Liberty Square Winner Expected in December

        The much-awaited announcement naming the bidder selected to undertake the $200-million-plus remake of Liberty Square may be made in late December. 
           Black residents and The Miami Times have complained the five-month process has been taking too long. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the announcement was expected the first week in December. Full story HERE.

Housing Story So Far

     This site has been covering the horrendous problems with Miami housing in bits and pieces, sometimes getting into wonkish areas like exclusionary zoning and 9 percent tax credits, as well as the startling oddities like bus stops worth $20 million and developers creating shadowy grocery stores.
      The underlying issues: Miami's highly segregated, and the area's housing policies appear to be perpetuating, perhaps even enhancing that trend. Despite the vows of political leaders to change the situation, Liberty City remains as mired in poverty as it was 35 years ago.
     Meanwhile, the need for affordable housing is desperate -- both to provide decent housing and to decrease the area's horrendous traffic problems.
      Click HERE or on the Story So Far tab at right to get a summary of the 20-plus posts on this hugely important topic.
      The tab also includes new information on the underlying political whispers and undercurrents.

Tough Move: No Smoking Public Housing

          Miami-Dade has gotten ahead of the national curve by starting a process to ban smoking in its 100 public housing projects -- including inside the apartments. The move is already getting push-back from residents. The over-arching question: How much should the government try to improve the lives of its poorest citizens? UPDATED 8:45 pm with Liu responding to residents' push-back. Full story HERE.

Judge: Violence in Liberty City Misunderstood

     Senior Judge Tom Petersen -- who has many years experience in public housing projects -- says it's wrong to think that the $200-million-plus redo of Liberty Square is going to reduce crime, which has been a goal stated by some politicians. In fact, residents of the public housing project are less likely to be violent -- it's the men in the surrounding areas that are the problem and will likely continue to be the problem. Full story available HERE.