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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSEOPW OMNI CRA 2003-10-02 MinutesCITY OF MIAMI CRA COMMUNITY WORKSHOP MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON OCTOBER 2, 2003 PREPARED BY THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK/CITY HALL Priscilla A. Thompson/City Clerk • MINUTES OF SOUTHEAST OVERTOWN/PARK WEST COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY COMMUNITY WORKSHOP On the 2°6 day of October. 2003, the City Commission of Miami, Florida, met at the Miami Arena (VIP Room) located at 701 Arena Boulevard, Miami, Florida. The meeting was called to order at 4 p.m., with the following individuals found to be present: Frank Rollason, Executive Director, CRA October 2, 2003 Frank Rollason (Executive Director, CRA): Try to get this show on the road. I was looking around for Chelsa, but I don't see her. And every time I don't see her, I figure she's having that baby, so I've got to watch her like a hawk. I'm Frank Rollason, the Executive Director of the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) for this go around. You never know how it goes over there, but for now, I'm there. Can't take it too serious. What we're going to do here this afternoon -- this is the last chance for public input on the update of the plan for the Southeast Overtown/Park West area. We've had a series of these meetings, and we're now down to the fine-tuning and the -- Dover Kohl is going to run through the changes from the input that we had previously from previous meetings. And we'll go to those whatever period of time he needs for that, which I don't imagine is going to be very lengthy, but he's going to go through it definitely. And then we're going to open it up and we'll go from that point. You know, today I had the opportunity to do the -- for a few moments anyway -- with the Mayor from Tallahassee, Mr. John Marks, who was born in Overtown, and (INAUDIBLE) was there. And everybody got to tell him a little bit about what's happening in Overtown and so forth. And they have CRA problems up there in Tallahassee big time, much the same as we're having down here. Just so you knnow, when CRAs generally get started to redevelop an area, it's done because there's no money. And so, when you put one together, it all sounds great, and nobody really wants a piece of the action. They just want to sort of stay off to the side and see if this lady's going to live or die, or what's going to happen. Well, what's happening in this community between Overtown, Park West and Omni is that it's become very much alive. And (INAUDIBLE) sitting here paying property taxes, you know that very well. And now, so does the County. And the County looked at it and says, "Wait a minute. We didn't figured they'd make this kind of money. We want a piece of this, too." So the CRAB' are under attack throughout the state. They're changing legislation, having boards restructured so that people can be on the boards from the County level to be able to have a say on how things get spent. And when you talk about spending the money in infrastructure, which is primarily what we should be doing with our CRA dollars, you don't necessarily have to spend on infrastructure to bring water mains or a developer has a better shot in a more competitive square footage price of building because he'.s already got his 16-inch main out there sitting on 3"d Avenue or 2"d Avenue. You can use that money to do some work on Metrorail. I mean, you can use that money to do some work on County roads that they have to do anyway. So, I'm just saying to you that it's not a bottomless pit. The people that think there's millions and millions and millions, there aren't millions and millions that come out of the CRA budget. But there's enough there to be able -- either to bond it or to come up with a judicious program to be able to start to do some of these infrastructure items that we'll start seeing being pointed out in this plan. And when this plan is finalized and it's adopted -- and, hopefully, everybody buys in, all the different organizations, community organizations and the governments and so forth -- the CRA will have a piece of that, just as developers will have a piece of that, and CDCs (Community Development Corporations) will have a piece of that, and so forth and so on. The City will have a piece of that. And that'll be the plan. That'll be how we start to restructure and rebuild the community. And that's why this plan is so important. And it's so important that we don't develop something that when you start to implement it, everybody goes oh, wait a minute. We didn't know that you were going to do this. And then we start having problems. We're looking to really do this stuff. So it's important that you have your say; that you bring your positions forward so they can be considered. And I think there's going to be changes here today, and that a lot of the input that has come has been considered. And it's like anything else, everybody didn't get their way a hundred percent but, hopefully, there's a piece in 2 October 2, 2003 here that you can live with. And with that being said, I'll turn it over to Joe, and he will very informatively go through this. And he -- I don't know how you're going to handle the questions on how you're going to do it. (INAUDIBLE) Thank you. Joseph Kohl: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Joseph Kohl from Dover Kohl and Partners. We're located here in Miami. And technically, we're out-of-town consultants, because our office is in Coral Gables. I'm going to try to hit as much of the changes that we've made from the first draft. By looking around the room, I know quite a few of you have already read the first draft. We made the second draft available last month, and I don't know if everyone's had a chance to actually read through that. But the way it's -- and I think in order to cut down on expense, the CRA put it -- made it available on a CD in a PDF (Portable Document Format) form. But the color looks like this. And the way we had -- other than minor changes, we put strikethrough and underline in the text so that we could actually see what the primary changes were; word choice and grammatical errors, that type of thing, we didn't really want to point all those out. So, if I missed some of -- and I also really want to thank those of you that have given us comments over the last several months and year or so, which includes the Overtown Civic Partnership and its members, Black Archives and Dorothy Fields is very helpful going though some of the history, and LISC (Local Initiative Support Corporation) and the Collin Center, and National Trust for Public Land, BAM -- it's BAM or BAME (Bethel African Methodist Episcopal) -- BAM, and St. Johns CDC, as well as some of the other folks there, and, of course, the Planning and Zoning Department, that has been working on a lot of the details. I'm going to try to hit them but I'm probably going to miss quite a few -- as well as the many property owners that have come in to meet with the CRA staff to offer the opinion from the private sector, and, of course, the DDA (Downtown Development Authority),: too. I can't forget about the DDA. To what Frank was saying, what we're thinking to do is to go -- with this presentation it will be fairly brief, hopefully, under a half hour, and then we'll open up the floor to questions and answers in general. And then what we wanted to do is break into small groups. So you can see there's some titles around the room, Growth Miami Fund, Housing, Transportation, Capital Projects, and they're missing one, which is the Plan. So we'll also be (INAUDIBLE) so that we can talk to smaller groups pertaining to those issues that are the most important to you with different folks from the CRA or consultants to help with that. Where we are with our process right now, we're in September '03 over here -- or, actually, we're in October, aren't we? So what we're trying to do is get this draft drafted up, to get it in front of the CRA Board, so that they can review it, scrutinize it, and then pass it on to the City Commission and County Commission. Because we're a home charter County, the County also has to approve any of the CRAs within Miami -Dade County. So, a couple of dates that are coming up that may or may not be on your calendar. October 23rd, at what is normally the City Commission's meeting, I believe they're scheduled for some time after 3 p.m. to have a joint workshop with the CRA Board and the City Commission to actually go through this plan, and as well as two kind of subprojects that are the special area plans for Biscayne Boulevard and Grand Promenade. And then October 27"' is also the next CRA Board meeting. So if you -- you can also come and speak there as well. The plan, if you're not that familiar with it, is broken up into nine sections. A lot of the components that are in this plan came from state statute that established this CRA, which is Chapter 163. I wrote down the number of pages, and you can see most of this document is in Section 4, the Projects and Programs. Then -- as well as the build out plan, which is really more of a conceptual planning for the CRA. And this section is primarily what are the physical -- 3 October 2, 2003 what is the physical character of that plan, Overtown and Park West and (INAUDIBLE)? So I will go through. Then from the first draft to the second draft, the one -- the sections that had the most radical change is the build out plan, just the conceptual -- the projects and programs, and residential uses, and neighborhood