Next week, the Coral Gables City Commission will consider a resolution to reallocate $7.1 million in unspent park improvement funds from Phillips Park to the City Hall complex. Sponsored by Mayor Vince Lago, the proposal would amend the city’s Capital Improvement Program for Fiscal Years 2025 to 2029—effectively gutting the Phillips Park project to pay for City Hall renovations.
The monies represent nearly 75 percent of the park project’s entire budget, originally set at $9.5 million. That level of redirection demands more than a line item vote—it requires a public explanation.
Phillips Park is not a theoretical project. It is one of Coral Gables’ most-used recreational spaces, a North Gables neighborhood resource with longstanding capital needs. Redirecting the bulk of its promised funding without a clear alternative plan sends an unfortunate signal: that municipal buildings now take precedence over parks.
The timing is also puzzling. Just last week, during a May 6 special commission meeting, Mayor Lago publicly stated that it is once again “safe” to hold meetings at City Hall.
City Hall, of course, needs restoration, badly. It’s one of Coral Gables most treasured assets and the seat of government. There’s no question that City Hall requires major work—an estimated $60 million over five years. But pulling $7.1 million from a beloved neighborhood park is not the answer. The city should consider tapping reserves, seeking state or federal grants, or floating a bond—options that preserve park funding while addressing a critical infrastructure need.
This resolution also highlights a deeper question of how the City Beautiful manages its capital priorities. Voters and taxpayers deserve transparency when long-promised investments are reshuffled behind closed doors.
If the city commission feels that the Phillips Park project is no longer a good use of public monies,it should explain why clearly. If City Hall needs urgent repairs beyond the scope of previously budgeted funds to make it a safe structure, that too should be disclosed and debated.
Either way, public trust is best preserved through consistency and communication. Major reallocations like this should not proceed without a full presentation of alternatives, a community input process, and—at minimum—a plan for how and when Phillips Park will eventually see its promised improvements.
Coral Gables is a city of neighborhoods and green spaces. When one park loses funding to serve another part of town, the whole community deserves to understand why.
This Post Has 4 Comments
I believe that significant matching will be lost if the park project is postponed or abandoned.
Thanks, Kenneth bloom
Stop with the apartment buildings and give the city more parks and recreational areas. It seems the “City Beautiful” continues to add more apartment and living areas while not having a formal proposal on how the city is going to control the horrible traffic at all times. It gets worst each year, absolutely horrific!!
This item appears to be another vindictive move from Vince Lago. This is just payback to Kirk Menendez who always fought for this park! As to moving the money to fix our historic City Hall doesn’t surprise me. There were funds budgeted for City Hall several years ago and our
“Illustrious” the great Peter Iglesias changed the name from City Hall to “City Hall Complex,” That’s how they moved the money to fix the 427 building and let City Hall continue to deteriorate, ignoring the 2011 study about the urgent need to fix it. Of course 14 years ago it would have been much less expensive also!!
Something to be said about doing what’s best for the City!
This editorial is absolutely on point! But the mayor is playing a shell game, and no clear explanation will be provided. We, the residents, only matter when he’s asking for votes.
All the nonsensical resolution and ordinance agenda items are placed to distract residents from the red flags…such as taking $7.1 million from Phillips Park (and facilities for disabled children plus pickleball courts) to use toward funding the restoration of City Hall! That’s a $60 million dollar project which should have been addressed over a decade ago, but wasn’t. It’s now a decade more deteriorated, and the restoration costs have increased exponentially.
Didn’t Lago and our former, former, former city manager say money had been allocated in the budget for the repairs to City Hall? Where did that money go? Or did it never exist?
Lago also says “City Hall is safe.” Followed by “City Hall has always been safe.” Yep, is that what all the shoring indicates? It’s always been safe?
The lunatics are running the asylum.