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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 2002-07-08 MinutesMINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF MIAMI, FLORIDA On the 8th day of July, 2002, the City Commission of Miami, Florida, met at its regular meeting place in the City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida in special session. The meeting was called to order at 2:18 p.m. by Chairman Thomas Regalado with the following members of the Commission found to be present: Commissioner Angel Gonzalez (District 1) Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton (District 2) Commissioner Joe Sanchez (District 3) Chairman Tomas Regalado (District 4) ABSENT: Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. (District 5) ALSO PRESENT: Carlos A. Gimenez, City Manager Alejandro Vilarello, City Attorney Pricilla A. Thompson, City Clerk Sylvia Scheider, Assistant City Clerk JULY 8, 2002 1. EMERGENCY ORDINANCE: ESTABLISH SIX SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS ENTITLED: (1) COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (28TH YEAR); (2) HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM; (3) HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH AIDS; (4) EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT PROGRAM; (5) SHIP HOUSING PROGRAM; AND (6) SECTION 8 HOUSING PROGRAM AND APPROPRIATE FUNDS CONSISTING OF GRANTS FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN, $33,909,442, AND FLORIDA HOUSING FINANCE CORPORATION, $2,326,054, AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM INCOME, $2,260,000. Chairman Regalado: This is a special Commission meeting, city of Miami. We're going to have a moment of silent prayer and then Commissioner Joe Sanchez will say the pledge of allegiance. So if you all stand, please. Thank you. An invocation was delivered by Chairman Regalado, after which Commissioner Sanchez led those present in a pledge of allegiance to the flag. Chairman Regalado: This is a public hearing, so any group or person that wishes to address the Commissioner will have the possibility of doing so. Madam City Clerk, have they registered with you or -- Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): Yes. We have quite a few individuals who did register and are ready to speak. Chairman Regalado: OK. So anybody -- to make things simple, anybody who wishes to address the Commission, please go by the City Clerk and register, so we'll have an idea of, you know, like how many persons are we going to be listening to this afternoon. This is a Special City Commission meeting convened by the Board of City Commissioners to discuss the allocation of CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funds, and we have many groups already that will be addressing the Commission. We do have interpreter, so anybody who wishes to address the Commission in Spanish, we'll have translation available. What we plan to do is, we have several items in this hearing, 13 items. None of you probably would want to comment on all 13, but we do have certain, that I'm sure that many of you would like to comment and make your request. Item Number 1, it's an emergency ordinance and it's the Community Development Block Grant, the 28th Year Home Investment Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome), Emergency Shelter Grant Program, Ship Housing Program and Section 8 Housing Program. Commissioner Gonzalez: Move. Chairman Regalado: Let's hear -- 2 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Gonzalez: Oh, it's a public hearing. Chairman Regalado: Yes. Let's hear from the administration, and then anybody who wishes to speak to the Commission on this matter will get in line to do so. Go ahead. Dan Fernandes: Yes, Commissioner. Dan Fernandes, Acting Director, Department of Community Development. We're starting off kind of on the simple side for you to make it a little bit easier to get going. The first piece of legislation that we have is basically the legislation that establishes the special revenue accounts for the funding sources that you talked about CDBG Emergency Shelter Grant, HOPWA, HOME, (Home Investment Partnership Program) Section 8 and SHIP (State Housing Initiative Partnership). This is an emergency ordinance and again, all it's doing is setting up the special revenue accounts for the allocations for the coming year. Chairman Regalado: OK. Any comments from the board members on this? This is not to allocate. This is just to set a fund on this matter and then we'll go into the different programs. Vice Chairman Winton: So moved. Commissioner Sanchez: Second. Chairman Regalado: OK. It's been moved and second. This is an emergency ordinance and then, just to make sure for the people here, this is not an allocation. This is just setting the fund, right? Mr. Fernandes: That's correct, Commissioner. Chairman Regalado: OK. Allocations will begin in Item 2, so what we're going to do is, we're going to go ahead and vote on this ordinance so that way, we have the money available and then we'll proceed with the other items, so would you please, City Attorney, read the ordinance. Alejandro Vilarello (City Attorney): Yes, Mr. Chairman. Just one point, that this is an appropriations ordinance. It does authorize the expenditure of funds. You'll address that in the subsequent items, but this does authorize the expenditure of funds. The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney. Chairman Regalado: OK. Roll call. Ms. Thompson: The vote is 4/0. 3 JULY 8, 2002 An Ordinance Entitled -- AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ESTABLISHING SIX SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS ENTITLED: (1) COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (28TH YEAR); (2) HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM; (3) HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH AIDS; (4) EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT PROGRAM; (5) SHIP HOUSING PROGRAM; AND (6) SECTION 8 HOUSING PROGRAM AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS AS MORE SPECIFICALLY SET FORTH BELOW, CONSISTING OF GRANTS FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $33,909,442 AND FLORIDA HOUSING FINANCE CORPORATION IN THE AMOUNT OF $2,326,054 AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM INCOME IN THE AMOUNT OF $2,260,000 AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ACCEPT SAID GRANTS AND TO EXECUTE ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY FOR ACCEPTANCE OF THE GRANTS; AND AUTHORIZING THE EXPENDITURES OF THE FUNDS FOR THE OPERATION OF THE PROGRAMS; CONTAINING A REPEALER PROVISION AND A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE. was introduced by Vice Chairman Winton and seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, for adoption as an emergency measure, and dispending with the requirement of reading same on two separate days, was agreed to the following vote: AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton Commissioner Angel Gonzalez Commissioner Joe Sanchez NAYS: None. ABSENT: Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. 4 JULY 8, 2002 Whereupon the Commission on motion of Vice Chairman Winton and seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, adopted said ordinance by the following vote: AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton Commissioner Angel Gonzalez Commissioner Joe Sanchez NAYS: None. ABSENT: Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. SAID ORDINANCE WAS DESIGNATED ORDINANCE NO. 12250. Chairman Regalado: OK. Thank you very much. 2. TABLED: PROPOSED ALLOCATION OF 28TH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM FUNDS AND $1,300,000 OF PROGRAM INCOME ALLOCATING $7,395,100 TO SUPPORT CITY MUNICIPAL SERVICES AND RELATED ACTIVITIES. Chairman Regalado: Item 2 is the allocation of the 28th Year Community Block Grant (CDBG) Program funds. Dan. Dan Fernandes (Acting Director, Department of Community Development) Yes, Commissioner. Item 2 deals with what we relate to as municipal services and related activities. Basically, those are the activities that are undertaken by the City or have a close correlation to City activities; that would include the grant administration, which is basically 20 percent of the entitlement grant itself, as well as 20 percent of program administration. There's lot clearings included here for $350,000, NET (Neighborhood Enhancement Team) Code Enforcement at $1,000,000, unsafe structures code enforcement, which, in the past, has been what you refer to as demolition, that's another $500,000; disabilities program in the Parks Department for $119,000. We have $1.4 million set apart for our Section 108 Loan guarantee; CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) base line funding at 379,9 as per the interlocal agreement; CRA CLUD-90 (County Land UsageCode), $100,000, again, per interlocal agreement. There's $225,000 set aside for Little Haiti Job Creation project. This is the fifth year with a five-year commitment to this particular project that was authorized by the City Commission. Then the final allocation under what we refer to as municipal services and related activities, includes an allocation of $750,000 for the Flagler Marketplace project of the Downtown Development Authority. This is basically replenishment of an allocation that the City Commission had made several years ago. Two years ago, when we were looking for funding in order to spend money on a timely basis, the funding was taken away with a commitment to go back again and return those funds to the DDA (Downtown Development Authority). Again, the total allocation that you have here is $8,695,100. 5 JULY 8, 2002 Chairman Regalado: OK. Any questions? Comments? Commissioner Sanchez: Are we going to vote on each independent resolution? I have just some comments on one of the resolutions. That's number nine, which is HOPWA (Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS) when we get to it. Mr. Fernandes: Each resolution will be separate. Each item's a separate item, Commissioner. Commissioner Sanchez: OK. Mr. Fernandes: This will deal only with again municipal services and related activities with the CDB G grant. Vice Chairman Winton: Mr. Chairman? Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir. Vice Chairman Winton: I have a serious problem, and the serious problem is that the net effect of, I think, a rather innocent and innocuous resolution that we passed probably six or eight months ago, that seemed rational on the surface, has had a huge negative impact on the agencies providing social services within District 2, some of whom also provide services that are classified as District 2 to a broader area of the City. The net effect in District 2 has been a reduction in allocations overall in the public service arena by 23 percent, which was $132,000, and in economic development, there was a reduction of $138,000, which was a 35 percent reduction. There was no change in housing, so the net effect of $270,000 was cut out of our budget, compared to last year, which was, overall, a 24 percent reduction in District 2. This has had a dramatic impact on some very, very good agencies, and while I think the concept made some sense on the surface, I have -- and I told staff this when I met with them -- the first time I heard about this I believe was last -- when did we have a Commission meeting? Last -- well, Thursday before last? Chairman Regalado: Twenty-seventh. Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah, yeah, so we had a Commission meeting on Thursday before last. I heard about it as I was running around here at my lunch break, but I didn't have, you know -- they caught me in passing. I didn't have time to deal with it -- didn't have time to think about the impact, and then I met with them on Monday of this past week. Then we had the holidays on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and so there was really the equivalent of three days that we had to make some really tough decisions for agencies providing very valuable services within District 2, and I was very, very unhappy about that because I'm not equipped to make the kind of decisions that staff was asking me to make without having some pretty -- these are deep cuts, you know. This wasn't, say, five to ten percent. You're talking -- when you're talking about 35 and 25 percent cuts, those are deep, deep cuts. Those really, really impact agencies. This isn't something where they can just shave a little something. This is something where they've got to cut the 6 JULY 8, 2002 muscle out, in addition to whatever fat may have been there, and I think many of the agencies within my area, you know, we've been turning up the heat and particularly the CDCs (Community Development Corporations), I don't think they have any fat left, but the social service agencies, they're doing things; services for kids and those kinds of things. They all got hit very, very, very hard, and the quarrel that I have here is that when we passed that resolution months ago, I think staff should have been responsible for doing an economic impact statement, if you will, so they could have come to us months ago and said, "Hey, if you all follow through with this, here's the impact that you all are going to have to deal with when you get ready to distribute CDBG funds again." Instead, we get a three-day notice. Well, you can't deal with it on a three-day notice. It's absolutely literally impossible, unless we do something a little different here, and the something a little different that I would recommend us considering is taking the grant administration line here, which is $3.8 million and reducing that by $270,000, and put back in my district's agencies $270,000 of the $3,871,000 that will put these agencies back in the position that they need to be in, and that the administration won't gobble up so much of the money, number one; and number two, I think that's a pretty clear message to the staff that if there's ordinances that we passed that have a great economic impact, they need to be looking at this stuff and telling us more than three days in advance. Chairman Regalado: I'm surprised for what you just said because my understanding is that because of the program income that we were able to get from loans, we would use the 15 percent in social services and social services, which is, I think that when they poll the five members of the Commission my understanding is that social services was number one priority, no question about that. Commissioner Sanchez: It was the elderly and -- Chairman Regalado: Well, social services. I'm talking about social services in general. The elderly, children and I think that -- I was told that social services programs will not be impacted so much as you have said. Listen. I will support that action with my vote and my heart, but since you raised that, we need to find out if there's something else that we need to do in the other four districts, because then we have, you know, some of the money that you just mentioned it's for code enforcement. Some of the money is for lot clearing and I think -- I really believe and they know because I've been talking to Barbara and Dan for weeks that if I have to choose between lot clearing, code enforcement and even and even other programs and social services and services for the children, for the elderly, I would always choose social services and there's no question in my mind, but before you do that, let us, Johnny, find out if there is another problem in another district and then we can move more money. Because, I mean, the priority here is what we have here and so I don't know how you want to do. Commissioner Sanchez and Commissioner Gonzalez wanted to make some comments and then have Dan and Barbara respond. Commissioner Sanchez? Commissioner Sanchez: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 7 JULY 8, 2002 Mr. Fernandes: Commissioner, before you do, let me just put on the record that you can move the moneys around however you want. However, under public services we've already met the public services cap, the 15 percent. That's 15 percent of the entitlement itself, as well as 15 percent of the program income. Now if you want to move money from grant administration, or lot clearing into economic development or into housing, you can do that. But you cannot go into public services because we will exceed the regulated cap. Vice Chairman Winton: And Commissioner, what happened there is that the resolution that was passed, I don't know, six or eight months ago, was a resolution that simply said something to the effect of, if we're going to allocate CDBG dollars, that allocation needs to be made on the basis of the income of the population by district period, which sounded ok, well, you know, maybe we get to moving in that kind of direction, but -- Chairman Regalado: Oh, your district is the richest one. Vice Chairman Winton: And my district is the richest -- Chairman Regalado: And -- Vice Chairman Winton: -- district and has fewer people in poverty. Chairman Regalado: Exactly. Vice Chairman Winton: And so as a consequence, when he talks about public service dollars, District 2 last year got $604,000. This year it would be $462,000. That's $132,000 taken out and that's that 24 percent reduction that has a huge impact on specific agencies within the district, and that money got reallocated -- and I think that the net effect was -- I wish Commissioner Teele was here because I think the money -- I think District 5 was the district where you had the greatest imbalance in terms of how the money was distributed, and so, I think the money probably went to District 5, if I understand this. Commissioner Gonzalez: On the plus side? Vice Chairman Winton: On the plus side, which I don't have a problem in increasing the allocation to District 5 because that's where the higher percentage of poverty exists, but we didn't think about -- Commissioner Sanchez: Johnny, that's not true. Vice Chairman Winton: The net effect. What's that? Commissioner Sanchez: My district is poorer than District 5. Vice Chairman Winton: Well, you and I ended up with a net reduction. 8 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Sanchez: Based on the HUD formula, and when you're done, Mr. Chairman, I would like to reserve at least three minutes. Chairman Regalado: Sure. Absolutely, and -- well, I'll tell you what. If you move out of District 2 it wouldn't go up the level of poverty will go -- But no, seriously -- I think -- Vice Chairman Winton: I don't think so. Chairman Regalado: I think you got a point, and I think we should have been advised of the adverse impact that just that simple and logic thing that we approved would have had. Vice Chairman Winton: Because I don't think any of us would have followed through with the letter of the law had we understood the ramifications. We probably would have phased it in some way or another, so that it didn't have a big impact all in one year and I'm really sorry that Commissioner Teele isn't here because I'm sure he would have some ideas of his own how to cure this very, very serious problem. We figured out how to cure it for economic development because we can yank money out of administration to solve economic development. But public service, which is a big deal, and that's the reason you see a lot of these kids here, I guess I'm struggling to understand what the option is. Chairman Regalado: OK. But what we know now, it's for your information when you're going to make the motion. You will be able to move the money that you need for economic development at least and then -- Commissioner Sanchez and Commissioner Gonzalez. Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman, the question here is, how we determine need based on necessity? We have only one way to determine that. How do we distribute the money; and that is through the HUD formula that's established through what area receives what percent of the allocated funds. Now we realize that we took from a 25 to a 15 percent. We took a severe cut in what's public services. I think that throughout the City itself, based on necessity, and we have a perfect example here is, we find ourselves in a situation where we don't have enough money to go around for everybody and we find ourselves in a situation where we have to sit back, sit down with staff, make tough decisions on who we're going to take money away from and who we're going to give money to. We all realize that our necessity in the City putting it on priority is the elderly and the disabled. I think that that was a determination that was made in the meetings in my district were not to touch, or if we had to, to bring less significant reduction in cut to those services. Public services are the ones that are being affected the most. Now the HUD allocation is determined through population, housing need and poverty. If you look at all the districts, they all have a percentage of money that goes allocated to them. I know that in my district the 23 percent that I get have, through the years, increased. But if you look at your district -- and I can tell you where one of the biggest problems existed -- is that you had District 1, one district allocating funds from his resource or his pocket, into your district. So what happened this year, and I don't know, maybe from what I hear 9 JULY 8, 2002 is, that that district commissioner has identified that his had, also has needs in his district, so he's keeping that money in his district leaving you at the short end of the stick finding yourself in a situation where, you know, you're going to have social services -- you don't have the money to provide him the money with. Vice Chairman Winton: But he isn't doing that on purpose. Commissioner Sanchez: Of course not. I'm not -- Vice Chairman Winton: This new formula that we -- Commissioner Sanchez: Johnny, all that I'm saying is that, I'm not here to dispute whether it's a fair process, it's the best process. But right now it's the process by law that allows us to receive this money is through the HUD formula and that's the concern that I have. I don't want to end up in a situation that we end up a couple of years ago where we end up being in the bad side of HUD and then we have, you know, people coming down here from Washington to sit down with staff and, of course, the City Manager gets another black eye based on the allocation of these funds. I don't know what's the best solution to it. I don't know what is the fair solution, but I can tell you this much. The needs of my district, and I'm here to say that I will sit and debate whoever it may be to allocate that based on this formula that HUD has allocated, that HUD puts out, to allocate these funds -- my district, District 3 is the poorest district in the City of Miami based on population, housing and poverty, so yes, you know, we all get along, we all have a great relationship. It's a harmonious relationship here in the Commission, but when it's time to sit down, and maybe the district is a bad concept or it's not a good concept, we find ourselves taking care of social services, housing needs, economic development in our district. I've always stated that pattern where I wanted to get the 23 percent of my district. Your argument has always been, and I respect it, although I don't agree with it, I respect it. You're district is the one that creates the more revenue for the City, but if were allowed to keep that money in there, and you look out for a district and the next thing that we might end up doing is putting walls around all our district and separating our districts, because our district will continue to suffer, will continue to decay if we don't have either one, economic development dollars going into it, social services money which is needed throughout the whole City. You know, I could say I have needs in my district, but I know you have districts [sic] in your district and Commissioner Gonzalez has needs too, Regalado and Teele does too, but at the end of the day, I don't know which is the fair process, but I can tell you which is the process that's being handed down to us by the federal government, and that is the HUD formula. Vice Chairman Winton: I don't think HUD says that we have to follow this specific formula by districts at all. Mr. Fernandes: No. That was the policy that was established by the Commission. Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah. 10 JULY 8, 2002 Mr. Fernandes: That was a -- Vice Chairman Winton: No, that's not a fed guideline. Commissioner Gonzalez: Mr. Chairman -- Dena Bianchino (Asst. City Mgr. — Planning & Development): Commissioner Sanchez, the money that we get from the feds is based on Citywide statistics, not by district. The Commission chose as a policy, as did Commissioner Winton mentioned, as a way of being fair to allocate within districts based on the HUD formula. That is not a HUD requirement. Chairman Regalado: Commissioner Gonzalez. Commissioner Gonzalez: Yes. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Basically, the problem that we're facing this year is a problem, is well known by all of us; that we didn't pursue on time the waiver that was issued by U.S. HUD for three consecutive years. I believe that on a long-term solution, we need to start doing and I believe, Mr. Chairman, that you were the one that led the movement three or four years ago. We need to start preparing ourselves and do whatever steps are necessary to make sure that we obtain the waiver for another three years for next year funding. Now on the short-term, we realize that there's a cap of 15 percent on social services, so there's nothing that we can do there. Can we -- Commissioner Winton, how much are you short on social services? Vice Chairman Winton: $132,000. Commissioner Gonzalez: Can we get some funds through LETF (Law Enforcement Trust Fund) to surplus these deficiencies? Ms. Bianchino: The police department is supposed to be here to answer that question. I think they've gone through their allocation process. Commissioner Gonzalez: Is that allowed by your side? Mr. Fernandes: You can use whatever alternate -- Commissioner Gonzalez: As long as we don't get it from the U.S. Grant we don't have any -- Mr. Fernandes: As long as it's not -- Commissioner Gonzalez: -- problem where we get it from, right? Mr. Fernandes: Correct. But again, as Dena just mentioned, LETF just went through their application process and I think either one or two Commission meetings ago they 11 JULY 8, 2002 actually made the allocations that were approved by the Commission at that time. So I think that they already completed their allocation process. Ms. Bianchino: Let me -- Alejandro Vilarello (City Attorney): And Commissioner, and the grants themselves would have to qualify under LETF requirements, so they would have to serve that purpose. Ms. Bianchino: I just wanted to clarify one thing. Commissioner Winton, in your calculations did you calculate a 10 percent reduction? Because everybody here took a 10 percent reduction, I believe. Vice Chairman Winton: I don't know the answer to that. I'm just going by the numbers that they said that -- yeah. Mr. Fernandes: Yeah. It would be a greater reduction because again, the funds that he shared were from other districts at that point. So, you did take a bigger hit than another district may have. Because again, Commissioner Gonzalez -- Vice Chairman Winton: We know that. I mean -- Mr. Fernandes: -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Vice Chairman Winton: But I don't think that's the question. I mean, it's obvious that I took a bigger hit if I was at 35 percent and 25 percent. I mean, that's obvious. The question is, is, what's it? There was a 10 percent across the board reduction for social services only. Mr. Fernandes: Correct. Vice Chairman Winton: Because of the waiver of the 15 versus 25 percent. Mr. Fernandes: Correct. Vice Chairman Winton: So that would have been a 10 percent, and the question is, is that a part of my 35 percent reduction -- oh, no, economic development is all by itself -- So, I have a 24 percent reduction in public service category. Does that 24 percent include the 10 percent that was across the board or is that over and above? Mr. Fernandes: That includes it. Vice Chairman Winton: OK. Chairman Regalado: OK. Before we proceed, as a courtesy to elected officials, as we always do, we have here County Commissioner Natacha Seijas and -- 12 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Sanchez: Here, here. Chairman Regalado: She is a friend of the City of Miami in the County Commission, and also a very active public figure in the area of social services. She always has been dedicated to this area, so Commissioner, good afternoon. Commissioner Natacha Seijas-Millan: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to complement everybody that is here with the children. This is really what it's all about and this is what you guys are trying to do, and let me tell you, I'm glad you're sitting over there today and I'm standing over here saying thank you, because it is a tough one. It is a very tough one. There's so much need and such difficulty in meeting all the needs across the county, east and west, north and south. My name -- it is told that I must state it -- is Natacha Seijas and my address is the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association). I represent Metro YMCA. I'm only here to say thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to say thank you to Mr. Winton because he has allocated a certain amount of money, which we will, Mr. Winton, look for more moneys within the YMCA to be able to be sure that we do the appropriate coordination with Coconut Grove Cares, which is a very needy, very needy agency which we will commit to be supportive of, and I know some of them are sitting around here and I'm glad to see that. I also want to thank District 3, Mr. Sanchez, who also has a lot of need, but has identified that the youth of Little Havana our hope and our future if we don't take care of our youth, then we have nothing. I can't sit in a rocking chair and that's what I want to do some day, and then District 5, Commissioner Teele, who's not here, who has been so cautious in being sure that Little Haiti and Liberty City are well taken care of. So I'm here to say thank you for that. I'm here to commit from the YMCA that we will always work with the Commission and I'm here to tell those that are not within the scope of the YMCA today, that without your vote, it still wouldn't happen. So Mr. Gonzalez, I want to thank you also because I know you are a friend of the YMCA and I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman for allowing me to speak. I have nothing else to say that deep gratitude, and a lot of empathy for what you're doing and hopefully everything will be settled and I think Mr. Winton is fighting the good fight as always, and, you know, rah rah for you. Thank you so very much. Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah. Well the question is whether or not you win. Not whether you just fight the good fight. Commissioner Millan: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) always try. Chairman Regalado: You got one out of three economic developments. So -- Vice Chairman Winton: I know how to win that one, right? Chairman Regalado: Yes. This is a public hearing. Still we are not discussing particular programs, but there's going to be a change made in this resolution. These are moneys that will be used by agencies of the City government to do a lot clearing and other works like code enforcement. So, we're closing the public hearing. If Vice Chairman Winton -- 13 JULY 8, 2002 you wanted to speak? Sure. You just come up and we will open again the public hearing and we will, after that, close the public hearing and Commissioner Winton has to make a motion -- well, you need to know how much money we're taking for economic development of -- Georgia Ayers: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Chairman Regalado: That's ok, we'll wait. Hey, we're fresh. Ms. Ayers: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). So I'm going to behave myself. Chairman Regalado: Oh boy. Ms. Ayers: OK. My name is Georgia Jones Ayers, I'm Founder/Executive Director of a program called the Alternative Program. For a lot of others (UNINTELLIGIBLE) below it. I wanted you to see all of these files here. Every file -- Chairman Regalado: Georgia -- Ms. Ayers: -- you see there -- My name is Georgia Ayers. Can you hear me now? Chairman Regalado: Yes. Ms. Ayers: Every file you see there covers all five of your districts and she can tell you precisely what I do because one day, I invited her to the field with me. She wore her high heeled sneakers and she told me that one day was enough. I don't deal with just the children. I mean, you have your staff over there to do their work, and I would advise your staff to come and work with me just for one week and they would see that I get more money than what you are cutting from me. You don't pay me personally. Every year, since 1968, I have worked in this City of Miami and you have never given me one dime. I don't want your money. If you recall in January of this year, over on 58th Street and 17th Avenue, the lady was being evicted. I alone and I can say it because I know I did it, stopped with the help of your police officers out there -- I called them out -- what would have been another disturbance, civil disturbance in Dade County is when they evicted Miss Mattie Wilson. For your benefit and for your information, I worked very hard and got Miss Wilson's property back from the lenders, the predatory lenders, these people that are going around doing this. I have put that program together. The county has given me an employee to work with me with that. Now your staff is saying that you all don't want to fund the program because it's -- what do you call it -- a criminal justice? Those files are not just criminal justice. I have over 1,000 files sitting there. Now I'm funded from now until December 30th. I guarantee you gentlemen I will not -- will have not completed these files, because I will pick up more files every day. I brought with me files to give to you. Now I want you to know that the majority of my files are in the Hispanic community, and I'm not saying that to label Hispanics, blacks or whatever. I cover all of Miami from Monroe -Dade to Broward-Dade. I don't care what color you are, who you are. All I know -- and Winton you know it, all I know is that there is a need 14 JULY 8, 2002 for a person -- I'm on call 24 hours a day -- I am not going to sit back and take this lightly that I'm going to see these people suffer because your staff decided, or whoever said it, that you're not going to support criminal justice. I'm not just criminal justice. Commissioner here can tell you that, what I do. I'm the washer woman, the cook, the maid. You all don't know this but I provide -- I go to the food bank every Tuesday and all of my clients that come to me, I want to make sure that their children have food to eat. When you had the eviction out in Coconut Grove? My staff was out there with this old lady, 90 something odd years old -- I don't ask you all can I do, because God made me to do for my fellow man, regardless of what color or who you are. Now I'm telling you, your staff recommended that I not get funded. Don't fund me gentlemen. You see all those files right there? It's not a threat -- it's not a promise, not a threat, it's a fact. Come December 30th, I'm going to call every one of these folders. I'm going to do it because you're not paying my salary. You don't pay me nothing. I don't want your money. Just help me take care of these persons who you see listed. All of those files. That's over 1,000 files. I'm not threatening you. I deal from the top, not from the bottom. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. And I -- Georgia. Commissioner Millan: I wanted to ask Georgia if it's ok if I can leave now, because I told her to behave herself, because her passion and her belief in what she does is so strong that sometimes we don't hear what she's saying, but if we listen to her words, and we listen to her passion and we understand what she does, we do have a lot to be grateful for. So now may I go? Ms. Ayers: Yeah. I guess I'll let you. Commissioner Millan: Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you very much, and thank you. Commissioner. Mrs. Thelma Gibson: Thank you. Let me say good afternoon to Mr. Chairman and Mr. Vice Chair and members of the Commission. I'm Thelma Anderson Gibson and I'd just like to speak for a minute because at first I need to thank the staff for even considering our request for funding, but I was disappointed when I picked up the paper and saw how much they were giving us and we had some people in our office that we've been servicing who came up and said to me we will all be down there with you to try to get more money, and I said no, you don't have to come, but some of them came anyway and I'm not one to threaten. I just want to say that because you think we live in the richest section of the City of Miami, which is Section 2, I'm here to tell you that there's a group of us in Coconut Grove that live in poverty. We have a poverty area in Coconut Grove and the Gibson Memorial Fund started some time back. A little program and it's a relatively new program and we have never asked the City for moneys and we've been in existence for 19 years now and we've been raising all of our funds through things in the community and we give back to the community and my behavioral center, mental health center started a program working with substance abuse and mentally ill patients in our 15 JULY 8, 2002 community and every day, five days a week, we have some 25 or 30 people in our office that we feed, and then a group of young people came to me and said, we need to start a health initiative and start working with people with AIDS and HIV and one young lady got laid off from her job and she got laid off on Friday and on Monday she came to us and volunteered and for the past four months she's been volunteering her time, giving us all of her expertise and trying to help us get the funding, and that was the reason for requesting the grant so that we could at least pay somebody to help us with our HIV and AIDS problems in, what you now call, West Grove. It's a small pocket, but it is one of the poverty areas and you gave us the same funding and you gave Coconut Grove Cares the same amount, $10,000, that is recommended no less by the staff, to do the program that they have been doing at Coconut Grove Cares for some 40 odd years. We're 19 and they're 40 some odd years, and they have been working with these young people and doing a great job there, but we're beginning to work with the elderly population. A population that does not know that they are HIV positive and many of them, because of the stigma of mental illness, and HIV and AIDS they will not come for help and so we're planning to do an outreach program, and we will go into the homes of these elderly people, get them in for testing, get them in and the biggest article was in yesterday's paper and most of us don't read the Herald and don't believe what the Herald said, but we have a young man here, Donny Whin, who came into our office and he said, I'm going to get some petitions signed. If you don't want us to bring the people down we'll get petitions signed so that we can have everybody know that we're needy. We are a needy section of Coconut Grove, and because of the rich people, I'm sorry. They don't come to the Grove. Some of them don't even pass through the Grove to know what's happening. I have a friend who said to me, I haven't been on Grand Avenue since the riots, and because people are afraid to come to that area and we're trying to clean that up. I don't know how many of you know that the Gibson Memorial Fund, but because we have been there, we have cleaned up the corner of Grand and Douglas, we have done some things to help make this City a better place for all of us to live and I would hope that in your considerations you will consider District 2 for more funding and especially the Gibson Memorial Fund, the YMCA and Coconut Grove Cares is the only three agencies in the black Grove that's getting approximately $30,000 out of the 400 and some odd thousand dollars that's been allocated for District 2. Thank you very much. Note for the Record: Commissioner Teele entered the meeting at 2:58 p.m. Chairman Regalado: Thank you Commissioner Gibson. I think that what we're doing here -- Johnny, it's important that you brief Commissioner Teele on your concerns, because we're talking here in social services, but actually, that will be Item 5. Everybody and anybody would have time to address the City Commission. Commissioner Teele, we're doing Item 2, and Item 2 it doesn't deal with public services or any other housing or any other agency out of the City of Miami. What it does is that allocates funds for City agencies: Code enforcement, volunteering. However, Commissioner Winton raised the issue of something that we did six or seven months ago, that was a resolution, saying that we will distribute this by population and income of the different districts and Commissioner Winton was complaining that his district has lost 23 percent of the social programs and economic development funds, so what we had here, we had Commissioner 16 JULY 8, 2002 Seijas, that she needed to go, but Commissioner, she was speaking on behalf of District 2. So I don't know, Commissioner Teele, because even Johnny said that you would want to comment on this matter and I don't know, Johnny, if you want to express to Commissioner Teele your concerns and the remedy, at least on one of the issues that we have discussed. Vice Chairman Winton: Commissioner Teele, what I had said is that if you remember, I don't remember, six or eight months ago somebody brought up, and we passed a resolution, that said that we're going to distribute the money now by population statistics by district, which is not a HUD requirement, and we all voted on that because I don't think any of us understood the economic impact and staff never brought us anything that showed us the economic impact by district, and I learned of the economic impact on the run during the break of the last Commission meeting and then I had a meeting where we had to -- and we had to make all these decisions by Monday, at the end of the day on Monday or Tuesday, so that these documents could be advertised to the public, and so, the point I was making -- there were a number of points. One is that I think that if we would have had a clear -- this Commission -- would have had a clear understanding of the economic impact by district; we probably would have implemented this policy in a different way. Also, that it wouldn't have, as an example, an economic development that had a 35 percent impact in District 2 and in social services it had a 24 percent impact in District 2, and so we probably would have gone about doing it differently because those kinds of reductions kill organizations clearly, I mean, just kills them, and the major complaint I had was that staff didn't do anything to bring us that information until the last minute, so you can't do anything at the last minute, you know? Which agencies do you cut? Well, I don't know. I'm not God. I don't understand what the impact will be to each of these agencies, and I can't get it figured out in two days, which would have been over the weekend, and so, one of my recommendations was on economic development side, I recommended that we reduce the administrative budget of the staff, which is at $3.8 million, by $138,000, which was the impact in economic development in District 2 and the reason that I recommended pulling it out of administration is simply because I felt that administration helped create this problem by not coming to us in advance, so that we could rationally work through a solution. You can't do the same thing with social services because you can't move money by CBDG fed guidelines. You can't move money from administration to social services. So the social services part of this formula was still kind of just stuck in trying to figure out what to do yet, and so that's kind of the background of my comments. Commissioner Teele: Johnny, what's the dollar impact of social services? Vice Chairman Winton: $132,000. Now, by the way, that $132,000, I am told -- I don't know this for sure because I haven't looked at the numbers, and I'd like to look at them, but I'm told that $132,000 also includes the across-the-board 10 percent reduction that we all had to deal with as a result of losing the waiver that allows us to spend 25 percent of our HUD funding on social services, and now then we can only spend 15 because we lost that waiver, so I'm told this $132,000 reduction in District 2 that that 10 percent is included in that. 17 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Teele: Well that would be $13,000 or so. I mean -- Vice Chairman Winton: Well, no, because it really would be 10 percent of the $604,000 that I got, so that's $60,000 off the $132,000, so if those numbers are correct, then what got transferred out of District 2 is like $72,000 and the other $60,000 was the 10 percent cut. That's the math I just did. Chairman Regalado: So to the administration I wanted to ask Commissioner Sanchez is not here since it was mentioned that his district lost money in the economic development area too. How much did District 3 lose? Economic development? Do you know that, Dan? Barbara? Barbara Rodriguez: Barbara Rodriguez, Department of Community Development. He lost --District 3? No. He didn't lose in economic development. He gained 2.79 percent. Vice Chairman Winton: How about social services? Ms. Rodriguez: District 3 increased by 1.80. He increased $11,764. Chairman Regalado: The reason I was asking is, it seems to me that if -- on this item, Item 2, we can only move funds for economic development and only District 2 has lost money as a result of that action, for economic development. Then we can proceed to make a motion. Commissioner Sanchez, I was asking because I thought you had lost in economic development, but you haven't. You gained according to Barbara. Ms. Rodriguez: Correct. Chairman Regalado: In your district and I don't think Angel or myself -- Ms. Rodriguez: No you did not. Chairman Regalado: Or Commissioner Teele, as a matter of fact, his district rates in terms of poor pockets as one of the worst. So he didn't lose money, so the only one that economic development could benefit if we made some changes in Item 2 would be District 2. Is that correct? Ms. Rodriguez: District 2 was the one impacted in public service and economic development. He was not impacted in housing because he doesn't have a housing provider, so there he gains. But overall, the only district that was impacted was District 2. Unidentified Speaker: Negative. Ms. Rodriguez: Negative. All of the others were impacted positive. 