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What makes it so hard to live in South Florida? See some of the housing issues

What makes it so hard to live in South Florida? See some of the housing issues

Miami Heralda day ago
Real Estate News What makes it so hard to live in South Florida? See some of the housing issues
The following articles explore the challenges of living in South Florida. They highlight the region's unaffordable housing market, rising costs and gentrification pressures.
In Miami, residents face rising rents and financial strain. Many spend over half their income on housing.
Condo buyouts become more common in South Florida. Structural issues and rising costs push some condo owners to sell. Developers target these properties, viewing them as prime redevelopment opportunities.
Black South Floridians struggle with homeownership in gentrifying Miami communities. They face barriers like predatory lending and low credit scores.
Read the stories below.
North Bay Village, junto a la bahía y muy cerca de la playa de Miami Beach, recibe proyectos residenciales de lujo, que aumentan precios inmobilarios. Un programa de vivienda de la ciudad ayuda a los residentes y trabajadores esenciales a comprar condos, alquilar o pagar servicios públicos atrasados. By MATIAS J. OCNER
NO. 1: IS YOUR CONDO RIPE FOR A BUYOUT? SEVEN SIGNS THAT DEVELOPERS MIGHT TARGET YOUR BUILDING
The Miami Herald spoke with three real estate experts who weighed in on the telltale signs a condominium is ripe for redevelopment. | Published October 4, 2024 | Read Full Story by rsanjuan@miamiherald.comRebecca San Juan
Stephania Germain, 24, who is on a Section 8 housing voucher, poses inside her apartment that she lives in with her daughter on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in Miami. Germain was raised in foster care and is doing the best she can for herself and her baby. She says that even with the voucher, with recent increases it makes paying rent tough. 'It just keeps going up and I don't get a break to save, and I need new baby clothes, ya know they grow out of them so fast,' said Germain. By Alie Skowronski
NO. 2: MIAMIANS ARE THE MOST RENT-BURDENED PEOPLE IN AMERICA — AND THEY'RE STRESSED ABOUT IT
New Census Bureau data shows that Miamians spend a larger chunk of their incomes on housing than residents in all other major American cities. | Published October 8, 2024 | Read Full Story by Max Klaver
Sabrina Guillaume stands outside the duplex she owns in Liberty City. Guillaume spent several years trying to buy a property in the neighborhood where her parents live and she grew up. By Carl Juste
NO. 3: BLACK SOUTH FLORIDIANS STRUGGLE TO BUY AND KEEP HOMES IN MIAMI'S GENTRIFYING COMMUNITIES
'We're losing ground every day.' | Published April 18, 2025 | Read Full Story by Raisa Habersham Michael Butler
The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.
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Who is Shaun Maguire, the VC partner facing backlash over his remarks about Zohran Mamdani
Who is Shaun Maguire, the VC partner facing backlash over his remarks about Zohran Mamdani

Business Insider

timean hour ago

  • Business Insider

Who is Shaun Maguire, the VC partner facing backlash over his remarks about Zohran Mamdani

