e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e Tuesday March the 2nd 20125 and you're I'm
sorry thank you good afternoon today is Tuesday March 11 2025 and you're at the city of opaka c meeting uh Madame clerk can you call the role please board member
bass board member Irvin board member Kelly present board member Taylor present Vice chair Williams present brce board member Santiago here board chair Russell here would you stand for the Pledge of
Allegiance and we're gonna ask board M Kelly if you would give us an invocation please invocation first Eternal God our Father we thank you for all your many blessings we thank you for this day we thank you God as you come together give
us wisdom knowledge and understanding through those things which are pleasing in your sight in Jesus name we do pray amen am indivisible liy and jusice for all thank everyone for being here today and uh this is National Women's history
month so shout out to all the beautiful ladies in the community in the city that make us make this world so great all us great women make this world run right okay I didn't hear it right yes okay
okay we make the world run Mr director are there any add on yes ma'am I'd like to add on um under discussion items I would like to add um Florida legislature
CRA um sorry Florida legislature CRA bills that are going through the House and Senate right now um an update on the properties that we're
purchasing and and that's it okay uh Mr attorney how do we handle that we we could put them I'm sorry to answer for him but we could put it under as two and three under discussion items okay I believe that board member
uh uh Kelly may have to leave early so um what's the will of the board as to I know he would like to be in on those discussions so what's the will of the board maybe we can move them up so some or I'd like to recommend we move it up
okay because I think the uh those are important items that the Mr director needs to discuss with the full board while we're here the other items are just um I mean I don't know if the board wants to take them all at once to have the attorney read them but all of those
are just approving uh rehab Grant rehab applications and uh project consultants for those there's a mixture of commercial rehab stuff here as well as uh some homeowner rehab stuff they got be done individually okay what member
Kelly is saying that excuse me they need to be done individually that's right okay so um we're gonna open up for public comments public comments is now open good evening my name is CA puit I
reside at 2350 Northwest 141 Street um I would might well can you say that 141 Street you said yes okay I'd like to to ask about the um
the gardening gardening uh for for the homeowners I'm interested in that along with some other residents they asked me about it the vegetable garden so if you all are still offering that I'm one of the ones that's interested along with a
few others that have asked me about it also secondly um that are you all doing any house painting renovating any houses and everything I just like to see if my address is one of the ones designated if
not then so be it I'll do what I need to do on that but I just want to bring that to you all just to see and anything else that um uh the CRA is offering to the citizens I like to be informed of that as well so I can relay that to some of
my neighbors who are asking me yes ma'am I don't know why they think I know everything anyway you you in the know all but thank you that's it thank you all right uh uh Mr director if at the end when if we don't have any more um
citizens anyone else here for Citizens [Music] Forum if not citizens forum and Club no no no hold on one second I don't think she understands so let me if you can open it up one more time or vote to open it up okay I'll reopen at the will of
the board yes okay I'll reopen citizens form go ahead Mr director ma'am you were standing up my office after I left today and you said you wanted to speak this is your opportunity to speak speak or otherwise you won't have an opportunity my name is Sandra rice I
work with merik women Williams some of you know um he owns two properties now uh 1011 shirra and 102 Perry Street 1210 what is it 1210 1210 I know I mean 1211
Perry Street there's so many addresses in man I just wanted to offer that we're willing we want to come in and we want to help brighten up the community um any services that needed I also have a landscaping so if there's any yards or something we're willing to help and work
with the community we want to be part of opaka because I know Merica is already part of it but we're trying to have our business here open an office property management and real estate so if there's anything that we can assist you I know Miss Russell she's a great lady so if
there's anything that we can help with we just give us a call thank you okay thank you so much um yes as I told her she can come see me anytime and when we can discuss the properties as long as they're within the
CRA we can uh possibly assist with the development assistance agreement um and that was about it but she will come and talk to us at the office but I know she was adamant about speaking tonight so okay okay all right anyone else for Citizens
for Forum if not citizens forum is closed uh Mr director would you like to address um the community guard yes ma'am I'm gonna get your name and number uh if you
can give that to Peggy over here and I'm going to contact you to get the list of the other people that are interested and we will hold a meeting with you all in the next two weeks or so uh we had a a meeting regarding the community garden program I think two weeks ago Friday uh and making plans get that started you
probably notice that we put one of our our our signs on that property that we purchased on Alibaba um that's going to be our first community garden effort um we're now getting the surveys done and the water put on on that site but that's
going to be our focal location and then we will run everything from that location and then set up Community Gardens and people's homes um from there but we will now that you have a list that that's great uh we'll hold a meeting with you guys uh we'll show you what you can help us with at the at the
community garden and also what we need to help you with with planting uh Gardens in your own homes so if you give me that list I think that's a good you know you said there are other people five is a good number to start with and we'll get everybody together within the next two
weeks sounds great uh board members anyone else Madam chair I don't want to hold up time but you said you had a meeting for community garden somewhere The Intern oh internally yes sir oh okay cuz I that's my first time hearing about going
out to the public so you interal meeting yeah it wasn't the public it was with the people that are going to help us run that program uh and how those people must be already talking they gotta be talking all because how else would people know about
it well we we passed this program I believe I know we passed the program but I I didn't know we had actually like kicked it off for whatever no we talked this I mean there are people that actually watch this thing and they call us and uh they want to be involved um
and so it it's it wasn't a it wasn't any advertisement or anything on our part I think it was just basically Word of Mouth um that we were doing this we did have to cut the budget in our last meeting um we we we cut the budget in half um but we still have enough I think
to get going and get moving uh on the program and that's partly what the meeting was about was the reshaped the program knowing that we had a smaller budget to work with but I think we're we're good um we're going to start like I said at the property that we purchase at
2145 um and then we also have two Property Owners on that same street uh that have offered to um put their property in the in the in the in the pool so we'll have three properties on um Alibaba uh that we'll have Community
Gardens on hopefully within the next couple months right thank you mad chair oh uh board member Santiago oh thank you Madame chair um this only a question to the director um like today I found about
this project for the uh community community garden um I never heard about it but now I like to see or I like to know what is that me for the private residents or only for the Medias or that
we have both for both both so we plan on doing Community Gardens on property that we have and property that people donate to us uh to plant fruits and vegetables most only mostly vegetables because fruit takes a longer time um so we need a property that we're going to own and
not do something with with that but uh mostly vegetables we'll have a proper two or three properties right now as it stands um that are fairly sizable uh that we can plant on and then we're also going to have people this other group that I'm telling you we're working with
they will come in they will organize with the residents and go to their homes and and and plant Gardens in their backyards or front yards now that the state law allows you to do that um and then help them and teach them how to maintain and grow vegetables in their
own garden so it's two we'll have Gardens in people's home private homes and we'll also have Community Gardens um and we're going to be working with the nonprofit here I think it's a veterans veterans group uh to help give away the stuff that we grow uh to the local
community that's good that's the idea that's the reason why they asking because I had so many people calling me all the time for thing that I never heard in my life here um because we have we still have that little problem in the city the whole city that we not communicating with the people outside
everything that we do but okay another thing is it's very good to know all the members okay for the C we need to know ahead of time you know whatever we do like somebody called me the other day that we that we giveing money in away to
