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.