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Commission debate over music-themed street names on NW 18th Avenue ends with deferral after sharp divided testimony
Summary
An effort to rename multiple signs on a stretch of NW 18th Avenue with music- and culture-themed street names sparked a lengthy debate over culture, property values and process and was deferred for further work.
Miami-Dade County commissioners on March 4 debated a proposal from Commissioner Kionne L. McGhee Hardiman to rename multiple county-maintained street signs along Northwest 18th Avenue — between NW 62nd Street and NW 70th Street — with music and culture–themed names intended to attract visitors and support a local redevelopment effort. After nearly four hours of discussion and multiple amendments, the item was deferred to a future meeting.
The proposal would have assigned informal names to intersections and corners along the corridor using titles drawn from local music culture and neighborhood vernacular. Hardiman said the goal was to create “a place where people feel comfortable coming” and to catalyze private investment in a corridor he described as long neglected and suffering from illegal dumping, vacancy and crime.
Critics said the proposed names used slang and pop-culture references that could be confusing to residents and visitors and might harm the marketability of existing businesses and properties. "The concern that I have is that changing not just one street name, but more than 10 of them ... it concerns me about what it does to their property values," Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins said.
Supporters, including Vice Chairman Keon Hard, Commissioner Raquel Regalado and others, framed the idea as a form of economic development and cultural pride. "People who live in poverty like great things," Vice Chairman McGee said, urging colleagues to support the idea as a creative tool to attract visitors and create jobs.
County attorneys told commissioners that the board’s standard naming rules address individual streets and memorial namings, not a geographic “artistic district” of the kind Hardiman sought. Several commissioners suggested drafting a rule amendment or separate vehicle that would permit a district-based naming exception and would include detailed guardrails.
Commissioner Hardiman agreed to an amendment to limit the proposal to the geographic area cited in the resolution and accepted the idea of a separate rule or code vehicle, but the board’s initial motion failed on a 5–5 roll call. Subsequent procedural moves led the board to defer the item rather than vote again. The clerk recorded that the item was deferred and will return with additional drafting and staff analysis.
Hardiman said he will continue work with staff and the county attorney’s office to craft a narrower proposal that outlines the district and the process for approving unconventional, culturally based street namings.
