The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - #BecauseMiami: Mr. Brightline

Episode Date: February 2, 2024

We have a stacked Because Miami for you this week. Florida state representative Anna Eskimani joins us to discuss the state's attempt at passing a law banning kids 16 and under from using social media. Emmy winner Jeremy Tache relives the horror of being on a Brightline train that struck a pedestrian. Katja Esson directed a PBS documentary called Razing Liberty Square. She with Samantha Quarterman, executive director of the Multi-Ethnic Youth Group Association, explains how the oldest housing project in Miami is being gentrified because of sea level rise. And Diliana Alexander, executive director of Filmgate, talks about how her non-profit was thrown out of The Huntington building under questionable circumstances. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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slash legal slash CA dash PRU dash disclaimer. Happy Friday. Welcome to Because Miami. On Monday, go to cocaine cowboys.com and we are launching a podcast series called the Real Griselda, where I interview Michael Corleone Blanco, the youngest son of Griselda Blanco, the famous cocaine queenpin La Madrina, the godmother, the black widow. She is the subject of course, the six part Netflix series starring Sophia Vergara as Griselda called Griselda. We talk about the real Griselda with Michael Corleone, his mother growing up Blanco on the mean streets of Miami in the cocaineaine Cowboys Wars. Netflix has a fun kind of, Roy,

it's like a Gonzo Cocaine Cowboys fan fiction kind of a thing going on. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it, especially. I love Cocaine Cowboys and this should be an interesting watch. Contractually Roy has to say that. Yeah, I've never seen it before. Never watched one of the Cocaine Cowboys. No, that's singled. But this is fun show. You'll be able to get it Monday at CocaineCowboys.com

here, Griselda's family reaction to the Netflix show. Meanwhile, state of Florida legislature, back on its bullshit, we are well into the legislative session. The lawmakers are up there, very busy punching down the thing that they do best up in Tallahassee. Just go ahead and crap on the rest of us. Just trickle that all the way down the state here, all the way to us in South Florida and joining us as friend of the show, Florida State Rep Anna Eskimani from District 42, which is there in Central Florida for people familiar with Disney World, right there in the Greater Orlando area. Representative Eskimani will start out of the gate with the bill making

big national news. I know there's a lot of craziness going on, which we'll get to, but everybody is talking about this social media bill and how the state is looking and the bill has been advancing, I believe. The bill will ban, I believe, social media for Floridians under the age of 16. And it's not even clear which social media they're being... I know you've tried to ask the question, but the people writing the laws are being very coy about it. What is the latest on this bill? What's the good and what's the bad of it? And what happened to parental rights? Well, first of all, thanks for having me back. And yeah, you're 100% right. This is a huge

bill that was take away access to social media applications for those under the age of 16, with no exceptions, even for folks who already have accounts, folks who make money off their account. It doesn't matter. They will not have access, even if parents were to give permission. So it does totally take away a parent's right to choose on what platforms their kid can access. And the bill actually has already passed the Florida House,

we're now waiting to see what the Senate will do. I tried to make my points clear on this bill and I did try to pull for the bill sponsors. What media platforms are going to be impacted? They would not tell me. And a part of that is because this is a very unconstitutional policy and they know that. And so their efforts to avoid my questions, I think we're more designed to try to avoid litigation.

But with a bill this broad, there's no way it flies through the First Amendment. I mean, there are some clear concerns here. And I wanna empathize with the fact that social media, it does have harmful effects, so get me wrong. I think we absolutely need to have child safety measures than indeed we have put such measures in place already, but to completely take it away just goes way too far. So, Anna, what's the point of wasting everybody's time

if they know what is going to be a first-memorant violation? Performative politics, Roy. What are you talking about? Everybody's running for something else, you know? You got it. Yeah, it's all about the headlines. It's all about looking tough for the cameras. It's going to waste money for the public.

As we've seen, Governor Ron DeSantis does not care about the Constitution time and time again. Even on this issue though, even he expressed concerns about how far it goes. So yeah, you know it's bad when DeSantis is like rethinking it, right, evaluating it. So we'll see what happens, but it's definitely a performance and it's frustrating because I think our constituents want us to focus on things like property insurance and housing affordability, and yet we're spending hours on the floor debating a social media ban.

You mean problems that affect all of us on an hourly basis? You mean those issues that you should be dealing with? Okay, that's an interesting idea. You're an iconic class. And here, Roy, if you don't know how it works, what happens now is most of these lawmakers are lawyers themselves, including the governor. So they know this is unconstitutional,

they know it's going to be challenged, and what they do is they turn around and they give contracts for outside counsel to cronies and buddies in state, out of state, who bill up to $7,000, $8,900 an hour that the taxpayers now have to pay for to defend unconstitutional bills that are targeting us. It's the circle of life. And it's not just because it's an election year. And they just want to say what people want to hear.

And I want to be clear. I agree with the state rep that like this is not something that maybe should be totally unregulated. There are dangers on social media for young people, but here's the hypocrisy that I wanna talk about, which I alluded to earlier, okay, the don't say gay bill. Every time I say that, people go, that's not what it's called. I'm like, but that's what it does and that's what it is. It was called like what the parental rights and education bill.

