Look. I don't know what Max Rameau did before Umoja Village became his cause, but it's enough for me that an African American emerged who is willing to stand up for principles, never mind what the status quo says.
There are two models for leadership: in one case, a powerful elite selects and promises to support someone for political office who, in return, is faithful to what they want. He or she doesn't have to be well-spoken, just able to follow a script. In the second case, a leader emerges from a cause that energizes voters: it could be good government, it could be a specific neighborhood issue. In this case, he or she must be resourceful and willing to stand up to the status quo.
Although Max Rameau has not run for public office, so far as I know, he is an example of the second model and one worthy of note in the African American community that has surrendered, over a very long period of time, to its bit-player role in the Miami-Dade political elite. (Arthur Teele is another story, in and of himself.)
Anyhow, here's some praise for Max Rameau and an acknowledgement of the important role of grass roots groups in the African American community: you do have the power, the causes, and the capacity to change political equations in Miami and Miami-Dade county.
I would reprint the full text of Max Rameau's OPED, but the Herald's website opinion page / special contributors is notoriously difficult to navigate and find. Maybe a reader can add it to the comments section...
10 comments:
Love you Max!!
I couldn't find it on the Herald site.
Cities' building social housing has a long history, going back to the Amsterdam School in the 1890s to 1900s and the efforts on Manchester and Glasgow to improve the terrible conditions of the industrial working class. Much of this came of the co-operative movement, Robert Owen in Manchester and the jewish-socialist Housing Associations of the Amsterdam School (that still run some of the most interesting and well kept social housing in the world). Often, however, it was not lead by the rich or even middle class activists but by regular people who were interested in improving their lot in life.
123,564 by Max Rameau
Miami-Dade's airwaves, op-ed pages and water cooler discussions are alive with vigorous condemnations of the gross public corruption and pilfering of funds earmarked for low-income housing. While such discussion is just and appropriate, particularly in the context of a devastating crisis of gentrification and low-income housing, not nearly enough time, energy and brain power is devoted to solving the housing crisis itself.
While shocking, immoral and criminal, the reality is that the impact of public corruption on the crisis pales in comparison to the impact of bad public policy on the crisis. If government officials stop stealing tomorrow, or, God forbid, they are actually charged with stealing, the crisis itself would continue, unabated, because there is neither the political will nor the plan to build enough low-income housing to meet the demand. Therefore, ending corruption is important, but insufficient, in addressing this crisis.
In October 2006, the Miami-Dade Department of Planning and Zoning updated its 25 year Comprehensive Development Master Plan (CDMP), outlining challenges, goals and objectives for several strategic 'elements,' including transportation, conservation, waste management and the like. On page one of the Housing Element of the CDMP, census and housing data is used to conclude the county "will require 294,200 new housing units" by 2025, of which "about 42 percent... will be needed by very low and low-income households."
123,564.
To adequately address the continuing crisis of gentrification and housing, 123,564 new low and very low income housing units must be built. This number, the CDMP stresses, will not address the current crisis, only the future.
This is not a stunt promoted by radical fringes or a conjured total invented by special interest groups. 123,564 is derived by professional staff paid to develop public policy objectives based on measurable needs and without regard for political considerations.
During this time of budget cuts and housing busts, the notion of building 123,564 housing units, substantially subsidized by public money, is a grand idea whose time has come. This idea requires shifting budget priorities, focusing talent, pooling resources and, yes, ending public corruption.
The lofty objective of providing housing for human beings, our neighbors, friends and even family, is not something one county or large city can accomplish alone. Every municipality, even the wealthy ones, must contribute their fair share to the total; Corporations must reinvest profits back into the communities which enrich them; professionals must contribute their talents and skills; social justice organizations must dedicate their organized energy; and individuals must give of their time; all for the greater good.
Experience teaches us that simply building the requisite number of units will not resolve this dire situation. Thus, the 123,564 new units must be built inside of at least three parameters.
First, once built, the units must be occupied by low and very low income residents, not sold to politically connected developers who "flip" the units into profitability for them and out of affordability for the poor. Second, development must mesh with other common objectives, such as mass transportation and meeting the unique social and cultural needs of the community the project serves, not the developer or gentrifyers.
