The Coral Gables Times

2 CORAL GABLES TIMES Thursday, March 8, 1962

Richmond Heights Points the Inexpensive Way

RICHMOND HEIGHTS — Dade County's Negro community near the formal naval air station — is an example of what can be done to uplift a community. Let us visit James Reid, president of the Richmond Heights Citizens Committee, and let him tell what has been done there. Reid, a businessman in private life, speaks fluently on the subject of Negro Housing. He served on the Miami Housing Authority and was national editor for the Pittsburgh Courier, a Negro newspaper. In placing the blame for slums: "The profit in slums is tremendous," Reid maintains. "These landlords drain everything out — put nothing back," the Negro leader said. The former assistant manager of the Liberty City Housing project in Miami, charged that government officials are largely indifferent to the plight of Negroes. "The people who wax rich on these conditions were consulted," Reid said. As a result, he said, "People have got the idea that Negroes wanted to live under these conditions." Reid pictured the Negro as a victim of his environment. Richmond Heights, he pointed out, is good example of the transformation that takes place when Negroes are given a bit of living and breathing room. "In Richmond Heights we have no desire to move anywhere else," said Reid. "And we've got the best record in Dade County. We have no juvenile delinquency problem. We have no crime problem," the civic leader said. Recently, when a group attempted to petition the county to let them build a drinking establishment, residents there rose up and helped stop the proposal. Richmond Heights resulted largely from the humanistic work of a former airline pilot — Capt. Frank C. Martin. Martin, killed about five years ago in an accident, nurtured the plan of an all-Negro community of individual homes. "He had a dream — he was an idealist kind of fellow," Reid said of Martin. The idea spread. Today, approximately 5,000 persons live in the community of 1,500 homes. Mostly, they are business and professional people, but a large number, especially those who moved in when the project opened about 10 years, are persons of low income, Reid said. They moved there like other suburban residents — to escape jumbled up living in crowded conditions, poor zoning, mixture of business and residential atmosphere and to regain a stimulating environment in which to bring up kids, Reid said in summing up.

And in the Gables, This Plan ... $73 a Month $50.50 Monthly for Side of Duplex

Those who feel that eliminating the slums is not economically feasible base their arguments primarily on the belief that Negro income is too low to support decent housing. Overlooked is the fact that Negroes living in their own homes pay no more and sometimes less than dwellers of the rented shacks. Parkview Construction Company, which claims to be the largest firm in Florida building homes on individual lots, has built more than 100 homes — a half dozen in Coral Gables' Negro section. Lloyd Collier, general manager, tells how his firm operates. "We build two ways," said Collier, "We demolish an existing building and build a new home or we buy a lot and build for sale." Taking the first route, a typical three-bedroom, one-bath home built on a 40-foot minimum lot would cost the owner $6,950, plus $200 for demolition. A 12-year conventional mortgage would cost him $75 a month; 20-year, $55; 24-year, $50. The lot would serve for downpayment and closing. If Parkview buys and builds, Collier said, it must pay approximately $3,500 per lot, bringing the costs to $10,950. Downpayments will range from $750 to $1,000 and payments on a 20-year mortgage $75 and $70 on a 24-year mortgage. Lowest rents found in the area were $12.50 a week or $55 a month, within the limits of the first condition, but out for the second. Average rents, according to the owners, were about $15 to $18 a week, or between $65 and $78 a month, indicating that the second type of home would be out of reach for the first but within reach of the second. In one rented home which replaced one recently condemned and replaced, The Times found the rent to be $22.50 a week or $94 a month — well within both conditions. Richmond Heights, South Dade County's all-Negro Community, presents another approach to the problem. Mortgages there run from $50 a month up with the average $60 to $65. Jim Kay Homes, prime builder in Richmond Heights, has built a variety of 15 homes and new three and four-bedroom homes on 30 to 35 year VA and FHA mortgages starting at $66 a month. Financing is the same as other VA and FHA mortgages, no downpayment required on VA loans and three per cent on FHA. Homes range in price from $9,500 on three-bedroom, one bath homes to $13,000 for four-bedroom, bath and half homes. Another large builder there, General Contractors of Florida, is building homes in the the average in the $15,000 class. This firm is building similar homes in Cutler Ridge for comparable costs. VA and FHA mortgages run for 30 years with $250 move in costs on VA and $650 FHA. Monthly payments average $89 to $91. RICHMOND HEIGHTS OWNED CORAL GABLES RENTAL