18 JULY 8, 2002 Vice Chairman Winton: And in housing it wasn't a gain. It's the same amount as last year. Ms. Rodriguez: Right. But your -- Vice Chairman Winton: It's not a gain. Ms. Rodriguez: But your -- Vice Chairman Winton: The amount from last year to this year -- Ms. Rodriguez: -- housing dollars Vice Chairman Winton: -- is the same. Ms. Rodriguez: Your housing dollars we're giving to other districts. So even though you did produce the same amount of dollars, most of your dollars went to District 3. Chairman Regalado: OK. Ms. Rodriguez: So that was the change. Chairman Regalado: Let me say this in order to run the items. We can close the public hearing. Since we can only move on this item for economic development, there is no sense in listening to public service now. We will have that item on number five and anybody will be able to. So if you want to make a motion and amend motion, Johnny, on Item 2? Commissioner Sanchez: What is he amending? Chairman Regalado: Huh? Commissioner Sanchez: What's he amending? Chairman Regalado: He's taking some money from the administration to -- Commissioner Sanchez: Offset his -- Chairman Regalado: -- to offset his economic development. Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah. Only economic development. Chairman Regalado: Only economic development. Vice Chairman Winton: So the motion is to move $138,400 out of grant administration and into District 2 economic development. 19 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Teele: Second. Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second. The public hearing is closed. Yes, sir. Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, I'm in agreement in principle with what Commissioner Winton has stated. I think it's extremely dangerous to use arithmetic expressions to the finite numbers to represent a proportion by district. I think it's a dangerous precedent. It was a mistake that I made in supporting the position that we're in now. If you extend that principle across the board, then about 48 percent of all the general fund money should go into District 2, as represented by Commissioner Winton. I think there should be a relative --what we call rough justice. If we want to make this an arithmetic expression then we don't need to be here. We need to turn it over to computers and so what I would like to do is to state very clearly that at the close of this, I would like to rescind the resolution and further require that this year be thrown out and the previous year be used as the base year across the board. Maybe with a greater reserve to allow for pockets of poverty that may not be statistically caught up in a precise formula. I don't think there's any question that the computer in Washington calculates all of the CD dollars nationwide based upon a formula, and that formula essentially is population times density of poverty times something else -- public housing, stock and it comes up with a precise dollar amount for every City or every entitlement area in the country. But I think for us to use precise numbers such as that, literally removes any reason for us to sit here other than to agree to check the computer's math or to check the staff's math, and I think the intent that I had was not that this would be a precise mathematical formula, but we would use historical and basically have a rough justice, if you will, and so I want to apologize for any impact, for this adverse impact to one district, because it is one of those, what we always talk about these unforeseen circumstances and it would certainly not foreseen when I cast my vote. Vice Chairman Winton: And I voted on it too. Commissioner Teele: But I would remind you or at least state very clearly, Commissioner Winton, that -- and many of the people in this room know this -- the funding for Virrick Gym was my motion. I think there was a different Commissioner sitting there, and we had talked about it for about three hours, and again, I have always tried to support the West Grove in particular, because west Grove, like Overtown, represents a bygone era of "separate, but equal" and there's no other pockets of this City like West Grove and Overtown, which were where these communities were formed -- this community was formed that has such an example today of a "separate, but equal" policy that was only separate but never equal and so we're dealing with the sense, tremendous sense, of the past of over 100 years and so I think we have an obligation to deal with that and deal with that now. I will be (UNINTELLIGIBLE) work with you in trying to bring the public service dollars at the appropriate time, but to the historical number even to the detriment of the district that I represent, because I think we cannot be 20 JULY 8, 2002 solely caught up in my district. We've got to look Citywide and I'm well aware of the problem. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Public hearing is closed. Commissioner Sanchez: Can I hear the motion? Chairman Regalado: The motion is to move Item 2 with one amendment, which will be transfer of how much money Johnny? Mr. Vilarello: $138,400. Chairman Regalado: $138,000 for economic development only. That's the only thing that we can do here. Mr. Vilarello: From grant administration. Chairman Regalado: From grant administration of $10,000,000 and some. Commissioner Gonzalez: On this item -- Commissioner Teele: We should hear at least from the manager that there obviously this isn't something you support necessarily, but this will not do violence to the administration and I recognize that we're under some considerable oversight from the federal government, but I also recognize, and I really would like to see the historical of the administrative dollars, the total dollars for administration over the last four, five years, because I also recognize that number has gone up rather substantially, particularly when you factor in program income. Ms. Bianchino: Commissioner, you're absolutely correct and non-recurring revenues were used to support the CD budget. That is not going to happen anymore, so the budget will be lowered. In terms of how this will affect our administration, if you could just give us till the end of the hearing or shortly thereafter, I can give you a better feel on how that's going to be, because we don't want to end up cutting something that's going to hurt our status with HUD and then we end up in trouble again. Commissioner Teele: But at the same time, I mean, it's $140,000 -- it's a hundred and how much, 34? Mr. Fernandes: $138,400. Commissioner Teele: And what's the total administrative budget? Vice Chairman Winton: It's 3.6 percent of that budget by the way. 21 JULY 8, 2002 Chairman Regalado: Look, last year we took money from lot clearing and code enforcement. Commissioner Gonzalez: Mr. Chairman? Chairman Regalado: And nothing major happened. Go ahead, Commissioner Gonzalez. Commissioner Gonzalez: Those were exactly two issues that I wanted to address. One is the lot grant. They have allocated $350,000 and I would like to know how much money did we spend in lot clearing last year? Chairman Regalado: Less than that. Commissioner Gonzalez: Less than that? I propose that -- well, let me go to the -- the next one is code enforcement NET $1,000,000. I asked myself if this is $1,000,000 for NET administration or does this cover some of the NET operations in the neighborhood? Mr. Fernandes: This goes in the code enforcement activities after NET offices. So it -- Commissioner Gonzalez: That's -- Mr. Fernandes: -- code enforcement inspectors that go out into the field. Commissioner Gonzalez: That includes the inspectors? Mr. Fernandes: Yes, Commissioner. Commissioner Gonzalez: How much did we allocate last year for NET administration? Ms. Rodriguez: $1,000,000. Commissioner Gonzalez: $1,000,000. Ms. Rodriguez: And it only covers inspectors. Commissioner Gonzalez: Only covers inspectors? Ms. Rodriguez: Salaries. Commissioner Gonzalez: $1,000,000 on inspectors? Ms. Rodriguez: Correct. Inspectors and their fringes for the whole city. Commissioner Gonzalez: And when I call the Allapattah NET office I find out that I only have three inspectors. When I call the West Little Havana office at this point, I 22 JULY 8, 2002 believe that we have only three inspectors there. I don't know how many my colleagues have in their districts, but how many do you have? Vice Chairman Winton: Well they have three sites down. Two? How many do we have left? Ms. Rodriguez: I couldn't tell you the total. The $1,000,000 goes into the staff budgets for the NET for inspectors and their fringes. Commissioner Gonzalez: Let me tell you. I have serious concerns in reference to NET, ok? First, I was going down the list of the number of employees that we have in NET administration and it is outrageous and the salaries, I mean, we're spending on NET administration double the amount of the operation of two NET offices anywhere on the district of the five Commissioners sitting here. I have a serious problem with that. Another problem that I have with that is that if we go to the Allapattah NET office, for example, those people are working out of a room. All the inspectors, the secretary, the NET administrator, the people that do the cleanup in the neighborhood, they cannot fit the people, OK? And if we go to West Little Havana and I haven't spoken to the manager and I'm sorry that the manager is not sitting here now, if we go to West Little Havana and a resident needs to go to the NET office to file a complaint or to even file a complaint with the police department, they have to sit in a hallway in front of the bathrooms and they have to be sitting in there for two or three hours or whatever time it takes, for them to get service, so I really, I really have serious concerns about NET administration. The money that we're spending. I believe that we're going to need to revisit this and I would like to have the manager -- I would like to request that the manager and the NET director meets with me day after tomorrow so we can discuss all of these concerns and see how we're going to go about solving the problems because, I don't know, Johnny, how many inspectors you have or what is going on in your district, but this is outrageous. Code enforcement, unsafe structures, $500,000. I've been -- for the last six months that I've been a Commissioner, I've been asking for a small structure to be demolished, a structure that has been used to sell crack, to be used for prostitution, for everything that you can imagine. It's a very small structure. I mean, they, you know, even if I go there myself I will probably push it and I will knock it down, OK? And it has taken six months to get an answer to that. My proposal is to reduce $100,000 from the lot grant and $150,000 from the $500,000 from unsafe structures, so the five district Commissioners can have additional moneys that they can distribute on their neighborhoods for different organizations or economic development or whatever pilot projects, or whatever. Chairman Regalado: OK. Let me understand this. This is besides what Johnny -- Commissioner Gonzalez: Yes. Johnny is requesting - Chairman Regalado: $134,000. 23 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Gonzalez: The other amount from the grant administration, correct, Johnny? Vice Chairman Winton: That's correct. Commissioner Gonzalez: And I'm talking about lot grant and code enforcement, unsafe structures. Commissioner Sanchez: So that's -- let me get the math right. That's $250,000 divided into five, which is $50,000. Commissioner Gonzalez: $50,000 additional for each Commissioner to distribute and -- Chairman Regalado: OK. That's an amendment -- Commissioner Gonzalez: That's my motion. Chairman Regalado: No. That's an amendment. Commissioner Gonzalez: That's an amendment. I'm sorry. Chairman Regalado: That's an amendment to Johnny's. Would you accept that amendment, Vice Chairman? Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah. I want to see what that -- walk me through it again. The lot grant goes to what? Commissioner Gonzalez: $250,000. Vice Chairman Winton: Goes to -- Commissioner Gonzalez: And we are reducing $100,000. And we're reducing $150,000 from unsafe structures. Chairman Regalado: There is a motion made by Johnny. Commissioner Teele: Now I heard that motion before. Chairman Regalado: So the amendment that Commissioner Gonzalez wishes to present is to take money from lot clearing and code enforcement to be available for the five districts for economic development and other specific items other than social services. Vice Chairman Winton: It would be nice to know what we actually spent each of the last two years on these two categories. Because what we don't -- Chairman Regalado: Less than we approved. Much less than we approved. 24 JULY 8, 2002 Vice Chairman Winton: But it would be good to know the number, because what I don't want to do is get into another one of these things where the law of unintended consequences prevails like we are right now. I mean, the concept sounds good, but not knowing the number I don't know if that's the smart thing to do without having the number. Chairman Regalado: Johnny, much less than we approved. I remember that last year we didn't spend like $100,000 in lot clearing or something like that. Ms. Bianchino: We'll have that answer for you in 15 minutes if you just want to (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Vice Chairman Winton: So procedurally can we kind of -- can we wait to vote? Chairman Regalado: We can table this. Vice Chairman Winton: Wait 15 minutes? Chairman Regalado: Wait for it comes back and move on to Item 3. Vice Chairman Winton: OK. Chairman Regalado: OK. Item -- You want to say something, Commissioner Teele? Commissioner Teele: I think we need to be careful when we're dealing with employees and I need to be assured that this isn't going to lay somebody off or -- I mean, I know lot clearing is contract, but inspectors -- Commissioner Gonzalez: Also demolition, Commissioner Teele, is contracted out. Commissioner Teele: Say again? Commissioner Gonzalez: Also demolition is contracted out. Commissioner Teele: But -- Chairman Regalado: So he's taking the money from lot clearing and demolition not from code enforcement. Commissioner Teele: But I would feel a lot better -- You see, Commissioner Winton, is right. There is a law of unintended consequences that we have to be concerned about. The five districts don't have equal numbers of inspectors and lot clearing. If the five districts had equal number of lot clearing dollars and equal number of inspectors, then this would be -- I mean, if you were saying for your district you would like to reduce the number of lot clearing and inspectors -- 25 JULY 8, 2002 Vice Chairman Winton: Yes, unsafe structures and lot clearing. Commissioner Teele: Wherever the dollars are coming from. If you want to reduce the number of dollars in your district, then I would have no objection to that because that's going to basically affect the district that you're representing and I 100 percent agree that one of the challenges and one of the problems that we have here in the City of Miami is we try to make one size fits all. The amount of demolition that I need in my district is totally different from the amount of demolition that goes on in Commissioner Winton's district. If you take a look at the CLUC-90 properties, ok, and somebody needs to get a map because there's a map here. In fact, the person who taught me on this whole thing is your Chief of Staff, Commissioner Gonzalez. I mean, there's nobody who understands, you know, reading the list of lands better than your Chief of Staff, but I can tell you this, the amount of CLUC-90 properties, those are the properties where the taxes and liens are so high that the property owner has abandoned the property. That's where you have the grass that's uncut. There are no CLUC-90 properties in Commissioner Winton's district. I mean, you know, nobody's abandoned the property on Brickell. Nobody's abandoned property in Morningside. Nobody's abandoning properties in East Grove and walking away leaving it, but the CLUC-90 properties in model cities are all over the place, so as well as Lemon City, so we have to be very careful about unintending consequences. In other words, the federal government gives us these dollars to deal with problems based upon circumstances that are visited on community based upon poverty and lack of tax, so I have no objection at all to you saying instructing staff to reduce by $50,000 the services, whatever category, and to apply them in a different area, but I do think to just take the money across the board because the dollars aren't spent across the board that way, so that would be my respectful request to you is to carve the matter to fit your district and not make a Citywide approach because the problem is not a Citywide problem. Chairman Regalado: Still you want to wait for the numbers from the administration to vote on this item, right? Will do. Commissioner Sanchez: We'll comeback. 3. ALLOCATE EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT (ESG) FUNDS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2002-2003, $433,590, TO CITY HOMELESS PROGRAM AND $13,410 FOR ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT -RELATED ACTIVITIES; MANAGER TO SUBMIT MULTI-YEAR WAIVER REQUEST TO U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT TO INCREASE PERCENTAGE OF EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT FUNDS. Chairman Regalado: Ok. Item 3 is a resolution, ESG (Emergency Shelter Grant) Funds allocating Emergency Shelter grant funds for fiscal year 2002-2003 in the amount of $433,590 to the City of Miami Homeless program; $13,410 for administration of grant related activities, with a total allocation of $477,000. This is -- Commissioner Sanchez: Public hearing. 26 JULY 8, 2002 Chairman Regalado: -- homeless. This is a public hearing. Anybody from the public who wishes to speak on this item is invited to do so. Dan, you have any comment? Dan Fernandes (Acting Director, Department of Community Development): The only thing that I would add to that, Commissioner, is there's also a direction to the City Manager in that particular legislation to request a waiver of HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) of the direct services cap. There's a 30 percent direct services cap relating to the ESG. Because of the penny sales tax that goes to the homeless programs, the need in this particular area is for direct services to the homeless. Commissioner Sanchez: So move with the waiver. Commissioner Gonzalez: Second. Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second. Public hearing is closed. Any comments from members of the board? Being none, all in favor say "aye." The Commissioner (Collectively): Aye. Chairman Regalado: It passes. 27 JULY 8, 2002 The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Sanchez, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION 02-770 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ALLOCATING EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT ("ESG") FUNDS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2002-2003 IN THE AMOUNT OF $433,590 TO THE CITY OF MIAMI HOMELESS PROGRAM AND $13,410 FOR ADMINISTRATION OF GRANT -RELATED ACTIVITIES, FOR A TOTAL ALLOCATION IN THE AMOUNT OF $447,000; AND FURTHER DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT A MULTI-YEAR WAIVER REQUEST TO THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT TO INCREASE THE PERCENTAGE OF EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT FUNDS THAT CAN BE USED FOR DIRECT SERVICES. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. Commissioner Angel Gonzalez Commissioner Joe Sanchez NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. 4. ALLOCATE $2,303,222 OF 28TH YEAR HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP (HOME) PROGRAM FUNDS FOR 28TH YEAR PROGRAM YEAR ACTIVITIES BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2002. Chairman Regalado: Item 4, allocating $2,303,222 of 28th year Home Investment Partnership (HOME) Program Funds. This is housing and this is Item 4. Dan? Dan Fernandes (Acting Director, Department of Community Development): Commissioner, the majority of these funds are actually through the RFP (Request for Proposals) process and they go to the Housing and Loan Committee. What you have before you is the allocation of the funds for grant administration. The set aside for the Model City home ownership project, which, this is the fifth and final year of that 28 JULY 8, 2002 commitment, as well as the allocation of the CRA for housing assistance. Again, the fifth and final year of the commitment of $262,322, so what you have here is basically the distribution of funds that are not related to the Housing and Commercial Loan Committee. Chairman Regalado: Ok. Do we have anybody from the public who wishes to speak on this item? Item 4, allocating $2,303,222 for HOME (Home Investment Partnership Program) program funds? OK. Mr. Fernandes: Commissioner, I may have to make one -- a scrivener's error on this particular item. Section 2 of the resolution should read $2,303,222 of 28th Year HOME funds are hereby allocated to the following housing activities. Chairman Regalado: Ok. Close the public hearing. Comments? Commissioner Gonzalez: Yes, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Regalado: This is not housing administration. Mr. Fernandes: No sir. Brick and mortar dollars. Commissioner Gonzalez: Model City home ownership project $1,500,000. This is going to be for building? Construction? Mr. Fernandes: This is for probably for acquisition. They'll be able to utilize that in developing their budget. The partnership will actually set up that -- the trust will set up that particular budget. The money was set aside with a five-year commitment, and again, this is the fifth and final year of that commitment. Commissioner Gonzalez: For land acquisition? Mr. Fernandes: For whatever the eligible activities are that the trust feels would be most adequate to direct these particular funds. Commissioner Gonzalez: And the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) Housing Assistance, is that going to be for project or administrative or pre -development or what category? Mr. Fernandes: Those are for housing related activities conducted by the CRA, and again, it's the fifth and final year of that. Commissioner Gonzalez: General. Anything that has to do with -- Mr. Fernandes: Correct. Commissioner Gonzalez: -- housing. All right. 29 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Teele: How many people are going to be here on public service? Is that what most of the people are here for? So move, Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Gonzalez: Second. Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion and a second on this item. All in favor, say LL " aye. The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chairman Regalado: It passes. The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION 02-771 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ALLOCATING $2,303,222 OF 28TH YEAR HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP (HOME) PROGRAM FUNDS AS SPECIFIED HEREIN FOR THE 28TH YEAR PROGRAM YEAR ACTIVITIES BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2002, SUBJECT TO APPLICABLE CITY CODE PROVISIONS. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. Commissioner Angel Gonzalez Commissioner Joe Sanchez NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. 30 JULY 8, 2002 5. ALLOCATE $1,928,400 OF 28TH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM FUNDS AND $960,000 OF PROGRAM INCOME IN CATEGORY OF PUBLIC SERVICES TO AGENCIES SPECIFIED FOR 28TH YEAR PROGRAM YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2002. Chairman Regalado: We move to 5. 5 is social programs, social services. Allocating $1,928,400 of 28th year Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and $960,000 of program income into public services to the agencies that we have here. This is a public hearing. Dan, and then we'll follow with the public. Dan Fernandes (Acting Director, Department of Community Development): OK. Again, this is the allocation of the public services funds. This is where we had the reduction from 25 percent to 15 percent. In order to try to minimize that impact, which would have been approximately $1.3 million, we have included 15 percent of program income, which gave us another $960,000, which reduces the overall impact by about $400,000, so we were able to cut into the impact on social services programs to a certain degree. What we've done -- Vice Chairman Winton: Wait, wait, Dan. Say that again. Mr. Fernandes: What you have is that you can allocate 15 percent of your entitlement -- Vice Chairman Winton: I understand. Mr. Fernandes: -- OK. The entitlement itself, the $12,756,000 it totals that 15 percent is $1,928,400. Vice Chairman Winton: It's one million what? Mr. Fernandes: In addition -- Vice Chairman Winton: It's one million what? Mr. Fernandes: $1,928,400. Vice Chairman Winton: OK. Mr. Fernandes: In addition to that, the federal regulation allows you to utilize 15 percent of this year's program income to public services. We estimate approximately $6.5 million in program income, which will generate another $960,000 for public services. Dena Bianchino (Assistant City Manager, Planning & Development): Could I add one statement to that just so you know that a lot of our program income is coming from the repayment of old loans from Miami Capital and other places, so that, it's certainly 31 JULY 8, 2002 available this year, but I wouldn't count on it as much for future years, but it is available for this year. Vice Chairman Winton: OK, so that's roughly $900,000 of program income that you said is going to help offset the pain of the 10 percent cut. Mr. Fernandes: Correct. Vice Chairman Winton: Right? Mr. Fernandes: Correct? Vice Chairman Winton: Well, let me point something out that makes me very, very unhappy right now, and that is, when we had the discussion 15 minutes ago about what the impact on social services was to District 2, and I said the impact was 24 percent and it was $132,000 -- no, I think that was economic development. Let's say for the sake of conversation $130,000 and I said, did that $130,000 include the 10 percent reduction that we're required to do because we can't use 25 percent allocation, we can only use 15, and I asked that question twice. I made the statement at least three times, said I want to make sure that that's the real impact, and you said yes twice, that that's the real impact. But now what you're telling me is that really isn't the real impact because you found $900,000 that you put back in. Mr. Fernandes: It's -- Chairman Regalado: I told you -- Mr. Fernandes: The 10 percent is still the same -- Chairman Regalado: I told you -- Mr. Fernandes: -- difference Commissioner. Vice Chairman Winton: I don't care. But you mislead me. Mr. Fernandes: That was not my intention, Commissioner. I'm sorry I did that. Chairman Regalado: OK. On this item I'm sure that we have many, Madam City Clerk, we have many people. This is a public hearing. We are here to listen to you and then make decisions. There will be no vote until and unless anybody and everybody who wishes to speak on this matter is ready, and -- Georgia Ayers: Thank you -- Chairman Regalado: Go ahead. 32 JULY 8, 2002 Ms. Ayers: -- Mr. Chairman. I'm passed to having the young lady to pass out to you -- Chairman Regalado: I just need your name and address, Georgia. Ms. Ayers: Georgia Chairman Regalado: We know that from memory Georgia. Ms. Ayers: Georgia Jones Ayers. My home address is 2475 Northwest 111 Street, Miami, Florida 33167. I came before you earlier but you did not have before you my facts. Additionally, you will see in front of you here over 1,000 files. When I'm called around the clock I'm on call 24 hours a day. I don't ask a person what district you live in. I respond to the need of that person. I cover all of your districts and I'm appealing to all of you to come to 151 Northwest 60th Street, that's my address, and sit with me just for one hour and let me take you through the work that the Alternative Program does. I have opened right now over 1,000 files. Now you're telling me, your staff has told me that effective the end of this budget year, that you're not going to fund the program. As I said, you fund me for less than $100,000 and I'm doing $500,000 of work for you. I don't question a person if you're in Regalado, Sanchez, Teele, Diaz, Winton, I don't question the district that you are in. What you saying? Vice Chairman Winton: Gonzalez. Ms. Ayers: Sir? I didn't hear you, sir. Vice Chairman Winton: Gonzalez' not here. Ms. Ayers: Gonzalez. I'm sorry. I don't question where you come from. I respond to your need. I am a native Miamian, almost 74 years old and I know how and what it is to suffer from the lack of services from the City. We have a lot of immigrants here and they call me, including today, one came into my office this afternoon. He doesn't live in; well he does live in one of your districts. I won't tell you where, but he's on the dialysis. He needs to be on the dialysis machine and someone told him to go to Georgia. She'll get it done for you. I called Jackson Hospital. I told them if you don't see him, you'll see me. So they said, "Send him on in, Ms. Ayers. We'd rather see him than to be bothered with you," and I'm merely saying to you, gentlemen, I am not going to see my people suffer for the lack of your staff cutting this program. I have never received $100,000 from you. I do $500,000 worth of work. I cover all of your districts and I'm asking you before you make the decision whether to give me the two cents that you give me, to come to my office and sit and go through these files with me. Sit and see what I do for the people in the City of Miami. All of your files are the gray files. You see every one of them are gray. Your staff comes to the office to do the -- what you call -- whatever you send them to do to go through the record, you will find everything "A" perfect. I try to be that way. Now, I'm a person that lives up to my word. Believe me, gentlemen, after June 30th, you don't fund this program, I'm going to go home that day, I'm going to take a day off and go home and call all of these folk and tell them to come down here to see you all, because 33 JULY 8, 2002 you refused to listen to their needs through the services of the alternative program. I don't wait until the City pays me, when you don't take -- now you don't pay me; you pay -- I have two persons -- stand up, Frances. He is the person that does all of our -- you don't give me the money to buy the computer to do all of the work you need, and every time I turn around your staff has come out one on one thing or the other. I don't have to take -- you see me here periodically arguing with them, you know? It's getting to the place right now where I think that the staff thinks that the two or three dollars you give me takes care of me. Staff doesn't pay me. You don't pay me. I'm trying to serve this community, gentlemen. I'm pleading with you don't play my program short. Now you have here, if the staff don't tell you what's going on, you should know. If you turn to the open page there, you see right there for the total -- October 601 files when we closed -- 601 white, non -Hispanic, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) just this month, up through now; black, non -Hispanic 131; Hispanic 118; Asian 0 and you all across. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) figures. This is what you asked for and you get it. You don't have no problem with my program and I'm not asking for me. I'm begging with you please, don't have me to call these folk and tell them to come down here for a mere -- what did I actually say? $100,000? Chairman Regalado: She's asking a question. What's the funding that Georgia requested? Ms. Bianchino: $200,000 sir. Ms. Ayers: How much? Ms. Bianchino: $200,000. Ms. Ayers: No. I never asked you for $200,000. I don't recall asking you -- this is the Alternative Program. Commissioner Teele: What were you funded for last year, Mrs. Ayers? Ms. Ayers: I think it was $80,000, I think it was. Ms. Bianchino: Seventy-five. Ms. Ayers: Seventy-five. I never asked for 200. If I did, they made the mistake. I asked for $100,000, yeah. You die and stink your way to hell before you give me $200,000, I know that for a fact. But that's the kind of work you get from me. You know what bugs me? And I'm saying this at night when I get the call 24 hours a day, you all are home. You all wouldn't do what I do. You wouldn't do what I do, and it burns me up that I have to sit here and beg you to help me to help our people. They call me because they know I'm going to move. Commissioner Teele: Ms. Ayers, just -- 34 JULY 8, 2002 Ms. Ayers: Yes, sir. Commissioner Teele: If I may just inquire, what was the problem? Could someone from staff please, Mr. Fernandes, why wasn't Mrs. Ayers funded this year at least to the amount that she was funded last year? Mr. Fernandes: She was funded $75,000 in the current year. She was not recommended for funding in the next year. Again, that was one of the programs that was referred to LETF (Law Enforcement Trust Fund). Ms. Ayers: For your benefit, Commissioner Teele, I received funds from LETF to cover Commissioner Teele: Excuse me -- Ms. Ayers: -- Overtown schools. Commissioner Teele: Mrs. Ayers, just excuse me. Did this Commission -- what was the policy direction? Mr. Fernandes: No, Commissioner. That was based on the public hearings that were held in each of the individual districts and the priorities in those particular districts and a determination was made, it was a policy decision that was made by the administration relating to certain activities. Because of the amount of funds that we had, we had to make some kind of a determination as to where the priorities would be and that's what we tried to do. Fund the priority areas that were identified again through the public hearing process. Commissioner Teele: Dan, you've never misled me to my knowledge, but I don't want you to start now. I don't want to beat on a drum. Policy decisions are not made by staff and that really troubles me that staff is making policy decisions, so I want you to reconsider. We hold the public hearings and we hold them district -by -district to focus in, as I understood it, on the unique challenges and problems associated with each district. Recognizing that each of the five districts are different, but the broad policy directive of the eligible activities and the historical funding has always been funded based upon the historic funding or problems with the program unless there's a policy change, and I'm a little bit disturbed, concerned Madam Manager, that staff would even believe that staff should make policy. I mean, I don't think we should go out and evaluate grants. I don't think that's something the Commission should do, although I know a number of counties where members of the Commission serve on various evaluation committees. Broward County, they do it on bond issues and all sorts of things, but traditionally, in this City, the City has not -- I've tried very hard. I think probably, I mean, you know, I don't mind if I'm not right. But as much as any of the five Commissioners here or the previous commissions that I've served, I've tried very hard not to get into calling staff and playing around with contaminating the process of saying well these people, how did they rate? Why didn't they rate more? I've never called your predecessor either. I've worked with 35 JULY 8, 2002 three people before you. I've never one time called -- I haven't called you on any rankings or your staff, and that's your prerogative. I mean, that's sort of the staff's prerogative. But our prerogative, if you would allow me, our prerogative is to set policy and, you know, with all due respect, to the law enforcement trust fund process; I've been there and done that. I've seen this work too many times to the detriment of the providers who are somebody over here's making a decision about somebody's money over there, but the people down here are not a part of that decision and I mean, unless you have signed an inter -local agreement or a memorandum of understanding, that is, community development and the police department, you know, and the two assistant managers or the managers and everybody. I mean, you know, what we're doing is we're doing the old Potomac shuffle, that is, you know, the way Washington does things. Sort of pushing everybody off to the side and so, I think Ms. Ayers has a legitimate concern. I certainly don't want Dan, for the District 5 public hearings to become food fights about everybody who's gotten grants in the past so you've got to come in and do a dog and pony show and defend your grass and if you don't come down and bring out, you know, 100 children and, you know, babies and you know, people that are affected with the social issues of the moment that we're concerned about, whether it be law enforcement or ex -felons that Mrs. Ayers or anyone has got to come out and do a dog and pony show, so I'm rejecting from my District 5 purposes the need for anybody who has gotten funding in the past to come out and do a dog and pony show every public hearing, every annual public hearing. Because if you listen Dan to what you said, in effect what you said is two things. If based upon the public hearing this program didn't show up as being a unique need, and I specifically said that the District 5 public hearing will try to identify new areas to go into, not cut old areas that we're involved in, number one and number two. I'd take some strong exception to the notion that there was a policy decision made because if you all are saying that there's an inter -local agreement or discussion that was held -- Was there ever a formal meeting with Law Enforcement Trust, the major or the commander or the assistant chief that runs that program in Community Development? Mr. Fernandes: No, Commissioner. Ms. Ayers: No, sir. Chairman Regalado: Can I say something, Commissioner? Commissioner Teele: I don't want to delay the hearing because, I mean, we've got a lot of people to hear from, but I did want to -- Mrs. Ayers, I think, raised some very valid points. Mr. Chairman, this City continues to be recognized as one of the poorest cities in the nation, for whatever reason. Maybe that's factually correct or not, but the one thing that I am totally in accord with is that ex -felons and people that are having problems with the criminal justice system need to be given a way out and I can tell you first hand that I have sat in courtrooms and watched the passion and the concern, and in many cases, we're dealing with people who don't have families. In many cases we're dealing with all of the by products of poverty and nobody asked to be born in a home where the mother and father don't care or can't come down and speak to the judge or try to explain or 36 JULY 8, 2002 understand, so I think Mrs. Ayers makes two important points. Number one, that this is not a District 5 program, it is a Citywide program -- Ms. Ayers: Thank you. Commissioner Teele: And Dan, if that's not correct I'd like for you all, at some point in the future, to come back and let's sit down and talk about is this program a District 5 program or is it -- Angel's what's your district? What's your district number? Or if it's a District 1 program, because our work is done in District 1, in the courthouse. Since you're fighting over there on 7th Avenue, I'm going to let you have all that area over there. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Regalado: I just want to say I told the chief and the assistant chief that I thought that the process -- first of all, your problem, Georgia, is also the problem of Hispanic Coalition. They have a juvenile criminal program and they were not funded. I recommended to them to go to the Law Enforcement Trust Fund, but the process, I think -- I think that this year on the Law Enforcement Trust Fund moneys -- Ms. Ayers: I don't think you are all -- Chairman Regalado: No. I -- Ms. Ayers: -- quite aware -- Chairman Regalado: -- just want to say -- Ms. Ayers: -- OK. Chairman Regalado: that they showed me the numbers and the groups that apply and those who were not funded and those who were funded and yes, a lot of good agencies were funded by the Law Enforcement Trust Fund, but a lot of good ones were not because they didn't understand how to apply and good agencies from the Hispanic community from the Afro-American communities were not funded. Now we are told that they only have $20,000 left and that we can apply. I already recommended Hispanic Coalition to apply for $2,000, but I think that we need to do more in terms of funding your programs because yes, the priorities were set for them in terms of elderly and children and probably they got -- Ms. Ayers: Commissioner, someone hasn't told you the truth. I am funded by the Law Enforcement Trust Fund. I cover your three Overtown schools: Dunbar, Phyllis Wheatley and Douglas. I keep these kids who have problem with the school to keep them from being put out of school. I have staff that work with those kids. I am funded through the LETF. That process has already been taken care of. Chairman Regalado: We could not supplement them with more funding. I mean -- 37 JULY 8, 2002 Ms. Ayers: Well they cut me too. I didn't get what I wanted from them but they didn't cut me out entirely. I'm talking about social services. Everybody thinks I deal with criminal justice only. Yes I am the only person to have direct access to the entire criminal justice system 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but the criminal justice, when you get into the jail there's a whole lot of other stuff comes down beside it. If you all don't quite understand that, I really am begging you all to just come and do like Commissioner -- the county commissioner did. Spend one day with me. You will fully understand. I have clothing that I have to give to these people, particularly over in the Little Haiti area. I furnish those folk with clothes all the time. I have my board people that bring clothes to them to send back to Haiti. You all really don't know what I do until these kinds of problem come up. I don't like -- enjoy coming down here and running my pressure up, but I'm not going to see my people out there suffer. I don't ask the person when they come to me whose district you came from. They call me and I respond because but for the grace of God, I was there and I know what it is to need and not have. I go to the food bank every Tuesday. You all don't pay for that, but when persons come to me for food, I give it to them. Every Tuesday for the past 10 years, I've been going to the food bank, providing food for people; and when someone sits down and makes a decision based on whatever it is they do, then not take care of these people, it bothers me. You don't pay me. You're not going to give me one dime. My sister staff doesn't get one penny of this. Two people. This man here and the lady that goes to court. The only two people that I'm asking you to pay. You don't pay my sister officer. You don't buy materials. You don't pay for my computers and I'm not going to sit back and just be quiet because some people decided they're not going to fund me so they're making $50- 60,000 a year and all these gray files are yours. These are your people from each of your districts. Commissioner Teele: Miss. Ayers, in all fairness -- Ms. Ayers: Yes, sir. Commissioner Teele: -- there's a lot of people who want to be heard. Ms. Ayers: I know that sir. I'm sorry. Commissioner Teele: I've indicated to you that I'm willing to sit down and try to figure out a solution. Ms. Ayers: Come to the office. Come see. Commissioner Teele: -- today and -- Ms. Ayers: Please come see where you're making judgment on. Commissioner Teele: -- Ms. Ayers. Look I've been in court with you. We testified not too long for something. 38 JULY 8, 2002 Ms. Ayers: Yes, sir. Commissioner Teele: So I mean, I understand very well what's going on, but nobody over there is making $50,000, just for the record. Chairman Regalado: OK. Let's go. Ms. Ayers: I know better. I know better. Chairman Regalado: OK. We continue with the public hearing on Item 5, social services program. Go ahead, ma'am. Marlene Bastien: Mr. Chair, Commissioners. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to address you this afternoon. My name is Marlene Bastien. I'm the Executive Director of FANM Ayisyen Nan Miyami, the Haitian Movement of Miami. The Haitian Women of Miami (FANM) is an organization that has been providing quality services to the Haitian community since 1991. The organization for almost eight years was a volunteer led organization. That means we provided services with the help of volunteers. However, almost two years ago, with the help of eight private foundations, mainly national foundations, we were able to hire some staff to continue to give services to our community. At FANM we are swamped every day with clients coming because of unemployment. The Haitian American community has a 60 percent rate of unemployment. Delinquency, many of our children, 30 percent, of the youth being arrested today is from the Haitian American community and I'd like you to think about that because 10 years ago very few Haitian youth was involved with the criminal justice system. Domestic violence, we have referrals from this year, from the Dade -County public schools. Last year we applied for CDBG, that was our third year. We were not recommended for any funding. Thanks to Commissioner Teele, we got $30,000. Commissioner Teele: No. Thanks to -- Ms Bastien: YMCA. Commissioner Teele: Because we took the money -- Ms. Bastien: Exactly. Commissioner Teele: -- from the Y and they were very gracious. Ms. Bastien: Exactly. Commissioner Teele: Thank you. Ms. Bastien: Yeah, but with your facilitation. Commissioner Teele: Ok. 39 JULY 8, 2002 Ms. Bastien: Corrected. I stand corrected. We got $30,000. However, this year we applied for more money because the Haitian American community has been under serviced for so long and since September 11th the poverty level in our community has increased. We were only recommended for $50,000. $50,000 to serve the many, many, many, many clients that come to our facility. The annual present income from our community's $9,000 -- $9,000 per capita income in our community. Most of our children spend long (UNINTELLIGIBLE) most of the time in foster care. We have a very, very, very, very serious problem. I urge the entire Commission to take a look at the Haitian American Community. I'm not talking about one Commissioner here. I'm not talking about one Commissioner. We get referrals throughout the City of Miami for unemployment, child abuse, domestic violence, you name it, we get these cases. It is time we think for this leadership to take a look at the allocation that was made to the Haitian -American community. Less than $250,000 for an entire community. That is wrong. Something is definitely wrong. Unless something is done, not only the Haitian - American communities that are the only ones affected. The entire City of Miami will be affected. When you take the "P schools now in Little Haiti, the double "P schools in our community; when you take the poverty rate, $9,000 folks; when you take all the social agencies -- and many of them are here -- they've been telling me, Marlene, we don't know what's going on. We don't know what we're going to do with our clients. So I urge you, each and every one of you, to take a look at the allocation that was made for our community this year and the years past, because we know it, we've experienced it, over and over again, that the increase in delinquency, increase in our school participation, the increase in poverty, the increase in health problems is a direct result from community neglect and our community has been neglected too much and I'm going to repeat for the last time and I'm going to sit down. This is not an issue for one commissioner, one district to look at, this is an issue that the leadership of the City should look at, because if we do not do anything for our community that is at the break of gettoization, the Haitian -Americans will not be the only ones suffering. The entire City will continue to suffer and we will continue to be listed as one of the poorest cities -- the poorest city of this nation. I thank you for your attention. I do hope that I gave you food for thought and I do hope you will, you will take a look at our community and do something. Do something not only for FANM but for the other social agencies that are represented here today. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Ok. Go ahead, sir. Jim Keane: Good afternoon. My name is Jim Keane, 153 Northeast 44 Street. I'm here today representing Communities United. I am not a grant writer, fundraiser or professional service provider. I'm a businessman and very much grassroots member of the community. All of you that have been on the Commission awhile have seen Communities United appear before you for a variety of reasons and issues in our community. We want to continue to provide these services but we've gotten to the point that we can no longer afford to do this. We've been funding it with our own money; our applications for a community block grant dollars have been declined twice. We submitted a very ambitious plan this year, but we're to the point that we really need some 40 JULY 8, 2002 help from the City. We do provide a valuable service. We help students apply for college; we're doing financial aid packages. Ms. Willis is helping people with taxes. A wide variety of services. People continue to come back to us and ask for help. Well, we can no longer provide that help without some help for ourselves. We are seen as the community's agency in our neighborhood. We're in District 5, the Buena Vista, Little Haiti, Lemon City, Edison area. Our organization has been around for five years. In fact, when we began Ms. Ayers who spoke just before me, provided a home for our meetings and helped nurture and send us in the right direction. So we're very familiar with the good work that Ms. Ayers does. Chairman Regalado: Did you apply for -- Mr. Keane: Yes we did, but we did submitted a very ambitious plan and actually the interview didn't go well. I shot our group in the foot because I actually spoke how disappointed I was with some of the things that are continually funded and the person that was conducting the interview actually thought it was a pet project of hers and took offense and chastised me for it, so, I probably shouldn't be the person who's speaking on behalf of Communities United because I -- Chairman Regalado: No. You should. Mr. Keane: I tend to say exactly what I think. Mr. Keane: We submitted a very ambitious proposal for job training. It's, you know, $100,000 or something to set up a lawn care service or to do -- to be able to apply for City lot clearing projects. We would just like to be considered for a very humble first- year grant, not to be spent on salaries. Not to be spent on administration, but just to provide some services in our area and to just keep the office going. Chairman Regalado: You said what? Lot clearing or? Mr. Keane: We would like to be able to, you know, have some equipment, train some people and apply for lawn -- we want to be self-sufficient. We do not want to be coming back here every year. As I said, I'm not a grant writer. I'm a businessman, and if we can't be self-sufficient in a couple of years, we need to let somebody that's more able, to take over. Chairman Regalado: So what you're asking is not in the category -- Mr. Keane: No, it's services. Chairman Regalado: -- of social services. Mr. Keane: We do provide social services. We help high school students apply for college. 41 JULY 8, 2002 Chairman Regalado: No, because it's important for us. Mr. Keane: Our primary focus right now is social services and we were trying to expand into something that could be revenue producing, but we're providing services to people in our community, with helping them deal with just NET issues, code enforcement problems, helping people work through the system. Chairman Regalado: But that's not directly social services, because, you know, I guess we have somehow the hands tied with social services money. However, as you heard Commissioner Winton a few minutes ago, there may be a way to help economic development and other areas taking money from here and there. So I guess that would be up to members of the Commission and especially Commissioner Teele from your district, but I just want to make sure that you would be able maybe to do some kind of economic development because you did mention training and all that. Mr. Keane: Yes, yes we did and Chairman Regalado, we follow your lead. You know, you're the experts at this and if you can help direct us to somewhere that we can find some funding, we're happy to -- we're hear to provide services to the community, social and economic development. I'm finished. Ms. Willis will say a very few words. Hattie Willis: Good morning, Commissioners. Everyone here knows -- Chairman Regalado: Your name please. Ms. Willis: Hattie Willis. I'm the President of Communities United. Address is 5510 Northwest 1st Avenue, Miami, Florida. I apologize for being ignorant of knowledge and I'm talking to Mr. Hernandez over there and the City Manager. I'm someone's mother. I'm not a grant writer. I don't understand any of this. I don't understand and I'm concerned because I hear you saying that Ms. Ayers is not in your district and this is going on and that is going on. But what I'm saying to you is that we in the community are confused because we really don't understand what to do. We see a need. We've had 18 killings in my community in the last two months, ok? The other night we had two kids stand up and shoot one another face to face, OK Corral thing, drug -dealing going bad. We have "F" schools. We're the second largest NET in the community. We have the least amount of manpower in our police department. We're understaffed in the NET office. We have the highest AIDS and tuberculosis in the country; not just in the state, in the country. Everything is wrong in my community. I've got a little park over there the size of this room that I have adopted and all of you guys have been there know about my park and I provide services for 300 kids and their families in that community. Now I'm concerned because Jim and I live in our community. We not only ask for help for our community, we have a vested interest. That is our home. We live there. You can come to our address and it's physically where we live. So when we come down here asking for dollars, and there's other agencies that provide a lot of services in this community, and they're great agencies and I'm not putting them down. What I'm saying is, we have double vested. We live there and we work there. Those are my children. My door is open to every child. Black, white, blue or green, Hispanic. I have to have the children 42 JULY 8, 2002 translate to me because I don't understand the language, but it's ok because I understand love. Just like Ms. Ayers understands it, and I'm concerned when staff sits down and determines what it is that's needed in my community, I don't understand that. Commissioners, you know where we live and you represent us and we're the ones that provide the services to our community. Now maybe we did something wrong on a piece of paper. We asked for too much money. I don't know, but one thing I do know is, this is our tax dollars. It's our money. We're coming to you asking you to do the right thing. I'm sorry. I'm apologizing. We didn't ask for it the right way, but what I'm saying is, we need some help and every one of these social community services organizations need help, but if you fund us some money to help us do what we do, and I'm going to say this and end it. I thank all of you for your help. My 12 children are going off to college. Six of them got scholarships. Thanks for the help that you guys gave, and they need help and they need winter clothes because they're going to cold places. The point I'm saying is, we provide these services to these families so I need you to take a look and re-evaluate whatever we did. Please let us correct it and, Commissioners, look at a way that you can help us to solve some of the problems in our community and we're the people that live in the community, and I thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Go ahead, ma'am. Cathy Hamilton Green: Good afternoon. My name is Cathy Hamilton Green. I'm the Director of Educational Services for the Children's Psychiatric Center and Director of the All Aboard Tutoring and Mentoring Program. First of all, I'd like to say thank you for the last two years in helping All Aboard help children in the City of Miami. We are currently seeing children at four elementary schools, City of Miami related, Allapattah, Lenore B. Smith, Santa Clara, Frederick Douglas and Phyllis Wheatley. We this morning took our mobile unit. I have some pictures of it. I have some things for each of you, but our mobile unit, which is a classroom on wheels, which the Children's Psychiatric Center is funded, the City of Miami gave us $20,000 last year. They're recommending that we receive 25 next year. We are providing direct one-on-one tutoring and mentoring services to children at these schools. Twenty-four children at each school, and we need your help because CPC has been funding us in a deficit and we are very, very, very cognizant of what is needed in the schools for our children. I was at Frederick Douglas this morning with the mobile unit and I have to say that the principal told me this morning she had to lay off four teachers for summer school. The first grade classroom has 43 children in it. The kindergarten classroom has 37 children in it, and when I went there today to take children to the mobile unit to tutor them, every teacher said come back and get more. I only have four tutors. We can only do so many things, but we want to help 48 children and we want to help 96 children with more money. Unfortunately, we have not received everything. We have grants out there. We're writing grants. We're getting funding from the Robley Foundation, from United Way. But we need your help because primarily this mobile unit, and you can see it physically at the City of Miami Police Department; it is there right next to the charter school. We had police officers onboard as well. My tutors are education majors who are getting experience working with inner City children because chances are that's where they will be teaching, and so, this is a community-based program. We are very proud of what we're doing. Ninety - 43 JULY 8, 2002 four of our 96 children were promoted to the next grade after working with us. This program has only been online for less than a year and we are very excited about what we are doing in the community, but we need your help, and we asked for $86,000 and we have been recommended for $25,000, and, I have -- as I've said -- the Children's Psychiatric Center is a not-for-profit -- My program produces no revenue for CPC -- zero dollars. Everything we asked for is written through grants and donations and we are providing direct services to the children of this community and these are our future FCAT scorers in two years from now. We are working primarily with kindergarten, first and second grade and at Frederick Douglas this morning I had 24. Now -- first graders -- Because they did advance to the next grade, but many of them are still way behind and they're behind their peers, and so we need your help, so I again thank you for listening to me this afternoon and understanding. You know and I know that the schools need our help. The Dade County Public Schools is in a great deficit and unfortunately we're all having to pick up the slack for that, but the children need us, so I appreciate it. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Thank you. Go ahead, ma'am. Isandra Gonzalez: Thank you. My name is Isandra Gonzalez and I'm here from the Dominican American National Foundation in 2885 Northwest 36th Street, District 1. Angel Gonzalez is our Commissioner and we're here because last year we applied for funding and it was given -- part of that funding to us and we are again applying for next year and we need your recommendation for it. We run an after school program that is very ambitious and that has proven that it helps the kids -- that it's helping the kids move up and keeping them off the streets and through their grades we're able to see a drastic change. When they start with us, more socially, how they're more involved in school, how they changed their grades in order to improve it and we want to keep that program open. We have a summer camp running right now and it needs much more than what we're able to offer it right now, so we want you to be able to look over our application and fund us for the amount that we are asking for. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: That is how much you're asking? Ms. Gonzalez: A hundred something. I think it's 110. Chairman Regalado: And you were recommended for? Ms. Gonzalez: I believe so. We were given part of that money last year, not the full amount, but the person that has the actual numbers is not with me today so I don't have the exact numbers. Chairman Regalado: Go ahead, ma'am. Ms. Gonzalez: Thank you. Nilsa Velasquez: Good afternoon. My name is Nilsa Velasquez. I'm the Executive Director of Kidco Child Care. We've been in the community for 2t years now. Through 44 JULY 8, 2002 the City of Miami, we've been serving 125 children, and not only with residents but other adjacent areas as well, like Allapattah and Edison. We take pride in the quality of programs we have. Our monetary reviews from the City of Miami always surpasses the requirements and we have a staff development program for the staff where they get their AA (Associates of Art) degrees and their bachelor's degree, so we work towards their development. We have a developmentally appropriate curriculum for our pre-school children. We are nationally accredited by the National Association of the Education of Young Children Academy, and right now, in the foresight that we have, we serve 430 children. Our Board of Directors is also made up of former parents and advocates for children. We have Susan Salicks, our chairperson here, but she had to leave to get back to work. Through the City of Miami funding, we're able to serve infants and toddlers. We are able to provide that service for the parents who need to go to work. We offer wrap around full-time, full year services to our children and we also provide the employee benefits that is very needed. I want to stress the fact that Kidco serves also in District 1 and District 5 as well. We have a large percentage of 20 and 15 percent of our children who come from those areas. It's very difficult for the parents to afford childcare costs, so it's very important that we continue to provide these services. We're very stressed with the fact that we're getting 90 percent cut in our budget; from $100,000 to $10,000. That represents an impact, a very large impact. We have four employees that are community residents of the area under this program that would need to be laid off. $10,000 represents like a zero program and the community, the City of Miami has been providing the needed services and funding to those children and today I appeal to your hearts and to your budget and to please consider allocating other districts also an amount for our program. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Go ahead, ma'am. Silvia Hernandez: Good afternoon, Commissioners and staff. My name is Silvia Hernandez, 970 Southwest 1st Street, Suite 302. Catholic Charities would like to thank you for the allocation that you provided to our emergency services program. We're extremely happy with it and today I brought one of our three case managers to at least explain to you again what we do in emergency services. Thank you. Isabel Moran: Good afternoon Commissioners. My name is -- Chairman Regalado: The mike, please. Ms. Moran: Good afternoon. My name is Isabel Moran, I'm a case manager at Catholic Charities, Little Havana and we have an influx of clients of very limited income in need of utility, rental, shelter and food assistance, as well as employment referrals. These individuals have overall monthly expenses that do not meet their monthly income, therefore, they need case management assistance to plan their financial needs. We see a lot of immigrants that come to this agency that have no income and without a work permit. They're not able to find employment and depend on our programs to be able to get some sort of financial assistance. The demand for these services have increased since 45 JULY 8, 2002 the 9/11 crisis. This is why we're asking for your support. Thank you very much for your assistance. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Ma'am, your name. Emmanuela Dorvilus: Good afternoon. My name is Emmanuela. I'm the case manager at Pierre Toussaint Center in Little Haiti, 130 Northeast 62nd Street. We serve a population of mostly Haitian immigrants and African-Americans as well. Unemployed, under employed and all have difficulties for one reason or another to assess for assistance. Therefore, the services offered at Catholic Charities are very much needed in their community. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Dieunane Formul: Good afternoon. My name is Dieunane Formul. I am also a case manager at Pierre Toussaint Center at 130 Northeast 62nd Street. I would also like to add that we not only provide direct services for financial assistance, such as rent and utilities and food, but we also serve as a source for referral for a lot of immigrants who do not know what services are available in time of need, so that's why we need your assistance. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Sir. Eddy Jean -Baptiste: Yes. Good afternoon. My name is Eddy Jean -Baptiste and I'm representing Food for Life Network 4330 Northeast 2nd Avenue. Food for Life Network provides meals, groceries and nutrition counseling to people living with HIV and AIDS in the community. This year we requested approximately $200,000 in public services funds for the grant year, which only represented 88 percent of the demonstrated need in our community for food. We were recommended for funding for $40,000 and we'd like to thank the Commission for -- and staff, for that allocation. We will do wonderful things with that allocation; however, that only represents 20 percent of the requested amount. The need for food and food services in the Miami area is great. We are on the top of the list in the county for newly infected HIV cases. Because public funds are continuing to dwindle and private funds are increasingly difficult to find, we implore you to give us the help that we so desperately need. We not only provide funding -- I mean, services for clients in the district that we are located in, but also as far south as Homestead and as far north as the county line, so again, I'd just like to implore you to, if you can, to find it in the budget to provide us with some additional funding. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Go ahead. Marlene Arribas: My name is Marlene Arribas. I'm the Executive Director of the Hispanic Coalition, 5659 West Flagler. Here we are again this year -- we have to beg because our program was not funded -- wasn't recommended for funding. The travesty of this is the youth think that they don't count. We don't only deal with the youth -- there's tremendous problems with the youth in Dade County, but we deal with the family 46 JULY 8, 2002 as a whole and they come with a lot of problems. Last year and the year before we were funded for $30,000, which really doesn't even pay for the full time therapist that we have. We have a mental health tech and we also have a psychotherapist. We see the families on individual, family and group therapy. The parents must participate in this program because we don't feel that you can take a youth, fix him and send him back to a dysfunctional home. Our referrals come from DJJ, the court, JAZZ, the Miami Bridge and our new referrals are coming from Dade County Public Schools and they have some kids there with very serious problems. The schools, I'm sad to say, just pass them along like they're throwaways. The price is too high to pay to have these kids living a life of crime. Miami is considered the poorest City in the country and that's a sad reputation, but with poverty comes crime. What kind of crime? Youth crime. I believe we asked for $60,000 this year. We have a program that we take our own money and pay for this program -- it's a martial arts program -- where these kids can learn discipline, responsibility and self-esteem and we can't put every one of the kids that are in our program in there because we can't afford it, so if you have it in your heart, please help us keep this program going, and we have kids from every one of the districts. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Rosa Kasse: Well, it's nice to see you, Commissioner. Chairman Regalado: Your name, Rosa. Ms. Kasse: Rosa Kasse, President of the Hispanic Coalition, 5659 W. Flagler Street. The Hispanic Coalition been having this program for the last seven years, two years it has been funded by the City of Miami. I was very surprised when I got the letter from the CDBG office saying that the Youth and Family Prevention Program was not a priority in the plan of the City of Miami. To me it was a shock and I really thank you, Mr. Chairman, for trying to get funding for that program, but to be honest with you, if we don't take care of our youth, the rate that we've been doing it, and our future doesn't look too good. We know that we have so many problems with the seniors. We understand that, but we cannot forget about our youth and we always do that every year, so we had $30,000 last year and we asked for $60,000 this year because things are increasing. The judges are sending more youth to our program, so we need that money. Commissioner Joe Sanchez, we need your help because there's a lot of kids' coming from your district too, even though we're serving the whole City of Miami. Thank you Commissioner Teele. Long time I don't see you, but it's nice to see you again. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Go ahead, sir. Hugh James: Good afternoon. My name is Hugh James. I'm the Executive Director of the Greater Miami Service Corp. located 810 Northwest 28th Street. I brought portions of my family with me today. Good afternoon, Honorable Chairman and Commissioners. The Greater Miami Service Corp. is here today to respectfully request reconsideration of this grant application. We applied this year and we were turned down. Over the years the Greater Miami Service Corp. and the City of Miami has enjoyed a very good 47 JULY 8, 2002 partnership. We have performed and worked in conjunction with the City of Miami NET offices in all districts, carrying out such activities as littering and graffiti abatement, lot clearing, landscape maintenance, painting. While these necessary services are being rendered, our young people in return receive individualized education, life skills management, citizenship development, work experience, job placement, scholarship assistance and training stipends. I would like to ask this body to explore other ways of maybe funding Greater Miami Service Corp. from the standpoint that we are funded through another municipality through CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) code enforcement and it may provide some flexibility to staff, if they should look at it in that regard. However, I'd like to let you know that the Greater Miami Service Corp., here based in Miami, of course, is the leading service corp. in the country. A recent app. (phonetic) study was done on the Greater Miami Service Corp., as well as 35 other affiliates across the nation. It found that participants in this program and programs like these are less likely to be recidivist. It was also found that participants in this program are less likely to have a second child out of wedlock. These are very essential things as we are preparing young people for the workforce. We at the Greater Miami Service Corp. we are turning young people into taxpayers instead of tax dependents and we ask your assistance in that regard. Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, may I ask a question? Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir. Commissioner Teele: How many people in a team? Mr. James: A team comprises up to 10 individuals. Commissioner Teele: And what's the cost of underwriting a team? Mr. James: Currently $192,000. Commissioner Teele: Is that for six months or one year? Mr. James: That's for entire year and, Commissioner, that carries with it all insurances, uniforms, training stipends, transportation, as well as a supervisor to supervise young people in work projects. Commissioner Teele: Does the county still provide funding for you? Mr. James: Yes, sir. Commissioner Teele: Does the airport and those people still pickup teams? Do you still have that relationship? Mr. James: Yes, sir. The airport as well as solid waste. 48 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Teele: And are your people required to go to school and do you all have a formal graduation like you used to? Mr. James: Yes, sir. We still provide individualized education and once the persons have finished the number of hours in the program they do have a formal graduation. Commissioner Teele: Have you met with Assistant Director Frank Rollason? Assistant Manager, Frank Rollason with the City? Mr. James: No, I haven't. Commissioner Teele: I think you ought to meet with Mr. Rollason. Some of those people on the Public Works operational side, because I know that the county was able -- I remember you all did the Caleb Center -- not the Caleb -- you did the Caleb and you did the one in Overtown, the Culmer Center. Mr. James: Yes, sir. Commissioner Teele: Repainted it. Redid it and it's a good program. It's expensive. I mean, it's not expensive but in these kind of constraint budgets. You applied as a general to provide a team to the City of Miami? Mr. James: Yes, sir, we did. Commissioner Teele: See you need to have Public Works or GSA (General Services Association). One of those two departments need to be -- you need to sit down with the GSA director or the Public Works director or the Convention -- I never get her department right. What's the name of it? Ms. Bianchino: Conferences and Convention. Chairman Regalado: She's public facilities. Commissioner Teele: Public facilities. I certainly would like to work with you all and see how we could make it come out, but I think you got to get a department -- you need to meet with Mr. Rollason. He's back there. Manager Frank Rollason. Mr. James: I just would like to say, Commissioner, you're absolutely right. However, we've provided a quick response team to the NET offices for a number of years in all the hot areas that had that problem. Commissioner Teele: See he has NET as well. All of the NET offices report to him as well, so I think operationally, and I would also urge you to sit down with the Model City Home Ownership Trust Board and see if there's an opportunity for you there, but there's a unique role I think and particularly involving these young people that are in school every day and they live in the community. Thank you. 49 JULY 8, 2002 Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Commissioner Teele, last year, probably you may remember that several times I said, you know, we've got to work with the Law Enforcement Trust Fund. You know, we've got to work with the Law Enforcement Trust Fund because I saw this coming and what I think happened, you know, with all due respect to the police department is, that whoever had the expertise to apply and write the right things, were given the money and they were not proactive in seeking the way to help people like this. In helping Georgia; in helping Hispanic Coalition. Because, I mean, it is important to use some of the money of Law Enforcement Trust Fund for, you know, overtime or whatever for the police budget, but it is more important and more present and more priority, programs like this and next year we're going to have a worst case scenario, which is no program income out of the loans and only probably the 15 percent and then, you know, what are we going to do? So I say again, let's try to work with the police department. The police department just went by the book. They didn't use imagination. They were not proactive this year. Hopefully the manager and the chief will try to convey the message if this is the will of the Commission, next year they've got to do something. I don't know how much money they still have. I think Assistant Chief, yeah? Chief, how much money do you still have from the Law Enforcement Trust Fund? Is it $20,000 you mentioned, or? Noel Rojas: Assistant Chief Noel Rojas. Yes, sir, we have $20,000. That hasn't been designated for any organization. Chairman Regalado: But you have a $2,000 cap per group, right? Mr. Rojas: Yes, sir. Chairman Regalado: So if we were to say here to you, can you help with $2,000 at least to some of these groups, do you have to go like a process or -- Mr. Rojas: No, the groups -- Chairman Regalado: -- selection committee or whatever? Mr. Rojas: The groups can apply directly to us and the chief will have the final decision and if it meets the criteria for Law Enforcement Trust Funds, yes, they can be funded. Chairman Regalado: Ok. You have been sitting there. What you have heard from Georgia and the Hispanic Coalition and this gentleman, do you think that that fits the criteria? Mr. Rojas: I'm sorry. What's your specific question, Commissioner? Chairman Regalado: What you have heard from Georgia Ayers, from the Hispanic Coalition in terms of juvenile/criminal programs, this gentleman who was just here with 50 JULY 8, 2002 some work that the youth are doing to enhance streets and landscaping, would that fit the criteria? Mr. Rojas: As long as I have a crime prevention or drug prevention component, it fits the criteria. In our process, there's many groups applied, that were worthy or the funding ran out and unfortunately we couldn't fund them, but there are many, many programs that were worthy of getting money. Chairman Regalado: But didn't. Mr. Rojas: No, because the money ran out. We had more programs than we could distribute money to. Chairman Regalado: Yeah, but what I'm saying is, do you use some Law Enforcement Trust Fund money for any other purposes other than funding these programs? Mr. Rojas: Yes, sir. We use it for equipment purchases. We use it for overtime. A number of other -- Chairman Regalado: That's what I'm saying. Mr. Rojas: -- programs. Chairman Regalado: What I'm saying is that next year we're going to have a crisis in terms of social services and we need to start working to try to preempt and look for ways where that money could be used to help these groups that are here. That's all I'm saying. Commissioner Gonzalez: I just spoke to the mayor or the assistant chief and that's what he pointed out. That any organization that they're going to assist the Law Enforcement Trust Fund has to be an organization that is working on any crime prevention related activities. Some of the organizations that just came here asking for assistance, they're not involved in that type of activity, so that creates a problem. Chairman Regalado: Three of them did. Commissioner Gonzalez: Three of them did? Chairman Regalado: Yeah. Commissioner Gonzalez: Then they qualify for $2,000 each. Chairman Regalado: Yup. That's what I'm saying. But it's not that much. Go ahead, sir. Camille Merillus: Yes. Good afternoon, Commissioners. Chairman Regalado, Vice Chairman Commissioner Winton, Commissioner Teele, Commissioner Sanchez, 51 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Gonzalez, Mr. Manager, Mr. City Attorney, City Clerk, members of this (UNINTELLIGIBLE). My name is Camille Merillus and I am the founder, along with my wife Sulette, of Camille and Sulette Merillus Foundation. It was before Operation Save Eyes, but we turned it into Camille and Sulette Merillus Foundation and we are located at 970 Southwest 1st Street, that's District 3, that's where our office is located, but we serve the whole City. When we started serving the people of the City of Miami I was not blind, but I've been getting the disease glaucoma, that's why I made a commitment to help more than 20,000 people from this City to understand the necessity of getting an eye checkup. I also helped women through this work to understand the necessity to get a mammogram before it's too late. Men like you, like me 45 years old or older to understand the necessity of getting a prostate checkup because if it's too late, it's going to be worse. We serve people in the area of providing food to the hungry, but now we all say serving case, our future, young people. We started a program to help kids six years to fifteen years old to go with us to learn how to log to the Internet. So we brought the matter before Chief Martinez, the Chief of Police. He made arrangements for us to get a brand new computer from a computer company. We brought the matter before Senator Meek who helped us get the latest computer, so that means we got two computers now to help young people like that to turn them so they start learning how to use, not just the computer, but the internet at the early age. Now that we just get to our new office at 970 SW 1st Street, we are here to call upon you to provide us $72,000 so we can pay for our rent, pay our staff people salary, everything, so we can come and see you the work that we started more than 10 years ago in this City. Commissioner Teele was at Miami -Dade County; he knew about our work. We've been working closely with Commissioner Joe Sanchez. Commissioner Regalado now our work is serving the whole City of Miami and please whenever you provide money to our organization please think that the man who founded this organization is a blind man, he cannot see, but he's strongly committed to help and that's why the money that you're going to provide us this afternoon will help me to continue that noble work. Please give me something so I can pay the rent so I can continue the work and I can pay my staff people and we can continue the work that we started, so we would appreciate it if you can make a decision to help us get some money because we got the application too late when you return it to CDBG to community development it was not complete. That's why they did not make the commendation. They asked me to go before the Commission to bring the matter before you and I'm calling upon you, this afternoon, to make a positive decision so that we can get the job done, the work that we started more than 10 years ago in this City. Thank you very much, so please make a decision to give us some money this afternoon. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Thank you. Go ahead, sir. Go ahead. Jose Marmol: Good evening, Mr. Commissioner. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I will talk on behalf of 55 Years and Up, a non-profit organization with -- Chairman Regalado: Your name? Name. The name. Mr. Marmol: Jose Marmol, Jose Marmol. My name Jose Marmol. 