Good morning and welcome to our commission meeting february 25th, 2026.
our second one this month. And if you add a special commission meeting on permitting our Third commission meeting this month,
and I'll turn it over to our city clerk. Thank you to my colleagues. Good morning to Everybody.
everybody in the crowd here in person, of course. Everybody listening in. Looking forward to a productive meeting.
and I'll turn it over to our city clerk. Good morning everyone. The city commission is Physically present in the commission chambers at miami beach city hall,
1700 convention center drive, third floor. Members of the public are invited to attend, Either in person or virtually.
if you're joining us virtually, you can log in using the zoom app or visit us on your Browser.
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all lobbyists must register with the office of the city clerk, Located on the first floor of city hall.
you do not need to register if you are an expert witness, Giving only technical or specialized testimony.
a representative of a neighborhood association or a nonprofit. Speaking without pay, or a private citizen speaking on your behalf without compensation.
however, if you are an expert witness or a not for profit or a neighborhood rep, You do not.
you do need to submit a written disclosure to the office of the city clerk before speaking With the commission or city staff.
forms are available at the office of the city clerk. If a lobbyist gives or agrees to give $1,000 or more to a neighborhood association or its Representative regarding a city matter that must be disclosed,
that must be disclosed in writing to the clerk. If you plan to speak during the public comment meeting today, We ask you to please sign up using the the board's the podium has sign in sheets or the qr
codes that are located also in the podiums. Thank you mayor.
thank you. Ralph. It's my honor now to call up for our invocation. Pastor victor palacios from iglesia de dios. Just have to say a word.
I met you over six years ago, probably seven years ago, When I was running for commissioner.
and you have. You're not just a special spiritual leader in our miami beach community, But also a personal friend.
so it's an honor to have you here. We pray. Thank god for this day, For
your mercy. Thank you for this meeting, god. We ask you to bless him, All the commissioners and here the city clerk,
the police department, the fire department. The schools. The hospital. But especially for this meeting today we ask you, Lord, to give you the wisdom,
lord, in integrity, to run the city the best the way you want it.
we bless the city to the north, to the south, To the east, to the west.
we are doing and I know always you will is going to be.
thank you for everything you do so far. And I know we still a lot of we have a lot more to Come and it's going to be blessing for the city.
thank you for the mayor. The job is there in the city, This family and everybody in here in this meeting.
we ask you, lord, that the blessing to these people, To we pray in your name.
amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Pastor. Now I get to surprise someone in the in the Crowd.
how about stephen anthony? Why don't you lead us with the pledge of allegiance? Our Economic development director. Director. Don't worry.
you just have to start the first word and we'll go along. I'm sure you got it down, Though.
all right. I pledge allegiance to the 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.
stephen. Perfect. I like to I didn't I didn't give you any warning. I like to because one time, several years ago, Somebody did not recollect all the words.
so certainly my intent is not to embarrass anyone, But great job, stephen.
let's start off with the sputnik hour. Anyone who wishes to speak, Please approach the podium.
state your name. You have two minutes. Now I feel we're back. Back. To normal when mitch novack leads off, No longer slacking off mitch novack.
good morning everyone. I've received your $500 homestead relief check, Which will be used to offset my miami beach water bill,
which has increased annually for the past dozen years. Within that period since jimmy morales first took office as city manager, We've seen our budget more than double.
while the city added roughly 500 more employees. You can be assured I will be first in line to vote to abolish homestead property taxation.
if passed, I'm certain you'll be compelled to refrain from wasting our tax dollars, Which has led to housing unaffordability.
as I've stated numerous times, I believe we must reduce our budget by 2 to 300 million and Reduce our employees to levels seen when our city
ran well for much less, according to the administration, The entertainment district is fully subsidized by taxpayers and has suffered a net
loss of several million dollars annually. Who can forget the recent northern section of Ocean drive's illegal pedestrianization,
requiring private traffic management at a cost of $1 million a year?
I would also urge you to end the ocean drive promenade or sparsely attended ocean drive Promenade music series,
which only benefits the venue where it's held to the detriment of the greater good.
thank you. Thank you. Please go ahead. Gentlemen.
good morning everyone. I could refute mitch, But I won't.
I'm in a good mood this morning. I want to speak for an entity that doesn't have a voice.
and I heard this is going to come up at a at a meeting, And that's the bots that we see on the street.
those little machines that wander down the street delivering things and, You know, they're polite.
they're not like the bicyclists who will run you over and then yell at you for getting in Their way.
they will stop. They stop at corners. They're very kind.
I really think they add to the ambiance of the city.
people like to see them. People's faces light up and again, They're polite.
something we need more of in this city. Thank you.
thank you so much. Thank you. Good morning. My name is michael freundlich, And I live in sunset harbor.
I wish to bring up a topic that has been previously mentioned in this venue, But remains an ongoing problem,
specifically pedestrian and micromobility traffic.
I've resided in miami beach for the past 25 years, During which time there has been a substantial increase in micromobility,
pedestrian density, and unfortunately, fatal.
crashes by crashes. The league of american vehicles found that miami ranks fifth in the Nation for
fatality by crashes ten per million. Miami beach is known for its vibrant culture, Beaches,
lively streets, the growing number of residents and tourists using micromobility as a Preferred mode of transportation has resulted in
transgression that impact their safety and the overall quality of life in the city, Such as the following.
riding in sidewalks despite designated bike lanes on many streets.
many riders opt for riding on sidewalks, endangering pedestrians and violating city Ordinances.
ignoring traffic signals, many riders failed to stop at red lights and stop signs.
changing lanes in the middle of intersections to circumvent this.
signs. Wrong way. Riding against the flow of traffic is a frequent offense.
lack of proper lighting. Riders often ride at night without adequate front and rear Lights,
making them nearly invisible to motorists and pedestrians.
not yielding to pedestrians in shared spaces, Riders fail to yield to pedestrians, especially in busy areas like alton and washington,
and riding without helmets which are rolled, Which although is not mandatory.
I'll be down in a second. It would be good for them to work, Right?
in conclusion, we need to educate the writers and importantly, Enhance informed enforcement to help reduce these infractions and make
miami beach a safer place for riders, pedestrians and drivers alike.
thank you sir. Thank you. Good morning, mr. Mayor.
commissioners. Mr.. City manager. City attorney, City clerk.
my name is adam. I'm here from the rhythm foundation, And I want to speak today in support of arts and culture in miami beach.
arts and culture are a pillar of our local economy and key to our city's ability to be Able to attract new residents,
visitors and new businesses alike. So any cuts to arts funding undermines our economy
and the quality of life that the city so very much depends on.
I would also like to speak today. We had the opportunity last month to host a town hall Meeting at the miami
beach bandshell with respect to the byron carlyle theater. It was a very impassioned discussion. And while there is a lot of questions remains around How
people saw the fate of that space or what they would like to see with that facility and That space it was was clear that folks are interested in a
multi-use, multidisciplinary space that serves as broad a swath of the community as Possible.
and thank you to one of the commissioners of commissioner suarez for hosting that meeting.
I believe there's video of it. And so I would encourage the commission to watch that Video,
if you haven't already, to get a sense of where the public opinion lies with respect to The future of that space.
thank you. Thank you. Next, please. Good morning, Mr.
mayor and commissioners. Chelsea law and florida power and light. I want to speak clearly about what is and was not what is not before you today regarding The bridge and transmission projects item r9.
today, on february 5th, this commission voted to allow fpl to use existing easement, An easement for which we pay the city.
based on that direction, we advance a critical underground transmission project that will Serve to improve the reliability of the electric grid for miami beach businesses and
residents. Separately, there is a pedestrian bridge project from day one.
fpl has treated that project as a priority to coordinate. We've done more than what state law requires for underground locates on our feeder lines, Which have been there since 1999 and serve over 13,000 customers on the beach.
a third party organization ubcic typically provides locates at the request of the city.
fpl conducted supplemental testing. We purchased additional equipment to obtain more Precise measurements,
and we attended repeated site visits and coordination meetings. We have dedicated staff and engineering resources for months since october to help the Bridge team move forward.
we did that because we understand the importance of partnership, But coordination should not become leverage.
the underground transmission line project, a multimillion dollar investment benefiting the City,
should not be conditioned on or tied to unrelated development commitments or third party Promises.
if there are outstanding issues related to the bridge, We remain at the table to work through them.
we've demonstrated that commitment consistently, But we cannot support is delaying or withholding a previously approved easement in a way
that solves critical reliability improvements for residents and businesses who have Nothing to do with those separate matters.
these are distinct issues, and they deserve to be handled independently.
fpl stands ready to continue collaborating in good faith, And we simply ask that the reliability of miami beach's electric system remain the
priority and move forward as previously directed. I also want to share one more update that we conducted an additional site visit monday With the team up to offer to excavate the line at cost
fpl, so hopefully that will provide some more certainty to the team on whether or not they Can move forward.
thank you. Thank you. Thank you chelsea. This is an addendum item, So we'll hear it after 5 p.m..
good morning. My name is carol coombs. I'm a resident at 1754 miami beach.
so commissioners and mayor and everybody here, I rise in full support of the city's continued funding of miami beach pride.
consistent with the position of the commission, As reflected in resolution c 711, you approved up to 250,000 in previously budgeted funds
and the waiver of certain administration fees. The 2026 festival. That action affirms what we already know.
pride is not a political gesture. It's a proven economic driver and a cultural institution That's celebrating its 18th year in miami beach.
it's a festival and parade which attracts more than 150 residents and visitors.
and it's a cornerstone of our tourism strategy here in miami beach.
at a time when proposed state legalization such as sb 1134 and hb 1001 seeks to broadly Restrict diversity related programing.
it's important to be clear, and I know you've already said this. Events like miami beach pride with jewish film festival and the american black film Festival are part of who we are in miami beach.
they fill hotel rooms, drive restaurant revenue, Create jobs, and protect miami beach global brand and its inclusive,
worldwide destination, byron carlyle. The building has been widely documented as a mold Infested and unhealthy.
protecting public health must come first. We have an opportunity to replace an unsafe Structure with something amazing and transformative.
residents have called for a vibrant, multidisciplinary cultural complex with art classes, Theater,
music, dance and, yes, two cinemas a year round asset that serves our local community While attracting visitors and nurturing creative talent.
I have 17 seconds left. This is what I'm going to say. Opposing cutting arts funding to redirect it towards sewer or stormwater project does not Bring in tourists.
I'm sorry it doesn't. We need to define what miami beach. It's about culture, festivals and richness and diversity of our city.
as the mayor said, miami beach miami beach is back. Let's keep that momentum going. Good morning, Commissioners and
mayor. My name is jack klein. I'm the community manager at council towers north and south For edoc.
edoc is committed to the principles of aging in place, Ensuring opportunities for our seniors to live independently with dignity and
self-determination, and in communities with their peers.
residents in edoc properties are provided with safe, Affordable housing, supportive health and social services.
we'd like to thank you for all your support that you provided us during our renovation Process.
we've sent out invitations for you for our resident re grand opening event, Which is march the 5th at 11 a.m.
and again at 12:30 p.m. At the north and south towers.
affordability is one of our you know, we want to love those who loved us first, And that's our seniors.
and currently, affordability is not something that you know is available to them.
and we need your support even further in loving our seniors.
so, you know we have someone else coming up to speak on that.
and I just want to thank you for your time and all your support. And gloria campos has been so instrumental also in loving our seniors and giving us Support as well.
so thank you. Thank you. Looking forward to march 5th.
good morning everyone. I am manuel del valle. I'm the regional service coordinator of ida of the properties and coordinating in council Towers north and south.
I'm here to also thank you and to ask for your help.
we are up and running. We're providing services. We have the inauguration, but we don't have a hot meals program.
our seniors, some of them have a hard time cooking.
some of them are isolated. This program was it was established before.
and it's crucial for their independence, for their stability, For their isolation.
for. To prevent isolation. I can't express how important it is for them.
and the little havana activity center does not any doesn't have any fundings for this Year.
if you if you can please help us establish this program once again, We would appreciate it.
this program not only provides the hot daily meal, It provides transportation to the grocery store.
it provides events of linkage to to the community, To your to to your to your government and to your leaders.
it is in in crucial for them. So I we ask for your help and I hope to see you on march 5th.
thank you for highlighting this issue for us, Please. Thank you. Hi. Good morning, mayor and city commissioners and staff.
hi. My name is linda coco. I'm a small business owner miami beach resident at 334 west 25th street in the collins park neighborhood,
a block away from the absolutely wonderful bayshore park. Again, thank you all for that and thank our residents for supporting that.
I apologize for my outfit, but I'm on my way to pilates because we are a fitness city, Right?
you'll notice here I've got my my little mirror for my bicycle.
I love the because I, I like to ride around the city.
but what's important, folks, is we've I'm here to express my concern about c7.
you. It's a consent agenda that would cancel the north meridian avenue multi-use path and The chase avenue multi-use path with no public hearing,
no community input. Really surprised. These are priority projects in the city's already Adopted bicycle pedestrian master plan.
it's only 6/10 of a mile along meridian avenue, But it closes a critical gap.
I'm sorry. In miami beach's bicycle network, It connects existing bike lanes.
bicycle counters just south of this project already recorded roughly 1000 riders per day.
so I just think that's really important. And the and also chase, I was shocked to know chase avenue is back on the agenda to be eliminated.
matthew's going to talk about that. Also rdc r7 I am concerned about this resolution.
it maintains our funding for our cultural anchors and youth arts programs.
that's great, but I'm against the reallocation of the remaining city funding funds Currently designated for arts and culture programs.
our arts funding generates over 5000 jobs, generates over 250 million for residents, And 12 million in local taxes.
71% of the attendees of arts and cultural events are locals.
average person spends over $56 per event. We want to be known as an arts and culture and Fitness city.
thank you very much. Thank you. Next, please.
good morning mayor. Good morning commissioners. My name is matthew tarnoff. I live at 125 Jefferson avenue and I'm here to talk about c7 you.
today I first ask that this item be pulled from the agenda.
it is. Well, I've emailed you all. I believe other people have emailed you all, So I'm not going to go over why it's an important project.
why this priority one project, which linda just talked about, Why it's critical, why adding at the last minute another unrelated project to it perhaps
violates some of the ordinances or red flag ordinance, The right to know the critical infrastructure.
so I'm not going to use my own words, but I want to read from an inspector general report About the 34th and chase avenue project,
which which we worked in good faith with commissioner fernandez, With the community to to get that over hurdles.
and two years ago, january 31st, this commission, Almost this full commission here, they approved the project.
so these are the words from the inspector general. These are not from me.
no. The oig has, on two prior occasions, raised concerns regarding the waste of taxpayer Dollars as a
result of efforts to redesign this project after it had been designed, Permitted and funded.
it has been previously reported that in 2022, The design review review review board approved the design.
the city applied for and was awarded an fdot grant in the amount of 495,000.
the consultant completed 90% of the construction documents. It continues to go on. You can read it. The report is dated april 2024.
regarding the meridian avenue shared use path. This is from a grant application that the city submitted to the miami-dade tpo for fdot Grant funding,
for which it was awarded. Identifying project stakeholders.
the meridian avenue shared use path was presented to the community five times.
mr. Mayor, could I have one more minute, please? Thank you. Was presented to the community five times during various workshops throughout the bicycle Pedestrian master plan process.
further, the project was presented to the neighborhood as part of the bayshore Neighborhood improvement project that gives you one of those critical infrastructure key
points. The proposed path was adopted by the city commission as part of the 2016 bicycle Pedestrian master plan.
three meetings were also held with the miami beach golf course management company to Obtain their consent.
the project design accommodates their comments and their needs.
your cip director david gomez. During a recent meeting, He eloquently explained why this project is so important.
you have professional staff. I ask that you bring them up here. Bring up your ecg to talk about potential waste, Fraud and abuse.
bring up your transportation department, your cip, Your neighborhood affairs. This project didn't come out of nowhere. There's a lengthy
histories and canceling it like this, and then adding one just 12 hours before this Meeting would certainly violate many processes.
thank you. Our first virtual caller is johann moore. Mr. Moore, state your name and you have two minutes.
good morning. I want to talk about four issues each of two of which are, In a sense, connected.
I want to express my support for commissioner fernandez. Item c4-h. Which if I am expressing this correctly, Would require developer contributions to
municipal infrastructure. And that, in fact, Links to why cutting arts funding under r7?
d is a bad idea. We do not gain revenue by cutting services.
the impacts of one thing on the other need to be considered.
there is only a superficial savings to be had by cutting arts funding, And we lose those taxes that can then support municipal
infrastructure. I also am opposed to c7 you. We need connectivity for our bike
lanes. And I am concerned about c4, as are many of my neighbors.
we are very supportive of the jefferson avenue bike lanes and their traffic calming.
and I repeat that the only concerns that I've heard from residents are that both of the Bike lanes are on the same side of the avenue.
so if that's the improvement that needs to happen to move one of them to the east side of Jefferson,
then I would encourage the city to do that. Thank you. Thank you. Our next caller is judith. Judith smigiel.
good morning, michael of the flamingo park neighborhood of miami beach.
I do not understand the logic cutting arts funding.
it doesn't make sense culturally or economically, And I look forward to the discussion of that.
I want to say, in particular, that the sunday promenade concerts in front of the betsy are Some of the best things
that exist here. When I take out of time, visitors were just blown away by the setting, The music,
live jazz. It's wonderful and I wouldn't want anything to happen that.
reducing bicycle lanes. When I was first here, It was pretty scary to bicycle around, and I did.
and still it's still a very a dangerous place to be a pedestrian or a bicyclist or a Driver here.
but anything we can do to improve safety for bicyclists is only to the good.
and I don't understand how this came in almost at the last minute, It seems, and at first was going to be on the consent agenda.
now I understand that it will be under discussion, Which of course is much more democratic.
and I, I really appreciate that we all think about getting residents input on things.
thank you very much. Thank you. Our next caller is sharon.
sharon, state your name. You have two minutes. Hi, This is sharon weiss.
two. Three. Three. 81st street. I'm calling today to strenuously object to c7, I believe is the item
the butchery of the sea grapes all along. Our wonderful beach walk.
I understand that this is being done in the name of public safety.
not quite sure what that would accomplish. The public has a right to be safe from sea Level rise and dune erosion.
I don't know if anyone in the commission has bothered to come up to north beach, But the area near the carillon in the high 60s,
low 70s area streets of the beach, there's no beach left.
it's it's ocean, sea grapes, beach walk. So pulling the cutting the the sea grapes out of There is a
disaster. And it's a disaster even in places where the beach is wide and that there's not Residences condos right close to the beach.
this is terrible. We cannot be a green zone or a blue zone or whatever it is that's being Proposed if we're actively cutting down trees.
public safety is more than just reducing or eliminating the ability of houseless people to Get shelter in the rain and the sun.
and by the way, I'm a marathon runner. I run all up and down that beach walk early in the Morning.
I have never seen a homeless encampment. We spend $100 million on our police force.
that's to compensate them for having to walk around in heat and hot weather and get out of Their cars and deal with homeless folks and hostile people.
and is it pleasant? No, but they're compensated for that. And the answer is to ask them to do patrols and not to cut down foliage and greenery, Which is critical to to protecting us during climate change.
so please reconsider this. Thank you. Thank you.
our next caller is david sexton. Please state your name. You have two minutes. Hi, this is david sexton, 1255 marseille.
I want to start out by thanking the mayor and several commissioners for attending our 100 Year anniversary celebration for normandy fountain.
we had hundreds and hundreds of residents and visitors show up, And we were thrilled to have our electeds many of our electeds there as well.
I'm here today to talk against two items that have been brought since october.
the first is to cut funding for 20 plus arts organizations, Including the miami film festival,
nu deco ensemble, and the jewish film festival. We were all here during art week. Yes, the city spent millions of dollars to support these Organizations,
and it brought in over half $1 billion into our economy every week.
in the city of miami beach is art week. We support our arts organizations, And it generates economic development.
it's it's so obvious. I need I need us to address these issues and vote them down.
the other item is that to change course on the performing arts center at the byron Carlyle.
I want to thank commissioner suarez for holding a public meeting.
I was not able to attend in person, but myself, And I know many of the other commissioners were there in the zoom,
and we were all thrilled with the overwhelming community support for performing arts Center.
the idea of reverting it back to a failed multiplex movie theater is not a good one.
that business model is no longer successful. We have decided to incorporate a commercial Movie theater into the project moving forward,
which will make it even better. I want to say that the community wants a performing arts Center.
one item that was brought up repeatedly during that meeting I raised my hand but wasn't Called on to speak,
is pointing to a survey that was done in 2021 that said that 60% of respondents.
our next caller is inez. State your name. You have two minutes.
yeah. My name is janice flax. I'm at 1500 ocean drive.
I'm calling to remind all my commissioners and mayor to urge you to please vote against Our.
see you. I I, I oppose this this proposal because it will destroy the
historical character of ocean drive, and it will violate the property rights of every Owner who has property on ocean
drive and is against further restrictions to access their property.
and number three, it will create more delays in in time respond to safety to life and Safety issues and also
to the disabled handicapped population that we have in town, Which I become very acutely aware today
because my husband is in a wheelchair, and I know how important it is to be able to drive Up to the front of any establishment.
so I, I beg you to, to consider what you're trying to do to ocean drive, Because it will definitely
destroy the historical character of of this very famous, Which has been the most famous ocean drive on earth.
and to make it pedestrian, you're going to have to change the name to ocean walk.
okay. It will no longer be ocean drive. So thank you very much for your attention to this Matter.
thank you. Our next caller is nicholas duran.
go ahead please. Good morning, mayor and commissioners.
my name is nicholas duran, policy and advocacy manager for transit alliance miami.
I'd like to respectfully urge this board to oppose item c-7, Which would cancel the north meridian avenue and chase avenue multi-use paths.
so, to be clear, this project did. These projects didn't appear overnight. They followed an extensive planning process, Public input and competitive grant applications.
so these are scarce infrastructure dollars that have already been earmarked for these Corridors.
if we cancel these projects now, we don't just pause them. We risk conceding those funds and sending a message that miami beach cannot follow through On thoughtfully developed mobility improvements.
and this is at a time when infrastructure dollars are especially scarce, And we're finding more and more that that city governments and even the county
are finding it more difficult to pay for projects like this. So it's seriously worth Asking how this could impact the city's credibility in seeking funds for other projects or
services, like the water taxi, for example. You know what? What does it mean? What type of message does it send? When we renege on projects that have Been thoroughly vetted and have been approved,
and where the studies are, are valid? I just don't see what the benefit is on on pumping The brakes on a project like this.
so the north meridian and chase avenue multi-use paths are critical north south Connections for the city as bike usage continues to grow.
we need safe, protected corridors that give residents real alternatives to getting in a Car without connected infrastructure.
we force cyclists into traffic, we increase conflicts, And we undermine our own efforts to reduce congestion.
to the comments that were made around safety earlier, It really proves the point as to why we need more facilities like this.
now. If the city is serious about mitigating traffic, Improving safety and promoting public health,
then we must build infrastructure that supports those goals. This is not a luxury.
it's a necessary investment for a safer, healthier, More connected miami beach.
so thank you. I hope we move these projects forward. Thank you so much. Our next caller is josh squire.
please go ahead. You have two minutes. Hi. My name is josh squire.
47th street. I'm here to echo the other people spoke about the bike lanes that are Attempting to be
canceled. It seems like transportation in this city takes one step forward, Two steps back.
the one step forward is the water taxi. Great job on that. Although it could use weekend service as well as some shade and benches for people who use It.
regarding the bike lanes, it's critical to the network. It seems like you know, the safety of micromobility users is is not as important as Motorists or pedestrian,
which is you know, really not the correct way to look about it.
and you know, I've been using meridian for over 20 years.
never got hit by a golf ball before. I think that the thing that that seems odd here is All the work that was done on this project.
it seems like there's something weird going on here. I would suggest that the commissioners disclose who lives on that street, Or who owns property on that street,
and who parks their car there. Pink tesla on the proposed bike lane across from their House under a sign that says you cannot park there.
so I think you got to set a personal example. You got to disclose what your real motives are with this ordinance and follow the ogs Recommendation.
so please take two steps forward. Don't take us back. Thank you, thank you. Our next caller is margie schmidgall.
please go ahead. Margie, unmute yourself, please.
let's go to the next caller. Alright. Can you hear me now? Yeah. Can you hear me now? Yep. My apologies. I'm a resident here since 2019.
I'm in the collins park area, and I have a car, But rarely use it because miami beach is a
great town to be biking in, and anything you do to enhance the bike lanes is essential to Making it a
more safe and welcoming city. And people should be biking if they can because it's it's Better than
driving. And we have you know, now it's harder and harder to go into miami because of all The traffic.
if you think that a bike lane on alton road is a viable alternative for bikers, You're nuts because it's scary and you can't bike
there. So any bike lanes you can put in I, I heartily endorse also about arts funding.
the reason I came to miami beach is because the arts make it magical.
and the fact that the city supports art, outdoors, Music, dance the ocean
promenade concert series, which that gentleman said in the beginning is no, Nobody goes to you can't get a chair there.
you know, they provide chairs unless you get there before five, When it starts, and then people have blankets all around.
it's a wonderful. Yes, it would be nice if another 100 people showed up, But the fact is that it's perfect the way it is.
the the music is great and any musical event outdoors makes this what miami beach should Be
a destination for culture as well as for, you know, Running.
so our next caller is lori beckham. Good morning everyone.
thank you for your time today. Lori balkam, executive director of power access in the South beach jazz festival,
1616. Michigan avenue, suite one, miami beach.
I'm here today in opposition. On behalf of our organization for our seven d cultural arts Funding is the
lifeblood of our city. It is quality of life.
it is economy. It is tourism. It is multifaceted and includes organizations, Both anchors and
presenters from all over the area. Power access is a cultural presenter.
this allows us to work lean and mean and we do activations throughout our city.
we just had the 10th annual south beach jazz festival, Which is become a world class event.
that is recognized all over the country in jazz circles and more.
we were organically featured on cbs sunday morning as one of the best things to do in the Nation the week of our festival.
that goes to show the presence of this festival and our full cultural arts programing that This city and community have
created. Our organization and others like ours would not exist without the support of the City of miami beach and its
dedication to cultural arts funding. So please continue on for all the presenters.
it is an important tapestry of programing. We all collaborate together and each is Important.
I also want to say that the cultural arts center that would be going on the byron site is Going to give some
much needed performance space. Our next caller is alex.
alex, state your name and you have two minutes. Please go ahead. Hi. Good morning. My name is alex jimenez.
I live on belle isle, 13 ferry lane in miami beach. I'm calling to urge against item c7. Z this idea to spend a quarter of $1 million to cut Back the sea grapes on the on the beach walk.
I think the beach walk is one of our best. I think it's probably the best public amenity In the city.
I use it every weekend, every as much as I can, Probably all the time on my bike running.
and this just feels like another bad idea following a pattern of a lot of bad, Ugly, sloppy decisions on the on the beach walk,
you'll notice they use asphalt black asphalt to repair brick brick paved sections.
so where there's brick, they're putting black asphalt, The one you put on the street. It's been there for years. That's how they repair our beach walk.
concrete balls were recently installed to prevent people from sitting. They look horrible. They look ugly. And I think now the city that the same city that's That did these you know,
that has shown sloppy work wants to cut back our native sea grape canopy.
and I think it's beautiful the way it is. It protects sea turtles from artificial light, And it creates tunnel like sections that people actually like.
walking through the shade is very nice. The legislation mentions that there's obstructive,
that these trees obstruct scenic views, which I find offensive.
those views should be very low on the list of priorities before any work is done on the Sea grapes.
two things need to happen one, the public needs to see a clear rendering of what the beach Walk will look like afterward,
so we know it won't be cut all the way back and made ugly like other things are done on The beach walk.
two there must be a real scientific review and sign off, Including from sea turtle experts and the army corps of engineers,
not just government officials. If these two things cannot happen, This project should not move forward.
thank you. Thank you. Our next caller is alicia casanova.
good morning, I'm alicia casanova. I am representing the mid-beach neighborhood Association.
the nba fully supports commissioner fernandez's resolution c7 ab, Opposing the amendment to house bill 399,
which would preempt enforce local governments to approve certain development applications Submitted by large designated destination resorts such as the fontainebleau hotel,
thereby overriding applicable provisions of the city's land development regulations, As well as the independent authority of the historic preservation board and other land use
boards to review and approve such application, And for foreclosing existing opportunities for public input.
we really appreciate your help with this battle we're fighting right now with the state of Florida.
thank you. Thank you. Our next caller has initials w.r.
please state your name and go ahead, please. You have two minutes. Good morning, Ladies and gentlemen,
wayne roberts at the fifth. I just wanted to state that, As you know, I'm a I'm a big proponent for the ferry services
that miami beach and the barrier islands can have going forward.
high speed ferry services that are electric that seattle currently utilizes.
we have a much better weather, much better water system to enable it and much better, Bigger need,
not just for miami beach, but all the barrier island towns.
and it could connect all those towns to the city in a high speed manner.
and whatever federal, state and county funding that we can get from transportation Departments would would have a
major impact quickly on, on the residents of this city and, And anybody along the barrier islands that we're developing
and I applaud applaud anybody that supports that effort.
thank you. Thank you. Our next caller is marc gellman.
unmute okay. Good morning. Can you hear me? Yes. Go ahead please. Okay. Marc gellman live on prairie avenue, Have been here for almost 40 years.
here to speak against c7. You. I think all of us would agree that one of the biggest Problems we have here on miami beach is traffic.
and traffic comes from two sources. It comes from people crossing the bridge, Commuters.
and the solution to that, the only solution will be mass transit. And I know we're not ready to go in that direction.
then the other source of traffic is residents that have to move around the city, Whether it's shopping or picking up their kids from school.
and one of the areas many people shop in is down by sunset harbor between publix, Fresh market,
trader joe's, etc. And many people like to use their bicycles to do their shopping.
the two streets that are being proposed to remove during for this resolution are both Streets that will allow people to get from sunset
harbor area or south beach area up to mid-beach and further up whether they're going to go Up prairie avenue,
they need to go along chase or they need to go along meridian.
I've spoken to residents that live on meridian. They are in favor of seeing a bike path along that.
so I don't know why. After years of working on this problem of of trying to close the gaps Where there are gaps in bike lanes,
why suddenly we've spent a lot of money working on this problem, And suddenly it wants to be these two streets.
they want to remove what we've worked on so hard. So I am against c7. You. I have no idea how this suddenly popped up.
thank you, thank you. Our lax, our last virtual caller, Has a screen name of zeno.
please go ahead. Hey, good morning guys. I live on meridian.
yeah. Zeno. I live on meridian. I own a house there.
I think the. I'm in support of item c7. You absolutely against spending all this public Funding on annette on the golf course.
I bike myself constantly there. I take walks. I've never once been felt threatened by a little golf ball.
I think we could do a lot better to allocate the funds. We have flooding issues. There's all sorts of structural issues across miami beach, And I think spending money on this is absolutely unnecessary and not the right,
right way to allocate funds. Thank you so much, Sir. Go ahead please. Good morning. Ian hendry, 1330 ocean drive.
I'm asking for a deferral on r7. You until the following issues have been fully resolved, Which haven't been proven during the previous
street closure. The front door egress to the hotels and properties, Uber rideshare pick up and drop off.
okay. Accessibility. The impact that the delivery drivers and trucks have if they're not Going to be able to get to ocean drive
and they park in the middle of collins avenue, The life safety response times that were delayed during the closure.
okay. And ocean court's inability to handle the extra traffic.
there's been several times where basic services such as trash pickup has been impossible Because ocean court has been blocked.
I really urge you, what was the first item you mentioned? Sorry? You gave a list. I'm actually jotting it down.
what was the one before? Uber rideshare. Before the uber rideshare was the sorry, The the front door egress,
the access. Thank you. You have everything else? I do, thank you. Okay. Yeah. I mean this has been an experiment that's been going on for Six years.
I can tell you now that our business is actually up 20% since you implemented the one way Of ocean drive instead of the full closure.
and I would urge you to reconsider before you just close ocean drive and just make it a Dead zone.
thank you. Thank you. Next, please. Good morning everyone.
my name is elias hane. I'm with associated parking systems.
I provide valet parking services in between eighth and 12th street and ocean.
I was recently advised by the parking department that we're not we're going to be Relocated to collins avenue for valet parking services,
but they're going to leave ocean drive open. I understand that, But what I'm asking is requesting is to keep to keep up the barricades.
that helps the traffic flow and prevents people from blocking the ramp loading zone and Putting out of their cars.
so that's what I'm requesting. Thank you sir. Thank you. David wallach I want to speak in
terms to this r seven you pedestrianization and the concept that is so half baked that it Shouldn't be considered even yet
before it goes to a full workshop. First I'm going to I'm just going to read from your Resolution.
fdot florida state their feedback emphasized the need to understand how any proposed Modifications to ocean drive would affect collins
avenue, particularly at its interface at fifth street, And the potential downstream impacts to adjacent corridors such as washington avenue,
even to alton road. Continuing on any reliance on ocean court and for everybody's Edification,
ocean court is the alley. It's not a street. It's the alley in between buildings from that Back buildings up to buildings from
ocean to collins. Just an alley with dumpsters.
garbage trucks. You want to call it a road? It's not any reliance.
and this is from dade county. Henry. Alliance of ocean court would not result in a permit Approval.
because the east west streets will result in dead end streets turn around, Cul de sacs will be required that will trigger a county wide
referendum. This option of pedestrianization would generate increased traffic volumes
and queuing on collins avenue and washington avenue, Adversely affecting levels of service and potentially requiring mitigation efforts such as
new signal timings and curbside adjustments. The anticipated increase in parking demand Along collins avenue and washington avenue
may exceed available supply, forcing demand westward, Potentially exacerbating spillover effects.
increasing these constraints would require expanded transit service, And investment in active transportation infrastructure to
accommodate the modal shift away from private vehicle use. One more thing, primarily the lack of vehicular traffic access complicates deliveries.
emergency vehicle access and transit service continuity.
it also presents significant vehicular redistribution impacts on collins avenue and Surrounding streets,
some of which would need to be absorbed by the district, Which would have to absorb displaced traffic.
delivery trucks would be parking for hours on collins avenue.
thank you sir. I think fdot would be extremely concerned with that, To say nothing of the massive litigation that this concept of
pedestrianization would create for this city.
thank you. That concludes mayor. Okay. Thank you.
take it away, ralph. On the consent agenda. Yes, Sir. Thank you. Everyone who called in and spoke. The following items have been separated from The consent agenda.
mayor minor is separating c7 r so mayor minor c7.
vice mayor mateo- salinas is separating c7. You so vice mayor c7 you and commissioner Suarez is separating the following items
c7 z as in zebra, c4, c4, c4, c4,
c4, t as in tom and c7 l. I'm going to repeat them c7 z c4 ralph isn't c7 z an
addendum item? It is, but they want to make sure that it's discussed. So it is c4, c4, c4, c4, c7, and c7 l. And for the record, The mayor has not
approved the inclusion of any of the addendum items. Any such items will be heard after 5:00. These include c4, L, c4, m r9 and c4 n c4
c7, c7, z, c7, aa, c4. Q, c7, ab, c7, ac, and c7 ad.
those are all listed on your time certain list. Mr.. Mayor commissioner fernandez. I make a motion on the consent agenda, Excluding those items that have been separated.
second. Yeah, I heard commissioner. Motion by commissioner fernandez. I have a second by Vice mayor mateo-
salinas. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none. The consent agenda, excluding the separated and the addendum items are Approved.
okay, we heard from our residents and businesses about a number of items this morning, But let's start with r-7.
you. R-7 you is accept recommendation configuration for ocean drive corridor r-7 you.
good morning. David. David. David gomez, director of the office of capital improvement for The city of miami beach.
this item is, as you all, I'm sure will recall began before february of 2022, When the
commission adopted a vision plan created by zivkovich that looked conceptually and at a Very high level at potential reconfigurations for ocean
drive. Essentially, they identified three visions, Which included two way traffic, one way southbound and full
pedestrianization. Following that adaptation or adoption, In october of 22, the city contracted calvin giordano and associates
to further examine each of those configurations and identify what could be done and how to Move forward from there.
coming back with a recommendation so that you, This body can decide on which configuration to further pursue each of the three
configurations poses benefits and detractions.
these things are evaluated and presented in the, In the memo.
but for example, the vision plan in two of the three options occupied a portion of lummus Park.
both of those options, the two way traffic and the one way southbound moved traffic into The park required,
which would require a county wide referendum. In the process of evaluating the options, calvin giordano identified ways to mitigate Restrictions to permitting.
for example, the counties made very clear that we cannot rely on ocean court as an Alternate traffic route.
calvin giordano has developed a scheme which which would eliminate the need of reliance on Ocean court
while accommodating turnaround traffic in the in the dead ends.
what mr. Wallach referred to earlier about the county wide referendum for the turnarounds Is there was,
as part of the the study, a look at how those turnarounds would happen and they would Occupy a large portion of the park,
again triggering the requirement for a countywide referendum. Calvin giordano has developed a scheme which removes that portion from the park, Eliminating that requirement.
we have met preliminarily with the county, and they are in agreement that this is a viable Solution.
so that eliminates that requirement. Back in.
apologies. I can't find the date. And I'm sorry.
in may of 2025, we did provide an update, and we heard very loud and clear from this body That the preference was
for full pedestrianization. So we've looked at the potential obstacles and potential Benefits of that layout,
and are making the recommendation to proceed with the further development of full Pedestrianization.
the things to consider here is that full pedestrianization will require two way traffic on Each of the side streets.
what that means is as part of the the master plan. Using bike lanes on those traffic on those streets would not be allowed just because they Wouldn't fit.
however, they are small streets and sharrows could be incorporated.
we would lose some number of on street parking on the side streets to accommodate loading Zones for deliveries.
we have looked at delivery for businesses on ocean drive.
we could accommodate most of the delivery vehicles along the side streets through those Loading zones.
we would have to restrict the very largest of vehicles, Such as the 18 wheelers, would not be able to accommodate or access the fronts or or even
alton court of those businesses. So we can do that either by restricting the size of Delivery vehicles,
serving those businesses, or setting up delivery times and utilizing collins avenue as a Loading zone.
given the time slots that we could accommodate those vehicles.
and I do have our consultant here to answer any questions.
should I have missed anything? Mr. Mayor, I'm happy to move. Staff recommendation.
second. Commissioner dominguez. I have a question.
you mentioned that on the side streets, parking would be lost.
there are residents and businesses that rely on the parking. How much parking is going to be lost there? I don't have an exact number of lost spaces.
some spaces would remain just because we're we're looking to accommodate the turnaround as Well as some loading zones.
but I don't have an exact number. I can give that to you.
if I could that also could depend on where exactly the turnaround gets installed.
our proposal is that the turnaround would be provided between the alley and ocean drive, So that there is a consistent pedestrian promenade along
ocean. And so you would lose those parking spaces east of the alley.
but there is a version where those turnarounds could take place on ocean drive proper, Which would reintroduce those parking spaces,
but would then ultimately break up the pedestrianization of ocean.
but this is why we need to coordinate with dpw, Because allowing staff to go forward and start negotiating with dpw will determine where
that turnaround would happen. If it's going to happen on ocean drive or east of the Alleyway between the alleyway and ocean drive,
and by consequence will determine the loss of parking 100%. Correct. And I have another question, commissioner dominguez.
afterwards a few other things. The delivery truck impacts would be
then from ocean drive to the side. What about the trash ocean
can't be a regular corridor. How is the disruption in trash collection going to work?
thank you for asking. Ocean court would remain as is today. So the the trash services would still be provided on ocean court as well as many of the Deliveries and service vehicles that that use ocean court.
we just can't use it as a thoroughfare and ada accessibility, Ada accessibility.
we would obviously have the identified ada parking spaces, But we would also incorporate drop off at each of the turnarounds for not only ada,
but I'll drop off and has life safety response times been reviewed.
each of the turnarounds would accommodate a method for the emergency vehicles to access Ocean drive.
so we're we're still working on the details, But yes, we would accommodate emergency vehicle access.
okay. Thank you. I have a couple of questions. Eric. Thank you. David. Good in-depth summary.
if you can give us a the other day, you gave me a 32nd summary. Eric, I think it would be helpful to people to hear it. Okay, So we've looked at all the different permutations of this.
thank you to calvin giordano for doing such a thorough job. They've articulated many of the the challenges that would exist in any of the different Options.
but what we're recommending here is that we would fully pedestrianize ocean drive.
we would incorporate a turnaround close to the alleyway just east of the alleyway in the 100 blocks,
which would allow for a turning movement, a one movement turning movement for pedestrian Vehicle passenger vehicles.
trucks would have the ability to turn around using the alleyways.
and ultimately we would have to get the county to buy into that and sign off on that.
if the county doesn't sign off on that, then this resolution recommends that we go with a Secondary option of introducing
one way movements in alternating blocks eastbound on one street, Southbound on ocean,
westbound on the next street. And so you would have intermittent pedestrianization blocks.
if we can't get the county to buy into the concept of full pedestrianization if this is Approved,
when when would it go into effect at earliest?
the the challenge would be in the permitting process just because there is a current Permit that's still open on ocean drive for the one way southbound,
we would have to close that entire process before we can submit the permit to the county For review.
so there's a little bit of a delay there. Then it's the negotiations with the county on How we do it.
then following that, the the completion of the construction documents, Which I think we said eight months.
it's approximately eight months to complete the construction documents and then complete The permitting and bidding and construction.
and what's the thinking from changing from the current iteration to what the proposal is?
so the thinking in moving from the current one way condition to the full pedestrianization Is that we believe that that is the
long term best solution for the city, based on the analysis that we've done, As well as some of the things that we think
are are going to be the future of ocean drive and loomis park.
we think that this sets the city up to be in the best position for the next 30 years.
if I could expand on that, moving from the current condition to the proposed condition is What allows the city to expand the sidewalks and create
better walking areas, more cafe space, etc.. So it is a change to the environment, Not just the roadway.
I've had a few stakeholders and I'm sure I'm not the only one they reached out, So I want to ask.
I know they've they've said, why can't we have the one way but going northbound.
did you ever analyze that and what's the thinking. So we did analyze that. And I see jose gonzalez is here.
my understanding is that you could possibly do both, One or the other.
we believe and and we continue to believe that the southbound option is the better option,
and it creates a situation where outbound flow of traffic doesn't get restricted the way You would have if you had northbound
flow. Fifth street is a larger facility and is able to accept traffic as it exits ocean Drive.
if you were to dump everybody onto 15th street, I think you would have challenges.
that's exactly right. Okay. Thank you. And if I may not, As a non traffic engineer, one of the things I've learned during this
process is that northbound one lane traffic or one way northbound actually increases the Potential conflict points as vehicles need to turn left,
crossing the potential either pedestrians or other areas, Whereas southbound has a fewer conflict points.
commissioner dominguez. Some businesses rely on valet.
where will that be done? Those valet spots will be at each of the side streets.
not each wherever they are now, they would. We would accommodate on this side streets.
I know you touched on. Can you just address the emergency response times?
okay. The the emergency response times. Obviously there would be a a gate or bollard System where we're actually looking at active vehicle barriers,
which are the the ones that drop into the ground. So that is an impact by fully pedestrianizing ocean drive.
as the emergency vehicles approach, those bollards were dropped. They can drive on to Ocean drive.
they obviously have to be careful with pedestrians, But there should not be a big difference in response times.
commissioner fernandez, mr. Mayor, I think of when when you go to any major destination, You go to barcelona.
they have las ramblas. You go to new york, they have times square and you go to paris During certain times of the year.
champs-elysees is completely or at least partially pedestrianized.
you know, we have friends on both sides of this issue and important stakeholders and Beloved stakeholders on both sides of the,
of the issue. But the future, the future of prospering cities is accommodating Pedestrianism accommodating
a vibe for, for for for our health and wellness brand.
and it's also good for the economy. We know that that that prospering cities offer Pedestrianization so that restaurants can,
can expand so that so the businesses that have limited indoor real estate can prosper.
and people are truly able to not only enjoy the environment, But also enjoy more closely our our architecture.
