It’s Miamians’ money, not Joe Carollo’s
Abunch of cat and dog sculptures in a downtown Miami park wouldn’t seem to be a controversial subject — unless the project costs almost a million bucks and the contract was handed to a single company with little discussion, no competitive bidding and no acknowledgment that spending a big chunk of public money deserves greater scrutiny.
But that’s what happened earlier this month, prompting Bayfront Park Management Trust board member Cristina Palomo to resign in protest. We applaud her principled stance of putting taxpayers first.
She rightly objected to board chairman Joe Carollo — a city commissioner who came up with the pet-themed sculpture garden idea with his wife — pushing for a Yes vote from the board after no debate, no real community discussion — not even any negotiation on price. She said the board was being run in “a dysfunctional, nontransparent fashion.”
On behalf of the taxpayers, we agree, resoundingly. And, we must ask: Why was Palomo seemingly the only board member to push back? Why were the others so compliant as to be derelict in their duty to be responsible stewards of the public’s money?
The board voted March 9 to award an $896,000 contract to a local company, Art and Sculpture Unlimited, to design, cast and install metal dog and cat statues at Maurice A. Ferré
Park, next to Bayfront Park. Carollo, who presented the idea, gave it a grand name, El Paseo de los Perros y Gatos — The Walkway of Cats and Dogs. He said his wife, Marjorie, heard about a similar idea in Cali, Colombia, from a Facebook video. He said it would become a worldwide tourist draw. He called it “pretty neat.”
But that decision was much too hasty. It needed more discussion, more thought and more strategy. And perhaps Carollo has begun to see that: At the next meeting, held Tuesday, he pulled the item from the agenda. The trust oversees Bayfront
and Ferré parks, central features in Miami’s downtown waterfront. It controls the allocation of $2 million each year from the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency. This one decision would use up almost half of that.
Palomo, a real-estate agent who is a proponent of art in public spaces, wasn’t alone in her criticism. Two longtime downtown residents who attended the meeting also saw the lack of information and discussion as troubling. Claudia Roussel, a board member at the
10 Museum Park condominium, asked how Carollo became a “self-appointed art curator” and called it a “half-baked concept.” Another, attorney Allan Schwartz, questioned whether the installation could even be called art since there is no artist, only a foundry using pre-fab designs. The Pérez Art Museum Miami, the fine-art museum near the park, might also have something to say about that, he noted.
Carollo said other projects at the park that residents have said they want, including a dog park and a playground, have been delayed by the pandemic or permitting. But he wants the sculpture garden installed by next winter’s tourist season. He told Miami Herald reporter Linda Robertson that “requestfor-proposals bidding is best practice, but can kill projects” when it takes too long. He insisted the project is “fabulous” and that people criticize him because “I’m the only one fighting to get things done.”
Maybe Miami’s dog-and-cat walkway will be an Instagram tourism dream. Maybe the 12foot-tall retriever planned to sit at the entrance to the park is worth every penny.
But this is tax money, not the board’s — and definitely not Carollo’s. The $896,000 is an enormous sum. Even if the waterfront pet sculpture walkway ends up the best idea Miami ever had, it needs more consideration. In fact, it now needs reconsideration.
Palomo should not have been the only board member deeply troubled about the rushed vote — and vocal about it. If this issue resurfaces, remaining board members must proceed the right way. Spending almost $1 million in tax money deserves more than a burst of enthusiasm, a board chair’s bluster and a rubber stamp — and they know it.