Homeless trust disputes Umoja Village land deal according to today’s Miami Herald. Max’s Rameau’s group had struck a deal with the City of Miami for the land that housed the illegal squatter village (which burned down in April). Max it seems, took matters into his own hands to shine a light on homelessness with the formation of the village some months back to "Take back the Land." However, now very rich Ron Book, the head of another Homeless advocate group, is mad because their toes are being stepped on. Boo Hoo.Max Rameau couldn’t even get his name spelled correctly in today’s Herald article whereas Book’s name is spelled right. Plus, as you can see, he does not have a glamour shot on-line like Ron Book does. How does Max expect to win? Does he know who he is dealing with: Fast talking, power player, the snippy, acid-tongued Ron? It appears the savvy Max does seem to know:
'I respect Ron Book for his work with the Homeless Trust,'' Rameau said Friday. ``But the Liberty City community and others have given broad support to this idea. I don't know that a big-time millionaire lobbyist can tell us what is best for Liberty City and the black community.''
Touché! (Readers: We have a lot of recent posts, keep scrolling!)
21 comments:
Ron may have become rich by being smarter and knowing politics. But he is no different then most lawyers. He has a client and he fights hard and if necessary dirty to win for his client. As do they all.So do not attack Ron. Attack his client who is telling him what he wants.
Ron didn't have to become a lobbyist. He had a choice.
Is Book always just acting on behalf of clients? Here's what the Herald said about him on the recent billboard issue:
"A ... worrisome aspect of this [Miami-Dade County] ordinance is the role played by lobbyist Ron Book. Make that roles. Mr. Book lobbies for Miami-Dade County in the Legislature. He also lobbies the Miami-Dade Commission on behalf of his other clients. Mr. Book was a consultant for the billboard company during its negotiations with North Miami. Mr. Book says he became part owner of the billboard company only after the settlement was struck. Then he lobbied Miami-Dade commissioners, on behalf of North Miami, he says, to amend the county's billboard ordinance. Conflicted? That's an understatement."
"The ubiquity of Mr. Book's lobbying is no secret. But no lobbyist who works for a government should be able to petition that same government on behalf of another client, much less for his own financial interests."
If you talk to Max he is smart and knows politics, he just has a different goal than making money. If some citizens don#t think that the betterment of the community is a superior goal to making money through government corruption then no wonder Miami is in such a state! Way to go eyeonmiami for lauding our real hometown heros!
I think Ron Book became rich by being unethical, not because he is smarter than anyone else or knows politics better. Didn't he plead guilty to skirting campaign finance laws back in the 1990's? And wasn't he also arrested on insurance fraud charges in the 1980's, ultimately pleading no contest to submitting a falsely notarized affidavit?
Jim Defede wrote a great piece on Book's history for the New Times back in 1995 titled Crime & Politics. You may not have read it back then because Book allegedly removed all of the newspapers from the newsstands that week.
Ron Book was breaking the law in N. Miami and in Miami-Dade County at the same time he was billing Miami-Dade County for "lobbyist" work. (Makes M-D County administrators look stupid doesn't it? They paid his invoices.) Ron Book was putting illegal billboards in N. Miami. Now it turns out Book is an owner of the company installing and profiting from illegal billboards.
Max Rameau is much too naive. When his shantytown "residents" were offered jobs none would show up two days in a row. How can he expect homeless people to cover the bills on $225,000 condos? Even if "dumb-as-a-brick" Spence-Jones gives her people condos they do not earn enough to cover taxes, maintenance and utilities. (A mortgage?) Spence-Jones dooms them to failure.
Every contract should go out for bid. And every bidder should be a well funded established experienced housing builder.
Out to bid by RFP? They are stacked many times for only one biddger.
I was at the Umoja village. I believe there are people there that could not hold a job. Do you not deserve a home if you can't hold a job? Is that what we have come to? Do we not care for the people who are caught in the cracks? No on crack but caught between a rock and hard place. This "go out and get a job bootstrap stuff" gets me ill. Some people cannot work. It is reality. They might have mental conditions or medical conditions that prevent them from working --don't beat them down a second time.
