'A Cuban-American Activist Reflects on El Comandante'

¡Fidel Vive! A Cuban-American Activist Reflects on El Comandante
by José Pérez

I am a Cuban Muslim in Miami in mourning for Fidel Castro Ruz. And I have been wearing my black armband all week long.

I first learned the news of Castro’s transition to the realm of the ancestors from Cuban journalists who broke the story. I was shocked and saddened by the news of the inevitable fate that awaits us all.

I was born 10 years after the 26th of July Movement had succeeded in ousting Washington’s bloodthirsty and vile thug in Havana, Fulgencio Batista, and I’ve never known a day without Fidel being somewhere in my existence. I grew up in Miami, and I was programmed to hate Fidel and regard everything coming out of Cuba with scorn. Everything that came out of Cuba after our family left, of course.

This contempt persisted until I left Miami after the shameful circus that was Elian Gonzalez’ time in the United States.

Leaving Miami for the first time allowed me the chance to begin to question and investigate and really learn about Cuba, the revolution, and the living symbol and leader of that revolution: Fidel.

I learned that Cuba had erased illiteracy, which approached 40 percent in remote areas populated by peasants living in unthinkable poverty. I learned about the tens of thousands of medical school graduates and the medical teams that are still dispatched to disaster areas. Most recently, a delegation of doctors trained in Cuba announced that they were going to North Dakota to assist and stand in solidarity with the water protectors at Standing Rock. I learned that Cuba, my country, had the lowest infant mortality rate in the Americas.

The more I learned, the more I needed to go to my motherland to see things for myself as an adult. What I learned there was that everything that I had been taught about Cuba in Miami was a lie. There are no homeless people, no foreclosures, no one without medical coverage, no child without a school.

I also learned more about Cuban support of African liberation struggles in places like Guinea-Bissau, Algeria, Mozambique and, perhaps most famously, Angola.

On another visit home, I met two men who fought in Angola. Both were proud of what one said was a chance to help people win their freedom. That man, an elderly white man, spoke of his role in African liberation with a light in his eyes. It was evident that these gentlemen knew that they fought on the right side of history.

So it is with Fidel.

This is something that is not said enough: I am proud of Fidel Castro.

I am proud of the fact that my country—a small and underdeveloped West Indian nation—was instrumental in anti-colonial struggles of the Cold War era.

I am proud of the billboards in Cuba that read, “200 million children sleep in the streets—none are Cuban.”

Let me repeat this: There are no children sleeping on the streets of Cuba—nor are there Trayvon Martins, Sandra Blands, Tamir Rices, Philando Castiles or Freddie Grays. The sanctity of black lives and a deep commitment to making sure they are protected is a cornerstone of Castro’s Cuba.

In this regard, and in every regard not rooted in white-settler colonial capitalism, Cuba is doing better than the USA.

The Cuban Revolution was and remains a revolution for the world. And it is the height of irony and hypocrisy that white Cubans never express a care about African Americans, black history or issues that affect black people, but let an African American even mention Fidel Castro, and all of a sudden they want to teach black people about history.

Castro’s commitment not to privilege whiteness never wavered, and that is evident in the faces of those who carry the most animus toward him. These people either fail or refuse to understand that the Cuban Revolution was and remains a revolution for the world, not just Cuba—and especially not just for them.

El Comandante famously closed his defense argument during his trial in 1953 by insisting that history would absolve him. In many ways, it already has. For each error and tragedy that came out of the revolution, many more successes were realized. Because of this, more people around the world have received news of Fidel’s death with sadness than the relatively small number of ghoulish people in Miami who celebrate it.

Do not let mainstream media lie to you. History will look favorably upon Fidel Castro.

No one revolution is ever finished—except the failed ones. This is true of the Cuban Revolution. There is still a lot of work to be done, but it has not failed—despite the many attempts to cause just that or the lies that have been said about it. I agree with the late Trinidadian historian C.L.R. James, who argued in The Black Jacobins that the current revolution in Cuba is a continuation of the Haitian Revolution—that first mighty struggle to throw off the suffocating chains of colonialism for the improvement of life for all human beings.

What the Cuban people have been able to accomplish thus far says a lot of very special things about us and Fidel.

And I am very proud of that.

*originally published in The Root  

¡Fidel Vive! Un activista reflexiona sobre El Comandante

¡Fidel Vive! Un activista reflexiona sobre El Comandante
por José Pérez Carrillo [traducido]

Soy un musulmán cubano en Miami enlutado por Fidel Castro Ruz. Y he llevado mi brazalete negro toda la semana.

