e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e what's that oh definitely especially when between you and your head goes up 100% I know every time I do it I'm like every time I do it I'm like why why am I doing it okay good e good evening everyone we're going to call the commission meeting to order and ask for a roll call Mayor Weinberg here vice mayor Cruz here commissioner Bloom here commissioner fredin here commissioner Joel here commissioner Dr Marks here commissioner stern here Mr wson here and Mr Myers here you have a quum thank you I'm going to ask that um We rise and I'm going to um ask also if there are any young lady volleyball players please come up to the front and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance if there's any in the room come on up okay you guys count it off yourself you start and we'll all join in whenever you're ready face this way you guys count it off and start i al to the flag United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all good job good job that was great thank you so much okay any deletions or additions to the agenda Mr manager no mayor not at this time okay so let's start with special presentations we're up to number four already and um do I see uh mayor Nickerson is Mayor Nickerson here ah ladies and gentlemen el portel mayor Omar Nickerson Welcome to our city and the floor is yours mayor is the green light on it's not working hold on whichever works it's all off mayor wait he's coming all right here we go he's coming there here we go hello hello look I got you covered don't worry about it my brother I got you right here we we even got to worry about it here we go uh don't you be telling anyone in Al portel about our microphone issues don't worry about avur aventur is still the best to me um is this the one you want me all right all right here we go here we go we got to stay in protocol y'all we got to use the right mic now you all know that uh oh all here we go we're back we're back we're back so you all know that uh recently we had uh the month where we recognized colon cancer and you know commissioner Michael [Music] Stern every year he um he comes to the municipalities he talks to the municipalities um he goes to the league of city meetings and he asked all of us to to to Grant him a proclamation to take with him to Washington DC I was real sad to find out that this year um when I called him to bring the proclamation over to him that this year he was not going to Washington DC the reason why he was not going to Washington DC this year was because when I called he was in the hospital we spoke briefly and at that very moment I told him I said well even though you couldn't make it to Washington this year unfortunately I think it will only be right in that cas case that I come that I come here to um the beautiful wonderful city of aventur the city of excellence and present it to him for sake of time I'm not going to read through the entire Proclamation there is something that I do want to point out and then I do want commission do want commissioner Stern to say a couple of words because there's nothing like when you uniquely and intimately have to deal with this situation toward the end of the Proclamation it says now therefore I Omar Nickerson PA C Nickerson PhD mayor of the village of eler toal do hereby Pro Proclaim March it was last month 2024 as Cancer Awareness Month in the village of Elber toes I encourage all citizens to join in acknowledgement of the importance of of colon cancer awareness month made by Ambassador mentor and city of aventur commissioner Mr Michael Stern a wonderful friend of el foral who we love very much I'm sorry I'll give you this no problem [Music] why don't you come up here and take a picture with us Michael we'll take a picture here come on come on up and oh here we go here we go oh he's going to speak okay commissioner the floor is yours and then we'll take a picture up here thank you so [Applause] much um I I'm doing this to help raise awareness so many people are affected by this awful disease um and gentl right here to take out take out your your take time to come to our city to do this this is unbelievable no one has done this before they've mailed it in everyone is busy I I really am humbled that you that you came here today and and you and you said these magical words um I'm forever grateful um we have all 30 including Miami day County so this is the icing on the cake this is the last one that I I haven't gotten yet and um again this is all about raising awareness um it is such a it's a preventable disease and these proclamations allow people who aren't aware of what colon cancer is it's simply just getting in colonoscopy early age and it's preventable and treatable if you do so and thank you so much again and why I have the floor I want to thank the commission um I know we're going to show a video but this is my opportunity to thank you individually it was amazing the video it was unexpected and uh Evan Ross uh you did a fantastic job and thank you [Applause] every okay also in the control room so after we do the picture we'll show the video I know that was not what was planned but we'll show the video after the picture so get that ready two I think it's the hand I need to put it back okay so um as you heard uh commissioner stern was on his way to Washington DC again as he did last year to be a national spokesperson for colon cancer awareness month and to encourage everyone to get tested and he had setback and he couldn't go and as a result of that uh where's uh Evan Ross our communications director Evan uh decided that he's