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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local...-business-front

Hialeah Publix to get new Hispanic format

By Tim Barker

Orlando Sentinel

Posted March 3 2005, 3:59 PM EST

Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets is converting a pair of stores -- one in Hialeah and another in Kissimmee -- to a Hispanic-themed format, the company announced on Thursday..

Called Publix Sabor, the stores will feature expanded offerings of Hispanic foods and will be staffed by bilingual workers.

The stores are located at 1585 W. 49th St. in Hialeah and 1980 East Osceola Parkway in Kissimmee, and are expected to open in early May.

"This store prototype will provide Publix with many opportunities to refine how we reach our Hispanic customers and serve as an important model in the years ahead," said Maria Brous, director of media and community relations.

The move was not unexpected.

The privately held grocer announced last month plans to debut a new line of store-brand Hispanic foods later this year, including black beans, frozen plantains and marinades. In mid-January, the company registered two Spanish phrases as trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: Publix Acentos, or accents, and Publix Sabor, or flavor. Both were described in documents as "retail goods and services."

Publix has 850 stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee.

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Isn't that a novel idea. The existing Hialeah store has got to be the largest Publix I've ever seen. It's more the size of a small wholesale warehouse. What's interesting is that this store and many others already carry bilingual signage.

In the South Florida market, that would place them in direct competition with Sedano's Supermarkets.

Incidentally, Publix is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

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Come to think of it, I haven't noticed that issue either. I usually use English there and switch over usually when the communication becomes a problem. They must be more selective on what employees work the registers... Interesting! Almost an epiphany... only in South Florida...

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I've been seeing the old nameplates coming down, and it is saddening. No more "the Florida Store."

Posted on Sat, Mar. 05, 2005

DEPARTMENT STORES

Burdines name is now history

The Burdines name will fade into the sunset on Sunday, as parent company Federated Department Stores changes all its regional brand names to Macy's.

BY ELAINE WALKER

[email protected]

Excuse Zada Burdine Phipps if she's feeling a little nostalgic.

On Sunday, her family name will officially disappear from the Burdines stores around Florida, marking the end of a brand that has been synonymous with Florida fashion for 107 years.

''I can't help but feel sad,'' said Phipps, 88, the oldest living member of the Burdine family and a part-time Fort Lauderdale resident. ``I grew up in the store. I love it.''

The change has been several years in the works as part of the efforts by parent company Federated Department Stores to unify its regional brand names under the Macy's banner. The move gives Federated the ability to advertise one national brand with 422 stores and take advantage of larger buying power.

The change marks an important milestone for Dadeland store director Glenn M. Rassner.

Rassner, who will celebrate his 35th year with the company in August, met his future wife when both were working at the Dadeland Burdines in the early 1970s. He also spent many childhood afternoons at the store with his mom, who ran the Boy and Girl Scout uniform department.

So Rassner made sure his employees gave the name a proper send-off. Rassner and his staff held a ceremony last month where they told stories about what Burdines meant to them, brought in memorabilia and signed a timeline that will be preserved.

`STILL THE SAME'

''A name is just a marketing tool,'' Rassner said. ``It's what you do with the name that counts. This isn't going to change the essence of who we are. It's still the same people and the same values.''

The old Burdines corporate office in downtown Miami, with its 580 employees, will become the Macy's Florida office and handle all fashion buying for Florida stores. Former Burdines Chairman Tim Adams will become chief executive of Macy's Florida.

Adams and his team will continue buying merchandise that remains suited to the area's tropical climate and lifestyle. Customers will still find an abundance of linen and shorts on the shelves in the winter, when Macy's in the Northeast will be showcasing sweaters and coats.

''We know what sells here, and we will continue to bring in the assortment that's best for our customers in Florida,'' said Lisa Kauffman, spokeswoman for Macy's Florida.

But Miami historian Paul George watched with great pain recently as the sign on the Flagler Street Burdines was removed, just as he was leading a tour by the site.

''This is really the last of the great Miami names,'' George said. ``It removes another remnant of the Miami of yesteryear, and there's very little left.''

The Florida retail graveyard is already littered with names like Eckerd, JByrons and Jordan Marsh.

Before deciding to do away with the Burdines name, Federated asked shoppers what would happen if it kept everything the same, except the name. Would customers shop there as often? Seventy percent said yes.

