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Miami Herald
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
44 percent: Children's book on Little Haiti, reviving a long-gone Overtown nightclub
At the top of the month, I mentioned prioritizing Black joy. For me, that joy has been watching 'Beyond the Gates,' the Black soap opera that airs on CBS at 2 p.m. EST. and streams on Paramount+. It is everything we deserve in a Black soap, the first in more than 35 years: legacy Black talent with Tamara Tunie and Clifton Davis serving as matriarch and patriarch of the Dupree family; a beautiful cast reminiscent of when Victoria Rowell, Shemar Moore, and the late Kristoff St. John graced our TV screens; and a riveting plot line (no spoilers). And trust me, this does not give beautiful gowns, but it does give wonderful wigs! It has been such a wonderful experience being at the start of a soap opera and a Black one, no less. This has been one of many joyous moments for me, but I hope you all take a minute to watch it. And I'd be remiss if I didn't note that the celebration of Blackness and Black history doesn't begin or end with the month of February. For me, as I'm sure it is for a few of you, it's a year round appreciation of who I am, where I'm from and the love of my people. INSIDE THE 305: 'That was our place': Miami author teaches history of Little Haiti in children's book Born in Little Haiti, author Eunice Flowers was raised to appreciate her Blackness. It's something she's also worked to instill in her children. Flowers has created a book series that will do that while preserving the local Black history of Miami. As I reported: Flowers decided to create Maya and Xavier's Adventures, a book series that chronicles elementary school children as they visit historically significant sites in Miami's Black history. The first book in the series, 'Maya and Xavier's Adventures in Little Haiti,' follow the children Maya and Xavier as they visit the Little Haiti Cultural Center and the The Toussaint L'Ouverture Monument. Those two destinations are among the few remaining symbols of Little Haiti's identity, which has undergone gentrification in recent years. 'I want to preserve that,' she said. 'The fact that that's where we were made to belong, that was our place.' The Trump administration is ending TPS for Haitians. Here's what you need to know More than half a million Haitians in the United States could be at risk of deportation after President Donald Trump's administration revoked a Temporary Protected Status extension, Haiti Correspondent Jacqueline Charles reported. She has written a primer on TPS and what to do if this affects you. OUTSIDE THE 305: Trump administration answers invite of Caribbean Community leaders; visit being planned Plans are in the work for the Trump administration to visit the Caribbean and its leaders, which follows a five-nation tour by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Jacqueline Charles reported: Days after Caribbean leaders announced plans to invite President Donald Trump for a visit, his administration is taking them up on their offer — sort of. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose recent five-nation tour through the region included only one Caribbean country, the Dominican Republic, plans to visit the wider Caribbean region next month, said Mauricio Claver-Carone, Trump's special envoy to the Americas. 'We're going to go,' Claver-Carone, who will join the secretary on the visit, told the Miami Herald. New jazz fellowship honors the genre's elders and gives them an unrestricted $100,000 grant Bertha Hope and several other elder jazz musicians are receiving a fellowship with grant funds to help them continue their work in the jazz space among other things. Hope's husband Elmo Hope worked with Sarah Vaughan (pictured above) and Fort Lauderdale's Cannonball Adderley. As the Associated Press reported: Though Bertha Hope, now 88, has toured extensively, recorded several albums and helped support the legacy of her late husband, the jazz pianist Elmo Hope, her talent still needs nurturing. And a new initiative dedicated to the preservation of jazz and the artists who helped build it plans to provide support for Hope and dozens of others. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and The Jazz Foundation of America on Tuesday announced the Jazz Legacies Fellowship — a new $15 million program that will give 50 artists who are 62 years or older a lifetime achievement award that includes a $100,000 unrestricted grant, professional support and performance opportunities. HIGH CULTURE: For one night, Miami can relive the heyday of Overtown's famous Black hotel The heyday of popular Overtown nightclub the Knight Beat inside the Sir John Hotel have faded into obscurity. But it was once a place where Black performers sang and danced after headlining in Miami Beach, where they could not stay because of their skin color. Tonight, an event at the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center called A Night at The Sir John's Knight Beat, will try to resurrect the energy of gone but not forgotten club, with live performances, dances and poetry. Where does 'The 44 Percent' name come from? Click here to find out how Miami history influenced the newsletter's title.
