{"id":240870,"date":"2026-04-21T20:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T20:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/240870\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T20:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T20:44:14","slug":"miami-leaders-push-450m-bond-for-police-and-fire-stations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/240870\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami leaders push $450M bond for police and fire stations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

Miami Fire Chief Robert Hevia tours the shower and restroom of Fire Station 1, built in 1962, where mold, water intrusion and outdated equipment are hampering effective emergency responses and community safety. Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins toured the city’s police and fire facilities on Monday, April 20, 2026. Higgins is proposing a general obligation bond to fund critical repairs and upgrades to aging public safety buildings, citing concerns over deteriorating conditions.<\/p>\n

Carl Juste<\/p>\n

cjuste@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n

Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins wants voters to green-light a half-billion dollars in spending<\/a> to repair the city\u2019s aging public safety buildings.<\/p>\n

But before the $450 million bond can land on the August ballot, Higgins first needs to get buy-in from the City Commission, which is slated to vote on the mayor\u2019s proposal Thursday.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Higgins has secured backing from the city\u2019s police and fire chiefs, who this week showed members of the media the deteriorating conditions at the Miami Police Department headquarters and city fire stations, including mold, leaks, patched-up floors and out-of-order plumbing.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine you being a victim,\u201d Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales said as he showcased a segment of the ceiling in the city\u2019s homicide unit that he said \u201cleaks with the smallest of rains.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis doesn\u2019t inspire confidence that the detectives are going to be able to solve the case,\u201d Morales said of the 1976 police headquarters.<\/p>\n

\"A A yellow bag is placed to funnel the water pouring in from the ceiling in the homicide unit of the Miami Police Department headquarters. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Under Higgins\u2019 proposal, called the Safe and Ready Miami bond, the city would get a brand-new public safety building, to include the Miami police headquarters, an emergency operations center that can withstand a Category 5 hurricane, Miami Fire-Rescue headquarters and an on-site fire station.<\/p>\n

The likely location for the new public safety building is the Miami Freedom Park site near Miami International Airport, home to Inter Miami\u2019s Nu Stadium. Morales said he was \u201cagnostic\u201d about a police headquarters location but said the Freedom Park site \u201cmakes operations a little simpler\u201d because it would be next to the city\u2019s new administration building, which will also house City Hall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He said funding is needed not just to address issues related to plumbing and leaks \u2014 but also to accommodate a staff that is more than triple the size of what the downtown police headquarters were built to accommodate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re basically using duct tape and bubble gum to kind of keep the building together,\u201d Morales said.<\/p>\n

\"Chief Police Chief Manuel \u201cManny\u201d Morales walks through the evidence room of the Miami Police Department headquarters, where the lower shelves are left empty due to water intrusion inside the lower level of the 50-year-old building. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Miami Fire-Rescue Chief Robert Hevia is also on board. During a tour of downtown\u2019s Fire Station 1 on Monday, Hevia showed brown water splotches blooming across white ceiling tiles, dilapidated showers used by the city\u2019s firefighters working 24-hour shifts, and a boiler room with rusty and corroded machinery.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, this is critical infrastructure, because if it fails, our units can\u2019t respond,\u201d Hevia said, adding that the city\u2019s decades-old fire stations are \u201cbursting at the seams\u201d and don\u2019t fit modern fire engines and machinery.<\/p>\n

Hevia said the issues plague fire stations across the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a tomorrow problem,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a today problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The Miami Fire Chief Robert Hevia tours Fire Station 1, built in 1962, where mold, water intrusion and outdated equipment are hampering effective emergency responses and community safety, during a press tour with the mayor and other officials. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Brickell\u2019s Fire Station 4 is currently housed in temporary trailer-like facilities. It\u2019s on the same piece of land where developer JDS is building the Mercedes-Benz Places Miami<\/a> building. As part of the developer\u2019s agreement with the city, JDS agreed to build a new fire station on-site.<\/p>\n

The temporary conditions, however, have been cause for concern. Hevia said that in January, a firefighter was brushing his teeth in the bathroom when he fell through the floor. Metal sheets have been installed on the floor to even out the weight distribution.<\/p>\n

In a statement to the Herald, JDS said it has been \u201cworking diligently\u201d with Miami Fire-Rescue to address maintenance issues and upgrades.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to the use of large amounts of water in cleaning the floors several times a day, repairs to the flooring have been performed in ordinary course,\u201d JDS said. \u201cThe Fire Department has requested a floor replacement and developer has advised the city that the materials have been ordered and the work will … commence within approximately 2 weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the proposed bond, the city would rebuild the city\u2019s Fire Station 1 downtown and Station 10 near Flagami and build five completely new fire stations, including one in East Shenandoah, another on Watson Island and the fire station that will be attached to the public safety building at Miami Freedom Park.<\/p>\n

\"The Miami Fire Chief Robert Hevia points to an outdated electric closet that contains important communication and other devices that are essential for public safety at Fire Station 1, built in 1962. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

The police and fire unions, which represent the agencies\u2019 rank-and-file, are also backing the mayor\u2019s bond measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has become a running joke: water leaking from the ceiling into kiddie pools placed around detectives\u2019 desks, officers getting stuck in the one working elevator, or being sent home early because there is not even a usable bathroom,\u201d Miami\u2019s Fraternal Order of Police President Felix Del Rosario said in an April 17 letter.<\/p>\n

Alexander Cardenas, president of the Miami Association of Firefighters, said in a letter that same day that the city has been using \u201cband-aids\u201d to deal with major infrastructure issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile these interventions have allowed us to continue performing our jobs, at some point, conditions become deplorable and a call for action becomes imperative and painstakingly obvious,\u201d Cardenas said. \u201cThat time has come. The band-aids are no longer resolving these critical deficiencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mold Mold and water damage are persistent problems at Fire Station 10, built in 1962, and Fire Chief Robert Hevia is requesting that it be replaced with a new, modern station that better serves the growing population. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com \"Miami Miami Fire Chief Robert Hevia, center, tours the rusted, outdated boiler room at Fire Station 1, built in 1962, with City Manager James Reyes, left, and Mayor Eileen Higgins, right, during a press tour on Monday, April 20, 2026. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com \"The Miami Fire Chief Robert Hevia tours Fire Station 1, built in 1962, where mold, water intrusion and outdated equipment are hampering effective emergency responses and community safety, during a press tour with the mayor and other officials. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com \"Mold Mold and water damage are ongoing issues at Fire Station 1, built in 1962, in Miami. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com \"The Fire Chief Robert Hevia tours the rusted, outdated boiler room at Fire Station 1, built in 1962, where mold, water intrusion and outdated equipment are hampering effective emergency responses and community safety, during a press tour on Monday, April 20, 2026. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com \"Miami Miami Police Chief Manuel \u201cManny\u201d Morales, left, gives a tour of the Homicide Unit to members of the press, where the ceiling leaks and water damage is evident. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

This story was originally published April 21, 2026 at 3:54 PM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Tess Riski covers Miami City Hall. She joined the Miami Herald in 2022 and has covered local politics throughout Miami-Dade County. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School\u2019s Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami Fire Chief Robert Hevia tours the shower and restroom of Fire Station 1, built in 1962, where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-240870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240870","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=240870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}