''As long as the merchandise stays the same, it's fine with me,'' said Deborah Greenbaum of Fort Lauderdale, who was shopping this week at the old Burdines store in Fort Lauderdale's Galleria Mall.

It's a change that industry experts say was inevitable as department stores wrestle with declining sales and pressures from discount stores like Wal-Mart and Target.

Burdines' sales had been slipping, from $1.47 billion in 2000 to $1.34 billion in 2003. With the hyphenated Burdines-Macy's name in 2004, the company saw its first recent increase as sales hit over $1.6 billion.

Now with the power behind the Macy's name, Federated is expected to be able to consolidate and negotiate better deals with suppliers.

''This makes them the Wal-Mart of department stores,'' said Cynthia Cohen, president of Strategic Mindshare, a retail consulting firm with offices in Miami. ``Their buying power is huge. That should benefit consumers.''

Besides obvious changes like the new name on everything from storefronts to shopping bags, there is also a new customer loyalty program, Star Rewards. It will offer customers free services like gift wrap and alterations, as well as more opportunities to earn certificates for free merchandise.

CHANGES IN WORKS

Long term, Federated will finish renovating all of its stores with wider aisles, improved signage, price-check scanners and expanded waiting areas outside dressing rooms. It also vows to use its national power to bring in new names in fashion and rotate stock more frequently.

That focus on fashion would have made Phipps' father, Roddey Burdine, proud. He took the trading post his father William started in 1898 and crafted the store's image as a leader in the fashion industry. Phipps loved fashion and has fond memories of working in the stores as a personal shopper.

''I always felt that Burdines was Florida,'' said Phipps, who spends her summers in North Carolina and her winters in Fort Lauderdale. ``But I understand the way business goes.''

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Tremendous loss.

Posted on Thu, Mar. 17, 2005

WILLIAM LEHMAN 1913-2005

U.S. Rep. followed 'internal compass'

Former U.S. Rep. William Lehman died Wednesday at 91, after a career that brought him from a small-stakes car dealer to one of the nation's most influential congressmen.

BY AMY DRISCOLL

[email protected]

Former U.S. Rep. William Lehman, a legendary figure of South Florida politics considered a visionary on racial issues and public transit, died Wednesday at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach.

He was 91. He died of heart failure, his family said.

A used-car salesman, teacher, school board chairman and powerful congressman who exercised broad authority over transportation spending in the United States, Lehman was remembered by friends and former staffers as a compassionate soul and a progressive voice who helped shape South Florida.

He was an Alabama-born Jew who opened a business in a black neighborhood in Miami and once traveled to Cuba to rescue political prisoners. Known at home as the father of the Metrorail and Metromover systems, he was part of a renowned generation of Democratic politicians, including U.S. Reps. Dante Fascell and Claude Pepper, who delivered uncommon clout to Florida.

''A person like this can only come along in a community once in a century, twice in a century if you're lucky,'' said John Schelble, once Lehman's press spokesman and now chief of staff to Miami Democratic U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek. ``He was truly colorblind.''

At the news of his passing, condolences poured forth, from Miami to Washington.

A REAL `FOLK HERO'

Former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek called him a ''real humanitarian and folk hero'' in Miami's poor communities. She recalled his car dealership, set in the heart of black Miami, and his fight as a school board member in support of mandatory busing to integrate schools.

''He felt very strongly about the people in the black community, and that wasn't just pious platitudes. He showed it in all the things he did. He showed it when he built his dealership. He showed it when he was on the school board,'' she said.

Mike Abrams, lobbyist and former state representative who had known Lehman since the 1970s, said the former congressman was guided by an unshakable sense of right and wrong.

''He was the most moral man I ever knew in politics -- and I've known a lot of men in politics. He was clearly guided by his personal principles,'' Abrams said. ``But that didn't mean he didn't know how to use his knuckles in the process. If he didn't think you had character, forget it. He was a character man all the way.''

Lehman's ability to reach people wasn't ruled by politics. U.S. Reps. Clay Shaw and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, both Republicans, counted Lehman as a friend.

''He was a Democrat through and through, and I'm a Republican, but that never interfered with our friendship,'' Shaw said.

Ros-Lehtinen characterized him as ``a gentleman to his last breath.''

