The recent debate about Community Redevelopment Agencies (CRAs) appears to be an effort to mislead the public into believing that their tax dollars are being misused. This isn’t the case, and this inflammatory rhetoric, which pits residents against each other, can be extremely harmful to communities.
It has been alleged that “some of South Florida’s trendiest districts benefit from taxpayer dollars set aside to help the neediest neighborhoods.” This is an erroneous premise and the record must be corrected, especially regarding our success in Miami Beach.
The reality is that CRAs do not take money that is set aside for other needy neighborhoods, rather they reinvest the property tax revenue that is generated in their own neighborhood; and some of those neighborhoods were made trendy thanks to the tremendous efforts of CRAs.