DR. TRANTHEM LETTER TO THE EDITOR: NEW CITY HALL

By Dr. Jim Tranthem        Homestead     

Taj Mahal  is Not the Answer to a Contaminated Homestead City Hall

When the tax-paying residents of Homestead opposed the new Taj-Mahal styled City Hall to be built on Washington Ave. over 4years ago, they believed that that would be the end of that foolish fantasy.
 
However, as politicians are apt to do, they relied on our short term memories and influx of new residents to propose a new scheme - "we have a sick building" and we need to move out immediately to save our employees...our present city hall has been "sick" for more than  10 years ( radon , mold etc. out of control).

Council Solution : Throw good money after bad;  $6 million to prepare 3 acres far west of our city center - on Washington ave.  $17 - 18 million more for a new "Taj-Ma city hall" .

Second:  Sell the most aesthetic, central,  and visible existing city hall property, including our only public library, to a strip mall developer at a "half-price" sale ($6-8 million).

Third:  Emergency/Temporary leased commercial  property for city hall @ $20 thousand/month = $1/2 million to more than $1 million lease (only the mayor proposed relocatables on city owned property) at a fraction of that cost.

Tax-saving Solution:  1) Move employees temporarily to city owned property.  2)  Clean up current city hall property,  and rebuild a  with radon-mitigating contractor on the building committee.
A sensible solution to a pressing problem would allow us to keep the most valuable corner in Homestead for the people - but this Council rarely deviates to sense when it comes to spending the tax-paying residents' money.

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OBAMA WINS FOUR MORE YEARS!

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ALERT: DON'T BE A VICTIM OF VOTER SUPPRESSION!

Excerpts from Miami Herald


"Voters across the state can request and cast absentee ballots in person Monday. They can also drop them off at elections supervisor’s offices — but not at their precincts — on Election Day."  

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/04/3081614_p3/florida-democratic-party-files.html#storylink=cpy

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ALERT: You may Vote Today at the Elections Department in Doral Between 1PM-5PM!

In honor of the Early Voting hours offered on the last Sunday in 2008, voters can go to the Elections Department in Doral at 2700 NW 87th Avenue to vote by absentee ballot from 1pm-5pm.

The elections department said any voter who shows up in the allotted window will be able to vote by absentee ballot. The voter did not have to request an absentee ballot ahead of time. Voters can either fill out the absentee ballot at the elections department or take it home, fill it out and have it returned by 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Voters can no longer request absentee ballots by mail.

In Broward, voters can call the elections department on Sunday and request an absentee ballot which can be picked up on Monday at their headquarters on Monday.

Again, absentee ballots must be returned by 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

CBSLOCAL

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Where's Hilda?

The Carrie P. Meek Center for Business is under investigation by the Miami-Dade County Inspector General’s office and the state has shut it down.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/02/3079947/homestead-business-incubator-faces.html#storylink=cpy

By Christina Veiga

cveiga@MiamiHerald.com

The county Inspector General is investigating a Homestead organization that landed almost $1 million in federal grants while purporting to be a nonprofit organization.

Trouble is, the IRS revoked the Carrie P. Meek Center for Business’ nonprofit status last year after the center didn’t file tax returns for three straight years. The center has no affiliation with former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek.

The nonprofit status is not the only problem facing the center: The state has shut it down for failing to carry the required insurance. And court records show the center, also known as the Business and Technology Development Corp., has a trail of unpaid bills owed to a local bank, a payroll company and others.

Now, the center’s executive director, Hilda B. Hall-Dennis, has gone missing. She hasn’t answered phone calls from Homestead city officials, a city spokeswoman said. The number for the center is disconnected. Hall also didn’t answer an email sent Friday by The Miami Herald. Additionally, calls from The Herald to her cell phone went unanswered and text messages were returned as undeliverable.

The Meek center opened in 2003 as a “business incubator” — a place to help entrepreneurs launch new businesses in south Miami-Dade County . It claims to have helped 4,000 business people, according to its most recent grant application filed with the city of Homestead. County auditors in 2010 recommended closing the center after they couldn’t find proof of any of the center’s claims.
Its latest problems center on whether the nonprofit met the requirements to receive federal grants.

According to a memo from the county inspector general, since 2008, the center has obtained $898,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant money. As a condition of getting the money, the center is supposed to be registered as a nonprofit with the IRS and the state and have workers’ compensation and liability insurance, the memo states.

