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December 13th, 2005, 02:19 AM
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December 2005: Wynwood Historic Homeowners’ Association Wants to Stop Midtown Miami
Posted by: bbtnews on Friday, December 02, 2005 - 08:28 AM
By K. Lee Sohn
BBT Staff Writer
For nearly a year and a half, cranes at the old Buena Vista Rail Yard have cranked steadily throughout the day, rapidly assembling steel and concrete into the future retail and residential components of the Midtown Miami project in Wynwood.
With the completion of phase one of the $1.2 billion project set for fall 2006, local residents and business owners anxiously gaze at the rising structures, often speculating on Midtown’s future impact on the district.
But Ray Machado, Executive Director of the Wynwood Historic Homeowners’ Association (WHHA), doesn’t worry much about the development’s physical progression – he’s more interested in its paper trail.
For the past nine months Machado has been investigating the intricacies of how Midtown Miami came to be: who pushed for its creation, where the funding came from, and the process of its design and ultimate approval by the city of Miami.
Backed by his tireless research, Machado and the other 26 members of the WHHA believe that the city of Miami has violated federal law by excluding Wynwood residents from having input on the 56-acre development (N.E. 29th Street to 36th Street between 2nd and North Miami avenues). And now, the group plans to file a federal compliant against all parties involved: the city, Miami-Dade County and the State of Florida.
On June 7 of this year, the WHHA appeared at the Miami-Dade Commission meeting requesting 120 days to organize their federal violations package, and then, on Oct. 18 they officially revealed their findings at the Wynwood Community Action Agency meeting at the De Hostos Senior Center.
The case against Midtown began when a group of concerned Wynwood homeowners reached out to Machado, a retired New Yorker, for help almost a year ago.
“The WHHA wanted to know how the Midtown project came to be,” says Machado. “So, I started to research Midtown and soon realized that the residents were unfairly kept in the dark about this project.”
Because the city of Miami inserted Midtown Miami – which has received $170 million in public funding – into their Consolidated Plan (2004 – 2009), the project is guided by the Code of Federal Regulations, which in Part 1 - subpart 91.105 contains stipulations that outline the manner of citizen participation and consultation required for projects like Midtown Miami.
“These requirements are designed especially to encourage participation by low- and moderate- income persons…in areas where funds are proposed to be used,” the code book reads.
“If the city hadn’t put Midtown Miami into the consolidated plan, we’d be picketing, not taking them to court,” Machado explains. “You can’t have Midtown Miami being funded by federal money and not have any citizen participation, but no one had ever sat down and explained this to the residents of Wynwood.”
Historically, Wynwood is a Puerto Rican community made-up of mostly seniors, blue-collared workers, nurses, and Homestead workers. Additionally, an overwhelming percentage of the population speaks, reads and understands only Spanish.
Machado starting asking residents if they were ever notified by the city about the Midtown project; “they told me ‘no.’” he says. Then, in September 2005, the WHHA conducted a survey of 100 residents within a 500 foot perimeter of Midtown Miami. The survey results supported that residents were not made aware of the Midtown development before it was approved by the city of Miami.
The WHHA then examined the meeting minutes from the Community Action Agency (CAA), a citizen participation program run by Miami-Dade County and held at the De Hostos Senior Center. Although the CAA meetings are always attended by local police officers and representatives from the office of city of Miami District 2 Commissioner Johnny Winton, the CAA never discussed Midtown with the residents.
According to Barbara Gomez-Rodriguez, director of Community Development for the city of Miami, a public meeting was held on Jan. 14, 2004 at the Virrick Park Clubhouse at 3230 Hibiscus Street in Coconut Grove, which fulfills the Code of Federal Regulation’s requirement for citizen participation. Specifically, the January meeting discussed future priorities for federally funded programs contained within the city’s Consolidated Plan.
Notification about this meeting was printed in the Miami Herald; however, most of the residents in Wynwood do not read English and, according to the code of Federal Regulations, the city must not exclude residents on the grounds of a language barrier.
