Guess Who Wanted To Keep Funding Business Incubator When Mike Shehadeh and 2008 City Council Said NO?

Mayor Bell opened the public hearing on August 25, 2008.

Business Incubator Executive Director Hilda Hall Dennis stated they have been funded by the CRA for
two years. She gave an overview of how the funding has had a major economic impact on the community
that exceeded $25 million. The Business Incubator has created 49 full time jobs and provided assistance to
750 businesses. She stated because of the funding three major technologies and four patents have been
created Ms. Hall Dennis mentioned the Business Incubator was an important facility to have in the
community and requested to continue to receive funding.

City Manager Shehadeh stated originally the TRDA was to fund the project completely and they have walked away from the program and left a deficit. He felt the program is beneficial to the City but they would have to find another source of funding. He stated he could not propose to Council to continue to fund this program knowing the City of Homestead is not the only beneficiary. He questioned how the citizens of Homestead benefited from this program because the only successful business he was aware of was the
dressmaker and she moved to Hialeah. His recommendation as a manager was not continue to fund the program.

Councilwoman Waldman stated she recalled the college joined in to apply for the grant from NASA with
the City.

Acting Executive Director Wick replied that information was correct.

Councilwoman Waldman provided her recollection of the terms of reuse.

City Manager Shehadeh stated they were not proposing to change the use he proposed not to fund the City share.

Councilwoman Waldman questioned how the program would exist. She mentioned the dressmaker did not leave the city. She stated she had concerns the City would be liable for the property and what would happen to the program after the funding was cut.

City Manager Shehadeh stated they have taken everything into consideration and the Business Incubator
could continue to operate if they find their own funding.

Ms Dennis stated the feasibility study stated a full technology incubator would not make it in this
community and it had to be a multiuse facility. She provided an overview of the benefits of their facility. She
stated she understood if the City decided not to fund the program and asked if they would review the
reports and visit the site before making a decision

City Manager Shehadeh stated his recommendation was to not continue to fund the program He
mentioned he did not like the way the program was funded and he was going to stick to his
recommendation.
 
Mayor Bell stated she had not received any reports from the Incubator.
Ms. Dennis stated all of the reports are sent monthly to CRA and her understanding is the CRA sends them to the City Manager.*

Mayor Bell stated there are many not for profits in the area and the City cannot financially support them all.

She stated the idea is to initiate funding and then wean them down She supported the Manager's
recommendation and offered to assist with obtaining grants. She mentioned this has to take place. They are seeing the funding come from the City of Homestead and making an impact outside of Homestead. She encouraged her to continue to do what she is doing and work hard for grants
 
Ms. Dennis thanked the Council and stated she would have liked advance notice to prepare for alternative
funding.

*City Manager Shehadeh stated for the record he did not receive any reports.
 
Kemetra Driver Executive Director of We Care stated the money received from the City helps the
Homestead citizens with their utilities not We Care. She thanked the Council for their past support and
hoped to continue the partnership.

City Manager Shehadeh stated this was CRA budget and We Care is funded with the General Funds.
 
Councilwoman Lobos stated she supported the City Manager's decision to discontinue funding because the City was left holding a $75,000 tab when the federal funding from TRDA stopped.

This tab was not fair to the City of Homestead and in previous years the CRA could absorb that amount. She stated the CRA has a lot of cleaning up to do and she would like to see them repay the money owed to the General Funds. She believed the Business Incubator should continue to exist and offered suggestions to Ms Dennis to look into the Carrie P Meek Foundation for funding. She felt in the future the City of Homestead might be in a better position to partner with other entities.

Mayor Bell closed the public hearing
Vice Mayor Burgess Yes 
Mr Nelson Yes
Ms Lobos Yes 
Ms Sierra Yes
Mr McCormick Yes 
Mayor Bell Yes
Ms Waldman No

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Homestead Will Relocate City Hall To Portofino Plaza Despite Mayor Bateman's Trailers Scheme

What Might Have Been?

By Christina Veiga

cveiga@MiamiHerald.com

Homestead’s City Hall will temporarily move to Portofino Plaza, council members decided Monday.
Council members decided to move the seat of government after an environmental review found the current city hall to be contaminated with radon, a radioactive, cancer-causing gas, as well as mold and asbestos. 

Employees will move to the plaza, at 650 NE Eighth Street, while a new City Hall is built in downtown Homestead.

The city will pay about $20,000 a month to rent the office space. The first five months of the 60-month lease — with an option to terminate the agreement with notice — will be rent free. The city is liable to pay taxes on the units its renting, and the landlord will build out the space at no cost to the city. The build out is expected to be done within 90 days of permits being issued, and the city is expected to move in sometime in 

December or January, according to a city spokeswoman.

