Just over a year after taking over as director of the Little Haiti Cultural Complex (LHCC), Qunyatta Warren submitted his resignation Monday.
The departure comes amid ongoing problems at LHCC that Warren called frustrating. Among the main issues, Warren said, are a long list of building repairs that have yet to be started and disagreements with the city of Miami’s Parks and Recreation Department, which oversees LHCC, over overtime.
“It seems systemic,” Warren told the Miami Herald. “There’s a consistent pattern of behavior between parks, downtown and city government that makes me think there’s a disconnect.”
“I don’t understand why the center isn’t treated with the same attention as facilities in other neighborhoods,” Warren added.
Warren’s main problem has been the city’s lack of response to repair notices, he said. For nearly a year, Warren pushed the city to fix the roof, address drainage issues that led to mold and repair the air conditioning system. In mid-June, the Caribbean Marketplace, one of LHCC’s main tourist attractions, was closed because the roof needed repairs. The problems have not been fixed.
“We still don’t have a start date for repairs,” Warren said.
The city of Miami and the parks department have not yet responded to requests for comment regarding Warren’s resignation and the needed repairs, though a spokesperson said “updates on all pending improvements” at the LHCC would be provided at the Little Haiti Revitalization Trust meeting Tuesday.
Warren, who moved from Jacksonville to Miami to lead the Haitian-American institution in June 2023, said he has tried to elevate the institution with more programs. The cultural center and its picturesque market have become the heart of Little Haiti’s cultural fabric, hosting concerts, classes, workshops and artisan markets. When Warren took over as director, he helped organize more than two dozen events during his tenure, according to his resignation letter. Warren also added dance, martial arts and Haitian cooking classes in addition to helping beautify the campus, the letter said.
Despite the expansion of programs, the city wanted to extend his probation because of his lack of communication “with them regarding the facility issues,” Warren said. Not only was that not true, he said, but the problems predated his employment. The parks department also challenged his staff’s overtime requests, which were simply due to the increase in events.
“It didn’t make sense for me to stay in that position,” Warren said. Slow repairs and complaints about staff overtime left Warren feeling like the cultural center wasn’t a priority, he said.
“The city doesn’t want to lose control of the cultural center because it’s a highly coveted space,” Warren added. “I think they want it but they don’t see it as a priority.”
Warren’s resignation is just the latest blow to an institution that many in the community believe the city no longer values. LHCC received an “unsafe structure” violation due to its failure to pass 40-year recertification in February 2023 due to overdue structural repairs, according to WLRN. Miami Commission Chairwoman Christine King called the violations “procedural” in a December 2023 interview with the Miami Herald.
In June 2023, Warren was hired to replace Abraham Metellus who had taken the position after former longtime LHCC director Sandy Dorsainvil was fired in 2022. Dorsainvil had expressed frustration over funding issues during her tenure in December 2023.
“There has always been a lack of financial and professional support,” Dorsainvil told the Miami Herald in an interview. Having held the position on and off since 2013, Dorsainvil was fired in 2022 after the city claimed she had agreed to an advertising contract without its approval. Dorsainvil admitted to signing the document, but said she did so because of staff shortages at the LHCC. “To this day, the cultural center is still understaffed, still doesn’t have a sufficient marketing budget, still doesn’t have a sufficient programming budget.”
In an email to the Miami Herald in response to Warren’s resignation, Metellus expressed similar concerns about the lack of support.
“No matter how many times we followed the steps, improved the processes, activated the space and implemented successful programs, our efforts were met with resistance and resentment,” Metellus wrote in a July 8 email, comparing the city’s treatment of LHCC to that of an “unloved child.”
“Qualified managers are hired to run the complex on a limited budget and a small staff, and when they do manage to make it work, they are failed,” he wrote.
As for the future of the LHCC, Warren believes the collective voice of the community could be the best catalyst.
“I hope that with awareness comes improvement,” Warren said, “but if the community doesn’t speak up, it’s going to be the same thing.”
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