Shaun Maguire, a partner at the blue-chip venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, is under fire for his comments about New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani — and his past remarks suggest he's not afraid of controversy. In response to a New York Times story about Mamdani marking his ethnicity as both "Asian" and "Black or African American" on his 2009 application to Columbia University, Maguire wrote on X that the candidate "comes from a culture that lies about everything." "It's literally a virtue to lie if it advances his Islamist agenda," he said. The comments have ignited backlash from some in the tech world, including some founders backed by Sequoia. An online petition calling for the firm to take disciplinary action against Maguire and establish an avenue for Sequoia's founders to report discrimination and hate speech has more than 900 signatories who self-identified as founders, executives, or tech workers. Meanwhile, others in the tech world, like Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale, have expressed support for Maguire, and an open letter in his defense has begun circulating on X. He previously pointed to posts he made on X in response to the backlash, including a video in which he defended his comments. "To any Muslim that is not an Islamist, and to any Indian that took offense to this tweet, I am very, very sorry," he said in the video. This is not Maguire's first time wading into political waters. The investor has become known for his outspoken conservative bent and is emblematic of a shift to the right in Silicon Valley. From high school dropout to Silicon Valley big shot Maguire followed a slightly unconventional path to venture capital. After a lackluster high school performance — his GPA was 1.8 and he failed Algebra 2 — he dropped out of school in 10th grade and earned the equivalent of a GED, he said in a 2022 interview with the Caltech Heritage Project. He went on to enroll in community college and then graduate from the University of Southern California, where he was a member of the math team. His interest in math took him to Stanford University, where he earned a Master's in statistics, and then to Caltech, where he earned a Ph.D. in physics. While at the latter, he started working for DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, in Afghanistan. His work there led him to cofound Expanse (formerly Qadium), a network security company, which was acquired by Palo Alto Networks in 2020 for about $800 million. He became a partner at Google Ventures in 2016, according to his LinkedIn profile. His investments there included Dandelion Energy, a geothermal heating and cooling company, IonQ, a quantum computing company, and Lambda School, a coding boot camp. In 2019, Maguire joined Sequoia. He's led or co-led more than two dozen investments for the firm, including in AI upstarts Decart and Foundry, and several of Elon Musk's companies, like tunneling venture The Boring Company, AI platform xAI, and rocket builder SpaceX. He's also interested in investments that support President Donald Trump's ambitions to "reshore the supply chain" through drones and silicon photonics, he told CNBC last month. An outspoken Trump supporter: 'I was willing to face any consequences' As his profile has risen in Silicon Valley, so has his political one. Maguire, who went from supporting Hillary Clinton to embracing the Make America Great Again movement, has become one of the most prominent GOP supporters in Silicon Valley. Following Trump's felony conviction last year, Maguire announced he'd back Trump in the 2024 election and would write his campaign a $300,000 check. In total, he donated about $800,000 to Republican causes last year, according to data from Open Secrets. Once Trump was elected, Maguire aided in the transition by interviewing candidates for positions in the defense department, The New York Times reported. In a lengthy screed on X, Maguire, a staunch supporter of Israel, outlined the reasoning behind his political change of heart. Part of his disillusionment with the Democrats hinged on foreign policy, including the fact that Joe Biden pulled US troops out of Afghanistan, he said. In contrast, he praised Trump as a "master of foreign policy" and described the myriad lawsuits against him as "double standards and lawfare." His ideological shift extends beyond diplomatics. Over the past year, he's been posting near-daily diatribes on his politics. He's criticized diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, claiming he wasn't promoted because he was a white man, and dabbled in conspiracy theories, including posting about how "antifa" is responsible for voter fraud. "I had made enough money to where, if I got fired, I wasn't going to starve to death," he said earlier this year of his decision to be more outspoken on the "Uncapped" podcast. "I was at a point in my life where I was willing to face any consequences, as crazy as it sounds, even death." His points of view have made him some enemies. He told Fortune that he "lost lots of friends and disappointed family." The blowback following his comments on Mamdani, though, marks a new level. Maguire isn't backing down, though.

A pioneering L.A.-style soul food bistro to close on Pico after 12 years
A pioneering L.A.-style soul food bistro to close on Pico after 12 years

