MIAMI – It was not all smiles Wednesday morning as Miami officials marked the beginning of renovations at Morningside Park.
“I live here. I’ve lived here since 1999 and for a quarter of a century, nothing major has been done this park,” said Miami Commissioner Damian Pardo.
Phase one of the project at the public park inside a gated community off 55 Street and Biscayne Boulevard includes installing solar power lighting, building a climate-resilient shore wall, improving the boat ramp area including the parking lot and building a 15-foot wide baywalk.
Not everyone was happy.
A short distance away from the celebration, protestors made their thoughts known. They said the construction of the baywalk will destroy vital green space and uproot legacy trees to make way for an unnecessary 15-foot-wide concrete pathway that the community neither wants nor needs
“A six-foot wide walkway has worked fine for 71 years. This isn’t downtown Miami,” said Elvis Cruz.
Those against the baywalk said they don’t believe it will help with flooding.
“They’re talking about putting, like this drainage underneath the walkway, but that’s going to get clogged. The city has historically not been great about maintaining things. So we’re really concerned about this and how this can affect the park. We’re not against the project, we’re against the width of the walkway,” said Maji Ramos.
Pardo said engineers have been involved from the start to make sure the renovations improve flooding. As for the width of the baywalk, he said they researched that.
“First of all, there’s a lot of misinformation. A lot of that 15-foot requirement has been there forever, it’s part of the code. We actually studied the use of the baywalks. We went through all the parks, we measured them. We took 12 feet, 15 feet (walkways) and we looked at how they were being used. Trust me, if you build it, they will come,” said Pardo.
“I think once it’s done, everyone’s going to really appreciate it and think how beautiful it is and forget about all the fighting in the beginning,” said resident Janna Maland.
Phase 1 is scheduled to be completed in Summer 2026
