'It's not worth the headache,' Hialeah mayor nixes Brownsville annexation plans
HIALEAH - The City of Hialeah will not claim any part of Brownsville, a historic black community with dozens of people upset by annexation plans revealed last month.
Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo needed five words to shut down frustration.
"It's not worth the headache for the city," Mayor Bovo said.
The area in question is a mostly industrial block on the western edge of Brownsville community in unincorporated Miami-Dade County.
In April, Hialeah council members revealed that it ordered a study that examined the cost and benefit of annexing part of Brownsville.
Dozens of critics showered council with gripes that gave decision makers reason to pause.
"We have people coming up to us saying they have great concern," James Bush, III, a former state house representative and Brownsville resident said. "It is too historic to allow this to happen."
So dozens more pressed Hialeah's leaders again during Tuesday night's council meeting. The group planned to do at council meetings so every month until the Mayor and council spoke up.
"This is an issue on our end that is no longer being pursued," Mayor Bovo said during the meeting. "It is dead."
In an interview with CBS News Miami, Mayor Bovo doubled down.
"We're not going to annex Brownsville," he said.