Former Miami-Dade Commissioner Audrey M. Edmonson has entered the District 3 commission race against incumbent Keon Hardemon and activist Marion Brown. PHOTOS COURTESY OF AUDREY EDMONSON, MIAMI-DADE AND MARION BROWN

Miami – Former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Audrey M. Edmonson is seeking to get her old job back.

Standing in her way is incumbent County Commissioner Keon Hardemon who replaced Edmonson in 2020 when she was required to step down due to term limits.

Also in the August 20 race for District 3 is community activist Marion Brown.

The county district covers Brownsville, Model City, Liberty City, Overtown, Miami Shores, El Portal, Edgewater and unincorporated areas north of N.W. 27th Avenue and 54th Street.

Edmonson told the South Florida Times she was enjoying retirement as a public servant when District 3 constituents contacted her and urged her to run again.

Edmonson, who was on the commission from 2005 to 2020 and served as chairperson, said residents’ plea for better services and infrastructure had fallen on deaf ears.

She said Hardemon had not responded to their concerns and they were seeking a change.

"Some residents were crying, I mean in tears," she said. "They asked me to come back to run for District 3. They need a voice for the voiceless."

Hardemon didn’t return messages to be interviewed.

Edmonson, who was born and raised in District 3, said her campaign is focusing on community development, economic growth, public safety, traffic solutions and the threat of sea level rise.

Edmonson said affordable and workforce housing was her initiative during her time on the commission and left the blueprint in place for Hardemon to continue.

But the plan to create affordable and workforce housing in District 3 stalled and Miami-Dade was left with an affordable housing crunch.

"The affordable and workforce housing plan was in place for the communities-like I did in Overtown, Rainbow Village as well as Culmer Place and some housing with Section 8," said Edmonson, who also advocated for the affordable and workforce housing Transit Village in Liberty that’s named after her.

Edmonson said she wants to resume her crusade amid the affordable housing shortage under the developers’ rules legislation she sponsored, in which some giant developers were required to build units residents can afford.

She said the plan would address skyrocketing rents and mortgage rates. "Before I left, I held the developers’ feet to the fire," she said. "Once I left, that ended."

Liberty Square is experiencing gentrification after a plan the commission approved to renovate one of the oldest Black communities in Miami-Dade was not followed.

Edmonson said the plan was to move Liberty Square residents to other locations and once the units were built they would return.

But she said it was a ruse by developers to move Blacks out for good and bring in whites and Hispanics.

Edmonson said Black residents were promised they could return to the new units but instead were given vouchers for housing in other parts of Miami-Dade even as far away as Florida City.

She said had the residents not accepted the vouchers, they would be displaced when the new Liberty Square units were finished.

"That hurt me to my heart that they shouldn’t be allowed to remain at Liberty Square," Edmonson said.

Edmondson said she tried to reach out to Hardemon on numerous occasions but he hasn’t responded.

"He won’t answer my calls," she said. "I’m a constituent, too."

Edmonson, who served as the mayor of El Portal before she became a county commissioner, was a member of the Top Ladies of Distinction Inc., and founding member of the Miami Children’s Initiative.

Before he was elected to the County Commission, he served one term on the City of Miami Commission.

He unsuccessfully ran against Edmonson for county commissioner in 2012.

During her State of the County Address in January, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella

Levine Cava said violent crimes were down thanks to a 20-year, $90 million Peace and Prosperity crime prevention programs.

Levine Cava credited Hardemon for creating the program.

Hardemon sponsored legislation to name the Miami Heat arena the Kaseya Center and secured state and local grants dollars for cleanup efforts in District 3.

Hardemon, a lawyer by profession, is representing former City of Miami Commission Alex Diaz de la Portilla on public corruption charges

Brown, who is a contractor, said he’s running for county commissioner because government officials are not responsive to residents’ needs including affordable housing and bringing down the crime rate.

Brown, who lives in Brownsville and ran for political office when he was in Alabama, said he could no longer stand by and watch the senior population lose their homes because they can no longer afford to pay their property taxes.

He said two Black women in their 80s lost their homes in Liberty City because of some sort of miscommunication of unpaid taxes.

Brown said the ladies’ property taxes increased from about $700 to over $3,000.

He said the ladies didn’t receive notification from the county of their taxes increasing and continued to pay $700 for three years.

With their taxes delinquent, developers paid them off and other fees to claim their properties and the women were forced out of their homes.

Brown said one woman died after she lost her home which devastated him.

"When she died, I was torn when I saw this," he said. "It hit me like a bag of rocks. County officials are supposed to be here to help but I have seen what has happened to the elderly people who are supposed to be living comfortably in their twilight years."

Brown said District 3 residents seemed to have lost hope and he wants to restore their faith.

"I see politicians take away people’s dreams, people who trusted them to do the right thing but disappointed them instead," Brown said. "I have seen people’s dreams and hopes put on a balloon and float away. The place where I grew up is longer there and the gentrification has set in."

Bringing unity among the diverse cultures in District 3 is also part of Brown’s political platform.

Brownsville, an historic Black neighborhood between Hialeah and Liberty City, now constitutes 50 percent of the Hispanic population.

Brown said he wants to bridge the gap between longtime District 3 residents and constituents who recently moved into the district.

"I want to let them know we are all here and we have to live together and be neighbors," he said. "My main concern is to bring unity back to the community no matter if you’re Black, Hispanic, Haitian, European or Jewish, we all should be able to live in the community without animosity because of our races."