##VIDEO ID:AxCyEPZBtPQ## f please take your seats the meeting is about to begin remember to speak into the microphone as this meeting is being recorded for public record please standby we are going on air in 5 4 3 2 1 good morning and Welcome to our commission meeting we'll get started and I'll turn it over to our city clerk to see if there's any announcements morning everyone during this hybrid commission meeting the city commission is physically present in the commission chamber at Miami Beach City Hall 1700 Convention Center Drive third floor the public May attend the meeting virtually however members of the public who wish to attend the meeting will provide public comment in person may appear here at the commission chamber to participate and provide comment virtually during the commission meeting the public may join the meeting by visiting the Zoom app under smart device or on the web at zoom. us or by telephone at 3052241238 again the phone number is 305 2241 1968 the toll-free number is 4 888475913 928 576 71 again the webinar ID is 813 9285 7671 pound members of the public wanting to speak virtually on an item during the meeting must click the raise hand icon if using the Zoom app or press star n on the telephone to raise their hand the zoo the zoom link and webinar ID and telephone numbers provided for this meeting are static and do not change from meeting to meeting thank you mayor thank you Ralph we'll get started with the invocation and I'm proud to uh introduce uh Rabbi yahushua SOA a friend prominent leader in the Jewish community and a uh prominent speaker on a on an outlet called Torah anytime thanks for being here thank you honorable mayor honorable Commissioners as well as city clerk City attorney as well as city manager good morning and morning to everyone who's here as well as everyone who is attending as well virtually as well as all citizens of Miami Beach it's a big honor to be here my family moved here in the late 90s and my wife's family is here from the 80s so I would just like to say as a private citizen as well as also a public figure thank you God bless all of you for all of your work that you do every day people don't realize it that people when they're out having fun in the sun out there you're doing a ton in here and we really do appreciate and it may go unnoticed and sometimes people may not say that but I'd like to say thank you for everything that you do really it really makes a difference and we see that throughout these past years I just like to say that I just like to before I give the invocation just share with you just a tiny thought King Solomon was known as one of the wisest of all men and his great his great wisdom was highlighted by many of the commentators they said that his wisdom was like the sand of the ocean so the commentators the M Lo says why is it specifically that we compare it to the sand of the ocean he says just like the sand of the ocean is a formidable force it does not allow waves to come and overtake especially Miami Beach we appre apprciate that type of uh that type of analogy so when it comes to this idea of sand it could be a formidable Force but each grain onto its own is also precious and the same thing as well when a person does whatever it may be they have to recognize that it could be the totality of what they're doing but also even on a minute scale it also is something as well and therefore his wisdom was recommended to be something of that of that type that although it was the totality but also each individual piece was as well so we have leg legislation about traffic mitigation or let's say restoring Law and Order where should the homeless be we should have certain types of far different types of distances and having all the different things that we have debate and we have vigorous debate and many of you I receive your emails and they're quite vigorous and I do appreciate that thank you you know who you are and uh I voted for many of you and uh it's great to know all of you and uh I very proud to be a citizen of Miami Beach so just to give an invocation to every single one of you may God Almighty continue to bless this commission all the people who are are here being led by our honorable mayor S sim Steven Miner as well as all those who are working really hard to make Miami Beach an unbelievable Place God bless every one of you dear God please invest in all these wonderful people who mean the citizens of our of the city of Miami Beach to continue to go forward to be an unbelievable place not just a tourist destination but also a place where our children and our families can be raised and live and we should continue to go in the path of God and to continue to serve him amen may all of you be blessed and thank you for inviting me to speak thank you Rabbi so much appreciated we're going to do the Pledge of Allegiance I'm actually going to ask Rick and Ralph our City attorney and city clerk to lead us the flag United States of America and to the republ for it stands one nation God indivisible andice thank you and we'll get started with the sutnik hour good morning hey hey good morning please state your name state your name uh and you have two minutes good morning commission and mayor my name is Reena bass I