impact. And how I remember the first draft, there were two sections that were completely empty, Capital Improvements and the Residential Uses and Neighborhood Impact. This has been -- Number six has been -- there has been quite a bit. The Capital Improvements, we're still working on it. So, on the second draft of that, that's still empty. OK. Introduction. Actually, this introduction, we made very few changes, like I said, word choices. One thing that we're missing in there that's not in the draft is the actual map for the CRA boundary. Currently, the Southeast Overtown/Park West CRA boundary is in here. With this update, we're requesting that we increase -- enlarge the CRA to include areas north of 1-395 and west of 1-95. So we hope the new boundary will look something like this. Also, just so you know, this -- some differences in the line here that aren't quite consistent but the map that we have in the back of the room is correct, matching the legal description. So this is not exactly the map that would be in the next draft. Mr. Rollason: Joe, go back to that just a second. Mr. Kohl: Sure. Mr. Rollason: What's important for you to realize here is that -- show them where the outline in the Omni group is. Now the other CRA area we have is right there. That's the Omni CRA. And you notice it pins along the FEC (Florida East Coast) tracks. We are just starting the process with another consultant to update the Omni plan. And what we want is, we want the Omni plan to dovetail in with the Southeast Overtown/Park West plan, and along with DDA, and along with the Central Business District, so that we don't start creating these groups that are completely isolated from one another. You would complement one another. Even though there are differences, there are common goals and threads that we want to have take place. And one of those spots that we're looking at is between the FEC tracks and coming over to where that eastern boundary is on the change so we can fill that in and bring the Omni over that way, so we can start touching up against each other. One of the problems we've run into already is that when the boundaries were originally set up, Southeast Overtown/Park West abutted the south side of I-395, and the Omni abutted the north side of I-395. Now we come along and want to do some parking underneath 1-395 for the clubs and districts up there, and we can't send any TIF (Tax Increment Fund) money because it's not in either one of the CRAB. So there's that no- man's-land there (INAUDIBLE) going against 1-395 and who's going to worry about it? Well, there is a big problem now. So, in this group we -- because we're going to get this plan, hopefully, before the Commission approves -- almost a year before the Omni plan, is that we've incorporated all (INAUDIBLE) 395 into this area so that we can bring TIF money in there. Mr. Kohl: All right. So these are the actual pages from -- per section. And you can see the red lines since we've added -- mostly additions. (INAUDIBLE) check the legal boundary with Miami Legal Department. It seems to be.correct. And the worst thing -- comments recently that, perhaps, we should increase your -- I guess, add more to the fundings and the stuff that we -- which we're looking at, as well. In the section -- second section, Setting the Goals, the goals were pretty much set up with early discussions of the CRA. And directing that (INAUDIBLE) 4 October 2, 2003 because part of it was confusing because we had -- we had listed each of the goals, which the goal was basically improve the tax base, housing, infill diversity, and maintaining affordability. Goal number three is creating jobs in the community. Number four is the promotion and marketing of the community. Number five is preserving the front buildings and the community heritage. And six is improving the quality of life for the residents. The previous meeting listed out each of these under each of the goals and it got to be too confusing, so we put everything on one page, a little simple matrix describes which principle basically is supporting each of the goals. And so, what was next about that was is that a lot of the principles are supporting .more than one goal. And then, also, within that it describe -- this text describing each of the principles. On three, we did a little bit more exchanging the maps and describing the (INAUDIBLE). This conceptual diagram is not in the first draft. We included the National Trust for Public Land's (INAUDIBLE) in here, as well as to show where the project area, in the document, are located within the map. (INAUDIBLE) I-95 and I-395, and the bay is right over here. So it's got the Promenade and the Entertainment District. We've got downtown Overtown -- I'm sorry. That's downtown Overtown. The Northeast 3'd Commercial Corridor. We're calling this Northeast 3'd since Neighborhood Center is north of 395, West Overtown, 7"' Street -- (INAUDIBLE). And also, we've been looking very carefully at the properties along Biscayne Boulevard. Unidentified Speaker: Question. Mr. Kohl: Sure. Unidentified Speaker: Is there any you didn't (INAUDIBLE) Lummus .Park down to Miami River? Mr. Kohl: Well, actually, Lummus Park is right here and it's outside of our CRA. So, there's also the Miami River Commission that's been focused on the river. So -- Unidentified Speaker: They just focus on the river. They don't do anything. Why (INAUDIBLE) included in this district? It's part of downtown. Mr. Kohl: Well, the -- let me see. About a year and a half ago, the City -- the Board of the Commission were discussion different areas to -- when the discussion of including -- enlarging the CRA was taking place, and at some point, that was on the map. There were several different scenarios and this is what we ended up with. Unidentified Speaker: How do you feel about this as a planner? Would you include it? Mr. Kohl: Well, if there's somebody already taking claim for that land and working on it -- Unidentified Speaker: Nope. Mr. Kohl: -- (INAUDIBLE). I can't answer that because I don't know, and I'm not involved in that (INAUDIBLE). So, again, this section is more conceptual. What we (INAUDIBLE) -- we want people to realize this is just a build out of Overtown/Park West. It's not just a building. But we've got buildings, which are the physical things, and streets, and trees, and the things we 5 October 2, 2003 see in three dimensions. We've also got zoning affects the build out. We've got a transportation system that affects Code cuts and road widths, and volumes of traffic. There is -- there's land that's publicly owned that can help contribute to what the CRA is doing, as well as open spaces. So, when you're looking at the map that you see here, you're basically looking at all of these layers basically on top of one another. And a lot of these snaps are -- basically start out in Chapter 163 as requirements. They need a map of publicly owned land. That, of course, is subject to change. But, basically, at the time of adoption, that's what they're looking for, where the public spaces are. There's a couple places that we suggested that .streets should be back -- opened back up. But, in some cases, where there once were streets that have been closed up and some larger blocks that could be opened up as well. On the (INAUDIBLE) for basically for pedestrian movement to make it easier to walk through the neighborhood, the (INAUDIBLE) go to another set of maps, which we've also got in the back room over here. Which -- actually, when the 1982 CRA Plan was set up, it was actually about the time where they one-wayed (sic) most of the streets. And (INAUDIBLE) criticism that people couldn't get down into Overtown because that street grid isn't -- you see the street grid is a bit broken up from the normal Miami grid. You can see the distraction there and it's hard to figure out how to get around. So we're suggesting, as well as what's in the Downtown Transportation Plan, to open up -- make most of these streets two-way again. One exception within the CRA would be 5"' and 6"' Street, which is designed to handle the port traffic; to basically bring the port traffic to and from I-95, to keep it out of Biscayne Boulevard, and part of that involves creating ramps. Because right now, from this point at 95, you can't get on 1-395 or on the Dolphin Expressway. So the idea is to create ramps in here that will let you go west and east off the (INAUDIBLE). And the idea is that those ramps start at 6t" Avenue -- or 6t" Street, sorry, 6t" Street. They're in between where the current ramps are. And so that drawing is also taped up on the wall in the back there. You can take a look at it later. That's a FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) project. OK. And this is another map that we added, too, is where the (INAUDIBLE) needs for additional parking at the moment. So the purpose of this is to basically just create a little blob that says somewhere in these areas we know parking is needed and that should be a priority. And (INAUDIBLE) what these plans (INAUDIBLE). We've also included -- since this recent discussion of I-395 becoming either an at -grade boulevard or a trench boulevard, we're basically removing the bridges and bringing something so that (INAUDIBLE) between Overtown and west Overtown and the Omni area and Park West. So we've gone ahead and just illustrated what that could look like. We're showing it following a similar design that the MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) has come up with, where -- right now, if you notice, you come across the bridge from the beach and you swing to the south and go up. We're illustrating here it basically coming straight across and then connecting back up to the interstate here. And then that bridge is covering the north/south street, so, basically, all the traffic can flow for, you know, cars and people. Mr. Rollason: We had the pictures up here. Some of you that are over in that corner may not be able to see the wall too well, so if you want to migrate over here. Mr. Kohl: Yeah. (INAUDIBLE) come up with (INAUDIBLE). Mr. Rollason: (INAUDIBLE). 