I think this is the future, and I think that this will actually support and help the Economy of the businesses along this road,
as it has in all of these other tourist destinations, Where they have proven its success.
commissioner magazine commissioner fernandez. Agree wholeheartedly. Wholeheartedly. That is the long term vision.
that is where the world is going. If you look at some of the most special places in the World,
that is what it looks like. I do have a caveat or reservation, Though, in that I think we need to look at and
sometimes what we don't get right in this city is a comprehensive plan or vision.
so I love this vision for ocean drive. But the, The fatal error is if we don't do
comprehensive urban planning in the surrounding areas. What we need to make this vision feel activated.
and I'll steal one of david wallach's words to add that oxygen is people, Right?
so if we're going to be taking the cars away, Which I agree is that vision and what's what makes places special,
especially a beachfront plaza. We need people.
and in that area it's one of the least. I hate to use the word dense, But there's just not a lot of people around,
right? If you look at the businesses up on collins avenue from fifth to, Let's call it 12th street,
that corridor is died. Died, right. Because if you go stand on fifth and collins, The bank just went out of
business. The gym's not doing well. The retail on the ground floor is not doing well.
if you look around, you say, where are my customers going to come from? Right? Whether you're a gym or a sandwich shop or anything else, You do a 360 degree spin.
you say, where are my customers? Right? And that's I don't mean to harp on this washington Avenue thing,
but that is the comprehensive plan. When I think about pedestrianizing ocean drive, It's because at 5 p.m.,
I want to go there after work or after school and see thousands of people out there Rollerblading and running and jogging and
enjoying the most beautiful natural resource that miami has to offer.
but we need the people to be able to do that. So we need comprehensive planning around That.
if we don't get that right, we're going to have some of the issues that we're facing on Lincoln road.
I took a picture of lincoln road, and I wish I had it in time for the two day rule for the Presentation today,
but it was from alton road looking east. We're talking about 8 a.m.
and this is our major downtown, if you will. There wasn't a single human being on that Road,
right? Because there's not a lot of human beings that live in that immediate proximity.
and that's kind of the comprehensive vision that we need to fill in to make ocean drive Pedestrianized,
successful in the long term. David, I have a question.
the longer term plan, I don't not even longer term, But in the near to medium term, is ocean drive just going to look as it is just
without cars? Is there still going to be the sidewalk and then we're going to have the Street?
when I think about doing this, I want to do it right. I want to do it comprehensively. I don't want people to feel as if we're in some sort of Temporary purgatory of,
oh, this could be a road one day. This could be a street one day. This should be a beautiful pedestrian plaza. If we're going to go, Let's push our chips all in and go all in.
right. It shouldn't be a sidewalk, yellow paint and then a street.
let's push our chips all in and make this one of the most special places in the world.
and I'll let you explain a little more about the vision. It is not just sidewalk and then other areas.
the the vision is actually to create that plaza. Good morning. John. With calvin giordano. It's a pleasure.
the the ultimate vision for ocean drive would be to create it more like a linear plaza.
the intention behind the initial visions and the plan was to create a curbless street so You wouldn't have a vertical separation of that curve
between the roadway and the sidewalk. And the idea would be, If you've been to clematis street up in west palm beach,
to have that sort of storefront to park front continuity and that seamlessness between Ocean drive and lummus park.
that is the overall intention. And when do we get there? Well, we have to go through that permitting process. I think that that's the critical Component to make sure that we get the buy in from from the county.
I believe you mentioned something about a midterm or a a near term change.
there was an item discussed at commission about potentially upgrading some of the Sidewalks,
lighting, etc. On ocean drive. We did go out to the community and we we presented some Options in doing that.
there was considerable pushback. Pushback? It was not received well by the community.
so it stopped at that point and we didn't. And I'll tell you in some of these, And I'm not talking about the specifics of this,
but in some of these comprehensive plans and visions, There's going to be people that agree disagree for anything.
and where we've really erred over the years as a city is some of these projects.
we get to the one yard line or the ten yard line. And some people say, oh no, no. And we all of a sudden get cold feet.
and this is how west avenue doesn't get done for 20 years, Right?
this is how lincoln road doesn't get done for a long time. So I don't want 20 years to go by or ten years or five years.
and we've made this commitment to pedestrianize ocean drive, But we're still sitting around,
and it just looks like any normal street and sidewalk. We need to push the chips into the middle and really go forward with this.
commissioner bhatt and commissioner suarez and commissioner mateo- Salinas. So I want to build on what my colleagues have said about this being a
transformative project for the future of the city. I know change is hard. It doesn't come all at once, And it's complicated.
but in addition to what my colleagues have already said on this matter. We know from the reams of data that that are out there.
I brought a bunch of examples when we talked about this last year. I didn't bring them again today, but the data quite conclusively shows that pedestrianized Plazas and streets increase retail business,
increased dining business. Because people stroll through, They wander in, they have a cup of coffee,
they go out, they do some shopping, they go and go to the beach.
they come back, they go for lunch. You know, It is not the same if you're using ocean drive as a thoroughfare.
to get from point a to point b, that is not the same experience.
you know, I recently rewatched birdcage, which is if anyone hasn't watched it recently, I highly encourage it.
it is awesome. But that is not the ocean drive we are anymore. It was jam packed with cars. People in, you know, 80s jane fonda workout outfits and roller blades,
and that's still holds true. David. David does still wear that occasionally. But that that's not that's not where we are as a city anymore.
yes. To fitness, clearly, but not weaving your way through cars to do so.
I think this will be such an upgrade to what is already an amazing public amenity and a World class destination,
and I think we're going to look back in ten years, Even those who are concerned about how it's going to impact their business.
we will look back in ten years from its its opening and say, I can't believe we ever resisted this.
I do. I'm not being cavalier about the concerns that are being raised about how do we Address our hotel guests,
how do we address our dining guests? We will work those details out.
we will make the experience a welcoming one from the point of departure from their vehicle To the point of entrance to their destination.
we can work with the ocean drive association the the the businesses themselves can.
one second, please, david. We can work with the the businesses to to make a beautiful Experience.
I've been to hotels where they pick you up in a, In a, you know, a beautiful car that is branded.
and they, they make it a welcoming destination, Part of the check in process.
you know, there's a water in the back and the driver answers questions about, You know, the environment.
we will get it right. We will get it right. We will incorporate everybody's feedback and Get it right.
the other thing, joe, you mentioned the meeting. Or david, you mentioned the meeting actually last year where there was very strong Pushback about making changes to the sidewalks and lighting and to the park
in advance of this, I think. And that is a correct assessment.
but I believe that that was before we had made a decision, And there was a lot of concern that nobody wanted to spend money on something that would
just be ripped up again. So if there is a way to, As we're working on the permits, start also developing the cosmetic part of this,
knowing that what we're aiming for and we can start to make those improvements that will Not then be ripped up,
but will be incorporated into what is to come. That would be, I think, a great way to move forward to elevate the experience as we're Transitioning,
as you suggested, joe. So that's what I would like to encourage.
thank you. Commissioner suarez I'd like to invite our chief of police up.
I got a couple questions.
good morning, wayne jones, police chief. Good morning chief. Good morning sir. I remember,
I believe during covid there when we did go full pedestrian for, For a period of time, there was unintended consequences.
such as. Stampedes, overcrowding. Especially during the high impact periods.
if we go through with this does is the police supportive of this measure where you can Effectively manage crowd
control on ocean drive? Yeah. Well, covid, as you know, Is problematic in all hosts for host reasons.
I don't think the issues associated with covid was simply limited to the closure of ocean Drive,
at any rate. I think from police perspective, Whether ocean drive remains open as it is today or closed permanently at some point will
police as best we can. Obviously this decision is a policy decision to be made, But we're committed to policing,
whether closed or open. Okay. I just want to I just want to hear from the police.
if it's if it's something you can do. Is it possible to do crowd control and management Again on ocean drive if you needed to?
yes. Okay. If that's the charge, we'll make it happen.
that's it. Thank you. All right. So I have two questions.
first of all, this plan will include the sidewalk cafes will still be able to operate Because we won't have ocean drive anymore.
theoretically, there would actually be more space for the sidewalk cafes. Okay, so those businesses would be able to expand and have more restaurant space to Increase their revenue.
okay. And then my second question is, have we figured out yet addressed what would happen To our premier events,
our parades that we have on ocean drive like pri, Veteran's day, even art deco weekend?
have we thought about if those would be moved to washington or fifth street or.
so I've thought a little bit about that. We would have the option of continuing to do the Parade on ocean drive,
because you have to keep a 20 foot clear path for emergency vehicles.
and we could activate that. It would, it would be similar to having a parade on
lincoln, which we've done on occasion. Not as frequently as with ocean.
so even when the plan is all said and done in 20 years or whatever, It's rebuilt and there's technically no street on ocean drive,
it's we're still going to be able to host our events, Our parades. Yes. Okay. Thank you, commissioner fernandez.
thank you, madam vice mayor. Pj do you have the image I just sent to you?
okay, there we go. This is what we're talking about with the staff recommendation that we Just moved.
we're talking about an elevated an elevated street, In essence the the area that today is asphalt would
be rebuilt as one continuous sidewalk that goes all the way pretty much to loomis park.
so really enhancing the pedestrian offering, I believe. That's about 55ft. Mister director, is that correct?
I think it's actually more than that. It's more than 55ft. So? So it's so it's pretty significant. Pretty significant pedestrian space we would be Adding there clearly there you see in the middle of it
you know, much more expanded space for our businesses, For our restaurants to really be able to flourish.
and we know in this area of the city that's so critical and important because the indoor Real estate of these businesses is very limited,
and in order for them to flourish and really make financial sense is by offering them this Expanded outdoor seating area and then further to
the east you see, when it meets loomis park, You have that that, that lane there, that's for emergency
vehicles. And as the city manager was, was mentioning that would be the area that you Would be able to use to continue hosting
incredible events like pride that sustain our economy and attract tourism.
this is this is such a beautiful vision where people get to not only enjoy the park and The businesses,
but the architecture and the events that we host in our city.
so I just wanted to share the visual of it because this really would be taking, I think, the ocean drive experience to the very next level.
thank you. Public comment. Let's mr. Wallach, I know you've been waiting patiently.
and, ralph, I don't know if anyone's on zoom. Thank you. Commissioner. I don't think you people are understanding.
it's unbelievable that you don't understand that fifth to 15th street is not espanola way.
it's not miracle mile. It's not lincoln road. It is not a retail center. It is small hotels.
each of these have multiple small rooms with small bathrooms, No swimming pools, no parking.
the only amenity that they truly have is their front door access to loomis park.
and you want to take it away? You're making it totally noncompetitive.
depression will follow year after year and it will be dead.
you have not planned ahead. What will replace these beautiful little, Beautiful deco hotels because you're going to kill them just
like the 1970s. None of you were here for that.
you have no idea. Went on in the what went on in the 1970s.
but you're going to create the same thing darkness, Emptiness.
why not look at loomis park and all the hurricanes that have depleted it, And redesign it and redesign it all the way to the to the to
the beach mound as the architect designed magnificent light, Those trees incredibly like they do in whistler.
we have ocean drive lit like a dump. Meridian avenue is more beautiful than ocean drive at Night,
and yet you want to destroy it. You don't realize you're talking about life safety.
yes, chief jones will do the best he can to get there, Even if it's ten minutes late.
you don't realize that trucks have to service every one of these hotels.
every one. And if you say, well, we'll use smaller trucks, Then you need four trucks for every one big truck.
those then have to walk on hand trucks and deliver one by one every block, Five days a week.
you think police and fire vehicles can get through all those multiple trucks parked on Each street?
they won't. You're dreaming and creating, as this facetious lie to the public of
access when you're removing all the access. It is impossible for these small hotels from Fifth to 15th street to
function if you close that one way, one way is like one lung.
you've already taken away the other lung. During the six week closure that mayor gelber Instituted
illegally. But it happened. And judge buchko then ruled and opened.
but six weeks. I don't want to speak just because it's mangoes, But it gives you a scale,
even to collins avenue, of what would happen incrementally to every building.
mango's tropical cafe in six weeks dropped $770,000.
thank you sir. And recovered when the street was reopened in one lane.
don't kill ocean drive before you fully plan what the recovery would truly be because it Is not pedestrianization.
increasing the size of cafes with no one there means nothing.
and I just thank you. If I could just. Commissioner fernandez, Thank you.
because the. This is the same conversation we've been having for years, And it's advancing this from conversation to actual discussion with
dpw. But this is not set in stone, because if dpw were not to approve either of the Turnaround designs with the full pedestrianization,
then we are recommending through the motion that we did supporting staff's recommendation,
the hybrid design with one way with a one way traffic lane blended with pedestrianization Along ocean drive.
so the door here is for both options. We're telling dp, We're telling our administration to work with dpw and our preference of it being
pedestrianized. Fully pedestrianized. Consistent with all the conversations we've had for All of these years.
but if we are unable to fully pedestrianize it, We're simultaneously giving the ability to then work on a hybrid design with a one way
vehicle lane blended with pedestrianization along ocean drive.
so just just so that there's clarity on that. Thank you. Mitch, would you like to speak? I'll be.
I'll be brief. Mitch novick, 901 collins. Whenever the 100 block is closed to vehicular Traffic,
the 100 block outside my building becomes a traffic sewer, Which include deliveries which are lined up along the curbs with their condenser
units. The noise, the vibration, the the fact that it's just total gridlock is
really problematic. I think if you go forward with this kind of plan, You know, you're really going to essentially kill my business because
it's severely impacted whenever ocean drive is closed to vehicular traffic.
thanks. Thank you. Anyone else? If not, let's go to zoom.
first caller has a screen name of call in user one. Please state your name. You have two minutes.
please unmute yourself. Let's go to daniel sprawldef, Please.
you have two minutes. Yes. Hi. Daniel sorrento, Resident of the art deco district and as
far as ocean drive. Pedestrianization. I just want to make sure that if that is done, That the businesses which already have
huge indoor business within their property line, Like mangoes, or the palace should not be able to expand so much more
outside. It should be proportional. There are so many hotels that stayed hotels, Unlike these other buildings that adapted to a new use.
and so we need to help. As mr. Wallace said, A smaller hotels that don't have that haven't converted their inside to an all night
party, and we need to look at protecting them. I haven't heard any of them speak, but I am aware that the smaller hotels like the idea of The pedestrianization.
so please stick to this and keep it going forward. Thank you. Our next caller is arnaz. Arnaz. State your name.
you have two minutes. Yes. Inez flax. Here again, I just want to stress the importance
that the residents and the businesses who are here full time.
okay, like david wallach, like mitch, like myself. Okay, I've been here in ocean drive for 26 years, And and the so-called experts that you pay,
okay, they don't have the daily experience of the people who are here full time.
even those snowbirds who come here in the winter. Yes. They want to have a park behind their or in front of their condos, And they're only looking for themselves.
selfish. If I was like that, I would also want to have, You know, a pedestrian there, right?
because, I mean, if I was selfish, but I'm looking for the for the community, Not just our local community,
but the world community. And it will be shame to completely change the character of ocean Drive and what it has been and how
successful it was with. And the reason that no one's coming here because we don't have Parking.
parking became so unaffordable, people stopped coming here. I hear this from many of my friends who live in coral gables, Who live in boca, and they start coming here because first of all,
unfriendly. Second, no parking and then parking. You know, $40 for valet is unaffordable. And miami is a car driven community.
you know, pedestrianization like many people explain, Where are the people going to come from?
they have to come here by car before they even get here. And where are they going to park? Your problem is parking, Not parks.
so you spend a lot of time over the last 20 years creating more and more parks, But not parking and not affordable housing.
so your your priorities have been not in the right place.
so I hope that you at least do a comprehensive plan of the entire city before you move Forward with anything.
thank you. Our next caller is jane krupp. Good morning, Everyone.
and thank you all for finally speaking about this really important, Iconic street that I've lived on for 20 years.
and I'm down here in the trenches on 14th and ocean.
I watch the trucks, I watch the pedestrians, I watch the tourists, the events, everything.
and I've got all the data in my head. I would love to share with calvin giordano.
I'm happy they've started to do a plan. And mr.
magazine, you're right. We need a comprehensive master plan thought out, And we need to start now.
designing it, thinking about it I'm on the executive board, And and founder of adna art deco neighborhood association,
and I was on the abcd mayor's panel during the discussions.
and we need to continue a dialog with the residents here and the businesses.
they. All these problems are solvable with full pedestrianization, Which we support completely for many years.
for 30 years we've had residents that have wanted this vision for the city.
I'm not in total agreement with that diagram that was shown. I believe that the restaurant should be elevated because this pedestrianization, And we should put the bike lane back in.
I don't know why that was taken out. I don't think the lincoln road model is correct.
I think the restaurant should be attached to their balconies and extend the sidewalk, Keep it elevated,
and then do a beautiful paver and a bike lane. It all can be done without infringing on the park.
leave the park. A beautiful green space and coconut grove like it is, Doesn't need to be touched.
we have a $20 million geo bond that just this repaving and reconfiguration and the Turnarounds will probably
solve. But also let me just address the truck issues. We have plenty of parking on 14th street and the side streets in the 100 block.
can I just have 30s? We have plenty of. We have plenty of.
we have plenty of parking and loading zones. The problem is the oversize trucks who can't Make the turnarounds.
these are old streets. Let's design it for smaller trucks.
put the bigger trucks on collins. It all can be done in the 200 blocks.
it. We need city planning and let's get it done. Thank you. Thank you. Our next caller is monica.
anton. Miss anton, you have two minutes. Good morning.
commission monica anton, on behalf of mango's cafe and the colony hotel.
this commission is concerned about the impact that historic buildings are going to have if The state takes take certain actions against them.
but at the same time, you're not you don't have the same concern over the historic hotels That are located on ocean to drive.
the colony hotel is a mid street. What would happen to those people that want to go to the Colony hotel?
they would be walking half a block in high heels, Rolling their suitcases with umbrellas in the rain.
how many more of those customers will come back? I bet you not very many. What will be the long term effect on these smaller, Boutique historic district hotels?
I think that the vote on this item is premature. Without a further study of the impact on your historic properties as well as on these side Streets,
I hear a lot of the things that are happening on these side streets. These are very Narrow, two way side streets. You are now indicating you're going to have two way traffic.
you're going to have parking, you're going to have loading, You're going to have rideshares.
you're going to have valet. How many things can happen on half a block on each side?
this is going to have an impact of going down collins, Going down to washington and even possibly into the flamingo park neighborhood,
because these side streets cannot handle the amount of items and things that you are Imposing that are going to happen.
we believe that this is premature. And I think what commissioner magazine said earlier is Very important.
you are going. You're moving forward with this. But what are you moving forward with? Are you going to have a plan so that it's not just An open street as we had after covid?
you have one of the best police departments in the state of the country. They will always respond. But what will they be able to do as safely and effectively?
you believe that you need the additional time to to actually vet this correctly. Thank you. Thank you. Our next caller is susana santoro.
please, you have two minutes. Go ahead. Good morning.
commission. This is actually not related to the matter. I just wanted to thank Commissioner alex fernandez for advancing item c7,
ab, opposing hb 399 and the rest of the commission are placing in this position on the Record is important not only from an historic preservation standpoint,
but from a broader principle of fairness, infrastructure and concurrency, Fiscal responsibility,
and most critical life safety. Thank you. In a barrier island environment like miami Beach,
with limited evacuation routes, chronic congestion, And documented emergency access challenges,
preserving meaningful local review for high intensity development in a matter of public Safety and equitable governance.
ensuring that all property owners are subject to consistent evidentiary standards and that Impacts to traffic,
emergency response, water, sewer and storm water systems are properly evaluated before Approvals are granted is fundamental to protecting
residents, visitors and long term financial stability of the community.
so commissioners mayor. Thank you again, in particular, Commissioner fernandes for putting this forward.
thank you. Our next caller is andres ocean. You have two minutes. Go ahead sir. Good morning everyone. You know, If it's not going to be two lanes going
north and south, the most logical thing is to have traffic flowing northbound.
it's just common sense that you drive down fifth street, The major, most largest artery to get to ocean drive and make a left.
when you get to ocean drive and drive up the street. Many times if you take an uber and you're going to go, For instance, to mangos and you put 900 ocean drive,
if you don't have that flow of traffic, you're going to go up washington, Come down ninth,
stop on ninth and ocean and get out versus going through the flow of ocean drive and Enjoying all the beautiful businesses and restaurants that there are to offer there.
it just makes common sense to go up north. Pull your car up to the left.
you don't even have to change the lanes the way that they're painted on the street right Now.
all you have to do is turn the traffic lights around to the other side.
it is simple. It is easy. And you don't want people parking or getting dropped off a block Away,
especially if they're elderly, especially if they're, You know, have impairments. And walking to walk over a block over to get to a restaurant, It makes no sense.
it's not lincoln road. Lincoln road does not have hotels that are on lincoln road.
it's not the same vibe. And another thing is, If you would put some beautiful signature art like there is in the design district around
the park, three or 4 or 5 pieces and make it a free public space for art.
many people using the power of marketing that the city is doing a great job with, Would invite people to come over and see that free art sculpture in the park,
and it will attract more people to come to ocean drive for different reasons.
put marketing, put art and have proper flow of traffic on ocean drive and it will work.
thank you. Thank you. There are no other zoom callers.
good morning again. Ian hendry, 1330 ocean drive.
some of you were here when you decided that there would be a pedestrian zone on ocean Drive,
which was between 13th and 15th street. During that presentation, You presented several things that would expand ocean
drive for the cafes and make it a lot better for us. We went through four years of closure with zero being done.
absolutely nothing was done to improve ocean drive in the pedestrian area.
we died okay and I'm afraid, and it's been brought up here that we're going to go through The same thing.
you're going to push something forward because that's the agenda.
you're going to close ocean drive. Where is the money coming from?
there's 20 million in a bond right now for ocean drive improvements from everything that I'm hearing here.
this is hundreds of millions of dollars. Where is that money coming from?
when is it going to come? Are you going to close ocean drive in the meantime and put it The same way that it was for those four years in the pedestrian zone
where we were just dead? Please put some thought into this.
okay. Come up with the funds. Come up with the proper plan.
but don't kill ocean drive and close it to traffic right now.
without those plans in place. And the funds. I'm sure there's going to have to be another G.o.
bond run around in order to try and obtain these funds, Because from what I'm hearing, again,
I'm looking at this as hundreds of millions of dollars. They're going to be required to do all of these improvements, These side streets, the front street.
where's the money coming from, please? Good morning,
vice mayor and commissioners. Matthew tarnoff again, 125 jefferson avenue.
in in principle, I'm in support of pedestrianizing ocean drive. I've spoken on this many times, and many others in the community have.
I do think at this point, though, this might be kind of premature. It's really it's a visionary idea to pedestrianize it, To build out the infrastructure.
but you really do need the buy in of the adjacent property owners and the adjacent Operators so that because you can do it without them.
but if you really want it to be a success, they should really be on board. How can we? We should be asking the question, How can we get the neighbors who operate these businesses,
the property owners who own these properties? How can we get them on board with this idea? And if we do that, Perhaps it will be a really well,
I think we all know it will be successful. It was successful over christmas and the College football game.
and if we build out that infrastructure and that community support, I think we can get there.
I do want to ask one question. I know that previous ideas for pedestrianization included The bike lane,
which is currently there, and I think we can all agree that it's super successful. There's a counter that was installed on there and that shows, Again, tremendous use.
I don't know the exact numbers, but tremendous use of that bike lane. People from all around the country are riding it.
the workers are riding it. If it is pedestrianized, I think it's important to keep that in the plan,
because it does take a lot of pressure off of the serpentine pathway along lummus park.
and then finally, it's my understanding that that the city is close to getting the permit To keep the current condition that's in place that
someone mentioned was ordered to be removed. So I think having an update on that and where That stands.
what? You know, it would be important for a lot of people in this community because I Think that.
right. Mr. Manager, the city is close to getting permission from the county on what we Have today as well.
thank you, thank you. Yes, yes is the answer. Okay. That concludes public hearing. Thank you.
thank you. Let's vote. Oh, you need us. Go ahead.
commissioner suarez. Thank you, madam vice mayor.
I'm struggling with this because I walk two miles every night, And some of those nights are on ocean drive.
but, you know, there is something to say that a lot of the businesses that have reached Out to me and are here
today have a real issue with this. You know, Mr.
wallach, bring up brings up a good point where some of these delivery trucks will be Congested at these if we do the
roundabout option. And that's going to cause a lot of backups, Especially for the hotels that are needing it
service with their linens, food, etc.. And I mean,
and not only that, but I think one caller mentioned that, You know, someone might have to walk half a block to get to their to their hotel.
these hotels are historic. The rooms are historic. It's very small. I mean, there is something to say that if we.
if we go ahead with this, how are we going to accommodate the businesses there that do Rely on a front door and drop off
pickup and not have to walk half a block to, To to get to the room because, you know, I the
experience for that is I don't I don't know if that's going to be something where that Visitor is going to want to come back to that particular
hotel. So, you know, I don't know. I'm I'm struggling with this.
and, you know, I'd like to see I'd like to hear some more of my colleagues on on.
and how are we going to get by in, as mr. Golden has mentioned from the local businesses?
let's see how we can make this work. And, and we can have, You know, a a unified front on this
plan. Thank you. If I could ask, what is the timeline for implementation that
we've got about eight months of design work to do. But I want to clarify, what we have today is a feasibility study.
what we are requesting is the commission's direction on which option to pursue at that Point is when we begin developing all of the design,
what we have is identified the challenges, pros and cons of each option.
we've not developed solutions to each of those challenges. That's what comes next. Reaching out to the community and the business owners.
that's what comes next. So if we went forward with this, It would be a conceptual plan and design,
and it would give at least eight months for the businesses and for the community in General,
to develop some sort of comprehensive plan for the delivery schedules and more of your Supply chain and logistics,
and just have a question on that. I have a question on that. And I'm sorry, because it's eight months for design, But that design period happens after working with the county and dpw and determining
mr. Manager, which option is the one that works best? So we need to get clarity from the county before we can move forward with a design so that We're not doing double work.
right. The preliminary input from the county is that the full pedestrianization will work.
they will not give us a formal response until we submit for permit. And we can't do that until we close the pending permit and actually develop the drawings a Little further.
as part of the process, we still have to go to the historic preservation board and present To them as well.
so all that and what does all that time equal?
I mean, I think what you're hearing from us is it's going to be at least a year.
yeah. That's correct. Conservatively. Conservatively. David, have you met with the local businesses?
we have had preliminary meetings. We've had a couple of organizational meetings and then With individuals,
but not at the point where we can begin showing them development solutions because we're Just not there yet.
so, you know, some of the points brought up is that they're going to have to, You know, if you're unfortunate,
if your hotel is smack dab in the middle of a street, You're going to have to walk.
what is what is the city's solution for that? I mean, because that's I understand it's preliminary, But I mean, you know, that's kind of a big thing.
yes. That's one of the things that we've been doing during the closures at new years.
each year is piloting the freebie use on ocean drive, Because we think that that might be a viable option.
it may not be a freebie, it may be some sort of miniature trolley.
could be even, you know, I don't think using taxpayer funds to to subsidize a business For,
for transportation like to a valid for a valet pickup is is is really a good use of funds.
eric. There's got to be a more concrete plan for that besides using freebie, Because then
you're going to be taking freebie from other people who need seniors to go other places.
I mean, so is there any other ideas than using freebie services to get people from these Roundabouts at the end of each
intersection to their destination hotel. So just to be clear, And I'll ask the transportation director to stand up and and confirm,
I don't believe that we were charged anything for those freebie activations over the Holidays on ocean drive either of the two years that
we've done it. It was able to be done through an arrangement with the businesses, And they were able
to work out something with freebie, where freebie was getting, You know, the exposure and the advertising.
but that's not a long term plan. I mean, let's be honest. I mean that sure, That works for the holidays,
but that's not a 365 day year plan. Listen, I'm not trying to be difficult.
I'm just saying it certainly seems that this is very half baked on on what the plan is.
I, I like pedestrianization, like I said, but I think we really need to have a serious Plan before kind of just,
you know, just just going forward with something without buy in from from the local Businesses that are,
you know, are obviously struggling still. So I just have a question. What what plan are you looking for? Because I think, You know, there was there was the ac,
dc committee, there was this goal that was brought in to put together a master plan.
then cardeno and associates cardeno mispronounced yes, Came in and did explained the additional work that cardeno did.
so they got the master plan that's put together.
I mean, going back even further, we had the shulman plan, Which was came back and said, you need to level the street
with the sidewalks and put in bollards so that you have the ability to expand the Pedestrianized use of the street.
that was back in 2016. That fed the geo bond in 2018.
then following the geo bond, we had the the mayor's blue ribbon panel for the art deco Cultural
district that was visioning exercise that ultimately ended up in the hiring of zivkovich To do
a master plan that included ocean drive, loomis park, Collins, and washington.
and then we hired calvin giordano to flesh out that vision plan into something that could Be
executable. And that's where we stand today. Are all of the nitty gritty details ironed Out?
no, not at this point. But I think we have a very solid framework based on the amount of Outreach that we've done,
the amount of engagement we've had with the community. Are there some folks that are still adamantly opposed?
obviously, you've heard that today. Are there some folks that are adamantly in support?
absolutely. Are there some folks that are still kind of on the fence and want to see some More detail?
absolutely. We will continue to engage with everyone to make sure that everybody has a Seat at the table.
but there are some folks that are are just dug in in their position and are not going to Move as long as there's no vehicles on the street.
and so and just as a follow up to that, because as part of the work that cardeno did, There are certain legal and regulatory requirements that
cardeno had to abide by. You know, and if the representative from cardeno could approach The podium,
you know, things that you took into consideration crowd management, Public safety, valet operations.
can you walk us through you know, what are, you know, The things that you had to consider as you went about your study?
sure. And for the record, calvin giordano, cardeno is a different firm. I don't want to misrepresent them. Yes. As part of our work, We've done to me to mix up names.
one of the one of the critical things that we wanted to do was to make sure that we Avoided the triggering of the county charter.
that was a huge component of this project. We also looked at the safety requirements that Will be implemented,
given the speed volumes that we're seeing on the corridor, To abide by the green book, which is a regulatory component that requires certain
separations between pedestrian use objects, artifacts, Landscaping, and the vehicular roadway.
we have discussed extensively with staff about operational factors such as where do we Convert existing parking on the side streets to be able to
accommodate short term parking for rideshare? Short term parking for delivery box trucks. And we are valet.
operator. The valet operator as well. Stacking. Correct. We have in the in the diagrams that we've provided, I believe that some of them are in the attachments to the to the memo.
there are diagrams that show how we've preliminarily allocated designated spaces for each One of these uses.
understanding that these are operational challenges for the corridor. How about business deliveries? Has that been incorporated into the material that you've Provided the city?
not so much beyond where the box trucks would park.
a lot of the deliveries for a lot of the case studies that we've looked at with regards to Roadways that have been pedestrianized is that you have sort of a two
step process. The truck does not drive up to the front door of the establishment.
they get to a designated parking spot and then there is a handheld delivery at that point.
it's an inconvenience, but it's it's it's something that has been worked out in a lot of Different.
so but these are all things that as when, when you went about your study, These are all things that were considered correct as part of the study that you were
contracted to do by the city commission, correct? Madam vice mayor.
yes, commissioner. You know, we have time to finesse these details.
and there are super high end destinations throughout the world, In europe and in cities in south america and asia that have really
beautiful hotels on pedestrianized streets. I would like to engage our economic Development director to spend some time doing
some research to inform our decisions on how to best manage this.
I can tell you that if I were paying to stay in a historic hotel someplace, I would find it much more appealing to have it open up onto a
pedestrianized street across the the way up to the park and the beach, Than to have a traffic trafficked street.
I think that we I know that we can get to correct answers that will accommodate Everybody's concerns.
and like I said before, change is hard, and you have to figure it out.
we're not saying tomorrow ocean drive becomes 100% pedestrianized.
we are starting the process. It will take time, Which gives us the flexibility and the latitude to do really deep research,
not just of what happens in south florida, but what happens in destinations that are Comparable to ours around the world?
we could conceivably limit deliveries to before 8:00 in the morning or before 9:00 in the Morning and have them come up on the
pedestrianized right of way. Potentially we can look at all kinds of different things.
new orleans doesn't come to a grinding halt because deliveries can't be made in 18 wheeler Truck into the french quarter.
there are solutions to these problems that other cities work with very, Very well around the country and around the world.
let us find those examples. Let us choose from the best of them, And we will adopt them for our community.
anyone else? Are we ready to vote? Other questions? Please call the vote. So I have a motion by commissioner fernandez, A second by commissioner bhatt.
all in favor of our. Let's go. Let's call a roll call.
okay, I'm going to go alphabetically. Commissioner. Yes. Commissioner. Dominguez. Yes. Commissioner. Fernandez.
yes. Vice mayor. Mateo- salinas. Yes. Commissioner. Magazine. Yes. Commissioner. Suarez. Yes. Mayor.
minor. Yes. Motion carries. The item is approved. Seven zero. That was item r7. You. Let's call r7 z.
thank you to my colleagues. R7. R7 z is a recognized sunset paddle fundraising event in Honor of sergeant
david commissioner magazine. Thank you, mr. Mayor.
and I know oftentimes we have a dedicated meeting for awards, Presentations, recognitions,
and it's something that I actually don't participate in too often.
and there's a time for that. But today I want to bring up one of the greatest things I've Seen in this city for some time.
I often say we're blessed with so many things here. Our natural resources, our beach, our weather.
but what makes miami beach special is the people, Its community, and our community as a whole faced a tragic time at the end of
2025, in november, where we lost the family member unexpectedly officer david caruso.
and it was something that impacted our entire community.
and oftentimes in life's most strenuous and challenging moments are when you often see the Best out of humanity and the best from a
community. And one of those things that really allowed our community to come together was A small business that operates in sunset harbor.
it's called sunset paddle. It's owned by people that live in our community, That raise their families in our community,
send their children to school, in our community. They really stepped up to the plate and they hosted a fundraising event for the officer's Family,
and I'll let them come up to the mic and give an overview of what they did.
but they in life's toughest moments for officer caruso's family, They raised a
significant amount of money that will be there to help and support their family.
so while it's an unmanageable tragedy that this family has went through, If anybody's going to go through
it, I can't think of a better support system than the special community that we have here In miami beach.
so not only did our city hall community and the police department step up, But we have, private members of our
miami beach community step up, and I'd like to maybe call the owner of sunset paddle raffy Ghibli chris porcello up,
and maybe you could just give an overview of what you all did and what you raised and what You did.
and, chief jones, if you want to accompany, because I know you were there on that special Evening and just give your thoughts on what this did for the family.
yes, please. Chris. Good morning, wayne jones.
chief of police. It was really touching, emotional sunday evening.
you know, there's so many things about this city that makes it special. And the reason I think it is the capital of the world.
because this is about business owners and residents like rafi and chris, Who weren't asked to do something like this for
the widow of david and his young children took it upon himself to do it.
I imagine many of the friends and colleagues they had in the room that evening never met David,
but they understood how important it is to care for those who sacrifice so much to make The city great.
his wife was so grateful to the point she was too emotional to actually speak, I think.
and so, from the bottom of my heart, on behalf of the grateful miami beach police Department and the widow and family of david,
thank you so, so very much. Thank you chief. Thank you mayor.
thank you commissioners. I would like, you know, Nothing more than for chris and I to take all the credit,
but it really wasn't us. It was every single person that entered the club that heard about It.
obviously, we were just the messengers. We just explained to them about the story of how Unfortunate it was that a young officer that
was healthy was was driving on on a, on a highway either on the way to work or something In those
and lost his life with three young kids. And that pretty much was our story.
of course, we we gave up our facility, which we always do, But this was something really special that every single person that walked in and heard
about the story really opened up their hearts and, And and gave as much as they could, and we're happy to do this.
miami beach police has always been there, obviously protecting us, Protecting our families,
our schools, our community, our businesses. And again, This is not something that we we would just the messengers for this.
this is the entire community. People that lived everywhere in miami beach came out that Night was probably the most we've hosted
maybe 200 events. That was probably the most, You know, incredible event most touching and emotional event we've
ever or maybe we'll ever have at the club. So I want to thank you guys for obviously Recognizing this,
but it wasn't it was wasn't us. It was the community that really did this.
and, rafael, I know you're very modest. Maybe you could start with when you presented the Widow of officer caruso with a check what she originally thought it was for,
because she was in such disbelief and what it was actually for.
yeah, she was, as the chief said, she was extremely emotional.
we didn't know if she was going to attend. She was going through a lot with three young Kids.
we had the event early on so she could still get home and put the kids back to to to bed For school,
and it was more than we ever thought. We really, You know, we had an amount that we wanted to wish for,
and we exceeded it by, by a lot more than that.
and we'll continue doing it for her for other officers.
hopefully that never happens again. But if we get the call, We'll we'll be there again and again.
and we're happy that at least we were able to, To raise a really significant amount of money that could really help her.
and just to help the community to quantify the impact that you had.
I believe it was $165,000 that just your small business, Your community was able to raise.
they went to directly to officer caruso's family. Correct? Yeah. And when she was presented with a check, She was in such disbelief.
she thought it was $16,000. And she said that was amazing.
but then to realize it was $165,000. That's something that is goes a long way to helping The family.
so thank you, thank you, thank you all. Thank you.
and I don't want to turn into an award ceremony, But maybe we could go down and take a picture with rafi,
chris and the police. Yeah. Thank you. Rafi. Chris. I was there tonight. I was a lot of events that night of hanukkah, But the.
you could see the outpouring of affection and emotion and caring.
so kudos to you and your and your and your business and the entire city of miami beach.
there's. That's a special family and I hope and I know they see the the love.
I honor them and his widow at my state of the city and we've done other.
it's just you just have to. I actually have told her the speech she gave at his funeral, Literally single handedly.
I don't think I've ever heard a better speech. I mean, she did not shy away from the issues that confronted her and her family and her Belief in god.
and it's it's a testament to her and her family, Her his dad, a retired firefighter.
it's just it's it's a it's a tragedy beyond tragedies. But it's incredible when our community can come together and support a family that has Dedicated so much to our city.
but some people like. To balance it all out.
so.
thank you.
so mayor, for the record, r7 is being adopted by acclamation.
yes. It's called
r r7 q. R7 q is renovate reopen byron carlyle movie theater family entertainment complex R7
q commissioner suarez. We're still working through that.
I'm going to defer that. Okay. So we're going to defer that item to the march meeting.
so it happens to be the next item on my list. I coincidentally is yours as well. So r7 f r7 f is request miami-dade county to amend code to provide city with traffic Signalization authority
r7 f. That was pulled by commissioner fernandez.
it was it was I'd like to see. Yeah, it was on consent at the last agenda.
yeah, I just pulled it. And if I could throw the mayor if.
commissioner fernandez. Thank you, mr. Mayor. I love the idea. I think I think it's it's a great idea.
the more that we can handle our our signalization and commissioner.
suarez. You've worked tremendously with our transportation department.
I just, you know, I want to understand, do we have the staffing, The technology and the resources to be able to
handle this? So today, we do not. Okay. And how long do we anticipate it's going to take Us to negotiate this with the county?
I mean, jose, we've been working on this in smaller pieces over the years.
the county has been hesitant to relinquish this control.
can we, you know, can we reengage these conversations and see if there's any appetite to Go further this time?
absolutely. Good morning. Mayor. Commissioners jose gonzalez, Transportation and mobility director.
if this resolution passes, if it's adopted, we'll certainly reengage the county.
we've had just preliminary conversations, high level conversations with their leadership.
just also want to mention and my understanding and commissioner correct me if I'm wrong, But the idea with with this item would be that we would have
autonomous control of the signal timing changes, Not to necessarily install signals, maintain signals,
which would require a lot more resources. This is more tapping into having complete Autonomy,
I should say, in terms of tapping into the county's signal timing changes and have the Authority to make those changes without having to go through the county.
yeah. And I'll second your motion. Okay. Can I commissioner magazine.
who's they? Are there some areas that we have pinpointed as more problematic than others?
one that stands out to me just because of my experience traversing this road several times Each day is alton road wrote.
and I live on sixth and west avenue, and it quite literally takes me longer to get from There to city hall than it does from my
house to the heart of brickell, and has nothing to do with the traffic, Because this can happen at any time during the day,
even in the early mornings. And I'm not an expert on what traffic light signalization Looks like,
but I can just look north up an empty alton road and just see the staggered lights with no Rhyme or reason.
doesn't seem timed that I know something is off and something is problematic.
so are there certain? And that has impacts on traffic all across the city, Right.
especially in the sunset harbor area where the ingress egress from the city connects with The venetian.
that is kind of like the bane of our overall traffic problem.
that artery right there in the evenings, could we not identify some corridors that are More consequential than others
and really put a full court press on the county to say, Oh, what gives here?
why can't we simply work together for this? Right. Like and that's why we essentially have this where we think about asking for our control Is because what we can't get cooperation for the county to
work together. And I get if they don't have time to look at every single street or Whatever it may be across the whole city.
but if we identify some core arteries where signalization is just off, And I'll put olson road if I'm wrong on that one,
tell me, especially now with our new rep in the county, Can we not really make a full court effort to say,
here's these three main corridors where we really need your help on?
because it concerns me about the resources that we would need to make this happen.
so, commissioner, we have we've we've identified 10 to 15 critical intersections where, You know,
they're on our list every morning. Our traffic monitors are looking their cameras at those Intersections.
they're looking at those intersections to see if there's anything that's that's off.
when you refer to to timing being off, what may be happening along certain corridors is That the,
the vehicle detection devices are faulty. And so when that happens, Even though the signal programing may be optimized,
it just faulty detection throws the entire signal timing plan off.
and and joseph if I can if I can tag on to that because this is what sponsored this this Item is remember the
meridian 15th and 16th street. I. I first went to the county.
I went well, I went to you, right. Jose I said, Hey, look, these signal timings don't seem right.
it took like, 90s at like 1:00 in the morning to cross 15th and 16th, And they weren't even synchronized.
you didn't get a response? Then I went to our state representative and remind you, This is not a major intersection. This is just a small little intersection in the core of
flamingo park. Didn't get a response or got a response, But say, hey, we're working on it.
two months go by. I had to call the county mayor to get them to address this concern that I had.
and at that point, I'm realizing that, you know, Miami beach is a unique place where we we really don't we don't abut any
other municipalities other than surfside. And surfside is only connected by two streets, Harding and collins.
it's the perfect sort of petri dish of of of a municipality that we can control our own Traffic because
like what you mentioned, we have a broken crosswalk detection, Which happens a lot.
that completely throws off the signalization. And by doing this and having more control, at least we can then alter the signalization Timing regardless if the button thinks that it's
getting pressed every single time. Correct. And from what we've discussions we've had, We have the staff to do that at.
currently we have a traffic engineer on staff. I think you have over a dozen people in your department.
and time and time again, residents email us and complain to us about traffic when in Reality I,
you know, I think that we can alleviate most of our traffic concerns with much better Signalization timing,
20, 30, 40%. And that's a huge win for people commuting to work, Commuting from here to city hall,
as commissioner magazine said. And it just makes sense for our city to control our Traffic.
signalization. It would allow us to make changes much quicker.
correct. Having to go through miami-dade county to make the changes. In the case of meridian 15th and 16th, we actually developed a signal timing plan to Mitigate the fact that the detection loops were faulty.
and even then, it took over a month for the signal timing plan that we had developed to be Reviewed and implemented.
so certainly the turnaround times are will be much quicker if we have that direct access, That control to make the changes.
I will. Just to be clear, it will require additional resources. I only have one traffic engineer in charge of the entire county, While the county has much more staff available to us.