know many of you personally but this morning I'm here in the capacity as a PTSA board member representing Nautilus Middle School I'm here today to speak in regards to resol solution c7f I'm formally requesting your support and providing a golf cart to Nautilus Middle School a golf cart all will allow administrators and our security Personnel to quickly and effectively monitor many of our unfenced and open areas including our large parking lots Open Fields and other expansive areas of the campus thereby ensuring Swift responses to potential safety concerns and allowing better visibility and security monitoring presence thank you for your time and consideration in supporting um a golf cart for nonis middle school if you have any questions I'm certainly happy to answer them thank you thanks Arena thank you our first virtual speaker is Johan Moore Mr Moore please state your name address and you have two minutes good morning Johan Moore 717 Jefferson Avenue uh having communicated in writing my one uh uh the one item I object to uh I'm going to comment only uh on a few that I am supported by of uh I want to start by thanking commissioner bot for item C40 uh Meridian Court Community uh came to an articulation uh as we were attempting to address uh some issues uh with the special Master a year ago namely that Code Compliance officers should act as prosecutors and I would urge that that Inspire your uh going forward with this item I think code enforcement is not uh seen as and maybe is not as confident uh as our police department but is just as valuable in in protecting the public against disorder uh I want to thank commissioner Dominguez for item C4 uh I can't read this I think s uh which uh increases uh the number of permitted yard sales per year to two this may seem like a minor uh uh issue um but Meridian Court Community believes that doubling that uh helps build Community it certainly has been a major way that we have gained new members uh I want to thank commissioner magazine for c71 uh the Southshore Community Center summer camp a great opportunity for Activation I also want to thank commissioner lingis for C7 U uh the waste holler RFP long supported by sustainability committee and finally uh R5 AF which uh involves amending the Geo board appointment process I'm not clear on the details of that but I want to speak informally on behalf of sustainability committee to urge you that sustainability committee's representative to that committee to Geo Bond committee uh be a voting position thank you very much thank you so much next please good morning Matt Rosenberg pal South Beach Track Club s Flamingo Park as always thank you so much for all the to all the Commissioners and their staff for all the dedicated work that you do we know it's not an easy job and we know you're very committed to try to find the best path forward whatever path that is and we're all grateful I want to say thank you again for what you did on October 30th with the 7 nothing resolution on protecting the track from anything that related to the construction or potential construction for the fire station that may or may not end up there so we're very grateful for that and thank you for also the correction that needed to happen to with that agreement with the design company which was with the little typo there so we're we're very grateful for that as well and just uh you know again a couple of notes uh should you still continue to seemingly have the opportunity to find additional funds down in the future as had been shown that was possible for that 12 Street location we would love it if it would be considered to use additional funds to ultimately put the fire station in another ideal location somewhere else and a reminder to the commission that the Whole Foods location was listed as a viable site on The Matrix as well for the original uh plan that was provided um whether that's still feasible or not I'm not entirely sure but at least it was listed as a okay as a as a vial site at the time but we encourage the opportunity to look for an alternate location and uh as I emailed all of you earlier today the 2040 comprehensive plan of Miami Beach itself did call for ratio of 10 acres per thousand for open and green space for your comprehensive plan for Miami Beach and given that you have 78,000 residents now give or take a few hundred and 400 Acres of Green Space it comes to 5.08 r IO acres per thousand people so we'd feel that it would be going in the wrong direction just things to consider again we're grateful for what you're doing and Juliana if you're listening that is from Juliana Tuma and we're very grateful who has a resident as well uh for that information she might be calling in later thank you so much we very much appreciate all that you do for our community thank you our next virtual speaker is Anna Marie Dello please go ahead state your name address and you have two minutes anamarie please unmute yourself so we're going to go then to DAR Darren Mig Darren please state your name address and you have two minutes Darren please unmute yourself so let's bring it back in here Mr greo good morning everybody uh Michael Grio uh I'm here on behalf of Sunex I believe Miami Beach's largest tenant um here I'm on item R5 a