But the center lost its nonprofit status in June 2011 for not filing tax returns for three consecutive years. The center’s nonprofit status was still revoked as of Thursday, according to an IRS representative. However, the representative noted that there’s no way to know whether a new application is in the pipeline.
The state’s Department of Financial Services confirmed Friday that it had issued a “stop work” order for not carrying the requisite insurance.

The city gave the center a lucrative deal.

Since at least 2010, it has operated rent free out of a building owned by the Homestead Community Redevelopment Agency — a special taxing district of the city that helps spur economic development. The CRA has also given the center more than $220,000 in grants since 2005, according to city documents.

“The city has identified areas of significant concern regarding the Business and Technology Development Corporation. Staff has made multiple inquires of Ms. Hilda Hall and asked her to provide various documents,” said city spokeswoman Begoñe Cazalis. “Ms. Hilda Hall responded, saying that it was a misunderstanding and that she would provide the documentation. The city gave her a deadline of 30 days to provide the documents, and she has not provided them. She has not answered repeated calls, and her attorney has not answered calls either.”

Referring to the center by its initials, Inspector General Christopher Mazzella wrote in his Oct. 24 memo to the county agency that disperses the grants: “It is the inspector general’s opinion that BTDC has, among other things, misrepresented its nonprofit status. Therefore, it is our request that any further payments or grants to BTDC be suspended pending further review of this matter.”

In addition, the center owes $122,000 to local Homestead bank 1st National, according to a June 2012 court judgment. Another $96,000 is owed to General Electric, according to a 2011 judgment and more than $40,000 is owed to a payroll company in Texas.

Lyons Financial, a Minnesota company, also has a judgment against the center for $103,000.
Follow @Cveiga on Twitter.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/02/3079947/homestead-business-incubator-faces.html#storylink=cpy

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Is Mayor Bateman Begging People to Show Up at the State of the City Dinner?

According to multiple sources Mayor Bateman is pulling out all stops in order to get people to attend tonight's dinner. Part of the problem is last year's dreadful performance plus a tortured meal service, this year's Air Show Kick-Off and the fact that the Mayor just doesn't command respect from his bullying behavior.

Calls, emails and text messages are being sent out offering multiple tickets for the soiree` to anyone the Mayor can think of. Who scheduled this event on a Friday night anyway?

Enjoy the whining and dining to those brave enough to go!

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Homestead Housing Authority Hit With Sexual Harrassment Lawsuit

 

 

 

                                                                 

 

Oscar Hentschel                                                                                Executive Director at Homestead Housing Authority    

                                                                                    

 more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/01/3078121/homestead-housing-authority-hit.html#storylinBy Christina Veiga

 

 

By Christina Veiga

cveiga@MiamiHerald.com

The former deputy director of the Homestead Housing Authority has sued the agency for sexual harassment, retaliation and negligence.

The suit, filed in federal court Oct. 26, claims that Executive Director Oscar Hentschel sexually harassed former employee Monica Rusconi, that she was fired because she filed a complaint about the harassment and that the housing authority board was negligent for not removing Hentschel after the complaint was filed.

According to the complaint, Hentschel “routinely” called women a derogatory word that also means a female dog, and that he made comments about “female bodies and sexual activity.”
Rusconi and her attorney, Jeffrey Goodz, declined to comment. So did Hentschel and board attorney Gilberto Pastoriza.

Rusconi had worked as the second-in-command at the housing authority for 11 years before Hentschel was hired to lead the agency in March 2011.

Months after his arrival, two women filed sexual harassment complaints against Hentschel.

Despite calls from Mayor Steve Bateman to temporarily remove the director while the complaints could be investigated, board members kept Hentschel in his position.
http://homesteadishome.blogspot.com/2011/11/bateman-pens-his-dear-oscar-letter.html

They hired an independent investigator to look into the claims and considered moving Rusconi’s office away from Hentschel.

Rusconi “was advised to just stay in her office to avoid Hentschel,” the lawsuit states.

One woman later dropped her complaint against Hentschel and told the human resources investigator she had been forced to file it by Rusconi because Rusconi did not get along with the executive director.

Rusconi herself filed two complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. The commission, according to the lawsuit, did nothing. Two months after Rusconi made the formal accusations — which she told board members of in an email — Rusconi was fired.

Her lawsuit claims that Hentschel and the housing authority the federal and state civil rights acts and state employment laws.

Follow @Cveiga on Twitter.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/01/3078121/homestead-housing-authority-hit.html#storylink=cpy

 http://homesteadishome.blogspot.com/2011/11/twenty-four-hours-was-all-it-took-for.html

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