Even so, the January 14 meeting wasn’t attended by residents, Machado asserts after looking at the meeting’s sign-in list. “That meeting was about funding and so it was mainly attended by Community Development employees.
“It comes down to what you consider a public hearing,” he continues. “Ultimately, the developers went ahead and planned everything; the planning board approved it, and then they snuck it in to the city commission without the citizens’ participation.”
Local politicians have praised Midtown Miami, a project being developed by Midtown Group, LLC, hailing it as a vehicle for the economic revitalization of Wynwood and surrounding areas. When completed, the $1.2 billion project will consist of 3,000 condominium residences, 350 rental units, and approximately 600,000 square feet of retail space.
“New opportunities in retail, commercial, hospitality, and on the city level will promote a more vibrant and healthy economy locally,” Dr. Barbara Carey-Shuler, Miami-Dade County Commissioner has said of the project.
One of the problems the WHHA finds with Midtown Miami is the high cost of housing units. The development’s web site lists condo prices ranging from $200,000 to $800,000, with select units and penthouses from $1 to $3 million, and a quick internet search revealed current prices along the lines of $650,000 for a two-bedroom townhouse and $470,000 for a two-bedroom condo. Midtown Miami has promised to sell 80 units at an affordable price for purchase by local residents, but these units will not be for sale until the entire project is completed.
According to Developers Diversified Realty, the average household income within a five-mile radius of Midtown Miami is $44,755. Based on these findings, affordable housing should not be more than $140,000. Therefore, Midtown will be primarily unavailable to local residents.
The buyers of Midtown Miami are primarily from South and Central America, says Machado, which is worrying to him. “I’m afraid of where this money is coming from. Is anybody checking whether these people are political or criminal fugitives?”
The city of Miami Department of Economic Development also maintains that Midtown will generate approximately 1,700 permanent jobs. Most of these jobs will be retail oriented. Some stores likely to move into Midtown are national big-box chains like Target, Home Depot and PetSmart.
“This is undoubtedly, at least in my mind, the most important job generator to come to the city of Miami in decades – and maybe in history,” Commissioner Johnny Winton has commented.
Once again Machado does not agree. “The jobs Midtown Miami will supply will not pay enough for people to live in the area,” he shrugs. “The property taxes are becoming too expensive.”
Furthermore, Machado cites the FEC Corridor study of January 2000, conducted by the Urban Land Institute and FIU, which concluded that businesses were moving back into the area, as proof that Wynwood was already on the economic upswing.
“Wynwood has always been a peaceful blue-collared community,” says Machado. “Midtown Miami was ill-conceived, ill-planned and is nothing more than social cleansing, perpetrated against Wynwood residents. And I can substantiate this claim.”
Midtown Miami is already under construction, but Machado and the WHHA believe they can still stop the project. “What happens if the city catches you building something without the proper permitting? You are forced to tear it down. It’s the same concept,” Machado states.
Ultimately, the WHHA wants to buy the Midtown Miami property back from the current developers.
“Whether the developers sell it back to us or we sue them for it, we’re going to get it because the city is going to have to pay for it,” Machado asserts.
“Many of Wynwood’s residents are living out the last days of their lives; they are not going to sell their houses. We’re trying to protect what is rightfully theirs and hoping to set right what was done wrong,” he says.
In the place of Midtown Miami, the WHHA would like to see a project with ample middle-income housing along with a portion of low-income housing. Ideally, there would be a movie theater, a Botanical garden, a school and a library, Machado speculates. The retail end could have art studios, supplies shops and other stores to complement the businesses on N.E. 2nd Avenue.
Instead of catering to investors and foreigners, this envisioned development would fulfill the needs of locals.
“We’re not greedy; all we want is to enhance this land to conform to the residents,” Machado concludes. “We are the majority. This is not the people’s republic of Miami, this is a democracy, and therefore we win.”
