PROMISES MADE TO OVERTOWN SHOULD BE KEPT

Michael Lewis’ Op. Ed. written in Miami Today on April 17, 2018; “Taxes are in too short supply to support random projects” presents a myopic view on the accomplishments of the Southeast Overtown/Park West Redevelopment Agency by short-sighting the measurable and visible successes of the SEOPW CRA. Overtown is emerging from economic and social conditions that are conducive to greater rates of poverty, substandard housing, and higher incidences of crime and health disparities. To opine or even imply that the SEOPW CRA is not making the best uses of the public community redevelopment funds entrusted to agency, is a reckless assertion and simply ignores where Overtown was prior to the creation of the SEOPW CRA and where Overtown is currently headed.

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Overtown was once a thriving mixed-income community with some 50,000 residents. It was a thriving center of commerce and culture for the Black community, particularly for music and entertainment in the 1940s and 1950s. Bahamian musicians marched down Fifth Place on Friday nights playing a spicy blend of Calypso. In the 1960s, several factors combined to change the face of Overtown: (i) two highways were built which cut through the heart of the community, separating the community into four quarters; (ii) the ill-conceived efforts of “urban renewal” leading to the destruction of many older homes and buildings, displacing nearly 80% of its residents and subsequent destruction of the area’s business community, which once had more than 300 businesses; and (iii) desegregation, which opened new opportunities for many who could afford to move to other neighborhoods.

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The formation of the SEOPW CRA was completed in 1982. Since then, the SEOPW CRA has undertaken measurable efforts to revitalize Overtown. In 2014, the SEOPW CRA Board authorized the issuance of a $60-million bond to be used to fund the construction and/or rehabilitation of five affordable housing projects in Overtown. The five approved affordable housing bond projects were the Lyric Plaza, Island Living, St. Johns Apartment, and the rehabilitation of two existing housing communities in the Town Park communities, consisting of 35 buildings. Since 2008 the SEOPW CRA has completed 496 housing units, have 423 housing units currently in the construction stages and have 1,932 housing units in a two year window planning stage for a total of 2,851 reported housing units. The successes of SEOPW CRA have been recognized by The Florida Redevelopment Association (FRA) for the agency’s outstanding achievements and best practices in community redevelopment. For the past two years, the FRA has presented the agency with two President’s Award, one for the adaptive reuse of the Overtown Performing Arts Center and the second award for the renovations at the Overtown Shopping Plaza, which resulted in the opening of a neighborhood grocery store after decades of being labeled a food desert. The hole in the doughnut, once describing the under developed Overtown community, is being filled.

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Today, Overtown has approximately 8,000 residents living in a two square mile radius. The median household income is less than $18,000 annually. More than half of the Overtown residents live below the poverty level. Thirty-four percent (34%) are unemployed. A large percentage of youth are neither in school nor working. Overtown is by far the deadliest community for opioid deaths in Miami-Dade County. Since 2015, at least 31 people have fatally overdosed in Overtown with heroin or fentanyl, often both found in their blood. Recently, an article in the Miami Herald reported Overtown as a “hot zone” and “deadliest zip code” for heroin overdoses of mostly white young men. To assert in the Op. Ed. that the funding to purchase 25 surveillance cameras for public safety and the measures to invest in training programs for Overtown youth are not in the best interest of county taxpayers is simply rubbish.

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Also, it is inaccurate to assert that Community Redevelopment Agencies “CRAs” have broad powers to spend public funds. Under Florida state law, CRAs can only expend funds on projects, activities and undertakings identified in their publically approved Community Development Plan “Plan”. The Plan is the priority on CRA spending. Yes, some projects justifiably require additonal funding, for a myriad of reasons, while other projects never get off the ground. Community redevelopment in historically underserved communities is challenging. That is why the leadership of the SEOPW CRA should be commended for its undertakings in providing affordable housing, creating good paying jobs opportunities, and fostering safe neighborhoods in Overtown.

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Undertakings to redevelop the Overtown Cultural and Entertainment District to reignite and regain the economic boost of the glory days should be applauded not demeaned. The Historic Lyric Theater is the center of cultural and entertainment in Overtown. In 2018, and steps away from the Lyric Theater, Marcus Samuelsson, internationally recognized chef, will open his restaurant/entertainment venue. One year afterwards, Harlem Square Supper Club, currently planned for a vacant, blighted parcel of land, is expected to open. That is the precise development that the City of Miami Code of Ordinance encourages for Overtown under the Entertainment District designation.

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When it was stated that funds generated within the SEOPW CRA redevelopment area, should be spent for “myriad uses countywide”, once again, the public and private sectors were being called to devalue the promises made to the Overtown residents. That approach failed in the past. So, to the question posed in the Op. Ed, on “whether money is being spent in the best interest of county taxpayers”, for the above stated reasons, the unequivocal answer is yes.

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Cornelius Shiver, Executive Director of the SEOPW CRA.