MAD AS HELL

Then, expecting that the third time would be a charm, the Backham circus decided that the area in front of the Marlin's Stadium would work for them, and it might have, had it not been for the realization by the handful of property owners who own the collection of single family houses and small apartment buildings that are part of that mix, that they had a once in a life time opportunity to get rich.

There are several things that you can almost always be assured of when it comes to the behavior of public officials in Miami-Dade County.  

First, they will get down on their knees and suck the dick of any developer or hustler who shows up with money and a desire to build something on publicly owned land, and secondly, they will, when all else fails, fuck over poor people - most especially poor Black people - if it will benefit a developer.

And so it is with the latest scheme to build a soccer stadium within the downtown area of Miami.

When David Beckham first showed up the first scheme involved building the stadium on a piece of Port property that would have afforded him and his backers the opportunity to not only have a soccer stadium, but also a marina for fancy yachts, and space for a hotel and commercial buildings.

Those were magical times. Fancy architectural renderings, cocktail party receptions for the politicians and local players to hang out with Beckham for a couple hours, and then a nasty reality as folks with real money and power - starting with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines - stood up and said that the soccer stadium would hurt jobs at the Port, but in truth was that a group of  powerful, money interests had their own designs for that property.

Then the Beckham circus moved over to Parcel B next to the AAA Arena, where again fancy architectural renderings and press conferences were followed by a bunch of angry, high-rise condo owners who, like the Cruise Ship companies, said, NIMBY.

When the Beckham folks decided that between monetary demands and the outright hostility of many folks to even step foot on the Marlin's stadium property because of the fucking that they had gotten over that deal, they went looking for another location.

They settled - and it would really be a community service if someone from the Beckham group were to actually tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing BUT the truth about how this decision came about - to build their stadium on what at the time were a couple empty lots, and a piece of county owned property on NW 7th Avenue between 6th and 9th Streets, in Overtown.

Understandably, the decision to plop this stadium down in a portion of one of the poorest sections of Miami, has not sat well with the folks who live there.

There are any number of reasons why one should expect folks to be unhappy about this decision, but it's best to let these folks speak for themselves by providing you with a FACT SHEET that they've put out that detailed the bullshit claims and promises made by the Miami-Dade County Commission, and what they believe are the actual facts related to those claims.

Last night, a roomful of folks from Overtown and Spring Gradens - a historically protected community that is part of the original Overtown community met at St John's Church to discuss their concerns and their desire to fight against the construction of this stadium in their midst.

There are any number of reasons to understand and appreciate why folks in Overtown and Spring Gardens would be upset over the possibility that this stadium will be built over their objections.

What unfortunately should come as no surprise is that the two politicians who are most responsible for standing up on behalf of the residents, but aren't, just happen to be the two Black politicians who've earned an unsavory reputation of fucking over their people if there's a buck involved.

Shame on Audrey Edmonson and Keon Hardemon!