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Florida News Bulletin, Spring 2003

Overtown's lively 9th St. Pedestrian Mall will be extanded and improved as part of the greenway project Photo by: Gary Knight and Associates, Inc.

Greenprinting in Overtown

Revitalizing Miami's Lively Cultural Heart
by Phyllis Shapiro

Miami's historic Overtown community, once known as "Southern Harlem", is now the focal point of a progressive urban revitalization program, thanks to the attention and efforts of a broad coalition of neighborhood residents, nonprofit agencies, and some bold funders who understand the value of innovation and persistence.

A key part of the revitalization strategy is an approach the Trust for Public Land (TPL) calls green-printing, a planning tool that uses parks and open spaces as magnets for community development. The Overtown Greenprint Plan, developed this past year under the leadership of TPL, offers a framework for integrating city parks with neighborhood restoration, economic development, family and children's services, and community cultural activity.

TPL's work in Overtown, supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Bank of America, is a unifying force. Not only does the Greenprint Plan consider park planning in conjunction with other aspects of community redevelopment, it also provides a highly effective process to help diverse neighborhood interests coalesce into a healthy community.

In many ways, the Overtown community is a microcosm of its city. Located at the heart of Miami, Overtown was settled in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by American and Caribbean blacks who came to the area seeking jobs and opportunity. By the 1930s it had become a lively center of arts and entertainment - a popular destination for artists such as Billie Holliday, Cab Calloway, Count Basie and others - who performed at the fashionable Lyric, Modern or Ritz theaters, visited local nightclubs and stayed in Overtown hotels. By mid-century Overtown had anywhere between 40,000 and 80,000 residents, nearly half the African-American population of Miami-Dade County, and a thriving commercial area with hundreds of shops, restaurants and businesses.

A series of destructive planning decisions in the 1960s, particularly the construction of several major highways that cut through the heart of Overtown, had a disastrous impact. By 2000, Overtown's population had dropped below 10,000, with fewer than 50 businesses, compared with 389 in 1950. Today, Overtown has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation. About a third of the population lives in public or subsidized housing. Only three percent own their homes.

Dr. Dorothy Fields, TPL program manager Lavinia Freeman, with community activists Irby McKnight and C.C. Reed Photo by: Michael Wray

A Combination of Forces

Yet, if Overtown's collapse resulted from a combination of negative forces (transportation planning, urban policy and economic discrimination), the community today faces the opposite: a combination of positive forces that offers the promise of great things to come.

Overtown is adjacent to downtown Miami, close to the Miami River and Biscayne Bay, and within walking distance of two major sports arenas and Miami's new performing arts center, slated to open in 2005. Property values are rising, and investors and developers are returning, betting on an eventual reward.

Those who never left, fiercely devoted community activists such as Dr. Dorothy Fields, have dedicated considerable efforts to restoring Overtown's remaining cultural and historic resources. Dr. Fields, an Overtown native and founder of the Black Archives, History and Research Foundation of South Florida, Inc., helped rescue six historic Overtown buildings and list them on the National Register of Historic Places. One of them, the Lyric Theater, will be the centerpiece of the Historic Overtown Folklife Village, envisioned as a tourism and cultural magnet.

"We have a rich past on which to build," Dr. Fields told the Miami Herald. "With so much land and so many boarded-up buildings, and so little housing available, almost a Marshall Plan is needed. We have bits and pieces of that. Funds are available now."

Shortly after her statement, even more money was pledged. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced a $12 million package of grants supporting community revitalization efforts in Overtown and nearby city neighborhoods. Knight officials helped organize the Collaborative Overtown Transformation Project, a three-way partnership of the Collins Center for Public Policy, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and the Trust for Public Land. Representatives of the partner organizations joined other Miami community development leaders last summer to visit Chicago and Pittsburgh, where they learned about policies and practices that have helped revitalize those cities. The trip offered an opportunity to show how landscaping, pocket parks and gardens can be important elements of a sound urban redevelopment plan.

"In Overtown, we're taking it one step further to show how parks and open space can be used to transform a neighborhood," says Brenda Marshall McClymonds, director of TPL's South Florida office.

The Role of Greenprinting

Greenprinting is also part of the working vocabulary of grassroots community development corporations.

BAME Community Development Corporation, affiliated with the historic Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, is a long-time community anchor. Bill Mauzy, who heads the organization, says a variety of Overtown groups came together to work with TPL, LISC and the Collins Center on the revitalization effort. The goal was for everyone to share information and planning.

"TPL listened to what we had to say about our neighborhood and made our priorities part of the plan" Mauzy says. "TPL is certainly one of the key partners in Overtown. We expect to have a relationship with them for a long time."

In addition to Knight funding, support for TPL's work in Overtown comes from Bank of America, whose leaders understood the value of greenprinting as part of an overall community revitalization strategy.

