Gables mayor rejected naming Dixie Highway for abolitionist. Now he’s leading the charge

Four months after he joined two other Coral Gables commissioners in voting to reject a proposal to rename Dixie Highway after Harriet Tubman, newly elected mayor Vince Lago has apparently changed his tune.

Lago, only weeks into his tenure as mayor, has revived the same resolution he once opposed to rename a portion of the state road in honor of the renowned abolitionist. Should it pass on Tuesday, the proposal would remove a significant roadblock to a Miami-Dade County initiative to add Tubman’s name to 42 miles of U.S. 1.

Lago did not respond to a question as to why he revived the resolution after voting it down. At that time, Lago said he wasn’t opposed to renaming the highway, but wanted to solicit more feedback from residents first.

“This is just a pure example of playing politics, when what we should be doing here is concentrating on issues that are affecting this community on a day-to-day basis,” Lago said during the Jan. 26 meeting. “I feel a little bit uncomfortable moving forward.”

He added that the name change — proposed by his then-opponent in the race for mayor — could fuel an effort to remove a statue of city founder George Merrick, who advocated for moving Miami’s Black residents out of Miami in the 1930s.

“One of my biggest concerns ... was the issue of the fervor that’s growing now in regards to George Merrick,” he said in January.

The Gables was the lone holdout in Miami-Dade to the Tubman designation, proposed by Miami-Dade County Commissioners in February of 2020. Nine other municipalities, from Florida City to North Miami Beach, voted to approve it.

On Wednesday, newly elected Commissioner Rhonda Anderson, who co-sponsored the legislation, said she “felt it was best for the mayor to take the lead.” She added that she’s pleased he did.

“My expectation is that it would be approved,” said Anderson, who was not yet elected to the commission when it first voted on the issue in January.

Race and politics

Race and reparations have become topics of conversation in Coral Gables as of late. Two weeks ago, at the urging of some students and alumni, the University of Miami decided to wipe Merrick’s name from a parking structure, prompting a counter-petition and a flood of Coral Gables residents who have contacted city staff, asking what can be done to ensure Merrick’s name is preserved.

And during his campaign for mayor, Lago joined other parents in criticizing an anti-racism program at the Carrollton School, which resulted in the loss of endorsements and a renewed conversation about race among voters and commission candidates. Lago won the April 13 mayor’s race with 58% of the vote.

Former commissioner Patricia Keon, who ran and lost against Lago for mayor, brought the Tubman resolution to the commission in January. She said Lago’s move to bring it back after session is over is “purely political.”

“I knew when I put it on [the agenda] that the likelihood was that he’d vote against it. It was just the fact I sponsored it,” she said Wednesday. “It’s not about doing what’s right, it’s about doing what’s politically advantageous.”

Too late for state change

The physical process of swapping “Harriet Tubman” for “Dixie” on U.S. 1 requires the approval of the Florida Legislature. But the Gables’ rejection of the swap in January stalled that step, which would have been taken during the state Legislature’s recently ended 2021 session.

The next session doesn’t begin until January 2022.

Coral Gables mayor reconsiders renaming Dixie Highway for Tubman. We applaud him | Editorial