going to produce he's going to write a script he's going to get all the commission together and we were going to do um a colon cancer awareness video a public service announcement of PSA and um we didn't tell commissioner Stern and then um when it was sent to him surprise he cried and um then the Cuda gr he said wait I need to do my part in that and it made literally all the difference in the world I find it to be such an effective um piece we're going to show to you it's very short and I I really want to thank um our communications director Evan Ross and his videographer Yan for putting this together I mean those of us here obviously we were paid thousands of dollars so it's no big deal but they did it as a labor of love so if it's ready um let's show it mine I've had mine it was easy I never miss mine I had mine many times oh I've definitely had mine are you kidding I have four kids of course I've had mine a colonoscopy is a critical test that everyone needs starting at age 45 it's easy and painless and it could save your life our friend and colleague commissioner Michael Stern is battling stage four col rectal cancer because he waited too long so while he's busy kicking Cancer's butt we're trying to save yours love your kids get a colonoscopy love your wife get a colonoscopy love your husband get a colonoscopy do you love your your get a freaking colonoscopy get the message a colonoscopy is simple and easy don't delay talk to your doctor and schedule yours today it could save your life trust me Cancer Sucks don't make the same mistake I did schedule your [Music] colonoscopy [Music] [Applause] I had to be in the video because I am fine and I didn't want people to think I wasn't again I want to thank everyone up here who anyone who's part of this video the amount of love and support and the comments from this video is overwhelming the message how simple it was right to the point and the actors in the video you guys are all deserve emys thank you very much you guys did wonderful and I can't I I'm speechless okay so it's that's a tough act to follow but we're we're moving on we have more special recognitions all very very very deserving um but there's a proclamation I wanted to know if is Barbara Cohen here oh great okay so ladies and gentlemen I'm going to read this Proclamation that I'm presenting to you Barbara and thank you for bringing this to our attention whereas you if you want you can stand there and then you can see all of us um whereas pet partners is a national leader in demonstrating and promoting the health and wellness benefits of animal assisted interventions and helps volunteers to improve human health and well-being in their communities by sharing their pets through therapy animal visits and whereas there are thousands of pet partners therapy animal teams serving in communities across the United States including the City of Aventura to provide Comfort joy and healing to seniors patients students veterans and those approaching the end of life and whereas therapy animals and their handlers generously volunteer their time and effort to visit hospitals nursing homes schools and other facilities to bring smiles and companionship ship to those facing physical or emotional challenges and whereas the city of avator would like to recognize pet partners and all of the exceptional therapy animals who partner with their human companions to make a difference in the lives of others by promoting mental health reducing stress and enhancing overall well-being now therefore be it resolved that I Howard Weinberg as mayor and on behalf of the city Commission of the City of Aventura do hereby Proclaim April 30th okay 2024 as National therapy animal day in the City of Aventura Barbara thank you for your good work and the good work of so many people and I remember being exposed to the um therapy animals when I was spending time after the uh Champlain Towers disaster and it was incredible and the way people react and it it changes people for the better it's really amazing if you want to come up here we're going to give this to you and take a picture come you come around there and take a picture with [Applause] us first I want to thank everybody for this also I'd like to plug my own therapy every Saturday morning at 10:00 one of my dogs is at Adventure Library where all small children to the age from Todd to the age of 12 can come and read to them if they can't they can play with them but if you got children I'd love to have you come and see us in avure library thank [Applause] you [Applause] okay okay well we have more special recognitions and um this is not the first time for this young man so it's we're all very very proud because this is one of our students in amatura um this is a certificate of special recognition to James Reese in recognition of your perseverance and achieve in placing third in the 2024 Miami Herald spelling be that's for the entire County the entire County Miami dat County third place the city Commission of the city of aventur applauds your accomplishment why don't you come on up here James now do you want to say anything okay so are the parents here you're more than welcome to come up Mom you can come up too so uh and where's the principle come on up come on up Anna so I just want to say this James okay this is not your first time up here but you're a lot taller this year last year I looked at you I said oh he's just he's just a very very very young boy why don't you sit in the mayor's seat now you may want to take my job soon but I'm going to against my better uh instincts I'm going to why don't you sit here again