The never ending saga of Biscayne Landing in North Miami continues.

North Miami councilman/candidate Michael Blynn envisions turning the former Munisport Landfill, now known as Biscayne Landing, into a renters and retail paradise.  According to a report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, this property was described as:

“The Munisport Landfill site occupies a 291-acre parcel of land within the city limits of North Miami, Miami-Dade County, Florida. The site is the location of a former municipal landfill that operated from 1974 to 1981. The landfill resulted from the filling of low-lying wetland areas with construction debris and solid waste in an effort to raise the elevation of the land for the construction of a cultural and trade center known as Interama. Because the solid waste was disposed of without the use of a liner or leachate control mechanisms, rainfall percolating through the solid waste has caused the release of contaminants into the underlying ground water and discharge into adjacent surface water. A Remedial Investigation completed by EPA in 1988 and a water quality and toxicity assessment completed in 1989 found that the landfill posed no threat to human health, but that it did pose a significant threat to aquatic organisms in the adjacent wetlands…The main contaminants found in the ground water were base neutral acids, inorganic compounds, heavy metals, polycyclic romatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).”

Then proceeded to clean it up. 

I don’t know about you folks, but I’d be a tad leery of living in a toxic wasteland, even if it has been cleaned up by the EPA.  Apparently in 1999, it was declared safe by EPA standards.  Yeah, right.

This being an election year with three of five seats up for grabs, sitting officials and their challengers are all weighing in on the proposed plans for the Biscayne Landing site.  Time appears to be of the essence to get it approved and off the ground before the election in case anyone outside the “Circle of Corruption” gets elected.  Should that happen, and the new council puts the kibosh on the project, the cash cow will surely die.

For the latest update on the gory details of the proposal, check out the article in Biscayne Times entitled Unnatural Disaster.  The title alone gives you a clue.

Councilman Michael Blynn, a/k/a the King of Costco, took the opportunity to get some free advertising by writing a letter to the Neighbors section of the Miami Herald.

In which he writes, “The overall concept that I have supported is based on a fabulous mixed-use development in Newport, N.J., called Newport. I encourage anyone interested in this issue to look at www.newportnj.com.”

Gee, that looks a lot like North Miami, huh?  Um, no.

For one thing, Biscayne Landing is not located on the Hudson River.  For another thing, as the Biscayne Times article explains, the plans now want to cram 4,390 mostly rental units, many of them for low-income families.  Visions of Cabrini Green come to mind.

On his campaign website, Michael Blynn is now taking credit for leading “efforts to bring millions to North Miami from Biscayne Landing.”  I understand the city received $17,500,000 so far, of which $12,000,000 has already been allocated.  (Question to ask your North Miami city council:  Where’s all that money now?)

Blynn also defended his position to a North Miami activist in an email stating, “[W]hen I voted for the Biscayne Landing development agreement, the developer advised the City Council & City Manager to go to Newport NJ and see what he anticipated for this site.  I personally went to the site with the City Manager, and I, alone walked the site from one end to the other.  I flew there and the trip was paid from City travel budget.  My letter to Neighbors does not in anyway suggest that I am unconditionally supporting the project, and expect it to look similar to what I saw.  The site is not next to NYC.  It is in NJ.  There were a number of developers who came during the RFP to consider biddng on the site, and all declined to bid, because of the enormity of the clean-up.”

WHAT?  He flew to freaking NEW JERSEY on NORTH MIAMI TAXPAYER MONEY?  Well, hey, at least it wasn’t a soccer coach convention, a la L’il Frantzie P.

I also want to add that for a lawyer, Blynn sure has crappy spelling and grammar skills.  Just saying.

Per the Biscayne Times article, the new plans also “includes 150 hotel rooms — for the Cherubin brothers, Haitian-American broadcasters/entrepreneurs and partners with Swerdlow and LeFrak in Oleta — 750,000 square feet of retail, 9880 square feet of restaurants, and 202,760 square feet of auto malls (four dealerships, as planned).”

The Cherubin brothers have been trying unsuccessfully to get a hotel built for years.  First they tried to coerce the City of North Miami Beach to use CRA funds to buy their property on NE 19^th Avenue so they could build one.  Then they decided to build a hotel in Haiti with a little help from North Miami Andre Pierre and Developer Michael Swerdlow.  In case all else fails, they’ve somehow finagled the right to build it in Biscayne Landing.

As for Swerdlow, he also stands to score a fortune from Biscayne Landing.  A few months back the city had an offer from a car dealer to sell 2 ½ acres of the property for $14,000,000.  Instead, Andre & Co. sold the entire 188 parcel to Swerdlow for $17,500,00, who will now have the chance to sell the 2 ½ acres to a car dealer.  SWEET!

The fingerprints of Swerdlow and the Cherubins are all over Biscayne Landing.  I’m surprised they haven’t been made honorary council members yet. What the heck, throw in some matching Kardashian Keys for good measure.

It’s only fitting that Biscayne Landing is the crowning achievement of Michael Blynn’s legacy.

Stephanie Kienzle

“Spreading the Wealth”