Aprendí por primera vez la noticia de la transición de Fidel al reino de los antepasados de periodistas cubanos que rompieron la historia. Me sorprendió y entristeció la noticia del destino inevitable que nos espera a todos.

Nací 10 años después de que el Movimiento 26 de Julio había logrado derrocar al sanguinario y vil matón de Washington en La Habana, Fulgencio Batista, y nunca he conocido un día sin que Fidel estuviera en alguna parte de mi existencia. Crecí en Miami, y estaba programado para odiar a Fidel y considerar todo lo que salía de Cuba con desprecio. Todo lo que salió de Cuba después de nuestra familia se fue, por supuesto.

Este desprecio persistió hasta que dejé Miami después del vergonzoso circo que fue el tiempo de Elián González en los Estados Unidos.

Salir de Miami por primera vez me permitió comenzar a cuestionar e investigar y aprender realmente sobre Cuba, la revolución y el símbolo vivo y líder de esa revolución: Fidel.

Aprendí que Cuba había borrado el analfabetismo, que se acercaba al 40 por ciento en áreas remotas pobladas por campesinos que vivían en una pobreza impensable. Aprendí acerca de las decenas de miles de graduados de la escuela de medicina y los equipos médicos que todavía se envían a las áreas de desastre. Recientemente, una delegación de médicos entrenados en Cuba anunció que iban a Dakota del Norte para ayudar y solidarizarse con los protectores de agua de Standing Rock. Aprendí que Cuba, mi país, tenía la tasa más baja de mortalidad infantil en las Américas.

Cuanto más aprendía, más necesitaba ir a mi patria para ver las cosas para mí como un adulto. Lo que aprendí allí fue que todo lo que me habían enseñado sobre Cuba en Miami era una mentira. No hay personas sin hogar, ninguna ejecución hipotecaria, nadie sin cobertura médica, ningún niño sin escuela.

También aprendí más sobre el apoyo cubano a las luchas de liberación africana en lugares como Guinea-Bissau, Argelia, Mozambique y, quizás la más famosa, Angola.

En otra visita a mi Patria, conocí a dos hombres que lucharon en Angola. Ambos estaban orgullosos de lo que uno dijo que era una oportunidad para ayudar a la gente a ganar su libertad. Ese hombre, un anciano blanco, habló de su papel en la liberación africana con una luz en sus ojos. Era evidente que estos hombres sabían que luchaban en el lado derecho de la historia.

Lo mismo ocurre con Fidel.

Esto es algo que no se dice lo suficiente: estoy orgulloso de Fidel Castro.

Estoy orgulloso del hecho de que mi país - una pequeña y subdesarrollada nación de las Antillas - fue fundamental en las luchas anticoloniales de la era de la Guerra Fría.

Estoy orgulloso de las vallas en Cuba que decían: "200 millones de niños duermen en las calles, ninguno es cubano".

Permítanme repetir lo siguiente: No hay niños durmiendo en las calles de Cuba, ni Trayvon Martins, Sandra Blands, Tamir Rices, Philando Castiles o Freddie Grays. La santidad de las vidas negras y un profundo compromiso para asegurarse de que están protegidas es una piedra angular de la Cuba de Castro.

En este sentido, y en todos los aspectos que no están enraizados en el capitalismo colonial colonizador blanco, Cuba está haciendo mejor que los Estados Unidos.

La Revolución cubana fue y sigue siendo una revolución para el mundo. Y es en la cima de la ironía y la hipocresía que los cubanos blancos en Miami nunca expresan su preocupación por los afroamericanos, la historia negra o los problemas que afectan a los negros, pero que un afroamericano incluso mencione a Fidel Castro y de repente quieren enseñar a los negros americanos sobre la historia.

El compromiso de Fidel de no privilegiar la blancura nunca vaciló, y eso es evidente en los rostros de quienes llevan el mayor ánimo hacia él. Estas personas o bien fracasan o se niegan a entender que la Revolución Cubana fue y sigue siendo una revolución para el mundo, no sólo para Cuba - y especialmente no sólo para ellos.

