4 December 21-27, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | ▼ FLORIDA COSTS OF FREEDOM FLORIDIANS ASKED TO PAY MILLIONS FOR PROJECT AT CONTAMINATED INTER MIAMI STADIUM SITE. BY DAVID MINSKY T he Miami-Dade County Com- mission is urging state lawmak- ers to approve $5 million of taxpayer funding for a project to clean up arsenic-contaminated soil and improve drainage at the former Mel- reese Country Club, the site where Inter Mi- ami CF’s 25,000-seat soccer stadium is set to be built. The commission passed a resolution at its December 12 meeting asking the state to ap- prove the funding and directing the county’s lobbyists to begin advocating for the money to be used for Phase I infrastructure improve- ments at the site. A late addition to the agenda, sponsored by District 6 Commissioner Kevin Cabrera, the resolution passed 11-0, a commis- sion spokesperson tells New Times. Though Inter Miami has maintained that the project “is 100 percent privately funded by club ownership,” it appears that public funds for the project are now being requested. In a 2018 referendum, Miami voters au- thorized city officials to negotiate and ap- prove a plan to lease the 131-acre, city-owned property to develop it into Miami Freedom Park, which will include Inter Miami’s Major League Soccer stadium. Then, in 2022, Inter Miami owners David Beckham and local businessmen Jorge and Jose Mas secured ap- proval from the Miami City Commission for a zoning plan to allow construction. “Phase I is central to a wider environmen- tal remediation and conversion of the former golf course with contaminated soil into a community asset, fostering recreation along- side a separately funded economic develop- ment and global innovation initiative,” Cabrera’s resolution states. Jorge Mas had made assurances in July 2018 that the project would funded privately in its entirety “New Miami park/soccer village/tech hub will be privately funded with NO public dol- lars for stadium. Will be unique paying fair market value for land and property taxes,” Mas wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. Cabrera’s resolution is tied to a budget ap- propriations item from Florida Sen. Bryan Avila (R-Hialeah Gardens) and Florida House Rep. Lawrence McClure (R-Plant City), who requested that state lawmakers set aside the funds for the stadium when they vote on Florida’s 2024-25 budget in next year’s legis- lative session, which begins on January 9. The Florida budget proposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this month totals $114.4 bil- lion, $4.6 billion less than the current budget. After Miamians voted in the stadium ref- erendum, an environmental report released in 2019 showed the soil was contaminated with arsenic and lead. The report, authored by EE&G Environmental Services LLC, stated that the site – located at 1802 NW 37th Ave., just east of the Miami International Air- port – was used as a dumping ground for in- cineration ash before it was developed into a golf course in the 1960s. The arsenic was also partially attributed to “golf course application of agrochemicals,” according to the report. Arsenic was widely applied on golf courses as an herbicide, in forms such as monosodium methyl arsenate, before its use was prohibited in 2013. County officials submitted their funding request in November, showing that the proj- ect is expected to cost about $11.4 million, of which $5 million would be provided via the state appropriation. The request also stated that the $5 million would pay for essential infrastructure, including “solid pipe drainage, ex-filtration, trench drainage, catch basins, water and sewer systems, bike paths, a wellness loop, electrical installations, benches, landscaping, and diverse amenities.” McClure’s submission said that the project will increase tourism and create jobs. “The full realization of Miami Freedom Park will generate over 15,000 new jobs in various sectors like entertainment, retail, con- struction, corporate headquarters, and hospi- tality, contributing to economic growth in the state of Florida,” the request states. “The com- mercial campus is set to draw both estab- lished and emerging companies to Miami, enhancing the city’s innovative landscape.” Construction began on the project in Au- gust, with heavy equipment and building crews moving in to perform earthwork and site preparation. | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS Inter Miami’s design concept for the team’s new soccer stadium, Miami Freedom Park Inter Miami screenshot via YouTube ▼ PLANTATION MEA CULPA KODAK BLACK APOLOGIZES TO HIS FANS, ADDRESSES COCAINE- GOBBLING CLAIMS. BY IZZY KAPNICK I n a social media monologue last week, rap- per Kodak Black apologized to fans for his latest run-in with the law while wondering whether the arrest last week was “an eye opener — God just hollering at me.” Black, whose legal name is Bill Kapri, deliv- ered the brief address in the wake of his Decem- ber 7 arrest on drug and evidence-tampering charges. He spoke about his struggles with nar- cotics and said he has spent a small fortune on private rehab to kick his painkiller addiction. “I’m working on myself. I paid $350,000 and shit to get clean and get better,” the rapper said in the Instagram Live video. “I’ve never been the type of nigga to run from issues that I know I’m going to have to face. I look at the shit head-on and try to catch a hold on it.” Kapri was arrested last week after Plantation police found him asleep behind the wheel of a Bentley SUV in the middle of the road, stewing in a strong odor of burnt cannabis, according to the police report. While an officer was reviewing Ka- pri’s driver’s license, he spotted white powder falling from Kapri’s body. “I exited the vehicle and noticed Kapri’s mouth was full of white powder,” the officer wrote, noting he believed Kapri was attempting to hide the drug from police. According to Plantation police, a “white chunky substance” recovered from the ground next to Kapri’s car and a baggie in his pocket tested positive for cocaine. Kapri told his fans that the street where po- lice confronted him is next to his Plantation home. He insisted in his video, “I ain’t no baser, bitch. I ain’t no junkie.” He further explained that he has taken methamphetamine and painkillers but does not use cocaine. “In my era and shit, you’re better off saying you drunk...you smoke weed, or did Molly or whatever, or you pop pills,” Kapri said. “That ain’t cool in itself. None of that shit is cool, but to be talking about cocaine?” “Bitch, I got children. I have to be there for them,” he continued. “Maybe that situation was just an eye opener for me — God just holler- ing at me. It ain’t to destroy me, kill me, or noth- ing. But the shit is bullshit.” Kapri and his perpetually busy lawyer, Brad- ford Cohen, are challenging the accuracy of the police’s on-site testing, claiming the substance was not cocaine. Cohen released a statement claiming Kapri became addicted to opioids after he was pre- scribed painkillers for his injuries from a 2020 beatdown at the hands of Kentucky prison guards and a 2022 incident in which he was shot in the leg following pop singer Justin Bieber’s af- ter-party in Los Angeles. “Unfortunately, like many people across the country, he became dependent on those pre- scribed pills,” Cohen said. “Kodak Black has dou- bled down on getting better with assistance from many people and was signed up for immer- sion rehabilitation for his dependency.” Kapri said he was sorry for the less-than-flat- tering December 7 police encounter. “It must be tough being a friend or a fan of mine. I wanna say I apologize to everybody who represents me, as a friend, fan, brother, sister, as- sociate, business partner.” [email protected] “MAYBE THAT SITUATION WAS JUST AN EYE OPENER FOR ME — GOD JUST HOLLERING AT ME.”