I want you to sit in the mayor's seat hold this gavel and get a nice [Applause] picture okay again with everybody next year take is the microphone in there is that in there oddly Good Luck Good Luck Good [Music] Luck congratulations [Applause] [Applause] congratulations so if you're like me you know how hard it is to spell correctly he doesn't get autocorrect when he's in the competition so it's it's amazing okay so by the way this is fun we should just this should be what we do every month um that's not all Aces is on a role so we've got here if you notice from the Pledge of Allegiance sorry I have to repeat it aces is on a bagel we have a commissioner Cruz wants to um make sure you so um we have another certificate presented to the Aces volleyball [Applause] team in recognition of your dedication and achievement of an undefeated season in 2023 and Mrs uh principal this is the 20th anniversary of Aces and in recognition of the first undefeated team in Aces history the city Commission of the city of aventur applauds your accomplishment and should we go down there we'll go down there but I want to say this first so I'm going to take a wild guess I may be wrong but I'm probably the only person in this room that walk watched two women's college basketball games last night because it is fantastic if you watch the women play basketball it's the way we play basketball in the park right we don't play Above the Rim at least not me and my friends amazing and I happen to be born and raised in Connecticut so I've been following Yukon Basketball for many many years and I am a huge fan of sports for women for girls it is just as important as it is for boys and it teaches all the same lessons and it's wonderful and I want to recognize of course the coach can you stand up and be recognized coach as most of you know you don't do that without a coach that really really knows how to it's called teamwork and it takes a coach so uh we'll come down there let's line up let's take a beautiful picture and I have the [Applause] certificate [Applause] I think um maybe in front yeah in front of it yeah no got everyone faces yeah right over here [Music] [Applause] oh yeah okay is this does this work and okay so girls you're not done yet but I do want to say this I would be remiss if I didn't say congratulations and thank you also to all the parents and family members you you're part of it you know [Applause] that you have to rearrange your schedules you have to come and cheer for them and then you have to tell them by the way you still have to do your homework so I I appreciate that we are going to be giving each of you a medal now so um what do you have the we're going to call your name and you come up and and you're going to get your medal do you want to we're gonna go okay sure all right so everybody kolina Cristal call one you call the answer yes right here this one's yours Cadia here I'll give it you're fine Camila Maria oh Delina sorry Sophia Z Zava sorry Alexa she's not here okay okay we'll save that for her Sabrina [Applause] Valentina analia Gian d Nella oh this is this is double no this is uh Delina rifka's not here okay um delina's here but she got hers under the other name uh Sophia C do Blake Angelina Anella Camila Grana and lilani right and then this is the coach congratulations and to our wonderful volleyball coach Miss Monique Alfonso e okay so girls volleyball players you with your medals we our photographer is going to go into the AL Cove out here so you can take a nice group shot without us people in your way with your medals okay you can you can take fun picture serious picture whatever you want we'll get it all to you you want your parents in it knock yourselves out get get every fun picture you want we will get you everything that you that is taken okay because uh we appreciate you and they may be in the newspaper and you may be in the newspaper okay um we're I'm going to go now I think next is um the high school with the um we're going to actually this is actually very cool we're going to have a scene from Westside Story and the principal's going to tell us that it's going to be at the Performing Art Center soon you all need to buy your tickets and I'm going to I'm going to leave it to you Dr mck [Applause] Julia thank you thank you guys it's great I promise I called James I said you got to be playing sports I was looking for this little guy won last year and you at least 12 in and he tells me he loves basketball so hope heam but I never want to pass up on an opportunity say thank you all so much for your amazing support Dr Mars came out and helped us work through a few issues Bon is always helping us and Brian as well everything you all do so great than thank you so much to us amazing father right thank you good evening esteemed Commissioners and residents of Aventura my name is Sonia danan and I proud to stand before you once again as a representative of Don s Aventura High School Within These past couple of months our immensely talented drama program has met over several hours rehearsing and choreographing our incredible show Westside sto we are so proud of the hard work that our students have put into the show and we cannot thank you guys enough for the immense support in our endeavors now to give you a little bit of a sneak peek of our amazing show we have Julia Lima who plays Maria the lead character performing I feel free hi [Music] guys I feel pretty oh so pretty I feel pretty and witty and bright and I pity any girl who is in me tonight I feel Charming oh so Charming it's alarming how Charming I feel and so pretty that I hardly