Just Because Miami’s Mayor Backed Michelle Spence-Jones Doesn’t Make Her a Bad Commissioner for District 5. Or Does It?

“I think the difference between me and the other people that ran is, I’ve worked in city government and have already started to get projects going.” — Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones

From left, city of Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones, Mayor Manny Diaz and new homeowner Shenetra Duffie at a recent "Reclaim and Rebuild Our Community" campaign event in Model City. Photo by J. Perez/City of Miami

By Omar Sommereyns 

Change is coming to Miami’s District 5, a long-neglected area now primed for gentrification.

But much of what this change will entail depends on where the wind blows at City Hall and how the district’s newly elected commissioner, Michelle Spence-Jones, attempts to revitalize her district’s neighborhoods, which include Overtown, Liberty City, Little Haiti and Buena Vista.

In past years, the District 5 seat has held a divisive place on the commission dais thanks to its previous occupant, the late Art Teele, who was a community hero to some and a reviled crook to others. Last year, Teele was arrested (and later convicted) of assaulting a Miami-Dade police officer who was trailing his wife as part of a corruption investigation on Teele. (He rammed his car into the officer’s unmarked vehicle. Teele insisted he was only trying to protect his wife from being followed by a stranger.) He would later commit suicide in the lobby of the Miami Herald building.

After Teele’s arrest, the commission appointed Jeffery Allen, an attorney, to finish Teele’s District 5 term. Allen, however, was perceived as evasive and unreachable by members of the media and the Overtown community. He didn’t even make the run-off during last November’s election.

Emerging victorious in that crowded race was 38-year-old Spence-Jones who, incidentally, was backed by Miami Mayor Manny Diaz. Spence-Jones insists it is time for the District 5 commissioner to live up to a couple of key promises that might help the area develop in a sensible manner: accessibility and accountability.

“During my campaign, I made a serious effort to knock on doors in my district and I was able to reach about 5,000 people. I wanted to find out what the residents wanted,” she said in a recent interview in her office. “And their biggest concern was that hardly anyone in the city was listening to what their issues were. The biggest problem in this seat has been about not being held accountable for your actions to the public, and also accessibility – not being available to the public. People want to see their commissioner.”

Hence, some of the first things Spence-Jones is implementing are what she calls “District Hours” – office hours in the neighborhood NET offices where residents can schedule an appointment with the commissioner each month. She’s also issuing a community survey to get some feedback and starting a quarterly newsletter, which will inform the community about upcoming projects or anything going on in their area.

“I think the difference between me and the other people that ran is, I’ve worked in city government and have already started to get projects going,” she said, referring to the Martin Luther King Boulevard Redevelopment Plan as an example, which recently broke ground. Funded by a $4 million allocation from the city and Miami-Dade County, the plan will revamp the street’s business façades and overall appearance, and also seeks to redevelop the Winn-Dixie site at MLK and Seventh Avenue.

Regarding her support from the mayor and other power players such as Arriola and former Miami-Dade County Commissioner Barbara Carey-Shuler, she added, “In an arena like this, it’s important to have allies. You need to know you have good relationships [with certain officials] in order to move your agenda – relationships move projects. But I’m my own person. … There are some things [Diaz and I] agree about, others that we don’t.”

Still, Reverend Dunn staunchly believes that the election was “stolen” and even sued Spence-Jones in December, alleging the city had unfairly provided ice trucks for her to offer to residents (and potential voters) during the post-Wilma struggle. Dunn also alleges that Spence-Jones’ campaign paid at least three voters $50 each to cast ballots, and that some of her smear campaign ads claiming Dunn’s gambling habits would soon land him jail were shamefully libelous.

The judge had dropped the case because Priscilla Thompson, the city clerk, was incorrectly included as a defendant and part of the County Canvassing Board, but Dunn appealed the case in late January.