Third, in function and in form, the new wave of development must be both humanitarian and green. In times of water shortages, spiraling energy costs and other environmental impacts, a socially conscious green wave of development is the only way to ensure the sustainable economic and social growth of a community and the survival of our planet. Development must take place with reverence for green spaces, animal habitats and our finite water supply, among other factors.
Two things are needed to accomplish this objective: first, the political will and a solid plan. But ready or not, by 2025 over 100,000 additional families will need low income housing in South Florida, and the conditions under which they will live then- in clean, safe housing or in shantytowns- will be determined by what we do now.
Too much money? Too much trouble? What is the alternative?
Today, approximately 50,000 luxury condos prepare for grand opening, presumably followed by foreclosure and indefinite vacancy. Meanwhile, over 40,000 families languish on the county's housing assistance wait list, a number, according to the CDMP, which will grow exponentially. What happens when tens of thousands of home-less people suddenly realize they are living in the shadow of people-less homes?
The question is not what is the alternative to building all of those units, but rather what is the alternative to what will happen when they are not built. The answer is as easy as
123,564.
We invite and challenge every organization and individual concerned with the crisis of gentrification and housing to join the effort to build 123,564 new low and very-low income units in Miami-Dade County by 2025.
Max Rameau
Take Back the Land
I wish Max Rameau would stop wasting time looking for free housing and instead he would spend all his time advocating for his people and all people to stay in school and get educated. If people stay in school and work hard they can get jobs and pay for their own housing.
And Max Rameau is the same guy who encouraged drug addicts to squat on public land illegally. Those squatters drove the existing neighbors crazy. The neighbors were all working people and paying taxes and the squatters were living for free and ruining their neighborhood.
Sure there are problems. Not every problem is solved by richer people writing checks to poorer people.
First of all you must be rich because it is well known that the middle class including intellectual workers like teachers and university professors have been priced out of the housing market already due to an economy built upon affluent investors and speculators. And then I must ask what proof do you offer that Rameau did not have the support of the neighborhood for Umoja Village? Was it that neighbors allowed Umoja to borrow electricity? Was it that fundraisers and community events were and are still held in the neighborhood? If you knew more about the project you would already know that it was an local project developed from the community and supported by activists from the "neighborhood." Anti-intellectualism is indeed a fault to be condemned as is arguing without any facts, supporting evidence, or proof. The hard-working neighbors knew that they had more in common with the sqwarders than the corrupt officials trying to evict them. Maybe that is a lesson if learned by our middle classes than we would have universal health care, secure pensions, and affordable university education.
To maybe...
So are you advocating for rich people paying for the housing for poor people?
And I learned that neighbors were disgusted about the drug addict squatters from reading the newspapers and watching them testify on TV. Would you want a bunch of drug addicts squatting across the street from your house? Perhaps you could invite them over?
And why can't Max advocate for people working harder and taking responsibility for their own bills?
The rich are part of this society weather or not they think they can jet off to somewhere else and thus must take responsibility for those less fortunate, for the environmental externalities caused by their activities, and to ease the social divisions that are caused by their disparities of wealth and power. What a novel concept, social housing, universal health insurance, and a social contract between all members of society. A contract between the rich and the poor would ensure social stability. Do you really think that all of those gated communities, well paid police forces and private security guards are going to protect the rich from the poor better than re-distributive programs that ensure everybody has a fair chance to succeed and access to the basics of human life? Moreover, what kind of society do you want to build where everybody is gaming everybody else to get ahead? Sounds more like like some class divided third-world nation than a civilized stable western country to me.
It appears almost every poor person in Miami-Dade County wants to sit at home and get free housing and free money from the rich people who get up early and who go to work and create value. Who are the employers? Who takes the risks and starts companies? Shouldn't we reward hard work and risk takers?
Why can't people advocate for better education? Why can't people advocate for technical training? Electricians make $70 per hour.
What is a contract between rich and poor? Is that a contract that states rich people promise to pay 30% of their earnings (earned through working 60 hour weeks) to slacker drug addict poor people?
My God person....can you really see the world like that? I think this is the wrong blog for you. Maybe Bill O is the guy you should be watching.
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