Developer Fails To Engage Little Haiti Community During COVID-19
By Denise Ghartey and the Little Haiti Advisory Group
Long before this global pandemic hit, the Little Haiti community in Miami fought to have their voices heard on development projects that will have a significant impact on their community.
One of those projects is Eastside Ridge, which would transform the relatively affordable and modest Design Place apartments (also known as the old Sabal Palm buildings) on 50th street and Northeast Second Avenue into a towering glitzy mini-city with buildings up to 20 stories.
The City of Miami asked SPV Realty, the New-York based company that wants to push this project through, to meet with the surrounding communities for input and feedback. But how do you engage a community during a global pandemic in an equitable manner that truly allows access and for you to hear their concerns?
First, let’s start with what not to do.
SPV Realty held its first Eastside Ridge community virtual meeting on October 13, 2020. Not including their staff, consultants and technical host, the total number of community members present was 17.
The few people in attendance rightfully noted the outreach on the part of SPV Realty was dismal.
It didn’t have to be this way.
Family Action Network Movement (FANM) communicated with Eastside Ridge several times before this meeting was scheduled that the timing was wrong and the meeting needed to be delayed, at least for now.
While some may have the privilege of getting back to a semblance of “normal” during this global pandemic— that is emphatically NOT the case for Little Haiti residents. The pandemic has not loosened its grip on low-income people and people of color in Miami.
We explained to the owner of this billion dollar project that Little Haiti is hard hit in a number of ways:
- Many of the residents of Little Haiti worked in hospitality jobs that have disappeared and they are now unemployed. Nationally, around 4 out of every 10 hospitality jobs were lost due to the pandemic, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. These families are now faced with the very real fear of becoming unhoused and they’re struggling to access a stubbornly inept unemployment compensation system.
- Families are grieving. Not only is there a loss of their livelihood, but there is also familial loss. “At least 5 percent of the county’s COVID-19 victims have been Haitian-Americans, a group that comprises an estimated 4 percent of the county’s population,” and this is likely an undercount according to the Miami Herald report, “ COVID-19, a stigma to many, quietly taking toll on South Florida’s Haitian community.”
- Virtual access is a significant challenge for seniors, non-English speakers and households with low or no internet connectivity. “[The City of] Miami has the lowest rate of internet access and the lowest median household income of the top 5 cities in Florida by population. When compared to its peers in Miami-Dade County, it has the lowest rate of internet access,” according to Florida International University’s Metropolitan Center.
Much of the hardships we’ve outlined are concentrated in Little Haiti. We are quite literally in survival and support mode.
It was clear to us that any community meeting held at the moment would not be well attended and there would not be sufficient community feedback, which is why we requested that SPV Realty reschedule for a later date. That did not happen.
We are not now, nor do we believe we have represented in the past that we are unwilling to negotiate or eventually conduct virtual meetings, but these meetings certainly need to be delayed until the community can work out more equitable options that would allow for more members to participate.
If you would like to get more involved, or would like more information on how to support the members of the Little Haiti community who stand to be impacted by this project, please contact info@fanm.org.
Denise Ghartey is an attorney and Justice Catalyst Fellow at Community Justice Project where she focuses on climate gentrification and racial justice work. Denise believes in liberation movements that are driven by the community.
Little Haiti Advisory Group is comprised of Little Haiti residents, business owners, and leaders whose mission is to preserve the Little Haiti’s community—its legacy, culture and people through economic empowerment and social justice.