El Comandante cerró famosamente su argumento de defensa durante su juicio en 1953 al insistir en que la historia lo absolvería. De muchas maneras, ya lo ha hecho. Por cada error y tragedia que salió de la revolución, se lograron muchos éxitos más. Debido a esto, más personas en todo el mundo han recibido noticias de la muerte de Fidel con tristeza que el número relativamente pequeño de gente macabra en Miami que lo celebran.

No deje que los medios corporativos le mientan. La historia mirará favorablemente a Fidel Castro.

Ninguna revolución jamás ha terminado, excepto las fallidas. Esto es cierto para la Revolución cubana. Todavía hay mucho trabajo por hacer, pero no ha fracasado, a pesar de los muchos intentos de causar eso o las mentiras que se han dicho al respecto. Estoy de acuerdo con el historiador trinitario tardío C.L.R. James, quien argumentó en Los Jacobinos Negros que la actual revolución en Cuba es una continuación de la Revolución haitiana, esa primera y poderosa lucha para deshacerse de las sofocantes cadenas del colonialismo para mejorar la vida de todos los seres humanos.

Lo que el pueblo cubano ha logrado hasta el momento dice muchas cosas muy especiales sobre nosotros y Fidel.

Y estoy muy orgulloso de eso.

Something to think about

Earlier this morning, there was a soft knock on the door.   

On the other side, were two boys and a man - all wearing modest neckties and short sleeves.   They were Jehovah's Witnesses doing "field work."

It was immediately apparent that the adult was allowing the children to take lead in their preaching of "the good news."   In short, here was a man giving boys manly responsibilities as part of the process of building future men.

One would think that, as a Muslim, my beliefs do not agree with those of the Witnesses before me but I believe in men & wonen taking an active role in teaching boys to be men and girls to be women.  

I listened to a nervous child speak to me about why they were there, I smiled at both of the boys as the one who was speaking to me gave a me a pamphlet, and I shook each of their hands as I thanked them for the tract on lilac-coloured paper.  

The boys smiled smiles of relief and growing confidence and the man smiled a smile of gratitude to me.

The whole thing took about 90 seconds but how much longer will the encouragement last for those polite and soft-spoken boys?

We all have opportunities to be good to one another.  Whatever differences we may or may not have between us should never keep us from being good to each other. 

-33-

Stand Your Ground Task Force to Hold Public Meeting in Miami

Stand Your Ground Task Force to Hold Public Meeting in Miami 

by José Pérez

The American Bar Association’s National Task Force on Stand Your Ground Laws will hold a public hearing tonight at HistoryMiami in downtown Miami from 6 to 8 p.m.   The final stop in a five city national tour that started at the beginning of this year, the task force is meeting in Miami to examine the impacts of Stand Your Ground laws in the region.   The event is free and open to the public.

The task force first convened almost a year ago to research and study Stand Your Ground laws.  Topics of discussion will explore the impact of Stand Your Ground laws on public safety as a whole as well as the impact on minorities and marginalized constituencies such as battered women.   The task force will also examine the impact of these controversial laws on law enforcement and policing and facilitate conversations about the legislative and policy points of view of the Stand Your Ground laws.

The ABA task force sessions began in Dallas in February, and were held in Chicago in May and Philadelphia in June.    Leigh-Ann A. Buchanan, Co-Chair ABA National Task Force on Stand Your Ground Laws and President-elect of Miami’s Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Bar Association, is enthusiastic about the work done so far by the task force in each of its previous stops as well as the positive attention it has garnered so far.   For example, Buchanan said that it was “really exciting” to have the most recent task force meeting, which was held in San Francisco this past August, broadcast nationally on C-Span.  

Organizers have assembled a formidable panel that Buchanan said are all “experts from diverse perspectives” for its final stop on the tour.   Among the people confirmed as panelists are Florida State Senators Dwight  Bullard, David Simmons, and Chris Smith; Edward Shohat, vice chair of the Miami-Dade County Community Relations Board; Ciara Taylor, political director for the Dream Defenders; Guy Robinson, chief assistant public defender, Miami Dade Public Defender's office; H.Scott Fingerhut, Florida International University School of Law;  Marwan Porter, Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. Bar Association; Aziza Naa-Kaa Botchway, Miami-Dade Chapter of the National Congress of Black Women; Caroline Bettinger-López, the Human Rights Clinic, University of Miami School of Law (which presented a paper on the relationship between domestic violence, gun laws and Stand Your Ground to the United Nations); Commander Ervens Ford, Miami Police Department; and Chris Davis, investigative editor for the Tampa Bay Times.