6 October 2, 2003 0 . 0 Mr. Kohl: Probably the largest amount of changes have taken place in the projects and programs. We've updated the descriptions of what those projects are, as well as included what we think the actions should be for the stakeholders. And so, basically, who's a stakeholder? Everybody that has any kind of interest in this part of town. So it's not just the CRA and it's not just the government, and it's not just the property owners, but people who live there and work there, and drive by there, and walk through there and shop there. What we've done is -- I'll go through just some of them as an example. Try to identify all the things that (INAUDIBLE) can do to contribute to the improvement of the CRA area. The programs that are listed here are (INAUDIBLE), programs that the CRA already had, have already been operating from, and we're basically upgrading their projects. Some of those have been completed or they're not interested in pursuing them any longer. On our first draft, we just put them all in while we were trying to figure out the status of them. So, here the -- these are some of the stakeholders that have been (INAUDIBLE) in the community and active in participating in the plan, so we identified them as well. (INAUDIBLE) categories, like community churches, the residents, the for -profit developers and community development corporations and investors, as well as specific -- the Overtown Civic Partnership, City of Miami, the Overtown Advisory Board. So then, we go through each project. We've -- I don't want to spend too much time going through all the projects. And if you get the (INAUDIBLE) then you should be somewhat familiar with them, and I'd be happy afterwards to go through them with anyone who's unfamiliar with them. Northwest 1 `� Avenue is one. The main idea with that is to turn what has historically been the division between Park West and Overtown into something that's more of a seam, a joint, and making that a grand avenue. Because there's so much space between the development site, we could get more height and make it a prestigious address. (INAUDIBLE) also discussion of light rail and the Baylink and Tri-Rail extending into downtown. We've got right-of-way could also be used for transit. And we'll have some sections -- a little further south is a little segment of the CRA that isn't really necessarily the CRA. And again, we're illustrating what that could look like. And then here's where we started going into the stakeholders' roles. So, we lifted out what kinds of things that the CRA should be doing, what the City of Miami should be doing, what the Overtown Civic Partnership should be doing, what residents, developers, commercial property owners, advisory board, Black Archives Foundation, and basically gave them things to do. And the second project was downtown Overtown, .which has been largely spearheaded by the Overtown Civic Partnership. It includes the Folk Life Village and showing how the -- it's a little hard to see here. It's small here. The Lyric Theater is right here, with the future Lyric Plaza (INAUDIBLE) 9"' Street. There -- this is 2" d Avenue and how that could -- (INAUDIBLE) development happens around the Lyric, the extension to the Lyric, the Plaza, and all the happy people out there on the street. And this was an earlier drawing from (INAUDIBLE) and the Folk Life Village. Third Avenue was a project that had already been started by the time we began this project to promote local business on Northwest 3rd Avenue. And then you've also got the Neighborhood Center to the north. This is the Culmer Center property, with a little shopping area right here. We're suggesting that they -- the CRA could work with the County to redevelop that. It's a large piece of land that could be put to better use. Right now, the Culmer Center sits right in here. We're suggesting that it (INAUDIBLE) to a new facility, perhaps, to the courtyard so that the could have outdoor activities in a protected manner. Turn that growth of trees that's right at 3" Avenue into a town square, a park, as well as redevelop the whole area. That's the Business Corridor. I guess I have them out of order. West Overtown -- inside the blue lines there is (INAUDIBLE) since we've added (INAUDIBLE). Reeves Park, right now, sits on a 7 October 2, 2003 larger block (INAUDIBLE). Now, if you reconnect the street grid, if these apartments were ever to be redeveloped, like they did in one of the (INAUDIBLE) facing. streets and fronts new development around Reeves Park. Historically, there is neighborhood -serving businesses over here, and so we should try to figure out how to restore that. Just an example of the apartments next to Reeves Park and getting (INAUDIBLE) redeveloped. And Biscayne Boulevard. Again, the importance of Biscayne Boulevard is that we're (INAUDIBLE) in the water; that it's the first thing people see as they're coming across the bridge from Miami Beach. So -- and that's part of a special area plan, where we're working on changing the zoning ordinance specifically for that. And the drawings -- the Promenade, which is the railroad right-of-way between I01h Street and I Its' Street. The nightclubs have been appearing on I Its' Street. And how we can turn that alley into something -- and again, incrementally, it's not going to happen overnight. So right now the CRA is funding that project to be some minimal improvements to the surface of that alley. And this is just to show that, you know, the nightclubs can start by painting and hanging lights, and umbrellas. And then, over time, as more development -- buildings get reformatted, reconstruction, (INAUDIBLE), parking garages come in to help the parking needs. And this is kind of a long-term view as those properties, which right now, they're all pretty much one-story warehouses, get redeveloped with either nightclubs or restaurants, retail at the ground level, and apartments with apartment rental offices up above. (INAUDIBLE) is basically an idea to explore the land use programming of the particular street to try to find some -- a different type of market. And when we actually get into the programs -- again, these are the programs the CRA has already been operating off of. As you can see, (INAUDIBLE) strikethrough lines. We've taken some of those out. And let's see. And the Capital Improvements is the section we're still working on with the engineers. And this section was not in the first draft, so they should get a copy of the second draft to review it. There's -- and we've got our very rough housing policy. But it's important to note that just as we were finishing this draft, Greater Miami Neighborhoods was hired by the CRA to draft up a more comprehensive housing policy. And we have a representative from GMN (Greater Miami Neighborhoods) here to answer questions regarding that. That's going to be a document that's going to be outside of this CRA plan. So, again, it's going to apply for both of the City CRAs. Is that right, Carol? Unidentified Speaker: Kathy. Mr. Kohl: Kathy. Unidentified Speaker: Right here. Mr. Kohl: Kathy, OK. And -- so that's right, Kathy, right? Unidentified Speaker: Yes. Mr. Kohl: That it's for both CRAB. So, as the Omni CRA plan update is going on, that'll be further refined and work for both CRAB. And one of the requirements also and (INAUDIBLE) comments we had from the community is what is the impact of all this future development on the school system. And so we've been working with Miami -Dade Public Schools to find out how they analyze the impact. We've got the formulas. We've done a little preliminary work on it. It's unfinished, going to the next draft. But (INAUDIBLE) amendment, the elementary schools 8 October 2, 2003 have plenty of capacity for more students. The high school, Booker T. Washington, is at about 70 percent, 75 percent of its potential. However, the middle school, there's one middle school serving the whole area, and that's probably where there will be a problem. In terms of the plan's requirement by the state, which we basically just have to address wherever there's a problem and -- but we don't have to actually have to solve the problem for the purpose of the plan. Because right at the moment, all these houses are not here and these people are not here. But as new projects come on line, the CRA should be working with the School Board to figure out how to make this all work. As everyone knows, schools are probably the primary thing that affects whether someone buys or invests into a neighborhood as a place to live. So, again, this (INAUDIBLE) underline because it's all (INAUDIBLE). And (INAUDIBLE) especially the school (INAUDIBLE). The (INAUDIBLE) stuff is -- (INAUDIBLE) Management is basically identifying those powers and requirements of the State statute. So, probably no one will really read that, except those that are reviewing the plan to make sure that we're in State compliance. And a lot of it is paraphrased directly from the State statute, so the CRA has to follow through (INAUDIBLE) whether we write it into this plan or not. It's a part of the requirement. And then there's the definition for (INAUDIBLE) including terms that we're using within the documents that need clarification. A lot of these that are in here right now are straight out of the State statute's definitions, so they're consistent with that. But there should be no doubts in what terms say. So if you come up with words that you don't understand that we've referenced in here, please point them out. And in the directory, we'd like to keep current with the plan a list of contact information for all the different groups and organizations that care about Overtown and Park West and stay actively involved. So we have -- I've started with a list. I've got 10 folks. I'm still missing a lot of addresses and phone numbers. And the thing to remember is that as you move and as your phone numbers are changing, and addresses changed, to let the CRA know so we can keep the list updated. And the things we're planning on doing is a summary of all the previous planning work that has been done over the last 20 plus years. That's written and in there. We're going to add the resolution that adopts the new boundaries that was done in last summer. We're basically -- the impact studies (INAUDIBLE), we'll add that in there. The advertisements about public (INAUDIBLE) and acknowledgment (INAUDIBLE) helped put this together. So that's the history part of the different plans. So, again, just to remind you of the upcoming meetings. So what we do now is take questions or comments. And then about -- all right. Now it's a quarter to six. We'll break up to smaller groups, unless there's no questions and we can move on to that. So the best idea would be maybe just to come up to -- come up here and I'm going to hold the microphone, and we'll take notes. If you've got (INAUDIBLE) questions before we break into the smaller groups. I'm going to hold the microphone. Reverend Ross: Who do I direct it to, to the CRA Director, Executive Director? I'm still concerned because I don't hear or see any activity taking place directly in front of our church on 9"' Street, between 3rd Avenue and the expressway. I see a lot of activity taking place coming up to 3"" Avenue, but. it gets to Yd Avenue and stops. And that's where the front of our church actually exists. Mr. Kohl: Are you referring to the (INAUDIBLE)? Reverend Ross: My concern is that -- what you call it, the -- let me see what I have here. Is that the 91" Street Mall? Is that what we're calling that? Ninth Street Mall, I think it should go all the 9 October 2, 2003 way to the expressway. For about (INAUDIBLE) that whole (INAUDIBLE) site, whatever you call that, so it can be developed in a way that enhances the front of our church and the overall area. But everything seems to come to a stop right at 3'd Avenue. And, to me, it hasn't (INAUDIBLE): A building has been torn down. I don't know what the plans are. And a fence has been put around it, but I -- (INAUDIBLE) but they got to 3"' and never come across. Mr. Kohl: OK. And, yeah -- and with that -- when you were talking about that building that's knocked down, there's a building that's been knocked down by -- FDOT purchased it. And the idea is they're building a ramp so that if you're -- you can drive -- so you would be able to drive south on 3"' Avenue and swing around to make a U-turn and turn -- get onto 95. Reverend Ross: Well, I'm hoping that that will not happen. Unidentified Speaker: No, we voted against that. Reverend Ross: I'm hoping that that will not happen. Mr. Rollason: (INAUDIBLE) and I think FDOT's planning on coming with a ramp. I mean, I'm not (INAUDIBLE) FDOT meetings, but I mean -- (COMMENTS OFF THE RECORD) Mr. Rollason: I understand. I understand. The piece that you're talking about, which is just west of 3'd Avenue on, 9"' Street Mall -- yeah, but that's not going to be a part of the ramp. That is going to be part of the 9"' Street Mall. That piece that's right in front of your church is not with FDOT. That's still part of the 9t" Street Mall. Trying to get this thing done and get it done in phases, and get it where something gets done. We had (INAUDIBLE) that were completed for the pieces done now, where the money was in place so we went ahead and did it. Next year I want to try to get the pieces in front of you, and I want to try to get the piece that will connect and go across the track and bring it going east. The piece that's going east is about a million dollar ($1,000,000) piece, coming across the tracks. They're all kinds of issues dealing with FEC to make that happen across the right-of-way. And I think that the pieces that's in front of You, there's some discussion about putting some kind of a tower, or some kind of a monument or something in that area, which has not even been designed, or the infill hasn't been there. And so it didn't make a lot of sense to go and start putting the brick pavers in that area, and then come and rip all of that up to do something else. So that phase will be done as an element, as well the piece, hopefully, in this coming year, going east (INAUDIBLE) where the Lyric is, and going across underneath the Metrorail and coming across the railroad track. Reverend Ross: Let me just make one more comment. Mr. Rollason: Sure. And Reverend, would you identify yourself? Reverend Ross: I'm Ralph Ross and I'm the Pastor of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church. (INAUDIBLE) very significant in assisting the organization and the (INAUDIBLE) of the City of Miami. What I would like to say is sometimes when I get up, especially concerning our 10 October 2, 2003 (INAUDIBLE). But anyway, we are the history of this kind of activity, and that's the kind of thing that frustrates me. And we have this (INAUDIBLE) talk about the Summit of the Americas, you all remember that. And they came in there and did all of this development; Royal palms, all kinds of stuff's been there. They came right to 3rd Avenue and stopped. And now all that stuff is torn down and started fresh. Came right to 3rd Avenue and stopped. And I walked out of the church and walked across the street, started communicating with those persons who could communicate with me, and they said; "We can't go across 3'd Avenue." And you see, it becomes the same old story over, and over, and over again. Now I -- about three years ago, we were involved in the plans to develop (INAUDIBLE) tower and all those kinds of things, what they're going to do in front of the church and so forth, (INAUDIBLE) every time something happens, it's put off to the next time. See what I mean? And the next time becomes another next time. So I was really concerned about that and I just want you to know why I'm here. I've been at the church for 13 years. We've been talking about development for 13 years. And after 13 years, absolutely nothing has been done in front of the church, and that concerns me. Because I don't -- my trust level and my confidence level is below ground (INAUDIBLE). Mr. Kohl: I'd like to (INAUDIBLE) our recommendations right now. What we've recommended basically your church is within the 3"d Corridor -- 3rd Avenue Corridor. We're suggesting that the same rules apply for all the properties right now. So actually you're in a different zoning. And so, one of the future things we're doing is reworking the development (INAUDIBLE). But what we mentioned in here as urban design solutions is that shade for pedestrians is urgently needed; could we accomplish that planting trees? (INAUDIBLE) on - street parking spaces (INAUDIBLE). We're also calling for landscaping along more embankments and the interstate. Some of this has already been done by Marvin Dunn's group. But we don't -- the travel lanes could -- should be narrowed so that the actual space can be added to sidewalks. (INAUDIBLE) improve the sidewalks. You alluded to it. So we'll make some changes in here that basically. make (INAUDIBLE) directly about streetscape. Mr. Rollason: Give me just one second, two seconds. A few months ago, I put in here the meeting said in a few months we're going to start that element of the 9"' Street Mall between 2" d Avenue and 3rd Avenue, and some people got up and said we've heard this rhetoric, and rhetoric, and rhetoric, OK. And it's just about completed -- built right now. The sidewalks that are on P Avenue -- I understand none of these plans work. And maybe in my lifetime, this thing will come to fruition. But there's also some things that need to be done now. And so, all the sidewalks between 7"' Street and llt" Street, and 3"d Avenue and the railroad tracks, are being replaced. And we started the project. And we know have a little bit of a snag with HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) but -- because this is with CD (Community Development) money, with some new (INAUDIBLE) enviromnentals. We want to make sure, we're not hurting some special sparrow or something. And they tell me that tomorrow, Friday, that environmental is supposed to be finished, and we're going to get the sidewalk contractors back in there replacing all the sidewalks, curbs, and gutters throughout that area. My position is that it's just in terrible condition as it is. It's way past where it should have been replaced, and I'm not really too concerned about what's going to happen three or four years from now when somebody else come in and do some work, and tear up the sidewalk and replace the sidewalk. As that development comes, or whatever improvements are done, fixing the sidewalk that we've already put new in here is going to be part of whoever that developer's responsibility is. So the 11 October 2, 2003 sidewalks are going to be done. The curbs are going to be