Lehman was born Oct. 5, 1913, in Selma, Ala., the son of candy factory owners. He graduated from the University of Alabama, and married the former Joan Feibelman in 1939. They became the parents of three children -- two sons and a daughter, Kathryn, who died of a brain tumor in 1979. She had been a high school English teacher like her father.

`ALABAMA BILL'

He spent 30 years as a used car dealer, calling himself ''Alabama Bill'' in advertisements, before he got into politics. Lehman was elected to the Dade County School Board in 1966 and became chairman in 1971. His first election to Congress to represent a Northeast Dade district came in 1972.

The Biscayne Park Democrat was known for his low-key manner, for the Southern drawl he never lost -- and for his political power.

''The fact that he was so demonstrably Southern probably gave him an ability to play a conciliatory and constructive role in some of Florida's toughest times,'' said former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham.

In the years when the Democrats held sway in Congress, he rose to a position of great influence, a member of the so-called ''college of cardinals'' in the House. With an unpolished speaking style and quiet strength, he controlled billions of dollars for transportation as chairman for 10 years of the House Appropriations Committee's subcommittee overseeing highways, seaports and mass-transit systems.

MILLIONS FOR TRANSIT

He brought a significant portion of that money home to South Florida, with some $800 million going to the construction of the Metrorail transit system. Millions secured by Lehman also went to build bridges and improve the region's seaports and airports.

''Anyone who rides a bus or takes a train in this area, they owe it to Mr. Lehman,'' Carrie Meek said. ``That's the way poor people get around and he chose to make that his priority.''

Other favorite causes included support for Israel and the resettlement of Soviet Jews.

Sergio Bendixen, a Miami-based pollster who worked in Lehman's Washington office as press secretary and executive assistant from 1979 to 1982, said the congressman didn't need the trappings of success to boost his ego.

SMALL OFFICE

''He chose the smallest office -- a cubbyhole, really,'' Bendixen recalled. ``He was a congressman. He knew he was powerful. He didn't need all the plaques on the wall and the symbols that seemed to make other members of Congress happy. He was secure.''

Lehman was an unabashed liberal who voted against a constitutional amendment banning flag-burning, against military aid to the rebels fighting to topple Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista government and against sending troops to the Persian Gulf during the first Gulf War.

PRISONER RELEASE

But he won respect among conservative Cuban exiles in 1988 when he went to Cuba and negotiated the release of three political prisoners.

It wasn't his first effort for victims of political repression: In 1981, he won release of a political prisoner in Argentina, and in 1984, he smuggled a synthetic heart valve to a young patient in a hospital in the Soviet Union. He was also a strong advocate for Haitian refugees.

''I'm a congressman,'' he told an aide inquiring about the danger of venturing into the Soviet Union. ``If they catch me, what are they going to do?''

DOWN-TO-EARTH

Despite his power, Lehman retained his down-to-earth sensibilities. He was a breakfast regular for years at Jimmy's restaurant on Northeast 125th Street in North Miami.

His two sons remembered him Wednesday as someone who never raised his voice but taught them the value of working for others.

''He'd get involved in things and he wouldn't skim the surface -- he'd get down to the very bottom,'' said Bill Lehman Jr.

``He just took great pleasure in being a friend to anyone.''

Their father always listened to his internal compass, financing cars for black customers in the '40s and '50s, when few other white car dealers would, they said.

''He would look at a man's arms and if they had salt on them, from sweating, he would know that was a working man,'' said Thomas Lehman. ``That was his credit check.''

Surgery for jaw cancer in 1983 left Lehman's speech slurred. But he stayed in Congress for another decade, until his surprise decision in 1992 not to seek reelection when his influence was at its height.

Friends say that even as he struggled with his speech and other health problems, Lehman maintained a sense of humor.

''I'm the only politician who can only speak out of one side of his mouth,'' he once joked, referring to treatment that left part of his mouth paralyzed.

But Lehman said he made up his mind to retire in 1992 for health reasons: He said he had ''a sudden realization'' that a 1991 stroke had made him a less effective legislator.

END OF ERA

His passing marks the end of a political era, said lobbyist Ron Book.

``They don't make 'em like that anymore -- him, Claude Pepper and Dante Fascell -- they're all gone now.''

Lehman is survived by his wife of 66 years, Joan; sons Bill Jr. and Thomas, and six grandchildren.

