[Laughter] [Applause]
[Laughter] One.
>> good morning. Good morning.
We're getting settled for some.
Good morning. Good morning.
We're getting settled. Thanks.
Well good morning everyone.
Welcome to almost the end of
JULY. Um, I hope between maybe
some summer celebrations and
summer camps and that you're
enjoying the summer. Uh, this
morning as we begin this
commission meeting, we have a
number of important
recognitions. Uh, first, um, we
are going. Do we have is
commissioner gabela in the
house? We're missing our. I
know commissioner gabela wants
to be here for this particular
one, but eddie, can I start
with the songs? [Laughter] Is
that an option? We can go
backwards on our agenda.
Delightful. [Applause]
[Applause] Eddie. Is that okay?
[Laughter] Taylor. All right,
so we have a couple of
presentations this morning and
so we're going to start off in
a different order because I
know commissioner gabel wants
to be here for one but this is
pretty exciting. We have um a
bunch of young people who have
competed um very capably to
write songs about the city of
miami. Uh this has been what's
called the elevated tracks 305
miami anthem contest come in
the middle and um so this is a
partnership. It's a partnership
with the um frost school of
music that's very impressive.
Um, about all that of course
our friends from guitars over
guns who seem to perform
absolutely everywhere um in
every school and young
musicians unite and they have
done a global call called
elevated tracks 305 to find the
rhythm of our city. So today we
have the two winners. Um
obviously we have our young
winner. There she is and we
have our adult winner. I think
you can tell by the size uh
which one is which but um dv v
12 with re is the winner of the
adult song and then soleil
river nation [Applause] And how
old are you soleil. I'm 12
years old.
>> oh [Applause] My gosh. And
you're already writing music.
How long have you been writing
music? I've been writing music
my entire life but my first
ever release song was when I
was nine years old. Wow.
>> and so when did you start?
Uh, I started making music like
five years ago like during
covid and here we are now.
Okay, so every now and then
it's another covid silver
lining. There weren't many but
this um this was one so I think
we should hear a little bit of
each song. So which one do we
want to start with taylor
[Music] Rumba. Pagosa [Music]
Con voc [Music] Rumba nova
[Music] Para yo vinnie pagosa
[Music] El calor esta noche no
a [Music] Baja yo la rosa don't
ever say I don't. [Applause]
Know your name. All right so.
All right. So tell us where can
we find this rumba. You can
find you can find rumba on
elevated tracks 305 youtube
playlist and and and every
platform as well.
>> all right you got that
elevated 305 all right and so
now we're moving on to. [Music]
Miami on my tongue. Miami on my
tongue.
>> let's go. Oh.
>> so on my skin sand in my
shoes lip gloss tasting like
mango ice on the cruise. Over
at two windows are down here
doing whatever it wants. I'm
running this town. [Applause]
Oh. [Applause] All right, so.
Slave tastic. Um, and where can
we find this in the same spot?
Yes, you can find it on elevate
tracks 305 youtube account and
also on all streaming
platforms. All streaming
platforms everybody we got a
lot of talent here in the 305.
Congratulations. Do you want us
to take an official picture?
What are our photographers yes
I see we've got uh we've got
some big cameras down there.
All right. [Laughter] Switch
over. Okay. Yeah. You're under
the feel good. [Laughter] Which
camera are we looking at? Oh,
she's a professional. All
[Laughter] Right everybody
[Applause] Happy. Photographers
everybody happy? No you're not
okay. All right well thank you
all for bringing [Applause] The
rhythm of the [Laughter] Summer
in the city to us in city hall.
>> thank [Laughter] You.
[Laughter] I think it's easier
to get out this way. [Laughter]
Great rest.
>> of your day. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Yeah. All
right.
All right so now we go from
music to entrepreneurship. Um
we also have a proclamation for
MISS Angelina diaz. Uh, this is
a woman who started her own
business but we all talk about
microloans and this was
something that really just made
a difference and enabled you to
start your business and now
she's I'll let her tell the
story and commissioner gabella
but she's now kind of a rock
star here in uh in the city of
miami and we're very proud of
you, commissioner gabella let
me turn this over to you. Yeah.
>> no, uh, she's become famous
in the in the, uh, the coffee
world. Right. And we want to
acknowledge her and
congratulate her at such a
young age doing this kind of
thing. So congratulations.
Yeah. And should I read. Do you
want to tell us about your
business? Yeah. Hello everyone
.So how I started um, the
school taught me how to make
coffee. I would say when I was
13 years old and you know the
more I learned um helping them
do events and stuff like that
kind of opened a new world for
me. And when there was a
student, uh, leandro, he went
to an event and won the coffee
cart and he started doing it
and he ended up not wanting to
do it. And that's when the
opportunity opened for me and
he asked me if I wanted to rent
it from him. And of course I
was like, uh, I was a little
scared because I've never like
had my own business because
that was just a scary thought
for me. But the more I thought
about it and the more MISS
Joanna my job coach told me
that she believed in me and
then she thought that I can do
it. I was just I was like okay
[Applause] Fine. And so I asked
my sister. And uh my sister she
didn't have the money then and
she was like, if you think that
this will work. I was like,
yes. And she borrowed money
from a friend and she handed it
to me and that's when I paid
the rent the the first month's
rent and I opened with the most
basic things and um thanks to
the teachers also supporting
me, they bought my coffee and
[Applause] It just started from
there and it was just crazy. So
I don't know I'm hearing you.
Do you have one word of advice
for budding entrepreneurs I
heard a lot about believe in
yourself. What's your one word?
Yeah just be believe in
yourself. [Applause] Believe in
yourself any colleagues, anyone
else? I think it's wonderful
that you are an example for
everybody because it is scary
to start your own business and
everybody is not in your corner
supporting you and you have to
shut out the noise and just
continue to say I can do this,
I can do this and your hard
work pays off. So today you
will inspire [Applause] All
right. Picture time. Come in.
Photographers boss us around.
Tell us where we need to be to
look good in your proclamation.
What an inspiring story. You
have to tell me where to get
it. All right, we gotta ask one
more question. Where can we
find your coffee? Uh, at my
school easterseals, south
[Applause] Florida. All right.
At school. Very good.
Congratulations. [Laughter] And
so we've started the day with a
little music and a little
coffee. Um, uh, which is very
celebratory and very, um,
indicative I guess or symbolic
of our city. Um, but another
thing that is core to our
city's operations is our miami
police department and there is
a division in that department,
um, that works on internet
crimes against children and and
that that is hard work. Um
these are the sorts of things
that you and I might when we
look at on social media or read
about in the newspaper cringe
and not even want to be we
can't even read or listen to
the kinds of things that go on
to lure children into very
dangerous situations. Um, today
we are honoring miami police
department. Hello, chief. Today
we're honoring [Applause]
[Laughter] Let's see you guys
come on by then I'll explain it
all. Congrats. Thank you.
>> you're welcome. Good
morning. How are you? Good
morning.
>> good morning. Thank you very
much. Thanks for doing this
important but horrible work.
Thank you. Good morning. How
are you? [Laughter] [Applause]
So, um. Look at you. [Laughter]
Everybody's coming up.
[Laughter] Buenos dias. Split
it up. Yeah. Good morning.
Morning.
>> good morning, good morning.
Come in. Get in the middle.
Come on.
>> don't be shy. Don't be shy.
Don't be shy. Guys, are we
going? So anywhere [Laughter]
This is your home you can be
anywhere you want. [Laughter]
Um um. But. Very recently this
team and many of the members of
this team are not here today
because they can't be. Uh,
because they do a lot of this
work undercover but we wanted
to thank them for one of the
largest operations undercover
operations that resulted in the
arrest of 15 perpetrators who
were committing crimes against
[Applause] Children and yeah.
And I remember the day they
were about to go out at night
to make the arrests and I was
in, um the room where this work
was done and the dedication and
the concentration with which
they take on what is incredibly
emotionally challenging work to
protect our kids is really
inspiring. And I know you have
some of the hardest jobs in the
police department. So it is our
honor today to thank you for
that work even though for some
members of your team we cannot
thank them publicly. So go back
to hq, uh, give them a hug on
behalf of the mayor and a big
thank you. Uh, we honor you and
our community is better off for
your work. Let me turn.
[Laughter] Um. What I'm missing
commissioner gabella where? Oh,
there you are. Let me let me
turn this over to you. Yeah.
>> no, I'm just so very proud
of you guys. We all are of what
you do day in and day out the
sacrifices your families make.
So really we appreciate what
you do for us. Thank you very
much from the bottom of our
hearts. Thank you very much.
Anyone to.
>> pass this over to
commissioner? There's not much
that I can say with respect to
thank you. I can't imagine the
atrocities that you see and we
always support you. We support
you. You do the work that
nobody else wants to do. Um you
see things that you can't unsee
which is why I'm a big
supporter of mental health. But
um, thank you for having the
courage to do this kind of
work. It's particularly hard
when you have children of your
own as well. So thank you. I
just want to say that your work
even though it's unseen it is
seen by many of our residents
and you are very much
appreciated every time a story
comes out in the news that's
actually appalling. They know
that there are very good solid
people behind [Applause] There
doing hard work. So thank you
very much for your service and
work. Well I have been a police
supporter since I came into
city of miami, so I just want
to thank you for the hard work
that you do and even though you
MAY not be seen, I want you to
know that we know what you're
doing and we are grateful to
have you [Applause] In city of
miami. Thank you. This has to
be one of the toughest policing
assignments anybody could take
on. So you have from the bottom
of my heart a tremendous
gratitude. [Applause] Thank
you. Thank you mayor. You know
these two specialized units
that work hand in hand are
internet crime against
children's folks and and our
special investigation section
they handle some of those some
of the most sensitive cases
loads that you can ever have in
this assignment as the the
leadership here team you have
some command staff. I mean we
talk about this amongst
ourselves many times that we're
so grateful that we have these
folks that are behind the
scenes protecting the most
vulnerable population in our
community. So as a police chief
is important but more but even
more important as a father of a
ten and a 16 year old, I know
the critical work that they do.
This operation was over four
days working with the state
attorney's office and a host of
other local law enforcement
agencies and actually that
arrest number went up to 30. It
was 30 individuals that were
arrested in our community that
we posed as undercover
operatives on chat lines and
over other mediums to to be
able to reach out. Uh, and this
knows no boundaries, knows no
jurisdictions and these folks
go above and beyond to keep our
community safe. So thank you
mayor for highlighting their
good work, all the elected
officials as well that provide
us the resources to be able to
continue protecting the most
vulnerable asset like I
[Applause] Said. So GOD bless
you and MAY GOD keep you safe.
Okay.
>> [Laughter] We need to squish
in. Behind the switch over.
>>
[Applause] Thank you gentlemen.
[Laughter] All right.
[Applause] Can you throw that
over there? Thank you. Thank
you. See you later.
Um friends and residents and
colleagues on the the dais um
today marks a day of transition
um for us. Uh many of you were
very involved in listening to
discussions during the mayoral
campaign about should the mayor
participate in commission
meetings? Should he or she lead
commission meetings and. Today
I will start presiding over the
the commission meetings. But we
have to thank christine king
who has been one of the longest
serving chair well, the only
CHAIRWOMAN Of the city
commission and one of the
longest serving chairs of our
city commission in our cities
next week we turn 130. So in
our nearly 130 year anniversary
.Um so commissioner king, we
wanted to present you with a
crystal gavel to commemorate
your five years of service and
thank you. You served during
some ups and downs and topsy
turvy um, moments of conflict,
moments of transition, moments
of covid, uh, moments of
rebirth for the city and we are
forever grateful for you
leading our city through those
times because your time on the
dais was tough, um, very tough
and you did it with grace and
you did it with courage
[Applause] And I am very, very
grateful to you. Thank you.
[Applause]
And can I just can I just say
something? And one of the the
gentlemen that made it a little
bit tough for her still
standing here but I want I want
to congratulate you for the uh
for tough times that you put up
with us. So thank you very
[Applause] Much. You have been
a true leader and I mean that
from the bottom of my heart.
[Laughter] Thank. I was not
your problem so but I have to
say you handled everything with
grace and challenges incredibly
well and you're just so valued
here and uh, you're going to
keep doing what you're doing.
So thank you juice. Imagine
controlling the four of us and
imagine how it was before.
Listen, since I got into city
of miami I learned so much from
you. So thank you for all that.
Thank you for doing what you
did. You did a fantastic job.
we're very [Applause] Grateful
that you're here with us. We
are indeed a tough little
bunch. This has been a really
wonderful year though where I
think we've gotten a lot of
good work done and much of it
is because of your leadership
up here keeping the
conversation and the debate
going in a way that is
productive and that ultimately
benefits the city. I'm very
[Applause] Proud to get to
serve with you. Thank you
commissioner. I want to thank
everybody. Um as you know, I am
the longest serving chair for
the history of the city of
miami and the first woman and I
can tell you that when I was
tapped to be chair I was
terrified. My commission looked
a lot different and I had just
gotten elected. I wasn't sure
how I'm moving forward as a
public servant, much less
having to be chair of the
commission. Um but my mom says
how will you ever get to learn
how to do something if you
don't do it and you can't allow
fear to hold you back? And so I
jumped in and it's just
instinctual. Uh be kind.
Listen, everybody's not always
going to agree with each other,
but that doesn't mean that we
can't move forward. And yes
there were difficult times and
yes, [Laughter] Commissioner
gabela scared my mom to death
once. Um but it's a journey and
it has allowed me to grow as a
person and every day that we
are able to serve is a good
day. Every day that we wake up
and we can be of service to our
community is a good day and I
look forward to what the next
chapter will be for me. And not
one day did I ever not love you
guys past and present because I
know at the end of the day you
all are here because you want
to do the best for your
community. So thank you. Thank
you to the city of miami for
allowing me the opportunity to
really [Applause] Be of
service. And thank you, MADAM
Mayor.
[Applause]
MADAM Mayor. Yeah good morning.
Yeah no we um well hi
everybody. Um now that we're
done with the presentations
we're moving on uh to um our
order of business and we are
fortunate enough to have two
pastors who are going to pray,
uh for us and with us today. So
pastor barbara sabo from 433
church and then we will have
reverend dennis jackson, um a
long time friend of the city of
miami after you welcome please
we are ready to receive your
blessing. Can we please stand
to reverence the presence of
GOD? Father, we thank you this
morning. We thank you for being
an amazing father. We thank you
for covering us when we don't
even know you're covering us.
Father and father, for the
leaders in this room father, we
ask them to cast their crown
today and give you full
control, full access to their
mind, their body and their
spirit. And father we thank you
for being an amazing GOD and we
thank you for always thinking
of us first before we think of
you. Amen. Let us pray. Our
father in heaven, we thank you
for this day and for the
privilege of gathering together
in service to the people of the
city of miami. We recognize
that every position of
leadership carries both
responsibility and
accountability, and we
acknowledge our need for your
wisdom and guidance today we
pray for our mayor, the members
of this city commission, the
city manager, department
directors, first responders and
every public servant entrusted
with the care of this great
city. Grant them wisdom to make
sound decisions. Courage to do
what is right, integrity to
lead with honor and compassion
to serve every resident with
fairness and respect. Lord
bless the city of miami.
Continue to strengthen our
neighborhoods, protect our
families, encourage our
businesses and give hope to our
young people. Watch over those
who protect and serve our
community each day and surround
them with your grace and
protection. Your word declares
if any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of GOD that giveth to
all men liberally james one and
five today we ask for that
wisdom. MAY it guide every
conversation, every vote, every
decision made in this chamber.
Help us to remember that while
we MAY hold different opinions,
we all share a common
responsibility to seek the
welfare of this city and the
well-being of its people. Let
mutual respect prevail. Let
truth be spoken with grace and
let unity be found even in the
midst of differing
perspectives. MAY this meeting
be conducted with order,
purpose and a sincere desire to
lead the city of miami stronger
than we found it. MAY the work
accomplish here today benefit
not only this generation but
those yet to come. We ask these
blessings in your holy name. In
jesus name I pray amen. Amen.
Thank you very much.
Commissioner rosado, would you
lead us in the [Laughter] Um.
[Laughter] Flag of the united
states of america and to the
republic for which it stands
one nation under GOD,
indivisible with liberty and
justice for all.
All right. Good morning
everyone. Well welcome to the
city of miami commission
meeting for JULY 23rd. Um the
procedures for public comment
will be explained by the city
attorney shortly um as well as
for planning and zoning and
quasi-judicial items for by the
city clerk uh show all
commissioners present um
including city manager james
reyes, uh city attorney george
wysong, city clerk todd hannan
and myself. Um, MR. City
attorney, would you read your
statement and procedure? Yes.
>> thank you, MADAM Mayor. City
attorney, city of miami
detailed information about the
processes order of business,
rules of procedure and
scheduling or rescheduling of
city commission meetings can be
found in chapter two article
two of the city code, a copy of
which is available online at
www.Municode.Com. Any person
who is a lobbyist pursuant to
chapter two, article six of the
city code must register with
the city clerk and comply with
related city requirements for
lobbyists before appearing
before the city commission. A
person MAY not lobby a city
official, board member or staff
member until registering a copy
of the code section about
lobbyists is available in the
city clerk's office or online
at www.Municode.Com. Any person
making a presentation, formal
request or petition to the city
commission concerning real
property must make the
disclosures required by the
city code and writing a copy of
the city code section is
available at the office of the
city clerk or online at
www.Municode.Com. The city of
miami requires that anyone
requesting action by the city
commission must disclose before
the hearing any consideration
provided or permitted to anyone
for agreement to support or
withhold objection to the
requested action pursuant to
city code section 2-8 any
documents offered to the city
commission that have not been
provided seven days before the
meeting as part of the agenda,
materials will be entered into
the record at the city
commission's discretion in
accordance with section 2-33, f
and g of the city code. The
agenda and the material for
each item on the agenda is
available during business hours
at the city clerk's office and
online 24 hours a day at
www.Gov.Com. The meeting of the
miami city commission is a
limited public forum. Any
person MAY be heard by the city
commission through the chair
for not more than two minutes
on any proposition before the
city commission unless modified
by the chair. Public comment
will begin at approximately 9
a.M. And remain open until
public comment is closed by the
presiding officer. Any person
making offensive remarks or
becomes unruly in the city
commission chambers will be
barred from further attending
city commission meetings and
MAY be subject to arrest. No
clapping, applauding, heckling
or verbal outbursts in support
or opposition to a speaker or
his or her remarks shall be
permitted. No signs or placards
shall be allowed in the
commission chambers. Persons
exiting the commission chambers
shall do so quietly. Members of
the public wishing to address
the body MAY do so by
submitting written comments via
the online online comment form
.Please visit www.Miami.Com
meeting instructions for
detailed instructions on how to
provide public comment using
the online public comment form.
The comments submitted through
the comment form have been and
will be distributed to the
elected officials, their staff
and city administration
throughout the day so that the
elected officials MAY consider
the comments prior to taking
any action. Additionally, the
online comment form will remain
open during the meeting to
accept comments and distribute
to elected officials, their
staff and city administration
up until the presiding officer
closes public comment. Public
comment MAY also be provided
here live at city hall located
at 3500 pan american drive,
miami, florida subject to any
and all city rules as they MAY
be amended if the proposition
is being continued or
rescheduled, the opportunity to
be heard MAY be at a later date
before the city commission
takes action on such
proposition. When addressing
the city commission, the member
of the public must first state
their name, their address and
the item to be spoken about.
Any person with a disability
requiring assistance in
auxiliary aids or auxiliary
aids and services for this
meeting MAY notify the city
clerk. The city has provided
different public comment
methods to indicate, among
other things, the public
support opposition or
neutrality on the items and
topics to be discussed at the
city commission meeting in
compliance with section
286.01144 c of the florida
statutes, the public has been
given the opportunity to
provide public comment during
the meeting within reasonable
proximity in time before the
meeting. Please note
commissioners have generally
been briefed by city staff and
city attorneys office on items
on the agenda today. Anyone
wishing a verbatim record of an
item considered at this meeting
MAY request it at the office of
communications or view it
online at www.Gov.Com for
planning and zoning items. Pc
items shall proceed according
to section 7.1.4 of the miami
21 zoning ordinance parties for
any pc items including any
applicant, appellant, appellee,
city staff and any person
recognized by the decision
making body as a qualified
intervenor as well as the
applicant's representatives in
any experts testifying on
behalf of the applicant.
Appellant or appellee MAY be
physically present at city hall
to be sworn in by oath or
affirmation by the city clerk.
The members of the city
commission shall disclose any
ex parte communications to
remove the presumption of
prejudice pursuant to florida
statute section 286.0115 and
section 7.1.4.5 of the miami 21
zoning ordinance, the order of
presentation shall be as set
forth in miami 21 and the city
code staff will briefly present
each item to be heard. The
applicant will present its
application or request to the
city commission. If the
applicant agrees with the staff
recommendation, the city
commission MAY proceed to its
deliberation and decision. The
the applicant MAY also waive
the right to an evidentiary
hearing on the record for
appeals. The appellant will
present its appeal to the city
commission followed by the
appellee staff will be allowed
to make any recommendation they
MAY have. Please silence all
cell phones and other noise
making devices. This meeting
can be viewed live on miami tv,
the city's facebook page, the
city's twitter page, the city's
youtube channel and comcast
channel 77. The broadcast will
also have closed captioning.
Thank you MADAM Mayor. MR. City
clerk. Thank you chair. The
procedures for individuals who
are providing testimony be
sworn in for planning and
zoning items and any quasi
judicial items on today's city
commission agenda will be as
follows the members of city
staff or any other individuals
required to be sworn in who are
currently present at city hall
will be sworn in by me, the
city clerk immediately after I
finished explaining these
procedures. Those individuals
who are appearing remotely MAY
be sworn in now or at any time
prior to the individual
providing testimony for
planning and zoning items and
or quasi judicial items.
Commissioners, are you
comfortable with all the notice
provisions set forth in the
uniform rules and procedures we
have established for this
meeting? Chair MAY administer
the oath for the planning and
zoning items. Yes please. Thank
you. Good morning ladies and
gentlemen. If you'll be
speaking on any of today's
planning and zoning items those
are the items. MAY I please
have you stand and raise your
right hand? Do you solemnly
swear or affirm that the
testimony you're about to give
at today's hearing is the
truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth? And your
response is thank you, chair.
All right, MR. City manager, do
you have anything that you
would like to withdraw or
defer? Sure.
>> good morning, MADAM Mayor.
Commissioners, at this time the
administration would like to
defer withdrawal the following
items fr six to be withdrawn fr
six to be withdrawn pghs one to
be deferred to the SEPTEMBER
10th meeting. Pghs one to be
deferred to the SEPTEMBER 10th
meeting pc six to be
indefinitely deferred. Pc six
indefinitely deferred and pc
seven to be indefinitely
deferred. Pc seven to be
indefinitely deferred. And that
concludes all the items. Okay
colleagues um any other
withdrawals deferrals okay with
that MR. Clerk do we set the
agenda? Yes. So you always have
something.
>> my apologies before you
request a motion um for the
items going to be withdrawn
deferred definitely deferred.
Uh, there's a few things that I
need to read into the record.
Mayor higgins will be
co-sponsoring ph six and sr
three. Commissioner pardo will
be co-sponsoring pc five.
Commissioner escalona will be
co-sponsoring fr two
commissioner rosado will be
co-sponsoring ph five
commissioner king will be
co-sponsoring ph five and re 12
I need to read a brief
statement regarding the
indefinitely deferred pc items
pursuant to section 62-22 of
the city code indefinitely
deferred action initiated by
the city will cost the city
mail noticing advertising and
posting of properties as
applicable. And chair if you
would like to request a motion
for the withdrawals, deferrals
and indefinite deferrals. So
moved. Okay I have a motion. I
have a second. All in favor.
Aye.
>> agenda is set. Thank you.
Uh, time for reasonable
opportunity to be heard in
public hearings. Yes, MR. Clerk
all right. Anyone that would
like to be heard, please line
up in on both podiums and oh, I
see mayor lago. Vince, would
you like to be recognized to
speak? Yeah. Um. Sneak up.
We'll let MR. Cruz cook his
computer up. Will you
[Laughter] Go over to the other
podium? Podium. Thanks. Okay.
Very good. Thank you mayor good
to see you. Good morning, MADAM
Mayor. Thank you for allowing
me the privilege to speak. I
have a 10:00 swearing in for a
new police officers in the
city. Beautiful. So I
appreciate you allowing me the
honor to speak for 30s. But
before I do that, just a
personal point of privilege,
commissioner king, you
epitomize elegance and grace as
CHAIRWOMAN For five years. It
was a true master class to
watch you work. So I want to
congratulate you on your five
years of service and your
continued service to the
community. Thank you for
teaching me a lot. Uh, moving
forward very briefly I'm here
to support commissioner
rosado's item r 16 uh the item
again is what I've come here
multiple times to discuss is
about human trafficking. I
asked my colleagues on the
commission to please work with
the mayor, work with staff and
work with your incredible
police officers who are here to
work together with other
municipalities to address the
issue of human trafficking. It
is not going away. I was the
elected official in miami-dade
county in the state of florida
that outlawed hourly motels and
I was personally and
professionally targeted by a
lot of these motel owners which
are in the city of miami and in
the city of coral gables. And
we signed a joint enforcement
task force between the city of
miami and the city of coral
gables to eradicate this issue
both in the city and in the
city of miami. So I ask you to
please support our 16 because
everything that we do to
support our police officers to
address human trafficking. As a
father of a 15 and 11 year old
daughter, I've seen this
personally as I've gone
undercover with our police
officers on 12 separate
occasions. Human trafficking is
alive and well in our community
and we need to do everything in
our power to support the police
officers who we did this
morning and we thank them for
their hard work. Thank you,
commissioner rosado. I am
beyond grateful for our 16 and
as a supporting member of glory
house which is doing GOD's work
in our community. I've been
with him for almost ten years
now. I ask people to get to
know glory house. They're doing
exceptional work transitioning
women off the streets and
bringing them back into the
real world after years and
years of trauma. So GOD bless
you. I apologize for taking
over a minute, but thank you
for allowing me the privilege
to be here and speak. Thank you
very much.
