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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCRA-R-11-0021 03-28-2011 BackupAkerman Memorandum Akerman Senterfitt LLP 750 9th Street, N.W. Suite 750 Washington, D.C. 20001 Tel: 202.393.6222 Fax: 202.393.5959 From: Mike Abrams and Jane Sargent To: Pieter Bockweg Date: March 4, 2011 Subject: Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Federal Report 2011 Agenda As a result of the recent elections, there has been significant changes to the Miami Congressional delegation for the first time in many years. While the new Members may be aware of the CRA, they are probably not familiar with all your efforts and the major projects planned to revitalize the City. We think is important for the CRA to be actively engaged with educating the new Members — Congresswoman Wilson, Congressman Rivera, and Senator Rubio — and updating the existing members — Senator Nelson, Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen, Congressman Diaz-Balart and Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz — and their staffs about the CRA's redevelopment plans. We recommend that CRA officials travel to Washington in April to meet with the members of the Miami Congressional delegation. We also recommend scheduling meetings with federal agency officials to discuss your plans and identify potential federal grants or other funding sources that may be available to the CRA for its redevelopment projects. We will work with the CRA to schedule appropriate meetings at various federal agencies, such as the Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration (FTA), and Department Housing and Urban Development. We should also explore opportunities at other possible agencies, including the Department of Commerce, Department of Labor, Department of Education, and the Department of Agriculture. In order to obtain federal funds this year, the CRA will need to actively pursue federal grant opportunities. Given the current budget climate, we believe the competition for federal grants will be more difficult than usual this year, which makes obtaining Congressional support for your projects even more important. Congressional support has been helpful in past when dealing with most federal agencies, but given the increased competition for federal grants, this support for the CRA's grant application becomes even more important. Therefore, we believe it would be productive for the CRA to meet with federal agencies to identify funding opportunities, but to akerman.com BOCA RATON DALLAS DENVER FORT LAUDERDALE JACKSONVILLE LAS VEGAS LOS ANGELES MADISON MIAMI NAPLES NEW YORK ORLANDO PALM BEACH TALLAHASSEE TAMPA TYSONS CORNER WASHINGTON, D.C. WEST PALM BEACH March 4, 2011 Page 2 also work closely with the Congressional delegation to gain their support for your efforts. We will work with the CRA to identify and pursue federal grants. We currently monitor the federal periodicals and web sites that list grant opportunities. We will make the CRA aware of any grants for which it could reasonably apply. Funding areas the CRA may want to pursue include: • Education — We will work with the CRA to identify possible grant grants to allow the CRA to include educational components and improved learning opportunities in its redevelopment projects through the Department of Education. • Transportation & Infrastructure — The CRA is working on a number of projects that will require transportation and infrastructure improvements, such as streetscape enhancements, public transit, park revitalization, greenways, bike paths, road improvements, and pedestrian -oriented development. We will look for funding sources through the a variety of agencies, including USDOT, FTA, HUD, and USDA. • Small Business Incubation — We will work with the CRA to identify potential funding through the Small Business Administration and other agencies to develop opportunities for small business to get off the ground and/or expand. • Workforce Development — The CRA is working to create jobs, onsite training and career development as part of its redevelopment projects. Working with the CRA, we will look for funding opportunities through the Department of Labor, Department of Commerce and other agencies to enhance its job training, job creation initiatives. • Affordable Housing — The CRA is interested in pursing funds for affordable housing. We will identify opportunities through HUD that the CRA may be eligible to apply for to assist with its projects. • Economic/Community Development — Through the Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration, HUD, and other appropriate agencies, we will work to identify potential grants and other funding opportunities to assist the CRA with its projects. Akerman will work with the CRA to make all of the arrangements for visiting CRA officials and staff in Washington, including setting up the meetings, assisting with preparing your advocacy materials, and attending the meetings with the CRA. In February, the President released its FY2012 budget proposal. We will review his budget plans for any initiatives that may be of interest to the CRA. For example, the President's Fiscal Year 2012 budget calls for the creation of 20 new Economic Growth Zones which will deliver expanded tax incentives for investment and employment assistance. The Administration plans to select these areas through a national competition that will evaluate competitive strategies along with need and ability to attract investment and growth. We will work with the CRA to determine if the proposed Economic Growth Zones is a program you would be eligible for and want to pursue. March 4, 2011 Page 3 In addition to federal grant opportunities and agency initiatives, we will work with the CRA to identify and pursue legislative opportunities through authorizing bills to help the CRA with its projects. For instance, the Congress will be working on the surface transportation reauthorization bill this year. The current law, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), is a Federal funding source for highways, highway safety, and public transportation. SAFETEA-LU originally expired on September 30, 2009, but the Congress has continued to extend the law until they can complete the bill. The new Congress has already begun its initial work on re -authorizing SAFETEA-LU. We have been in contact with the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-FL) about the legislation. We will stay in contact with his office about his plans for drafting the bill and keep you informed of any developments with the legislation. In the next few months, we expect the Committee to issue guidance on submitting transportation related requests in the bill. We were very successful in obtaining funding for several highway and transit projects projects for our clients in SAFETEA-LU. We look forward to working with the CRA to develop its agenda and obtain funding and other items of interests in the transportation reauthorization bill. Accomplishments on Projects of Importance to the CRA: Over the past three years, we have worked to obtain federal appropriations for projects of interest to the CRA and important to the ongoing redevelopment of downtown Miami, such as the relocation of Camillus House to its new facility and development of the Bicentennial Museum Park. We have assisted Camillus House with obtaining federal funding through Congressional earmarks and grants. Since Fiscal Year (FY) 2008, we have helped Camillus obtain two Congressional earmarks for their new facility through the Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) budget. HRSA is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This included $500,000 in FY2010 and $191,593 in FY2008. This funding helped to supplement more than $1.1 million in Congressional earmarks that we had previously helped to secure for Camillus' new facility. The Miami Congressional delegation understands the critical need for the new facility and appreciates that the re -location of Camillus' operations are important to the redevelopment of downtown Miami. In addition to Camillus, the expanded CRA boundaries include the Bicentennial Museum Park, the future home of the Miami Art Museum and the Miami Science Museum. We have been involved with this project for several years and the Miami Science Museum's effort to re -locate to a new facility in the park. Since FY2008, we have helped the Museum obtain more than $1.45 million in federal earmarks to help the Museum incorporate energy efficient technologies into their new facility. This includes $713,625 in FY2009 and $738,000 in FY2008 through the Department of Energy's budget. We have also worked with the Museum on finding other sources of funding for the project through the transportation reauthorization bill and March 4, 2011 Page 4 discretionary grants through various federal agencies, such as the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences and NASA. If you have any questions about the earmarks we have helped to secure for these critical redevelopment projects in downtown Miami, please let us know.