I would need probably 2 or 3 more traffic engineers to make sure that we're on top of all These
intersections that have faulty devices. And there are dozens and dozens.
and considering that the number one issue in miami beach is traffic, That's by far the number one issue.
it only makes sense that we dedicate our city resources to to addressing that problem.
and even if we can alleviate the traffic 20, 30%, that's 20, 30% of people's lives that they don't have to spend in the car commuting
to and getting very frustrated on the roads. So and I also understand, Because I'm on the tpo that the it wouldn't be
we wouldn't be the first city to do this and the tri county area. I believe boca raton also has full control of their traffic.
signalization so there is a precedent set here.
commissioner bhatt a couple of questions. If we know that we have faulty mechanical Devices have we done a full citywide sweep of
which like, do we know every single one that's that's faulty?
we do. We do receive a list from miami-dade county that has all the intersections with Faulty detection devices.
so wouldn't the first thing to do would be to replace or repair those?
yes. And the county currently has a backlog. Some have been damaged for over a year, Some for several years,
some for three days. It depends. Every several years.
is it is it a supply chain issue? What is the problem? Is it manpower? Miami-dade county, in terms of the detection loops, It's just a backlog that they have.
they obviously, you know, have the entire county to to, To, to repair.
and these issues are happening all throughout the county. We have approximately 200 traffic signals, more or less.
we're only a small fraction of miami-dade county. So would they could we not do it ourselves and then just charge them back?
I mean, this seems crazy to be held hostage by the county when we are a very small Priority for them.
and understandably, they've got a whole county to take care of. But, You know, we are a very population dense area.
could is there not a way for us to make the repairs or make the replacement and then Charge them back?
so we've done that in very rare cases. Commissioner I think since I've been here probably Just about two times that we've done that because the county was just
not getting to the repairs quick enough. So we went in and we did that.
they are they are costly repairs to do that. We don't have the budget in.
but if we to do that throughout the entire city. But okay, so we could prioritize the most egregious ones, The ones that affect traffic the most and get reimbursed by the county or withhold,
you know, like if you are renting an apartment, Your landlord isn't fixing the sink.
you make the repair and you just withhold the $200 repair costs from your landlord in the Next month's rent check.
right. Like, I would like the administration to look at doing that to the most egregious, Longest,
most egregious, and most impactful signals that that we've identified that haven't been Addressed.
the other thing is, you and I have talked about the adaptive signalization study that We're undertaking at one of the really bad intersections or
series of intersections, north beach. And you've mentioned that sometimes they do better When actually the traffic is a little bit lighter.
could we expand that that research to the intersection that commissioner magazine Mentioned,
where, you know, even when there are no cars, The pedestrian has to wait for a couple of minutes to cross the street?
I believe commissioner suarez identified another one. Like, are there a couple so we can do sort of, You know, it might not work in this area, but it might work in that area.
is that something we can. Absolutely. The the north beach signal timing optimization Analysis that you're referring to,
clearly, it focuses on on north beach, the 71st street corridor, Indian creek and abbot.
that's our first phase if it works there. The plan is to expand that to other Intersections throughout the.
right. But when we talked about it yesterday, You said that sometimes it has shown in the past that it works better in less densely
trafficked areas. Adaptive. Yes, adaptive. So can we do a dual path analysis?
because if there are other areas that have different kinds of issues but still signal Related.
I don't want to throw out a potentially really useful technology because it doesn't fit Into one area,
but it could be really great in other areas. Yes. Yes. Okay. So I would like to amend this to include a directive to explore identifying and Prioritizing the the signal
boxes that are faulty and have not been repaired or replaced.
and are especially impactful to, to our residents of the city.
what exactly is the amendment? It's to just identify faulty intersection boxes or Pedestrian crossings and prioritize them.
but that's already been identified. No. And to for the city to repair or replace them and Then charge back to the to the county.
well, mr. City manager, is that how come we don't do that now?
so my understanding is, in the instances that we've done it in the past, The county has not reimbursed us.
that's correct. Well, can we have that conversation with the county?
I just because it's something that happened that didn't happen the way we wanted it to 15 Years ago for two incidents is not a good enough answer to say,
we're not going to look at this again if we have I don't know, You said 16, I think 10 to 15,
10 to 15. And let's say five of them are really screwing up traffic in the city.
why could we not go back to the county and say, We understand you've got a whole big county to take care of.
let us take care of these five. This is what it's going to cost, And we'll charge you back.
I mean, why wouldn't we have that conversation just because it didn't happen 15 years ago? That's crazy.
I I'm fully on board, but I think we can bifurcate the two.
I think we can do an after the fact resolution. I don't want to commingle these these ideas. It's already going to be a stretch asking the County for
control of our signalization. I don't also want to say, Hey, by the way, we're going to fix this and we're going to give you the bill because I
don't think that's going to go over well. I mean, I totally get the intent. I understand that, but there's probably a reason why that's not a standard operating procedure for between The county and the local
government. I'd be more than happy to co-prime that with you.
commissioner bhatt and work together on that with a series of sunshine meetings. But at Least for the traffic signalization.
item. I'd like to keep that clean and make sure that you know, These two items are handled separately when we do go to the county.
if I could commissioner magazine and mr. City manager. Not to get off track here, but perhaps we should work on putting together an analysis of Services that were dependent or relying on the county for,
because as we sit here and contemplate how we're going to be the impact on our own city Budget,
if the homestead exemption passes in tallahassee, The county did an analysis, and I think they will be much more impacted than miami beach.
and we should expect that that will mean greater delays, Greater delays, but less reliance that we're able to have on county
services. I don't want to misquote, but I believe they did a recent analysis that their Commission meeting and the impact is about a third of their budget
could be impacted by this. I think ours was somewhere around 10%.
jason, am I getting these numbers correct here?
1520 okay. And the county's was about at a third. So when we take a look at some of the things that we're relying on the county for, Would be wise to start baking in expectations that
we should probably rely a little less understood. So commissioner. But are you okay with bifurcating the two?
sure. Okay. And then. Great. So we'll do an after the fact.
this is great. Alcohol sponsor. Both ideas are great. Three sponsors. Beautiful. Thank you for. Okay.
so I have a co-sponsor by commissioner magazine. Also, anyone else was a commissioner? Bhatt. Sure.
yeah. Everybody in. Okay. All in. All in. Got it.
motion by commissioner suarez, seconded by commissioner fernandez. All in favor, Please say aye. Aye. Any opposed?
and you got all these cool sponsors and we got another item.
okay, so that was on r7. F as is plus an after the fact resolution regarding the Identifying and repairing and obtaining cost
from the county. I think also commissioner mentioned engaging the county for the most Critical intersections.
so starting that discussion. So both items are approved.
r5 you. R5
you use the notice of the mayor city commission of the city of miami, Florida amending part one subpart b, article nine related special acts of the miami beach
city code entitled pension system for disability and retirement. Members of police and Fire department amending section 62 definitions.
adding definition for police management employees. Amending section 79 entitled deferred Retirement option plan drop related to the maximum drop participation period providing for
the repeal of all ordinances and conflict herewith. Codification, severability and providing an effective date. This is a first reading public Hearing.
it is item r5. You commissioner fernandez. Thank you, Mr.
mayor. I'm so proud to introduce this ordinance today in first reading to extend our Police chief,
wayne jones participation in the drop program to ensure the continuity of his exceptional Leadership in our police department.
extending chief jones, I believe, offers stability. And above all else, it continues to very measurable the very real progress in our police Department and public safety at a time when public
safety remains the top priority of the city of miami beach.
and I think we can all agree that under chief chief jones leadership our city and our Police department has delivered some,
some extraordinary results. We've all been seeing the numbers that have been put out by by Our city manager in the past year alone,
violent crimes declined by, I believe, 9%. 99.
well, there you go. We've seen we've seen a decline in property crimes.
we've seen a decline in homicides. And all of this reflects the importance of focused Leadership and a department aligned around clear priorities.
and also equally important, and I think this is worth to, To highlight. And I think we're all very proud of the fact that at a time when law enforcement agencies Around our country,
around the nation, are struggling to recruit and retain officers, Our miami beach police department has achieved full staffing of every budgeted sworn
police officer position. And that is a remarkable accomplishment because at the end of the Day,
full staffing, full staffing means better response, Stronger neighborhood presence, and improved services for the residents and the taxpayers
of the city of miami beach. So with great gratitude for the incredible work of our men and Women in the miami beach police department.
I don't think that there could be a better message as we approach the month of march when We face some of our most complex,
high profile events. There could be no greater signal of support for our police officers That ensuring continuity and their
leadership and supporting our chief is a way to support the men and women who stand in the Front lines of our city every single day.
with that, mr. Mayor, if you allow me, I'd like to recognize our city manager, Eric carpenter,
who has been working on this item as well. Thank you. Through the mayor I am I am firmly in support of this item.
thank you, commissioner, for bringing this item forward. I believe that our police chief is the best police chief in the country.
he has done outstanding in multiple areas, whether it's looking at our crime stats, Whether it's looking at the
implementation of technology as a force multiplier, To be able to deliver best results based on the budget that we have available,
whether it's dealing with the promotional process, Building a command staff that is meeting the needs of our community,
or whether it's dealing with the rank and file of the employees.
I believe that the morale of the department is as high as it's been in the entire 13 years That I've been here,
and I think that that speaks volumes to how the chief handles his business, And I am firmly supportive of giving him an opportunity to
have two more years. I am excited to see what he will accomplish in that time.
I move the item. Second. Yeah. Thank you. Very proud of our police department.
as you mentioned, commissioner fernandez, major crimes down 19%. Spring break the last two years. Very peaceful and calm.
we had a great press conference yesterday sending out good messaging, Our homeless numbers,
the lowest count we've ever had, obviously in large part due to the work of our police Department,
certainly al and her team. But we lead with compassion because we do offer services that No other city in south florida offers.
offers. But at the same time, we enforce our laws and we're not compromising on that.
and you see, it works. That's how we get the numbers we do. So we're helping people at the same time helping our residents.
so really appreciative of the work that we're doing, The full staffing, as we've mentioned,
first time you said the first time in your 30 year career that's that's happened.
and I'm proud we we do push up here and we're going to continue to do it. I know there's other items maybe as well have have an item today on the modified mufflers.
that I know that we're trying to to, to address. We hear a lot from our residents. I will say you've done an outstanding job.
the difference? We I became mayor around the same time you became police chief a little Bit before me.
I think we've seen a significant improvement in the police presence. There's no question our residents say it all the time.
but there's always areas for improvement. I know you're on board with that. And we're Going to continue to to work with you to push on that officers out of their cars,
I think is is one that we, we see some improvement.
I think it's a little bit slow go. And we're going to continue to, To try to address that and certain visibility points.
there's always I think it's one of the exciting things about this program that's going to Come online.
it's going to be able to pinpoint areas. It's going to help you I think as well to, To pinpoint areas.
so and I think what's also important, and I've heard our officers mention this to me, I don't specifically do it because our officers,
have mentioned it to me. I do it because it comes from my heart. I say all the time that We offer great training,
we offer the best equipment, we offer the best technology and not only makes our police Department outstanding,
it not only helps our residents, but it also helps our officers to be able to do their Jobs and also feel safe.
but the fact that we have their back and we do, It's not just me, it's our commission and it's important.
and I've had officers tell me a lot like, thank you for saying that. You know, there's a lot of places in this country that the leadership does not say that to Their officers.
and they they know it. They should know it. I'll continue to say it because we do.
and I'm sorry to pinpoint on new york city, but you probably saw that viral video of Snowballs being thrown at the officers.
and at least based on the video I saw, those officers were just doing their job, Just walking up and down and the lack of respect shown to them.
I mean, I just I would, I would literally go, I, I just couldn't imagine being the mayor of the city if that,
god forbid, ever happened here. No officer should have ever treated like that for doing a Job that is it's an important job.
it's an incredibly important job. A very difficult job being a police officer.
and. And that's why I tell our officers I respect the work that you do.
you should be treated with dignity and continue to follow your training and expertise, And we will always have your back.
so thank you, chief. Thank you for leading this for us and looking forward to continuing To working closely with you, mr.
mayor. And you know, you you touched on the measurable outcomes and just just as important And you mentioned that it's the stability and the
confidence that chief jones has fostered within the within the police department itself.
I think we can say confidently that the men and women of the miami beach police department Who put on this uniform every single day.
our police force, they trust chief jones leadership, And they know he supports them.
and they know he holds the department to the highest of standards.
and that's based on what we see and what we hear on the streets about his leadership.
and that is perhaps the most important thing, As the manager mentioned. Morale. Morale? I've never seen morale amongst our officers be so high.
and these are the type of things that we need to continue because the morale is high.
they love doing their job. And the more that they love doing their job, The safer our city and our residents will be.
mr. Mayor. Commissioner bhatt and commissioner suarez.
you know, I think that the change that I've seen in the police department over the last Few years is a small p progressive one in the
best possible way. And I think that is largely in part to chief jones's vision.
and I look forward to him continuing that forward march into progress for the next two Years,
because his legacy will be predicated on that. Whoever takes over from from the chief will be standing on a foundation that the chief and His his colleagues have built.
and that to me, includes, in addition to all the things that my colleagues have said about Training and morale,
which I echo and applaud you for the increased embrace of technology to make policing more Responsive,
faster and safer for everybody involved. I mean, Just as a small example, the fact that you can send a drone out within seconds to a call
for service so that by the time the police officers get there a minute or two later, They already have the area lit up.
they've been able to identify where the person may be and they know what they're walking Into.
I mean, that makes it safer for everybody. And that is incredible.
so that kind of embrace of technology as the technology evolves, Evolves, rather is is great for everybody.
I mean, the reason why you guys put on the blue uniforms and we don't is because you guys Actually run towards danger while we're taking cover.
so you know, we want to make sure that everybody who is protecting the city is as safe as They can be.
the other value that the chief has brought. And I know diversity is a bad word these days,
but the fact of the matter is that more that a police department can reflect the residents Of the community that is policing,
the more effective it is. So if that's more people of color, If that's more women in leadership positions,
it is imperative that that progress continue. Diversity is not a dirty word. Diversity means that everybody has a shot to do a great job If they are up to the task.
and so I, I applaud the progress that has been made so far.
and I would encourage us more progress along that line so that our police force reflects The community that it is a part of.
I think it makes all the difference in the world when you have a police officer that you Feel comfortable speaking to about something that might be your most horrifying,
terrifying moment in your life. And so I applaud that progress.
and I implore you all, chief, with your leadership, But the command staff to continue embracing that progress and not letting it be
undone when leadership changes in a couple of years. So keep up the excellent work. And, you know you look at where we were ten, 15 years ago and some of the things that happened in,
in this police department in the miami beach police department versus where we are now.
it is night and day. The things that happened ten, 15 years ago were hair raising, horrifying,
wildly unacceptable. And we as a city and the police department as an organization face The consequences.
not to mention the individuals face the consequences that has to be a distant, Distant memory and a and a a lesson that is not
forgotten. We can never go back to where we were.
I don't care whose chief. We can never backslide even an inch.
it is damaging to the community. It's damaging to the organization. It's damaging to the reputation. It's damaging to the morale of people who serve.
and none of that is okay. So keep up the great work. Double down on it and let's go. Commissioner.
suarez. Chief, I'd like to invite you up to the podium.
morning. Morning again, sir. You know, full transparency. We had a meeting. Right. And we, we discussed at least some of my priorities, And I have to hand it off to you.
one of my biggest issues and priorities was marine patrol.
right? Before I got elected, you know, not to throw anyone under the bus, But I don't think marine patrol was
run with the the best personnel. And I made this issue
very clear to you and your staff, and lo and behold, It's.
like a perfect engine right now. And that's thanks to you.
I think you heard my concerns loud and clear. And it's it's it's better than ever. And if you look out on the bay, There's almost no more boats.
the. If they're speeding on the waterways, it's being handled.
if there's noise complaints, it's handled. Some of my other concerns were, You remember speeding tickets?
okay. Remember the easels? Okay. Homelessness enforcement.
and when we have this discussion, I said, look, I'm going to support this extension.
I go, I'm going to want to see measurable results in speeding down, For example, collins avenue.
I mean, every day we probably get emails for loud mufflers, Speeding down collins.
you know, I think just the other day we saw a big a big accident on collins.
that's going to be one of the priorities that I'm going to hold you accountable to over The next year or two years.
and I think that's important, right? I want to see a much better improvement for
these issues that continue to pile up, no pun intended, Over, over these years.
homelessness enforcement. Another issue that we discussed and, You know, as it relates to homelessness enforcement,
you know, that also trickles down to these petty theft crimes that people get their bikes Stolen,
their scooters stolen. And that's, I believe, In large part, a criminal homeless population that really preys on our,
our residents. So over the next year, two years.
and, you know, through the chair of the public safety committee. Commissioner fernandez you know, we're going to want to hold the police department Accountable.
and, you know, because we know what the data is now we know what the metrics are.
we're going to want to see a significant increase in these priorities moving forward for The next couple of years.
so I just want to hear from you, okay. With you. I want to get you on the record and and hear you commit to that.
sure. Happy to. Commissioner. And the conversation I had the other day, I thought it was a very positive conversation.
I think we're aligned. And what needs to be done in the city to continue our forward Momentum,
making it better, safer for residents and visitors. And so I'm committed to it. Like I said to you then, I'm committed to making a difference,
making a difference in the context of lowering those numbers, Bruce, if you will say to you privately,
then I'm saying to you publicly now, thank you very much.
I commissioner vice mayor monica mateo- salinas and commissioner magazine.
hi, chief. Good morning madam. I was present when you were sworn in as chief, And that's a moment that will stick with me forever.
we were at new world. And you. We had all the police chaplains lay their hands on you.
and there was a rabbi, and there was a priest, And there was a pastor, and everyone came to pray over you and the work that you would be
doing in miami beach. And you've done a terrific job. Truly, we all know it. We all thank you for it.
thank you for your leadership. And I'd also like to say that I called you and I said, Chief,
are you sure you want to be extended for two more years? Are you sure you want this? And without hesitation, you said. Absolutely.
I love miami beach, and I want to continue to make a difference. There's no hesitation in your voice. You are committed to our community.
we all know it. We all see it. We all feel it. Our residents love the miami beach police department.
they know a great job that they do every day. We thank you for everything, for your hard work, Your diligence, everyone in the department.
we thank you. And it all really stems from leadership.
and that's you. So thank you very much and I'm proud to support you today.
you're welcome. Thank you. Chief. Commissioner magazine. Thank you chief. You don't need many words from me because the results speak for Themselves.
compared to where we were five years ago as a city it's night and day, A different place.
and the police department is a large reason why that is.
I truly believe we have the best police department in the world. I've often said up here that culture of any organization is set from the top.
and it's hard to have the best police department in the world if we don't have the best Police chief in the world.
and I'm firmly confident that we do so. Thank you for your work.
I'm proud to support you not only as a police chief, But a tremendous ambassador to our city.
and hope you continue doing the same job that we've put our trust in you that you've Already done.
so thank you for everything. Thank you. Sir. Mr. Mayor commissioner dominguez. And then commissioner fernandez.
thank you chief. You have done an outstanding job in tackling our high impact weekends, Starting with spring break and memorial day
and any other event that we have. But the month of march was really the hot button for us.
and you have delivered. You also take care of the neighborhood associations.
you speak to the residents, you're out in the community, You're accessible, you're available, you respond. And that is so important and
appreciated. Thank you for your service and I'm happy to support you. Thank you. Commissioner fernandez, thank you, Mr.
mayor. So there's going to be a second reading for this for for this ordinance.
but chief jones is the chief of the miami beach police department.
he brings great honor to this city, to this city that we all collectively, As one body, have the privilege of of serving and representing.
so while I brought this ordinance as the chair of the public safety committee, I welcome anyone who wants to join me in seeing this this ordinance as a sign of
support and backing to the chief and to the incredible men and women who are going to be Keeping this city safe as we head into the month of march.
I will join you also. Yes, yes. So everyone or did I miss anyone?
everyone okay? No pressure. All right, then, Let's call the question mr.
mayor. Yes, it is a public hearing. I see no one in zoom.
and I see mr. Novick almost fell. Trip over yourself, Chief jones.
it's it's day and night in my neighborhood. It's a pleasure for myself, My hotel guests, to be able to utilize the
my front porch and not be inundated with drug dealers.
they're no longer loitering outside my building.
mayor. And commissioner. Bhatt. You stole my thunder regarding that incident last week With the drone.
fascinating that the drone was the first responder at the scene.
and it's fascinating and captivating that the our police officers were able to make an Arrest in
that terrible incident. Thank you much. Appreciate you sir. Thank you sir. Thank you. There is no other individual on zoom or in the audience Requesting to speak.
I have a motion by commissioner fernandez, seconded by commissioner dominguez. Roll call.
commissioner fernandez. Yes. Commissioner magazine. Yes. Commissioner. Bart. Yes. Commissioner suarez.
yes. Vice mayor monica mateo- salinas. Yes. Commissioner. Dominguez. Yes. Mayor. Minor. Yes. Motion carries.
second reading. Public hearing is scheduled for march 18th. That was item r5. You. Congratulations.
let's call. Someone has to leave for this item. A representative from. Let's call r7 I r7 I is reinstate south florida art center arts Grants agreement related grant
disbursements. Mr. Mayor commissioner suarez.
thank you, mr. Mayor. The reason I pulled this from the consent agenda.
simple. When we allocate taxpayer dollars, even a small amount deserves scrutiny.
us individually, $30,000 may seem insignificant, But collectively these decisions add up to,
as we all know, $1 billion budget. Every dollar deserves accountability.
this is not whether oolites contributes to our cultural fabric.
they do. The question is whether taxpayer dollars should go to an organization with over $120 million in assets and more than
109 million invested in securities, according to their form 990 for the fiscal year ending In september
2024, reported approximately $4.78 million in investment income, Which nearly equals their entire annual
operating budget of 4.8 million, and that same year, Their net assets increased by roughly 16 million.
that is not that is not a nonprofit that is struggling.
that is a well-capitalized institution with endowment level resources, Resources that can sustain itself.
in that same 2024 filing. Ceo earned $345,000 in 2024.
the city manager of miami beach, who oversees a municipal government with an operating Budget of $1 billion,
earned only $332,000. So the head of a roughly $5 million nonprofit was paid more than the City
manager responsible for running our entire city government. More than 30% of its operating expenses go towards salaries and compensation.
these are not these are nonprofit organizations. Public funding should not be reinforcing top heavy compensation structures, Particularly when the organization has the financial capacity to fund itself through
investment income. And yet, in fiscal year 25, The city budget budgeted $30,000 in arts cultural grants funding.
usually, when an organization can effectively sustain itself, Our limited tax dollars should be directed toward neighborhood
initiatives, public safety, infrastructure, and services that more directly benefit our Residents.
this is not anti arts. I want to be clear about that. This is not anti arts. It's about stewardship.
it's about prioritization. And it's about ensuring that taxpayer dollars go where they are Needed the most.
for those reasons I am asking that we permanently remove from eligibility under our arts And culture grant funding program and more closely scrutinize
funding organizations with large endowments or substantial net worth before public dollars Are spent.
we owe that responsibility to our residents and pj. I have a short presentation I'd like to show.
go to next slide, please. So like I said, the oolites are financial snapshot.
this is for the fiscal year 2020. For their total assets are $120 million.
net assets 119.7. Investments. Publicly traded securities $109 million.
annual expenses is $4.8 million. My key question is, Should the city subsidize an organization with $120 million in assets?
next slide. So the city of miami beach, our total operating budget $829 million.
highest compensated city employee. Well, it's it is supposed to be.
our city manager gets $332,000. That was for fiscal year 2020 for total annual Expenditures of 4.8 million.
and the highest compensated employee, which is their ceo, Is $345,000.
ceo of a $5 million nonprofit earned more than the city manager of $1 billion budget.
next slide. So in fiscal year 24, investment income 4.7 million.
total expenses 4.8. Net asset growth in one year $16 million.
investment income alone covers nearly the entire operating budget. This organization is self-sustaining. Next slide.
total compensation and benefits 31% of expenses is their compensation to top executives The top three the ceo,
the vp and the former cfo topic. Executive. Total $651,000.
next slide. So for fiscal year 2025 and the cultural grants, That is 30,000.
in the context, 11 $119 million in net assets, A self-sustaining investment income, $30,000 can be better directed to,
for example, resident focused services, public safety or infrastructure community program,
or perhaps even another nonprofit that is struggling that could use the money to bring Talent to to miami beach.
next slide. So again, this is not anti arts. It's just prioritizing taxpayer dollars.
you know, supporting organizations that truly need assistance with with a subsidy to to Get off the ground maximizing community
input. And and in reality we're practicing responsible stewardship.
so look, when, a like I said here, when an organization can fund itself on investment Income alone,
public subsidy should not be considered. So you can close the slide, Pj.
look I'm, I think it's I think it's I just think it's wrong
that you're you're asking for a recurring $30,000 from taxpayer funded
dollars when you're your organization clearly does not need the money.
I think if we're going to use taxpayer dollars for arts and cultural organizers, Let's give it to let's give it to groups that actually need
it and are struggling because I think this is a waste.
I think this is also, I think if most people in the public knew that we were giving away Money on a yearly basis to an organization that has
$120 million, and their top ceo makes more than our city manager.
hundreds of thousands of dollars. I think most people would be very upset about that.
I'm upset about that. And that's why I pulled it. And, you know, I think about commissioner magazine, I think you have an item pending at ferc where,
you know, we're going to highly scrutinize any sort of nonprofits where the top brass ceo Makes over a quarter million
dollars. Certainly this would qualify. And, you know, From now on, I, you know, at least for me,
I'm going to really scrutinize every dollar that's spent on with, With taxpayer money.
and. Sure. Look, I mean, things are going to get thrown at me. I'm going to say people are going to say, call me anti arts anti gay.
you know, I think it's I think at some point we just have to have an honest conversation About,
you know, where is our best use for taxpayer dollars. So I welcome the discussion from my colleagues.
I, I certainly can't support this, given the fact that this is this organization has over $100 million in assets.
so I'd love to hear what you guys have to say. Commissioner dominguez. Thank you mayor. So I have some questions that I'd like to hear From the city and from oolite arts,
because during my briefing, the city was supportive of this.
they the city is ready to move forward with oolite as a partner.
and the grant is a matching grant. And there's criteria involved.
and having an arts organization as a partner like that shows that the city has skin in the Game and is working with the arts and helping.
so I just want to understand more why the city is recommending it and more details.
good morning. The director of tourism and culture for the city of miami beach.
thank you commissioner. And you stated it well. We are supportive of this. This is an amazing organization, And we get by sponsoring it.
our logo is on all of their their marketing, And it shows it promotes the city of miami beach as a leading arts and culture
destination. It is a matching grant. So the 30,000 that is through the grant process.
they do have to have matching grants for that. And I also want I want to introduce we do Have the ceo john daley here with us
today. Yeah I'll share that. Of course it is a matching grant requirement.
we also spend a good deal more per year on our lincoln road activation.
so we own a building on lincoln road that we've been in for almost 40 years.
it's a historic building. It's about 100 years old. We house 13 artists. We give them free studio space to make work for a year, As well as career development services.
we host about around 50 art classes every year for local folks.
actually, folks drive in from all over the region for these classes figure drawing, Digital media,
things like that. We have four exhibition openings every year because we have a gallery Space on lincoln road in that building.
so tonight, for example, we have a free opening where everyone can meet the artists in Their studios and see the work we're presenting from among our alumni.
we have about a thousand miami-dade alumni who've come through our services over the last 40 years that we've been on lincoln road.
and so we are dedicated to community activations. I'm very proud to say I'm new to the community.
but I can speak proudly for allied arts that we were part of the revitalization of lincoln Road.
we've been around since 1984, and played a key role in a transformation that took place, Of course,
in the 90s and the 2000. Economically and culturally.
hey, john, first of all, I know we've we've met several times. I'm going to start off really commending you.
we had I won't rehash a couple of years ago, There were some issues. You came in a new board. You've really revamped that organization in a positive way.
so in a short period of time. So very appreciative of of of that and your partnership with Our city.
and I've been to your to the gallery at the on lincoln road. It's it was impressive. It was quite a, quite a crowd that night.
I hate to put you on the spot, but can you comment on those numbers that we just saw from The presentation from commissioner?
suarez. Is all that accurate? Sure. I can say that the endowment that we have, We've owned several buildings on lincoln road in our 40 year history and the endowment
that we have today I can say 100% of our money goes towards our mission, Which is to support contemporary art and support artists.
and that money came from the sale of a building. It's actually where the restaurant is now in the sketchers.
we own that building and activated that building for many years at the very height of the Real estate market here in town.
about 15 years ago, the board members led a sale of that building, And it led to the endowment.
it transformed the organization in a couple of key ways. One is we were very much a shoestring budget.
you know, there was a lot of spit and gumption and volunteer hours that were being put Into supporting the artists that we we gave studio space to at that time.
and it really transformed us into an organization that was able to professionalize, To hire professional staff to rightsize and fix and get right our systems,
our financial oversight, our transparency and things like that. And so we've been making That move over the last 15 years since the money came in. We also began to provide all of
our services essentially for free to the community. We do charge a small fee for our arts based classes, But we do not collect money from any artist or any participant in any of our programs in
any other way. And that was an important transformation, Because we were able to really begin to better launch artists careers for miami-dade
county. Now we've expanded to a four county footprint in recognition that many of our Artists have been forced to move to other counties because of the housing affordability
challenges. And so in that way, we become, I believe, A much more generous and impactful organization because of that money.
and and I would I, I respectfully commissioner, If I may, I do think that having a financially sound and
stable nonprofit is good for the community. If you don't mind me asking, What is your salary?
it's about the same as what you reported when I came in about a year ago.
it's what they brought me in at. I mean, this is ridiculous.
dude, you're making over $300,000 and you're asking for taxpayer subsidies.
I mean, I understand it's a matching grant, but, Look, you know, you guys sold your building at the height of of
of the market. You are flushed with cash. You are personally making over $300,000 a year.
you've come to us asking for money from taxpayers.
I mean, this is I'm offended. I and I'm I'm I know this is very passionate for you, But I
think this is ridiculous. I mean, how dare you come to us asking for money when you have All this,
all these assets and all this cash? I mean, I think it's just. It's just frustrating when I see this. Look, We have real problems in our city.
we have people who can't afford their special assessment that are getting priced out of The market.
and here we are just giving money to organizations that have over $100 million and ceos That are getting over $300,000.
I'm sorry. I think that's just I think that's just wrong. And and for for you to come and ask us, our taxpayers to, To fund this.
I think it's ridiculous. And, you know, look, I mean, I understand you do a lot of good in our community,
but you don't need money from the taxpayers to do that.
I think if you're going to if you're going to do good for the community, Do it because it's good for the community.
it's not because we're giving you money to do it. I again, like I said, I think if most people saw this, They'd be they'd be very upset that this is where our money's going to.
so, you know, I just, I it's just frustrating to me for you to sit here and tell me that You're making over $300,000 a year,
but you're asking us. You're asking taxpayers who are struggling sorts of fiscal issues to Fund
this on a yearly basis. Commissioner bhatt lee said, We are doing an activation with adidas this year.
that's correct. How much have we funded them? 600,000. So we funded adidas $600,000 for an activation.
their ceo makes between 8 and $8.5 million a year.
they have over $25 billion in revenue, and they rake in about $13 billion in profit.
so I'm curious. I'd love to respond to that. Could I ask a question, Please?
I'm curious to know if my colleagues, any of them, Are equally outraged about that as we are about this.
sure. I'd love to respond to that. I think what you're referring to is the programing that We used to have for spring break,
where the city would spend $3.2 million on a failed concert program where we brought Alanis morissette here.
okay. And we ended up having shootings and stampedes.
so the fact that we're now spending a quarter of that for a spring break
refocus on our branding is a discount. I don't expect to pay $600,000 for this
programing every year. But when you look at what we did for march and what we're currently Doing for march,
we filled a void that certainly didn't work. Okay.
I'm very supportive of the blue zones initiative that you have commissioner bhatt.
it's going to cost us $8 million to get certified. Excuse me. Let me. Can I finish, please? The city is not speaking.
I'd like to. I'd like to. I'd like to finish. I'm very supportive of it. Okay. We are funding certain things for a vision of miami beach And
recreate. And making sure that march doesn't lead to bloodshed and literally cleaning Blood off of our streets.
okay, so when I look at an arts organization where the ceo is making 300, Over $300,000 a year.
okay, and are we supposed to fund this forever and not ask any questions?
so I think we can certainly bifurcate that. Two ideas. We can have a philosophical discussion on that.
but at the end of the day, I'm simply asking a question is should taxpayer dollars be used To continuously fund this
without have any questions for an organization that is completely flushed with cash is, I don't know,
commissioner bhatt is that something that you want to do? Commissioner. Bhatt. So to Correct the record,
the city is not paying $8 million for blue zones. The city taxpayer dollars will not be used for blue zones.
that is a miss. An incorrect fact that you're promulgating, Which is false.
second of all, I am not debating the merits of one or the other. We all are enthusiastically welcoming. The multiple activations for spring.
this is the adidas activation is one. My comment was merely illustrating that they also Have
the ability to do this. It is going to be a marketing investment for them.
they also have the ability to do this at no cost to the city. And yet we are welcoming them in with support, Financial support.
so, you know, I'm just saying it is a little bit interesting to me that
one is okay and one is not okay, especially as the scheme of the order of magnitude is Quite different.
the $30,000, john, that you get from the city it becomes 60 with the matching grant.
and what is it used for specifically? The presentation of artwork and our free gallery on Lincoln road,
as well as the activations we do around that artwork. We'll have talks with the artists, talks with curators, Tours.
we have a free event tonight with hospitality sort of welcoming anybody that wants to come From about 6 to 9.
we also have activations that we do in our empty spaces on lincoln road.
so we have additional exhibition activations. Of course, The free artist studios we provide several times a year,
open to the public so they can meet the artists, Talk about artwork, purchase artwork if they wish.
and then in addition to that, we have partnerships around the city that we also activate.
so for example, we might co-present artwork on lincoln road in a vacant space as the bid Invites us to do.
we have partnered we've held partnerships with other non-profits, Of course, in miami beach,
as well as throughout miami-dade county, as well to provide additional public and free Access programing in the arts.
and if if this grant were not given, what effect would it have on what you offer?
yeah. So 100% of our money goes to our mission. And so if we lose a grant, whether it's from a public sector grant or any other source, Then we'll we'll have to rightsize the size the budget in a particular area.
so that might mean, you know, it could just mean delaying a program, Suspending a program,
things like that. And could the money be allocated to you mentioned that you have the Summer art classes for students and residents.
well, for anybody that people come in, could you offer a fee waiver for miami beach Residents and students using these funds?
yeah, we easily could do so. We we offer discount for repeat class purchasers. So we have folks who we have people who have been taking classes with us for decades.
and so those folks oftentimes sort of earn a discount by just because they're repeat Purchasers. So it would be an easy extension. Yeah. Commissioner fernandez and
commissioner magazine. Thank you, mr. Mayor. At the time that that I brought the Resolution
to suspend the funding, we asked that all current and future grant agreements with oolite Be paused until there's a new executive director,
and that there was a statement provided to the city reflecting the internal controls Established regarding offensive
artwork. Has that been met? Yes. Yes, sir. And it's in your package.
submitted that in october. Thank you. And so, You know, there's been different numbers that have been tossed around.
you know, some people were talking about adidas, The $600,000 that they got from the city.
other people were talking about blue zones, whether or not it's going to cost the city $8 Million or not.
I was talking to the city manager, art basel, About how much in in fees and waivers and stuff.
this art basel, which is a for profit entity, Greene art basel is somewhere between one and a half and $2 million.
okay. And with oolite, how much money are we talking about right now? We held the payment Of the final payment from the fiscal year 25 grant.
so it's $15,000 that we're spending, and then to reinstate them to continue to be part of The cultural arts funding.
okay. So we're talking so so there's a second payment of $15,000.
correct. And so this is part of the broader a broader I think it's about $1 million of Cultural art funds that we make of investments in cultural
arts. That's correct. And what's the economic impact? Do we know what the economic impact to the city is of that $1 million?
thank you for asking that. So we fund from the 1.25 million, About 57 organizations that bring annually to the city of miami beach specific over
$330 million. So $330 million economic impact.
and so I just want us to be careful because, Yes, each one of these entities, some might be for profit and they might get
support from from the city, but they still do a very important job to our brand, To the quality of life of our residents,
to the type of city that we want to position ourselves to be.
and so and so and by the way, with, with spring break, You know, actually, we defunded all those activities.
and when we defunded all of those activities and we directed all of the $3 million to the Men and women in the police department to support law enforcement,
that's when we fixed up spring break, but we defunded the concerts.
we defunded the programing. We directed those $3 million to public safety.
and that's when we restored order on, on, on the streets.
there are at times, private entities who do come forward. We had it recently with with a company that was coming to lincoln road and, And we and we and we provided them with subsidies.
we've had charlie's from spain that opened up a vacant storefront on lincoln road, That is a for profit company that got dollars and opened
up. And they were coming from from spain. And we do it through our commercial lease Subsidy program.
there is good precedent established showing that, Yes, you know, these might be profitable entities and they might not be charity or
non-profits, but the public's investment in them do generate a significant return.
in this case, we know that investing in cultural arts organizations through the cultural Arts council and the grants that they receive do have a significant
economic impact in our community. That $1 million investment, We get it back in $330 million of economic impact.
and so just how art basel is a private entity, And we subsidize them in different ways, and just how blue zones is a private entity,
and we might or might not be providing public dollars. And just how adidas is a private entity and we provide them support.
this is what we do to support our community and help our community thrive. And so I'm I'm going to be supportive. We we passed the funding contingent on certain Changes within the organization from the very top
down. And that was delivered upon. And now we need to go back and deliver on the Commitment that we made at that time.
and so I'm going to be supportive of of the item before us today.
commissioner magazine. Yeah. Thank you. I guess where I'm getting torn is, And I agree with all of your points,
commissioner fernandez and I agree with a lot of the points that my colleagues have made.
when I think about this and supplying taxpayer money for any organization, It's okay.
why are we doing it right? And I want to try and separate the merits of your organization Because it is tremendous with the
need for it. Right. And yes, does adidas need money?
no. Right. Does the company, a publicly traded company I supported for providing economic Development incentives,
need money? No. There was another entity that came to lincoln road edgelord, That was supported for economic development incentives.
did they need money? Probably not, but it was a competitive advantage.
if we didn't provide that, those companies would have went elsewhere or I don't know if The adidas event would have happened without that.
here we have a great operator that is long standing, And I just I'm getting this from a powerpoint presentation,
so correct me if I'm wrong when I talk about the need for it. Right? So we're not getting anything above and beyond incremental.
we're not attracting something new. We're not making something happen that wouldn't happen Without this funding or grant.
when I look at your operating budget and again, I'm just going off of power powerpoint presentation,
I just saw for the first time you have tradable securities of about $110 million.
and just without doing anything, just the income you make off of those, Right?
not charging money for anybody, not not raising private funds, You entirely cover your annual operating budget about
$4.8 million, right? So that means without this grant, Without going to raise any other money,
without charging a single dollar for admission to any of these studios, You're already covering every single dollar that you're spending each year just on
the investment income that you hold from those securities. And god bless you that your real estate experts maybe expand outside of the arts world to Investment advisors as well.
you know, it seems like you did well there. But kudos to you for that. I guess where I'm struggling is. What do we get out of this?
right. Yes. You have a great organization, but that doesn't mean we should just give you Money for those economic development incentives.
what we got was bringing these jobs to the city, And they're not going to last forever, right?
there's a reason why we only have four years that they're available, Because then it allows the company to get established.
and then also to the flip side, if you would come and say, You know what, we have a $4 million operating budget,
but we're only raising $1 million each year. And we have to find a way to plug a gap.
I'd say we have an incredible organization, and without our money, There might be things that they can't do.
but I guess where I'm torn here is without our money, There's really nothing you can't do because you're covering your entire.
and you could say, well, we wouldn't have this show. I'd say, Well, maybe reduce executive compensation or something like that.
right? But just point being, every single dollar you spend each year, You're actually getting that from your organization just by virtue of
holding those investments that you have and the investment income that you're making off Of that,
that's without raising any outside money, without charging admission or things like that.
so I don't want to put you on the spot. And full disclosure, I can't vote yes today.
I could ask to defer to have more time to talk with you.
I'm leaning towards perhaps not. So I'm going to put you on the spot.
if you'd rather have this talk in private, I'm happy to do so.
but it's like, if we don't do this, tell me how you wouldn't be able to do something else Beneficial to the community because you
already have money that's coming in that covers your entire operating budget and cutting.
that would be, what, 0.01% or something like that of your annual operating budget.
so I'm just hard pressed to see what the need is, Right?
if the need was if we don't do this, we're going to lose light or lights working in Another city.
and if we provide this, they're going to come to miami beach. Or if you came here and said, you know what, We're just not making as much money as we once were.
so we need this to continue providing those programs. I'd be all in. Right. Because you're a great organization, But I want to separate you being a great organization from what the need for this actually
is. Yeah. I will say in a general sense that. So currently, the financial profile of the organization is that we bring in most of most Of the annual operating budget is funded,
as you saw, we bring in around another million dollars a year in private fundraising.
so that might be individuals or grants like any other nonprofit, And we're working very hard to build that up,
because the more donations we can receive, the more we can activate on our mission, Support artists and activate with cultural programing.
you are correct. You know, in the context of a $5 million budget of $15,000, Payment has not necessarily derailed what we would like to do.
but I will say that, you know, the the budget is put together obviously in large part with The endowment,
but like any nonprofit, that extra million dollars or so is cobbled together with hundreds Of different grants and donations.
and so when something is lost, something must change from management, As you say, stated.
and so I, I want to be honest with you, like if, If the city of miami beach didn't contribute to $30,000 to a $5 million budget
we could find ways to absorb that. And we could also direct, You know, our funding towards where the other grant makers were supporting or we're
activating our our where they're supporting us, Where they're sort of pushing our programing and asking us to do work.
but I will also say, you know, I've worked in the nonprofit field for nearly 30 years, And there was always like,
you guys, we we have a we have a certain amount of money to spend every year.
we have to decide on what priorities, what we are going to do and what we're not going to Do, which is just as important.
and we're committed to miami beach. We love miami beach. This has been our home for 40 years. And this this is what made oolite who it is.
so I'm not going to stand here and say I'm, I'm going to cut on miami beach programing.
and I appreciate that. Yeah. I mean, you know, And then I'll just sort of generally leave it that we have to make decisions where when we
don't have enough money to accomplish, we do not have enough money to accomplish all of Our dreams and our aspirations and our ambitions.
and so we also make choices. That's the management process. That's my job and the board's job and the job of budgeting.
every year I have a question follow up question. Well, commissioner bhatt and then commissioner hernandez.
I just want to restate for the record, because now it's been said twice by two different People,
and I want to make sure this is crystal clear. Blue zones is not getting funded by taxpayer dollars.
and I really do not want to put that out into the public because it's not accurate.
so let's separate that from this discussion or any future discussion or funding because it Is not a government resident,
taxpayer funded project. Period. I don't think that was me, But if it was, I apologize.
okay. Yeah, I believe we made an upfront contribution, A few hundred thousand, but I know,
right? Yes. And that was done. It's paid for. We have a hard deliverable from it that gave us the feasibility study and a ranking of out Of from 0 to 5 five being the most likely to be
a very successful undertaking. We are at 4.5, Which gave us the green light for this body to unanimously proceed with the undertaking of
transformation into a blue zone city. The fundraising is happening separate and apart from Any government tax dollars.
no thank you. I'm sorry. Who was next? I believe it was commissioner fernandez and Commissioner.
let me just understand. And by the way, commissioner, I apologize because I referenced, you know,
and instead of using that as an example, I'll reference formula one. I have an item about formula one and ways that we can support formula one.
formula one. It most certainly is a private entity.
and, and and that's going to generate great economic impact for our city.
but let me just ask the ceo a question last year when the $15,000 were withheld.
what programing was suspended? Was there any programing suspended?
yeah. So the 15,000 was withheld from 2024. And then there was no grant given in 2025 Because this ordinance was passed in
2024. And what was suspended? I can speak to that generally.
that was before I came on. There was a brief suspension over summer of a couple of our Public programs over the summer of
2024, or around that time frame, summer or fall.
and then there was kind of a as, I mean, as this commission requested, Sort of a deep dive reflection and some changes in policies and practices were
made and programing was resumed. But when you say public programs, When you say public programs were suspended,
explain to me. Yeah. What that means. Yeah. Gallery shows and the activations associated With those gallery shows.
so, for example, the retail retail gallery's shows. Yeah. We don't we don't sell the work. But yes, It's a nonprofit gallery. We don't sell the work. But yes, it's a,
it's a, it's retail as in. So activation. Yeah. Activation. Like we bring the artists in to talk about their work in the space we have.
we welcome an audience. And where does this happen. What's that. Where does this happen? At 924 lincoln road on lincoln road.
yeah. So, so so you bring in artists and you do activations where you bring people in to Lincoln road to listen to these artists and,
and provide for arts and culture and that type of activity.
meet, meet the artists, talk to the artists, See their artwork, tour their studio, see the artwork that's up in the gallery.
were you still able to do some of that stuff? Some of that stuff? Yes. You. Just not to the extent that you would had you had the grant.
correct. But I'd like to speak to that because I don't think you have the full context.
why did you do that? And from what I understand, Was you had an artwork on miami beach that I have the full context.
