On Fifth Avenue in the rapidly changing Flagler Village, a humble house surrounded by a forest of tropical trees is about to be swallowed by a five-story wall of pale gray concrete. The feisty owner of a tiny home now dwarfed by the mammoth high-rise that sprouted next door has been battling the project's big shot developer for two years. It's a classic David and Goliath story of a sleepy street in an up-and-coming neighborhood in downtown Fort Lauderdale being overtaken by high-rise apartments and a collision of old Fort Lauderdale and the flashy future. Jeyamo, a native-born Israeli, says little guys like him are being pushed out. He doesn't want to go. I don't want to sell this house. I wouldn't sell it for a lot of money. The home of Jeyamo was built in 1931 and is located on the edge of downtown Fort Lauderdale. In order to encourage growth, the area was rezoned in the 1980s to allow developers to build right up to the property lines. Jeyamo's modest two-bedroom home, all of When the construction cranes and buzzing chainsaws came next door, Jeyamo lost more than peace and quiet. He lost his garden with its profusion of pink and yellow flowers. The sanctuary, which was carefully tended over the years, now looks like a place where things die. The royal palms that once lined his property are no longer standing. His foxtail palms are no longer alive. His grandfather gave him the sabal palms, a tangerine tree and the old bonsai. He said that he couldn't imagine all the damage he did in his garden. It is dead after they poured concrete on it. All my shrubs were killed by them. I lost a tree. The tree is brown. My trees are dead because they were poured cement. He claims that during construction, cement and bricks rained down on his garden, killing trees and destroying his water lilies. He claims that some palms were moved without his permission and later died. The developer's lawyer claims that Jeyamo signed an agreement allowing them to work in his yard. The yard is now shadowed by two walls, one to the east and the other to the south. With his home hemmed in by construction, Jeyamo says he has been forced to pick up trash that has landed in his yard on an almost daily basis: Styrofoam food containers, plastic bags, empty water bottles, and, he claims, bottles filled with. One of Jeyamo's palms used to live on the corner of his property. He said that it was dead within six months. He said in a tired and weary voice that he didn't think he would ever get the garden back the way it was. I feel like a prisoner when I step outside. He gestured to the wall in the south. He said that Alcatraz has a wall like that. The attorney for the developer said his client has offered to move or replace the palm trees in order to allow crews to finish their work on the exterior wall. The five-story wall facing Jeyamo needs to be coated with stucco before the high-rise project is finished. The only way he can do the stucco is on my property. There is no room for the scaffolding to be put up. The wall is not done. People are wondering why. The law is on the side of the developer. The developer had to build 5 feet from the property line. Anthony Fajardo, Fort Lauderdale's director of Development Services, said that developers can build right up to the property line in the high-density zone. Jeyamo says he has called the office of Glassman several times to complain about the damage to his property, but he has not been paid a visit. Glassman has never spoken directly with Jeyamo, but both of his assistants have. Glassman said he was sure everything was referred to code. Glassman was surprised to hear that some of the trees are so close to the building that there is no room for scaffolding or stucco work. This is the first time I have heard of this kind of situation. I was surprised it got this far. The city commissioners approved the development. They never cast a vote. It was approved by the city staff who serve on the Development Review Committee. The commission had the option of calling it up for review, but never did. The project broke ground in the middle of the year. Jeyamo says he woke up to the noise of crews moving one of his palm trees. Jeyamo says he was told the trees had to be moved so the workers could dig a trench. In the days and weeks that followed, Jeyamo says he watched as workers dropped wet cement that turned to concrete, killing trees and damaging garden benches and statues. The developer cannot remedy damages without access to the property. Jeyamo says he called code enforcement several times to complain about construction crews moving trees, destroying his garden and using his property as a construction site. He said that they came out and took photos, but told him there was nothing they could do. According to city records, code enforcement came out to investigate but determined it was a civil dispute between the construction site and neighbor and closed the case. Jeyamo has refused to allow construction crews to finish the stucco work on the wall of the parking garage that