Many in the City of Homestead have wanted a new City Hall for years. Many reasons have come to pass but none as alarming as the current one. Radon and Mold! My take is: Why didn't they think of this before? No matter, a new City Hall is finally coming to Homestead, rain or high water gosh darn-it. Back in 2005 in the midst of the city council elections, while two hurricanes, Katrina and Wilma, were swirling in the Caribbean, the new City Hall land swap proposal was approved by the council. Borges Supermarket owners sold the land and moved down the street on Washington Ave. Never mind Borges is now a faded memory that went kaput after this fateful move, but that's a story for another time. The majority sitting on the city council dais sought to revitalize the downtown area with a new City Hall on Washington Ave while selling the current City Hall land on Homestead Blvd and Campbell Drive for a hefty profit. At the time, the land was estimated to be valued at about $20M. Mind you this was during the land boom. Many in the city believe this property has more potential by selling it to private commercial interests that pay taxes. Indeed, this would be a better use of the land, but what would come to fill the space? Another strip mall, car dealership, large box store? Lets hope it becomes a destination and not more of the same.
It was not to be, for the Housing Bubble destroyed the champagne wishes and caviar dreams of those on the dais. The toasting and breaking ground at the new City Hall would have to wait, though the purchased land was cleared and remains cordoned off and ready for construction to begin. After a six year hiatus the new City Hall movement has spurred up again and this time they have safety in mind. One can never go wrong with safety. The old City Hall is now practically condemned and it's time to move. Nothing like a little urgency to get people off their duff. The money is in the bank and itching to be spent. The contractors are ready to break ground and those on the dais are ready for their champagne, hold the caviar, it's not appropriate in these hard economic times for an election looms next year. All are on board except for the Mayor. Mayor Bateman was noticeably absent for the vote that put the move to the new City Hall back on track. So it was a unanimous, 6-0, vote. The citizens of Homestead will now get a new City Hall in the not too distant future and the Mayor will be moving to the new digs whether he likes it or not. His motives for being absent for such a crucial vote may come out during the election, but it will be moot. The city needs or wants, depending on your perspective, a new monument to spur development in its forgotten downtown.
Regardless of the justification used to get a new City Hall, the people lobbying for it will be vindicated once it's complete. Like all monuments everyone will look up in awe at the fresh concrete, brick, and glass constructed by local companies. Adorned walls with art works from Homestead citizens. Beautiful landscaping from our local nurseries in the Redland. A community will come together for this marvelous event and maybe just maybe that is what's supposed to happen. A significant event to start a new chapter for a growing city. Out with the old and in with new, because in this case the ends may indeed justify the means.
