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FROM
CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA 26
INTER -OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Honorable Mayor and Members May 18, 1998
of the City Commission DATE : FILE
Empowerment Zone
SUBJECT: Application
For City Commission
Jose Garcia -Pedrosa REFERENCES: Meeting of 5/26/98
City Manager1�e
ENCLOSURES:
Map
RECOMMENDATION:
The administration recommends that the City prepare a joint application with Miami -
Dade County for the new round of urban Empowerment Zones, using existing Enterprise
Community boundaries (see attached map), under the following conditions:
• The structure of the governing board must be modified to reflect the importance of the
City of Miami in this new Empowerment Zone process.
• The Strategic Plan must ensure that the benefits of social and economic programs are
concentrated on Zone residents, in particular City of Miami residents.
• The overall economic strategy needs to be modified to place greater emphasis on
economic and business redevelopment of City neighborhoods.
BACKGROUND:
On April 16, 1998, Vice President Gore announced a nationwide competition to designate
15 new urban Empowerment Zones to create jobs and business opportunities for residents
of economically distressed communities. These zones will benefit from a variety of new
tax incentives including: empowerment zone employment tax credit with a maximum
credit of $3,000 for'up to ten years; new tax-exempt bond financing of up to $230 million
not subject to state caps or size limits; and an increased Section 179 deduction (up to an
additional $20,000) which allows for a business deduction for qualifying property the
year it is placed in service. The existing federal incentives of welfare -to -work credit,
work opportunity credit, and environmental cleanup cost deduction will also be available
to businesses within the Empowerment Zone. In addition, the Clinton administration is
seeking Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) funding of $100 million for each urban
Empowerment Zone.
I instructed staff to attend a HUD Empowerment Zone Application Workshop on April
24"', 1998 so that the administration would be kept up to date on the process. Several key
points emerged from the workshop:
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• The Empowerment Zone application is due on October 9`' ; 1998. This gives us a
relatively short period of time, to complete a detailed strategic plan which is the
substance of the application.
• Applicants for this new round of Empowerment Zones who already have Enterprise
Community status (we are a part of the Miami -Dade Enterprise Community) must be
careful about eliminating any existing Enterprise Community census tracts from the
proposed Empowerment Zone.
• In addition to the three non-contiguous areas (with a combined population of 50,000),
this new round of Empowerment Zones allow for up to three additional non-
contiguous developable sites (up to 2,000 acres in total).
An evaluation of the 1994 Miami Metro -Dade Empowerment Zone Strategic Plan was
undertaken to determine whether it provided a good basis for the new effort. The analysis
revealed the following strengths and weaknesses of the Strategic Plan:
Strengths
• The plan takes a comprehensive approach to social, economic and community
development.
• The plan provides a good strategic vision.
• The boundaries that were chosen reflect include many City of Miami neighborhoods.
In fact, 74 percent of the proposed Zone's population was from the City.
• The planning process used to formulate the Strategic Plan was community -based. It
was based on the extensive involvement of residents and communities, particularly in
the development of neighborhood agendas.
Weakneccec
• The governing structure did not reflect the fact that most of the Zone's population was
from the City. In fact, the City of Miami government was only one of 34 voting
members of the governing body. Miami Beach, which was not within zone
boundaries, also had one vote or a voice equal to that of the City of Miami.
• The economic development strategy was not sufficiently communityobased. There
were only very limited backward linkages from the forecast growth at the Port of
Miami and Miami International Airport to the redevelopment of the City's
neighborhoods.
• In some cases, the beneficiaries of proposed programs included too many residents
that did not reside in the Zone. This diluted the intended beneficial impacts to City
residents.
In sum, overall the previously submitted Strategic Plan provided a good framework
which should form the basis of current efforts. However, the weaknesses must be
addressed.
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MAY-14-98 04:38 Fron:CITY OF MIAMi C0MMUNITY DEVELOPEfMENT 13054162090 T-671 P.04/04 Job-126
lWarrimMW &brptlse Commnity
Central Portion
i
Text Street NanvS
Principal Streets
EhWgxise CmTmr ity
C MbUH1C
MuniciW Baardwies
Source: City of M6aM, DepatTat of Plaming & Develop m t.
Note- The sotthun portion of the Enterprise Corm wrdy indudes Census Tract 113
in HarsOad/Rcrida City.