just in case uh I'm not here in the afternoon um we are here to express our support for further uh limiting some of the commercial operations as is being requested by commissioner Suarez I expect over the next uh couple of weeks and then through the holidays and Beyond we're going to be having some conversations about the future of the marina um and I'm going to have those conversations with you individually and collectively preferably sooner rather than later um and uh my phone is always you know open for you guys to talk about things um not just on a day-to-day basis with the marina but uh also with the future partnership between Sunex and the City of Miami Beach so thank you thank you we're gonna try Juliana Toma Juliana please state your name address and you have two minutes please good morning my name is Juliana Tuma I'm at 734 Michigan I'm a a a a homeowner and a resident of the Flamingo Park um neighborhood um I'm calling in regards to the fire station at um uh the uh Flamingo Park I just wanted to reiterate uh What uh some of the things Matt said that in 2019 the environmental Department of Miami Beach adopted the 2040 Miami Beach Comprehensive plan land use plan in preparation for all of the things that are going to happen in 2040 with climate change and the weather changing on page 97 this document states that per 1,000 residents cities should provide 10 acres of open Recreation and green space currently 78,000 um residents um and we are only providing five acres per 1,000 residents on our 18 square mile island the some of the E ecological benefits of green space include storm water management Urban heat island mitigation and biodiversity the trust for public land lists cities and Parks accessible by residents within a 10minute walking radius um Miami Beach has the opportunity to be an international leader in resilience and climate adaption green infrastructure and Open Spaces also offer opportunities to enhance overall quality of life and improve collateral public benefits from Investments please choose an existing site within concrete and not very limited Green Park area serving an Ever growing Miami Beach population thank you thank you so much Mr noic say your name address in two minutes please good morning Mitch novic 901 Collins Avenue our annual opportunity to showcase our city during art week is once again passed I ventured to the mainland a record three times here are my observations the water taxi was a practice tactical addition to this event by week's end there were lines of hundreds waiting to Traverse the bay on each side while I certainly wasn't a fan of spending 600,000 annually on a problem plagued water taxi to offer such a service utilized by the masses amounts to a win on Wednesday early evening after Miami context my group ventured to Winwood which evoked memories of South Beach and the early 1990s the area was bustling with people exploring unique storefronts a star contrast to Miami Beach's empty spaces a trip to Bickle City Center via the Metro mover and a walk over the bridge to eat it whole foods revealed a thriving downtown with noticeable police presence the Metro mover ride back home featured a diverse mix of riders utilizing the crowded train on Sunday we ventured to The Design District in Midtown wow is all I can say Miami Beach lost its alert and luster long ago to revitalize our city perhaps we should focus on Transportation alternatives to alleviate the traffic congestion and an effort to move us wisely into the future and on a side note I urge you to consider challenging state preemptions to our home rule our former City attorney who issued a flawed opinion against the challenge is now employed by a prominent pro-development Law Firm we should be able to decide our Destiny without State interference thank you and happy holidays thank you our next virtual caller is screen name Richard Richard state your name address and you have two minutes yeah my name is Richard rinsky I'm president of Palms Association at 10 25 Alm road which has approximately 100 uh voting residents and um following that and Juliana I hope you would take a look at this 2040 Miami uh uh Miami Beach Comprehensive plan there's numerous areas in this that just totally goes against putting this fire station in Flingo Park the recreation and open space element emphasizing preserving the open space and parks for essential resources mainly uh maintaining park recreational purpose recreational purposes to promote public well-being protecting public access to Green spaces that contribute to quality of life and natural Aesthetics underneath the conservation in coastal zone management you might want to read this this also is a goes against putting the park in uh putting the fire station in the park the historic preservation element and the land use element uh with which ensures the capability with adjacent usage avoiding creating nuisances or hazards that disrupt the community well-being placing a fire station in that densely uh located area in the park with the track is just unacceptable you know we have spoken to this numerous times myself the residents of our association we are totally against using a green space for uh for a fire station we cannot continue to uh damage our