buy cars I say what is that me that's new you know they call me when things that you say wait a minute what's going on um another one call me the that they helping the mechanic shops and all that and I said probably only for painting yeah but not to give you money and a way
to buy equipments and all that well um we need more more information about what's going on with the uh CRA we'll do yeah I know we have set up our updated our we one of one of the two websites
that we're trying to get started the C has two websites one we have no control over one we do uh and we put updates on that one we've also updated the Facebook page uh with some new with with programming that we're doing that we're trying to promote um so we'll try to do
a better but we have not advertised this year yet uh we're waiting until we you know understood what where we were going to go uh and when we get there we'll do some advertisement um and and then we'll share that with the board before it goes out to the public um and speaking of
mechanic shop I know this was an important I know this not on the agenda but today I think you'd be happy to know that we signed off on um the grant to paint the tire the two Tire the tire building on 27th in Alibaba and the and the second
building behind that they got their application in they got their two quotes in so we signed off on that so hopefully that will be painted um very soon so 27th Avenue will look a little better um very soon not a little better we want that
that that corner there look very nice and better yes yeah not a little thank you and uh just a a followup on the community garden the majority of the uh
inquiries have come from the citizens to us about the community to the uh and I've directed them to staff concerning the community garden so the community is really interested in uh learning how to do community gardens in their yard as
well as participating in the one that we're looking to do on our property so it's a good start and thank you all so much for your interest for your interest because I know you all have called several times about it yeah
mad chair yes sir it's not only in the backyard they talking also about the Garden in front of the house I think the the state have passed the law now that they can do that in the front of the house
okay okay citizen oh you want to move to the update from the state you want to do the resol I think uh Vice chair do we need to approve the minutes from the last meeting there's no minutes
to did I over that oh okay did I do that what happened okay okay all right so then the minutes from the previous meeting we will hold them over to the next meeting okay to say it out no was blaming
you okay all right so we should have another person that's going to be uh keeping the minutes by next meeting possibly yes possibly we should have someone okay
okay then we'll move right along to the resolutions Mr attorney please thank you um thank you chair and thank you board members um on resolution number one the first one has resolution of the board um authorizing the executive director to enter into a license agreement under the
commercial rehab program for the property located at 1434 49 Northwest 27th Avenue and to execute any and all documents NE necessary to acate the program and I'll have our project manager Jerome explain all of these
items these are all his and Miss Von some of them Miss Fons he's gonna explain all of them okay hello everyone um f in the mic please the first resolution that is for
the I believe the name of the business is JR CV joints on the corner of 27th the same corner you were just talking about that that is the auto shop directly across from the Chinese restaurant okay the former Chinese restaurant and so we plan to paint and
work on their parking lot wow that's going to be fantastic for you beautiful okay for that someone move it please move move by Vice chair Williams second by board member uh
Taylor any discussion okay if not call for the question please um do we wanna go ahead motion is there a motion in a second we did uh vice vice CH sure hi let the record Rec
reflect that board member Irvin she was out enjoy women's History Month go ahead Madam clerk will I skip her for this Vote or excuse me shall I skip her for this vote no she's in okay cause she
didn't hear the discussion okay um board member Kelly yes board member Irvin okay board member Taylor yes Vice chair Williams yes board member Santiago of course
yes Bo chair Russell yes okay uh that was the property on 27th Avenue and the tire store right across the street from the Chinese restaurant they finally allowing us to do some work
paint the building in the parking lot okay number two Madam chair can we get a package for commission board member Irving please got you Mr manager Mr senior has a second license
agreement um for the board to consider under the commercial rehab program for the property located at 1360 shahazad Boulevard this is our home's Apartments speaking of the in the M I'm sorry this is our home's Apartments directly behind
the Arabian liquor store on 27 they started painting and we are going to assist with um P for the paint for the remaining buildings that need to be painted that's the apartment complex apartment complex directly behind the
Arabian liquor store on Alibaba they go by the name of our home Apartments so they're doing a complete renovation of that apartment building as you've seen um Plumbing electrical um I think it's about 2 and A5 million dollar worth of work they painted two buildings I think
so far um and we and they've asked us CU they need all the help they could get if we can help paint the remaining two or three buildings three build three buildings Madam chair board member Kelly
I I won't hold it up but I got a semi challenge with that when you're getting subsidies and assistance from the government already and then we're going to help them out with painting um yeah I have a concerned with
that if they had no funding or was a you know some some other way but you said they they embarked on two and a half million dollar whatever and I'm quite sure some of that funding is coming from um other sources I put it like that
um I guess the question I have because we would make the assumption that the folks staying there our residents our you know our community residents so that's our Buy in the question I have are they going to see some relief because we're helping with this project
and their rent um because is contributing no because as you pointed out they already received subsidies for those um residents uh number one number two uh it's not it's not a great deal of money uh that we're contributing it's
it's it's a part of our mission uh I I I understand that that that what I understand your point um I think it's I think I think the total would came up to $18,000 19,000 yes it's not a large amount it's not it's not a large amount
of money to try to extract anything out of uh from subsidies for the residents um you know they are doing a lot of work I've went there they they they're doing one apartment building at a time uh they're moving people from one apartment to the newer Apartments then they're
fixing up the older apartments and then moving people into those you can tell that they've spent you know they're trying I met with them twice now I know that they're trying to bring up the place um and I believe that you know doing what we're supposed to be doing which is clearing slum and blight U
providing them with a grant for paint um for $20,000 to finish the other three buildings I was actually going to come to you for more because I just don't want the painting done I want the fence fixed and some Landscaping done on the side we're going to get to that part later but again it's up to you uh this
is your decision um but I I think it's not a Not a Bad Thing Madam chair yes uh Vice chair to the director um I'm curious do we know if they are going to uh increase their rents so oftentimes when uh owners
do Renovations like that they will increase their rents is that something that you all discussed it is something that we discussed and they told us no because most of those people as the vice mayor pointed out are most of those departments are already subsidized um I believe through Section
8 and other programs um so I think there are restrictions there that won't even allow them to raise the rent I would be okay approving this I mean it's a small amount but um I would love some prot I don't know if there's
some type of clause that we can add to it that ensures that they really don't um increase those rents and just to point out to uh the the vice mayor also and the rest of the board um you know they could have come in and asked for 100 as a matter of fact they hinted that that's what they wanted and
not to get into all of that stuff I thought this was the simplest way to help out instead of going all the way to 100 let's just do the paint job on the side and you know $20,000 is what we're supposed to do and get out let's not get
complicated with this um but again this is your decision um I recommend approval and that's it mad chair uh before uh uh board member Irving first and then s yeah no problem I would like to say that
I had the pleasure of doing a tour about my first year in office actually of that building before they those buildings before they started doing any work to them and uh deplorable yeah so when I
pass by and see what they're doing now and hear what they're doing now I will supp I mean I will support the item because they went from the from the poor house to the white house it looks a whole lot better over there so we're not
talking about millions of dollars so I would definitely support it um for sake of the people living in a better environment and I I'll point out one other thing because you you made you you mentioned this and it made me remember my conversation with the owner you know
part of the issue is um you you know they have to manage the property they're doing the renovation but also their taxes have skyrocketed uh which has hampered their ability to do more faster in terms of renovation so when you look at it that