I sponsored the resolution. I'd like to update the public.
yeah. You had a piece of artwork that showed from the river to the sea, Which is the palestine will be free,
which calls for the genocide of of israel or the destruction of israel.
and let's let's put that into context. And that's why that resolution was passed.
so to say that because we're not going to give grant funding, These these pop ups are not going to happen,
I think, for that particular period of time. And by the way, You weren't there. I understand that the whole organization went through a change.
and I'm not even I'm not even as you can tell, None of that wasn't even my presentation.
okay. One other thing I want to bring up is when commissioner fernandez, You said that, you know,
we give art basel a million. We don't give art basel $1 million.
it's a fee. We help them. I didn't say we give them. We help them. Okay, So I said, we we we we give and we don't.
yeah, we help through fee waivers. And now if they came to us and said, Hey, we want some fee waivers for certain events,
I'd be like, okay, you know what? Fine. But to give cash, Taxpayer cash to an entity where they clearly have no
financial hardships, okay. And this is not necessarily creating a program that we we Desperately needed,
such as spring break. I have a big problem with that. And so, you know, look, I mean, we're unfortunately we've been fighting for like 45 Minutes over $30,000.
but again, it adds up over the course of years. I just think if we're, you know, we need to be honest with each other and say, What are we going to fund taxpayer dollars with?
like I said, I'm okay with I'm okay with giving arts organizations grant funding.
but let's give it to organizations that actually need it, That need that need the funding to get up and off the ground instead of someone
or an organization that clearly doesn't need it.
commissioner fernandez. Thank you. And by the way, You know, when we talk about the semantics of fee,
a fee waivers, fee waivers, it might not be a cash contribution.
that's dollars that ultimately don't make their way to the taxpayers.
so, you know, whether whether it's a cash contribution or a fee waiver, At the end of the day,
it's the same thing. It's it's dollars that are not going to be coming back to the Public's domain.
to the to the taxpayers. I also want to highlight, You know, I think the precedent that we set is very dangerous.
because I think, you know, the same that is being said with this entity that's before us Could be said for so many other
valued and important organizations in our community that that receive funding from, From the city.
and so that precedent, I think is also very important. And lastly, you know. We asked you to make a change, And they made the most significant of
changes. We told them, we're going to pause your funding and we will reinstate your Funding after after you address the
issues that led to the violation of of of the organization's policies that led to to to The offensive artwork
that led and that then because of that, there was this change of the ceo, There's been change of policies.
there's been systematic changes in the organization. And when we tell organizations, hey, listen, We want you to work with us so that we can put in there the controls and the protections
that we need in place to make sure that your organization upholds the values that are Important to our city,
that once you do that, we will reinstate your funding, And then we come back and we say, you know what?
just kidding. We're not going to keep our word. We're not going to give you your funding back.
organizations won't work with us in the future. They'll tell us, hey, listen. Look what happened with with why am I going to do.
why am I going to change my ceo? Why am I going to make changes to my board?
why am I going to make changes to to my policies? If at the end of the day, the city of miami beach might not keep its word, And due to my organization,
the same thing that you did to molate. And so I think it's important.
do I like the fact that that I'm finding out now that light has this big budget?
no, but I don't make those budget recommendations. Those are budget recommendations and funding recommendations made by the cultural arts Council.
these these recommendations are made by the cultural arts council.
and if we want to go back and say, hey, listen, We want to change the vetting criterias of how the cultural arts council administers their
grant programs. Well, then that's a separate conversation to be had so that there's parity And fairness amongst all grant recipients and amongst all
organizations that that apply for, for for the public dollars.
but when we make a public commitment to an organization that we ask them to work with us To fix problems in the organization,
and they come to the table and they work with us, Then we have to keep our word at the end,
because then in the future, organizations will not work with us in the same way.
and that happened. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Were you commenting on. No. Because. Yeah, I was asking, did that actually happen?
I'm sorry. I didn't know I was going to be my backstory. So maybe we could. We can tag team here. Tag team.
go ahead. I think it might have been before your time on the commission.
I remember the incident well because I was involved by behind the scenes, As were others.
and it was before your time, john. I'll give you make that clear to everyone. As well. But there was an unfortunate unfortunate piece of artwork that that was Anti-semitic that went in a walgreens,
a storefront that violated there was certain controls that weren't in place.
it violated policy mr. Procedures. But and and it I think it it highlighted some issues With the organization just
generally. But I guess the question for eric, If I may, if I'm going to direct this to you,
was the changes that we sort of worked out and then held off on the funding contingent on Them making all these changes,
or there were two separate things that we wanted to just see whether they would make Certain changes before we would consider resuming the funding.
so I will read the resolution. It says, whereas the mayor and city commission would like To suspend all current and future grant agreements with and distributions to light until
light hires a new executive director and provides the city a statement reflecting the Internal controls to be established to prevent a recurrence of the incident
involved in the offensive artwork, and the administration is hereby directed to suspend The grant agreement and all related funding disbursements between the city and light,
and pause the execution of all future grant agreements between the city and light until Otherwise directed by the mayor and city commission to allow you to hire a
new executive director and enable the city commission to review and approve a statement of Internal controls.
and those are the statements that are the statements of internal controls. Are on our agenda. That's correct. Those are the ones that we have with the agenda item at Page 868 through 870 included
with our seven mr. Commissioner commissioner magazine. Can I ask maybe lisette or mr. City manager? Because, John, I'm asking what was before your time?
how many years has eight received a grant funding before it was suspended?
it goes back. I don't have that information with me. But beyond 2013. And so what you brought up, Commissioner fernandez, that that weighs on me heavily,
that we made a commitment that we should uphold.
but also and this isn't unique or specific to oolite whatsoever.
I think we have passed a resolution of somewhat saying this, That our grants and our funding
can't just be evergreen, infinite for any organization, Right?
I believe that is specific to special event sponsorship, Not cultural arts funding.
right. But when I think about giving grants or economic development incentives, It's not forever,
right? It's to help the company get established or the arts and culture. And if it's needs based, then yes, we can continue giving it.
but this obviously isn't needs based. So while that changes how I was thinking about this For this year in particular,
to have any organization where we just give for decades when it's not needs based, I don't think that's good policy.
so I guess maybe I'm foreshadowing my support going forward if it's not needs based.
I do want to honor a commitment and a promise that the city has seemingly made and not Pulled the rug out on that,
but on a go forward basis. If it's not needs based, I think, you know, taxpayer support just can't be this evergreen
promise that goes on forever. We need to use it to help get either a special event off the Ground,
a new business into town and get them set up, Or a cultural organization.
time to establish themselves like I did. Right.
you should say, wow, we actually did it. We got to a point where where we are Self-sustaining.
miami beach, thank you so much for helping us get to this place that is no longer needed.
that's where I think we need to start directing our financial policy. So, I guess long winded way of saying I'm not going to pull out the rug on a promise that Was made and you did your part
on your side. But for don't expect it'll just be this evergreen ongoing support for me.
and that's not specific to oolite. That's going to be for a multitude of things, Whether it's special events or for profit,
not for profit companies. Taxpayer money is going to be finite and only needs based Commissioner suarez.
look, I just want to make a final final point. Okay. I think it's important. Like what? Commissioner magazine said, Given opportunity
for other cultural organizations to have an opportunity to to get their start.
oolite is at the penthouse. Push the push. Go.
go to the elevator and push one and send the elevator down for someone else because they Need the help.
you guys don't need the help. I'd be much more happy with giving taxpayer money to an Organization that is that that that
actually needs the help to, to get off the ground. I mean, let's be honest, you wouldn't have such a large endowment if it wasn't for miami Beach,
right? Because you sold all your properties at the height of the market, And that resulted in over $100 million in assets,
which if you were to do that today, it'd be like a fraction of that.
so look, again, colleagues, I'm simply saying let's give an opportunity to another Cultural arts organization that could
actually use the money and, and, and, and benefit our community.
maybe it could be a cultural organization, you know, That is you know, that primarily deals with children
of miami beach. I mean, there's a whole other litany of of things that we can do to, To kick start a,
an organization that actually needs the money. So, you know, obviously, I'm not going to be supportive today.
I am fully supportive, fully supportive of that concept. And with this organization in particular, I will be supportive and adhere to that going Forward.
I am very sensitive to we made a promise and and to that I forgot to mention, Commissioner fernandez,
you just said that you had no idea about their finances up until today. And and I think that's a valid point because I think if you did, You know, we wouldn't be having a discussion right now.
I think things would have been a little different. And when you do take into consideration how much the ceo is making and the next two Employees and that 33% of their operating
budget goes to three people in the organization, I think there is something to say that, you know,
when you look at the full picture, is the money to this organization the right best use of Funds?
and if I may, mr. Mayor, you know, you bring up good points, But I think cherry picking which organizations we apply that to is not the right.
it's not the right way of going about a very good and valid point. I respectfully this is on the agenda. I'm sorry.
I'm speaking. We love that line. It's good to laugh amongst colleagues, Especially when you're sitting up here.
you know, I think it's important to get this very important concept that you're saying and Making sure that it's applied evenly amongst all grantees.
for example, you look at the tourist development council at the county, The tourist development council.
they don't let people to continue getting the the maximum amount every single year, Every year it subtracts and it lowers and it lowers every,
every single year. You know, maybe we want to look at something like that so that Organizations don't,
in perpetuity get this amount of funding. Maybe we want to look at what assets they own.
you know, what's you know, I don't know I don't know what type of statements we get from Them.
so if we're going to do something where now, We're going to start saying we're going to apply our grants differently and handle them
differently. Well, let's do it in a way that the rules apply evenly and fairly across the Board with all applicants.
and I think that there's an avenue through which to discuss it. And maybe that's something that lisette can look into the grant criteria, Because that's a separate conversation.
but this conversation on this item is closing the loop.
something extremely offensive and horrible happened that should have never happened.
and anti-semitic, occurrence due to the lack of certain controls and policies that weren't Properly implemented,
and we asked this organization to take the most extreme and the strictest of measures to Correct that before they could get more funding.
and now that they've corrected that, to tell them afterwards, Hey, listen, you did what we asked you to do.
we're not going to follow through with our word. We're not going to give you your funding back.
I think that that would send a very horrible precedent when we might have to deal with the Same thing with other organizations in the future.
and then will they trust our word? Would they trust our commitment? And that's why I think it's so important in a situation like this, To follow through our commitment that we made,
while we look at the separate issue of the criteria for grantees and evening out that Playing field so that everyone is treated equally.
commissioner bhatt. So you know, we all are very aware of the threats to our overall Budget going forward?
and I think it is a very valid conversation to have about our grant making process for This and for other things going
forward prospectively, and reevaluating the criteria and the guidelines and the Timeframes.
and so I don't know if that's an administrative thing that happens or if that's something That needs to be initiated legislatively,
if the latter. Commissioner fernandez, I'd be happy to co-prime with you on that Initiative,
because I think it's a useful conversation to have. But I am not a fan of lucy pulling the football away from charlie brown every time, Or changing the goalposts in the middle of the game.
so I would suggest, with all due respect, that we bifurcate the items.
we close the loop on this. We honor our word which matters as a city, And we look forward with fresh eyes as
to how we want to use our funds going forward for maximum impact and have have that Conversation,
which is very valid, but it's a separate conversation than this. So just to just to clarify, I think respectfully, I wasn't on the commission at the time when this
resolution was passed. You were the co-sponsor. Really? When when was you were co-sponsor? September 17th, 2024, sponsored by vice mayor alex j.
fernandez. Co-sponsored by commissioner david suarez. It was resolution number 2024 33265. The issue that happened was in march april.
the only person who wasn't on the commission at the time was monica. Okay.
so it's funny, you a couple of people have referenced, But you referenced commissioner suarez.
we spent a lot of time on a $30,000 item. But I actually look at the bigger picture.
I think it's an important discussion that's going to apply to a number of items. So I think it's a it's a healthy discussion that we're having. Not that long ago, The this commission before the election,
the only changes. Congratulations. Commissioner mateo- Salinas. But the six of us are now with our colleague.
we we were slashing our budget, right? We we reduced our tax millage for the first time Since 2018.
all our homesteaded property owners just got a check for $500 first time in 20 years.
so we you welcome. So we're we're certainly we're looking with a with a fine tooth comb.
and I think the presentation is very good. It's I think I think all of us appreciate the Work that went into it.
and we want to know that information. So it's it's healthy.
but I guess a question for you, commissioner, Because commissioner fernandez kind of makes an argument.
I was, and I still might be. But I was with you actually.
but then I got and I think commissioner magazine is in the same boat. Like, I guess the question in my head is, did we make that commitment?
I'm trying to read this resolution and if we did, I'd want to honor it. But is is that condition of their making the changes which by all measurables they have.
was that a was that a were we promising them to give them this grant if they did these Things?
do you have I mean, what's I mean, mr. Mayor, If I may, I mean, the resolution says the mayor and city commissioner would like to
suspend all current and future grant agreements. I'm sorry. Can you tell me exactly where you read page 862?
and whereas clause not the last, whereas clause the one before last, The mayor and city commission would like to suspend all current and future grant
agreements with and distributions to oolite until oolite hires a new executive director And provides the city a statement
reflecting the internal controls to be established to prevent a recurrence of the Incidents involving the offensive artwork.
we would like to suspend our current and future suspend not revoke, Suspend.
that was the commitment that we did until they hired a new executive director and provided The internal controls that are provided in our agenda on page
868. And now that we've done that, it's time to remove the suspension and keep our word on On what we committed
to. Otherwise, in the future it's going to happen with other things with, You know, and the future might be an lgbtq thing that an organization
might do something that's offensive, and we ask them to correct it and take and take Measures to correct it.
and why would they why would they listen to us and work with us and correcting it if They're going to say,
well, listen, there's no guarantee you'll give us our money back the moment you suspend It, or it might be on some other thing in the future.
I think so. To me, it's pretty clear. And the language, What our intent was. Yeah.
and I think when, when we pass this resolution, Like you said, the full scope of it, the,
the full scope of their finances wasn't really readily available to us. And I think their tax returns literally came out, I think, around the same time.
and so, look, you know, I understand we we made a commitment, However, with new information on,
on the financing of this organization. You know, I think the, the idea has shifted to
say, like, look, do we really need to, to to help an organization that has, Has over $100 million in cash or in assets?
and where a ceo makes over $300,000. Again, I just I understand we made a commitment to This,
but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's still the right thing to do moving forward With taxpayer dollars.
considering the fact that we now know what their finances are.
I'm sorry. You know, it's just that's that's just that's a philosophical decision, I understand that.
now, look, if they were if they were struggling, If they didn't obviously have the finances that they do now.
this wouldn't obviously wouldn't have been pulled from consent and we wouldn't be having This hour long discussion on it.
okay. So I think that's where we fundamentally disagree.
right. I completely understand concede the point that, Yes, we did make a commitment at the time.
I don't think any of us knew really the full scope of the finances in this situation.
I'm simply bringing into question the the. The organization's
financial capacity. And I don't disagree with you because I think something good will come Out of that,
which is looking at all grantees and how and making sure that we do consider those Financial capacities,
what what assets they have. What what what liquid assets they have in the bank.
right now we're not doing that or I don't know if we're doing that. We're doing that. No, We do we do see that as part of their grant application process,
there are other organizations that are making that and above.
so it would impact other organizations. And so so that's where like the moment we Establish this precedent and we say organizations of,
you know, having having this amount of funding or having this net worth that that now We're going to start changing how we apply the
grants. That's a broader conversation. I don't disagree with a lot of what you're saying.
you have raised some very, very good and relevant points.
but we didn't say in this resolution we would re-implement the grant based on your tax Return.
it was we would, you know, because we didn't know. What's that? We didn't know. We didn't know. And I and that's why I think what you're what You're saying should be part of a broader discussion where we should let lisette
and the city manager's team look at the requirements of these grants, Especially in light of the potential changes in revenues that we may be
facing. You know, what reforms based on, on this presentation that you've made, What reforms should we be making to the grant process?
but I think that that's independent of this item here right now.
and just a final thing on the resolution, eric. We're comfortable with the internal controls. That was part of can we can we can we have An after the fact resolution to to do exactly that?
you know let's, let's let's have the administration set a criteria.
so I have an item in ferc and perhaps we can expand upon that, Because right now it just centers on executive compensation,
but perhaps we can make it needs based for the entire organization.
and like I said, if it's one thing, if we're trying to entice somebody to get here, But it can't be just evergreen infinite.
so we would expand upon that. Yeah. Yeah. Because it's a ferc, Right.
if the organization ceo makes x amount of dollars.
right. Okay. We're going to call the vote. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner suarez. You've highlighted some very important issues. I think you Got all of us thinking.
mr. Being hard. That's. Give me. Give me one second. And, commissioner fernandez, you kind of put us a little bit into a box by bringing up This resolution that we had and quite,
quite honestly, we I mean, it's easy to say in hindsight, We we were trying to we were trying to get an organization to,
to make some changes that would better themselves and our city, Which actually has been accomplished.
so for that, for that end. But we did we did bind ourselves somewhat.
thank you, mr. Mayor. I just want to clarify that the fiscal year 27 cultural arts council Grant application closed on february 20th.
so I just want to share that for awareness. So that means that all organizations have Applied.
so any just to keep that in mind for any future legislation or policies that for fiscal Year 27,
we have just closed the application process and cultural arts council will start reviewing Them in april.
let's call the vote. I need a motion. Moved. Second.
I'll second a motion by commissioner fernandez, Seconded by commissioner bhatt.
all in favor, please say aye. That's contingent upon expanding upon this legislation. This is the resolution plus direction, plus a referral to ferc.
but expanding the referral to having administration work with us to expand that.
so, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? No. So I have one. No. From commissioner suarez.
the item passes six one. That was r7i. It includes an expanded referral to ferc.
we actually have a review that we got to do now during our lunch break.
so it's a working lunch break, but let's reconvene at 130.
where are we? Where are we doing it? One. Thank you.
welcome back. We're a few minutes late. We had our annual review of our city managers.
that's what we were doing during the lunch break while we were having lunch.
but let's have our our before we start continuing with with our items.
so, please, anyone, welcome to speak. Thank you. Mayor. Anyone who wishes to speak, please approach the podium, Please.
thank you. Go ahead. Sir. Good afternoon, all mayor, Commissioners damien gallo here.
as all of you know, I'm the primary doctor. I've been a tenant for the city of miami beach For the last
20 years. And I feel part of a big family of the miami beach family and
I went through many, many, many years of building department.
I pulled thousands of permits, licenses. I know the city very well, And through the years I've been getting new
leases in my space, and this year they want to go for a betting.
after 20 years, without giving me the opportunity of negotiation or anything.
so they went through a process of vetting process and.
I did everything they asked for all the hoops. And today in the consent agenda see to be a that item was pulled out the bedding.
so no chance to talk to anybody or no chance for me to tell them how important it is to be In the city,
have the space, and I help a lot of people in the community.
I do a lot of pro bono. 30% of my court appearances are for people of miami beach.
they cannot afford an attorney or come and talk to the judge or the special magistrate, And I represent them for free because
I know that they need help. Some of them, they can get a permit and that's what they get Paid for.
but I do it with goodwill. So I'm important person for the community and in the city.
and I feel bad. I feel bad and like the rug was pulled out of my feet after 20 years.
and. Yeah, just one more thing, please. This item was approved this morning.
somebody can just reconsider and pull this item out for discussion.
I would appreciate that, mr. Mayor. Madam vice mayor commissioner commissioner mateo- Salinas.
commissioner fernandez. Oh, I'm sorry, commissioner fernandez. Thank you, mr. Manager, with this item. It's just we're just talking about the lease of Space.
but. But the permit doctor can still lease space in the city and still do work with the City.
absolutely. Okay, so this is not this barring him from doing work in the city.
so just, you know, you can continue the same services you've been providing to the Residents or the businesses.
you can continue providing it, but the city needs this space. So this is my understanding. There are essential services at the city, Which if not, we need to go lease space somewhere else.
correct? Correct. We would have to go lease office space somewhere else.
and obviously we have this space available. We've come to the end of the lease.
we issued a six month extension on the lease so that they could have a transition period, And we will be using that space
for one of our city services. So yeah. So I mean, You're you're you're still more than welcome to assist businesses in our community deal
with the building department. But the city is city's city real estate and the city needs It for its departments.
I understand that, I understand about the type of services they provide is so unique.
there's no other company that provides the same service at this distance or the city hall And so many years in business.
everybody, everybody knows the doctor. So they come to us directly to that location.
now, I don't know where we're going to go. It's a it's a very important location.
it's only 400ft². I don't know which other services the city can provide and such limited Space.
that's why we can reconsider. Maybe we can talk to somebody and so far, Not too many months ago,
actually. Weeks ago, we were under the impression that we were going for a vetting Process,
and that stopped. That was was removed this morning at the agenda and and seemed to be It's no it's not going to be betting it's
removed completely removed and was approving the consent agenda. If somebody can just reconsider that and give us the opportunity to see if our service is More important than any other service that can be provided in those
400ft². Thank you sir. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak?
thank you. Good afternoon everybody. Sarah de los reyes, As a resident of sunset harbor.
thank you, mayor, for the taxi. It's been very successful. And I just want to bring to attention that I wrote an email to colette, Which she left the city.
and I gave it to lauren. You're going to, you know, That they're going to do the new building for the marine patrol.
but the people staying out there in the sun and the rain, And sometimes it's more than 50 or 60 people.
so I think that building needs to be looked to a design on that area, To have an area that people will be waiting for your water taxi,
because I think it's going to be with time, it's going to be even more and more of the Taxes coming in that area.
so I think that redesign or something to shelter them from the sun or or the rain would be Really good.
they all stand in there for one hour. So thank you, Sarah.
yeah, I was actually out there this week and we were looking at options of providing shade And making it the most comfortable experience we can be.
and thank you for the pictures you sent from your. Yeah I sent yeah, It's right for my terrace.
so I watch it I watch it all the time and I'm here to support the 7 7r7v.
the mooring field that. I'll be here to provide a speech for it. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Is there anyone else here who wishes to speak?
go ahead sir. Oh, there we go. Good afternoon mayor.
commissioners. My name is bruce horwitz, and many of you know I am the chairman of miami Beach pride.
and I appreciate you letting me speak this afternoon. Miami beach pride is considered by many to be the best free, Free underlying the word free annual event in the city of miami beach.
it attracts not only local residents from south florida, But all over the united states and from countries all over the world.
international travelers go home telling their friends it was one of the best prides Anywhere,
ever. Miami beach pride has that kind of reputation, Which enhances the city of miami beach's reputation.
the city prides itself in being a city where everyone is welcome, No matter the color of your skin,
your religion, where you come from, or who you love. Miami beach pride delivers that message directly.
so much so that the city has an excellent reputation among the lgbt+ community.
it is a safe event that over the years has had little to no incidents.
from what I've been told, the police sign up sheet is filled within hours.
is an economic driver filling up hotels, restaurants, Stores. It creates jobs. It is estimated that it brings in over 5 million in revenue.
it has a great return on investment. My guess? The best one the city has. But most importantly, It is great for the community.
it is free with world class entertainment, a fun parade which many of you have been in.
tremendous exposure to what? The city of miami beach has to offer.
I've been asked why we don't have it in a park or over in miami, That we could save money by doing so.
the answer is very simple. Our pride, unlike many others throughout the world, Is held on the sands of miami beach.
it doesn't get any better than that. Again, thank you, Mayor and commissioners.
thank you bruce. I think probably just doing a scan of the dais up here.
I think we've all we've all been so testament to a great event that you have.
I'm sorry. Just doing a quick look at the dais. I think proudly I can say that we've all over the years participated in the event.
so just a testament to the great event that you have given you a compliment.
yes, yes. You said most of us have been in the parade. As I scan the the dais, I think all of us have.
I appreciate really I appreciate all of you. I've seen all of you out there.
and, you know, sometimes we have to wait a little while to get the parade going.
but I love it. And, you know, it's a really good message that we're sending to see the Police officers out there marching in the parade.
the fire department. I mean, it's just it's just a great moment for the city to really Come together.
and not only, you know, just the locals here, But people from miami.
and they get out on that sand during the festival and they say, Gosh, you know, we have to come back next weekend and go lay out in the sand,
go to the bars, go to the restaurants. I mean, The restaurants are all filled. So, I mean, I just hope you guys really think about that when when you're voting later Today.
so thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. Commissioners.
mayor. Distinguished guests. My name is christoph babka. I am a resident of miami beach in beautiful belle isle and a proud, A very proud member of our lgbt community.
I did prepare a speech today, so you'll hear lots of talk about the economic benefits of Miami beach pride to the city,
its increasing tourism, deepening personal ties to our residents, And driving local business activity.
but I want to speak today about the personal impact of pride. What started over 50 years ago as a protest has evolved into a celebration of diversity.
oh wait, we actually we can't use that word diversity.
let me okay. Celebration of community where marginalized people shoot.
we can't use the word marginalized. That's a red flag. Where everyone everyone is welcome to join together in the spirit of love and progress.
you know, we can't use the word progress. Shoot. Love and togetherness. Now, this is just an example of how we are walking on eggshells and Kowtowing to bullies who are leveraging their power to
suppress our community. Defunding pride falls perfectly in line with ripping out our Beautiful rainbow crosswalks and ocean drive,
and tearing our pride flag from stonewall. Defunding pride is an act of censorship.
honoring and celebrating pride means many beach stands for all of our residents.
embracing pride will increase our pride in miami and set an example for the rest of the Country.
I'll leave you with a question what is the opposite of pride?
it is shame. And even considering defunding pride is shameful.
thank you. Thank you. Anyone else in the audience?
hello? Hello, this is joel steadman. I'm the owner of twist nightclub here on miami beach.
I've lived on miami beach for over 30 years. I'm I was a long time board member of miami Beach gay pride.
I was chair of miami beach pride. Pride is very dear to my heart because I was part of the Group that started it way back in 2009 with matty,
with matty bauer, mayor matti bower and several people in this room.
the event has grown to be an enormous event, Enormously successful.
we have people like bruce coming from around the world.
we live in a challenging time now where our state government and others, And maybe some people in this room
do not want cities like miami beach to support events like pride.
how can that really be? Being a chair of this event, I understand how hard it is to raise money.
how hard it is to keep something of this magnitude free for everybody.
please reconsider your vote or consider your vote in support of miami beach pride.
you know, the state has done virtually everything it can to deter tourists, Especially to this area.
international tourists don't want to come here. Tourists don't want to come here from this country.
our gay tourists don't want to come here anymore. They've ripped out our gay crosswalks. They've sued drag brunch restaurants, And now they want to go after
pride. Let me ask you here today. When and where does this
hate end? So thank you. Anyone else?
good afternoon, mayor commissioners and other members.
I'm here today as a resident of miami beach. I'm not here as the miami dade county lgbtqia Director.
I'm here as a resident, a resident who is proud of the city.
that he lives in. A resident who has been participating in pride since 2009.
and this is a no brainer. It's a no brainer, Mayor.
but as a resident, I really want to speak to you on a human side.
at this moment when lgbtq people, especially trans and queer youth, Are facing increased hostility and violence,
pride is more than a festivity or a festival.
it is visibility. It is safety in numbers and it is a statement that the city stands with Us.
interestingly enough, when you run for office, You want our money and you want our support,
but when you get up there, then you don't want it or you don't need it.
we're coming to claim our our money and we're coming to claim our territory.
we deserve to be here and we deserve to be heard. And we deserve to celebrate together. Thank you so much.
thank you. Anyone else? Go ahead. My name is ward
auerbach. I love this city. I love its parks.
the things we do. The water taxi. We are so smart and so good.
I've been an activist in the gay community for a long time. I was at stonewall. I came out on 21st street beach when my brother was in
miami beach. Miami herald correspondent for the beach with his great friend, Rocky pomerantz.
you guys don't even know who rocky pomerantz is anymore.
this is just ridiculous that this fabulous city is dicking around with pride.
with miami beach pride. I don't know what to say.
it's just so uncharacteristic of who we are, Who we are.
I don't know how much money is involved. I can't imagine it's very much. But this is not a dent in the budget. Let's come up and be good, Guys.
thank you, thank you. Anyone else? Hello commissioners, Mayors
et al. Thank you for your time today. My name is a.j. Prescott and I am the general manager of palace bar and restaurant on 1052 ocean drive.
we just celebrated 38 years on ocean drive, nearly four decades contributing to the Economic fabric of miami beach.
I'm here to speak about miami beach pride, not just as a celebration, But also as an economic engine for our business.
pride week generates nearly 100% increase in revenue compared to an average week.
it is the single most impactful week of the year for us. That impact extends citywide. Hotels operate at peak occupancy, Restaurants are at capacity.
retail transportation vendors. Everyone feels it. It drives sales tax revenue and provides more hours, Overtime and tip income for thousands of hospitality workers,
where we alone have 172 associates that work with us.
importantly, pride pride draws international visitors and local residents who don't Typically go out it.
it reactivates spending within our own community. These are real dollars circulating locally. This year's theme for pride is infinity Representing representing continuity,
unity and forward movement. And at palace we've embraced it with an with an alternative, With an additional message.
love is limitless a city. That message reflects miami beach itself a city known globally For inclusivity and forward movement.
I've also was a resident at 1125 ninth street for almost 15 years.
supporting pride is not symbolic. It is fiscally responsible. It produces measurable economic return and reinforces the brand that keeps miami beach Competitive year round.
pride is not a niche in a. It is a citywide economic catalyst and a place for everybody.
thank you. Thank you. Seeing no one else, I'm going to go to zoom.
our first zoom caller is lisa napolitano. Please go ahead.
yes. Good afternoon everyone. I'm calling in opposition to item c seven regarding the Management of seagrape trees on the
pretext of public safety. Trees do not cause crime and the removal of trees does not Prevent crime.
two grape trees are native keystone species and play a vital role in our island's Ecosystem.
for that reason, they are federally protected. Not only beautiful, there are frontline defenders against coastal erosion and protect Against surges and hurricanes.
they protect nesting sea turtles from artificial light that interferes with their ability To navigate the ocean.
there are wildlife habitat and food source for native birds.
their dense foliage provides shelter and nesting sites for birds, Lizards, small mammals,
and even tortoises. If public camping is the concern that this item purports to address, Have the police enforce the
existing law that prohibits it. That is the common sense solution, Not tree removal in major disruption to our island's
ecosystem. Thank you very much. Our next caller is patrick.
hello, my name is patrick. I live at 1754 meridian avenue, Right across from pride park, and I'm calling to ask your support for item.
I think it's c7 for the city to continue to support miami beach pride, And for the mayor to call the item today.
since the festival is around the corner, we want to make sure that this gets addressed Timely because the city can't the festival can't go on without the city support.
I've been attending miami beach pride since before I even moved to the beach. It's always been a great example of a city supported event that is free for residents and Brings in visitors from around the country,
even the world. I was looking at the last pride report that showed 75% of the tourists Coming to our city for pride or staying in our hotels.
and basically all the attendees are spending money at our local establishments.
it's a positive community event that's not only fun fun for residents and tourists, But it also brings money back into the community and is money well spent from the city.
thank you. Thank you. Our next caller is dave griesser.
hello, everybody. I'm david greene. I live at 1754 meridian avenue.
I'm calling in support of c7-l1 funding for pride.
when I moved to miami beach in 2017 with my partner, It was because it was an queer friendly,
inclusive city. And pride was a big part of of drawing us here and giving the city that Incredible brand that we,
we still have today, despite some of the complexities that have happened in the last in The last few years in florida.
I think it's an incredible investment in our community to continue to sponsor pride, The return on investment that this sponsorship provides to the city
from a pure financial benefit probably actually just justifies the city increasing its Investment.
over what the, the the proposed amount is, but I'll leave that discussion to to you all.
but it's an incredible financial investment in our city and our tourism. But more than that, it's an investment in our community.
welcoming welcoming tourists, welcoming our own residents that may not feel comfortable or Safe.
it has been a difficult few years, and I think that our pride is more important than ever.
and I just want to thank you all for your support.
thank you so much. Next caller is miles davis.
good afternoon, mayor and commissioners. My name is miles davis. I serve as director of advocacy and communications at save, Which is one of florida's longest serving organizations dedicated to protecting people who
are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer from discrimination.
florida that we've seen goals in the state legislature has been to ensure that folks get Erased.
but we're here, and like many folks in the room and on zoom, Are hearing strong, respectful support of continuing the city sponsorship of the miami
beach pride festival. We know that miami beach pride is not only a cultural institution, It is one of the largest annual events miami in miami-dade county and
draws more than 185,000 attendees. We also know that those attendees and visitors are Booking hotel rooms.
they're dining and mom and pop restaurants. They're patronizing miami beach retailers and Most importantly,
they're contributing meaningfully to the tourism driven economy that defines the city of Miami beach in a community where hospitality is a primary industry.
we know that consistency and partnership and messaging matters. Major events that generate direct visitor spending also shape perception and pride Reinforces miami beach's global brand as one
welcoming world a world class destination and a reputation that really supports repeat Visitation.
right. Folks, coming time and time again. Long term investment and economic stability.
the resolution before you continues a long standing public private partnership, Which we have seen successfully produced the event for more than a decade and coordination
with various city departments and most importantly, Public safety.
we believe that maintaining partnership reflects stability, Professionalism and sound economic policy for miami beach moving forward.
we know it's about supporting local businesses, Sustaining jobs, protecting that our city's global reputation,
and reinforcing miami beach's role as leader in south florida's visitor economy.
I respectfully urge you to restore the sponsorship. Thank you. Our next caller is steven. Steven, Please unmute yourself.
hey. Yes. Hey. How are you? My name is steve tiemeyer. Lifetime miami beach worker. Went to school there.
everything. And I first like to address item c7.
l about defunding pride, and I can't as a straight member of this community, I can't speak to how much of a catastrophic mistake this will be.
there is no argument, economically speaking, To support defunding it in any way.
and it's only a game for anybody. The only reason people would want to get rid of this is To make the area less inclusive,
change the reputation of miami beach and it's disgusting. I can't believe we're even having this conversation. But setting that aside, I'd like to talk about c7.
about cutting the seagrape trees on the the whole area between first and 87th street, Which is what I understand.
and I just want to make it clear that that is illegal in every way, Shape and form.
florida law 370 .041 is what prohibits it. And actually, Even being in possession of those cut trees constitutes a violation
of that law. And it bothers me that this even came to discussion because from what I Understand,
the city has engaged contractors to cut them in the past. And if they paid people to commit a crime, supposedly without getting a permit from the Fdep.
I, I don't know what you expect people to do with respect to fighting it. Do we fight it the same way we fight any crime? Do we call the police.
if we see people doing this and I, I just I find it ridiculous and I don't think there's Any valid argument for it except for something nefarious.
and I just want to say that and that there are a lot of people in this city and on the Mainland that absolutely will stand with these trees if they're threatened.
thank you so much. Our next caller is marina brannan. Mr. Mayor, before we move on, commissioner fernandez, I just want the record to reflect that c7 l is to approve the sponsorship of miami
beach pride and the pride festival. The proposal is not to defund pride.
it. This is the discussion about about the funding. But it's not the item does not relate to defunding pride.
I just want to put that for clarity on the record. Thank you. Yeah. Some of this catching me off guard.
I'm perplexed because I thought we were. Well, The item was pulled.
so I think that's why we have members of the public here. But the item does not relate to the funding. It's an item that I sponsored that we sponsor Every year to approve sponsorship for miami beach pride.
thank you. Marina, go ahead please. Yes. If you can hear me.
so. Yes. Good afternoon, commissioners. My name is marina brannan, A former and future north miami.
I'm sorry, a north beach resident and advocacy director at save south florida's largest And longest serving lgbtq advocacy organization.
as a commissioner, fernandez said the item c7l was pulled from the consent agenda.
I do find that very troubling. Without the funding, I worry that miami beach pride won't be free anymore or that it won't even happen at all.
city support is essential for this huge community event to exist.
so I'm asking, you know, of course, to please bring commissioner fernandez.
item back to the consent agenda and please approve it.
before I lived in north beach, my first real introduction to miami beach was miami beach Pride.
in my teens and in my 20s, I've attended miami beach pride for many, Many years, and I'm 30 years old now.
I've spent hundreds of dollars with local vendors and restaurants during miami beach pride Events,
and thousands of others have done the same every year. Why would we take that away with this item? Miami beach would provide up to $250,000 and Would waive fees for the park rental
itself. That is a drop in the bucket compared to how much the city benefits miami beach.
pride matters not only to me as an lgbtq person, But to the small businesses and restaurants along ocean drive.
so please put this item c seven fell back on the consent agenda.
commissioners. And please vote in support of the city support of miami beach pride.
thank you. Thank you. Our next caller is juan sanchez.
mr. Sanchez, go ahead. Can you hear me? Yes. Now? Yeah. Hi. Good afternoon. I want to thank you for this opportunity.
I know we're mostly known for our festival and a parade, But I just wanted to point out that we hold out ten events in the city of miami beach
within a two week. We use lincoln road, we use collins avenue, We use restaurants, we use bars,
we use hotels. We are a premier event in the city of miami beach.
that's little to no calls to service to the fire department or the police department.
we have 4 billion hits to our marketing strategy. We are featured on cbs drive, people magazine.
travel out magazine listed us as one of the top five destinations in the country.
this is positive for the city of miami beach. I urge you, please, to put that c7 back on the agenda and pass it through today.
thank you. Thank you. Our next caller is brendan fairley.
hi. My name is brendan fairley. I live at 1944 north michigan avenue, And I am a first year fellow with the new world symphony.
the orchestra was founded by maybe the most famous gay trailblazer in the classical world,
michael tilson thomas, many of whom I'm sure you met at some point. As many of you also probably know, his husband just died.
I think it's very, almost ironic that this is being talked about. You know, the miami beach was chosen for the orchestra to be here for so many reasons, But one of them being an accepting,
tolerant area. There's lots of gay fellows. This is I've only been here for six months, And I think it's just kind of atrocious that this is even being discussed.
so please support c7 l I want to be brought to the consent agenda and it needs to be Approved asap.
thank you. Thank you. Our next caller is nielsen kazdin.
good, good. Good afternoon, mayor and commission. I'm calling on item c7. You the meridian avenue bike path.
and just a little history. When I was mayor, We had done redid miami beach golf club, making it one of the finest
public golf courses in south florida. It's a major amenity for residents of miami beach.
some 200 have annual memberships, and hundreds more residents play there regularly.
in addition to that, it is a phenomenal amenity for our high end tourist economy as people Like to come here to play golf.
the hotel guests and many important high end events that are booked and used that not Everyone can join a private golf club,
or can afford to join a private golf club or get into one.
the city of miami eliminated its only public golf course to make it an a, A development along with a
soccer stadium. Other cities like west palm have invested millions in their public golf Courses as an amenity for residents,
particularly the new professional class of people who are moving into that community.
the impact of creating the bicycle paths, as currently designed on meridian avenue and on Chase avenue
will seriously negatively impact the golf course and the experience of golfers and Visitors.
I am not saying that there should not be some additional land set aside for bicycle paths,
but the territory that is being taken is too much and will impact the golf course Negatively.
you can have traffic calming as people on meridian avenue have proposed, And maybe 6 to 8 foot wide bicycle lanes,
similar to what you have on meridian avenue south of dade boulevard, Without taking up so much territory.
in addition, another thing that this does is impact the property owners on meridian avenue And on chase avenue.
people have invested millions of dollars in buying and building and refurbishing homes on,
on, on meridian avenue. And what they will get, What they have now is a view of a beautiful golf course.
what they will get in exchange is a view of fences and trees and lose that golf course View.
similarly, just to finish up on chase avenue, There's a lush grove of trees along chase avenue.
I was responsible for the planting of that. When florida power and light put its large Transmission lines there some 25 plus years ago.
that provides protection from the view of of the golf course and of the homes on chase Avenue.
if we are to get rid of that landscaping, you'll also expose those transmission lines.
I'd be happy to discuss this at greater length with any of you on the commission.
I don't I think this is not a good idea. I think it is taking up too much territory.
it would be too damaging to a key recreational and tourist asset of our community.
I think there's a better way of doing it. Thank you. Mayor. Thank you.
our next caller is alex jimenez. Hi. Good afternoon, Alex jimenez from
belle isle. I'm calling. I was calling about the sea grapes again.
but I heard about the pride item, and I think I think the city should waive all fees.
whatever's necessary for that event to happen. I know there's lots of events on the beach, and they get their permits and, You know, all sorts of fees waived.
they should. They shouldn't have to pay any fees. That should always be the case. And if They need cash because there's a shortfall or if they need a grant or if they're getting a
grant, I think that should continue given how much the city spends on so many other Things.
which brings me to the grapes. The grapes, trees. They want to spend 200, some thousand dollars almost on cutting back all of these grape Trees.
it should be treated like any development project requesting additional height.
the sea grape trees unfortunately don't have a neighborhood association.
they can't pay a neighborhood association to come to the commission and lobby for them.
so I'm doing it for them. And I think the sea grape trees should be left alone?
the shade is very nice and I don't think they should be cut down so that views could be Improved or anything to that effect.
they should be like any development project. There should be public meetings about this.
they should take a year to discuss with the community. And we should see renderings of what they want to do to our beach walk before they touch It.
and nobody should touch it unless there's public meetings, Just like any development project.
and this is an irreplaceable beach walk. Much more valuable than than a hotel or a Building going up in our city.
this is the most, probably the most valuable piece of real estate that we have. So we Should treat it like a real estate project. And we should have public meetings before
anything is approved. Thank you. Our next caller is bruce beckman.
hi, everyone. Bruce beckman here, 1800 sunset harbor drive.
I came here 24 years ago, actually from a gay ski week.
friends that I met there that lived here in miami beach. And it's been a wonderful place To feel safe.
this is causing a lot of unrest. Thank you, by the way. Joel steadman, He's my neighbor right here in this building. For speaking on this.
the way to put this to rest, having pulled it from the agenda, Is to call it up for discussion.
now, it should be your first item after the hour is over.
this is a wonderful, safe daytime event. Largely. Everyone has fun. It is exactly the sort of event that should be happening in south beach.
so please bring it onto the agenda immediately after. Thank you. Thank you. Our next caller is mitch novick.
mitch, just want to correct the record. Miami beach pride was the brainchild of the late A.c.
weinstein. The idea was conceived during mayor mayor david mayor tenure.
a.c. Was mayor chief of staff as an openly straight member of the community.
I fully support the continuance of miami beach pride.
thank you. Thank you. Our next caller is vincent.
vincent. Hello. Commissioners and mayor. My name is vincent becknell.
I reside at 730 pennsylvania avenue and I'm calling regarding cl c-7 being pulled from the Agenda 45 days before this event is about to
happen. You know, supporting the pride. Miami beach pride is an investment in our city's Identity,
our city's economy, our city's reputation. You know, It fills hotel rooms.
it brings people, it fills restaurants. It showcases our city as a world class Destination.
you know, it brings immeasurable economic impact for local businesses and residents and Failing to support miami beach pride.
you know, it risks diverting the substantial disposable income of this community, Which is billions of dollars annually,
to other cities that actively welcome and invest in hosting these kinds of events.
so please put this item back on the agenda and let's move forward on it.
thank you. Thank you. Our next caller is daniel geraldo. Go ahead sir. Yes. Hi, daniel. Geraldo, first of all, Thank you to mitch novak for putting that piece of history on the record
of who really started pride. As a gay man myself, I've always been a little uncomfortable hearing a different history shared by some other
people. So good to have the history respected as far as our arts and culture Organizations.
we need to stop this attack on arts groups, people and groups like light, Who have been very successful now are
being targeted by a commissioner who's also targeted myself and my former employer as Well.
miami beach, where I grew up, is a place that loves arts and culture and usually Commissioners support it.
and they don't go on tirades and hijack meetings for hours over $30,000.
I want to personally apologize, as a taxpayer to the ceo of oolite, Who had to sit through being interrogated by somebody who would not qualify at all to
run any of the city's cultural institutions. I will always have the back for arts and Culture and for gay pride,
and especially when history is respected. Thank you all.
thank you. Our next and final caller is judith michael.
judith, please unmute yourself. Okay. 3345. Let me turn this off.
I'm sorry. The neighborhood associations are not paid to lobby anybody, I believe that.
we're all volunteers and we're not lobbying to.
I was running for a seed cutting controversy a few years ago, When in fact, there were some people,
quote, colonizing some homeless people. And to me at that time, The issue is we'd have day programs for homeless people,
but I'm not sure that exists anymore. And I think it's a very strange and inappropriate Solution to cut down the sea grape trees for people who have
nowhere to hang out. Three. I want to clarify about pride.
I thought alex fernandez stepped in and said no. As a matter of fact, pride was not being threatened.
so please, can you clarify that? That's all I have.
thank you so much. To clarify the item, the pride item to clarify the item is a Sponsorship item.
the same sponsorship item we've been doing since the mid 2000.
it's not a defunding item. I just wanted to clarify that just for the benefit of the Public.
I don't think any of my colleagues have ever proposed defunding pride.
in fact, actually, I was having a conversation with bruce actually with joe sanchez.
juan sanchez. And then juan had the conversation with. With you, dad. You know what? Really, one of the things that we need to highlight in our Community.
it's not necessarily just the lgbtq community.
really, the focus needs to be on our allies, Our allies who support us.
we've always had, well, not always, but since about 2006, We've we've had an openly gay
member of the commission. At times we've had two. But it's taken leaders. It's taken leaders and allies.
david dermer, who was the mayor when ac weinstein was the chief of staff in the office of The mayor and commission.
ac then continued to be the mayor of maddie with the office of mayor maddie bauer.
maddie bauer created the lgbtq advisory committee back in 2009.
and from there, the nonprofit for pride was created at the time was involved with it, And thomas barker
and so many other people came together in this, In this community effort.
but at the end of the day, it's because we had allies. Allies on the commission back then. And we continue to have those allies today.
and I'm only one vote on on the commission. And in the past, We've had 1 or 2 openly gay votes on,
on the commission. But have we've been able to sustain year after year? Continued funding For pride and so many other equality initiatives.
it's not because of me or any other openly gay member of the commission, Because we have strong allies traditionally,
and continue to have strong allies here on this dais who who make that possible.
and so I just want to highlight that because we don't we can't do anything by ourselves.
it's it's always teamwork and and traditionally and usually it's always a unanimous Teamwork when it comes to to issues like this.
mr. Mayor commissioner suarez. Are there still more callers?
okay. Should I call the item? We'll call the. C7. C7 is approved. Sponsorship of 2026 miami beach pride festival.
it was requested to be separated by commissioner suarez commissioner suarez.
thank you, mr. Mayor. And you know, look, I find it a little unfair for people to accuse Me
of being hateful because I'm pulling an item on consent for a discussion.
in no way, shape or form am I against pride. In fact, I've been to every single pride festival since I was elected,
even before I was elected. I'm the only commissioner with an openly gay aide.
when we have an item that we want to discuss or not discuss on consent, It's going to pass
unanimously. And for this particular item, there is a large amount of money.
it's $250,000. And I understand this has been a recurring item for the last since the Since the 2000.
I think considering two, two factors that we as a city have agreed to shrink
our budget by 5% for the year 27. And notwithstanding the fact that the state is also Targeting,
let's be honest, they're targeting pride festival through other means.
I think it's worthy of a discussion to talk here today about both items and that's why I Pulled it.
so I find it a little disheartening that there seems to be a call to action to the gay Community,
that I am somehow being hateful by discussing this.
I think it's important for more conversation and more dialog of of of what our city Represents,
how we're going to get there, how are we going to fund things, And how are we going to withstand pressure from the state by trying to shut this program
down? Okay. Look. I think we have to have
an adult conversation. About what? How are we going to.
lower the budget and continue to give these grants to our cultural anchors and Organizations.
we are asking our own city staff to cut 5% of their budget.
and it's it's not an easy thing to do. And so what I've realized is, You know,
if we're if the city is going to commit to having a conversation about how can we lower Taxes for residents,
it doesn't matter if it's gay pride or, or, or jewish film festival or any or that we just Had an hour long discussion about
every dollar that gets spent, for whatever reason, Should have an honest discussion about it.
like I said, I'm not anti-gay. I'm not anti arts, Even though it seems that they're trying to paint me this way.
I want to have a real discussion about how are we going to continue to fund a quarter Million dollars or $300,000 of of taxpayer money
moving forward, knowing that there is going to be pressure from our administration to Lower the budget.
secondly, we found out a couple of weeks ago that the state is trying to cancel pride.
okay. Through other means. How are they going to do that?
they're going to say that if you have d-I sponsored events.
any elected official who sponsors that is going to get thrown out of office.
okay. I wanted to have a discussion today about that in front of the public.
and I think that's a merit, a discussion worth, Merit.
so I want to dispel the rumors or the accusations that I am somehow hateful because I Pulled an item on consent for
discussion. I think that's fair and and offensive to me personally.
considering that I have in no way, shape or form have ever been against the lgbtq Community.
so, look, I mean, you know, colleagues, I think we have to really, You know, let's let's have a conversation.
is this something that we're always going to fund? Is is are we going to ask all of the grant applicants from the city of miami beach to Start sharing the cost
savings for our taxpayers, or is this something that it's forever and we just have to put It in our budget so that it doesn't
have to come every year for a discussion. And secondly, I'd also like to talk about if the state
does make it illegal to have pride, how are we going to incorporate that moving forward?
how are we going to say we're going to help this organization move forward without having Been thrown out of office?
so look, I welcome everyone's comments. Commissioner fernandez, I know your your aides have sent out a call to action to save and
and members of the lgbtq, lgbtq community. But, You know, I think it's I,
I think it's a little unfair that this was sort of targeted and it made it seem like I'm Sort of hateful to the community,
which is clearly not the case. I want to have just honest discussions about fiscal Responsibility,
how we're going to pay for things and what happens when the state, Because they're going to do it.
they're going to find a way to signal out the pride parade in florida and make it illegal.
so that's why I pulled the item. And I want to start this discussion.
sure. Mr. Mayor. Commissioner fernandez, thank you. And I just want to clarify actually, when my when my aide reached out to the lgbtq Committee,
she is the volunteer liaison for the lgbtq committee.
your name was not mentioned on the email. And in fact we we we asked people to share your Comments.
please remember to keep your remarks respectful, Professional, and focused on the issue of the sponsorship.
and and, you know, I don't think, I don't think anyone addressed you as being hateful.
in fact, mr. Clark, did anyone mention my colleague's name?
I don't recall, but. Okay, so. So I just want the record to reflect that we are here to Protect the dignity of everyone.
I do not tolerate my colleagues being attacked.
the message from my office to the committee that we voluntarily liaise for didn't mention You by name and specifically asked
individuals to speak from a professional tone. So I just want to make sure that there's no misunderstanding or mischaracterization of of The facts here.
because I certainly don't want you to think that. Is there anything that makes you think That that otherwise commissioner. Yeah. I mean, I see a text message that says.
update commissioner suarez pulls city sponsorship of miami beach pride.
the festival draws more than 100. It goes on. Save is encouraging respectful comment at 1 p.m.
during. So it does mention my name in a text message that I'm seeing. Okay, well, I mean, I understand that, but there was nothing there saying to be Disrespectful.
the email from my office to the members of the lgbtq committee who care about this issue Did not mention did not mention your name
and and the message as the message that you just referenced there encourages people to be Respectful and professional.
and I think that that's that, that that is very important. And listen, at the end, at the end of the day, You know, pride pride represents for people,
you know, their, their, their, their ability to live freely.
live openly. It represents their dignity. It also represents a lot of economic impact to Miami beach.
it's over 150,000 attendees that that, that come to, To to miami beach, that come from around the country,
that come from different places around the world, Argentina, spain, canada are some of the larger destinations from from which people come.
and about 75% of them, based on a study that I saw about 75% of out of town attendees you Know,
are staying in our hotels, they're supporting our restaurants, They're strengthening our local economy.
and, you know, pride can always happen. Pride can.
pride does the state can't can't prevent pride from happening.
they might be able to restrict in the future our ability as to funding.
but we're not there. We're not there. And I think pride is very much aware of the Conversations that are happening in tallahassee.
and and, and what happens in the future, happens in the future.
and I think they know they need to address that. I think they know they need to look at their sponsorships, Which, by the way, their sponsorships have been affected,
their sponsorships have been affected because corporate sponsors are fearing retaliation, The same retaliation that the lgbtq
community is feeling. It's the same retaliation that our allies in the corporate sector Who have helped sustain this event
over the years are feeling, and I don't know that they would be able this year to sustain This parade,
this at this point, this long standing tradition in our city without the support of of our City.
and we know that today the laws of our state allows us to continue in this tradition.
and if that were to change in the coming years, They're certainly very well aware of those discussions,
and I'm sure that they'll, they'll pivot as, As necessary in order to keep this tradition alive.
maybe in the future. It's not a week long festivity. Maybe in the future it evolves in some other way, Depending on what the state does.
but we can't let the constant fear of the state stop us from doing what's right today.
and as I mentioned before, pride is here today. It's not because of me or any of my lgbtq colleagues or former colleagues, Is when I started off by saying it is because of all of you,
the straight allies of of this dais, who over the years made pride happen and who over the Years have sustained it from with
with funding. There were no personal comments directed at you. Commissioner. No one referenced your name publicly here today, And everyone was encouraged to address the issue with respect and with professionalism.
thank you, mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor. Commissioner suarez. Thank you. And look, I'm not trying to play the victim, Right?
I'm simply saying that. And I wanted the members of the public to know that me pulling an Idea from discussion doesn't mean I'm hateful,
okay? Or doesn't mean I have hate. Or no one used the word hate. Commissioner. I believe the owner of twist said it was.
the fact that you're pulling it is hateful. The actions of our community is constantly Facing hate like so many other communities.
it's like so many other communities. I'm sorry. This is deeply personal, But yeah, people are facing hate.
I could I could face removal from office for supporting my community.
that's not hateful. And you can't see how that is hateful. You know, I know you do. I know you see how that's hateful.
and this isn't the only community that is facing that backlash of hate.
yes, there is a lot of hate, but I don't think anyone is suggesting that there's hate Coming from from the states because I said it at the very beginning and I'll keep on
repeating it. Our strength is because of our allies, Our straight allies.
and so I just don't want for this false narrative and this and for and the message to be Manipulated and twisted because that's not what is happening.
so I'd like to get back on the discussion of of why I pulled it, And which is partly for funding and the state and,
you know, I, I think, commissioner fernandez, I mean, you and I see eye to eye on a lot of other cultural
organizations for. Enabling them to have a better sense of financial security.
so, for example, I don't know if this item has been called yet, You had an item or it says a resolution of the mayor and city commission of the
city of miami beach, florida, recognizing the valuable contributions of cultural and Nonprofit organizations to the community and encouraging these organizations to
proactively explore diverse funding opportunities in light of potential budgetary Limitations for fiscal year 26 and beyond,
and further encouraging advanced planning to help mitigate possible reductions in city Support,
and directing the city clerk to transmit a copy of this resolution to all cultural and Nonprofit organizations that receive city grant funding for fiscal year 24 and 25.
so we're not that far apart. Okay. I think we can have I think we can put emotions aside And we can have a real
conversation about how are we going to get our cultural anchors diversify in their in Their financial support,
because it can't always come from the city government, Because what I see happening is it's getting cut from the state,
it's getting cut from our county. And I don't want the miami beach taxpayers to always Burden the cost of every program.
I think moving forward, we should have honest discussions about who qualifies for grant Funding and who doesn't.
we've already had this discussion. It was an hour long before lunch and that's the reason I pulled it up.
so look, you know, I think we're not that far apart.
I think encouraging nonprofits and organizations to diversify their, Their
their finances as it relates to events on the city is a good thing. It makes them stronger. It makes us stronger.
and there's nothing wrong about having a discussion about that. So, You know, because look,
there's going to come a time when, you know, It may not even come from the state.
it may it may just be another a recession. And we're going to have to make serious budget Cuts because our property tax values
plummet. That's notwithstanding the fact that the state of florida is already considering Tax cuts or removing removing property taxes in
general, you know, then we're going to have to have a real unfortunate conversation about How we're going to pay for everything.
but I want to start the conversation about how do we continue to fund not just this Organization,
but every organization that we give city tax dollars to?
commissioner, I think I think that certainly is a great topic of a great item to be had, Perhaps of the finance committee,
because I think it doesn't just apply selectively to one organization. I think it applies across the board, similar to the resolution that was on the agenda that That had not been called up.
as as it relates to urging entities to seek diversity in funding because of the Conversations that are being had on these days.
it is our responsibility to let our stakeholders know, Hey, listen, these are the conversations being had on this dais because of our own fiscal
constraints or because of potential changes in state laws that could force us to tighten Our belts.
it's only proper that we provide that heads up to the organizations so that they can plan Accordingly and find alternate
funding sources. That's that's I'm sorry. That's that's that's only
reasonable. I think I think what you're mentioning is a great subject for for a separate Agenda item.
but while the laws are what they are, we shouldn't be picking and choosing, You know which ones we're going to apply.
now a different set of criteria, like what I was mentioning with the last item that we Were saying,
okay, why this grantee and not any other other grantees.
you know, we need to look at a uniform review policy for grants and see what our Administration recommends to us moving
forward into into the future. In the meantime, You know, I think we should be supporting pride.
it is not only a cultural event and an event about about about the inclusivity of a Community that hasn't always been
welcomed, that hasn't always been tolerated, That hasn't always been included.
but it's also about the economic development of our city that attracts a lot of tourism. It helps a lot of businesses. In april, when traditionally traditionally, March used to be the best month of the year for the businesses
in this part of the city, and as of late, the businesses have struggled during the month Of march because of our policies.
and what they looked forward to was the economic impact that heads in beds, That the hotels would get,
the activities that would be sponsored in the different venues, The increase in reservations in the in the restaurants and all of that
has a ripple effect in the economy of our of our city. And the businesses depend on it. And so there's, There's there's many reasons why we should do it.
it's the right thing to do. It's part of the identity of our city. It is the values of our taxpayers to support all groups that we have traditionally Supported.
and, and, and I think if there are concerns about future funding, Which we share you know,
the way to do that and the way to address it is through holistic policy, Not piecemeal through individual grants that come before us.
and I want to I want to make it clear I'm not trying to be piecemeal. I mean, That's why I pulled many items from the consent agenda that had to do with finances and
and city funding, which some of them don't have anything to do with cultural organizations Or nonprofits.
so, look, I'm I'm going to be a fiscal hawk on the commission.
and I'm not targeting any one group or entity or groups of entities.
I'm going to just do what I was elected to do and be a good steward of our of our Finances.
mr. Mayor commissioner dominguez and commissioner magazine. Thank you. I echo the sentiments that commissioner fernandez said the lgbtq community for The last few years,
forever really has been under attack. And the hate that has been directed at them it is Uncalled for and
unfair. And even in my campaign and several others, We were attacked with misinformation about the trans community.
you know something that was really hateful and unnecessary. I'm an ally. I will always be an ally. The gay community has helped build miami beach into What it is today.
the pride festival is beautiful. We don't get stampedes or shootings.
it's love. It's fun. It's economic impact. It's a very beautiful event.
if it hasn't been moved, I will move the item. If it has been moved, I will second the item because this is something that's very Important to our city and to me.
commissioner magazine and commissioner mateo- Salinas. Thank you for the discussion.
cutting to the chase, I'll be fully supportive of the item. You can actually add me as a co-sponsor. Ralph.
I do think that this is an incredible event and organization for miami beach.
in fact I think it was last year. I had such a good time at the parade and the event.
I was inspired. I go my goal for next year is going to be to be a little cleaner with my Diet,
so I could be out there marching without my shirt on. If you see me as you see me eating a cookie, I don't think I've achieved that.
but there's always goals for next year to be had. We got water balloons also that you're going to be competing in. But I will pivot to Another topic.
I will say, you know, it could seem one way if you're following from afar but my colleague Commissioner suarez is let's call him an equal opportunity
offender. Right. This isn't anything that's specific or targeted.
I had an item a few months ago that was an economic development incentive for, Let's just say,
anything but gay men. It was for a company that promotes beautiful women.
and he was not in favor of that, as well as he from when he entered the dais, Has been very
conservative on our fiscal taxpayer finances.
and you know, we've we've had a friendship for a number of years.
politics can certainly take its strain up and down. And while you never know what's in somebody's heart, I can say we've had some pretty open and frank discussions over the years.
and while chairs have been close to be thrown and things like that for difference of views There's nothing hateful that I've ever heard come out of his heart,
so but circling back to the beginning, I'm going to be very supportive of this.
and thank you for commissioner fernandez. Thank you. Commissioner, Can I just mention something? Because I think the one thing is,
you know, I think if you see the community concerned is because this is a community that Rightfully has tremendous reasons to feel a heightened sense of sensitivity.
it is a community that has been targeted. It is a community that year after year after Year,
they are facing more and more policies. That is specifically about silencing us, Silencing our visibility,
silencing the art of the lgbtq community. Silencing their the way they express
themselves the way they identify themselves is constant you know, Policies and bills constantly being
thrown and thrown and thrown even recently, you know, We were we were we were talking about hiv medication and,
and the funding for hiv medication, almost like as an attempt to force individuals who are Hiv positive,
forcing them out of the state. So that so they can get their medication.
and, mr. Mayor, thank you for coming. That that legislation with me, The residents that we have before us have every reason why
to feel heightened level of sensitivity. Because we're all walking around and we feel like We have a target on our back.
and maybe you don't feel it as much as we do.
but it's real. It is. It is very much real. In in recent years, You know, I've, I've had hate speech directed
at me that I just never in my entire life. And I mentioned it last year in a meeting here In my entire life that I had
not experienced that. And then when, as you think that you're making progress and as you Think that that that that society is advancing and you should feel safer,
it's almost like, no, we're going backwards. Is no different than with the jewish Community and the heightened sensitivity that there is with the jewish community.
and, and, and, and the target that there is in the jewish community, Even in the conservative segments of our politics that have
traditionally supported our jewish community. And there are segments of them that are now, You know, coming out with, you know, this very white nationalist,
anti-semitic rhetoric. So many of us are feeling sensitivities right now.
and the most important thing that we have to do as elected officials is foster community, And not just a community of buildings and parks,
but a community of people where we are together, Where we support each other, where the residents who live in the in this city,
whether they be part of the lgbtq community or the jewish community or the hispanic Community,
whether it be women or blacks or any other background, Race, ethnicity that we continue to have each other's back as we traditionally have,
because that is what makes our city beautiful and unique. And it's so beautiful when we hear members of the public call in and say that, That they've been attending pride since before they moved to
miami beach, and I think patrick was the one that was saying that, Or another person that's been saying that she's been attending pride she was
since she was in her early 20s. And then now she lives in north beach and she's in her 30s.
and how is something that she looks forward to? This is who we are. We are a beautiful community, a community of diversity.
your points about fiscal responsibility? I think they are very well received.
but I think commissioner, I think it's best to work together on legislation that address Them holistically,
not individually, because when we address them in, In then segments of communities feel like it's about them.
when it's just generally you want to look at the fiscal policies of how we administer These,
these these grants. And on that same vein, you know, We had that discussion consequently,
the item was pulled before we had that that holistic hour long discussion.
we had commissioner monica mateo- salinas and then commissioner bhatt I to 100% support Pride and 100% support the funding that we're
going to propose today for, for pride. South beach was built by the gays.
it would not be south beach without the lgbtqia community. And I thank you for that. And I will say, a couple of years ago, I was walking home.
I was at a watering hole on washington avenue, And I was, I think I was doing karaoke and I was walking home.
I live in flamingo park, and as I was walking down in washington.
I there was a kind of a dark area, and I was on the west side of the street, And I saw a group of guys and I thought,
oh, gosh, single woman walking, you know, in the kind of darkness.
and I realized it was nathans bar and people were outside and I thought, Oh, I'm safe.
thank you so much. So thank you for keeping me safe, Too, because as a woman, I thought, what am I?
what am I walking into? And then I realized it was a gay bar and I thought, I'm so safe now.
you will protect me. So thank you. And now I'm lucky enough to be up here to.
to protect you and your events and your funding. And I'll say, when I campaigned, I had a conversation where one day I spoke with someone From the orthodox community who was supporting me,
and he said, just keep us safe, please. We feel comfortable here.
this is our home. We can wear kippahs. We can wear traditional uniforms and wear please Keep us safe.
and I said yes. Absolutely. That means a lot to me. Yes. And then 30 minutes later, I spoke with a gay man and he said, Please keep us safe.
we feel comfortable here. This is our home. We can hold hands. We can wear rainbow flags. And I said, yes, absolutely.
I'll keep you safe. And it was it just struck me of how those conversations mirrored that,
these two communities that are so different, But this is their home and they both deserve to feel safe.
we all deserve to feel safe. And I've said this before and I'll say it again we all Deserve to feel safe here,
no matter where we come from or who we represent or who we love. So I'm happy to support pride today. And like commissioner dominguez said, I'll second this.
I'll you know, whatever needs happy to support this. If the motion hasn't already been made, I can make it to. But thank you for this.
and thank you, commissioner. Here. You know, To echo mitch's words, I am also a proud, straight human being.
and I love pride. I came with my daughter two years ago.
she came over from miami beach to to join us for the pride festivities.
and she was dazzled by how joyful it is. And god knows we could all use a little joy in Our lives.
but especially when people walk around, whether it's the gay community or any other Community walking around with a an enormous target on their back for just
existing. It's insane to me that we would hasten in the state's efforts to undermine Protecting
our residents and our visitors who come here to enjoy this event.
you know, I, I think we all of us, all seven of us share the concerns that we've discussed At length today about economic resiliency going forward.
we don't know what the future holds in terms of property tax cuts and btr tax rollbacks And all kinds of craziness.
but when an event is as well established with as much global impact as miami pride is.
people coming in from not only around the state and country, But from around the world.
joel, I think you said your your best. Or maybe it was aj, You said your best week of the year is this year,
and you are on ocean drive for spring break. I mean, That's saying something I would imagine.
joel, your numbers are the same. Number one. So why would we do anything to hasten?
you know, we're trying like hell to fight this off at tallahassee. Why would we do Anything here in miami beach to hasten in a change that may not even
happen? You know, not for nothing. I mean, some of you may recall or know that my Background is branding and marketing,
and I entered the the industry not long after absolut vodka was introduced to the well.
it was almost a decade later, but not that long after absolut vodka entered the market.
for those of you who don't know, absolut vodka is a slightly better than mediocre vodka From sweden.
it's perfectly fine. It's not great. It's not terrible. It's perfectly fine. But in 1981, in the heart of the aids epidemic, They took a gamble and bought the back
page, spread ad blocks on advocate magazine and some other magazines like that.
they invested. They took a leap of faith on the gay community during the height of the Aids crisis,
because they know that the gay community. Lgbtq leads the way in economic impact, In
creativity, in creating a sweeping generalization, But, you know, in terms of transforming things there,
the joke in real estate is go to where the gays are because they will improve your Property values,
right? So absolut vodka did this 1981, by the way.
yeah, right. Chase avenue is a hotbed right now, Right?
but but it is true. It is economically demonstrated over decades, And they have not wavered in that position since 1981.
and almost 50 years later, this slightly better than mediocre vodka remains, Depending on who you ask and how you quantify it.
between the number two vodka in the country or within the top five.
this is an investment into our economic well-being as a city, And I understand the concern of it's a lot of money.
it's not a $30,000 grant. It is a large grant. We give very large grants to lots of other events that come to miami beach that are Incredibly impactful.
the events coming for spring break, which we all are welcoming and we believe is a Worthwhile expenditure of these funds because of the value it brings from a
tourism perspective, from an economic development perspective, From a branding perspective,
from offering something meaningful to our residents and neighbors across the bridge in the Tri state area the south beach wine and food festival,
the air and sea show. So why aren't we discussing those grants as well?
you know, we do need to have a conversation of how things get funded for how long, At what level,
what the criteria are. That is a very, very valid conversation. You've heard us all say that since it came up this morning.
but I you know, again, if it hasn't already been moved, I would move this up and vote on this because this has to stay,
and we need to find a way to make sure it doesn't go away. Commissioner suarez. Thank you, mr. Mayor. Look, I commissioner, but I think you and I are on the same page,
right? You. You've you've dedicated or you've shown fiscal responsibility when it comes to Nonprofits and
cultural organizations. You know, I can look at resolution 2025 33757, A resolution of the mayor and city of commissioner miami
beach for establishing a policy that the waiver of special event fees, Including but not limited to,
special event application fees, permit fees, Vehicle beach access passes, square footage fees and park user fees,
as well as a subsidizing of any city services fees, Including but not limited to police, fire sanitation shall be limited to the first three
years of an event, with an exception for events held during the months of july, August and september,
to the extent necessary based on financial hardship. We're not that far apart. You know, I think and this, This past, this, this resolution passed in june of 2025.
and we're all having an honest adult conversations about how are we going to to fund this?
so not this. And every organization moving forward, We share, you know, I think we share a common belief that there needs to be
financial diversity for for some of our cultural anchors to, To, to to strengthen their finances as it relates to
our city and, and what we give moving forward.
so I welcome this discussion coming to ferc. I also appreciate commissioner magazine Mentioning that,
look, you know, it's this isn't me doing me discussing this isn't because it's gay pride.
it could be the most. You know, I guess. Would you say the most, Like, non gay thing?
and I still gave you know, I voted no on, on on many of those things.
so and you know, there is something to say that I think it's important that you do have Someone who's willing to question how much we
spend on the commission. You you don't want a rubber stamper.
I think it's important because the shoe is on the other foot, You know, you'd you'd want to have someone who's always going to question how your
monies are spent, how your tax dollars are spent. And I think that's a discussion worthwhile. I don't think I'm ever going to shy away from That.
I'm not. I'm not a coward. I welcome the opportunity.
so I really thank my colleagues for this. You know, I'm going to sponsor the item as a show of solidarity.
but, you know, I think, you know, moving forward, We're going to have to have some very hard conversations about how.
and we give taxpayer money. So this has been a very healthy discussion.
I want to thank everyone for for multiple I was going to get.
yeah. Go for it. One for the fiscal aspects to it. And you've been very consistent. Commissioner suarez. So but I think it's a it's a healthy Discussion also for our city and what's happening in our,
in our country and our and our state. So, you know, There's a lot of different policy issues that we bring.
I do my colleagues do. But the overarching issue, I don't think this will surprise anybody who's followed anything about miami beach
politics is the overarching issue for me is that people should feel safe, Should feel welcome,
and should feel wanted. And that always comes down to every issue.
there was even a lot of that comes to public safety. A lot of that comes to filling that. This is a safe haven.
and I am I'm actually, no pun intended, extremely proud that multiple groups have in our City say
that they believe that miami beach is the safest place for them. You've quoted commissioner fernandez that the lgbtq community has given miami beach a Perfect score,
100%. I think there's I don't know the exact specifics, But there's there's the municipal equality index.
yeah. I mean, there's not that many cities, right, That get that score, but I'm proud of that.
I know our jewish community and other community say, Say the same thing. And actually, I was touched by what you said, Commissioner vice mayor mateo- salinas, because I feel that to actually one of the callers
who called in, I won't mention him by name in case he doesn't want to, But I remember several years ago he called me and thanked me because I was taking a lead
in trying to end the biker groups that were coming in. And he mentioned to me that according to him, The lgbtq community was part of those targeted from those groups,
and that stopping that actually was a protection for the lgbtq community.
I was proud to co-sponsor the hiv with you. And actually, During covid, I worked with jonathan welch in co-sponsor,
and I think I was the sponsor actually on helping bring testing to miami beach or on hiv As well.
so there's a lot we do to to make sure that people feel wanted and feel safe.
and I think this is part of that. And I think we're all in agreement that we're going to Continue this,
and but again, it's a healthy discussion to have on a number of fronts to determine how Our fiscal dollars get spent.
and unfortunately, I'll just make one comment. I was debating whether to say this because I feel we're such an up here.
leadership does matter. We know that as we look at various different issues across our, Our country and our city and our state,
and unfortunately, I think there's a narrative sometimes that gets said.
it could be outside of campaigns, office and campaigns that tries to divide us which is Non-existent.
and unfortunately, sometimes it's done for, often done for political reasons.
but I don't see that. Forget about us, even I don't see the divisiveness up here, But I don't even see it within our city.
I go to events all the time, everywhere in our city, And I see a city that is very welcoming of all of us.
I don't hear I don't go to different places in here.
one group badmouthing another group. I just don't hear it. Or maybe people know I won't accept it and they don't say it to me.
but I don't hear that in our city. And I think that's one of the beauties of our city, Is that we are so accepting of the various diversity that we do have.
so I think it's a good, healthy discussion. Glad we had it. And and happy to support. Call the vote. I have a motion by commissioner dominguez, Seconded by vice mayor mateo-
salinas. All in favor of c7 el. Please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Hearing none. The item is approved seven zero.
that was c7 el. And thank you to everyone who spoke as well.
by the way, mr. Mayor. And again, you know, we pass this not because of me, But because of the our straight allies.
and I will continue to repeat that to the lgbtq community.
we need to support and thank our straight allies who have our back the way that this Commission does.
it's tough to it's tough to follow up this item but we'll go with r7. Thank you everyone. R7 is suspend mooring fields project install anchoring limitation area Signage
r7 v. Yeah.
mr. Mayor commissioner suarez. Thank you, mr. Mayor. Ever since one of the first issues I tackled as I when I got on to the commission With two of my other colleagues
and you as as mayor was cleaning up our waterways, And there seemed to have been
there not seemed there was a proliferation of these.
derelict boats. In the waterways. And what turned out it wasn't as it appeared.
it seemed that there was a. It turns out there was a
a business on the water where people would take a, A relatively floatable boat and then
airbnb it on a monthly or nightly basis and charge for that in cash.
and so what ended up happening over the course of, I believe, 10 or 15 years is what started off as five boats turned out to almost,
I think, over 200. And I led an effort both locally and at the state to change
our our ability to effectively and force our waterways.
and for the first time in a long time, the state actually gave our city the ability to do So.
and they removed their preemption on us with the hopes of us managing our waterways Effectively.
and so, pj, I just want to show, for the record, A couple before and afters of of what happened and,
and how it looks today. You go next slide. So some of the case scenarios was sunset harbor And and north
beach. You know pre ordinance you had a multitude of boats sinking, Leaking fuel.
and there wasn't much the police could do about it. And now with our state law that was changed and the state law that we adopted.
you can see on the right there's zero boats in sunset harbor.
same thing with north beach. North beach was littered with these rundown boats that really Had no way of ever being salvaging.
they were waiting to sink. And on the right. Now, I believe there's no boats as well.
next slide. Here's another aerial view of what sunset harbor used to look like.
and next slide. That's another before I shot next slide after that.
this is north beach from a google map. And next slide after that.
now we have zero boats and you can end the presentation.
so why are why are we bringing this item today?
at the time, I believe it was commissioner arriola brought an item forward to deal with This problem at a local level,
and the idea was establishing a mooring field. And with this mooring field, the idea was to push out these boats to other parts of the City.
to, to effectively manage the situation. Right now, If we were to move forward with this.
it would cost the taxpayers roughly $3 million to to continue notwithstanding the fact That there is already a mooring field almost
half a nautical mile away in watson island, that just so happens to be 60% empty.
so I would like to cancel this project. I'd like to save our taxpayers money on this.
on this effort. I don't think it's needed. I went to every neighborhood organization in The that touches the bay and they're
fully supportive. I believe one of them is here today. And I'd like to answer any questions that, you know, That might come up as it relates to this.
commissioner dominguez. Thank you. So a mooring field gives us control over the waterways,
and it gives a city a way to manage vessels. That was the goal that commissioner arriola Had when he sponsored this item.
now that the vessels have moved temporarily, It's happened in the last few months.
I do worry about canceling a project that we've already spent $678,000, And to
abandon a project that has been worked on for many years.
is there a way to suspend it? Put it on hold, But to outright cancel it when we've made almost $1 million investment into the
project. I understand the savings, but should circumstances change with the boats, We'd have to start from scratch and spend the taxpayer monies all over again.
and I do worry about the taxpayer money that has been spent already.
yeah, if I can speak to that commissioner suarez. Unfortunately, I think it's it's not limited to only 3 million extra dollars.
there's also a lot of uncertainty of where the upland facility is going to be.
and the upland facility is supposed to for example, Be a place where these boats would pump out their waste.
and we haven't there's no definite plan if it's either going to be in sunset harbor or Miami beach marina or wherever else it might be.
but I think to save taxpayer dollars and to save our city staff's time on projects.
especially when the underlying concern has been addressed.
I think it's just throwing good money at bad. I totally understand your concern, commissioner dominguez that we've already invested in This.
but, you know, to to further to give any sort of further consideration to a project where The basis of that project
has already been addressed. And these these laws have been widely successful in the four Counties
that were granted this opportunity. I don't see that this ever going back.
once you have a mooring field, however, you know, You're going to what's going to happen is as as it's seen in watson island,
a lot of these, a lot of the views from our condos on west avenue, Belle isle, sunset harbor,
venetian star island palm and hibiscus. They're going to see they're going to I think it's About 160 mooring balls out on the bay,
and most of them are going to sit empty. And the reason I know that is because if you look At watson island,
they're all empty. And, you know, look, I think our money is best spent.
the prioritization of our money is best spent. Other places. So I think that also sends a message to to city staff to say, Hey, look, we we we have better prioritization on
our projects for other places. Mr. Mayor I heard commissioner, Commissioner fernandez.
so I, I tend to agree with you on this. I have a question for david gomez, Though.
I would like to sort of keep in our back pocket because we worked very hard to get the Permit for a mooring field.
so is there a way to not go any further without abandoning the permit for a year or two, Just so we can make sure everything is as we believe it's going to be at this
time? At this time, we're waiting for approval from durham and the army, Us army corps of engineers.
we do have approval from the state in the department of environmental protection.
we're expecting those in the next 2 to 3 months. And I would imagine that their expiration date, Once issued, would probably be more than a year after that.
so we could always just wait and get the permit and then see what happens.
and do we need to spend any money or anything to. We've already done the work and spent The money to get those permits.
it's just a question of waiting for them to come back approved. I'd have to confirm if there's any fees pending to pull the permit, And there may be some fees that haven't been built yet by the consultant.
so, you know, barring any fees that outstanding that, You know, I don't want to spend more money on this,
but if there's a way to keep our options open just to make sure, You know, there are no bad turns.
that would be, to me, the ideal, because it would be a shame if in a year things went South and then we had to redo everything because we just preemptively closed this down.
but so if you can get back to us on what the costs, If there are any costs and if there are what they might be,
you know, if it's five grand, that's one thing. If it's 50 grand, That's a whole other thing. Okay. Commissioner fernandez,
thank you, mr. Mayor. So david, since you're at the podium, How much is the estimated cost for the entire mooring field
project? It's a little over $3 million. A little bit over $3 million.
and how much have we spent to date? I believe somebody had mentioned that it was just over 678,000.
so, you know, we're going to be we're going to be saving significantly.
especially I like what what's being proposed. If we have a permit, we keep the permit. We don't cancel the permit in the event the Circumstances change.
but we don't need to continue expending the funds when it's not under the conditions that We have today and the change of
authority under state law, we don't we don't we don't have the same need that we had, I guess,
back in 2019 when the wheels were first put in motion for this.
so I'm, I'm happy to support our fee. For what?
I'm sorry. For as long as we keep the I mean, I'll make a motion or I'll second year amended as keep the permit open.
yeah, keep the permit open. We don't want to lose that because I mean that it costs us Money to get to this point.
so there is value to that. But should situations change?
should a legislature come in next year and decide to preempt this again?
it is in this ability or whatever. We have the permit, But we don't need to go through and spend all the $3 million.
and I just want to speak to that commissioner, Because the idea of the mooring field being the end all,
be all solution. Let's let's assume for a second that the legislature did change and they Changed the laws and we implemented a
mooring field. What's going to happen is that those same boats that are going to be it'll Just go to north beach,
it'll just go to the king cove where there is no mooring field in place.
and it will, you know, densely pack the area. And and by the way, if you look at the watson island mooring field, It's it's happening now.
there is about, I think, 100 boats outside the mooring field just 200ft away, And the mooring field is not expensive by
law, has to be inexpensive. And those the people who own those boats just decide not to Pay it,
and they would rather just anchor two 200ft away.
so, look thank you. I think just amending it, Keeping the permit alive, but maybe directing city staff to not to spend any more money.
and if at the point of the permit expiration, Maybe we have a final vote, or you can come back to the city commission and you can say,
hey, the permit is going to expire. What would you like to do? For clarity, I did get confirmation there is a $12,000 fee pending for the permit.
well, first I want to I want to thank you, commissioner suarez, Because I've heard over and over throughout our city different individuals,
community leaders from various neighborhood associations say what a game changer the Waterways have been.
since addressing the derelict boats, obviously getting the law changed in tallahassee. So thank you and kudos to you for taking taking the lead on on that.
what's interesting about the mooring field? It was it was kind of controversial, I felt a couple of years ago until we we cleaned up the derelict boats,
and now I, I sense a uniformity that this would be best now to put it on hold in hiatus.
and so I'm. I'm supportive of it. Okay, so as maybe as amended.
as amended. Commissioner. Bhatt. David just said a $12,000 fee is outstanding.
so are we okay with that? It's something we already. Oh, right. Yeah. Okay. So it's not okay. Perfect.
so the amendment would be to hold the permit. But after this $12,000 fee, no more tax dollars toward the project and when the permit fee Is
going to expire, perhaps 90 days before, have it come back before the commission for an Update on what direction to do.
got it. Second. So I have a motion and a second by commissioner suarez, Seconded by commissioner fernandez,
as amended. Call the vote, mr. Mayor. Oh.
hi. Good afternoon, everybody. And I do want to thank everybody on this. This was not an easy item for david and some of the commissioners that actually supported Some of our,
our, our, our meetings with, with the people in the vessel.
it was very controversial. Tanya, you tried to help out, Alex. You tried to help out. Every one of you tried to help out.
and it really didn't work out. So I am very happy at the fact that there is the anchoring Limitation area that,
you know, they can't stay there more than 45 days or 49 days, Which is good.
you have a way to restrain it and you have a way to move them out if they stay there.
I'm very happy. So as a board of director, we voted our seven v specifically to suspend The proposed mooring field,
the installation of the anchoring limitation signage to put it there.
it's based on direct experience that we definitely have had in maurice gibb.
the water is clear. It's looking really great, That area.
the fishes are coming back. It's. Everybody's very happy. The fact that there's no boats there. And for many years we face stream vessel congestion.
at one point we had over 39 votes. Yeah. Your picture was correct. I counted every single day out of my terrace.
how many boats were there? How many were leaving? And in their small basin we have a significant impact in navigation safety.
now you're going to have the water taxi which is going to increase in, In, in, in and out.
more than one water taxi coming in every hour on the hour in the future, Because we think that will be a great way to reduce traffic in miami beach.
and that's going to be one of the areas that everybody loves to go there. They get on there on the bus or they walk to the to their job.
even people that live in miami beach don't drive to brickell. They take it. They get off on the omni, get on the people mover and they can get there.
so I'm very thankful. So true. Sustain configuration with the city.
we support this reasonable regulations. And please approve this.
thank you. I call the vote. Call the vote. So as amended motion by commissioner suarez, Seconded by commissioner fernandez.
r7 v. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed?
co-sponsor. I'm sorry. Hearing none. Then the item is approved seven zero.
wants to be a co-sponsor. Co-sponsor? Yes. It's called r7-c.
r7 c is a public hearing named from flamingo park baseball field after stanley bertman,
r7 c public hearing. Second mayor. Commissioner dominguez.
thank you. Sponsored by commissioner fernandez. Yeah. So skip bertman is a celebrated former baseball coach and athletic director for lsu.
a graduate of miami beach high school in 1956, He played football and baseball, then returned as a teacher and head baseball coach from
1962 to 1974, leading the team to state championships and two runner up finishes.
he also coached football and oversaw youth leagues for miami beach parks and recreation.
bertman was named florida high school coach of the year three times.
he served as associate head coach for the university of miami from 76 to 83, And helped the hurricanes win the 82 national championship.
and the accolades go on and on. He earned three varsity letters as a player at he was part Of the
inaugural college baseball hall of fame class of 2006 naming the flamingo park baseball Field after skip would honor his extraordinary
legacy and lifelong impact on miami beach athletics and the community.
I'll second your motion. Commissioner dominguez. Yes. Thank you. Would you want to say something? John.
I'll turn it over to you, sir. I was here before.
when you. My name is stuart blumberg. And just as an aside, I love absolut vodka.
okay. I've been involved in this community for 80 years now, And commissioner suarez is not on his chair,
but it was like rip van winkle listening to the conversation.
I've heard that conversation over 50 years of meetings here.
and you've got your work cut out for you. And I think you've got great leadership on the Dais,
and I hope you work everything out. As far as skip I grew up with skip in grade school.
I've known him for over 70 years. He is a hometown legend.
he has brought great fame to this community. Self, Not self serving.
he's shy about this whole process. And as I said before this is a wonderful tribute to him And a wonderful
tribute to this community for what he's accomplished on behalf of it.
every interview he's ever done over his career, He mentions about growing up in miami beach and being in this community.
this is a fine tribute to him. I also mentioned he has a health issue.
so as soon as john and his staff are able to get the signage correctly done I hope the Commission will
schedule an event. There are people that want to come from all over the country to pay Homage to him.
and the sooner the better. But my thanks to all of you, Particularly commissioner dominguez commissioner fernandez
for moving this forward. It'll be a great day when it happens.
I thank you. Thank you stuart. I move the item.
second on the vote. It is a public hearing. I see no one else in zoom. No one else in the audience on r7-c. All in favor, Please say aye.
aye. Anyone opposed? Hearing none. R7 is approved seven zero.
call r9 r. R9 r is discussed. Take action. Enhance enforcement of vehicular muffler and Exhaust
noise. R9 r. Thank you. I'm sponsoring this. Thank you to my co-prime sponsor, Commissioner dominguez.
I'll start it off. This has been an issue plaguing our our city for a while.
the modified mufflers generally to speak some some cars, Some of these high end sports cars which make loud sounds are
legal. But we all know there are there. We hear it every day. These modified mufflers that sort of sound like explosions.
I won't go through all the history, but I brought an item several years to bring noise Cameras.
we've been trying. I know commissioner dominguez, And I also coprime an item to do a pilot program,
but ultimately I. I don't know if there's a bigger complaint than I hear about right now, Which I think is I think is a is a kudos to our police department because,
you know, I remember 4 or 5 years ago, it was it was crime, Lack of police visibility, homeless.
and that still happened. But those are as we talked about earlier, Those are way improved.
we're doing great. And we have to continue and we'll keep we'll keep pushing.
this is an issue, though, that I've been hearing a lot lately, And I'm assuming my colleagues as well.
so really what I'm just trying to there's a companion item that was passed on consent that Basically the county.
it mirrors what the county is doing supporting the county. It's commissioner steinberg to Reduce the 100 foot rule.
so if an officer hears a violation, it's 25ft from noise emanating from a vessel, A boat,
a vehicle. And I'm going to be bringing an item on march 18th meeting to legislation that Will track what the county is doing.
but this item basically sort of directs the administration to have officers at three Points off the macarthur 41st
by indian creek and also 71st street. So we cover we cover our city.
I personally think it's a great thing because it will also bring police visibility. And From the nighttime hours of 10 p.m. To 5 to 5 a.m.,
which I think is really where the I mean, you hear it during the day, But it's less of a concern because people are out and about doing their business.
again, still not great, but it's the nighttime hours, People are sleeping and what have you.
so it'll it'll add to the police visibility but also be a concentrated effort to, To crack down.
I also think the beauty is and I see it from my window, So I hear it.
I look out the window and between the hours of ten and five, You know which car it is during the day.
maybe a little more difficult to pinpoint, but there's not that many cars on the road in The middle of the night.
and you can really clearly, I personally I could see it and I'm not an expert like your Trained officers and and maybe you can address chief.
also, I know I had worked several years ago on the night team, The noise enforcement abatement team that had an expertise in in the modified mufflers to
determine and make sure that it was a violation of the law.
but I'll turn it over to you, chief. And thanks for your continued efforts on this. Of Course. Good afternoon, wayne jones, police chief. Mister mayor and I have received
particularly in the past few weeks, a number of emails, Text messages from you personally and from your colleagues on the days as well,
about noise mostly at night. Muffler's loud music throughout the city.
and so we do realize it is a city wide quality of life issue.
you just mentioned the county ordinance at 25ft, Reducing it from 100ft to 25ft.
we were fully embracing that. We wanted to see that happen throughout the county here, In particular,
giving us an additional tool to enforce the law. Assistant chief bigelow oversaw the neat team deployment some time ago.
I've asked him to take a hard look at what we do now to address this issue.
and so he's going to talk specifically of what he's put together for us and what our cops Are already doing right now to sort of help our residents.
you, everybody else in the city deal with this noise issue.
thank you sir. Thanks, mark. Good afternoon, Mr.
mayor. Commissioners. Assistant chief daniel, On behalf of chief jones and the police department. So we have commenced an operation
called quiet streets last month and continuing moving forward. And operation quiet streets specifically addresses loud mufflers, Loud noise emanating from vehicles on our roadways,
on those specific areas that you mentioned, mr. Mayor. And throughout the city, We've also partnered with fhp to assist us with this detail on the causeways on the
weekends as well. So fhp is partnered with us, And I'm happy to report that miami pd is doing something very similar in their brickell
neighborhood, because this is not just a miami beach problem. This is a problem that is pervasive throughout the county.
and with a lot of these new exotic vehicles that are being rented with the loud mufflers, People try to cruise around,
drive around with them and they're creating a problem that we're seeing in the emails and In the text messages that we're receiving.
I'm happy to report that in 2025, we wrote a total of 675 citations specifically for loud Mufflers,
loud noise coming from vehicles. That's up from 423 and 2024.
and in 2026, we're already on pace to have 30 or 40% more than what we had in 2025.
we've already written 164 tickets specifically for noise violations of this sort.
we're going to continue the effort moving forward and addressing the issue and continue The partnerships with all these other municipalities and agencies to
raise awareness and to deal with this problem. No, thank you. If I can just say and and I do see the increased efforts and enforcement.
so I'm very appreciative of that. And it's a resource issue.
and I get it. You got to we got to pick our resources. I've had the impression at times tell me if I'm wrong.
I've heard this from offices too, who are sometimes honest. It's like, is it a danger to the community? Is it a public safety issue?
and it's a it's a fair debate whether whether it is or not. I don't know if there's any stats that would show that people who drive this car tend to Commit crimes.
I don't know if you know that or not. But I think to me especially, That's why I pinpointed the the overnight hours,
because it becomes such a quality of life issue that it it it's it may not be a crime per Se,
but it's, it's it's almost like it it's really impacting people's quality of life.
and the way I look at it is 365 days a year, 675 stations.
I know you say it's up. That's less than two a day. I can tell you from my vantage point, and maybe again, I'm sitting on 41st street overlooking collins,
indian creek, pine tree drive. So I have I have a number of vantage points from, From my from my apartment.
you you could easily get more than two every night. It's absolutely for a fact if you have that car station there.
and that's, I guess, what I'm looking for. And I'm hoping. And commissioner dominguez coprime. And I'm hoping, With the support of the commission here,
is that we make a concentrated push on this. And I think again you're, You're talking about and I've actually spoken to fdle the florida
department of law enforcement about this as well. And thank you for doing that. Glad miami Is on board.
it's I and I think people have this reaction that sometimes when when I hear it or I'm on The road and there's a car next to me,
it almost. I'm thinking this car is probably gone through so many different cities.
how is this possible that this car just gets to keep going? It is such a nuisance, by the way. To me it's a danger.
I was actually in a car when when it just. He must have revved the engine on the highway.
it scared the you know what out of me. It literally scared me. I thought I was about to get into an accident.
it's. So there is a there is a public safety component to it.
to to it as well. So what I'd like to see is that concentrated effort. And then the message, I think like everything else, What we do.
when we took our messaging for spring break, We ended it. When we took the messaging regarding homeless, We we we, we've reduced the numbers significantly.
and every aspect, we're successful. We have a great police department. I think we can we can really get the message out very quickly that if you're coming down These corridors you're going to get caught and you're going to get ticketed.
yes, sir. Mr. Dominguez thank you, mayor. Yeah, I've been working on noise items for quite some time.
I've met with different members of your department.
people south of fifth west avenue, alton road collins avenue.
and it seems like it's come out of nowhere in the last year. The number of incidents of the disruption. So I'm working on quiet zones.
I sent it in as a priority to consider the noise cameras with the state.
other countries use it to see if they would consider it. I don't think that's going to happen this year, But maybe in the future.
but it's a hot button. It's a quality of life item and I'm happy to co-prime this with the Mayor,
mr. Mayor and mr. Magazine. And I'll add my name as a sponsor as well.
is there a technology now that we're able to deploy? I think we may be preempted from some things at the state level.
correct me if I'm wrong there. Are we preempted by everything? Is there different types of technologies that we're able to?
my understanding is we're preempted from using technology to conduct enforcement for noise Emanating from vehicles at this time.
that's something that I believe the city and other cities are lobbying the legislature to Get some,
some changes done. But my understanding is we cannot use technology other than decimal Meters in certain situations,
especially on the the maritime environment, on marine patrol in decibel meters would have To be self-applied or could that be a drone type of
technology? I don't know if it's if it's applicable to drone technology at this time, But that is evolving so quickly that if I think we can,
if we're not preempted, that might be an innovative way to look at conducting some type of Noise enforcement.
and I know the department, spearheaded by yourself, Has been so great at staying on the forefront of some of this new advanced technology,
which is happening by the day. So just encourage you to continue doing so. But, you know, great job. Let's you all are products of your own success, Right?
I know this probably isn't the sexiest part of the job. But you've cut out some of the the red meat by having a safer, More resident conducive city.
so these are the quality of life issues we're able to tackle now and through the chair, If I may I believe what you're referring to commissioner magazine is we currently can use
noise cameras to monitor and to to collect data, But we cannot use the noise cameras to issue citations.
and that is in fact, one of our legislative priorities is to get the state to allow us to To issue citations using noise cameras.
and it's very frustrating because new york city has a system that I have to say is pretty,
is done pretty well because they're they have noise, Cameras, extensive use of it. And what they do is if there's a car that has a modified muffler, That's violation of the law.
they have the ability. It's like an $800 ticket, But they have the ability because in new york they actually have to go for inspections,
unlike here. But they have the ability to get it corrected. And then the fee, the penalty would be waived.
we don't have inspections here. And also the state law doesn't allow us. It was frustrating because we had these noise cameras. It was capturing a lot of data, But we couldn't do anything with it. I know we had this debate internally whether we could
potentially issue warnings. Ultimately our police department determined that we couldn't.
I was trying to take a different position, but I respected the position that you you were Taken.
but certainly we could not issue tickets. That is clear under the law. I actually had multiple meetings. I was working with this organization out of naples Called quiet communities.
we were meeting with omega, which is the policy arm of the florida legislature, Trying to get recommendations that we should be able to allow to issue tickets based on
the technology, because the technology is good. I mean, It takes video pictures. I mean, you see clearly the the car, the license plate number, But unfortunately, we we were not successful.
I joked that maybe they don't have these modified mufflers in in tallahassee, But we couldn't get the law changed.
so right now we're we are reduced to the physical enforcement, So to speak.
but the good thing is hopefully very shortly it'll it'll be from 100ft to 25ft, Which will help.
and just one more thing, sir. We just released a video in social media of our officers Conducting this type of enforcement recently that our team just put
out. So we are partnering our messaging to the community, Along with our enforcement to let everybody know and get the word out that this is going
on, and we're going to continue to do that. I can't move it.
somebody want to move it? Move it. Second. Okay.
excuse me. I have a motion by commissioner bhatt. I heard a second by commissioner Fernandez. Call the vote.
yes. So it's to adopt the resolution that was attached to item r9r. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed?
the resolution is adopted r9r. Thank you. Thank you sir.
call r5 a. R5 ayes and also the mayor. City commissioner, City of miami beach, florida.
amending chapter 70 of the city code entitled miscellaneous offenses by amending article Two entitled public places by amending division three entitled alcoholic beverages
amending section 70 dash 87 entitled consumption, Service, sale and possession of open container of alcoholic beverages on or in a public
place. Warning signs required by amending the and setting forth exceptions to the Prohibition of consuming,
serving, selling, or possessing an open container of alcoholic beverages on or in any Public place,
and by amending or clarifying the responsibilities of alcoholic beverage establishments And persons or entities authorized by the city to sell alcoholic beverages on or on any
public places. Regarding the prohibition on allowing any person to take an alcoholic Beverage from the licensed premises or authorized area,
and providing for severability and effective date. This is a second reading public hearing. It is item r5 a commissioner magazine.
thank you for this, mr. Mayor. We've discussed this ad nauseam over the past several Months. The piggyback on some of the points that have been consistent throughout this
morning. We're a different city than we were several years ago and becoming a different City that is much more civil,
much more resident friendly. Upscale tourism allows us the opportunity to expand amenities That we're confident will not be abused and will not be used
the wrong way. What I envision for this is providing a very upscale atmosphere similar to The amalfi coast,
the french italian riviera, where our guests, Just like they're able to do with some of the higher end hotels in our city,
are able to essentially consume beverages in some of our pilot program defined areas.
and in contrast to some of the items that we've had earlier in the day where we have to be So focused on spending
because whether it be through our own fiscal discipline desires or what could be Forthcoming from the state.
either way, we will be looking at a, at a more cost constrained budget.
so when we have the ability to bring in revenue in a very attractive and opportune way, I think this is a great opportunity to do so.
again. This is a pilot program. So we're able to essentially deviate in the extent Anything would go unexpected.
but I don't believe that to be the case. We've predefined a numerous different parameters And protocols that are involved in this.
so with that look forward to I know my parents are looking forward to going down to the Beach there and enjoying some rosé.
commissioner. Suarez. Thanks. When I brought this up, I brought up a concern that I had with without doing this was,
you know, we already have a plethora of illegal vendors selling god knows what out of a Backpack on the
beach. And more often than not, they're selling drugs out, Out of their backpacks, and it's
consistent. And we can't really expect the police to police that.
with seven miles of beach. And, you know, this is a great way to really free up
some police resources where the stroke of a pen can really change a
crime that happens on almost on a on a minute by minute basis.
so if, if the chief can come up for a second and chief or.
yeah. Yes, sir. Good afternoon everyone. Marlon rivera, Operations manager.
yeah. So, you know, some of the concerns that a lot of my that I get is these illegal Vendors selling alcohol and drugs
on their, in their backpacks, going up to our visitors on the beach and residents.
you know, how hard is that to really enforce when in the grand scheme of things?
so commissioner. It is hard to enforce, as you've pointed out, When this topic came up last year we absolutely prioritized it.
we took our problem solving team. We put them out there not only for illegal vending, But also for encampments and essentially anything else that they could find.
but through their efforts and also through our atvs efforts, They were able to identify and conduct arrests.
in 2025, they had approximately 34 illegal vendor arrests from being out there.
they find other things, as I stated, but it is very hard for every one that you catch.
I'm sure there's many that you do not catch. Right. And, you know, I guess the idea with this, you know, While I'm why I'm supportive of this pilot program is to really see how much of a
difference it does make in these illegal vendors selling junk to our residents and our and Our visitors in miami beach.
I know there's a lot of pushback saying, well, Now you're opening up alcohol on the beach. But again,
this is it's wine and beer. If I'm not mistaken, And it's a pilot program, and I think the bigger risk to,
you know, our city as far as the visitors and residents concerned, Is these, these people selling it could be,
you know, spiked drinks out of out of their backpacks and targeting certain visitors.
so the idea here is to really privatize it so that, You know, you have a, you have a vendor that can
actually enforce this, have eyes on the ground and and call the police if they see it, Because right now they're not incentivized to.
so that's why I'm going to be supportive for at least a pilot program on this.
I'd make I'll move the item. I'll second. Let's call the vote.
it is a public hearing. I see no one on zoom, No one in the audience. Motion by commissioner suarez, seconded by commissioner magazine.
commissioner. Bhatt. Yes, commissioner. Suarez.
yes, commissioner. Dominguez. Yes. Commissioner. Fernandes. Is out. Commissioner. Magazine. Yes.
vice mayor. Mateo- salinas. Yes. Mayor. Minor. Yes. The item is approved. That was second reading r5.
aye. Thank you. Let's take care. A couple of budget items r7 and r7 b r7 eight is a public Hearing.
adopt third amendment to fiscal year 2026 operating budget r7 b be public hearing.
adopt third amendment to the fiscal year 2026 capital budget r7, A and b.
good afternoon. Tamika stewart, budget director. So this is the third amendment to the operating budget, And it contains five items.
all five items were approved by the city commission at the february 5th commission Meeting.
so the first item is a replica of the rainbow crosswalk in loomis park, And the recommendation is to appropriate $120,000 from available general
fund reserves. The second program is a pre-k scholarship expansion program.
the recommendation is to appropriate 111,000 for the 37 families that are on a waiting List for this year's program,
and that would come from general fund reserves. The third item is additional support for commissioners, And this was initially appropriated to transfer funds from the general fund to the
sanitation fund. The commission approved transferring 80,000 back to that commissioner, But can go ahead and hire a second aide.
the fourth program is a gallery or exhibit at loomis park. And the recommendation? What was the last one you just posted? The gallery exhibit at Loomis park.
and that was also approved at the last commission meeting. And that's $45,000. And then the final item is a pedestal for the historic plaque at miami Beach bandshell.
and the recommendation is to appropriate $5,000 from the general fund reserves.
second. We needed to. Commissioner fernandez.
thank you, mr. Mayor. So on on this budget amendment, We have the 120,000
for the crosswalk. Is that correct? Correct. All right, So I'd like to move to amend the $120,
$120,000 budget allocation to fund the crosswalk in lummus park to include an additional Amount of $15,000 to fund the plaque to
be placed with a crosswalk replica explaining the replica to the public.
which I hope will be considered after a public hearing, Which I've placed on the agenda for the city commission meeting on march 18th.
the extra funds allocated today for the plaque would be returned to the capital budget if The plaque is ultimately not approved by the city commission after the public hearing on
march 18th. I move it as amended. Second. Call the vote.
it is a public hearing. I see no one on zoom. I see no one in the audience requesting to Speak,
as amended. I originally had heard commissioner bond and I heard vice mayor mateo- Salinas.
all in favor of r seven, as amended. Please say aye. Aye aye. Anyone opposed? Hearing none r7a is approved, As amended.
all right. So this is the third amendment to the capital budget. It contains nine items.
it recommends an increase of the budget of $81.6 million, And the transfer of $4.3 million between existing projects.
so the first project is a water main replacement project at dade boulevard.
there is a the bid came in higher than the budget, And so the recommendation is to appropriate $1.4 million from an existing project that has
received alternate funding through a grant. The second program is the stormwater outfalls Water quality improvement program,
and that also has a bid that's higher than the budget. Recommendation is to transfer approximately $1.2 million from an existing project that has Over $18 million.
so when those dollars need to be replaced, that would be prioritized in the budget.
the third is a fifth and alto and cctv upgrades. And this is a request for $24,000 to upgrade the system and also to add 70 new licenses For the new system.
and this would be funded using available funds and the 15 garage projects that have been Completed with savings.
the fourth item is a new waterproofing project at the fifth and alton garage, And 285,000 would be appropriated using available parking funds.
the fifth item is the bayshore neighborhood traffic calming project. This project has a bid that's higher than the budget by $1.3 million.
the recommendation is to transfer funds from an existing transportation project in order To move forward with this project.
the sixth project is the normandy island neighborhood. Traffic calming. This the budget is actually under by 100,000.
and the recommendation is also to transfer funds from an existing transportation project To move forward with this one.
the seven item is a citywide raised crosswalk intersection. Project cost has come in higher by $231,000, And there are two available projects that have funding,
and the recommendation is to transfer of funds to make this project whole.
the eight item is a rainbow crosswalk that just got approved. So in the operating budget, we transfer the funds from the general fund to the paygo Funds,
and now we're appropriating those dollars in the capital budget. And it would be amended to add the 15,000 that commissioner fernandez just requested.
and then the final item is a geo bond tranche two. So at the last city commission meeting, the commission approved the declaration of intent To issue additional tranche two bonds.
and this would go ahead and allocate those dollars in the fy 26 budget for tranche two of Infrastructure bonds in the geo bond.
mr. Commissioner. Magazine. To me, and this is a question for you.
I'm not sure what department will be able to step up, But one of those was for the fifth and alton garage,
is that correct? There were two. Can you repeat those? Yes. So there's an alton road, fifth and alton elevator.
exterior waterproofing. That's waterproofing and restoration of the exterior services, And the other one is for closed circuit tv upgrades.
right. So I think that's different than the other garages. Correct? Well, it's within the garage. It's within the garage.
okay. So can you I don't think it's you, but can somebody else explain our ownership of That garage that we're paying for the
waterproofing? So I can tell you that we have a joint a joint relationship with them, And we have 48%,
and then the rest is owned by the contractor. Thank you. And where I'm going with this is the maintenance and operation of those Elevators has been dreadful.
dreadful. It's my understanding that's not us doing that. That's the private owner. They're down for days.
I heard a veteran was stuck in there, and I've been working with the property management Group and shout out to my lewis,
who has been just hell bent on trying to move this entity forward, But we're having little luck.
you know, the elevators get repaired and then they go down a week later and it's just this Repeating cycle with no end in sight,
and just want to see why we have responsibilities like waterproofing repair, But perhaps not for the elevators or vice
versa. And then also several months ago came before us, I believe it was eden that was here.
and there was a partnership with a local group to activate the rooftop up there.
and it's my understanding, perhaps publix has been very lackadaisical in signing off.
and I guess just since we're talking about the fifth street garage and about the allocate What,
200,000 300,000 285,002 85 for the water. If we have any type of leverage there.
liz. Good afternoon everyone. Elizabeth muro, Assistant director for the fifth and alton garage.
we are responsible for 46 of percent of any of the capital improvements.
and so these costs that you're seeing here is just the city's portion. There is another portion that the contractor would be able to provide as well.
but talk to me more comprehensively like they do the improvements and just send us a bill That's pro rata allocated.
correct. What can we do to push them along for better operation of the elevators?
so we've actually been working with them, and we want to find a long term solution to have These elevators repaired with them as well as with schindler,
which is their contractor servicing the elevators. They are responsible for all operating costs associated with the maintenance of the Garage.
okay. Can we do things to push harder on that? I mean, this is a daily complaint that I'm getting from residents in that area.
it just leads to this run down sense. And that really is like the community hub in that Area.
it's a really bad look. So especially if we have a jv there, It's an even worse look that even though we may not be an operational control,
that we have some sort of culpability in that. And then to the second point, are you familiar with that contract about activating the Rooftop?
yes. The court that they're installing on the on the last floor. Yes, yes. Do you know where that contract stands?
I believe it's been executed. Perhaps parking can speak better.
there we go. Good afternoon. The the agreement is with legal.
I believe it's in revisions right now and then to be submitted back to edens and the pedal Court with our legal.
correct. It's really prioritize that because this was approved months ago.
and that's a tremendous community amenity. So I hate hearing things just like languish and Languish internally here.
so whatever department it's at, I will forward right away.
tamika. Yes, to the vice mayor. Commissioner suarez.
the the when you say that the that the bid came in like $1 million over what was Projected,
can you explain that? Right. So when we appropriate dollars for a project, It's an estimate.
and so normally there's a design for the project and then there's a bid. So when the bids come in the department, who's responsible?
compare that to what was appropriated in the budget. And then if there's a gap, Can you list again?
what are the ones that came over? Sure. Estimated bid.
so the water main replacement at dade boulevard, And that was $1.4 million.
there's a stormwater outfalls, water quality. What was the estimated? So the estimate was 6.49 million.
6.49 million. The adopted budget. And then it came in at it came in at 7.92.
fully funded. Okay. The second was the stormwater outfalls, Water quality improvements.
and the bid came in higher by 1.18. The original was
and it's stormwater. What? It's the stormwater outfalls, Water quality improvement.
and so the original budget was 2.8. And there's a need for another 1.18.
so that gets it to $4 million. Okay. All right. The next one is the the cctv at fifth and alton.
this is not really an increase. It's like the increase of scope of the project to add Technology. So I'll skip that one.
the bayshore neighborhood traffic calming that went up by 1.3.
the original budget was 2.5 million. And the traffic calming project, The original budget was 1.8.
and they need 100,000 more. So how can we be, You know, how is it off by $1 million on some of the first,
like the water main? I'm assuming this goes through procurement, Correct?
correct. Yeah. I don't know, I just it seems like, You know, to be $1 million, you know,
it's it's 6 million, but then it ends up being 7.9 million.
I mean, that's that's significant because what we budgeted for is what we plan.
do other cities have a rule where if, you know, If a bid comes in and it's too high, you go back out for possibly a second round?
yes. John norris, director of public works, commissioner suarez. That can happen. We can reject bids. But we also see that often that those additional bids Will
come in higher. I can't say scientifically that happens every time.
since covid hit, construction prices have been all over the place.
our engineers give a probable cost estimate when they're doing design, And we base our budget off of that estimate,
and they're basing that estimate off of previous bids from previous projects.
so there really is a lot of work put into coming up with a budget for a project.
but sometimes the bids just come in the way they are. Might just depend on how much work is out there currently.
maybe there's just not aren't a whole lot of contractors out there bidding on the job, So it's not quite as competitive.
so mr. City manager, you know, for example, that water main replacement that's off by Almost $2 million.
how many bids came in on that? So I don't know the specifics on that particular bid.
I do know for projects over $5 million, we're supposed to be doing an independent cost Estimate.
so I'm hoping that we have that in place for that particular project.
did we? I'm sorry, I can't say for sure. I would have to go back and get back with you on That.
good afternoon. Kristi bada chief procurement officer so I'm trying to pull up the data While we're here,
but we received approximately 1234567 bids for dade boulevard.
that's the project we're discussing. Right. And the low bid was estimated to come in Approximately.
I don't remember the amount that you all mentioned, But we did receive a vast amount of bids for this project,
and that was a low bid offer. And, eric, what did you say about over $5 million?
what are the requirements? So projects that we are moving forward with that are over $5 Million,
and maybe david martinez can come up. And yes, Procurement does check that.
mr. Manager, we do confirm that the departments do provide the independent cost estimate.
that is in line with the budget. So before issuing any construction bids that are above $5 Million,
we do receive an independent cost estimate. The we have a scope issuance form for the Department to execute that is also executed by budget.
and then I confirm that we do have the third party construction cost estimate and Commissioner.
for what it's worth, I'll give you an example. One that I recall not that long ago when we put out bids, For example, morris park, that was completed a few months back,
we received bids with the low bidder being oh, I want to say it was about below or just at our at our estimate,
other bids were two, three, $4 million apart. So it's a nuance that when I receive it depends on what's going on in the industry at the Time,
how busy contractors are and if, which one of the bidders show up.
the one that that is putting together a bid that's going to be well over our estimate?
or are we going to get a bid of the one that's going to be on the estimate? So it's really There's a lot of variables,
so there's no algorithm that's going to generate the exact number that any particular Contractor is going to come up with a number.
you know, they they they work for contractors.
in my prior life to the beach and a lot of different things went on in the war room right Before a bid was due that determined what the number was.
a lot of it had to do with what competitors were doing, How busy they were, what kind of risk they thought they were going to have if they really
wanted the job or not. If they didn't really want it, You were going to see some pretty exacerbated numbers.
so a lot of nuances that that come together when bids are put together, What prevents somebody from underbidding and they win the bid and then they just come
back with a higher cost? Well, I mean, there's there's arguments out there and there's Theories.
theories and, and stipulations that contractors.
there's contractors that that's their business model. And we, We encounter those those, you know,
it's unfortunate, but that's what happens. There's other contractors are not quite that Way. They come in high right off the get go hoping that they get the bid.
and there's not industry standard whatsoever where you go, This is what you bid. This is the cost of the job. There is. And I mean, You know, I mean, I can ask our city attorney to tell us,
but our contracts have language. We have built in contingencies that you all approved.
typically when we approve projects and there's change order language, There's claim language on how to protect ourselves.
and I will tell you that we the city, probably like any city, Spends a great amount of effort fighting those battles on a daily
basis on every contract, especially when they're very high level risk long durations, Such as projects that we all know about that are,
you know, nearby. There's a lot of risk involved. So every contractor is going to they're going to pay for you.
you hear it all the time, they're going to pay for you. And unfortunately, A lot of the effort that a project manager or project management team spends on any
project is continuously defending the city against these type of business practices.
I'll tell you, david, since becoming acm, I feel you deserve credit for really putting on Your problem solver hat.
right. There's some departments I go to here, And it just starts with culture of difficulty or.
no. And you have really taken a proactive stance about you know, Let's see how we how we can work together and get this done.
so very much noted and recognized. And I'm not saying for this project specifically I'll Just put it out there into the atmosphere.
barry sternlicht gave comments live on cnbc two days ago right outside of our convention Center.
I'll give a quick nod to. We had 5000 of the most prominent financial professionals in our City.
actually, the conference is still going on right now at I connections. Cnbc is Broadcasting live for the past two days.
so he did a live on air interview. And this is one of the most prominent well respected Builders in the world and actually talked about construction costs coming down over the
past 12 months. So maybe hopefully the days of, You know, just kind of hearing sorry, construction costs have
run wild since covid. Hopefully that trend is starting to reverse.
and I just bring that up again, not talking about any specific project, But just for you to digest.
not you specifically. Our team to digest is a sanity check when if we continue to see These numbers come in over budget,
that we should double and triple. Question that.
and if I could go back to the original question of what happens if we get all of the bids That come in over budget.
if there's 1 or 2 bids and they're significantly over budget, Then oftentimes we will cancel all bids and have industry meetings and potentially
rebid the project. If we get a substantial number of bids that come in and they're all Closely packed in a certain area,
then we tend to believe that that's where the market is at that moment in time.
so, you know, it all depends on the specifics of the bids that come in.
okay. I move the item. Second. Call the vote. Public hearing. Yes. Seeing no one in zoom. No one in the audience.
public hearing is closed. I have a motion by commissioner suarez I've, Seconded by commissioner fernandez.
r7 be amended with a 15,000. Yes. Okay. All in favor of r7 be as amended.
please say aye. Anyone opposed? Hearing none, The item is approved, as amended.
seven zero r7 be. Thank you. Thank you. Tamika and jason and I thought it would be a good Time for all of us to give you a shout out.
getting those homesteaded tax refunds, the $500 out ahead ahead of schedule.
so thank you. I think they've all been they've all been delivered.
yes. Thank you. Mayor jason greene chief financial officer I really like to point out the Finance team,
the accounts payable group specifically. It's a very small but mighty group that you know,
we work to issue a lot of checks. They they put in extra time. They understood this was an important initiative of the commission. And we were able to Get it done about a week earlier than originally scheduled.
and I believe the last checks were sent out in the mail on friday and hopefully the us Postal service is not like it was when I was a kid.
and you get the mail in 1 or 2 days. So hopefully in the next week or so that everyone Should get their checks.
and some people have been reaching out checking on that. We check on the list and let them know, but so hopefully very soon everyone will have Them.
amazing. I think most people got why they got it. I had some people asking me if their water bill was reduced or something like that, But yes,
we did receive some phone calls and we have the ltc. The customer service centers been handling a lot of calls and the accounts payable group, But we're getting back to all the residents to let them know. Great. Thank you so much.
thank you so much, mr. Mayor. And I want to encourage everyone that's listening and Watching to to see informational item one in our agenda,
which is a handwritten letter that we received from a resident of 72, A 78 year old resident who just had surgery
for lung cancer at mount sinai. I person that's disabled and that's been facing many Challenges.
and she wrote to us telling us how this money is a miracle and a blessing for her and Just,
you know, something that we that we do here, But that might not seem that significant to us.
it does have sometimes a very significant and very impactful effect on those who we serve.
and we put it we put it on the agenda as an informational item.
just so that all of us and the public could see the impact of this on the least amongst Us.
thank you. Thank you. Commissioner. That's a great example.
okay, let's do r7j77j is accept
recommendation modification to 63rd street bridge schedule through the mayor commissioner Bhatt.
and can I read the co-sponsors quickly. Me commissioner dominguez commissioner, Monica mateo-
salinas and commissioner fernandez. I would like to open and continue this item until next Month.
we are just waiting for another month's data to confirm what we believe to be accurate, So that we are all united in our mission.
so r7j is open and continue to march 18th by acclamation. Mr. Mayor, if I may add, I think the last time this item came up, There was going to be a community discussion about the item.
I don't know if that's going to happen before next commission meeting. I think you agree to that, commissioner, but I don't.
my memory is terrible. I don't remember that. What I do remember is not to say that it didn't happen.
I just don't recall that. What I do remember very clearly is making sure that we got data From the bridge tender to
identify and understand how many charters were coming through.
and that is why we are opening and continuing. I got a text message from you the night of after the commission meeting.
before you sound the alarm re charters, please let me work on making changes.
yes, that's what we're doing. Yeah. But I think I'm pretty sure at the meeting that there Was going to be at least some sort of community engagement with the with the neighborhood.
well, there's going to be once we have a plan, We're going to advise the neighborhood of what is happening.
we're going to inform charter operators at the marina and the charter operator on indian Creek that currently has a btr there.
what the rules are, we have a a noise prohibition there.
we're going to work with the police to make sure we have marine patrol there for the first Few weeks to enforce and to educate.
so we are going to have a comprehensive plan, But it doesn't seem prudent to have this conversation until we have the data that we have
asked from, asked for from the coast guard, which is what we're doing. I just respectfully ask, maybe we have a sunshine meeting before then.
and you can you and I can host it, and we can get buy in from the nearby residents to Discuss some of the unintended
consequences. Again, I would like to have any further communications once we have the data Confirming that the plan that we are putting into place
is the correct plan. And regardless of any data, I mean, I'm just assuming that there's going to and I know there's going to be unintended
consequences. And I think it's important to inform the neighboring residents in north Beach,
well, along the 63rd street canal of where it's going to be.
so I'm hoping to have a community meeting. I do chuckle because I remember once asking you In our first year about unintended consequences,
and you said to me, there are no such things as unintended consequences.
happy to have a community meeting. Jose and I will work on that.
to outline the plan. And we'll figure it out from there. Can we do that before the item is called at the next meeting?
we will look at that. It's it's it's going to be a just a resolution or first and second, I don't remember.
it's not a resolution. Yeah. We'll look at that. We'll endeavor to make that happen. Okay. Before before it officially gets voted on as a Resolution.
as I just said, we will endeavor to make that happen. Yes. And thank you for taking it on. It's commissioner.
bhatt. It's not an easy issue. Commissioner steinberg when I joined the commission was Dealing with this, then I was dealing with it. Now it's now it's in your lap.
so it's a tough issue. But thank you, commissioner suarez, For highlighting what you just did.
so we're good. Okay. Thank you. Our five q.
are five. Q is an ordinance of the mayor city commission of the city of miami beach, Florida, amending chapter two of the code of the city of miami beach and town
administration. Article three entitled agencies, Boards and committees, division 22, entitled miami beach animal welfare committee, section
2-190.59 thereof entitled composition to modify the composition of the voting members of The miami beach animal welfare committee by providing for severability
and an effective date. R5q commissioner dominguez.
thank you. Presently, the committee has nine voting members, And two of the members are appointed by local animal welfare
groups. And I believe there's been a merger. So 1 or 1 of them went away.
so we need to make an amendment so that the one nonprofit representative will be Recommended by the miami beach animal advocates,
inc. And the other one by sobi. Cat spay and neuter.
and then commissioners would still nominate their appointees for the remaining members.
so with that, I'll move this item and call the vote.
motion by commissioner dominguez, seconded by commissioner fernandez. It is a public Hearing. I see no one on zoom,
and I see no one in the audience requesting to speak. Mateo- salinas. Yes, commissioner. Suarez. Yes.
commissioner. Magazine. Yes. Mr.. Dominguez. Yes, Commissioner.
bot. Yes. Commissioner. Fernandez. Meow. Mayor.
mr.. When did you become a comedian? Yes. Second reading public hearing is scheduled for March 18th.
the item passes. That was r5q. It's called r5s.
r5 s is an ordinance of the mayor city commission of the city of miami, Florida. Chapter two of the code of the city of miami beach, Entitled administration by amending article two entitled city commission by amending
section two dash 18 entitled stop the pause policy to establish minimum voting threshold For the city commission relating to specified projects at advanced stages of completion,
having an estimated construction cost above the threshold, And providing for severability and effective date.
this is a first reading public hearing. It is item r5 s commissioner fernandez.
thank you, mr. Mayor. This ordinance builds upon the work that we started last fall when We passed an ordinance requiring a supermajority vote
before we could pause or change capital improvement projects costing more than $1 million Once they or once they reach that
60% design. But the earlier version of the ordinance carved out of many exceptions that in Reality
it only applied to a handful of critical infrastructure projects like stormwater upgrades,
fire flow improvements, water and sewer work.
the updated proposal that we have before us simplifies things.
instead of applying the soft deposit only to a narrow category of infrastructure.
it now uses the full definition of capital projects.
meaning that all projects in the city's five year capital improvement program would have To abide by
by by. Stop the pause. And so what that means is that to to pause or cancel one one of These projects,
you'll need a five seventh vote once it hits once.
if that project is over $1 million and once it hits a 60% design, You'll need a six seventh vote.
once they hit 90% design or only a four seventh vote, Which is what you need today.
and we're keeping a four seventh vote only for truly unforeseen site conditions.
but once you spend a certain amount of taxpayers dollars on these large projects, Once you hit 60% design,
once you hit 90% design, it should take a little bit more than just a simple majority vote To stop or change these projects.
I'm proud to say that we've worked very closely with the inspector general's office.
in the crafting of this ordinance is supported by miami beach united and by the oversight Committee.
and with that, I move the ordinance. Commissioner dominguez. Thank you, commissioner fernandez. You've done such great work on this item, And I know that the first iteration was fantastic.
and now to expand it, it is going in the right direction.
I'd like to offer a friendly amendment. And it is because it's making it seem that we Can't have any changes after 60%.
and unless there's a simple majority change and some of the residents feel because of Examples that have happened in the west avenue
project and they're all taxpayers, they're not at fault for the changes.
and they felt that they weren't communicated with us on a consistent basis.
so if language can be added that after every design phase, The city will have communication with the taxpayers,
residents affected in that neighborhood? I think that may make them feel comfortable and That's
and that's that's good feedback. But but let me just get input from staff.
I believe now we have resident input at 30, 60 and 90% phases.
is that correct? My understanding. So as we go around about the capital project, It's already worked in that we go out,
we do community meetings. We started early on at the 30% design phase, Then 60% design phase,
and then 90% design phase, which is pretty much right before we break ground permitting or We're permitting it.
so can we incorporate if we don't have that codified, Perhaps, and residents are still concerned.
I specifically heard from the neighborhood resiliency projects committee why it wasn't Sent to them for discussion.
and at least four members of the group were concerned that communications weren't in place Between first and second reading.
can we have them hear this out, too? Sure. Yeah.
okay. Yeah. And then that way you hear from the horse's mouth the language that they Wanted added in here?
sure, sure. Happy. Happy to get input from. Okay, I'll second the item.
for the for the record, our big push in in our projects is really at the beginning when We're developing the design,
reaching out to the community, getting their input. It's very difficult to get concurrence On everything we do.
and that's really where we approach either design review board or historic preservation Board.
and those become part of the record. And on top of all of the public outreach that we do, Once we get to 90%,
it's really technical items in the drawings that we're developing. So the the outreach drops down a little bit at 90 where we're not sharing as much just Because now we're working on actual permit drawings,
it's not designed anymore. And the next neighborhood resiliency projects meeting is march 12th at 4:00.
and perhaps I see the the inspector general is sitting in the audience.
I know that the office of the inspector general regularly attends the gop oversight Committee meetings,
and this has been a true partnership between this committee, A partnership with the inspector general's office.
perhaps, mr. Inspector general, if you could attend that neighborhood resiliency committee Meeting so that you can present to them the audience got feedback from them.
would that be something you'd be willing to do? Yes. Commissioner joseph centorino, inspector general, Would be happy to, to have staff at that meeting and,
and explain that because they have concerns of things that we should consider.
I'd love to. I love for your office to be a part of that discussion. We're always in favor of that kind of input, So we'd be happy to do it.
yeah. And I'm ultimately going to, you know, Support the guidance of the inspector general.
he's been a pivotal part of the crafting of this policy. And so we'll attend the meeting. I'm going to follow the guidance that the ig provides as To the direction that the policy should take.
thank you. We have a motion and a second. Yes, I do, and it is a public hearing.
and I have someone on zoom. Okay. The first caller is has a screen name of colin.
user six, please state your name. Hi. Good afternoon.
my name is matthew and I'm calling in to comment about this ordinance.
I think that amending the stop the pause policy is found fiscal fiscal policy.
we have projects throughout the city that in some cases have reached 100% design and Permitting,
and yet there still are last minute efforts to cancel them.
we have one example on today's commission, in fact, Which is co-sponsored by the the sponsor of this this ordinance to stop the pause.
so I think that I would just ask for that same courtesy.
this project is 100% designed, permitted, ready for construction.
I know the inspector general has issued some concerns about the interference in that Project in the past.
and then secondly, the other portion of that that resolution which would cancel another Project under construction is actually scheduled to go to
the design review board, which is an important place to receive more community feedback.
I believe it's on the agenda for the march design review.
review, excuse me, review board agenda and should be heard there as well.
so I just want to I want to commend the sponsor for this smart policy.
and and and I'm supportive of it. Thank you. That concludes the public hearing portion.
I have a motion by commissioner fernandez, seconded by commissioner dominguez, As is with a referral to the public to to the to the neighborhood resiliency committee of
march 12th. But it still comes for second reading.
yeah. Second. March 18th. Okay, perfect. So call the roll.
yes. Commissioner magazine. Yes. Vice mayor mateo- Salinas.
yes, commissioner bot. Yes. Commissioner fernandez. Yes. Commissioner suarez. Yes. It's me. Commissioner suarez.
yes. Commissioner. Dominguez. And it says in there that it'll go to the neighborhood Resiliency committee.
march 12th. Okay. Thank you. Yes, mayor. Yes.
motion carries second reading. Public hearing is scheduled for march 18th. That was item r5s. Thank you, commissioner fernandez.
it's a good item. I think you described a little bit of the amount of work that goes into It, but I don't even think an item like this. I don't I don't think it does justice to the Amount of time that I can imagine you spent on it to come to this conclusion.
so thank you for your efforts. Our. R5.
r5 p is an ordinance of the mayor city commission. The city miami beach amending chapter Two of them may be city code entitled administration by amending article three entitled
agencies, boards and committees by amending division 17 entitled city of miami beach Commission for women by amending section 2-190.4 thereof,
entitled composition, to modify the total number of members who serve on the commission For women and modify the number of members who may be appointed by each member of the city
commission and providing for severability and an effective date. This is the first reading public hearing. Yes.
thank you. Mayor. This is at the request of the women's commission themselves.
they the commission is currently made up of 21 members, Seven commissioners and the mayor of each appointing three it is found to be a little bit
unwieldy, and the commission itself has asked to reduce down to a total size of 14 members And they would reach this size by attrition.
so no actions need to happen. So I would like to support them in their request.
I can't move the item, so would somebody else. Okay, then I will move the item second. So I just have a question.
why? Why is it that they want to reduce the composition?
they just found it was a lot and people were leaving, And it wasn't for them.
okay. Got it. I'll second. Call the vote. It is a public hearing.
I see no one on zoom. No one in the audience requesting to speak. I have a motion by Commissioner, seconded by vice mayor monica mateo-
salinas. Roll call. Vice mayor mateo- salinas.
yes. Commissioner. Suarez. Yes. Commissioner. Dominguez. Yes. Commissioner. Magazine. Yes. Commissioner.
bhatt. Yes. Commissioner. Fernandez. Yes. Mayor. Minor. Yes. Motion carries. Second reading. Public hearing is scheduled for march 18th.
that was item r5 p. Thank you, commissioner barton, For all the work that our committees do for our city.
c7 you. C7 you has discontinued north meridian avenue and chase avenue multi use path Projects.
it was separated by the vice mayor mateo- salinas c7 you.
commissioner. Mateo- salinas. Sure. So I just want to have a discussion about this a Little bit because I think that we got a lot of
emails about this, and some folks were caught off guard by this.
so I just want to have a open and transparent discussion about this path and what we Should do moving forward,
mr. Mayor respectfully, I told a few members of the community that this would be called After five because usually the consent agenda items get called after five.
can we just table this for 20 more minutes? Sure.
okay. Try to give me the heads up on that. Okay.
yes. Second.
let's call r5 n nancy n as in nancy? Yes. Okay.
r5 n is the daughter of the mayor. City commission of the city of miami, Florida. Any subpart a of the city code entitled charter by amending charter two entitled
administration by amending article three entitled agencies, Boards and committees by amending division four entitled budget advisory committee by
amending section two, dash 41 thereof entitled established purpose, Powers, duties, composition by amending the name,
purpose and powers and duties of the committee and providing for severability and Effective date.
this is a first reading public hearing. It is item r5n commissioner magazine.
excellent. Something you know, our we have such tremendous resources in the city of miami Beach,
and many of them make up our boards and committees, And we've since the all been in unison about wanting to be more disciplined in our
spending up here. And that's really been shown through various discussions, Efforts.
commissioner. But I think you were telling me some of your friends even call you tanya. Don't know if I'm right about that. Only in my nightmares, I kid, but this is a way,
one of the things that really surprised me going through the first two budget cycles, And it took me a year to kind of catch on,
was we spent so much time discussing incremental spending that is commission driven year Over year,
and that really, while that's super important because every dollar that gets added to a Government budget is not unique to miami beach,
but it becomes very difficult to get rid of that, And we can all attest to that fact.
but what really there wasn't a focus on was all the cumulative spending that led up to That period.
right? So, for instance we're talking $1 billion budget.
we looked at an incremental 30 to $40 million of spending that was commission driven over The past year,
and we had about $4 million to do so. So we had to figure out how to fit $30 million into A $4 million hole.
and that generated some spirited conversations. But when we're really looking at making a difference in our agenda, We can't just do so through new spending.
we really have to analyze how we got here. And I think our budget advisory committee is a Great resource to
do to take on that task and effort. Similar to us, They would only analyze new spending that was being proposed and what they
would agree with. But I really want to kind of take the handcuffs off and allow them Because we have a finite amount of resources up here.
these are very well credentialed individuals that are willing to serve our city.
and I think that they could really dig into some of the details of how we got to $1 Billion budget and essentially recommend a whole
list of efficiencies. That is then brought to us and we could propose as part of our Budget cycle.
any comments? We have a motion. I just have a question actually.
so I love the idea of this. I worry that this is a volunteer position, And we are giving them a huge scope.
and for the work to be of value to us, it has to be very in-depth and people have to Really understand what they're looking at and how.
how do you propose to support their work to give them the the background, The resources they need?
and what is the work product that you can reasonably expect from them?
so we actually laid that in motion this past budget cycle, Where we actually directed our finance department to essentially begin
producing a more line item by line item budget. And we really didn't have too much granularity into that.
we have these cute graphs that say, okay, 62% of your spending is public safety, X percent is that.
but we really didn't get a very granular look until we mandated our city manager come back And propose cost savings.
and then we kind of got a line item by line item budget. Tamika and jason, correct me if I'm wrong, but that is something that you are essentially Preparing.
right now, when I look at what happens at the state level looking at that, They have an accounting for where every dollar goes,
right? Every single dollar. So this will you know, This is in seven individuals giving all of us their ideas.
okay. We cut here. We're hoping that the budget advisory committee and tamika, You can comment,
but they are a very serious group. You liaise with them every single meeting our team Attends when possible,
but essentially give them access to our more granular budget, And they're able to liaise with you all and look for some of that just
excessive inefficiency that may exist that up until now, We really didn't get that granularity into it.
yes, I would add that we have started that process. So we do it every year on our side. We do not present.
it's hundreds of pages of documents, but we have for the departments that the vac asks to See.
this year we have started providing the line item details. So they did see the package last month. And they have all privileged to go through and Provide their feedback.
so, you know, I understand that we tasked the administration to do a line by line line Item budget because I supported that with you,
and I am looking forward to working with that. My question was more about this committee As a group of volunteers,
what is the work product we expect from them. And so we're going to turn over the budget as it rolls out for departments.
and they're going to go through it and. And do what exactly.
like how do they have the historic information, You know, the understanding of how things work.
what what are they supposed to produce to provide their recommendations.
how does this work? I mean, it's a big ask. And for volunteers, I just want to make sure that we're not setting the scope so broadly that we get back
something that isn't useful and it's valid points.
and perhaps we can work together to more formalize what that final output would be.
but one instance that comes to mind is the the jim guy in the garage.
right. Where we were paying him ungodly amounts of money for somebody that came here two Days a week for an hour at a time.
those are the types of granular line items that they're able to just bring to our Awareness.
and if there's an explanation, we go, you know what, Jim guy is really good for employee morale.
thank you. But we're keeping that then that's decisions that we could make. It's not as if this is still just an advisory position, But in my opinion, a granular budget should be
available to 90,000 residents and anybody else that wants to look at it.
right. That should be publicly accessible data where people could account for every single Dollar of where things
go. This will be a more formalized process where they're still evaluating our incremental Spending,
but perhaps they can help us identify some inefficiencies within the billion dollar budget That got us to this point.
if I can add, I'll ask tamika to add on to this, Just to discuss a little about how the bdc currently operates.
they don't really look necessarily at the incremental budget enhancements they do at one Point,
but they do set their own agenda at the beginning of the year. They are given the selection of all the city departments, And they pick.