The funeral will be at Temple Israel at 1 p.m. Sunday. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the William Lehman Injury Research Center, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, P.O. Box 016960 (D-55), Miami, FL 33101.

This story includes reporting by former Herald staff writer Peter Wallsten.

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Posted on Fri, Mar. 18, 2005

EDUCATION

Historic college expands by many degrees

After expanding its degree programs and physical facilities, South Florida's only historically black college is taking a new name: Florida Memorial University.

BY ANDREA ROBINSON

[email protected]

J. Walter Hale still remembers the night at the segregated St. Augustine bus terminal, when an uncooperative white cabbie refused to take him to his new school. So he found a payphone and called the college president, who promised to come right over.

''Sure enough, this big man drives up in a Buick Roadmaster in his robe and slippers,'' recalled Hale. At that moment he gained a surrogate family.

The man was Royal W. Puryear, the 15th president of Florida Memorial College, who ''adopted'' hundreds of students by the time the campus moved to Miami in 1968.

Administrators, faculty and students will honor Puryear, as well as age-old familial ties and the peaks and valleys of the college's 126-year history this weekend as the college gets a new name: Florida Memorial University.

Administrators cite the emergence of its 2-year-old graduate programs in education, and a dizzying campus expansion project as reasons for the change. Florida Memorial is the only historically black college or university in South Florida.

According to Black Issues in Higher Education, an industry publication, the college ranks third nationally for the numbers of black graduates who go on to teach.

Last year, the college opened a Fort Lauderdale campus to attract the growing numbers of black and Hispanic students in the Broward area. Meanwhile, the 56.7-acre main campus in Northwest Miami-Dade added four new buildings and landscaping in a $20 million makeover.

Administrators predict that the new name will boost efforts to recruit students and give momentum to plans for adding other graduate programs, including an MBA. Discussions about new programs are already under way on the private school's board of trustees.

THE EVENT

The official name change will occur during Founder's Day activities that begin this morning. Sometime before noon, student pilots from the college's Aviation Department will fly a small plane with a large orange and blue banner trailing behind with the new name.

President Albert E. Smith, who is largely credited with lifting the school's fortunes when he took office in 1993, said all the physical and programmatic changes are aimed at strengthening the school's commitment to educate the South Florida area.

''This has been a 126-year journey. A lot of folks brought us to the point we're at, and under much difficult circumstances,'' Smith said.

Several times Florida Memorial has withstood harsh conditions.

In the 1980s, the school was beset with financial problems. Federal auditors said the school misspent part of a $7.4 million grant for its the Airway Science complex. The school also had to return $758,000 in state and federal assistance, because of mismanagement in the student financial aid program.

When Smith arrived, enrollment was down to 1,300. It is now more than 2,200, including nearly 100 in the graduate school.

Barbara Edwards, vice president for institutional advancement, said the bad times are long gone. The focus, she said, should be on the future. ''People always like to take us back to the 1980s and how things were. We have been on a progressive plane for many years. We don't like to keep bringing up the past,'' Edwards said.

Florida Memorial, known as the birthplace of the song, ''Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing,'' traces its roots to 1879 in Live Oak, Fla., in a one-room school called the Florida Baptist Institute.

In 1942, the college relocated to a sprawling 300-acre former plantation in St. Augustine. Amid the placid tree-lined setting, Ku Klux Klan members targeted the property.

Hale and other male students became familiar with the humongous moss-draped oak trees, where they acted as sentries in case troublemakers approached.

''There were nights we slept in [them] to protect the campus because we couldn't get help from the police,'' said Hale, now the school's director of alumni affairs.

By 1968, during the height of nationwide racial strife, Puryear moved the school to Miami-Dade to offer educational opportunities to South Florida's black community.

The new changes fulfill a once unimaginable dream, said E. Ray Smith, alumni association president.

''We're a big school now. We're going to be a university,'' he said. ``I'll be honest. It's really unbelieveable. When you drive on the campus now, it's so beautiful. It's a totally different place.''

THE GROWTH

Ed Moore, executive director of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida, which advocates for private institutions, said Florida Memorial's growth affirms it is meeting the community's needs.

''They are healthy, active and engaged in the community,'' he said. ``They've reached out in the greater South Florida community. . . . not all institutions do that.''

