Hialeah orders senior center out for second time; former mayor accuses Calvo of ‘harassment’

Weeks after the city of Hialeah forced a non-profit center that feeds low-income seniors to leave a park it had used for decades, the mayor and the city administration are forcing the organization to leave its new site, a private restaurant it has been using since.

Little Havana Activities & Nutrition Centers, a nonprofit that provides health, nutrition, social and other services to seniors across Miami-Dade County, had barely reopened its Hialeah program when Hialeah began a process that ultimately led to a cease-and-desist order, forcing the organization to leave.

The nonprofit had reopened Sept. 16 on the second floor of La Carreta, 5350 W. 16th Ave., where the restaurant provides space that includes access to a separate kitchen, elevator and bathrooms. The move came three months after Mayor Bryan Calvo forced the organization to leave the Goodlet Park facility, where it had served meals to low-income Hialeah seniors for 43 years.

The next day, Sept. 17, the city issued the centers a notice of violation requiring to transfer its existing business tax receipt from its former location at 900 W. 44th Place at Goodlet Park.

Now, less than three weeks later, the city has ordered the organization to shut down the new center.

In a cease-and-desist order dated Oct. 7, Calvo’s administration said the center is operating at La Carreta without a valid business tax receipt and must stop all operations within five days. The city warned that if the organization continues operating, it could initiate legal proceedings to close the business and seek to impound vehicles, equipment and other property to recover fees, penalties, fines and legal costs.

Little Havana submitted a pre-application to the city on Sept. 21 through Manny Fernandez, the agency’s director of operations. But on Oct. 5, the city’s Zoning Division and Business Tax Division issued denial that, according to the cease-and-desist order, prevented the transfer and issuance of a business tax receipt for the new location.

The Building Department approved its portion of the review, but the Zoning Department denied the application, saying the building where the seniors meet at La Carreta requires 77 parking spaces. The Public Works department also denied the application, saying the restaurant does not have enough reserved capacity to accommodate the increase in flow that the proposed use would create.

Records show that Little Havana responded to the city that the seniors that use its services are driven to and from the center through the organization’s transportation services.

Little Havana also argued that most participants do not arrive in individual vehicles and that the program’s parking demand is therefore different from a conventional commercial use in which customers drive themselves to the premises.

The city’s cease and desist order, however, says Little Havana cannot operate at the new location until it obtains the required business tax receipt and complies with the outstanding requirements.

La Carreta is located in a shopping plaza on West 16th Avenue, with dozens of parking spaces available to visitors. The second floor, where Little Havana has been providing services to seniors, is a spacious venue with a capacity of about 300 people. The space has been rented for parties, salsa classes and other events throughout the years. The restaurant has been established in the city for 24 years.

The Miami Herald reached out to the Little Havana centers for comment but did not receive a response.

Harassment allegation

Former Hialeah Mayor Raúl Martínez, who helped establish the Goodlet Park facility for the organization decades ago, said the parking requirement raises questions because the former site did not have 77 parking spaces.

“You cannot measure the business in one place differently than in another place,” Martínez said.

Martínez called the city’s actions against Little Havana harassment.

“This is an abuse of power by the mayor,” Martínez told the Miami Herald. “Little Havana is being harassed by the city. They need to take the city to court.”

The Herald reached out to Calvo’s office, but his spokesperson and chief of staff did not respond.

The Herald has learned that other businesses in Hialeah, including daycare centers, have sought changes to their operations or locations without facing the same outcome over parking requirements. Those businesses have not been closed.

Businesses also routinely seek parking variances through the city’s planning and zoning process. But Little Havana has not been given that opportunity in this case.

The latest dispute follows Calvo’s April decision to end Little Havana’s longstanding presence at Goodlet Park.

On April 27, Calvo notified the organization that it had 30 days to vacate the city owned facility, ending a relationship that had lasted more than four decades. The mayor said the city lacked a formal agreement with Little Havana and that maintaining the facility cost about $700,000 a year.

But ending Little Havana’s operation did not eliminate the costs associated with keeping the building open. The city continues to provide senior services there through the Hialeah Housing Authority, which Calvo said would not be charged rent either.

The center, known as Hialeah’s largest dining hall and a frequent campaign stop for politicians, has at times turned away some elected officials who tried to visit to chat with seniors dining there. Several politicians now view the city’s actions as a personal vendetta by Calvo.

When Little Havana was forced out of the city-owned building, Calvo’s chief of staff, José Torres, told the Herald that the nonprofit “would shut down the doors to politicians who would come to visit and greet the very residents they represent.” While he did not specifically refer to Calvo, he said the issue has affected multiple council members and that elected officials should have access to the facility.

At the time, Martínez criticized the decision and said Miami-Dade County Commissioner René García, whose district includes Hialeah, has taken on an important role with the center.

“René stepped into a ‘godfather’ role of the center when I left the mayor’s office,” Martinez said. “René grew up with it. Everyone grew up with it.”

Martínez characterized Calvo’s actions as political retaliation against García, an ally of former Mayor Esteban “Steve” Bovo, who isolated Calvo politically during his tenure as a councilman. García had been expected to run for Hialeah mayor but withdrew his candidacy and endorsed Jacqueline García-Roves, who was serving as interim mayor when Calvo won the election last November.

At the time Little Havana was forced out of Goodlet Park, García said he did not see it as a personal attack against him but called the decision to end the organization’s operation a “travesty.”

García then helped the organization find another location for its Hialeah services.

Garcia’s office said he was unavailable for comment about the city’s latest action against the centers.

The new site was created through a partnership involving García’s District 13 office, the Little Havana centers and La Carreta. García’s office is contributing money toward the rent, estimated at about $3,000 a month, while Little Havana operates the senior program.

At the reopening, García said he had committed to finding another location for Little Havana.

“I couldn’t let things stay that way; we cannot simply erase a community’s history just because a new administration takes office,” García said.

The program reopened with 35 seniors, and three weeks later, it was nearly at its 100-person capacity, drawing many seniors away from the city’s programs and to services in Little Havana.

The program operated from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and provided breakfast and lunch. Seniors who needed additional food could also receive a weekly box containing seven meals. But the seniors who followed the organization from Goodlet Park now face another disruption as the dispute creates uncertainty over their services. It remains unclear whether they will continue receiving the weekly meal boxes at home.

During the months when Little Havana was absent from Goodlet Park, the city still allowed the organization to distribute meal boxes to seniors from the parking lot because the Hialeah Housing Authority does not provide that service. Since the program reopened at La Carreta, the boxes have been distributed there.

The organization has served Miami-Dade County for 53 years and operates 12 other facilities.

When the center reopened, several Hialeah seniors who had been receiving meals at other city dining sites, including Villa Aida and Wilde Park, told the Herald they planned to move to La Carreta because it was closer to their homes. Others said they preferred the way Little Havana staff interacted with seniors. For former Goodlet Park participants, the new site also brought back an organization they had relied on for years.

This story was originally published October 8, 2026 at 4:32 PM.