All departments currently in city hall will be moved to the new location. Business hours will be the same.

Councilman Jimmie L. Williams III was absent for the vote to approve the lease agreement. 

Mayor Steve Bateman was the only member to vote against moving to Portofino, saying the city could move into temporary trailers at a fraction of the cost.

City manager George Gretsas said that, in hurricane-prone South Florida, trailers may not be practical. Plus, putting them on the current city hall grounds may just lead to more radon contamination because the gas seeps out of the ground, he said.

“You can’t put a price on people’s health. It’s time we move,” said Councilwoman Judy Waldman.
 
Follow @Cveiga on Twitter

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/10/30/3074734/homestead-relocates-city-hall.html#storylink=cpy

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New City Hall Meeting Wednesday 10/3/2012, Possibly Featuring Wayne Rosen

Why would we feature Wayne Rosen's picture on a blog about Homestead's New City Hall? 

Think strip mall where Homestead's Current City Hall sits.

City Council Special Call Meeting

Date: October 3

Time: 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Address: City Hall Council Chambers
790 N. Homestead Blvd.
Homestead, FL 33030

Contact: 305-224-4442

Email: Elizabeth Sewell, City Clerk

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The Ties That Bind: PBA Supported Bateman, Waldman and Eddie Berrones Back in the Day (2001)

 Reunited by the PBA eight years later

 Eddie Berrones on the left, man in the middle, Nick Sincore was not happy when Tony Aquino replaced his son in IA at HPD, prompting Steadman to try and discredit the IA with his PBA letter. Think big picture.

 http://homesteadishome.blogspot.com/2012/06/bateman-pal-steadman-stahl-letter-to.html

 Stahl at campaign event inside David Berrones' home for Katie Edwards, hello Elvis.

 David Berrones inside Stahl's office, small world.

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Al Lorenzo and Quantum Results Paid More Than $63,000 by Two Frank May PACs, Mayor Bateman and Councilman Jimmie Williams III

 Photo of Frank May courtesy of eyeonmiami blog.

 http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2010/09/new-pac-i-do-not-like-by.html

Two PACs run by Frank May, one with Jeff Porter and one with Tom David paid a combined $61,171 in 2009 and 2010 to Al Lorenzo and his firm now embroiled in controversy surrounding current elections. Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez and State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle have had to disassociate with the firm and recuse herself from the investigation into absentee ballot fraud respectively.
http://www.voterfocus.com/ws/mdccand/pdf_miamidade/rpt_743_251.pdf
 
300 Aragon Avenue, Coral Gables is the address of Quantum Results.

http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/527/citizens-united-for-protecting-our-community.asp

http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/527/citizens-for-reform-for-miami-dade-county.asp

Mayor Bateman and Councilman Williams paid Al Lorenzo $400 and $1,514 respectively in 2009. The Wayne Rosen, Redland Company, Homestead Concrete and Rene Taylor funded PAC that supported five current council members on the original filing documents paid $19,150 to Lorenzo. 

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La LEY Bags After School Program At Stadium

Parents are not happy. $10,000 monthly fee for insurance costs cited

John H. Ruiz, who owns La Ley Sports, the company renting out Homestead’s baseball stadium, said he will have to shut down an after-school care program

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/08/2944742/parents-upset-over-cancelation.html#storylink=cpy

By Christina Veiga

cveiga@MiamiHerald.com

Parents met on Wednesday to sign a petition urging Homestead to reinstate an after-school program at the city-owned baseball stadium.

But the city isn’t the entity shutting down the program.

Rather, John H. Ruiz — who runs the company La Ley Sports, which leases the stadium — says he simply can’t afford to offer the service any more.

“The after school program causes a loss for us,” he said.
The culprit, Ruiz said, is the City Council’s refusal to waive a $10,000 monthly insurance premium La Ley is liable for, according to its lease with the city. The insurance requirement has been a contentious issue that has ultimately resulted in two lawsuits against the city.

Ruiz asked Homestead council members three times to waive the insurance requirement at least temporarily, or to drop it all together. But the City Council wouldn’t budge.

“The city didn’t approve the waiver for the insurance, and therefore that causes a substantial impact. So instead of going to the after-school program, that money is going to the insurance,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz’s request to waive the insurance requirement puts the city in a tough spot. Waiving the premiums would mean the city has to find taxpayer money in a tight budget to pay for the insurance.