BBT
December 2005: Wynwood Historic Homeowners’ Association Wants to Stop Midtown Miami
Posted by: bbtnews on Friday, December 02, 2005 - 08:28 AM
By K. Lee Sohn
BBT Staff Writer
For nearly a year and a half, cranes at the old Buena Vista Rail Yard have cranked steadily throughout the day, rapidly assembling steel and concrete into the future retail and residential components of the Midtown Miami project in Wynwood.
With the completion of phase one of the $1.2 billion project set for fall 2006, local residents and business owners anxiously gaze at the rising structures, often speculating on Midtown’s future impact on the district.
But Ray Machado, Executive Director of the Wynwood Historic Homeowners’ Association (WHHA), doesn’t worry much about the development’s physical progression – he’s more interested in its paper trail.
For the past nine months Machado has been investigating the intricacies of how Midtown Miami came to be: who pushed for its creation, where the funding came from, and the process of its design and ultimate approval by the city of Miami.
Backed by his tireless research, Machado and the other 26 members of the WHHA believe that the city of Miami has violated federal law by excluding Wynwood residents from having input on the 56-acre development (N.E. 29th Street to 36th Street between 2nd and North Miami avenues). And now, the group plans to file a federal compliant against all parties involved: the city, Miami-Dade County and the State of Florida.
On June 7 of this year, the WHHA appeared at the Miami-Dade Commission meeting requesting 120 days to organize their federal violations package, and then, on Oct. 18 they officially revealed their findings at the Wynwood Community Action Agency meeting at the De Hostos Senior Center.
The case against Midtown began when a group of concerned Wynwood homeowners reached out to Machado, a retired New Yorker, for help almost a year ago.
“The WHHA wanted to know how the Midtown project came to be,” says Machado. “So, I started to research Midtown and soon realized that the residents were unfairly kept in the dark about this project.”
Because the city of Miami inserted Midtown Miami – which has received $170 million in public funding – into their Consolidated Plan (2004 – 2009), the project is guided by the Code of Federal Regulations, which in Part 1 - subpart 91.105 contains stipulations that outline the manner of citizen participation and consultation required for projects like Midtown Miami.
“These requirements are designed especially to encourage participation by low- and moderate- income persons…in areas where funds are proposed to be used,” the code book reads.
“If the city hadn’t put Midtown Miami into the consolidated plan, we’d be picketing, not taking them to court,” Machado explains. “You can’t have Midtown Miami being funded by federal money and not have any citizen participation, but no one had ever sat down and explained this to the residents of Wynwood.”
Historically, Wynwood is a Puerto Rican community made-up of mostly seniors, blue-collared workers, nurses, and Homestead workers. Additionally, an overwhelming percentage of the population speaks, reads and understands only Spanish.
Machado starting asking residents if they were ever notified by the city about the Midtown project; “they told me ‘no.’” he says. Then, in September 2005, the WHHA conducted a survey of 100 residents within a 500 foot perimeter of Midtown Miami. The survey results supported that residents were not made aware of the Midtown development before it was approved by the city of Miami.
The WHHA then examined the meeting minutes from the Community Action Agency (CAA), a citizen participation program run by Miami-Dade County and held at the De Hostos Senior Center. Although the CAA meetings are always attended by local police officers and representatives from the office of city of Miami District 2 Commissioner Johnny Winton, the CAA never discussed Midtown with the residents.
According to Barbara Gomez-Rodriguez, director of Community Development for the city of Miami, a public meeting was held on Jan. 14, 2004 at the Virrick Park Clubhouse at 3230 Hibiscus Street in Coconut Grove, which fulfills the Code of Federal Regulation’s requirement for citizen participation. Specifically, the January meeting discussed future priorities for federally funded programs contained within the city’s Consolidated Plan.
Notification about this meeting was printed in the Miami Herald; however, most of the residents in Wynwood do not read English and, according to the code of Federal Regulations, the city must not exclude residents on the grounds of a language barrier.