Should deadbeats and lazy people be given $300,000 condos as Spence-Jones and Max Rameau demand? Who do you think comes up with the $300,000?
Sure some people are mentally ill or just too brain damaged from drugs and abuse. Put those people in institutions do not give them condos. You just set them up for another failure. And you take away money and housing from families who still have potential.
Second time? Some people have been arrested 10-20 times. Some people have commited a hundred crimes. Some people do crack 5 times a day. Some people cannot work two days in a row. What are you talking about? Some of these people have been given 1,000's of chances. If you like them so much take them into your house at your expense.
be serious ---
we have many of these that we support -- they are called relatives.
genious
I usually go with you, but there are plenty of people who can work, and chose not to. They feel there is some sort of entitlement, or that it's just easier not to work.
If you are claiming, all the folks who do not work can't because of some malady, you're wrong on this one.
Well we are doing such a great job of recreating Victorian England (deserving and undeserving poor/famous jails and much petty crime) or current Latin American (racial divisions and shanty towns) conditions in Miami should it be no surprise to any of us when the next wave of riots, or other forms of class conflict strike our confortable lives. With a colapse of skilled and unskilled construction employment upon us perhaps we should be more eager to engage in symbolic politics to the poor.
moderate =
you spelled my name wrong: Genius!
I know what you are saying. But what do you with the homeless? I don't have the answers. I was out there to Umoja Village. I saw the wide range of people that they had living there. It would be hard to imagine some of them fitting into to a 9 to 5 work environment. They were all very nice to me, and friendly. I don't have the answers, but I know the Government doesn't. What do we do --return to the poor houses of days of old? Are shelters the only thing we can offer these individuals? Isn't it nice to have belongings somewhere? What do we do?
I don't think Max is planning on $300,000 condos. I think he would be more inclined to have efficiencies...wouldn't you think? Most of the people there were singles.
from their website:
Take Back the Land, the Rameau group that founded Umoja, has formed a sister agency, Serve the People, Inc., which has a 501(c)3 non-profit application pending. The non-profit would serve as a landtrust and take ownership of the lots at corner of 62nd Street and Northwest 17th Avenue.
A preliminary proposal calls for $3 million in financing from the city and $7 million from Miami-Dade County. The bottom floor of the development would include some type of commercial space for small businesses and for social service agencies. The housing above would include a mix of transitional, low-income and possibly workforce housing, depending on what the Liberty City community wants.
Outreach surveys are being done by the Umoja activits to get community input.
The proposal from the activists says they would include a clause that would require the land and money to revert back to the city and county if malfeasance is found, or there is a general lack of progress in the development.
I once shook Ron Book's hand and afterwards I had to check to see if I had any fingers missing.
from a press release by Max:
In spite of this ground breaking political solution, to the direct benefit of the Liberty City community, the powers that be at the Homeless Trust are preparing to use their status as gatekeepers to unilaterally crush the Umoja Rising. The Trust claims it only opposes the lack of a bid process in conveying the land, however, it is clear this argument is only a front used to legitimize what is opposition to the project based on petty, not principled, reasons. Not only is there no written policy against local governments offering no-bid contracts or land, the Trust's chairman has personally lobbied for no-bid contracts in the past, while the Trust itself continues to support and fund two agencies who received no-bid contracts. Not surprisingly, the Trust's chair is on the payroll of one of those organizations, while the other one votes to give him money.
The Homeless Trust is the clearinghouse for agencies and programs impacting the homeless in Miami-Dade County. Ron Book, the chair of the Trust, argues that the publicly owned lot should be put out to bid instead of directly conveyed. To be sure, this is not an unreasonable position, in and of itself, particularly in the context of recent corruption scandals. However, it must also be noted that most of the scandals recently reported have involved cases in which bids were used. The bid process is not free from the corrupting influences of money, crooked politicians or unethical lobbyists.
