TALKING TRASH…AND ABANDONED HOUSES PLUS VACANT LOTS IN SHENANDOAH

ON LET’S TALK MIAMI PODCAST WITH CAMILA CEBALLOS

Rules should force absentee owners to restore abandoned houses to original code-compliant condition. Those who do illegal demolition should be ordered to rent restored units as affordable for 5 years.

I am gratified to have talked about activism in the historic Shenandoah neighborhood of Little Havana for more than a half hour with podcaster Camila Ceballos.

I was proud to be her end of the year, final program.

We chatted about the city needing to do a better job of cleaning up, securing and redeveloping abandoned houses and vacant lots.

We differentiated between owner-occupied homes, with elderly or poor residents who do not have the ability or money to keep their roofs, windows and lots in perfect shape – vs. absentee owner speculators who often do illegal demolition then walk away from their unsafe structures.

We talked about the need for swifter action to push the hands of investors who trash core neighborhoods, encouraging blight, squatters while discourage healthy investment from young families and others who would otherwise move into the neighborhood and become rooted in it.

View the podcast here:                          

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHOOoetlIh8&feature=youtu.be 

I feel that these lots could be built with properly-scaled affordable housing. Abandoned houses could be rehabbed to become attainable rental properties for workforce housing.

As a longtime advocate for people with disabilities, I noted that less than one percent of housing in Miami is move-in ready for a person who uses a wheelchair for mobility. So, a good chunk of the infill housing on these blighted lots should be build accessible.

We also discussed research that has shown upwards of half of the people of Miami pay more than half their total income toward housing – a totally unsustainable housing gap, because the average family should pay no more than one third of its income on housing.

Camila Ceballos, host of Let's Talk Miami Podcast

We also touched on my Twitter storm and TV interviews underscoring the blight caused by illegal dumping in Miami’s older, core neighborhoods.

We agreed that whether you are a Republican, Democrat, Independent or other – maintaining quality of life in a decent, diverse, mixed-income neighborhood is important to you.

There is no political bias – red or blue – when you work to punish both speculators who destroy dozens of viable lots in a neighborhood and fly by night contractors who illegally dump trash on side alleys and on vacant lots.

I support my elected officials – being a public servant for the City of Miami was one of the most satisfying jobs of my long career – but I expect them to never hide behind excuses of process…while always leaping in to cut red tape to help the little guy.

Happy Holidays.

If you want to play Santa for working class Miami, then share this blog item and the link to the podcast with your elected officials, neighbors and friends. 

Alternate link to podcast:

https://anchor.fm/miamitalkspolitics/episodes/Abandoned-Lots-in-the-Heart-of-Miami-enrrpg 

Your tireless advocate for urban living with HoneyBear the Siamese rescue cat

ABANDONED HOUSES, VACANT LOTS, MOUNTAINS OF TRASH -- CITY OF MIAMI PLEASE ADDRESS THIS NEGLECT

THE HISTORIC SHENANDOAH NEIGHBORHOOD DESERVES BETTER THAN MESS CREATED BY ABSENTEE OWNERS AND SPECULATORS 

I love the city of Miami. It breaks my heart, but I must go public with 8 images the depict a total collapse of government services. My Shenandoah neighborhood is filled with vacant houses and trash. The house pictured above has been abandoned at SW 13 St and SW 23 Avenue for years.  

A wealthy architect bought the house next door to us, as a speculator, then proceeded to violate the ethics of his profession doing illegal dismantling. The city has posted citations, but nothing has happened. We deserve better than the mess pictured above.

This monstrosity (photo above) on SW 23rd Avenue at SW 14 St has festered for years. It always has a ton of trash. When the city allows buildings to linger abandoned, dangerous and decaying – it signals illegal dumpers & worse that it’s open season to destroy the neighborhood.

The person who lives (outdoors on the lot pictured above) allowed his family home to fall down around him -- until it was razed as an unsafe structure years ago. He camps out and does all bodily functions out in the open. He earns money illegally parking commercial vehicles at his shanty town.

This lot (image above) on SW 14th St, just south of our home would be nice for affordable housing– but it has been allowed to grow up like a jungle since the house was razed. The COVID pandemic is no excuse for allowing this filth and ruin in our working-class neighborhood.

A mountain of trash (sad image above) on an alley immediately south of historic William Jennings Bryan Park. We have done tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of roof, window and other improvements - -by permit – and paid off our 100-year-old home. Our reward – nothing but neglect.

Tires (see above) brazenly and illegally dumped in front of Bryan Park. When you have a half dozen vacant houses/lots and do nothing to punish speculators from illegal demolition – you get a neighborhood so decimated, that people start to dump garbage right on your little park where kids play. 

Mattress, filth--drawing rodents, worse–dumped at weed-strewn vacant lot near our home (repugnant photo of neglect above). Miami officials: Where is the sense of duty to community? My guess is instead of addressing this, city will send code enforcement to retaliate against us with trumped up charges.