52 JULY 8, 2002 Chairman Regalado: OK. Mr. Marmol: And we talk on behalf of 55 Years and Up, a non-profit organization, which is providing nutritive [sic] and balance hot meals in the evening to elderly and handicapped persons in need. This service is delivered absolutely free in the evening to clients house. Our organization started serving the community five years ago and currently we are allocating around 200 meals daily to the same number of people in the target area the cities of Miami, West Miami, Sweetwater, South Miami and Hialeah. To carry out this service the agency has a trained staff, a certified nutritionist, making nutrition assessment to all new participants prescribing a special diet, if necessary, follow a nutrition assessment is being made on a quarterly basis including 10 university students, six young gentlemen and four young ladies that are working, a source of volunteer, two retired doctors and around eight senior citizens. A counselor, assisted by senior aides, and volunteers, make weekly telephone calls, a home visit in order to have feedback control regarding the quality and acceptance of the meals they are receiving. Advise of welfare and attention at the referral along other services are also offered. Participants are encouraged to make a phone call or come to the agency looking for help every time they want and to grievance if they believe something wrong is happening. Fifty-five years and up has 100 low and very low income elderly on a waiting list hoping to be admitted as consumer of this service. Last year we received $25,000. Now we have submitted a proposal for $100,000. We respectfully ask to the Commission consider this (UNINTELLIGIBLE) fund to allow us to continue and eventually expand our program feed the elderly hot meal service to those most in need. Thank you very much, Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Go ahead, ma'am. Yvonne McDonald: Thank you. Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is Yvonne McDonald and I'm the Director of the Coconut Grove Local Development Corporation and I'm also the Director of the Coconut Grove Family and Youth Intervention Center and I'm here this afternoon to speak about social services in Coconut Grove. Let me start out by saying that the social service component of the Coconut Grove Local Development Corporation began in 1994 with funding from The Children Services Council and at that time, our mission was to provide a comprehensive approach to service deliveries to families in Coconut Grove by working in collaboration with other providers and we have done that from the very beginning. Many of the programs that are currently providing services in Coconut Grove were agencies that we worked with to assist them to do such. For example, the Boys and Girls Club in Coconut Grove has provided services for many years to residents and children. We work with them to expand their program to a park in the heart of the West Grove, Armbrister Park. From 1994 to the present, that program has grown extensively and has provided a wonderful service. We also have worked in conjunction with other groups such as the Curry Grise Track Club, which is a small husband and wife organization that has provided assistance to over 60 to 100 young people in our community during track season. We provided funding through our agency to that group, as well as many, many other agencies Miami Behavioral Health Center, the Museum of Science, many children were unable to attend the Museum of Science for 53 JULY 8, 2002 example for a one week program and so we were able to provide funding to assist over 50 children to attend during the summer programs at the museum, but not only those kinds of services that we provide, we also provided services in the area of counseling. We've done extensive work in counseling with people who are substance abusers, as well as domestic violence, as well as mental illness in Coconut Grove, and through our social service component, over the last seven years, we have made a tremendous impact in the Coconut Grove community, specifically the West Grove. We heard a lot of talk about the funding for our district and one of the things that I want to say is that, yes, we probably are the richest districts in the City of Miami, but I don't think that that makes a bit of difference to the poorest person that lives in the West Grove. Children don't understand that they can't get to go to an after school program because there's no funding to provide such a program and one of the things that I'm very, very proud of about Coconut Grove at this time is that we are working together as a community. We're looking at where our gaps are and we're working together so that every agency and every organization that wants to provide a service will have an opportunity to do so, and so this afternoon, we have representatives from several organizations here that are speaking on the needs in different areas. When we apply for a social service grant to the City we looked at an area that was underserved and that is working with children between the ages of 12 to 18. We looked at that area because right now we have programs that are servicing children in elementary school. We have programs that are serving the elderly, and certainly there are still needs in those areas, but one of the areas that we worked very hard with, Virrick Park, for example, is to provide a service for those children that are between the ages of 12 to 18. That age group where you know that that is where most of our children encounter many, many areas where they're getting into problems, and so when we applied to the City, we wanted to provide a service that would work as an intervention program for children who were suspended from school. That will work as a program for after school services that would help them with homework assistance as well as skill building in the area of career preparation, in the area of cultural services and so we looked at that and over the last couple of years our Commissioner has suggested that we really focus in on social services and we did that. We also received a letter from the CD Department that said that our area that we applied for did not fall within the category in which we could be funded and in reviewing the RFP (Request For Proposals) application there was no such area in that application that stated that that you needed to apply in certain areas with social services, so I'm asking that you consider this new start-up program in Coconut Grove, to work with teenagers and to assist us with some funding to help us to get this program started. You know that there is a great need. The summer's here now. A lot of teenagers are unemployed because there's only so many summer jobs to go around and I account to that on a daily basis right now where youth are coming in and they're looking for summer programs. We're hoping that through this program that we will be able to assist young people so that they can be become contributors to our community, to our country, to our society and really make a positive impact and so I ask that you reconsider the funding for the Coconut Grove Family Youth Intervention Center and provide some start-up funds for us to get this program started. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Go ahead, ma'am. 54 JULY 8, 2002 Madelyn Rodriguez: Good afternoon. My name is Madelyn Rodriguez. I'm here representing Centro Materr 4180 Southwest 4th Avenue, and basically, what I would like to bring to your attention is Centro Materr is the oldest child care center in the City of Miami and especially in the area of Little Havana and we were the first social service agency providing child care services to received CDBG funding, and for the last 15 years, we've been able to receive CDBG funding. However, this year, currently we're being funded $112,000 and this year we are only receiving $66,000 which is almost half of the money that the agency has received for the past 15 years and this is very unfortunate because it would affect a program that has received excellent ratings every time we have monitoring from the City of Miami, the federal and state monitoring and it would affect the lives of 70 children that have been receiving services since they were six weeks old for free at Centro Mater and this would also affect the employment of two employees that have been with us for many years; and CDBG funding has been extremely important to the mission of Centro Mater which is providing excellent child care services to children and assisting the families in whatever they might need, and I plead to your consideration and to the history of Centro Mater and the prestigious that the agency and how we've always been able to support the community to reinstate the funding that we've had for many, many years to the level that we have right now; and I brought one of the teachers with me that she will be directly impacted with the cut that we might receive if this is true and what happened she will have to go and 70 children, like I said that receive all these services would not be able to come into Centro Mater, so I would like Omayra to address the Commissioners. Commissioner Gonzalez: Mr. Chairman? Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir. Commissioner Gonzalez: OK. What was the amount that you requested? Chairman Regalado: $112,000. Commissioner Gonzalez: Yeah. OK. You have Centro Mater Child Care Center? Ms. Rodriguez: Yes. Commissioner Gonzalez: 418 Southwest 4th Avenue, right? Ms. Rodriguez: Yes, sir. Commissioner Gonzalez: You requested $81,000. Ms. Rodriguez: We requested a 10 percent increase from last year's funding. No, that's what -- we have two CDBG funding. There was one $81,000 and we received $66,000 and for the other one that we requested $50,000 we didn't receive anything, and that is a program that's been in existence for the past 15 years. 55 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Gonzalez: All right. Thank you. Ms. Rodriguez: You're welcome. Chairman Regalado: Go ahead, ma'am. Your name. Omayra Frixione: Hi. My name is Omayra Frixione. I work in Centro Mater Child Care Center. Some of the activities that I provide for my children during the school year consist of music, art, but the most important thing that we do with them is help them with their homework. A lot of the parents don't have the time to assist their children with the homework. Not only that but they can't speak the language that the homework is given to the children in, so with our help, they manage to do their homework in my classroom. Once the homework is done, we have a lot of activities with them from music, art, science. We go outside and we play. All of these children, most of them, are picked up at about 6:30. If they're not with us they're stuck in their apartment with their parent or with their grandmother or whomever the parents find to take care of the children while they work. If not, they don't get to play outside. They don't have proper toys in their homes. During the summer, now we are summer camp. They go on field trips with us twice a week. Without those funds we don't have field trips, they don't get to go to places like Parrot Jungle, the Seaquarium, the zoo and a bunch of other things that they won't get to appreciate and won't get to participate in without us, the center, so we need your help. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Go ahead, ma'am. Sylvia Jordan: Good afternoon. My name is Sylvia Jordan. I'm with Coconut Grove Cares. Chairman Regalado: Could you speak into the mike, please. Ms. Jordan: I'm with Coconut Grove Cares, the Barnyard Community Center and we offer after school care and summer camp educational programs for children in the West Grove. We've been in existence since 1983 for the children's programs and Coconut Grove Cares, as you know, has been around since 1948. We received last year $100,000 in funding from the City of Miami. This year we were recommended for $10,000. I really thought it was a typographical error. I didn't think that we were getting a 90 percent cut. I can go on about what our programs provide for the community of the West Grove, but I have two of our children who have been in the program since they were in kindergarten. They would like to say what the program means to them. Thank you. Johniqua Williams: Hi. My name is Johniqua Williams, 3870 Washington Avenue, Coconut Groves the Barnyard. I would just like to say a few words about the Barnyard means to me. I can't sum what the Barnyard is in a million ways, but I've been going to the Barnyard since the kiddy camp (UNINTELLIGIBLKE) SYL, knowing these are my last few years I would like to enjoy it. The Barnyard is like one family to me. So I hope you will reconsider. Thank you. 56 JULY 8, 2002 Charnasha Williams: Hello my name is Charnasha Williams, 3870 Coconut Grove Cares, the Barnyard. I love the Barnyard and the Barnyard is like a family to me, and if you take away the Barnyard that's like taking away a piece of me and if the Barnyard is gone then what will other kids go in the community, and they can't stay home when the parents are at work, so I really appreciate if you just reconsider it and just keep the Barnyard open. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Thank you very much. Yes, sir. Bapthol Joseph: Bapthol Joseph, representing HAM, 5080 Biscayne Boulevard. Let me first of all thank staff and you, Commissioners, for the continued funding you've been providing to HAM to help us sustain the operations and helping the elderly that we've been helping for 11 years. The reason I am here before you is because we were cut from the last funding we were receiving and if we don't have an increase in our funding or even being funded at the same level we were funded last year, the impact will be very negative on the 400 elderly that are on our waiting list, not counting the 150 receiving services from the money we're receiving from the City. We have a variety of services to the elderly from nutrition, recreation, to (UNINTELLIGIBLE). The money we requested from you is to support staff to help provide these services to the elderly because we (UNINTELLIGIBLE) staff won't have it. I know some of you know about the challenges of the organization of which I'm talking about, but if we do not have funding, the problems will go even deeper and the community will suffer. I don't have to go about the history of the Haitian community because Marlene Bastien gave you a very accurate picture of what's going on in our community. The funding is too low. The funding's too low. The funding's too low, but if you do not increase the funding for that community we cannot deliver the quality services to provide quality of services you have to hire qualified employees which is a part of the Haitian community's CBO's (Community - Based Organization), so I come to you to plead that you increase the allocation of HAM for this fiscal year. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Go ahead, ma'am. Nirva Andre. Good evening, Commissioners and ladies and gentlemen. My name is Nirva Andre. I work for Central Information and Orientation located at 181 Northeast 82nd Street. Again I'm here to say a few words. Marlene has said all for the Haitian community. We had a program, a child abuse prevention program. Last year we were funded for $65,000 and this year we only were funded $25,000. I really don't know how I'm going to come to the Haitian community and tell them. I cannot serve them because we don't have enough money. Let me tell you about child abuse prevention. When you have a family, they do not have a job and they get angry. They come at home, they want to beat their children because they're angry. They come to us and we tell them or we teach them how they can deal with their anger. How to communicate with the children. I don't know how we're going to do it. I'm telling you ladies and gentlemen, I really don't know. I don't have the word for it. Again I'm only asking, can you please take a look at our child abuse prevention program, which we call Save the Life. Again take a look at 57 JULY 8, 2002 the Haitian community. They are suffering, they need us and I'm here for them but I cannot help everyone. With $25,000 how many people can we serve? We had 65. We served more than 80. But how many can we serve with 25? Just a question I'm here to ask. Thank you for your support for the past three years. Once again, take a look at the Haitian community. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Thank you. Go ahead, ma'am. Esperanza Martinez: Good afternoon. My name is Esperanza Martinez. I'm the Executive Director for CASA, located at 3138 Coral Way. CASA stands for Columbian American Service Association. We were funded in 1994 and we're providing services for the immigrant community since then. I want to thank you for the support you have given us in the past and I'm happy to report that with the $25,000 that we received last year, we have met our goal. We were contracted to provide services to about 240 families and individuals and as of today we've met that goal, so I know we're going to extend. Unfortunately this time around we were funded at $20,000 and we had originally asked for $52,312. What we intend to do with that money is to continue to provide case management services, counseling, legal assistance, crisis intervention, information and referral. We are an organization that provides services in non-traditional hours. You can find our staff there Monday through Thursday till 9 o'clock at night and we see people in the evening through scheduling appointments. So I'm here to ask you to reconsider to look at this organization as I'm told that we should have been happy that we were recommended since that was our first year and we were recommended because we managed the funds well. We did what we said we were going to do and we even went above that. So I would encourage you. I think this is a bargain for the City of Miami. I again am providing services to more than 240 families. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Thank you very much. Go ahead, sir. Mark Ferrell: Mr. Commissioner, good evening. You and your other Commissioners, staff members, the entire audience. It is a great pleasure to accept me here this afternoon and my main reason for being here is not really one of a kind, but one of the issues that occurs occasionally. My name is Mark Ferrell and I'm community director for Little Haiti, Oak Grove and many other areas. I'm involved in many of the schools in the Miami/North Miami/Little Haiti area for the mere fact is that I'm a parent first and utmost and most of my kids have passed through Notre Dame school, went onto Oak Grove and North Miami High, Turner Tech and now I tell you back in May, Notre Dame's interim administrator presented a proposal to the City -- CDBG funding -- and unfortunately there was an error, a very simple one. One most people would say would be able to be looked over, but for some reason only the fact, no fault of our own, this proposal was denied on the grounds that it came in ten minutes late and when you check with the courier, his statement was that he had problems in arriving at the City so therefore it was about 15 minutes late. We attend a appeal hearing back in May 20tH myself and the administrator, and were told by the appellant committee that it was impossible for them to do anything about it on the grounds that their hands were tied and they informed the staff we should come down here and discuss the matter with your 58 JULY 8, 2002 (UNINTELLIGIBLE) committee, and for that reason I'm here today, to plead with you to offset our proposal. I see no reason absolutely why the proposal cannot be accepted it, at least and in so doing come to the decision or make a decision whereas you don't have to go back and say well, you were late so to cut off (UNINTELLIGIBLE) 3:10. You came at 3:11. If you take into consideration (UNINTELLIGIBLE) issues that surround us at this point in time, and you'll hear today many individuals speaking about Little Haiti and one wonders, why Little Haiti? Well it's not only Little Haiti, but many of our poor neighborhoods in the Miami area, if you take away -- Notre Dame was established in 1975 in the Little Haiti area, and we've received services from the City for the past seven years. Chairman Regalado: Let me ask you something. How much were you funded last year? Mr. Ferrell: $45,000. Chairman Regalado: $45,000? Mr. Ferrell: $45,000, correct. Chairman Regalado: Ok, and because -- Commissioner Teele I think you should (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Because you were 11 minutes late you were not funded. Mr. Ferrell: The proposal weren't accepted on the grounds that we were a couple minutes late. Chairman Regalado: Ok. Let us ask -- Dan, in this case, is there an appeal? Dan Fernandes (Acting Director, Department of Community Development): There was an appeal Commissioner. He went to the appeal hearing. As he said it was held May 20th I believe and the appeals was a three-member panel of non -CD department representatives and the appeal was denied. Chairman Regalado: No. They told him to come here. Mr. Ferrell: The appellant committee said that their hands were tied and could not have made a decision as to whether the proposal could be accepted by them. Therefore, we should come down here today. Chairman Regalado: So my question is, do we have -- can they appeal to us? Mr. City Attorney? Barbara Rodriguez (Assistant Director, Community Development): Commissioner Regalado, their proposal was not accepted because they did not meet the deadline. So their proposal did not come in. However, they did reapply on District 5 special proposal and that one came in on time. So the original proposal was not accepted. They did not make it on the deadline date. 59 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Teele: There was a supplemental Ms. Rodriguez: Correct. Commissioner Teele: -- grant application process for the, I think, was $40,000? Ms. Rodriguez: Correct. Commissioner Teele: That was set-aside in each district. I specifically asked that there be an application to be submitted for that. Ms. Rodriguez: Correct. Commissioner Teele: And they did that make that time. Ms. Rodriguez: They did. Commissioner Teele: Now on the basic application did they receive anything in writing from the appeals committee? Ms. Rodriguez: When they came to the appeal panel the appeal panel said that the only thing that they were entertaining was an error in the facts that were presented in the proposal. His proposal was not accepted because it did not make the time, so that was the problem. That's why they're here now; so on the original proposal they didn't have anything. The proposal was not accepted originally. Mr. Ferrell: Mr. Commissioner, the appellant committee informed us that it was important to bring with me today the proposal by which I have here, and the facts from the courier and also a statement from him showing that he had difficulties in transporting the package, and that's the main reason why we were late. Therefore, I'm asking that on the grounds -- Commissioner Teele: Who had difficulty? Mr. Ferrell: The courier, the individual that picked up the package to deliver it over here. Therefore, on those grounds I see no reason why -- and my reason was saying that is even though I'm accepting the fact that we are responsible for not having the package here a day or so before, but I see no reason why at least the package couldn't be accepted in so doing make a decision from there. Commissioner Teele: May I inquire, in the supplemental are they recommended? Mr. Fernandes: In the supplemental they're eligible, Commissioner. That's one of the agencies that you would have an option to fund. 60 JULY 8, 2002 Lucia Vicencio: May I say something? I would like to clarify something. My name is Lucia Vicencio, 9401 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami. The proposal, the second proposal is for a different service. The original proposal we're trying to get accepted today is to provide child care services of Notre Dame and the proposal that we presented with additional funding that you created three or four weeks ago is to provide services for the elderly and the children. They're two different project. Commissioner Teele: Your first proposal was for what again? Ms. Vicencio: For $25,000 to provide child care services during the summer at Notre Dame Child Care Center. That was the proposal that was not accepted because it was 10 minutes late, and the other proposal is the one that we presented based on the additional funding that you created for District 5 and that is to provide services to the elderly and the children, also at Notre Dame. But that is a different project. Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, if I may. Mr. Attorney, what is the City of Miami policy and procedure related to late proposals? Is there a written policy and procedure and if so, what is it? Alejandro Vilarello (City Attorney): The only policy and procedure that I'm aware of is what's considered in each RFP (Request for Proposals), and that is, it sets a time and date and location for the submission of bids or proposals and if you're not there by that time and date your proposal's not accepted. I'm not aware of any other policy written other than what's actually in the RFP. Commissioner Teele: Let me say to you. I would like for you to draft a procedure that allows for the manager to have discretion to accept proposals that may be up to 30 minutes late because of unforeseen circumstances such as a bridge being stuck. Let me tell you where I think the irony in all of this comes in at. I certainly think the staff did everything right. I don't think the staff did anything wrong at all in not accepting it. If the procedures says 5 o'clock, it's 5 o'clock, but you know, didn't we just authorize spending a whole lot of money a year ago? And didn't we have lawyers go to Tallahassee and appeal a late submission by the City to the state, Mr. Attorney? Mr. Vilarello: Yes we did. We certainly followed our appellate processes and at the end of the day we were given the same result. Commissioner Teele: I understand. But I'm saying -- yeah, but the point -- and I'm in agreement with you and I think we should be bound by the terms of the RFP and if the RFP says 5 o'clock. I don't think even with an unforeseen circumstance, that the courier was late for whatever reason would meet my -- but I do think if a bridge is stuck, if the weather is the way that it has been -- I mean, you know, there ought to be some leeway, and if not, then we should not refer people to an appeal panel. I mean, why refer them to an appeal panel if that's going to be the decision is -- does the appeal panel have any authority, Mr. Director? 61 JULY 8, 2002 Mr. Vilarello: With regard to timeliness, I would say that they probably don't have the discretion to extend that timeline. Then why would we refer them to an appeal? Mr. Vilarello: Because they may have circumstances otherwise related to their application. Commissioner Teele: That nobody understands and that gives them due -- Mr. Vilarello: Due process -- Commissioner Teele: -- process. Mr. Vilarello: Exactly. Commissioner Teele: OK. All right. Mr. Ferrell: Mr. Commissioner, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) please. The committee panel stated that clearly that it was beyond their authority -- Commissioner Teele: That's what the attorney said. So everybody's in agreement. Everyone is saying the same thing, and that is, and I'm in agreement with that. That if the RFP says you have until 5 o'clock, then at 5:01 it's late and it's not accepted. Mr. Ferrell: That's a fact. Commissioner Teele: Now, if somebody comes in at 5:03 and we know that the bridge has been stuck and it's on the TV and the radio and all of that, I mean, you know, so, do we give some discretion to the manager or to someone to do that and maybe that's not a good idea. I don't know. I do remember there was one circumstance where somebody was in a massive car accident and it had been tied up for about three years ago and we documented all of that and I mean, you know, I just think there ought some wiggle room. But I don't think this is the case in which you've demonstrated to us that we should overturn our RFP process and I wanted to hear exactly what you had to say on that. Mr. Ferrell: Mr. Commissioner -- Commissioner Teele: I mean, I'm very sympathetic with what you're saying, but if it says 5 o'clock, then what about the person who comes in at 6? Mr. Ferrell: Well, I totally agree with that, Mr. Commissioner, but under the circumstances that I'm going to explain to you and you've heard a lot of this today, being mentioned by the young lady that deals with the same problems that we're faced with in the Little Haiti area, and it's very, very, very devastating. That's one of the reasons why I'm here is to plead with the committee to make an exception on the rule if possible. To the main fact that is we serve personally over 200 children and most of these parents, the parents of those children, some are unemployed, some for no reason of their own, no fault 62 JULY 8, 2002 of their own, and you're going to hear a lot of that, and some are holding two and three jobs and cannot afford the fees for daycare centers, for aftercare centers and that sort of stuff, and for that reason they've got to leave those kids at home. Of course, it's not known to most individuals. The only time we hear about this problem is when the police tells you that a house caught a fire last night and two or three kids were burned to death, so we provide service for the individuals that cannot afford service for their kids and of course you've heard this on several occasions where during the summer time when school is in recess, most of the delinquency and different types of crimes that are being committed are being committed by juveniles. Those that their parents cannot come forward and say well, I left my child alone at home or I just went to the store to buy a box of milk, gallon of milk for the kids, so therefore, none of them comes in place of the parent. Where a parent is able to bring their children to the school and know that they're being supervised and provide them for meals until they're able to receive them in the afternoon. I can recall myself being -- as a matter of fact, I'm not from a wealthy family. I'm the derivative of a very poor family. When I was a kid I used to be very, very happy knowing that I'd be able to go to school. Why? Because at least I would get a half pint of milk and two square biscuits and it would last me until no doubt sometime the next day, but at least I had someone to look up for me. Some of these parents today cannot even afford, they cannot even afford to buy milk and these kids are very happy to go to school. I could afford to support my kids right now, but this morning I felt so happy when my kids said daddy, daddy, it's time to go to school. I'm going to school, so you see the importance in having the funds appropriate for the staff and the needs of the children is one of the main reasons why we're here today. To beg of you something that disgusts me in doing, begging, but I have no choice. I'm here today to beg you to search deep down somewhere along the lines and make it an exceptional on the behalf of the parents and children of Little Haiti. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Go ahead, ma'am. Maria Diaz: Good afternoon. My name is Maria Diaz and I'm the Executive Director of Assistance to the Elderly. We are in Angel Gonzalez' district, Commissioner Gonzalez' district. 5617 Northwest 7th Street. We are located at Residential Plaza. I think most of you maybe are familiar with the Residential Plaza. It is the largest ALF (Adult Living Facility) in the state of Florida. We're licensed for 400 units. Our elderly, the average age there is 82 years old. They are on walkers, they're in wheelchairs and because of demographics, 98 percent are of Hispanic origin. I'm here today because Residential Plaza was acquired recently by Assistance to the Elderly, a non-profit organization of 501C3. We did not have the opportunity, because we're so young, to apply for these funds for the CDBG process, but I'm here today, like the gentleman said, to beg, to be at your mercy to see if you will help us purchase some air conditioning units for the residents. This is not going to go to staff. We have case managers. We have 120 employees that takes care of the needs of these elderly individuals; healthcare. But this is for air conditioning units. Last week I gave each of you a copy of a letter that went to the mayor, that's a desperate attempt because we found out that we needed these units. Our need is for 250 units and that would be $125,000. But I am at your mercy and if you can find it anywhere in discretionary funds, anywhere, to even reach $50,000 to buy 100 63 JULY 8, 2002 units, that would help the people living at where we live. With the heat now and the summer, peace cannot be kept because you can imagine an 82 -year old with this weather. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Ms. Diaz: We provide all types of services, but their comfort is number one. Chairman Regalado: Do you want to say something, Commissioner? Commissioner Gonzalez: Yes. In fact, I know of your problem. I was at the site last Saturday and I'm familiar with the problem. I promise you that I will do everything I can to help you as much as I can with solving the air conditioning problems. I don't promise you that I'm going to get you all the air conditioners. We are in a very bad situation this year and we, all of us, had to make cuts on different programs, but I will work with you. I'm here to help you as much as I can. Chairman Regalado: OK. Thank you. Commissioner Gonzalez: Thank you. Ms. Diaz: Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Commissioner? Commissioner Gibson? Oh, go ahead. Sam Mason: Chairman Regalado, distinguished Commissioners, our manager, I will speak in behalf of the Liberty City Model City's area as it relates to the proposal we put in that was turned down. We're saying that our community is rated as a disaster zone. Last year we had 65 kids in our computer lab, we gave 35 full computers to kids. We have a strong after school program. We work with the seniors, and all we're asking is to keep our doors open and all we're saying is look here. Think about us as you do your revisiting and remember us because we're trying too. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Go ahead, sir. Robert Ruano: Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is Robert Ruano from Regis House. The address is 2010 Northwest 7th Street. Regis House has been in the City of Miami and serving City residents since 1984. Last year we received funding for the first time from the City under the CDBG process and we're very grateful for that. It was for an intervention program for first time offenders, all of these with substance abuse problems. These are kids from 14 to 17 years old. They get in trouble with the law and we're trying to redirect them. We find that 85 percent of those first time offenders don't re -offend thanks to programs like this that has been funded also by the county under the Master Plan for the county since 1995. We were funded last year to serve 30 kids. So far this year at nine months into the year we've already served 30. The need is great. The need is out there and we just received today our monitoring report. Everything was great. No findings. Everything was wonderful in our program and we just want to ask the 64 JULY 8, 2002 Commission some funding to continue this program. Just for your information, the reason it was not funded this time around is because it wasn't even scored. It was actually received and we were told that it wasn't one of the priority categories at this time. But I hope that you will find some funds to fund this very important program and for the record, we were half an hour early in our proposal. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Commissioner Gibson. Commissioner Thelma Gibson: Good afternoon. I don't think you want to hear from me again. Chairman Regalado: Oh, yes, we do. Commissioner Thelma Gibson: I would be remiss if I didn't come back only because I know you're trying to find the monies to do some things for us and the Commissioner will tell you, I didn't bug him about this at all. I came really because I was pleased that we were even funded, or considered for funding because we are new about social services. But the important thing about this is we're starting a charter school, a public school for K-2 and we hope to start this fall and we want to have a health component to our school and we felt that this way we were going to get started, because not only do we want to work with little children, but with the elderly. Primarily because I'm an old public health nurse and in the past we used to go into the homes and find people and now that we're hearing more about grandparents having to take care of children, and this is happening in our area over and over. The grandparents are having to take care of these little ones, and we'd like to have an outreach worker plus a good nurse practitioner that will be able to go in and get people out of their homes, treat them in their homes if need be and do the kinds of things that we used to do in the olden days. You know, when you get as old as I am you always talk about what happened in the olden days and a lot of people don't want to go back to the olden days, but there was a time when public health nurses went into every home and visited every new baby and saw to it that they had immunization and all the kinds of things needed and we need to get back to that and this is what the Gibson Memorial Funds Healthy Initiative is all about. They named it the Thelma Gibson Health Initiative no less, and that's because these young women felt that they should do something for me, not that I needed anything done for me because I'll be out of the picture pretty soon, but just while you're trying to find funding, if you could just give it enough for us to pay for an outreach worker or for a nurse we'll be happy and I want to thank you for listening to me a second time. Chairman Regalado: Thank you very much, Commissioner Gibson. Go ahead. Patricia O'Riley: Good evening. My name is Patricia O'Riley. I'm here today as a representative for the Central For Positive Connections which is at 12570 Northeast 7tn Avenue, Suite 104, North Miami 33161. I'm not really here to ask for anything. I'm only here to say thank you for the funding that you have awarded us or recommended for us. We have been serving the Miami -Dade County and all its areas for over seven years. I believe the latest total of all the people we've served comes to 118,000. We do 65 JULY 8, 2002 HIV/AIDS prevention work, which is I believe where the funding was for at this time and I just came to say thank you very much. It'll be put to good use as we try to battle this epidemic. Good evening. