Meet Alicia Arellano, Candidate for Miami-Dade Community Council

Alicia Arellano is running for Miami-Dade County Community Council 14, Subarea 144 in Florida. As a GoodParty.org Certified candidate, she is committed to running a non-partisan, people-powered, and anti-corruption campaign.

On August 20, 2024, voters in Miami-Dade County will have the chance to vote for their next Community Council members. In case of a tie, the top vote-getters will move onto the general election on November 5, 2024.

Miami-Dade County has ten Community Councils. These councils focus on zoning and land use decisions, while also serving as liaisons between their communities and the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners. Arellano is running to represent the Redland Community Council in Area 14, which covers the south-central part of the county.

GoodParty.org spoke with Alicia Arellano about her campaign for Community Council and what she hopes to accomplish in office.

Alicia Arellano: An Advocate for Agriculture in Miami-Dade County

Arellano has a wide range of experience that has prepared her to serve on the Miami-Dade County Community Council. She is the current vice chair of the Hammocks Citizens Advisory Committee, which serves as a liaison between the community and local police department. She is also a realtor, swim coach, and advocate for responsible land use.

Arellano said she first became interested in running for office after she and her neighbors spoke out against plans to build a large housing development in their area.

“They wanted to put in 213 townhomes on 16 acres, so my neighbors and I got together. We held meetings with the developers and their lawyers. We held neighborhood meetings. We held meetings with our then-commissioner, who's now the mayor of Miami-Dade County, and tried to reach a negotiation,” Arellano said.

This activism led Arellano to speak before the Community Council, as well as before the Board of County Commissioners. After two years of work, her group of neighbors managed to come to a level of compromise with the developers. However, Arellano said she felt frustrated and unheard after speaking before the Board of County Commissioners.

“It's a feeling you get in front of the Commission, or even the Community Council that was there before,” Arellano said. “You talk, and you feel like all your neighbors show up. Forty neighbors come and they speak there for two or three minutes, and the developer says what he has to say, and the developer wins.”

Arellano said the experience made her question how much the Commission pays attention to residents’ complaints.

“You're putting all this faith in somebody that is supposed to have your best interests at heart and listen to the residents, but we're not getting that,” she said. “You only get two minutes, so if you don't get everything that you have to say out in your two minutes, they're like, ‘That's it. Stop talking.’ They're not really paying attention. They're not really listening. So I thought, if I can't make a big difference going up and talking in front of them, then maybe I can make a bigger difference behind the table and helping to manage the development better.”

In 2022, Arellano ran for the Miami-Dade County Commission in District 8. She did not end up winning the election, but came away with 20.4% of the vote.

Now, as a candidate for Community Council, Arellano is focused on managing Area 14’s zoning and land use as responsibly as possible.

Working to Preserve Local Agriculture

Arellano described Area 14 as a rural community, where it is increasingly necessary to strike the proper balance between creating affordable housing and preserving farmland.

“I'm running to not only keep as much agriculture as possible, but also to develop smartly and responsibly so that we're not putting townhomes next to a farm and so that there's a buffer and a transition element from going to housing into the rural farmland,” Arellano said.

Arellano said she has seen how the community’s landscape has changed in recent decades.

“I've lived out here long enough to see it go from where we used to live off a two-lane public road, and it's now four lanes. There's been a lot of growth and development,” Arellano said. “I used to work years ago for a produce company, and they sent us to New York City to go to the market and see everything there. All the produce, 90% of it came from Homestead, which is literally a couple of miles from me. Now, the market is mostly fruits and vegetables from other countries. It's not from here, but there's so much that we're still doing. A lot of it is because of farm loss. As soon as you lose all this green space, you can't get it back.”

The increasing development in the area has had noticeable environmental effects.

“We're concreting everything, and we're losing all this farmland. It's getting hotter and hotter because instead of grass and trees, we have concrete,” Arellano said. “We buffer the Everglades, so our water source comes from the Everglades. The more we build and build and build, the harder it is to get our water supply. I feel really strongly about that, and I feel strongly about the produce coming out of this area. We need to be able to feed ourselves.”

Having a Voice in Local Government

As the primary election on August 20 approaches, Arellano has been working to get out the vote and encourage more residents to participate in the upcoming election. She said she wishes more people realized the importance of local government bodies like the Community Council. 

“They don't see that it's that big of a deal, but it's literally the first line of defense before you get to the Board of County Commissioners — and at that point, it's pretty much out of the community's hands. So it's a very important office,” Arellano said.

Because of the importance of the Community Council, Arellano hopes to encourage more residents to vote on August 20.

“I wish that [voters] would understand that their voice does matter, that their voice does make a difference, and that if they show up and they voice their opinion, then the more people that show up, the more they listen,” Arellano said. “If two people show up in opposition and 20 people show up in support, they're definitely going to go that way, or vice versa. It helps to have people show up and voice their opinion, not just say, ‘Oh, well, whatever is going to happen is going to happen.’ That seems to be what happens a lot.”

Arellano cited voter apathy as one of the reasons for low voter turnout at the local level.

“The apathy is unbelievable. I've been a poll worker, and I have worked as a clerk with the elections department for probably ten years. It's always the local elections that have such low voter turnout, but those are the ones that end up being the most important because it doesn't take that many votes to win,” Arellano said.

Local elections can often have as few as 10% or 15% of voters turn out to cast their ballots. However, local elections often have the most direct impact on day-to-day life.

“Where you live in your local community, that’s where your local elected officials really impact your life. That's where the importance really is,” Arellano said.

Like many other local races, Miami-Dade County’s Community Council elections are nonpartisan — another factor distinguishing them from races further up the ballot.

“This is a local office. This has nothing to do with party politics. This is 100% about the community you're living in. It shouldn't have anything to do with party politics,” Arellano said.

How You Can Make Your Voice Heard

Want to learn more about how you can get involved in Florida’s upcoming elections and make a difference?

Here are a few resources to get you started:

• Visit Alicia Arellano’s website to learn more about her campaign. There, you can read more about her policy priorities, find opportunities to volunteer, and contribute to the campaign.

• Find your Community Council and district. Enter your address online to find out which Community Council and which County Commission district represents you.

• Get ready for election day on August 20, 2024. Visit Miami-Dade County’s voter information page to check your voter registration status, request a mail-in ballot, and view your sample ballot.

Want to go even further in making an impact this year? 

Consider joining GoodParty.org’s network of volunteers who are supporting non-partisan and independent candidates across the country. Learn more about what sets GoodParty.org Certified candidates apart by reading more candidate spotlights here, or start exploring volunteer opportunities today.