Work can begin next week to rename a one-mile stretch of roadway alongside Florida International University after slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk under legislation Gov. Ron DeSantis just approved.<\/p>\n
DeSantis signed HB 33<\/a> by Miami Rep. Juan Porras, which renames a portion of Southwest 107th Avenue in west Miami-Dade County between Coral Way and Tamiami Trail as \u201cCharlie Kirk Memorial Avenue.\u201d<\/p>\n The measure, which passed on party-line<\/a> votes<\/a> in the House and Senate, where Doral Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez carried a companion bill<\/a>, also authorizes renaming part of Commercial Boulevard in Broward County as \u201cPresident Donald J. Trump Boulevard,\u201d effectuating a resolution<\/a> that Lauderdale-by-the-Sea narrowly passed in October.<\/p>\n Porras, who called Kirk a friend, said the location of the street renaming is appropriate, since he helped found<\/a> Florida\u2019s first Kirk-run Turning Point USA chapter at FIU back in 2015.<\/p>\n Porras noted in Committee that the city of Sweetwater had issued a resolution supporting HB 33, though the roadway in question isn\u2019t in Sweetwater\u2019s bounds.<\/p>\n Opponents of the measure argued that Kirk, who owned a vacation home in Longboat Key in Sarasota County, had little tangible connections to Florida or Miami-Dade. They also raised issues with Kirk\u2019s rhetoric, including questions he raised about the qualifications of Black pilots<\/a>, references to \u201cprowling Blacks<\/a>\u201d targeting White people in urban areas and his perpetuation of the \u201cgreat replacement theory<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n During the bill\u2019s last legislative committee stop Feb. 10, St. Petersburg Democratic Rep. Michele Rayner quoted Kirk calling Martin Luther King Jr. \u201cawful\u201d and George Floyd a \u201cscumbag<\/a>.\u201d She recited another statement Kirk made about accomplished Black women like Michelle Obama, Joy Reid, and Ketanji Brown Jackson as having to \u201csteal a White person\u2019s slot\u201d through affirmative action because they \u201cdo not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have three degrees \u2014 earned; nobody gave them to me \u2014 and I\u2019m a Black woman. You want me and my colleagues to sit up here and swallow rage and be forced to have a debate on a bill like this, to name a street after someone who doesn\u2019t even live in Florida, who was not a Florida citizen, because he\u2019s your friend?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a lot of friends I would like to \u2026 have bills for. I don\u2019t do that because it\u2019s inappropriate, it\u2019s unprofessional and it\u2019s disgusting.\u201d<\/p>\n Porras said Kirk did not discriminate against people based on any demographic characteristic and pointed out that the late activist had built or contributed to several minority-focused movements, including BLEXIT<\/a> and the Young Black Leadership Summit<\/a>, that have benefited \u201ctens of thousands of African Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n During debate on the House floor in February, Miami Democratic Rep. Ashley Gantt called Kirk \u201cmediocre and racist.\u201d She then contended, incorrectly, that Kirk \u201cwas not assassinated\u201d but instead suffered \u201ca death by gun violence.\u201d<\/p>\n Kirk was shot and killed by a lone sniper<\/a> on a Utah university campus Sept. 10, 2025. Gantt\u2019s comments inspired a Fox News headline<\/a>.<\/p>\n A House staff analysis<\/a> of the legislation estimates the total cost of implementing the bill to be $4,800 overall \u2014 $1,200 per sign, for two signs per designation.<\/p>\n Miami-Dade\u2019s street renaming for Kirk follows similar rechristenings of Country Road in Hernando County<\/a>, Field Road in Lake County<\/a>, 51st Street in Manatee County<\/a> and Country Road in Walton County<\/a>.<\/p>\n