way I mean they're they're also experiencing every year they don't have Homestead on on that on that building so every year that the taxes go up 10% their tax bill is going up 10% so this is also their tax money right that
their tax money comes into our our coffers so I I don't think 20,000 to get back to paint the two buildings that are left is that much of a stretch they could have asked for a 100 they didn't uh they're very happy with us just doing this little little bit and uh and I
again we support this and would ask for your approval board member Santiago thank you uh now I think that I feel relaxed because what I don't understand before after um by share
um say that it's a little amount of money before I heard this we talking about two million and a half I say wait a minute that's how much that's how much they're spending okay that's the money that they spend but I I think it's fine I think yeah that's a little amount of
money we had to help with them um and that's it yeah I'm gonna support that no problem Madam chair yes sir I actually started off you forgot come back to minut oh okay was answer my question right here yeah I'm going to be
leaving so don't matter um I I have still have a challenge with it I still have a challenge with it um because even though we're talking about the rents and may not go up or whatever um the other challenge I have is I didn't see the 18,000 I saw it up to 100,000 but I
didn't see um and again if you all sent it I don't know if it was part of the thing but I like paper and I didn't see it and I was what I was looking for the actual amount um when you sent the electronic um item out I guess on
Thursday or Friday I was looking for the 18,000 or whatever the actual amount because these resolutions when you deal with these all say up to 100,000 but I was just trying to find that actual amount which I didn't see so you're saying now it's only
$18,000 for this item and so I would suggest going uh there go my Q um I would suggest going forward that we would get that information in advance so that we would know and I'd also like to get this packet yeah we that package in advance I know you're going to have
somebody on staff going forward but I was trying to find that amount 18,000 in it um for this one and some of the other ones what the actual amount so um yeah I'm just putting that on on the record for the future thank you madam
chair and board member just just for the record the the amount would be reflected in the license agreement the amount will be reflected in the license agreement but what you're saying is that you'd like to know specifically the reference of the amount in advance of the meeting that will be included in the
agreement yeah yes I apologize um on behalf of our staff we will include all the applications as a we we have before I don't know why we didn't this this week but um we will include the application that they sign in that applica and we'll put also
put it in the memo um but the application that they sign has the number there and we'll put that there and then we'll also put it in the memo for future reference yes thank you okay thank you board member Kelly uh call for the
question if there are no more comments um Madam clerk please and I'm sorry I didn't hear who was moved in second but I don't think we did that it wasn't okay we had discussion first someone move it please move it move by
board member uh Irving second by board member Santiago no more discussion Madam clerk board member Kelly yes board member Taylor yes Vice
chair Williams yes board member Santiago yes board member Irving yes board chair Russell yes motion pass 60 uh Mr director they do have a a sign up they have a signed a CRA sign up once
this is done we will put a sign up okay all right uh number three please number three this is your third license agreement a resolution by the board authorizing the executive director to enter into a license agreement under the commercial rehab program this property
is located at 2650 Alibaba Avenue okay someone moveing for uh so we can discuss it second move B board member tella second by Vice chair Williams discussion uh yes this is the auto pars
and cafeteria just behind the uh tire shop on the corner of 27 what what I just told you about okay so it's a tire okay the tire shop sits on the corner and then there's the restaurant and Auto
Park store right next door to it okay M chair yes East and what work are we G to do pink paint parking lot and Awning and Awning okay board member Santiago oh yeah let's
to be sure okay we're talking about the Y part and the cafe the cafeteria right there but are we talking before about the uh tire shop in the front both okay that's a whole property two SE so there are two yes we're doing two separate resolutions yes they're two separate
properties y they're right next door to each other two separate properties two separate properties owned by the same person thank you two separate properties owned by the same person but that's two property correct right Madam chair yes sir I me
yes ma'am I'm confused so then does that mean that this um business owner can potentially get up to $200,000 because it is two separate properties no um and again what I'm trying to shy away from is we've maxed out on our
$100,000 stuff so now I'm just getting the low hanging fruit I believe this application is only going to be for 20,000 again up to 20,000 with the awning it's going to get up to 20 the paint only came up to 14 it
was low it was low it was only 14,000 but then when we had the awning which I told her that you know if we paint we should replace the awning as well um so I think it's going to be about $20,000 and by the way when we say parking lot we're just painting the parking lot you resurfacing what are we
doing surfacing resurface and paint like paint awesome thank you if you notice jackon so food their new parking lot we did that I saw that uh uh board member Santiago I think you will finish yeah yes I do I want to be sure that we're
talking about the same location yes I think her name is m Nora okay okay any other questions for call for the question Madam clerk please board member Taylor yes vice vice
chair Williams yes board member Santiago yes board member Irvin yes board member Kelly yes War chair Russell yes motion pass 60 number four please thank you U Madam
chair um the next two uh resolutions uh relate to project management agreements related to your residential home rehab program so the number four is a resolution authorizing the executive director to facilitate and execute a project management Services agreement
for the Imp implementation of the residential home rehab program and to execute any in all documents necessary to effectuate the program okay someone please move by board member Taylor second by board member
Irvin so the uh the first project manager we have is uh paletto Holmes um we'll be working with Ariel Lundy he will be working with the residents uh ensuring that the home renovation projects that he's working with with
Miss Von will go through property we've done that on the commercial side where we've taken a project manager just to make sure that project flows properly and you know we're not paying for things
that we're not aware of we need someone who's knowledgeable in that and so this is so this this is to get the project manager yeah right this is a resolution to approve the project manager to work
with the CRA so that we can begin the home rehab projects Miss Von has uh worked with uh quite a few people they've gaed quotes and things and this is one of the final steps for us to start doing some real execution on the home reab side I'm glad to hear this
because I know all of us on this board have been getting phone calls from a residents wanting to know when is this Home Improvement gonna get get going so thank you all very much
uh so uh this particular resolution is for far homes and and arel Lund will be the project manager working with us Madam chair yes ma'am so I know we had a question in the audience today about this uh program specifically so I would
love that if maybe you could provide some guidance on if someone wanted to participate in this program are so for these contracts are these already for specific homes or does this mean if someone is interested they would be able to apply and uh would be able to
participate with these project management uh contracts tracks that we would be approving yes so what what this particular resolution is approving is for the OC to begin working with a project manager as far as the residents
um the any Resident that's inside the CRA can apply and um Miss Von Carol has been working with all of the applicants once you've gone through the process we assign a project manager to work with that Resident let's say if they need
climbing or electrical things of that nature that project manager will work with that homeowner so that the contractors or the vendors just can't walk in and tell the that's amazing so so to answer your question uh and that's a good answer but to answer specifically
answer your question yes we're open to receiving other people as managers uh I think the next one is also someone else um so we're spreading it around and if there's anybody else that uh wants to participate uh we welcome them as well we we will have an interview with them
we'll see what what other projects they've done in the past so that we know that they know what they're doing um and then and once we get um more homes we can assign them to those homes we're trying to spread it out what we've learned is if you give one person too much everything slows down so the idea
is you know Ariel I think he's going to be assigned to uh the next person that you'll be the approving will be assigned too um I I also must tell you I don't know if I should or not but I guess I have to um without any advertisement
whatsoever there was advertisement there was a flyer that was put out in the front desk but we already have our list full we have 10 homes um 11 homes excuse me we have 11 homes um now the only