Historically black colleges like Florida Memorial, founded during a time when black students were barred from other schools, typically have a nurturing environment.

That community outreach won over students Sherline Joachim and Ian Dixon. Joachim, a senior from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, was stranded four years ago after a private scholarship fell through. Albert Smith, the current president, personally helped her get financial aid so she could remain in school.

''Had it not been for FMC, I would not have gone to college,'' she said.

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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11205429.htm

Alvarez targets corrupt dealings

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, elected by voters last year in a campaign that emphasized a tough stance on fighting corruption, is giving constituents what they want.

BY NOAKI SCHWARTZ

[email protected]

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez won over voters last year with a get tough on public corruption platform, and the former police director has been working not to let them down.

Unlike previous county mayors, Alvarez knows intimately how the public trust is abused and who has a history of profiting from it. As mayor, he has a new kind of leverage and is using it as a bully pulpit to take on one of the county's premier contractors, Horsepower Electric, and its owner, Hector P. Ortiz.

In January, Alvarez wrote a strongly worded memo to County Manager George Burgess in support of debarring the company. But the four-paragraph letter did much more than simply target Horsepower, which had been linked, though not charged, in a bribery scheme. It sent a warning shot to others who want to land lucrative contracts with the county by reminding them that their new mayor used to be the sheriff.

''This was part of my platform -- regaining the trust of the people in county government -- and that means that some of the deals that occurred in the past will not occur in the future,'' Alvarez said.

Unlike former Mayor Alex Penelas -- who spoke out against corruption and pushed for an independent authority to run Miami International Airport -- Alvarez is not bogged down by the appearance that he is beholden to lobbyists. Penelas could never shed that image because his top supporters were lobbyists who contributed to his campaigns and got huge county contracts.

Ortiz and his employees have contributed to the campaigns of candidates including Penelas and County Commissioner Bruno Barreiro. Ortiz also raised funds for commissioner Natacha Seijas.

Alvarez says Ortiz isn't the only vendor who should be cut off from the public tap. But it remains to be seen whether he will go after other lobbyists and contractors involved in deals he once investigated as head of the police department's public corruption unit.

''That's subject to change tomorrow based on who attempts to get a county contract and the knowledge that I have based on where I came from,'' he said.

The Horsepower case strikes a raw nerve with the mayor. Alvarez can seamlessly pull out facts from the investigation he led against the company seven years ago.

Alvarez is convinced Ortiz paid former airport construction chief Richard Mendez for a cut in lucrative contracts, including one to clean soil at the airport. According to a 2001 federal indictment, Ortiz sent more than $72,000 in checks to Mendez's family.

Ortiz, through his lawyers, has vehemently denied paying Mendez, who is one of his close friends. The monies were loans to a friend, he said. In 2002, Mendez pleaded guilty to 34 felony counts of mail fraud, bribery, money laundering, tax evasion and filing false tax returns. Ortiz and Horsepower Electric continued to do business with the county. Until now.

''It was unbelievable,'' Alvarez said. ''Not only had debarment not been initiated but these people have made millions of dollars in county contracts and now we were looking at giving them another huge contract worth millions.'' That contract involves providing street lighting services.

Attorney Miguel DeGrandy, who represents Ortiz at County Hall, said his client has never been charged with a crime and provides Miami-Dade with quality work.

Still, in December Horsepower came under scrutiny during contract negotiations when it was flagged for debarment based on the federal case. Alvarez's memo followed soon afterward.

The mayor is using the case to set the tone for his administration. 'It would certainly appear Alvarez is sending a message: `I'm not going to tolerate anything that has a hint of impropriety,' '' said lobbyist Ric Katz, a former political advisor to Penelas.

Alvarez points to the case as justification for a truly strong mayor form of government in which he could oversee department heads and let them have final say on contracts. Commissioners award contracts, and the mayor has veto power.

Santiago Leon, former chairman of the League of Women Voters' Committee on Ethics and Accountability, said Alvarez, who defeated Jimmy Morales in a November runoff, is giving voters what they want.

''The commission is behaving exactly in the way that caused voters to elect someone other than a commissioner,'' he said. ``And Mayor Alvarez is behaving in exactly the way voters hoped he'd behave.''

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Posted on Tue, Mar. 29, 2005

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

FIU launches nanotech center

FIU's new nanotechnology facility, dedicated Monday, seriously elevates the school's profile in one of the hottest areas of scientific research.

