After several months of holding the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency hostage, Miami Commissioner Miguel Gabela — who has pushed for its expansion into Allapattah, the heart of his District 1 — looks like he is ready to compromise with a CRA all his own.
Miami Commissioners last month directed City Manager Art Noriega to expedite the establishment of an Allapattah Community Redevelopment Agency and secure funding so that they can begin “priority projects” by the end of February. The proposed boundaries are Northwest 39th Street to the north, Northwest 19th Avenue to the west, Northwest Seventh Avenue to the east and the Miami River to the south.
Read related: Fight over Omni CRA causes new rifts, alliances on Miami City Commission
Commissioner Damian Pardo, who has been fighting to keep the current Omni CRA boundaries, get an extension on its life and create a separate Allapattah CRA, must be smiling ear to ear. He’s also putting his money where his mouth is. Pardo wants the city manager to find a way to “claw back” $2 million in tax increment funding a year, for the next five years, from the Omni CRA to be directed for capital improvements, infrastructure repairs/enhancements and affordable housing projects in Allapattah. It’s on Thursday’s agenda.
That’s guaranteed seed money of $10 million that can be leveraged to get more.
Will Gabela go for it? He has previously said help like that is too little, too slow and that he wants to leverage the future TIF monies an expanded Omni CRA could generate for Allapattah. Will $10 million cut it?
Allapattah is known for its diverse population of Central Americans and Caribbean immigrants. Flanked by the Miami River, it has become “plagued in recent years by crime, drugs, homelessness, decay, slum, blight and lack of affordable housing, which as resulted in the displacement of many longtime residents and businesses,” the resolution states.
This should also pave the way for the extension of the Omni CRA, which is supposed to sunset in 2030, to 2047. That will allow it to continue funding some projects that are already in the works.
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Gabela called it a “global deal” and said that once the Allapattah CRA is established and funding is identified, then he would support extending the time for the Omni CRA. “What we would do is defer [the Omni CRA extension] till all this gets settled as one deal,” Gabela said in an October meeting where the manager was directed to study the establishment of the Allapattah CRA.
So it worked. Holding the Omni CRA hostage got Gabela what he wanted. How much does anybody want to bet he’ll do it again?
Compromise may be reached at Miami commission on Omni/Allapattah CRAs added by Ladra on
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