They have packed town council meetings. They have made signs and T-shirts. They have organized on social media - and sometimes sparred with elected officials there as well.
When it comes to making their views known, the people protesting proposed Gratigny Parkway ramps at Northwest 67 Avenue have not been shy.
On October 29, they got the town hall stage all to themselves.
In a free-flowing, wide-ranging forum at Miami Lakes Town Hall, anti-ramps residents gave town leaders an earful about everything from traffic woes to new development in general.
Councilmember Steven Herzberg hosted the town hall meeting. Vice mayor Bryan Morera and councilmembers Angelo Cuadra Garcia, Ray Garcia and Alex Sanchez also attended.
The Town of Miami Lakes does not have the authority to stop the proposed project, which is being undertaken by the Greater Miami Expressway Agency (GMX). Several speakers said they understand that but want the council to join the fight and voice its displeasure anyway.
“We want the council to just tell GMX: ‘just save yourself the money and time,’” Bonnie Cintron said.
The town council is now waiting for an updated traffic study it requested from GMX. It has also asked if GMX would be willing to move forward without an exit ramp on the Miami Lakes side; no councilmembers support the project with the ramp.
“The current proposal is a big no to me because of the off ramp,” Herzberg said.
Councilmembers Garcia and Cuadra Garcia have stated opposition to the project regardless of the off ramp.
John Haskins lives on Crooked Palm Terrace, one of the streets nearest the proposed ramps. He invited councilmembers to come to his neighbhood at 7 a.m. to behold the traffic. He does not see getting rid of the exit ramp as a viable compromise.
“The entrance ramp is going to screw up everything,” he said.
“We are upset. I am really upset. It took me 7 minutes to get out of my street this morning, and then I was pulling out in front of cars.”
Councilmember Alex Sanchez said the town’s traffic woes must be looked at holistically; it’s not an eastside versus westside issue. He noted that in the town’s most recent residents’ survey, 83% of residents were not happy with traffic.
Councilmembers also addressed residents’ wider concerns about development. Florida has changed in recent years, Herzberg said. The state’s Live Local Act, passed in 2023 and expanded this year, takes away local municipalities’ ability to reject many multifamily or mixed-use developments if they meet state affordability requirements.
“I would love to tell you we can turn a magic switch and change the zoning, but we can’t,” he said. “We used to have tools. Towns used to be able to require developers to make changes, to build roads. Tallahassee took that away. Tallahassee is taking more of our powers away every year.”
The next scheduled public event regarding the ramps is a December 3 public hearing.