On March 26, 2013, Mayor Steven C. Bateman and Congressman Joe Garcia walked throughout Downtown Homestead to discuss the City’s current needs. The tour kicked off at Homestead’s newest restaurant – Lucky’s Pub & Grub and finished at El Toro Taco. Congressman Joe Garcia was also joined by his Chief of Staff, Mr. Jeffrey Garcia, and was introduced by his South Miami-Dade District Director, Mr. Kevin Chambliss. Both Mayor Bateman and Florida City Mayor Otis Wallace welcomed and thanked Congressman Garcia for listening and supporting the sister cities.
Some of the discussions between Mayor Bateman and Congressman Garcia included obtaining financial support to complete renovations of the Seminole Theatre, the Krome Avenue Truck By-Pass, and infrastructure and economic development needs. At the top of the list were discussions on replacing the power plant’s diesel generators with state-of-the-art turbines. This issue has been one of the Mayor’s top priorities for the last two years when he first approached Congressman Garcia about it. Congressman Garcia is well-versed on the energy market and growing needs for renewable energy. In 2009, he was nominated by President Barack Obama to be director of the Office of Minority Economic Impact and Diversity of the United States Department of Energy, a position for which he was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate.
“I deeply appreciate the support and commitment which Congressman Garcia has demonstrated toward the City of Homestead. We have a real champion in our corner. Homestead stands to gain a lot from his support,” Mayor Bateman said.