>> thank you, MR. Mayor. Good
morning. My name is david
perry. I'm the executive
director of the florida
coalition of racial equity.
We're here today to speak out
in strong opposition to sr
four. Um this is the proposal
to eliminate the 24 hour
waiting period that or excuse
me, the 24 hour warning and
waiting period prior to police
arresting the homeless for
sleeping in public spaces. And
by the way, that's the only
place where the homeless can
sleep given the deficit of
shelter beds and the lack of
affordable housing. Um, we're
in a homelessness crisis right
now and sr four would do
nothing to solve it actually
would do the exact opposite. It
is a fiscally irresponsible and
I would say a very dangerous
proposal that simply flood our
corrections system, um, with
people whose only crime is
being poor, whose only crime is
that they've got no place else
to stay. Now this comes at a
particularly bad time. This
proposal comes at a
particularly bad time for the
city of miami because we have
two potentially game changing
institutions that are coming
online that that MAY increase
shelter beds and increase
housing. We have judge
lippman's mental health
facility that's coming online
that will provide some very
productive options for people
suffering from mental illness
um which by the way are not the
majority of the homeless, the
majority of the homeless have
stabilizing mental illness. We
also have the better way
facility that's coming on
board. It's called a navigation
center. Now this can be a game
changer as a low barrier
shelter that will be much more
attractive for the homeless to
stay. So we urge the city
commission to please reject
this proposal. It will do
nothing to solve homelessness.
in fact it'll increase
homelessness saddle people with
a criminal record which makes
it harder to get a job. It
makes it harder to get an
apartment. There is nothing to
be gained by this and I'm
accompanied by several other
folks here who will make the
same argument. Thank you. Thank
you, MR. Cruz. Elvis cruz 631
north east 57th street re seven
more money for curtis rogers at
alice wainwright park. They
block the beautiful view of the
bay from atop the silver bluff
by planting silver sable palms
they installed landscaping. The
city is incapable of
maintaining many small plants
in a bed of mulch. Here it is
at the ribbon cutting but city
workers don't pick weeds they
use weed eaters. So now the
plants are gone. The city tried
this in morningside park in
2009 where it only lasted a few
months. I de curtis told the
city commission that for
morningside quote we are not
doing any work to the loop road
even though her plans showed
850ft of the loop road would be
demolished and rebuilt without
the elegant landscaped median
that reflected the morningside
historic district. Despite the
overwhelming vote at a
community meeting to keep the
loop road intact, their design
was supposed to alleviate
flooding but instead it caused
the worst flooding morningside
park has ever had after
negligent staff water salt
water poisoning in the park,
curtis rogers found several
trees were recovering yet they
still had them cut down
including a legacy specimen
tree saying it was a fire
hazard when it certainly was
not. We used to have open green
space along the bay for
recreation and special events
like this wedding. Now they're
over planted with sabal palms
and far less useful. At a
meeting last month I. Curtis
said she'd been working on the
project for six years but she
had not yet decided what
surface material to use on the
baywalk that should have been
decided before contracts were
signed and construction began.
So now there's a six week
delay. Here's the 55th terrace
seawall before with very pretty
grass. Now it's one big trip
hazard kids are going to love
throwing all those loose rocks
into the bay, making the trip
hazard even worse after all
those undeniable unforced
errors I urge you to not hire
curtis rogers anymore. Thank
you. Good morning, MADAM Mayor
and commissioners. My name is
camilo mejia and I'm the senior
policy and advocacy director at
catalyst miami. I'm here, as my
colleague said to urge you to
vote no on ordinance 19457. I
am a combat war veteran of the
iraq war and many of us come
home with post-traumatic stress
disorder, moral injury really
really bad situation. We wake
up in a nightmare scenario that
we cannot tell apart from
reality. Many of us are
homeless. 30 of us commit
suicide every single day. Are
you going to really put people
from my population in the same
shelter as a child? We have ten
000 school children in
miami-dade county public
schools 10,000 that is children
who live in a car at a friend's
house, on a couch, at a
cheap hotel or at a shelter.
You do not want to mix those
two populations. It's not as
simple as having available
beds. It's a lot more
complicated than that and I'm
just throwing one scenario at
you of many potentially tragic
scenarios who are you going to
hold accountable when tragedy
strikes? Not the police
officer, not the shelter, not
the perpetrator, not the victim
but yourselves. If you vote yes
on this, the ordinance would
not create a single bed a
single unit of housing, a real
path, a path off the street. It
also makes a bad situation even
worse. This is a really really
really bad judgment call. This
is a potential tragedy
happening do right by the city,
do right by houseless people,
do right by all of us and vote
no on this item please. Thank
you. Um elena casparis 1155
brickell bay drive. Um I'll be
speaking against passing pf
three regarding the future of
the jackson cottage which I
actually live across the street
from and in doing so I will be
reading a special message from
the great granddaughter of mary
and william brickell retired
lawyer beatrice brickell. Only
this week did I learn that
miami commissioners are
expected to vote on a complex
real estate transaction
involving the citadel group. I
believe the transaction is
rushed without proper open
debate. We myself and the board
of directors from the mary
brickell foundation think that
the most appropriate site for
the jackson cottage would be
mary brickell park, a place
rich in heritage with ample
space, our historic mausoleum
on the national register and
thousands of visitors because
time and distance add not only
to the cost but to the fragile
nature of moving a 100 year
plus building. Now for the
second time, mary brickell park
is the ideal relocation site is
less than a quarter of a mile
from its current location and
it has a reverter clause to
protect from future movement.
There are very few historical
sites left in brickell. It is
imperative that the jackson
home not disappear from
brickell. I understand that a
deal has been made with a site
of choice without any
involvement or public comment
on this process. Even though
mary brickell was donated in
1922 on two occasions over the
last 40 years we were able to
defend the park when we believe
the rehoming of the doctor
jackson cottage is the
challenge of today and all of
this is best done within a
public open forum. We are open
to that path especially if the
park was not looked into from
the get go. Doctor james
jackson opened his practice in
miami in 1917 and he was truly
a doctor for all and kindred
spirit of mary brickell. He
served all his patients without
distinction people of color,
the poor and those who could
not pay. This was the
foundation that helped make
miami the magic welcoming city
it is today in a place that I
call home. Respectfully
submitted beatrice brickell,
great granddaughter of william
and mary brickell. Good morning
commissioners. Good morning
mayor good morning staff
chaplain stanley young freedom
prison and jail ministry 500
northwest second avenue. Today
presents me a very awkward and
a very uh indifferent the first
time I'm standing at this
podium out of three years I
stand here to oppose something
I've never opposed anything
that came out of this diocese
until today until I read re4.
It's nothing about
criminalizing homelessness.
That's all it's about. Miami
should not be criminalizing
homeless people for being
homeless. Homelessness is not a
crime. Being on someone's
private property is not a crime
until that owner says so we I
have talked with numerous
homeless people in the city of
miami who told me they have
been harassed by the police
officers and I like to think
that's not true, but I have
spoken with commander williams
.He promised me he told me
that no just last night that
they are not arresting homeless
people until they commit a
crime. So that comfort my heart
uh that they are not you are
not criminalizing homelessness
in the city of miami. City of
miami got all the shelters good
90% of the shelters the the
beds that the homeless people
need we need to continue to and
you have been building more
property. You have been
reaching out to these people
who are disadvantaged than we
are to have a bed to sleep in,
a shower to take a bath and
other things that we have just
a refrigerator and a stove to
to do our food. Thank you and I
thank you that you'll do the
right thing and kill this bill.
MISS Rob. Good morning mayor
good morning commissioners
chris rob executive director,
dade heritage trust 190
southeast 12th terrace, miami
33131 always a pleasure to be
here. See all of you. I'm
speaking today um to encourage
you to pass item ff three we
support it as an organization
the board of directors staff
we're all in this together. The
approval of the item will
ensure a long term preservation
plan for the historic jackson
office, which has served as dhs
headquarters since 1978. We've
been there a bit. In addition,
as a result of the approval of
this item, dht will own the
jackson medical office and the
land on which it sits
establishing a permanent wholly
owned headquarters something
we've never had. We are
thrilled to have found a long
term solution to preserve our
121 year old historic
headquarters building, which
was actually moved to its
current location in 1917. It
should be known that doctor
jackson never practiced
medicine in this current
location. It was turned into a
residence once it was moved to
that location and then turned
over to dade heritage trust in
1978. So we are grateful to ken
griffin for his generosity and
the opportunity to establish
dht on its own property for the
very first time in our history,
ensuring we continue our
stewardship and community
engagement well into the
future. We're thrilled to have
the pleasure to be working with
an engaged, informed group of
professionals with knowledge
and vision how we take this
forward and ensure dht s
presence in miami. So thank you
very much for your
consideration. Good morning.
Debbie dolson 4205 lennox
drive, coconut grove. Um what
she said I am here to support
pf three I think I remember
when this was an agenda item
years ago and there was a
proposal to turn this property
into a dog park and at that
time I was very happy to see
the commissioners protect the
lease for dade heritage trust
and allow them to remain. I
think that this is a win for
historic preservation in miami.
I think it is a win for dade
heritage trust and I look
forward to welcoming dade
heritage trust hopefully to
coconut grove historic coconut
grove where it belongs. Thank
you. Good morning, CHAIRMAN
Higgins. Mayor and
commissioners my name is
alejandro martinez and am I a
district three resident? I want
to express my support for the
proposed sidewalk safety
protection structures in
neighborhoods like brickell
where construction is constant
and thousands of people walk
every day. Protecting
pedestrians should always be a
priority. I believe this is a
positive step toward making our
sidewalks safer. I also
appreciate the conversation
around the proposed hydration
station pilot with the summer
heat and so many people
walking, biking and using
transit, increasing access to
drinking water is a worthwhile
goal like in europe. As this
pilot moves forward, I simply
encourage the city to ensure
that any installations
complement the pedestrian
experience by maintaining
clear, accessible sidewalks and
thoughtfully selecting
locations that minimize impact
to walkability. Thank you for
your service and for your
continued commitment to making
miami a safer and more walkable
city. Thank you. Good morning.
John dolson 4205 lennox drive,
coconut grove. We dodged a
bullet today and I also want to
congratulate you for your years
of service and teaching us
[Laughter] To do this instead
of shouting, although sometimes
we do that anyway um we dodged
a bullet if you approve pf
three which we support dade
heritage trust deserves a
permanent home. I was in this
room a number of years ago when
commissioner croyle proposed
getting rid of it and making it
a dog park. I can't think of a
worse use for a conservation
organization than being a dog
park. Uh, that's kind of a bad
deal anyway, we support it. Uh,
glad you're working out a deal
to get it moved and give them a
permanent home. They deserve
it. They do a lot for
community. Thank you very much.
Michael j.
>> langley, executive director
of florida justice institute,
40 northwest third street,
suite 200 I again rise in
staunch opposition of the
proposed ordinance sr four last
time I appeared before you I
called this both a moral stance
and an economic imperative.
Let's dive deeper into the
economics, shall we? Just this
week there are a slew of
articles published citing
miami's affordability crisis.
Bloomberg wrote that south
florida's consumer price index
has jumped 36% since 2019,
outpacing every metro area
except tampa over that span. As
fortune put it to cover the
mortgage of a typical miami
house. It's estimated buyers
will need an annual income of
between 160 to 215,000, which
put the dream out of reach for
80 to 85% of americans. Again
quoting directly from the
article in miami-dade county,
homes priced below 400,000 made
up just 2% of active single
family listings as of early
2025, according to the miami
association of realtors, and
only 14% of renters could
actually afford to buy a single
family home or condo. Renters
need to earn 4356 in district
one, 5895 in district two, 4683
in district four and in
district 36154 so residents
must earn a whopping 5146 per
hour between those districts to
afford the average two bedroom
market rate unit, according to
the national low income housing
coalition. How can you expect
the average person to do that
when everything costs over
three times more let alone our
neighbors experiencing
homelessness? So this isn't
intended to be personal, but I
need you to understand how
profoundly unproductive and
ineffective this approach is.
Time to use evidence over
ideology to solve problems.
Thank you. Good morning. My
name is peter rubino 10725
southwest 73rd court. I ask
that you pass resolutions sr7
and z4I represent friends of
ludlam trail. Ludlam trail is a
linear park starting at
dadeland north station running
straight through the heart of
miami up to the airport one day
it's going to be an iconic
linear park in the heart of our
city. Ludlam trail is
happening. Two days ago the
county approved funding for
design and project management
management. Now this is the
city's chance to ensure trail
development is properly funded
and adheres to the highest
design standards to enable a
world class trail. I want to
thank commissioner rosado for
his leadership on bringing
resolutions sr seven and prs
for that create a path for
developers near the greenway to
pay for the greenways. The
planning and zoning appeals
board already voted 8 to 0 in
favor. Both items passed
unanimously in their JUNE 3rd
meeting. That kind of consensus
is rare and reflects the strong
technical and community
foundation behind this
legislation. The commission
should follow that lead. Pg
four establishes mandatory
clear design standards for
every new greenway segment.
Transparency and accountability
are built in uh the resolution
requires the city to publish an
annual corridor level report
showing how much money was
collected near each greenway
and how it was spent that keeps
these funds from disappearing
into the general budget and
gives residents a way to hold
accountable. Friends of ludlam
trail will be watching and
keeping all parties
accountable. We urge the
commission to pass resolutions
sr seven and prs four. Thank
you. Good evening, MADAM Mayor
and commissioners. My name is
amalia knoll 3058 southwest
19th terrace and I will be
speaking on re 16 this summer.
I've been interning and
commissioner ralph rosado's
office studying policy and
legislation under deputy chief
of staff cristian molina. Early
on my internship came with a
real assignment dig into an
issue our community is facing,
look at what the city has
already done about it and
propose something new that
continue to move the needle.
That research led me to human
trafficking and the city's
human trafficking task force,
which has been in place since
2021. I identified a chance to
build on it keeping the task
force front and center as a
city priority, tightening
coordination with the state
attorney's office and other
agencies and adding a dedicated
task force coordinator to give
the effort some staying power.
That project, which began as
internship homework, is now rb
16 on your agenda today. Along
the way I found out that
turning an idea into law isn't
just about having a good idea
it takes digging into existing
policy, working with different
offices and figuring out how to
translate a concept into
something the city can
realistically carry out. I want
to thank commissioner rosado
and his team for the chance to
do this work, and especially
for trusting a student to
provide input on something that
could genuinely help people in
our community. There is one
piece of this process I have
yet to experience and that's
why I'm here this morning my
internship was actually set to
wrap up before now, but I asked
to stay on longer because as I
have learned from commissioner
rosado, we need to see our work
through to the end. I wanted to
be in the room when this
finally reached the commission
and to help push it across the
finish line. So I'm asking you
respectfully to support rb 16
with a yes vote. This isn't
just a policy position for me
it's personal. As a young woman
I'm part of the age group most
often targeted by traffickers.
I also grew up knowing someone
who opened up to me about how
deeply trafficking can reshape
a person's life. That taught me
this isn't some far off problem
it's real and the harm it
causes is lasting. I hope
you'll join me in supporting
this. Thank you so much. Well
that's the definition of an
internship I think.
Congratulations. Good morning.
Go ahead. Um good. Morning
commissioners. Um my name is
deborah stander and I live at
830 northeast 74th street in
district five. I'm also a
retired certified paralegal
with many years of experience
working in the legal field. I'm
here today because the proposed
amendment to the restrictive
covenant for the adela two mimo
bay project agenda item pz8
includes a 1 million cash
payment described as a public
benefit to be paid directly to
commissioner king's district
five office. Miami 21 already
provides a clear, regulated and
transparent mechanism for
receiving and administering
public benefit contributions.
That mechanism includes defined
custody accounting expenditure
auditing and public oversight
requirements. It exists to
protect public assets and to
ensure that public benefit
funds are handled lawfully and
transparently. The arrangement
proposed in the restrictive
covenant bypasses that
framework entirely under
chapter 119 florida statutes,
the public has a legal right to
know how public funds are
received, held, accounted for
and spent and chapter 112
florida statutes requires that
public officers handle funds
and benefits only through
established legal frameworks to
ensure transparency and prevent
misuse of public position.
Before approving this covenant
commissioners and this payment
which is included in the
covenant, the commission must
identify the specific legal
authority that governs its
receipt and expenditure and I'm
asking that that legal
authority be made a part of the
official record of this hearing
today. A payment of this size
labeled as a public benefit
must be safeguarded through a
clear legal structure. For
these reasons I respectfully
request that when this item
comes before you you pull it
for discussion. I will ask.
Staff sergeants thank you.
Everybody gets two minutes. We
appreciate you. Go ahead. Good
morning, MADAM Mayor and
commissioners. My name is
shayna strauss. I'm a student
at the university of
pennsylvania. I live at 111515
sam ramos avenue and I'm here
to talk about re 16 this summer
I've had the privilege of
serving as a legislator intern
in the office of commissioner
ralph rosado under the
mentorship of deputy chief of
staff cristian molina. First I
want to thank commissioner
rosado for giving me firsthand
insight into how local
government turns community
needs into effective solutions.
When he learned of my interest
in legislative drafting, he
didn't tell me how policy is
made. He gave me the
opportunity to be part of the
process. Human trafficking is a
crime that's hidden in plain
sight. Yet behind that
invisibility are real victims
whose lives are forever
changed. I began to research
prior legislation and learned
that the city of miami had
already established a human
trafficking task force in 2021,
however, I saw an opportunity
to strengthen it. Leading to
the creation of ri 16 the
agenda item before you today
which will improve coordination
with the state attorney's
office and other partner
agencies and create a dedicated
task force coordinator to
ensure that combating human
trafficking remains a permanent
priority rather than a passing
concern. Through this
internship I learned what it
truly takes to turn a good idea
into legislation researching
existing policy, coordinating
across multiple offices,
understanding the successes and
failures of past legislation
and navigating a tight budget
through all these hurdles, I
can assure you that this ri 16
is practical and capable of
creating real and meaningful
change with ri 16 I believe
miami can be the model for
other cities leading the way on
combating human trafficking.
The last step of seeing this
policy through is today I want
to thank commissioner rosado
for allowing me to be part of
the legislative process and
experience that reinforced my
desire to pursue a career in
public service and motivated me
to extend my internship so I
can see this resolution today.
Thank you, thank you. MISS
Burton. Good morning, MADAM
Mayor, MR. Manager and all
commissioners. My name is truly
burton and I represent the
builders association of south
florida with address at 1111
north s 1/83 street in the city
of miami gardens. I'm here to
express support for not one but
two items sr1 substitute and
sr2. You'll hear those items
later on in your agenda as to
one as to sr one substitute. I
want to thank the city
manager's office especially
deputy director ace marrero and
director santana. They were
flexible with their time and
their expertise um and hearing
our concerns they've
incorporated updated statutes
and very important case law
that govern capital
improvements that the builders
have to pay for that that the
city also needs, but also it
makes the builders requirements
more predictable which makes
costs of housing a drop less
expensive. So that goes to the
housing affordability piece as
to sr two it's a process
streamlining issue issue that
would eliminate the previous
requirement for literally two
duplicate traffic studies. Why
that happened I remember but
it's not important for this
conversation. Meantime it
increased delays and it was the
same identical information for
the same applicant meantime and
it provided no new information.
So we are happy today to
support both sr one substitute
and on sr two and again
trending toward reducing
housing affordability I have I
am submitting this our comment
our copy of the letter that you
all received to the clerk thank
you. Thank you. Go ahead. Good
morning, MADAM Mayor. Members
of the commission nicholas.
Rodriguez, 200 south biscayne
boulevard representing mimo bay
apartments two we're here in
support of item z nine it's the
proposed down zoning of the
property in accordance with the
covenant that we proffered. And
with that rezoning that was
approved, we are submitting a
letter for the record simply
confirming that we are in
support of that down zoning
because it is our our agreed
upon a commitment with the
community and with the
commission that we agreed upon
in 2024 when that rezoning was
passed. Thank you very much.
I'll submit the letter for the
record and thank you for your
time. Thank you. Good morning.
I'm becky roper, um, a past
executive director of dade
heritage trust for 18 years and
a member of the villagers for
30 years. And I am speaking on
behalf of the villagers today
with our statement from the
organization, which is miami's
oldest historic preservation
organization. In 1972, villager
members dolly mcintyre and
sally jude founded the dade
heritage trust and therefore
the villagers have a vested
interest in the future of the
property of this building. In
addition to serving as the dade
heritage trust headquarters and
official visitor center, this
small wooden house has been the
heart of historic preservation
.For over 100 years it has
stood as this at this same
location resisting the advance
of predatory developers. This
1905 cottage is a rare
surviving example of miami's
earliest beginnings. Its
presence remains a symbol of
historic miami and it is now
owned by you the public as
advocates for historic
preservation. We request
transparency regarding the long
term plans of the prospective
owner. Dht just yesterday
announced it has an agreement
with the developer to relocate
the building to a more
sustainable site in coconut
grove which the organization
will own. This appears to be an
excellent deal for dade
heritage trust, but the public
is still entitled to hear
details of how this plan will
ensure the building's
structural safety prior to and
during the relocation. Thank
you. Appreciate it. Please
defer this until more. Thank
you ma'am. Appreciate it.
testing.
>> good morning, MADAM Mayor.
Commissioners city manager. I
think I saw him leave. My name
is george richardson. 3131
northeast first avenue. I'm the
founder and ceo of hope
hydration and I'm here today in
support of pf five. I don't
have to tell you all this but
heat is the deadliest weather
in america. Unlike other cities
around the country, miami
doesn't deal with the heat for
three, four, five weeks at a
time. We live in it year round.
Um and when I think about heat
I think about the worker in
miami, the kid walking back
from school that needs water
and they're walking and it's
hot and they have really two
options right now they can
either buy a bottled water or
they can go without. That's why
we started hope hydration
because we wanted to bring free
water to the people. Water is a
human right. Um when we started
hope we actually started in an
apartment not too far from here
we kept hearing paris have you
seen paris? Have you heard
about paris? They have this
free water fountain network.
There's free water everywhere.
And so paying homage to the
people who led before us and
built it, we learned a lot and
we said this is going to be our
mission. We're going to take
what people have done in paris
and in other cities, but we're
going to bring free water
within a five minute walk to
every major city around the
world. So now let's talk about
miami. Miami is a leader. Miami
was is a city that was built on
a swamp. Miami has turned into
this gateway for the entire
americas. Miami is the first I
think it's the first major
city, uh to be founded by a
woman we lead. And so today I
ask you all to be a leader
again, uh, with ph five uh, one
so that we can continue being a
leader I ask you all to lead so
that that school kid and those
workers can have free water.
And then finally I ask you to
lead because in ten years my
dream is that the next crazy
water entrepreneur is hearing
miami, miami, miami. Have you
heard about miami? They got
free water everywhere and it
didn't cost the city a cent.
Thank you. Hi my name is teresa
weintraub and I'm here to speak
in support of ri 11 ruth shack
renaming ruth shack way. And
thank you to commissioner pardo
for suggesting this. Ruth shack
is an icon to this community
and for those of you who don't
know her, she not only worked
uh for years and years to
champion every community, every
group in this city from women's
rights to the rights of the
lgbt community to the rights of
the poor. And she created so
many organizations that we now
take for granted. I just can't
think of a better person for
the future citizens of this
community to see her name in
lights on the street to say who
was ruth shack and to thank her
for everything that she did to
build this community. So I hope
that you will support this
resolution. Thank you. Good
morning. Henrietta schwartz
2627. South bayshore drive.
Today's agenda contains two
different. Items but they share
something in common secrets and
loopholes for ph three. Doctor
jackson's cottage residents
have been left with more
questions than answers. Public
trust depends on transparency,
yet too much about this
transaction has remained behind
closed doors when the public is
left to speculate, confidence
in government suffers. The
second is for sr three. The
proposed pedestrian shed
ordinance and its impractical
exception. If a developer can
simply claim it is impractical
to provide a pedestrian path
during construction, then the
public safety and accessibility
become negotiable. To quote
chris lunding, a far better
approach would have been to
limit exceptions to
circumstances where a shed over
a sidewalk would create a
dangerous or hazardous
condition that endangers life
or property. Copying the
exception from the city's own
noise ordinance commissioners
and esteemed mayor please fix
this loophole secrets erode
trust loopholes erode
accountability. The people
walking our sidewalks are not
an inconvenience to be worked
around. They are residents,
seniors, children and people
with disabilities trying to
move safely through their own
neighborhoods. Today you have
an opportunity to reject both
secrecy and unnecessary
loopholes and remember that
every exception you create
today becomes a precedent
someone else will rely on
tomorrow. Please put the
public's trust and the public's
safety ahead of convenience.
Please follow the process for
public notice. Thank you and
thank you CHAIRMAN Commissioner
king for all your work as a
chair. Good morning, richard
milstein 99 excuse me, 98 south
east seventh street. Uh, mayor
commissioners uh and CHAIRWOMAN
Emeritus thank you very much.
And in particular CHAIRMAN Uh
excuse me, commissioner pardo
for bringing resolution re11 to
designate co designate the ruth
shack way. Let me add just a
few words to what was already
been submitted stated today
shack is an icon. Um she lived
in 94 years but those 94 years
will live on in history in
miami-dade county. Let me tell
you a little bit about and add
to some of the things that have
been said. Ruth transformed
miami-dade county in myriad of
ways. We'll start with the
beginning when time magazine
declared miami paradise lost in
1986 and proposed that miami
was a wasteland in many ways
ruth said no, we're paradise
found. She then proposed and
worked with christo to wrap the
islands of miami in the area in
pink and we became a cultural
international cultural center
of miami. She and her husband
richard helped found art miami
uh and that has now become art
basel and art week and the
cultural community has
benefited from that without
knowing we have the she was
elected a city excuse me,
county commissioner for three
three terms. She proposed the
first ordinance in 1976 to
award equal rights and to all
residents of miami dade county
including those of the lgbt
community and which was became
a final ordinance about 20
years later in 1998 she
sponsored the first ordinance
for historic preservation in
miami dade county. She chaired
the dade community foundation,
which is now named miami
foundation. MR. Milstein, I
thank you. I know it probably
takes [Laughter] Three hours to
go through everything that.
Thank you mayor. Thank you all
for taking care of me. Two
minutes is a [Laughter] Hard
time period to describe MISS
Shack so. But thank you. Go
ahead please.
>> good morning, MADAM Mayor
and commissioners. My name is
mariana, 4250 biscayne
boulevard. I am here today in
support of hope hydration's
pilot program ph five in a city
as hot as miami, access to
clean drinking water shouldn't
be a luxury. It should be
something that's available to
everyone whether someone is
walking to work, exercising or
simply spending time outdoors,
staying hydrated is essential
for health and safety. By
providing free refillable water
stations, our city would be
reducing plastic waste and
creating a cleaner, more
sustainable community. I'm also
proud that hope hydration is a
local miami company bringing an
innovative solution to the city
supporting local innovation
improve um while improving
public health and protecting
our environment is exactly the
kind of forward thinking miami
should embrace. I ask you to
support this pilot program and
vote yes to ph five. Let's show
that miami is a city that cares
about its people, supports
local businesses and is
committed to building a
healthier and more sustainable
future. Thank you. Good morning
commissioners. MADAM Mayor, my
name is owen. I live at 488
north east 18th street. I live
in edgewater and I'm advocating
for ph five to have more access
to free cold filtered water
especially where I live near
margaret pace park. As we all
know miami is hot especially
this time of year. Myself and
many others walk our dogs
through this park many times a
day. I can't emphasize enough
how important it is to have
access to cold, clean free
water for both the city and our
communities. Living where I do
I see two things every day
first, new buildings are going
up everywhere. You probably see
this around miami left and
right. Um second I see plastic
waste primarily bottles piled
up along the banks of the bay.
The reality is these are likely
connected in the miami heat.
It's no surprise that people
reach for a cold bottle of
water, but that shouldn't mean
having to buy a plastic bottle
every time you leave your
house. Margaret pace park is
one of edgewater's greatest
assets and as a growing
community filled with young
families, pet owners and active
residents, it's imperative we
invest in our water
infrastructure. Right now the
easiest option for people is to
buy cold plastic bottles. Let's
change that. Let's make the
sustainable choice the easy
choice. Let's continue to put
miami ahead of the curve when
it comes to innovation and to
green initiatives. Let's say
yes to provide free and
accessible drinking water.
Thank you. Good morning. My
name is betty lara and address
is 6701 sunset drive.
Commissioner rosado, I'm so
grateful that you've invited me
here. It's really an honor to
speak on resolution 16. I have
been serving survivors of human
trafficking for 14 years in
miami we have a nonresidential
and residential program. It is
imperative that we would have a
task force and police officers
dedicated to this as these
survivors get raped possibly
five times a day and when they
call the police it is an
emergency. They need to help
right away. Thank you for doing
this and we certainly needed
sex trafficking in miami is not
going away is actually
increasing. So anything that we
can do to make our city better
and to set these women free I
really appreciate it. GOD bless
you. Good morning commissioners
mayor my name is maria lopez
delbert 661 north east 68th
street. I would like to thank
the commissioner for all these
years for her service being a
CHAIRWOMAN, being very fair and
just and very professional I
will continue. Okay. I'm here
to talk about a memo adela bay
and as my other neighbor stated
before, uh chapter 19 really
does say that we have to have
transparency when we are going
to allocate this kind of money
at such a big amount, which is
$1 million. We need to
establish the public service.
The donation must serve a
broader documented public
service such as public park
integration, citywide water and
public access roadway. If it's
private entity donation only
benefits a private property of
a specific hoa. The city cannot
legally act as a pass through
of clearinghouse. The city
finance department must isolate
the donation into restricted
agency fund or dedicated trust
agency account. It must never
enter the general fund. The
logistic separation guarantees
that if the project runs over
budget, the city cannot
automatically pull from the
taxpayer funded revenue to
stream the bridge of gap. So I
respectfully also ask that when
you hear this item later today,
you put it in for full
discussion and ask staff to
identify the specific legal
authority that permits this
alternative payment mechanism
and explain what rules will
govern the custody, accounting
expenditure auditing and public
oversight for these funds so it
remains transparent and fair
when it is distributed. Thank
you. Good morning. My name is
victor williams, 66 west
flagler street miami, florida
33130. Um I am the vice chair
of the miami-dade human
trafficking coalition and the
founder and ceo of cuesta
freedom, which is an anti-human
trafficking organization based
here in miami. I'm here to
support commissioner rosado's
um resolution 16 any time we're
talking about human trafficking
is education we do not know
enough. Um at minimum it would
be nice if everybody knew the
basics of human trafficking
which are the elements of
force, fraud or coercion. If we
all know the elements of human
trafficking, we can then see it
and address it as we go. Human
trafficking is the result of a
lot of things that have already
gone wrong in somebody's life.
These are the things that we
should be addressing family
issues issues like trauma
unresolved trauma creates
vulnerability to become a
victim or a predator of this
crime. But the solution is this
the solution is all of us. The
solution is everybody in this
room can do something about
human trafficking basically
just educating yourself the
more we know the better we do.
I'll leave with this we talk
about human trafficking. We
talk a lot about sex
trafficking, but labor
trafficking is 60 to 70% of all
trafficking. And what does that
mean to everybody in this room?
If you own a cell phone you
have the ability to buy food.
You have the ability to buy
clothes. We all have a minimum
of 40 to 60 slaves working for
us. So thank you sir for this
resolution. Continue to educate
ourselves so we can do better
at this horrible crime. Thank
you. Good morning commission
and mayor my name is bill
mattison. I live at 770 north
east 69th street. I've been a
proud resident of the city of
miami since that time I had had
the opportunity to work with
commissioner king regarding the
matter concerning legion park.
I'm here today to discuss that.
I'm here to help represent
legion park. As a friend of
legion park, I've helped start
the first green market with our
commissioner sarnoff a few
years ago and I've continued to
watch over legion park and try
to wish the best and work the
best for legion park and I'm
here today to discuss the
million dollar fee that is
going to be paid by adela that
somehow at the end of the first
500 000 was was gained by the
access of the neighborhood
groups pine palm grove um
bayside residents and so forth.
At the very end commissioner
king stuck in the request of
another $500,000 on behalf of
this situation that was going
on with adela two and I would
kindly request that that second
portion of this money $500,000
be set aside to also include
specifically legion park who is
not here obviously to represent
itself and that's why we are
here as friends of legion park
to represent and that's why I'm
speaking today is to try to
look at that extra money that
was gained at the last moment
on behalf of legion park on
with the request of
commissioner king and be used
for specific purposes of legion
park. Thank you. Good morning
commissioners. My name is trey
santorini. I live at 223
cedonia avenue in coral gables
and 2025. I was lucky to
receive a grant from the
national alliance to end
homelessness to study florida
statewide camping ban. We
collected more than 600 surveys
,430 of them from unsheltered
people half of those almost 220
in miami. That means that we
surveyed almost a fifth of the
unsheltered population of
miami-dade. And I wanted to
share some statistics about
this in regards to sr for sorry
for not saying that. So the
arrest rate that we found was
32%. Um so 32% the unsheltered
population has already been
arrested for those with serious
mental illness it was 47% so
almost half said a different
way. The odds of being arrested
for those experiencing serious
mental illness symptoms was 2.5
to 1. The median number of
arrests for those who was
arrested was three. So many
most people were arrested
multiple times. A number of
people were arrested more than
20 times. 34% of unsheltered
people described having
belongings destroyed by the
police 60% of the time. That
included ids another 42% of the
time medications another 20% of
the time that included work
related uh work related items.
Most importantly, 90% of people
who were arrested said that
they returned directly to the
streets 90% when they were
released, only 18% were offered
any kind of assistance usually
a pamphlet or information. Um
the human cost of this proposal
is high, but I want to point
out that the financial cost is
even higher. The department of
corrections in miami-dade cites
$30,000 a year per inmate at
miami miami-dade county jails.
But judge steven leifman this
year in an interview with nbc
six cited a number of 325. When
you include mental health and
medical services, meaning it
can be more than $100,000 a
year. Um I will also point out
to the commission or remind
them about the lawsuits and
settlements that they paid out
in 2024 for $350,000.
>> we appreciate all the
information. Thank you. Uh good
morning. My name is francesca.
I'm the ceo at survivors
pathway and the CHAIRMAN Of the
domestic violence and sexual
assault council of greater
miami. I'm here supporting uh,
sa16 and, uh and thank you, uh,
commissioner rosado, for this
invitation. Uh, so human
trafficking, uh, miami is
ranking number three in the
nation in cases of human
trafficking and we're number
one in the state of florida in
cases of human trafficking,
which is a a really horrible
number. For 16 years we've been
working serving victims of
human trafficking and we have
seen how devastating this is.
This crime is for vulnerable
communities and especially
today we continue seeing this
very tragic amount of people
coming to survivors pathway
being victims of of of human
trafficking. But more than that
we need to understand the
complexities of it. That's
that's why having a task force
is so important because human
because this crime is not just
human trafficking, it's all the
consequences that comes along
with it. For instance, just one
example uh, hiv we in miami
here in miami were the number
one city county, uh, leading
the numbers of new infections
of hiv in my medical program at
survivors pathway. We are
seeing the correlation among
those victims of human
trafficking and the infection
of hiv. So by stopping this
crime we also affecting other
type of social issues and
medical issues as as we have.
So thank you, uh, commissioner
rosado for this initiative.
thank you. Hello my name is
casey paquette 951 brickell
avenue. I'm a brickell
resident. I'm also an
avocational historian to talk
about ph three. Uh, initially I
was going to come in and just
voice my opinion about where
context matters around historic
assets in miami there's not
many left. Uh, however, I think
the decision seems to already
be made and I think people have
already discussed the process
not being all that transparent
or it could be better. Uh,
however I would like to
advocate I would like to
advocate as this city
commission is approached on a
deal similar to this for the
next historic asset in miami in
particular in brickell which
has very few left. I want you
to remember that brickell at
one time had a very, uh,
interesting history that people
really do care about. Uh, as
somebody who writes full time
on on south florida history and
researches and shares it, I
hear from a lot of people that
are very discouraged about
really progress. I understand
progress happens, but I would
advocate that the next time a
historic asset is uh is looked
at as something to be moved, I
do want to point out that
they're just not hot potatoes.
They actually mean something in
the space that they're in. The
second thing I'd like to
advocate for is the tree canopy
right around dade heritage
trust. So I realized that after
this deal is consummated that
it's going to be between dht
and ken griffin to decide what
happens to the building. But
the tree canopy there is
probably the only, uh, dense
tree space that's that's on
that block. And as that gets
redeveloped, I hope you hold,
um, the developer accountable
for making sure there is tree
canopy. We need it and also to
move those trees as it's being
redeveloped. There's plenty of
places trees can go and lord
knows we can use more shade
cover. So thank you for giving
me an opportunity to speak.
Hello thank you for having me
here today. My name is lindsey
kane. I'm at 333 north east
24th street. I would like to
quickly say I oppose sr 24 as
we need a more humane approach
to homelessness and in regard
to item three I appreciate the
conservation effort but would
like to support more public
engagement in the issue. I'm
similarly fighting to save a
historic site in brickell and
hope similar conservation
efforts can be made and I
appreciate the attention
commissioner escalona office
has given the matter. It would
be alarming for a foreign
development group to to destroy
historic archeological site
representing the indigenous
history of brickell effectively
erasing it all over the city
litigation there is litigation
of residents versus developers
and I truly ask myself why does
it have to be this way? In
edgewater our community is
suffering from a loss of a tree
cut by developers without a
permit stop work orders are
supposed to be issued in this
case but once again developers
are given unbridled grace. A
community cafe was removed. Now
we're surrounded by constant
construction. This week we
residents had to fight to
figure out how to save
residents, save animals cruelly
left behind and locked in a
construction zone after their
habitat was destroyed this
tuesday I was at a hearing
where this room was completely
filled with citizens trying to
save over 100 trees, and the
city attorney and board members
made a last minute
determination that certain
groups didn't have standing
which the code was so confusing
that the first hour was spent
trying to understand it.
However, the city gladly
accepted the filing fees from
citizens and now will not
return it. We are all aggrieved
parties when it comes to the
removal of trees, especially
the granted removal of 100 year
old oaks which are supposed to
be protected. Citizens
shouldn't have to pay to do the
job of environmental
preservation which should fall
on city officials per the city
charter. Wanting to honor
history and the environment is
not resistance to change.
Progress and legacy should and
can exist side by side as it
does in many other cities.
Additionally, development
should come in phases.
Currently the city is in such a
rush that so much so no matter
what neighborhood you're in
you're at risk of living in an
active construction zone. Thank
you to the mayor. Residents are
asking for a direct response
about the aggressive.
>> thank you very much. Hi good
morning everyone. Folks just
when I say thank you everybody
here gets two minutes. So it's
just kind of a nice way of
saying two minutes are are up.
Thank you. Good morning abby go
hi. Good morning everyone. My
name is abby. Abby I'm a
district district two resident.
Thank you all for this agenda.
It's very tremendous. It's full
and that's why I'm here today.
I'd like to start by expressing
my support for sr three, the
proposed sidewalk safety
protection structure. I've
lived in the urban core since I
was 21 years old and I've
experienced our sidewalks as a
young professional and more
recently as a mom pushing our
our strollers. So please vote
yes to sr three. Speaking of
strollers sr four our sidewalks
should be safe and clean
accessible for everyone
including people with
disabilities and parents
pushing strollers at the same
time. We should continue
connecting and supporting those
who are experiencing
homelessness allowing unhoused
neighbors to remain on the
streets indefinitely. It's not
mercy and it's not the standard
of care that they deserve. True
compassion is helping people
move towards stability, not
allowing them to remain in
crisis. We must do something.
Not doing nothing is not okay
now ph five I appreciate the
discussion of the proposed
hydration pilot station. Miami
is extremely hot. Our kids are
always outdoors and we should
do something to create
hydration stations like they do
in europe. I would just ask
that you all would consider it
making it beautiful and not
ugly. I'd also like to mention
our e to rt to the miami dda um
discussion. It's something that
our community continues to talk
about transparency and we'd
like to have the long term best
interest of our city on pz3. We
would like to have more
information on that. I think
having open and transparent
discussion and more details is
helpful for our entire
community when it comes to our
e 16 christie house is an
amazing program that works with
survivors of sex trafficking
something I would encourage
everyone to look into. Again,
thank you for your service and
leadership and everything you
do. Thank you. Good morning,
MADAM Mayor commissioners my
name is miriam zahra.
>> I'm a resident at 7440 north
kendall drive. While I MAY not
be a resident of the city of
miami, I do spend most of my
time in downtown miami and
coconut grove where I love
supporting local businesses um
experiencing everything that
just makes the city so vibrant.
I am here today in support of
the hope hydration station
pilot program. This program is
a simple idea with a powerful
impact in a city like miami
where the heat and humidity are
part of our everyday lives. Um
staying hydrated is not just
about comfort it's essentially
about staying healthy, safe and
a part of our well-being.
Beyond hydration this
initiative is about creating a
culture of kindness. It shows
that miami is a city that cares
for its people and invests in
its actions that make a big
difference. It's a practical,
innovative partnership that
expands access to clean,
accessible drinking water
without placing a financial
burden on the city by making
hydration more accessible.
We're not just meeting an
immediate need we're helping
building healthier and safer
communities. Sometimes the
smallest investments have the
greatest impact and a simple
drink of clean water can really
help someone stay healthy,
continue their day safely and
truly show that the city cares
about them. With that being
said, thank you for your time
and I respectfully ask for your
support of the hydration
station program. Thank you.
Good morning. I'm michelle
swift, I'm the movement
building coordinator for a
nonprofit organization that
helps the population in miami.
Um I want to start off with a
quote the moral test of a
government is how the
government treats those who are
in the dawn of life the
children, those who are in the
twilight of life, the elderly
and those who are in the shadow
of life the sick, the needy and
the handicapped I am I'm
against making homelessness
illegal and it says that um the
goal is not to arrest anybody
but the resources are being
provided. I want to believe
that but organization
participants call the homeless
trust hotline and sit on for
hours. They get waitlisted for
shelter beds even with peer
support intervention and the
phrase we are providing the
resources rings hollow when
resources are gutted in real
time. Kamila's house, one of
our country's largest homeless
service providers, entered this
fiscal year with at least one
program having zero funding.
The trump administration budget
proposes cutting hud by 44%,
which would eliminate 3.7
billion in continuum of care
programs that directly fund
miami-dade's homeless trust and
prove that and could put over
4000 disabled residents at risk
of losing housing. So when the
county says we're providing
resources, those resources are
being pulled out from under us.
Meanwhile, samhsa, the agency
responsible for addiction and
mental health services, has
been gutted. Staff cut by more
than half harm reduction
programs formally ended $2
billion in grants were
terminated and then partially
reversed after backlash for
people experiencing
homelessness who are struggling
with substance abuse, the
lifeline is fraying and section
504 and 88 protections the
legal framework that ensures
disabled people can access
shelter, service and community
based living are under legal
and regulatory attack.
Florida's literally one of the
states weakening them. You
cannot simultaneously say go to
the shelter while shelters have
waitlists. Thank you. Thank you
very much please. Joseph madera
civil court trailer park, 3170
southwest eighth street I'm
here because we are facing
displacement. Marquis powerful
developer wants to shut us
down. We need your support. We
need your help. How is that to
be achieved that when the
developer comes here with his
plans you that have the power
side with us that you will not
approve his plans unless he
helps us. We need your help. We
have a legal case but that's
not it's not enough. What can
you do for us? Think about
that. How can you support us in
civil court trailer park from
220 trailers. A vast amount
took a meager a miserable
package. Is this what. Is to
become of us? You have the
power you can side with us. The
pastor gave a beautiful prayer
but jesus also said if you're
not with us, you're against us.
Be with us when they come here
to ask for their permits, their
plans, whatever they need to do
when they appear before you
vote no say no demand from them
to give us people. The
remaining residents at silver
court something more than
camillus house, something more
than the homeless trust is that
it? I'm willing to end up
homeless. Thank you very much.
We appreciate it. Um,
commissioner rosado, this item
is not on the agenda but it's
okay with me if we hear a few
people out as long as it's okay
with you. Okay. Thank you.
Please go ahead. Uh, hello? Um,
mayor higgins, commissioner
rosado, how are you? Um, my
name is carlos macias. I'm also
speaking on the issue. I, uh
I'm a veteran, a member of dsa.
I live in um I live in the
city. Um I don't necessarily
live in silver court but I'm
there with them. Um the um we
are here uh, the related point
is homelessness is the uh the
camping ban. Um, the reality is
that a lot of these people that
live in silver core might end
up homeless and miami is now
rated as the city with the
highest, uh, like the highest
cost of living or at least um
as far as rent goes. Right.
That's a pretty powerful
headline and I don't think that
headline is going to go away
with a homeless ban. Um, I
think that uh, you know, under
every system of government, uh,
we have a duty like, um, like
the lady before said, uh, we
have a duty to nurture the
young and take care of care of
our elderly. Um, it is in the
social contract that we provide
the means to do so it's the
reason we provide roads,
firefighters and other social
services. If we as a city, as a
society refuse to acknowledge
the very obvious role that
housing plays on our um on our
capacity to contribute to
society, then we must at the
very least act when
opportunists like us like
opportunists attempt to unhouse
literally hundreds of our
fellow men like it has happened
in sweetwater like it's
happening now in silver court.
Um. Uh we have heard uh we we
have heard and we will heard
more people speak to the
morality of the situation. Um
the the the war against
homeless hit especially close
to me when I first came from
cuba. Uh, I'm trying to make
this quick. When I first came
from cuba I was living in a
trailer park. It was difficult.
I was barely making enough
money to pay the rent and uh, I
was not making enough money.
Thank you very much for coming.
appreciate all your insights.
Go ahead. Good morning. My name
is james cromer. I'm a resident
and owner at 900 biscayne. I
have lived in miami for the
last ten years and for the last
25 years I've been working with
local agencies in broward at
the city, county and mpo level
and for the last four years my
focus has been roadway safety.
Also let me say hello to the
mayor commissioners, thank you
and thank you for your
sponsorship. I want to speak on
on item sr three. It's dealing
with pedestrian safety and
access during construction and
I've been working for the last
four years focusing on roadway
safety. And as you all MAY be
aware, florida and south
florida are among the worst
places in the nation for
bicyclists and pedestrian
safety. And so there are many
things that we can do and many
angles we can can touch on. I
do want to hit on the idea of
the cost of death and serious
injury on our roadways. There
are statistics for the state of
florida that a death results in
an economic cost to our society
of $10 million and a serious
injury is almost $1 million.
And so as we consider providing
space for pedestrians and
bicyclists around construction
zones, keep in mind that there
MAY be a cost to the developer
but there's a greater cost to
society when these death and
serious injuries occur at the
local level. I did work in in
city permitting and I know
sometimes the city staff wants
to do good work and sometimes
needs the tool to do it. So I
think this ordinance provides
the tool that will require
pedestrian access during
construction through
construction zones and give our
our staff the ability to to
make the requirements to make
our roadways safer. So I thank
you for your support and speak
in favor of of item sr three.
Good morning. My name is awilda
suriel. I am a resident and
home owner and homeowner
association member of silver
trail park court park. We're in
a fighting battle with the park
property owners so that we will
not be thrown out of the
premises. We're asking you to
vote against the 19457
ordinance. It is inhumane.
After SEPTEMBER 30th we will
probably be victims of this
ordinance. I came to this great
country 14 years ago along with
my children. I have worked very
hard to build our lives
together and give them a good
education. I was able to buy my
trailer with my savings because
I didn't qualify to buy a home
due to my low income. Today my
children are grown. The oldest
is in college. She's going to
school with awarded
scholarships and the younger
ones are still going to school.
On MARCH 11th we got an
eviction letter. We will be
evicted. We can't afford the
expensive rents out there.
We're asking commissioner
rosado to vote against the
ordinance and we invite him to
our meetings and to revisit the
streets of the community that
bring him childhood memories.
Thank you for the opportunity
to be here and talk about our
situation. Good morning. My
name is rochelle vargas. I live
at 2012 southwest 24th. Um and
I'm here on behalf of transit
alliance miami to support pcie
four. I'm happy it passed
unanimously in JUNE and I'm
here again today to continue
showing support until now a new
development next to a trail had
no obligation to build. It pays
for changes that when a
property next to a greenway is
developed it will have to build
the adjacent trail segment.
Developers near greenway can
also earn bonus building height
by constructing trail segments
or paying into that trail
corridor. Another reason we
support prs four is it also
keeps money. Local fees
collected near greenway used to
be spendable anywhere in the
city. Now they stay in the
corridor where they were
raised. This covers greenways
across the city including the
underlying the commodore trail,
the miami river greenway and
the heritage trail. Prs four
also sets design standards for
every new segment minimum 14
foot paths, canopy trees,
lighting seating, bike racks
and ada compliant crossings.
The same quality applies across
the whole network. About 58% of
the miami loop is already
built, and most of the land it
needs is already publicly
owned. When it's finished, it
will connect neighborhoods to
parks, museums, transit and the
coast, opening up safe ways to
get around for the many
miamians who don't or can't
drive. What a dream. A dream
that can and will become
reality with prs for each new
project will help bring the
miami loop closer to
completion. Thank you for your
continued support of prs for.
Good morning is my name elvin
arevalo. My address is 3170
southwest eighth street. Good
morning also to the children
who are here today and to the
city police. I am a resident
and homeowner association
member of silver court trailer
park. We are in the process of
fighting against the property
owners of the trailer park.
We're being thrown out on the
streets. We're asking that you
vote against this ordinance
194257 it's inhumane that after
SEPTEMBER 30th we will be a
victim of this ordinance. We're
asking commissioner rosado to
be against this ordinance and
we also ask him to go to one of
our meetings. The first two
meetings that we had with the
commissioner did not result in
positive outcomes. We're asking
for police security during the
day and night because we're
vulnerable to delinquency and
we have an elderly population.
We're hard working and low
income people. The eviction
notice was given to us from one
day to the next. We weren't
ready neither mentally or
emotionally. For those of us
who have lived at this trailer
park for over 50 years, one of
our residents was severely
affected by the news and passed
away the following day.
Commissioner rosado, please
remember that you told us that
your grandparents once lived at
this park and you would visit
them. Thank you for your
attention to this matter.
Morning MR. Torres. Thank you.