done. The gutters are going to be done. And that project -- that's all of 3'"d Avenue, from 7"' Street up to I Ith Street. And the piece that you're talking about on the 9"' Street Mall is one of the elements that I hope this year we're going to be able to go forward and get something done in there. Mr. Kohl: I get to hold the mic. Rosa Green: You can hold the mic but you're going to hold it until I finish, hopefully. (COMMENTS OFF THE RECORD) Mr. Kohl: Ms. Green, can you identify yourself? Ms. Green: Yes, I will. Rosa Green, 415 Northwest 6`" Street, Miami, Florida. I would like, first of all, to dictate what the right Reverend Ross just said. Everything he said is true and more. I'm here on behalf of the people that live in Overtown. And I -- only thing I want to know about the CRA, this is all we get; paper on walls, people who come here and tells us what they're planning, and in 25 to 30 years, nothing has been completed. We have some dollhouses that are being built over there. And the money was allocated over five or six years ago. And now, they're saying -- they come here and throw up one or two bricks. Never finish anything. The only thing that they have finished over there -- and I stuck with them for nine years -- is the Jefferson Reeves -- if you're going to hold it for me, hold it up -- the Jefferson Reeves Health Center. And I noticed they didn't even put that. They left that out of the (INAUDIBLE). Because under that expressway there -- I think that's I-395 -- they're contemplating more (INAUDIBLE) this foolishness. Putting up parks, spending six hundred thousand dollars ($600,000) under there when Jefferson Reeves is in dire need of parking spaces. I have rode all over this City and under every expressway is parking spaces. In Overtown, it's nothing, a bunch Of junk. And everything they begin -- they begin those house -- they begin -- now, there's a big high-rise going up on 11"' Street and they call it Spring Garden when they don't want the money, but when they want the money, it's a part of Overtown. And I call it like I see it. It is in Overtown but they're putting them up, and they're going to begin at two hundred thousand, a hundred and twenty-five thousand. My point is we need to stop lying to the people and tell the people the truth. Start packing up because we're planning on coming over and invading Overtown and taking it over. Where do you think the people going to go? We are sick and tired of being sick and tired. And then they get people -- and I'm not mad at the people who come here -- but they get people who know absolutely nothing about Overtown to call the shots. Now, a few years ago, something came out with the burgers, "Where's the Beef?" I want to know where is the money? Where is the money? And these little businesses that they say that they going to give a hundred and fifty-six thousand and all these thousands of dollars, they -- I go by there, the people say, they said it but we never get the money. But all of a sudden, they put the strip club over there on 11 "' Street. They didn't come to the Overtown Advisory Board, so- called, and it's not really because they are out of -- they not in compliance. But they come here to tell the people everything else, but they don't come to tell those things. Now I'm going to tell you, the CRA -- and when I was a little girl -- I got to say this -- when I wasa girl -- and I'm going to sit down— they used to -- my mom used to say, you can't fight City Hall. I didn't understand it then, but I understand it now. You can not get nothing done through this City for 12 October 2, 2003 the black, the poor, the (INAUDIBLE) and the meek. We don't get anything. So if we don't get anything for our tax dollars -- and black folks, billions of dollars they spend -- then why should we have to pay tax? Why? Nothing get completed in Overtown. Nothing. They begin. They stop. Now they started on the Lyric Theater. I'm riding by there everyday. Nobody's there working. Why? They finished the NAP (Network Area Point). They finished the arena. They finished the parking lots, three years. And it's been taking forever,. and nothing gets done in Overtown. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. And I thank you (INAUDIBLE). Thank you. Phillip Bacon: Hi. My name is Phillip Bacon and I'm representing the Overtown Civic Partnership and Design Center. Back on May 13"', we submitted about a 4-page response for the list of comments, if you will, to the plan that we had been given. And I'm not sure how you want to handle this, but we had a number of items that we wanted to talk about. The first thing I should say is that we found the report to be generally positive. But there were some issues that we thought needed to be included for us to understand the report in its entirety. And one I heard you mention today about the Housing/Development report that you just had consultants to put that together. We had -- also we thought we needed to see the consultants' Economic Development report. And I got here late so I don't know if you mentioned that. Also, we thought to get the purpose report and contacts, we needed to see the implementation budget and priorities associated with that. There were a number of things that we strongly supported as guiding principles, as an example, variety of housing options, (INAUDIBLE) zoning, housing must improve living conditions, housing must be of high standards and design. We've had a whole list of things. And then transportation increase (INAUDIBLE) to create (INAUDIBLE) places with an attractive -- or active street light -- I don't have my glasses -- parking, land development regulations. But there were a few items that we disagreed with. Namely, that -- your report mentioned a 200-seat black box theater on 3"d Avenue. And we thought this was out of context and conflicted with the priority given to the Lyric Theater (INAUDIBLE). Mr. Kohl: We could take that out. Mr. Bacon: OK. There was some ongoing support for St Johns (INAUDIBLE) Affordable Housing project, which I think has been opted out. And then we also said that we'd like to see (INAUDIBLE) the arts and culture incubator project that you talked about and see some support for the development of Folk Life Village. There were a number of issues that we needed further elaboration by the CRA, and that was things like policy on gentrification, policy on displacement, percentage of housing that must remain affordable, parking initiatives as stated in the plan, transportation models as given in the plan. As an example, the two-way street system, particularly, at 5"' and 6`i' Streets, seem to be in conflict with the port plan at the time. The technical assistants to the historic Lyric Theater was something that we thought needed to be elaborated on. And also, we saw something in there that said under the powers of the Southeast Overtown/Park West boundaries. And I think this was on Page 4. I'll have to identify the reference later. It says that you have the power to acquire properties by eminent domain. And we -- I thought that might have been incorrect. Mr. Kohl: The City does have -- the City, in general, has powers. The CRA, according to the statute, can, but the CRA, by practice, and perhaps -- 13 October 2, 2003 Mr. Rollason: (INAUDIBLE), Joe. (INAUDIBLE) Mr. Kohl: So in the original -- Mr. Rollason: (INAUDIBLE) Mr. Kohl: But we also mentioned that that would not be a preferred route. Mr. Bacon: OK. Well, it just was mentioned in the plan and it was a CRA document so we wanted to get some clarification on that. And then we need to understand the current millage rate as opposed to Southeast Overtown/Park West Redevelopment activities. And then we had some specific comments with some of our partners, like LISC. I think -- and I see Dennis Russ here, if you want to elaborate on some of these things. There was the idea that there needed to be a development of more comprehensive Community Development programs, a performance (INAUDIBLE) system of operating support, and training, technical assistance. And I'm going to skip because I don't want to read each one of them. That -- oh, OK. There was a -- we talked about securing (INAUDIBLE) benefit from technology for the Community Development system and the community it serves, (INAUDIBLE) in government business and philanthropy into a collaborative South Florida Community Development initiative. There were others. I (INAUDIBLE) with Bethel AME that the CRA support joint venture projects involving itself and local CDCs. The Trust for Public Land recommend that updated CRA plan -- that the updated CRA plan include, as a priority, projects in Overtown, bringing the alignment from Biscayne Bay to the Miami River, as approved by the CRA Board in its adoption of the Overtown (INAUDIBLE) and Overtown Greenway Plan. TPL also recommended the updated CRA plan, including priority projects, pedestrian -friendly improvement under the Metrorail, and the right-of-way, including but not limited to -- (TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES) Mr. Bacon: -- significant landscaping. Also, TPL recommended the updated CRA plan, including priority projects, including restorations, landscape, community gateway and neighborhood signage. So there are a number of things that we have in our response that we want to understand how we can -- how the CRA wants to address that, and how we can interact with the CRA during this process. Mr. Kohl: Make sure all of your comments on your memo are incorporated into the second draft. Mr. Bacon: OK. Mr. Kohl: And maybe we just need to sit down and point out to you where we've done that. There