Even so, the January 14 meeting wasn’t attended by residents, Machado asserts after looking at the meeting’s sign-in list. “That meeting was about funding and so it was mainly attended by Community Development employees.
“It comes down to what you consider a public hearing,” he continues. “Ultimately, the developers went ahead and planned everything; the planning board approved it, and then they snuck it in to the city commission without the citizens’ participation.”
Local politicians have praised Midtown Miami, a project being developed by Midtown Group, LLC, hailing it as a vehicle for the economic revitalization of Wynwood and surrounding areas. When completed, the $1.2 billion project will consist of 3,000 condominium residences, 350 rental units, and approximately 600,000 square feet of retail space.
“New opportunities in retail, commercial, hospitality, and on the city level will promote a more vibrant and healthy economy locally,” Dr. Barbara Carey-Shuler, Miami-Dade County Commissioner has said of the project.
One of the problems the WHHA finds with Midtown Miami is the high cost of housing units. The development’s web site lists condo prices ranging from $200,000 to $800,000, with select units and penthouses from $1 to $3 million, and a quick internet search revealed current prices along the lines of $650,000 for a two-bedroom townhouse and $470,000 for a two-bedroom condo. Midtown Miami has promised to sell 80 units at an affordable price for purchase by local residents, but these units will not be for sale until the entire project is completed.
According to Developers Diversified Realty, the average household income within a five-mile radius of Midtown Miami is $44,755. Based on these findings, affordable housing should not be more than $140,000. Therefore, Midtown will be primarily unavailable to local residents.
The buyers of Midtown Miami are primarily from South and Central America, says Machado, which is worrying to him. “I’m afraid of where this money is coming from. Is anybody checking whether these people are political or criminal fugitives?”
The city of Miami Department of Economic Development also maintains that Midtown will generate approximately 1,700 permanent jobs. Most of these jobs will be retail oriented. Some stores likely to move into Midtown are national big-box chains like Target, Home Depot and PetSmart.
“This is undoubtedly, at least in my mind, the most important job generator to come to the city of Miami in decades – and maybe in history,” Commissioner Johnny Winton has commented.
Once again Machado does not agree. “The jobs Midtown Miami will supply will not pay enough for people to live in the area,” he shrugs. “The property taxes are becoming too expensive.”
Furthermore, Machado cites the FEC Corridor study of January 2000, conducted by the Urban Land Institute and FIU, which concluded that businesses were moving back into the area, as proof that Wynwood was already on the economic upswing.
“Wynwood has always been a peaceful blue-collared community,” says Machado. “Midtown Miami was ill-conceived, ill-planned and is nothing more than social cleansing, perpetrated against Wynwood residents. And I can substantiate this claim.”
Midtown Miami is already under construction, but Machado and the WHHA believe they can still stop the project. “What happens if the city catches you building something without the proper permitting? You are forced to tear it down. It’s the same concept,” Machado states.
Ultimately, the WHHA wants to buy the Midtown Miami property back from the current developers.
“Whether the developers sell it back to us or we sue them for it, we’re going to get it because the city is going to have to pay for it,” Machado asserts.
“Many of Wynwood’s residents are living out the last days of their lives; they are not going to sell their houses. We’re trying to protect what is rightfully theirs and hoping to set right what was done wrong,” he says.
In the place of Midtown Miami, the WHHA would like to see a project with ample middle-income housing along with a portion of low-income housing. Ideally, there would be a movie theater, a Botanical garden, a school and a library, Machado speculates. The retail end could have art studios, supplies shops and other stores to complement the businesses on N.E. 2nd Avenue.
Instead of catering to investors and foreigners, this envisioned development would fulfill the needs of locals.
“We’re not greedy; all we want is to enhance this land to conform to the residents,” Machado concludes. “We are the majority. This is not the people’s republic of Miami, this is a democracy, and therefore we win.”
BBT