MIAMI, Fla. – The city of Hialeah’s proposal to annex a portion of unincorporated Brownsville, a historic Black neighborhood that’s home to the famed landmark Hampton House Hotel where Muhammad Ali, Malcom X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stayed during their visit because segregation banned them from hotels on Miami Beach drew the ire of the community.

The opposition centers on a disdain for paying higher property and utility taxes and an economic impact to Brownsville’s industrial district if Hialeah, a predominately Hispanic city, absorbs the area, as well as other landmarks like Georgette’s Tea Room and the Lincoln Memorial and Evergreen cemeteries.

Hialeah is seeking to expand its city boundaries by adding areas bordering N.W. 54th Street, 37th, 33rd and 32nd avenues and State Road 112.

Though Hialeah’s expansion plans don’t include the historic Hampton House Hotel, the proposed boundaries divide the community that has been home for generations of Black residents for more than 70 years, and cuts into the community’s rich history.

Joined by the NAACP, the Brownsville Neighborhood Civic Association and residents voiced their opposition at a press conference on April 24 at Brownsville Church of Christ which was a prelude to protesting the plans during a meeting in Hialeah the following night.

The church was included in the annexation proposed boundaries.

Residents said they were also upset that Hialeah tried to keep the annexation plans under wraps.

Hialeah has had a series of meetings on the proposal to annex Brownsville but residents said they weren’t informed by the county or Hialeah about the city’s annexation proposal.

Brownsville Civic Association President Kenneth Kilpatrick said he learned about the annexation proposal when an El Nuevo Herald reporter contacted him seeking comment about Hialeah’s expansion plans and decided to call the press conference to inform residents.

"We weren’t supposed to know about it," Kilpatrick said. "It was to be done quietly and without our knowledge."

Council President Monica Perez said the initial plans included the industrial district and residential neighborhood west and south of the proposed boundaries.

But she said it was an error and the residential area was removed from the latest annexation plans, at least for now.

However, the industrial district is still part of Hialeah’s current expansion plans.

Kilpatrick pleaded with the city council to not include the industrial district since it generates about $1 million a year in revenues for the Black community.

He said Hialeah absorbing the industrial businesses would lead to a higher tax increase for residents to offset the county’s budget for unincorporated areas.

"For the homeowners, examine the proposal carefully," Kilpatrick said.

"Annexing the industrial district would be disheartened to the businesses and residents that enjoyed the benefits."

Councilman Jesus Tundidor said his colleagues tweaked the proposed annexation boundaries on many occasions to determine the amount of revenues that can be generated from the area and money Hialeah has to spend for police, firefighter services and code enforcement.

He said the city will not raise taxes for the industrial areas and residential neighborhood if Hialeah decides to annex the latter in the future.

"No new taxes," he said.

Tundidor said it wasn’t the city’s intention to break up the historic community or take away any revenues.

"We as a city do our jobs to make it better by generating revenues and expanding our services to areas that need them," Tundidor said. "We don’t want to break up the historical preservation of the community. "We would never do that and we don’t want anyone to do that to us."

Hialeah Mayor Estaban Bovo Jr., said annexing a portion of Brownsville may not benefit the city after hearing the pros and cons from the Corradino Group, a planning and engineering consulting firm, that was hired to study the city’s expansion plans, during a presentation.

Hialeah would have to cough up at least $4 million up front to provide municipal services to the industrial district alone which generates about $1 million a year in revenues.

"Personally, I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the city," Bovo said.

Bovo, a former Miami-Dade County Commissioner who served with former Brownsville district commissioner Audrey Edmonson, said he knew the work she did for the community and would never undermine her efforts.

"I wouldn’t do anything to drive a wedge in the community," he said. "It think it’s clear that the annexation area sparked a concern, so it is not part of the annexation study."

But some residents weren’t buying it.

Brownsville resident Archie James said Hialeah can change the boundaries as often as city leaders can and could include the residential area down the road.

James said it could happen once Hialeah sees the revenues the residential areas can generate in the near future.

"When you see it brings in money, you will annex more areas of Brownsville," James said. "It’s about color but not Black and White. It’s about the color of green and white."

Brownsville resident and former state representative James Bush III, who has lived in Brownsville since 1982 and owns four homes there, said property taxes and utility taxes will increase if the residential area becomes part of Hialeah.

He said vulnerable residents, senior citizens, would be impacted the most by tax increases since they live on a fixed income and pay high property insurance rates.

"They can’t get it because it is out of their reach," Bush said. "It is not in our best interest, especially if it puts seniors in a peculiar situation."

Preservation leader and former educator Dr. Enid Pinkney, who was born in Overtown, also opposes Hialeah’s annexation proposal because the historic community could lose its cultural value and identity.

She shared an anecdote about the history of Overtown which was destroyed by Whites and feared Brownsville might share the same fate if annexed by Hialeah.

Pinkney, 91, said Overtown was filled with Jazz and dancing clubs and restaurants surrounded by residential homes, the Main Street for the Black community.

But some Blacks were duped into selling their homes to White developers who promised them urban renewal, and then others were forced from their homes to make way for I-95.

Pinkney said Hialeah’s expansion proposal could drive Blacks out of Brownsville.

"In Overtown, they promised us urban renewal but we got nothing but Black removal," she said. "If history repeats itself, the same will happen to Brownsville. Black people always get the short end of the stick."

Pinkney, the first Black to serve on the Dade Heritage Trust, said her mother was reluctant to move to Brownsville which was then called Brownsub, a farming community that was beginning to transform into an urban neighborhood with parks, schools and small shops.

Over the years, she said she has watched Brownsville grow to a community with a series of urban renewal projects such as new homes, small businesses including restaurants, a bustling industrial area, and the Brownsville Renaissance Center, a shopping plaza anchored by Bank of America.

Pinkney said Hialeah wants to undermine the efforts by Blacks pioneers who helped build Brownsville including former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Neal Adams.

"As far as I am concerned, I’m not in favor of annexation," she said. "Hialeah says they can provide better services but I don’t believe that because of the past record of how we are treated and I don’t think that’s going to change."

If Hialeah decides to include the residential neighborhood in its expansion plans, residents have a say on the proposal as a county ordinance states an annexation of an area with more than 250 electors, the county commission may call for a vote for approval.

The residential area has 259 electors.