over the years, there’s been a lot of cities that have been erased, and we’re trying to uphold that city to make sure that it doesn’t go away,” he said.
His daughter, A.J. McCullough, added, “For me, it’s just like protecting our legacy, protecting our history. We have a lot of seniors in our neighborhood now that they fought longer and harder. Right now, they’re just at the age where they can’t fight anymore, and they’re at the risk of losing everything.”
Her mother, Shirley McCullough, questioned the double standard regarding the petition requirement.
“We shouldn’t have to fight for something that we really want,” she said, adding that incorporation would ensure residents have more control over the dollars spent.
“We would have our own say in what is done, how the money is being distributed, because we would take care of our neighborhood,” Shirley said. “Some people are getting a whole lot while others are getting little or nothing, or getting the crumbs from the loaf.”
Resident Samuel Williams noted that the Hialeah annexation attempt was a wake-up call.
“It helped us realize how much of a voice we want in our own neighborhood,” he said.
Commissioner Marleine Bastien’s office will host a town hall meeting on April 9 at the Arcola Lakes Senior Center at 6 p.m. to listen to north central Dade residents' concerns. The next MAC meeting will take place on May 6, 2026.
This story was produced by The Miami Times, one of the oldest Black-owned newspapers in the country, as part of a content sharing partnership with the WLRN newsroom. Read more at miamitimesonline.com.