reason why I say that it's been reason why I'm stopping it at 11 for a couple of months is because remember in order to buy those properties we had to take some money from certain line items and so it cut down the number of homes that we can
focus on right now so what I don't want to do is get out there making promises to people that we can't keep so it went from $500,000 to $250,000 I believe um so that's what we can work with right now and once we
replenish that uh 250 We'll add more names to the um to the list thank you and if the vice mayor could give us three minutes before he walks out the door we pass this I want to do talk about one thing I think he should be
here for okay no problem yep any other uh I see uh board member Irvin had hit her but I am so sorry it's just that when we have stuff like this
going on you said the flyers were downstairs that's good but everybody don't come to a city hall I would have liked to seen this get out into the community and us get a pool of applications and then choose from there
um just last night I was at a meeting and one of the seniors was like I could use a house painting right now and so so let me I should have said this also so let me back up um and again this is all about the restraints with money uh we would have had more if we didn't cut the
budget um but we need to cut the budget to buy those if just like the commercial rehab like I told you just now we're not doing the full 100,000 like we just saw two that were less than 100,000 um the lady here she just said that she needed
her house painting for jobs like that we can probably get done if it's just a paint job of a house or some landscape on the house we can probably get done um because that's you know that's 1,000 2,000 3,000 bucks what we can't do is
promise people $40,000 worth of uh um repairs so and and I'm okay with that I just need for these flyers to get out into the community and get a a more than 10 12 applicants that we can choose from so we can say everybody
saw it or a lot of people saw it and now we have a bunch of applicants to choose from to be fair to be fair we've turned we've turned away way more people who just were in the CRA so we when they had the
uh Community Fair a few months ago at the shundi park you know I was there uh Sandy was there and almost everyone that I tried to look up on the spot I was looking up addresses right on the spot and the majority of the people were not
within the CRA okay I still want those out into the community we will get them to you but I'm just want you to know that it's going to create we we'll figure it out let get all the Flyers because it's going to create an issue if the people don't get the Flyers it's going create issue okay
that's all I'm saying let's just get them out in the community and then when we get 3400 and we have to CH go through them and wean out the ones that are not in the C at least we know that we do our best to get them through but okay but you're going to get three or 400
applicants your words okay for 10 spots we we won't get uh uh Mr director uh uh board member I'm sorry go ahead I'm I'm no no no okay um board member Taylor okay so
two suggestions one when we do put the Flyers out maybe we in all C Flyers we put the boundaries at the bottom so people know that it's secluded to only CRA residents only
also and even if we did get the 300 residents maybe instead of choosing an in-house maybe we should start doing maybe a lottery and I think that'll be a more easier and cleaner approach from the 300 so choosing the 10 in a lottery form we
collect all the applications bring them here and then do a lottery that way like most cities do okay um I I I agree I don't know um it isn't we doing this in conjunction with what the city is doing as well so
that if they don't if they are not in the CRA are you all sending them uh to the city the city has the city hasn't launched yet I thought it was supposed to be simane it was supposed to be but you all
the see kind of just y'all put your Flyers out oh okay I hear y'all but this is we this is the mayor talking to the [Laughter]
chairwoman all of us I'm sorry it's a take that hat off it's the man talking to J I gotta defend the city so we're second okay I'll go for that but um I was it was my
understanding that it was going to be simultaneous there when the city kicked off their program we were kicking off our program so that if we couldn't uh if we couldn't accommodate them we were able to send them over to the city so that they could get the help so please
the people that we uh turned away that could possibly take advantage of the city's program please if we could reach back out to them when the city is ready and make sure that they get that information um about the city's program
as well because I know uh some people have said that you know it's not fair CRA is is doing this in the city and I told him you know that that's kind of where the boundaries are so you know we didn't have anything to do with the
boundaries um but we could try as much as we can to make sure that we work together that uh nobody feels left out okay you want to call for the question Madam clerk please Vice chair
Williams yes board member Santiago yes board member Irvin yes board member Taylor yes board chair Russell yes motion pass 5
Z number six please number five Madame chair yeah madame here this is um another resolution for another project management Services agreement this is with Wrightwood Capital group um some resolution for you to approve um for this company for the residential home
rehab program can someone move it please move it second by uh board member um Irvin and second by board member Santiago sir so this is
this is similar to the previous uh resolution this is just with a company by the name of rightwood capital the uh project manager who will be assisting us with this endeavor is uh Abraham matelis any
questions okay Madam clerk please roll call Board member Santiago yes board member Irvin yes board member Taylor yes Vice chair Williams yes board chair Russell yes motion pass 5
Z yes sir Charlie Madam chair the next two resolutions have to do with the the board's um Initiative for a micro business grant program um so this is a resolution authorizing the executive director to establish and issue a micro business grant for the commercial enhancement of the property located at
Basco Holdings LLC in the OCA area what's the address please 26 2615 Alibaba Avenue this this is the auto body shop directly behind the Chinese restaurant directly across the street from the two
uh businesses that we mentioned earlier we would like to assist them with paint with painting as well yes I just thought about uh something came to my mind I hope none of these businesses that we're helping is a part
of the uh the dirty um what it the pollution the people that are putting the pollution in the water I hope they're not none these businesses are on that list so there is a list of uh 30
businesses in opaka so I hope that we we'll research that please because that would not that would not go over well I agree any other questions um Madam chair
yes I do have a question so the property right across the I'm in support of the item how the property right across which is the liquor store I think we did uh the door and the windows yes however you can't appreciate
the work because the building was there P so we get back to the payment situation uh the roofer and the AC guy just got their checks this week the the roofer got his check the AC guy still
has not received his check and you can't do the roof before you do the AC you can't do the AC in the roof you can't do the paint before you get the AC in the roof got it but it's all a part of the it's all a part of it's in it's in the work it's in the work so it's it's a working the the the liquor store is
supposed to have a new AC which we're waiting on the AC guy to get his check the roof guy got his check but you can't do the roof until the AC's done so the AC's guy guys check once that's done that'll be done okay as long as the build is going to get pained I think we're focusing on that Corridor which I
don't have a problem with and and then we'll paint it and then we'll do the parking lot and then we'll do the boulders that are in the in the front that are all twisted up we'll do all that stuff but it it's like one step at a time and and so yes we will do all
that stuff and I would like to say that it took a project manager to explain that to us because we just get invoices and they come in in different orders so it took a project manager Mr walar on that project to tell us there's an order
of operations before we can do things because you know we want to get things done as well Madam chair there's been I'm sorry commissioner board member Santiago thank you madam chair um question I heard
about you receive invoices and invoice and invoices that we take care of that carefully to who you pay yeah we where the invoice coming from because that's a
good point for uh member Cher Taylor okay uh you open my my eyes in that property I see that we do only the windows or something like that but it's not finished yet now he explaining why that is not
finished because that's a process but we are we we take care of that to not be overcharged for anything that they do oh no we go we go through the process we get two quotes we take the ler of the two we have to send everything to the
state for approval before anything's paid yeah we're no surprises in the future no and um yes and we only pay uh checks to the vendors the property owner or the tenant received no money from us um the checks go directly to the window
guy or or woman the the the um cuz there are female contractors that we're working with um the checks go straight to the AC person straight to the roof person the owner or the uh tenant receives zero money from opaka sieri
okay last question including the liquid store including the liquid store how long it's going to take to all the members here in the Resident see the con of beyi it was supposed to be 6 months ago if you want me to be honest with you but