Oh, parents need to have the rights to control what content they're not politicians or God forbid, professional educators or librarians, you know, who are trained in this sort of thing. Now, we know the parental rights thing is bullshit anyway, but before we get into that, why doesn't parental rights apply to social media? Why can't parents do the job of regulating and not big brother and big government? Well, I'll tell you, we actually a message that we i found a minute to change the bill away from a complete ban to curfew so you can't be online between ten thirty at night the six thirty a.m.

my colleague representative ashley gantt from south florida she filed a moment for parental consent so parents would be able to get permission and neither one of those amendments pass. So it's such an ideology of convenience. Time and time again, my colleagues will preach one thing and practice something else. I do think a part of this is connected to the fact that younger people are becoming politicized at

a younger age because of their access to information. By cutting off that access information, I think they are hoping to prevent what is an inevitable shift in the electorate of more progressive voters. Better informed voters are a threat to politicians, and so they want to get out. But you also made another interesting point earlier that I think speaks to hypocrisy about another bill

that's going through this dreadful legislative session, and you made the point that people, some young people who are so-called online influencers or whatever you want to call them, make a living. Some of them are good living these young people online using social media and they do so safely and legally, not exploitatively and I thought our friends in the Florida legislature are looking to increase the ability of children to go to work. They want children to be able to work at McDonald's

and in the sugar fields, but they can't sit in the comfort and safety of their own home under parental supervision, making a living on social media, right? Child labor, isn't that the name of the game these days in Florida? Oh yeah, they want you to basically work at 7-eleven the midnight shift or be a waiter somewhere But they don't want you to be an arch manure and and make a living you know by being an influencer and

Not only again is this hypocritical But it pretends it against the commerce clause because if you have someone who's online under the age of 16 who's Making profit with customers in California, you're potentially interfering with their ability to practice their business. So a lot of legality concerns with this, and I definitely don't think we've seen the last of it. I don't think the Senate is gonna pass this bill

in its current form, though I do want folks to know it's a speaker priority. So he is really anchoring himself. And unfortunately, many Democrats also voted for this bill. I was not one of them, but I think only 13 of us voted no, to give you all some perspective. And the irony, once again, it's a speaker priority to violate freedom of speech in the state of Florida. Last few minutes, I want to talk about some of the other dreadful things happening in the state of Florida. What is the breaking news this week about what the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has done now unilaterally? I mean, are there people,

not just Floridians, but tourists and people coming through the state who are driving, who are basically now felons? What is happening? So, late, late, late in the evening, I got a text from a colleague of a screenshot of a letter from the Department of Motor Vehicle and Safety basically saying that driver's licenses for trans people are now fraudulent and will not be issued moving forward. And this did not come from a law, did not come from rulemaking, it came from an administrative letter. And I checked it immediately with my local task

collector who had not received the letter, and also of course reaching out to the department myself, was able to eventually verify this letter as being real, and it is absolutely devastating. I will say we're digging for more information around, what does it mean for current trans-flirting into or have update driver's licenses, and we're exploring all legal options to fight back, but it's incredibly discriminatory. for current trans-Floridians who already have updated driver's licenses and were exploring

all legal options and fight back, but it's incredibly discriminatory, it's cruel that they could be cruel. And it does create a lot of confusion for visitors of Florida who potentially because they update the driver's license to reflect who they are have now committed fraud. Right. So is that the net effect of this? I'm trying to figure this out. If you are a trans person who's, I guess,

the gender on your driver's license does not match that which you were born that you get pulled over, you're committing fraud, and are you subject to arrest? Is it a misdemeanor? Is it a felony? What happens? Are you stuck, God forbid, in Florida? In jail?

Like what? Because I get, you know, trans people have just had too many rights, they've had it too good for too long in this country, and obviously the big bad Florida legislature, all these rich white men need to bring them down or wrong or two. But these are, you know, we talk about this like,

it sounds like activism, but they're real human beings and they're lives that could be severely disrupted by this. So what do we know is the real life effect of something like this? Someone's getting pulled over right now, probably outside this door. What happens to that person? Part of it is that we just don't know. This letter was one page that came out to us.

No clarity, no process to counter an accusation of fraud. It really is designed to intimidate trans community members and to push folks out of the state of Florida. And what's really frustrating is that there was no public input. You know, most cases when a department creates a new rule, there's a public comment period. And right now in the legislature,

we have two bills that are attempting similar attacks on trans people. And we're finding those bills in committee right now. There's not even a Senate sponsor for these bills. So it definitely seems like the legislature really isn't interested in the fact that Senate doesn't have a companion. And yet the department who is led by a former Democratic representative is now moving forward and putting this policy forward. So we don't have a lot of answers.

