HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem #60 - Discussion ItemNo_wsLibraq Document Delivery DISTRICT 5 A
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VICE CHAIRMAN TEELE
Alonso, Elvi G.
From: McGibbon, Karen
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 11:06 AM
To: Rincon, Jessica
Cc: Alonso, Elvi G.; Lee, Brenda; Neptune, Christian; Ortiz -Petit, Ignacio
Subject: BLUE PAGE ITEM FOR 6/12/03
Importance: High
Please add the following Blue Page Item for District 5 per Comm. Teele's directive for Thurs.
6/12/03:
DISCUSSION AND MOTION RELATING TO THE DEMOLITION OF THE RESIDENCE OWNED
BY ELDERLY COUPLE, MR. AND MRS. JAMES & ELLA THOMAS WHICH WAS LOCATED
AT 5939 NW FIFTH COURT.
THANK YOU
Karen McGibbon -Lucas
Office of Commissioner Teele
3500 Pan American Drive
Miami, FL 33133
Telephone (305)250-5390
Fox (305)250-5399
www.ci.miom i.f I.us/teele
slave a positive & productive day!
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The Miami Herald
September 1, 2001
Section: Local
Edition: Final
Page: 3B
DISPLACED COUPLE ALMOST HOME
JENNIFER MILLER, jenmiller@herald.com
The beloved house Henry and Elia Thomas shared for 53 years was demolished Friday.
6/5/2003
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In its place, the couple forced out of the dilapidated home last month will get a new house.
"They were sitting outside the home smiling," Miami police spokesman Delrish Moss said. "You
could tell that a great bond has developed between them and the people that had been helping
them out. It was wonderful to see."
A few weeks earlier, the couple in their early 70s sat more somberly as they watched Miami
police and city employees clear out most of their possessions in the collapsing cottage at 5939
NW Fifth Ct to make way for kind-hearted citizens to fix it.
But after a closer inspection, a development company volunteering to make the repairs said
there was no way to simply fix it. The house had to come down, Moss said.
Victory Development of Dania Beach has offered to build the couple a similarly styled, three-
bedroom house free of charge, Moss said. It will cost the company about $70,000, said Victory
Development owner Matt Posner. "When I saw them on the news I felt bad," Posner said. "I just
felt the urge to come forward and do something about it"
Miami -Dade County Health Department officials deemed the structure unlivable in early August
after police told them the roof had caved in. In 1995, the city of Miami opened up a code
enforcement case against Henry Thomas for a house on a lot next to the one demolished
Friday. The city told him to fix it up or face demolition.
That house was demolished about eight months ago, said Harvey Naim, Little Haiti
neighborhood resource officer.
Then their primary home suffered the same fate. Posner said under a best -case scenario, the
Thomases could have the keys to their new home before Thanksgiving.
For now, they are staying in Northwest Miami with a friend, who notified police about the terrible
shape of the Thomases' home, Naim said.
After Labor Day, the couple will be put up by Ramada Inn in Fort Lauderdale, he said.
Illustration: photo: Henry Thomas stands beside shouse he owned that was demolished
(a)
HERALD FILE, 1999 LOOKING UP: Henry Thomas stands beside a house he owned that
was demolished eight months ago. It is on a lot next to the house that he and his wife
shared that was demolished Friday.
Copyright (c) 2001 The Miami Herald
6/5/2003