Two Haitian-American leaders compete to replace Monestime on Miami-Dade commission

The election to replace Miami-Dade County’s only Haitian-American commissioner has come down to a pair of veteran Haitian-American leaders in District 2: one a two-term mayor, the other a nonprofit director.

Philippe Bien-Aime, mayor of North Miami since 2019, faces Marleine Bastien, founder and director of the Family Action Network Movement, a social-services organization for low-income residents. One will replace term-limited Jean Monestime in District 2. Monestime won the seat in 2010 as the first Haitian-American on the board and was elected to the powerful post of commission chair four years later.

READ MORE: The Miami Herald’s preview of the August election for District 2

Bastien, 63, and Bien-Aime both, 57, see themselves as best positioned to turn around District 2’s hardships in an area with some of the lowest incomes and highest poverty rates in Miami-Dade.

“People are hurting very bad right now,” said Bastien, who has Monestime’s endorsement. “All of these issues are issues I’ve been working on over the years.”

Bien-Aime is pitching himself as a leader who can turn the District 2 office into a watchdog for residents who live outside city limits and rely on Miami-Dade for municipal services.

“The unincorporated areas have been neglected for quite some time,” said Bien-Aime, who said he’s detected “no progress” under Monestime. “We need a commissioner with the right staff to address those issues.”

Bien-Aime finished about three points ahead of Bastien in the six-candidate August election, which required 50% of the vote to win. Bien-Aime received 26.5% to Bastien’s 23.7%, triggering the Nov. 8 runoff election.

Both candidates agree on some of the top problems facing District 2, which runs from the northern edge of Miami to North Miami Beach, including large portions of North Miami and Opa-locka and a small portion of Hialeah. Neighborhoods in the unincorporated portions of District 2 include Biscayne Gardens, Liberty City and North-Central Dade.

They both cited gun violence as a top concern in the district, along with illegal dumping — the term for people dropping truckloads of trash and debris on sidewalks and streets. Bastien and Bien-Aime also agreed on county action being needed on services as basic as street lighting.

“Everybody complains about the absence of lighting,” Bastien said. Bien-Aime agreed: “There isn’t enough light at night.”

READ MORE: The Herald’s Voter Guide for the 2022 general election

The lighting issue reflects the prosperity divide both candidates say they want to narrow if elected, with District 2 needing the kind of economic development and infrastructure investments found in more prosperous districts.

Bastien emphasized the need for storm-water infrastructure and other improvements to combat rainy-day flooding. “I’m looking at using the American Rescue Plan dollars to make sure we get our fair share,” she said of the 2021 legislation that sent more than $1 billion to Miami-Dade government.

Bien-Aime wants Miami-Dade to invest in expanding its sewage system in District 2, which has about 25,000 septic tanks — the most of any of the county’s 13 districts, according to a 2021 report. “We’re not a Third World country,” he said. “We need to make the infrastructure available.”

Bien-Aime left Haiti for Canada and then the Miami area in the 1990s. He worked in the car-sales industry, then entered politics in 2013 with a successful run for the North Miami city commission. He was elected mayor in 2019, then reelected two years later. His election as mayor followed a city employee filing a lawsuit against North Miami and Bien-Aime accusing the then-council member of sexual harassment. The suit settled in 2019, but the terms weren’t made public. Bien-Aime denied the allegations.

Bastien left Haiti for the Miami area in the 1980s, and worked as a paralegal in the Haitian Refugee Center and as a social worker with the Jackson Health System. In the 1990s, she founded the Haitian Women of Miami, which evolved into the 30-employee Family Action Network Movement she runs full-time today.

“Her entire life leading the Family Action Network has been about fighting for social equity,” Monestime said. “She’s got to be one of the strongest voices in the district.”

Monestime and Daniella Levine Cava, Miami-Dade’s mayor, endorsed Bastien after the August election. Bien-Aime has endorsements from two commissioners elected in 2020, Keon Hardemon and Kionne McGhee, plus Commissioner-elect Anthony Rodriguez, who won his seat in August to replace term-limited Javier Souto in November.

Of the four candidates who didn’t make the runoff, three endorsed Bastien. Wallace Aristide, who finished fourth, is backing Bien-Aime, pointing to the candidate’s unity message in a district with sizable Black and Hispanic communities.

“He has the leadership and the ability to bring the communities together,” Aristide said. “I think he understands we have to bring everybody together.”