uh it's going too slow it is going slow um hopefully once we get the AC and the roof done it moves quicker I guess the a the roof guy has his check now so we're just waiting to for the AC guy to receive his check which should be this
week and uh once that's done then we'll start working on the paint and the parking lot and the garbage can area we need to redo that area make that a more secure garbage can area um there's some exterior lighting we I don't know if you notice the lighting but there's new
lighting outside that's a little brighter we did that um we think it should be a little brighter so we're probably going to do some more work on lighting there's a sign by the way there's a new sign that's been sitting inside the the bar for the past 6 months
that we haven't put up yet uh because the building's not ready but there's a sign laying on the on the floor there uh waiting to be put up but we everything is a process I know it's a slow process unfortunately but we're trying to speed it up not okay all right not a problem um
I'm going to say something El but I don't think it's properly to do anything here but I'm going to let you know in personal and maybe through all my Calles here so you know something that I see in that area that I really don't don't
don't like the way it's going well if you want your colleagues to know you supp say it here okay but let me tell you this okay I I see something and that's the reason why that I say when that we GNA starting to see all that area beautify and maintaining like that in order together
with the uh uh City police and everything around okay clean the area there is one of the best thing that we can do now to make the city that entrance there look good okay I see people living in that place in the
Chinese place okay for already a couple of times and I'm be sure that they do there we had to be aware about that okay that we cannot permit that people stay there agreed
that's the thing that I want to say to everybody yes um I think uh I I passed by and brought it to the director's attention I looked like I saw somebody going kind of going in and out of there as well and they uh tried to secure the
building so one of one of the checks that did come in is that uh we're going to do so they stole the shutters off the place wow um so the shutters that's if you notice the difference you notice that the shutters are gone so it's easier for them to break the when now there's nothing inside the inside we
gutted it we spent 7500 bucks um so if you go on the inside everything is stripped of everything there's nothing on the inside um so but we are ordering impact windows and that was one of the checks that was cut last week so we'll
be putting impact windows in that restaurant uh and impact doors uh in the next couple weeks so it be harder for people to get in and break in it's great okay no other questions uh Madam clerk
please um it wasn't moved or second I'll move it second excuse me what member yeah we had it it was moved in second before but go ahead uh who who moved it just now Misha I'm second uh V board member Vice chair
uh Williams moved it board member Taylor second it okay board member Irvin yes board member Taylor yes Vice chair Williams yes board member Santiago yes
board chair Russell yes motion pad 5 z Mr attorney please Madam chair last resolution is I'm sorry um Madam chair can I um um what do you call that rule defer item number seven please
okay oh you want to uh refer to the next meeting okay get a motion in a second for the record okay number seven number seven he wants to defer can someone move it please move it I'll second move by board member Irving and second by Vice
chair Williams to defer the item Madam clerk board member Irvin yes board member Taylor yes Vice chair Williams yes board member Santiago yes board
chair Russell yes item deferred 5 you want to move to the um T thank you thank you uh Mr Jerome you want to move to the Tallahasse I mean to the state item um well we could
go in order we can go to the Dr Green fruits and vegetables can we do Dr greens first yeah okay let's do Dr greens um that's the that's this that we have correct and this doesn't require you can take action tonight or you canot take action tonight and the
attorney will listen to me and stop me if I'm saying something wrong um we have a letter um from Mr Jorge Martinez Who is the owner of Dr Green fruits vegetables and more
um Mr Martinez has submitted an unsolicited letter to purchase the Chinese restaurant from from us um we purchased it last year for $650,000 Mr um Martinez sent a letter
offering to buy the Chinese rest from us for $750,000 which is a $100,000 um profit from last year when we purchased it um and what he wants to put there is a fruit and vegetable market um which I
think you have the the handout um that's what he would like to put there now we we have not sent out an RP we didn't solicit anybody is allowed to offer to buy any property that we have um he has put this proposal in and the next steps
are you all will decide you don't have to do this tonight I'm just giving the to you for your attention and and for discussion if you want um so now the process would be we would put out in the newspaper or news circulation uh the
fact that we received an offer for someone to purchase our property and we will have to open that up to the public for a certain amount of days I think 30 days is the minimum uh that we would have to say hey public the opaka CRA has
received the uh an offer to buy our property is there anybody out there that would like to offer us another idea or another price uh once that happens if there is someone that wants to do it
then it will go to a committee that we that you all would form uh to analyze each of those proposals and then that committee would recommend to you which proposal um which proposal they would recommend for you to choose or if there
if they not any proposals and miss Mr Martinez is the only person that is interested then at that time you can choose whether or not you want to accept his offer or reject his offer it's it's really that simple um I
um I think that um I I this is something that I could support um I think uh vegetable fruit and uh I think that that would be left to the board to support but as the administration I have the right to yeah say what I support right
um this uh you know you talk about food desert opaka is uh is definitely a food desert um he would buy the property fix it up and put a use there uh that would that would be I think beneficial to the
community and you know we make $100,000 off of uh off of the purchase and we've done our job we've C we've C cleaned up a derc site we've sold it and now we put a use there that's beneficial to the community uh that would be our recommendation especially and why am I
recommending this number one because of what I just said but number two for all the ideas that we had to do something with this property it really doesn't work unless we have Mr Ball's property uh to the north and because we don't have that
property I'm more willing to let this property go um for to the right person um but again as miss the attorney pointed out not it's not my uh it's not my call it's your call again we don't have to do anything tonight Mr Martinez
couldn't make it um so we don't have to do anything tonight but I brought it up to you we can put it on the next agenda and you can make your decision at that point Madam chair okay board member uh been begging over here she's she's kind of grabbing me here a board member Iran
and then Vice chair I see you there I I got to go back for a moment Miss puit probably know what I'm talking about the last time we had something like this in opaka I was a student at Westfield Junior High School Mr seit I believe was
his name and his wife ran a Fruit Stand we called it back in the day and it's me that's been trying to go to I think the name is it of it is the yellow and green Market I've been dying to get there I haven't got there yet but I have this in
my own backyard I don't have to go I just have to be patient and take my dollars to my community yes we all know public have great fruit and vegetables but if I can walk down the street and buy my fruits and vegetables and keep my
money in my community I love this I love it oh Vice shair um first question how much uh have we put into Renovations in this property how much have we put into Renovations in
this property I would say 7500 bucks to clean it out um maybe 2,000 for the uh parking lot and we just ordered
Windows 30 for the windows 30 for the windows so 30 for the windows 7500 to clean it out and about 2,000 for for the uh 24 the parking lot now remember also
that uh you know we get our funds from tax money right so it doesn't help us to hold on to this property if we're not going to do anything with it significant because when we own it we receive no tax money so the idea would be is that you
know he would buy it and then he'd start paying taxes on it as well that money comes back to us and it goes back on the tax role yeah thank you for that that's incredibly helpful so it sounds like we've spent just under $40,000 so give or take we're my math is horrible like
$60,000 we'd be making off of the property well Vice chair um are you suggesting another appraisal I am that was going to be my second that was my second point I think we should do an appraisal but I also question so it's lovely to have this proposal and I agree
man wouldn't it be amazing to have our own place where we can get fresh fruits and vegetables uh in our community and it is a great location on that corner I am curious though if there another way that we go about advertising it so here that if
we what we can do is put an ad in the paper but could we also just work with a real estate agent to go out and advertise the property or is that not something that we would do because we're a CRA we can do that as well I just know that I think and the attorney can double check that it specifically says that we
have to advertise in a in a p in a public circuit publication um so but we can do that as well got it yeah so I think for me would love an appraisal and also um I don't want us to jump at the first opportunity that comes to us I really would love for us to just be
