Leaders in Coconut Grove`s historically black community arefighting to ensure residents won`t be pushed out as Miami citycommissioners consider developing Grand Avenue.The question has never been whether Grand Avenue`s vacant lots and deteriorating buildings would be redeveloped, but when.The answer may come Thursday.Miamicommissioners will consider giving preliminary approval to the firstphase of the massive Grove Village on Grand, which would reshape sixblocks of the street that runs through the heart of Coconut Grove`sblack and Bahamian community.Meanwhile, community activists arecalling for subsidized housing and hoping for the protection affordedother Bahamian communities in South Florida.``This is a story of survival,`` says Pierre Sands, president of the Village West Homeowners and Tenants Association.GroveVillage, the $300 million vision of Pointe Group Advisors, headed bylocal businessman Peter Gardner, promises new life to a street thatonce thrived.A supermarket would serve an area that currentlyrelies on corner convenience stores. About 170,000 square feet inretail space would replace drug traffic with foot traffic. And sleekapartments, shops and offices would replace old buildings ravaged byhurricanes, time and neglect.But the sheer size of Grove Village has evoked not only hope, but fear.``Thingsare changing everywhere,`` Sands said of his community. ``But itdoesn`t mean we have to go by the way of the dinosaur.``Sands`association voted Monday to support the development based on 10conditions, including a mandate that 20 percent of Grove Village`sunits be affordable or workforce housing.Gardner, who saidWednesday he would include some workforce housing, said he has done hisbest to listen to the community in which he was born and reared.Gardner has surrounded himself with influential locals, including Grovearchitect Max Strang and Richard Shepard, director of the University ofMiami`s Center for Urban and Community Design, which has studieddevelopment opportunities in the West Grove.Pointe Group has metoften with community groups, participated in a community redevelopmentproject and joined an umbrella group called Positive Partners. Allthat, and an agreement that 800 to 1,000 full-time jobs will beavailable to Grovites, has brought wide support.NO GUARANTEESButconsidering Pointe Group is also buying and razing duplexes and homeson Grand Avenue`s side streets and has made no commitment to includeaffordable housing in Grove Village, some wonder if the black communitywill be around to enjoy it.``What is going on here is going tohurt us for the rest of our lives,`` resident William Bellinger, 46,said at a recent public hearing in City Hall.The neighborhood,once known as the ``Black Grove`` and now Village West, is one of eightcommunities in a five-year Miami plan to improve economic and housingconditions.But City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who representsthe Grove, says the city doesn`t have a legal responsibility to demandaffordable housing.And with just two of six blocks before the commission Thursday, Sarnoff said he doesn`t know if such a demand makes sense.``Ithink it can be done, but I don`t know that it can be done in thisphase,`` he said. ``But I`ll ask the question on the dais.``Thatshouldn`t stop the community from demanding affordable housing, saidNorma Jean Sawyer, executive director of the Bahama Conch CommunityLand Trust, which has been fighting gentrification in the Key Westcommunity of Bahama Village.``They must say how many affordable units they will provide,`` she said. ``They must give a number.``Severalyears ago, Key West allocated $2.5 million toward the development andrestoration of affordable homes in neighborhoods targeted forredevelopment.Sawyer said because the land trust swayed the Keyscommission to grant money for land acquisition and affordable housing,it was able to keep a number of nativ
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