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Thank you. OK. I guess we close the public hearing. This is Item 5. In this Item 5, we need to, for the record, establish the priorities for the surplus of each Commission district. So the Community Development staff will know exactly how to distribute this money. So it is important, Madam City Attorney, we do need to say this on the record on this resolution, is that correct? Eileen Temchin (City Attorney): Yes, Commissioner. This was advertised in a certain way. Chairman Regalado: OK, so there are I think $40,000 additional for each district, so we need to put on the record what is the Commission district, so we need to have Commissioner Winton and Commissioner Teele are present before we vote on this resolution. Johnny, what you need to put on the record is your priorities with the $40,000 surplus that you have. Commissioner Sanchez: We set aside district priority. Those are $40,000 that you have. How you're going to distribute that money, Johnny. (INAUDIBLE COMMENT) Chairman Regalado: Yes we do. Yes we do. Let me -- Commissioner Sanchez, are you ready? Commissioner Sanchez: Yes, sir. Chairman Regalado: See, Angel and Johnny, maybe you can listen to Sanchez and myself and then you understand. Commissioner Sanchez: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, let me say that our need is greater than our resources. You know, that reduction from 25 to 15 really put a strain on the social services and the opportunities that I had to sit down with many social services, you know, how do you dictate -- who do you give money to? Who do you don't? Just basically on, you know, performance and basically on staff's recommendation? I mean, there's a lot of great organizations that have come before us today that I wish that I had more funds to give them to because they are providing a needed service in our community. The $40,000 set aside for district priorities; I just didn't basically know how to distribute it. So I came up with three organizations that I basically went out and I saw what the did, I knew what their needs were, I inquired as to when they ran out of funds before all the money was there, what situation they were in and I basically out of seeing several I had to come down with only three and these are the three that I allocate these $40,000 -- isn't a lot of money; it's just $40,000. But at least I hope they would benefit from this small amount of money. I would like to allocate 66 JULY 8, 2002 $10,000 to Centro Mater Team Outreach Program; Regis House Mental Health Center in my district $20,000 -- they're the only ones that provide that service in my district, and I would like to allocate an additional $10,000 to Catholic Charity Emergency Service. So move those allocations totaling $40,000, Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Gonzalez: Second. Chairman Regalado: OK. I don't think we have to move everyone because that would go as an amendment to the resolutions, so you took note -- Mr. Vilarello: Yes, sir. Chairman Regalado: -- Barbara. So it goes into the -- Vice Chairman Winton, do you have your priorities? Vice Chairman Winton: No. Chairman Regalado: OK. Let me do mine. On the $40,000 of District 4, like Commissioner Sanchez says, we have so many good programs and so many needs. I still say that first of all, we need to work with the police department. There is more money in the Law Enforcement Trust Fund and I can tell you and I will tell you again and again, that even on a childcare program there could be a component where money for the Law Enforcement Trust Fund could and will be used. On the Seniors Center, there is ways to use Law Enforcement Trust Fund and I'm not here to trash the police department, but it's probably our fault that we didn't set the right guidelines and we let them go exactly by the book, but I think that we need to tell you that we have to figure out, with imagination, different components that we can put to work and that will give us more money from the Law Enforcement Trust Fund and if we have to take money from the overtime from the police department, well, so be it. For that we have programs of the VIP's that generate a lot of money for the police department. For instance, in District 4 there are several very worthy programs. Of course, there is the Southwest Social Services which is one of the biggest elderly attention centers in the City of Miami and they have a waiting list and I am committed to find in this process more money for Southwest Social Services; CASA which is in District 4 is doing an extraordinary work and we are committed in the next month also to find more funds for CASA, so my directions to the administration on the $40,000 would be $20,000 for Miami Horizons, which is a new elderly care center, $10,000 additional for 55 and Up, which is a homebound meal; $8,000 for Hispanic Coalition and $2,000 for Southwest Social Services. This would be complete the $40,000 for District 4 set aside program. Commissioner Gonzalez? Commissioner Gonzalez: Yes, Mr. Chairman. I'm going to allocate out of the $40,000, $10,000 to Josefina Castano Kidney Foundation; $10,000 to Hispanic Coalition; $5,000 to 55 Years and Up; and I'm going to defer the other $15,000 to at a later date. Chairman Regalado: OK. Thank you. Commissioner Winton, we need to find Commissioner Teele before we vote. Oh, OK. Johnny, you want to do yours now or 67 JULY 8, 2002 should we ask Commissioner Teele to -- Commissioner Teele, we are in the process of amending Item 5. We need to place the $40,000 set aside as you wish in the resolution. Commissioner Teele: The only -- Mr. Director, the -- as I read the memorandum, there were three persons -- three agencies had applied, two were non-responsive. Explain to me why the Recruitment Training Program was non-responsive. What was the amount of money they requested under the -- Ms. Rodriguez: Barbara Rodriguez, Community Development. They did not request amount of money in the proposal, and they were not responsive because they couldn't provide us with a track record, they couldn't provide us with how many people they wanted to serve, what was the goal of the program. They also appealed to the appeal panel, and they also found that, you know, they do have a program that apparently is benefiting the community. However, there was no data that they could produce as to the success of the program or what the goals of the program was. Commissioner Teele: Is the Parks Department representative -- is there a representative of the Parks Department here? Mr. Fernandes: No, sir. Commissioner Teele: One of the concerns that I have, Mr. Director, is the lack of leveraging of our funds with government -- with our own governmental agencies. We all, at budget time, talk about the importance of Parks Department, and the need for our Parks Department to get more money, general fund dollars, but it just seems to me that the Parks Department is not represented, and I -- how much money are we giving to the Parks Department off the top here? Mr. Fernandes: The only direct allocation of the Parks Department is the hundred and nineteen thousand dollars ($119,000) for the disabilities program. Commissioner Teele: I would hope that, as we work through this process, that we can use our park as an environment, along with our Police Department, Law Enforcement Trust Fund, that we can work with some of these organizations that are very, very needed but also, in many ways, don't have the adequate facilities, and we've got facilities but don't have enough programs, and it just seems to me that we still have not been able to make that linkage. How did we deal with the issue of West Grove? How has that been dealt with in this, Mr. Director? Mr. Fernandes: Well, the allocations to West Grove were significantly cut. As you heard during the discussions -- Commissioner Teele: But I thought we said -- I understand that, and I don't mean to cut you off, but I thought we said we were going to try to figure out a way to make the district whole in public service. Have we figured that out yet? 68 JULY 8, 2002 Mr. Fernandes: No, sir. Commissioner Teele: Johnny, do you have any schools in your district, in West Grove, that are "F" schools? Vice Chairman Winton: No. I believe the -- I believe both Carver and Coconut Grove -- Commissioner Teele: They're all in my district. Vice Chairman Winton: -- Elementary Schools both scored high, but they're both -- Carver's a magnet school, so -- and what? Commissioner Teele: Well, let me do this. The Catholic Charities Notre Dame, what does that application include, under the supplemental? Mr. Fernandes: They indicated in the discussion a little bit earlier that they were doing an accommodation of elderly and childcare together. Isabel Moran: That we are requesting forty thousand dollars ($40,000) to provide services for the elderly and the children of the area of Little Haiti. The services are going to be provided at Notre Dame Childcare Center. We're going to work with the elderly that are served at the Pierre Toussaint Center, and also the elderly that are served in the elderly program at Catholic Charities. Commissioner Teele: Mr. Director, how much money, total, Community Development dollars are earmarked for the Little Haiti area, as best you can determine? Mr. Fernandes: It's all combined in the District 5 allocation. We'd have to take a couple of minutes to compute that. Commissioner Teele: On the record, there were several statements made about the lack of funding for Little Haiti, and while they don't give medals to yesterday's heroes, you know, the funding for Little Haiti is continuing to go up, but clearly not enough. Mr. Fernandes: A rough estimate, Commissioner, is two twenty-five, two hundred and twenty-five thousand. Commissioner Teele: You said 250, didn't you? How much did you say, Ms Bastien? Vice Chairman Winton: Are you talking in Social Services or all categories? Commissioner Teele: I'm talking in all categories. Mr. Fernandes: Oh, no. This is just -- I'm just talking about Social Services right here. 69 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Teele: Yeah, but -- I think we need to be -- at some point, I would like to know approximately how much money is going into the Little Haiti area. Mr. Fernandes: We'll get you a figure, Commissioner. We're working on that. Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, this is a very difficult process. First, there is only forty thousand dollars ($40,000) left. Only forty? Forty is a lot of money. But in the context of the demonstrated demand and need, it's very little. I still don't understand how we're dealing with the problem in Commissioner Winton's district, and I don't want to tie myself into some statement that could be -- does the Commission have a solution for that, or have you proposed anything, Commissioner Winton? Chairman Regalado: Can I say something? I don't -- the only solution that we have for the problem that Johnny has in the Social Service area would be to switch funds from one to another. The Economic Development, I think that we should support -- the Commission, as a whole, should support Commissioner Winton in the Economic Development, and as a matter of fact, even if we have to take a hit on different City programs, like lot clearing and Code Enforcement, I think that we should support. Because, after all, Economic Development is what drives the people out of poverty in districts like Commissioner Winton and Commissioner Sanchez, and every district in town. But I don't see how can we go over the cap that we have in Social Services Program, and we do have -- Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman. Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir. Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman, I think we've taken care on the problem of Economic Development. Now, on the other issue, to deviate from what we have established now, which is basically on the HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) formula, I think it would create a negative impact on the other districts, especially on the Social Services aspect. Now, I want this to be a fair process, and if we were to somehow direct the administration to do a study to find out how we could do this in a way that would be more equally divided -- but I'm just saying that if -- the way that we looked at the -- how we've allocated the funds here today, if we were to change that -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- if we were to do that, wouldn't it basically create a problem with all these -- with the Social Services allocations? Mr. Fernandes: You have to move around the agencies that have been identified, either by the Commission itself or on the administration's recommendation. I mean, that's the pool -- Commissioner Sanchez: But it would create a big problem if we were to do that. Mr. Fernandes: If you exceed the cap, yes. 70 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Gonzalez: Mr. Chairman. Chairman Regalado: No, he's not saying -- he's not talking about exceeding the cap. What he's saying is changing the system right now, that would throw the whole -- Commissioner Teele: Yeah. But once you make -- once Commissioner Sanchez and you and others have made your commitments, then you can't take that back. Chairman Regalado: Right. Right. Commissioner Teele: That's why I'm -- Chairman Regalado: That's what I'm saying. Commissioner Teele: I'm trying to be careful not to box myself in. Because if I move the forty thousand, then there is nothing left. Commissioner Sanchez: Yeah, but I'm not talking about the forty thousand. I'm talking about the allocated funds that are basically -- that are on this paper here today. If we were to deviate from the original formula that we have here today, I think it would cause Chairman Regalado: No, but we cannot do that, Joe -- Commissioner Teele: We can't do that. Chairman Regalado: -- because it's already been advertised, and -- so, what Commissioner Teele is doing, he's -- he doesn't want to use the forty thousand dollars ($40,000), because he's trying to help Commissioner Winton's district and solve the situation. Now, Commissioner Winton hasn't moved his forty thousand dollars ($40,000). I don't know what you all guys want to do. Commissioner Sanchez: You're short another forty thousand dollars ($40,000). Commissioner Gonzalez: The problem here is that we're talking about social services, because if it were economic development monies, we could all -- Commissioner Sanchez: We could all help. Commissioner Gonzalez: We could all help. But in social service, the amount is limited to the 15 percent. Chairman Regalado: No, no. Social services now, for Johnny, is limited to forty thousand. He cannot do more than that. And forty thousand to Commissioner Teele. Commissioner Gonzalez: Right. 71 JULY 8, 2002 Chairman Regalado: So Economic Development, we can -- we will all -- we'll be behind Commissioner Winton's needs in Economic Development. Whatever he wishes to present to the Commission, I think we will -- I'll be there, because -- I mean, we need to balance in his district, and apparently, we made that mistake and now we're -- we cannot fix it this year. That's -- it's been already publicized. It's been already allocated. It's a problem. Vice Chairman Winton: There's no -- there's only one answer that solves this problem. Chairman Regalado: Forty thousand dollars ($40,000). Vice Chairman Winton: No, it's as Commissioner Teele said. The only way this problem gets solved is it has to -- it would have to -- the allocation for Social Services would have to come out of somebody else's district. That's the only way this is solvable. Chairman Regalado: That's true. Vice Chairman Winton: That's the only solution that's available here. Chairman Regalado: That's what I said, that the only way is to move from one place to another. That's the only way. Vice Chairman Winton: And that's the unfortunate part of it and, you know, that just speaks to something Commissioner Teele and I have talked about over and over again, and that's making these decisions. You know, the law of unintended consequences, when we make these quick decisions without thinking them through, and if I would have thought them through, I would have said something, but I didn't -- you know, thought -- you know, makes sense. There was some logic to it, but -- Commissioner Sanchez: No malice intent. Vice Chairman Winton: No. Absolutely. There was none. There was none. Commissioner Sanchez: There was no malice intent. Vice Chairman Winton: No, there was not. Commissioner Teele: Well, this is the -- Commissioner Gonzalez: Another contributing factor is the fact that we only have 15 percent this year, instead of 25 percent that we had in the last three years. That's why I insist once more -- and I'm going to keep repeating it until I'm -- until I drop dead. Vice Chairman Winton: Well, the impact -- 72 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Gonzalez: We need to start moving into getting a waiver for another three years, or next year we're going to be in a worse situation, because we won't have any generated income or -- OK? So, it's going to be even worse. Next year it's going to be even worse. Vice Chairman Winton: The impact, citywide, social service money we have available this year is down by four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000). Citywide, social service money is down by four hundred thousand dollars ($400,000). What shocked me is that total CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) allocation to the City of Miami -- now, we graduated from the fourth poorest country -- city in America to the first, and our total allocation of federal funding dropped by three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000), and it makes you wonder if the Feds did the right calculation, and I asked our department head if we checked their math, and we haven't, and I think that, as a matter of policy, when these allocations come in, we need to understand what the formula is nationally and make sure we do some sort of calculation on that to check their math. Because who's to say that they didn't make a mistake? And it isn't necessarily logical that we become poor and get fewer gross dollars by 300,000 and, so, that's total. Social Services took a much, much bigger hit because of the 15 percent thing, but it was compounded by the fact that we got less money on top of it, so we have four hundred thousand dollar ($400,000) left and, so, -- you know, Commissioner, I don't know what else to do. I've had staff working on figuring out how to reallocate the dollars in District 2, and there's going to be some real pain. Commissioner Teele: Well, look, it's getting late. We've got a Commission meeting tomorrow. Three things: Number one, the 15 -- this is going to be very unpopular. The whole 15 percent waiver was a big mistake. I said it three years ago. Tomas, you remember I kept saying -- because it's going to come back to haunt us. A waiver is a waiver, folks, and we need to stop making up rules as we go along. The rest of the country doesn't get the waiver. Every other city in America -- this was a -- God bless her, and I want to take this opportunity to salute Congresswoman Meek, who has served not only District 5 and the district she represented, she's served this entire community. I was speaking with the political editor for The Herald. I said, you all are missing the whole story. The story is a tremendous void, that Carrie Meek is going to leave for what is already a very weak Florida delegation, with all due respect to our fine members of Congress and in the United States Senate. We have a weak delegation in Florida, not in Miami, but in Florida. And Carrie Meek has carried the water for Ft. Lauderdale, and I guess Mr. Cruz said one day, you know, perhaps the most profound thing is, "Don't y'all have any other Congress persons? What about the rest of the Congress people?" Well, she happens to have sat on the right committee, the Appropriations Committee. She happens to be a very resourceful and adept and tireless person. But this whole waiver was a grant, was a gift from Congresswoman Meek, who got this waiver for Miami. Chairman Regalado: And for Los Angeles. Commissioner Teele: And for Los Angeles, but the rest of America has been hit with this 15 percent. Now, we're just back to the law. The law is 15 percent, and what we've done 73 JULY 8, 2002 is almost like drug dealers. We've sat around here. We fed everybody this money. We've got everybody hooked on it. Now, we've got to try to figure out how do we get everybody hooked off of it, because it's not there, and it's not fair to the community. It's not fair to the citizens. It's not fair to the CBOs (Community Based Organizations). They've hired staff. They've got expenses. They've got overhead based on this. You've got people expecting the money. It's not fair to us, because now we've got to solve our problem and, you know -- I don't think we ought to be trying to get anymore of these waivers, because the waivers end. I mean, the rare compliment that I'm prepared to give to the staff is that they were resourceful enough to come up with nine hundred thousand dollars ($900,000) of money, which really isn't there. I mean, the nine hundred thousand dollars ($900,000) of money, Madam Manager, is a true compliment to the Manager and to the staff, Mr. Fernandes, Ms. Rodriguez, and the entire staff, in coming up with an interim solution, but folks, you've just -- you know, you've just extended the misery, and next year's going to be even worse, and I appreciate you extending the misery, like somebody who just to live a year longer. I want to -- you know, that -- it's important, so - - but here we are. I'm not prepared to move the forty thousand dollars ($40,000) of reserves, until there is a solution on District 2. Because the minute I give anybody money, that's gone and it's not available and, so -- to everyone. You know, I've said before, I think we have to look at this as one city. It sounds good and I don't -- there was certainly no intent. There was no ill intent made, but it's a policy that I think is going to have unintended damage to a very important segment of our community that I don't want -- that I want to be a part of trying to come up with a solution for, so I would ask that the forty thousand dollars ($40,000) be moved into a reserve or to continue in the reserve, unless and until we can come up with a decision on how to solve this problem in District 2, and I regret that, but that's the decision that I feel morally is the right decision to make. Because the truth of the matter is, Ms. Gibson, who served as a Commissioner for this entire City, is being -- and her community, is being unjustly penalized, and even though I don't represent the Grove, and I'm privileged to work with Ms. Gibson in many, many, many, ways and forms, I'm just as concerned about the Grove as I am about Little Haiti, as I am about Overtown, and Allapattah, and Wynwood areas, as well as Model Cities, so I would ask -- move that the forty thousand dollar ($40,000) set aside be moved into a reserve, pending the outcome of the solution for District 2. I would so move. Commissioner Sanchez: Second. Well, doesn't need a motion. Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a resolution -- Commissioner Sanchez: It doesn't need a motion. Chairman Regalado: -- with several amendments by Commissioner Sanchez, Commissioner Gonzalez, myself, designating forty thousand dollars ($40,000), and Commissioner Winton and Commissioner Teele setting aside that in a reserve. I just want to say something, and it was -- when I was first elected, Frank Castaneda was the head of CD (Community Development), and he mentioned that Los Angeles had that waiver, and he mentioned the overwhelming number of agencies that we had in the City of Miami, and I wrote to Congresswoman Carrie Meek and she did it by herself for the 74 JULY 8, 2002 City of Miami. I guess that was one of the first things I did here, but you know, Arthur, you're right and you're wrong, because this was a waiver, but we don't control the foreign policy of the United States. The City of Miami is a victim of the foreign policy of the United States. The City of Miami is a victim of the circumstances, and what are we going to do? I mean, Southwest Social Services has a waiting list for people to have lunch of 80 persons. The population in district 4 is getting elderly every year and there's nothing we can do, because we cannot change the foreign policy, we cannot change INS (Immigration and Naturalization Services) rules and, certainly, we cannot build a fence around the City of Miami, so I guess that if we don't ask for that waiver and get it, we're going to have to figure out of using more of the Law Enforcement Trust Funds, of -- and using more imagination or more money for Economic Development to help the people, so I guess that -- I wish that we could solve the problem of District 2 right now, but I don't know. Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, you are right. And let me say this. I don't mean, at all, to be Monday morning quarterbacking and critical. The 15 percent to 10 percent gave us all -- and gave for that period of time dollars that weren't available and -- I mean, you know, you put your finger right on the pulse of the problem, and the problem is not a Miami problem. It is an immigration problem. I mean, we've heard all of the testimony about Little Haiti today, but the fact of the matter is is that if the U.S. were doing the right thing in Haiti, much of the problem that we're confronted with, that finds itself -- as we read about it everyday and the horrors that are going on in Chrome, it's an immigration problem, and it's not just immigration. It's a humanity problem and, so, we're here trying to make some positive out of this, but I want to make this point, because it has been done, but it was sort of done, I guess, as a pocket item. One of the things that I am concerned about, and has not been discussed, but it is the policy -- and I want everybody to understand what the policy that came out of District 5, that has come out of this City. District 5 has more "F" schools than all the other districts combined. Let me say that again. Because, you know, I'm concerned about the elderly, I'm concerned about children, but I'm also concerned about breaking the cycle, the cycle that we're in now, and if we don't deal with the schools and the children that are in those schools, we're going to get ourselves into a deeper and deeper rut. I'm really concerned about the issue that Mrs. Ayers raised and, so, what I would like to do is file a motion, at the close of this, to ask that the staff sit down and work with those organizations that have traditionally provided services, specifically including the Catholic Community Charities of Notre Dame, the Alternative Program of Ms. Ayers, and the "Y" and, Marlene, what's the -- I never get it right -- FANM, and other organizations that have been previously funded or are currently funded in dealing with a comprehensive solution, in conjunction with our Parks Department, targeted at Edison High School, and other schools in District 5, and the park -- in conjunction with the Parks Department, and to come back, within 60 days, with a comprehensive funding recommendation for those organizations, and also the Children's Psychiatric Center as it relates though to Edison and the other schools, the other schools that are in District 5. It's unbelievable, and I would hope that you all would work with the school board. The Mayor, Mayor Manny Diaz, in his State to the City, spoke eloquently about the need of the City of Miami to work more closely with the School Board, and, again, there is very little of this in this document and, so, I would ask 75 JULY 8, 2002 that we consult with the Office of the Mayor in making these recommendations, as well, because I don't know what he's got in mind, but I do have a very clear sense that we've got a disproportionate -- we have more "F" schools in District 5 than we have in the rest of the City, combined. Commissioner Sanchez: I'd like to amend your motion, Commissioner Teele, if I may. Could we include all "F" schools in the City of Miami? Commissioner Teele: Not out of my money. Commissioner Sanchez: Well, not out of your money. Commissioner Teele: Not out of District 5 dollars. Commissioner Sanchez: No, I understand. Commissioner Teele: Yeah. Commissioner Sanchez: You know -- Commissioner Teele: I mean, I'm talking now about District 5 -- the District 5 reserves. Commissioner Sanchez: Oh, OK. I didn't hear that. I didn't hear your forty thousand. I thought you were setting it aside. Chairman Regalado: What, you want to use his forty thousand dollars ($40,000)? Commissioner Sanchez: No, no, I don't want to use the money. I just -- you know, if he was going to present that motion, it would have to be all "F" schools throughout the City. But if it's his forty thousand, then he can use it in his district. Commissioner Teele: Well, it's District 5 dollars. We've created a reserve just to work with the Parks Department. Chairman Regalado: Let me just mention -- I mean, I think it's the proper time to do it, and I know it's late and I know that many people still have to -- but you -- we must remember that in November, there is an amendment to the state constitution regarding the sizes in classrooms, classroom sizes, and also the Kindergarten Mandatory Acceptance Program. If we were -- the voters were to approve that, the impact on the schools in your area and, of course, in the City of Miami, will be greater than in most of the areas in the state of Florida, because of the overpopulation in the schools, in the City of Miami, in the municipality of Miami, and the number of small children in inner cities and poor areas, and that would trigger a raise in taxes by the school board to raise money. So, we have to understand that this will have a domino effect -- Commissioner Teele: Are you for it? 76 JULY 8, 2002 Chairman Regalado: I'm sorry? Commissioner Teele: Are you for the proposal? Chairman Regalado: I'm not. Commissioner Sanchez: You're not? Chairman Regalado: I'm not. No. I'm just saying -- I'm just saying that, you know, we just talked about immigration. We -- the City will be impacted by what the voters of the state of Florida do, whatever they do. If they do or if they don't, but the City will be impacted, because we keep getting more and more residents. Commissioner Teele: And we just heard some testimony today, Mr. Chairman, that the first grade in Douglas, I think she said 43 children? Was it 43 children? Chairman Regalado: Forty-three. Yeah, she said it, so we're talking about -- Commissioner Teele: I mean, you know, that's not education. That's -- Chairman Regalado: Of course not. Commissioner Teele: So, that's warehousing so, you know -- and we've got to try to figure out something to do with this. Commissioner Sanchez: It's citywide. Commissioner Teele: And it's city -- Commissioner Sanchez: Citywide. Commissioner Teele: It's citywide. Commissioner Sanchez: How many "F" schools do we have in the City of Miami? I know there's -- I know District 5 has the most, but I could guarantee you that there are plenty. I remember, before the -- there were -- Commissioner Teele: This last year, everybody pretty much -- Commissioner Sanchez: Improved? Commissioner Teele: But I think that's a very good question. We need to get -- Commissioner Sanchez: One time we were the City with the most "F" schools, I think, at one time. 77 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Teele: Yeah, at one time the City of Miami was, and that's a dubious distinction -- dubious honor. Commissioner Sanchez: Not only were we the poorest City, but we had the most "F" schools. That's embarrassing. Commissioner Teele: We need to get a report, Mr. Director, on the "F" schools and where they are, County -wide, and where they are in the City and where they are district by district, if we're going to get serious about this but, again, this was an initiative that the Mayor announced in his State of the City, and I thought it was something that we really ought to pay attention to, because these problems have a way of just coming back. These same kids that are in these classrooms are going to be the children that Ms. Ayers is going to be dealing with when they get 14, 15, and 16. Because how can you learn in that environment? Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a resolution, as amended. Commissioner Sanchez: Johnny? Chairman Regalado: Everybody agrees with the amendment? Commissioner Sanchez: No. Commissioner Winton needs to -- whatever his wish is on the allocation of the forty thousand. Chairman Regalado: I thought you were going to set aside the forty thousand. Vice Chairman Winton: No. It's -- there has to be -- to give you an example: If I accepted staffs recommendation, we take the Barnyard program, which is in the West Grove, which is one of the best kids programs around, if we -- if I took staff s recommendation, we're going to take them from a hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) last year to 10,000, and we're going to do Kidco in Wynwood, another great kids' program, from a hundred thousand to 10,000. Well, obviously, I'm not going to do that, so what I'm trying to do is figure out who you take from? You know, what people got last year, and it's really interesting in this math, and I've been trying to figure it out all afternoon, and you guys have kind of watched this. I told you that the reduction was a hundred and thirty-two thousand, because that's kind of the information that I got last go round, but when I look at my list here that I've put together, in terms of what the agencies that received social service money received in District 2 last year -- and there's only 11 -- they got seven hundred and twenty-one thousand. This year they're going to get four hundred and sixty-two. Well, that's not a hundred and thirty-two thousand. That's two hundred and sixty thousand. So, -- Commissioner Teele: Commissioner, why don't you -- Vice Chairman Winton: It's a mess here. 78 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Teele: Why don't you continue yours, I'll continue mine, until the 25th? Vice Chairman Winton: Can we? Yeah, I'd love to. Commissioner Teele: I think -- I mean, I think we've got to -- do you have a problem, Dan, with getting something to Washington? Mr. Fernandes: The problem that we have is, we need a 30 -day comment period, and we have to submit our Annual Action Plan by August 16th, so to go to the 25th would be too late. Now, what you can do is you could -- we could amend the Action Plan. We could submit something now, and then we can come back and we can amend the Action Plan in the future. That's not a problem, but what we do need is a document to at least go forward with the application. Vice Chairman Winton: OK. I'm going to put some new numbers on the table that I want to have the right to amend and bring this back up on the 25th. Mr. Fernandes: That's fine. Vice Chairman Winton: And you want these by agency, right? Mr. Fernandes: Yes, sir. Commissioner Teele: Johnny, I don't think you ought to do that. I mean, with -- you do what you like to, but I think -- you know, once you do it -- Commissioner Sanchez: Yep. Commissioner Teele: -- you box yourself in. You know, once you put a number out there to everybody, you're stuck with that number, and -- Vice Chairman Winton: Well, and the thing in our favor -- in our favor. Commissioner Teele: That's why I didn't put any numbers out there. Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah. Because there is one number already out there, and that's the number that staff recommended. Commissioner Teele: That's the staff number. Vice Chairman Winton: That I'm not going to accept. The question is -- Commissioner Sanchez: You can always amend those numbers. Commissioner Teele: Yeah. 79 JULY 8, 2002 Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah. Well, I intend to, because we're not going to -- that allocation doesn't -- it just simply doesn't work, but you've got to take it away from somebody. OK, so that's exactly what we're going to do. Mr. Fernandes: What you could do, Commissioner, I might recommend, is you may want to just do a set aside for District 2, OK? And just put the whole money in a contingency, and then we'll identify the projects at a future time, and we'll submit the application. Vice Chairman Winton: But I'm not going to accept -- the forty thousand coming back -- Mr. Fernandes: No. I'm talking about your full -- all the monies that are targeted for -- Vice Chairman Winton: Oh, put it all in -- Mr. Fernandes: Instead of forty thousand, you'll have the entire amount that's in your district. You just put it in a contingency, and then we'll amend the action plan of going forward. Vice Chairman Winton: Fine. So moved. Chairman Regalado: That's what you want to do? Vice Chairman Winton: So moved. Commissioner Gonzalez: Second. Chairman Regalado: OK. So -- Commissioner Teele: Now, you're continuing this to the 28th? I mean, the 25th? Vice Chairman Winton: When do we -- when do we modify this? Chairman Regalado: No, no. Commissioner Sanchez: No, no, no, no, no. Chairman Regalado: We're voting on this one. We're voting on this one. Commissioner Teele: We're voting on this, but he's moving his entire balances -- Mr. Fernandes: We could modify this at any time, Commissioner, in the future. Doesn't have to be on the 25th. We could submit the action plan, you know, with a contingency for special projects, and District 2 will identify it for your particular district, and then we could take a closer look at how you can, you know, address your areas of weakness. 80 JULY 8, 2002 Vice Chairman Winton: Well, it doesn't do any good to have this run on, so I want to have this decision made by, not tomorrow's Commission meeting, but by the next one anyhow. I mean, it doesn't -- it won't do the agencies any good. Doesn't do anybody good. Everybody ought to know what the pain is, and move on. Mr. Fernandes: That's fine. Commissioner Teele: And it needs to be noticed again. Mr. Fernandes: Correct. Commissioner Sanchez: All right. Just for point of clarification, what are we voting on? Vice Chairman Winton: And, by the way, it's interesting to note: The Coconut Grove LDC, I told them that they need to get out of the housing business. We're not going to provide them money for housing. We're not going to provide them money for economic development because we've got some other ways we're going to attack that problem. I want them do to do social services. They applied for social services -- Chairman Regalado: With what? Vice Chairman Winton: Right. Exactly. I mean, it's a dilemma. I mean, it's a terrible, terrible dilemma right now. And, so, Ms. Gibson, you know, your program, which is a good one, it's a new program. I could tell you right now, it has no chance of getting any money this year, because I'm trying to figure out how the people who have been getting money aren't going to get -- have to close their doors tomorrow, so as much as I'd like to, I can tell you right now -- and I don't want to pick on you but, you're here, and you've taken the time to be here. You ought to know now that there isn't -- there is no way that I can put money into a brand new program, when I don't have any money for the ones that have been doing a heck of a job, so I don't know how I'm going to solve all this. Chairman Regalado: OK. As amended, we're voting -- Commissioner Sanchez: As amended. For the record, what are we voting on? Chairman Regalado: --we're voting on resolution 5. All in favor say "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chairman Regalado: It passes. 81 JULY 8, 2002 The following resolution was introduced by Vice Chairman Winton, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO. 02-772 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ALLOCATING $1,928,400 OF 28TH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM FUNDS AND $960,000 OF PROGRAM INCOME IN THE CATEGORY OF PUBLIC SERVICES TO THE AGENCIES SPECIFIED HEREIN FOR THE 28TH YEAR PROGRAM YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2002; AND FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER AGREEMENT WITH SAID AGENCIES FOR SAID PURPOSE, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, SUBJECT TO APPLICABLE CITY CODE PROVISIONS. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton Commissioner Angel Gonzalez Commissioner Joe Sanchez Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. Chairman Regalado: We have to go back to -- which was it? Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, just for the record, we approved Item Number 5, as amended, by the four -- I mean, the five district Commissioners earmarks in the case of District 5. We removed the forty thousand into a reserve to be allocated at the same time we deal with the District 2, and in the case of District 2, the entire amount was placed in a reserve. All right. Mr. Fernandes: That is correct. Commissioner Sanchez: OK. 82 JULY 8, 2002 6. DIRECT ALLOCATION OF 28TH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM FUNDS AND $1,300,000 OF PROGRAM INCOME ALLOCATING $7,395,100 TO SUPPORT CITY MUNICIPAL SERVICES AND RELATED ACTIVITIES FOR 28TH YEAR PROGRAM YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2002. Chairman Regalado: OK. We need to go back to Item 2. Do you have those figures that the Commission requested? Dena Bianchino (Assistant City Manager, Planning & Development): Yes sir. On lot clearance, we currently, out of a total of $325,000 that was allocated for this year, we have a balance of $87,000, which I'm told will be spent. Vice Chairman Winton: Hold on. Hold on one second. I want to go to that page. Ok, I'm with you now. Ms. Bianchino: On lot clearance, the allocation for this year was $325,000. We're told by NET (Neighborhood Enhancement Team) that they will have expended the full amount by the end of the fiscal year. So the -- Commissioner Sanchez: In lot clearance throughout the City, so they're -- Ms. Bianchino: That's correct. Commissioner Sanchez: -- going to spend the whole amount? Ms. Bianchino: That's what they're -- Commissioner Sanchez: $350,000. Ms. Bianchino: That's what they're saying. Commissioner Sanchez: Well, you have $350,000. Here it's -- Ms. Bianchino: $325,000. There's a balance of $87,000. Chairman Regalado: Yeah, but this is for this year. We're talking about next year. Vice Chairman Winton: No, but we -- Ms. Bianchino: I understand but -- Vice Chairman Winton: We asked them to come back and tell us what we actually spent this year and last year actually I said. 83 JULY 8, 2002 Ms. Bianchino: But last year's -- well, Commissioner, they had an allocation of $375,000. They were left at the end of the year with a balance of $89,000. Vice Chairman Winton: OK, so they spent $300 -- you know, almost $300,000. Ms. Bianchino: Then on demolition, you ready for that one? Chairman Regalado: Yes. Ms. Bianchino: Ok. In the 26th year, this is -- Vice Chairman Winton: What year's the 26th year? Ms. Bianchino: That's the year before last. Commissioner Gonzalez: Your prior last. Prior to last. Ms. Bianchino: The year before last there was a special allocation of $1,000,000 in an attempt to try to see if we could demolish more buildings faster. Of that amount, $605,000 was spent, so that was obviously too much money for them to be able to spend. This current year they were allocated $500,000, which would be half of the million and they're going to expend it. Commissioner Gonzalez: How much have they spent already? Do you know? Ms. Bianchino: There's a balance, sir, of $130,000 as of now, but there are a lot of buildings in the pipeline that as soon as we get HUD environmental review they'll be demolished. Chairman Regalado: OK, Johnny. I think -- Ms. Bianchino: OK, I -- Chairman Regalado: I think that it would be safe -- Ms. Bianchino: Can I just add something? I'm sorry. Dennis Wheeler has just informed me that on lot clearing there's a salary in there. Do you want to -- Chairman Regalado: There's a what? Dennis Wheeler: In the last -- Dennis Wheeler, Director of NET -- last year's budget, the $375,000, CD (Community Development) funded one position out of that for someone to manage the lot clearing. This year's budget, I understand, is not funded in there. Vice Chairman Winton: Whatever that means. I mean, I don't even get it. What's the point? I mean, how does that fit with whatever we're talking about here? 84 JULY 8, 2002 Ms. Bianchino: It doesn't. Chairman Regalado: No it doesn't. It's irrelevant. I think -- I still say that in what you proposed to take money out of lot clearing, and -- Vice Chairman Winton: No, I proposed only out of grant administration. Chairman Regalado: Grant administration. Commisioner Gonzalez: Commissioner Winton -- Chairman Regalado: Oh. Commissioner Gonzalez (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- Vice Chairman Winton: My motion was only grant administration. Chairman Regalado: Ok. How much do you want to move from that -- Vice Chairman Winton: $270,400, that was my motion. Commissioner Sanchez: To go where? Chairman Regalado: $270,000? $275,000? Vice Chairman Winton: $270,400 -- Commissioner Sanchez: To go where? Vice Chairman Winton: -- I'll tell you. Chairman Regalado: To go to economic development and -- Vice Chairman Winton: To economic development, which is -- oh, I've got to find my numbers again. No, that's not the right number, sorry. Dan Fernandes (Acting Director, Department of Community Development): The number you gave before Commissioner was $138,400. Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah, it was $138,400. Sorry. It was $138,400, not $270,000. I was looking at the wrong note here. Yes. Didn't mean to scare you. It was $138,400 and that was to fund -- Chairman Regalado: Economic development. Vice Chairman Winton: -- economic development and I can tell you where I'm quoted. 85 JULY 8, 2002 Chairman Regalado: District 2. Vice Chairman Winton: Right. Chairman Regalado: You don't need to do it. Just move it right now then you move. Vice Chairman Winton: So moved. Well actually, oh yeah. Chairman Regalado: Ok. Mr. Fernandes: When we do economic development then we'll go ahead and we'll plug it into where you want to put it. Vice Chairman Winton: Yes. Chairman Regalado: Commissioner Gonzalez, after hearing those figures, do you still want to proceed with your motion amended? Commissioner Gonzalez: Well, it seems like they're going to be able to spend the money, so if they're going to spend the money, then so be it. Chairman Regalado: Ok. Commissioner Gonzalez: You're there. Chairman Regalado: OK, so we have Item 2, as amended, transferring $138,000 from grant administration to economic development in District 2. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Commissioner Gonzalez: Second. Chairman Regalado: Second. All in favor, say "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chairman Regalado: It passes. 86 JULY 8, 2002 The following resolution was introduced by Vice Chairman Winton, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION 02-773 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DIRECTING THE ALLOCATION OF 28TH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT ("CDBG") PROGRAM FUNDS AND $1,300,000 OF PROGRAM INCOME ALLOCATING $7,395,100 TO SUPPORT CITY MUNICIPAL SERVICES AND RELATED ACTIVITIES AS SPECIFIED HEREIN FOR THE 28TH YEAR PROGRAM YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2002, SUBJECT TO APPLICABLE CITY CODE PROVISIONS. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton Commissioner Angel Gonzalez Commissioner Joe Sanchez NAYS: None. ABSENT: Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. 8. ALLOCATE $2,085,000 OF 28TH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM FUNDS IN CATEGORY OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TO AGENCIES SPECIFIED FOR 28TH YEAR PROGRAM BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2002. Chairman Regalado: Item 4 it's allocating $2,303,222. Dan Fernandes (Acting Director, Department of Community Development): That was done Commissioner. Chairman Regalado: Huh? Alejandro Vilarello (City Attorney): That was already done. Chairman Regalado: Oh, we go to 6. Commissioner Sanchez: 6. 87 JULY 8, 2002 Chairman Regalado: I'm sorry. 