Also, members of the general public who wish to testify before the task force may contact Rachel Patrick of the ABA Coalition on Racial and Ethnic Justice, which convened the task force, at either (312) 988-5408 or via email at rachel.patrick@americanbar.org.  Press materials released by the ABA indicate that “testimony may be given in person or in writing.”

Buchanan said that the open nature of the hearings are “an opportunity for the community to learn about the Stand Your Ground laws and to provide their own individual perspectives on this issue.”

Buchanan describes the task force and its work as “a comprehensive assessment of Stand Your Ground.”  She added that the Stand Your Ground task force is “primarily concerned with the expansion on the protections afforded as to the use of deadly force in self-defense in the public areas.”  In other words, the task force has been focusing on how the Stand Your Ground Laws, which used to be referred to derisively in the 1980’s as “Make My Day” laws, have expanded the so-called Castle Doctrine.  

The Castle Doctrine has long held that a person has an implied right to defend him- or herself within one’s home. Experts worry that Stand Your Ground laws essentially stretch to expressly expand the reach of the doctrine to include public spaces such as sidewalks or parks.

Currently, there are as many as 25 jurisdictions that have legalized Stand Your Ground plus other states whose common laws have Stand Your Ground principles that have not yet been codified formally into law.

Dr. John Roman, who is the Executive Director of the District of Columbia Crime Policy Institute, has worked with the task force, he said, “to help lead the data analysis.” Specifically, Roman’s work has focused on the extent to which Stand Your Ground laws lead to changes in racial disparities that impact how homicides are justified.

Roman pulled FBI data on every homicide in the United States from 2005 to 2010, a total that was in excess of 70,000 cases.  The FBI information contains facts about age, race, whether or not the shooter and victim(s) knew each other, if the shooter or the victim was a law enforcement office, et cetera.  Ruling out instances where the shooter’s identity was unknown (e.g. unsolved murder cases), Roman looked at “different combinations” between the ethnicity of the shooter and victim.  His research, which was published in May of 2012, found that in instances when the shooter was black and the victim was white, only 1% of the shootings were deemed “justifiable” while occasions when the shooter was white and the victim was black were “ten times as likely” to be ruled “justifiable.”

The task force’s findings are due to be released in early 2014 with the final written report expected by that spring.

*To read this article as it appeared in the South Florida Times, please click on this urlink.

Local Organizations Work to Feed their Neighbors

Local Organizations Work to Feed their Neighbors

Story and photographs by José Pérez

Lost in the South Beach glitz and tropical glamor usually associated with South Florida is the fact that hunger is a no stranger to many people that live and work in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe Counties.   A recent national study, in fact, shows that Miami-Dade is one of the United States’ hungriest counties. 

Every month, however, food distribution and feedings are held in different parts of the area to address this serious need.    For example, last Saturday morning, Farm Share teamed up with Christ Fellowship Church, State  Representative Frank Artiles (R-118), and student volunteers from Miami Jackson Senior High School to distribute food at Jackson High.  Within the first hour, 300 families received bananas, romaine lettuce, sweet potatoes, plantains, potatoes, frozen lamb, and shelf stable foods such as rice, beans, dried fruit at no charge.   A few hours later, over 700 people had taken food home to their families, said Farm Share’s Mia DeVane.

“Farm Share is the largest fresh produce program in Florida and the only statewide and local food bank program that does not charge a fee for any food it provides to community organizations,” said DeVane.

While this week’s Farm Share event was in Allapattah, the organization, which is based in Homestead, holds similar activities in different parts of the community and they are not alone.

On the third Saturday of every month, a proud group of women in Opa-locka's depressed Magnolia Gardens neighborhood pull from their own humble resources to feed their neighbors. Setting up shop in front of an abandoned grocery store, the group, which is not affiliated with any church or non-profit and receives no help from any government entity, feeds hot meals to single mothers and their children, elderly bachelors, homeless people and shut-in seniors.  Each month, the group, which calls itself GRUB (which stands for “Giving Regardless, United Bodies”) feeds more than 100 people – for free.

The two most prominent faces of GRUB are Diana Smith and her daughter, Kim.   

GRUB feeds people out of their own pockets, from their own meager resources supplemented every now and then with small yet appreciated donations from entities like the South Florida Home Childcare Association.