BY GREGG FIELDS

[email protected]

At Florida International University, they're dreaming big by thinking small. Really small.

Monday, the FIU College of Engineering inaugurated the Motorola Nanofabrication Research Facility.

Nanotech, at its simplest, is defined as building devices at the molecular or single-atom level. The basic unit of measurement in this world is the nanometer -- it would take 100,000 of them to equal the diameter of a human hair.

With its new facility, FIU is catapulted into the realm of universities delving into nanotech -- considered by many to be the next wave of technological revolution.

''It could be a device so small that you can insert it in your bloodstream and it can go around your body,'' said FIU President Modesto ''Mitch'' Maidique, who has a doctorate in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an extensive background in the semiconductor industry. ``We're talking world-scale revolution.''

The nanotechnology center also symbolizes the kind of high-skill, tech-driven jobs that will create a more affluent Florida in the future, said Gov. Jeb Bush in his dedication remarks.

''This investment into FIU will make it even more possible for South Florida residents to pursue their dreams and not go elsewhere,'' he said. ``It is important for us to promote research that can be applied to the real world.''

Nanotech is widely expected to be a trillion-dollar industry someday, and research money is rapidly making its way into labs across the country.

The National Science Foundation, for instance, is supporting more than $100 million in research at Cornell University. In 2003, President Bush signed the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act, which authorized $3.7 billion in nanotech funding beginning in fiscal 2005.

And venture capital funds are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the field. Meanwhile, major companies like IBM are undertaking aggressive development projects in nanotechnology.

The field is huge, and virtually wide open. Drug delivery is one area generating a great deal of excitement, as is data storage that dwarfs the capacity of semiconductors and potential breakthroughs in communications technologies.

The expectation is that FIU's center could create spinoff companies at some point, although it may be a bit early to say when.

FIU's facility has been a couple of years in the making. It was bolstered significantly when Motorola donated two complete laboratories, including a Class 100 Clean Room -- a lab virtually devoid of pollutants, which allows devices to be developed in a pure atmosphere.

FIU officials said the headaches of constructing such a high-tech facility are never-ending.

A building that vibrates too much, for instance, could jeopardize research. The duct work, climate controls and other infrastructure can cost millions.

''After the [Motorola] contribution came the hardest part -- what do we do now?'' said Kinzy Jones, director of FIU's Advanced Materials Research Engineering Institute. ``We worked really tirelessly for two years to get this facility done.''

Midway through the process it was determined the current engineering center, at 10555 W. Flagler St., couldn't accommodate the donated equipment -- the ceilings weren't high enough.

In the end, new space was built on the ground floor, which was previously used for parking.

The $15 million center, said Vish Prasad, dean of engineering, is already garnering attention.

''The ground-breaking research being conducted at FIU has not gone unnoticed,'' he said. ``We have received $4 million in [research] grants in the last six months. This is just the beginning.''

The labs are open to researchers from other universities as well as industry. Derek Jacobs, an engineering prodigy who, at 17, is in his third year of college, said it's a clear sign of FIU moving forward.

''With the opening of this lab, there's the opportunity for research, to apply all your techniques,'' he said.

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Posted on Sun, Apr. 03, 2005

REAL ESTATE

Poor-area dwellers told how to benefit

South Florida residents seek advice on how to prevent being left out as gentrification takes hold of their neighborhoods.

BY DARRAN SIMON

[email protected]

As zooming real estate prices help push more South Florida neighborhoods upscale, residents who don't want to be left out need to speak up early. About 300 people heard that advice Saturday from a national research group brought to the African-American Research Library to help everyone benefit from gentrification.

''Without the rules of the game being consistent, we have to fight the same fight over and over,'' said Dwayne Marsh, a senior associate at PolicyLink, a national nonprofit organization that works toward achieving economic and social equity in communities.

Marsh said residents should seek out local and regional organizations that focus on causes like creating more affordable housing and advocating policy changes.

''If you are a consistent presence, at some point you become part of the dialogue,'' he said.

Terri L. Baltimore and more than 20 others in the Hill District, a historic black community in Pittsburgh overlooking the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, banded together.

