Esteban L. Bovo Jr: Mayor targeting water upgrades, parks and transportation

Esteban L. Bovo Jr. was elected Mayor of Hialeah in November 2021, after he lost his bid as county mayor. He said his top priority is to welcome development and new activity and to fix the city’s water and sewer issues.

Creating a stronger bond between government and people would improve the city, he said. He has also taken up the mission to improve the city’s parks system and to create attractive programming that would bring the community back to the parks.

“We’re seeing [a] migration of folks, bringing with them developers and building a different kind of product, not low income, not subsidized rent, but market rent,” he said, “and with it comes the economic activity of restaurants and shops that cater to those that want to come and live in the city.”

Mayor Bovo said he hopes to guide that growth and development, “so that in 20, 30 years, whoever is mayor of the city can feel that we were doing the right things.”

His work in Hialeah started in 1998 when he served on the city council until 2008. He later was elected a member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing District 110, which includes Hialeah. From 2011 to 2020, he served as a Miami-Dade County commissioner, and in 2021, he went back to Hialeah to lead the city.

“I like to use the word public servant,” he said. “Politicians are other people, not me.”

Mayor Bovo spoke to Miami Today reporter Monica Correa.

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