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CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA
INTER -OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Honorable Joe Carollo May 1, 1998
TO Mayor DATE : FILE
SUBJECT: Empowerment Zone
Strategic Plan
FROM: Jose Garcia -Pedrosa
REFERENCES:
City Manager
ENCLOSURES:
Early this month members of my staff attended the Empowerment Zone Workshop in
Houston and learned, among other things, that the deadline for submission of the new
round of applications is October 9, 1998. In 1994 the City submitted a join application
with Miami -Dade County and we were designated an Enterprise Community. Attached
please find copies of the basic documents for round two of the Empowerment Zone, as
well as the Empowerment Zone Strategic Plan jointly prepared by the City and the
County in 1994.
I would appreciate your direction as to how you would wish for us to proceed. Staff and I
are prepared to brief you if and when you may desire for us to do so. Also,
Commissioner Teele, who had expressed interest in an Empowerment Zone has not been
briefed, although by copy of this memorandum to him I am forwarding to him copies of
the round two basic documents. (I am not sending him the 1994 Strategic Plan because
of its bulk.)
Thank you.
JGP:rr
encls.
c: Commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr.
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CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA 27
INTER -OFFICE MEMORANDUN
TO. Jose Garcia -Pedrosa May 11,` 1998 - -
DATE: FILE:
City Manager
SUBJECT:
FROM:d\kw &151"
REFERENCES:
omas Regalado
Commissioner ENCLOSURES:
Please find attached documents in regards to a city -owned alley located at 5220-5300
West Flagler Street. I am interested in the possibility of donating this property to the
business that is currently located in front of this alley, to improve and beautify this area.
Please explore this situation and provide a response. I am interested in bringing this item
before the City Commission on the meeting of May 26, 1998.
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Discount Pharmacies
NAVARRO DISTRIBUTION CENTER: 5959 N.W. 37th Avenue, Miami, Florida 33142 ■ Phone: (305) 633-3000 ■ Fax: (305) 633-7555
April 20, 1998
Mr. Tomas Regalado
City of Miami Commissioner
3500 Pan American Drive
Coconut Grove, F133133
Re: City Alley- Between Navarro Discount Pharmacies & Sedanos Supermaket
5220- 5300 West Flagler Street
Dear Commissioner:
The reason for this letter is to thank you for your ongoing efforts to beautify and
correct problem areas in our city. Once more we would like ask your cooperation in
solving a situation we are experiencing with the above referenced alley.
APR
22 .
is
We continue to receive violation notices from the Net Team due to the deplorable
situation caused by the outside dumping in the city alley's which it is not only out
of our control but we are constantly fined and made responsible to maintain in exchange
for no help from the interested parties. We realize the importance of having a clean,
attractive area in the proximity of our business, however, we need the city's involvement
to work with us , by putting that extra effort in making the following possible:
-.Pavement to the triangle area to gain extra parking spaces and eliminate the
heavy dumping approximately 500 Sq.
-.Pavement of the back alley owned by the city with parking marks and bumpers
-.Palm trees and a small green area not only will enhance the old bad looking alley's
appearance, but will discourage the current dumping of tires, mattresses, stolen
cars, --boats, dead animals, furniture etc. which at the end is paid by us or the city
to be picked as it is in our vicinities.
-.A gate to prevent trespassing.
Cont...
STORES:
■ 5300 W Flagler St. 442-9946 ■ 8760 Bird Road 552-1498 ■ 12000 SW 8th St. 225-8900
■ 3949 SW 8th St. 444-7530 • 10044 W Flagler St. 223-3555 ■ 4410 W 16th Ave. Hialeah 556-8585
■ 1243 SW Sth St. 854-8544 f 10720 Sunset Drive 271-9909 ■ 3141 W 76th St, Hialeah 231-8200
98- 527
Cont...
Page 2 of 2
City Alley/Navarro/Sedans Supermarket
In the past we went through the trouble of building and paying for the expenses to install
the gates and were ordered by a local inspector to stop the project even thought The Fire
Dept. stated that they had no problem with the gates as in they needed to go in, they
would just cut the chain as it actually open space.
Should you have any questions or need additional information please feel free to contact
me at (305)633-3000.
Sincerel ,
�i Jose ,avarro
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