HomeMy WebLinkAboutExhibitCiiv of 4 Tana,xxe.x
WII=REDO (WILLY) GORT
COMMISSIONER - DISTRICT I
August 10, 2012
Ms, Pam Bondi, Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
The Capital PL-01
Tallahassee, FL 32399
Subject: Distribution of the 300 Million Dollar Settlement Funds
Honorable Attorney General Pam Bondi,
Let me begin by commending you on your outstanding work in this case and the resulting settlement.
CITY HALL
3500 PAN AMERICAN DRIVS
MIAMI, FLORIDA 33133
(306)250-5430
FAX (305) 250-6456
I would like to appeal to you In assisting one of the most affected communities in South Florida, The City of Miami. Under the
settlement the state of Florida was awarded $334,073,974.00 Dollars. In the body of the settlement that applies to the state of
Florida Section B2-5 paragraph 2 it appears to give discretion as to the distribution of funds to the attorney general. In
addition, In exhibit "B" B-3 identifies permissible uses for the funds" Such permissible purposes for allocation of the funds
include but are not limited to, supplementing the amounts paid to homeowners under the Borrower Payment Fund, funding
for housing counselors, state and local foreclosure mediation programs, legal assistance, housing remediatlon and anti -blight
protects, funding for training and staffing of financial fraud or consumer protection enforcement efforts, and civil penalties."
The City of Miami has been one of the most affected cities nationwide and one of the most In the state of Florida if not number
one. The City of Miami is currently going through a crisis across the board compounded with the affects of the wave of
abandoned property that continues to increase the blight. The City of Miami is aggressively trying to address this Issue, with an
anti -blight protect, but there Is a cost associated with this effort. In order to curtail the spreading of blight resulting from
abandoned properties the city has created "Operation Clean Sweep" for securing abandoned property and demolishing unsafe
structures. The City has been demolishing the structures with great success. This effort has curtailed crime, eliminated
abandoned structures, and provided for safer neighborhoods ultimately mitigating blight, The city has had the same Issue, as
other severely affected areas such as California, the monies for these efforts run dry.
I would like to bring this for your consideration as you proceed to allocate the monies for the State of Florida and consider our
residents going forward.
n r•y(, /
1,
f(etfo "Willy" Gort
Gbrn\-nissioner, District 1
City of Miami