We're seeking that clarity right now, but it is very scary. And for a community that's already under attack, it's just so unnecessary. And again, demonizing people for who they are, when we should be focusing on going after corporations that are jacking up insurance rates and actually trying to make life better for people, not making it harder for a community that's already being marginalized. Hill- And not that it would matter if there were bills or laws, because this was done unilaterally by bureaucrats, by unelected officials in the state of Florida. So it doesn't even matter. Everybody in this government is weaponizing whatever little or lot of power

they have to target already disenfranchised underserved if not entirely unserved people because Florida Roy, Florida rep Anna Escamani thank you so much as always for joining us get back to work good luck do your best please thank you. I will take all the luck thanks. I hope to 1800flowers.com slash Dan. That's 1800flowers.com slash Dan. No purchase necessary ends at 11.59pm Eastern Standard Time on February 4th, 2024. Open a legal residence of the 50 U.S. states and D.C. 18 years of age or older, sponsor us 1800Flowers Inc. For free entry method and official rules, visit www.18h the 100th death since Brightline started.

Cruisin' Miami Dade through all the southward up fine. A calamity of speeds curving and stop the stop. When they say hit or miss, they never mean it like this. When they say hit or miss, when they say hit or miss. Riders falling asleep or distracted by screens. They can't possibly know. There's another death scene up ahead on the tracks Or they'd surely be sick, someone severed in half

But it's just a mishap Now Darwin has a laugh Now let it go Please let's not get too far in the weeds On this growing death toll Well everyone loves a train Break next week, plowing through communities Before meeting animites

Can't stop them, they're privatized They say that pedestrians always have the right way But how many more need to die From this surprise line? All aboard the death train Well everyone loves a train Roy I'm gonna Google right now Brightline Crash and click on the news link here and this is just in the last three seconds in the last like day to escape car before Brightline crash in Florida.

That was one day ago. Two hours ago, woman dead after Brightline train collides with car in Pompano Beach. Three days ago, Brightline train vehicle collide in downtown Jensen Beach. Three days ago, Brightline train collides with vehicle leaving one injured in Boca Raton. Here's another one. NTSB investigating two Brightline high-speed train crashes that killed three people in Florida this week. That was two weeks ago. Three weeks ago, two dead in Brightline train crash days after deadly collision at SAME Melbourne crossing. And of course, four hours ago, one killed after Brightline train collides with car on tracks

in Pompano Beach. Man, that sounds like a lot of human error there. So the Brightline train is the deadliest train per mile in the entire country. There has been well over 100 deaths since the train launched, what, like six years ago or so? There's a lot of reasons for that. One of the reasons is the train is a lot faster

than any train that Florida drivers have grown accustomed to seeing roll through those crossings. Some of it is suicides, but also people are trying to race the train. So a lot of Darwinism at work here because people are miscalculating. It's hard to see when that train's coming straight at you, how fast it's going, and if you're gonna try

to jump the tracks and beat the train, it is not going as fast as those freight trains that we've grown up with. I've been driving here for what, 30 years, and these trains go fast. And also, the state didn't bother to better secure the railroad crossings. It's just those same rinky-dink like plastic bars

when they could actually reinforce those in a way that would prevent cars from racing the trains. But of course the state of Florida doesn't give a shit. And that's has to do with politics, with safety, with money. But Jeremy Tashay is on the line. Jeremy is a daily Bright Line user. So statistically, you are going to be on board that train when people die. I have been. Only once, which I guess when you read all of those news articles almost makes me feel better about my odds. So far though. Yeah, thus far. Thus far, I've only been on there one time when someone has been hit by the train, not in a car. It was what we were told was a, how were we told?

It was a pedestrian, but at first I think they called it a trespassing incident. I wanna talk about this, because last week on the show out of nowhere, Jim DeFede jumps on the Zoom and well before we were ready to start the interview, he and I are just talking and he talks about how he pitched the PR folks at Brightline,

a story about interviewing conductors of the train who are on board when someone is killed, and that experience and how surreal or traumatic it is, and I recalled instantly you telling me this story off the air a couple months ago, whenever it was, And I'm curious about what happens. How does it feel? Like, what is the tension like on the train? Tell me. Yeah. I mean, the experience is certainly sort of surreal because you kind of have to disassociate from what it is that you're going through as you've just hit someone and potentially caused death, right? So you're a part of this vehicle crash that is, you know, ending in a fatality, but you have no control over it. So I feel awful for the folks working on the train

who were potentially going through this, you know, multiple times. I went through it the once and it was really kind of jarring. So it was, you know, our train came to a really quick stop, which you are not necessarily accustomed to when you're on these trains. They normally slow to a nice stop at wherever your, wherever the drop off is at the time, Aventura's station was sort of brand new. And so we were pulling up near the Aventura station.

And so my assumption was just, oh, you know, they're getting used to it, they miscalculated, and, you know, they're having to slow down a little quicker than we thought, and then, all of a sudden, we're stopped far before the Aventura station, and it was kind of a screeching halt. We're all sitting there for a second. One businessman in the back,

is everybody sort of, you know, hushed looking at each other. One businessman who was on a very loud phone called the entire time, and it was kind goes super obnoxious But he gets up from his seat and goes oh, we definitely hit somebody Which is a very strange thing to be dealing with meanwhile You've got you know parents with little kids on the train about ten minutes later one of the train attendants came through

It was like hey everyone We're just gonna go ahead and lower the window shades for the time being. And we'll let you know, you know, if and when it's time to lift those back up with no information as to what was going on. And I'm, you know, in my heart of hearts, I'm like praying it's something else. So I'm like, all right, you know, maybe, maybe the train's overheating and we just don't want any sun coming through. Obviously, that's not what was going on. And so about 10 minutes or so after that,

someone comes over the intercom and says, hey, we've had a trespassing incident. Which- What the hell? Right. And so, you know, a whole number of people are going like, oh my God, was there somebody on the train? You know, was there somebody that wasn't supposed to be here?

