The Homestead City Council met Monday night to discuss settling a lawsuit that the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed on behalf of Homestead Air Reserve Base against the city and a family farm near the base. For decades, the city has struggled to find a balance between property owners’ rights and base officials’ safety concerns. The lawsuit, filed in 2011, alleged that the city had ignored safety restrictions after it allowed Alger Farms to develop residential units near the end of the base’s runway. Alger Farms President John Alger said he had no intention of building the residential units or selling the property to developers. But Air Force officials were concerned the city was putting lives at risk since Alger Farms lies in the flight paths of F-16s, F-15s and other warplanes that pass 750 feet overhead while coming in for a landing. “We have no immediate desire for development,” said Alger, a third-generation farmer. “But the development rights allow us to preserve a hypothetical value that can be used for collateral.” City restrictions established in 2010 limit development in an area of Homestead that the Air Force calls “the accident potential crash zone.” Councilman Stephen Shelley said this week he worked on a settlement agreement that respects the safety restrictions. “The settlement will benefit all of the parties involved,” Shelley said. “The solution is so simple. I’m not sure why we didn’t think of it before.” Shelley said the deal would allow Alger to transfer his development rights to another property he owns that is not in the danger zone. The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed the lawsuit after the city allowed Alger Farms to build one residential unit per five acres. This translated into 48 housing units in Alger’s 240 acres. The new proposal would allow Alger to transfer the right to build those units to another tract he owns in the city. The other site “is not the greatest place for homes, but I still have this value,” Alger said. With the new deal, Alger would have the right to build 55.4 units on a 37-acre property, because he would have the 7.4 units inherent to the 37 acres and the 48 units transferred. Shelley said there would not be a density issue. “We clustered the density into an area that is not compromising the safety and it’s much less dense than what’s adjacent to it,” Alger said. Alger’s grandfather, Mason W. Alger, started farming the land in 1934, and in 1942 military planes started taking off and landing at the base nearby. Alger’s father, Richard Alger, and his grandfather purchased land from South Dade farms in the late 1950s. They now grow sweet corn, snap beans, and trees for landscaping. The base is home to units of the Air Force Reserve Command, Florida Army National Guard, Florida Air National Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Coast Guard, and Special Operations Command South. When Alger found out that the restrictions affected his land, he thought the U.S. Constitution and Florida’s Bert J. Harris Act, which passed in 1995, protected him. The act allows property owners to seek remedies against government regulations causing an "inordinate burden." But the U.S. Attorney’s lawsuit questioned the existence of Alger’s development rights. Before the council granted Alger Farms the right to build the residential units, city staff and city attorneys said Alger Farms didn’t have any development rights in the first place, because it lost them after annexation into the city in 1996. Alger disagreed. “It’s an asset,” Alger said. “The federal government was asking me to devalue an asset without compensation.” Alger said he is in agreement with the settlement that Shelley is proposing. Now he hopes that military officials will be in agreement too. The settlement the council discussed Monday night will come up for a final vote within the next month or so, Shelley said. “My family is very anxious to get our name off that lawsuit,” said Alger. “Imagine that your government is suing you because you want to preserve your rights. So I can spend money paying my lawyers while my government uses my own money to pay for their lawyers.” Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/26/3254990/homestead-farmer-look-to-settle.html#storylink=cpy By ANDREA TORRES atorres@MiamiHerald.com
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Thursday, 21 February 2013
REDLAND TRASH -- HOLD IT
Posted on 07:47 by Unknown
County puts brakes on plans for Redland trash center By Janey Tate jtate@MiamiHerald.com Miami-Dade County is putting the brakes on plans for a new trash and recycling center for Redland. Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s office said Monday that he has directed county Solid Waste Management officials to reconsider the proposed site, at Southwest 202nd Avenue and 290th Street, and look for a different place for the center. The decision comes after about 50 Redland residents objected to the project at a Jan. 17 meeting at Fruit and Spice Park. The county says the center would provide a convenient place for residents to drop off yard waste, unwanted appliances, electronics, tires, furniture and other bulky items. Officials want the to ensure that all county residents have a place to drop off large items within five miles of their homes. But in the Redland, where homes are on multi-acre lots scattered among plant nurseries, this convenience is neither needed nor wanted, residents said. The residents think that the center would bring traffic, pollution and a bad smell to the area. Patricia Milone, a Redland resident who has been active in opposing the center, said she hopes the mayor’s decision means no such facility is coming to her area. But the mayor’s office said a decision has not yet been made. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/20/3244252/county-puts-brakes-on-plans-for.html#storylink=cpy
Saturday, 16 February 2013
Joe Martnez...AGAIN?