6 is $2,085,000 for economic development. Agencies specified for the 28th year program. Dan. Mr. Fernandes: For the record Commissioner, there's one correction to the scrivener's error on District 4 where it has District 4 economic development pilot projects. On the resolution it has District 3, it should be District 4. Again, the strategy that was used for the allocation or the recommendation for the allocation of economic development funds was based on the HUD distribution formula. The same situation as we just discussed with public services in the economic development area you're going to have an additional $138,400 as a result of the action that was taken by the Commission relating to the municipal projects. Chairman Regalado: Ok. This is a public hearing and so we are going to hear from the audience. Go ahead ma'am. Your name and address. Daniella Levine: Thank you. Good evening. My name is Daniella Levine. I'm the Executive Director of the Human Services Coalition. We have a project, People's Portal, an equality funded by the City of Miami, Miami -Dade County, the Knight Foundation, Intel Corporation and others. It's a very complex and ambitious project that truly bridges the digital divide in our community. We were very fortunate to have received C -Grant Funding from you last year and we're bringing to your attention the fact that continuation funded is needed or we jeopardize the funding that we have drawn down from these other sources, as well as a future potential for additional dollars to bridge the digital divide in Miami -Dade County. So far, with your support, we've been able to leverage $941,000 for digital divide programs and another series of grants are pending. As I say, it was a very complex project. The first months of the project were involved in start-up, relationship building and refining the project model. By the spring, we have begun an aggressive schedule of job retention and job creation. We've had substantial guidance from the City, for which we're very grateful and recommendations as to how to proceed which have been effective. We'll be entering into partnership with another effective economic development program, NANA and together with NANA we feel very confident we'll be able to meet the numerical objectives of the project in time, but we're open to a continuation as has been discussed with the City. We do have a very high goal set for this project and we've also been in discussions with staff about possible adjustments in the target, as a new project, complex project with start-up time we believe that those goals were overly ambitious at the outset. So we've provided you with some information about the success of the project to date. We've designed several websites for businesses in low-income communities, start-up businesses, micro enterprises. We've connected these businesses to e-commerce. We've conducted training programs in targeted neighborhoods in Miami and we're about to start renovation on a state-of-the-art facility located in Wynwood and loss of the City fundings will jeopardize some of these projects moving forward, so we're here to answer any questions. We're very proud of what we've achieved to date and we hope that we can be considered for continuation funding. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Go ahead, sir. 88 JULY 8, 2002 Marc Rosenthawl: My name is Marc Rosenthawl and I'm Chairman of Miami -Dade SCORE, Chapter 29, SCORE standing for Service Core of Retired Executives, advises to Americas small business. I am delighted to be here today to familiarize you with the many and diversified aspects of our organization. Not to take up too much of your time, I've knocked off quite a bit of this speech. I'll get right to it. The Service Core of Retired Executives is a non-profit organization dedicated to entrepreneurial education and a formation, growth and success of small business. Working and retired business owners, executives and professionals donate their time and expertise to provide free, I say free personalized head-to-head counseling, free English and Spanish seminars, and free workshops. SCORE is hereto create jobs and businesses and we have a tracking system that enables us to do it and our record is quite impressive. SCORE also offers fast growing email counseling through its internet website, www.scoremiami.com. Miami - Dade SCORE Chapter 29 is part of a nationwide network of 389 chapters and over 12,000 volunteer counselors. During this past fiscal year Chapter 29 devoted counseling services in the following categories: accounting, legal matters, marketing, financial management, restaurant management, wholesale and retail, import and export, CPA's, accountants and Indian chiefs. We have 40, underlined, 40 counselors all volunteers working steadily. Some of us have been with the association 20 years. I'm 83 now and I've been with it close to 10. We also provide relevant and competitive products and services covering the needs and expectations of Miami's diverse client base. An interaction with our clients, our partners and our co -members are conducted with a code of moral and ethical conduct. SCORE Chapter 29 has approximately 40 counselors, most with over 50 years of experience in their various business specialties. Our commitment to help businesses start-up and ongoing businesses in this community to succeed and our willingness to give our free volunteer services -- I've got to watch out for me. I'm getting a little old here. For, yeah, OK, five -- Our commitment to helping business start- ups and ongoing business in this community to succeed and our willingness to give our free volunteer services to the local community allows SCORE to thrive in today's evolving business environment. In view of the fact that SCORE's income is derived only from the sale of our resource book, a 55 -page item that we have come up with over the years, and other business manuals, along with a modest grant we have been existing a modest grant from the Small Business Administration of which we are a resource partner, and that grant is anywhere between $11-15,000. That's the way SCORE's been functioning, but the demands of the community, demands for new jobs, new businesses, compel us to add a new infastructure -- part-time employees-- to take on the necessary computers and tracking devices and technical assistance that we need to complete the work that we're doing. We are here to request funding for technical assistance and expansion of our present infastructure. I just want to say this, gentlemen. Any funding that comes SCORE's way will be paid back in new jobs and helping of ongoing businesses who may have a slightly inverted bottom line that need to be corrected and pushed upward. We send our counselors out to the sites. We sit with the folks and we find out what's going on. We have translated our resource book into Spanish and for those Haitian folks that are here today, we are also translating it into Creole. Now the funding to get these books done and to help us a bit has been given by the county. A minimal amount of money which we've utilized. From this particular honorable body, we 89 JULY 8, 2002 would be delighted and to receive any help that you can give us. I understand we have been recommended for a grant. I believe of $30,000. If in your own way you can find additional funds that may raise us to. Say. $75,000. we will put that money to work in creating jobs and new businesses. The name of the game is jobs. SCORE with its volunteer experts -- and every one of these guys -- and if I reel them off you'd know who they are -- they're that big in this community, we do the jobs that necessary to get jobs done and to get new businesses underway and ongoing businesses back on line so that they can help function in this multi -colored, multi -cultural market that we operate in. I do thank you so much for your time. If you have any questions I'd be delighted. Otherwise, it's time for this guy to go home. Thank you so much. Chairman Regalado: Thank you, sir. Go ahead, sir. Patrick Baos: Yes. My name is Patrick Baos. I'm with Pierre Toussaint. Good evening Chairman, Commissioners. I'm a Program Coordinator with Pierre Toussaint Center under economic development. I cover areas like Little Haiti, Lemon City, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) district, upper east and Overtown. Overtown's been like two years in underserved. Nobody really served it as far as the fascade program and again, as you said, sir Chairman, it's not only that we need social services, but as well to promote economic development to create businesses or help businesses to create jobs and increase the money in the City. As such, in Pierre Toussaint, we're really trying aggressively to do the fascade program to improve the area, to market it, to help the businesses get the people from the outside and come and spend the money in the City. That's where we're ask from the City to get the money this year, but from what we had -- our numbers being so far being really aggressive on task, we were reduced by about 30 percent from last year and 50 percent from what we asked for the coming year and we are really asking if it's their way to actually revise it and look into what we ask as far as the funding. Because again, I know there's a future plan as well as for Little Haiti in District 5 and that that's something that we've been working toward, not only into the fascade program, but doing incubator loan program and helping businesses in the area and that's one thing that we are really trying to get into. Chairman Regalado: Thank you, sir. Leroy Jones: Good evening. My name is Leroy Jones. I'm the Executive Director of Neighbors and Neighbors Association, 180 Northwest 162nd Street. I'd like to thank the staff for their recommendation again this year and I want to do something different that I need see agencies really do when they get up here. They don't thank their contract outlets. I would like to thank my contract analyst, Mr. Lopez so much because the contract analyst is the person who's supposed to make sure that the agency runs the way it's supposed to run and when the agency has a problem they're supposed to call the contract officer so that contract officer can take the time out to get that agency on the right direction, so I'd like to thank my contract officer, Mr. Lopez so very much. I'd like to thank Ms. Barbara Rodriguez for whenever my office called, whenever we have a problem she's always there to return the call, so I want to go a little beyond what agencies do and thank the people who in-house staff that makes an agency a good 90 JULY 8, 2002 agency, so I'd like to thank staff for their recommendation again. I asked for a little more but I've been recommended for the same amounts, so I'm not going to even bother with that. Chairman Regalado: Quit while you're ahead, right? Mr. Jones: So I appreciate that, but I do want to say this, is that our goal, our scope this year is that we're supposed to provide services to 29 businesses. From October 1st to this day we have provided services to 121 businesses in the City of Miami, so we way superceded our goals and expectations as an agency. I can also say that from October 1st till now 41 businesses in the City of Miami received either -- or in the process of receiving either grant funding or loans with the help of our agency, so that's a real good track record. Already we're not out of the year and we've already got businesses receiving some money to help them upgrade their business. One more thing I want to add is that, recently, we're working on creating 20 new businesses for 20 convicted felons. That was a task that Commissioner Teele gave us last September to do. He instructed NANA to create 20 new businesses for 20 convicted felons. Well, we went a step beyond that. What we did was, we created 20 new businesses for 40 convicted felons. What we're doing, we're matching two guys per business and right now to this day we've got six of the businesses already in business, we've got three other businesses that either applied for a City or county contract. We also were successful in being one of the vendors selected to do the lot clearing program, so we're going to have three of those businesses, that's new businesses, provide the lot cleaning services, thanks to NANA and thanks to this Commission, so again, I'd just like to thank the people in house who helped my agency run smoother and I had the clerk pass out this. I want the Commission to please consider this because in our package we asked for $100,000 just for a loan program so that we can help fund those 20 new businesses that we're trying to create. We've already got six of them in businesses. Already got their license. We had to pay for Certificates of Use, occupational license and I want to say this and I'm going to close with this, how the City benefits from that. Is that each business has to get an occupational license, a certificate of use, a fire inspection license, alarm inspection license as well as a garbage fee, so by creating these six new businesses the City is benefiting from those fees that's paid for those licenses, so I just hope the Commission can bring this item back up again, that was brought out in March 7th, so that we can probably hopefully get $100,000. That's all we're asking for $100,000 set aside so that we can fund these 20 new businesses and it will be a one shot deal. We'll take that money and make it flip over and, you know, use that program as that, so it's not something that we're going to be coming back every year asking for. We should be able to take the $100,000 with these 20 new businesses and make a good show with that, so I'd like to thank you all for that. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Mr. Jones: All right. Chairman Regalado: Thank you, Leroy. 91 JULY 8, 2002 Mr. Jones: All right. Marleine Bastien: Marleine Bastien again, Executive Director of FANM, Ayisyen Nan Miyami, the Haitian Women of Miami. Seven years ago FANM got $2,000 from the Women's Fund of Miami -Dade County -- $4,000 rather from the Women's Fund of Miami -Dade County. We took the $4,000 in an effort to respond to the high unemployment rate in the Haitian -American Community. We gave four Haitian women $500 each. They've all started a small business. Created a small business and they've all returned the money in full to FANM Ayisyen Nan Miyami. The program was so successful we went to Tallahassee and we were presented --Enterprise of Florida agreed to give us $25,000 because they couldn't believe it that these women were able to create so many beautiful things like beautiful clothing with only $500. Some of you may say that was a very small amount of money. But these are women who don't have anything and afterwards, the League (UNINTELLIGIBLE) came through. They gave us $5,000 more. Seven years later, to make a long story short, we have 20 businesses, 20 Haitian women. We put them in business -- 20. We have people coming from all over to visit these women and to see the things that they've created. For the first time this year we've applied for some money from the City. Staff (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for funding. My Chief Operating Officer Juvais Harrington is going to give you some detail about the proposal. Juvais Harrington: Again my name is Juvais Harrington. I'm the Chief Operating Officer of FANM Ayisyen Nan Miyami, 8340 Northeast 2nd Avenue, and we submitted a grant application for economic development for $250,000, which is not recommended by staff. We went through the appeal process, the grant was submitted on time and the Appellate Board did not approve it any further and recommended that we present here. Basically the grant program is a job creation, business creation grant which would train 10 people on basic job skills and how to run and operate a business focusing on food distribution and that was mentioned earlier, the key, which I guess, must have come afterwards, after grant submission. We also have entered into a partnership with Miami - Dade Public Schools where they will provide us computers and also information, materials for literacy and job skills. As you know, since 9/11, a lot of individuals, especially from the Haitian -American community have either had their hours reduced or they're working several jobs. With this we would help to create jobs where they can sustain themselves in business opportunities. So we're asking that you reconsider that you fund the grant for the food distribution portion of the economic development piece for FANM Ayisyen Nan Miyami. Ms. Bastien: Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you very much. OK. We close the -- oh, all right. We're here to listen. Yvonne McDonald: Thank you. Yvonne McDonald, Director of the Coconut Grove Local Development Corporation, and I spoke earlier on social services and I'm here again 92 JULY 8, 2002 to speak on behalf of economic development in Coconut Grove. We were recommended for $25,000 for economic development from the City. I'm asking that we be at least approved for funding to match our grant of last year which was $100,000. There's several projects right now on the way into Coconut Grove, which I'm sure Commissioner Winton is very, very aware of. One in particular that I want to point out is the Coconut Grove Grand Avenue Streetscape. The impact of the streetscape on the businesses in Coconut Grove over the next few years is going to maybe severely impact some of the businesses. We feel that our agency is in a pivotal position to really assist businesses and to make them fully aware of the long-term effects of the streetscape overall, and in doing so, hoping that we can attract new businesses to Coconut Grove. This is a goal of why we're concentrating on infrastructure right now, more so than really concentrating on trying to involve businesses to come to Coconut Grove at this time because we know that the reason why businesses aren't attracted to the area is primarily because of the way in which the community is kept. I think that the LDC is very, very important to the community. Just mentioned that we have been following the Commissioner's lead and looking at social services although we have been in social services for the last seven years, we have not received funding from the City. The Commissioner has hopefully will support us in that effort now, but we still maintain that economic development is a role that the LDC has provided in Coconut Grove for 20 years. We maintain that our role in the community is still very, very vital. We have worked with all of the businesses on Grand Avenue and Douglas Road. Last year we were very successful in our facade program and economic development, working with technical assistance assuring that businesses were up to code and following through with their Certificates of Use. We have an incubator project which currently we have five businesses that are located in our incubator office, and so we know that Coconut Grove right now is going through a transition, especially with again, the Coconut Grove Collaborative. We are a very, very important agency involved in that and we ask that you consider supporting us at the level in which we were funded last year for economic development. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Go ahead, sir. Dennis Russ: Mr. Chairman and Commissioners, my name is Dennis Russ. I'm the Program Director for Greater Miami LISC, Local Initiative Support Corporation. At the outset, I would say that I want to express appreciation to the staff and to the Commission in terms of the proposal for funding of LISC for technical assistance in the housing area some $50,000. It's very, very important and greatly appreciated and we want to thank you for that. Our application included as well a component that dealt with economic development and particularly sought to bring to the City of Miami an urban main street program. LISC is a partner with the National Trust for Historic Preservation in undertaking Main Street in urban settings, and just returning from Boston where there was a substantial presentation of the tremendous progress that was made in Boston in utilizing preservation as a vehicle for economic development. I think that many of the organizations that are at work in our communities and in our neighborhoods are working in areas where there is historic fabric, there is an opportunity to build through the Facade Rehabilitation Program, through loan programs and through other programs on the value of preservation, and we're looking for an opportunity of partnering with the City in that 93 JULY 8, 2002 effort. An additional allocation beyond the $50,000 for housing in the area of economic development would really be helpful in us bringing that program here and partnering with the City in that effort and I would urge you to find a way to fund that additional allocation. Thank you very much. Chairman Regalado: Thank you, sir. OK, we close the public hearing. Any comments from the board members? Commissioner Sanchez: The public hearing's closed? Chairman Regalado: Yes. Commissioner Sanchez: So moved, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Regalado: Ok. Commissioner Gonzalez: I have an item here, which is Service Core of Retired Executive Association, technical assistance to businesses. Do they serve Allapattah? Because the Allapattah community-based organization, they do the technical assistance in the area. Barbara Rodriguez (Department of Community Development): They're a brand new agency, Commissioner, and they are recommending that they will serve the Allapattah area. Commissioner Gonzalez: But that will be -- Ms. Rodriguez: This is an organization that it's new and they came through an appeal process. Commissioner Gonzalez: See, they're going to be duplicating services and that's one thing we need to avoid. I mean, you know, two or three agencies duplicating services doesn't make any sense, so you know, the $10,000 here from District 1, I'd like to move to the pilot projects. Other than that, I'm ready to vote. Chairman Regalado: OK. Commissioner Sanchez: All right. Chairman Regalado: We have an amended resolution. Commissioner Sanchez: The maker of the motion accepts the amendment. Chairman Regalado: Ok. Second by Commissioner Gonzalez. All in favor -- 94 JULY 8, 2002 Dan Fernandes (Acting Director, Community Development): Excuse me, Commissioner. You have $138,000 that you haven't committed. It's the money that came back from the municipal projects. Do you want to leave that as a set aside, or -- Commissioner Gonzalez: The pilot project, that is going to be -- Mr. Fernandes: The $138,000 that Commissioner Winton that you moved aside from -- Vice Chairman Winton: It came out of administration. Mr. Fernandes: -- administration -- Vice Chairman Winton: Right. Mr. Fernandes: Exactly, and it went into the economic development category. Vice Chairman Winton: Yes. Mr. Fernandes: The recommendation here does not include the $138,000, so. Chairman Regalado: No, but he wants that set aside to decide -- Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah. I'll make that decision -- Chairman Regalado: -- as a whole. Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah. Chairman Regalado: He needs to decide that. Vice Chairman Winton: All these scrambled egg business I've got here is going to -- will resurface it -- we'll pass it so that the $138,400 is in here. Chairman Regalado: Right. Vice Chairman Winton: And -- Commissioner Sanchez: Set aside. Vice Chairman Winton: -- the allocation will be -- Chairman Regalado: But set aside. Vice Chairman Winton: -- set aside, so we'll -- Chairman Regalado: -- for his decision on July 25th, whatever. 95 JULY 8, 2002 Vice Chairman Winton: Right. Commissioner Gonzalez: Right. The amount on District 1 on pilot project, I'm going to defer for later on, so I'm ready to vote. Commissioner Sanchez: Well -- Commissioner Gonzalez: But I already second the motion, so -- Commissioner Sanchez: Yeah. The economic development, right? Commissioner Gonzalez: Right. Commissioner Sanchez: So are we talking about the $116,000 that I have set aside? Commissioner Gonzalez: That's right, uh-huh. Mr. Fernandes: Yes, sir. Commissioner Sanchez: I would also like to set aside $116,050 pilot project. I'll come back with some recommendations in September. Chairman Regalado: OK. For economic development, I have -- in District 4, I have $85,000 set aside. I would like to set aside too for future decision. OK. Commissioner Gonzalez: I'm ready. Call the question. Chairman Regalado: All in favor, say "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chairman Regalado: It passes. 96 JULY 8, 2002 The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Sanchez, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION 02-774 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ALLOCATING $2,085,000 OF 28TH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM FUNDS IN THE CATEGORY OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TO THE AGENCIES SPECIFIED HEREIN FOR THE 28TH YEAR PROGRAM BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2002; AND FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER AGREEMENT WITH SAID AGENCIES FOR SAID PURPOSE, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, SUBJECT TO APPLICABLE CITY CODE PROVISIONS. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton Commissioner Angel Gonzalez Commissioner Joe Sanchez NAYS: None. ABSENT: Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. 9. ALLOCATE $1,117,500 OF 28TH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM FUNDS IN CATEGORY OF HOUSING DEVELOPMENT TO AGENCIES SPECIFIED FOR 28TH YEAR PROGRAM BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2002. Chairman Regalado: Item 7. Did we do seven? No. Commissioner Gonzalez: We already did this one, right? Dan Fernandes (Acting Director, Department of Community Development): We haven't done seven yet. That's the next one, sir. Commissioner Sanchez: No, we haven't done seven. Chairman Regalado: Oh, that's -- 97 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Teele: Thank you for your comments. I was being (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Chairman Regalado: Item seven. Housing. Dan? Mr. Fernandes: Ok Commissioners. We have a category they call housing development. That is what has been historically been referred to as Housing Administration in the past. You have $1,117,500 of 28th year money that we're recommending in this category. There was no RFP for housing but based on -- there was no solicitation anyways for competitive proposals. During the planning process the Commission directed the administration to conduct a housing summit to develop a strategy to most effectively utilize the available housing moneys. We convened an organizational meeting and at that particular meeting it was basically a unanimous consensus of everybody that the most effective thing to do would be to establish a program in the future based on the strategies from that particular summit and that we would use 28th year funds as a transition year to allocate those particular moneys. Basically what we'll do is we'll use the same funding format that we had in the past year, we'll have benchmarks that will disperse funds based on the benchmarks for each of the organizations and that's basically the housing development moneys that we have available. I might also mention that two agencies indicated that they did not want to receive funds in this area, and we do have written letters from those two organizations and that would be BAA/1E and Miami -Dade Community Development, Inc. Chairman Regalado: OK, OK. This is a public hearing. Mr. Fernandes: And one last note, Commissioners. There is one scrivener's error under District 4. Model Housing Cooperative should be recommended at a level of $50,000, not $40,000 as indicated in the proposed resolution. That's Section 2, under District 4 Model Housing Cooperative. Chairman Regalado: How about East Little Havana? Mr. Fernandes: East Little Havana's recommended for funding, under both District 3 and District 4, the total allocation is $185,000. That's the recommendation. Chairman Regalado: Yeah, but the $100,000 additional dollars for East Little Havana. Barbara Rodriguez (Assistant Director, Community Development): East Little Havana is recommended in District 4 at $91,625. Chairman Regalado: But we want to go to $100,000. Ms. Rodriguez: OK. Chairman Regalado: OK. 98 JULY 8, 2002 Ms. Rodriguez: From where do we reduce? Chairman Regalado: My understanding was that we had $150,000 available. $50,000 for model housing and $100,000 for East Little Havana. Ms. Rodriguez: In District 4 you have $167,625. $9,625 for East Little Havana, $15,000 for Greater Miami, $11,000 for Jewish Community Service and $50,000 for Model Housing. Chairman Regalado: OK, so we need to -- Where's Greater Miami Neighborhoods located? Ms. Rodriguez: Greater Miami provides technical assistance to all housing agencies, so what they're being recommended is basically for the technical assistance component of the City of Miami in general. They don't work in a district. They work throughout the City. Chairman Regalado: Ok. So I'm moving $5,000 from Greater Miami Neighborhoods to East Little Havana to balance the shortage that they have from $91,000 to $96,000. Commissioner Teele: Why are you doing that? I'm sorry. That's Citywide, huh? Chairman Regalado: No, no. That's the allocation for District 4. Commissioner Teele: Oh. District 4? Chairman Regalado: Yeah. No, each district has allocations for that agency. That's why she says that they provide -- so -- Commissioner Teele: In other words, you all funded Greater Miami -- I see. I apologize. I thought you -- I had the 50 -- I thought you would -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) district. I was looking at mine. I thought you were taking $5,000 from my district. Chairman Regalado: I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't take a penny from you. Commissioner Sanchez: Every district allocated $15,000 to Greater Miami Neighborhoods for technical assistance and training. Chairman Regalado: The problem is that -- see, the housing agencies building in the City of Miami had been under fire and had been questioned. If we do not give them the resources right now they won't be able to finish and we all are going to look back. The agencies, the City and that is why I think that it's important to give them what they need to perform. If we don't do that, we will give anybody an excuse and there is a large balance that they have at this moment. Mind you, this is not in my district. Mainly it's in Commissioner Sanchez' district. But I think it has a ripple effect in my district building this project in East Little Havana, especially in Southwest 8th Street and 15th Avenue. 99 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman, you know, I truly believe these are great organizations. Once again we find ourselves in a situation where if we had more money I'd be more than glad to provide them more money. I don't have it. To be honest with you, I don't think $5,000 is going to make a difference. I can see it out of the kindness of your heart that you want to help them, but I look at it this way. I have three agencies, they're housing development and, you know, I got to treat them all the same. I can't take funds from one to give to the other and in this situation the best thing that I could do as I look at the situation that we're in is just leave them as they are. If we could identify some additional funds, I would be glad, but I've studied this back and forth and there isn't any. I'm telling you, you taking $5,000 from one agency, that's not going to make a difference. I think what they're looking for is $100,000. Jubilee's also short $100,000, you know? If I can't help them, you know, how can I help East Little Havana? Or how can I help one and not help the other. I find myself in a situation where, you know, you're better off just sitting back and saying hey, this is the best that I could do. Chairman Regalado: Well they're not looking for $100,000. My idea originally was $100,000. Since I cannot deliver $100,000, which will help them, I can deliver $96,000, which is close to $100,000. That's why I moved $5,000. So I would amend that resolution to move $5,000 from one to East Little Havana CDC. Any other actions? No? Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman? Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir. Commissioner Teele: The time is getting late. We've got to be here tomorrow. We need to -- I mean -- Chairman Regalado: No, I'm Commissioner Teele: You know, I appreciate very much what you're doing. Let me tell you --have we finished the public hearing on this item? Chairman Regalado: No, we have a public hearing on housing and then historic preservation, so we have the public hearing and then vote on seven. We vote on eight. We vote on nine and ten and eleven and -- Commissioner Teele: Can we have a public hearing on everything that's remaining so that nobody can say we didn't -- Chairman Regalado: Absolutely. Commissioner Teele: -- hear from -- 100 JULY 8, 2002 Chairman Regalado: Absolutely. What we did is we went by resolution doing public hearings and it seems to work because, you know, we have cleared and so this is housing. This is a public hearing. Go ahead. Anita Rodriguez Tejera: My name is Anita Rodriguez Tejera. I'm the Executive Director for East Little Havana CDC. I'd like to thank you for giving us this opportunity. First of all I'd like to thank the Commission for continuation of funding for the CDC this year. Earlier in the year $1.2 million was set-aside for the housing administration dollars. I see that $1,117,000 have been allocated. Possibly there are $82,000 that are still to be designated to the groups out of the $1.2 million. We have received a cut of $40,000, which Commissioner Sanchez -- is what we are interested in seeing if we could come up with that. Commissioner Sanchez: How much? Ms. Rodriguez: From the allocation of last year from 225, it was reduced to 185, so we have right now a differential of $40,000 -- actually, $35,000 at this time, if the recommendation of Commissioner Regalado goes through. Commissioner Sanchez: In this reduction that you're facing, just like everybody else they're facing some type of reduction, what would you do to accommodate that reduction? You would have to what? Maybe cut one position or -- Ms. Rodriguez: Well, I already have a $200,000 shortfall besides this $35,000 that we have to scramble and try to get from private foundations throughout the year somehow, so we're not only short $35,000, we're short $200,000. Basically, I wanted to bring to your attention that the projects we're developing in housing do have a Citywide significance, and I know you've decided to fund groups based on districts, that people that were housing in the various affordable housing developments come from every district in the City of Miami, and I know the subdivision by district is hurting in particular those groups working in the District 3; and also, I'd like to bring out that the general revenue that or developments generating in terms of property taxes also benefit the entire City, as opposed to individual districts. I appreciate that Commissioner Regalado has supported us. I would like to ask Commissioner Winton if you would consider maybe giving us a hand. If you could spare $35,000 this year. We're restructuring all developments for next year so that we don't find ourselves in this situation next year and we'll be able to work with the Commissioners in a way that it will not require so much of these fundings by structuring fees into the projects that are coming up, but the projects that are on the ground right now do not have development fees built- in, so I'm asking that someone consider another $35,000. We still do have to go out and get another $200,000 besides what you are recommending today. Thank you. Commissioner Gonzalez: Anita, I have a question. You just said that when you started addressing the Commission, you said that at one point there was a part of $1,200,000 for housing and I want the record to be exact because the allocation is $1,117,500, so Mr. Director, could you please clarify the record. 101 JULY 8, 2002 Mr. Fernandes: The reduction of that particular area was the two projects that didn't request funding and that went over to municipal services in a recommendation. Vice Chairman Winton: I beg your pardon. Mr. Fernandes: The funds that are not included there -- Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah. Mr. Fernandes: -- are funds that went to municipal services -- Vice Chairman Winton: What's municipal services? Mr. Fernandes: -- and they were -- that was Item number 2, where you put your money from grant administration. Vice Chairman Winton: So you all glommed onto the money. Mr. Fernandes: Pardon? Vice Chairman Winton: You glommed onto the money for administrative something rather or something as opposed to leaving it over here for projects? Is that what I'm hearing? Barbara Rodriguez (Assistant Director, Community Development): There were two agencies in housing that did not request money this year. They sent us a letter saying that they did not need housing administration. Vice Chairman Winton: Uh-huh. Ms. Rodriguez: In order to fund the municipal service at the same level that they're funded from prior years, the money was allocated to that category, so in order to fund lot clearing at the same amount, unsafe structure, NET -- that money was fed into that. Commissioner Gonzalez: So actually we took money from this housing project to put it in the general funds? Ms. Rodriguez: Two agencies that did not request dollars this year -- Vice Chairman Winton: We got that part down. Ms. Rodriguez: -- went into those items. Vice Chairman Winton: Well, let me ask a question. Was there an overall reduction in the availability of housing dollars this year? 102 JULY 8, 2002 Ms. Rodriguez: The overall reduction was in the CDBG, so when you calculated the $200,000 plus close to $300,000, that was reduction on CDBG funding in general. Vice Chairman Winton: OK, and -- Ms. Rodriguez: Not housing administration or -- Vice Chairman Winton: All right. So the categories that the administration -- Mr. Fernandes: Item 2. Vice Chairman Winton: Bear with me. The grant administration, lot clearing, code enforcement, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. How did these categories fare this year compared to last year? Mr. Fernandes: Those are maintained at the same level as last year. Vice Chairman Winton: Ok. So these levels -- Mr. Fernandes: With one exception, Commissioner, we restored the Downtown Development Authority to $750,000 allocation that they lost two years ago. Vice Chairman Winton: Uh-huh. Mr. Fernandes: So. Vice Chairman Winton: But, that aside, all these other levels stayed the same. Mr. Fernandes: Correct. Vice Chairman Winton: But -- Chairman Regalado: What she's saying that -- Vice Chairman Winton: Which is really general fund kind of money, but the money to all of the agencies out there that are doing work they all got an across the board cut, but we didn't cut ourselves. I know -- understand social services had to, but, you know, I'm not talking about social services. I'm talking about all the rest of this stuff. Mr. Fernandes: Correct. Ms. Rodriguez: Yes. Vice Chairman Winton: But doesn't it seem -- strike you as fundamentally unfair that we in government would make sure that we keep the bureaucratic engine really chugging 103 JULY 8, 2002 along here and cut the people out there doing stuff. I mean, I would think if I were in administration so that I could look everybody in the eye and at least have some sense that, you know, we're in this together. I would have thought that I'd have figured out a way to cut myself off also, not, you know, I'm going to keep you guys - I'm struggling with that kind of logic I guess. It's done. We don't have to leave it done, and it's not a lot of money, but there's a principle involved here. Commissioner Sanchez: It comes out of the general fund. Vice Chairman Winton: Well. Commissioner Sanchez: You know? The money's got to come from somewhere. Vice Chairman Winton: Well that's another issue that we're going to all start dealing with here very soon. Chairman Regalado: I thought -- Vice Chairman Winton: That's a big engine. Chairman Regalado: But you know you're right. You're right. You know, we should have looked into ourselves first and then go after the development that we want to do. But, I mean, you know, I did what I had to do. I hurt somebody to help somebody and that is a very tough decision. Commissioner Sanchez: Let me just caution you on that. I mean, I don't know where you were heading on that Commissioner Winton, but let me just say that whether the amount of money will cover the costs of the administration or not, that will be determined based on looking at the numbers, but if you do not take that money and use it for salaries and stuff, then the money's going to have to come then from the general reserve from the City and that's a concern. Because either one, the allocated funds that come our way, the percentages used for administrative cost, then it offsets our cost and if it's not there then we would have to put that cost in and it comes in from our revenue. Vice Chairman Winton: Well that's an interesting idea, but I've sat here for five hours today and listened to us preach to all of the people out there doing work that they've got to cut their God damn -- excuse me. Commissioner Sanchez: It was turned off. Nobody -- Vice Chairman Winton: -- to cut their budget, but we don't do it internally. You know, you cut yours; we're not going to cut ours though, so you know, it's a concept that is -- Commissioner Sanchez: But this could be addressed at budget time. If we really wanted to cut our budget, I think every year that I've been here we've taken a stab at it -- 104 JULY 8, 2002 Vice Chairman Winton: Oh, yeah. Commissioner Sanchez: And at the end of the day, at whatever time we finish our budget hearing, whether it be 4 o'clock in the morning or 9 o'clock at night, we are not able to cut our budget. Now if we want to get serious about cutting our budget, you know, when the time comes we'll do it. Commissioner Teele: No. That's not the way to cut a budget. The way you cut the budget is how much you put the millage rate at. If you want to get serious about cutting the budget, you hold a millage rate where you want. Chairman Regalado: Right. The only way. Commissioner Teele: You know, it's the only way, and anything else is playing Russian roulette with an automatic. It don't work like that. You've got to have a revolver. So, you know Commissioner Sanchez: With one bullet in it. A revolver with one bullet in it. Commissioner Teele: Or none hopefully, so the fact of the matter is, is that I mean, Commissioner Winton, I think we have to, you know, not send the wrong signal. We are under a lot of -- the feds really want to make sure that we have sufficient, you know -- Who knows what's sufficient -- But the fact of the matter is, your argument is a very fair argument to make and that is if we're asking everybody else to cut then why aren't we cutting and, you know, which is a part of why we wanted to have this whole housing summit, because I sense that our policies were not consistent, but Mr. Chairman, we have a public hearing and I really would like to get through this, because we got to be back here tomorrow. I've got to -- Chairman Regalado: Absolutely. We're ready to hear the public. Go ahead, sir. Frank Gudorf: Yes. I'm Frank Gudorf with the Jubilee Community Development Corporation. Currently, we are funded to the level of $107,238. The recommendation for next year is $85,200, so we're being cut about $22,000. At the present time we have a 30 -unit homeownership development in Commissioner Sanchez' district, which is about 80 percent completed, should receive CO (Certificate of Occupancy) in October. We have two home owner developments in Commissioner Gonzalez' district, for which we received contracts from the City just last week and we'll hopefully finalize those by the end of this month and break ground in October and those are -- that's 110 -units and we have a 71 -unit elderly development in Commissioner Teele's district. We're at least -- and I don't want to put words into anybody's mouth -- we were at least led to believe that the funding for the agencies would remain the same next year as they are in the current year and I don't quite understand with the number of units that we have under construction and which will break ground in the current calendar year why we're being cut $22,000. It seems that the harder you work, the less money you get, and I don't want to take money from anybody else, but there were only three agencies which were not 105 JULY 8, 2002 funded at the current level, and those were CODEC (Community Development Corporation), East Little Havana, CDC and Jubilee. Everybody else was funded at the current level. Commissioner Teele: In the district that I represent, how much did Word of Life get for housing? Mr. Gudorf: Well, I'm only reading from the list, which was provided. Commissioner Teele: Yeah, but I'm just telling you to be factually honest. You know, we phased them out, you know, and BAME (Bethel African Methodist Episcopal), which has done an outstanding job in certain areas was funded last year. They're not getting any money to my knowledge. Is that -- so, please, you know, you're complaining, you know, you're complaining about getting a cut of some amount of money and I respect that, but think about the other organizations that are getting zero right now, and so when you come up and say, you don't understand because you're the only one that's getting a cut and only three got cut, you're overlooking at least two African-American organizations that got cut out. Mr. Gudorf: Then I would amend and I appreciate your comment. I would amend to say that of the ones that are listed on the paper which was handed out I guess today, of those agencies, there were only three that were cut from the current funding level and that was my only point, and I stand corrected to that extent. Chairman Regalado: OK. Roberto Godoy: Roberto Godoy, Executive Director Model Housing Cooperative. Due to the time and due to the letter that I received today, I was ready to make a long speech. I have a lot of information here, but instead of making a speech, I want to thank you, Commissioner Regalado, because he recommended the amount from my organization and to thank you to everybody. I don't have intent -- I have a lot of complaints but I'm going to keep the complaint for me. Thank you to everybody, especially Commissioner Regalado and the other Commissioners for their support and let me guarantee you, that this will be the last year that I am coming here especially for this project. We're going to start the project in October of this year and we're going to finish the project in October of next year. The only thing I would appreciate that the Commissioner come to our inauguration there. Thank you for your support. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Thank you. Go ahead, ma'am. Ann Banning: Ann Banning, with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Miami. 2641 Southwest 30th Court. We thank you for your support, continuing funding us $117,000 as we did last year. We have 25 houses that will be finished this year, another 25 online next year. You were asking what can you do if we're not going to take from one organization -- take from one to give to another, and we have a few ideas and one would be, we just wrote a check -- or a couple of checks to pay off liens, demolition liens and 106 JULY 8, 2002 properties that were paid for by CDBG and we're buying lists of lands properties and for half of the 40 houses we've built in the last few years were lists of land. We picked them up with this demo liens, Habitats having to pay for those liens. We would like those to be waived blanket, not having to come and beg each one, so that would be one savings that you can do. The county does that and I believe the City could do that as well. Commissioner Teele: Ann? Ms. Banning: Yes sir. Commissioner Teele: Have you discussed this with the staff before? Ms. Banning: Yes. Commissioner Teele: Is there -- Ms. Banning: And no one seems to be able to do it and we finally said either it has to be brought up lien by lien to the Commission and I'm thinking it's better just to do a blanket. Let us bring the CO. Don't do it until we get the house produced or till we sell it, but it should be waived. Commissioner Teele: Madam Attorney, could you draft the legislation for tomorrow's meeting that would allow, with the staff input, that would allow for the waiver of the lien with the CO or with some event and -- do you have a copy of the county resolution? Ms. Banning: I do have the county. I can get that to you tomorrow. I don't have it at this time. Commissioner Teele: That may be helpful and the list of land just so that we're all saying the same thing. Are those lands effectively have been abandoned by the property owner. Unfortunately, the way the system works, it stays in the name of the last property owners so our NET office goes out and, you know, we make this big ritual of liening the land and finding the people and swearing at them, but they're long gone. They basically have turned the land over to the government and it just sits there collecting garbage and that. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to say for the record housing is a very difficult process and it's really difficult in the inner City and to those organizations that have had some success, you know, this community owes a great debt of gratitude, because it's a lot harder than it appears to be. But, for my money and as long as I'm here, Madam Manager, I would hope that Habitat will be given absolute first priority for lists of lands, those are lands that have effectively been abandoned. Most of it, probably as much as in the entire City is in my district and this is land that nobody's paying the taxes on it and in most cases I guess to pick it up it has to be what, three years or five years? Ms. Banning: It's three years now. 107 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Teele: Three years, in which nobody's made any payment, even the land speculators won't even speculate on it, so it's pretty much the bottom of the barrel, and I just think what Habitat has done with the -- when you look at the total dollar investment from the City, when you look at the total administrative dollar investment, capital dollar investment, you can't beat it and so I want to say Ann, you know, I've been here -- you've operated in District 5, I guess, three years, four years, in Overtown and Little Haiti now and I just want you to know that we're very open -- I'm very open -- to opening any door or cooperating in any way because you all have not just built houses, but you've created neighborhoods and the Highland Park area I think right over by Jackson is a classed area where the whole neighborhood is changing in transition because of the home ownership that you all have generated. Ms. Banning: Appreciate it. Well, on behalf of Habitat -- Commissioner Teele: Have you gotten your money by the way? I know when I checked with you about two months ago you all had never gotten the contracts and, is all that resolved now? Ms. Banning: I think Miss Rodriguez is trying to get the last two items ironed out with the loan committee. We're trying to get a few of the hassle factor issues of -- we buy mostly infill lots and so we're talking about individual transactions. The idea of mortgaging and putting declarations of covenants on each lot seems rather labor intensive for what we're doing. I think you know what we're going to be doing with the property when we buy it. I understand that need if you're not buying one piece of property to build a large building with multi -family units. We think we have a different -- we're building in a different fashion in the infill fashion. So we're working with Miss Rodriguez to get that set up. Commissioner Teele: Do you have your contracts for the previous year's up? Ms. Banning: This -- Commissioner Teele: Have you been able to draw it out? Ms. Banning: For the land acquisition? Commissioner Teele: Yes. Ms. Banning: No nothing. Commissioner Teele: How many years are you -- Ms. Banning: Over a year and a -- it's been about a year -and -a -half we've been waiting. Vice Chairman Winton: What is that, Commissioner? 108 JULY 8, 2002 Ms. Banning: Fortunately, the City gave us 19 lots and those are all being built on now. Last July -- that's the similar time factor. If you give us a lot we want to build. In fact, yes we're building in Commissioner Teele's district. If you - any other Commissioner has land that we can build on, we'll build. Vice Chairman Winton: I don't understand the year -and -a -half piece. What do you mean, year -and -a -half? What -- Ms. Banning: It was allocated in January, 2001 and we didn't see a contract till April of this year to start negotiating with or about. Commissioner Teele: Well hopefully that's been resolved and I think there's a -- Ms. Banning: I think we're close to it. Commissioner Teele: -- spirit of cooperation and -- Ms. Banning: Yes. Barbara Rodriguez (Assistant Director, Community Development): Just to go on record, they have had two sets of contracts delivered to them and what we're trying to do with Habitat, being that they're kind of unique, is change how to reimburse them, so the first contract that we provided that they came back in December and wanted something different, which is, we have agreed that it's better -- I just met with Ann Banning last week, where they're Board's recommending certain things that we will be taking to the Loan Committee this week. Commissioner Teele: Good. Ms. Banning: What I was going to say about Habitat, any other housing provider East Little Havana or Jubilee, we have to put that clearing with the land issue out of your hair. You're talking about, you know, continue funding your budget of clearing land and if we're building houses on these lots that are vacant then you won't be clearing land, and that's our hope is that less and less will be having to clear land and more and more -- the houses and the families will be taking care of that. The other thing is, we spent over $200,000 on permits this year. There are several permits, about 10 permits on each house that we build. Anybody, anybody who builds would have to do that, and that's how we use our government -- the money you give to us, we use to pay the City and Dade County. If you can't get us more, we understand that. Maybe you would like to waive the building fees. You're asking how can you help. That would be something else you could do. Commissioner Teele: Well, I don't think this is the time to do it. But I certainly believe one thing. That we should request the staff to come back in. I mean, the last thing we want to do is hold somebody out of a house for an extra 60 days, while we look for money to pay the City for the permit. I mean, we need that -- 109 JULY 8, 2002 Vice Chairman Winton: We figured out how to pay for it. It comes out of CDBG. We give it to them and CDBG they give it back to the City general fund and fees and -- Ms. Banning: That's how it works. Vice Chairman Winton: -- permits and -- Ms. Banning: That's how it works, right? That's -- Vice Chairman Winton: It's circular. It comes right back to us. Ms. Banning: Yes. So the more you all can give us, the more we build, the more comes back to you. So, it is a nice circle. Thank you for your -- Commissioner Teele: Are you working at capacity now? Ms. Banning: Yeah. We think we can give out -- well, we've done 60 houses a year and in the City it's the greatest need. We're working on a 200 -house development down south. We can do more in the City. That's where the greatest need is. We can't build as many in the -- down south simply because the need is not there. Commissioner Teele: Well, see, here we are supposedly the poorest in the nation. I mean, our priority ought to be, in my opinion, just, at least in my district, my priority should be -- Chairman Regalado: Build houses. Commissioner Teele: -- to build houses. I mean, especially Habitat houses where there's sweat equity involved and it's -- Vice Chairman Winton: Because as you said, Commissioner Teele, and I've been saying this for a long time, single family, residential housing can have such a huge impact very, very quickly in neighborhoods. That's very different -- not to take anything away from high rise development -- but I'll use the example of the Omni. The Omni must have what, 2,000 units, all high rise. The impact on Edgewater has been zero and the reason for that is because with high rise housing in order to have an impact at the street level, which is where you want impact, you have to have a huge, huge, huge critical mass, whereas in residential, if you had 2,000 single family homes, in that same neighborhood, it'd be a totally different neighborhood. You couldn't even fit 2,000 homes in that whole neighborhood up there. That's the kind of impact. so you get 100 scattered site houses in a zone around there that today are vacant lots. The impact on the -- it's just huge very quickly, so I'm with you. We need to figure out how we do everything we can to put those dollars to good use and get Habitat building 100 units a year. Chairman Regalado: Not only that -- 110 JULY 8, 2002 Ms. Banning: We appreciate that. We would love it. Chairman Regalado: No, no. Not only that, every time that Habitat delivers a key, all the media outlets are there to record and if this happens in the City of Miami, it has a multiplying factor in terms of publicity. So, you know, I mean. Ms. Banning: OK. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: OK. Thank you. Go ahead, sir. Harris Millman: Good evening. I'll make it short. I want to thank -- I'm Harris Millman. I'm the Executive Director of Haven Economic Development. I want to thank you for last year for your funding. We're the unknown agency. We basically have been in existence since the third quarter of 1998 and we have rehabbed approximately 200 homes in Dade and Broward County. In the City of Miami we have done approximately rehabbed approximately 35 homes in the City of Miami. I guess we're the unknown entity that just keeps on delivering homes. In the recent Miami Times three of the five homeowners that Congresswoman Meek on it bought or purchased our homes from our agency, so again I want to thank the City and the staff for recommending us. In addition to providing 20 more homes, rehabbed homes, in the City of Miami this coming year, we've also joined the county's infill program and we're doing approximately, right now we've contracted with another agency to do four infill lots within the City of Miami. We're going to be producing a three-bedroom, two -bath, 1,300 square foot home, again, within the City and hopefully that will be able to get another 10 or 15 homes this year, in addition to the rehab homes. We also operate out of the Caleb Center, out of the library, a homebuyer's club and we approximately service about I think, it's projected about 450 homebuyers and we'll be working with this year. Our last two meetings we had 70 and 45 different homebuyers, so again, I just wanted to introduce, because people don't really know about our agency. We're quiet. Our offices are in Little Haiti, 140 NE 83rd Terrace and just want to say thank you for the funding. Chairman Regalado: Thank you, sir. Dennis Russ: Mr. Chairman and Commissioners, my name is Dennis Russ. I'm the Program Director for Greater Miami LISC (Local Initiative Support Corporation). I spoke to you briefly before in connection with economic development and historic preservation. Our work is with some 15 -community development corporations in the county. Half of them are within the City of Miami. We provide access to loan and grant funds, technical assistance over the course of the last several months. We've developed a very fine relationship with your administration with some of the groups, which we're working in terms of ongoing review of their work and development of their efforts. It's very important that we demonstrate to our private sector funders the commitment and the partnership from the City of Miami, so the proposed recommendation at $50,000 that is being proposed from Commissioner Teele's district is very much appreciated and is a beginning point for us to work with the City and demonstrate the continued delivery of 111 JULY 8, 2002 private sector funds into our community, so we appreciate and we seek the support of the Commission on it. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Go ahead. Commissioner Teele: Chairman, may I -- Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir. Commissioner Teele: Dennis, you're being funded to provide technical assistance and support to BAME and other organizations. I want to put a circle around BAME, because I'm not sure what is going on, but they had a very difficult time and I think it's probably a case study of all of the things that can go wrong from an attorney who drafted a document that we wound up having to -- did we sue them? Did we get him -- did we get our money back? Are you familiar with that? To utilities that are running across the property that are not charted or mapped? It's really pretty much a horror story in terms of what has happened I think to BAME and yet, you know, each year we funded them for the project and each year they uncover new problems, which were not of their own making. I wanted to just ask you, especially to look at that and to perhaps do a case study of what we can do. Because I'm not sure what the answer is. Are the utilities still on that project or is there -- the utility's wasn't charted, right? They were -- Bill Mauzy (Exec. Director, BAME Development): They're definitely uncharted. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Commissioner Teele: You got to come and say something on the record sir. I apologize. The City gave them the land, so -- Mr. Mauzy: Bill Mauzy, Executive Director of BAME Development. I was hoping to be a spectator tonight and that's all, but it started out, the City, it was the City's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and we've had it for a long time. We had to go and get all the titles cleared and all that. It took awhile but it wasn't a major problem, but then again when we thought we were going to pull the permits all of the sudden Level 3 was just about -- the second or third largest communication company in the nation dropped all of their nationwide lines in our right-of-way and to make a long story short -- Commissioner Teele: You're not against it. I mean -- Mr. Mauzy: Well I would have hoped it would have been, but the problem was, had we gone on and made our connection -- our water and sewer connection -- to the collar there, and just chipped the line, the City and BAME and everybody else would have been out of business because we would have probably closed down half of the nation and as it relates to where they're hooked up and the lawsuits we could not have stood, so we just had to stop work and it took over five months just to get that worked out because they literally had to move the lines, but they were legally in a hole, so we ran into a legal problem that everybody figured we just don't know how to handle it, but we worked it out and I'm 112 JULY 8, 2002 hoping that next week, Wednesday, we're supposed to pull our permits to do the verticals, but that's been a long struggle. Commissioner Teele: All right, and I'm hoping that you would work closely with Dennis and -- Mr. Mauzy: We've already formed a relationship -- Dennis and his organization, and we've been working for five months now, haven't we, and I think we pulled -- and we have the City staff involved in it, so we've actually formed a group, an affordable housing group, to try to resolve all of the problems that we have gone through so the rest of them will not have the same kind of problems. Commissioner Teele: Well, on the point -- if we can come together at some point on this project, I'm very interested in re -opening perhaps through LISC or directly, how we can assist in the funding to get the project resolved, because it's gone on now -- Mr. Mauzy: Four -and -a -half years. Commissioner Teele: No. I've been here five. Well, no, four I have. Mr. Mauzy: Well -- Commissioner Teele: I met it here. I mean, Commissioner Dawkins gave you the land as I recall. Mr. Mauzy: Well I'm talking about, you know, when I've been on it. It was in place when I came on board. Commissioner Teele: Yeah, yeah. Mr. Mauzy: So, six years she's saying. Commissioner Teele: Six years. Mr. Mauzy: Yeah, uh-huh. Commissioner Teele: Well, ok, and again, it's just -- Mr. Russ: And over the past, really two months, we've sat down with Ms. Rodriguez and gone through just exactly where the project is. Mr. Mauzy has been apart of that. Commissioner Teele: The point that I want to make is that, these technical assistance contracts can look like, you know, just talking, but I'm very interested in seeing, you know, if you can help us bring this project on line, I mean, I would consider what you've done or what you're being funded for would be a success. 113 JULY 8, 2002 Mr. Russ: Right. Commissioner Teele: This project needs to come forward. If that is the consensus, you know, with a cold reflection of the staff and the CDC and yourself as outside consultant. So thank you very much, Dennis. Mr. Russ: Yes sir -- Chairman Regalado: Thank you. Mr. Russ: -- Commissioner. Commissioner Teele: Are you all working on this summit and is that coming together and -- what do you mean? Ms. Rodriguez: We will be working on the summit with the Mayor's office in the coming months and one of the consensus when we met for the first time for the summit was to take out the housing administration, and LISC was part of that group, as instructed by the Commission, so that now we can bring all of the players in that create funding for the brick and mortar. Commissioner Teele: Madam Director, let me tell you something. We instructed you all in February, March? Mr. Fernandes: In March. Correct, Commissioner. Commissioner Teele: In March? Mr. Fernandes: Yes. Commissioner Teele: Now, see what's going to happen, just so everybody knows what's going to happen, we'll be back into the funding cycle again and, you know, we're talking about, you know, again, I don't know who makes policies around here. I thought we made the policy that there would be a summit in this office and I just assumed, and correct me if I'm wrong Madam Attorney or Madam Clerk, but if you all would pull the records and the transcript on that, I mean, I'd like to review that tomorrow in Commission meeting, but I'm operating under the assumption we're going to avoid the bullet next February/March and we're getting ready to get ready to get ready a meeting, we're back into the suit. Vice Chairman Winton: I think when you read the transcript you're going to find that the transcript said that we were going to have the summit done by the end of July. I think that's what you're going to find the transcript said. Mr. Fernandes: That's what the original transcript will read. What happened is, again during the organizational meeting, when all the parties came together, it was felt that we 114 JULY 8, 2002 could have a more productive summit if we didn't tie in the administration part to it and that's why we're going to be doing it in the fall to winter of this year. Commissioner Teele: But I just want to say one thing. With all due respect, all of you all are meeting together don't trump the City Commission's instructions and if you want to ask us to review it, and, you know, I always say, even today when we're talking about taking money from the administration, I said what's the City's position? I mean, I have great respect for the position. I vote my own conscience. I'm not going to let you tell me how to vote, but if you came back and said we can't hold the summit in July or August, we need an additional 90 days, this wouldn't even be a debate or discussion, but for you all to have a meeting and then you all decide that, you know, whoever was in the meeting trumps the City Commission, you know, that's not the way I read government 100. It doesn't work like that, but I guess it may work like that, because we ain't going to have a summit, so maybe you all do trump us, but I think it's really the wrong kind of message to send, because what it does is, it's tied to a calendar and the calendar that we're concerned about is next January -February discussion on the policy and where we're going and if the summit's going to be in October/November, we're not going to have any time to consider the policy and so we're right back where we started, so we may as well right now extend this thing another year or consider doing that because we are getting ready to manage ourselves into another shouting match like we had with all the housing people here that time, which was not a pleasant sight. I'm amazed Commissioner Winton that you're aware of this and I guess the Chairman is aware. Vice Chairman Winton: No, actually I wasn't, and if you remember I think at the last Commission meeting I apologized because you'll also find that the transcript said that I'm playing a significant role on that and I said that frankly I dropped the ball because you've got a million things to do and I didn't keep up with it, and, you know, and I didn't. Chairman Regalado: I didn't know anything about that. Commissioner Teele: Well we made a promise to all those folks -- Chairman Regalado: Yes, we did. Commissioner Teele: -- you know, and it was not a very pleasant sight and, you know, again it's on us, you see, and the people we told will have a policy for you in September - October, are going to look at us and say we're not right. We're not being fair and again, I mean, I'm very well aware of what's going on in community development and some things are going to have to be reviewed and all of that and I don't want to hold you, you know, Dan, I don't want to -- Chairman Regalado: Commissioner, your Plan B is the only one that will work and the Plan B that you said is we're going to extend the same conditions for next year too, you know, forget about, you know, trying to be pressed for time on this summit and trying to 115 JULY 8, 2002 formulate a policy that will not be formulated by us, but by the administration and then we'll have to approve it by January of last -- Commissioner Teele: We'll have to approve whatever's there because we don't have time. Chairman Regalado: Exactly, so -- Commissioner Teele: And the first thing we need -- Chairman Regalado: -- you might as well -- your Plan B is good. Extend one year, and, you know, you can have your summit whenever you want and that's it. Vice Chairman Winton: Well I think that -- we're in early July and frankly I'm going to do as little Commission -oriented work as I can get away with this August, so either the summit's going to kind of start a process before the month is out, or we ought to set a directive that by a date certain, no later than, you know, the middle of September there has to be the first round, the first real meeting of the participants has to be held so that we can get to a resolution of this thing by -- when do we need this new policy set so that we don't get into the same mess we were in for -- Mr. Fernandes: We'll come back to a calendar with you February of next year. February, beginning of March. Vice Chairman Winton: So if we get the new plan for housing development by the end of October, we would be in pretty good shape. Mr. Fernandes: You'd have -- Vice Chairman Winton: Or even -- Mr. Fernandes: -- two to three months to consider what you wanted to do with the information. Vice Chairman Winton: So maybe our directive is that we demand that, you know, if they can pull together all the participants yet this month that they work on that, failing that they have to have the first meeting no later than -- Commissioner Sanchez: The third week in September? Vice Chairman Winton: -- the middle of September. Yeah. Commissioner Sanchez: Maybe the week of September, which is September the 16th through the 20th Vice Chairman Winton: Yeah. No later than that. 116 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Teele: Commissioner, be very careful here. I don't want to be in a position where we do a half-baked summit and a half-baked process. It's much better to do this thing right and to take our time, have some thoughtful discussions, some back and forth. You know, the last meeting that we had just turned my stomach and that was on the single-family housing thing and that was half-baked, you know? We told the staff to go out, work it out, do it right. The last thing we need is to get into a summit with policy direction that have not really been vetted and everybody hasn't had a chance to fully participate and to have some thinking time and some process time. This housing stuff is very complicated, it's very difficult, you know? You know Bill I don't mean to pick on you, but I'm looking at Bill Mauzy with the BAME. You know, a lot of the things that they went through are no fault of their own and our policy needs to factor that in. Our policy needs to factor in re -development in areas that are harder to develop than others where you have no comparables, where you've gone through a lot of this learning curve, and I can tell you, you know, the fact that there has been no significant housing built in Overtown in how many years? I mean, if you look at Overtown as a railroad track and 6th Street, you know, you just haven't had any, you know, in the last 20 or 30 years, with the exception of Poinciana Village, that's upside down. That's, you know, we know that's $3,000,000 upside down. So, I mean, a lot of this stuff isn't going to be market. It's going to have to be subsidized. You cannot take a one shoe fits all, one size fits all, what works in Little Havana that is far more developed and CODEC (Community Development Corporation) deserves a lot of credit. But what works in Little Havana, may not work in Flagami and what works in Flagami I can assure you won't work necessarily in Little Haiti and every community's got to be looked at a little bit differently, and I don't think we can have a master plan that is a one size fits all. We've got to have some criteria in which we look at the amount of housing. See, I have a strong view about this. I don't think there should be any CDC's doing any housing with government support where the marketplace will do it. Now, I'm not, you know -- But the fact of the matter is, if that were a policy, not the policy, but a policy, then everybody ought to have bonus points to be in Overtown trying to do housing policy. I mean, housing, because it hadn't happened. I mean, you know, it really bothers me to see CDC's bidding against two or three other for-profit companies, which means that we're subsidizing now in some ways, assuming the products are comparable, assuming the products are comparable; we're subsidizing the marketplace in some cases where we may not need to. In other cases, you know, because we're saying $50,000 as administration, for example, which was a policy, in some cases we may need $200,000 a year, so, it's not one size fits all. The obstacles, the impediments in the marketplace are as different as night and day are desert and an ocean within Miami and that's what I'm trying to make sure that we look at. I just want to say what I'm concerned about because I think the policy that we have -- the Citywide policy hurts hardest to develop areas, ok, and it really helps the areas that are on the fringe of not even needing governmental support, that is CDC support where a private developer could come in and do it, and I'm looking for those kind of weighted factors which would give, for example, to an organization whether it be CODEC or whether it be East Little Havana CDC or BAME a much bigger incentive to come into an area that has had no residential housing in the last three years, five years, as opposed to treating every neighborhood as if they're the same, so those are the kinds of policy considerations that I 117 JULY 8, 2002 want to make sure we think through and that this isn't just a new -- instead of $50,000 a year, it's going to be 52.5 and somebody gets washed out, because that's not what we need. We need targeted areas -- target areas or sub -target areas with bonus initiative points to go in and so I am very concerned with where we are in this whole housing process, but I can say this to Commissioner Winton, in the Grove and to myself. It seems to me that in trying to play by the rules, you know, there are some other unintended consequences, because in trying to play by the rules, the CDC's that we're developing in the grove aren't here now. The ones that are doing development in Liberty City are not here now and the ones in Overtown aren't here now and yet, the hardest to develop areas are the aforementioned areas, and I know that Commissioner Gonzalez can appreciate that because he shares in some of those hard, hard, hard to develop areas, you know, along 3e Street and 41st Street. So, I don't know if we've got a policy at all right now. I think what we've done is pretty much just sort of funded the ones that have had success and success without regard to difficulty. Vice Chairman Winton: Commissioner Teele, I think what you said is accurate and I agree with it and I think that the issue over -- because I remember the original discussion -- this whole issue over how this whole housing system works for the City of Miami, and how it relates to the other funding programs out there and who gets what money when, whether it's bricks and mortar or whether it's administrative money, all these questions taking four years to get a project developed because, you know, about a procedure in dealing with the City of Miami. All of those issues -- this is very, very, very, very complex and that makes me wonder how we're going to get this housing summit really done, because the City administration -- because it's natural, I'm not blaming anybody here. It's just human nature -- is going to, when they walk in the door is going to have some preconceived bias about what can and cannot happen that may or may not be logical and the agencies out there can walk in the door with some of their preconceived notions about how things ought to be that may or may not be logical and I'm struggling to understand who you put in the middle of this mix that can appropriately guide the kind of creative thinking and dialogue and refereeing that you're really going to need in order to come up with a whole set of new policies and procedures as it relates to how housing works in the City, and I think that we haven't provided that piece of the guidance to the City administration and I think if we don't -- I'm sorry? It's not a mediator. I'm not talking about a mediator at all. I'm talking about somebody that's an expert in this field - Commissioner Sanchez: Put a referee. Vice Chairman Winton: That can help -- that's the team leader, if you will, or that's the chairman of the committee that has the skill sets that you need to guide this kind of radical rethinking of it -- yeah and the dialogue. Because it's going to be complex and I'm nervous that we haven't provided the appropriate kind of guidance. I think that part of it -- when I originally thought about this -- and we all talked about at the Commission meeting two months ago or whenever it was -- you all directed that I was going to be on that committee, and so I wasn't nearly -- I was concerned about those issues, but I know if I'm sitting at the table we can get through them. 118 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Sanchez: You identify the referee. Vice Chairman Winton: But, well, but the more I think about this, the more I'm convinced that Commissioner Teele's right. This is going to take a lot of time. I mean, real hours, hours and hours and hours and hours, up to 10's and 20's and 30's and 40's is going to go into this to get to the right result. It isn't going to be a quick three meetings and you pop something out. This is going to be a real process that you have to go through that's going to require legal department, other departments within the City and the right experts from outside. Not only the agencies here, but probably somebody from Miami -Dade County and probably from someone from the state of Florida to really get this thing done and so who is going to objectively lead this process, and I don't know frankly that I have, while I know I could do it, I don't know if I have the time that's going to be required to get this done, if we want to get it done before we go through the next housing deal cycle at the end of the year. Mr. Fernandes: Commissioner, we've talked with Tonya, which is the technical assistance agency for HUD. They were at the original organizational meeting, and they would be willing to be the facilitator/coordinator. As you indicated, get the state people in here; the county people in here, financiers, so we want to do, you know, a comprehensive training, so, you know, and that's one of the reasons that we were looking -- rather than to try to do something real quick, to get it done for this process here, we felt that would really be unproductive and we included all the agencies who were part of this, you know, the organizational meeting, as well as Tonya, as well as the Community Development Corporation that represents everybody, so. Vice Chairman Winton: If you had that meeting then what was the schedule for the next meeting following that meeting? Mr. Fernandes: There was nothing that was set up as a follow-up. What basically happened out of it was that, it was agreed that once we went through this process then we pick up the ball at, you know, at the conclusion of the regular allocation process. It was really subsequent what we're doing here. Vice Chairman Winton: I'm assuming that when we have the next meetings there's going to be a next meeting scheduled after that? At that meeting you schedule the next meeting so that it isn't left just hanging and so? Mr. Fernandes: And Tonya's called us several times and we have been working in conjunction with the Mayor's office too, with Javier from the Mayor's office. He's been part of the process also, so -- Vice Chairman Winton: That's fine. Mr. Fernandes: -- we will keep Tonya involved in it. We'll get back to them immediately so they can get us -- 119 JULY 8, 2002 Vice Chairman Winton: You need to get a meeting schedule put together, so that -- Mr. Fernandes: OK, we'll do that. Vice Chairman Winton: -- there's some timelines here that we can all monitor. We need to be -- I'm almost done. You need to let us know when these meetings are. They need to be Sunshined meetings so that if another Commissioner wants to go -- Commissioner Gonzalez, I'm sure could provide some very, very valuable information and frankly, I would like to stop in from time to time and kind of listen and hear how the process is working. Mr. Fernandes: Great. Commissioner Gonzalez: Johnny, one concern that I have about Tonya; Tonya could be a good asset as long as -- because I remember when I went through the summit or -- this was five years, six years ago -- they had a series of meetings about CDBG and the rules of CDBG and so on and so on, and they came in a capacity dictating policy. One of the biggest problems that I have perceived between the agencies and the administration is the fact that they had not been able to sit down and discuss the issues openly, I believe and when I used to be at the CBO (Community Based Organization) whenever we had the opportunity to sit down, discuss the issues, put all the issues on the table, you know, open books, at the end there was always a solution and there was always a compromise between the administration and the agencies where you cannot -- and I said that many, many times throughout the meetings, this is a partnership between the agencies and the City administration. We had to take, you know, we have to erase the image that these agencies are employed by the City of Miami, because they are not, ok? This is a partnership between the agencies and Community Development and the City administration, for the purpose of building affordable housing and do economic development and so on and so on, on the target area, and that is the purpose of the grant, if I'm correct, ok? So I think the input of Tonya is going to be excellent, but I suggest and I recommend that, you know, that you be sure that the forum that you form for the discussions -- it be something that is open and everybody's to be open minded and everybody needs to be willing to cooperate to come up with a final and a good solution that serves first of all, the residents and the people that we're supposed to serve and then the administration and the agency, but everybody needs to be satisfied with it. Thank you. Chairman Regalado: Go ahead. Jose Fabregas: Commissioners, Jose Fabregas, Secretary and Director of CODEC, Inc. Our organization's just been granted $185,000 I believe. That's a cut of $40,000. We will work with the administration. We will continue to deliver the same quality of housing for the elderly, but be mindful that Section 202 does not provide income or developers fee for the agency, so I will be back here next year to ask -- and I'll take the 120 JULY 8, 2002 challenge Commissioner to work in your district in the next application cycle. Thank you very much. Chairman Regalado: You're welcome. We close the public hearing. Item 7 -- Do we have a motion? Commissioner Teele: I'll move it Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Gonzalez: Second. Chairman Regalado: It's been moved and second with the amendment of switching $5,000 to East Little Havana CDC, OK. All in favor, say "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chairman Regalado: It passes. 121 JULY 8, 2002 The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Sanchez, who moved for its adoption: RESOLUTION NO. 02-775 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DIRECTING THE ALLOCATION OF $1,117,500 OF 28TH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM FUNDS IN THE CATEGORY OF HOUSING DEVELOPMENT TO THE AGENCIES SPECIFIED HEREIN FOR THE 28TH YEAR PROGRAM YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2002; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AGREEMENTS WITH EACH OF THE AGENCIES, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR SAID PURPOSE, SUBJECT TO APPLICABLE CITY CODE PROVISIONS. Upon being seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton Commissioner Angel Gonzalez Commissioner Joe Sanchez Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. NAYS: None ABSENT: None 10. ALLOCATE $330,000 OF 28TH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM FUNDS IN CATEGORY OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION TO AGENCIES SPECIFIED FOR 28TH YEAR PROGRAM BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2002. Chairman Regalado: Eight. Commissioner Teele: So moved. Is this a public hearing? Chairman Regalado: Public hearing. Historic preservation. Commissioner Teele: Move the item, Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Gonzalez: Second. Chairman Regalado: OK. It's been moved and second. Anybody from the public on this item? 122 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman, I would ask on the motion that Greater Miami Neighborhood work closely with the City of Miami Police Retired Benevolent Association as a part of their technical assistance agreement, that they be extended to providing whatever services that are appropriate that they can and to make sure that that agreement includes that language as a part of it. Chairman Regalado: We have a motion as amended. Commissioner Gonzalez: Second. Chairman Regalado: And second. It's a public hearing. We close the public hearing. All in favor, say "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chairman Regalado: It passes. 