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Photos show deteriorating conditions at city of Miami fire stations.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins\u2019 office<\/p>\n
Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins is beginning a push to get voters to approve nearly a half-billion dollars in spending to address \u201ccritically deteriorating\u201d police and fire facilities \u2014 an ambitious proposal for the city\u2019s newly minted top elected official.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Higgins announced her proposal<\/a> for a $450 million general obligation bond, dubbed \u201cSafe and Ready Miami,\u201d to repair and replace the city\u2019s aging public safety infrastructure. Next week, the Miami City Commission is slated to vote on whether to send the proposal to Miami voters on the August ballot.<\/p>\n Citing leaky roofs, mold, subpar living conditions for firefighters working 24-hour shifts, and plumbing failures so severe that portable bathrooms were required to remain operational, Higgins said improvements are urgently needed. In addition to repairs, the proposal also involves building new fire facilities and a new Miami police headquarters.<\/p>\n Higgins, who was elected in December, said the issue came to her attention when she toured the city\u2019s public safety facilities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to fix this situation,\u201d she said in an interview with the Miami Herald. \u201cWe can\u2019t wait. I can\u2019t have employees working in these kind of conditions, particularly the people who literally will save your grandmother\u2019s life when she has a heart attack.\u201d<\/p>\n By green-lighting the bond, voters would give the city the ability to borrow the money on the municipal bond market, leveraging property taxes, to fund \u201crenovations, modernizations, and new construction\u201d of the city\u2019s public safety facilities.<\/p>\n Higgins\u2019 proposal lands nine years after Miami voters approved the $400 million Miami Forever Bond<\/a>, championed by former Mayor Tom\u00e1s Regalado and meant to address flooding and fund affordable housing.<\/p>\n What problems would the funding fix?<\/p>\n One of the main goals of the Safe and Ready Miami bond is to replace the downtown Miami Police Department headquarters, which has been affected by \u201cdecades of deferred maintenance,\u201d according to the legislation underlying Higgins\u2019 proposal.<\/p>\n The 1976 facility was designed to house approximately 560 officers, according to the legislation, but it now serves nearly 1,400 sworn personnel and 400 professional staff, \u201cfar exceeding its intended capacity and limiting its ability to support and expand modern policing operations.\u201d<\/p>\n The proposal also cites outdated electrical systems and leaking roofs stuck in a \u201ccycle of frequent and costly emergency repairs in a 50-year building that has exceeded its useful life.\u201d<\/p>\n Higgins said the conditions are so poor at the police headquarters that employees will be \u201cin the middle of doing an investigation on the third floor, and it\u2019ll rain in the middle of the desks.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no running water on the bottom floor, the showers don\u2019t work,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are stories of sewage running through parts of the building. Windows are leaking. There\u2019s water intrusion everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0151.png\" "\\"0151.png\\"")
A snapshot of Miami\u2019s Fire Station 10 shows missing ceiling tiles above the area where a fire truck is stored. Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins\u2019 office <\/p>\n