CHURCH, OWNER FILE $17 MILLION LAWSUIT AGAINST CITY OF MIAMI, LAST SERVICE SUNDAY AT 11:00 AM

The owner and tenant of the threatened Overtown properties filed a last minute legal action Friday against the City of Miami CRA, the City of Miami and Miami Dade County requesting a stay of the demolition order slated for the morning of Monday, March 1.  The suit also requested $17 million in damages.  The action claims that the City acted "in clear error" by grouping three buildings together and selectively showing pictures of only the damaged buildings to the Unsafe Structures Board, not the stucturally sound building at 1024 NW 2nd Ave currently occupied by the Apostolic Revival Temple, the tenant of the building.  The Defendants are also accused of violating Federal Fair Housing laws by "redlining, blockbusting, racial profiling, forced gentrification and non-provision of temporary relocation; manufacturing of slum and blight," using eminent domain-like actions in violation of State Law as well as acting contrary to their own Redevelopment Plan which calls for "preserving and revitalizing historically significant stuctures in the redevelopment area.".  A Fair Housing Complaint was filed with the DC office of US HUD late Friday as well.

Meanwhile the City of Miami Community Redevelopment Agency seems determined to charge ahead with the demolition.  A PR spin campaign was launched with a WSVN Channel 7 News report which showed the CRA Director donning a gas mask to justify the demolition of the property while barely mentioning the Pastor's building and the large development project in the works.  Phil Bacon, the developer who wants to buy the property, posed as representing 'local business interests' and stated that "When buildings get into these conditions, they are simply economically irretrievable"  This is despite the proposal on the table to stabilize the property and allow revitaization for $25,000 when the CRA has allocated $46,502 to demolish them.  "I can't understand why they can't delay the demolition to explore preserving the properties," said Derek Cole, Board member of the Overtown Community Oversight Board (OCOB), "As a community we voted unanimously to request a stay of execution and so far the CRA has ignored the wishes of the Community."  Irby McKnight, community activist and past Chariman of OCOB, also wrote to Commissioner Dunn to express concerns about the demolition of the properties.  David Chiverton, past candidate for City Commissioner, has expressed his support for saving the buildings.   

Community mobilizes to save Overtown Historic buildings and prevent eviction of local church

In a heated meeting of The Historic Overtown Folklife District Improvement Association (HOFDIA), this afternoon, members of the community squared off against the City of Miami CRA in an attempt to stay a demolition order for three historic properties located at 1020 NW 2nd Ave, 1024 NW 2nd Ave. and 163 NW 11th St. in the Historic Overtown neighborhood.  The properties, while not officially desgnated historic, have special significance for many in the community.  The NW 2nd Ave site once was the Mitchell Rooming House and Phillip Alan Billiards.  The NW 11th street property once was Moe's Garage.  The destruction of the few remaining historic properties in Overtown has been opposed my many in the community, including Dr. Dorothy Fields, prominent local Preservationist and founder of the Black Archives.

Also at stake is the fate of the Apostolic Revival Temple, at the location for 13 years, and holding service for more than 100 local residents every Sunday.

On Feb 11, the Miami CRA passed ordinance 10-00147 to allocate $46,502 of Community Redevelopment funds to demolish the three buildings.  At the meeting the property owner, Rev Nevins, a prominent local figure who was  co-founder of the St Johns Baptist Church, pleaded with the CRA not to demolish the properties.  "I have been seriously ill for more than a year", he said  "The roof caught on fire and the insurance the City recommended to me wouldn't pay so I need more time to save the buildings".

Last Thursday the Overtown Community Advisory Board (OCAB), the official Representation Board  for the community unanimously resolved to write to City to request a 30 day stay of the demolition order in order to give the Reverend more time to save the buildings.