Good morning commissioners
mayor, my name is james torres,
president of downtown neighbors
alliance on re2 today you're
asking downtown residents to
keep paying the dda hostage
tax. Let's call it what it is.
Downtown residents are the only
individuals in miami who pay an
extra tax to fund separate
bureaucracies. Then after
paying millions every year we
have to come here and beg for
public safety. After last
month's brutal attack on a
downtown residents we simply
made a request of $2 million to
go to police officers. That's
just 7.8% of the ddas20 $5.5
million budget for fiscal year
2027. And what do we get? Not a
clear answer. Not a commitment,
not a dedicated line item.
Instead the money is still
buried under enhancement
services sanitation security
and lighting while we're
stalled on drones, license
plate readers cameras and
opinion editorial boards by the
dda boss rosado downtown
residents aren't asking for
another gadget. We're asking
for every neighborhood what we
deserve which is police
officers walking the beat bike
patrols and visible police
presence to prevent crime
before it happens. If you're
going to keep forcing downtown
residents to pay the dda
hostage tax, then at least you
can show us exactly where the
$2 million in this budget is
going to be allocated for
enough of the buzzwords, enough
of the excuses. Put police
officers on the streets for
everybody an item pf five this
is really a water fountain
dressed up as a billboard. We
don't want any more
advertisement if you're going
to go to london or paris look
at the fountains. That's how
they should be set up. But
instead we're asking for more
billboards for five. The
community is a hard no as it
relates to the fencing
billboards that you guys want
to put. We've talked about this
a thousand times. We're asking
for the d2 commissioner to
support this and anyone else
that really wants to step up to
the plate. Thank you. Thank you
appreciate it MR. Piper. Good
morning. MADAM Mayor.
Commissioners, I'm rob piper, a
candidate for miami-dade county
commission district five. I
live at 1401 southwest 17th
terrace. And I'm here to speak
out against sr four because you
could put bacon, lettuce and
tomato on a sandwich but that
doesn't make it a blt and even
without with the modifications
this ordinance is still a
sandwich and it shouldn't come
as any surprise to just about
every homeless advocacy
organization has come out
against this ordinance this sr
four well, all but one as I
understand it and I hear all
the talk about how this
ordinance is compassionate and
so much has been done to be
compassionate. We've added
shelter beds, we've done this,
we've done that. But if that's
the case, if all this if all
these items are in place, why
is there a need to bring the
arrest piece into it, the law
enforcement piece into it? So I
would urge you please do the
actual compassionate thing and
vote to withdraw this
ordinance. Thank you. Good
evening, MADAM Mayor. Good
morning commissioners. My name
is amanda de santa with a
business address of 19 west
flagler street, miami 33130 and
I am here today to speak in
support of the cottage housing
amendment. I think too often
when we talk about affordable
housing we talk about large
scale development which can
take years to come online and
we often forget to look around
and see the small. So this
amendment would allow for
faster production of infill
housing to help the alleviate
the affordability crisis we are
facing. The amendment would
also allow for thoughtful
preservation, preservation of
neighborhood context as well as
create small houses that would
sit well on the lot and create
a walkable, pleasant and more
welcoming neighborhood
landscape with rising costs of
land. This amendment presents
an alternative to overbuilding
overcrowding and reduced green
space. As an active developer
who is building large scale
affordable units as well as
small scale infill units, I
would welcome the ability to
build cottages in the city of
miami for affordable housing.
Thank you. Good morning
commissioners MADAM Mayor city
manager my name is jeanette
paulino and I'm at 3635
northeast first avenue. I'm
here on behalf of hope
hydration to voice my support
for the pilot initiative to
provide hydro stations across
the city. Now I'm a miami
native and I've lived in many
and worked in many different
cities around the world and
what I've learned from the
cities that are leading the
future are three things they
think long term. They embrace
partnerships with the private
public and private sector that
are innovative and different
and they provide solutions that
address multiple problems and
challenges simultaneously for
the community and the
environment. Now these last few
weeks I've been spending a lot
of time in different city
properties and parks to see
where we can house some of
these hydro stations. And I
went to one of the parks the
other day to test out the
water. Some of the outdoor
water fountains dispense
extremely hot water. I actually
was very curious and I took a
thermometer and I measured the
temperature of that water 97
f
97. That's what some of our
folks are drinking. And so
these hydro stations have the
opportunity to provide cold
filtered water and make that
better. They also have the
opportunity to address some of
the city goals, beat heat
resilience by providing
hydration and keeping people
cool. They also are supporting
the initiative to reduce
plastic waste by encouraging
people to use the refillable
water bottles and this is going
to generate revenue for the
city through responsible brand
partnerships. And I know
everyone in this room would
like for this not to cost the
taxpayer anything and it
doesn't. So with that being
said I'd love to thank
especially commissioner rosado,
commissioner king and gabella
for co-sponsoring this
initiative. You all have the
power to vote yes and make
miami healthier, more resilient
and forward thinking. Thank
you. Thank you. Good morning
everyone. I'm. My name is
victoria and I live at 3170
southwest eighth street. I'm
part of the civil court team
here today. I'm opposed to the
sr4 as we could see is not
doing anything putting people
in prison for every little
thing they'll come out they'll
still homeless. They go in and
out. Right now we're facing a
position that we MAY be the
next people homeless. I've been
living at that trailer park for
25 years. The stability I ever
had and although we have had
some talks with commissioner
rosado, we're still a far away
from, you know, getting what we
really need when they bought
the trailer park in 2021, why
they did not notify us that
they were going to sell people
continue to buy for large
amounts of money $100,000,
$60,000 plus the ones that were
there already had invested to
fix their places. Why did they
not notify us then they come
out of california with the high
life and the deep pockets to
step on the people here that
don't have the same amount of
money power very unfair. Please
vote no as our form. Hi there
I'm ashley lucio north east
90th street in el puerto. Um
and I came here today
originally to oppose page
three. Um and after hearing
chris rupp speak and others in
favor of it um in the fact that
it grants a permanent site for
the dade heritage trust. Um I
think that's a great thing for
them. Um so I'm a bit on the
fence now and I just want to
read my original statement for
your consideration and maybe
what I'm asking is for a
broader public hearing about
this, um and consideration of
delaying it in in favor of
ensuring that if this building
is relocated it can be done so
in a way that does not damage
it. Um and we don't lose kind
of the the historical or
environmental fabric that um
small footprint that now exists
in brickell. So I'll read my
original statement and try to
stay under two minutes or I
will. Okay. So um dade heritage
trust uh, and the former office
of doctor james jackson,
miami's first physician is a
role model for historians and
preservationists throughout our
city. And this peaceful and
beautiful little cottage set
off to the side of chaotic
brickell is a monument to the
success of their efforts to see
it moved would be a significant
marker that local
preservationists have lost the
war against development over
what remains of our most
historic spaces and the
original miami and we
desperately need this not to
happen right now because we're
being overtaken by developers
who only see progress as
concrete, glass and
displacement. They say history
rhymes and here we are again
where miami officials just like
joe carollo are weighing
relocation of a historical
treasure in favor of
development the miami circle a
tequesta ruin which is the
oldest permanent settlement on
the east coast, was almost lost
to a tower had it not been
purchased by the state thanks
to the initial injunction
filed. Oh sorry no no thank
you. We it's hard you were
reading your two minutes but it
was actually very nice to for
all of you that are here at
public comment to hear that
you're not only are we
listening but your neighbors
are listening too and sometimes
it does open our minds a little
bit. So thanks so much for
being here and sharing that
with us. Actually it was very
insightful. Thank you. Okay. Go
ahead. Hi my name is mariana
ochoa. I am a neighbor of the
silver court residents and uh,
ralph rosado, you are my
commissioner. Um, good morning
to the commissioners. I and
major higgins. Um, I'm here
today to ask you to vote no on
sr four, which would make it
easier to arrest people for
simply not having a place to
sleep to arrest people without
even issuing a warning first is
beyond harmful, unbelievably
inhumane and needlessly
expensive for this city. I'm
also here in support of the
residents of silver court
trailer park who are seeking to
meet with their commissioner
commissioner rosado. Um it face
to face at silver court where
we meet wednesdays and sundays.
In MARCH, silver court
residents received a surprise
eviction and were told that
they had to be out by
SEPTEMBER. Since then residents
have joined together to fight
displacement. They have an hoa.
i've had the pleasure of
speaking to the residents and
hearing their stories. We're
missing you rosado, because I
as a neighbor to the community
I'm there every wednesday and
sunday. I haven't seen you but
I know you've been invited
multiple times. Um families
have grown up in this trailer
park and are now home. The
homeowners are being offered
$10,000 to leave the trailer
park and their community while
when we are all well aware of
the rising housing costs in
this city, um their trailers
are cemented to the ground. Uh,
they rent the land and so when
they leave the land they have
to leave their trailers that
they have spent their their
life savings on. There's people
that are have been there for
over 20 years. There's a 90
year old resident there who
lives on her own. Uh,
homeowners are fighting for
more time. Thank you, thank
you. Appreciate you being here.
Good morning commissioners.
Good morning mayor. Uh, my name
is antonio perez. I'm a member
of dsa and I'm standing in
solidarity with the silver
court residents united. Um
we're here to petition the city
against ordinance 419457 sr
four uh as it currently stands,
miami is one of the most
expensive housing markets in
the country. Um, one that
doesn't need to be that way
might I add. Um and people
can't afford rent sometimes
with two jobs let alone even
one. Um every day prices rise
and more and more families are
priced out of their homes that
they've had for years,
sometimes decades. This in
combination with poor social
safety nets and social
infrastructure results in many
in the city being unhoused. And
this ordinance would further
criminalize not having anywhere
to sleep. The ordinance
eliminates the current 24 hour
written warning the bare
minimum to allow a person
breathing room to get connected
with social workers or shelters
or find a place to stay in
general um before being
punished by law enforcement
replacing with undefined quote
unquote reasonable amount of
time which can literally mean
anything depending on the
officer. Additionally, it
eliminates the officer's
discretion to hand out fines or
arrests and instead makes it
mandatory that discretion is
what allows an officer to
choose whether they approach
the situation as helping
someone who needs that help
versus just closing another
case. All of a sudden police
encounters become a lot more
volatile and unpredictable and
that's not to anyone in the
public's benefit resident or
officer alike. Um, not for our
safety or for the taxpayer's
wallet. The ordinance does
nothing to solve the actual
persons unhoused situation and
if anything simply exacerbates
it by putting more financial
and physical strain for simply
existing. Therefore, we
struggle to find a clear
example of a more fiscally and
morally irresponsible
legislation and we call on the
city to miami to reject
ordinance 1947. Thank you. Good
morning commissioners mayor. My
name is daniel mendoza. 2419
northwest 11th street 21 d I'm
here with dsa and the silver
court residents and I'm here to
speak out against sr four. We
can start with the obvious
cruelty of jailing a person who
is so poor they have to sleep
in makeshift housing in one of
the rainiest, most humid and
hottest cities in the united
states. This cruelty will
create further distrust between
the unhoused and police as
first responders police who
arrived to a medical emergency
for an unhoused person MAY end
up neglecting that person's
ailment and instead incarcerate
them for the crime of existing.
This ordinance is not only
cruel and immoral but it is
simply bad policy. According to
the seattle school of law, each
jailed on house person cost the
taxpayer $80,000 a year.
Incarceration does not end
homelessness. It actually
increases the likelihood of
homelessness which in turn
increases rates of recidivism.
With average rents in miami
exceeding $3,000 a month in the
midst of a cost of living
crisis, many housed people are
one accident, one missed
paycheck or one divorce away
from homelessness. Are we
really so eager to jail our
veterans, grandparents, parents
and children for their poverty?
I encourage the commission to
consider programs such as
housing first that have shown
to reduce homelessness in ways
that are not only humane but
also save money. A 2009 study
by the american medical
association found that housing
first policies saved 2.5 k per
person per year more compared
to traditional city shelters.
Los angeles saved $80,000 a
year by permanently housing
just for chronically unhoused
people. In conclusion, this sr
does not solve homelessness it
is expensive and we pay for it
with our tax money, the lives
of the unhoused and the
goodwill of our city as the
governing body of this city you
have a responsibility to take
care of its people, not to
punish them for the ways the
city has already failed them.
Throwing them in jail does not
meet that responsibility. It
evades it. Love thy neighbor.
Vote no on sr four. Thank you
very much. Good morning
commissioner mayor higgins. My
name is saturn fay. I'm also a
candidate in house district
109. I'm your neighbor. I live
at 1476 northwest 57th street
miami, florida 33142. I'm
asking that you vote no on sr
four as an inhumane response to
homelessness and the city of
miami should not rely on
criminalization displacement as
a substitute for real solutions
communities like liberty square
now unfortunately parks like
silvercorp my comrades back
here from dsa are at risk of
being displaced, rising housing
costs, limited access to living
wage jobs with approximately
50% 56% of miami-dade
households living below the
alice which is asset limited,
income constrained and
employed. Many families are the
only are only one emergency
away from homelessness. The
city should invest in
affordable supportive housing,
rental assistance, mental
health services along with
advocating for living wage
jobs, not punishing people
simply because they have
nowhere else to go is inhumane
and I am asking that you please
vote no on sr four. Thank you.
Good morning major. Um my name
is elliot leyba. I'm a retired
employee of the city of miami.
I came six months ago looking
for your help through your
staff also with commissioner
rosado staff and code
enforcement supervisor ricardo
franco staff and I was
rejected. I was trying to avoid
this land eviction that we're
facing at silver court trailer
park. I also reached out to
commissioner of ethics and
florida state attorney general
because of this city of miami
rejection, a city where I grew
up also foster care programs
within the city of miami. So I
love my city and I've been 20
years living in this trailer
park also while working for the
city of miami and I didn't know
that we were going to be facing
this today and I came out
looking for help to my city and
I was rejected. So I'm asking
you to please give us some kind
of help in this. Uh you know,
I'm nervous land eviction and
to stop the homeless arresting
and we don't have we don't even
have in our house. MR. Rosado
promised to give us on our toes
at night and there's no
supervision. I appreciate your
help. Thank you so much. And
the only person that helped me
was chief raul ramos from the
building department. He knows
me personally. Thank you. Thank
you very much. Thank you so
much.
>> good morning. Commissioner
higgins. Uh, excuse me, I
apologize, mayor higgins. Mayor
long. Too long. Too long. Young
lady. Mayor higgins, uh, former
chair christine king and, uh,
chair commissioners horacio
stuart aguirre here today as
CHAIRMAN Of the miami river
commission, a state agency
tasked with the oversight of
the miami river. We're here in
support of various items pc
four and sr seven. The river
commission strongly recommends
including the miami river
greenway in the open space
trust fund subject to the
following three conditions.
First of all that you increase
the cost for a developer to buy
the additional height. Second,
that funds collected from
developments or from subject
properties be used specifically
for the adjacent greenways
where the money will be used to
the areas benefit that is most
affected and thirdly that the
available incentives in no way
displace or disrupt marine
industrial uses. With respect
to our re seven the river
commission strongly supports
commissioner corona's efforts
to improve jose marti park, one
of the most important parks on
the banks of the miami river on
the south shore. Highly used,
highly enjoyed and much
supported by the adjacent
community with respect to ph
six, river commission supports
commissioner gabriela's efforts
to create the allapattah cra.
Commissioner we truly believe
that the creation of an
allapattah cra would greatly
enhance the river district. We
support outdoor dining with no
reduction to the riverwalk and
we request that that continue
to require a warrant to all of
you. Thank you for your
support. Thank you. Good
morning, honorable
commissioners. MISTER City
attorney, MISTER Manager and
MADAM Mayor. My name is louis
marshall, vice PRESIDENT Of the
miami association of
firefighters local 587 located
at 2980 northwest south river
drive. I'm here to read a
statement on behalf of our
PRESIDENT Alex cardenas, who is
out of town and unable to join
us today to speak on our e 12.
The statement reads as follows
honorable commissioners rt 12
underscores the gravity of our
current situation. The
resolution would greatly assist
the department in returning our
dilapidated stations into
workplaces that can further
facilitate the ability of our
firefighters and paramedics to
continue carrying out our
mission. I cannot stress that
point enough. Rt 12 shows the
brave men and women of our fire
department that the city
acknowledges the need to
swiftly act and efficiently,
efficiently to address the
effects of deferred maintenance
so that our members can focus
on saving lives and protecting
property while giving them
respectable and appropriate
working conditions to operate
from. I would like to
personally thank commissioner
pardo for sponsoring this
resolution and commissioner
king for co-sponsoring. As I've
mentioned before, let's pull
off. Let's put away the
band-aids and patches and
approve the real solution to
this ever growing problem. The
need was yesterday but the
moment to act is today. We
cannot risk allowing these
subpar working conditions to
persist. Commissioners, I
strongly urge your full support
and unanimous unanimous consent
on re12. It's a win win for the
citizens and our firefighter
paramedics just like our
citizens deserve nothing but
the gold standard when it comes
to expecting top notch
emergency response.
>> thank you very much.
Appreciate it. Thank you.
>> good morning, MADAM Mayor
and commissioners thank you for
the opportunity. My name is
francois. He is with offices at
333 northeast 23rd street and
I'm here on behalf of new
tradition media and independent
out-of-home advertising company
and a blackstone portfolio
company. When I addressed the
commission in JANUARY reference
item fr5I raised concerns
regarding the policy design,
enforcement and long term
impact of advertising on
construction fencing. Those
concerns remain important,
particularly the need for
appropriate design standards,
maintenance requirements and
effective oversight. Today,
however, I'm not asking the
commission to reject the pilot
program. I'm asking that it be
structured fairly and that all
qualified companies be allowed
to participate. Item fr5
designates the astros the only
eligible operator even though
construction fencing
advertising is unique nor
proprietary. It is a part of
the broader portfolio of
services offered by new
tradition and other experienced
out-of-home advertising
companies. Many of these
companies are already in
partner with the city through
its mural program, billboard
settlements and other outdoor
advertising activities. They
understand the miami market and
have established experience in
advertising sales permitting,
installation, maintenance,
regulatory compliance and
working with national and local
advertisers. If the city wants
this pilot to succeed, generate
meaningful revenue and maintain
appropriate standards it should
welcome participation from all
qualified operators.
Competition will provide the
city with stronger financial
terms, greater accountability
and access to a broader
advertising base. I
respectfully ask this
commission to amend this item
by establishing a transparent
qualification process open to
every company that satisfies
the city's objective standards.
Thank you. Good morning. Good
morning. My name is emily
valladares. Good morning. I
want to move the mic down a
little. Sorry.
>> oh no.
>> now we hear you well. All
right. Good morning. My name is
emily valladares and my address
is 2727 northwest 17th terrace.
Homeowners are fighting for
more time and more money to
have an opportunity to to make
in their city. I'm here to ask
commissioner rosenthal to meet
with families of silver court
and support their incredible
fight from displacement.
Residents have invested their
life savings in their homes and
they know that what they're
being offered will not allow
them to successfully,
successfully move on with
dignity. If this ordinance goes
through, residents of silver
court are displaced. They are
in danger of being arrested for
not having a place to sleep.
I've lived here all my life. I
was born and raised here in
miami. I watched um people in
retirement. [Laughter] Work
very hard and still lose our
homes. I don't want to watch my
grandparents, aunts and uncles
[Laughter] Lose their place
here in miami because I don't
have the power to help them.
But you do. So please I don't
want to watch my elderly be
homeless. Thank you for.
>> hello my name is grimsley
makhov 6335 southwest one tenth
street. I'm speaking on behalf
of the villagers regarding ph
three. We believe that rushing
the sale with less than seven
days notice does not allow for
adequate time for meaningful
discussion or community input.
Such a compressed timeline
should raise serious concerns
about the integrity of the
process. We request the city of
miami commission to postpone
this item until after a
thorough public hearing that
allows the opportunity to
understand more details about
the plans for this community
treasure. Thank you. Good
morning commissioners. My name
is adela skier 4343 west
flagler street. I'm with the
aclu of florida speaking on re
three. Appreciate the
commission's recognition that
keeping cities safe requires a
holistic community approach.
Unfortunately the reality is
that is not possible so long as
the city has a 287 agreement
with ice commissioner king.
Thank you so much for bringing
forward that discussion item
last month. It was really
appreciated as well as mayor
higgins damian, commissioner
pardo, commissioner king, your
continued opposition to this
agreement and commissioner
escalona it was really
appreciated how you talked
about how this issue has
affected you and your family
and commissioner named it
perfectly when he stated the
fear that this agreement has
created in our communities. Um
and so I just wanted to raise
since there were questions last
month about whether the city
could lawfully exit this
agreement, it is totally within
the city's rights to do so.
State law does not require
cities to enter these
agreements, nor does it
preclude cities from exiting
these agreements. And we can
cite that those statutes. We
really hope to meet with each
and every one of you to discuss
the city's options for exiting
this agreement. Uh, and
appreciate your time. As we've
seen across the country, ice is
acting lawlessly and
endangering and ending human
lives. So this truly is an
issue of public safety. Thank
you. Come on.
>> line up closer to the podium
folks so I know who's in line
and versus who's just standing
up. Thank you. Go ahead. Good
morning everyone. Um I was
trying. To sr sr. For where.
>> does. It say that we're.
Going to arrest people um and
be hostile to people. We have a
problem with our sidewalks and
our parks. We don't want
signage. We don't want
construction blocking our
sidewalks. Downtown's having a
problem with homeless. The
grove has homeless. MISS King's
district has homeless. We need
to do something about it.
Nobody's. I don't see anywhere
where we're talking about
arresting people. When I read
the ordinance it talks about
teaching people skills and
having them learn how to do
things. We have restaurants
closing all over the city and
the county because it's slow
season. Um these issues are
hurting businesses. Um I don't
see anything wrong with ph
three and dade heritage trust
being on board with moving that
house. It's unusual for them to
be so so willing to work with
us so quickly. So I don't have
a problem with that. Rt 16 the
task force um we do have a
problem a serious problem and
um I don't know how many of you
all are aware of this and thank
you for bringing up the 287 g
on JANUARY 18th, 2025. I live
in the last block of coconut
grove, coral gables police had
detained a van that had the
windows boarded over with 12
chinese immigrants who were
brought here illegally who were
coming up the ramp in a gated
neighborhood on old cutler. Ten
days later they got another van
and by the way, city of miami
police were not called in. I
was blocked in my neighborhood.
I contacted chief morales.
Chief morales was out of town.
They never contacted city of
miami. It was miami dade
county. It was homeland
security and it was coral
gables police. City of miami
police were not even engaged in
any of this. This went on
twice. At the end of my street.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
We also missed your name and
address for the record. Kathy
park suarez, 4035 battersea
road, miami. 33133. Thank you,
MR. Trainer. I see you there.
Are you here for public
comment? Would you like to
speak on one of the items?
Monte we. We do. Um
commissioner we thought we had
more time later when the item
was going to be discussed but.
This item all of the items it's
a public comment on all items
now so each speaker has two
minutes but. We if our five can
we speak at that time? Uh no
we're taking all comments on
all items. MADAM Mayor. Thank
you.
>> and everyone has two you
have two minutes. Thank you.
MADAM Mayor commissioners
rosario kennedy with offices at
2645 south bayshore drive here
today on the graffiti abatement
program. For the past nine
years we've worked thoroughly
through countless meetings and
legal issues. We started at the
county where we had to create a
pathway for the city to opt out
of the pilot of the county sign
code. Once that ordinance was
approved by the board of county
commissioners, then we came
back to the city and worked
with the commission. At the
time we actually worked through
two administrations mayor
regalado and uh suarez to get
this approved. Um because the
program was conceived and
developed by a client client
over the past nine years, we
respectfully request that it be
implemented as a one year pilot
program so that we can
demonstrate its value and then
let the results speak for
themselves. Um, we are here
today one second one second
because I'm not we're here
today proposing a one year
pilot program that can make a
meaningful difference in the
appearance, safety and vibrancy
of our city. It is called the
graffiti abatement program or
gap because the program was
conceived we're asking for the
two minute two for the um for
the pilot program. The goal of
the graffiti abatement program
is simple it helps eliminate
graffiti on construction
fences. It improves the
appearance of neighborhoods and
addresses the safety concerns
that come with neglected
construction sites. Let's face
it we all recognize that
construction fences are
necessary to our city's growth.
Unfortunately, they often
become unsightly canvases for
graffiti. They accumulate trash
and detract from the character
and pride of our neighborhoods
unless they are properly
maintained, they create an
environment that invites
vandalism, illegal dumping.
>> and if the. Thank you and
the commission has questions
during the item should they
decide on first reading? Yes
also thank you. Thank you. With
us is monty trainer who drove
through downtown with me one
day and asked me to get
involved in the program.
Wonderful.
>> thanks, monty. We're happy
to see you. All right, let's go
ahead here. Sure. Go ahead.
Unaccustomed as I am to public
speaking, I would like to say a
few words to the audience and
to the especially to the
commission and our new
commissioners. Uh, nice to see
you. Rolando. Ralph, nice to
see you. It's nice I haven't
had a chance to speak to to the
new commission yet, but it's
nice and it's always nice to
see our CHAIRMAN And all our
all our commissioners that we
have that have done so much for
the city. But let me tell you I
just I just left a rehab center
and I came down here to speak
and uh it to see what I've seen
in the city. I think it's it's
a blight with the new
construction that's going on
and everything is going going
all all all all over the city
where there's construction,
there's all this blight and I
wish there's something we could
do about it and I know there is
there's a pilot program going
on that rosario kennedy has
started and I think it's got
started and if we can get it if
we can get it going it would be
nice. It'd be be a pleasant
surprise if we could if I could
come back out and and and no
more no more blight. But anyway
we have some blight some
pictures for you and I don't
want to I don't want to be too
much but uh it's it's a it's a
terrible sight and all the
stuff that's going on downtown
when I'd like to see it cleaned
up a little bit and uh, welcome
welcome to the welcome to the
dais. I think you guys are
going to make a nice uh, it's
going to be a nice creation for
us and I want to show you the
pictures. Who was that you.
Christine? Was that you? Did
you did you mayor. [Laughter]
He heard the bell. He heard
the. Who hit the buzzer? It's
our clerk. We have to blame
you, todd, [Laughter] Listen.
You promised me you [Applause]
Never again a buzzer. No, I
would not. It wasn't me. Was it
you, todd? No. Monte it is. It
is great to see you and
commissioner kennedy here
today. I'm so glad you're out
of rehab too. And thank you and
welcome. Nice to have you. And
they're going to have a little
picture taken here. Excellent.
>> all right to do we want to
go to this podium and do you
want to speak you've been
standing patiently okay go
ahead please. Sorry. Thank you
for your patience.
>> no problem. Good morning,
MADAM Mayor. MR. City manager
and commissioners my name is
christina henoko. I'm the
co-founder and ceo of hope
hydration. But before any of
that I am a resident of miami
and I am a committed citizen
who believes that access to
free clean drinking water is a
human right. We live in one of
the hottest cities in america.
Every summer gets hotter every
year we talk about more
resilience, public health and
climate adaptation but
sometimes the best solutions
are the simplest ones free
water not bottled water not
another expense for families
just clean drinking water where
people need it most. What makes
hope different is that we're
not using taxpayer dollars to
fund it. Our advertising model
allows us to provide this
public service at no cost to
the city while creating a new
way to communicate with
residents and visitors. We've
heard concerns that no one
wants more billboards neither
do we. We didn't build an
advertising company. We built a
public hydration network that
uses advertising to pay for
itself and to reinvest revenue
share into the community. Every
advertisement helps provide
another refill another person
drinking free water in this
community. That's the model. As
someone who has spent the last
several several years building
this company here locally in
miami, I truly believe our city
has an opportunity to lead not
just by preparing for hot
summers but making sure every
resident, every worker, every
visitor has access to free
drinking water. Let's set the
standard for what a resilient
forward thinking city looks
like. I respectfully ask for
your support and for the
opportunity to take a
meaningful step forward towards
a future with free drinking
water across miami. Thank you.
All right, so you've got a lot
of boards. I see three people
do you want to present for all
three or everyone's going to do
two minutes. I'll give you a
little extra time. Two minutes
okay I'm just saying if one
person. Yeah we just need to
make sure that your every
comment you make is on the
microphone.
>> I'm so sorry. Yeah.
>> okay.
>> good morning, MADAM Mayor.
Honorable commissioners. Name
and address for the record
please. Thanks. John del mastro
1717 north bayshore drive.
Thank you for allowing us to
speak today. I stand before you
with both a professional
commitment and a personal one.
Our company believes that every
great city is remembered not
only for its skyline, for its
beauty and its public spaces.
Buildings define a city but
parks, streetscapes, gathering
spaces and thoughtfully
designed outdoor environments
define the experience of living
here we are a company that
believes in community. We
believe in beautification. Most
important, we believe that
every resident deserves to feel
proud of the neighborhood they
call home. This project is
deeply, deeply personal for me.
Miami especially edgewater
formerly known as the omni, has
been my second home for nearly
40 years. When we first moved
to this neighborhood, we can
only stay within the confines
of our building and the
adjacent hotel because the
neighborhood was unsafe. When
we first had an apartment here,
I went for a run in the park
next to our building. My father
told me he was horrified and
said you cannot go there. Just
run over the venetian causeway.
That dangerous park is now the
amazing margaret pace park.
Edgewater has become a
thriving, beautiful, upscale,
desirable neighborhood to live.
thank you for commissioner
pardo for your continued
support. However, with all this
amazing growth comes a lot of
construction and unsightly
construction sites. Ten years
ago my father who sadly passed
from covid in the very very
beginning went to rosario with
an idea that helps make not
only our neighborhood but all
of miami beautiful and safe
while miami is building these
amazing buildings. As you can
see from these photos, these
construction sites look awful
and more important they are
unsafe and have been issues for
decades. Anyone can enter these
dangerous sites. As you are
aware people already entered
where those giant arches are
and graffiti them it is. They
do not yet reflect the quality,
beauty and pride this
neighborhood deserves. Today I
have the privilege of
continuing something my father
began his vision inspired me
through my life completing this
work. Thank you thank you.
Appreciate it. Good morning
MADAM Mayor and commissioners.
My name is chris carr. My
address is 1717 north bayshore
drive in miami. I am the chief
operating officer for del
mastro outdoor and I know one
of the issues and questions
that have come up about the
this gap program is the sole
proprietorship for the one year
term. Our goal is to make this
process in one year which is a
very limited time to operate
and to for the city to be able
to evaluate this program for
what we believe will be a win
win for not only for the city
but the community and in which
the construction sites, as you
know, for decades has been an
issue with the city of miami
from a safety perspective, from
a visual blight perspective and
from the cleanliness or the or
the lack of cleanliness that
has been able to have been
maintained by the city. A
single operator for this one
year provides the city with a
very intimate, controlled
measure of the success and the
concerns that MAY happen during
this year. So the program can
be tweaked and then opened up
to whatever competitors
qualified competitors that
there are uh, that want to
participate in this program. As
previously stated, we have been
working with the county with
multiple mayors and
commissioners over the past
nine plus years. We have
committed a tremendous amount
of resource for this. And I
would ask the question for any
of our competitors who are out
there where were you? What were
you doing? We invested the
time, the effort and the
determination to get this
program to work with the city
administrators as well as
elected officials to come up
with a ordinance. Thank you.
That works. We appreciate it. I
really appreciate. Your time
and effort. Thank you for your
vote. Is that everyone on this
item or we have one more
speaker I can't see with the
sign so no you can leave them
up. I just go ahead. Okay.
>> we're signing it right now.
Um, jennifer del mastro
jennifer del mastro 1717 north
bayshore drive miami florida
33132. Thank you guys for
allowing us to speak. I come in
very quickly just to add as uh
my sister dawn had spoken
before please mind the emotions
okay? We have the privilege of
continuing something our father
began ten years ago. We were
with him every step of the way.
So what an honor and a
privilege as a family it would
be to take his vision and bring
it to life. He thought of this
a long time ago. His vision
inspired us throughout our
lives. Completing his work
would mean more than any other
project we've been on. It would
be the fulfillment of a dream
that began long before many of
these buildings existed. We
respectfully ask that you
approval of del mastro outdoor
to be the sole company to test
this idea to make miami look
beautiful while it continues to
grow in the most desirable city
to live. Thank you very much
for considering our family.
Please I apologize about my
emotions but anyone who knows
the del mastro's I'm the one
that cries the most in the
family. Anyway, thank you for
your time. Thank you for
coming. All right. [Laughter]
Um, I have one last public
speaker. All right. Welcome.
Good morning, MADAM Mayor. City
commission. My name is. Anabel
urrea. I am here as a municipal
partner not as a resident. I am
from miami dade county mayor's
office daniella levine cava
office. I just wanted to
introduce myself as your new ig
liaison. Um, your previous one
david vidal was promoted so
they have assigned to me this
beautiful city. So just wanted
to introduce myself, put the
name behind the emails that you
will be receiving and if you
have any questions or need
anything with the county or our
mayor I'm your girl. Thank you
very much. Well thank you for
coming. This is the first this
is a nice in-person
introduction. We appreciate you
and congratulations to daniel.
All right. I don't see any more
speakers. So public comment is
closed. Um all right colleagues
I guess we'll try to do the
MADAM Mayor. Yes sir I did have
a I did have a few minutes that
I wanted to be able to just use
a point of personal privilege
to discuss an item that is for
the public benefit. What item
is that? It is about uh canopy
and tree basically. Okay.
>> um we'll we'll do that I'll
put that on the list. Okay. Um,
one of the things I was
thinking we should do first is
our 11 uh, the designation of
the street for ruth shack. I
think she probably deserves to
have a a separate vote given
her long history, um, in this
city and if it's possible, I
would love to co-sponsor that
item. I'm not sure if others
are interested in that too. I
really appreciate you bringing
that. Commissioner pardo. Sure
was the sponsor of the item.
Obviously I have a few words
that I'd like to share.
>> I figured you would so go
ahead. Um, a lot of people
spoke about ruth shack and what
she's done for the arts for
culture, how christo's islands
were wrapped at a moment where
the city was paradise lost. She
made it paradise found what
she's done with art miami art
basel I'm not going to talk
about any of that. I'm going to
talk about myself. When I was a
very young man, pretty insecure
and very worried because I was
openly gay and it was a moment
in miami where hiv was killing
a lot of people. Nobody knew
why hiv was killing a lot of
people. And um and here was
this woman who on tv on camera
in the community stood up in a
very unique way, very
courageous way people spit at
her. Her kids were threatened.
Uh, that was the climate in
this community at that time.
But as a young person to be
able to see that meant so much
because it meant that there was
some kind of space for me and
over time I was able to work
with her. Uh, we did one of the
first fundraisers with an
organization called network. We
raised about $90,000 in those
times which is probably 19. I
don't even know how far back it
was a long time ago. And uh,
ruth and the reason I wanted to
say my personal story is
because I am just one of
thousands of people that she
touched in that way and I am
convinced that in our community
there are so many underserved
people, there are so many
minorities and so many
separated people especially in
today's world that someone who
fought hard to bring them
together to start small
nonprofits that listen to
people that really made a
difference in miami. I am
convinced that this city would
not be this city without ruth
shack. And so I find it
incredibly fitting that we're
naming a street that wraps
around the old southeast
financial center because those
were her offices for decades
where she sat as the PRESIDENT
Of the dade community
foundation. Today it's called
the miami foundation and where
they gave out tons of grants to
all of these small nonprofits
that made a difference for
every every part of this
community. So obviously from a
personal level, uh, it's
somebody that that I can you
know, I there's not enough
words I could possibly say to
what she meant to me, but also
keep in mind how many thousands
of people are in miami that she
impacted the same way.
[Laughter] I take that that's a
motion for r 11 na do I have a
second. Commissioner I'd like
to second I'd also like to be
added as a co-sponsor the the
miami foundation is an
organization that's been very
special to me. Uh and I'm happy
to support you on this. Thank
you, MR. Clark. Yes thank you,
thank you. Commissioner king
would also like to be shown as
a co-sponsor for r 11. Okay.
>> delightful perfect
colleagues any other comments
if that that's all in favor say
I I show ruth shack having her
own street passed unanimously.
Thank you for bringing that.
MADAM Mayor. Yes commissioner
rosado.
>> could I take a moment of
personal privilege as well? I
would love to address the
silver court residents that are
here. Okay.
>> quickly and then we'll um
set. I have one. Yeah we yeah
we have the we have the two of
that before and for from your
perspective since folks are
here, I think we will
absolutely do that. Um
colleagues, you know we're
coming up on noon. My thought
is uh, we continue trying to
get through a few of the items.
Do you agree? So okay. All
right. So um why don't we start
with commissioner carter since
he has first then we'll go to
you commissioner rosado.
Commissioner pardo, you again.
It's really quick. Um first of
all I want to yeah I want to
thank everybody that has been
engaged on tree and canopy
issues. I think it's fantastic.
We had a full house here for
the head board meeting. There's
a lot of feedback and a lot of
people engaged and the more
eyes on anything I think the
better it is for us as a
community. Even so, I want to
explain to people some of the
context of things that are
happening because I've never
seen this really happening
before so far in my term in
office. So alex, if you can put
on the there you go. So this is
a new organization that popped
up miami canopy watch this is
their comment bs you sound like
donald trump now everyone knows
you ordered the falsification
of those permits to cut down
your own neighbors 100 year old
oak tree for destructive
sidewalks. We have the records.
It's on our page. Your district
has the most tree removals by
far than any other. This is an
incredibly serious legal false
allegation and I just want
residents to understand that we
are here in our office. We are
passionate about trees. Our
staff in the city is passionate
about trees. We are here for
you. We want you to come to us,
talk to us and let us show you
what we do, how we do it and
the information and what the
facts are. If you can go to the
next one, here is an image
before and after pardo paved
paradise. This is a doctored
image you can see on the right
hand side. And then if you go
to the next slide, the area
that we pointed out what was
just taken out to make a
convenient argument in the
moment and I'm going to go to
the next one and I'll make
those points on the next slide.
And this was put which is not
great to put these on trees.
You're harming the tree when
you do this but this was put in
edgewater and it says save
edgewater call damian pardo
developers mellow group and our
commissioner damian pardo are
destroying edgewater demand a
community meeting to end the
overdevelopment and it gives
you all of this stuff with a qr
code so that you can give money
to be able to support this
movement. Uh, currently that
we're we're looking play out
here. It's important to
understand that as a
commissioner, not any
commissioner and not the mayor
has I've never seen a tree
permit. I don't give any
direction when it comes to
trees. There's nothing we are
separated by charter from the
city manager. The city manager
and the administration run the
city. We are here to represent
you. We are here to interact
with you and we are here to set
policy that helps govern what
happens in administration. So
that's a very, very important
distinction. When somebody is
pointing to someone it likely
has nothing to do with the
actual thing you care about
which is tree and canopy. And
then if you can go to the next
one. So here I guess this is
the gofund me where that qr
code takes people and it says
thank you for the recent
donations. We have successfully
filed the appeal from margaret
pace park continue to share
future removals. There are no
appeals for margaret pace park
there is nothing to file so I
want people to be careful, to
be cautious, to have eyes wide
open and to please contact our
office. Thank you for your
time. Thank you mayor.
>> all right. Thank you
commissioner and you and I have
spent many a day hot day under
trees and sometimes planting
trees together. So I can attest
to your commitment, uh, to
greening greening folks.
Commissioner rosado, you're a
few of your residents were here
today. Thank you.
>> thank you, MADAM Mayor. Uh,
I think the folks in silver
court know that it is a place
that is important to me
essentially my entire life my
grandmother and my step
grandfather lived in silver
court in throughout the 70s and
the 1980s I had several
relatives that lived there. In
fact I grew up playing hide and
go seek there. When we learned
some months back that the
developer was going to sell the
property, we told him
immediately two things number
one, you need to give the folks
that live there more time than
you are required to and you
need to give them more money.
Our state standards for these
things they're not nearly as
high as they as they should be.
So I do know that they have
given more time and more money,
but we recognize that it's it's
not enough. Okay. We when we
received a copy of the eviction
notice on the same day that you
all received it because we
found out when you found out we
immediately did two things
right. We organized two housing
resource fairs at coral gate
park which is walking distance
from silver court we had there
with the support of mayor
higgins and mayor levine cava
at the county level and a
number of nonprofits. We
organized a fair to explain to
everybody here are the city,
the county and the nonprofit
resources available to
everybody in the trailer park.
We then went door to door and
personally invited everybody.
Doesn't mean everybody was
home, but we made sure that
every household received a
notification for both of the
events that we had, which were
pretty well attended. We have
gone trailer to trailer a
number of times since then to
make sure that anybody who
wasn't at the meeting received
the same information that that
we have. Because of that we
have helped a number of
families to relocate. And so we
know that today 84% of the
trailer park has relocated. So
we understand how unaffordable
miami is and we are here to do
whatever we can. I have said it
on the record multiple times
and I've said it on the
news and I'm going to say it
until everything is resolved
but not one person or one
household residing in silver
court that is willing to accept
relocation assistance will end
up on the street. Doesn't
matter what agenda item is on
this agenda or any other
agenda. If anybody in silver
court wants assistance, we are
here to help. We are going to
be bringing the developers who
live across the country to the
table to meet with you all as
well within the next few weeks
they have agreed to that we're
locking in a date. We want them
to hear from you personally but
as I sit here no one in silver
court will end up homeless.
Thank you commissioner. All
right MADAM. MADAM Chair.
Mayor. Yes.
>> okay.
>> so I reserve the right to do
what I just did when I feel
that something is falsehood
like there's a lot of
falsehoods out there. All
right.
>> all right, let me finish.
Ma'am, please. I reserve the
right to do the same thing that
he's doing. It's not going to
be today but it might be next
commission meeting so I just
want to put that on the record.
>> thank you. Yes. I think what
I will do next time is when
anyone feels they need to
defend themselves, we'll do it
at the end of the meeting
colleagues. So just to be clear
we'll do it at the end not at
the beginning. Um all right
consent agenda let's try to
move as quickly through what is
simple to do. Um c one two and
three. Does anyone want to
bifurcate any of [Laughter]
those. All right I'll entertain
a motion motion. And MR. Clark
for the interruption. For the
record c two will be amended
pursuant to a substitution memo
dated JULY 21st 2026. Thank you
chair. Thank you and also
colleagues as it's written
today it doesn't include our
new ordinance on um minimizing
single use plastics, but the
administration assured me that
it will by the time it signed
okay motion on the consent
items as amended. So moved.
Second.
>> second.
>> second all in favor say aye.
Aye show those passed um public
hearing items. We can take all
items except for ph six which
must be heard after the cra
meeting.
>> I'd like to pull page three.
Page three. All right. We'll
pull ph. And I'd like to pull
ph five. Ph five so we have the
dade heritage trust the hope
hydration be pulled and then
the allapattah cra has to we
have to wait on that. All right
so I will accept a motion on ph
one ph 2ph4. So moved. Second
all in favor say aye. Aye any
opposed. So that's passed
unanimously I think if if it's
okay with you all I'll just
MARCH to the agenda on the
things that we have consent on
and then we'll go back this
way. If folks are here just for
one item they'll they'll get
those out of the way. Um all
right. We'll move to
resolutions. Are there items
you would like to bifurcate on
our resolutions list. I'd like
ru4rere4re12. Re12 and re14. Re
14. Which I guess goes with 15.
Probably 15. We need to
bifurcate as well. Um any any
others colleagues.
>> could you give me a. Minute
of course yeah.
Did somebody put pull. R12r12
has been pulled. Yes okay.
Anyone else. I believe um
district three wanted to have a
substitution of re 17. And
basically ra 17 relates to
district four. Re three wanted
to add themselves to your
resolution so. Sponsor as well.
Okay is that clear to everyone
okay all right so colleagues
from the resolutions the ones
that I show as pulled are
e4re12r14 and its companion re
15 is that it? All right I'll
entertain a message on the
remaining items. Do you have
any amendments or substitutions
MR. Clerk.
>> thank you chair I believe in
addition to the amendment that
the city attorney stated for re
17 it needs to be amended
pursuant to a substitution memo
dated JULY 15th, 2026. Okay.
>> we will take a motion with
that amendment. So moved.
Second.
>> all right. All in favor say
aye. Aye aye.
>> any opposed show those items
passed. All right. If with your
permission we'll do the same
thing on second readings. Are
there any of the second
readings that people would like
to bifurcate sr3sr3. Anything
else? Sir for. Okay sr4
colleagues anything else? All
right I will entertain okay. Oh
I forgot I'm doing I forgot to
let you do your job george.
There you go. Let's read sr one
sr 2sr5sr6 and sr seven and
we'll do the others when we
come back to.
>> them okay um sr1 second
reading ordinance an ordinance
of the miami city commission
amending chapter 54 article two
section 54-56 of the code of
the city of miami, florida as
amended city code titled
streets and sidewalks
construction excavation and
repair construction
reconstruction or repair of
street improvements required
when adjacent property is
improved by construction of
$100,000 or more in value or
exceeding 1000ft2 in floor area
restriction to provide for the
increase of the construction
value threshold that triggers
required street improvements
reducing the maximum percentage
of required right of way
improvement costs for property
owners and requiring compliance
with americans with
disabilities act ada and life
safety requirements pursuant.
And life safety requirements
prior to the issuance of
certificates of occupancy
containing severability clause
and providing for an effective
date sr2 second reading
ordinance an ordinance of the
miami city commission amending
chapter 62 article one section
62-2.1 of the code of the city
of miami, florida as amended
titled planning and zoning in
general independent traffic and
environmental impact studies by
updating traffic statement and
traffic impact study
requirements containing
severability clause providing
for an effective date sr5 an
ordinance of the miami city
commission amending chapter two
article 11 division two of the
code of the city of miami,
florida as amended city code
titled administration boards
committees commission standards
for creation and review of
boards generally or
specifically by amending
section 2-885 titled terms of
office term limit waiver to
provide that a board member who
has completed eight consecutive
years MAY be permitted to serve
additional terms upon a
unanimous vote of the members
of the city commission
containing a severability
clause and providing for an an
immediate effective date sr6 an
ordinance of the miami city
commission amending chapter 38
article one of the code of the
city of miami, florida as
amended total parks and
recreation in general by
creating section 38-43 titled
naming of shenandoah dog park
to provide for the naming of
the property consisting of
approximately 10,710ft2 located
at 2293 north southwest 17
terrace miami, florida as
shenandoah dog park further
directing the city manager to
take any and all action
necessary to effectuate the
naming of the park containing a
severability clause and
providing for an immediate
effective date. And we have
sr7sr7 an ordinance of the
miami city commission amending
chapter 62 article 12 of the
code of the city of miami,
florida as amended city code
titled planning and zoning
parks and open space trust fund
to clarify the public benefits
contribution and expenditure
process for properties near a
greenway containing a
severability clause and
providing for an effective
date. That concludes the second
reading. Thank you. MR. Clark.
Do you have any clarifications
or amendments? Thank you.
>> chair sr7 will be amended
pursuant to a substitution memo
dated JULY 17th, 2026. Thank
you chair. Thank you. All
right. So the ones that have
not been bifurcated sr1, two,
five six and seven as amended
entertain a motion. Motion
second. All in favor say aye
aye. Any opposed show those
carrying unanimously okay get
ready to read again george um
we'll do the first reading once
um does anyone want to
bifurcate any of the first
reading items. Frfr5fr5. Anyone
else? All right, MR. Attorney,
if you could read fr one
through four into the record
please.
>> thank you, MADAM Mayor. Um
fr1 first reading ordinance an
ordinance of the miami an
ordinance of the miami city
commission amending chapter 23
article one of the code of the
city of miami, florida as
amended titled historic
preservation historic
preservation by amending
section 23-6.1 titled waivers
exceptions and exclusions for
locally designated historic
resources to provide for an
exception to permit event
venues in historically
designated structures
containing a severability
clause providing for an
effective date fr2 an ordinance
of the miami city commission
amending chapter 19 section
19-2.1 of the code of the city
of miami, florida as amended
titled fire safety permit
required issuance fees, annual
renewal revocation and
penalties use of fees to create
subsection g to require the
electronic submission of fire
protection and life safety
system inspection, testing and
maintenance reports through a
web based system including a
third party system design
designated by the city
containing a severability
clause and providing for an
immediate effective date. Fr3
an ordinance of the miami city
commission amending chapter 20
of the code of the city of
miami, florida as amended
titled flood damage prevention
providing guidelines and
timelines for recertification
of existing drainage systems
amending related fee provisions
provided that applicable fee
shall be set by resolution
establishing reporting criteria
for compliance and aligning
drainage recertification
requirements with the city of
miami's building certification
recertification program
containing a severability
clause and providing for an
effective date. Fr4 an
ordinance of the miami city
commission amending chapter 54
article five of the code of the
city of miami, florida as
amended titled base building
lines to include an
encroachment on the ninth
street mall containing a
severability clause and
providing for an immediate
effective date. That concludes
the f. All right, MR. Clark,
over to you. Any changes,
amendments or. At the moment
no. There will just be an
amendment for fr5 once it's
addressed. Okay.
>> all right so um colleagues
any comments or I'll entertain
a motion I'm. Sorry I have one
comment for fr4. Okay I'd like
to exempt d five from this
legislation because there are
so many historical areas in
district five that I wouldn't
want an unintended consequence
of just a blanket legislation
for historically designated
structures. If we could exempt
d five from this legislation
fr1I. Would add district two.
Fr1fr1 okay. I'm sorry that is.
Fr4fruzfr1 okay yeah you
mentioned fr4 so fr1. I'm just
going to count that one as
pulled and let's we'll do so
fr1 and fr5 are both for
discussion later. Let's take a
motion fr23 and four. So moved.
Okay all in favor say aye. Aye
okay show those passed. Um I
want to MARCH through the
things that we can get done so
if folks have items and they
can they can go home um we'll
go forward to the planning and
zoning items. Colleagues any of
these would you like to
bifurcate for further
discussion. Pzpz8 and nine. All
right pz8 and nine have been
bifurcated others. I'd just
like to co-sponsor pz5 if I'm
not already on their tod.
Absolutely.
>> thank you. Any other
changes, MR. Clark, do you have
any changes for us on the items
that have not been bifurcated?
Um only for pz8 and nine so
we're good to go right? Okay
I'll entertain a motion on all
of those. Oh MR. City attorney
yes. Um okay. Would you read
the ones that need to be read.