Posted on 07:04 by Unknown
Joe Martinez says he’ll challenge Joe Garcia . By Patricia Mazzei pmazzei@MiamiHerald.com Joe Martinez, the former Miami-Dade Commission chairman who lost his bid to become county mayor last year, said Friday that he intends to run against U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia in 2014. “I’m meeting with different people and feeling them out, seeing what the level of support will be there,” Martinez told The Miami Herald shortly after announcing his intentions on Facebook. He wants to get in the race, Martinez said, “to shake it up.” Martinez’s name has been floated in political circles in connection with the 26th Congressional District since Garcia, a Democrat, defeated incumbent Republican Rep. David Rivera in November. The district extends from Kendall to Key West. Cites experience Martinez, a Republican, said he sees himself as a pragmatist in tune with residents’ needs after his 12 years on the County Commission, including two terms as chairman. In his first term, former Mayor Carlos Alvarez campaigned for a strong-mayor referendum. In his second, Alvarez was recalled. Both times, Martinez said, he helped lead the county. “It actually ran really smoothly,” Martinez said. He gave up his seat last year to unsuccessfully challenge Mayor Carlos Gimenez. Martinez said Friday that he has since opened a public relations and business development consulting firm. Focused on duties Garcia’s chief of staff, Jeffrey Garcia (no relation), said that the congressman “is focused on doing the work that the people sent him here to do.” “There’ll be plenty of time for politics later,” he added. Martinez, conceding that “it’s too early to tell” how well Garcia will do as a freshman congressman, said he’s committed to running in two years. “I’ve survived Miami-Dade politics,” he said. “What’s Washington?” Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/16/3237584/joe-martinez-says-hell-challenge.html#storylink=cpy
Thursday, 14 February 2013
CUBAN MUSIC vs RACE TRACK
Posted on 07:13 by Unknown
Homestead-Miami Speedway loses court battle over cancelation of Cuban music festival By Jordan Levin The Miami Herald By Jordan Levin jlevin@MiamiHerald.com A conflict over Cuban music and freedom of speech that erupted when the Homestead-Miami Speedway canceled a Cuban music festival two years ago was settled in court earlier this week. A jury ordered Speedway officials to pay $531,371 in damages to the festival’s promoter, MIA Resorts, saying the venue’s managers had deliberately defamed MIA by saying the promoter lied about presenting Cuban acts. The event had been slated for April 9, 2011, and included popular Cuban performers from the island and living in Miami. MIA enlisted the help of Fuego Entertainment, owned by Hugo Cancio, a longtime, well-known presenter of Cuban music in Miami. In February 2011, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Lynda Bell did an interview on Spanish-language station Radio Caracol (1260 AM), in which she said she “would do everything in my power to stop” an event she believed would offend the Cuban exile community. Bell, who did not testify at the trial, told Caracol that she had called Speedway officials about the event and they had promised her it would be canceled. Speedway officials canceled the festival a few days later. The speedway sued MIA Resorts for breach of contract and fraud, saying no one there ever spoke to Bell and that MIA Resorts had represented the event as a Mexican, not a Cuban, music festival. MIA countersued, asserting the speedway so damaged the company’s reputation that it went out of business in the summer of 2012. During the trial, MIA’s attorneys presented emails and other correspondence in which speedway officials signed off on flyers and other publicity materials, including a billboard on the Palmetto Expressway, for a “Cuban Music Festival.” “On behalf of MIA Resorts Inc. and its owner, Mr. Luis Arias, we feel vindicated by the jury’s verdict and believe that justice has been done,” said Paul Ranis, the Greenberg Traurig attorney representing the promoter. Speedway officials denied speaking to Bell. “We are not for or against the festival,” Alfonso Perez, the venue’s attorney, told El Nuevo Herald during the trial. “The fact is that Homestead-Miami Speedway cannot get in the middle of a controversy.” The controversy took place during a period when Cuban concerts in Miami had become more frequent,. Around the same time, a Cuban exile group successfully lobbied Miami, Hialeah and other municipalities to impose restrictive new rules on presenters of Cuban music. Those rules do not appear to have significantly affected groups putting on Cuban music shows. Recently, X Alfonso, a rocker from the island, performed at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium. From March 9 to April 6, Fundarte and the Miami Light Project will present Global Cuba Fest, with acts from the island including Haitian-Cuban group The Creole Choir of Cuba and vocalist Ivette Cepeda. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/14/3233431/homestead-miami-speedway-loses.html#storylink=cpy
Saturday, 9 February 2013
HOMESTEAD ELECTION -- Primary OCT., 2013
Posted on 13:41 by Unknown
Just had one recently, but the Homestead elections will be underway in October and November this year. Some things have been mentioned in other blogs about current office holders and possible candidates, but lets wait for the mud slinging a few more months. As usual, there will probably be approximately 2,500 voters in Homestead for the elections in this "off" year. More on this topic to come soon. Any PACs with big bucks? 13,000 voters in General Election in Homestead.
City Hall is Moving The City of Homestead’s City Hall is relocating to Portofino Plaza at 650 NE 22 Terrace Homestead, FL 33030. City Hall offices will be open for business on Monday, February 11, 2013 at the Portofino Plaza location. Additionally, effective February 1st all public meetings that were previously held in City Hall will be held at the William F. “Bill” Dickinson Community Center, 1601 N. Krome Avenue Homestead, FL 33030. Public meetings include: City Council meetings, Committee of the Whole, Community Redevelopment Agency, Planning & Zoning Board, Special Master Hearing and all city committees. CITY HALL IS MOVING... The City of Homestead will relocate all departments in the existing City Hall facility to a new location, early this year, in order to minimize the exposure for personnel and visitors to a potentially dangerous environment.
Monday, 4 February 2013
FROM EOM..Eye On Miami Blog: http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/ Here is another reason to vote Steve Bateman out of office: Yesterday there was a letter in the Miami Herald about how great Nukes are for economic opportunity. The letter was written by Chirsty Todd Whitman and Mayor of Homestead Steve Bateman. I wrote about Christine Todd Whitman in 2007. She is nothing more than a paid booster for the nuclear industry but she signs her letter former EPA administrator as if this is some sort of official position, she hasn't been there for 10 years. She now heads her energy greenwash group (never saw so many "green" photos on a website since Sierra Club) Whitman Strategy Group. From Todd Whitman's website, kind of clever even though nauseating. The problem I see with this letter, Steve Bateman doesn't have the authority to boost FPL's nuclear folly in his official position. He didn't write this letter, obviously, but he signed on to it. Steve Bateman 'citizen' has every right to sign on to a public relation propaganda piece, however he should NOT have used "Mayor, Homestead" to do it. That is not the official position of the City and he has blurred the lines. Had the Miami Herald put his mayorship in parenthesis, it would have been more acceptable, making it clear the City did not support what was said in this letter; it was only a clueless citizen who supported it, who just happened to be a Mayor. I spoke to a Councilperson in the City of Homestead, who said the City has no official position on nuclear energy, or the FPL expansion and that Bateman is not speaking on behalf of the city on such subjects (wasn't he also at the FPL hearing at the County Commission the other day in support of zoning changes for FPL? Did the city vote to support the zoning changes? No). When did the City of Homestead vote "that nuclear energy is a vital part of both Florida and our nation's energy and economic future"? Did they vote to say that "This is an exciting period of growth and progress in nuclear energy..." Exactly who in Homestead supports the views articulated in the letter? http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/
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