{"id":187804,"date":"2026-03-11T21:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T21:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/187804\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T21:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T21:51:08","slug":"new-miami-commissioner-wants-to-bring-back-little-havana-pride-through-revitalization-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/187804\/","title":{"rendered":"New Miami Commissioner wants to bring back \u2018Little Havana Pride\u2019 through revitalization"},"content":{"rendered":"

Southwest 8th Street, or as people in Little Havana call it: \u2018Calle Ocho,\u2019 is a cultural landmark. Every year it attracts visitors from around the globe looking to sample Miami\u2019s Cuban-American culture firsthand \u2014 drinking sweet cafecito for the first time, or dancing salsa outside the historic Tower Theater.<\/p>\n

This December, the neighborhood got its first new city commissioner in almost a decade: Rolando Escalona \u2014 a first time politician.<\/p>\n

He moved to Miami from Cuba and has lived in the city\u2019s District 3 for the past 11 years. District 3 includes the neighborhoods Little Havana, Shenandoah and parts of Brickell.<\/p>\n

In his first few months in office, Escalona has launched a campaign to beautify Calle Ocho by purchasing a fleet of trucks to pick up garbage around the area. As he walks through the district, he points out abandoned shopping carts and loose trash cans that don\u2019t have city branding. He says this is all part of his mission to bring back pride in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m from Havana, Cuba, and to me, to represent now this district that has little Havana, it makes me very proud,\u201d Escalona told WLRN in an interview on Calle Ocho. \u201cIt makes me proud of the changes that we are going to bring to our community to make sure that our community is also being heard. Because for a very long time, I believe we have been neglected.\u201d<\/p>\n

From 2017 to 2025, Miami\u2019s District 3 City Commission seat was held by ex-Commissioner Joe Carollo.<\/p>\n

While Escalona did not directly address his predecessor by name during the interview, he made reference to certain policy decisions Carollo made that he intends to reverse. One of the first changes was to hand the management of the historic\u00a0Tower Theater<\/a>\u00a0back to Miami Dade College.<\/p>\n

\"RolandoPedro Portal \/ Miami Herald Rolando Escalona, new Commissioner for Miami City District 3, at his election party on Dec. 9, 2025.<\/p>\n

The college previously managed the theater under contract with the city for decades, showing a variety of Spanish-language films and hosting annual film festivals. Carollo pushed to rescind the city\u2019s contract with Miami Dade College in 2022 and have the city manage the property. Critics said that, under the city\u2019s supervision, the property was neglected and had little cultural programming. City officials rebutted that the college left the theater in poor condition upon their exit.<\/p>\n

Now, Escalona said the city is in negotiations with the college to have it take the reins of the Tower Theater again but with more community input and benefits for Little Havana residents.<\/p>\n

In another reversal of previous policy, Escalona has worked to return the \u201cViernes Culturales\u201d or \u201cCultural Fridays\u201d event to its historic time and venue.<\/p>\n

Viernes Culturales began in May of 2000 as a musical and dance event on Calle Ocho to bring in visitors and residents to celebrate Miami\u2019s culture. Over the years it evolved to include art exhibits, poetry and film, but was always held on the last Friday of each month at Domino Park.<\/p>\n

In 2018, however, Commissioner Carollo pushed out the monthly event by holding his own programming at Domino Park called \u201cLittle Havana Fridays\u201d on the last Friday of the month \u2014 Carollo had just begun a yearslong feud with\u00a0William Fuller<\/a>, one of the leaders of the nonprofit that runs Viernes Culturales, for supporting the former\u2019s political rival in the 2017 election. (Fuller sued Carollo in federal court for violation of his First Amendment rights and would\u00a0win in 2023<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

