| As Charles Dickens rolled in his grave, I came to a | | | | Base. Its intention was to ease the burden of Miami |
| stop at the intersection of US 1 and Campbell Drive | | | | International Airport and coincidentally serve as an |
| (SW 312 ST). | | | | engine for Homestead's struggling economy. City |
| The images of City Hall, Harris Field, and the areas | | | | leaders envisioned a two-runway commercial airport |
| surrounding this particular intersection still very much | | | | that would serve as the landing spot of choice for tens |
| alive in my mind 15 years later. Few conversations | | | | of thousands of cargo and passenger flights each |
| regarding Homestead ever go over the 2-minute mark | | | | year. Ancillary development would soon follow and |
| without making reference to what happened on that | | | | Homestead would become the Miami Springs of the |
| fateful Monday morning of August 24, 1992. While | | | | south - on HGH. |
| Bryan Norcross and Rick Sanchez - in his mesh | | | | Environmental groups like Friends of the Everglades |
| Minnesota Twins baseball cap - were becoming local | | | | strongly opposed the plan from the get go, citing the |
| celebrities and advancing their professional careers, | | | | danger that an airport of that magnitude posed to its |
| South Dade residents were left wondering what | | | | neighbors, the Everglades, and Biscayne National Park; |
| 126,000 severely damaged (some destroyed) homes, | | | | not to mention Turkey Point just five miles to the |
| 180,000 homeless people, and $30 Billion in damage | | | | southeast. The Air Force shot down the plan - twice |
| ($16 Billion insured) meant. | | | | to be exact. They went as far as adding a deed |
| In the immediate aftermath of the storm, few could | | | | restriction to the area leased to the county stipulating |
| have imagined that more than 600,000 insurance | | | | that the area cannot be converted into a commercial |
| claims would be filed, that approximately 25% of the | | | | airport. |
| nation's insurance adjusters would temporarily make | | | | Driving through Kendall Drive - excuse me - Campbell |
| South Florida home, that eleven (11) insurance | | | | Drive east of US 1 and the Florida Turnpike, one would |
| companies would go bankrupt, that thirty (30) others | | | | never imagine that the commercial airport never |
| would lose up to 20% or more of their surplus, that | | | | materialized. Dozens of subdivisions containing |
| about 930,000 policyholders would be left with no | | | | thousands of single-family homes, townhomes, and |
| coverage options, that insurance regulations and | | | | condominium units with original names like Villa |
| construction codes would be completely overhauled, | | | | Portofino, Malibu Bay, Waterstone, Crystal Lakes, and |
| that government-created insurance pools and | | | | Oasis adorn stretches of Campbell Drive and the |
| catastrophe funds would come to existence, that | | | | surrounding area. Hundreds, if not thousands more are |
| "wind policy" would become part of our (realtors, | | | | under construction. |
| mortgage brokers, insurance agents, etc.) everyday | | | | According to the US Census Bureau, Homestead |
| vocab, that life in South Dade, as residents knew it, | | | | grew an estimated 68.5% from 2000-2006 (31,909 to |
| would never be the same again. | | | | 53,767). Furthermore, the city's director of development |
| At the time that Andrew flattened homes and left | | | | services, Shari Kamali, has confirmed that 2,882 |
| acreage upon acreage of lime groves in South Dade | | | | certificates of occupancy (CO) for residential units |
| looking like raw vacant land, Homestead Air Force | | | | were issued in fiscal year 2006 alone. An additional |
| Base was home to 6,000 airmen and their families, | | | | 4,332 COs for residential units were issued in fiscal |
| 2,000 civilian jobs, and represented $400 million annually | | | | years 2003-2005. A City of Homestead community |
| to the local economy. | | | | profile available on the City's website expects the |
| That changed overnight. Literally. Ninety-seven percent | | | | population to increase to over 70,000 by 2011. |
| of the Base's facilities were severely damaged or | | | | Miami-Dade County officials expect it to reach about |
| destroyed. Already listed as one of several bases to | | | | 137,000 in the year 2015. |