The Hovels Called Home in Our Town

(Continued from page 1) down, and so they take them home. Others just naturally collect and keep things for the day when they might find some use for them. One time three years ago, the City conducted a clean up campaign that severely taxed available manpower and equipment. Included in the haul were automobile skeletons to odds and ends. But why has it taken so long — two years since the rehabilitation program began — to show tangible results? "They don't have the money," Thomas replied. He was referring to the individual home owners, a minority in the population, but who own about 40 per cent of the single family dwellings. "You can push only so fast," said Thomas. This feeling was borne out by his young boss, Monty Marshall, director of the Building and Zoning. Only two cases would up in Municipal Court, said Marshall, and these are hanging fire to give the owners the chance to make necessary repairs. Others have been extended in time to enable them to install toilets, bathtubs or showers, put in hot water heaters and other changes. The director was shocked by what he saw, he said. "I was amazed — some were living off kerosene stoves and had no hot water," Marshall said. He saw the problem as one of sanitation, health, safety and morals. Of the latter he said: "You have a liberal education before you're ready for it." Conditions are particularly bad in the multiple - story apartment buildings, he feels. Marshall related how the rehabilitation program is put into effect. A verbal warning of violations is given by the building inspector followed by a written notice of the violations. Then comes owner's answer. Next, a permit's taken. Finally, there is approval of the work. "I think it's coming along very well," said Marshall's boss, City Manager L. W. Robinson Jr. "We're not trying to explode this thing," said Robinson. "We're trying not to create a hardship for these people." "Money is the big problem," Robinson agreed. "I don't think it's a question of slum clearance," Robinson said in backing the present policy of rehabilitation rather than renewal. He pointed out that the city would soon require all home and property owners there to hook into the city's sewer system. "The area has reached the saturation point with septic tanks," said the city manager. It was 20 years ago that outdoor privies were replaced with septic tanks. "Our biggest problem," said Robinson, "is removing trash." The waste division spends more time there and has less to show for it than any other area, Robinson said. Next, he said, was the problem of overcrowding. He indicated the City would get to that when the time came. Police Chief William Kimbrough said he has no complaints. He has one Negro officer on duty there. "We don't have any particular problems down there," said Chief Kimbrough. He cited a little bolita and moonshine occasionally, but too much drinking and fighting are the main sources of trouble, the chief said. Children playing in the streets present special hazard, the chief pointed out. To help that problem, a chain link fenee, four feet high, is planned along South Dixie Highway in the apartment house area to help protect children from heavy traffic. "I live with what I've got," said Fire Chief Paul Matheson what he's got to live with are frame buildings, kerosene stoves, exposed electrical wiring, trash and crowded conditions and other fire hazards. But he's been lucky. There have been relatively few serious fires. An exception was the three persons who were killed a couple of years ago when a speeding car slammed into one of the frame shacks lining Dixie Highway, setting the house afire. Matheson also praised the cooperation of the people in holding down fires. Said Zoning Administrator director John Vinsant: "The same zoning regulations apply there as anywhere else." We operate by the ordinance." Then he cited an exception — tar paper and gravel roofs are permitted instead of tile. Would these same shacks be permitted anywhere else in Coral Gables? No, but they are permissible where they are, Vinsant said. This is what's known in law as the "grandfather clause" — which stipulates that construction existing before a law is passed is legal. Overlooked is the fact that a governing body has the power to limit repairs — virtually dooming a building in due time. JAMES REID . . . Heights president KIMBROUGH THOMAS VINSANT MARSHALL

DEED Changes

From Jones to Paul Peter and Anne Hannak, 627 Minorca Ave., $16,500. From Barkdull to Florence E. Heinicke and Jan B. Powell, 529 Santander Ave., $40,100. From Posner to Irving P. and Patricia E. Eney, 7425 Ponce de Leon, $39,500. From Gables By the Sea, Inc. to L. H. and Wilda M. Veech, Lot 9, Blk. 12, $21,000. From Boon to Jacques A. and Katherine P. Scordate, 615 Madeira Ave., $15,400. From Nebe to Carl H. and Beatrice M. Bruns, 3420 Durango Ave., $52,500. From Gugler to Carol Logan Beall, 1225 La Mancha Ave., $4,000. From Murphy to Richard B. Plummer, Lots in Riv. No. 14, $7,300. From Oltz to Harry Gilbert and Marion P. Deaver, 1112 Alfonso Ave., $47,500. From Battisti to George C. and Margaret Persandi, 1018 Andora Ave., $31,000. From Bruns to Sigmund J. and Marion P. Deaver, 1112 Alfonso Ave.