Editing Virginia Key (section)

===Park decline and restoration===
Segregation of Miami-Dade beaches finally ended in the early 1960s with another protest led by the late Rev. Theodore Gibson, [[Garth C. Reeves]], [[Oscar Range]]{{Clarify|date=July 2009}}<!-- if this is the husband of M. Athalie Range, he died in 1960. --> and others. Crandon Park and Virginia Key Beach would no longer be used exclusively by one race or another, but open for all to enjoy. When beaches closer to historically Black residential neighborhoods desegregated, Virginia Key Beach gradually declined both in use and upkeep. By the 1980s, picnicking families mingled with gay couples and nudists using Virginia Key Beach. In 1982, the County transferred the former colored-only park to the City of Miami with a deed restriction that it only be used as a park and that the City continued the level of services and maintenance. The City closed the Park shortly thereafter citing high maintenance costs.<ref>News Journal Wire Services, "President Bush approves bill for Study of Virginia Key Beach", December 18, 2002.</ref>

Shuttered for two decades, Virginia Key Beach was eroded by storms, its buildings damaged and vandalized, and park lands invaded by exotic plants and animals. Beset by declining revenues, some City officials began to speculate over schemes to sell off the development rights on Virginia Key. As plans leaked, a local coalition formed among Miami's grassroots activists protesting any commercial development and asking for a complete restoration and re-opening of Miami's largest park and only public park on the Atlantic Ocean. The leadership at City Hall appointed an official community-based civil rights task force to provide a public forum for the park's future.<ref>Bush, 10-12; Virginia Key Beach Park Charrette, 2000, Introduction; Oral history interview with Enid Pinkney, Althea Range, Eugenia Thomas, and David Shorter conducted by Chanelle Rose, 2005.</ref>

In time, the civil right's task force developed into a trust that was given the charge of re-opening the park as an open green space for a multi-cultural society. The restoration process was divided into two major areas: environmental and historical. The trust undertook the daunting task of removing all exotic vegetation from the park while replenishing the landscape with native vegetation.  In August, 2002 the site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and given a Florida Historical Marker.<ref>Bush, 45-46; Miami Times, "3000 Revive Easter Tradition on Virginia Key", May, 2000.</ref>
  
On February 22, 2008, the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust re-opened the park to the public.  Today, it is known as an ecological treasure which contains the largest mangrove wetland in the state.  Historic landmarks such as the bathhouse, concession stand, carousel house, train tunnel, and picnic pavilions have all been renovated and opened for public use. The beach is open for wading only.<ref>Sunrise Newsletter, "Come revisit Historic Virginia Key Beach Park for the Very First time", winter/Spring 2008, 8:33, 1-2; ''Westside Gazette'' Newspaper, "Miami's "Old Colored Beach" restored- reopens", December 27, 2007-January 2, 2008; Florida International University Magazine, "Restoring a Legacy", Winter, 2007; ''Miami Herald'', "Freedom Beach", February 16, 2008.</ref>