Several financial scandals involving the Mayor's office and City Commission
during the 1980s and 1990s left Miami with the title of the
United
States' 4th poorest city by 1996. With a budget shortfall of $68 Million
Miami became Florida's first city to have a state appointed oversight board
assigned to it in 1997. In the same year, city voters rejected a resolution
to dissolve the city and make it one entity with Dade County.
The City's financial problems continued until political outsider Manny Diaz
elected as Mayor of the City of Miami on November 13, 2001. Having never before
held elected office, Diaz's victory signalled a clean break with the history
of Miami politics. Under Diaz's leadership, Miami is entering an age of renaissance.