>> please z one is a resolution
pz2 um second reading ordinance
an ordinance of the miami city
commission with attachments
amending ordinance number 10544
as amended the future land use
map of the miami comprehensive
neighborhood plan pursuant to
small scale amendment
procedures subject to section
163.3187 florida statutes by
changing the future land use
designation from single family
residential to major
institutional public
facilities, transportation and
utilities of the acreage
described herein of real
property at 770 north west 41
avenue miami, florida as more
particularly described in the
attached and incorporated
exhibit a making findings
containing a severability
clause and providing for an
effective date pz3 second
reading ordinance an ordinance
of the miami city commission
with attachments amending the
zoning atlas of ordinance
number 1311 for the zoning code
of the city of miami, florida
as amended miami 21 code by
changing the zoning
classification from t3r
suburban transect zone
restricted to c I civic
institution transect zone for
the property generally located
at 770 north west 41 avenue
miami, florida as more
particularly described in the
attached and incorporated
exhibit a making findings
containing severability clause
and providing for an effective
date s r I'm sorry pz4 um an
ordinance of the miami city
commission amending ordinance
number 13114 the zoning
ordinance of the city of miami,
florida as amended miami 21
code specifically by amending
article one titled definitions
to introduce new definitions
and clarify definitions related
to greenways by amending
article three titled general to
zones specifically by amending
section 3.14 to introduce a
greenway public benefits
program to allow development
benefits for eligible sites
within a half mile of a
greenway and by adding section
3.20 titled greenway standards
to establish criteria and
regulations for developments
fronting a greenway and by
amending article four titled
standards and tables to clarify
the greenway civic space type
making making findings
containing a severability
clause and providing for an
effective date. Pz5 an
ordinance of the miami city
commission amending ordinance
number 13114 the zoning
ordinance of the city of miami,
florida as amended miami 21
code by amending article one of
the miami 21 code titled
definitions to introduce a
definition for cottage housing
and to update the definition of
lot coverage and by amending
article five section 5.3 of the
miami 21 code titled suburban
transit zones t three to allow
for a new housing typology
within t3o transect zones and
on t three nonconforming lots
and to update the porticos and
porches regulations making
findings containing a
severability clause and
providing for an effective
date. Six was indefinitely
deferred z seven was
indefinitely deferred. That
leaves us with p z ten first
reading ordinance an ordinance
of the miami city commission
amending ordinance number 13114
the zoning ordinance of the
city of miami, florida as
amended miami 21 code by
amending article six titled
supplemental regulations
specifically section 6.1 titled
intent and exclusions table 13
to modify the permitting
process for food service
establishments and to clarify
the permitting process for
alcohol service establishments
and by amending section 6.3
titled commercial uses to
clarify and update outdoor
dining regulations and to allow
outdoor dining by right and
specified locations and when
scale and design criteria are
met, making findings containing
a severability clause and
providing for an effective date
that concludes the items. All
right um MR. City clerk any
amendments substitutions
comments on those. Not not at
the moment no. Okay.
>> all right we'll take a
motion on those items accepting
pz8 and pz9. So moved. Second
all in favor say I. I show
those items passed unanimously.
Um I think we have one other
item MR. Clerk that uh the
boards and committees miami
tree ordinance advisory
committee you want to read that
for us? Thank you chair a bc1
miami tree ordinance advisory
committee commissioner king
would like to appoint aaron
demaio to the at large seat
designated for a member of the
climate resilience committee.
Second all in favor say aye.
Aye aye show that unanimously
passed. Okay. Um we have just
about 8 or 9 items to get
through. Do we want to power
through or. MADAM MADAM mayor,
can we come from the items and
work our way back to the top?
All right. So let us um and
then here's one of the things I
would like to do. I'd like to
do your items and then
commissioner gabel if you could
prepare to do the allapattah
cra right after that because we
cannot do ph six until that
meeting is over and the other
cras we don't have any items on
this agenda. Just one. Just
after the. Item I thought that
everybody be handed one of
these the commissioners and the
mayor for the area. I'm sorry
sir. But everybody be handed
one of these for the area
because the CHAIRWOMAN. Agenda
agenda. Um an agenda yeah I can
certainly provide an agenda.
Yes sir. Yeah. Thanks.
>> okay so you let me know when
you're ready but we've got to
get that one done or we can't
get through the commission
agenda. We'll do all right
commissioner king over to you
for pz8 and nine. Um, MR. City
attorney, do you want to read
those in since we didn't read
those in I think one of them
has to be read in. Yes MADAM
Mayor, I believe pz8 the
resolution pz9 is an ordinance
pz9 first reading ordinance an
ordinance of the miami city
commission with attachments
amending the zoning atlas of
ordinance number 1311 for the
zoning ordinance of the city of
miami, florida as amended miami
21 code by changing the zoning
classification from t68l urban
core transect zone limited to t
five zero urban core transit
zone open for the properties
generally located at
625645675685650640630 and 626
northeast 64 terrace and
629635645655669 and 685 north
east 64th street and the east
portion of 610 northeast 64
terrace, miami, florida more
particularly described in
exhibit a attached and
incorporated making findings
containing a severability
clause and providing for an
effective date. Thank you. All
right commissioner king. Okay
so I just want for
administration the city
attorney's office to put on the
record where this community
benefit of $1 million will be
deposited that make sure that
my neighbors know it will not
end up in a general fund. It
will park itself in a district
five account which could live
beyond me um depending on when
we get to distributing and for
the record, allocating these
funds is predicated on
community meetings for the
community and the different
areas that MAY be adversely
impacted by this development.
The community decides not the
district five commissioner in a
in a vacuum. So I want to make
sure that they are assured that
this money is going into a pot
for district five specific for
this project to address issues
that will stem from this
development. That is correct
MADAM Chair. Um the money is
just basically being placed in
a bucket for the district five.
Um in order to spend that money
you'll have to come back to the
city commission for approval
for any use of that funds.
they'll be treated like any
other uh, funds that the city
has. So yeah, there is not a
special account for the
district five. It's just a
place to put the monies so that
then they can be appropriately
spent for public. I just wanted
to make that clear on the
record so that the community
understands that this money is
specific for this project and
the money is parked in a
district five account that it
will not be sent to general
funds or used for any other
purpose than what is intended
in the covenant. And that was
that was it. I just wanted to
get that on the record. All
right.
>> I will entertain a motion.
Motion okay on pc seven and pc
I'm sorry pc eight and pc nine
chair MR. Clark. My apologies.
I do apologize for the
interruption. Um so for pc, pc
eight will be amended pursuant
to a substitution memo dated
JULY 17th, 2026 for pc nine. It
will be amended to add a piece
of information in the body of
the legislation. All right
moved as amended by
commissioner king. Second
second by commissioner. All in
favor say aye. Aye.
>> any opposed? No. Those
passed unanimously.
Commissioner gable, are you
ready to do the allapattah cra.
I am okay show this meeting
recessed for just a few minutes
and commissioner gabel let's
open the cra. I know you have a
little tape changing sorry but.
Thank you thank you mayor just.
>> we can stretch our legs for
a minute, okay? Flip the tape.
I've heard the.
>> what you have is a script.
Cra. Thank you everyone for
being here. All right. Changing
of the tape.
Mayor higgins we're good to go.
All right. We have a new tape.
Um so we are reconvening um
today's commission meeting. I
think we are starting back at
the top of the public hearing
items. Page three was
bifurcated. Um, commissioner
pardo, that's the dade heritage
trust site. Would you like to
take the lead on that? I would
I just want to respond to some
issues the residents had
brought up. Uh some folks
thought that the amount was low
or not correct, but there is an
appraisal behind that and there
was uh that's followed all the
rules we used to establish the
value. There was also a lot of
public comment about not being
sufficient engagement and not
really being a public process.
Totally agree with that. We
have talked about this with
dade heritage trust and they
have assured that they will
have a public engagement
process around this whole
thing. Also remember that
there's a board meeting so this
has to go before the headboard
which is another public hearing
and everyone will have an
opportunity to engage at the
board as well. Those are all
the comments I wanted to give.
Thank you for working on this.
You and I collaborated on that
when I was still at the
commission and if you don't
mind, I might also want to put
some comments on the record
because there were some
misleading newspaper articles.
Um but I remember you and i
talking it was MARCH of 2025
because I was going over to
visit with the board of dade
heritage trust and we delivered
that message together that
whatever dade heritage trust
wanted to do with that site if
they wanted to stay there, they
were going to have a county and
a city that supported that. And
if they thought there was
another path for them to
preserve this piece of history,
this amazing building and more
robustly build visitorship um
to their headquarters, we would
be supportive of that but that
they were always going to be in
the driver's seat. And I think
all of our residents know that
dade heritage trust, uh, is one
of the most transparent
organizations about what they
do with our treasured buildings
and resources here and um, so
happy to hear of all the public
input that will be coming in
the future. Thank you for
supporting that. So we have a
motion from commissioner pardo.
>> can I just say something on
the record? Commissioner gabel
is in my district at the end of
the day and I just want to
concur with what you guys have
just said. I was shown the
documents, I asked the
questions and I believe that
MR. Griffin has always been a
good corporate citizen and is a
man of his word. So I feel
comfortable in voting with you
guys for this. Thank you very
much. Other comments colleagues
.MR. City clerk. Uh thank you
chair page three will be
amended pursuant to a
substitution memo dated JULY
17th, 2026. All right. Show
that item moved by commissioner
prado as amended seconded by I
can no longer remember the
second commissioner king. All
in favor say aye. Aye show that
item passed unanimously.
Congratulations. All right ph5
our hope hydration commissioner
.I I think commissioner king
you but we can have any
discussion that's. Needed I
pulled it I'm also a sponsor of
this. I'm a big proponent for
our parks and our kids. My
concern is the advertisements
and the fees that we are going
to get for the advertisements
staff did do um as I requested
all of the fees for each
district park will remain in
that district for that park.
But I do believe that we could
do a little better with the
advertising fees. It is
advertising and um that's a
huge source of revenue. So I
would like to negotiate a bit
more with the fees. I think we
I think the administration
could do a little better but I
am completely in support of
this pilot program bringing
fresh cold water and I don't
know if everyone got that that
it's going to be cold filtered
clean water for our communities
and for me who I use a brita
filter bottle, um reusable
bottle I travel with it out of
the country and I fill it up
with when I'm out of the
country bottled water and even
have that filtered so I am in
support of it. But I do think
that administration can tweak
this a bit with respect to the
advertisements and the fees
that the city would get. I
agree um. MR. City manager
would you or resiliency officer
have done all the work on this?
i want to comment. Sure.
>> so commissioner obviously
this gives me the opportunity
to further negotiate the
contract so I'm more than
willing to work with your
office as well as I've spoken
to d2 and some of the concerns
in terms of placement and where
you all would like to see these
across your districts. So
moving forward, uh, I look
forward to working with both
your office to make sure that
the expectation is met and the
language that we're going to be
negotiating with hope and also
as it relates to the locations
of said um dispensers, we we
all work together
collaboratively to make sure
that your needs are met. So
would you please include my
office also in. Folks
commissioner king you have the
floor. So I just want to make
sure in passing this you still
have an opportunity to
negotiate the fees. I don't
want to pass it and then the
contract is as it is. Um my
colleague here feels the same
way so I want to I want to make
sure on the record that we have
an opportunity to negotiate the
fees that we would get from the
advertisement. That is correct.
Okay.
>> I'll make the motion. Okay.
>> I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm
sorry. Okay.
>> um we'll go to you,
commissioner bell then we'll go
to commissioner prado. Thank
you. Okay.
>> so I you know when this came
to me. I was a bit surprised
that everybody here, you know,
went along with it because I've
been hearing that people are
you know the advertisement and
this is the the voodoo man you
know what I mean? But but you
know this everybody seems to be
this is strange. We're living
in a strange world. I don't
know I don't know [Laughter]
What's going on here you know
but you haven't spoken yet but
I'm going along with it. I'm
going to go along with it
because of the benefits that I
think that it will provide to
our citizens. However, I also
share your concern, MADAM Chair
and your concern, commissioner,
that I think the fees can be
negotiated maybe on a scale
than on the first year it's on
the second year of successful
is this and something like that
that we can get something a
little bit more for the
residents in lieu of the
advertising dollars that they
are going to make. And we want
to be fair with you guys also.
So that's that's my piece.
>> thank you. Okay. I also
agree that we should defer by
the way. Commissioner pardo.
Yeah, my my main issue was
being able to have control over
location and site because it is
visual pollution, you know in a
park it depends with placement
and site and how that that
whole issue works. So as long
as it's flexible with our
district and we can choose to
do it or not or to do it here
or not there that's really what
what we're asking for of course
we're in favor of nice cold
filtered water not only for us
but and dogs you know dog parks
all of all of the things. It's
a great idea. I want to commend
the founders and the people
that have put this forward.
it's exciting that you're
coming here with great ideas
and I think you're right as
your great idea takes off in
this pilot, other people are
going to be coming to miami. So
thank you for that and that's
it. That's all I wanted on the
record. Um excellent. Um to the
city attorney it's clear that
um commissioner prado wants to
have a little bit of yes no
maybe so on the locations that
are recommended do we need to
put a caveat in here or do we
just need a gentleman's
agreement with hope that you
will make sure that
commissioner prado is happy?
Please say that loudly and into
the microphone on the record.
I'm on the record. I'm george
richardson, I'm the founder ceo
of hope hydration. Uh, this is
the kind of discussion we we've
always dreamed of. We don't
want to put water in places
that people aren't going to use
and people don't want it. Uh,
it's led from the ground up. So
okay. So that's a yes you will.
On the record. Thank you. Okay.
All right. So we have a motion
for the item we know the
manager is going to negotiate.
He's put that on the record. We
know you're going to work with
commissioner prado and others.
Um is there a second.
>> no. We're deferring it.
That's what. We said I don't.
Know nobody wants to defer this
before we negotiate. No I'd
like commissioner to negotiate.
That's that's me I mean. MR..
>> I'd like to negotiate. MR.
City manager. Commissioner,
this is a pilot program so.
That's my that's where I'm at
I, I vote yes if you're going
to come back and all these
things are are met if not I'm
voting no today. That's my
thing okay. Doesn't [Laughter]
Matter if somebody comes along
and that's where I'm at. Yeah.
>> um this this item is a pilot
program even if we negotiate a
lot more for the you know, an
extra percentage point whether
it's five percentage, 10% we're
still talking in year one very,
very low dollars. I think it is
worth moving this forward in
the summer to get these things
open because we will be able to
negotiate the full agreement
should we like it and like how
it looks and like how it
physically works um as well.
Maybe we will and I'm probably
going to like it but so what?
So let's do it real quick a
motion to defer if there's
nobody with me it does and you
guys make the motion to move
motion to defer. No motion. My
motion dies. Now we can take
the vote. Okay um. Motion
commissioner king. Motion to
defer. Okay so the motion to
defer. I don't take issue with
deferring it. I don't I don't
if he's not ready.
>> I'm not ready. I believe
that administration has
satisfied that they will
negotiate everything that you
want to do. So but it's
whatever the body wants. How
long is the pilot program for?
Is it a year. It's it's it's
one it's one year. Um if we
like it and we renew and we
decide to expand, um if we
defer we are deferring until
SEPTEMBER 9th. So we would
delay starting this about two
months.
>> and I would I would rather
given that we're in the summer
and it's so incredibly hot, I'd
love for us to be able to
provide free water sooner
rather than later, but I hope
we keep this sentiment in mind
when we get to another pilot
program later in the agenda
because what we're basically
saying is that this isn't a
permanent yes, this is a let's
test the waters. Yes, literally
test the waters and we could
come back and amend the terms.
So I I'll support moving this
forward at this time. Okay.
>> is there a motion? MR.
Clerk.
>> so commissioner my
apologies. I thought there was.
>> a motion commissioner had
made a motion at 12:48 P.M. To
defer ph5 but there was no
second. So then that motion is
going to die for a second and
now a new motion can be
entertained. I move to move the
item with the understanding
that additional negotiations
will take place and that the
manager will speak to each of
us about placements in our
districts. Okay.
>> is there a second okay. All
in favor say aye. Aye no. Show
that item passed 4 to 1 with
MR. Gavala MR. Chair. Just for
the record as is as. Is as is
with all the comments on the
record noting that those will
become part of the long term
agreement. Thank you. All
right. Ph six we can now take
up I believe um, MR. Clerk,
since we've had the allapattah
cra meeting which is the
approval of the cra
redevelopment is do I have.
That is correct. So moved.
>> second.
>> all right. And so. Yes
MADAM.
>> chair, just for the record.
MR..
>> MR. Carswell just a. Second,
MR. Clark. Thank you.
>> um, so ph six is going to be
amended to add an allapattah
cra meeting date and allapattah
a resolution number to the body
of the legislation.
Additionally submittal of
backup documents into the
record consisting of the
letters and certified mail
receipts associated with the
letters that were sent to the
taxing authorities which is
what um MR. Carswell is going
to state on the record right
now. All right, MR. Carswell,
welcome. It's an exciting day
for the cra. Uh, good afternoon
commissioners MADAM Chair keith
carswell um, supplemental
information. This is just
notices to the taxing
authorities that went out in
support of the process for the
cra. So this is just
supplemental information and I
think the council says that
it's not substantive. Correct
motion. Second all in favor say
aye. Aye aye. Show that item
passed unanimously. As amended.
>> as amended okay. Are re4I
believe is the next one MR.
Clerk that we have yet to do
this. That is correct. Great.
>> um colleagues, when I
arrived here one of the first
things I did um was actually go
out to our sanitation
facilities and and met with
dale and learned that four out
of every ten of our sanitation
trucks are broken and unusable
every day because our fleet is
so old. Um, we also have aging
police vehicles. We have aging
fire vehicles and I asked
myself the question, you know,
all all municipalities have to
save money, but how can we be
in a predicament where where
our vehicles are so much older
than anyone else's? And the
manager and I began discussions
on what were alternative ways
of financing other than
purchasing. Um and how do you
do that and do what we had done
in the county and what other
big counties in florida have
done and also other large
buying groups. And I just want
to thank erica and barbie, uh,
because as you know, there
there's are two busy ladies
doing all kinds of stuff for
us, but they took on the task
of analyzing very quickly what
were some alternative ways that
we could make sure that we are
dealing with our aging fleet,
uh, begin to improve standards
reduce in the case of
sanitation, if we improve our
sanitation vehicles, we reduce
overtime because we're not
having to wait on on trucks.
And so I'm I'm very grateful to
particularly erica and barbie
for all the work they've
they've done on this. Um, MR.
City manager, do you want to
say I believe um commissioner
pardo you've pulled this item.
Yes I.
>> did yeah. Okay.
>> so we'll start with you if
you don't mind.
>> no not at all. Can we have
the appropriate staff person
that can answer?
Good afternoon. Uh, some I
wanted to understand this is
$150 million obligation and it
went before the finance
committee. So there's a couple
of things I'm interested in the
relationship with the finance
committee and this, uh be
helpful for people to
understand that this falls
under the non-ad valorem bucket
of what we can issue as debt.
There are two kinds of buckets
the ad valorem which taxpayers
their costs increase and then
there's none valorem which is
not handled in the same way. So
uh, how did it work with the
finance committee in this
specific case? Good afternoon,
erica darling, cfo any debt
that the city embarks upon it
has to be presented and
reviewed by the finance
committee prior to bringing it
to the commission. But the $450
million bond was not. We would
bring the $450 million when we.
If we get approved first and
foremost if we get approved and
then when we reach the time
that we're going to actually go
out and sell, we would get um
proposals back and they would
review the bond structure. The
issue I have is that in the
debt management policy of the
city which you correctly stated
it should go before issuance
because otherwise it kind of
defeats the purpose of having
advisors advise us as a
commission on the best
practice. So you know, that's
that's kind of like one big
thing. Uh, the other big thing
is the capacity that we have.
How much capacity do we have on
the non-ad valorem bucket?
Meaning we're using 150 now if
we went up to our full
capacity, how much more could
we use? I think I believe the
analysis showed maybe 250
million after the. Another 250
yes. So potentially we could
have taken that from the 450
that we're putting on the
taxpayer and we could have
financed that in this bucket of
non ad valorem correct?
Potentially yes potentially.
And that's kind of what I'm
what I'm gearing toward. I
think that this should have
absolutely gone to the finance
committee. I'm in the world of
finance. Finance is very
specific very difficult. You
know if that's what you're in
if that's what you studied, if
that's what you got your
master's and that's what it's a
different story. But for a
regular resident or a
commissioner or anyone to try
to understand this in the same
way and vote on it without it
first having gone to the
finance committee is really not
the best practice for
transparency or fiscal
responsibility. And I hear
those words a lot lately but
that's not what we're doing.
And so it concerns me and while
I support this item I agree
that we have I think you guys
did a very good job in
separating this into tranches.
I think that that really we
should reconsider this item
actually as a bond as a
commission and take it back
until it does go to the finance
committee, until we do public
engagement, until we have the
kind of process that gives
confidence. That's why people
don't have confidence in us or
in the city because something
that's in our policy, it's in
our finance committee
legislation as well. Every debt
issuance is going to go to the
finance committee and we
haven't done any of that.
Through the chair let me get
this straight because there
were guidelines and rules put
in place when we passed the 450
million bond supposedly that
we're going to ask the voter
and it was strictly said and I
think that's what we agreed to
that the money can only be used
for the police headquarters and
the for the repairing the fire
stations. Right. Am I missing
something here that now we're
taking the 150 and can somebody
explain to me what what I'm
hearing. Um perhaps um our
finance chair could talk about
what this is. This is a
different way of buying
vehicles. We can purchase the
vehicles and own them forever
in which case. No I know but.
>> I know that that's not. How
we finance but these are
totally different sources. Yeah
they're different sources. Um
the $150 million you would not
go out and issue bonds just
because of the average life of
the vehicles that we're
purchasing. Bond deals are
usually 25 to 30. Years
opposite of when he. Well no
she's she's correct. It's five
years. So they they finance it
that way. But she also said
there's another 250 million
available for long term finance
where you can.
>> no no but but we made it
simple. We said wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
>> we're not going to okay
we're going to talk one at a
time commissioner gabala or
commissioner are you finished?
You sounded like you were
finished and passed on. Okay so
commissioner belly you have the
floor. If anyone else raised
the floor you raise your hand
and then I'll let.
>> you in. In layman's terms
very simple. We said that the
$450 million bond which we
approved to go in front of the
voter was only going to be used
for the police headquarters.
Okay. And the fire stations to
build some of them and repair
them whatever you want to call
it. Right. But it was never
going to go for anything else.
Okay. That's still the case.
Yes. Why why are we talking
about the 150 mil in the bond?
Can somebody explain that. The
150 million is strictly for
light and heavy fleet vehicles?
>> got it. But but that's not
the question. Okay okay let's
make it simple. Is this the 150
this year has nothing to do
with that $450 million bond,
correct? Correct.
>> correct.
>> no.
>> but it does have one thing
to do. It's using up our
capacity. Folks folks.
Everybody's going to get to
talk mostly as much as they
want. Okay I'll take.
>> notes right. So we are all
going to get our opinions out
but we're not just going to
randomly interrupt any of our
colleagues. So commissioner.
Parker.
>> we're having a conversation
we're having I mean I don't
think we have to be so harsh
with each other. We're just
having a conversation.
Commissioner.
>> commissioner, commissioner
gabella do you yield the floor
to commissioner prado?
>> I do. All right,
commissioner prado, go ahead.
Thank you mayor.
>> you're welcome. So so the
issue here is debt issuance
correct? Right. The 150 is
short term lease arrangements
etc. The 450 is long term. 250
of the 450 could have been
issued in this manner as long
term debt without increasing
taxpayer taxes. And the issue I
have is when you read the
ballot language that voters are
going to have the voters have
been given in my opinion what's
a false choice? You have to
increase your taxes to feel
safe. If I read the question it
says to enhance citywide public
safety by improving critically
deteriorating facilities for
firefighters and paramedics
through renovations,
modernization and new
construction and by building a
modern mission ready public
safety headquarters for police
and first responders. Shall the
city of miami issue 450 million
in general obligation bonds
within maximum lawful interest
rates payable from an ad
valorem taxes with no increase
to the current capital projects
debt millage rate of 0.5935 and
an independent annual audit.
But this doesn't say we're
increasing taxes and that's
that's the bigger issue I have.
If we could have done this in a
way that doesn't increase taxes
and it hasn't been explored, it
begs the opinion of the finance
committee why didn't we why
don't we allow the finance
committee the people who know
about this to give us a
recommendation about what is
the best way to handle it?
That's really where I was born.
Commissioner.
>> all right. Any more
discussion on this item? Do I
have a motion on the fleet
items re four. Oh MR. Clerk.
I still fail to see what we're
all thinking. I still fail to
see why we're we're we're
mixing things up. We're
muddying the waters. I feel.
>> why are we doing that. For
now I think commissioner
cavallo we've finished the
discussion and so now we're
just looking at the fleet
purchases which will save us
$3.5 million over our
alternative next year. So if
someone would like to make a
motion I would entertain a
motion. So moved. Is there a
second there's a motion second.
All in favor say aye. Aye.
>> any opposed? So I am going
to go reluctantly alone okay.
And I still hold by what I
voted on that the 450 let me
make it clear in layman's term
is not going to be used for
anything other than the police
headquarters and the fire. The
fire that's it. It's not going
to be used for vehicles not
going to be used for any
however you want to write okay.
Hundred percent. So show that.
Item passed unanimously with
one reluctant yes thank you
commissioner. Commissioner king
I know you need to head out
shortly there. I think there
are items did you you pulled
fr5I hate to skip around but
are there items that you want
to. Take fr5fr5? I felt like
you'll have to read that if you
don't mind. Um to the city
attorney please. If our five
first reading ordinance an
ordinance of the miami city
commission amending chapter 62
article 13 division seven of
the code of the city of miami,
florida as amended entitled
planning and zoning planning
and zoning approval for
temporary uses and occupancies
permit required reserved more
particularly by amending
division seven to be titled
temporary off site commercial
advertising on construction
fencing to allow a pilot
program for off site commercial
advertising signage on a
temporary basis for certain
situated construction site
fencing within the city of
miami urban core containing a
severability clause and
providing for an effective
date. All right commissioner
king. For me my issue um I'd
like to exempt d five from this
legislation. I will address
this legislation separately for
the southeast overtown park
west cra area. But it as a
whole I'd like to exempt
district five. I have too many
historic neighborhoods the
design district and the like
that I would not like this
blanket legislation to apply to
district five. And I feel the
same way for district two they
should just come up the way
they normally come up. The
public can engage and that's a
better process for us. Okay.