overlooks his garden for months. Jeyamo says he has been dealing with Edward Abbo, Prime Group's chief operating officer, and pointed to a description of a $5,500 check he says was handed to him. The description says "replacement trees." The money was paid in order to gain access to Jeyamo's property. The check was provided to the court by the developer. Jeyamo signed away his rights to complain about the project to city officials in a Sept. 24 agreement that bears his signature. Jeyamo signed the agreement and accepted the payment. He had no problem cashing the check, but now doesn't want to honor the agreement. Jeyamo says he signed a blank paper at the request of Abbo to prove he had accepted a check. The check was supposed to cover damages through February 2021. Jeyamo told the Sun Sentinel that he was tricked. The first time Jeyamo looked at the three-page agreement was when someone left it on his front door. Jeyamo said that he would never have signed that document. In December, Jeyamo submitted a handwritten note to the court saying that he never agreed to let construction workers on his property. Private property ownership in the USA is a basic and sacred right and the owner has a fundamental right to protect his property from further trauma or damage, according to his note. Prime Group, the Hollywood-based developer, took Jeyamo to court, hoping a judge would force him to let crews on his property so they can finish the job. The emergency injunction was granted by a judge in March. The plain language of the agreement reflects that Prime has agreed to remedy any damage caused by the construction. If he really wanted the work done and the damage to his property repaired, he would have allowed Prime access to do so. The property would have been restored to its former state and we would be done with it. Jeyamo plans to appeal. The attorney was hired on December 10. He wanted to be left alone and not have his property damaged. There were two texts and five calls to his cell and work phones this week, but he could not be reached for comment. A reporter from the South Florida Sun Sentinel stopped by the construction office and left a business card. His client tried to work with Jeyamo. It has been difficult for Prime to communicate with Mr. Jeyamo since December. Things have kept construction crews from gaining access. He was denied access to the property. We have tried to be good neighbors. He has made a number of agreements that he has gone back on. Jeyamo doesn't own a computer or a phone and doesn't have access to the internet. When construction crews descended on his neighborhood, he kept a folder filled with papers. The ongoing dispute between Prime Group and Jeyamo is a rarity according to local developer Charlie Ladd. The whole thing is a shame, said the past president of the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority. There have been dozens and dozens of buildings that have gone up downtown. There is a reason the city changed thezoning to what it is today. He said that the neighborhood used to be a slum in the 1970s and 1980s. The area was changed to entice developers to invest in it. A neighbor of Jeyamo stopped by to check out the damage. He said it would take a long time to get his property back to how it was. You can see how much damage has been done. He looked at the dead trees and shook his head. He said that he was trying to maintain the lush green of Old Florida. For 20 years, he worked on this. It's all gone. They are trying to drive guys like him out of the area. If he ever decided to cash in, his property would likely sell for more than $800,000. I don't want to cry for these guys who have seen their property values go up. All they have to do is sell. He can sell his property for 10 times what it used to be. Clive Taylor praised Jeyamo for not selling in a market where the dollar is king. Taylor said that he should get a medal for being a holdout and saving a piece of history. President of the Hollywood Historical Society, Taylor grew up in Fort Lauderdale and remembers what the street looked like before it was changed. Taylor said that the house is an important species in that neighborhood. The cottages were built in this location where the working class lived in the 1930s. They're going away now. _____ The study found that people who live to be 100 years old follow this eating regimen. I decided to keep playing them after she died. Few know that Amazon has millions of Prime subscribers. 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You can see below that from the peak of prices leading up to the crash to a roughly 30% decline in prices at the market bottom. The Facebook parent company is eager to find talent in the Puget Sound region as it expands. Meta told the Business Journal that it has more local employees than it expected.South Florida Sun Sentinel
‘They killed my trees’
A cry for help
You’re on your own, homeowner told
‘I would never have signed that’
From slum to hot spot
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