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Miami-Dade
Fighting Eviction
Thousands of trailer park residents may lose
their homes
By Cynthia Archbold
Silbana Silla balanced her baby on her hip as she told
Miami-Dade County commissioners she’s facing eviction from her
new home — a trailer bought just a year ago with $15,000 that
she scraped together. Now, the trailer park is closing and she’s
being kicked out of her own home.
Thousands of other trailer owners face the same crisis in 47
trailer parks across the county because of an epidemic of
trailer park closings. So, Silla and other park residents
appeared before county commissioners Tuesday, begging them to
enact a four-month moratorium on issuing building permits and
zoning changes for trailer parks in unincorporated Miami-Dade.
Commissioner Jose Pepe Diaz sponsored the moratorium “so people
don’t get kicked out and sent to the street.”
That’s what happened recently at Blue Lakes Trailerpark, which
closed in August. At that time, 297 families were kicked out.
Today, 150 of those families are still homeless, “living in cars
or shelters,” according to Alyce Gowdy-Wright, executive
director of Jobs with Justice. Not one of those families seeking
county help to find new housing has received it, she said.
“This is a huge crisis and it’s about to become overwhelming,”
Gowdy-Wright said, explaining to commissioners that between
50,000 and 110,000 county trailer park residents will be
homeless if the 47 trailer parks are allowed to close as
currently scheduled. “We’re talking about imminent
homelessness.”
Silla said she received notice in June that the
Palm Trailer Park on Northwest 16th Avenue would be closing, and that she had six months
to find another place to live. Eviction means she will lose her
home forever because state law doesn’t protect trailer owners
who rent their lots. The state is giving her $1,375 to
compensate for the $15,000 investment.
“I am a single mother,” Silla said. “Please help us and don’t let
them close our mobile homes.”
She and other trailer park residents suddenly facing evictions are
concerned that they can’t afford to live anywhere else in the
county.
“We are here to beg you,” Anna Lucia Morales
told commissioners. “We have nowhere to go.”
Commissioners spent several hours grappling with the fact that
market forces and escalating land values are causing trailer
park owners to sell to developers, who then close the parks and
force residents into the streets.
“We are seeing trailer park after trailer park closing,”
Commissioner Sally Heyman said. “Now all of these residents are
facing homelessness because they have no protection.” Then,
chastising County Manager Goerge Burgess, Heyman said, “You had
to see this coming.”
Ultimately, the commission voted for the moratorium to give trailer
residents more time to seek alternative housing. The commission
asked Burgess to prepare a study on the extent of the trailer
park closings and solutions for relocating residents to
affordable housing.
“It’s a victory for us,” said Gowdy-Wright. “This is heartening.
It’s the first time the commission has understood there’s a
county responsibility for land development. Until now, they’ve
been drunk on development.”
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Miami Beach
Higher Learning
Campaign flyer questions candidate’s educational background
By Ben Torter
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A flyer claims commission candidate Luis
Salom never attended Iowa State University. Photo by
George Barreiro/firedogphoto.com |
As is becoming par for the season, another negative campaign flyer
is being mailed out this week, this time attacking the
educational credentials of Group 4 commission hopeful Luis
Salom.
The flyer, created by a political action committee named Straight
Talk, focuses on a résumé in which Salom claimed to have
attended
Iowa State University and reprints a July 31 letter from Iowa
State Registrar Kathleen M. Jones stating that Salom never
attended the school.
Jones confirmed that the letter was real.
“We have never had a student with that name,” Jones said in a
telephone interview.
Salom, wearing a pink guayabera, smiled when confronted about the
circular outside Wednesday’s Miami Beach City Commission
meeting.
“I did multiple corn-milling courses through Cargill Inc., and
Iowa State hosted those courses,” Salom said. He said he took
the courses in Minneapolis, Minn., in the early 1990s, but
couldn’t remember the exact dates.
Cargill, Inc. describes itself on its Web site as “an international
provider of food, agricultural and risk management products and
services.” Salom worked for the company for 16 years, until he
left in 2000.
The flyer also rehashed another Salom résumé on file with the city
of
Miami Beach that claimed he graduated from
Barry University with a bachelor’s degree in professional
studies. The flyer shows a partial reprint of an April 25
SunPost Murmurs column titled, “Words Can Be Misleading.”
The mailer did not reprint Salom’s written explanation, which
was included in the column. “In 2001, a family member prepared
my résumé to serve on the Youth Center Advisory Board,” Salom
wrote to the SunPost in April. “She stated, ‘Bachelor in
Professional Studies — Barry University,’ where in fact, the
word ‘pursued’ was inadvertently omitted from that statement. I
in no way wanted to misrepresent or imply that I graduated with
that degree. I completed, as a part-time student while raising a
family, 36 semester hours in that regard.”
Salom cited financial concerns as the reason he didn’t complete his
degree.
“I made a choice to take care of my family, and I’m not ashamed I
stopped going to Barry,” Salom said.
The mailer also shows an April 19 letter written by
Miami Beach resident George Charnota to city attorney Jose
Smith, commissioners and the mayor asking Salom to be removed
from the Oversight Committee for General Obligation Bonds. At
the time, Smith said it’s not his role “to get involved in
political campaigns unless there is a legal issue or I’ve been
asked to look into it by the City Commission.” Salom is still on
the board.
