Albert Tresvant (April 15, 1926 – July 25, 2004)^[2] was an American politician who served as the first African-American commissioner and mayor of Opa-Locka, Florida and first African-American mayor in Dade County.

Biography

Tresvant was born in Brunswick, Georgia.^[3] When he was five, his mother died and he moved to Liberty City neighborhood of Miami where he was raised by his aunt and grandmother.^[3] He attended Liberty City Elementary School and is a graduate of D.A. Dorsey Senior High School.^[3] After school he ran his own upholstery business before getting involved in politics.^[3] In 1956, he established the Opa-locka Civic Club to organize the Black community on improving the city.^[3] In 1964, his first run for the City Commission received national attention although he lost receiving little white support.^[4] In January 1972, Tresvant was nominated by commissioner Bert T. Goodson to fill a vacancy on the City Commission and unanimously appointed^[5] due to his record of civic involvement and the commission's desire to have minority representation.^[1] His appointment followed on riots that occurred in 1971 after a white police officer shot a black man.^[1][6] At the time, Opa-locka was roughly 35-40% Black^[4] and there was no district gerrymandering as City Commissioners in Opa-locka were elected at-large^[1] with the largest vote-getter becoming mayor.^[7] In April 1972, after serving the 3 months of his predecessor's term, Tresvant won a seat on the City Commission finishing third (656 votes) after Ronald Pierson (831 votes) and Lawrence Bowers (672 votes).^[8] His term was for two years (In Opa-Locka, elections to the 5-member City Commission are held every two years; the top two vote getters are elected to 4-year terms with the first serving a 2-year term as mayor and then a 2-year term as commissioner; the second serving a 2-year term as deputy mayor and then a 2-year term as commissioner; and the third vote-getter serving a 2-year term as commissioner).^[9]

In the 1974 election, Tresvant tied for first place with Kenton Wells; they decided to split the two-year mayoral term with Wells serving the first year and Tresvant's term beginning in 1975.^[10][7] Both men would serve as city commissioner during the other's mayor ship.^[11] He was sworn in on April 18, 1975.^[4]

Upon becoming mayor, he inherited a tense situation as riots had occurred during Well's term which Tresvant blamed on Dade county for repeatedly rejecting Opa-locka's requests for additional funds to provide better housing and drug programs.^[12] He also worked to hire more Black police officers inheriting a department where only 3 out of 28 officers were Black.^[4] During his administration, he was able to secure more police protection for Black neighborhoods,^[1] appointed more Blacks into city government,^[13] and developed infrastructure. In the April 1976 general election, Candido Giardino was elected as mayor (Tresvant was unable to run due to his remaining two-year term on the City Commission).^[14]

In June 1977, he was suspended as commissioner by Governor Rubin Askew over corruption allegations.^[15] In July 1977, he was found guilty of conspiracy, soliciting bribes and accepting unlawful compensation in connection with a city building contract along with then mayor Candido Giardino^[16] (the Rev. Willie R. Young was elected mayor in April 1978); the sentence was overturned and a new trial ordered by Circuit Court Judge Wilkie Ferguson after one juror failed to disclose a past criminal conviction and another juror complained that Tresvant had followed her into the parking lot during the trial.^[17][18] The Third District Court of Appeal reinstated the conviction.^[17]

Personal life

He was married to Virginia Wilkinson;^[13] they had five daughters^[19] and a son.^[3] He died on July 25, 2004.^[3]

References