Riviera Beach Housing Authority
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The Riviera Beach City Manager, Police and Fire Chiefs were among City officials who brought donated food last Friday to Heron Estates Senior from Feeding South Florida, with which the City is partnering to provide free food each week to City residents in the face of the pandemic. Next event? From 9 to 11 a.m. on Friday, April 17 at Wells Recreation Center, located across from City Hall.
It is free and open to the public.
Watch a very short video of the niceness below.
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COVID-19 Has Touched Us As Well
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As we all know, the global pandemic continues to swirl. It has even touched down in Riviera Beach, causing the death of a city employee on March 31 and the cancellation of an annual conference last month in Washington sponsored by NAHRO--the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials--to which three of our Board members were going. Even our April 14 regular Board Meeting was cancelled. The next board meeting is now scheduled for May 12, 2020. Will it be a conference call? We'll see.
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He Brings Skills, Knowledge and Experience
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Matthew C. Russell is the Board attorney for the RBHA, but he is
way
more than that. He’s also a skilled trumpet player and a nationally known, award-winning weightlifter—two things he enjoys and has done all his life. And, he’s a former longtime educator, having taught math for 13 years at the iconic, formerly segregated Roosevelt High School in West Palm Beach. Plus, he served as assistant city attorney for the City of Riviera Beach, a role that required him to act as the general counsel for the police department, for Code Enforcement and for the General Employee’s Civil Service and Police Civil Service boards. Currently, besides his service to the RBHA, Attorney Russell is also general counsel for two local nonprofits, including the Palm Beach Children’s Chorus. But what we
really
appreciate about Attorney Russell is his knowledge of Robert’s Rules of Order, his keen awareness of how meetings should be conducted and ensuring that all documents before us are legally sufficient. “I love this Authority,” Attorney Russell said, “because it stays focused on what it's supposed to be doing—creating affordable housing—and stays away from that one thing that could get in the way. Nonsense.”
Thank you for your service, since 2014, Attorney Russell. And, did we say, he's also an Alpha Man? Yes. He brings that too.
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What Are Those Phones Saying About Us?
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We thought this was interesting: cell phone data statewide has been evaluated, seeking to discern how the pandemic is changing us and affecting our movements. In Palm Beach County alone, for example, cell-phone data shows that visits to retail stores are down 49 percent, to parks are down 65 percent and, visits to homes--like those at Heron Estates Senior, just for example--is up 15 percent. Has all this been your experience? Has the pandemic changed your movements, too? Read the full story
here
. What else do those phones know?
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For Heron Estates Senior Residents:
The City of Riviera Beach Wants to Hear From You!
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So does the U.S. Census. The City has a first-ever Community Values Survey that it's asking all residents to respond to. What do you like about the City? What would you like to see changed? The City Manager, Jonathan E. Evans, who attended our groundbreaking in January, says the City can't make change without knowing what its residents want. That includes the new residents of Heron Estates Senior. And the U.S. 2020 Census is seeking to count every human being living in the country, including, again, those at Heron Estates Senior. Click the buttons below to get involved!
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Prefer a paper version of the Survey? Send an email
here
.
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The RBHA was founded in 1968 and is a special district of the City of Riviera Beach. It is also an agency of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), as are six other housing authorities in Palm Beach County. The five-member Board of Commissioners meets on the second Tuesday of each month at Authority offices. The meetings are open to the public and nearly all information is available to the public by request. Click
here
for more Board information, including meeting dates, agendas and minutes.
Administration
John W. Hurt
Executive Director
Matthew C. Russell
Board Attorney
Contact Us:
2001 Broadway, suite 101
Riviera Beach, FL 33404
561-845-7450 office
800-431-8738 fax
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The coronavirus, the pandemic, COVID-19.
Lots of information available about it, lots being changed because of it, lots giving all of us pause. We have all been touched by the pandemic in some way, even if we or no one we know actually has it. One thing I do have is one simple, clear point to make about COVID-19: at the RBHA, we're not changing because of it. We may have to have conference-call meetings and to stay six feet apart when we talk to each other. But we will also maintain our strong efforts to continue to increase the amount of affordable housing available to the residents of this city.
No matter what
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Read Our Previous Newsletters Here:
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Phase 2 is Coming!
And so is work for local residents
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Heron Estates Family is being worked on as we speak, with the general contractor just chosen and our co-development partner doing the critical work of seeking private and public funding for our second phase, which is 79 units of townhouse-style, workforce housing. Part of the plan is to ensure that more local residents--subcontractors and skilled tradespeople--get some of the work. So remember: before the planned construction launch in late summer, we'll be hosting a Section 3 session to recruit as many skilled, qualified locals as possible. Want to get on the list? Send an email
here
--and come back here, too, for updates.
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RBHA Board of Commissioners
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Chairman Jeffery B. Jackson
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Vice-Chairwoman Jessica Thurmond
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Commissioner Delvin M. Thomas
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Commissioner Horace L. Towns
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Commissioner Glen L. Spiritis
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