Parks we thank you for your time thank you so much Mr gal for you have two minutes your name and address please sure good morning mayor city manager Commissioners my name is Matthew ganof and I reside at 125 Jefferson Avenue first I want to commend the work by the transportation and mobility department data data they provided shows over 23,000 people traveled on the Water Taxi and the bus shuttles plus over 2,000 people use the city bike stations at the convention center during art week a huge success and hopefully the start of even more comprehensive Transit plans and um for art week and other events in the city next year consider popup dedicated bus lanes that would create more incentive for people to ditch Ubers and reduce traffic and improve Mobility for all I'm also supportive of the following items today related to Mobility C4 q and c4n city code today encourages but does not require bicycle parking as part of the special event process anyone who attended AR bosle and related Fair saw bikes locked to any fixed object around these events and additionally I urge the mayor to call r5g sponsored by commissioner Rosen Rosen Gonzalez which would allow seniors to operate ebikes at speeds up to 8 m an hour I would also encourage this to be expanded further to perhaps also include parents that are carrying children thank you and have a great meeting thank you so much our next virtual caller is anamarie please unmute yourself State your full name you have two minutes good morning I'm Anar F Lelo residing at 4779 Collins Avenue and I'm representing the mid Beach neighborhood association an organization that um that operates with the interest of hotels and Condominiums along Collins Avenue and Indian Creek Drive from 24th to 63rd Street we'd like to thank the city for an active and successful art basil week we also encourage the city to consider more comprehensive active Transportation measures mass transit to be considered more seriously and additional investments in infrastructure to address traffic congestion particularly in mid Beach to match our private Investments um the city's own surface parking lot on 27th Street could serve as an ideal solution for incorporating a designated loading zone on the ground level and creating dedicated valet areas for spillover along Collins Avenue and also to to be able to accommodate in these um high impact weekends some of our public arts or or activations patrons could then be transported to the destinations by golf carts or freebie services or similar light Vehicles easing congestion and improving overall traffic flow regarding r5g which um proposes amending Chapter 70 of the city code to permit seniors or individuals of any age to use motorized bicycles on the beachwalk MBNA is is concerned uh we're concerned that enforcement could be challenging and it could inadvertently lead to discriminatory practices by targeting patrons based on age we also think that it it um it will be very difficult to enforce and we at this time would not be in favor of having any motorized um bicycles on the beachwalk thank you thank you so much seeing no one else in the audience I'm going to go again to uh Darren Mig so let me go to Darren you're up and then you'll be next Darren unmute yourself please can you hear me now go ahead yay all right nice thank you well good morning uh dear Commissioners and mayor uh again um one thing that I noticed is that our your efforts to make our streets clean again uh is definitely working uh the Flamingo Park area looks much cleaner crews are coming uh and uh cleaning by hand and uh you know you know with the customary machines um then the other thing my comment is about enforcement of the smoking ban at our public beaches and Parks um I I did talk to you know several lifeguards and they say well this it's not our you know responsibility to enforce it so the question is who is enforcing it have you taken some kind of um uh are there any numbers of um you know um if we have actually um given any um fines to people who break the law or something so that that's I would call your attention to um the next topic that I would want to discuss is about um the plumbing of Park as Matt and everyone else said uh taking away Green Space is not the right approach right path uh in this case we need more not less so that means that it's not really underutilized it's necessary right so the wording that was used uh during the um that special uh ballot measure uh was also in my opinion misleading right uh for people who were not residents of Miami Beach who knows how um precious that green space is plus taking the um uh according to the plans taking that um there is a building in between uh the green Green Space taking it out of that and putting it into the nor uh Southeast corner it's going to remove even more green space so we're going to be uh left with basically no green space there thank you so much sir I apologize but you're out of time uh is there anyone else in the audience go ahead please state your name address and you have two minutes please approach the podium if you're if you're wishing to speak uh good morning uh major minor and Commissioners uh Blanca vello president of the owner Association of Gardens on the bay 6484 Indian