strategic about this so that would be my perspective board member Santiago thank you madam chair um question I heard about the amount of money that you spending uh extra to clean the place and all that now I heard something about
Windows why we have to put some window if we sell in that place why we don't let whoever buy it to doing it is $30,000 that's what I heard I think $30,000 for Windows yeah but when we ordered the windows no one was offering
to buy it so we were moving forward and oh you already ordered it correct so when we when we ordered the windows we were looking to fix the place up and and get it to a point where we can Market it to someone at a higher rate maybe lease it to somebody or do
something there ourselves but at least start the process instead of sitting around waiting for something to happen let's start cleaning it up that's why we painted it that's why we cleared it out okay and the next step was to put uh the windows in to make it look nicer uh and
then when someone comes in you know we can offer more money now you know when we go into negotiations you're right we may have to up our our our feed just to add in that extra cost that we just put Windows in yeah that's my point because that's a brand new impact Windows
correct that is not okay but to answer your question this windows were ordered before we received this unsolicited oh okay I want to be clear in that now it's to saving Mony okay for from from outside and um and yeah that's a
beautiful project uh and this is part of beautifi the Conor out there the whole cor beautiful um L you know like the way you say is a process and then have to be like that but but you know good but I
love that I hope that we had soon places like that in op palaka restaurant that we can take our family and enjoying it okay that I don't have to go out and go to Miami Lakes or somebody some City around no I want to
see the progress in my city in our city I think it's time I think it's the time is now I I love it I love that project um I I think that the the Green Market the market is is fantastic uh me and my
daughters go to the one up in Hollywood it's very I love that place and it is it is it is remarkable my con my concern is that um it's a small corner and parking
so are they going to try to get that property next door so that you know um everybody's not going to drive their cart like uh board member irvan and myself our golf carts they're going to drive their cars
so there needs to be ample parking for people that's that's one concern um I would like to see uh whenever we get into negotiations that we um as board member uh Williams said
that we get an appraisal and we get as much money as we possibly can I don't want to see us just like like you know okay we're going to give it to you cuz you know you're going to do something good I want to see us make some money
from the project and um my other concern would be we we are starting now to open up to our community to have Community Gardens will this individual or his company or whatever be interested in
helping our uh residents you know uh uh with education on their Gardens in their home as well yes that's the first thing we talked about and he says however he can help us um promote and and whatever he told us where he we can Source stuff
um and he says he's willing to help with all that stuff uh with our community garden program as well okay and my my my next concern would be garbage you know because sometime when you have a lot of vegetables left over you have a lot of
garbage so um to make sure that there is ample uh containers to make sure that you know you don't have a rodent problem because you're fixing up the restaurant across the street it's going to be nice we're going to be able to go sit over there and get our CFE con leche in the
mornings and stuff so we don't want them Little Critters running across the street so those are uh uh concerns of mine you know I think I think bringing the garden to the city is a great thing and like board member Irving said to be
able to get your own fresh fruits and vegetable beets driving to public all the time two times a week man chair yes sir yeah my question though the CRA is not on the that place next to the
Chinese resident no no we're talking about the uh when they selling yeah Appliance Appliance okay however however uh never mind I we'll go there go ahead so uh uh Mr
director if you could bring us back something a little bit more I don't think we want to it's the will of the board I don't think we want to vote on anything tonight but we do like the idea as most of the board members said but um
so what I would recommend Madam chair is that without objection that means that nobody's going to vote vote but if no one objects what we will do is bring back to you at our next meeting a resolution authorizing me to go out and
um and seek other proposals announce that we have this proposal uh and that we're going to seek other proposal one of the things that I forget to mention that everybody seemed brought up after I made my statement an appraisal is a part of that process so an appraisal will get
done uh when that process happens but without objection what we can do is write up a resolution come back to you at the next meeting then you will vote to say okay we received this proposal go out put it in the paper of
circulation hire a realtor to Market it to other people whether you want 30 days 45 days 60 days we'll leave that part of the resolution blank so you all can figure that out and then we will do that Madam chair a vice chair I'd like to
recommend that we also plan to host a workshop uh between the board to talk about the real estate because we haven't had the opportunity to do that yet and I really while I'm excited cautiously excited about this opportunity I don't think that as a board we have really had a conversation
about how we are planning to use the real estate and so I um just want to make sure that we are not just jumping at the opportunities without an actual full plan so I would love it if we could actually schedule a work shop as well we can do that um and I'm going to do this
as diplomatically as I can but you know when we send the emails to try to set up the workshop we can get that done if we have responses because this is not the first time you all have asked for a workshop and I believe correct me if I'm wrong we have sent out
uh trying to plan because I get on them CU I'm like when's the workshop the council's asked for the workshop and they tell me Well we sent an email and nobody's responded so so we will try again um and we will try to get that Workshop done and and that Workshop will Encompass all of what you're talking
about um and we will go the extra mile and do phone calls and everything but yes we will try that process again and I do have an update on the other properties briefly um that I can tell you about one more comment ah if we are
unable to get a workshop at a date and time outside of our regular meeting I would be okay converting this to a workshop as opposed to it being an actual uh board meeting but if that's the will of the board i' be open to that as well I think that's a great idea y
just keep the date that we already have as a standing meeting date and we could just turn our regular meeting into uh into a workshop yeah I think that's a great idea everybody's everybody's uh meeting
out up here so uh on the commission side I know it keeps y'all busy so uh Mr director you'll bring us back something correct okay and please in the
future um I know sometime we'll slow about responded but make sure that we get our agendas ahead of time and um with all the backup documentation that is needed all the
backup documentation we' had that conversation we could have at least a week to study it before we come to this meeting and then you could just bring us the uh a a smaller packet but we need to see the backup document you're absolutely right and we've had that
conversation internally this week and we will do better in the future okay we look forward to it look forward to um Tallahasse what's going on well they want to cut us y um there was I don't have my
glasses um there was a resolution that was presented by representative Mike I don't even want to try to pronounce his last name from K corl galano there you go um it's houseu house
build 991 uh the standard sponsor is Stan mlan and and uh Republican out of Ocala um basically the the the longest short of it is they are they are basically saying any CRA that's an exist as of July 1st 2025 will cease to exist
on their Charter um end date uh without any availability to to um extend so we right now we have the
opportunity to extend the CRA to 2047 I believe um so they're saying that we would not be able to extend uh and then as of October 1st 2025 we would not be able to do any new
projects so for example we're purchasing these two large pieces of property across the street from us if we don't have something in place by October 1st 2025 approved we wouldn't be able to move on those projects um and our and
our Sunset date would be uh whatever the sunate date is now which would be 20 30 5 years from now and you basically can't do anything all of our assets transfer to the city um and the city would be in control of all of our projects um we
have obviously there's the Florida Redevelopment Association that's all over this they had a meeting with the House and Senate sponsors on Thursday um we had a meeting I was there uh this week I missed you at dinner I think I
came a little early and left early um but I was up there this week meeting with with uh some folks uh I we also met with our representative Senator Jones is uh presenting an amendment to the item but I'm not sure how far that's going to
go because as we know the Republicans control the house and the Senate uh we do have Intel that this may not have legs in the Senate um and there may be some other version that comes out in the end this is not the first time they've
