Broward County Hotel Project Faces Minority Concerns

FT. LAUDERDALE— As the Broward County Commission debated August 14 about what to do with the convention center hotel project that collapsed after a four-year juggling act with developer R. Donahue Peebles, Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion made a subtle but critical shift in words, according to reports. Eggelletion, the commissions only African American, was blaming the county for the deals failure and asking his colleagues to honor the promise the commission made in 1995 to partner with a “minority” to build and own the hotel. Midway through, however, he switched to the phrase “black-owned.” said reports. The change was no accident, according to the Miami Herald. It foreshadowed what may be the next wave of politics to descend upon this most political of business deals: what happens if an Hispanic, or an Asian American, or a woman, or any other developer who meets the broader definition of ‘minority,’ steps forward with a proposal to get the much-needed hotel built? “I changed my words to clarify because I can see what is happening here,” Eggelletion told the Herald. “There is a move by I dont know whom, whether from the commissioner or the administrators office, to change this from `black-owned to `minority-owned [hotel].” On Tuesday, the board voted to declare Peebles in default of the lease, the first step in terminating its legal relationship with him, and decided to wait to discuss any payments it might owe Peebles until tapes and transcripts of various promises can be studied. Peebles has said he is owed between $3 million and $4 million. SOURCE: Miami Herald