By now, most in the village know about the situation we have been facing at the Majestic Isle building on Harbor Island.
For those not aware, the building was found to be structurally deficient last week, and this necessitated the evacuation of dozens of residents, by this morning.
Here's a new story to get you caught up, if you're not...
The good news is, this morning we able to complete the evacuation of the building, and I can assuredly say that we have gone as far as humanly possible to assure that every single person affected by this emergency will have a roof over their head, both this evening and for the foreseeable future.
In a special meeting Monday evening, the Village Commission agreed to assign resources to help evacuated residents situate themselves for both the short and long terms.
For now, thanks to our generous neighbors at Best Western on the Bay, those who didn't have temporary arrangements have been offered rooms at our local hotel. Along with village staff and public works, I personally moved some of them this morning and got them checked in.
We are working directly with the displaced families to find longer term solutions, and most will be situated in apartments either in North Bay Village or around the area, with help from our wonderful Miami-Dade County Housing Department.
To be sure, some residents still face difficulties. This situation is especially hard for some of the long-term owners in the building, who now must find a way to come up with monthly, when before they may have owned their condo free and clear.
These are not easy problems and there are no easy solutions. What's for certain is that the city isn't in a position to take any chances with building safety. The upkeep and maintenance of condo buildings fall on the condo owners, and the Majestic owners are the only ones in a position to decide now what the next steps are for their building.
In the meantime, I can assure this morning that no one who wants help is going without it, and no one will be left homeless following this situation.
Thanks to Channel 7 owner Andy Ansin for his generous donation to the Miami Foundation fund for Majestic Isles residents. If you wish to support the fund,
you can do so here.
Comments