| Liberty Square | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view toward the southeast of the original 243-unit complex, circa 1937 | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Location | Liberty City,Miami |
| Coordinates | 25°50′10″N80°13′12″W / 25.83611°N 80.22000°W /25.83611; -80.22000 |
| Status | Open |
| Construction | |
| Constructed | 1934–37 |
| Other information | |
| Governing body | Miami-Dade Public Housing Agency |
Liberty Square, often referred to as thePork & Beans, is a 753-unitMiami-Dadepublic housing apartment complex in theLiberty City neighborhood ofMiami,Florida. It is bordered atMartin Luther King Jr. Boulevard/North 62nd Street to the south, North 67th Street to the north,State Road 933 (Northwest 12th Avenue) to the east, and Northwest 15th Avenue to the west. Constructed as a part of theNew Deal by thePublic Works Administration and opening in 1937, it was the first public housing project for African Americans in theSouthern United States.[1][2] It is featured in the 2023 documentary film,Razing Liberty Square.[3]
As development flourished inSouth Florida from the early 20th century through the1920s,restrictive covenants andJim Crow laws barredblack Americans in the Miami area from living in much of the area outside ofOvertown. Overtown, then called Colored Town, grew to be one of the mostdensely populated areas in South Florida.[2] Severalcity blocks of Overtown homes were dilapidatedshotgun houses with no electricity or access tomunicipal water and sewer, being host to a relatively high incidence ofinfectious diseases in many areas.Community organizings and advocacy by respected black businessmen andclergy, such as the works of undertaker Kelsey L. Pharr and Rev.John E. Culmer, informed the creation of the Southern Housing Corporation (SHC). Formed by sevenwhite Miami-area attorneys and led by formerstate attorney John C. Gramling, the SHC garnered public support for the endeavor from Miami residents. It thenlobbied the new administration ofPresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt in thefirst 100 days for the creation of a new "negro colony" on what was-then theoutskirts of the city to alleviate blight and to largely displace blacks from Overtown to spur further privatereal estate development inDowntown Miami.[4]
The new facility opened 243 single-family units opened to tenants February 6, 1937.[1] Built just west of the north Miami neighborhoods ofBuena Vista andLemon City, opposition to the proximity of the new apartments to the mostly white communities led to the erection of a 4-foot-tall (1.2 m) wall along West 12th Avenue from North 62nd Street north to 71st Street, most of which was torn down since the 1950s. Construction ofI-95 andI-395/State Road 836 (then, the North-South and East-West Expressways, respectively) purged thousands of African Americans from Overtown into other black area communities like the burgeoning Liberty Square and surrounding Liberty City area.[4]
Until thede factoracial segregation in public accommodations andprivate homeownership practices ended after the enactment of theCivil Rights Acts of1964 and1968, Liberty Square became the most densely populated subdivision in the Miami area. Once a largelymiddle income community, a purge of poor elderly and severalwelfare-dependent single mother families from Overtown fled to Liberty Square, leading to ablack flight of middle andhigher-income African Americans tosuburban Miami-Dade county and a decline inliving standards in the project between the 1960s and the 1980s. Liberty Square and surrounding area were the location of notable Miami arearace riots in the years following theCivil Rights Movement.
In late January 2015, theMiami-Dade County Department of Public Housing and Community Development announced plans for construction of a "New Liberty Square." Miami-Dade County MayorCarlos A. Giménez released a statement saying, "the plan promises to create 2,290 jobs and $285 million in economic output.”[5] Funding for the mixed-use, mixed income public housing complex that will be “the largest renovation, revitalization of a public housing complex in county history” will come from a combination of county, state and federal resources.[6] Local funding for the project, known as “Liberty City Rising,”[7] is expected to be paid through General Obligation Bonds ($32 million); Document Taxes ($6 million); and Capital Fund Financing Program ($8 million).[8] Six developers submitted proposals in response to the county's request: RUDG, an affiliate ofThe Related Companies, South Florida’s largest condo developer; Atlantic Pacific Communities;Carrfour Supportive Housing, Florida's largest nonprofit provider of affordable housing, mostly to the homeless; Centennial Management Corp., owner of 13 rental communities in Florida; a joint venture of Virginia-based Community Housing Partners Corp and Miami Waymark 2.0 Joint Venture LLC; and Miami Redevelopment Partners LLC.[9]
The director of the county’s housing agency said redevelopment will not displace the more than 600 residents currently living in Liberty Square, claiming New Liberty Square will be built in phases so residents won’t move out until new units are finished.[10] "One of our guiding principles is that all residents in good standing will have a unit to return to," he said. "If you’re a resident and you follow the terms of your lease, you’re in good standing."[10]
The announcement[11] has not been met with unanimous support, especially from those who have seen previous redevelopment plans contribute little to Miami’s most distressed neighborhoods. One source said that Miami-Dade County MayorCarlos A. Giménez "was well into his first term as a county commissioner when theDepartment of Housing and Urban Development had to take over the county's public housing agency because of the rampant scandals ...The only way Giménez can sell this plan is by allowing trusted community leaders, not the paid-off pastors or political cronies, to have oversight on the project."[12]
Notes
Further reading