>> any other comments and then
commissioner gabel? Yes ma'am.
Uh so uh originally when the
you know, when I heard of this
I'm for it by the way, the only
problem that I have is the
exclusion that they have
exclusivity for one year. But
you know, because others have
come to my office explaining
expressing a concern and and
then one side says, well, we
spent a lot of time on this and
resources developing this on
the other side came and says
no, that's not true. That was
done in 2011 2010 before you
know, so who do I believe right
at the end of the day, you
know, so I would like to do it
but you got to include
everybody and if you want to
give them a little you know, a
a lesser fee or something of
that nature, that's okay with
me but you can't I just don't
feel right doing
anti-competition for one year.
You know, I think it should be
you know whoever wants to do it
they can do it. Maybe they get
something a little bit more
than the others because of
their time that they put into
it. But by the way I'm in the
middle. You guys said one thing
to me the other side said
something else I'm in the
middle here you know? So that's
all I'm saying. I don't have a
problem with it. I think it's a
good idea in the sense that you
know, you see when there's
construction going on you see
all these you know, meshing
green meshing and then they
break and then there's graffiti
on them. So I think it's a
great idea honestly speaking.
Right. And and it's safe
because it's you know, it's
made out of a you've got a very
solid support for for that, you
know, for the for what you're
doing. So I think that all in
all, my only issue is is just
that that's my only issue.
Commissioner through the chair.
yes, commissioner..
>> would it be okay? Would you
would any of you entertain this
if we modified. Well I mean yes
commissioner. What I would add
is that because especially in
the areas of our district where
you have a lot of development
the urban core edgewater,
downtown brickell people are
are done. They already had the
enormous billboard at pam the
other billboards on the street.
They're very they don't want
more advertising period when
they're walking on a sidewalk
or they're walking in a public
space that's not what they
want. So our thinking was like,
well, let's allow the other
folks who feel comfortable to
do this and that gives us the
opportunity to watch and to try
to bring our folks along if
they like it, if they don't
like it, our district isn't
going to do it.
>> through the chair. But don't
you think that that looks
better that you know when you
have the mesh and they put all
the graffiti, don't you believe
this looks better than all the
graffiti on the mesh? I
personally think it does but
that's not what the residents
that I'm speaking with tell me.
They tell me they're just
tired. They don't want to see a
car. They don't want to see a
they're done with that
experience. You know and I can
understand that because you
have different residents that
for example than I do in
different neighborhood. But you
know, when I'm mostly concerned
about is is the safety also the
safety component of this that
when when something when one of
these measures and we've seen
it before that they have a
whole yeah. Where somebody try
to get in this is a safe way to
keep people out to keep people
safe, you know, and you know, I
really don't see you know, a
problem with it. But I respect
your point of view and and the
the CHAIRWOMAN's point of view.
Uh, CHAIRWOMAN. So sorry. Yeah.
Um commissioner.
>> king. No it's.
>> fine I apologize. No.
>> don't apologize at all.
>> no pun intended.
>> so. Commissioner. So so um
that's where we're at. So
commissioner this is this is
your item um two of your
colleagues would like to be
exempted out so we could make
that. That's fine with.
>> me if the other
commissioners are willing to
go. Commissioner gabriela do
you believe we can would you be
okay if we defer this to the
next meeting so I can.
>> I don't have. A problem.
>> I want to support it. Yeah,
I need to go a little bit
deeper.
>> no, you guys got to be
comfortable. You guys have to
be comfortable what you're
doing I.
>> want to support you but I
need you to go a little bit
deeper into a couple of
details. Okay so motion to.
Defer motion to defer.
>> the next. Meeting and it
will.
>> be the. First meeting in
SEPTEMBER.
>> is SEPTEMBER 10th. SEPTEMBER
10th.
>> okay. All right. Show that
item deferred. Commissioner
king, was there anything else a
priority to you before we. For
one there were two. Oh okay MR.
Manager. Okay after the input
from d5 and d2 we're going to
go ahead and withdraw the item.
So todd can we show fr one
being withdrawn please? We just
need a motion. Motion is it fr
one or fr5. Fr one. Fr five. We
deferred. For one.
>> fr one yeah.
>> oh okay so. That's right
because I want to exempt d5 and
commissioner pardo wants to
exempt yeah okay so. Withdraw
and does that mean it's
withdrawn withdrawn or it just
shows up every six months. It
is withdrawn withdrawn.
Withdrawn permanently deferred.
But what am I what am I motion
for withdrawn. Okay. Withdrawal
motion to withdraw. Motion.
>> second.
>> all right. All in favor? Aye
aye. Show that item with drawn.
Um okay let's go back to re 12
commissioner can we've gotten
all the things that are am I
I'm happy to go out of
priority. I think commissioner
pardo pulled re 12. Okay but
the other things are okay if we
just go in order for you. Um if
we can take sr four okay just
you know okay I'm I'm a no vote
on that.
>> all right sr four will take
sr four colleagues any other
comments other than. MR. King's
.Uh can. We talk? Yes yeah um
let the city attorney will
read. Go ahead and read it into
the record sr four second
reading ordinance an ordinance
of the miami city commission
amending chapter 37 of the code
of the city of miami, florida
as amended city code titled
offenses miscellaneous more
particularly by amending
section 37-16 of the city code
titled encampments on public
property prohibited providing
for revised procedures of
enforcement of violations
containing a severability
clause and providing for an
effective date. Okay
colleagues, any other
discussion? Commissioner
gabella. Yes, ma'am. Thank you.
So I was I think um
commissioner kelowna I think
has the right idea I think
because there is a this is a
problem in the neighborhood.
It's it's you know, safety
their safety also by the way,
not only you know versus you
know, the liabilities you know,
involved in this right. You
know, and I think he revised it
this has been revised from the
last time right. You know, um,
but I understand some of my
colleagues have concerns but I
I'm a I'm a go for this, you
know, I mean as long as we
don't get into any more, you
know, liabilities other than
what we need to. And through
the chair I would like to
clarify that a lot of people
came here today and expressed
the concern and we understand
that. But what they said was
not accurate. We're not taking
anybody to jail. City attorney
can you explain what this does.
Right in simple terms? All
right. The first thing I want
to mention is there was a
previous previously existing
prohibition on encampments
already in the city code. So
this is nothing new. What what
is essentially changing here is
the requirement for a law
enforcement officer to provide
a written notice. The former
code would say a written
warning required by subsection
MAY be accompanied by written
information. So now this was
amended to or is being amended
to remove the written warning.
But you added at the last
meeting a section that says
prior to the enforcement of the
provisions in subsection c1ac
above, a police officer shall
issue a verbal warning to a
person maintaining a
maintaining an encampment in
violation of this section to
inform that a failure to comply
with the city's prohibition
against encampments MAY result
in the person's arrest and
provide a reasonable amount of
time for the person to abate
his or her encampment. But also
included in this ordinance is
the fact that. Notwithstanding
the foregoing, nothing herein
shall be construed to prevent
or otherwise prohibit a police
officer from arresting a person
in violation of the section who
is ineligible for shelter
placement. There's a
requirement in the code that
the officer must first
ascertain whether there's a
shelter space available so if
there is no shelter space
available then the officer does
not take action. Um so. What
you're telling me right now if
I understood you correctly is
that if there is no shelter,
police officers cannot arrest
anybody the person right?
Correct.
>> okay, perfect. But MAY I
through the chair that's why I
stress the last time that we
had this conversation, uh, is
was that we need to find the
funding to make sure that we
have the beds. So then the
officer is not put in that
situation. Right. And that's
what I think now I don't know
if we addressed that issue. I
think I said when we had the
last year the the the crisis
with the camillus house that
they had raised, you know, the
the bed price on us and then
all of a sudden we went out we
went out we went with it for a
couple of months I believe or
more than a couple of months
without some of the beds.
Right. But then we I think I
asked last time had we resolved
that situation and I think the
answer was yes. Is that correct
that we resolved that
situation? Yes. So now we do
have the beds right. The the
officers want gilbert. Well
before he speaks I just want to
say in the actual ordinance it
says an arrest MAY not be made
if the police officer has
verified that a shelter bed or
other available government
assistance that would result in
immediate housing is not
available. That's in the
ordinance. MADAM David gilbert,
director, human services the
chair yes we have a shelter
that's getting ready to come up
at the end of the month with an
additional 80 beds. It's the
navigation center and it is in
unincorporated miami-dade. But
we just hope that just because
you're here did we ever go back
to the numbers that we we had
in contract with camillus. By
the end of the year will be
will be equal. Okay.
>> thank you. Through the chair
george. What after the officer
gives a verbal warning you said
reasonable time. What what is
that? Define that for me. Um
it's difficult to define the
word reasonable as you know um
but like for example um the
ordinances and provide a
reasonable amount of time for
the person to abate his or her
encampment. So I guess it would
depend on the amount of stuff
they have because if you only
have a few items, a reasonable
amount of time to move um would
be uh to collect those items.
But if you had a lot of items
or or things like that, it
could be more difficult. I just
also wanted to mention um.
George yes. Sorry you can you
give me some kind of parameter
because how are the officers
going to know what is
reasonable? Would I give you a
verbal notice and ten minutes
later is that reasonable? Is it
24 hours? What is what is
reasonable. Mhm. Well so. Did
the written notice.
>> what we're talking about is
the encounter right. So would
it be a verbal warning. The
officer walks up to a person
who is in camping blocking the
sidewalk um and says all right,
there's a shelter space
available. Do you want the
shelter space? The person says
no, I don't want the shelter
space. Then the officer says,
all right, you need to remove
yourself and then gives them a
reasonable time from that
moment to remove themselves.
It's not a 24 hour period. It
says as quickly as they can
remove themselves from the
sidewalk and remove the
obstruction at that time. Now
what I was going to add was the
policies of the miami police
department indicate that the
the officers and or the
greenshirts cannot just throw
persons property away. They
have to go through the stuff
that the person has to
determine if there's things
like eyeglasses or important
documents, medication, cell
phones and stuff like that. So
that would build into the
reasonable amount of time to
ascertain that none of their
personal items would be thrown
out upon their evacuation of
the space. Um officers are
required to have body camera on
when they are interacting with
somebody, right? Correct.
>> they wear the body camera
and um I don't yes I'll leave
it.
>> at that.
>> so so what what step are we
saving to because I imagine you
know the whole key here is to
you know, to to to have a
balance where you know, you
can't have them there forever,
right? You got to maintain the
safety of your, you know,
community. So the use of the
way all of us up here but but
we also have to guarantee their
safety the human beings. Right.
Okay. So so that's what I want
to know. She's right because I
still don't have the answer by
the way it's what the. Are you
saying? What's the difference.
Exactly exactly the difference
here like I said earlier is the
old ordinance or the current
ordinance says the officer must
provide a written warning. So
okay so that's it that now he
can do it verbally and he's not
doesn't have to produce the
document. The paper. Doesn't
have to create. The step that
we're making it easier for the
officer. Correct.
>> okay.
>> all right. I'm willing to go
along. Motion to move. Wait a
second. I do have something to
say. No it's okay. First of
all, I know all of the
intentions and I know all the
work that has been done behind
this and I have utmost
confidence in the body cams and
the police force and a lot of
the people doing this work. But
for me there is this slippery
that I'm not comfortable with
full respect I'm not uh but in
my case I'm going to I'm going
to be on the no side for this.
There's a lot of sensitivity
around this and I can
appreciate both perspectives.
Why would we consider doing
this as a pilot perhaps and
bring it back in a few months
and gauge where we are on this?
I mean the devil's in the
details with regard to
implementation. I'm okay with
that. But you know, I want to
be honest about something as
well. You know what's not fair
either. We don't represent one
community. We represent city of
miami and you know what's not
fair that I have a business? I
don't for instance that I have
a business that you pass by
and. 12 and that looks horrible
and you have 20 people sleeping
outside your business and we
are getting calls every single
day because they don't live.
That is not fair. That is not
fair to the businesses. That is
not fair to the residents that
I have a lady calling my office
because she's afraid to pass by
flagger and 12 that is not fair
and we especially you
commissioner pardo, you have
that issue in downtown a lot.
You know I've been talking
about that since I got here. We
you're correct. We have to
understand that we represent a
whole community. I agree not
only one and 24 hours warning
what happens is stay they move
from here to here from here to
here. That is not fair and we
cannot we cannot arrest a
person if we do not have the
beds. I wanted to get that very
clear out there. We you
commissioner pardo in your
district you saw what happened
the other day with the lady,
right? Yeah of course. I just
want to get it out and I'm
very. Grateful that the mental
health center is actually
opening because that's what
that was about. But what I'm
concerned about here is please
make the connection for me of
your example where they're
sleeping outside the business.
What would happen? Well right
now jorge, to my knowledge a
police officer can go right now
to that business and say sir,
you have to move right? We
offer you shelter if they want
to go to shelter, the police
officer will take that person
to shelter. Is that right? Um,
I didn't hear commissioner
carter's question. His example
of where there are a lot of
unhoused people in front of a
business and they're all on the
street and the owners don't
feel safe and it's and it is it
is a reality and I think all of
our districts uh, what does
this change for for that
situation? What's different
from what we're doing now to
just, you know, getting rid of
that warning paper.?
>> essentially nothing is
really changing other than the
requirement for a written
warning. I also wanted to point
out that um under the existing
ordinance the officers had to
provide when they gave a
written warning to the person,
they had to provide a
reasonable time for the person
to pick up their belongings and
comply with the prohibition. So
they previously had a
reasonable time standard. They
currently have a reasonable
time standard. The thing I was
uncomfortable answering about
your question was um when the
officer encounters a person on
the public right of way they
can take action. Um if it's on
private property then
oftentimes we need authority
from the property owner to say
please have that person
removed. Officers won't
necessarily go on to private
property and remove people
absent a um a person asking for
assistance or something like
that. So we respect private
property. Can I can I just add
you know, last year the year
before uh so the key is number
one. So the only difference is
that you know, the officer
doesn't have to hand out the
document the paper that's the
step that we're saving here.
But I'd like to say that last
year I remember correctly or
the year before I gave the
salvation army I can't remember
how much it was 70 or 80 grand
or 100 grand. So the key here
is for us to be able to
negotiate with these people to
keep to have beds because if
they don't have beds on the
officer is forced into that
situation which we don't want
to put them in because look
what we're doing. Right? So I'm
with you commissioner kelowna
like my my you know, when I ran
for office one of my first
things is is to to assure the
public safety and I've got that
corridor of seventh avenue
where I absorb a lot of
everybody else's problem. So I
am fully on board with you on
on this. I would like to make a
motion as. Is second second.
All right. We have a motion and
a second. Any more discussion
colleagues? All right let's
move to a vote. All in favor
say aye aye. Any opposed. No
no. Show two knows you have
them. Okay. Thank you very
much. Um, why don't we finish
with the second reading items?
That way you won't have to
remember and I won't have to
remember that we have one more
to read. It's our.
>> three. Sr three. Thank you,
MADAM Mayor sr three second
reading ordinance an ordinance
of the miami city commission
amending chapter 54 article one
of the code of the city of
miami, florida as amended city
code titled streets and
sidewalks in general more
particularly by amending
section 54-1 of the city code
titled definitions and section
54-3 of the city code titled
permit required for work that
obstructs or closes a street
sidewalk or impedes traffic
fees waiver of fees to require
sidewalk safety and temporary
pedestrian protection
structures containing a
severability clause and
providing an effective date.
Thank you. All right.
>> I can't remember who put
that. Commissioner pardo, you
give us your thoughts. No.
>> actually what I'd like to do
is have administration answer.
We received feedback from
residents as to our
modifications and our
substitution and why were we
adding a general contractor.
And the whole kind of narrative
was us being about
pro-development. And I think it
really lost what you were
trying to do and that item. So
I'd like you if you could speak
to that. Good afternoon, MADAM
Mayor. Manager commissioners
which which area in particular?
Uh commissioner, would you like
me to. Address the sidewalk
safety uh, with the
modification. So we added we
added a a a modification in
terms of in practice
impracticability because there
are circumstances in which uh,
the protection of the sidewalk
is just not adequate or it's
infeasible. Um, I, I can, you
know, to to um instances come
to mind right now for example,
one where you having demolition
very adjacent to that sidewalk.
There's no level of protection
that you can actually add that
will make it safe for someone
to circulate, you know,
circulate through that sidewalk
safely so it's impractical to
do it in that particular
situation. Also when you're
when you have deep foundations
that are being excavated, that
MAY be a a situation where it
MAY be impractical as well to
utilize that level of
protection. So we want to make
sure that we have an
opportunity for staff to
evaluate when it MAY be
impractical for that to be
provided.
>> but I believe a general
contractor was added to. The
general contractor was added
because the general contractor
is the one that has the ability
to dictate means and methods of
construction. So so it's it's
it's always good to evaluate
what are those means and
methods of of of construction,
uh, that MAY determine the
sidewalk protection to be
impractical. And what are the
three parties that you need in
order for that to be to come
true to happen? Correct.
>> and then we want an engineer
to also evaluate what those
means of methods that are being
proposed by the you know, to
vet those means and methods of
construction and concur
essentially. And so there's
there's that check and balance
in place. Engineer, general
contractor and who else I
thought there were three
parties. The city the city
staff and. The city staff.
Yeah. So and you have to have
all three concur.
>> that is correct. Okay that's
that's what I wanted on the
record. Thank you. Any other
comments or would you like to
move your item commissioner
pardo. So moved. Second all
right we have a motion and a
second all in favor say aye.
Aye.
>> any opposed? Motion passes
unanimously. As a downtown
resident I thank you very much
for this. It's going to make a
big difference in walking
around. All right um re 12. I
pulled re12.
>> yeah I think you and
commissioner gabella also.
Would you like. Go ahead
commissioner. So re 12 is just
kind of makes sense it's $10
million it's not a big amount
of money. It's 0.03% of our $3
billion budget. This is
critical. This is desperately
needed. It came before us. This
doesn't need to wait for a bond
or it doesn't need to wait for
procurement. It doesn't need to
wait six months, eight months.
This is stuff that could be
handled immediately especially
especially looking at the
videos that were presented
about the conditions in which
firefighters are living in and
the risks involved. Uh I think
this is an easy immediate
relief [Laughter] That is much
needed. All right. Commissioner
gamble. Yes, ma'am.
>> thank you. So the my concern
that I have when I hear your
you know, you make some good
points but the only concern
that I have is number one can
we legally do this? And number
two where is the money coming
out of. Okay. If you didn't we
didn't budget for this you know
and I've asked that question
I've asked that question where
is the money coming from
because I don't want to I don't
want any surprises down the
road that oh this happened you
know, the the moon was blue
today and we didn't know no
we're tell me so I can vote on
it where commissioner where the
money's coming from.
Absolutely.
>> first of all I would remind
you that when you and I first
came here in our first meeting
we lowered the rate and that
was a $25 million difference
and the city manager turned to
us and said, okay, you know,
like [Laughter] Because it's a
$3 billion budget. But if they
if they didn't let me finish
let me. Let me just gentlemen.
Let me finish because what I'm
trying to say is when you have
such a large budget, there are
multiple multiple options of
where you can pull this money.
I have focused I have focused
on the reserves because uh, and
and we know we had a discussion
maybe you could help explain
that as well. The assigned uh,
the unassigned you know, my
understanding you can jump in
is that we have a $5 million
contingent reserve. Then we
have the next bucket which is
about $100 million. Correct.
>> erika pascal darling cfo um,
the city's financial integrity
ordinance requires us to
maintain a 20% reserve amount
and it's based off the prior
three years revenues. So for
fiscal year SEPTEMBER 20th
SEPTEMBER 30th 2025 our
requirement was 201 million. We
finalized our financials with a
fund balance of 237 million.
However, 136 million of that
monies were restricted and are
assigned non spendable and the
other 100 million which met our
requirement um was was
categorized as unassigned. So
that would have been free
money. However we would have
had to have fallen above that
100.8 under unassigned in order
to transfer monies to the
[Laughter] General fund.
Through the sheriff. So was
that clear? Kind of there's the
last time I was at least from
what I got from the briefing
was that there were two levels
the first 100 million
unassigned, second 100 million
and there was 30 million above
that which was not restricted.
The the balance was 236 100 and
for us to meet financial
integrity principles we would
have had to have had 100.8
under unassigned as well as
100.8 under designated. We
finished with 236 only 101 101
million were considered
unassigned and that is that was
where that was our requirement.
The other 136 million was
listed as non spendable are
restricted funds which means
those funds had a specific
purpose right. And on the
unassigned can you read the
instances where you're allowed
to spend it. Whenever we close
out the year we close out
SEPTEMBER 30th 2025 we do the
hard close by the end of
OCTOBER budget will go in and
do the analysis to determine if
we had any revenue shortfalls.
Once we determined are we plug
that hole of revenue
shortfalls, we look at our
balances and determine if some
of those monies are restricted
or if they're just available
general fund dollars and then
we could determine if it's able
to be used. But there was a
criteria that said for man
made, uh kind of urgent
situations. Can you read it's a
specific phrase I'm trying to
look for it but such reserves
MAY only be used for offsetting
an unexpected mid-year revenue
shortfall or for funding an
emergency such as man made
disaster which threatens the
health safety welfare of the
city's residents, businesses or
visitors. Uh, anything that we
would consider like an
emergency um could be used out
of that fund and has been in
the past correct. But that we
only we would only look at that
requirement if we don't meet
the stated requirement of our
financial integrity. If we
don't meet that 20%, we would
need to abide by that sentence
.If we have fluff over that
requirement, we would bring
that to commission and they
would determine how we spend.
So you're saying that given
this criteria there is no way
to take these 10 million out of
any of these buckets? Not at
this time. I would recommend us
waiting to the fiscal year and
doing the analysis. I was going
to recommend exactly that. What
we did five now and five in the
next budget cycle so that at
least we know that it's
happening. Five is an
incredibly small amount for a
$3 billion budget. We would
have to determine if there are
other priorities that would
have to be defunded to
reallocate to that specific
project. Yeah, well obviously I
don't agree. I think the funds
are there. I think the
administration does not want to
find it. And you know, I mean I
think if if I were in
leadership I would question an
administration that cannot find
$5 million for this which we
have identified as a critical
priority of the city, we have
put videos out there showing
what fire stations look like
the emergency needs and now
we're sitting back and saying I
don't know. We can't find
money. We have $3 billion but
we can't find that money. Okay.
>> can I interject here? Yes,
sure. I mean. I'm hearing what
you're saying and you're kind
of writing on some of the
things you're saying. However,
when I asked the legal experts
or the financial experts the
question hey, where's the money
going to come from? And then we
learn it's going to come from
the reserves. But what I heard
from you today here is that
still out of the reserves, even
if we take that money we will
still be okay. Not a problem.
The problem is are the
guidelines that you're not
supposed to use that money for
that right? That's the thing.
Okay then then when I get to
that bridge I don't know how
many days or whenever we had
the briefing whatever then I
said okay, so here's the
problem. Okay? I'm like you I
want to help the firemen. I
want to help you know, until we
get you know, the until it
passes or doesn't pass in
NOVEMBER, right? The voters are
going to decide that right? So
I'm willing to sacrifice and
help on the five mil. Okay.
What I'm not willing to do is
go on something like this and
then get ourselves into trouble
because then this is the the
question I asked where's it
coming from? Nobody can answer
because we can't. So then later
on down the road then we start
you know, arguing over here oh
because you took away from this
fund and this and the other one
didn't like this and and so on
and so forth. So so that's why
i want to be clear before we do
anything and so the public can
understand what we're doing
exactly where are these funds
coming from? So the only way
really that I'm what again that
I'm saying is that we have to
make if we want to do this, we
have to make some sacrifices
within the general fund. Am I
correct on that? Okay, so you
guys tell me what. MADAM Mayor,
the city manager looks like
he's been chomping at the bit
to. Are you ready? Would you
like to comment, MR. Manager? I
just have to comment because I
think it's important for
transparency and accountability
at the city of miami we
maintain and operate off of a
line item budget. There is no
fluff. There is no
discretionary line items. There
are line items that are funded
if the commission if their will
is to cut or reallocate line
items from their respective
lines or wherever they would
like to recommend, that is the
will of the commission but it
will come from cuts. There is
no uh fluff in terms of the the
budget as it stands, the
operating budget and the
general fund today they are
allocated to specific line
items be it personnel, be it
projects and whatnot. So what
you heard today is and I did
get some feedback obviously
observing the dais is that
after the close out of the
year, if there's rollover
dollars that perhaps we could
look to those rollover dollars
as spending, but those are the
same rollover dollars that this
body in the past has looked up,
looked at to accomplish other
goals. So ultimately it's up to
the body. But I would cordially
disagree that it is
mismanagement in any other way.
The payroll cycle of the city
of miami is upwards of $22
million. So when you're talking
about a rollover perhaps of $10
million while $10 million
commissioner might sound like a
big number, it's less than half
of our payroll and we're
running a projected budget here
.So we are one hurricane one
bad event away from exhausting
half of the value of our
projected budget for one
payroll cycle. So while a $5
million figure in such a large
budget might sound minuscule
once again $22 million is one
payroll cycle for the city of
miami. So I just wanted to
provide that context as to
exactly how large our operating
budget is, but how close to
breaking even we are every
year. Mhm.