In this instance, direct conveyance is not only appropriate, it is the right thing to do and supported by the impacted community. Those who disagree are free, and encouraged, to voice their opinion at the Commission meeting. What Book and the Trust are doing, however, is not just voicing, or even lobbying for, their position. They are circumventing the political process in order to make unilateral decisions, behind closed doors, which will doom the project regardless of its support in the community or by elected officials.
In order to finance low-income supportive housing, builders must apply for state tax credits, a process which requires the signature of the Homeless Trust. Even if the land is properly and legally conveyed, enjoys broad community support and meets all other requirements, the Homeless Trust can unilaterally, without an open and transparent process kill the entire deal, simply by refusing to sign. The project will not qualify for tax credits, which are, incidentally, awarded via competitive bid by the state of Florida, not the Homeless Trust.
Consequently, even if the black community garners the political power to win the land, Ron Book and the Trust can kill the deal by denying us the funding required to build on the land.
Two fundamental issues are at stake with the Ron Book/Homeless Trust opposition to the Umoja Rising conveyance.
First, there are serious public policy implications involved when an unelected county agency unilaterally imposes demands on the political process of sovereign municipal governments. When local elected governmental bodies determine processes by which they award contracts or convey land, and the process is legal and not corrupt, the mayor can veto and the courts can overturn. If the Trust has its way here, unelected agencies could use the power of the purse to trump decisions made by elected officials.
When unsatisfied with housing policies, community organizations petitioned local elected governments for changes in policies, laws and budget priorities. Who elects Ron Book? How are the policies of the Homeless Trust determined? Where are those polices published (they are not on the Homeless Trust website)? What is the recourse if those policies are bad or unpopular or themselves illegal or corrupt?
Worse still, what happens when two or more agencies enforce conflicting policy demands? What if, due to recent revelations of influence peddling during the bidding process, Community Development demands all contracts must be awarded by direct votes of the commission, without bids? With each agency refusing to approve projects which fail to meet their own internal, and secret, policy objectives, the level of gridlock would ensure no project ever proceeds.
The second issue at stake is simple fairness and consistency. Does the Homeless Trust have a written, verifiable policy opposing no-bid contracts, for products/services or land and second, has the Trust ever continued a relationship with an agency which received a no-bid contract for products/services or land?
Prior to addressing the Trust itself, because Ron Book is personally advocating, it is appropriate to explore his own personal commitment to this position. Given Miami-Dade County's reputation for influence peddling, it would be difficult to imagine that a high powered lobbyist has never advocated for a no-bid contract.
In early 2001, South Stevedoring, Inc. was awarded a 20-year cargo terminal operating lease from the Broward County Commission, without a bidding procedure or process. The award was controversial not only because one of South Stevedoring's founders was indicted on corruption charges related to that company's work in the Port of Miami, but because another firm vied for the contract by offering Broward County $750,000 more per year in return. Ron Book represented South Stevedoring, arguing that the company should get the contract in spite of the controversy and without a bid process.
The Miami Herald reported: "There was no bidding procedure... South Stevedoring has hired well-connected lobbyists and political consultants Ron Book and Judy Stern to convince the County Commission to endorse that choice." Clearly, there is no principled opposition to the no-bid process.
The Homeless Trust Supports No-Bid Winners
As far as we have been able to determine, the Homeless Trust does not have an official policy regarding the manner in which contracts or land is awarded to agencies outside of the Homeless Trust itself. That is to say, even if the Homeless Trust itself only awards contracts and conveys land via the bid process, it does not have a policy requiring its agencies to win all other contracts and land in the same manner from other sources. Such a policy would appear invasive not only of the agency, but of local governments as well. The merits of the policy aside, it does not seem to actually exist.
None-the-less, the Trust, through chair Ron Book, is claiming that they "don't support giving any deal"- presumably land or other financial contract- without a bid process. In practice, however, the Trust has, and continues to support those deals.