can believe I'm real see that pretty girl in that mirror there could that attractive girl be such a pretty face such a pretty thre such a pretty smile such a pretty me I feel stunning and encing feel like running and dancing for joy for I must by a pretty wonderful boy I feel pretty oh so pretty that this city should give me it key a committee should be organized to honor me I feel dizzy I feel sunny I feel fizzy and funny and fine and so pretty can just resign see that pretty girl in that mirror there who could that attractive girl be such a pretty face such a pretty dress such a pretty smile such a pretty me I feel stunning and encing feel like running and dancing for joy for I by a pretty wonderful boy thank you [Applause] thank you so much for watching our beautiful performer Julia perform that's number from Westside Story and we are going to be at the aventur Arts and Cultural Center on April 10th and 11th the show starts at 700 p.m. every night and the tickets are on my school books we would really appreciate everybody's support and everybody's um just participation in this in this musical and we cannot wait to see everybody thank [Applause] you that was wonderful thank you so much I'm sure the show will be great was it uh Chicago I went to see um was it last year unbelievable really incredibly Tal talented young people okay now one more special presentation I wanted um uh former I guess former aventor officer David yusk to tell us something that I think only myself and commissioner Stern are probably aware of a fascinating story that has to do with Aventura and has been made into a documentary it's a result of his efforts and I think you you also won't look at homeless people the same way anymore either um you want to come up David and um please tell us about this fascinating story it's a piece of um our history testing testing first I want to thank you mayor for inviting me down here and allowing me to speak about my friend thank you to the city council to the city manager chief of police thank you so many people never heard of my friend's story it's kind of a unique aventur story let me introduce myself once again my name is David yuzik I'm a retired police officer I transferred from the town of Surf Side over to aventur in about 1999 started working off duty jobs in uniform helped pay the bills and I met a very unique man at the movie theater a 4 foot n inch man that um would come there I'm going to try to get a little video going for you guys so that's actually me and my special friend his name is Richard flarity in the video he's 69 years old but I met him in his late 50s and we were friends for about 15 years uh it wasn't until maybe two years that I realized he was homeless and I would see him out in the street and obviously as a police officer my first job is to try to get him some type of assistance and get him into a shelter uh unfortunately Richard didn't want to get any assistance and we have what's known as a a baker act law in Florida and that's when a person becomes a danger to themselves or others then I can uh almost uh force him into seeing a doctor going to a hospital but my friend never met that criteria he also never wanted to talk about his past so that was our friendship we would talk about the world and politics and he was a very intelligent man and I enjoyed his company and we'd go for coffee and sandwiches so in the summer of 2015 in this Subway sandwich shop Richard finally decides to tell me who he really is he just looks me in the eye and says Dave it's time I tell you my life story and I'm like you know as cops we're kind of a skeptical Bunch where we've seen unfortunately too many bad things so I wasn't sure what my friend was going to say but I was nervous so what he said to me was I'm the smallest man ever served in United States military I went to Vietnam and I served and my first thoughts were I felt really bad because I thought my friend was a little bit more grounded I knew there was no such thing as 4 fo9 95lb people in the military I know there's a heighten weight requirement and I was concerned with his mental health but he continued his story he claimed to be a triple volunteer volunteering to go into the military then volunteering to go into an elite uh paratrooper unit the 101st Airborne and then he made the craziest claim that he was a a Green Beret Captain so this was this was about as bad as it could get and I just felt horrible and I thanked him you know for his story and you can see him there sitting there telling me his story I thanked him for his story and uh went home that night you know pretty sad about my friend's condition and I started really thinking about what I got to do to get him off the streets so I went home that night started taking off my uniform didn't even think about checking a story because it's impossible there's no such thing but for some reason just Googled who's the smallest man ever served in the military and what do you know pictures of him started popping up Richard flarity from Stanford Connecticut smallest man to serve in the military so he did go to Vietnam he did go uh serve his country uh unfortunately you know war is is about the ugliest thing a person can have to be involved in it's it's something we do to sometimes protect our freedom but it there's a very large price to pay Richard told me his story when I went back to him the next day he was kind of smiling because he knew I didn't believe him when he was telling telling me the day before but um he kind of told me that he felt it was time to tell me a story cuz he wanted me to get his story out