might be some things that are not as specific and clear as you wanted it -- wanted. So we can figure that out to get the language so that it's stating what you're trying to say. Mr. Bacon: If that's the case, we'd really appreciate that. 14 October 2, 2003 Dennis Russ: My name is Dennis Russ. I'm the Program Director for Greater Miami LISC. I'd like to congratulate the agency, and also, the consultants who are undertaking a substantial, substantial effort. I think there's been a great deal of community participation and we've been a part of it. It's something beyond us. I'd like to congratulate all of the people who have been a part of it. We began a series of meetings that were developed soon after the current draft came out. And the concern of the folks in the meeting was around the redevelopment plan, the Overtown redevelopment plan and the extent to which it would benefit existing residents of Overtown. And we had, I think, a half dozen meetings. Those meetings have included service providers, special service agencies that service the community, the Community Development Corporations, representatives of the Civic Partnership. And we are proffering two areas of recommendation that I can leave you in a written form. One of the -- and this deals with benefit of Overtown redevelopment for the people who live in Overtown. We think that redeveloping Overtown should provide opportunities for current residents, each of the current residents to benefit from the program by assuring safe and decent, affordable housing, with the option to either stay in the neighborhood or move to another neighborhood at their choice. We suggest as well, as a second key point, that redevelopment of Overtown should include improvement and/or replacement of the current housing stock, while assuring the right number of housing units affordable to low and extremely low income people. In other words, upgrade the housing stock, while preserving the affordability. So we think there is a need to recognize in goals and in principles and in actions a benefit to current residents in the short-term, within a two to three- year period, and then there needs, as well, to be a long-term, long range focus on the future of Overtown and undertaking to benefit folks on the existing population and (INAUDIBLE) so that they will be able to continue to live in the neighborhood. As we look at how to implement that, and we suggest a series of implementing principles with respect to existing residents, we call upon the agency to adopt the motion of a service enriched neighborhood in which there's a coordinated program that will provide, by a coordinated network of non-profit agencies and government agencies. We think that the discussion effort should be made and should be called upon in the plan and should be made in the implementation of the plan to strengthen and create a civic association that will, in an ongoing way, be a part of the implementation of this plan and assure the participation of residents in the operations of the improvements that occur. We think - - and you mentioned that a special effort needs to be made to assure support of the schools in the neighborhood and of the public education system. And we call upon the plan to undertake that. It's very important that residents be provided the choice of safe, clean, affordable housing within the neighborhood or any other neighborhood at their choice, and that new housing development meet the affordability needs of existing residents. It seems to us, in the view of the plan, that the private developers or the developers who are being called upon to make all of the efforts in terms benefits, but we think the plan itself should call out for this target of services and target of benefits for people who are living in the neighborhood. And -- Mr. Kohl: Did you all strategize as to who would be facilitating this group, the program, or service initiated from the program? Is this something you're asking the CRA to take on or a different group? And then, also, how is it funded? Because if (INAUDIBLE) in two years, we've got to figure out -- 15 October 2, 2003 Mr. Russ: I think that the development of the service enriched neighborhood was to be by participation based organizations that currently serve and would be called upon to serve. So it needs to be (INAUDIBLE) to associating that (INAUDIBLE) effort and that implementation effort with the civic association that would be involved and included in articulating how this effort gets underway. And I think that the effort of the fimding needs to be thought about, needs to be planned. You know, there are resources and existing resources in our Community Development Block Grant fiends, tax increment financing funds. Certainly, there's a budget to accomplish these efforts. And I think that careful attention needs to be paid to how that budget would be allocated. We think that redevelopment that receives public funding or public support ought to target levels of assistance to low and very low income folks that would enable existing residents and future residents to be retained, and housing in the neighborhood needs to be provided. Home ownership, rented housing, supportive services, there should be a wide range of housing that's being (INAUDIBLE). And beyond that, we think that Code Enforcement has vehicles to ensure that there will be (INAUDIBLE) re -- Mr. Kohl: Who should be doing the land (INAUDIBLE) -- (TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES) Dorothy Fields: -- longer than God. (COMMENTS OFF THE RECORD) Ms. Fields: It has really, really been a long time. And Phil Bacon, with the Overtown Civic Partnership, who also chairs the Lyric Theater Expansion Committee, Eric Shaw, April Young, and Kimba King, along with (INAUDIBLE), who is the Manager -- Project Manager for the Lyric, really just stuck with it. And the Performing Arts Center has worked with it. Not necessarily the Performing Arts Center, but the Cultural -- Unidentified Speaker: Cultural Affairs. Ms. Fields: -- Affairs Council, Michael Spring's Office, really has helped to make it possible so that we can move to the next level. And so, we're glad that you ride by everyday. We do, too. We want everybody to ride by and see it happen. (COMMENTS OFF THE RECORD) Ms. Fields:. Well, it won't be long now. And, in fact, Phil is planning the gala opening. And so, get your ball gowns ready because we are going to be there. I know that through the Knight Foundation -- the Collin Center and the Knight Foundation grant, we -- the transformation, the change from within is taking place. So (INAUDIBLE). While we have temporary jobs for residents, we're looking for a more definitive, a motion from the CRA as it relates to long-term jobs. We want -- the people have to be able to afford the housing that's coming into Overtown. And, certainly, there will be jobs (INAUDIBLE). There will be jobs with retail. There will be jobs with the businesses. But we will (INAUDIBLE) together and have a more definitive plan for the workforce. Overtown is a destination, a (INAUDIBLE) place, a destination of choice, a 16 October 2, 2003 place of purpose, and a place of value. In the plan, it alludes to that but it doesn't say it. And that's something that through the charrettes, all the charrettes, all those plans, those-- almost 40 plans that we had, it has always said the same thing, and that needs to be prominent in that -- in this master plan. The big thing -- the big question I had is, does this plan provide for the established CDCs and CBOs (Community Based Organizations) to participate in the transfonnation process as vendors? We have developed our own specialties. We are experts in various areas. What -- when the CRA wants (INAUDIBLE) done, they go into a firm in Coral Gables, yes. And when work needs to be done that can be done by BAME, that can be done by St. John, because they have developed expertise in construction and construction management, they should be considered. And my question now, does the plan, at this time, provide for CDCs and CBOs to participate as vendors? And if not, why not and when? It should. Mr. Kohl: The plan right now mentions CDCs as having active roles. It doesn't specify the word "vendor." And then -- that would, to me, kind of says this falls into the Purchasing Department of the City. And so, I don't have -- really -- I don't know if they have policies in place or what. Ms. Fields: Well, the fact is, when you have work to be done and -- you have to hire someone. If, in fact, we don't -- we, as CDCs and CBOs, don't have the capacity when -- see, this is our community and we're concerned with the sustainability of it. Then it seems to me, as (INAUDIBLE) in other communities, that we need to partner with others who have the capacity so we can build, so that we will be able to do it in the future. We're not going anywhere. Folks have come in from everywhere -- and we're happy about that -- but they leave. This is our home. Make it happen. (APPLAUSE) Charles Cutler: My name is Charles Cutler. I'm rep -- I'm chairman of (INAUDIBLE) Organization. Unidentified Speaker:' Address. Mr. Cutler: It's 706 Northwest 4"' Avenue. It's good to see that there are people here that's interested in building affordable housing and rented units within the Overtown area, and also, in terns of the actual employment and training of our people in the Overtown area. But I think that we should look at the employment phenomena in this community in a more holistic manner. Because the bottom line is this is development and economics. Now, I work for the Department of Labor and I don't see anything that the economy have in place to even assist the market that's going to be coming into, not only Overtown, but Miami -Dade County. They have an Infornation Technology company that's coming here. And the amount of training that they have is not even geared toward the plan -- the public to meet that demand. And what's going to actually happen, in lieu of that, is that they're going to end up having to bring their own workforce in, which is going to leave some of our people behind the eight ball, wherein, if we can get up on top of that right now and start preparing the market for it, we can prepare our people for that process. Now, what I would like to see -- like to see the CRA do, because I rode up there -- I done a lot of research on the plans that being made out for historic black community 17 October 2, 2003 over the past 40 years, and a lot of that stuff has not worked. And I'm looking at the new plans that you have, and what I see is a fusion that's happening also. Just like, for instance, the CRA project stopped on 3rd Avenue when the bulk of the black community in the Overtown area is on the other side of 3`1 Avenue. And I see that as an insult to the effort to actually address the real issues to the residents in the Overtown area. And by me seeing that the same thing is about to unfold again, I must come forward and I must detennine whether or not the CRA and even the City of Miami are they willing to assure this time, in terns of actually turning this community around. Because the biggest asset that we have in this community is our ability -- is the position that we have in this community as a tourist -- as a tourism industry. And the only thing that really damaged our ability to draw tourism was our lack of ability to work together as a community. We've allowed discrimination. We've allowed racism to come in and destroy this community. And I think that now we all have a responsibility to come together, because we are our brother's keeper. Because we, as a people, we're not going anywhere. And the American black people, we've demonstrated time and time again that we are nothing but loyal to this country and we are patriotic, even myself. I volunteered to go to Vietnam to preserve the Constitution of this country, which is very eloquently written, I might say myself. I (INAUDIBLE) only second to the Holy Bible. But what I'm saying now is, we're encouraging our children now to get away from crime, and to try to get them into some other areas. We're encouraging them to get away from drugs. But I will not stand by and allow the same thing to happen to them again, and we're right back in the same situation 20 years down the road, looking at the same situation because it's a bunch of greedy people coming to town that their only interest is padding their pocket, and because it's turning Overtown over to the predators because they're calling themselves Corporate America. We're not going to just stand by and watch them -- watch that happen. Because, in lieu doing that, nothing effective is going to happen for the people in Overtowh. So, now, what I do suggest -- now, I work for the Department of Labor. Now, number one, in this economy, black people are not being hired. Now, I've been making a (INAUDIBLE) in the construction industry, and I'm going to continue to do that because there's no -- like the gentleman mentioned earlier, there's no way that we're going to be able to buy affordable housing or any other type of housing if we're not employed. And the employment rate in the black community right now is over 50 percent. And I think that if the CRA and the City of Miami is sincere about all these (INAUDIBLE) that they're throwing around, all these plans that they got, every construction project that comes in this area, an attempt should be made to hire anybody within this community that's qualified to do the work. Now, some of the stuff that I've been getting is that they're not qualified, I'm here to tell you that that's -- I work for the Department of Labor. And we have people within this community with a plethora of different talents that's capable of doing any job that you -- that comes into this community. And if not, we've got a network of employees all over (INAUDIBLE) that if we can't fill it here locally, it's somewhere within the vicinity City of Miami that we can find somebody to do that job. So it don't make any sense to bring more people from the outside that can't even speak English to come in to take jobs away from the community that are desolate. (INAUDIBLE) and perpetrating this whole idea that -- of racism. Because, basically, that's all it is. It's really economic exploitation and it's economic slavery. Because the only opportunities that are being afforded to our children is going out into the street selling drugs. That's why the prisons are full of them right now; and prostitution for our women. And we've got to start looking at this thing in a much more serious light because it's bad. It's really bad for your children to have to walk to 18 October 2, 2003 school everyday and they walk past all this destruction, and all this stuff going on. And their mothers and fathers can't even get a job in their own community. Mr. Kohl: So what is your recommendation to the CRA? Mr. Cutler: Recommendation to the CRA is number one, that if you're sincere about changing economic makeup in this community, you should come up with some type of policy, like something similar to what Dade County is doing. Anytime a project comes into this community, they'll be -- the residents in this community must be guaranteed a certain amount of jobs, period. Mr. Kohl: (INAUDIBLE) the CRA is currently working on an agreement with the City for that, right? Mr. Cutler: I'm not sure about that because I -- the person that did -- Mr. Kohl: That's what Chelsa's been telling me, as I've been working on the draft. Mr. Cutler: OK. But -- OK, that's good. But when I walk out there right now and I see work going on, just like with the complex over at 3rd Avenue and IIt" Street, now when I walk out there and look at projects like that (INAUDIBLE) community and I'm still seeing the same thing, and what you're telling me now, that's incongruent. Mr. Kohl: You know, I don't know that it's in place yet. They're working on the language for it, is my understanding. Mr. Cutler: My only point is a feasible business ownership -- there has to be some opportunity afforded to the Overtown residents, the black community here, to be in the center of their own community. Because Overtown was built by black businesses and it branched our cultural contribution that we've made to assist us -- to develop the integrity of Overtown within the black community. And I think it would be a tragedy if we were to miss out all that. We need to develop opportunities for black entrepreneurship. Because, first of all, your employment phase - - I've been working in employment for over 20 years. If you're not talking about developing black businesses in this area, then you're just wasting our time. Unidentified Speaker: Absolutely. Mr. Cutler: So, the CRA need to come up with some type of entrepreneur program because they can anticipate the market. They just allowed corporate America to come here. They should prepare some young entrepreneurs right now through grant programs, through proper training, through a network. They have corporations all over this country that set up to develop businesses within the inner city. And I think that we should start moving towards that direction also. Thank you. Mr. Rollason: (INAUDIBLE) I hear you. Listen, one of the things that you need to become aware of -- and I want to get this thing back on track with this plan because we need to go through these issues with this plan and I don't want to lose the audience. But a CRA is not going 19 October 2, 2003 to take care of all the social ills and problems that come to a community. It doesn't. The CRA, when you look at Chapter 163, has specific responsibilities that it is to perform. And what's happened in the past is the CRA has deviated from that, and it's done things that then cause ire from the conununity to come up and then say, well, how come your plan for this function is taking place, or you're doing this, or you're doing that? Listen, we're talking about bricks and mortar. We're talking about coming in here and putting in infrastructure. These are the things that your TIF dollars, with the tax money, that is coming into this organization, we should be doing these things. That's where the bulk of our leadership should be, and that's where the bulk of our emphasis should be. And I think that we're getting that back on track, and this plan is a part of that. We've got to get through this. So I want to -- you know, Joe, get us back on track, and let's stay with this. And, Charles, I -- where did Charles go? Did he already leave? Unidentified Speaker: Right behind you. Mr. Rollason: All right. I'll be seeing you. Mr. Kohl: How many folks want to also ask questions to the larger group? Because we're getting close to the time where we're going to break up into smaller groups. In fact, I'm looking around the room. It looks like everybody's started doing that anyway. So, it might be about time to do that. So, anybody else other than -- OK. David Alexander: Good evening. My name is David Alexander. I'm President/CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of St. Johns Community Development Corporation. There are some issues that I would like to put on the record after I say good afternoon to everyone that's here this afternoon. I would like to, first