A charter reform group hoping to expand the Miami Commission and reschedule the city\u2019s elections just delivered an additional 5,000 signed petitions to the Clerk\u2019s Office, bringing the total to over 18,000.<\/p>\n
The newly submitted petitions move the nonprofit\u00a0Stronger Miami\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0campaign ever closer to the roughly 20,000 valid signatures required under state law for the measures to qualify.<\/p>\n More petition deliveries are planned in the coming weeks, the group said.<\/p>\n Mel Meinhardt, a Board member of the homeowners advocacy group\u00a0One Grove Alliance<\/a>\u00a0and a member of the campaign, said the latest submission reflects growing participation across Miami.<\/p>\n The message, he said in a statement, is that residents are \u201cdemanding a government that is more accountable, more responsive, and more focused on results.\u201d<\/p>\n The proposed charter changes would expand the Miami Commission from five to nine members, a move supporters say would create smaller districts and improve local representation.<\/p>\n The measures would also shift city elections to November in even-numbered years, aligning them with federal elections, which supporters say would increase voter turnout and reduce election-related costs.<\/p>\n Further, the proposals would establish enforceable redistricting standards, building on Miami\u2019s\u00a0newly approved<\/a>\u00a0Citizens\u2019 Redistricting Committee, which is tasked with drawing commission district maps after each census.<\/p>\n Teresa Guzman Pagan\u00a0of\u00a0Florida Rising<\/a>\u00a0said the campaign is continuing to see support expand geographically.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing energy grow in every part of the city because Miamians want reforms that put communities first and make local government work better for everyone,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n Stronger Miami announced in October that it had collected\u00a0more than 10,000 signatures<\/a>, crossing the halfway point toward the qualification threshold.<\/p>\n State records<\/a>\u00a0show Stronger Miami\u2019s principals include lawyer\u00a0Anthony Parrish, another One Grove Alliance Board member;\u00a0Joseph Dye, a former associate with the ACLU of Florida who now runs an eponymous\u00a0political strategy firm<\/a>; and BFF Compliance partner\u00a0Gloria Maggiolo, who has served as Treasurer for some 40 state-level political committees and numerous others at the county level, mostly for Democratic candidates.<\/p>\n