Los Angeles Times

time4 hours ago

  • Los Angeles Times

A pioneering L.A.-style soul food bistro to close on Pico after 12 years

My 2 Cents, a soul food bistro that anchors a section of West Pico Boulevard that's home to multiple Black-owned restaurants, is set to close permanently on July 31. Opened by chef Alisa Reynolds in 2013, the restaurant became a neighborhood favorite thanks to a Southern comfort menu that's informed by Reynolds' L.A. upbringing, including turkey meatloaf, grit fries and BLT sandwiches with fried green tomatoes. 'It's something that I've been thinking about for the last few years,' Reynolds said of the restaurant's closure. 'For me, I think the best thing to do is to be able to feed people in their homes, do pop-ups, do collabs, and make the city excited again. I can do more as chef Alisa than I can do at My 2 Cents.' Moving forward, Reynolds, who was a private chef for the Dodgers and rapper-actor Common before opening My 2 Cents, will focus on expanding the restaurant's catering arm, in addition to collaborations and pop-ups with local chefs and restaurants. She is also developing a product line. 'I want to inspire the world through my food,' she said. 'Sometimes you have to make such decisions, especially during times when everything is changing.' Listed on The Times' guide to the 101 Best Restaurants in L.A. for two years running, My 2 Cents joins a growing list of notable restaurant closures this year, including fellow 101 awardee Here's Looking at You in Koreatown last month. Reynolds cited a host of reasons for the closure, including significant financial loss following the COVID pandemic, Hollywood industry strikes, January wildfires and, most recently, ongoing raids from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 'I just kept going. I was like, 'Nothing's going to stop us. We have to,'' said Reynolds, who called the decision to close My 2 Cents one of the hardest she's ever had to make. 'I had so many great customers and clients that believed in this restaurant. Because I think that it was more than a restaurant. It was like a little movement of love.' This is not the first time My 2 Cents has been under threat of closure. In 2017, Reynolds launched a crowdfunding campaign to settle a lawsuit brought by former backers of the restaurant. Multi-hyphenate entrepreneur Issa Rae joined forces with musicians Solange and Earl Sweatshirt on a fundraising dinner that helped keep its doors open. When pandemic shutdowns forced the restaurant's closure in 2020, Reynolds launched Tacos Negros, a takeout and delivery menu featuring tacos that took inspiration from pan-African foodways, including a six-hour-braised oxtail taco that the Food team listed on its guide to the 101 Best Tacos in L.A. The tacos became so popular that after restaurants reopened for dine-in, she added the most-ordered options to the permanent menu. My 2 Cents is located in a shopping plaza that belongs to a single landlord, who Reynolds says is under immense pressure from developers. 'That's the hardest part because I love the neighborhood so much,' Reynolds said. 'But I don't want to invest any more money there because it could be gone any day.' Just a couple doors down from My 2 Cents sits Stevie's Creole Cafe, a long-standing storefront that serves what late restaurant critic Jonathan Gold once called 'the best bowl of gumbo this side of New Orleans.' A few blocks east of that is Sky's Gourmet Tacos, a Black-owned taco shop that popularized a distinctly soulful approach to tacos that has since proliferated across the city. 'I just wonder if we're going to recognize Pico in 10 years,' Reynolds said. When it first opened in 2013, My 2 Cents helped lay the foundation for an L.A.-inspired take on Southern comfort food to flourish across the city. Host of the Daytime Emmy Award-winning 'Searching for Soul Food' series on Hulu, Reynolds says the restaurant was one of the first in L.A. to put shrimp and grits on its brunch menu. 'My goal in opening [My 2 Cents] was, and the name is, my perspective on soul food,' said Reynolds, who's set her menu apart with scratch-made sauces, local produce and plenty of vegan and gluten-free options, including a six-cheese mac and cheese with brown rice penne. 'I thought that it would be my love letter to Los Angeles as a French-trained chef and yet, a Black girl who also remembers her mom made pork chops on Thursday.' At My 2 Cents, Reynolds coats her grilled pork chops in a sweet agave jerk sauce, an homage to the origins of Jamaican jerk seasoning, which was first used on wild boars. In the homey dining room, vibrant art hangs on the walls and seasoning blends popular in Black households — Old Bay, Slap Ya Mama — balance on shelves next to cookbooks, with an array of eye-catching desserts, all of them baked by Reynolds' sister Theresa Fountain, arranged on the counter behind them. Diners have plenty of opportunities to make memories at My 2 Cents before the restaurant closes its doors for good. Every Wednesday beginning this week, the restaurant will host a wine tasting alongside a Southern-inspired tapas buffet. A two-drink minimum grants customers access to the bottomless spread and the menu changes weekly based on Reynolds' whims, with past bites including jerk chicken sliders on pretzel bread and goat cheese with hot honey on naan. My 2 Cents will also continue to host its popular '90s brunch on Sundays, with a live DJ and guests encouraged to dress on theme. Though the restaurant will close its doors at the end of this month, its final celebration will take place in the shopping plaza's parking lot on Aug. 1, complete with food, drinks and a live DJ. As for the future, Reynolds says fans of My 2 Cents can stay updated about events and pop-ups on Instagram. 'It's been a 12-year run,' Reynolds said. 'It's going to be a wild ride, but we are not going anywhere and that food is still going to be here forever.'