"The greenprint has many dimensions - geographic, economic and cultural," says Lavinia Freeman, TPL program manager for the greenprint. "Above all it is a way to unify and mobilize a diverse community to pursue shared goals."

With Overtown residents' support, the Greenprint Plan was presented to the Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency. The agency's approval gave the plan an official endorsement, helped ensure that its principles and guidelines are considered in future development decisions, and opened up funding options.

Already portions of the plan are being implemented. A grant from the P. L. Dodge Foundation is helping the Knight partners develop the gateway signage component of the Greenprint, and funds from a recent city bond program will further support the creation of attractive gateways into the community. Housing developments by BAME, St. John CDC, Bank of America and others reflect the vision and recommendations articulated in the greenprint.

Many challenges and much more work lie ahead. But for many, the Overtown Greenprint Plan is a great fit for the rebirth of Southern Harlem.

Governor Jeb Bush with TPL State Director Greg Chelius before the conservation roundtable Photo by:

From the State Director, Greg Chelius

As I write this, we are in the most uncertain of times: war in Iraq, an unsettled North Korea, uncertain economic stability, and state budget deficits that try even the most creative financial experts. And yet. . . in the midst of this uncertainty, I heard the governor of our state express in no uncertain terms that the commitment made to the people of Florida to preserve our most precious conservation lands must not be compromised.

The setting was a workshop on land-buying organized by the Department of Environmental Protection, in which I was honored to be a participant. Governor Jeb Bush's statement came after he was informed by a staff member that the Legislature was considering - as a reaction to major budget deficits - a land-buying moratorium.

All of us in the workshop - and there were a lot of us, from the nonprofit sector as well from government and the private sector - were heartened by Governor Bush's words. In our high-growth state, a slow-down in land acquisition would mean a loss of land that will serve our state's residents and visitors for many generations. Because despite economic uncertainty (or maybe because of it) land-buying and development are not slowing down. If anything, they are accelerating, making our job of preserving parks and open space even more difficult - and more important.

At this point in the legislative session, both houses seem to agree, and the state's budget reflects full funding for our land-acquisition programs. That's great news, and something we hope will stay in the budget until the session ends in early May. In the meantime, we at the Trust for Public Land will keep doing what we do - preserving land to ensure the Florida we leave our grandchildren is as beautiful as the Florida we love today.

Pegeen Hanrahan, executive director of Alachua Conservation Trust with TPL's Kevin Mooney Photo by: Anne Nelson

Breakfast at Blues Creek Celebrates Preservation

Coffee, danish and brilliant fall colors were the order of the day as more than 80 people gathered on a brisk December morning to celebrate the acquisition of a beautiful wooded ravine just north of Gainesville.

Hosted by the Alachua Conservation Trust (ACT) and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) the event was the culmination of years of effort to preserve Blues Creek Ravine, a 163-acre parcel on Blues Creek in Alachua County, approximately 10 miles northwest of Gainesville. The site is bordered to the north by the University of Florida Agriculture Station (state-owned land), and to the south, east, and west by single-family residential development. The property is less than 1/8 mile from San Felasco Hammock State Preserve, and will be connected to the preserve.

The property was purchased by the Trust for Public Land on November 12 and conveyed to Alachua Conservation Trust in late December using funds from a Florida Communities Trust Grant (FCT.) ACT will own and operate the property as a natural conservation area.

"We could not be more pleased or excited about this purchase," says Pegeen Hanrahan, executive director of Alachua Conservation Trust, Inc. "Blues Creek is a breathtaking piece of land."

"This project would not have happened without the participation of a lot of partners," she adds, "from the Trust for Public Land to county staff and officials, a lot of people have worked hard to make this happen."

The ravine includes the headwaters of Blues Creek, which flows from this parcel into San Felasco Hammock State Preserve. The property contains wetlands and flatwood forest habitat that provide excellent habitat for migrating songbirds. River otter, raccoon, banded water snakes and the bronze frog also are found on site. Isolated wetlands on the parcel are important amphibian breeding sites and provide feeding habitat for wading birds. A pair of swallow-tailed kites, which is rare to Alachua County, is sometimes observed in this area and may be nesting on the site.

"We were privileged to have been involved in the protection of this beautiful property along with Alachua Conservation Trust, the Bryant family, and FCT," says Kevin Mooney, director of projects for the Trust for Public Land's Florida Office. "The opportunity to set aside land that would otherwise be swallowed by development, particularly in such a scenic and ecologically rich section of the county, is at the heart of TPL's 'land for people' mission."

Blues Creek Ravine was identified as a top acquisition priority in the 1996 Alachua County Ecological Inventory Project report because of the links they provide between the State Preserve and the agriculture station in a rapidly developing part of the county. In addition, the parcel's location in the 100-year flood plain means that its acquisition will help minimize existing flooding problems and balance development proposed in the watershed with open space protection.