“Spence-Jones’ lawyers tried to get it dismissed on the basis of that clerk thing, which had nothing to do with the merits of the case,” Dunn said. “But I outsmarted them – I appealed it, and now it’s back up there.

“I’m not doing this due to anger because I didn’t win the election, but because of principle. [Spence-Jones] is a very dishonest person and she lacks integrity.”

Dunn sees the current District 5 commissioner as another Diaz crony and is worried that this might affect her decisions. He previously told the SunPost, “I am an independent where [Spence-Jones] is not. …They own her, Joe Arriola and Mayor Diaz.”

Recently, Dunn added that Diaz did not want an additional dissenting voice like Commissioner Tomas Regalado on the Miami City Commission. “That’s why they didn’t want me there – because I’d be the other voice. I’m not a yes man; I’m nobody’s yes man. I’m the people’s choice. … Is she the people’s choice? Absolutely not – people everywhere tell me they know the election was bought and stolen and they know that [Spence-Jones] is controlled by Diaz and Joe Arriola. That’s the same administration that stole the $7 million from all the 80,000 residents. Arriola is supposed to be a great businessman and Diaz a great lawyer, but they don’t know where the money [for the fire-fee settlement] was going? C’mon.”

When asked about Dunn’s comments, Spence-Jones maintained that she doesn’t always side with Diaz. At the same time, she doesn’t want to feud with him. “If he has some great things he wants to do for the community, I support him all the way. I have no beef with him. Quite frankly, my district’s in trouble. I’m not going to keep talking about things that took place months ago.”

Going back to what she wants to accomplish in her district, Spence-Jones started to list the many projects she has begun and envisions. She said she is now working out her four-year plan and outlining her priorities: housing, promoting mixed development and job creation, supporting small businesses with grants, offering all the needed senior services, and enhancing culture and education.

As for crime, she wants to get mini-grants for crime-prevention initiatives and foster an ex-offenders program, which could offer training, apprenticeships, community service and transitional housing.

Spence-Jones’ main concern, as she puts it, is to “reclaim and rebuild the community” so the right people are attracted to the neighborhoods, the original residents aren’t pushed out and can enjoy a greater quality of life, and District 5 becomes more integrated within greater Miami.

Meanwhile, she wants to work on initiatives to highlight culture and support arts and entertainment venues, providing grants to help expand their business. Along with the city of Miami and the New York Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, she recently inaugurated the In Motion: The African American Migration Experience show at the historic Lyric Theater. Additionally, she is in the process of opening Café Soul, a restaurant and live music venue in Liberty City, which will also contain a day spa and three artist lofts upstairs.

In terms of housing, Spence-Jones said that for every “market-rate” unit that goes up, she wants to make sure units are built that are affordable to the neighborhood residents. For instance, she said she isn’t convinced about the $200 million residential/commercial Crosswinds project slated for Overtown and hopes the city-owned lot is re-bid. Meanwhile, she wants to pull in tech schools such as DeVry or other special career schools to help train residents who may not have gone to college.

“She has made some strong commitments to the community and if those things pan out, that’ll be great,” said Bernadette Armand, organizer for the Power U Center for Social Change in Overtown. “She’s talking about helping to fight gentrification and not handing over the community to the developers, and we’re giving her a chance to go through with this.”

In District 5’s more affluent neighborhoods such as Buena Vista, Spence-Jones is encouraging what she calls “smart growth,” i.e., balanced development. At the same time, since there are more stringent code regulations in a place like Buena Vista, she wants to provide supporting grants to assist residents with code enforcement issues on their homes.

“I have to say – so far, I’m really very impressed. …The district’s been through so much politically, but now there’s a lot of optimism and hope,” commented Wendy Stephan, president of the Buena Vista East Historic Neighborhood Association. “And she’s really followed through by reaching out to neighborhood activists. It was the first time, in six years as an activist, that I’ve actually been invited to the commissioner’s office. That’s definitely a positive development.”