Target Donates $300K To Black Church Group, Activists Want It Returned
Target Donates $300K To Black Church Group, Activists Want It Returned

Black America Web

time8 hours ago

  • Black America Web

Target Donates $300K To Black Church Group, Activists Want It Returned

Source: (Photo by) / (Photo by) In what several activists and spiritual leaders view as an underhanded effort to court Black dollars, Target donated $300,000 to the National Baptist Convention amidst several ongoing Target boycotts nationwide. According to USA Today, both Rev. Jamal Bryant and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong say the church group accepting the donation does a disservice to their separate, ongoing Target boycotts. Bryant initially called for a 40-day Target boycott before going on to call for a full boycott over the company rolling back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives earlier this year. Levy Armstong, a Minnesota activist, called for a Target boycott in February for similar reasons. Bryant, who is Senior Pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Ga., made several demands in his call for a Target boycott. The boycott calls for Target to honor a $2 billion pledge to the Black business community the company previously made, invest in Black-owned banks, establish retail centers at HBCUs, and for the company to fully restore its DEI initiatives. 'The black eye for us is that they [National Baptist Convention] walked away with nothing that we asked for,' Bryant told reporters. Levy Armstong, founder of the Racial Justice Network, had similar concerns. She issued a letter to the National Baptist Convention asking them to return the donation and to 'reconsider its alignment with a corporation that has caused such profound harm.' 'This $300,000 payment does not heal – it deepens the wound. It appears to be a payout for silence and an attempt to regain Black consumer trust without accountability,' the letter reads. National Baptist Convention President Boise Kimber has defended the partnership, telling USA Today its partnership with Target is based on a 'shared commitment to community empowerment through small-business and entrepreneur development, investments in education and student support, and workforce and skill development that unlocks growth across our communities.' Kimber added that the money from the donation will 'provide scholarships, support senior citizens, and invest in entrepreneurship programs that uplift our people and the future.' 'We're proud to be sponsoring NBCUSA's conference series as one of the many ways we invest to make a meaningful impact in communities across the country by supporting access to education, economic development initiatives and entrepreneurship programs,' a Target spokesperson said in a statement sent to USA Today. I'll be the first to tell you I'm incredibly cynical when it comes to the motivations of any corporate entity. The widespread backtracking of DEI initiatives at corporations nationwide this year has only furthered my belief that corporate morality boils down to whatever is most profitable and politically expedient at the time. This donation feels like a blatant attempt by Target to say 'See? We don't hate Black people. Now please, spend money with us again.' Lord knows the company needs our dollars as the Target boycotts have proven remarkably effective so far. The company has consistently reported lower foot traffic, and posted a first-quarter sales decline, and its woes have been so pronounced that other companies are now warning their investors of the risks posed by consumer boycotts. If Target was serious about mending fences with the Black community it would address the root concerns that triggered the boycotts in the first place. Instead, it's trying to throw money at the problem in the hopes it will buy our silence. Considering the energy Black folks have been on, I don't see that plan working. SEE ALSO: Target Messed Around And Found Out, Reports 1st Quarter Sales Slump They Scared: Target, Walmart Warn Investors About Consumer Boycotts SEE ALSO Target Donates $300K To Black Church Group, Activists Want It Returned was originally published on

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