| be downsized, the recovery was deemed too | | | | Campbell Drive is also home to the new $135 million |
| expensive and not militarily justifiable. The Pentagon, | | | | Homestead Hospital. Located at 975 Baptist Way on |
| much to the chagrin of Poppa Bush's political | | | | the north side of Campbell Drive just east of the |
| motivations, pulled most of its personnel and activities | | | | Florida Turnpike, the Baptist Health owned hospital |
| out of the base. To say that city leaders were left | | | | replaces the old one at 160 NW 13 ST and features |
| with a huge void to fill would be an insulting | | | | 120 beds in all private patient rooms, an emergency |
| understatement. | | | | room double the size of the old one, and six operating |
| Today, the former Air Force Base serves as the | | | | rooms with equipment and layouts said to be among |
| Homestead Air Reserve Base. It sits on approximately | | | | the most advanced in South Florida. The hospital is |
| half of the 2,900-acre property. The other half is | | | | expected to exceed 300 beds in 10 to 15 years. |
| leased to Miami-Dade County and other agencies by | | | | Despite the large investment, Homestead Hospital |
| the Air Force. A Job Corps center, a homeless shelter, | | | | CEO Bill Duquette expects the hospital to lose about |
| and a park inhabit the surplus half. | | | | $30 million in 2007. He believes the hospital will come |
| Disasters tend to expose the problems that exist in a | | | | closer to breaking even in five to six years when a |
| community prior to the disaster. Remember the Big | | | | "better payer mix" moves to the area. |
| Facil after Katrina? With Homestead Air Force Base | | | | "Better payer mix"? Wishful thinking or perceived |
| no longer in existence, Homestead was back to being | | | | reality? |
| nothing more than an agricultural-based economy. Not | | | | It's not that I don't want to see Homestead Hospital (or |
| a bad thing if one was living during the Neolithic | | | | the City of Homestead for that matter) succeed. It's |
| Revolution, but an agricultural-based economy at the | | | | just that I look around the "other Homestead" and all I |
| inception of the Information Age? | | | | see is a sterile environment that serves as a poster |
| Homestead was left to rebuild with a rising Hispanic | | | | child for urban sprawl and poor community planning. I |
| population, migrant workers mostly from Mexico and | | | | don't see how this environment can appeal to the |
| Central America, the poorest of Homestead's work | | | | people that can provide Homestead with the "better |
| force. The middle class, mostly retirees with enough | | | | payer mix". A development strategy that attempts to |
| income to spend on something more than survival | | | | appeal only to traditional families at a time when only |
| goods, was gone. So too were the retirees with | | | | an estimated 23.5% of the American population lives in |
| federal Medicare coverage who helped turn out a | | | | the standard nuclear family with two parents and |
| $850,000 profit at Homestead Hospital the year before | | | | children at home is a recipe for disaster. Conformity, |
| the storm; replaced by poor families with no health | | | | fitting in, and "playing your position", characteristics that |
| insurance who often cannot afford treatment. | | | | defined the organizational age, are no longer the norms |
| How do you fill a $400 million gap in your local | | | | in a post 911 society. The strong bonds that once gave |
| economy, you ask? | | | | structure to society have been replaced by weak ties |
| How do you prevent the flight of middle-class | | | | that allow us to meet different people, make friends |
| residents from Homestead at a time when you need | | | | and acquaintances with people from all walks of life, |
| them the most? | | | | and live quasi-anonymous lives. Long gone are the |
| How do you bring them back once they've left? | | | | days of "el compromiso". Talented and creative |
| How do you replace them if they refuse to come | | | | professionals, what should be not only Homestead's, |
| back? | | | | but every city's target market, seek vibrancy, abundant |
| I knew you would be asking yourselves these very | | | | natural amenities, and most of all, the opportunity to live |
| same questions. | | | | in a community that allows them to validate their |
