Hialeah Unveils President Donald J. Trump Ave. Will Miami-Dade County Follow Suit?

On Tuesday, December 3, the City of Hialeah will ask the Miami-Dade County Commission to approve a resolution to co-designate the street officially known as Palm Avenue.

The proposed new co-designation: President Donald J. Trump Avenue.

"This board would also like to recognize President Trump and his accomplishments in office by approving the City of Hialeah's co-designation of Palm Avenue as "President Donald J. Trump Avenue," the resolution, sponsored by District 6 Miami-Dade Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera, reads in part. "The United States thrived under President Trump's leadership."

Cabrera's all in favor of the change.

"When the City of Hialeah approached us about this, we recognized the importance of honoring a leader who has dedicated so much to the country," Cabrera told New Times shortly before Thanksgiving. "President Trump exemplifies true public service — enduring immense scrutiny and relentless attacks, all in the name of serving the American people."

Notably, Trump endorsed Cabrera in the latter's 2022 bid for his seat on the county commission.

Adding Trump Avenue to Miami-Dade's mapping system would give it some GPS cred with services like Google Maps. And it could be a first in the U.S.: New Times was unable to locate another street in the nation named after Trump — though we did find one in Kamëz, a small municipality in central Albania.


A four-mile artery that terminates at Okeechobee Road to the south and Amelia Earhart Park to the north, Palm Avenue exists entirely within Hialeah's city limits, dividing the municipality's street-numbering system into its eastern and western halves. Dotted with Cuban bakeries, dollar stores, and barber shops and forming the western border of Hialeah Park, the  thoroughfare is split between Cabrera's district and that of District 13 Commissioner René Garcia, a Hialeah native.

Last year, Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo, along with the city's six council members, voted unanimously to rename Palm Avenue after Trump.

Last week, the mayor posed for an Instagram photo-op beside a newly erected Trump Avenue sign in front of city hall. At last check, the blue placards had been installed along from Okeechobee Road up to East Ninth Street.

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A post shared by Esteban "Steve" Bovo (@teambovo)

The mayor did not return an email from New Times seeking comment for this story.

Not everyone in Hialeah shares Cabrera's and Bovo's enthusiasm.

"As fucking shitty and chicanerous of a decision this street-naming may be, it is still the will of the reigning Hialeah monarchy and king," Ferny Coipel tells New Times. "All hail the half-undressed king."

Coipel, former chair of the Hialeah Historic Preservation Board, opposed the renaming. Instead, he proposed naming a different street after former president Barack Obama. The Hialeah City Council wanted no part of that.

"They could have just shortened it to 'urinate here' — like the pissoir booths in the Netherlands," opines Robert Gewanter, a Hialeah resident and the famously opinionated owner of M&M Package Store. "It is like a gold brick road that looks valuable but is actually worthless."

Hialeah's medium-height, sidewalk-mounted blue signs are one thing. Actual street signs — the green kind, mounted over an actual intersection — are another. And those are under the purview of Miami-Dade County.

Hialeah wants the county to install signage indicating the Trump co-designation on all county-maintained street signs and traffic signal mast arms.

Perhaps complicating matters is the fact that Palm Avenue's county-maintained signs already carry an entirely different co-designation: Veterans Way.
In fact, in late November, the city held its annual holiday tree-lighting celebration at Veteran's Park (formerly Triangle Park), located at the intersection of Palm — er, Trump Avenue and Okeechobee Road.

Local business owner Alex Varela, a former U.S. Marine and proprietor of Alex Electric Services, is all in favor.

"Love it, yes. I see many Trump flags and Trump flag poles," Varela tells New Times. "In a county that's full of refugees of all flavors, Trump is who they believe is the best for our country, and the world, because our country affects the world."

Juan Santana, a perennial candidate for office in Hialeah, says he has mixed feelings about deleting the veterans but approves of the change.

"Marketingwise, it is a good move by the administration to do that," Santana says.

He has a point. As of November 1, Hialeah had 110,826 registered voters, 22,102 of whom were Democrats and 52,729 Republicans, according to the Miami-Dade County Elections Department.

By law, a request to rename a city-maintained road requires support from a majority of Miami-Dade County commissioners. Street-naming resolutions are often routinely passed as part of a consent agenda, a feature designed to streamline the approval of multiple noncontroversial items via a single vote.

A commissioner could, however, request a separate vote. Such a vote might come from District 2 Commissioner Marleine Bastien, whose district includes areas with large Haitian populations including North Miami and North Miami Beach, where 72 percent of the electorate voted for Kamala Harris on November 5 — the most of the county's 13 districts.

Bastien did not return a message from New Times seeking comment.

Members of the public will have two minutes each to address the Board of County Commissioners about the proposal at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, December 3, in the commission chambers on the second floor of the Stephen P. Clark Center, 111 NW First St.