Which is honestly more alarming in some respects for everybody who was there. Like, are we about to be in a heist movie? But then about 10, 15 minutes after that, someone comes back on the intercom and says it's been a pedestrian incident. And so one of the train attendants came back through. And what I did really appreciate was that this particular train attendant, and I don't know if this was within their policy as to how to deal with this, or if it was just her

having a sense of empathy Kind of came through and was like does anybody have any questions? you know is everyone doing okay and No one really had any questions because I think by that point we all knew what was going on for those of us who were Trying to get down to work like myself It was just a question of well when can we expect to go? Ultimately it was about an hour and 15 minute delay, but the response to that was just simply,

well, we're waiting for the paramedics to show up and do their job, and then we'll be on our way, which is just a very morbid thing to have to hear. Like, all right, we'll be on our way as soon as they, scrape the body from the tracks, essentially, which is just awful. And then you just go about your day. You just go on from there, we went down to Miami

and you gotta go, you know, for me it was go on, turn on a smile and do a kid's Marlins television program, which was super bizarre. So the experience in itself is very weird and jarring in that respect. I know for folks where they've hit cars, you end up having to get another train down there, D-board, get onto a new train.

It can delay you for a couple of hours. But the delay is like, that's one thing in itself, right? Ruining your ability to actually get where you need to be when you're paying a lot of money to get there. But the other part of it is just, all right, well now we just have to experience the fact that we were part of a crash that ultimately killed somebody. I want to ask about that in our last minute here.

Like, do you kind of internalize that guilt? You wonder about this person. Did you look up to see like, was it an accident? Was it intentional? Like, like you said, you go on with the rest of your day, but how have you gone on to sort of live with this since then being on board that train that killed somebody? Yeah, it's a really good question

I think about it sometimes particularly when we're going by that area I purposefully didn't look it up and I choose to try to like and maybe this is the wrong thing to do but I've choose to try to Gosh, it's all so morbid right but like to hope that it was someone on purpose Gosh, it's all so morbid, right? But like to hope that it was someone on purpose putting themselves in that position because it's kind of the only rationalization you can get into your head of any of it being okay. Because then when you start to imagine like, what if this was just a person who was trying

to cross and didn't like you mentioned just before, didn't really understand the speed of the train. There's a new station here and they're just trying to go to Aventura Mall. What if it's someone with a family who now has died accidentally? And either way, I mean, no matter the case, it's so horrible. So yeah, I mean, you just kind of have,

as odd as it is, you kind of just have to disassociate from it and hope that you can move on and still enjoy the experience on the Brightline, which is hard. Next time, Roy, we're going to talk about the politics of the Brightline, the fact that that station that Jeremy was just talking about cost taxpayers $75 million, despite the fact that this is an entirely privatized operation run and owned by the Abu Dhabi sovereign Wealth Fund.

Yeah, like a ballpark. Yeah. It's just, it's somehow even worse than that. Other than that, it's really wealth fund. Yeah, like a ballpark. Yeah. It's just it's it's somehow even worse than that. This segment. Other than that, it's really great though. Yeah. I'll tell you, other than that, super great, really clean, really nice experience.

Skittles. Expensive. All you can eat skittles in first class, no less. Yeah, that's true. This. As long as you're willing to pay $75 a trip. This segment was brought to you by Brightline. You will make it to your destination eventually,

but not everybody will. Jeremy Tashay, thanks so much for being here. Thanks. Wealth Simple's offering a 0.5% match when you transfer an account. When you transfer an account. That's what I said. That's what I said.

Is Wealth Simple's CEO Mike Ketchum copying me? Am I copying you? Seems like he's really into matching. Start an account transfer by February 29th, and WealthSimple will match it by 0.5%. Visit wealthsimple.com slash matching for details. Offer available on eligible transfers. Additional term supply.

Do I have to say all that? So climate gentrification is happening, and Miami is being affected in the worst way. There's a change coming to this area. They're going to come take Liberty City The movement gentrification is happening, and Miami is being affected in the worst way. There's a change coming to this area. They're going to come take Liberty City because we don't flood. All the people that are planning this don't live in this community. Liberty Square is the heart.

And when you destroy the heart, you destroy the people. Raising Liberty Square is a stunning and powerful new documentary that almost didn't premiere this week on PBS thanks to a letter sent by the very powerful and politically connected multi-billion dollar multinational company related Urban Development Group, subsidiary of related very powerful company owned by George Perez and his partner was Steven Ross, the owner of the Miami Dolphins.

And they were not happy about their depiction in this documentary, which I was a little surprised about. I found the piece to be extremely objective and fair piece of embedded journalism, no less, that took years and years to make and to put together about the redevelopment of the pork and beans, some of the oldest projects really in the country, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Miami. And of course, it is on very high lying land. There are parts of Miami Beach with multi-million dollar homes that are zero feet above sea level.