123 JULY 8, 2002 The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION 02-776 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ALLOCATING $330,000 OF 28TH YEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) PROGRAM FUNDS IN THE CATEGORY OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION TO THE AGENCIES SPECIFIED HEREIN FOR THE 28TH YEAR PROGRAM BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2002; AND FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER AGREEMENT WITH SAID AGENCIES FOR SAID PURPOSE, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, SUBJECT TO APPLICABLE CITY CODE PROVISIONS. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. Commissioner Angel Gonzalez Commissioner Joe Sanchez NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. 11. ALLOCATE $12,482,000 OF FISCAL YEAR 2002-2003 AND $1,086,460 OF UNALLOCATED FISCAL YEAR 2001-2002 HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH AIDS (HOPWA) PROGRAM FUNDS FOR PROVISION OF HOUSING ASSISTANCE AND HOUSING RELATED SERVICES TO LOW INCOME INDIVIDUALS LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS. Chairman Regalado: Nine. It's Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). It's a resolution. $12,000,000 being allocated. Anybody -- this is a public hearing. Anybody from the public? Ok. No one. Any comments from Commissioner Sanchez: Mr. Chairman? 124 JULY 8, 2002 Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir. Commissioner Sanchez: As we all aware, Miami leads cities in the United States in AIDS cases. The concern that I have here is that now that we are basically taking over this, I want to make sure that I have from the administration that they feel comfortable with all the agencies that will be providing services to individuals with AIDS. One of the biggest concerns that we had here was that the list was closed -- the emergency list was closed at one time and I realize that we have emergency funding now to open up that list. But once again I want to make sure that the people that are brought in are not short-term but long-term, because the last thing that we want to do here is to have people that are coming onboard and will be providing services to provide services for a short-term and then later on they have to be out on the streets, so I just want assurance on that. What? We don't have that? Dan Fernandes (Acting Director, Community Development): What we have is we have the emergency program to take care of emergencies, Commissioner. The long-term housing program is still capped at the 1,200 people -- Commissioner Sanchez: 12,200. Mr. Fernandes: Exactly. Commissioner Sanchez: But what do we have? We have set aside $1.2? Mr. Fernandes: $1.25 million for the emergency program. Commissioner Sanchez: For emergency programs. Mr. Fernandes: For emergencies only. Commissioner Sanchez: So they won't come in long-term, they would just have -- that would be an emergency program to help them -- Mr. Fernandes: To get back on their feet again -- Commissioner Sanchez: -- to help with the grant -- Mr. Fernandes: And be able to move forward. Commissioner Sanchez: -- and get back on their feet and stuff. OK. The agencies that will be providing assistance, do you all feel comfortable with those agencies? Mr. Fernandes: Yes, Commissioner. The agencies that we have here have either been funded by us in the past and they performed successfully and that's how they have a positive recommendation from us. Now the one thing that you will note is you have a six-month allocation from Miami -Dade Housing Agency. Again, that's the organization 125 JULY 8, 2002 that's been providing assistance through the long-term program. They'll be phasing out - - we've known this from the beginning -- that they were intended to kind of stabilize the program and then the phase out, as the process went along. Those particular clients that they're handling, they'll be transitioned over to SABER (Spanish American Basic Education Rehabilitation) and also Douglas Gardens Community Mental Health Center of Miami Beach. They'll be handling the cases that are basically Miami Beach and surrounding communities. SABER will handle the cases that are outside the City of Miami, Hialeah, North Dade and those kind of areas, and then later in the year, as Miami - Dade transitions out, we'll be looking for new providers to handle the southern area of Dade. Commissioner Sanchez: Just one more before we go. Chairman Regalado: Sure. Commissioner Sanchez: The last time we brought this issue up, I think there was a direction from this Commission to have all of the employees go through a sensitive training. Where are we at on that? Mr. Fernandes: We're working with AIDS Housing of Washington. I've been in contact with the representative there and we will have that training. Commissioner Sanchez: And that issue was brought, because of the complaints from some of the -- Mr. Fernandes: Sensitivity issues. Commissioner Sanchez: -- patients and clients that complain that some of the social workers, of course, case workers were not be very friendly. OK. Mr. Fernandes: Correct. We'll also tie our subcontractors in that also, Commissioner, so that everybody gets the same kind of training. Chairman Regalado: It's nice to be the recipient of all the federal money for AIDS in the county and it's nice to be able to distribute this money, but remember that with this we have a major responsibility. I think that you should try to get a copy of the report presented today in Barcelona, Spain on the World's AIDS Conference, by the CDC, and that report says not only that Miami is the City with more AIDS cases. We know that, that's old, but that report says that there are five cities in the United States, according to the CDC, where there are more people that do not know that they carriers of HIV and Miami is in the third place, right before New York. First place is Baltimore, then Los Angeles and then the City of Miami, and then New York and Chicago. That, according to the CDC, will mean that in the next five years these people that do not know that they are carriers of HIV will be in contact with a lot of people and that would have a multiplying symptom in the City of Miami, so you know, I still say that we are in an emergency, and I still say that the CDC should send a person here and I still say that we 126 JULY 8, 2002 should request from the federal government special attention to the City of Miami because we are number one on cases and we are number three on unknown cases and that to me is a crisis in the next two years, so you might want to look at the report. I think you can get it through the CDC or the United Nations in Barcelona. OK. We have a -- go ahead. Pam Braynon: Good evening. My name is Pam Braynon. I'm the Senior Program Manager with the Greater Bethel AME (African Methodist Episcopal), HIV/AIDS Prevention Project and I just came to thank you for your continued support. As you've said, we are the highest incident rates in the nation of 61 per 100,000 and I'm also getting presently, daily updates from the World's AIDS Conference in Barcelona that's giving some bleak pictures, so I say what we're doing at our agency is tremendous and we need your support, your continued support and I just came to say thank you. Chairman Regalado: You're welcome. Thank you. Go ahead, sir. Reverend Dwayne Gaddis: Good evening. I'm Reverend Gaddis. I'm the Pastor of Greater Bethel AME Church and I'm here too to speak on behalf of the Bethel HIV/AIDS Ministry just to say thank you so much for the continued funding, also to express my appreciation to the staff and we really appreciate the opportunity to serve the people of Miami. Thank you so much. Chairman Regalado: Thank you, Reverend. OK. We have a resolution. Commissioner Teele: Is there another few dollars we can give those folks? Nobody says thank you around here. It's why didn't we get more? Commissioner Sanchez: Call the question. Chairman Regalado: We have a motion. Commissioner Teele: So moved. Commissioner Sanchez: Second. Chairman Regalado: And a second. All in favor, say "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chairman Regalado: It passes. 127 JULY 8, 2002 The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption: A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ALLOCATING $12,482,000 OF FISCAL YEAR 2002-2003 AND $1,086,460 OF UNALLOCATED FISCAL YEAR 2001-2002 HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH AIDS (HOPWA) PROGRAM FUNDS, AS SPECIFIED HEREIN, FOR THE PROVISION OF HOUSING ASSISTANCE AND HOUSING RELATED SERVICES TO LOW INCOME INDIVIDUALS LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS; AND FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE INDIVIDUAL AGREEMENTS WITH APPROVED AGENCIES, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, SUBJECT TO APPLICABLE CITY CODE PROVISIONS. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. Commissioner Angel Gonzalez Commissioner Joe Sanchez NAYS: None. ABSENT: Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton 13. ALLOCATE $425,000 OF HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH AIDS (HOPWA) PROGRAM FUNDS TO PURCHASE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 7104, 7126, 7160 NW 14 PLACE, SUGAR HILL PROJECT, FROM ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FAMILY HEALTH CENTER, INC., MANAGER TO SOLICIT REQUESTS FOR PROPOSAL TO ESTABLISH TRANSITIONAL HOUSING FACILITY FOR IMPACTED POPULATION AT LOCATION. Chairman Regalado: Item 11. Allocation of $425,000 of housing opportunities for persons with AIDS (HOPWA). Commissioner Teele: So moved Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Sanchez: Second for the purpose of discussion. Chairman Regalado: It's been moved and second. Commissioner Sanchez. 128 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Sanchez: For purpose of discussion. Is the Sugar Hill project completed? Dan Fernandes (Acting Director, Community Development): The project is completed. It's -- Commissioner Sanchez: But it's not open. Mr. Fernandes: But it's not open. Commissioner Sanchez: These four hundred some thousand dollars -- Mr. Fernandes: This $400,000 -- this enables us to gain control of the property so that we can get it operated to establish a transitional facility. Commissioner Sanchez: And the county's allocated what? $1.3 million? Mr. Fernandes: They already have. Commissioner Sanchez: They already have, toward that project? Mr. Fernandes: Toward the project. Commissioner Sanchez: How many individuals would it house? Mr. Fernandes: I think it's 24 -units? Reginald Klein: I can answer that. It's a 24 -unit apartment complex. Commissioner Teele: Attorney Klein. Give us your name. It's a pleasure. Chairman Regalado: Your name? Commissioner Teele: It's a pleasure to have you here too Attorney Klein. Mr. Klein: Reginald Klein, 2600 Douglas Road. It's 24 units, between one and three bedrooms per unit and it's for families with people affected by AIDS. Commissioner Sanchez: Would it have security? Mr. Klein: It would have security once it's operating. It's got security now protecting the property. Commissioner Sanchez: Right. Mr. Klein: Because it is -- 129 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Sanchez: Vandalism because that's the problem it had. They were -- Mr. Klein: Right. Commissioner Sanchez: -- being vandalized. Mr. Klein: Correct. Chairman Regalado: OK. We have a motion. Commissioner Teele: So moved, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Regalado: All in favor, say "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. 130 JULY 8, 2002 The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION 02-779 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ALLOCATING $425,000 OF HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONS WITH AIDS (HOPWA) PROGRAM FUNDS TO PURCHASE THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 7104, 7126, 7160 NW 14 PLACE, ALSO KNOWN AS THE SUGAR HILL PROJECT, FROM THE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FAMILY HEALTH CENTER, INC., DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO SOLICIT REQUESTS FOR PROPOSAL TO ESTABLISH A TRANSITIONAL HOUSING FACILITY FOR THE IMPACTED POPULATION AT THIS LOCATION AND FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO CONTRACT WITH THE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FAMILY HEALTH CENTER, INC. TO PURCHASE THE AFOREMENTIONED PROPERTIES, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR SAID PURPOSE. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. Commissioner Angel Gonzalez Commissioner Joe Sanchez NAYS: None. ABSENT: Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton (COMMENTS MADE AFTER ROLL CALL) Chairman Regalado: Item 12. Commissioner Teele: Chairman? Chairman Regalado: Yes sir. Commissioner Teele: The staff again should be commended in moving so quickly to address the HUD (Housing and Urban Development) concern and I think the manner in which you all have done this is very, very commendable. But I want to go back to the 131 JULY 8, 2002 point that Chairman made and the minister and Reverend Gaddis, I guess, is that we really need to work in a different way to take the stigma off of AIDS in the poorer communities especially and I think one of the ways to do this is to build and work and support, not with us taking the lead necessarily financially, but being supportive of building very first-class facilities. The Sugar Hill facility is on 71st and 15t Avenue? Chairman Regalado: Fourteenth. Commissioner Teele: Fourteenth place and that's a pretty tough -- that area has -- that's the old area where the John Doe boys were and AK -47's were the weapon of choice and - Mr. Klein: I don't know all the gang names, but it is a gang -infested area and the names change so I won't (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Commissioner Teele: Yeah, and it's a very, very -- and that has been in the past and the police department have done a lot. We need to work including with the homeownership zone, we need to build some fine facilities for AIDS. We don't need to keep this thing in the dark alleyways of Miami. We're not going to solve this problem if we don't recognize that we have a problem and I think, you know, and I certainly have not been a leader in my service in the public in feeling this way -- saying this -- but we need to build some nice structures. Some structures -- I think that's one of the things -- I'm sorry Reverend Gaddis left -- but one of the things that I think Greater Bethel AME Church has done is that they've given dignity to people who have been affected and we really need to think I think a little more proactively about the kinds of facilities. I'm not criticizing Sugar Hill. That's an opportunity and we needed to do something. That was something that actually went on for six years, because I remember being on the county when Commissioner Burke made the motion to take the money and questions why would we do it in the city and it's half in the city and half out and all of that kind of stuff, but the fact of the matter is, we need to get some first-class AIDS facilities in the poorer areas and not treat this as an alley, you know, the way, you know, pregnancies were dealt with in the 60s and 70s. We need to deal with this in a very dignified fashion, so I'm going to be very supportive of capital improvement dollars to the extent they're eligible to build very nice facilities and to take a little bit of the stigma away from AIDS and looking hopefully with our planning department in how we can do this and I know this is another one of these nimby (not in my back yard) issues, so we, you know, need to deal with it right up front, because if we're not careful it'll all wind up being in one or two districts and I think we need to have a plan, a master plan and so I'm speaking I guess to Commissioner Sanchez who's taking the lead. We need to have a master plan for HIV facilities in all five districts and to deal with this thing in a very intelligent manner I think. Chairman Regalado: OK. Do we have a motion? 132 JULY 8, 2002 14. AUTHORIZE ROLLOVER OF 26TH YEAR EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT (ESG) FUNDS PREVIOUSLY ALLOCATED TO CITY HOMELESS PROGRAM, $56,421 TO FISCAL YEAR 2001-2002. Priscilla A. Thompson (City Clerk): 12 now. Chairman Regalado: Item 12. Ms. Thompson: We finished with 11. We have a vote and everything. Chairman Regalado: OK. Ms. Thompson: Yes. Commissioner Sanchez: We voted already? Ms. Thompson: Yes. Chairman Regalado: OK. You if you say so. Ms. Thompson: Thank you. Commissioner Teele: We're on 12 now? Ms. Thompson: Yes, that's correct. Commissioner Teele: So moved, Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Sanchez: Second. Chairman Regalado: All in favor, say "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. 133 JULY 8, 2002 The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Teele, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION 02-780 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE ROLLOVER OF 26TH YEAR EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT ("ESG') FUNDS PREVIOUSLY ALLOCATED TO THE CITY OF MIAMI HOMELESS PROGRAM IN THE AMOUNT OF $56,421 TO FISCAL YEAR 2001-2002; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO AMEND THE EXISTING WORK PROGRAM AND BUDGET TO REFLECT THE ROLLOVER OF FUNDS. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. Commissioner Angel Gonzalez Commissioner Joe Sanchez NAYS: None. ABSENT: Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton 15. INCREASE EXISTING ALLOCATIONS TO SPANISH AMERICAN BASIC EDUCATION REHABILITATION, INC. (SABER) BY $228,410 AND DOUGLAS GARDENS COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH CENTER OF MIAMI BEACH BY $304,000 TO PROVIDE LONG TERM HOUSING ASSISTANCE TO ENSURE CONTINUATION OF HOUSING ASSISTANCE AND HOUSING RELATED SERVICES TO LOW INCOME INDIVIDUALS LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS; ALLOCATE ADDITIONAL $50,000 OF HOPWA FUNDS TO SHARPTON, BRUNSON AND COMPANY TO CONDUCT FINANCIAL AND PERFORMANCE AUDIT TO CLOSEOUT MIAMI DADE COUNTY HOUSING AGENCY AND OFFICE OF COMMUNITY SERVICES HOPWA CONTRACTS. Chairman Regalado: 13, SABER (Spanish American Basic Education Rehabilitation) -- it's to increase the -- Commissioner Sanchez: So move, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Regalado: It's been moved and second. All in favor say "aye." 134 JULY 8, 2002 The Commission (Collectively): Aye. Chairman Regalado: It passes. The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Sanchez, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION 02-781 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION INCREASING THE EXISTING ALLOCATIONS TO SPANISH AMERICAN BASIC EDUCATION REHABILITATION, INC. (SABER) BY $228,410 AND DOUGLAS GARDENS COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH CENTER OF MIAMI BEACH BY $304,000 TO PROVIDE LONG TERM HOUSING ASSISTANCE PREVIOUSLY PROVIDED BY THE MIAMI-DADE HOUSING AGENCY TO ENSURE THE CONTINUATION OF HOUSING ASSISTANCE AND HOUSING RELATED SERVICES TO LOW INCOME INDIVIDUALS LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS WITHOUT INTERRUPTION; FURTHER ALLOCATING AN ADDITIONAL $50,000 OF HOPWA FUNDS TO SHARPTON, BRUNSON AND COMPANY TO CONDUCT A FINANCIAL AND PERFORMANCE AUDIT TO CLOSEOUT MIAMI DADE COUNTY HOUSING AGENCY AND OFFICE OF COMMUNITY SERVICES HOPWA CONTRACTS; AND FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO AMEND THE EXISTING AGREEMENTS WITH SAID AGENCIES FOR SAID PURPOSE, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Gonzalez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. Commissioner Angel Gonzalez Commissioner Joe Sanchez NAYS: None. ABSENT: Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton 135 JULY 8, 2002 16. ACCEPT RECOMMENDATION OF MANAGER TO JOINTLY SUBMIT BROWNSFIELD ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE (BEDI) GRANT APPLICATION WITH WAGNER SQUARE LLC, JOINT VENTURE CONSISTING OF ATWATER CAPITAL GROUP INC., AND REDEVCO, FIRMS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF MIXED INCOME, HOME OWNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT TO INCLUDE AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMPONENT ON 2.7 ACRES LOCATED BETWEEN NORTHWEST 17TH AND 18TH STREETS AND NORTHWEST 14TH AND 15TH AVENUES; APPROVE IN PRINCIPLE FUTURE CDBG ALLOCATION OF $4,000,00 SECTION 108 LOAN FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT FOR PURPOSES OF SAID APPLICATION. Chairman Regalado: OK. We're finished. We have one more item on this Special City Commission meeting. Mr. Manager, do you want to say anything about -- this is the City -owned property, 1700 Northwest 14th Avenue, Civic Center area. Carlos Gimenez (City Manager): Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, we have passed a proposed resolution that will allow us to -- for all intents, the two firms that we were trying to negotiate with actually formed a partnership, and what we'd like to do is get that partnership to be named as a developer for the purposes of obtaining the BEDI (Brownsfield Economic Development Initiative) grant, and only for those purposes; and that we will come back in two weeks with a final recommendation as to exactly what to do with this property. The reason we're asking you to do this is that the BEDI grant deadline is tomorrow. We feel that we can go ahead and submit an application, even without having a deal, a final deal, or a final resolution to this matter, but I think it would behoove us to make a run at that BEDI grant, and then take a look and see what happened and then, two weeks from now, we can make a recommendation as to the final outcome of this particular piece of property. It could be that we come back and say that we've come back with a deal that, I think, is something the Commission could live with, but also we could come back and say that we need to go out for a normal -- the normal -- formal RFP (Request for Proposal) process. That's yet to be determined. Commissioner Gonzalez: Mr. Manager, how long will it be before we know if we -- if the City got the grant? Does anybody have any idea how long would it be before we get an answer on the grant? Chairman Regalado: Go ahead. Your name. Albert Milo: Good evening. Albert Milo from the Urban Development Group. HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) should respond within 60 to 90 days. Bob Schwarzreich: I think 90 days would about do it. Chairman Regalado: Your name? Your name, your name, name. Mr. Schwarzreich: Bob Schwarzreich. 136 JULY 8, 2002 Chairman Regalado: Your name, your name. Name. Mr. Schwarzreich: Bob Schwarzreich, City of Miami. Commissioner Gonzalez: With the approval of the denial, we should know within 90 days, maximum? Mr. Schwarzreich: Yes. Commissioner Gonzalez: All right. Chairman Regalado: So, why he said that you're coming back in two weeks? Commissioner Winton: Yeah. I don't understand. Mr. Gimenez: Well, I wouldn't be opposed to coming back, you know, when the -- on the application. I mean, if it's approved or denied, I think it's a better course. It could certainly give us a lot more time to look at this property. We're under some time constraints because of the BEDI application. But we're also under some time constraints because we need to show potentially the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) that we are working on developing this site, because of the contamination issues we have there. If we are not progressing in some fashion, we may be handed a bill for clean-up. I think this would show that we are progressing and that we have, at least, a plan of -- and I would not have a problem coming back once the BEDI application has either been accepted or denied, with a final recommendation. Commissioner Gonzalez: So moved, Mr. Chairman, for the purpose of applying for the BEDI grant. Commissioner Sanchez: Second for the purpose of discussion. Just a point of clarification, because I'm a little confused here, Mr. City Manager. You are saying that at 60 to 90 days, to get a response from HUD with the BEDI grant, but you're saying that you could come back anytime and say, we're done with it; we're going to put out an RFP? Mr. Gimenez: I think -- at this time, I think we -- I'd rather wait for the outcome of that application be accepted or denied, and then come back to you with a recommendation at that time. Commissioner Sanchez: All right. So, just for clarification here. If we're denied -- let's say the BEDI grant is denied within 90 days, you will come back to us, and what would be the other process that we could go -- ? Mr. Gimenez: We can go out with a normal RFP. Commissioner Sanchez: OK. 137 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Winton: Well, I'm a bit bothered by this because -- Mr. Manager, you all set up a process. We didn't create this concept. You all set up a process. Commissioner Teele made a comment that, you know, maybe we should -- at the last meeting -- throw all this out and do a regular RFP. There was debate about it, where management convinced us that this was a real priority. I happen to now know that, from an environmental standpoint, this is a real priority, a real, real, real, issue going on here that could come back and haunt us badly. We -- at the policy-making standpoint, we encouraged -- or we encouraged a management to get the top two teams, you all negotiate a deal, get it done, so everything moves forward, and that's -- and so -- but that isn't what I'm hearing now. I'm hearing that, you know, we're -- we may not move forward at all. We might just go out fora new RFP. I don't --the message we --we had people that you all -- I don't know any of these people. You all brought them all to the table, but they're private sector folks. I'm sure you've had them in your offices going like crazy, because I know you all had to have this done by this meeting, so people have probably spent a huge amount of time, a huge amount of money, to get to this point and, all of a sudden, we're backing up. I don't get that process. Commissioner Gonzalez: No, we're not backing up, Johnny. What they're saying is -- what the Manager is saying is that if the application is rejected -- Commissioner Winton: But that's a long time from now. That's 60 to 90 days. This was a major, major emergency and a priority two weeks ago, or a week and a half ago, and now all of a sudden it can wait 60 to 90 days. I mean, that's -- those are inconsistent statements. Dena Bianchino (Assistant City Manager): Commissioner, if I may. Dena Bianchino, Assistant City Manager. We would not stop working on this project. We have consultants onboard. We would be meeting with DERM (Department of Environmental Resources Management). We will work with DERM on a remediation action plan. All of this goes forward. We're not going to just freeze in time here and wait. We still have to move forward. Commissioner Winton: But why didn't you tell all of those people that here a week ago, or two weeks, or whenever we had the last Commission meeting, so they could all go home? Ms. Bianchino: I'm -- Commissioner Winton: The developers that you brought to -- I don't know these people. But you had developers at the table at the last -- these folks here, at the last meeting. Everything had to go 800 miles an hour. When you go 800 miles an hour, people spend a lot of time and they spend a lot of money. If the City was going to be in a position to take the lead and do this and do that, and we got everything going on, then you could have done what Commissioner Teele said: Go out for an RFP. Forget about this business. 138 JULY 8, 2002 Ms. Bianchino: No. No. We need the developers -- Mr. Gimenez: Some of the facts changed. The main -- one of the facts was that we had to have the developer. They had to -- all that changed. You don't have to have the developer with a contract, et cetera, in order to apply for the BEDI grant. Commissioner Winton: Well, we knew that then, but what we were told then is that the probability of getting the BEDI grant without a developer was damn slim. Ms. Bianchino: Right, right. Mr. Gimenez: That's correct. Commissioner Winton: Well, that fact was a fact then. It's a fact now. Mr. Gimenez: No, but now we can go with -- if you designate them as the developer for this purpose, the chances are not slim. I mean, that's what's changed. There is a change in what we're -- Commissioner Winton: You're not designating them as the developer. You just said that you're potentially going to throw them out. Mr. Gimenez: That's correct, but for the purposes of this BEDI grant, they are the designated developer. Commissioner Winton: So, we use them and then throw them out? Mr. Gimenez: No, I'm not saying that, OK? Vice Chairman Winton: Oh, I thought -- Mr. Gimenez: I'm saying that we use them as a designated developer in order to get a shot at this BEDI grant, all right? Commissioner Winton: Uh-huh. I got that part. Mr. Gimenez: To show that we're working toward resolving this issue. Commissioner Winton: Resolving which issue? Mr. Gimenez: The whole issue of the site, in terms of the EPA issues, the DERM issues, the remediation, all those issues that we're working toward that. Because if we don't show some kind of process -- and if we're not in some type of process, we could be handed a bill by EPA or DERM tomorrow. 139 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Winton: I'm clear on that part. I still -- I'm missing something, so why aren't we -- why don't we have the deal negotiated that you all left here doing when we were at the last Commission meeting, and everybody was all geared up, you all spent tons of time, they spent money, well, how come we don't have that negotiated deal in front of us, which is what I thought we were dealing with tonight? And now that I'm hearing that we're going to use them to apply for this grant, goody-goody, but we're only going to use them in name, and then we get the grant or don't get the grant or whatever, and we're going to decide whether we want them or somebody else, and I don't -- that isn't right. Alejandro Vilarello (City Attorney): Well, Commissioner, the resolution that's before you authorizes us to submit the grant and designates this new joint venture as a recipient, and if the Manager was going to come back to you before the 25th with a recommendation, that is with a negotiated agreement. Last Wednesday they spent a 15 -- they had a 15 -hour meeting trying to negotiate terms of this agreement. I wasn't present at the meeting, and that meeting concluded. I don't know the conclusion of that meeting, other than there wasn't an agreement reached. Chairman Regalado: Well, you know -- Commissioner Winton: Fifteen hours, that (inaudible) my point. That's the point I made. Chairman Regalado: Yeah. But, you know, it's another -- there's another part of the Murphy's Law here. If they do get a grant, these two companies will get the project, right? Because if they don't, they're going to sue us. Because we are saying here -- Commissioner Gonzalez: That's what I imagined. Chairman Regalado: We are saying here that we're going to give them the project. If they get the loan, they get the loan, and they get the project. I mean, it's fine by me. I don't care. But -- Mr. Gimenez: Only if we can work out a settlement, only if we can do that. This doesn't guarantee that anybody's getting anything. I mean, the only -- everything has to come back to this Commission. Any kind of deal has to come back to this Commission, and then this Commission would vote on that deal. Commissioner Winton: But why isn't the deal here? I guess that's where I'm, you know - Mr. Gimenez: Why is not the deal here? Commissioner Winton: Yes. Because -- Mr. Gimenez: Because you couldn't come up to a resolution in the time frame that we had. I mean, I guess that's what happened. 140 JULY 8, 2002 Ms. Bianchino: We had two groups -- Commissioner Winton: Well, maybe we ought to hear from the developers. I mean, if they're -- maybe they don't want to say. Chairman Regalado: There's only -- are the two companies here or just one? Mr. Milo: Two. Representatives of each company are here. Basically, we put a term sheet together that was presented, and we have -- Chairman Regalado: You've got to repeat your name and -- Mr. Milo: Albert Milo from the Urban Development Group, 301 Southwest 17th Road. We put a term sheet together, in which we feel strongly that we can develop the project for affordable housing, with an affordable housing component, as was discussed by this Commission, and as was part of the ad that was placed by staff. Unfortunately, we had a little bit of a discrepancy, and if -- our term sheet is here. If you guys would like to see it, I'll gladly like to pass it out to you. But we have an issue in regards to liability, per se, of where the liability lies with this environmental issue. Our preference would be to be named as the developer, and have the ability to negotiate a contract, rather than just be set -- like Commissioner Winton says, put on a BEDI application, and then not have any type of guarantee. We're willing to do that, to help the City out, on this behalf, because it's true: You have a less of a chance to get a BEDI grant application if you don't have a developer named. We feel strongly in our development proposal that we can build the project, and that's why we're allowing the City to use our name and our development plan to apply for the BEDI grant, but I think both companies, two weeks ago, specifically told you we're ready to negotiate a term with the City, exclusive of the BEDI grant, and we're trying to do that but, unfortunately, we couldn't get that done, and this is where we're at today but, yes, we would like to be named, today, as the official developer and work on a contract. Commissioner Winton: The item -- there's one issue separating the City and you all, and that relates to liability on the environmental side, is that what you just said? Mr. Vilarello: Mr. Chairman, can I make a suggestion? All parties were represented at a 15 -hour meeting. Maybe I'm exaggerating. I was told it was a 15 -hour meeting, more or less. Mr. Milo: It was a long meeting, yes. Mr. Vilarello: I would suggest that there was more than one issue at the end of that meeting, that was still at issue, and there's not a recommendation coming back to you from the Manager, with the exception of this resolution, which, as originally written, said designate this new joint venture for the purposes of the BEDI grant, and come back on the 25th, where the Manager can make a recommendation to you as to business terms, which are acceptable and that he recommends. I would recommend that, if you're willing 141 JULY 8, 2002 to consider this item, to consider it under those conditions. Otherwise, withdraw and give the Manager direction as to -- or ask for his recommendation as to how to proceed going forward. The reason that this is moving forward today is simply for the purposes of being able to apply for this grant. Commissioner Teele: Mr. Chairman? Chairman Regalado: Yes, sir. Commissioner Teele: Let me thank counsel for stepping up, because I am very uncomfortable with the dialogue. Under no circumstances should this record be built the way it's being built, that "we're designating somebody for the purpose of this," and "I've allowed my name to be used to help you." You know, that's very, very dangerous language for the City. It's not dangerous for the various teams, perhaps, but it's extremely dangerous kind of line of discussion or record for the City, and -- first and foremost, I know this Manager well enough to know that he would not be using this grant process as a subterfuge. I mean, I may disagree with some things about Carlos, but he has a lot of integrity, and he is not about to put this City in harm's way in the manner in which the dialogue is being discussed, and I would only ask one question, directly: Do you understand that if the City moves forward with this, and the BEDI grant is awarded, that you would be a participant in the project; is that your understanding? If the BEDI grant is awarded -- Mr. Milo: If the BEDI grant is awarded, that we would be what? Commissioner Sanchez: A participant. Commissioner Teele: A participant in the project. Mr. Milo: I think the Manager's recommendation is that we negotiate a contract or possibly agreement to the deal before the 25th. We're not -- Commissioner Teele: If you don't believe that you -- if you honestly don't believe that you're going to be a participant in the project, if the BEDI grant is approved, then I would urge you not to submit anything, if you don't believe that. Because, otherwise, what you're doing is, you're basically putting us in a position where we're using a shell for the purpose of getting a grant. I mean, that's the record that you're building on us, and I understand that that's not really the issue. The issue is, if you don't get the BEDI grant, are you going to be around? And that's not the purpose of submitting the grant. Mr. Milo: No. I agree with you, Commissioner. Commissioner Teele: So, do you agree -- Mr. Milo: Yes. 142 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Teele: -- that if we submit the grant and your name is on the grant, that you're going to be a participant? Mr. Milo: Yes. And we agree that we can possibly do -- and we said it two weeks ago -- the development if, God forbid, we don't get the grant. Commissioner Teele: Well, I just want to be real clear about one thing. I don't want the record to suggest that you're allowing -- and what you said is "the reason we let our name be used was to facilitate the BEDI grant," and I just think that's a little bit closer to the line than I would like to be on this, and I think what we ought to do is approve the resolution that has been submitted by the Manager and approved by the Attorney, is that right? Mr. Vilarello: Yes, Commissioner. I don't want to disagree with the last point you made, because I don't think that was the Manager's intention, to use this development team, but in addition to the award of the BEDI grant, there's also a condition that they reach -- the Manager reach terms that he can recommend to this City Commission, and this City Commission accepts, so those two conditions are necessary, in addition -- Commissioner Sanchez: So, there's a safeguard? Mr. Vilarello: But your last point is correct, there's no intention of using this joint venture -- Commissioner Teele: There is no intent. Mr. Vilarello: -- for the purpose of securing the grant, and then not entering into an agreement with this venture. Commissioner Teele: See, I am very uncomfortable with this process, but I'm comfortable with the Manager's instincts and his willingness to go forward with this. I can tell you this: If the grant comes down, you know, you're going to have one Commissioner who's going to be fighting for you, and working through the terms and conditions that the Manager may or may not recommend, but I think what you're trying to do is lick the plate. You want to have a "heads, I win; tails, you lose" kind of scenario, and I think, right now, we're saying it's heads. Call it heads or tails, and then we'll worry about, you know, "the heads, I win; tails, you lose" once the BEDI grant comes in, but I think you're closer to being in that position with the BEDI grant than you may believe. Because none of us want to take advantage of the process and, certainly, none of us want to take advantage of you fine people, and the time that you all have spent. Mr. Milo: No. We appreciate that. And we feel like we could possibly come back by the 25th and have a term sheet that's acceptable to the Manager's Office, and is acceptable to us. Unfortunately, we won't have the results of the BEDI grant by that time, so ... 143 JULY 8, 2002 Commissioner Winton: Well -- and the one thing that the Manager hasn't said, but it's absolutely a hundred percent appropriate, and part of the reason why this language is here, is he can't say and he darn sure doesn't want us to say, he's got to negotiate the best deal he can for the City. That's his job, and that's what we count on him doing, and so, since this deal isn't negotiated, we would tie his hands in negotiation if we did anything other than -- but I wanted to understand process here, but we can't give him any more directive hardly than we've got right here, because we then do tie his hands, as it relates to the negotiations, and that's not what we're here to do. Chairman Regalado: OK. I'm afraid, Johnny, that you've got a second wind. It's 8:45, and -- Commissioner Sanchez: There's a motion and a second. Call the question. Chairman Regalado: We have a motion and a second. All in favor say "aye." The Commission (Collectively): Aye. 144 JULY 8, 2002 The following resolution was introduced by Commissioner Gonzalez, who moved its adoption: RESOLUTION NO. 02-782 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ACCEPTING THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE CITY MANAGER TO JOINTLY SUBMIT BROWNSFIELD ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE (BEDI) GRANT APPLICATION WITH WAGNER SQUARE, LLC, A JOINT VENTURE CONSISTING OF ATWATER CAPITAL GROUP, INC., THE URBAN DEVELOPMENT GROUP, AND REDEVCO, THE FIRMS THAT SUBMITTED THE TWO HIGHEST RANKING PROPOSALS IN RESPONSE TO THE REQUEST FOR LETTERS OF INTEREST FOR DEVELOPMENT OF A MIXED INCOME, HOME OWNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT TO INCLUDE AN AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMPONENT ON APPROXIMATELY 2.7 ACRES LOCATED BETWEEN NORTHWEST 17TH AND 18TH STREETS AND NORTHWEST 14TH AND 15TH AVENUES, MIAMI, FLORIDA; APPROVING, IN PRINCIPLE, THE FUTURE CDBG ALLOCATION OF A $4,000,000 SECTION 108 LOAN FROM THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (US HUD) FOR PURPOSES OF SAID APPLICATION; FURTHER DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO COME BACK TO THE CITY COMMISSION WITH A RECOMMENDATION AT THE CITY COMMISSION MEETING OF JULY 25, 2002; AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY ATTORNEY TO ENGAGE COUNSEL TO ASSIST WITH FINALIZING DEVELOPMENT OF A RECOMMENDATION, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $25,000, ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM ACCOUNT CODE NO. 001000.920205.6.250. (Here follows body of resolution, omitted here and on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) Upon being seconded by Commissioner Sanchez, the resolution was passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Chairman Tomas Regalado Vice Chairman Johnny L. Winton Commissioner Angel Gonzalez Commissioner Joe Sanchez Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. NAYS: None. ABSENT: None. 145 JULY 8, 2002 Chairman Regalado: Motion to dismiss? Mr. Gimenez: Thank you. Commissioner Sanchez: No. Motion to adjourn. Chairman Regalado: Adjourn. Commissioner Sanchez: So moved. Chairman Regalado: OK. 146 JULY 8, 2002 THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS TO COME BEFORE THE CITY COMMISSION, THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 8:46 P.M. ATTEST: Priscilla A. Thompson CITY CLERK Sylvia S. Scheider ASSISTANT CITY CLERK (S E A L) MANUEL DIAZ MAYOR 147 JULY 8, 2002