Miami Commissioner Rolando Escalona hounding employees at Jose Marti Park

When it comes to interacting with city employees at Jose Marti Park, Miami City Commissioner Rolando Escalona behaves like a Marine drill sergeant. 

During unannounced visits to the Little Havana park this year, Escalona’s nitpicking has escalated into what a parks supervisor calls “harassing behavior,” according to a July 29 internal email obtained by The Miamian.

The memo, sent by City of Miami Parks Recreation Coordinator Robert Gonzalez to Omar Bayona, superintendent of recreational facilities, starts off by describing a July 28 encounter in which Escalona ordered a front-desk employee to abandon her post, leaving her shaking and unable to recall whether she had clocked out. Escalona also called police officers over alleged drug use at the park that the cops were unable to substantiate.

Jose Marti Park spans 8.9 acres along the Miami River at 362 Southwest Fourth Street.

Escalona did not respond to requests for comment sent to Alice Arrieta, Escalona’s spokesperson, and Esteban Ferreiro, the District 3 chief of staff. 

Escalona, a Cuban-born political newcomer, won Miami’s District 3 city commission seat in a December 2025 runoff, unseating former city commissioner Frank Carollo and ending the Carollo family’s strangle hold on the district.

Escalona, whose district includes Little Havana, walked into Jose Marti Park unannounced and approached an unnamed female employee stationed at the community center’s front desk, Gonzalez wrote. The staffer was managing sign-in logs, greeting parents and handling new registrations for the park’s music program.

Escalona asked why he did not see any employees outside, the email states. When the employee explained her assignment and offered assistance, Escalona told her “she should be outside and that he was the Commissioner,” according to Gonzalez. The commissioner then told her he was going to make a phone call, which she interpreted as a threat, per the email. 

She was removed from her post. Distraught by Escalona’s behavior, the employee left, but shortly returned because she could not remember if she had clocked out. “The employee is still marked by her interaction with the Commissioner,” Gonzalez wrote. 

During the same visit, Gonzalez says Escalona contacted police to report illegal drug smoking onsite. Officers arrived, canvassed the park and found no one smoking, the email states.

Gonzalez frames the episode as part of a pattern by Escalona. The commissioner made frequent, unannounced visits that disrupted operations, pulled staff from assigned tasks and created “severe anxiety on the floor,” stalling productivity and threatening morale and retention. Escalona’s conduct “may easily be identified as harassing behavior,” Gonzalez wrote. 

Gonzalez complained to Bayona that the commissioner is fixated on isolated deficiencies when employees at Jose Marti and other parks in District 3 are executing their daily goals by more than 95 percent. During his July 28 visit, Escalona “could not find any actionable items to address” yet his conduct with the female employee  left her suffering anxiety, Gonzalez wrote. 

Escalona also complained about minor issues involving two full trash containers that had not been emptied and a trash bag left outside the park between March and July. In addition, the commissioner admonished staff about seeing people smoking at the park yet two employees caught Escalona vaping inside the gym at Jose Marti Park on July 24, the email states. Gonzalez said the commissioner was also caught on camera. 

The email disputes another complaint from Escalona that park employees reported to work “unprofessionally” in sandals or Crocs. Gonzalez says only one employee wore Crocs due to a medical procedure, and that she provided a doctor’s note which he forwarded to District 3 staff. He calls the episode “another example of targeting without facts.”

Gonzalez warned that Escalona’s behavior has “shifted from routine oversight into a pattern of workplace disruption. He recommended instituting a formalized communication protocol with the commissioner’s office to maintain a stable work environment.

He is keeping “meticulous factual logs” of the visits to protect the department from operational liability, Gonzalez wrote.  

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