It’s a busy time on Biscayne Boulevard in Downtown Miami as organizers get ready for the Ultra Music Festival, which draws tens of thousands of EDM fans. For the first time in three years, the entire Bayfront Park is open for the festival goers. The park finally has a clean bill of health after sections of the soil tested positive for toxins like lead, arsenic and copper.
Wilbur Mayorga, with Miami-Dade Environmental Monitoring, is responsible for making sure Bayfront Park is safe for the public. He said Monday the park is a go.
“This corrective action plan was initiated and has been completed,” said Mayorga.
Crews spent months clearing the land and putting down new soil throughout the park. Miami City Commissioner Frank Carrollo heads the trust that oversees Bayfront Park.
“The bottom line is DERM said we should do the cleanup. We did the cleanup,” said Commissioner Carrollo. He says the cleanup was done and didn't cost the taxpayers a dime.
“It was approximately $1.2 million and it was paid for by Bayfront Management Trust. We actually paid for that cleanup with revenue that we earned from the park from different events like this Ultra,” the commissioner explained. And, the experts planned for any trouble down the road.
“We want to make sure that 5 to 10 years from now, someone is doing maintenance at Bayfront Park. And, because of erosion they see this yield high contrast color; they know they need to replace the clean fill,” said Mayorga. He added that he wants to make sure they don't have to go back and do this all over again.
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There were seven parks in all in the City of Miami where toxins were found. Officials said there is still work to be done on two of them -- Curtis Park and Douglas Park.