But parent Maria Lora said the city should work with La Ley because if the company goes out of business, the taxpayers will be stuck footing the bill anyways. She and others say it’s better to have the stadium occupied because it previously sat largely unused since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Lora said the city should waive the premiums “for a period of time until we can build this up, which has been closed since Andrew. And the city, no matter what, we’re still paying for it.”

Jose Vazquez’s three children attend the after school care. He said the program is a benefit for his kids.
“Here, they’re there from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., which is even more time for me to work on my schedule for work. And they finish all of their work. On top of that, my son is on the honor roll. He had never been on that,” Vazquez said.

He singled out Councilwoman Judy Waldman’s vote against waiving the property insurance, but the majority of council members actually voted against the measure. The last time the council took the issue up in May, only Mayor Steve Bateman and Councilman Elvis Maldonado voted for it. Councilman Jimmie Williams III was absent.

“It has nothing to do with me. It’s in the contract. And I’m not the only one who voted,” Waldman said.
The councilwoman said she wants La Ley to be successful at the stadium, and said she would welcome an alternative solution that wouldn’t cost the taxpayers money.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/08/2944742/parents-upset-over-cancelation.html#storylink=cpy

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Homestead Cop Pleads Not Guilty To Charges Of Attacks Outside Bar

 

 

Homestead Police Sgt. Jeffery Rome entered a not guilty plea for charges that he beat up and pepper-sprayed men outside a bar frequented by migrant workers

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/01/2926510/homestead-cop-pleads-not-guilty.html#storylink=cpy

By Christina Veiga

cveiga@MiamiHerald.com

Jeffrey Rome, the Homestead Police sergeant accused of beating up and pepper-spraying patrons at a bar where he worked off-duty, entered a not-guilty plea Wednesday for the felony charges he faces.
Rome and two other Homestead police officers were arrested in July on charges related to a string of alleged attacks last year at Celio’s Latin Quarter, a bar where many migrant and immigrant agricultural workers frequent.

The sergeant, who was not in court, faces felony charges of abuse of an elderly adult and false imprisonment. He also faces a misdemeanor battery charge.

Sgt. Lizanne Deegan and Officer Giovanni Soto are also accused of misconduct after Soto allegedly hit a man in the face and hand with a nightstick — leaving the man with five stitches — and Deegan didn’t write a report on the incident. Soto faces an additional felony battery charge.

All three have been suspended from the department with pay since April 2011.

C. Michael Cornely, an attorney representing Rome, questioned in court why, after more than a year of investigation, he still hadn’t been provided with all the state’s evidence against his client. For that reason, the judge on Wednesday did not set a trial date.

Prosecutor Breezye Telfair said the evidence would be available by the end of this week.

Two of the alleged attacks involving Rome were caught on camera, according to arrest warrants. Homestead detectives had been scoping out the bar for a separate human-trafficking investigation when they recorded Rome allegedly pepper-spraying a man in the face three times, and also dragging an elderly man to the ground and kicking him unconscious, according to the arrest warrant.

Both of the men told investigators they had gone to Rome for help after people tried to rob them.

Rome also pepper-sprayed another man in the face, handcuffed him to a fence, and sent away an ambulance that the man had called for, according to an arrest warrant.

The Police Benevolent Association union has blasted the investigation into the three Homestead police officers as politically motivated and has questioned the competency of Homestead police leaders.

Rome is on the PBA’s board of directors, according to the union’s website. Cornely suggested Rome’s union activities put him at odds with department brass.

“I think this case was brought as a vendetta against Sergeant Rome by the current regime at the Homestead Police Department,” he said.

Homestead Det. Fernando Morales didn’t immediately return requests for a comment.
 
Follow @Cveiga on Twitter.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/01/2926510/homestead-cop-pleads-not-guilty.html#storylink=cpy

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CSUSA's Teacher's Alleged Actions Shake Community

Outrage At Keys Gate Charter School In Homestead As Teacher Andre Martinez Is Arrested For Sex With Former Students

By Kyle Munzenrieder Tue., Jul. 31 2012

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/07/homestead_teacher_andre_martin.php#more

Andre Martinez, a teacher at a charter school in Homestead, was arrested yesterday on allegations that he carried on long-term sexual relationships with two former underage students. Martinez taught cinematography at Keys Gate Charter School, and the abuse is believed to have started back in 2010.

Martinez was held last night in jail on two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. He has since posted his $15,000 bail and was released.

Police have not released the exact ages of the girls, but both are still under 18. Details of the relationship, including where they took place, also have not been released.

Police believe that there may be additional victims.