All of the food prepared is homemade and served across the street from an empty lot on a blighted stretch of Ali Baba Avenue, just blocks from the Opa-locka Police Department.  “We just get together and feed the neighborhood,” said Diana Smith as music played and dominoes smacked on table tops behind her.

During one Saturday’s feeding, Kim Smith went to drop off heaping plates of food to shut-ins in a semi-abandoned building owned by a local church that is both next door neighbor and landlord for that sad building.  As she drove to and from, the younger Smith kept the windows to her car rolled down so she could call out to passerby – most by name – reminding them to come by and “grab a plate.” 

All of this from a woman who was out of work when she, her mother, and other friends and relatives decided to feed their neighbors in Spring of this year.

Why? “90% of the time, people don’t eat,” said Smith.  She added that many of those that come to eat each month are illiterate, isolated, or whose health insurance is lacking.  “We are the forgotten.”

Data published in a recently released study by Feeding America supports Smith’s observations. 

Feeding America found that about sixteen and a half percent of the residents of both Broward and Palm Beach counties are food insecure while less than 13% of the people that live in Monroe County and almost 18% of the people that live in Miami-Dade County meet the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s criteria for food insecurity, which is defined by the USDA as having “limited or uncertain access to adequate food.”

The percentage of people with inconsistent or limited food access in the state of Florida is 18.7%. 

Importantly, many of those people in the four county area of South Florida that are considered “food insecure” live above the income threshold established to determine eligibility for food programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, (more commonly known as food stamps).  In short, they make too much money to be able to qualify for SNAP and “other food programs.”   How many people in South Florida are food insecure but do not qualify for federal help?   The numbers for Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe are 39%, 34%, 20%, and 32% respectively.

The number of children that are food insecure but do not meet eligibility requirements for SNAP or the Women, Infant & Children’s food program, or WIC, jumps significantly in Miami-Dade where over a third of the children are caught in between a heavy rock and a hungry place.  

“Farm Share absorbs the people that don’t get food stamps,” said Beatriz Lopez, Executive District Secretary to Artiles.

In addition to the bigger community events held each month, Farm Share also serves hundreds of “non profits that pick up food from our facilities and take it back to their communities,” from Monday through Friday, said DeVane.

According to DeVane, “Farm Share has provided more than $40 million in food to those in poverty in Florida” in 2013. State Representative Artiles added that, by reaching out to give food to people in need, Farm Share “saves produce that would be discarded” by farmers because many super markets do not want fruits or vegetables that do not meet a certain aesthetic criteria or what DeVane called “minor imperfections.” 

Giving the extra or unmarketable produce to Farm Share can earn “up to 200% tax credit for farmers,” said DeVane.

*To read this article as it appeared in the South Florida Times, please click on this urlink.

Urban League Education Forum Series Gets Off to Heated Start

Urban League Education Forum Series Gets Off to Heated Start
Story & fotos by José Pérez

Last week, a first-time partnership between different Urban League chapters across Florida kicked off a series of town hall style meetings to discuss an increasingly talked-about aspect of education both in the state and nationwide.   The “We Care” campaign started the first trio of a scheduled eight fori being held in cities in South, Central and North Florida.  Organized by local chapters of the Urban League and proponents of "school choice," The campaign had its first meeting at the Urban League of Miami amid a packed house of concerned residents, curious citizens, and members of the United Teachers of Dade. 

The Miami meeting was followed on consecutive nights by meetings in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale respectively.   

While the panelists assembled for the fori were fairly consistent, the tone and timbre of each meeting was markedly different.   Whereas the Palm Beach edition was quieter and the Fort Lauderdale forum was reserved and mostly light-hearted, the Miami meeting was contentious and inflamed as members of the audience, which was comprised mostly of teachers, and panelists clashed verbally and ideologically over each side’s perspective on the future of public education in Florida.   

T. Willard Fair, long-time head of Miami’s Urban League, opened the meeting with a outline for not just the first meeting but all 8 events throughout the state.  “The recipe for survival happens to be education,” said Fair who pointed out that “this is the first time that all 8 Urban Leagues” from Florida have coordinated efforts in such a manner.

Another panelist was Isha Haley, Executive Director of Black Floridians CARE.   Haley’s organization is focused, she said, on leadership in charter schools.  “We want to prepare black leaders for charter schools.”

“Leadership starts in our community,” said Haley who added that she has been “building this organization for a year and a half” but its origins actually date back over fifteen years earlier.  According to state records, Black Floridians CARE is the amended name of Floridians for School Choice.  Fair has been on the Board for the corporation since 2004. 