to the world as a cautionary Tale the cautionary tale is when our men and women come back from war or come back from the military helping them transition back to civilian life which it was hard for him some of the other reasons later on that I learned was he suffered from extreme PTSD and now we understand traumatic brain injuries and one thing uh stories that I got from his comrades in Vietnam was when the explosions were going off based on his body weight he was always getting tossed around so nobody really thought about that uh the traumatic brain injuries that he endured but that's the reason why my friend became uh homeless so his story unfortunately doesn't have a happy ending uh about a week after he told me his life story he was unfortunately hit in a hit-and run uh vehicle accident and lost his life but I spent the next few years researching his life and his story is incredibly incredibly inspirational it had a tragic ending but that's not the way he lived and he wasn't sad and he didn't talk bad about the country or the government he always belied that we can do anything we want to do and never to be a victim so I am beyond thankful for the uh Council for letting me speak for a few minutes I have one last little video of my friend for those who are watching Maybe this on YouTube or a live feed saying there's no way the story is true this is [Music] [Applause] [Music] my [Music] [Music] oh [Music] I just want to add one last thing thank [Applause] you just want to add one last thing I was lucky to have the opportunity to work here as a police officer for almost 20 years and it's because of the support of my police chief back then which was Steve Steinberg the city manager Eric Soka they allowed me to work part-time on investigating my friend's life and putting together documentary about him so I just want to really thank the uh Council cuz the most important thing our job is to protect persons and property and I hope all our officers believe Pro property is far far down the road than persons we're here to assist people that's the job of police officers the other stuff the property and upholding the law is secondary and the City of aventur allowed me to flourish and uh to try to do as much as I could to help one last thing is I think in about a month we're going to try to do a fundraiser we'll show the film and we can see if we can raise some funds for the aventur police foundation thank you so much everyone question David you you didn't mention thank you you didn't mention the the book The Giant Killer thank you and also this is um a documentary as well a film and a book the Giant Killer thank you so much and another question and written by you thank you for befriending him and getting his story out um he I I noticed also he he was awarded several medals for his bravery right in Vietnam yes he was awarded the Silver Star two bronze stars and he was killed on the street in aventur by hit run driver while homeless correct on 199 Street unfortunately on May 9im 13 it's it's a tragedy um TR the subject actually work for the homicide uh commissioner Bloom has a comment or question I need you to sign this also please question thank you yes um I just wanted to let you know that a few years ago my husband and I actually purchased the documentary at the suggestion of um Brian Pig our Deputy city manager who was Chief at the time and we watched the entire thing and we were riveted we remember seeing him walking around aventur mall and he always stood out to us not because he was small because he didn't look like your typical homeless person he looked like he was too smart he was too like there was he just carried himself very differently and we watched your documentary and it was fascinating so I recommend if anybody's interested in seeing a real human interest story um we bought the Giant Killer on Amazon and I encourage you to watch it it's really really fascinating and you did an amazing job thank you so much thank you what what she was talking about definitely Richard flarity did stand out not just because of his size but the way he did carry himself but remember this was a highly trained Green Beret captain and when he served in in Thailand with the third Special Forces Group 1,500 men fought under him so this is a man unfortunately at life ended up under a tree but he did amazing things and he never let any obstacle stop him thank you thank you David so much incredible story and I'm glad that it's preserved here in our in our commission Chambers so we we're going to move on now thank you thank you move on now to our consent agenda anyone need to uh remove an item okay seeing none I'm going to ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda commissioner Bloom seconded by commissioner fredland uh let's have a vote please commissioner Stern yes commissioner Bloom yes commissioner fredin yes commissioner Joel yes commissioner Dr marks yes vice mayor Cruz yes and mayor Weinberg yes the motion passes okay uh item seven first reading uh Madame clerk please read item seven an ordinance of the city Commission of the City of Aventura Florida amending chapter 1 General provisions of the City of Aventura code of ordinances to create section 1-22 urinating or defecating and plain view in public places prohibited providing for conflicts providing for severability providing for inclusion in the code and providing for an effective date motion to approve commissioner Stern seconded by vice mayor Cruz um Mr manager thank you mayor as it said as this uh code Amendment uh says that it will be now illegal if you're caught urinating or defecating