I want the fire department to come this month, And they come and they go through their budget. Can you maybe explain? That's correct. So we we do that every year.
what we're doing different this year is that we're going down into the details, As you had already requested.
so they are going to see the details just for the departments that they've requested. We meet only once per month. So between now and when we get to share the budget with you And may we only have a handful of meetings.
so they've chosen the larger departments police, Fire, parks, public works, because that's where a lot of the dollars are.
they actually requested the mayor and commissioners office as well. And so and so each Department will come and present about their budget.
and this is even in the prior years this year, Obviously, as you said, they're getting into a little bit more of the nuts and bolts super
detail of a department, because you have a police department of $175 million. There's a lot there to unpack. So I think in the past years they've looked at things more Of a high level budget,
but more than the commission had time to go through individually.
so the beak was already kind of doing some of those things. I think maybe with the Commissioner might be beginning to is right now,
if they were to make a recommendation and say we've identified something we have concern With or we like or don't like in the xyz department,
they would do that through a motion that would then be transmitted via ltc to be Communicated out to the eye.
that's how the process would be now. I think this here has maybe that's what the Commissioner was getting.
so it has them drafting a document. But if if commissioner magazine, I think maybe that's something we can,
if that's what you're alluding to talking about, Commissioner, but as well. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I guess my concern is that I've spoken over
the years to a couple of members of this committee who were very well qualified to do the Work,
and their frustrations with it were sort of like, Yeah, it was informational and we got an overview of where the money goes,
and that was it. Like these people didn't feel like they were being utilized in any real Advisory capacity to do anything useful.
and I think this is an opportunity to get a fresh set of eyes, To look at things differently than we all do and have done.
and I just want to make sure that there is something for them to actually do and produce For us.
yeah, if I can, I think adding I think tamika mentioned already being adjusted is Providing them the very much detailed.
obviously we are every year have to produce a line item detail budget because we have to Go literally account by account what makes up all those individuals.
so we have all that data. But giving that to the bcc and letting them kind of chew on that Beforehand and then the departments present to them and then they can ask any questions
that they want. What does this tell me a little bit more about this. And perhaps coming out of that, that will give them more to chew on and more to digest and Give some recommendations.
okay. Thank you. Okay. So with that, I believe commissioner fernandez, Make a motion.
yes. I'll second. Commissioner ivan. Yes. So I had a motion from you and a second from Commissioner.
so it is a public hearing. I see no one in zoom, No one in the audience. I call the roll. Yes, commissioner suarez. Yes, Commissioner.
magazine. Yes. Commissioner. Fernandez. Yes. Commissioner dominguez.
yes. Vice mayor mateo- salinas. Yes, commissioner. Bart. Yes. Mayor. Minor. Yes. Motion carries.
second reading. Public hearing is scheduled for march 18th. That was item r5 n r5 n.
r5 m is an order of the mayor city commission of miami beach, Florida, entitled building regulations by amending article seven entitled permits applied
for or on or after march 1st, 2022 by amending division two, Entitled demolition by amending section 14 dash four two,
one thereof entitled notice of demolition to affected persons by creating section 14 422 Thereof entitled one way trapdoor installation prior to demolition and providing for
severability, clarification and an effective date. This is a first reading public hearing. It is item r5 m.
commissioner dominguez. Thank you. The ordinance was requested by the animal welfare Committee in september of last year.
there's been a significant increase in the number of demolitions in recent years, And the city regulates the demolition process in order to protect
the health, welfare and safety of the residents. The demolition of the buildings, the facilities and structures do endanger pets and other Animals that may get trapped in the crawl space beneath the building,
unless a one way trap door is installed at the entry point of the crawl space at least 14 Days prior to any demolition,
and the. This particular ordinance has an adjusted fine schedule, And I'd like to move the item.
second. Let's call the vote. It is a public hearing.
I see no one on zoom, no one in the audience requesting to speak. Speak. I have a motion by commissioner dominguez, Seconded by commissioner suarez. Vice mayor mateo-
salinas. Yes, commissioner. Fernandez. Yes. Commissioner magazine is a yes. Commissioner. Dominguez. Yes. Commissioner. Suarez.
yes, commissioner. Bot. Yes. Mayor. Minor. Yes.
and carried. Second reading. Public hearing is scheduled for march 18th. That was r5 m.
r5 f r5 mayor f f. That's fernandez right. R5 f is an order
to of the mayor north of the city of miami beach. Year 2025 comprehensive plan pursuant to state coordinated review process of section 163 .3184,
subsection four, florida statutes by amending goals, Objectives, policies, and document titles of the comprehensive plan,
including the following elements resilient land use and development, Transportation, housing,
public school facilities, and capital improvement pursuant to florida administrative code Rule 73 c49 as section 163.3191 florida
statutes and title evaluation and appraisal of comprehensive plan, Incorporating necessary amendments reflecting changes in state law and updating the
comprehensive plan based on changes in local conditions since the last updated based on The evaluation appraisal report.
updated adopted on october 16th, 2019, providing for inclusion of the comprehensive plan, Transmittal of ability and an effective date.
this is a first reading public hearing. It is item r5 f mr.
mayor commissioner fernandez. This is just an ordinance that we have to do to comply with State law that requires us to review the comprehensive plan every seven years.
and our planning department and our planning director has worked on this. And with that, I move this item. Okay. So I'm going to say.
so. There is a public hearing. I see no one on zoom and no one in the audience requesting To speak.
if no discussion. May I call the roll? Call the vote. Motion by commissioner fernandez, seconded by commissioner magazine commissioner. Magazine. Yes. Commissioner. Dominguez. Yes.
vice mayor. Mateo- salinas. Yes. Commissioner. Fernandez. Yes. Commissioner. Bok. Yes. Commissioner.
suarez. Yes. Mayor. Miner. Mayor. Yes. Thank you.
second reading. Public hearing is scheduled for april 22nd.
r5 r. R5 is north of the mayor city commissioner miami beach, Making up part
a of the city code entitled general ordinances by amending chapter ten entitled animals by Creating section ten dash 21 entitled interference with trap neuter vaccination return
activities prohibited definitions. Penalties to prohibit interference with specified trap Neuter vaccination return activities.
providing for severability and effective date. R5 r is a first reading public hearing. Commissioner dominguez.
okay, so this came from the animal welfare committee as well.
and by adopting the proposed ordinance which prohibits feeding, Interference, trap tampering and harassment of caretakers and volunteers,
the city seeks to ensure uniformity and alignment with miami-dade county's community.
cat program while strengthening humane cat management practices within the city.
the city recognizes that interference with authorized nvr trap neuter vaccination return Activities,
including feeding, interference, trap tampering, And harassment of caretakers and volunteers undermines the city and the county's goals
related to humane animal treatment. So with that, I'll move the item.
second. Mr.. Well, madam vice mayor, commissioner sparks, Maybe mark can answer this.
so thank you. If there is, you met commissioner dominguez, You mentioned if there's cat feeding,
right? Would it include cat feeding or feeding of animals?
yes. So, for example, you know, there's a cat feeder who regularly comes by my Neighborhood and just dumps a pile of cat food on the
sidewalk. And if I clean it up or I say, hey, Look, you know, can you find another area to put this is that does that constitute
a penalty? No, this is only for specified tnr activities that are authorized by the city And conducted by the city.
okay. I just want to make the ordinance does is that it prohibits somebody feeding in a Manner that interferes with tnr activities.
okay, so if somebody's feeding while there's a vr activity taking place, That would be violation.
got it. Okay. Thanks for that clarification. Does this commissioner mark, Does this
address penalties for people who are interfering with this or harassing authorized cat Feeders?
yeah it does. It has penalties pursuant to the section section ten two and their fines Based on a first,
second or third offense. They're fairly low fines like 50, 100, $200.
but yes because we actually have somebody in, In south beach who is not only letting the dog,
his dog go off leash into the dunes to chase the cats, And he refers to it as go play with the toys,
which is dangerous to the animals. It's destructive to the dunes, But it will eventually end up in somebody getting hurt.
he is harassing the feeders. He is you know, And he doesn't seem to care that he's violating various laws.
so what recourse do we have through this, or do we need to bring something back?
well, like you said, there might be various law violations. Dogs off leash is one thing.
if it's interfering with nvr activities would be two. Potentially. Even going through the dunes would be three. So it just depends on exactly What's happening.
and the one that commissioner bhatt mentioned. I have alerted the police department and mr. Feldman and the area captains are and park Rangers are on alert to find that
person. And if I may, the what you're describing is not covered by this ordinance.
this ordinance again addresses interfering with activities.
what you're talking about is somebody interfering with a legitimate cat feeding program.
so that is addressed by some of the other ordinances that mark mentioned, Such as dogs off leash or going through dunes.
but if we want to have something specific. Oh, Right. Because that's feeding versus denver. Okay. Got it.
correct. Okay. Thanks. Vice mayor commissioner magazine.
I'm sure. I'm sorry. I am about to sabotage any type of reelection chances I'll have.
but I will still ask the question. What is up with the cats at city hall?
I love him. Some people do, and I, I do. Cat ladies, Please know I do, but I do get inquiries
from perhaps other people that do not. And this is also their city hall as well.
so while they could be appropriate in parts, It is very off putting to some people.
not me, not me at all. And nobody on my team that want to access city hall.
and there's nine cats laying on the front steps. I personally love it, but there are people that have contacted me and I'll keep them Unnamed that really question this.
I'll I'll comment is that there is a colony here at city hall. They're all vaccinated, neutered or spayed, and they usually mind their own business.
so if somebody wanted to walk to city hall, you could walk right by them. You won't get attacked by a cat. They're licensed feeders.
feed them twice a day. I mean, we have a better location than on the front of the city Hall steps.
I've never understood that. It's your home, joe. Have you ever tried herding cats? Yeah. Yes. Like commissioner suarez?
no. I'm not. I mean, I don't know. Is somebody. Is this an official program? Is this it is. Yeah.
if you know commissioner. Yeah, the official cat program. And tell me how public works even factors in.
you're not the guy I expected to be standing there. Nor am I, but I'm here for this question. My understanding is, Historically, the cat colonies existed in certain
locations, and as a cat program evolved from the sobby cat program and the city started Working with them,
they kept those colonies and basically feed them where those colonies existed.
and that's just gone on historically over the years. So to the side of the building would be disrupting the colony.
I'm sorry. Could you say if we fed them to the side of the building so they're not? So there's literally not nine cats laying on the steps.
that would be disrupting the colony or. Yes. So they are fed on the side over by taste on That side.
that's where the feeding that I see has occurred. So can we can we if you mind, if we can get back on the topic, Can you give an example of of what would you know.
it would be prohibited in this in this ordinance? Sure. I guess maybe maybe commissioner dominguez maybe you can. I think you're more Plugged into the animal welfare committee than I am.
what what what caused this ordinance to happen?
I'm assuming there was complaints from some of our trappers.
and they've been harassed. But give me an example of how this would help them.
I can't tell you what caused the commissioner. I know I was tasked with drafting it, Obviously. And, you know, obviously, if you interfere with the feeding, If you you know, put food that's not authorized to be put there,
if you were to remove food, if you were to interfere or harass the the cat feeders or Something,
those would be violations of the orders. You're not to remove the food, Not to add additional food,
not to bother them, not to obstruct them. But I just I just asked the question, If someone put food in front of my house and,
and I don't, you know, because my dogs eat it. I mean, dogs always eat the cat food and I always have to tell them no, You know, is that is how does that I mean,
you just told me it did. So how does this not tie into that? That would be that would not be prohibited under this ordinance.
this is for authorized nvr locations, not you just putting food on the sidewalk.
so to clarify, commissioner, if they're trying to trap a particular cat, They're going to withhold food and then they're going to use that food to lure
the cat to the trap. So if somebody goes in the interim and feeds them, Then it kind of defeats the purpose of withholding the food,
of baiting them. So that's kind of where this whole thing started.
okay. Okay. Thank you. Well, I second the. Motion by commissioner dominguez, Seconded by commissioner fernandez.
no one on zoom. No one in the audience. May I call the roll? Yes, commissioner. Bhatt. Yes. Commissioner dominguez.
yes. Mr. Fernandez. Yes. Commissioner suarez. Yes. Vice mayor mateo- salinas. Yes. Commissioner.
magazine. Yes. Mayor. Minor. Yes. Motion carries. Second reading. Public hearing is scheduled for march 18th. That was item r5r c7 you.
c7 you is a continuation is discontinue north meridian avenue and chase avenue.
multi use path projects. It was originally heard at approximately 441.
commissioner mateo- salinas. So I again, I already I pulled this because we did get a lot Of emails to support this
item. Then we got a lot of emails that did not support this item. So I'm a little bit on the fence here, and I want to have a bit more of a discussion about It and get more information from the administration.
would you like to hear from the sponsors? Would you like to hear from the sponsors?
commissioner suarez. Okay, thanks. So I'm opposing the meridian avenue multi-use path Because it places pedestrians and
cyclists directly alongside an active golf course, Fairway in an area where stray golf balls already land beyond the course boundary.
and trust me, it happens every day. If we have to install large protective net nets to Prevent
injuries, that alone tells us that this is the wrong alignment.
a massive net would certainly be expensive, visually intrusive, And be completely inconsistent with a world class golf course along a
residential corridor. And not to mention all the mature trees that would have to be cut Down to accommodate this.
second, this project does not prioritize where bikes are actually used daily.
prairie avenue, for example, kids ride their bikes to beach hai bayshore park and nearby Schools on prairie and prairie already has bike
infrastructure to the north of bayshore park.
if we are serious about safety and safe routes to school, That is where a protected path actually belongs.
so we're also talking about soil contamination remediation, Removal of green space, added hardscape in an area that already floods,
and a projected budget north of $1.7 million.
I think, you know, this project got approved in 2016 and it just recently popped up.
I guess they dusted off the shelves. And when this came to the neighborhood, I mean, just everyone was vehemently
opposed to this. This project and rightfully so, Because when I called the where's john rebar or
john? John come up. I think when I called you about this the concerns I had
from our residence was when. When a car, when when a golf ball accidentally hits a car or A window
or causes damage, the the golf course isn't liable.
no one. It's very hard to prove who exactly caused that golf ball to be hit in
in an error and cause damage. Is that correct? Correct. Yeah. And so the person who gets affected by this is is the resident.
now, I asked you what would change that. So and if we were to build a ten foot concrete Path
replacing green space, could that the bouncing golf ball, Could that possibly
affect more errant balls bouncing and hitting cars or pedestrians or property.
and what you told me was very interesting is that we would be liable, The city would be liable,
or the golf course would be liable if you significantly alter the course of or of a golf Course and make
fundamental changes that might increase that liability.
and then you had to I think that was cip. And then cip told you that, You know, the way they're going to mitigate this is put some more
trees or netting. Okay. And I just I feel like this
project, although it started in 2016, we're at the point now where we're considering Putting up netting and fencing and tearing down trees and
having to put more trees or different trees for a liability that we don't really know, Because there's a lot of bad golfers out there,
and they and they will I certainly don't want to increase the risk of of personal property Damage,
personal injury. And especially if we can consider another alternative, Such as prairie avenue,
where this would be a much more better path. And so, Look, we, you know, we have I think
one caller called in and he said, you know, we have a world class golf course.
and to remove green space on that for for concrete, I think is not the right approach.
so that's what I have to say. Commissioner fernandez is co-sponsor this with me.
thank you very much. I don't know if you wanted to say something. Yeah, Sure. And I think you've enumerated so many of the issues so well,
and I've lived a lot of the history of this project.
you know, since I want to say, at least with the chase avenue, 34th street, 2013, 2014, we've been hearing about this
you know, commissioners that were here at the time were working on this delayed.
commissioner joy malakoff worked, worked on this. And when this went to the community, the residents of the areas have consistently, Consistently raised concerns
over more than a decade of the life of conversations about this project.
I have never seen the neighbors embrace this project.
and while we want to be supportive of pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure as an Important goal to expand in our
city. The proximity of these paths to the golf course raise very legitimate concerns as to Safety.
if it is safe for someone for us to build a shared use path so close to the golf course,
but we already have a path there, just let people use that path.
but today when people try to use that path, what is it that happens?
they're kicked off the golf course because they're told that it's not safe for them to be On that path.
if it's not safe for them to be on that path, Then it's no different. If you are 3 or 4ft away from the existing path.
a path is already there. People are told every day it's not safe for them to walk on that Path.
and I don't know how. Removing mature vegetation and constructing another hard surface, Just 3 or 4
or five feet away, makes it any safer. The residents are against it.
I think it's inconsistent. I think we already have existing hard surfaces there that if Our desire is for there to be a loop,
well then let's go back to the golf club and tell them, Hey, listen, you got to let people walk here.
and then it's everyone at their at their own risk. But the dangers I think there are significant dangers to to, To putting this infrastructure where it's proposed and
we're going to be saving money at the at the end of the day by not moving forward with This,
the meridian avenue, I think it's $1.9 million that that will be saving the chase avenue Shared use path.
david. How much money is the chase avenue shared use path?
total budget for the chase avenue shared use path is 2.2, Of which we've expended almost 600,000.
so we're talking about $4.1 million that we're going to be saving on something that the Neighbors of the area haven't asked for,
haven't wanted. And and we have concerns, I have concerns, I know my neighbors have concerns about the
safety implications. And I know of of those $2.2, 2.2 million, a portion of it is state funding from fdot.
so, so and I think it's like, what, 800,700 or for chase, It's 495,000.
for meridian it is 750 I'm sorry 701,000. So but we're still going to be saving millions Of dollars,
you know, over $3 million. So we're going to be saving for not moving forward with this, With with this project.
I feel very strongly that it's inconsistent with the character of this area.
when you drive down chase avenue. One of the beautiful things about driving down chase Avenue,
it is it is the the only 13 homes in miami beach, The front of the golf course and the have water behind them.
and the beautiful thing about this section of chase avenue, Part of it is the beautiful trees,
the beautiful mature trees that mayor, former mayor, Niece and carson was talking about earlier how when he was mayor,
they invested so much time and energy into the trees that have grown into beautiful Specimens.
and I went out there the other day with cip, And we were walking through some of the trees that will potentially be removed,
and they're trees that they're being removed because they have an inclination.
well, they've sustained the test of time. They've weathered through storms.
those inclinations means mean that they've that they've survived the storm and they're Stronger because of it.
we're going to just remove the tree because it's it's it's got an inclination to make way For more concrete.
so I don't know, I never liked it. The neighbors have never have never liked it.
I think it's inconsistent to say you can't walk on the golf course and then create right Next to the golf course,
parallel to the golf course, another pathway that would be just as dangerous for Pedestrians and bicyclists.
mr. Mayor, I promise. Commissioner dominguez and commissioner bhatt.
thank you. So I'll tell you what's concerning me about these two projects.
with meridian and we received an equal number of pro and con for the project.
it's been in the works for ten years. Fdot was giving us a 700,000 for the meridian Project.
the city has already spent $300,000 in taxpayer dollars for this.
it's a 30% design. So again, here's another project where we've spent money.
it's been worked on for ten years, and we're going to lose the fdot funding. And and the money that's already been spent. The chase avenue project, It's already in the permitting phase.
the city is receiving 500,000 from fdot for this, And we've spent 600,000.
so between the 600,000 on chase and the 300,000 on meridian, That's almost $1 million of taxpayer funds that's wasted
because we would then be canceling this project. So we really need to be better stewards. It's not our fault.
we're inheriting things from past commissions, But canceling projects at the 11th hour when we spent so much money of taxpayer funds its
troubling. Commissioner bhatt. So you know, this is my old neighborhood.
I raised my girls in that neighborhood for 13 years before moving up to north beach, And it's changed a lot.
it it is that stretch of prairie is a speedway.
it is when it's not home to people racing down it it can get very jammed up.
and I know that traffic calming is a real concern.
I, I'm very reluctant to give back money from, From grants that we've received.
so I would propose to my colleagues that we move this discussion to neighborhoods to allow Staff time to consider whether
there is a way to reallocate the funds to, instead of building a shared use path along the Golf course,
which would remove the trees and take away green space, Which I think nobody is super supportive of,
and instead use it to do some kind of on the road sharrows or bike lanes on the roads, Which would
also serve. So you would still have the bike mobility, Connectivity.
it would not interfere with the green space that exists. And it would also serve the additional benefit of being a traffic calming measure by Narrowing a little bit the way that the where the cars
could go. I, I would imagine that fdot has strong thoughts on this sort of thing about Getting money for one project and then reimagining the
project, but I would like to at least have the conversation before we just say we're Canceling it completely and handing back this big check when we do have
a an adjacent set of needs that we could maybe find a way to not move forward with it as Proposed,
as the needs have changed as the community has changed, But move forward with it in a way that actually accomplishes a couple of things that we
collectively care about. Commissioner fernandez, Thank you, mr. Mayor and commissioner, you bring up some very good points through the life of the Discussion of the shared use paths.
we've actually engaged with fdot and our transportation department has over time, And these dollars are specifically for protected
infrastructure. And this fdot grant is very specific about this.
it is for protected infrastructure. And over the course of the life of this project, We've talked with fdot about the possibility of doing sharrows and that type of stuff.
but the focus of these dollars is specifically for the infrastructure to be protected.
I know, jose, I think you've in the past have had those conversations with with fdot.
and so what you're proposing, we've had those conversations in the past. We've asked them in the past, I think this isn't this isn't something that I think the State is going to change their position on because they want the dollar to be for
protected infrastructure. Infrastructure? Not sharrows where where the bicycles are Sharing the road with vehicles.
we've tried having those conversations in the past mr., Mayor, commissioner, suarez and commissioner,
but does bring up a good point. I mean, you know, We got to replace it with something. I think.
I think most of us agree here that replacing greenscape with hardscape is not really Something we want.
so, you know, how about we bifurcate the two, We keep this item.
I'd like to vote on it today. I'd like to give staff direction to to stop this and focus On other infrastructure projects
and let's, you know, maybe you can sponsor an item and I'll co-sponsor it or for sharrows On the street.
and then we can hopefully find funding for that. But, you know, I totally understand commissioner dominguez's point that, You know, we've already spent this money,
but, you know, I don't want to spend good money on bad money spend.
and I understand that it may seem it may seem penny wise and pound foolish, But at the end of the day,
both the neighborhood vehemently opposes this, And it's a serious safety concern.
so, you know, I think I think, you know, we can certainly separate the two and come up With a solution
moving forward and keep this as is. Commissioner, Just I have a question.
the golf course has not been built in the last ten years. So, david, I would ask you if this is a a serious safety concern because of the flying Golf balls.
why was this project even approved ten years ago?
because gravity hasn't changed. Golf balls haven't changed. It's still an issue. We feel confident that the mitigation measures that we are planning Will resolve the risk of errant golf balls,
particularly on the path that's close to those safety measures. But it's netting. It's actually further away the closer you are to the landscaping and the And the netting,
the more protected you are. But what was there any time at which the community thought That netting.
I mean, that is a beautiful part of the city. It's it's green, it's open. It's unencumbered.
there are no high rises. At what point did the community say, Yeah, we love the idea of netting.
never. The netting actually came up in the 30% design for meridian.
the consultant identified actually looked at it and was fairly comfortable that there Wasn't a safety concern.
the netting was added in areas of specific concern as an abundance of caution.
so hypothetically, the project could go forward without the netting.
correct. I mean, golf courses around the world invite pedestrians to walk along their, Their cart paths.
understanding that you are taking a walk on a golf course. And so, you know, buyer beware. So with, with the golf course chasing people off is that Because they don't want the,
the, the liability or what's the deal with that. The, the disadvantage to the use of the golf course is that you won't have the, The protection of the landscaping along the path.
the path is open. So there is more risk in the golf path, The golf cart.
no, but I mean, even with the existing golf course cart path.
I'm hearing that the golf course employees chase off walkers is.
I mean, the walker has a right to be there. No. Or is that a lie? Is that an insurance liability thing that the golf course is saying we Don't want you here or with,
with within the boundary of the golf course proper during golf operations hours, We would never invite people into the cart paths to use them as walking trails.
that would just be a poor decision to do that. And when people do wander in there or go in there intentionally during golf course hours, They are asked to leave.
and it's not only that that if you're familiar with golf courses, Especially the green areas, are very sensitive areas. You treat, you treat them with golf cart care.
so we don't want people riding their bicycles and tricycles and stuff on the course. So there's a whole host of reasons why it's just not a great idea and why.
why couldn't this have been contemplated as why does it have to take up green space?
why couldn't it be put into the roadway itself, Even if it were a hardened infrastructure.
I mean, there again, it's a traffic calming measure. It is actually designed to take place Within the right of way.
it's in the swale area of the right of way that's taking up green space. It's not in the golf course itself, but it's still taking up green space.
so could it not be moved into the road itself to narrow and slow down the speed?
both of the roads don't have sufficient space to do dedicated bike lanes and keep the Travel lanes the way they are.
but wait, wait, wait. Because the 1012 years ago, The very first option for the shared use path that was presented to the neighbors,
and I see yolanda sitting in the audience and barry and they may remember it.
the first option that was presented was not on the golf course or on the right of way.
it was actually on the street. Correct. It was to make the street one way and to put the Infrastructure on,
on the street. And I guess if you know, if that's what you're suggesting, Suggesting there is a way to do it without touching green space and without touching the
mature trees, and that is what hurts the most here is like, You know, we want to increase a canopy in our city,
but yet we're putting we're we're taking out the green canopy that we have.
and then building a path parallel to the path that we're telling people not to walk on Because it's not safe.
it's like it's so absurd. It really. It really. It really is. So, so it's such an oxymoron to me.
so if if there was a proposal to do a protected path and to, To make it one way which would slow traffic,
why did we go so far astray from that? Jose, Do you want to step up and talk about the different levels of protection for
facilities? And before before you do that respectfully? I mean, I'm getting messages of like literal pictures of cars and dents in their cars of Of errant golf balls.
now, excuse me. Matthew. It's happening now. So if we're going to increase that liability And the solution is netting.
I don't I really don't like where this is going because, You know, commissioner bhatt like you said,
it's a beautiful it's a beautiful scape. I don't want to see I don't want to see netting. I don't see 50 foot netting along the golf course.
I don't think anyone wants to see that. And so I, I mean, this this is starting to get into,
you know, into a territory that perhaps is very uncomfortable for, For people that live there.
you know, to, to do something where we can accommodate this with the infrastructure that We have.
so sorry to let me let you continue, jose. No worries. Commissioner. So in terms of a little bit of background and history on, On these projects,
our master plan, ten years old. But the goal of the master plan was to build out a network Of bicycle facilities that are
interconnected and safe. First and foremost, Safe at the master plan level, we didn't know whether or not some protection was needed
at that time. The the protection and the different options of the protection really came Came about during the design development process.
however, our master plan did try to to leverage the golf courses in our city and to try to Use the existing golf courses because
it's just it's a natural draw. Many people jog around the golf courses walk.
so it it was almost a no brainer, if you will, To use our golf courses as part of that off road bicycle network,
which tends to be safer than an on road bicycle network.
I recall at that time there was also there was not a there was not a lot of support to Widen the streets for bicycle
lanes. I recall having those discussions for prairie avenue, For example, some of the streets in the bayshore neighborhood.
the neighborhood wanted to keep the streets narrow and didn't want to add asphalt to the Street for solely for bicycle lanes.
so at that time, the decision was made to explore and try to to leverage our golf courses As much as possible.
that's really the impetus to the concept of using the golf courses.
now, in terms of the protection, there's different types of protection. Some golf courses have very mature trees that can act as a buffer.
and you know kind of divert any errant golf balls.
in this case, on meridian, there really isn't a lot of mature trees there.
so that's where the net idea came about during the design.
okay, I guess I was just hoping you could talk a little bit about the hierarchy of Physical facilities,
whether it's an on street sharrow, whether it's a expansion of the street through a Dedicated bicycle facility,
a protected bicycle lane. And then I guess the the highest and best is a off
road, off road, shared use path. That was, I think, The leaning of the consultant that did the master plan was to try to have as
many off street shared use paths as possible to eliminate the conflict.
were looking at that point in time at, you know, What was the potential interaction with the golf course or what was,
you know you know, potential unintended consequence. I think it was trying to maximize the amount of highest and best protection for the Bicycle network as they were doing the master plan.
that's that's correct. Yeah. Clearly an off road path eliminates any vehicles, Any conflicts with vehicles.
so it's the safest facility for for cyclists.
combined with the fact that there was no there there was no appetite to widen streets in The bayshore neighborhood for bicycle lanes.
that's what well, I mean, I can tell you firsthand that, You know, I think the bayshore neighborhood would fully be supportive of a little bit of
widening on the existing roads, then a forever net in front of their houses.
and and look, I mean, in full disclosure, I live on bayshore. I live on the street. Many of my neighbors came to me and said, Hey, david, we need your help on this.
we don't want to see this in front of our house, And rightfully so.
because, you know, this, this just kind of changes everything about where you live.
right. And you see it all the time. It's not just when you come down from south of fifth On a bicycle and try to go through.
so and not to mention the fact that this might potentially cause more harm to property and Personal injury
by bouncing golf balls, which happens now, and it could be increased with this.
so you know, I think, like I said, I think we can we can accomplish both.
I think we can come back to the drawing board and say, Hey, how what's the best way to really connect the bike network?
I'm an avid scooter rider, obviously. I'm for smart shared use projects.
I think this one really jumped at skis and is not good for either the neighborhood or Potentially puts
cyclists and pedestrians at risk. Right. You know, If this project to move forward.
but, mr. Mayor, you know, I'd like to hear from the public some public comment.
I think there's some members here to speak. Can I just ask one more question before we Hear from the public? Jose,
we put bike usage counters on meridian and 17th or 16th.
do we know? And I think we've got about 30,000 ride counts since we installed those Counters a few months ago.
I don't have the number with me. Commissioner. I don't want to misspeak. So.
exactly. Sure. It's. It's about 30,000. So right now, When people come up meridian, they have to take a right or a left onto
dade, you know? Right. Presume they want to keep going north and then take a left onto Whatever the next street over.
I've only been here 23 years. Why should I know the street names? Thank you. Prairie. So there is clearly a need for connectivity.
and I would argue that not having to write a long date is probably safer than having to Write a long date.
so I think I do think it's worth going back to fdot.
I understand that over the process. Commissioner fernandez, You've asked them about monies for hard hardened
bike lanes not being repurposed for different kinds of bike lanes, Protected bike lanes versus not specifically this project.
understood. But but that that's over the course of the last ten years, Literally, tallahassee is in the process of trying to figure out how to make it safer to
use micromobility devices. And while this isn't specifically exclusively for devices, Maybe there is
a possibility of a willingness to return most of the money, But keep a little bit of it to put together sharrows to help protect people
on micromobility devices, on a more protected path in riding along data.
I think it's worth the conversation with them. At least they can say no and take a jump. But we why wouldn't we ask before we just refund The money?
we'd be happy to speak with fdot just based on experience with other similar projects.
as soon as the scope of of work changes, then at that point, Fdot considers that the process has been tainted,
if you will, and they withdraw the funds. We had a recent experience with 17th street bike Lanes.
that project where we the original grant application included a transit lane and a bicycle Lane.
and we went back to fdot and we said we can move forward with the bicycle lane.
we're not there yet to move forward with a dedicated transit lane. And they said, you've changed the project scope.
the you know, the the process has now been it's been tainted and they withdrew the funds.
it is an unfortunate way of doing business, but okay. I still think it's worth the question. Mr. Mayor, If I could commissioner magazine.
do we have any renderings of what this net could look like?
how tall are we thinking? This is not driving range netting.
what was proposed was pedestrian scale 8 to 10ft within or adjacent to the landscaping.
just to protect the what I refer to as the line drive shot that would impact or could Impact pedestrians.
as I'm looking at a map visualizing this. So we're talking about netting, Running what, maybe four feet,
six feet in from where the track would be essentially from dade down into the 20s, Just on the
inside of what, where the existing tree line is up around 28th to the corner of prairie And 28th is the path,
not the netting. The netting is only in certain areas that that we've deemed to be high Risk or higher risk.
I don't mean to sound dramatic, but correct me if I'm wrong. That sounds visually and esthetically awful. Would you not a test?
would you agree? No. I am I'm not sure I would agree only because it's within the Landscaping itself.
it is black. Black tends to disappear in the landscaping and it would be less impactful Than,
than I think is, is being. But it doesn't hang right. I mean, it'll be it's held up by poles. Yeah, That that sounds awful.
rick, not to put you or mark on the spot, but when I was a freshman.
commissioner and ambitious that we could take on these large projects.
I proposed a pedestrian path or exploring a pedestrian path in this area.
because I know it's so great to walk within our parks and on the beach.
walk in our bay walk. I said, what if we did something, You know, kind of around the golf course there,
and you and mark actually did some pretty significant legwork and came back and said, I hate to come back with no.
but from a legal perspective, any type of alteration, Any type of impediment that we do onto the golf course puts us at immediate
liability. Yeah. You're correct. We we had looked at this at the time.
I believe mark was involved. I think henry hunfeld in my office was involved as well.
and the general consensus was that by making changes, We were actually increasing the, the,
the exposure to the city. So people bike along meridian.
we basically have no liability. And I hate to view life through that lens, But it's the reality of the world that we live in now.
but the second that we essentially construct a path within the confines of the golf Course,
we're essentially saying, yes, go ahead, boom, You get hit and it becomes our fault.
and the moment someone gets hit and they'll come back and they'll watch this video, They'll see our deliberation about having this conversation,
about the possibility of that person on that path being possibly being hit and hurt.
and you know, how some of us were expressing concerns about it.
and it'll be used. It'll be used against the city in in litigation if it's not safe.
three feet away. No tree, no netting is going to make it safer because we all see the Accumulation,
the accumulation. I mean, I have neighbors, I have neighbors that have buckets full of Full of golf balls.
by there, by by their door. It's just it's I feel it's it's irresponsible.
and and I never felt comfortable fighting it because it's it's it's a street that I live On.
but but the neighborhood has never has never liked this.
the neighborhood has very strongly and vocally spoken out against this.
and the people who I have seen that support this, You know, I get their desire for bicycle and pedestrian certain infrastructure,
but they don't live in the neighborhood. They're not directly impacted by the change of The character that removing mature landscaping is going to cause.
they're not going to be impacted by the change of character, Of adding more hardscape.
they're not going to be impacted by by the netting that's going to be placed there.
it's not going to it's not going to happen in their in their neighborhood. It's going to Be happening in front of someone else's home.
and I'm very sensitive. I know we have parents in the audience that are concerned about Bicycles you know,
hitting their children in front. In front of their home. We have a specific case of of the shared use path that goes directly into someone's yard.
and that parent, over the years, has consistently spoken up and raised their voice about The dangers that that bicycle can place on their on their
children fears of backing out and hitting a bicycle because of the way that the shared use Path would intersect with their
with with their property. There's a lot of concerns. There's never been complete buy in from from from the neighborhood.
I like the idea of seeing what alternatives we could do. I think we should always be looking for for those alternatives.
and I think, you know, we can have a conversation about that in land use or neighborhoods.
but I just don't think it's right to continue investing in this project.
if the support is not there from the neighborhood. And, mister mayor, if I could just follow up on one issue jose, Is meridian a road that
by auto and life is relative, right. So I'm not saying it's never used, But it doesn't seem to be one of our most
highest use or most traversed roads from automobiles, Correct?
in comparison to other roads. So wouldn't it make sense to do speed mitigation measures on That street that
actually slow the ability for cars? It could be a raised pedestrian pathway, Right.
so cars can't build up a lot of speed, which will inherently make it much safer for that To be a road that can be shared
between a bicycle and automobile without a designated lane. We're doing that. So we're doing that. There are traffic calming devices that are being Proposed as part of the bayshore neighborhood traffic calming project,
and that starts in july. That project starts sometime in july. We start putting it in the ground in july. Yeah, It's currently bidding.
it should be starting in july. So I mean, there's there is a very very well planned Bayshore traffic calming project that to
the neighborhood association that's present here today that the neighbors have worked on With the city,
specifically to make conditions on the street safer for bicyclists, Safer for pedestrians,
because there has been instances and I think the traffic studies at this at this point, They're like ten years old.
and yes, there are instances of speeding on on the street, But the way to do that is by creating the proper build environments where the traffic
calming addresses that rather than placing people and perhaps a more dangerous Environment,
which is right where the golf balls are flying. So I just really don't understand why, you know, These are all valid concerns.
and I I just don't understand why this was approved ten years ago.
I mean, again, the physics of golf ball flight has not changed in ten years, And the golf course has been there.
and so if people have been so dead set against it, Why was it approved? Why wasn't something else approved that accomplished the goal of enhanced safety for Bicyclists with sharrows
and connectivity, or maybe even divider a little the little delineator.
you know, whatever. Whatever the options are. Without contemplating netting and removing Trees and building into the swale.
like I just like the facts on the ground haven't changed. How about we. How about we? But I can tell you just, You know, from having been involved in that process ten years ago.
you know, I have great respect for everyone who has served on this dais because people Make great sacrifices to serve on this day as commissioners.
the commission ten years ago, plus ten plus years were not very inclined to listen to the Neighborhoods.
and and they were just full throttle that we were going to do this, This bicycle master plan,
and we were going to do this, and we were going to do this, And getting any changes was very difficult.
we were able to, as part of those conversations, Get traffic calming, which is the real concern.
the amount of speeding I think we have the consistency of plus ten miles an hour over the Speed limit is pretty high,
based on an old study, I'm sure. Now the, you know, The numbers are probably worse now, but the commission at the time was just like,
this is what we're going to do, and you're going to have to live, What with what we're going to,
to, to do. I also I don't know if, if you, if you have a different recollection of it, But I mean,
is that what happened ten years ago when when this came up?
I'm so sorry. I didn't hear the last two. If you could come up to the podium.
elena, if you can come up to the podium so we can all hear.
commissioner bada was asking, why is it that ten years ago the commission moved forward With this notwithstanding,
or withstanding the neighborhood opposition, That they still moved forward with this?
I'll be honest with you. As far as the neighborhood is concerned, I mean, we he's, right?
we didn't want broadening of streets because our streets are wide enough as it is.
we didn't want the bike lanes to go along the areas that are now suggested, And it was still shoved down our throat.
the first and foremost thing is times have changed.
I mean, it's been ten years since this plan was approved, Even more since this plan even was in the works.
things have changed within the neighborhood right now. And I mean, I prepared a little speech to make it easier, So maybe I'll just run through it right now real quick.
first, conditions within bayshore have drastically changed since 2012 2016.
whichever date you guys are using, our traffic congestion has skyrocketed.
where we have bumper to bumper traffic in the neighborhood regularly, Not just during special events,
but on any given day. These conditions aren't safe for anybody.
bicyclists, pedestrians, I mean cars. That bumper to bumper traffic creates such a.
heavy duty burden on the neighborhood and then to throw.
now let's change paths. Let's do this. Let's do that. We have our priorities clear in the neighborhood, And that is to reduce and calm the vehicular traffic first and foremost for the
neighborhood, which is for the greater good of everyone. Okay. Secondly, granted, losing the trees and the green space along the golf course with a Paved
path contributes to our existing flooding issue and goes against community priority of Preserving green space.
in addition, neither one of these paths are a direct line to any of our schools, Public or private.
at our last community meeting that I do believe the majority of commissioners were present As well as administration.
I think we spoke very clearly what bay shore's priorities are, Which is traffic, flooding and the crime.
so, I mean, we just don't this is just not on the radar for us at all.
I understand there might be other avenues to take.
fine. But, I mean, does it have to go down meridian or along the golf course in general, Where you're really disrupting the character of that
whole neighborhood? So, I mean, as far as bayshore was concerned, This was never something we really hardcore wanted,
but we still got part of it. We have the bike lanes down prairie.
you know, it's a stripe on the street and that's fine.
any anyone else from the public? Yes.
mayor commissioners. Barry miller, landscape architect.
I'm not here very often, you know, coming to you with solutions that cost less money.
we are in the business of doing projects with cip for the last 30 or 40 years, But in this case,
we think we we can come up with some alternatives that commissioner fernandez had Suggested.
I think commissioner suarez had alluded to also, Commissioner magazine bhatt of of using what we have now and just thinking,
you know outside the box, if you will, or inside the box.
we fought a long time ago, 15, 20 years ago, And got and got prairie avenue reduced to 20ft to reduce in traffic calm in front of the
school from 28th street to dade boulevard. That happened a long time ago.
that ever happened to meridian. Meridian is now about 23, 24ft.
what we think one alternative could be is to put the sharrows on.
if you guys have suggested, coupled with the speed bumps along prairie avenue, He would not have to put an extra path there in front of the residential
or with a swale is in front of the school parking lot. You just use prairie avenue and slow it down.
way down like you did on la force in pine tree. That's that's where you did based on neighbors kind of input.
cars are going way too fast and they do go fast on meridian.
really, it's just straight away essentially. So I'm not sure how many speed tables are Being proposed on meridian.
I believe I believe 303. Yeah. 3 or 4. I think maybe I'm on legacy pine tree.