CBC
05-02-2025
- Business
- CBC
Thousands of N.B. homeowners have successfully challenged their property assessments. Here's how
Social Sharing Kim Hunter was stunned last year when the assessment on her Saint John duplex arrived and showed a $151,700 increase. "It was absolutely shocking. I was floored," said Hunter of the 56 per cent change. "I couldn't figure out where they actually got that huge increase." Hunter is a professional realtor and immediately doubted her home could be sold for the amount Service New Brunswick had valued it. She prepared a response and filed for a review. After several weeks, the assessment agency accepted there was a problem and lowered the increase on Hunter's home by $54,200. In Saint John, at current tax rates, that reduction will eventually save her $800 on her residential property tax bill. "The whole incident has just nailed it home for me that we are due — so due — for complete overhaul of of the property assessment system in New Brunswick," said Hunter. WATCH | Objection! How to successfully fight a high property assessment: How to win a reduction in your 2025 property assessment 5 hours ago Duration 3:13 Nearly 3,000 New Brunswick property owners successfully challenged their property assessments in 2024. The window for challenging 2025 amounts is open until Feb. 19, and it is possible to win a reduction, if done properly. House prices in New Brunswick have escalated rapidly in the last four years, more than doubling in many communities. That has been pushing up property assessments and property taxes that are based on those assessments. Last month, Service New Brunswick mailed out new 2025 assessment notices to owners of more than 400,000 properties, who now have until Feb. 19 to accept the valuation as accurate or ask for a review. Hunter said if homeowners doubt the assessment is accurate, they should not be shy about questioning it. "I'm just one person, but my advice is to challenge it," she said. Last year nearly 3,000 New Brunswick property owners, mostly homeowners like Hunter, successfully challenged the size of their property assessments, and there are lessons in their success for those considering whether or not to mount their own challenge this year. Jerry Iwanus is a former assessor for Service New Brunswick who has written a book about the province's property tax system, Taxing New Brunswick. Iwanus said the only way for homeowners to win an assessment reduction is to make a convincing case that their own property would not sell on the open market for the amount on their assessment notice. He recommends focusing on that sole reason when asking for a review because, by law, Service New Brunswick cannot consider any other factor. "People put all sorts of stuff in there, like, "my taxes are too high," and that is not a reason to challenge," said Iwanus. "There's only one reason that you challenge your assessment and that is because the assessed value is higher than what you think the market value of your house is." According to Iwanus there are two ways to make that case. The first is for a property owner to show that recent house sales in their neighbourhood are at prices below the values used by Service New Brunswick in the neighbourhood. Alternatively, property owners can try to show their own house has particular problems that would affect its sale price in a way that the assessment is not detecting. Hunter made both arguments in her case. She disputed that the real estate market in her part of the city would allow her to sell her home for the price Service New Brunswick put on it. She also noted that wood clapboard on the ocean-facing side of her home has deteriorated over the years and further eroded the sale value of her property. "I was able to convince [SNB] that I was justified in receiving a significant decrease in value because of some maintenance and repairs that have to be done to my home," said Hunter. "As a real estate agent, I was explaining to [SNB] to get market value, that I would have to do a number of maintenance repairs." Homeowners are ultimately responsible for policing the values applied to their homes. Provincial records show several successful assessment challenges last year were clustered in specific neighbourhoods but even when Service New Brunswick awards multiple reductions, it will not review other similar properties in those neighbourhoods for problems — unless owners ask. On Moore Street, around the corner from Kim Hunter, houses suffered some of the largest assessment increases in New Brunswick in 2024. Four of the 14 properties eventually won reductions and two other properties eventually sold to buyers for less than their assessed values. However, Iwanus said even if that might suggest other homes on Moore Street are overvalued, too, it is up to homeowners to ask for a review and make the case, no matter how obvious, that there is a problem. "If you find that your neighbours have received a reduction in one particularly year, you may want to take a look at doing the same thing next year," said Iwanus.
