{"id":363304,"date":"2026-08-05T11:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T11:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/363304\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T11:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T11:14:09","slug":"miami-dda-splits-from-director-after-bitter-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/363304\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami DDA splits from director after bitter negotiations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Christina<\/p>\n

Christina Crespi, executive director of the Miami Downtown Development Authority, talks during a meeting at the DDA\u2019s office in downtown Miami.<\/p>\n

Alexia Fodere<\/p>\n

for The Miami Herald<\/p>\n

The head of Miami\u2019s Downtown Development Authority has agreed to part ways with the public agency after its board placed her on leave and issued a final settlement offer following several acrimonious public meetings this summer described as a \u201ckangaroo court.\u201d<\/p>\n

DDA Executive Director Christina Crespi has accepted an offer that includes 20 weeks\u2019 pay with continued insurance coverage during that time in exchange for her departure and an agreement not to sue. With a salary of $275,000, Crespi\u2019s payout amounts to about $100,000 before taxes, paid in biweekly installments during the five-month period. Crespi will not accrue vacation or sick pay during that time.<\/p>\n

Crespi\u2019s attorney emailed the signed agreement to the City Attorney\u2019s Office on Monday, bringing a resolution to a turbulent era for the agency that found itself in the spotlight after its board chairman, Miami City Commissioner Ralph Rosado, pushed for Crespi\u2019s removal<\/a> and leveled allegations against her that included frequent absences, repeatedly accruing negative vacation time and potentially committing \u201ctime theft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crespi, whom the board placed on paid leave<\/a> in June, has denied the allegations, saying they are \u201cwithout merit and are false.\u201d Crespi said a bookkeeping error led to misrepresentations about her hours and vacation time.<\/p>\n

The agreement falls short of what Crespi had sought during earlier negotiations. Her attorney previously sent the city a counter-offer that entailed Crespi going on paid administrative leave through the end of the year, followed by a five-month consulting contract at her current pay rate, plus a lump sum payment that included a 10% \u201ccompletion bonus\u201d of $27,500, and $21,000 for a loan she received from her retirement account, according to an internal memo.<\/p>\n

During meetings in June and July, some of the 15-member board backed Crespi, pushing to give her nine months\u2019 severance and taking issue with Rosado\u2019s decision to publicly criticize her. Others were less sympathetic, balking at Crespi\u2019s counter-offer and stating that Crespi\u2019s employment must be discussed publicly because the DDA is a public agency beholden to the state\u2019s Sunshine Law.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made a very generous offer to have consensus, and she has dragged it on for another month,\u201d board member Melissa Tapanes, a prominent land-use attorney and lobbyist, said at last month\u2019s meeting. Tapanes also said she believed there was sufficient evidence to terminate Crespi with cause.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the July meeting, Deputy City Attorney Kevin Jones advised board members that \u201cit\u2019s time that we move forward, and we move forward as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re stewards of public monies, and this is dragging on way too long,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Rosado, the DDA chairman, said in a statement Tuesday that, \u201cLeadership may change, but the mission doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur responsibility is to keep Downtown Miami moving forward by improving quality of life, supporting economic opportunity, and making our urban core a place where people want to live, work, and invest,\u201d Rosado said.<\/p>\n

Crespi had led the DDA since 2020. She first joined the agency in 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 11 years of dedicated service, Christina Crespi and the Miami DDA have mutually agreed to part ways,\u201d the DDA said in a statement Tuesday. \u201cWe sincerely thank Christina for her contributions to the organization and Downtown Miami throughout her tenure.\u201d<\/p>\n

After placing her on leave this summer, the board appointed DDA Chief of Economic Development and Strategy Michaeljohn Green as acting director and approved upward of $50,000 to conduct a search for Crespi\u2019s replacement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the Miami DDA moves forward, we are approaching this next chapter with clarity, purpose, and a deep commitment to the work ahead,\u201d the DDA statement said.<\/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":"Christina Crespi, executive director of the Miami Downtown Development Authority, talks during a meeting at the DDA\u2019s office…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-363304","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\/363304","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=363304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}