Liberty City is over 12, 13, 14 feet above sea level. So when people talk about climate change and climate change gentrification, this is what they mean. Folks are looking for literal higher ground, because this gorgeous, expensive waterfront property, Miami, is one of the most vulnerable waterfronts in the entire world and the most valuable. You're talking about billions upon billions of dollars worth of real estate that is at risk over the next few years, let alone decades. Kaccha Essin is the director of this amazing new documentary that people can watch now

on PBS and on the PBS app. But Kaccha, what I wanna talk about is this letter that Related Sent last week saying that the documentary is filled with, you know, talk about is this letter that related scent last week saying that the the documentary is filled with you know misinformation half truths and asking PBS to yank this quote inaccurate incomplete and misleading documentary they didn't want it distributed promoted or shown in its current form how do you respond to those allegations that this

is incomplete and inaccurate and misleading? I mean, our official response is actually zero because we talked to our legal counsel and they didn't find any merit in the letter. So we decided not to respond, but then related actually reached out to PBS the same day of our broadcast premiere, also making accusations that the facts were incorrect. And that always makes PBS nervous. So we spent the whole day of our broadcast premiere

that was happening at night, drafting a statement for PBS, you know, having PBS lawyers check the letter and check the accusations. And they also found it without merit. At this point where there's no response, we're happy that we actually premiered, that we had our broadcast premiere and we will find out about the numbers and the viewership very soon and

just judging by the numbers on YouTube and the apps I think a lot of people are watching it. So we're very happy about that Let's talk about some of the facts some of the main theme of the the doc that comes up time and again is the theme of the doc that comes up time and again is the displacement of the residents who have been there for many generations in this community. And it's the people that make a community. And there's a lot of talk about the fact that many of them who have left because of the existing projects being destroyed have not come back to the newly built buildings. They take exception to that. What are the facts with respect to displacement? Are people leaving? I know they're doing this project

block by block. They're inexplicably only three blocks into this nine block project. That's what we'll put a pin in that for a moment. But how accurate is this or how well founded are these concerns that the locals have about displacement? Billy, so we as the filmmakers spent most part of 2022 trying to get some numbers before we finished the film. We wanted to get some numbers from related from heart and we didn't really get any numbers of like how many people took the vouchers,

how many people are still there. So the numbers that we do know and did know by the end of the filming process and finishing the film is that there were originally 703 units in the original Liberty Square that related, promised to create 640 housing units and that currently there are about 200 people living in Liberty Square and that of the hundreds that have taken the voucher and moved out by the summer

of 2022, two families had come back. So that is the information we had when the film, as the film finished. And I think I believe that's still to be true. The idea and the promise of the project was to keep the community intact and to keep everybody there. And that I think was the hope of everybody. And that was also what I really believed in. But right now, there are about 200 people,

little bit more than 200 people living in Liberty Square of the original residents. Samantha Quaterman is the executive director of the multi-ethnic youth group association, also known as MEGA. It's an education center. It's been active about 15 years, I believe, in Liberty City. Samantha, I think you are a resident. Correct me if I'm wrong, born and raised in Liberty City. That's correct. And you are one of the main characters in this documentary. And one of the, as a former Miami Dade County Mayor Carlos Jimenez would say, of the promises kept in this story here of redeveloping this community and what was promised a better quality

of life for the people of Liberty City, Liberty Square, Pork and Beans, is that they were going to help you build or rebuild a new school for MEGA, which serves this, I won't even say underserved, but almost entirely unserved community of Miami. So what happened? Do you have a new school? Does your school have a home? Are you still serving the kids of Liberty City?

Yes, I am. And we're still in a building that we were in originally. It's less than 1200 square, I'm sorry, 1,200 square feet. We only there this by the grace of God, because I actually had a letter came out to me and it was telling us that our lease came to an under Miami Dade County. And they told us it was under the private sector which was related. And then when I reached out to the WMD would not give me an answer so I had to send a letter out to the HUD housing and also to our new mayor at that time.

And so I haven't had any displacement but he also have not given me a lease agreement or given me anything in writing to build our facility. So you're kind of day to day there right now? Pretty much. And what did they tell you they were going to do and what they do or not do? Well, we was gonna partner and they was gonna build us a facility

and it never happened. What they did, as you can see in the documentary, it was a lot of ups and downs. It was actually, or like maybe like a year or two years, they wasn't talking to MEGA at all. They came to us for a summer and they offered us, they asked us, could we serve the residents in Liberty Square because they didn't have any programs

and the crime was going up at that time. And we actually did a contract with the first summer. We actually took our kids to the Kennedy Space Station and partner went related. And I thought we was going to get off to a good start. It sadly went downhill after that. We partnered for one more summer. They bought in another provider that was previously there. And they actually try to take our whole program and have them try to duplicate

our program, which was an epic fail. So it was never nothing to really truly partner with it. So it's been a roller coaster. My. Miami has been growing by leaps and bounds. It was before it. The situation is was exacerbated by the pandemic. So the whole conversation is we don't have enough schools to serve, you know,