Creek Drive uh since this uh the holidays I don't come to bring problems I just want to thank you very much for the support that we are getting concrete and direct actions to solve our problems in our case after the last time I was here uh immediately we got somebody from public work sorry D I haven't been able to answer to you to fix the big hole that we we have uh out outside of our property and that is a hazard for people that is in the park so thank you very much we're working already with public works very effective and very quickly uh then um also I want to report that I walk almost every night around Hollins Park and there is days that there is not not almost any homeless so that is a big Advance few days yes there is one or couple in the little uh alley besides the ballet school but normally it's very uh empty and uh we can feel safer about walking in our neighborhood then uh regarding our Basel obviously we don't have any other thing that to thank for all the efforts regarding the traffic at least Washington Avenue even AC even across the convention center where I live the traffic was much less than other years and easier to to move out of the place where I live and uh and finally I want to thank you for your support for our sister cities committee I we had a great uh meeting with great de with the swis H Chamber of Commerce and business people that want to keep doing more business with the city of Miami Beach and that's it thank you so much and happy holidays to all thank you our next virtual speaker is Diego M Diego please state your name address and you have two minutes my name is Diego machalo I'm a resident at 1688 West Avenue West Bay Plaza Association where we have about 112 units um I want to thank everybody for all the work you all do on a daily basis I know that's a lot um and just wanted to mention that I as a resident and a few of the residents there would oppose uh the electric vehicles on the boardwalk and wanted to bring attention to our Corner cross from Trader Joe's it's been blocked for bicycle use again um after bowo was open it creates a lot of life safety issues for us we walk out of there and people are whizzing by on these electric scooters on the sidewalks and there's no enforcement or any sort of issues there so if anybody could send somebody over there it'd be great take that take a look at the situation thank you very much thank you so much please state your name address I have two minutes my name is Debbie Quay 2301 Collins Avenue and um I have for the last five years chaired the senior affairs Committee of Miami Beach I'm here as a private citizen though um expressing my support for any kind of motorized vehicle for the seniors that are um on the beach on the boardwalk it's heartbreaking to see seniors that have mobility issues that cannot even the sitdown scooters to ride on the um Boardwalk with their families it's heartbreaking to see they can't take that route for a restaurant a local restaurant um when the rest of the family is very mobile so I would like to hopefully see something that can address the seniors whether it is uh the seated ones there are seniors that come to visit their family they can rent one of those and I think they should be able to enjoy the boardwalk and spending time with their families I also want to um support additional bicycle stations I had the pleasure of taking the water taxi over to Art Miami the line coming back was 2 hours we walked across the Venetian Bridge it would have been great to be able to pick up a bicycle there and just kind of get back to Sunset Harbor so I support any initiative to add bicycles around the city thank you thank you so much our next virtual speaker is Rosalie Thompson Rosalie state your name address you have two minutes my name is Rosalie Thompson I'm at 5757 Collins Avenue Miami Beach I would like to speak against the idea of adding additional bicycles instead um I think a better idea would be to upgrade the scheduling of the trolley so that people who live on the beach can depend on using a trolley and right now I think um it's questionable as to when you will get a trolley if you go out to the corner um also um the whole thing with bicycles needs some regulation um uncomfortable when I see someone riding whizzing by me in a on a bicycle in a mask um I I'm I'm opposed to mask wearing in its entirety and I would like to see some rule in Miami Beach um against ma wearing masks um so I'm not in favor of more bicycles thank you thank you so much are I see no one here in the audience I'm going to go to the next virtual speaker is CW CWA local 3178 please state your name address and you have two minutes good morning my name is Monique I'm the vice president of CW local 3178 and I'm calling for the support from the mayor and Commissioners for item uh c7h um for our Union to be uh executively recognized by the city of Miami Beach uh CWA we represent and cover over um 300 employees that work for the city in various departments including ocean rescue um Public Safety communication co- compliance parking Public Works Etc and we would like to continue to represent and support these workers and we hope that the Commissioners and the mayor support um resolution c7h and in good faith so