in public where the public can see you it's now in our code so that you will be fined and there's a progressive enforcement so as time goes on if you're Court twice or the the third time you can be arrested for doing that and this is on the books to make sure we keep our city a nice city thank you any questions or comments from the commission seeing none I'll open it up to the public just for this specific item any questions or comments seeing none I'll close it and um let's vote commissioner Bloom yes commissioner fredin yes commissioner Joel yes commissioner Dr marks yes commissioner Stern yes vice mayor Cruz yes and mayor Weinberg yes motion passes item eight it's a second reading of an ordinance Madam clerk an ordinance of the city Commission of the city of aventur Florida amending ordinance number 2023-24 2024 fiscal year by revising the 2023 2024 fiscal year operating and capital budget as outlined in exhibit a attached here to authorizing the city manager to do all things necessary to carry out the aims of this ordinance and providing for an effective date motion to approve commissioner Joel seconded commissioner Bloom Mr manager thank you mayor is this the second reading this is an adjustment that we do twice a year first in the in the mid year and at the end of the year where we adjust the budget to items that either cost more than we expected or actually Cost Less in this uh in this case we spent money on a few things that we didn't budget for one was an ambulance that we were uh the commission uh voted on to send to Israel due to all the to the war that's being fought there we bought a vehicle for public works and we also set aside two uh beds in Camila house for homeless people that we do find sometimes on the street that if they don't want to go there it's a place that they can go and we we definitely have a bed for them so it's not a hit or miss situation when we do see them on the street and that's been very highly affected uh the police department has a has some equipment for their patrol vehicles and some new vehicles for the PSAs the Police Service AES as well as uh that money also came was provided through the sale of our old SWAT vehicle that's it thank you any comments or questions from the commission seeing none I'll ask members of the public on this item step forward one at a time please okay seeing none you stepping up I item eight just just on this item that was okay a close for public comment and um ask for a vote commissioner fredin commissioner Joel yes commissioner Dr marks yes commissioner star yes commissioner Bloom yes vice mayor Cruz yes and mayor Weinberg yes motion passes okay um any does any one up here have anything to report on manager attorney clerk commissioner yes go right ahead I just wanted to acknowledge the cover star of the Miami Today newspaper Edition for those of you who can't see it it's our city manager Ron Watson made the cover of Miami today so okay order thousands please distribute them throughout the City Litter the city with them um any other reports no okay then at this time we'll open it up for um public comment I'm going to ask the City attorney to explain the purpose and the rules sure thank you mayor so if any member of the public wishes to speak uh address the commission you have a to three minutes uh it's not time to ask questions of the members of the commission or have a dialogue with them it's just to speak on matters that we're not addressed on the other items but anything within the purview of the city is fair game okay please uh your name your address and you'll have three minutes you'll see a timer there for you hi I'm I'm sorry it's yeah into that you might have to hold it he's with he's behind to help you yes uh Andrew Valen the address is examed from public disclosure I can provide it afterwards for the record uh sorry can you hear me now yes Andrew Valen the address is examed from public disclosure I can provide it off record uh before I start on time I just wanted to say I never thought I can experience so much joy for the schools and so much tragedy about the hero Fallen Adventurer um in the previous commission meeting the effort of the board to differentiate the good from evil in the world stronger resonated with me I immigrated to the United States over 30 years ago as a teenager from Belarus uh the country which now is a country used to be for Republic of Soviet Union where anti-Semitism was a cultural norm and shortly after I joined United States Marine cor after graduating from high school to personally defend our nation and freedom of its citizens today I'm a disabled veteran and stand before you to formally ask your board to take a vote on accepting my daughter Daniela into the kindergarten program at Asus school being a military child she falls under the state and federal exemption from program participation caps uh so the school will continue to receive the funding from additional student and she will not be taken spot from the lottery participation so uh last time we were asking for lottery enrollment this I mean not asking for taking spots from any Lottery participants we are simply asking for additional spot so she would not be taking any spots from anybody else as she's exempt for partic from the Cap's participation under federal and state guidelines the ne recent performance under the Renaissance testing in scoring a 99% equivalent uh to the second grader and underscores her exceptional academic performance th she could be considered for the school um faculty for advanced accelerated program that generally instructed in a more private