![]() In terms of area, the parcel represents about one-tenth of Brownsville's 2.28 square miles. If the space is developed into an entertainment district, as the Corradino Group suggested it may be, property values would be poised to increase and provide potential surplus tax revenue for the city. The Corradino Group's presentation indicated that the City of Hialeah would take in about $850,000 annually in tax revenue from the annexed area, while the cost of providing city services to the area would exceed $4 million in the first year after annexation and $1.8 million in the second year. "We’re not here to blindside anyone we are here to work with you." "It's not and never will be our intent to break up any type of community, break up any type of historical preservation or heritage,” said Tundidor, who sponsored the annexation proposal. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Sammy Davis Jr., and Billie Holiday.Īt the April 25 city meeting, Hialeah Councilman Jesus Tundidor insisted that the proposed annexation is in the review stage and the city is still weighing its options. Kilpatrick notes that Brownsville was a key destination for civil-rights icons and entertainers who visited Miami during the segregation era, including Dr. The Black population blossomed in the community between the 1940s and the 1960s. It became known as Brownsville, or as locals call it, "Brown Sub."Ĭity of Hialeah annexation map for Brownsville The neighborhood first appeared on a county plat map in 1916, when Brown registered the two-square-mile patch of land as "Brown Subdivision," according to archived Miami-Dade Public Library System records. What is now Brownsville was farmland when it was settled by a white man named W.L. "And there is a well-founded fear that the current annexation effort could result in future residential takings to the east of the industrial district." This once-thriving African-American community within Hialeah’s city limits is now being gentrified, with less than 20 percent of the current population being African-American today," Kilpatrick adds. "The City of Hialeah has not fared well with nurturing the African-American community of Seminola. Developed in 1924 so Black laborers building the Hialeah Park racetrack could live nearby, the 20-block neighborhood has seen its Black population dwindle over the past few decades. Kilpatrick says he fears Brownsville's future may mirror that of Seminola, one of South Florida’s first Black communities that's now part of Hialeah. "The area proposed to be annexed would significantly strengthen Hialeah’s economic vitality while decimating Brownsville’s economic potential." "Industrial areas are major economic tools that power neighborhoods and cities," Kilpatrick tells New Times. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images Kenneth Kilpatrick, president of the Brownsville Civic Neighborhood Association, contends that annexation threatens to strip Brownsville of financial development opportunities and eat away at the community's history. "The proposed annexation area would be part of the city's plan to further develop a burgeoning entertainment district that would be adjacent to the city's east end,” a representative from Corradino Group, a consulting firm hired by Hialeah last year, said at an April 25 city council meeting. The area is mostly a commercial and industrial district, along with some residential mobile homes. Though the annexation proposal is in its early stages and has not yet been approved by the Hialeah City Council, its location is drawing attention: It's a 150-acre chunk of Brownsville's west edge, centered near NW 47th Street and abutting Factory Town, Hialeah's sprawling new concert complex. "We need to learn it so we can defend it." "So we have a rich history," added Pinkney, who spearheaded the formation of a trust to preserve the Historic Hampton House, a famed Brownsville cultural nexus under segregation. They're not going to be in sympathy with your culture and the legacy that has been passed down from generation to generation in this community," Pinkney said at a recent press conference. ![]() "Please do not let anybody take your heritage. James Bush, and preservationist Enid Pinkney are among those who've spoken out against annexation. Brownsville Church of Christ minister Harrell Henton, former Florida House Rep. ![]() Hialeah's proposal to annex a section of the Brownsville neighborhood of unincorporated Miami-Dade County is stirring cultural and political tensions in the predominantly Black community, where recent public meetings boiled over with residents' complaints of looming gentrification.īrownsville residents and community leaders have come out in droves to oppose the proposed annexation, with some expressing fears that the move could mark the beginning of a larger land grab through which the historic Black neighborhood will lose its commercial land and cultural identity.
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