that we can continue to uh bargain for people and give people um equal Equitable pay and continue our good reg relations that we have with the city b beach thank you thank you so much again seeing no one in the audience I am going to Andy Andy state your name address and you have two minutes hi good morning my name is Andres gamron I live in 345 Ocean Drive Miami Beach I'm 63 years old I sold my BMW Z4 two years ago and I've been riding a bike ever since it's been the best decision of my life it is very clear the city of Miami and Miami Beach have serious serious transportation problems the freedom of riding a bike along rows and rows of traffic is liberating um so I encourage the city to embrace bicycles places for the bicycles to be locked and the the lanes are beautiful they're empty and The Trolley system isn't going to help at all because the standstill remains I encourage safety protocols for bikes electric bikes and standards for these bikes um I've placed my name on the on the um roster to be part of the transportation committee so I'm willing and able to help and uh have a lot of insights I've ridden all kinds of ebikes so I know how they work I know the pitfalls and there's certainly a lot of improvement that can be done on the safety factor of these bikes not only for the pedestrians but for the Riders thank you sir uh our next caller is Wayne Wayne State your name address and you have two minutes hey good morning ladies and gentlemen I wasn't going to talk today but I I got I got the uh the bug so um I just wanted to say that I was so excited to hear that uh the shuttle by uh Ferry between here and he was uh successful in the sense of of Art Basel um that there were lines um I wish there weren't lines um but it shows the quality the the impact our Waterway could have in eliminating traffic you know bikes are great but if you're if you're 64 years old or you have a disability or or if you're uh you're afraid of of accidents bites are not the answer but but certainly fairies are and for long distances um you know feries service could support uh not just uh uh east west but north south it could go from V aventur Sunny Isles all the way to uh uh whatever is south of us there is but um as well as East West between us and the mainland um it could drive hundreds of thousands of people like Seattle Seattle has a very effective um ferry service using electric Ferry services that hold hundreds of people at a time at speeds of 40 knots or greater um so uh I I urge City and the county and the state to uh take advantage of our our our our perfect situation for that that uh that means of travel um thank you have a great day may God bless all of us thank you Wayne mayor that concludes setnik we have no one else waiting thank you thank you everyone who called in and commented also we uh I along with my colleagues got a lot of emails from from folks so thank you for that it does make a difference so keep making your voices heard I didn't want to comment just briefly on two of the comments we heard one caller called in and uh thanked us for the uh cleaner streets cleaner neighborhoods and that's an effort that I along with all of us are making and I wanted to thank you Eric and Brad Kane our sanitation director for for making that happen uh clean streets Safe Streets dry streets that's that's our mantro that's what we're doing here so um I'm glad it's being acknowledged and noticed by our residents and Wayne I do agree with you on the water taxes I've been pushing that and I think collectively our commission is pushing that um it it worked incredibly well over art bosel and art week and and we're looking to continue that on a permanent basis commissioner Fernandez has a service announcement oh what I'm sorry Service Announcement a service no well Mr Mayor thank you I I appreciate it it's a moment of personal privilege because I just wanted to before we start our meeting I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge this season of light and celebration for many of us Advent marks a time of reflection and preparation as we approach the joy of Christmas this this specifically is the second week of Advent which represents peace it's a time to reflect on the peace that Jesus Christ brings into the world and into our hearts and soon also for our Jewish Community uh they they will be gathering to celebrate Hanukkah a festival that reminds us of the resilience and enduring power of light uh these Traditions though they're different share a common common message of Hope and renewal so I just uh I just want want us uh to reflect on that may this uh season Inspire everyone to bring light and kindness into our community and into our world and use this opportunity to really do good to inspire our hearts and to truly celebrate the holidays with peace and with meaning thank you Mr Mayor thank you and the holidays overlap this year which does uh not frequently happen so happy holidays everyone we um I'm going to ask our state representative uh Fabian basabi to to come up and give us a legislative report as is uh typical as well as uh the upcoming session and thank you to and all your colleagues in the state because um we do rely a lot on state resources spring break was a perfect example