An Open Letter of Thanks to Facilities Planning...

The following letter was mailed and faxed to the offices of Fernando Albuerne and all other idicated contacts on May 3, 2008...

Dear Fernando,

I just wanted to send a quick letter to sincerely thank you, the regional superintendent, and the rest of the Miami-Dade Schools Facilities Planning staff for your participation in our recent public meeting on Wednesday, April 30th. We greatly appreciate your acceptance of our invitation to address the residents of our community with regards to proposed school HHH1. I would also like to thank Principal Ortiz for providing Jorge Mas Canosa Middle as a venue, and providing support for our gathering.

I do hope you and the entire Facilities Planning staff found value in what transpired that evening. Since the inception of our talks only three weeks ago, we have consistently maintained that your office has failed to provide for proper public process with regards to this project. I would maintain that having engaged our community more than two years ago, in advance of your efforts, might have saved this project from several regrettable issues that now plague its continued development. Our meeting has, in my mind, thrown that reality into far greater relief. Myriad questions and concerns have emerged directly in response to your presentation that evening, including:

· The assertion that public notice published via classified advertisements or poorly circulated periodicals, ie. Miami Daily Business Review, is not sufficient for publicly funded projects that far exceed $50 million dollars in cost (the true value being withheld by your office) and require the controversial use of eminent domain

· The clear disregard for limitations set forth in the Miami-Dade County Comprehensive Master Development Plan (CDMP) regarding construction east of the Urban Development Boundary (EDU-2A), proper assessment of suitable infrastructure (EDU-2E) and consistency with present and projected surrounding land use (EDU-2F)

· A conspicuous failure to acknowledge the likely need for, and possibility of, future expansion on the site that would drive student numbers far above that which is currently projected. Such an expansion would not only threaten to undermine the mandatory acreage required for sizable facilities as stipulated in the 2007 State Guidelines for Educational Facilities, but would necessarily demand infrastructure beyond that currently allotted in the present plan.

I hope the overarching theme of the evening became crystal clear: while we acknowledge the need to comply with class size limits, this is simply the wrong location for a high school. The desire to be heard and have proper input in the process was clearly expressed very early on in our gathering, and I hope you now understand the need to involve communities early on in your process. Though in this matter your office has historically made little effort to do so, we nonetheless happily offer our assistance in locating a more appropriate location for this school going forward.

On a happier note, I was gratified to hear that the proposed school would boast a greenhouse and “agricultural component”. In the very near future, students might look upon such areas as their only reminder of what’s been lost to careless development.


cc: Dr. Wilbert “Tee” Holloway, District 1
cc: Dr. Solomon C. Stinson, District 2
cc: Dr. Martin Karp, District 3
cc: Ms. Perla Tavares Hantman, District 4
cc: Mr. Renier Diaz de la Portilla, District 5
cc: Agustin J. Barrera, District 6
cc: Ana Rivas-Logan, District 7
cc: Dr. Marta Perez, District 8
cc: Ms. Evelyn Langlieb Greer, District 9
cc: Rudy Crew, Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent
cc: Commissioner Dennis Moss, District 9