| Got any answers? | | | | identity and express their individuality and creativity. |
| Don't look at me. The answers to those questions are | | | | You don't attract these people by recreating every |
| not exactly 2 + 2 = 5. | | | | other new age suburb in America. You don't attract |
| I'm just a realtor, dude. I sit in front of a computer all | | | | these people by building thousands upon thousands of |
| day and wait for my phone to ring. | | | | cookie cutter homes in homogenized subdivisions. You |
| OK, I don't know if I have the answers to those | | | | don't attract these people by building poorly designed |
| questions, but I think I do know how you don't fill a | | | | shopping centers and strip malls with loads of unsightly |
| $400 million gap in your local economy. | | | | surface parking. You don't attract these people via big |
| You don't build a $22 million baseball complex complete | | | | name chain restaurants. You don't attract these people |
| with a 6,500-seat stadium, five practice fields, a | | | | by bringing in Wal-Mart, Lowe's, Home Depot, and all |
| clubhouse, batting cages, dormitory, four softball fields, | | | | the other usual suspects into your community in the |
| and special events areas and lease it to the Cleveland | | | | name of service sector jobs. You don't attract these |
| Indians for 20 years. | | | | people when five schools, including both high schools, |
| I know, I know, hindsight is 20/20 and one shouldn't kick | | | | zoned to your area receive an "F" in their FCAT |
| anybody when they're down. After all, the Cleveland | | | | performance. |
| Indians opted to move to Winter Haven after Andy | | | | You attract these people by creating a unique |
| came through for fear of losing their "middle-class" | | | | experience. There's no "one-size-fits-all" strategy. Cities |
| fans and left the City hanging. Or did they? The team | | | | have to build off of the unique assets already in |
| exercised a clause in its contract and pulled out - | | | | existence, which is why I feel so strongly about |
| before ever pulling in - without penalty. Adding insult to | | | | Homestead. City leaders had an opportunity to get it |
| injury, Homestead spent an additional $9 million repairing | | | | right and build off of the feeling evoked by downtown |
| the damage to the complex. It costs an average of | | | | Main Street on the original side of the city, but chose |
| $300,000 annually to maintain the complex and takes in | | | | (consciously or not) to do the exact opposite. Instead |
| only about $90,000 per year. To this day, the complex | | | | of smart growth, they went for tax base growth. |
| sits tenantless. Apparently, the other 18 major league | | | | I can only wonder who will eventually fill the thousands |
| teams that train in Florida during the spring don't think | | | | of housing units that sit vacant or are currently under |
| that traveling to Homestead makes much logistical | | | | construction. Will it be the teachers, firemen, and |
| sense. The team that trains closest to Homestead, the | | | | policemen who work in Monroe County, but can't |
| Baltimore Orioles, is close to 70 miles north in Ft. | | | | afford to live there? Will it be those performing menial |
| Lauderdale. Add to that the price of gas and... | | | | jobs in other parts of Miami-Dade County? Will it be |
| Homestead officials finally gave up trying to sell or | | | | those displaced from currently undervalued |
| lease the baseball complex in 2005. According to City | | | | neighborhoods in the urban core by the very people |
| Manager Curt Ivy, the complex "will remain a | | | | Homestead should have attracted? Will it be a |
| recreational area for the community" unless something | | | | combination of all three and/or others I have not |
| better comes along. I hear some beer-leaguers play | | | | mentioned? |
| really important softball games select weekends at the | | | | As I head north on US 1 and make my way out of |
| complex. | | | | Homestead back to the friendly confines of tall |
| "Go Indians...(belch)!" | | | | buildings, concrete jungles, and construction cranes, |
| In the late 90s, local business and political leaders | | | | Kanye's words, spoken over a Daft Punk sample, take |
| planned to build a commercial airport on the grounds of | | | | on a whole new meaning: |
| the still idle aforementioned Homestead Air Force | | | | "Does anybody make real sh*t anymore?". |