What’s an Artist?
Beach Committee to Determine Which Artists Qualify for Special Housing

CANDO will be considered an “Enterprise Zone,” and will be eligible for a number of tax credits and refunds.

By Ryan Brown

Last Monday the Cultural Arts Neighborhood District Overlay mayoral committee discussed who qualifies as an artist.

The intent of the proposed CANDO, which will run from Lincoln Road to Collins Park and from 23rd Street to the ocean, is to provide affordable housing and workspace for local artists. “What we are really trying to do is make the statement that this is an arts-related district,” says Nancy Liebman, chair of the committee.

Composed of artists, city officials and local cultural activists, the committee faces the especially difficult task of deciding who will be granted residence in the proposed affordable housing. Therefore, the committee must address the question: How do you define an artist?

“They have defined housing for the elderly and they have defined workforce housing. Artists are workers; there are artists who actually make a living with their hands, with their art,” says Liebman.

This question of who will gain access to housing will be, the board decided, their main focus for future meetings.

One of the models/inspirations for this project, much discussed by the committee, is New York City’s DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) district in Brooklyn. This area, located about 10 minutes from downtown Manhattan, became an artist’s haven in the 1970s due to its numerous vacant warehouses, which were converted into lofts where artists could live cheaply. “My brother’s a musician; he lived in DUMBO and the rent was only $300 a month,” said committee member Rosie Gordon Wallace, director of the respected Diaspora Vibe Gallery in Miami.

The DUMBO district has since increased in value; the average condo now runs over $1 million, and low-income artists are being priced out, a situation similar to that of Miami artists who want to live on the Beach.

The organic, artist-run nature of DUMBO is what the committee agrees, so far, will work best for the proposed CANDO. “We have to remember why we’re doing this. This is for the artist, to bring back the artists who can no longer afford Miami Beach,” said Wallace.

Another big question raised by the board is: How will the city pay for the CANDO?

CANDO will be considered an “Enterprise Zone,” and will be eligible for a number of tax credits and refunds. These include a property tax credit that will allow businesses within the enterprise zone a “credit against Florida corporate income tax equal to 96 percent of taxes ad valorem [according to value] paid on the new or improved property.”

According to committee member Gary Farmer, director of the Department of Arts and Culture for the city of Miami Beach, “The city has appropriated over $5 million to renovate Collins Park.” Collins Park, which runs from 17th to 23rd Street, is in the heart of the proposed CANDO.

The committee is also considering requesting the use of RDA (redevelopment agency) funds for the project.

Though the project is in its infancy, the very idea of the CANDO has drawn widespread public support. “This idea started in an oversight committee and just sort of floated around,” says Nancy Liebman. “The mayor brought it to priority in his State of the City meeting because it drew such tremendous enthusiasm from the public.”

The next CANDO committee meeting, which is open to the public, is planned for Tuesday, Dec. 12, at 10 a.m. The meeting will be held in the city manager’s conference room at Miami Beach City Hall.

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