>> so thank you. Uh, MR. City
manager and with all due
respect, I do disagree and part
of the reason I disagree is
because I have run budgets and
I do know that there is a lot
of flexibility. I'm not privy
to your line items I am not. So
to me knowing what I know with
budgets that have been managed
fiscally with auditor review
and these kinds of things have
come up in our past on this
dais where we've been asked for
these kind of uh changes and
modifications, they have been
relatively easy to do. I think
that this is not wanting to
touch it because it has to do
with the bond and I think it's
not wanting to touch it because
it has to do with a narrative
that floats with that bond. And
I think those are all the wrong
reasons not to take care of
these essential which we have
defined as essential, critical
and urgent needs. That's just
my opinion on the issue. So let
me just put on the record that
I am not doing this because it
is related to the bond or not
me personally. Okay because at
the end of the day we did say
let the voters vote on it in
NOVEMBER. So at the end of the
day commissioner, with all due
respect the voters will be
voting on this whether they
want it or not. And I'm not I'm
not going to I'm not going to
argue I'm not going to you
know, push one way or the
other. I've done my part what I
think is important for the city
of miami and the voter now has
to choose if he wants to pay
for that police headquarters
which is badly needed for the
fire or if they don't and if
they don't with me I'm fine
with it. I don't have you know,
in that way I just you know,
try to do the fair thing for
me. I agree with you that I
want to help fire but I'm
asking the the legitimate
question at the end of the day
where are we going to take the
money from from and if you guys
want to sit down and you want
to explore where we can take
the money from, that's fine
with me. I don't I don't have a
problem. I believe that the
service that they provide to
the community is very
important. So for me I can tell
you that for me this is no
relationship whether the bond
passes or does not plan pass.
I'm doing strictly what I think
my duty is fiduciary here to
ask the question and if you
want to explore like I said
earlier hey, let's see where
where where we can find those 5
million or 10 mil and if
everybody wants to make a
sacrifice I'm down.
Commissioner.
>> but well first of all we're
talking about fiduciary but we
just added $600 million in
debt. So on the one side we
talk about fiduciary and then
on the other side where we have
12 stations with critical needs
and a sum of money that's $10
million, we're saying no,
that's got to wait. We can't
we've got to wait on that
something that we have
identified as a necessity, as
urgent and as incredibly
important that does not make at
least to me that doesn't make
any sense.
>> you said we can explore if
the will of the body is to
explore where we can find the
money. I am willing to do that.
However what I will not be
doing is voting for something
until you guys tell me where
the $10 million is going to be
found and like again I don't
have a dog in the fight whether
the voter approves it or does
not approve it. As a matter of
fact, when this came up I was
the guy that said I'm not going
to do it. Nobody has my vote
until NOVEMBER. Why? Because I
wanted a true reading I didn't
I didn't want to ram this up to
to the taxpayer that's going to
have to decide whether they're
going to foot the bill or not.
I always said it's got to be in
NOVEMBER because that's when
everybody goes out and that's
the only way I'll do it. And
with these guys for me that was
for me. So if you guys again
the will of this body is to
explore where we can find the
money and we're willing to make
sacrifices. Commissioner does
not have a problem in doing
that. I am for fire. I am for
what they do. But on the other
hand we have to, you know, play
our role. So commissioners. The
question. I have well, we have
three we have three suggestions
on the table as far as I can
ascertain. One is the actual
item on the agenda um which we
don't have a motion on that
yet. The other was a separate
amendment from commissioner
pardo to move that dollar
amount to $5 million for this
fiscal year there seem maybe
there's four items. There's um
the thought that this would
only be able to come back after
the reserves, right? Rather
than cutting projects, if
you're going to take $5
million, you could say where
it's going to come from and
what's going to stop or you
wait for the reserves and then
you commissioner gabelli you're
saying kind of let's wait and
see. So y'all need to fuss with
the motion of of what you would
like to see going forward with
this item. I, I for one would
like to have further discussion
because there are a number of
options that I don't think I
had foreseen. Could could we
defer this to the next meeting
and flesh out the discussion
further at that point? Second.
>> I go along.
>> with it is motion. All
right.
>> so we have a motion to
defer. Second second to the
SEPTEMBER 10th I think meeting.
Okay. All in favor say aye. Aye
aye. Any opposed? All right
show that passed. All right I
think we're ready 14 and 15
which kind of go together um
commissioner rosado and. Sure
and somebody else had pulled it
up. I actually pulled the item.
Okay yeah because this is a
charter amendment and we
already have a finance
committee and the finance
committee does what this
there's a big overlap between
the two. There's also the use
of the word audit in this which
we have an independent auditor
and we have an independent um
inspector general. So this item
as is I wouldn't support and
this item would actually show
up on the same ballot as the
bond and part of me was hoping
that maybe you know because
when you read this item it's
all about fiscal
responsibility. It's about it's
kind of like all the right
things in that world, but it's
all after after the issuance of
the bond and I was hoping we
would recognize that we haven't
done that for the issuance of
the bond where it's going to
the voters. So I can appreciate
your perspective, commissioner,
but I think this is good policy
regardless of how folks vote on
the bond itself. So I was
surprised to learn I know we
have a finance committee but we
typically also have a citizens
committee. But I was surprised
to learn that it's not embedded
in our charter. It was actually
adopted by by ordinance. This
should absolutely be part of
our city constitution for how
we operate, right? So that
we're never stuck asking if if
the public is aware or not
aware of the way we're spending
our dollars. It's also
concerning to me that we don't
have naturally a dashboard and
we have to essentially put in
public records request to find
out about our expenditures. The
public has the right to be able
to go on right now and look at
how we're spending our miami
forever bond dollars like this
should be a way we just
naturally operate. So whether
somebody supports the $450
million bond or not, this is
good policy, good practice,
good procedure and it should be
naturally a way that we operate
as a city. Well I mean we
definitely have a disagreement
all all in with the dashboard
and all that stuff and you can
do all of that as a part of the
finance committee which is
already set up and it's an
advisory committee but you're
changing the charter for this.
That's not that's not where
this kind of structural change
really should belong. This
should be an advisory committee
role. And when you're using the
word like audit, it's who
audits who's auditing what and
what are the overlaps? What is
the finance committee do now
and what is this relative to
the finance? We're required to
have an oversight committee for
a bond. Obviously we did it for
miami forever. Look at what
happened with miami forever
people didn't show up things
and so it looks really nice. It
sounds really beautiful but in
operations it doesn't really
work over time we have a
finance committee that's
charged with this work where we
should be sending things to
just like we did with the $150
million lease this first of
all, I don't think this should
be an item that's just brought
like this to a vote. I think it
should have been a discussion
item because it impacts the
charter. It impacts the way we
function. It impacts an
existing committee and I think
you know if you'd like to defer
it I'd certainly be. A
discussion. We're discussing it
now. We're discussing it right
now and here's what my $0.02
is. Number one they're an
advisory board because I asked
are there an advisory board or
are they an executive board?
They're an advisory board. So
at the end of the day it's
going to be whatever we
determine up here. So I don't
really see any teeth you know
and I'm not saying I'm not
arguing against it but that's
the fact of the matter. You
know I mean. I don't have an
issue with removal of the word
audit. I understand that has
sort of additional sort of
legal consequences to it. The
rest of it stands perfectly
fine without it. I find it kind
of embarrassing that right now
if somebody were sitting in the
audience and they said, well
how much have you spent on x, y
and z, it would take us a while
to sort that out. I'm not
suggesting that money has been
misspent. I'm suggesting that
we are not as transparent as we
should be for our taxpayers and
our residents. But that's.
>> going to go on our website
right now and figure out for
every single project where we
are status wise. So it isn't
just dollars it's literally
like what is designed, what is
permitted, what is constructed
?Where are they in
construction? Are they at 25%,
50%, 75%? It's way too
elaborate to pull this
information. I think I don't I
don't need to defer this to
think about this further. I
think this should be a way that
we operate on a daily basis.
Somebody should be able to wake
up in the middle of the night
and figure out exactly where
our project stands.
>> I don't disagree with any
single thing you've said other
than where you're making this
change, which is at the charter
level. I think that is bad
policy. I think it sets us up
in a bad direction. And I think
you know, I think even somebody
in my office had chatgpt this
and they're like oh my GOD,
there are all these issues. So
I do think there are issues
with this policy if if you guys
are prepared to vote, I'm
certainly going to go with the
with.
>> the motion to approve.
Second.
>> if I if I MAY, um because I,
I heard a possible amendment.
Uh, I also when I read this um
commissioner rosado I had
similar thoughts to
commissioner prado when we put
in the charter we're putting in
our constitution right. Um and
it basically there's no
flexibility forever and the
auditing requirements versus
having our city audit worried
me. The other thing that
worried me is this committee
was tasked with developing and
managing our dashboard in the
language, right? They are
supposed to develop and publish
that's in the language the
language says to audit, monitor
publicly report on and develop
and publish a publicly
accessible dashboard which puts
them in the role of it without
sort of the cyber security
constraints. Um so I think this
is a great idea. Um I also
think parts of this item could
come out of this board as a
directive that any time we
issue making it up here on the
fly debt over x millions of
dollars that must be disclosed
on a publicly publicly
available dashboard that we
direct. And by the way, in next
year's budget fund the
administration to build on that
and that we perhaps on our
audit and finance committee be
more clear. So this is one this
is I think a great idea. We've
learned that through miami
forever, right? I mean we
learned this the hard way. Um
this thing has been out there
long before any of us were
involved. Nobody wrote down
what we were doing. Nobody
shared with it. We all know
this money today we we just
approved tons of little miami
forever projects that are going
to be built in our parks and
help our streets from flooding
and you know, all kinds of
great things but we don't have
that clearly displayed. And
barbie, I know you're behind me
and her trustee team are
building out that dashboard.
Um, but it's a little like
forensic science. They got to
go back in time to do it and
and I do think this board could
give direction to the
administration that they must
always do that. And I'm not
positive it needs to be in our
charter when you put it in the
charter like whatever the time
we have for lunch. Those kinds
of things in the future can
become so restrictive that
we're not able to add and
subtract. So I leave it to you
all to decide.
>> what to do. Can I. Ask can I
interject you for very quickly?
So you're talking about an
audit right? Well I don't know
if you knew or not because I
asked the question the the new
inspector general which is
supposed to be independent we
don't have money to fund them
is what I've been told. He's a
he's a and he's come to my
office uh in previous months
you know and I asked him about
the budget this and that and
and I my understanding is that
he's a am I not correct you and
I had this conversation MR.
City manager right. So talking
about audit, you know, if we
were going to go to what are we
going to because I hear this
and you know, we don't have I
was told that we were that the
the the new inspector general
that's taking over for for uh I
think it was his name. Right.
And the lake monroe race had
had you know, put that forward
and then it passed and finally
did and then the gentleman is
now in existence but he he's
short because he's underfunded.
I think he asked for no
commissioner. His budget for
this fiscal year has been fully
funded. Fully funded. He does
have he does have some
vacancies uh, that he hasn't
filled as of yet. But those
vacancies are funded. What
we're currently discussing is
additional uh, positions that
is being requested by that
office for the next fiscal
year. I got it so how much is
that going to cost for him to
be fully funded with the
additional officers? Because
you turn the question around
what you did was what you did
was I know what I heard what I
asked you guys and you guys
said no, he needs more
positions. So in other words
you have a certain amount of
money but you don't have the
whole money that the man wants.
That's what I was told by you
guys 2 or 3 days ago. Again we
we spoke about two fiscal years
this fiscal year he's fully
funded.
>> he's fully funded with all
the decisions that he wanted.
Correct?
>> absolutely.
>> so then how did we get into
the conversation of. Because we
presented it as one of the
difficult decisions that this
body will be having going into
the 2627 fiscal year because he
is requesting additional fte at
an additional cost that we do
not have funding for. So if if
the if the the uh the audit
would take place this year he
would be able to complete that
audit. Yes or no. I'm not the
oig sir. I would I would defer
to oig. What about next year?
Safe to say the next year he
might not have the funds to to
conduct it. No but. Can I just
if you don't mind, MR.
Commissioner, about the team
that is conducting the audits
of our finances is funded.
Correct. And so we already have
a certified auditor going
through not just our city
finances but obviously all of
our associated organizations
and all of our bonds. And so
that is funded in our budget
and will be funded next year
because otherwise we don't have
a bond rating. We don't have
any kind of fiscal rating
nationally to allow us to to do
business. So you know, should
right now our bonds are
audited, right? They are
audited what I think and
they're auditing at the at a
cost of a neutral cost in the
budget, right? Just like
everything else we do is
audited, right? And they write
an audit report and they tell
us what we're doing fabulously
what we're doing okay on are we
in compliance? And you know,
here are a couple things you
could improve so that we
already pay for right? This
item would create a whole other
audit structure that we would
have to fund, which is fine if
we choose to do that we just
have to fund that. So we have
the money for the audit. I
think what commissioner rosado
is trying to say is we have not
when it comes to bond projects
and bond projects are different
from our regular stuff like
picking up the garbage right?
People see the sanitation guys
on their street, but bond
projects are a list of things
we're going to do over a long
period of time and we don't do
them all in one year, right? It
takes a while to plan a
flooding project. And so we MAY
have said in year one we're
doing flooding but really
they're not going to see the
construction until year three.
And so we have not created a
robust area for them to look at
what's happening in their
neighborhood and with their
projects and with their money
and and so there is a question
this is an implicit in this
item. There is an I.T and cyber
security component that
requires deep funding and
staffing and there is an audit
component which requires
probably not you know, probably
probably just hiring someone
from the outside but still
money and both of those things
can be accomplished by this
body directing the
administration to do that
moving forward without
necessarily confusing folks
with another charter amendment
and without embedding something
that becomes immobilized
because when we try to change
that, let's say we make one
mistake in the word right, we
have to go back for the voters
to change that word. And so
it's this is a really good
idea, commissioner rosado, but
I'm not sure we need a charter
amendment. So but you all I'll
I'll let you all make.
>> a motion. Commissioner just
to just to um another aspect of
that is that the powers in the
charter of this committee would
actually be directing
administration. So there is
supposed to be a clear division
and I think this blurs that
kind of activity as well. So
commissioner prado and MADAM
Mayor, if I could I could
clarify a couple things. I'm
happy to drop the word audit. I
understand the sort of
additional legal consequences
there. I am not to create like
a super audit structure. I know
that we are already legally
required to audit our finances
so I'm happy to drop the word
what I'm getting at more more
globally is a future commission
could remove the requirement
that we have a citizen body
overseeing our bond
expenditures. I don't think
they should have that right. I
think that should absolutely be
part of our city constitution.
Our finance committee is only
required to meet twice a year.
I don't think that's an
acceptable substitute for
citizens being able to watch
the progress of our projects
and the way the money is spent.
I sat on the miami forever bond
board for a number of years to
get information is way more
complex than it needs to be. I
think it is good for the city
on a permanent basis to ensure
that we have that citizen
oversight built in. I would not
want to see this move forward
as an ordinance that can then
be undone next year, five years
from now, ten years from now.
This should be a part of the
way that we permanently
function. I am not suggesting
that citizens be in charge of
our our I t processes, so I'm
happy if we need to massage the
the description of that I'm
happy to support that. That is
an administrative function but
it doesn't exist right now and
I think that's really
problematic. Again, if somebody
wanted to find out where we are
on any of our bond projects,
best of luck to you to sort
that out. Best of luck. There's
a question on the on the floor.
Yes. Right. I called the
question. But I'm fine with
dropping the audit word I
understand. I have one the rest
of it I had one thing to
clarify it's not the audit
word, it's that you're amending
the charter and the things that
go with that. And while you're
highlighting that and
everything you have said I'm
fully supportive of and the
finance committee meets more
than twice a year, that's a
minimum requirement that they
can meet as much as as as we
need them to meet and we can
and we can make reforms in the
finance committee, which is
what's looking at our debt
issuances. This is a standalone
committee for a standalone bond
and that just should not. I'm
saying for all our bonds are
capital bonds should absolutely
have committees. We could in
the same way that we've
dissolved a series of boards in
the past, the finance committee
could just be dissolved right
now at the next meeting if we
felt like it. That is
problematic. We should have
built in citizen oversight over
hundreds of millions of dollars
of expenditure and the
information should be updated
on a very regular basis. We
need to operate transparently.
I don't understand why we would
try to undo something like this
or why we we don't think that
this is somehow good practice
that should be this is sacred.
We're not doing anything like
this. In fact we can. Be
undone. We can do all of this.
But going to the charter and
going to the voters with
another issue where there's a
small change or a small
modification over and over
again is not the format where
this can best be housed,
especially when you're giving
powers to this entity that
really kind of crosses the line
between what administration
does and our body does. So I
think I think this should best
be deferred because I think
there's more here. I'm happy to
work with you and look at the
language in the finance
committee. I don't know how
much you've read through all of
that. I've studied it a lot.
That's just my recommendation
and again it's what the body
wants. I'm comfortable with the
way this stands. I think this
should be part of what we vote
on in NOVEMBER. I think voters
who are supportive will say
this is an additional
safeguard. I think voters who
are opposed to the bond
referendum will say this is a
safeguard we should have
already had. So I think it's
something that everybody should
agree upon. I'm very
comfortable moving as it is
again dropping just the word
audit and ensuring if we need
to modify the language to make
it clear that it's the
administration that needs to
create the dashboard, it's not
citizens, it's the
administration. If there's any
confusion about that, I'm happy
to modify that.
>> and maybe some language that
makes it clear that they cannot
tell the administration what to
do. Sure. Which is. And I
worked with the deputy city
attorney on this if he's got a
revised version that we could
read. Let me just ask a
question. There's so many good
things in here. Right. Um
which. We're up against a shot
clock like basically if we
don't deliver this to the
supervisor of election tomorrow
it can't be on the NOVEMBER
ballot. But there's another
election right around the
corner and. No I there's this
publish a publicly you know, to
develop and publish a publicly
accessible dashboard showing
the status cost. I mean that
could be in complete conflict
with what we're doing and they
are going to have access in
order to do that to our city's
raw data. Exactly.
>> and without cybersecurity
protections around that there
are so many good things in
here. For me. So but
colleagues, I'll take I'll take
a. I don't I don't think this
needs to be deferred. I think
it is very much in line with
the question we've already put
forth that's going to be on the
NOVEMBER ballot and it is
letting voters know that we're
the item to pass. We have their
backs. Okay, so there's an item
on the floor I call the
question let's vote it up or
down. We've beaten this horse
to death. As amended.
>> as amended with removing.
>> the. Word audit. And if we
need javier do we need to
clarify? I'm not trying to
suggest that citizens create a
dashboard. That's the
administrative responsibility.
I didn't find it confusing but
if there's any doubt I'm happy
to see the language massaged.
well how about if I make a
suggestion and with the
authority to get rid of the
word audit monitor publicly
report and publicly report on
projects including the status
cost timeline and remaining at
funds. It doesn't say the
dashboard and then we just make
sure we do some other item that
says sorry james, you got to
create a dashboard. Anytime we
do this. I accept. And then I
think we you know, we.
[Laughter] My attorney has to
look at that. Mine does to our
attorney can look at it harvey
does that work for you? So I
just want to clarify what the
amendment would be would be to
remove the audit language. So
anywhere here that mentions
that the board can do an audit
that would be removed. So for
example under uh it would be
section 47 d um subsection b
would be just monitor all
active projects funded by geo
bonds and in regards to
subsection e which is the um
publicly accessible dashboard
we'll just change it to I
believe what you had said was
to say. And publicly report. On
it shall be the goboc to
publicly report on to monitor
and publicly report on. All
projects. Yes all projects.
Showing the.
>> status cost timeline and
remaining or available funds
for all active capital projects
funded with geo bonds. And
that's it. Then remove that
last sentence there saying that
they will do all best efforts
for the dashboard to be
accessible. Yeah. And then um
the only other one was the I
guess clarification that this
would be an advisory body. So I
mean we can add that um in the
powers and duties it says the
um goboc shall act in an
advisory capacity. We could add
that in there to to clarify
that. I accept. Um and then
what do we do to get the exact
75 words. We've cut a lot
[Laughter] Of words so we
should still be good I think
todd help us. Oh no I just want
to make sure we're we're clear
on the amendments and the
deputy city attorney mentioned
three amendments which will
amend re 14 and 15. But then
there are some non-substantive
amendments that are going to
mend re 15 and so for a. 15
will be amended to add two city
commission resolution numbers
and the city commission meeting
date to the body of the
legislation. Non-substantive.
All right.
>> so you know what to do to
make the referendum item. Yes,
ma'am. Okay.
>> so commissioner rosado as
amended as amended as amended.
Okay. Show that moved.
Seconded. Police commissioner
gabel, how about all in favor
say aye. Aye.
>> any opposed? No.
>> just one?
>> no. Um, todd this has to be
delivered tomorrow so I'll
you'll work to get my signature
on that today. Yes, ma'am. Okay
thank you. Thank you folks.
Yeah.
>> um I'm sure I've forgotten
something. What have I missed
todd? Um oh here we have b one
the budget. I think you all
received a budget report. Would
you like to accept that report
or discuss it? Have questions?
no.
>> okay.
>> yes todd. And then um chair,
if I MAY um and I apologize for
the interruption but I would
like to to request direction
from the commission um through
the chair uh so at the JULY 9th
meeting, um I was given
direction that two bond
questions in the order I'm
sorry two ballot questions in
the order those questions um
the first ballot question would
be the general obligation bond.
The second question is to enter
into a lease agreement with
virginia llc. Would the
commission um if it's the will
the commission would the
general obligation bond
oversight committee be the
third question on the ballot in
the order the third question or
would you like that to be
second?
>> the second fine. Understood.
>> so the general obligation
bond first general obligation
bond oversight committee second
and the lease agreement with
llc will be third if there is
no um and there's unanimous
consent there's no objection.
Understood. Thank you
commissioners thank you chair
okay.
>> all right so back to you one
on the budget report everyone
received. All right. Can I have
a motion to accept that. Report
motion. All in favor say aye. I
show that accepted um other
than our the shade meaning are
we complete. Yes ma'am.
>> you're correct. Um so MR.
Attorney are we able to adjourn
this meeting or. Well we would
recess the meeting until um
after the shade meeting and
then come back and gavel it
out. All right. Um you can come
fetch me and I'm happy to gavel
it out since I have to wait for
todd to send me everything I
need to sign so we can get it
to the supervisor of elections
today. Um, or. Are we doing.
We're doing lunch. Yes. You all
are the only ones in the shade
so you all decide. Let's do.
>> lunch lunch. So 3:00 shade
meeting or is that too soon?
That's 33333 30 all right.
>> let me. Just if you don't
mind let me. Just read the
script so then we can all meet
up upstairs. MADAM CHAIRWOMAN
and members of the commission
pursuant to my request to the
city commission at the city
commission meeting of JULY 9th,
2026, the below listed attorney
client session closed to the
public is scheduled for JULY
23rd, 2026 city commission
meeting at 10 A.M. Pursuant to
section 286.011 parentheses
eight florida statutes for
purposes of discussing the
pending litigation matter in
the city of miami versus miami
dade county case number
2023-028335ca02 pending in the
in the 11th judicial circuit of
miami-dade county to which the
city is presently a party
subject of the meeting will be
confined to settlement
negotiations or strategy
sessions related to limit
litigation expenditures. This
private meeting will begin at
approximately 3:30 P.M. Or as
soon as the commissioners
schedule sprint and conclude
approximately one hour later.
The session will be attended by
the members of the city
commission which include
commissioners christine king,
miguel angel gabella, damian
porto, rolando escalona and
ralph rafael rosado, city
manager jim reyes, city
attorney george k weisman,
deputy city attorney kevin r
jones, deputy city attorney
xavier alban, litigation
appeals division chief eric
eaves, land use division chief
amber carter and assistant city
attorney maggie snyder, a
certified court reporter, will
be present to ensure that the
session is fully transcribed
and the transcript will be made
available upon the conclusion
of the litigation. At the
conclusion of the attorney
client session, the the regular
city commission meeting will be
reopened and the person
chairing the commission meeting
will announce the termination
of the attorney client session.
See you at 330. Thank you
george. Colleagues, could we
meet at three instead of 330?
Is that possible? Okay with
that?
>> that gives you 50 minutes.
Everybody is three okay. Yeah
your your friends are asking
you. For it could be earlier
than 330. Sorry I'm sorry.
>> what could it be earlier
than 330 could we do closer to
3315315. All right. We'll
reconvene at 315. Todd MR. City
attorney, um, in the recess can
the commissioners just go
upstairs to the client session?
Yes.
>> now once they come back from
their break. We just need
understood. I just want to make
sure that in recess no one has
to come back. They can just go
[Laughter] Up. At 3:00. The
attorney. Can come down and
gavel.
>> out, right? Yes, ma'am.
Okay.
>> and only three of you need
to come and gavel out. So if
somebody needs to. Yep. [Music]
Are we?
>> are we ready. The meeting.
All right. The, um the attorney
client session um, regarding
the city of miami versus miami
dade county has concluded.
Therefore I we are turning back
to the regular meeting. Regular
meeting is now open. There. I
do not believe, MR. Clerk we
have any other business. No,
ma'am. You're correct. Do we
need a motion to adjourn? No,
ma'am.
>> we just need to adjourn.
>> yes, ma'am. All right, so be
it. Thanks. Oh.