and foremost, say that I've only been in Overtown for three months. I've just taken over the big shoes of Mr. David Days, who preceded me at St. Johns CDC, working in years in several occasions. Now, I have three of four very important items that I want to put in the record in order to be addressed in the CRA proposed plan. The first issue is one which is probably a very sticky issue. I want to have a step back and take a look at the proposed new boundaries for the CRA. There is a fatal flaw in the way that the CRA boundaries were originally developed. I believe -- it's my feeling that, actually, Overtown and Southeast Overtown and Park West are actually -Suffering because the revenues that should be coming into the community for the redevelopment of the worst part of the community are not, in fact, reaching the community itself. Now we have two separate CRA districts. But if one were to look up the map, there would be no rhyme or reason as to how those boundaries were drawn that would make sense to the poor people of Overtown on who's dime this original CRA plan was already drawn. So I'm going to ask that Dover Kohl take a look back, and that Dover Kohl make some recommendations. And that we -- you know, let's go in frank discussions with Frank. But we talk to the CRA and we ask, well, if Overtown currently extends to 20"' Street and then Wynwood starts, how come the Omni district goes down to 15"' Street? No rhyme or reason is what I'm saying. Development would take place on the edge of a community. It would not take place in the center of a community first. If (INAUDIBLE) be funded with development dollars and those dollars are incurred into another CRA district that is adjacent to us, where is the money going to go? We need that money in the Overtown community. We're not throwing stones at anybody in the Omni target area. What we're saying is, that there are certain inconsistencies in the design of the boundaries, and that speaks to the money. And where does the money go? 20 October 2, 2003 What is it funding? Well, you know, we're going to have a new opera house. You're going to have a new Performing Arts Center, which are great beacons of light in our community. But I ask you, how is that being funded? Well, in the (INAUDIBLE) tax. The (INAUDIBLE) tax is funding a great percentage of the construction in these two projects. (INAUDIBLE) move those dollars into Overtown. � (INAUDIBLE). They don't enter Overtown. So, development and the private sector are putting six hundred million dollars ($600,000,000) worth of development on the edge of Overtown, using tax bases to foot it, and this money is not filtering back into the community. The question that we ask is, what provision has Dover Kohl made in terms of making suggestions and to change the boundaries? And, furthermore, how can the CRA help us redirect some of that funding that was maybe initially mistakenly taken from the black community? The second issue I want to talk to is what has Dover Kohl done in the plan to look at, specifically in the property in the Overtown area, that need and are crying for development, and not necessarily in what we are now referring to, with all due respect to Dorothy, my darling, to the Town Center? There is an uptown Overtown, OK. And this uptown Overtown does have five (INAUDIBLE), five significant pieces of property on the market today that need to be developed. St. John CDC is busily preparing proposals for this development process, but it's going to take a lot more money that's on the table right now to do that. How are we going to find that? We need to look to the CRA for answers. The last issue that I would like to speak to is one that's been brushed on twice this evening. You know, we have certain experiences now in the last, what is it, 16 years. We have seen changes take place in Overtown. But some of these have been primarily the reduction of our building force. There are fewer buildings in Overtown today than ever before. I would like to (INAUDIBLE) to the community that Overtown now consists of like, only 9,000 people. And how many was it when the process started? Forty thousand people to 9,000 people. We have a net loss of somewhere around 31,000 people. I believe that it is our responsibility, as a Community Development Corporation, to replace the number of affordable housing units that were in the community before the redevelopment process started. And then, (INAUDIBLE) that critical mass above that, if you want to serve markets outside of the community. Because the community has lost its integrity. The people that you see here today are people who didn't move away, or people who came back. We would like there to be a position statement, and maybe, (INAUDIBLE) to the CRA to, in fact, make provisions for the destruction of those housing units that were taken out of the community, for there to be a schedule of replacement. Because a 40,000-person community is a powerful community, much more powerful than a 9,000-person community. Lastly, on the issue of jobs and economic development. The reality is the private sector drives the market base. CDCs will never create jobs on the scale that the private sector would. What incentives are there for the CDCs, in working with the CRA, to produce incentives to the private sector? Well, we are (INAUDIBLE) meeting the new (INAUDIBLE) for the past few months, am I right? Am I right? Where are the incentives going? The incentives are going, perceivably, indirectly to the private sector, without providing a spill off of employment due to our communities. We would like to see that. When the CRA makes a decision to give money to a private sector company, that there is a way for the community to participate in that process. On 3rd Avenue, we have a beautiful building sitting vacant, commercially. Use our CRA money to redevelop this building. There is not one business in that building. Unidentified Speaker: Three hundred more thousand. 21 October 2, 2003 0 . 0 Mr. Alexander: We, at St. Johns CDC, have been approached by four different businesspeople who have told us that they cannot overcome the barriers to entry to using space in that building. We would ask that the CRA investigate what is going on in that particular property. And with that, I thank you for your time and your attention. Mr. Kohl: Thanks. I'll be happy to address some of those issues (INAUDIBLE) right now. Regarding the boundaries, we are not -- we were not the lead consultants to define the boundaries. hi fact, the City hired some other consultants, and the City Commission wrangled with this issue for quite a while. It was set up as we were getting started, and we have to live with the boundary. We don't have, in our contract right now, the time to continue to evaluate that. I would expect the CRA is interested in getting this plan adopted. So I would think the drive would be let's get this plan adopted and we can address the boundary issue again in the fiiture, as perhaps, a separate process. What have we done to look at specific areas? We've tried. to cover as much of the CRA area with visual illustrations as possible. There are probably more drawings in this CRA plan than any CRA plan in the state of Florida. It's not a requirement. These are extra things. So we've tried to make every effort to show -- because, basically, we're primarily physical planners, so we are trying to illustrate what.the potential of this neighborhood can be, based on input that we've received. So we might -- if you actually review the document, you might see we've covered some of those ideas. Regarding the responsibility to replace a number of affordable units, I suggest you all look at -- in Section 5 -- not 5, 6 -- Section 7. There is a housing policy. Now, the housing policy is going to be embellished in the future. And so, it addresses many of the concerns that (INAUDIBLE) Victor Dover: (INAUDIBLE) There is significant parts of what's drawn in the map. Mr. Kohl: That's true. Mr. Dover: Go to the map. Mr. Kohl: OK. Also -- Victor -- that's Victor Dover, the Dover of Dover Kohl and Partners. We've done a very detailed map, and so, actually, every piece of land within the CRA has been Illustrated, with at least one hypothetical way that the property could be built out, with building footprint, and trees, and parks and that kind of thing. So, back to the housing policy, it's -- the housing policy is going to be improved, but please take a look at the section and let us know. Remember, what we're trying to do is write the language. So, if you all have recommendations on the -- a different way to phrase a sentence or to change some words, or to add quantitative information into this document, please give that to us so that we can take that into account and redraft it. OK. Well, then why don't we break up into different groups. To be honest, I don't know who's going to be standing by each of the stations as the expert from the CRA. But we'll be happy to entertain questions on a one-on-one basis about the (INAUDIBLE). Thank you all. Appreciate you coming out. [There being no further business, the meeting of the Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency Community Workshop adjourned at 6:15 p.m.] 22 October 2, 2003 CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA INTER -OFFICE MEMORANDUM TO: Frank Rollason Executive Director, CRA FROM: G`L� Pri illa A. Thompson City Clerk DATE: NoveIIIber 4, 2003 SUBJECT: REFERENCES: ENCLOSURES: Minutes of the October 2, 2003 CRA Corrunurrity Workshop Enclosed herein, please find a copy of the minutes for the October 2, 2003 CRA Community Workshop. PAT:mm FILE: