A federal judge’s recent approval of a settlement agreement in a lawsuit challenging the City of Miami’s commission district voting maps brought an end to a three-year legal saga that attracted national attention and cost the city millions of dollars in legal fees.
But for members of the West Grove-based civic group Grove Rights and Community Equity the fight is hardly over.
The group – more commonly known by its acronym, GRACE — served as the lead plaintiff in a case that accused city officials of gerrymandering the five commission districts to assure election outcomes based on race. The judge agreed.
GRACE dates its origins to 2019 when members of the Coconut Grove Ministerial Alliance and Community Development Task Force gathered at the nearby Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church to address strategies to address skyrocketing housing costs and the slow erosion of the area’s historic Bahamian culture. Indeed, in the decade between 2010 and 2020 the neighborhood’s black population declined roughly 26 percent.
“Our board members were overwhelmed dealing one-on-one with the residents of the West Grove,” said Deacon Christopher Hudson from St. Matthews Community Church and secretary of GRACE. “This organization was spearheaded to combat the issues of gentrification and re-zoning that were affecting our community.”
Some members encouraged the alliance to hold the City of Miami and other government agencies accountable for polices that contributed to the steady displacing of black residents, including through legal action, if necessary.
That opportunity arose in 2022 when the City of Miami introduced new commission voting maps that divided some portions of the predominately black West Grove into separate districts. Partnering with the ACLU and other groups and individual plaintiffs, GRACE challenged the maps, alleging that the racial gerrymandering violated federal law by diminishing voter influence and representation at City Hall.
“Legal recourse is not our first choice, [but] the only option left was to take legal action,” said Carolyn Donaldson, vice chair of GRACE and a member of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church. “The agreement secures a fair map for the rest of this decade and proposes lasting reforms to the city’s redistricting process.”
In 2023, U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and blocked the city’s proposed map. In May, City of Miami commissioners voted 4-1 to pay $1.5 million in legal fees incurred by the plaintiffs, adopt a new voting map, and submit a charter amendment to voters in 2025 to prevent future gerrymandering.
With the lawsuit behind them, GRACE is turning its attention to its four-pronged core mission: advocating for equitable economic development, protecting vulnerable black tenants and homeowners at risk of eviction and displacement, restoring the rights of the wrongfully displaced, and preserving the community, culture and history of West Grove and its people.
Linda Williams, 70, was born and raised in the West Grove. She worries that rising property values and overdevelopment are chipping away the West Grove’s cultural identity as a predominately black community. “Families from different nationalities have been pushed out by gentrification,” said Williams, the former vice chair of the Coconut Grove Village Council and an active member of GRACE. “This is very real and prominent.”
As an example, GRACE president Reynold Martin cites mass evictions that followed the sale and redevelopment of the South Wind Apartment complex in 2016. “Maybe 30 families [were displaced] on Hibiscus Street,” Martin told the Spotlight. “Now you can see it happening on the economic corridor of Grand Avenue within the residential area.”
But with development throughout the West Grove arriving fast, Martin, whose West Grove Bahamian roots date back to the 1890s, is hopeful developers will also be part of the solution. Through negotiated “community benefits agreements” new housing projects can include a certain number of units below market rates. “We have been successful in negotiating arrangements,” Martin says.
One such example, noted Clarice Cooper, treasurer for GRACE and president of the Coconut Grove Homeowners and Tenants Association (HOATA), is Platform 3750 on the corner of Douglas Road and US 1, where the developer was allowed increased density in exchange for setting aside 79 below-market rental units – some as low as $978 per month.
Williams, who finds hope in the people working on this issue, said, “We have to keep fighting.” She added, “I have to keep working to give the people I am advocating for answers.”
This story was initially in the Coconut Grove Spotlight and click here to view it
Linda Williams, 70, born and raised in the West Grove, has witnessed its cultural destruction. She expresses anger and frustration at the way real estate developers have replaced the greenery of her historical Black and Bahamian neighborhood with white concrete blocks, picture windows and boxy architecture, erasing its identity.
Many people have been forced to leave by wealthy homebuyers and greedy developers.
“Families from different nationalities have been pushed out by gentrification,” said Williams, the former vice chair of the Coconut Grove Village Council. “This is very real and prominent. Evicted families from West Grove were just numbers.”
Williams is a passionate supporter of GRACE, which stands for Grove Rights and Community Equity. Started in 2019, it protects residents who were evicted or displaced from their homes.
Including over a dozen local churches, nonprofits, tenants and homeowners, it has become a champion for those who have been displaced. The group is a prominent fighter for political fairness too, as it served as the lead plaintiff in last year’s successful gerrymandering lawsuit against the City of Miami.
GRACE started when the Coconut Grove Ministerial Alliance Housing and Community Development Task Force came together at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church to address the community’s concerns about gentrification that was draining Bahamian culture and Black residents from the West Grove.
“Our board members were overwhelmed dealing one-on-one with the residents of the West Grove,” said Deacon Christopher Hudson from St. Matthews Community Church and secretary of GRACE. “This organization was spearheaded to combat the issues of gentrification and re-zoning that were affecting our community.”
Historically, Black and Bahamian residents have either been pushed out by soaring real estate values or been evicted by landlords who sold the property to developers.
One case cited by Reynold Martin, president of GRACE, is that of the South Wind Apartment complex that evicted West Grove residents in 2016.
“The most telling example from the past was the South Wind story where development displaced maybe 30 families on Hibiscus Street that had lived there for a long time,” said. “Now, you can see it happening on the economic corridor of Grand Avenue within the residential area.”
Martin’s personal connection to the West Grove’s Bahamian roots date back to the 1890s. A cultural legacy that essentially built the Grove is what fuels him to stop real estate developers from causing more evictions and displacements to African Americans in the West Grove – like on Grand Avenue, Douglas Road and McDonald Street.
But, what happens to West Grove homes that real estate developers purchase?
Houses are infamously replaced by what local residents call ‘sugar cubes.’ These white, concrete homes are listed around $1 million or more.
One way GRACE tries to advocate for these families who can’t afford high standards of living anymore, or who have been evicted, is through the City of Miami. District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo said his agenda constantly involves trying to provide affordable housing.
But, Pardo says out of his hands when real estate developers legally purchase property and adhere to zoning codes. When this happens, GRACE says their fight isn’t over.
“GRACE is attempting to engage in community benefits agreements with developers that displace residents – hoping that they agree in a binding agreement to provide affordable housing once the development is completed,” explained Martin. “We have been successful in negotiating arrangements.”
Clarice Cooper, treasurer for GRACE and president of the Coconut Grove Homeowners and Tenants Association (HOTA), says Platform 3750 is a testimony to that initiative. As a private-public partnership, the apartment complex filled 79 affordable units in 2022 – some as low as $978 according to income restrictions – for people in need of a home through a lottery conducted by federal funds.
In December 2022, GRACE became the lead plaintiff in the Florida American Civil Liberties Union’s lawsuit against the City of Miami’s redistricting map. The ACLU argued the map racial gerrymandered its Black voters into District 5 and Hispanic voters into Districts 1, 3 and 4. In 2023, U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and blocked the city’s proposed map.
On May 23, City of Miami commissioners voted 4-1 to pay $1.5 million in legal fees incurred by the plaintiffs, adopt a new voting map called P5 (plaintiffs map) and submit a charter amendment to voters to prevent future gerrymandering.
The case now advances to the U.S. District Court under Judge Moore. He will make a decision about the settlements and, if approved, the new voting map will take effect during the November 2025 elections.
“Legal recourse is not our first choice, [but] the only option left was to take legal action,” said Carolyn Donaldson, vice chair of GRACE. and member of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church. “The agreement secures a fair map for the rest of this decade and proposes lasting reforms to the city’s redistricting process.”
GRACE is addressing more issues that involve affordable housing and intents to protect vulnerable black tenants and homeowners at risk of eviction. As their mission states, they will continue to advocate for people and the culture of West Grove.
Williams, who finds hope in the people working on this issue, said, “We have to keep fighting.” She added, “I have to keep working to give the people I am advocating for answers.”
This story first appeared in the Coconut Grove Spotlight