the people who are here, let alone the newcomers. We need more community schools, big investment in charter schools and private schools. Why had they not delivered here to you and to this community? I have no idea. They was trying to bring in another school, which was the academy that matters. And we're over saturated with schools in our area right now. I am partners with the local schools in this area. I actually provide services for the after school service

and I also make sure that if they need one-on-one mentoring with parents or they need assistance, we help them with that as well. So we are partners. We're not taking anything from the schools here, but instead of them partnering with us and making that program on a larger scale, they try to bring in another school

and actually completely close us down. Smith, I wanna ask you about these new buildings. I know you, I don't believe you live in the new Liberty Square, but I know you know residents. I have parents. Yeah, I'm certainly right. The parents of the kids that you serve at Mega. My question is, is that one of the things that related has not responded to

pops in at the end of the dock because the dock ends with these buildings, you know, at least the first of them, openings, a couple families moving in, and it turns out that there are accusations now of shoddy construction. There are leaks, there is allegedly moan. There are residents who are getting sick, there are roaches, rats, tell me,

I mean, these are newly constructed buildings by one of the biggest, most powerful and successful developers in the whole world. What is going on in the new Liberty Square? What is the quality of life? To be honest with you, the old buildings actually was a little bit more sustainable. Everybody needs a new, they needed a new building.

They really did. That land was historical. It would have been better if they just rehabbed the land that they already had. They having some of the same problems that they had when it was in the old Liberty Square community. So it's not really better. It's really a little bit worse

because we lost our community. I lost over 50% of our parents that was living in Liberty Square. And it's not a community anymore. We don't know who is who. There's no balconies. There's no places for our kids really to meet over there. So it's not really scamblering

and I just put it to you that way. And are the residents getting the services and the management and the attention they need from related? Is that a no comment or is that a little chuckle? I take the bill, no, I take the bill. Samantha Quarterman is the executive director of a fabulous organization, mega learning center in Liberty City here in Miami.

Katja Esson is the director of raising Liberty Square, now playing Katja, where can people see it? They can see it on PBS. Basically right now we're the spotlight on PBS. So people just really have to type in raising Liberty Square and video and it will come on YouTube. But you also can download the PBS app.

Anytime people wanna see it, it's through the end of April, it's on PBS for free, for everybody to see. And that is raising Liberty Square R A Z I N G. It is a powerful piece. And it is about Miami, but it is about everywhere. It is about the world and it is about how our world is changing. And I recommend everybody listening.

Watch it right now. Samantha, quarterman, Katja, and thank you so much for being here. Thank you, Billy. Thank you Billy. Tenants who live and work in this historic Huntington building here in downtown Miami, they say that they were put out on the street. The building is being shut down. Yeah. They cannot conduct business. I don't know how we're going to pay our mortgage. I don't know how we're gonna survive.

All of the owners in this building that we spoke to, they have the same question. Why suddenly here and why now? Are you sure there's not a big developer trying to smoke he out and buy you a cheap? And are you sure? I'm not. Miami can be difficult to explain and even harder to understand. If you listen to this show, you probably wonder a lot, what the hell is this guy talking about? Can this be real? Can a place be this backwards, this corrupt?

Every once in a while, a story comes along that perfectly encapsulates Roy what it is that we talk about on this show and how in fact backwards and corrupt That it is right down the street from the studio here is the Huntington building built in 1925 a building that has passed every safety fire code inspection practically for the last 100 years and then all of a sudden, 11 months ago, they're forcing 70 small business owners. And Roy, these are, this is an office condo. So these folks own, they got hundreds of thousands

of dollars invested in these properties because they own these offices. And they make a living out of these offices. And Francis Suarez, the mayor of Miami, you know, pretends that Miami is some kind of business friendly place and you need to bring your your companies here and move here because the government is so effective and efficient and quite the contrary. Roy, the woman you saw in that video is Dilyana Alexander. She is the executive director of the non-profit organization Filmgate, of which I'm a proud supporter.

It's an organization that promotes filmmaking in Miami, offering extensive year-round educational programs, film screenings, festivals, and competitions, and they do it all out of their office in the Huntington Building, which, Dilyana, you have been out of now for almost a year. You have been deprived of your private property rights, which is what this country is all about and why you are actually here in the first place. Tell us about that, what you've been going through, and as I always like to say in Miami, if you're trying to get to the bottom of a mystery, everything is a real estate hustle. And you asked a very interesting, you kind of pose a hypothetical in that interview you

did with Glenda Milberg on Channel 10 almost a year ago. So tell us about this experience and what you've learned since then. Thank you for having me, DeRainy, and being a proud supporter of Homegate. So it happened. I was actually at a festival called South by South West and I received a call from my very young staff saying, are you sitting down? We have to evacuate the building in three days.

And I said, what? I mean, how does that even possible? When we purchased our floor with all of our savings, my mom and I, we thought we were doing a really smart thing because we, when we started our organization, it started in Winwood. Winwood became impossible for artists to survive in. So a lot of artists moved as we got north. We moved to downtown Miami. We were so excited. And we spent a year little by little renovating the different spaces on the floor and creating a small theater

and a green screen room and a photography studio. We had to fill it up. We'd just celebrate our 10-year anniversary with two commissioners there. And then I'd laugh and then literally two weeks later, we were being told that the building is condemned. But, Deleon, have you ever felt in danger there? Have you ever felt that there was life safety issues in this building?