of our partnership and collaboration uh the preemption stuff not so uh not so great we're not as excited about that but uh but thank you for being here and giving us a report and this is item r9d sure before I begin I'll just comment um on the preemption stuff it's about a balance right sometimes the state knows better sometimes the city knows better and that's where working together makes that impact I couldn't resist I couldn't resist saying it but we did do great on spring break Let's uh let's get some new programming and you know get the people back out there especially the locals I'd like to see Ocean Drive just as vibrant as possible so good morning and thank you for having me state representative Fabian basabi I reside at nine Island Avenue here in Miami Beach as I commence my second term I would like to First reaffirm that being a member of Florida's majority party assures our state to to be the best partner for you and for all the people of our city I would also like to let everyone know some of what to expect from my leadership over the next two years in education our teachers must be the highest paid in the nation we have more than enough money to to afford this and signing off on our work with my colleagues in the legislature our governor has already approved a record increase in Teachers Pay Statewide but I call upon my cities to contribute further by including funding that follows the state's example in matching an increase in pay to those who educate our children a path has been cleared to do so this won't be just to show a monetary response of appreciation but to assure that it is crystal clear that every unique individual is seen heard and loved and that our schools are equipped with crucial resources to properly address possible issues of our diverse students as we cannot count on the Integrity of activism and partisan leadership who manipulate at the emotional and psychological expense of our most vulnerable our job is to protect and inform our community rather than misinform for Personal Agenda and ideology in regard to traffic I'm asking that all the cities I represent demand the Miami Dade County fully access and recalibrate our traffic assimilation software with tens of thousands of people employed by the county and paid by our tax dollars I believe they are failing us and I believe we should expect better of them they they are obligated to serve all of our citizens in regards to the High Cost of Living property owners and small businesses must have immediate relief and I am asking that all my cities to act now by activating whatever available Business Development budget and opportunities as our prior property tax appraiser has overvalued our assets more than anywhere else in the entire State this was not solely due to the cash Market influx of luxury housing but rather Federal subsidies that are no longer available available to us but they continue to distort the market tax incentives and deregulation is of imminent importance to all Property Owners need relief as I work with our newly elected property tax appraiser on legislation to address the extraordinarily High property tax imposed on Miami Dade County alone causing rents toy to Skyrocket displacing the valued and longtime residents of our communities I urge you all to do what you can to reduce fees and cost to our property owners while I address this in the legislature for next year's property taxes are already due and many are on able to meet these costs the funding and Tor reform delivered in my first term helped bring nine insurance companies back to Florida directly resulting in competition for better rates but we are still far from where we need to be and far from making the numbers approachable for our constituents we must all share the responsibility as it can be logically argued this district is largely responsible for the insurance crisis which is the direct consequence of Prior Decades of poor City management lack of Law and codee enforcement resulting in decades of deferred maintenance we must reestablish ourselves as a viable Insurance Market this is not an overnight solution but one that we will only resolve together we must deliver comprehensive planning create public and private Partnerships along with greater funding we must also ensure that that money goes where it's intended to I pledge to work with your teams and deliver results in regards to our unhoused community state law require hes that we that cities create a designated areas and again State funding has been made available to help the county stunt in using our homeless population was Despicable and unfair to all of us we are not weak and we must not and we must stand up to strong strong armed County government with this recent election honest leadership has won over despicable smear campaigns and dedicated work over dishonorable Antics I have every intention of keeping it that way as elected leaders of this community it is your role to lead our constituents with objective sense rather than personal preference we are the economic engine of our state and with this in mind we should be setting the example anyone trying to advance themselves or a party rather than the community as a whole does not deserve to be here the people