WHY IS THERE NO REDEVELOPMENT IN THE REDEVELOPMENT AREA?

Downtown Miami is undergoing a renaissance. As reported in The Herald over recent weeks, dozens of new restaurants and businesses have opened in the Central Business District and Biscayne Blvd North of the Omni is undergoing a strong revival.

However, crossing NE 5th street is like crossing the border from a first world to a third world country. Broken sidewalks, overgrown weeds, collapsing fences, dilapidated parking lots, and very few businesses characterize the neighborhood.

You have just entered the City of Miami’s Community Redevelopment area. Created in 1983, the Southeast Overtown Park West Community Redevelopment Agency (SEOPW CRA) is charged with collecting RE Taxes on properties located within its boundaries to “eradicate slum and blight..stimulating the creation of new job opportunities for residents, and improving the quality of life”. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent on “redevelopment” and increased property values have increased the annual income of the SEOPW CRA to $25.5 million in the recently approved 2010 budget. So what is going on? Why is there no redevelopment taking place in the redevelopment area?

The CRA has a troubled past. The original 1982 Redevelopment Plan promised thousands of affordable housing units and a focus on the area surrounding the Metrorail Station, little which has been implemented. A 2003 Internal Audit by Victor Igwe found that the CRA had wasted millions. A 2005 report by the now defunct Oversight Committee appointed by Commissioner Sanchez found that the CRA spending was not true to its mission of reducing slum and blight, did not take into account neighborhood concerns and social issues, and had a very poor process of selecting vendors and awarding contracts. The Committee’s recommendation was a change in the governing structure by placing private citizens with a detailed knowledge of neighborhood issues and concerns on the CRA Board rather than elected officials with political motivations. A Knight Foundation analysis in 2007 found that the CRA followed a “top down” strategy not taking into account the needs and wants of residents, and “a common vision for Overtown’s redevelopment does not exist, most plans are piecemeal, others lack community support”.

So more than 25 years later where are we? Unfortunately for the long suffering residents of Overtown, little has changed. Of the $72 million combined 2010 budget for both the OMNI and SEOPW CRA’s , more than $50 million was collected but not spent in 2009. Notable examples include of funds not allocated and not spent include $451,490 for Parks and Open Spaces, $220,895 for quality of life, and $524,003 for job creation / economic development. Other items include $830,000 for the yet to be built Bayview Market and a $750,000 balance allocated to the bankrupt Filling Station project. Monies that actually are spent tend to be given to large development projects or “white elephants’ such as the multi million dollar 9th street pedestrian mall, now closed to the public. Then we have the recent $50,000 “shop dine and explore” marketing program consisting of banners on street poles around the neighborhood. Who are we kidding here? Shop at the salvation army?, dine at the homeless shelter? Explore the broken sidewalks? Imagine if the $50,000 was spent to actually repair the sidewalks?

Many Locals and residents who propose valid and beneficial projects to improve their neighborhood are told “funds are limited”, or “we already have plans for the money”, resulting in little job creation and quality of life improvement. There still is a top down, piecemeal approach and slum and blight are far from eradicated – look at the facts on the ground. And, most importantly, the CRA Board still consists entirely of elected officials (one of the few CRA’s in the country with only politicians on the Board).

Against this backdrop the CRA is now proposing a boundary expansion and the issuance of $100 million in bonds. How can you justify taking on another project when the original one is far from being competed? If the $100 million in bonds (which will mortgage the future of the entire neighborhood) is spent in the same manner as in the past, the long term outlook for the neighborhood is dim.

So how do we fix the CRA? Simple – implement the repeated advice of the experts:

• Put an immediate stop to the boundary expansion and $100 million bond issuance until the CRA completes its original mission of eradicating slum and blight. Don’t reward failure.

• Refocus spending on the original plan goals of job creation, reduction of slum and blight, and quality of life (rather than large development projects and consultants) to give residents both economic opportunities and hope in these tough times

• Reallocate funds (such as those for bankrupt development projects) to areas where the community will see a short term benefit, such as job creation and quality of life.

• Listen to the needs and desires of residents and involve them in the budget decision making process – one of the key factors in the 1982 plan

• End political favoritism by setting up objective, measurable criteria for CRA grant issuance that allows anyone meeting the criteria (such as job creation) to receive grants.

• Change the CRA Board to be made up of residents and stakeholders, rather than politicians. This is the only long term solution to alleviate the political shenanigans that have been going on for nearly 30 years.

The City of Miami Community Redevelopment Agency has been broken for far too long. We don’t want to be talking about no redevelopment in the redevelopment area 10 years from now - Let’s fix it before its too late.