"We don't know what's going on", said Rev Allen, Pastor of the Apostolic Revival Temple, "a couple of weeks ago, the CRA said that they wouldn't demolish our building and now this morning an inspector came by and said that they were demolishing the building March 1, in less than 5 days.  We have received no legal notice nor offer of relocation assistance from either the City or the CRA", said the Pastor.  The Temple sent an urgent request to Mayor Regalado requesting a stay of the demolition order stating:

"The building is in no way unsafe or unsound. There is electricity, running water, and we hold services at the site on a regular basis. Apart from minor roof leaks, we fail to understand why the City would consider this property an unsafe structure and issue a demolition order". 

Miami-Dade County issues harsh audit of Homestead CRA, ignores City of Miami CRA's

As reported by Eyeonmiami, (Eyeonmiami Homestead CRA,  Homestead CRA) Miami-Dade County recently issued an audit report that, surprise, found the following irregularities:


"among other things, CRA officials failed to provide substantive evidence of job creation, business expansion, or affordable housing development activities"

"Also, the auditors have cited several questionable transactions involving former elected officials and others"

"for example, land containing 44 dilapidated "shotgun houses" was acquired at what appears to be an above-market price of $1.9 million from a company associated with former Mayor Steve Shriver. The houses were demolished and two years later the CRA has no specific plans for development."

"further, the CRA disbursed monies to entities with little or no accountability. A not-for-profit entity allied with former Mayor Steve Shriver was paid $401,000 to promote the City's Historic Downtown District. The contract was later cancelled due to performance issues."

Sound familiar? The OMNI/Park West Redevelopment Association submitted a 120 page complaint to the County in October 2009 (Formal complaint) alleging that the City of Miami CRA's had similar violations of Florida Statute 163 pt III, which requires tax increment funds used by the CRA's for redevelopment purposes to be used to reduce slum and blight.  The City of Miami CRA's have a similar trackrecord of non-implementation and non-performance of the legally binding Redevelopment Plan, and this complaint formally requested a legal and performance audit. The County replied that staff has reviewed the City of Miami CRA's and found no reason to undergo a performance audit at this time (MDC-Manager-Response-to-Formal-Audit-request).  A follow up e-mail to Commissioner Edmonson of District 3, who oversees the CRA area was ignored (Edmonson e-mail)

QUOTES FROM CRA REDEVELOPMENT PLAN RE:HISTORIC PRESERVATION

I. Community Heritage and Historic Preservation
1. Renovation of Historically Significant Buildings
Overtown: The CRA proposes to build on the historic character of the area by preserving and revitalizing historically significant structures in redevelopment Area. Projects will be implemented following the completion of the designation of the significant historic structures for rehabilitation. The Black Archives, History & Research Foundation of South Florida, Inc.’s Master Plan identifies the following objectives as a guide in the redevelopment process:

CITY OF MIAMI TO DEMOLISH HISTORIC BUILDINGS AND DISPLACE LOCAL CHURCH...

We are very concerned about the plan of the City of Miami, the Collins Center, and the Overtown CRA to demolish two historic properties located at 1020 and 1024 NW 2nd ave. A demolition order has been issued and the City plans to destroy these buildings next week. One of the buildings is occupied by a local church of 13 years, who will then have no location to provide services to the community.

The underlying motivation for this effort are the plans for the Collins Center, who owns nearly all of the properties on the surrounding block through their land trust, to assemble properties for another large new development, as they have done for the past ten years. The Collins Center land trust, created with funding from the Knight foundation, is now the second largest property owner in Overtown, after the City of Miami CRA. The stated purpose of the land trust is to "ensure that current residents aren't dislocated once real revitalization efforts begin"

In 2001, the Knight foundation staff asked leaders of the Collins Center for Public Policy, the Local Initiatives Support Corp. and the Trust for Public Land, each of whom had received Knight grants, to collaborate on improving housing, home ownership and the physical character of Overtown. A total of $8.3 million in grants were issued to the three organizations for this purpose. The Foundation's own analysis states: