MIAMI, Fla. – Commissioner Joe Carollo was on hand Saturday to unveil his pet project, 26 dog and 26 cat sculptures, in Maurice A. Ferré Park. The “Walkway of Dogs and Cats,” located not far from the Pérez Art Museum, features oversized aluminum sculptures. Since the start, the idea has spurred controversy, mostly because taxpayers are footing the almost $1 million bill.
The latest controversy involves not dogs or cats, but chickens, actually people dressed in chicken costumes.
Yards from the stage, the chicken men can be seen in a video standing still in a group with police officers nearby.
They are holding posters and have photos on the front of their costumes featuring an unflattering portrayal of the Miami commissioner who is chairman of the Bayfront Park Management Trust, which manages Bayfront Park and Ferré Park. The trust voted to fund Carollo’s dog and cat sculpture park, but critics said there wasn’t competitive bidding for the project, proper notice or discussion, or input from art consultants.
There are varying stories about what happened on Saturday. The concern for many people who were there, they say, is that they didn’t feel like the people involved did anything wrong. Was it maybe a political power play that censored protected free speech?
In a video clip, one of the chicken men is arrested and the man holding him around the front is the Sargeant at Arms at Carollo’s event. The arrest report says that this action was the person in the chicken costume “resisting arrest without violence.”
As the man is escorted down the walkway after being led away in handcuffs, you can hear a muffled voice inside the costume ask: “Legitimately, why are you doing this?”
Also on the arrest report, it would say that the chickens were walking between rows of seats and making clucking noises, which was disturbing the event audience. The one chicken who didn’t leave as ordered got taken out of his costume and to jail.
Morgan Gianola is a University of Miami post-doctoral scholar in Behavioral Medicine Research. He’s also a progressive caucus activist, which is the likely context for his visit to Carollo’s unveiling event.
Carollo declined to be recorded for this report; he only wanted to do a live interview with Local 10 News on the air.
In a text, though, he projected defamation and a false spin on this story.
Miami’s Police Chief declined an interview, but sent a statement that includes support for the police action:
“… a group of individuals dressed in chicken costumes arrived with the intent to disrupt the event by making sounds mimicking a chicken and blocking the view of some of the event’s attendees. The actions of these individuals ultimately interfered with the attendees’ ability to pay attention to the event, causing them to shift their attention from the event’s program. The City of Miami Police officers on the scene offered the group of individuals the opportunity to hold their own demonstration at an adjacent staging location however, one of the individuals refused to comply…”
The question is: Was this disorderly conduct and trespass or political censorship? That is something the State Attorney’s office will review and decide, which is where things are right now.
A Special Election for District 2 Commissioner will be held on Feb. 27, 2023, to vote to elect a City Commissioner to the Office of District 2 for the City of Miami.
We asked the dozen candidates to weigh in on the videos and arrest report from the latest incident.
Sabina Covo says she believes what happened here is political censorship.
Candidate James Torres called the action “police overreach” and “excessive use of force.”
The others did not respond.