tried this this started back in 2009 19 sorry with C reform and every year they've tried it every year um it's failed uh this year when it was brought up people seemed to think this had a chance of passing but for what I'm
hearing now you know the E the lobbying effort is on um everybody's been hired to work on this to stop this because everybody from Jacksonville to Homestead uh have a c project major projects going on in their city so there is a full court press effort going on uh
we have and I'll bring this to you at the last at the next meeting because we entered into an agreement um that I'll need you to ratify with Southern Group um they will help us Lobby and so if any of you up in Tallahassee we signed on
with them I believe on Friday um Friday we signed on with them on Friday and we got a very good rate uh I think we're only paying $116,000 um because we joined up with North Miami and North Miami Beach and so we're our block and they will represent
us up there as as the three Northern cities that that hired them and I think we got a good rate because I've heard some CES are paying people $190,000 just for doing work on this for this session so I'm very happy that we able to negotiate at a better rate uh
there is a report that's coming out my company uh did a report that I will send to you all I just need to you know go over it one more time um but we did a report and then Southern Group has a report um that they are working on to
give you some insight on exactly what the mechanics are up in Tallahassee with this bill um it is a game changer for us um it would be um it's something that we're taking serious uh and uh like I said I was up there last week there is
tomorrow is um the first Committee hearing in the house I have not been able to find for the life of exactly how to log on to watch it but I'm try to try to try to do that tonight again and we'll just monitor it I mean there's
nothing much we can do but if there is someone that wants to go to Tallahassee Mr director my suggestion um well the city went up the first day of session last last week you were there as well so my suggestion is madam um chair
that you and Jason go back and Lobby because yeah we have a Lobby in firm but sometimes the lobby in firm plus I don't think your mic's up it it's not on okay it was on my suggestion is just that um the chair and the director go
back up to the tassi okay maybe two two days within two days no not within Madam coule days Madam chair yes if possible I would also love to be
included if that if that is possible um and my schedule allows um and then number two I would love it if you can arm us with information yeah those are the two reports I was telling you well I I I I'm excited to receive the report but I'm also curious is there a fact
sheet somewhere that talks about what our CRA has accomplished in this community I know that we talk about things here and there in in our board meetings but I'm not sure that anywhere exists you know what we are doing in our community for the public to have that
information but also for us to have that as talking point and then you know I uh I imagine somewhere exist some template letters that if we wanted to send letters to our Representatives we could do that um if there's a template letter that you can send us and again we can
plop some data points in there as to why you know uh we should exist and what we have done in our community that would be incredibly helpful I'll send you our report I just need to read through it again Adam my partner put it together it's about 23 pages and it get a breakdown of this thing from top to
bottom uh and and it's all of that is in there even what to say and who to call and and and and that stuff and we did prepare that would be very helpful to us because that would give us the talking points that we want y because I wouldn't want to go to Tallahassee and just talk it off the cuff no but we also those in
addition in addition to that that's not what I sent you but and that's just an overall analysis of the bill and what's happening in Tallahassee and ideas to oppose it um specifically what the mayor was bring or what the the vice chair was bringing up is a list of our
accomplishments and what what will go what will go um what will not happen if we cease to exist um we did put together something for the mayor uh we send it to you Wednesday night we'll send it to the rest of the board members of our past accomplishments and future I mean for
example one of the things that I had them add to uh the onepage list was you know the two properties that we're we're purchasing not saying that this is what you want to do but you could possibly have transform downtown
opaka with 400 new units yeah on those two properties that the opaka crra is purchasing I mean imagine what that would look like in five years if you have 200 people here and 200 people there uh with you know grocery store
bars and restaurants downstairs just those two projects alone are in Jeopardy of not becoming reality because of this bill which would be very important to a city like opaka that has had nothing happen uh in their downtown for a long
time especially once now we're in the process competing for the for the for the museum uh with the newly uh finished Old City Hall being done um you know this is a crucial moment for downtown opaka so we do have that sheet we we
send it to the mayor because he was there um but we will send it to all of you so that you have it um but again everybody's working on this from Jacksonville to Homestead I've talked to my counterparts all over the state everybody's focused on this everybody's
hiring people everybody's up there lobbying for their uh cities I mean there even you know divisions being made by oh we'll cut out the cras that are not performing or haven't performed in the past which may include us but let
the other cras you know continue to go and so that type of stuff we're trying to avoid and say hey look we're all in this together um especially when we feel that you know we're getting our our the air beneath our wings right now now's out the time to now is out the time to
drop it um Mr I'm sorry the vice chair has the floor which is the reason why I'm stressing that you all go to tasse like ASAP because the first committee was with that bill tomor it's it's tomorrow but I mean we're already behind the eightball so you all should be
talking to the representatives that sit on that subcommittee well as soon as as soon as we heard as soon as I heard about it I immediately started reading yeah and getting all the information that I can so I can arm myself that when
I have a conversation I know what I'm talking about I know the things that we've accomplished on this board since I've been on here but you know we we were a late uh uh starting CRA because we went through the oversight and all of
those things so we went through those hurdles but now look where we are today that's kind of where I want I want to go with my story I would like to see as many of the board members that can go because we're we're more forceful in
numbers I remember when I went to Tallahassee and uh CR a uh uh group came up there they all had on their jackets the same their shirts and they made an impression by just seeing them up there
so I would love to go I got uh uh a lot of I got a lot of trips plan in the next couple of weeks but we need you to cancel the trips matter we need you
tell I'll Madam chair anyway we have to keep this here but I think that um uh because knowing the climate and everybody that I've talked to the climate in
Tallahassee right now is not favorable for the CRA to uh to stay and um you know I think we're doing a good job I think we've done we've come from a long way so you know I'm I'm ready to fight
but I don't want to be looking behind me and I'm by myself yeah Madam chair that's a good one yes yeah we had to support it so I I'm curious do we have any insight as to why they want to get rid of cras like what's the
reasoning so but this has been something that they've been talking about for a few years probably but I'm curious what's the new reasoning that they are saying because then that helps us figure out what our counter defense is right well well and it really doesn't make sense because I mean I don't know like
you asked me that question I keep asking myself question and this is not about politics it's about policy but there's a proposal to get rid of real estate taxes I se that yeah by the governor like if you get rid of real estate I don't even
understand it and I've read it and read it and read it and I still don't understand how you get rid of real estate taxes but if you get rid of real estate taxes then you get rid of cras because real estate taxes fun cras I don't understand how you get children's
trust too I don't understand how you get all services for children where money comes from I don't know how you get rid of real estate taxes when they fund your police department and your fire department so I don't understand it and I don't understand the C legislation Madame Vice chair especially because
there is no State money involved it's one thing if they're trying to balance a state budget are trying to save the state money no State money there's no State money involved this is all local tax money uh the State created it yes but it's not funded through any state fund so I don't know I mean I think it's
the curent like the chairwoman said they've been trying since 2019 I think in 2025 and again I'm not trying to talk politics up here at all but in the current political climate that we're in I wouldn't even say political policy changing climate that we're in where
we're cutting everything I think this is just a part of that my humble opinion um because like I said before there's no State money involved there's no Reon the state's not losing anything or gaining anything by doing this but obviously the
the rationale is give the money back to the cities um C are slush funds for politicians because they just use that money to throw parties and and and and give money to their friends and family
