Mayor wants to ease ‘teeth-grinding traffic neighborhoods’
Name of City: Homestead
Population: 80,528 (2021)
Mayor: Steven D. Losner, 63
How long in office: Losner was first elected in 2019 and re-elected in 2021 to two-year terms. In October, he was elected to a four-year term.
Primary Goal: Losner is trying to decrease traffic by improving surface roads. Homestead has seen a lot of construction lately, and these new structures pay impact fees, but they all go to Miami-Dade County, Losner said. The city is working with the county to obtain $15 million to $18 million of anticipated road impact fees and redirect them to Homestead.adad
Quote: “That will be a huge relief in our teeth-grinding traffic neighborhoods and just to get around the community. So we are very optimistic and excited about that opportunity. You know, geographically, we’re very narrow here, limited by the bay and the Everglades with very few, north-south corridors locally.”
Primary accomplishments 2023: The city’s “crown jewel,” as Losner calls it, is the newly renovated Losner Park, originally built in the late 1990s. The park re-opened about a year ago following a two-year renovation. The city expanded it to three times its original size. It now serves as a gathering spot for residents for concerts and festivals.
Quote: “This past Saturday night we had a big event in recognition of Black History Month by several different performers. I think there were at least a couple of thousand folks there for the concert. All of the food trucks were black-owned businesses. We had a huge holiday event there this past December. We even had an ice-skating rink.”