I measured it in google earth today. It's about every 500ft. You have a table. You cannot go fast on that unless you want to go flying at the same Time.
there's no bike path there. Bikes go down there all the time. They go through the outsides where the where the table stops.
so we think prairie avenue is the best way. Connects the school least path of resistance School to the existing bike paths on the in the north side,
down to the botanical garden and to city hall. So that's number one option. Number two option would be if you need to spend the dot money Someplace is to do the same on narrow
the street. It's about 2324. Narrow it for traffic calming on meridian.
put the speed tables there as well. And you get the bikes much further away from from the The offending balls,
golf balls flying all over. So there's a couple options there. I think you spend a lot less money. And you know, If dot is an issue, you can still spend it there.
but as a landscape architect, yeah, I would agree. There's no reason to take out. There's a lot of really big, Mature trees.
it's not like they're easy to move. They're very expensive. I think the plan also calls for this kind of hodgepodge lighting distribution, Where you're putting in new lights with the acorn lights.
it just doesn't. That doesn't make much sense to the design.
so anyway, that's we'd be happy to help and work with the city.
thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon, mayor and commissioners.
my name is brian. I've been living at 3186 prairie ave since 2013.
I own the home. I've lived there with my wife and two children and have met with many of You all on this subject.
ten years ago, there was no e-bikes and scooters. Those things travel very fast. Putting them onto this type of path would be a serious risk To anybody who is on it.
ten years ago, there were far lesser concerns about flooding.
adding more hardscape will increase and exacerbate flooding.
ten years ago, we didn't have the traffic we have in the neighborhood. I think a great solution would be to put in speed tables and maybe some sharrows for eight Years.
my neighbors and I have respectfully and consistently opposed placing shared use path Along the perimeter of the miami beach golf course and through our public swells.
I've submitted dozens of signed letters from residents who own property in bayshore on the Subject,
and it's time to bring this to an end. This proposal is outdated.
it was conceived before chronic flooding became a defining issue of bayshore, Before widespread use of high speed e-bikes and scooters.
the realities today are different. Their current design includes a 6 to 8 foot fence along The golf course,
which is simply too short to protect anybody. If you need proper protection, you need 100 150 foot tall netting like on a driving range.
the miami beach golf course is a world class public asset. Turning it its edge into a fence transportation corridor will diminish its character and Impact the homes that border it.
the people who live there simply do not want this.
please support this measure to terminate all future conversations so we can put this to Rest.
I don't have to keep coming back in this room. Okay. Thank you. I can vouch for all the advocacy you just mentioned.
okay. Thank you for that. I have one last question for commissioner bhatt.
you mentioned 30,000 cyclists were measured going through the area in that time.
were there other incidents with cyclists and vehicles like.
I don't have the data. I just my my aide just texted me the number. But and it's not just cyclists, it's it's micro mobility devices.
so it could be scooters, bikes, ebikes just not cars.
okay. We can get you the information. I just don't have it. My children are 11 and 12 years old. For their entire lives, We've been biking scootering skateboarding through the neighborhood more than anybody
else. More than anybody in the neighborhood. We've been using it, And I teach my kids how to bike safely through the neighborhood.
we go down, you teach everybody else how to bike safely. Please. But I'm already an avid. If you hear a car coming.
pull over onto the grass. Just be clear. Just to be clear, This is meridian south of dade.
so it wasn't 30,000 people in your neighborhood. It was is the stretch. Yeah. So near here, like in the city center.
I'm not aware of any incidents in the neighborhood with between cars and cyclists. And let's keep it that way and we'll hopefully keep it that way. So I don't think this is Necessary adding all that hardscape not consistent with the neighborhood.
thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Brian. Matthew, we'll see you. Good evening, mayor and commissioners.
I think this is like the 12th time that I've spoken about chase avenue.
last week, this time, I didn't think I'd be talking about it. I didn't think I'd even be Here. Look,
this is deeply frustrating. It's a project that's been approved twice.
we work together with many stakeholders. I reached out to yolanda here twice.
didn't hear back. The bayshore neighborhood president. But I think it's important that we have open dialog here and we hear concerns.
I know because I've seen the plans because it's on the design review board agenda.
let's bring the plans up on the screen. We're talking about it, And many people here don't understand what is actually at risk or planned or proposed.
the pathway is not in the golf course. Is that right? It's all within the public right of Way. That's correct. That's correct. This has gone through how many different fdot reviews did You work with the golf course coming up with the project?
I mean, there are there are so many different things. This isn't something that came out Of nowhere, but I think we need to have full transparency.
we need to. We you, the decision makers, need to see the plans of any of you seen the Plans yet?
I have. Okay, so we've got one out of. Everyone has seen the plans on the agenda.
I've seen them. Meridian avenue is one of the few north south routes.
as someone who drives in this city, when you want to go somewhere and there's congestion On alton road and there's congestion on pine tree and collins avenue,
guess what? People choose meridian avenue to get there. So and it is a collector, which means that it is designed to handle a large number of Cars.
we even heard from the bayshore neighborhood association that at times there's an extreme Amount of traffic.
the off street path is the best way, but I'm not here to lecture you about this.
I just want to have a process here that's transparent, That takes into account the bike master plan.
I mean, how many projects have I come here not advocating for just asking as part of the Community here that you not kill a project,
that you not take something that people have spent so many years on. It's exhausting to just be on the defense the whole time.
the city has changed people now people are riding bikes has increased dramatically, Whether they're e-bikes or micromobility or regular bikes.
so I think it is important that we take this into account.
finally, look, I just want to say we all live in the city together, Whether we live in south beach,
mid-beach north beach, whether we live in a single family home, Whether we live in a brand new home mcmansion,
whether we live in a 400 foot condo. You know, We all live together, and the streets are for everyone,
not just the people that live right next to them. This project is these projects are not just for those people.
they're for everyone in the city. So you're going to lose your credibility with these Grant projects.
I have sat on panels reviewing these fdot grant projects, And one of the things is community buy in is do these do these organizations,
these agencies, do they follow through? They're not going to vote for any miami beach Plans in the future.
I'm sorry. And this is like the second or third time that this has happened. But anyway, I want to close with unity. Let's work on what's best for everyone.
work together for what's best for everyone in the city. And let's put those plans on the screen, please. Thank you. Hi, My name is matt crane, and I
have a house on meridian, 2489 meridian, which is right across from the golf course.
it's about four homes up from the corner. And he brought up a good point that, You know, the city is for everybody.
and you know, I, I agree with that. I think that bikers should be able to get around the City.
however, that's not really the objection that I hear people coming up with.
it's not that, you know, people in the neighborhood don't want bikers in the neighborhood.
there's there are serious issues with this path, And I'm not going to say anything new that hasn't been said.
but flooding is one issue in front of my house. There's a tremendous amount of flooding every time it rains hard.
and adding more pavement to the neighborhood seems crazy to me.
there's a huge brand new house on each side, You know, that's a lot of pavement.
and there's, you know, the street is very, very wide already. That's a lot of pavement. And to actually add more pavement and take out grass and trees Seems crazy to me.
I also think that it's a very valid point that people's property values will be affected By this,
especially if there is black mesh netting that runs across the golf course.
now, you mentioned things about certain hot points. You know, I don't think that's realistic. I realistic.
I think golf balls can go every which way all over the place. So I think what's going to happen is there's going to be a lot of netting.
maybe it's going to be the whole, you know, way people are paying a lot of money for those Homes.
they're paying a lot in taxes for that view and for that neighborhood and to simply, You know,
put, put this project in place. Now it's going to affect people in a very, Very negative way.
thank you, mr. Mayor. I'd like to move the item.
second, we also have zoom callers. We have three nicole de moura.
nicole, please unmute yourself. Can you hear me? Yes. So I live on meridian ave, and I understand the frustration from the members of the Biking community.
the project has been discussed, as they said, For nearly ten years, and I can appreciate how long that must feel.
but that's probably a discussion for another day. Why projects take so long to move Forward in miami beach.
but as a gentleman said prior to me, a great deal has changed over the past decade.
I've lived here for only two years, and just until recently I had no idea about this Project.
but I can attest that in the past ten years, Our neighborhood has evolved significantly, including dramatic increases in property
values along our street. So I've opposed the path for several reasons.
first, the plan calls for installing netting, As was discussed along the golf course, which raises an important question why is netting
necessary? The answer has been clear because placing a path alongside a golf course Presents an inherent safety risk.
and if the city itself acknowledges the danger by proposing netting, That should give us all pause.
no homeowner whether their home is valued at $10 or $10 million, Wants to look out their window at large safety netting.
this will directly and negatively impact the character of our street and the value of our Homes.
second, I fully agree that the biking community deserves safe infrastructure. The question is not whether cyclists deserve safety.
they absolutely do. It's how can we achieve it responsibly and cost effectively?
are there practical alternatives that were discussed that would improve safety without Spending millions of dollars or altering the character of our neighborhood?
for example, the existing greene bike lanes on meridian could simply extend beyond dade Boulevard.
the city has already moved forward with installing the speed bumps.
the bit has been published as stated. Additionally, I would recommend that meridian be designated a no passing zone right now.
cars pass each other along our road at high speeds. These measures would significantly improve safety for both cyclists and drivers.
if the city would like to invest $1 million in a bike path, Then maybe they should consider a better location,
such as along the golf course on day. Sorry. The next caller is zeno.
hey everybody, it's zeno. I am a resident on meridian, And I'm in opposition to the multi-use path.
I agree with a lot of the points made in favor of c7, So I won't repeat any of those.
I'm a big fan of the iterative approach. What are the highest priority problems right now That can be solved with the least amount of money?
so highest return. And I think traffic calming flood mitigation, Other things are much more important than this.
last thing I want to see is a top golf right outside my house. So thank you guys for taking this issue seriously.
I hope you don't get it passed. Thank you. Our last caller is daniel giraldo.
yes. Hi. Commissioners. Daniel sprawldef, resident of miami beach and a taxpayer.
and it's very upsetting once again to see something funded by grant funds and by tax Money,
which is now at risk of being destroyed because a commissioner is worried about the view Out of his window.
this bike path is very much needed. I'm someone that goes down that street often, And the cars just speed by all the time.
it's, you know, accident waiting to happen. The other thing I agree with matthew is that We need to have renderings that folks that just moved there who think that if six
foot net 100ft away is going to really impact their view, They would benefit from a rendering.
you know we got to solve this conflict of interest items.
this commissioner, I think, has lived in three different places since he was elected.
if he moves again, what other project will be canceled because he doesn't want it?
so please follow your staff recommendation and move forward. Thank you. Vice mayor. Let's call the vote. Call the vote.
I need a motion, please. I moved second, I have a motion by commissioner suarez, Seconded by commissioner fernandez.
c7. You all in favor? Please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed?
and the. After the the after resolution to investigate traffic calming measures and bike Lanes on prairie.
so you want that as an after the fact? We have traffic calming. I meant meridian. So you want after the fact?
yes, please. Okay. With an after the fact c7 you is approved plus after the fact and that For can I.
can I be a co-prime with you on that? Sure. Thank you. Oh, I love it. Camaraderie. We're lovebirds today.
love that. Don't get ahead of yourself, buddy. Love.
thank you, colleagues, I appreciate it. I think it's nice to see. It's all. It's all good. Let's call. Who wants to ride on my coattails?
he's. Welcome. I think I think we need to go. I think we need to get back on our 80s workout outfit. We're doing so well.
c7 ab proposed eminent domain for all houses east of the golf course.
c7 ab oppose hb 399 large destination resorts.
commissioner fernandez. Following up on your email from yesterday and commissioner Dominguez.
yeah, it truly is alarming to see yet again the legislature trying to become the zoning Board for the city of miami beach.
these are the the powers of our historic preservation board are so important.
and when someone sees that they might not be getting their way before our our historic Preservation board,
our legislature shouldn't be facilitating circumventing people, The residents, the taxpayers of this community who deserve to have a right to be
heard and who deserve for, for for applications having to do with historic properties to Be vetted based on objective criteria.
and so and so, you know, my email yesterday laid it out clearly. I'm going to move the item just for the benefit of time.
but I think we're all probably in agreeance that, You know, independent of our positions on,
on on this project preemption and advancing projects through preemption should never be Tolerated.
I second. Well, said, commissioner fernandez.
call the vote. All in favor of c7 ab, please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? It's approved. Seven zero c7 ab.
let's call r nine. Ad. Nine. Ad. Discuss. Possible motion to reconsider fpl easements.
commissioner fernandez. Thank you, mr. Mayor. I place this item on the agenda because of the public safety and neighborhood quality of Life committee.
we were getting an update on the fifth street bridge on the fifth street pedestrian Bridge.
and and and there were concerns about communication coordination with fpl and with a Developer who's building a general
obligation bond project on behalf of, of the city.
and so, you know, just for the benefit of time, My proposal would be simply to tell the city manager,
hey, listen sign the easement agreement. Once you feel that all parties have exhausted all Efforts
rather than repealing, just simply ask you, mr. Manager. Once you feel that we're all on the same page, That we've all exhausted our efforts at that point sign,
because at the end of the day, you know, this is a voter approved general obligation bond Project.
the developer is concerned that there has been uncertainty as to the accuracy of the Location of critical transmission lines coming into our city to serve
13,000 people. And so and so there has to be coordination.
and I know fpl has been trying to be a good partner, Coming to the table, offering to do some digging and funding that digging up to up to a
certain point. But we need to make sure that those conversations and negotiations continue Smoothly so that we don't hold up this important infrastructure project,
which is the pedestrian bridge over the macarthur causeway. Are you comfortable? If we provide you with that direction?
yes. All right. I'll make that motion. If I could, Madam. Yes. Commissioner. Mr. City manager, can you give a one minute synopsis of what's going On?
because people are getting bits and pieces all over. Can you give a one minute synopsis? And then I have a follow up question or two.
so I don't know if I can deliver it in one minute, But I can try.
it is a situation where we have a team designing the pedestrian bridge.
they've designed the foundations at least twice now, And in each of those instances, when they designed it based on the information that they
had available to them on utility locations, additional information became available Saying,
oh no, we do have utilities in that location. And so we're now looking at a potential third redesign.
that third redesign is drawing out the process, Drawing out the costs, and is creating a lot of friction.
we just need to have some clarity as to where the utilities are located, So that we can design it one more time and be done with it.
so what is the timeline now for this project, And is the entire project's viability in question if we do not
sugarcoat it, please. I'm not sugarcoating anything. If we cannot get clarity as to where these utilities are located, Then there may be too much liability at stake for the
design team or the contractor to want to move forward with these uncertainties.
so we've been sitting here promising this to our residents.
it was in a geo bond. I got involved in the city before my daughter was born for this Project.
whose fault is this? And if you don't want to take that on, There's representatives from the development team that's here.
the lady from fpl calls me and tells me she'll give me her side of the story every day.
I want it here in public. Who's fault is this? This isn't like. Oh, we we both tried and just couldn't make it happen.
this is somebody's fault. There were things in the ground and we didn't know they were There.
that doesn't just happen. And I know it's not our fault. I'm going out on a limb saying it's not the city's fault.
I think there's 2 or 3 culpable parties, perhaps in your assessment, Who was at fault.
so as a utility owner, they're saying that as the city.
the city is a utility owner. There are many times that we believe that we have utilities In a certain location,
and we find out later that they are not exactly where we believed they were.
so I do have a little bit of sympathy, maybe for another utility owner that is in that Same situation.
but they as a city is our primary business. Owning and locating utilities.
is that our primary business model? It's not our primary business, But it's one of our one of a million different things.
could I interject just just just for one second, Just to close that out. If you are a publicly traded, multibillion dollar corporation and that is your primary Business model,
you should have a little higher standard of knowing exactly what's happening.
but go ahead, commissioner or city manager. Yeah. And I just wanted to mention, you know, I think and I want to, You know, thank both parties.
I know that the developer who's taking on the project for for the city has been investing A lot of time,
a lot of effort in working with fpl and fpl is doing stuff that is unconventional for for Fpl to do.
if I were to answer your question, who would I say is responsible? I would say usac. Who is the company that is sent out there to identify?
I mean, this is just me. I mean, I'm I'm just a layperson. I mean, I'm not an engineer. Just seeing it from a very from from a distance.
they're the ones that came out here three times. They're the ones that said, okay, this is where the utility is.
and then it wasn't there. And then a second location then now it's a third location.
and because of that inconsistency of not pinpointing exactly where this utility is, It's the concern that is raising now about about the
liability if if the developer starts drilling.
and what if this company was wrong again? What if this company. City manager's reaction. I'll turn it to him.
for if you agree with that assessment. So unfortunately, I'm not so sure that I can put them first in line.
ubcic is is a locate company. They're only as good as the information that they're Provided.
so who provided the wrongful wrongful information? Am I mis wording that it is factually wrong? So we have gotten very inconclusive Information
from the utilities that are out there. Ultimately, Please.
what's that binding primarily fp and l some information on our side
from the water lines that are being relocated has been challenging.
I can't say that we were perfect either. But that's not what's driving it now.
the water has been relocated. That's out of the way.
the challenge at this moment in time is the location of the fpnl directional drill that Goes underneath the the
the macarthur bridge at a depth of somewhere between 30 and 40ft.
and we have drilled shaft piers for the foundation of the bridge that when they were doing A test hole,
they came in contact with one of the hdpe, we believe, Sheaths of those transmission lines.
and that that is what is causing us a great deal of consternation right now, Because if we hadn't done the test hole,
if we had just done a auger, we could have potentially hurt somebody and we could have Potentially knocked out power to 13,000
people. A lot of big words. I'm going to dumb it down to a simple mind that even myself Can understand,
and then maybe turn it over to. I guess this gentleman is from fpl. Tell me if I'm wrong. We had this project for the pedestrian bridge.
it needs to land somewhere and it needs to originate somewhere. Part of that is a design critical to that design is the underground utilities and where Those are placed.
fpl told us they were placed in spot x when drilling actually happened.
they were placed in spot y, and that could have caused the critical catastrophe.
thankfully, it did not. But now, because the projects were designed with the utilities Being placed where fpl said they were.
and it's in an alternative location. The designs that we've done several times now are not Viable,
and when we do these designs, it's not just we go back for a week.
this is a year long process. So if we have to redesign again the design will take a year And then it has to go through permitting.
so we're talking about an extension of this project that should have been started years Ago is now at least two years out.
and now perhaps the entire viability of the project may not even work.
so I would agree with most of what you said. The only thing that I would tweak slightly is The first time,
or maybe the first two times out there it was us.
esi based off of information that they had gotten from fpl, Who were they there locating company?
they basically they go out there and paint the lines that everybody hates on the sidewalk.
oh, I hate them too. They are. They are awful. They are. Fpl is better at us. I mean, where's their accountability to our city?
I mean, they make it look like absolute trash. But we'll get to them. Okay, let's. We have fpl in front of us.
fpl has been very responsive. I mean, they've they've come to the table. You know, we've we've brought light to this issue ever since that that public safety Meeting where we were discussing this they've been in
touch with alice and hector over, over at the developers team.
so we're seeing progress. But I just I don't feel comfortable with the city manager Signing these easements that we approved at the last meeting.
until we have certainty that we're going to that we're going to, You know, really have clear a clear path forward,
because as you said, commissioner the city has been working on this for so long, And and it could threaten the the possible viability of this entire
project. Yeah. When when I go to publix and talk to voters, I don't get to sit there and go,
oh, I try fpl. They did this or us esi they did this or the developer did this.
they go, you're elected. Here was the promise.
it's not happening. We get that blame, right? We do. So how does this move forward? Well, we made a motion, And I think the administration is working
is having meetings and conversations, I think david martinez. David gomez and yourself have been, have, have been liaison working with fpl and with and With the developer.
so I think they just need time to figure this out. Mr. Manager, so right now how I see this moving forward is ultimately the fpl has agreed To go out there and soft dig
their line from alton road until it drops away too deep for them to be able to soft dig, So that at least will know the approximate
location. What the infrastructure is is a single conduit with multiple lines inside.
is it multiple conduits? We don't even know that level of certainty right now.
and based on that information, we can give that to the design team and see if they have Enough to be able to move forward with a revised
design. We also need to verify with fpl that two other line locates that they've done.
are those clear now or are those something else that's out there that we haven't Identified yet?
we have to get best case scenario, we don't start seeing a visible construction of this For at a minimum,
two years, I think it two years is probably an outside date.
I would hope that we could do redesign and permitting inside of 12 to 16 months.
but yes, it is certainly a a delay. Vice mayor, Did you you mentioned you wanted to speak on this.
yes. Yes I did I just want to say that I'm going to be working on an item for the march Commission
meeting that will look at the feasibility if we have to redesign now the bridge.
I'd like to look at the feasibility of having the bridge go underneath the macarthur Causeway.
so that way we don't have to disturb the lines, The fpl lines, where they are.
that's all I want to say. Now, if we hand it to the public, I'm sure we're going to hear it's not the developer's fault.
not fpl's fault. So we have a motion on the table. And I think, joe, you seconded the motion? I did.
and while I want to move forward, I do want to be fair. If it's okay with you all to fpl because chelsea, Who is seemingly personally a very, very lovely person has reached out and said,
let me give you the full story. I want to hear it in public. So if you wouldn't mind. It seems like you would mind, But you're putting on a good face.
thank you. If we could. Good afternoon, mayors and commissioners.
my name is christopher ferrer. I'm not chelsea. I'm covering for her because she had a plane to catch today. It's good to be back here in The city of miami beach and see some familiar faces around the dais.
all I really just wanted to say was to give a little bit more context and background as to What,
you know, what's been happening out here and what the infrastructure we're talking about. What some of the background information on it.
right. The feeder lines that we're referring to in this case are over 25 years old.
they've been in the ground since about 1999, Back before we had digital and cad drawings and more sophisticated record drawings that we
could provide. What we do. And by the way, there at depth as they go under the bay that Are plus 30ft under the ground.
right. And so what we do is we try to provide the best record drawings that we have of What is in the ground.
so then the locates and the utilities can be identified. But really, it's the responsibility of both the utility and the developer or the builder To ensure that the utilities are properly located.
right. We give our best estimate, an estimate, And then soft digs or other sorts of non-intrusive trenching or digging has to be done to
properly locate it. And what we're doing now, And it's currently in motion right now, is we have a contractor that will be going out
there to dig the duct bank and try to identify where the bore pipe comes up and try to get A better sense of direction as to where that pipe goes.
and then we will be sharing that information with the group that's building the bridge, And hopefully have some clarity here over the next couple of weeks.
so if I could hope to have your commitment that these things would ever comes up or turned Around as quickly as possible.
absolutely. So we have the best path and direction forward. I also want to add that in Addition to uscis,
us, esi going out to do locates, we ourselves have had our locators out there.
we've even purchased equipment in an effort to get a better idea as to where this this, These facilities are located.
and so we've been discussing with the builder now for, For probably the last couple of months on options to move forward.
and I think we have a good plan of action that hopefully will bear some some fruit for us Here and we can move forward.
commissioner magazine commissioner magazine. Chelsea's online if you want to hear I think.
chris. Yeah, I think chris stepped in adequately. And thank you again. I know that the moment that this came up, You all have been incredibly responsive to our meetings.
there's been conversations with the developer and so and so there's a motion on the table.
I think it's been seconded. And let's call the vote.
so all in favor the motion is asking the city manager only to sign the easements as soon As he feels comfortable that everything has been
settled, everything has been arranged in a way that he's comfortable with.
when everybody's done everything that they can do to move forward in good faith.
doesn't that happen anyway, I hope so. Motion by commissioner fernandez, Seconded by commissioner magazine.
all in favor of the direction given. Please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Hearing none. The direction is approved.
seven zero. We don't need an after the fact of that. Correct, Rick? No, after the fact. Thank you. No, I don't think that's direction.
r7l. Seven l is city sponsored senior
events. Commissioner bhatt co sponsor commissioner magazine.
yeah. We've discussed this at great length and just never took action on it.
and I would like to move it forward. Okay. Let's call the vote.
I think we the last time we discussed this, we wanted to make some modifications to who Could attend.
right? Was what? What's the change? Yeah. What's the change?
the way it stands currently is that the way it stands currently is that if you are an Elected official,
if you are having an official role in the event in the four convention center events that We pay for with taxpayer dollars
for the enjoyment and benefit of our senior residents.
then you are a welcome participant. If you are a candidate, You are welcome to bring your materials to the to
the foyer area downstairs and have a table. But that, You know, what we saw in this campaign
cycle where somebody who hadn't even filed papers yet to be a candidate was there with a Videographer and campaign stuff.
in prior campaigns, we saw somebody I don't remember if he had filed yet or not, But he was there printing photographs with the city seal on it.
I mean, it's abusive. And, you know, I have no issue with residents having an opportunity To meet their elected officials,
whether they are running for office or not. But I think using taxpayer dollars to co-opt What should be a really fun evening out for residents who may not get
those fun evenings out all that often. Should be kept to that purpose.
there are plenty of other times to campaign. You know, We saw people running for sheriff and tax collector and positions that have nothing to do
really with with miami beach. And it's just it's egregious. And so I, I and my co-sponsor, joe magazine commissioner magazine think that enough is Enough.
well, I'm just just to clarify, the tax collector has a lot to do with miami beach, And so does the sheriff,
right? I get what you're saying, and it certainly does seem.
it certainly does seem abusive. I think I think the issue that I had was and I'm and I'm Glad this has been corrected is if if you are a
candidate, you you should be welcome to come because I don't want to give an unfair Advantage to an incumbent.
you know, technically I'm an incumbent, so I'm thankful for that.
to be clear, it's if you are an elected official, You are welcome to come.
if you're a candidate, you can come and bring your materials to a table outside, But not come into the ballroom to work the room.
that's, I believe, where we netted out. And I think that's fair. You still have access to all the people coming in and out.
you're just not destroying the work that the parks and rec team. Monique, I think her name is is that her name?
the tall woman who's in scott rec center who does so much the planning of those events.
okay. Anyhow, I don't I don't think those events should be co-opted for people to come in And and
do their electioneering. So I have a couple. I have a couple questions, If you don't mind.
so first of all, we did pass some, some some legislation, Which I think you did a much such a good job,
eric and your team. So I'll give you that. Just. I want to make clear. So candidates and electeds can only put the materials in the front.
I think that's what we have now. Right. So even just to be clear, Even the elected us could not hand out materials in the in the ballroom.
correct. But like right now, for example, when electeds like our tax collector, Our election
supervisor, our state representative I, I would they do come up and sometimes they Actually speak to the,
to the crowd. What would would that be allowed still under this ordinance?
yeah. They're elected. Right? They're not elected. Miami beach just want to make sure they're not miami beach officials.
so I think the intent is for the I don't have the language in front of me the second.
but in john, I don't know if you want to address this, But the intent is for elected officials who have a role in the event.
so presumably all of us. Oh, rob. Hi. All of us as city officials would presumably have a Role in the event
to welcome our residents and share holiday greetings and do those sorts of things.
I, I don't know that we ever contemplated county officials.
elected officials. Yeah. From where I'm at, if you're an elected official representing These people,
you should be allowed in. And I get. Oh, well, That could be an unfair advantage.
well, for the same reason a candidate doesn't sit up here. To me, we're not doing that campaigning. We're doing that as part of our elected duty.
right. Working with our constituents. So I'd like to extend it to any elected official That's representing the populace there.
and I thought that's what we already settled upon. No. At the last discussion, which was quite a while ago, There was some concern raised along these lines,
but there was no alternative. Settled upon that.
the way this is drafted is to break what has been arguably the creation of some kind of Open forum where people can go
into our senior events and campaign for whatever they want or talk about whatever they Want to the seniors,
whether they have any connection to miami beach or whether they are the people that we're Trying to serve.
this resolution is written in order to take control back of that potentially created open Forum and make this
a clearly a city of miami beach sponsored event, So that nobody outside of the city program has a right to go in and
sell avon to campaign to to preach for a certain church or to
proselytize. This resolution creates a, a sponsored city event that
is not open to the public, except for those people who are listed. It allows you as elected officials to still go if you're a part of the program, Which is normally the case when the city puts on a sponsored event
you are invited to come. And if you decide to come, You're given a role like speaking to the to the group doing the pledge of allegiance,
giving a proclamation. Something is given, something is assigned to you to do to justify You as part of the city event without creating
an open forum that allows everyone to come in and deluge the seniors with materials of all Kinds.
so an elected official from the county or state that represents the miami beach residents And probably a wider,
wider representation, could they come in? Not the way this is written.
yeah, that's what I that's what I thought. I think that's where we got to I personally Think we got to tweak it. If you're an elected official representing miami beach
residents, I think it's going to be a tough time telling elena garcia and dariel and vicki Lopez who come to these like,
oh, sorry, you can't come in. And I actually, I'm in favor of amending it that way.
and I believe, my friend, I'm fine with amending it. I mean, the goal is to keep it from being an electioneering event.
so if an elected official wants to come in and give his or her season's greetings or Whatever,
that's one thing. The concern is that by opening up in that way to elected officials, But not to candidates you would
be creating a kind of open forum and violating the first amendment by allowing elected Officials,
but not candidates. We sort of made clear that you could come because you are part of the Program and you.
and that is factually true. Almost any city event.
the chair, if I may. But, rob, if if the other elected officials are also given a role During the program,
wouldn't the same rationale apply? Like if which is actually how it always is, They come up and they just got elected.
he's not already out campaigning. He's there from the first event, Doing his duty liaising with his constituents.
these are their constituents, right? I think where this like the premise kind of fails is That this is some sort of campaign event.
no, we're we're here in our official capacity.
right. The tax collector and our county commissioners are there in their official Capacity.
but rob is saying that if we do open it up, then and excluding candidates, You're opening up a possible violation to a first amendment.
the general rule is, if you have elected officials, You have to allow candidates.
also the we so what to anything. But it's elected officials in in their role in their Elected role.
it's not them coming to campaign. It's them saying I'm here to give holiday greetings to The residents of miami beach who I serve.
thank you. Good night. And they're out. If we would go and talk at a school, Maybe a school is not the best example,
because that's a school board, a different jurisdiction.
but let's just say it was a miami beach school, Right? We would say yes. Mayor minor can go and speak at this school because this is his Community he's elected to represent.
you're telling me that some candidate that is running for commission or mayor gets to go And say,
well, I get to go talk to those little kids, Too, because the mayor's there at an event like ours,
which has traditionally been run something like an open forum where people can, It's not.
and that's what we're trying to prevent. Right. But we unfortunately come to this with the history of our event, The way it has been.
and so this resolution is an attempt to break from what has been very arguably in the Past,
an open forum. I can try to wordsmith a little bit to if you want to include county Officials who are part of the program
as well. But you are it makes it slightly less clear if
we were challenged, I mean, and again, I mean, I'm not trying to be difficult, right.
but we're all candidates at one point. Yeah. I don't, You know, I mean, and I, you know, there was there was a commissioner at the time I didn't
like. And, you know, I mean, what's to say that that why does that person have an unfair Advantage?
I mean, I understand, commissioner, but you're saying that they would be there in their Official capacity,
but just simply being there is technically campaigning, Right?
I mean, it could be that about this. Like a, Like a candidate can't sit up here.
right. But this is different. There's like there's like a thousand people there. This is This is an opportunity for that thousand people to see you,
hear you. And again, I'm saying this as an incumbent. I just don't think it's fair to say that we're going to have a built in advantage for These events
and exclude possible contenders. Listen, my, My, I feel so strongly about this that I would rather none of us know how I would feel.
yeah, go at all. It's bizarre. But you guys are looking at it like, As a campaign.
these are people. These are constituents. And now you're telling me there's an event for Them and we can't go there and talk to them?
but if their constituents, then a candidate who may appeal and listen, This could be 20 years from now.
it could be when we're long gone. If there is a constituent or there is a candidate who Wants to appeal those constituents but can't because of this law that's blocking
or that's giving an unfair advantage to an incumbent, It's not fair. It's not giving unfair advantage to an incumbent when the person is doing his or her job As an elected official,
like the fact that we're having this debate again. The fact that this these events have been co-opted into this, This feeding frenzy for electioneering is precisely why I've been trying to get
this passed for the better part of two years. It is grotesque. It is not appropriate. You know, I'm sorry that, you know, the fact that you already won an election and you are doing your
job gives you an unfair advantage as an incumbent. But you did run and win, and you are doing the job.
and part of the job is interacting with your constituents. It is not the taxpayer. It is not the city of miami beach.
it to the role of the city of miami beach to provide an open electioneering forum that if We want to do that,
then that's a whole different conversation. And then, You know, that's that's a different event,
that's a different conversation. I mean, we do give candidates, Whether incumbent or, or neophytes,
an opportunity for a 2 or 3 minute televised.
video that gets broadcast for free. That is perfectly fine.
that's something we choose to do. What I'm saying is that this is something that has been Evolved through the parks department to provide some r&r for our senior
residents and their guests. And we have turned it into something that is embarrassing.
it's it's grotesque, and I don't think it's appropriate. Yeah. Mayor, I mean, you and I, we've spoken the last two years at the parks and rec Summer camp graduation.
not because we're campaigning, right? I did it five months after being elected.
it's because that's. I go to events every day. Yeah, that's our civic duty. Right. That that is our civic duty.
imagine if we'd say, well, anytime you go to the parks and rec graduation ceremony and Thank all the families and the children for coming and we have this
amazing program. The candidate a gets to be there and do it with you, Right?
because that's somehow like an unfair advantage. Aren't they allowed in? That's what we're really saying. Well, First of all, and I think it's a good discussion,
I think we've cleaned it up a lot. To me, it was much better this time around.
there obviously may have been examples that. But I'll give you an example from several Years ago.
there was a candidate who happened to like I won't mention the name, But the person came in with like 20 dancers.
I mean, it was crazy. It was a spectacle. It's like michael jackson.
yes, that and I think and I think it was your legislation not having the campaign Materials in the room.
I think it was a good move. That's you come in if you want to take it, You take it. But otherwise, again, I don't feel strongly I think I think it is a little bit of an Advantage,
obviously as an incumbent if the candidates aren't in. But I don't have a problem personally if they come in because to me that these are there.
like anything else, if they want to listen and talk to the person, They'll talk to the person. I try to go around to every table as just to see everybody.
it's an opportunity that we don't always get. And by the way, Big picture, because I think we did discuss once maybe toning them down.
I, I hear all the time they live for this. This is an opportunity for them to get out of Their apartments.
come and see. I mean, the city puts on a great, Great event.
so kudos john and your team for, for, for doing it.
but I guess now now I'm talking I just want to me, The big picture was when we can figure out the candidates,
I just wanted to make sure these other elected officials, I think, were in agreement.
I think I think it would look pretty bad on our city if we didn't allow them in. And they should, I think. I think the seniors want to see them. They want to see their Their county officials or their or their or their election officer or their tax collector
who's bringing who's bringing in a license renewal office into miami beach.
is it going to be a first amendment issue, though? I can wordsmith it to draft it in a way That it creates the least liability.
it's not as clear as without it. But you're saying that from the record they would be Invited to be part of the program to explain what their office
does. I mean, that is the way I would wordsmith it so that it would be the least Attackable.
but what you're the problem that you have here is, As opposed to all the other examples, is this is an event that is traditionally been run
as what is essentially an open forum that everyone can go to hand out what they want, Speak to who they want,
and anyone can come in. And that is the exact opposite of a city sponsored event where we Can control
entry and exit and what the seniors see and what the programing they receive by the parks Department.
and so we're making a drastic change, and that's why the wording needs to be right.
it needs to be right. Through the mayor, if I may, You know, I appreciate that.
but at the same time not but and at the same time, You know, traditionally the the south beach marina was run a certain way and it resulted
in chaos and unhappy residents and bad business actors coming in and doing all sorts of Unseemly things.
and so we drafted legislation that changed that behavior and put strict restrictions on it To accomplish the goal of changing behavior.
and so how is this different from that? We're we're taking something that was historically Done one way it got abusive.
so we are now changing how it's run to encourage the behavior that we'd like to see there.
yeah. I think, if I may, what rob is suggesting is that we're working on on changing on on Making that change so that going forward,
the events will be different and that what was done in the past is different. You know, mr. Mayor, I'd like to hear from some of my other colleagues who have spoken About commissioner.
mateo- salinas just got elected. Right. You know, You've you're you're freshly minted from this,
you know, from what's been going on. I I'd like to hear what you have to say. I'd also like to hear what commissioner fernandez has to say, Because, you know, we all go to these events and there's there's a discussion on having an
unfair advantage for an incumbency. I mean, possible first amendment, You know, issues.
I, I'd like to I'd like to hear everyone's input on this. I'll tell you what I think about it. I think if we're doing events for the enjoyment of Seniors,
and it's an event for the enjoyment of seniors I, I don't like how politicized these events.
I don't like it. I mentioned it last year. If we're doing something with the intention for Seniors to have a good time to socialize with others,
we need to remove the politics from it. I think that there is an element where they do Like to see us in person and to talk to us in person,
but it has become highly politicized. In times there's tension between candidates times There's tension between an existing
candidate and a soon to be candidate. And it takes away from the enjoyment of the seniors Who that should be the foremost priority of this event.
we're not here talking about how to make the event better for the seniors.
we're here. We're here talking about an elected official being able to speak, A candidate being able to show up.
and we're losing the focus of what this is about. This is about seniors who have limited abilities to socialize and limited abilities to get Out if it means for them to have a better activity,
to have a better enjoyment of the event. That I don't get to go into the event, And that I only am able to stay outside and shake their hands from outside the room and
not go into the room. I'm fine with that because at the end of the day, This event that we do should be centered around the enjoyment of the seniors.
not political speeches, not not, not a candidate that's running for office, Not anything else.
and so maybe, maybe, maybe a good way of handling it is that, You know, we just stay outside the room,
we greet them outside the room. We're able to engage with them outside the room.
but inside the room where their party is happening and all and all that, Then let that be their space to socialize with their neighbors and all that.
that's that's how I feel about it. And I and it's consistent actually last year.
last year I while I was a candidate I didn't want to go to them.
and in fact, I didn't go to many of them because purposefully, Because I was a candidate I didn't want to create that optic.
and I actually, I was pressured. I was almost like, Peer pressured here on the, on the dais one of the times that we were having this
conversation and I felt guilty, I was kind of, You know, one of our colleagues at the time was like,
oh, you're not going to show up. You're, you know, You have to show up. I think that was me. I think it was you. Yeah, I think it may have been you.
yes. This this is this is a this isn't about us.
this isn't about the guy that's running to be dogcatcher.
you know, this is this should. If it's about the seniors and we're really doing it with That intention,
let's just remove ourselves from it. And then you don't have any first amendment issue, And then the seniors really just get to have a good time,
which is ultimately, I think, the intent here. Well, you bring up a good point, which I may have been obvious, But you you gave me an image.
the candidate could still be there in the sort of the front area handing out the Materials.
so they're going to have the opportunity to interact. But just once inside you're saying when they're enjoying their meal, Then it's not politicized.
that's not politicized. Mr. Commissioner mateo- Salinas.
so since commissioner suarez asked, I will, you know, Tell I will share.
because I did just get off a campaign and I did just win a campaign, And I did it by going to all of the senior events.
and I went table by table. I went by myself. I didn't bring anyone with me. I didn't hand out materials. And oftentimes I stayed so late at these senior events Talking to everybody that I would walk out with them at the end of the event and walk them
to their busses and still talk to them. And that's how I did it, Just by myself. I didn't bring a videographer or anyone to. Not a single person was there to take pictures With me.
I went to every single table table at that event, At each events, and I went to every single one of them.
and I did not have anybody that I was paying the work. The buildings. I didn't have anyone. Not the first round at all.
I just did it by myself, going table by table to table. I didn't, I didn't, I had I did not have any type of senior outreach other than me walking Around and talking to people and introducing myself and
asking what their concerns were, the way that it should be. I was not here when you guys discussed this the first time.
it was during the campaign, so I was not up here. When you have discussed this before I will say that I also agree that maybe it is good to Have the campaign stuff
stop at the ground floor when you come in. But then I think up in the event, You know, whether it's an incumbent or a candidate.
I think one person, the candidate or the incumbent, The commissioner should be allowed to be in there and walk table to table and talk to
folks with no materials, no bags, no candy, no hats, No fliers, no fans, no nothing.
just walk around one person, the candidate, and talk to them. But that's already the law, right? Yeah, we implemented those changes last year.
so you I mean, obviously you can I mean, if you have an aide or something, You can come in with their aide,
but you can't have that materials even even the current incumbents, We cannot hand out materials.
but I mean, commissioner mateo- salinas just told us that she went to these events as a Candidate,
talk to these people, understood or wanted to listen to their concerns, And got elected.
I mean, it's the perfect reason of why you should have a candidate involved.
I mean, I'm totally against handing out, you know, Paraphernalia.
I'm guilty of it at the time. I mean, that's what everyone else was doing. But, you know, the fact that commissioner mateo- Salinas wasn't against big odds was able to connect with these seniors,
talk to them, understand their concerns so that she can campaign on them, Says everything you need to know about this.
and I don't want to. I don't want to. I want to make it seem like these seniors that were,
you know, we're going to we're going to police who you can and can't see.
and especially if someone who wants to hear their concerns about an issue that they have, That they may not be happy with the current elected official,
yes, they can be outside, but that's not the same. I mean, it's, you know, everyone comes in, takes 30 minutes, Events two hours, and everyone leaves in like 15 minutes.
so you don't really have that same time advantage to to really connect and engage with the Resident.
and again, I'm probably shooting myself in the foot because I am an incumbent, But I just think it's fair in the long run for the next ten,
20 years that, you know, we do this fairly. One second if I could, Mr.
mayor. The fact that we're even talking about these is campaign events is that that's the Problem,
right, john? Imagine summer camp. Would it be abnormal for the mayor to come there, Say, hey,
kids, welcome to summer camp. Pretty. Pretty normal. It would be as the father of a nine year old that goes to our city camp.
it would be really freaking weird if somebody went there that was running for commission To just go to one of these events.
so the fact that we're even talking about these senior events as if there's some campaign Breeding ground is the issue.
are you coming? If I might just I remember I don't remember which election cycle it was or Which candidate,
but I remember there, there were at least one, Maybe more than one candidates going to schools during halloween.
and I'm not sure if they were on school property or just outside, But they were talking to parents as they came in and out with their kids because it was a
good place to intercept parents. And I remember there being a great deal of hue and cry About that.
and so, joe, you're exactly right. The fact that we're having this discussion about Whether or not it's fair for somebody's election goals is exactly why I've brought this
legislation, and I can't believe we're still talking about it after I know it's come up 2 Or 3 times before,
and I would just like to break this cycle. I mean, It's like what we did with spring break.
we threw a circuit breaker. We shut it down for a couple of years. We completely changed the narrative because it wasn't working.
it wasn't the right thing for us. I don't think this is the right thing for us. I do, You have to work on a language that you'll bring back to us.
is that what you said? If you want county elected officials to also be able to come, If they're part of the program,
I can wordsmith that to happen. If that's if that's an amendment that you would want to Make.
I don't know that it needs to come back. We can just work it into the resolution. If the body wishes to amend the resolution in that manner.
you could you could pass it as amended. Okay. Call for a vote. So I have a motion by commissioner bott, Seconded by.
I'll second. So I heard commissioner dominguez, And that's to include county and state.
any elected official that represents that populace. Okay. If your name is on the ballot, if your name was on the ballot, Was if your name was on the right to vote.
so r seven as amended. Hold on, hold on. Let's we want to make sure we're clear.
an elected official. Let's just say for example, A senator came a us federal senator came is going to be allowed to
come if he's part of the program, if he's been invited as part of the city program.
I think that's fine. I think I think we can figure this out. We'll be okay. So r7 l, as amended. All in favor, Please say aye.
aye. Anyone opposed? Hearing none. R7 l is approved, As amended seven zero.
ralph has asked me these boards that are unopposed. Can we just do that? Boards and committees. So not contested.
everyone has a list in front of them, but it's real quick. It's two direct appointments for members of the quality education committee who no longer Have children in school.
so we need a waiver. That's lori kay davis and beverly heller, And we have nominee david berger to the health facility authority board.
so moved by acclamation. All three? Yes. Yes. So done. Thank you everyone. Great meeting. Appreciate it.
no.