Nationwide, the Urban League has been supportive of charter schools dating back to 2000 when the National Urban League expressed its support of a pro-charter school bill in Washington State.   The Urban League has charter schools in Madison, Wisconsin and Pittsburgh.

As the tension in the Miami meeting escalated, Haley insisted that “we’re not here to advocate for any particular option” yet the composition of the panel was telling.   Fedrick Ingram, President United Teachers of Dade, observed that “we have a large private interest here.  On this stage there all types of charter school interests.”

At the Fort Lauderdale meeting, Haley restated her nonprofit’s goal of “creating talent pipeline” for black leaders of charter schools.    At this meeting, she mentioned that plans were under way for a proposed T. Willard Fair Fellowship which would identify 15 fellows to learn the business of and be groomed for opening and operating black-owned charter schools.   Haley and others were mum on the details promising, instead, more details leading up the expected launch of the program in January 2014

Troy Bell of StudentsFirst, shed light on Haley’s and Fair’s focus.   Bell said that there are currently 5,000 charter schools in the United States.  Only 3% of those charter schools are black-owned and/or –operated but 60% of the students enrolled in charter schools nationwide are black. 

Another panelist chosen for the We Care Campaign was Glen Gilzean from Step Up for Students.  “We provide scholarships” to private schools, Gilzean said, “for those families that want a religious education.”

Antonio White, a teacher and member of the UTD present at the Miami meeting, was not happy with what he was hearing.  “I don’t want my public dollars to go to private companies.”

At the Fort Lauderdale meeting, Shirley Baker asked Gilzean about the source of Step Up for Students’ funding.  “We raise the money through private donations” in exchange for tax credits, he replied.  

Federal tax documents from 2011 indicate that Step Up for Students spent $178,207 in on “lobbying” expenses.

Gilzean then touted a benefit of the private school option.  “Charters have to go through the school district. The State of Florida is really friendly to private schools.”  He added that there is  “no oversight…you can open up your own school in 30 days.”

The biggest source of tension seemed to be ideological.  

In his opening remarks in Fort Lauderdale, Bell mentioned “the founder of our organization” but did not actually say her name.  When the name of StudentsFirst’s founder, the controversial Michelle Rhee, was mentioned by White during the Miami meeting, Fair refused to indulge it saying that she was not present at the meeting.  Books with her name and photograph, however, were prominently displayed at a StudentFirst information table at the Fort Lauderdale meeting.


In an article published in late 2012 by Salon.com, StudentsFirst “backed” 105 candidates for political office that election and over 85% were conservatives.    According to income tax returns filled by StudentsFirst in Pennsylvania in 2011, “the purpose of Students First…is to support political candidates who are running for statewide office…who support charter schools and voucher programs.”

Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) study was cited by organizers on one side of the issue and supporters of public education on the opposite side.  “Only 17% of charter schools do better than public schools,” said Catherine Kim Owens, a parent in attendance, referencing the CREDO report.  Bell disagreed saying that the study showed that that figure was only for the first three years that a charter school is open.

Former Broward School Superintendent Jim Notter, who abruptly retired in 2011 in the aftermath of a grand jury charges of rampant corruption during his tenure, was also present at the Fort Lauderdale meeting.   Notter, who is also a member of the Urban League of Broward County’s Board of Directors, was visibly impressed by the discussion and enthusiastically offered his support to Haley “I’m available to you because you have a solution.” Before the meeting adjourned, Notter also commented on another benefit to school choice.  “You don’t have to deal with teachers’ unions.”

One teacher who did not want to give her name she she left the Miami meeting “feeling empty.”   

“What purpose did this meeting serve?”  

The teacher, who said she came to the forum trying to find out “what resources are there for the parents” said she was disappointed in the event.  “I could’ve been at home grading papers.”

*To read the article as it was printed in the South Florida Times, please click on this urlink.

Community’s drive for cityhood threatened by annexation plan

Community’s drive for cityhood threatened by annexation plan

Story & photographs by José Pérez

NORTH CENTRAL MIAMI-DADE – Efforts to create a new city out of a large area of unincorporated North Miami-Dade County are running into new obstacles. 

After waiting for a decade-long moratorium on incorporation to be lifted, supporters of the North Central Dade Area Municipal Advisory Committee (NCDA-MAC) say that neighboring municipalities are making moves to take annex key areas of the proposed city.