Straight Talk, the group responsible for the recent campaign
circular, is registered with the Florida Department of
Elections. Joseph Fisher is listed as the group chairman, and
Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 3178 head Richard
McKinnon is the treasurer and registered agent. The CWA has
publicly endorsed Jonah Wolfson, Salom’s opponent.
“Straight Talk was created to educate the public about important
issues and factual information about candidates’ records,” a
Straight Talk official statement announced.
Wolfson’s father, Jerry Wolfson, is the person who first inquired
into Salom’s
Iowa
State background.
“When I learned that Mr. Salom had lied about his
Barry University degree, I decided to inquire if his
Iowa
State University claim was also untrue,” he said. “The
Iowa
State University registrar’s letter speaks for itself. The
people are entitled to know the truth.”
Salom contends the allegations are just “negative, slanderous
distortions of the truth.”
“My opponent is hiding behind this PAC,” Salom said. “These are
people that don’t have the guts to come out publicly.”
“Obviously my opponent has his problems,” Jonah Wolfson said. “My
campaign is about earning the people’s trust, so I can serve
them on the City Commission. I’m going to continue meeting
voters to earn their votes through Election Day.”
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North Miami Beach
No Deal Yet
As lawsuit settlement stalls, pro-development
activists urge council to take a stand
By William Alton
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Developer Brian Street
poses beside a computer generated picture of the future
Marina Grande, a high-rise development project made
possible thanks to variances from the North Miami Beach
City Council. |
A proposal to settle a lawsuit filed by
an anti-development group was taken off the North Miami Beach
City Council agenda, an action that caused commotion during
Tuesday’s meeting.
Yet, it wasn’t the members of the North
Miami Beach Citizens Coalition — a grassroots political action
committee dedicated to fighting overdevelopment in the city —
who complained. Rather, it was affiliates of a pro-development
group known as Smart Growth NMB who raised a ruckus, with some
members muttering that the proposed settlement was “legislation
by litigation.”
They were referring to an ordinance to
amend the city’s land development regulations by freezing height
and density limits at their current levels as a means of
settling a lawsuit filed against the city by Bill Borkan and
other members of the North Miami Beach Citizens Coalition. Once
fully enacted, the law can be altered only by a super majority
vote of the City Council (five of seven elected officials) or by
public referendum.
The coalition — angered by moves from
the suburban city government to allow high-rises as tall as 24
stories and buildings as dense as 75 units an acre in certain
parts of the city — sought a charter amendment that would have
capped density at 24 units per acre. But the city clerk claimed
the petition was 11 signatures short and refused to ratify the
amendment.
As a stipulation, all 12 named
plaintiffs must agree in order to drop the lawsuit. Since one
unnamed plaintiff remains undecided about the details of the
proposed settlement, City Attorney Howard Lenard said he was
forced to leave the issue off of Tuesday’s agenda.
Still, numerous residents sounded off
against the coalition, the lawsuit and what one citizen called a
“pet” council.
Barbara Falsey, the director of the
Miami-Dade Parks and Recreation Department’s Planning and
Research Division, said she understands the fear of growth and
development, but questioned Borkan’s lawsuit and referred to
coalition members as “bullies.”
“This was one of the saddest moments
I’ve ever experienced,” Falsey said. “There is a relatively
small, well-funded group of people attempting to legislate here.
It’s nuts. The city needs to embrace its present and its
future.”
Smart Growth, the group for responsible
development, sent a letter to Mayor Raymond Marin and the
council, claiming that council members were “coerced into making
a deal with certain residents to vote in favor of a no growth
ordinance that will effectively paralyze our city.”
Truly
Burton, the government affairs director for the Builders
Association of South Florida, agreed. “Poor planning reflects
poor policy that results in a poor city,” he said.
Regardless, Lenard is confident that the
ordinance will be passed into law come next council meeting Nov.
2.
“I’ve almost got this thing done,”
Lenard said. “I won’t let this go to war. There is no need for
motions or alternatives. Some people like the new ordinance,
some people don’t. I’m willing to give it a try.”
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Sunny Isles Beach
Higher Bonuses … Charged to Developers
Density increase charge to jump $22,000 per unit
By Randy Abraham
The Sunny Isles Beach City Commission will decide tonight whether
to consider increasing the fees they charge for zoning bonuses
by 44 percent.
The current fee structure, in
place since 2005, no longer reflects current land and real
estate prices, according to a memo to elected officials. So, the
mayor and commissioners will discuss a staff recommendation to
raise the price from $50,000 to $72,000 for every extra
residence applied for via the bonus system.
Assistant City Manager Jorge
Vera said the city’s comprehensive development plan requires the
city to review the rates every two years.
“We’re just trying to follow
the city master plan,” he said, adding that a rate increase
would further deter development proposals in an already slow
real estate market. “We understand the market is slow, but it
will go back up again.”
If they agree to change the
rates, the item will come back at a later date for approval, he
said.
In other business, the city
will consider awarding a $50,000 grant to the Sunny Isles Beach
Resort Association to hire a public relations firm to promote
the city as a tourist destination and to staff a planned welcome
center at the Government Center. Cultural and Human Services
Department employees will vacate the first-floor space when new
facilities are completed in Pelican Park, which will free up a
suite of three offices and a reception area.
The City Commission meeting
is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Government Center’s
Samson Commission Chambers, 18070 Collins Avenue.
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