Miami parks trust to die, downtown authority gets new chief

Written by Genevieve Bowen on July 16, 2025

With new leadership at the helm of one agency and another slated for closure at the start of the new year, a shift in downtown oversight is taking shape.

During its July 10 meeting, the Miami City Commission appointed newly elected Commissioner Ralph Rosado to be chair of the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and separately voted to dissolve the Bayfront Park Management Trust, setting the stage for a broader realignment of public space and economic development leadership in the city’s urban core.

Mr. Rosado succeeds the late Commissioner Manolo Reyes, who chaired the DDA before his death in April. The agency, which levies a special tax on downtown properties, is tasked with keeping the neighborhood clean, safe and economically competitive, supporting everything from street-level beautification and security patrols to transit circulators and small business grants.

In a separate 3-1 vote, commissioners adopted a long-debated proposal to phase out the Bayfront Park Management Trust, a quasi-independent body established in 1987 to oversee operations at Bayfront and Maurice A. Ferré parks. It has an annual budget of $10 million to $20 million, made up of taxpayer dollars from the City of Miami as well as park fees.

Effective Jan. 1, 2026, the Trust will be dissolved and the parks will be placed under direct city control. Officials say the extended timeline before the transition allows for public input and the development of a detailed restructuring plan by the city administration.

Mr. Rosado, who sponsored the resolution, described the trust as an outdated structure plagued by decades of political infighting, no-bid contracts and limited public input. Transitioning oversight to the city manager’s office, he argued, would stabilize operations and insulate one of Miami’s signature public spaces from future political volatility.

“Historically, the trust has been politically volatile, like a pendulum swinging with the tides of elections and personalities, and that’s part of why the public trust in it has eroded,” Mr. Rosado said. “What I’m proposing is that we still maintain full public ownership of the park, but that we establish a structure that moves the agency further out of the grasp of any one political leader.”

Commissioners Damian Pardo and Miguel Gabela joined Mr. Rosado in supporting the measure, while Commissioner Joe Carollo opposed it. Chairwoman Christine King was absent during the vote.

Despite tensions in past meetings over the future of both bodies, commissioners framed the changes as a structural reset rather than a referendum on any one person’s leadership. As the city repositions itself downtown, the moves signal an effort to streamline governance and refocus on long-term planning.