environment and does not get full due to its stringing criteria I sincerely believe that Danielle inclusion will not only benefit her but also contribute positively to the school academic environment and the broader community and demonstrate the city support of the mil families I sincerely request the board to throw consideration the fedal vote of her admission so I hope you guys vote positively to thank you very much thank you you me speak with the city manager please after the meeting is over um next did you want to speak you great name and address please thank you my name is Tatiana Royer wait till the microphone because there it's also um being recorded thank you okay do I have to wait until the time okay my name is Tatiana roiser I'm here representing um aventur Bay Town Homes as the board president I'm here before you as a concerned mother um my children attend ases I would love for them to walk to school but out of every the other 64 units in my commun Community everyone's afraid they're afraid because we don't have the proper measures to protect our students as they're walking down the 100 85th Street um unfortunately that is a dangerous road to walk on we have on a daily basis many many drivers that speed down this road we do not have the police presence um as often as we would like unfortunately it's during peak times and sometimes off peak times when kids stay after school and they can they would like to walk home we also do not have a crosswalk in front of our front of our com uh complex which is right next to Veterans Park we've had several incidents where we have this recorded where students and their parents are almost struck by a vehicle Crossing to catch the bus I was hit by a vehicle about 3 weeks ago because somebody wasn't paying attention they were speeding as I was crossing my kids across walking them across the street I've gotten gross comments people giving me all sorts of gestures just because I stop traffic they are speeding this is dangerous and I am asking the Commissioners to to help me to implement some sort of safety measures as I understand it might not be up to the city it's up to the county I've brought this up on numerous occasions and I was asked to attend this meeting in order to officially present this to to the committee thank you uh thank you very much do you want did you want to comment go ahead we generally so you don't think we're being rude we generally don't engage in back and forth with the speakers but I want to ask a question um did you start a petition I do I have a petition um there's about 120 people I believe that currently signed it I I just I want to just say cuz I did see it and um I understood why you were doing it I wish you had reached out to me personally directly um my email address is r freedland at city of Avent tor.com I can give you my cell phone number you can reach out to me anytime sometimes I think it's more beneficial to reach out to us directly than a petition I have not to me but I I I've I've spoken to mayor uh a couple of times about this um there are at least a handful of residents that have correspondence with Mr Watson um I I mean I have correspondence we've gotten some push back um over and over again so I don't know what the next steps are in in order to escalate this before somebody does get hurt I mean do we need a fatality like in Sunny Isles for some you know to put speed bumps to have a crosswalk where we have a school bus you know it's not just convenience going to the park the community park across the street but it's just a matter of safety of getting your bus or when you're coming home thank you uh I would I just want to comment that uh so you're being heard by the city manager the police chief the assistant city manager and all the elected officials um there's a few places in town where I consider to be trouble spots clearly that street is one of them because it's basically a straightaway um cars go very very fast including Amazon FedEx I I walk that street a lot um and on Saturdays a lot of people walk that street to go to Temple um one of the problems is that a lot of people who are heading East on that street driving very quickly don't realize that it's a hairpin turn to the right um I know for a fact that on at least two occasions cars have ended up in Village By The Bay there was even a fatality so um I understand Crossing from where your community is to um Veterans Park even with a crosswalk not everybody respects crosswalks it is a dangerous area um I would ask that we look into the possibility of finding a way to um slow down the traffic it's always going to be a problem because of the way it's constructed and also as you indicated they're not our streets we don't get to just put up a crosswalk tomorrow or a stop sign or a light but I do think it's a problem I do notice it myself it does I feel the wind of the trucks that fly by me when I'm um walking that which I do almost every week so I hear you I would ask that um we see what we can do it's not the only place but it is clearly one we also have uh several fender benders because during uh peak time people will take the the turn that's going to the property across the street and cut traffic right in front of our entrance and there's been several accidents that took place there as well which if somebody's trying to cross the street while this is happening it's just a matter unfortunately it's just a matter of time but if we have a lighted crosswalk it's not going to prevent um but it will slow drivers down it could help I think a crosswalk would be beneficial so maybe we can look into it I know