The Rev. Dr. Mark Gardner, senior pastor of Northside Church of God, a member of NCDA’s steering committee, said that Opa-locka has openly declared its intention to annex 822 acres of land located south of Northwest 127th Street, east of Northwest 27th Avenue, north of Northwest 107th Street and west of Northwest 37th Avenue. 

The area, listed in Opa-locka city records as “Annexation Area B,” sits in the northwest corner of the incorporation area originally outlined by NCDA leaders several years earlier.  

Opa-locka’s plans to annex the area are not mere speculation.  “They started their process and they are moving forward with it,” Gardner said.

Opa-locka’s Assistant City Manager David Chiverton confirmed that the annexation plan was approved earlier this summer by city leaders.  “Our [city] commission has approved the order,” said Chiverton, who added that there is currently “no timeline” as to when Opa-locka will advance the annexation process.

The motivation for opalocka city officials is simple: increased revenue. According to an annexation report published by the City of Opa-locka, acquiring the land would "expand city boundaries" to include commercial and industrial properties.  According to the report, this expansion is expected to generate revenue via "impact fees for development, code enforcement, [and] fines" in the annexed areas.

Mack Samuel, a member of the NCDA-MAC, said the area for Application B, which is primarily commercial, with warehouses in abundance, is estimated to be worth $266 million in taxable value annually – which would severely deplete the tax base of the proposed city.   Because there are no known residents living in that area, there is little to hinder Opa-locka – or other areas – from annexing it.

Ed Lopez, president of Antilles Freight Corporation, said that Hialeah has also expressed in interest in acquiring the area that Opa-locka is trying to annex ahead of any incorporation by the NCDA-MAC.  Calls to the City of Hialeah were not returned for confirmation before press time.

According to the Miami-Dade County Charter, a referendum on annexation or incorporation is not needed if less than 250 people live in the area in question.

Alarmed by the threat to their plans to create what would be Florida’s second-largest majority-black city after Miami Gardens, NCDA leaders addressed the Opa-locka City Commission in late July.

“Our position was to inform them that our process has been ongoing for the past 10 years.  We wanted to make sure that they were aware of that. Our desire was for them to put the brakes on it,” Gardner said.

Gardner and Mack were not alone in opposing the annexation plans in the Opa-locka Commission chambers. 

Some business owners in Application Area B also spoke out against the proposal.  Lopez said that the business community in Gratigny Industrial Park, where his business has been since the late 1990's, was not at all happy with the plan to bring them into Opa-locka.  The biggest concern cited by Lopez would be a spike in property taxes for him and his neighbors.   According to Miami-Dade County records, the millage rate for unincorporated Miami-Dade County – which the business are now paying – is under $2 for every $1,000 or taxable property value, whereas the rate for Opa-locka is just above $9, second-highest in the County behind Biscayne Park ($9.50).

“It doesn’t make any economic sense to be in Opa-locka,” Lopez said.

Lopez, Gardner, Mack and Felix Lasarte, an attorney representing Lopez and other business owners, all doubted that the anticipated steep increase in taxes will yield a corresponding improvement increase in services if the Opa-locka annexation effort succeeds.

Chiverton pointed out that the area is already being served by the Opa-locka police department. He acknowledged what he called “a cross-section of concerns” presented to the city commission related to cost and financial impact for local businesses. Water and sewage services for the area would picked up by Opa-locka if the annexation is approved.

“What services are they providing to offset” the increase in taxes, asked Lopez.   “They promised one more police officer but that won’t make a difference.”

For Opa-locka city leaders, the move has benefits for residents,  Chiverton said. He sees the proposed annexation as a way to create jobs by attracting businesses with manufacturing and assembly specialties.

“The interest of the city is to complete what the commission approved,” he said

Lopez disagreed, saying, “It’s going to be a ghost town.”

Asked if business owners will consider suing to stop the annexation, Lasarte said that “all options are on the table.”

“The property owners intend to protect themselves.  They want to have a say in the process,” he said.

The NCDA-MAC also wants to ensure that any annexation move is decided by residents.

“It is important that the area be given an opportunity to incorporate,” Gardner said.

“The citizens deserve the right to vote,” Mack added.        

For the record, NCDA organizers do not yet know what its mill would be.  When asked, Lopez said he prefers that the area remain unincorporated but he had to "choose from the lesser of three evils," he'd pick Hialeah because their millage rate is 6.3.

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