uh it's corrupt you know and that that's part of what of some of the stories that I've heard um and that has been the case in the past with some CR one I used to work for um but I think especially in South
Florida I think uh things have taken a turn uh since 2016 uh when the grand jury report came out I think a lot of cras adopted the policies um of that grand jury report and I think people are working on real projects and you could see that uh we
went to the F conference in uh where where did we go Tampa Tampa we went to the F conference in Tampa and you see all the projects that SI are working on and by the way the idea is is that if all this money were not segregated going to C then the
cities would find a way no offense of the city but the city would find a way to spend it elsewhere on pensions and parks and you know whatever the case may be but it would it wouldn't be segregated and let me move out of the way
but but but but City but but but City operations City operations City operations and it wouldn't be segregated for us to go out and buy you know two buildings worth $25 million each in order to Spur development in the downtown area it wouldn't be used for
that um it would be used for other things that run a city operations so the fact that this this tool exists to segregate taxpayer funds to reinvest back into the neighborhood is is an awesome tool to have and to take that
away it just doesn't make any sense and I think we are and that's why like the mayor encouraging everybody to go up there I mean just the two purchases of the two buildings that or two pieces of land that we're doing in opaka downtown is
transformational for this for this community and that's why uh Mr director and board that's why for me it's so so important that we have signage so that people could see when they ride down cuz I've had people from Miami Gardens call
and say ohoo y'all see look like y'all doing a little something now you know so a little something and a little that's what they say a little something they always say little when it comes to op Locker I don't know why they always say we have to change that but um I I I
think that I think that uh the I think that your intention are well uh I think Mr uh wearing the Hat of the mayor um when you all were up there whatever y'all accomplished I think help us in
the CRA that now we could go and pound on what we are doing you know and to say although we are partnering with those other cities you know we haven't been to C as long as a lot of those cities have and we haven't had no parties we we
haven't waited Ed our money you know it took us a while to get started but now that we've gotten started we're doing what that plan says and I pull that plan out all the time and look at it and I always ask is this according to the plan
what we're doing are we sticking to the plan so um I think we can make a good point we're just a small piece of the puzzle but I think if we all all kind of got together and even if we can't go
just start sending letters to all of those legislators up there and um we're grateful to uh Senator Jones yes for even having the guts to stand up into put anything counteract you know to what
they're trying to do quick question I'm go ahead uh uh yes um I start in to be worrying about the situation that we are okay um how do we show them that we
working in our reporting we have to when we do we're doing projects we have to we have to tell our own story nobody's gonna tell your story like you tell oh yes and that's why even when we have a disagreements or we don't always agree
you know it's a way that you could do it that doesn't make it look ugly in the eyes of the public because Tallahasse is always watching all of our meetings they know everything that's going on so we have to tell our own story we have to do
um on our Facebook page on our uh I don't know whether we have Instagram whatever it is we do we have to tell a story so that our residents want to be involved we have residents that want to be involved and the only way way tah has
is gonna hear that is if we tell the story yeah but Madam can I can I can I hear from really from from the director uhuh uh Mr Jason Jason I'm sorry Mr Walker Mr Walker yes sir okay he wants
to know how can we tell that yeah I heard what the chair say but I want to heard him from you what do they want us to show them that we do the right thing that we have projects that have vible okay that we have projects that we're
working on that are viable uh that these projects are doing having a positive impact on the community whether it's you know finally getting the the the garden set up or whether it's fixing up people's homes that have that that need help or whether it's purchasing property to do Redevelopment we want to see that
we're doing something yeah how long do we have to show that then to them because you're talking about the tomorrow they have a section out there no I know but this is going to be going on for uh this is going to be going on for the next month so I think maybe not this week but next week if if we want to
send a team up there um we could go up there next week and that'll still be time okay um but nothing happens until the governor uh you going the governor uh signs I believe uh June 1st so I think we have until June 1st before the
governor be you know the governor signs the the the the budget um in order to get our maybe not June 1st maybe it's like the the end of April all right but let's fighting let's keep our C right here in the city please yes sir let's do
the best we're trying Madam chair okay I have to say something there's I think everybody up here knows how I have felt about the CRA in not a positive way but I have to say
Thank you Mr Walker and your staff that I actually look forward to coming to see our meeting because we're doing stuff and we're doing more stuff and more stuff and you know I ride through the city a lot I'm seeing our posters
everywhere so it has I have changed the way that I felt about the CRA and this is my third year and I have to say that we are moving and we're not just moving we're
running we're running we're making up for all the years that yes we're moving we're running and I want you and your staff to note that it's appreciated okay thank you because you changed the way I
feel thank you I made it quite clear how I felt about this in the past thank you leers and know don't I I don't bother you you need to get this
get want to see the progress and we want the people to see the so not only is that a reflection of that's a ref of because we come here
weight but as a board I think that we have come together to project Al got all of them we so we need to be a to tell that story tell that story Madam chair if I may say
I can't go to tazy but I will do any other thing that you need me to do I I'll scream from here I send prayers with y'all the prayers the letter I I have a good good news
to um mad chair I think that I'm going to be in Tallahasse for two days uh by next month by the beginning of next month I can't be with you guys there yeah it's a trip uh to Talahi I don't know who or or the commission are going
but I know that are going about day we got before or we have to do that before day day day April that's a was of time that's in April need to go oh we had to go to March
take take oh W I can go next week oh yes okay we ready want to go to Madam chair Madame chair organize yourself yeah we don't have no more it I'll be quick yeah we do we had added two more
items I'll be it'll be two two seconds two seconds I'll put them together update on the purchase of 319 which is the pink building across the street it's been we had to sign another extension because our Title Company wanted to make sure that the people that had the authority remember one of the partners
died uh we needed to make sure that uh that the Probate Court uh did their thing and gave authorization to the people that inherited the property we have found a case in Probate um that exists uh so
they're looking over it um Marin's office is working on that uh once we have feel comfortable the title company feels comfortable that the other party has all the right people to sign we will close uh we did do an extension 30 days but we think we're going to get it done
hopefully within the next two weeks on the church property um that is being held up because uh the church has to get approval from whatever the larger organizational Church structure is um not sure they're out of Orlando um but
they need to give them approval to sell so that's in their Court in order to do that but on a side note um just like we got something from the uh and this is what I was most excited to tell you I'm not going to give you any details tonight um but I did receive a phone
call on Thursday uh from the people that we were competing with to buy the church uh they they have now they they are working on sending us just like Dr Green sent us a letter they're working on sending us a letter that once we buy
this thing they would like to continue with the project that they wanted to do and give us a $4 million down payment for a property that were purch purchasing for $3 million they want to give us a $4 million down payment and
lease the property from us for 99 years and have us be a equity partner in what their project is I wasn't expecting that phone call to happen uh it's a pretty big Development Group we will treat it the same way we treat Dr Green once we
get an unsolicited proposal we will do the same thing obviously if we own it but now I'm very desperate to close because we need to control it cuz there are people out there that want it but if this vice president of development says he can do what he can do I think that
would be a pretty big win for us um financially and to Kickstart something but I don't want to give any details because I don't know how uh solid it is but it was a good phone call to have and that's my update
I I I hadn't pushed it so I didn't say it out loud yeah I don't think it was I don't think it was on the record good my mayor always cut it up second thank you good meeting