we have to talk to the county yes vice mayor I just wanted to tell you I I share your concerns I live right down the street from there I go walking or jogging by there every almost every day we have brought it up in our city uh the problem with a crosswalk in that particular area is as as it's a date County uh uh Street there's not enough there's not enough space there's not enough room to do a crosswalk there because it's too close to the turn so one thing I would recommend is that maybe if you go to the end of the street where the stop sign is where the stop lights are cross there and then come come this way to the park Where Your Children Are I'm not saying that's the uh the best solution but for now that's one solution you can do to keep the kids safe and we will definitely look into it in ways that we can uh make sure the the the Speeders uh pay a price or that either do a bump speed bumps or monitor that area so that uh uh we we have some consequences for people that aren't following the law we need to slow it down I mean even the the folks that live right by you know their backyards is 185th Street right they will send me messages and recordings at night telling me like look at this and they're doing the donuts in that area I mean it's just it's happening so frequently that it's it's very concerning so much so that I left my kids at home so I'm here just stay in touch with our city manager he's very accessible uh Mr wson is very accessible we will look into it so stay in touch with him and we'll do what we can and you just got an invite to email commissioner Freeland yes commissioner Stern for now until there is another solution when you leave your community if you walk on the sidewalk directly making a left instead of crossing the street walk all the way down the stre Street into that traffic light is that a temporary solution is that what you said I apologize I'm sorry I'm the problem is yes when it comes to going to the park when it comes to going to school that sidewalk is is very narrow and when they're speeding going about 50 60 miles per hour it's just not safe it just takes a second and you know I don't we we all Drive in Aventura I mean how many times have you seen somebody on their phone or looking down or on the you know have no idea what they're doing it just takes a second especially at that kind of speed and there there's nothing there to alert them to slow down the sidewalk across the street is the same width or it's it has it's it the sidewalk on 185th Street is is but there's two sidewalks on both sides right right but then they have to cross I understand that but if they cross have the traffic light all the way down so you want them to go to the opposite side cross the street walk through I'm saying for now until this the solution I'm just trying to help you as a temporary I mean I drive them yes I just want to add while we have our city manager our chief of police here listening um again I've lived in aventur for over 30 30 years and that wasn't such a busy area and it's much more developed area and the streets there have not changed and the lights there haven't changed we haven't added any more infrastructure so I think it's a a good chance necessity to look at it but remember the kids that live within 2 miles of Aces cannot get the bus so I assume this Mother's children and and Williams island and peninsula there are many kids walking that route um so it's definitely an area we need we should like you know take a little closer look at and see what we can do we have a lot of traffic at ases especially at drop off and pickup and to alleviate that you know I've rallied up a lot of the parents and I've walked with a group of kids and their friends and some friends are in the neighboring you know neighborhoods and we pick them up I mean we're like taking away 15 cars that are pick you know dropping off and picking up um and trying to alleviate the problem because there's a lot of congestion and you know there's a lot of traffic on 188 where there's people coming in and out so um you know it was working but you know unfortunately I'm a single mom that works I I can't be doing this all the time so I my kids are old enough that they should be able to walk by themselves but I don't feel comfortable for them to do so when we don't have the safety measures on and thank you for coming here tonight and please stay in touch with the manager uh did commissioner marks please hi thank you for bringing this to our attention I think the very best way to answer this though as opposed to going up and back with thoughts and ideas we have a police chief who knows and understands traffic we have our former police chief who is now our assistant manager and we have our manager who also was a police ch Chief so I really think that a meeting with our three um folks from the the city should result in some type of solution for you that's safe for children so rather than trying to debate this you know now I think that this is something that requires immediate attention we thank you for bringing it forward and hopefully we will get a note from you very very soon saying that we've resolved the problem so please keep us in the loop thank you thank you for your time thank you for coming is there anyone else that wishes to speak seeing none I will close public comment and if uh is there any other business before I ask to adjourn no other business then I'm going to ask for a motion to adjourn and commissioner Bloom has made it was second by commissioner Joel all those in favor say I any opposed we are adjourned thank you ladies and gentlemen