They brought Mindy Fullilove, a nationally known psychiatrist to Pittsburgh to discuss the effects of displacement as the gentrification in the Hill District began. ''It started out as a day and that day has continued since August 1997,'' said Baltimore, director of arts and neighborhood development for the Hill House Association. Residents held events, and tours founded by a private organization to foster unity. They learned about the community, block by block, and planning and zoning laws, she said.

Gentrification usually improves public transportation, policing and other things, but it drives up housing prices, and property taxes.

James Wilson of Lauderhill, who owns and rents out a triplex on Northwest 11th Avenue off Sistrunk Boulevard, said Saturday his taxes have increased about 50 percent to $4,800 a year over the past decade.

''If I didn't have an additional income coming in, probably I wouldn't be able to handle it,'' said Wilson, 54, an electrician with Broward County.

FOSTERING OWNERSHIP

Marsh cited examples that have fostered home ownership. The Burlington Community Land Trust in Vermont buys land and builds affordable homes residents can lease. The trust has taken more than 15 of the housing stock in the region off the market, he said.

Zoning in Davis, Calif., that requires developers to set aside a certain number of units in new projects to be affordable has worked, Marsh said.

Fort Lauderdale has no law requiring affordable housing.

A $45 million redevelopment plan has poured money into buying property for development, paying incentives to developers and improving streets in northwest Fort Lauderdale.

City Commissioner Carlton Moore is hoping to craft an affordable housing ordinance in the near future if a study documents a need for it.

Ralph Johnson,director of Florida Atlantic University's Center for Urban Redevelopment and Education, which co-sponsored Saturday's meeting, said its efforts will continue.

CONFERENCE SLATED

The center will host the Florida African American Heritage Preservation Conference April 20-23 to talk about preserving historic African-American buildings.

''Sometimes when the ownership changes, those buildings are the first to go because they don't mean anything to the new owners,'' Johnson said.

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Posted on Thu, Apr. 07, 2005

OPA-LOCKA

Officials hope project brings more developers

Opa-locka will mark the near completion of a $10 million town house project called Superior Gardens III with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday.

BY TRENTON DANIEL

[email protected]

Opa-locka officials and Miami-Dade developers will cut a ribbon to celebrate the near completion of a town house project in the eastern end of the city Saturday.

But the ribbon-snipping ceremony is not supposed to be just any occasion for important people to pose for a photo.

Rather, the event is to kick off the almost-completed construction of Superior Gardens III -- an 80-unit town house complex at 2240 NW 135th Ter. Hailed as an example of outside developers doing business in struggling Opa-locka, the project comes at a time when developers are frantically searching for any spare strip of land in South Florida.

Opa-locka, west of Interstate 95 and centrally located in Miami-Dade, is suited for a town house project of this sort, developers said.

''Everybody said we were crazy,'' Tomas Sinisterra, president of the Praxis Group and principal of the Urbanall Development Group. ``We see a lot of potential in Opa-locka. As far as Miami-Dade goes, I don't see a more strategically located city in the county. We see this as a perfect match.''

The buildings -- 70 percent of which are completed, Sinisterra said -- will show stucco facades, Arabian Nights architectural motifs that echo those of City Hall, leafy, clean streets and a canal promenade to invite strolling.

The $10 million project started rolling in July 2002 when the Praxis Group approached Opa-locka to request zoning changes, and the city gave the firm the final approval in September 2003, Sinisterra said. Each two-story unit is 1,250 square feet with three bedrooms and 2

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Opa-Locka has the largest collection of Moorish architecture in the western hemisphere... Unfortunately it lies within some of the worst neighborhoods in the county. With the right vision, the right leadership, and the right developers, the area could turn itself around, and if they stick to the Moorish theme as currently required by zoning code, we could easily see the county's next entertainment district in an extraordinarily unique setting. The city's historic train station (now used by Tri-Rail) was restored and remodeled, and it will probably serve as a Metrorail station when the north-south line reaches it. Grandiose vision? Perhaps, but in this market I've learned to believe that almost nothing is impossible.

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Opa-Locka Airport isn't especially noisy, since it's a general aviation airport that serves smaller aircraft. Miami Lakes, Miami Gardens, Opa-Locka, and Hialeah happen to surround the airport on the west, north, east, and south.

Besides, cities are noisy to begin with. There are helicopters and planes flying overhead all the time.

Interesting factoid: Opa-Locka was the site where Amelia Earhart took off on her last flight.

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