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😬 That time Miamians trashed city hall. Literally.
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😬 That time Miamians trashed city hall. Literally.

M. Athalie Range is one of several women who helped shape Miami history.
(📸: State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory)

Bahamian-American M. Athalie Range was the first black person elected to the City of Miami Commission. She first ran in 1964, but lost to a white man who hired trucks to drive around and tell residents to go vote if they didn’t want a black woman making laws for them.

But the next year another commissioner resigned, and appointed Athalie to the commission. She was reelected the next cycle.

One of the things she’s best known for is making sure that black neighborhoods in Miami got trash pickup as regularly as white neighborhoods. (It used to be a thing that sometimes three weeks went by between pickups).

A vote on an equal pickup schedule was postponed twice. Fed up, she told some of her supporters to show up at the next commission meeting… with bags of their trash waiting to be picked up.

Unsurprisingly, the commission decided not to postpone the vote and the move passed.

In 1971, she became the first woman and the first black person since Reconstruction to head a state agency in Florida when she was appointed secretary of the Department of Community Affairs.

Today there’s a park named after her in Liberty City. With regular trash pick up.

Source: “Black Miami in the Twentieth Century” by Marvin Dunn, the Miami Oral Histories Collection

WHAT'S NEW IN THE 305

So hot right now. All of Miami’s buzzing about Overtown right now – there’s rumors about its inclusion in Miami’s Amazon bid, talk of putting the new MLS team stadium in Overtown, and the arrival of A Space Called Tribe, a tech co-working spot that hosted Black Tech Week last week. Some are saying that tech could be the thing that finally brings much-needed investment to the neighborhood. But will it really? BisNow digs into the hype.

CSI Fido. Building and neighborhood wars over dog poop left behind on walks have gotten so bad that some neighborhood vigilantes are taking extreme measures to shame the guilty parties… including DNA testing the dog poop. (Miami Herald)

We’re #1! 😞 We already knew that federal immigration arrests were way up – a 75 percent increase from 2016 to 2017. But here’s another not-so-fun fact, according to a new report: Florida’s had the largest increase in arrests by ICE in the whole country. (Miami New Times)

It’s here. Climate change is already beginning to take its toll on people’s health in the 305. As the temperature inches upward, locals with conditions like asthma and heart disorders are struggling to adapt – and are shelling out more and more money on AC and medicine to cope. (Miami Herald)

Wade County. Local Nightlife Brewing at Marlins Park is serving up a Wade County IPA to celebrate Dwyane Wade’s triumphant return to the 305. The brewery wasn’t planning it, but the brewers finished up their newest brew the morning of the announcement, and naming it after Wade it seemed like a slam dunk. (Miami.com)

Billion-dollar sandbar. ICYMI, Miami Beach government was rocked by another corruption scandal last week, and it’s prompting local officials to ask if there’s something in the water. According to a survey, 22 percent of city employees were offered a bribe at some point in their career, and that’s an improvement from a couple years ago. Some are saying that this is a reason to celebrate. Why? In a city with so much wealth, this kinda thing is bound to happen. (Miami Herald)

THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY.

Don’t forget to show someone some love this week.

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