JESCA
The James E Scott Community Association, whose executive director is Miami-Dade Commissioner Dorrin Rolle, under a constant ethical cloud for his dealings with land and housing issues, is in the Homeless Trust continuum of care, even after reports of severe financial mismanagement, including accounts overdrawn by over $300,000. More germane here, JESCA has been awarded multiple no bid contracts by Miami-Dade County, including one by the infamous Miami-Dade Housing Corporation.i <#sdendnote1sym> In all, JESCA received approximately $220,000 per year in no-bid grants from Miami-Dade Countyii <#sdendnote2sym> , the government which funds and houses the Homeless Trust.
In spite of these facts, well documented in the media, the Trust continues to include JESCA in its continuum of care, even listing them on the Trust's official directory of supportive housing services,iii <#sdendnote3sym> the same directory in which the Umoja Rising development would one day be listed.
New Horizons
During the November 3, 2005 meeting, then District 5 Commissioner Jeffery Allen motioned to give both the land and the apartment complex on the land, located on the corner of 60th St. and NW 12th Ave., just seven blocks from the Umoja Village, to New Horizons, for free.iv <#sdendnote4sym> The commission approved, with support from the Mayor's office, and the land was conveyed in February 2006 for $0.00v <#sdendnote5sym> . The apartment complex is currently used as supportive housing and New Horizons is on the Homeless Trust continuum of care and directory of supportive housing services.
In neither instance was the Trust recorded as either opposing the no-bid deal or, more importantly, the agency's subsequent inclusion in the continuum of care, and the benefits included therein.
Why the nonchalance regarding no-bid contracts one minute and the hard line opposition to them the next? Perhaps one reason is that both agencies are exceptions to the "policy," is that they both, in one way or another, have paid Ron Book.
Ron Book is a paid lobbyist for Miami-Dade County, a contract for which he was paid $200,000 in 2006 for his work in Tallahassee alonevi <#sdendnote6sym> . Dorrin Rolle is not only the executive director of JESCA, he sits on the board that votes to give Book the $200,000.
Oddly enough, Book is also a paid lobbyist for New Horizons. In 2006, when their land deal was consummated, Book was paid approximately $40,000 by New Horizons to lobby on their behalf in Tallahassee. During this same time, Book, as Chair of the Trust, is helping make decisions about how much support to provide to his client, New Horizons.
We have been unable to find a Homeless Trust policy regarding board members who vote on Trust agencies while simultaneously receiving checks from them, but this would probably represent a better use of their time than trying to control the way government bodies convey their land.
In the context of the crisis of gentrification and low-income housing, direct conveyance of land for the building of Umoja Rising is legal, proper, appropriate and the right thing to do. There is legitimate concern as to whether the organized and powerful opposition to the project is based on principle, or if the "bid policy" argument is merely a smokescreen used to justify unprincipled opposition.
We implore the city Commission to vote for the conveyance of land for the Umoja Rising project and people of good conscience to come out and support the proposal.
Note: Serve the People, Inc., a 501(c)3 pending organization, is partnering with Carrfour Supportive Housing, the (a) premier supportive housing building in the state of Florida, and NANA, the premier small business support organization in Miami-Dade County, to build Umoja Rising.
Oh come on now. We all know that Ron was given his position by the people he always represents. And that aint us.
Max Rameau wants the City to give him (Max Rameau) taxpayer owned land eventhough he has no net worth and he is not a builder. Would not Max Rameau scream bloody murder if the City or County gave taxpayer owned land to someone else equally not qualified?
And just because stupid Miami-Dade County administrators gave away land in the past is no excuse for continued stupid decisions. Who is looking out for the taxpayers?
Well we already know what happens to the taxpayers when we give Brooks money. Why not take a chance and give some money to a really popular cause (note not individually) lead by someone who actually cares for the community and takes no salary for his activism. Unlike our commissioners in the black community.
Taxpayer here says that taxpayer owned land should only go to very experienced developers who have actual experience building on-time and on budget AND said developer must apply for and receive a loan from a bank prior to getting any taxpayer funds.
Why give our land to more light weights?
I have to take a shower anytime I am forced to deal with Mr. Book.
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