Since there aren't a lot of details yet, cue the TV stations going the "let's interview random parents" route. NBC 6 managed to grab this quote: "I think if the charges are true, we should castrate him and then worry about the court system later. That's what I think having a daughter," Riva Steinman, a mother of two, said. "I have zero tolerance -- in any school, to any young lady."

Obviously Martinez will not be castrated, but (assuming none of the girls were under 16) he could face up to 15 years in jail for each charges.

Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes.

 http://www.keyscharter.org/

 http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/07/30/homestead-teacher-accused-of-sex-acts-with-former-students/

Parents need to address this issue ASAP, we are weeks away from a new school year. Homestead is currently under attack by crime. This city used to be a nice place to live. Demand that background checks of the Charter Schools employees are verifiable, that credentials are checked and certified. This shocking event went on for three years. Mr. Hage, Mayor Bateman and Chief Rolle need to reassure the community. Demand that they do and your child's safety is their priority above all else.

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Faddis v. Homestead Moves Forward

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the top, Johanna Faddis, Joseph Serota and Kelsay Patterson

 

 

A lawsuit involving Homestead’s former Deputy City Manager Johanna Faddis will move forward.

d more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/27/2922976/homestead-ex-employees-lawsuit.html#storylink=cpy

 By Christina Veiga

cveiga@MiamiHerald.com

A judge on Wednesday denied an attempt by Homestead’s lawyers to throw out a lawsuit brought by former Deputy City Manager Johanna Faddis.

A day after mediation failed to bring consensus, Judge Lester Langer of Miami-Dade Circuit Court said the case should move forward, in part to give lawyers more time to gather evidence for a possible trial.

Faddis sued Homestead in September 2011, claiming that city officials acted negligently, invaded her privacy, intentionally inflicted emotional distress and defamed her by releasing romantic text messages sent to her by her then-boss, City Manager Mike Shehadeh, on city-issued cellphones.

Faddis and Shehadeh have both denied ever being in a romantic relationship.

Since the suit was filed, Faddis’ attorneys have also argued that she was a victim of sexual harassment by Shehadeh, and that therefore the texts were not public record. Attorney Kelsay Patterson points to an exemption in Florida’s public-records law stating that when an alleged victim “chooses not to file a complaint and requests that records of the complaint remain confidential, all records relating to an allegation of employment discrimination are confidential and exempt.”

Patterson claims that his client told the city she would not file a sexual-harassment complaint and keep it a secret in exchange for a severance agreement when she was fired from Homestead in December 2009.

The city asked for the case to be dismissed, arguing that the text messages were public record because they had to do with city business.

The text messages were released after an investigator, hired by the city to look into suspected wrongdoing by Shehadeh, dug up them up as part of his work for the city.

“The disclosure of the investigation and the report were matters of public concern,” attorney Joseph Serota told the judge.

Serota pointed to messages that were both romantic but also dealt with city business, including one in which Shehadeh tells Faddis to take the rest of the day off because he can sense that she is in a “pissy” mood.

“This is not completely personal,” Serota said.

Referring to Shehadeh’s role as Faddis’ superior, Serota later added: “He supervises her. He gives her raises. He evaluates her. How could this kind of relationship not be public business?”

Serota also argued that the case shouldn’t move forward because Faddis has changed her testimony regarding whether she was a victim of sexual harassment. Serota argued that her conflicting testimony should be stricken.

The conflicting statements stem from testimony Faddis gave in a lawsuit that Shehadeh brought against the city for wrongful termination after he was fired. In that case, Faddis said she “didn’t take any offense” to Shehadeh’s texts, according to a transcript Serota read aloud during Wednesday’s hearing.

“There has never been a time when he has harassed me, sexually harassed me,” Faddis said, according to the testimony read by Serota.

But when Faddis gave testimony for her own case, she said she was indeed a victim of sexual harassment.

“I provided a watered-down version of the truth,” she said, according to the transcript read by Serota.
Faddis’ attorney said that she “refused to be used as a pawn” in Shehadeh’s lawsuit because the city had burned her by releasing the damaging text messages, and also that she didn’t want to be used to help the city in their defense against Shehadeh’s case.
 
Follow @Cveiga on Twitter.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/27/2922976/homestead-ex-employees-lawsuit.html#storylink=cpy

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CRA Funds A Cool $100,000 For Bateman Advisor/City Media Consultant Frank May's Seminole Theater's Roof Leaks

This is all very cozy. It was also Frank May who wrote the City of Homestead response to the Miami Dade County CRA Audit of 2010. 

How much more can the CRA afford regarding the Seminole Theater's appetite for funding with no opening date in sight?

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