After he was sworn in last December, Escalona threw his support behind Viernes Culturales and allowed the nonprofit to hold its monthly events at its original place and time in Domino Park as of January.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year we proudly celebrated our 25th Anniversary at the Historic Tower Hotel, so returning to our original date and location truly marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Viernes Culturales,\u201d said nonprofit Chairwoman Suzanne Batlle in a written statement.<\/p>\n

Looking toward the future, Escalona is planning several programs primarily focused on beautification and maintaining Little Havana\u2019s aesthetic quality. His ideas include a program to help homeowners pay for fa\u00e7ade repairs on their homes, an educational campaign about littering and illegal dumping and a zoning overlay to ensure new developments in the neighborhood match the architectural style of surrounding buildings.<\/p>\n

\"Miami Dade College The Miami Dade College Tower Theater<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aWhat happens is that right now what we see is you see a beautiful 1970s building, and then you see a brand new house next to it that is a white cube. We don\u2019t want that. We want to preserve what we have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At a meeting on Feb. 12, City Commissioners passed a resolution sponsored by Escalona to begin the process of making a Calle Ocho Business Improvement District (BID).<\/p>\n

BIDs supplement local government services within designated areas by providing additional security personnel, garbage pickups, beautification projects and the funding of initiatives to drive more visitors to their districts. These BIDs are funded through additional special assessment taxes approved by local governments. Their boards are often comprised of local business leaders in the area.<\/p>\n

Miami has a number of Business Improvement Districts already, including the\u00a0Wynwood BID<\/a>\u00a0and Coconut\u00a0Grove BID<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Escalona claims business owners on the historic corridor approached him about creating a BID to ensure tax dollars generated on Calle Ocho stay in Calle Ocho to help revitalize the area.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aWe have to go back to being proud of living where you live.\u200a I\u2019m gonna bring back that pride that people should have of living not only in Little Havana, but in District 3 and also in the city of Miami,\u201d Escalona said.<\/p>\n

The city administration is preparing the necessary documentation to form a Calle Ocho BID, and the resolution will come up for an additional commission vote once that process is complete.<\/p>\n

ABOUT US:<\/p>\n

For more Miami community news, look no further than Miami Community Newspapers. This Miami online group of newspapers covers a variety of topics about the local community and beyond. Miami\u2019s Community Newspapers offers daily news, online resources, podcasts and other multimedia content to keep readers informed. With topics ranging from local news to community events, Miami\u2019s Community Newspapers is the ideal source for staying up to date with the latest news and happenings in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This family-owned media company publishes more than a dozen neighborhood publications, magazines<\/a>, special sections on their websites, newsletters, as well as distributing them in print throughout Miami Dade County from Aventura<\/a>, Sunny Isles Beach<\/a>, Miami Beach<\/a>, Coral Gables<\/a>, Brickell, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest<\/a>, South Miami<\/a>, Kendall<\/a>, Palmetto Bay<\/a>, Cutler Bay<\/a> and Homestead. Each online publication and print editions provide comprehensive coverage of local news, events<\/a>, business updates, lifestyle features, and local initiatives within its respective community.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the newspaper has exclusive Miami community podcasts<\/a>, providing listeners with an in-depth look into Miami\u2019s culture. Whether you\u2019re looking for local Miami news, or podcasts, Miami\u2019s Community Newspapers has you covered. For more information, be sure to check out: https:\/\/communitynewspapers.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you have any questions, feel free to email Michael@communitynewspapers.com or Grant@communitynewspapers.com<\/p>\n

#thatscommunitynews<\/a> #communitynewspapers<\/a> #miamidade<\/a> #miamidadecounty<\/a> #thatscommunity<\/a> #miamicommunitynews<\/a> #coralgables<\/a> #palmettobay<\/a> #southmiami<\/a> #doral<\/a> #aventura<\/a> #pinecrest<\/a> #kendall<\/a> #broward<\/a> #biscaynebay<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Southwest 8th Street, or as people in Little Havana call it: \u2018Calle Ocho,\u2019 is a cultural landmark. Every…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-187804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}