The event was funded in part by the Southeast Land Trust Matching grants program administered by the Land Trust Alliance (LTA) Southeast Program with the support of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Merck Family Fund, and the Moriah Fund.

Photo by: Jeff Simon

Steward of the Land: Ernie Martin
by Phyllis Shapiro

Ernie Martin has lived in Spring Garden on the Miami River for more than 20 years. During that time he has seen the neighborhood change - from a little-known, historic but rather scruffy enclave to a well-kept, well-organized community with a good reputation, appealing views and rising property values.

Probably nobody understands better than Ernie how neighborhoods evolve. He's witnessed the process from every perspective - as neighborhood activist, urban planner, government administrator, conservation volunteer and, recently, as producer of a video documentary on the river and community he loves.

A TPL friend for more than a decade, Ernie met Brenda Marshall McClymonds when she came to head TPL's Miami field office in the early 1990s. It was a natural meeting of the minds.

"As a community development professional and neighborhood leader, and with his deep appreciation of how communities work, Ernie is the best possible advocate for TPL. He's been really effective in helping us make the right things happen," she says. "He understands both the big picture and the all-important details."

In 1992, Ernie retired as Miami-Dade County's director of community and economic development after 24 years with the county's planning department. During his career, Ernie worked on projects across the development spectrum, from massive public investments such as the Model Cities and Community Development Block Grant programs to small, neighborhood efforts like urban parks and gardens.

As a volunteer, he also served as president of the Spring Garden Civic Association. Fending off threats to their neighborhood, such as misguided plans for transportation corridors, he helped mobilize his neighbors and brought Spring Garden together with nearby Overtown to give the two neighborhoods double the clout.

In 1999 Ernie and Brenda scored a big victory with the establishment of Point Park, a triangular property on the Miami River. Once an overgrown and abandoned site, the park is now a prime example of a successful partnership of city ownership, county and state funding, and neighborhood responsibility for maintenance and management.

The park - which is still a work in progress - is also a prototype of the larger Miami River Greenway, which eventually will extend along both sides of the river from downtown Miami up to the city's airport. Point Park and Spring Garden offer an example of the way the river and its adjacent natural areas can be integrated into community life and good urban design.

As a conservation volunteer, Ernie has now expanded his focus to encompass the entire Miami River basin. A member of the Miami River Commission, he is a tireless champion of the Greenway project and TPL's leadership role in its planning and development. He uses the skills acquired in his three-decade career in public administration - leadership, planning, organizing, advocacy and financing, among others.

He's also developing some new skills along the way, most recently as documentary movie producer. Working with TPL staffers Lavinia Freeman and Shouna Campbell, Ernie is overseeing production of a new video documentary on the Miami River, its history and emerging renaissance.

Aerial view of Salt River property

Where Columbus Landed

The Trust for Public Land's acquisition of a site on the north coast of the island of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, protects the only location in the United States where Christopher Columbus landed during any of his voyages to the New World.

The property is adjacent to the Salt River National Historic Site and Ecological Preserve, a unit of the National Park Service. The park was the site of Columbus' landing, which took place during his second voyage in 1493. The event was recorded in Columbus's log book, which makes it the first documented hostile encounter between Europeans and the pre-Columbian population of the Americas.

Salt River NHS is a relatively new unit of the National Park Service. NPS is expanding the boundaries of the park, and TPL is working on a number of projects to acquire inholdings and adjacent properties at Salt River for conveyance to the National Park Service.

Park superintendent Joel Tutein describes Columbus' visit as a benchmark in the 2000-year human history in the area. "This is where east meets west, and everything changes after that," Tutein says. "It changed the Americas forever."

While the history of the park is interesting, he points out that it is an ecological preserve, and that its acquisition will help protect its natural beauty.

"This donation helps preserve the watershed of the Salt River basin, which protects the waters that flow from the island to the deep water canyon, a large pristine coral reef offshore," Tutein says. "The property contains some very large hardwood trees, part of the virgin forest that still exists in this area."

"The U.S. Virgin Islands are under tremendous development pressure," says Greg Chelius, director of TPL's Florida Office. "We are very pleased to be working with the National Park Service to preserve Salt River's unique natural, historic and cultural resources."

The area encompasses all major cultural periods in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Besides the Columbus association, the park contains village middens, burial grounds, and the only ceremonial prehistoric ball court ever discovered in the lesser Antilles. The area was a focal point of colonization attempts by the Spaniards, French, Dutch, English, and Danish. The site is marked by Fort Sale, an earthworks fortification from the Dutch period of occupation.

Local historian Dr. George Tyson says the plan for the park is extraordinarily important because it affords an opportunity to interpret St. Croix's prehistory.

"We don't have any other site that is so readily available and with such great associations," Tyson says. "The park that is evolving at this point is going to do much to put St. Croix on the map as a heritage tourism destination. That's very important here. While we have a lot of history, we don't have another site like this that can command international attention.

Posted 6/2003