NBC 6’s Julia Bagg has more on the growing concerns from members of the community during a meeting Wednesday.
Many in the Little Haiti neighborhood were up in arms after the area’s cultural center got an unsafe structure notice from the city of Miami, which owns the building.
But a Miami building official says the building was never deemed unsafe and is now up to code – leaving many in the community to fear it’s the latest sign the neighborhood’s identity could be changing.
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WATCH HEREOn display Wednesday night at the Little Haiti Cultural Center and Caribbean marketplace, a meeting hosted by the Revitalization Trust tasked with improving and protecting Little Haiti’s identity.
Residents say homeowners and businesses are being priced out of the neighborhood that feels like a home away from home for Haitian Americans.
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Many in the community pointing to the massive 18-acre Magic City Innovation District, which hasn’t broken ground yet, as the first of many developments that may be moving into Little Haiti in the future.
When the city of Miami issued an unsafe structure notice for the center, saying its permit expired and reading in part “…you are, therefore, requested to repair or demolish this structure,” many in the community were up in arms.
But the city’s building director, who was at the meeting to answer the community’s questions, Wednesday, said the building is not unsafe and said the notice was just an effort to bring the permitting up to code.
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He said the city, which owns the building, made all the needed fixes, and re-issued this new permit on Wednesday.
Some in the crowd fear the cultural center may be targeted in the future for redevelopment. The Trust says the board’s doing what it can uplift Little Haiti’s residents and businesses - but says it’s not the final authority when it comes to cultural center and marketplace.
