Save Opa Locka Airport Small Business

The Miami Times’ Tariq Osborne had an interesting cover story in their last issue regarding Opa Locka Flightline. They are an Opa Locka Airport tenant in the same situation as the rest of the long established businesses at the airport. While in the midst of negotiations over a long term lease at the airport, Miami Dade Aviation signed over their land to AA Acquisitions. Their new landlord (and direct FBO competitor) subsequently asked for 10x the monthly rent.

Flightline’s Tony Robinson is quoted in the article stating, “You want me to come sharecrop for you, and I’ve got a multi-million dollar business? No. We’re going to take our rightful spot in this community,”.

The company sought out the legal council of Wille Gary, a Tampa based litigator with a record of multi-million dollar victories against the likes of Disney and Anheusur Busch. He promises to bring the fight to MDAD, and gave them fair warning in this article from the Miami New Times.

Being Force Out
Potential for billion-dollar lawsuit?

By Tariq Osborne Osborne@miamitimesonline.com

The only Black-owned Fixed Base Operator in the nation, Opa-Locka Flightline, may file a potential billion-dollar lawsuit against Miami Dade County’s Aviation Department. The five­year-old company has retained the services of Willie E. Gary, who has earned the nickname “the giant killer” for winning suits against such corporate giants Disney and Anheuser­Busch.

At issue is Opa-Locka Flight­line’s (OLF) leasehold inter­est. Gary contends that dur­ing OLF’s negotiations for a new lease with the county, the county improperly assigned OLF’s lease to a company called AA Acquisitions (AA).

AA was a direct competitor to OLF. Now the company is their landlord as well. Gary called the county’s move “reckless and discriminatory in a recent release.”

C.K. Hoffler, a partner in Gary’s firm who is helping handle the case; went into fur­ther detail. “When AA took over, they carved out deals for non-mi­nority companies so that AA didn’t have to be their land­lord,” said Hoffler. “Anytime you offer white companies something you don’t offer similarly situated minority company, that’s dis­criminatory,” she said.

Ed Brown, one of four part­ners in the business agrees. “They want to monopolize this airport,” he said, “But I’m a hard-working, proud, Blackman. I refuse to sharecrop for anybody. I’ll sleep under a bridge first.”

Brown alleges that a repre­sentative from AA sent him a letter asking OLF’s manage­ment to come to work for them.

Anthony Robinson, another partner (there are four), echoed Brown’s sentiments. “You want me to come sharecrop for you, and I’ve got a multi-million dol­lar business? No. We’re going to take our rightful spot in community,” said, Robinson.

The pair, along with their other two partners, husband and wife team Eric and Linnette Turner, have appealed to the County Commissioners. When asked what the County Commission has done to help Robinson responded “not a damn thing, ­next question.”

Robinson recounts an October 23 meeting with Commissioner Barbara Jordan. “She essen­tially told us that it would be in our best interests to sign that lease and accept whatever AA was willing to give us,” he said. Robinson further alleges that the commissioner told him that if he did not accept AA’s terms, that she could not help him.

Jordan recalls the meeting, but offers a more nuanced view of the day’s events.

“When I learned that [Opa­Locka] Flightline was basically rejecting the agreement with AA group, I met with Flightline for three hours, because to me they were passing up a golden opportunity. I just felt that they were committing professional suicide,” she said. “They refused to even negotiate with AA Acqui­sitions. They had not even read the lease that AA was propos­ing.” Jordan alleges that she asked them to read the lease and make a list of their concerns with it. Instead, they decided to engage an attorney.

Jordan stressed that she would like very much to see the situation resolved. “This to me is very upsetting, because more than anything we have an opportunity to have the first and only Black-owned FBO out there. I just wish more than anything that Flightline would. “The community went into an uproar,” said Jordan. Stage­coach then sold their interest in the lease directly to AA, a move in which the county has little in­put. According to Jordan AA now holds a 50-60 year lease on the land.

“Flightline wants to hold onto their agreement with the coun­ty,” said Jordan. She says that they cannot.

“I just wish that [Brown] and his partners could come to some sort of realization that the coun­ty cannot just step in and take them out of the assignment, es­pecially when you have 15-20 other businesses out there in the same situation,” said Jor­dan. “I have a number of His­panic businesses in the same situation, but they’re sitting down with [AA Acquisitions] be­cause they understand that he now owns the lease.

“Right now,” said Jordan, “Opa-Locka Flightline is sitting on about six or seven acres, which are in the center of the property that AA wishes to de­velop. What AA has agreed to do is say ‘we won’t just let you have that seven, we’ll give you 15 acres in a prime location, but you must agree to move and de­velop it [your new location] witch doesn’t get you where you need to go in the process for several years,” she said. “In that time, the new owner can start eviction procedures because they have not paid any rent in over a year on the lease that they have cur­rently.”

According to CK Hoffler, AA Acquisitions has done exactly that.

“They’ve been trying to evict for a while,” said Hoffler. She al­leges that they have been trying to evict illegally, and Robinson says they have put up tow-away signs near the business’s build­ing in an attempt to drive away business.

The delays have already cost Opa-Locka Flightline. “We lost roughly $23.9 million in in­vestor funds,” said Robinson. “We were partnering to build a 10,000 square foot office com­plex, a Hotel, two 50,000 square foot hangars, and a 60,000 gal­lon fuel farm. And we lost the funds because the county would not move forward the lease,” he said.

Worse still, said Robinson, is the potential for permanent loss of those investors. “There’s a credibility issue now, he said, ” Some of these investors I’ve known for years.”

In response to the allegations of discrimination, People United to Lead the Struggle for Equality (PULSE), a local civil rights orga­nization has made the issue a priority. Newly-elected president Rev. Dr. Anthony Tate expects his organization to take a lead­ing role in the fight. “The NAACP may play a role, said Tate, but PULSE’s advantage is that we can act immediately, while the NAACP has to get national permission,” he said.

Brown expects the battle to be a difficult one, but does not feel that he has another op­tion. “My children are watch­ing me and asking .what we’re going to do,” he said. “I say what do you mean what are we going to do? We’re going to fight, and we’re ‘going to win,” he said.