Not at all. We had a hurricane that, well that I didn't really hit Miami, but it was really close where a lot of buildings lost electricity, there were floods where we didn't lose electricity, we didn't lose wifi, everything has been sturdy. It was built in the 1920s by a Detroit architect. I love that building because I know it's done solid. You know, it's there to stay and it's history. It's a historical building.

So are the issues. They were talking to me. The issues that they threw you out. I mean, everybody knows, of course, the horror story of the Champlain Towers years ago. Ninety-nine people killed some of them while they slept and their building collapsed in Surfside here in Miami-Dade County.

Are there cracks in the foundation, in support columns? Are those the issues that you're aware of that the fire department? They came in like stormtroopers. Like there was like an army of police cars and firefighters marching through the hallways. Was that the issue? That's what they said it was the issue,

but apparently it wasn't the issue. They didn't even put a violation when they evacuated the building. They didn't give us any time to cure the violations, which is the usual way to go from all of our research, you know, talking to architects and people in the city after the fact. They just said, condemn, leave. So we think that what they were trying to do is basically make it seem that it's so dangerous to be there and, you know, it should get destroyed. You know, as I start code building. But in fact, this was something, this was a problem with like a stairwell that you didn't

even really know existed or ever used before, right? Or ever used because there's two stairways. So I think you already know that at first there was a fake fire violation, code violation that was put on the door and then we questioned it. So they changed it. And then they told us, oh, you need to have two exits that lead outside, all the way outside, according to code. Turns out that's incorrect.

We do have one exit that's concrete that we've been using all the time when we don't want to take the elevators, because we're on the fourth floor, so it's quite easy to use the stairs, and it kind of leads right. So we've been using that staircase. So it's quite easy to use the stairs, and it kind of leads right. So we've been using that staircase. So in the other staircase, nobody ever used, but it's a metal staircase the way it is kind of in New York,

because it's an older building. They said that first they said it was impossible to use, and then that tune changed to, oh, if you have five to six people standing on the third floor, then that might collapse, like in the kind of in the landing. And my favorite one was, since you're a lady, if you're running down the stairs and there holes in the steps, in your high heels, you might get caught.

And that will be like, endangering. I'm like, yeah, I'm going to be running with my manolos, because I'm in sex in the city, right? If fire is happening, and my life is under threat, that's exactly what I'll be doing. I was like, it was just really, it was just a shady, just the story, the tune just kept changing and changing. And when we questioned it, it will change again,

but we were already evacuated. We had zero rights at this point. We were just told, I left you fixed your exit, it cannot go back. Might have to start wearing flats because. So the ladies, you know, all the ladies for wearing high heels. Roy's in a stiletto. It's right now running from fire.

Yeah, like the Santas. So, Dyliana, eight months into this ordeal, I mean, you escaped communism for the freedom of America to have private property rights. Eight months into this ordeal, you are not able to avail yourself of your private property, of your business. You're losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. You get an email. What happened?

We've been questioning the unit owners that are not a part of the HRA. I've been questioning the HRA and the fight department constantly asking, well, why can we move back in? We don't understand. And most of the small violations that you pinpoint that were cured immediately. And then they're working on the stairs. But why do we have to be outside of our building in order to, that we have a perfectly good exit already?

Why can't we just cure it while we're inside? So we're not losing all this crazy money, I mean, $10,000 a month for specifically us from loss of income, you know, and we are non-profit, it's not, that's all of our savings, it's not, it's been really, really, really hard. We can default on our mortgage any second though. In October, I received an email from an agent who says that they're representing

ISG World, which I didn't know this organization. And I was really busy with our festival, interactive festival, so I didn't get to really explore it until later. And then I went back, you know, we were speaking with my mom, we were thinking, you know, maybe we do need to sell, you know. So ISG World, this is a real estate company and they're interested in potentially, they said they have some other business in the building, right? And they're interested in buying your floor. Exactly.

Well, they said they're interested in buying the floor. And I said, yes, I'm interested to hear your offer. And then the second email I receive is we want you to sign an NDA agreement in order to give you the offer. And I thought that was really unusual because, you know, why would I have to sign an NDA agreement in order to get an offer that they want me? For clarity, NDA is a non-disclosure agreement. It's basically like they're not going to make

an offer for your property until you basically agree to keep it secret, right? Exactly. So obviously, I mean, my conclusion from this is they want to low ball unit owners, you know, if they're asking us to send NDAs because they will offer whatever they can offer the cheapest possible thing, which I guess is great for them. But it's also it's not usual to do that in real estate scenarios. So that's when I researched with the other unit owners, we researched the company. And the first thing we see right on the first page is that the city of Miami, Mayor Suarez,

is sitting on that board. The same time, we're hearing all of the different news items that are coming out about the city being weaponized against its residents for freedom of speech violations. And basically, we're not allowed to go for everyone, hold rallies for everyone or now we are not supposed to have property rights. To be clear, you go to the website for ISG World and right there at the top, you click about us, who we are, you see the first row, there's three mug shots. It is the CEO,

see the first row, there's three mug shots. It is the CEO that is the president of this real estate company, and then it is Mayor Francis Suarez, who sits on the board of this company. And so what has happened is, and your concern, as I understand it, we just said is that not unlike the ball and chain bar owners and what we've been seeing around the city, is that you have the fire department coming in, pushing you guys out of your building for kind of mystery reasons.

You're not able to get clear answers. And you get this email. Someone wants to buy basically your distressed property at this point, right? You haven't been able to use it, so you're maybe more inclined to sell. Maybe they can get it for a bargain penn pennies on the dollar, because it's obviously not only is it you're not getting the use of it, but it's losing value because there is no use for it right now as far as the city is concerned. And you realize that the person looking to kind of prey on you and your neighbors and

fellow unit owners is a real estate company that is the mayor Francis Suarez's real estate company. This is what we're talking about right now, correct? That's what it appears to me, yes. That's. I know they put out denials, ISG says, oh, we didn't even know about this, oh, the mayor knows nothing about this. So has the mayor reached out to you then

to help you remedy whatever these violations are in your building so you guys can Probusiness get back in there get up to code and get back to work save these businesses and save these jobs that was also Something that in merit Kava reached out to me, but she's not responsible and her fire department is not responsible for what happened But no the mayor put out a denial, but he never reached out to me, but she's not responsible. And her fire department is not responsible for what happened. But no, the mayor put out a denial, but he never reached out to me to say, how can I help? How can I help? Dillionne Alexander, executive director of Filmgate.

Folks, go to filmgate.miami help them out. It's a wonderful organization. And I'm a proud supporter. And it's always good to see you, Dillionne. Thank you. Thank you Roy are you sitting down barely you're not gonna believe it why your boy Francis Suarez not my boy back on his bullshit Latest in the Miami Herald from our friends Sarah Blaskey Joey Fletch as Tess risky Alex Harris Miami mayor Francis Suarez again caught exploiting his public position for private profit at the expense of his constituents. He and his top aides, this is according to

newly released emails that the Miami Herald obtained, he and his top aides, so city employees on City Time, on the city's dime, were lobbying the city for a no bid contract for a software tech company that was simultaneously negotiating a deal with another tech company that pays the mayor $20,000 a month. They got that deal. So basically this deal that benefited Francis Juarez's wallet. This is a man who went from a negative net worth when he first took public office, is now worth $4 million. Quinn tumbled his net worth just since he became mayor alone five

years ago and doubled his net worth each year for the last two years in a row, this guy's still hustling and basically working as allegedly an unregistered lobbyist for these private companies. Ethically, that sounds pretty fishy. And perhaps legally, not just ethically. How can I help? This week was also the state of the city speech that the mayor gave at Camila's house. Spoiler alert, state of the city speech that the mayor gave at Camila's house spoiler alert

state of the city is broken and so When he gave that speech he talked about how like the government needs more transparency broke a if you put garbage in You're gonna get garbage out He then spent the rest of the morning after the state of the city running away From the press who was trying to ask him questions obviously, which is the job of the press about what is he up to here. And so the great Glennon Millberg, WPLG Local 10, tried to ask him, I mean, do her job, tried to ask him some questions about this. Inna, by the way, a stunning Francis skin jacket it looks like she's wearing there. Either that or she's been doing some Python hunting

in the Everglades. But shout out to Glenna Milberg who is way too good at her job as far as Mayor Ponzi Postalita is concerned. And this is this week's Miami moment, Cocanes. You know, there is no doubt that Mayor Suarez wanted his really positive forward thinking state of the city address to be the big headline today. But that was before more questions about whether he used his city power for private gain. He has continued to say and answered some questions

that he has not that he's done nothing wrong, but he has yet to bring those receipts. Our Miami story is one of sustained achievement. The mayor's soaring Miami story comes hours after a sobering Miami Herald story. More emails raise more questions about whether Francis Suarez used his position as mayor to benefit private employers. Following the state of the city speech, the mayor's movements were managed, protected, directed. He would take questions from one reporter at a time behind closed doors.

The conclusion is I didn't do anything to benefit anyone. I've said that many, many, many times. I'm gonna continue to say that. The questions started after Suarez's ill-fated run for US president, for which he had to, for the first time, file sources of income, his jump in personal wealth, from a list of companies that hired him or contracted with him.

Miami Public Records revealed some of those same entities were requesting city favors for their businesses, and emails suggesting the mayor helped. Do you think those companies would have you on the payroll if you were not in a position of power in the city of Miami? So again, your question already has a flawed premise that I'm working for 12 companies. The mayor suggested I and others did not do enough homework, jumped to wrong conclusions. To respect that position, I rephrased the question.

I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. Thank you. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. Thank you. I'm done. One company. I'm done. One company that's hired you, do you think they might have if you were not the mayor? You stand in here and point outside. Mayor, can you just answer that one question? I'm done. There would be no more questions and not at all for Miami Herald reporters who had been waiting their turn.