see it and the people have spoken in a democratic process and I am here because before we are partisan we are humans and I invite our community president in the audience and watching virt virtually to join in my effort to Bringing people back together to restore civility Among Us rather than encourage a divide Mr Mayor as soon as I receive my committee assignments I will be extending an invite to you and your city manager to join the other Mayors and city managers of District 106 as I've done in Prior years to discuss our Visions your projects and the needs and goals of our cities and efforts to further strengthen our Partnerships with each other and with the state there's been a complete overhaul in the legislative process C how budgets will be filed how legislation will be filed um and we'll go over that as committees are assigned I remain available to all of you and our constituents always thank you and may this holiday season bring us all peace and togetherness and joy and happiness to you and all of your families thank you thanks thank you uh state representative faabi appreciate the report and uh again thank you for looking out for our interest here in in Miami Beach and continuous uh continuing to fight for us um it's a battle like you said on the county state level but I think we do have good partners so appreciate it thank you thanks Ralph I believe we need to uh go the approve the consent agenda yes mayor uh for the record the following items have been separated from the consent agenda commissioner Fernandez separated C7 AF again commissioner Fernandez C7 AF commissioner Rosen Gonzalez has separated c4d as in dog again commissioner Rosen Gonzalez c4d commissioner Suarez has separated two items c7m as in Mary c7z as in zebra so again commissioner Suarez c7m c7z also the mayor has not approved the addendum items those will be heard after 5:00 pm uh so if I could have a motion for the approval of the consent agenda excluding the the uh addendum items and excluding the consent the separated items I'll move the agenda all in favor of the consent agenda as is I pass 70 thank you mayor okay in the spirit of promoting our city as a healthy and fitness City and we're continuing on that Trend I'm going to call Item R9 AC R9 AC is discuss act issue RFP for construction operation of padell facility on Lincoln Lane it is uh magazine and Suarez R A R9 AC commissioner magazine thank you Mr Mayor uh I'm not sure if there's been an item I've been more excited about to uh present to my colleagues and to the community and I'm not sure if uh in the past few years since I've been involv we've seen more Outreach to us for an item in support of something uh my idea here and PJ feel free whenever you're able to uh piggybacking on my friend and colleague uh commissioner Suarez's PowerPoint presentations but just wonder run through some things um the goal here is essentially to issue an RFP uh an RFP for the Lincoln Lane lot lot p27 that would essentially transform a city surface parking lot into a premier paddle facility uh as a bit of background paddle is now the fastest growing sport in the entire world it is just taken off like fire uh it is largely popular South America in Europe it's the second most popular sport in Spain over two million people played in Argentina and it is just taking uh our town by fire it's not a fat it's something that is staying in 2032 padel is looking to be an Olympic sport which will even increase its appeal and one of the reasons why I'm looking to bring this to Lincoln Road is uh the economic benefits and the Catalyst to bring people events livelihood vibrancy back to our city the only the only downfall or caveat that I was able to essentially uh come up with in analyzing this talking to our staff and talking to our colleagues is the parking that we would give up however uh after a very very comprehensive uh analysis I believe that there's already ample parking in the area that we're going to outline and we've also uh gotten confirmation that was sent to All of Us by the property owner of a building right next door uh that would enter into negotiations or discussions with the city to provide the relief of any parking so maybe if we just go through the presentation but I wanted this to be intera active for anybody that hasn't been following along the lifestyle and the brand that this brings to areas uh just um PJ we'll go next excellent uh the activation is exactly in line with where we're going with uh blue cities with our health and wellness initiative and this is a sport that really really threads the needle behind not just health and wellness but the social aspect as well uh it's comp comptitive is played by all genders it's played by all um ages in fact over 40% of all active pedel players are actually female compared to only 15% for tennis uh so think uh when you're talking about what this sport is if you're not familiar haven't been following along it's essentially it combines the Finesse of tennis with the enclosed Court of squash and why I think this is so appealing to Lincoln Road is because of the following this has this turns into a very social aspect if you look at some of these facilities uh their city of Miami has given a uh ground lease uh of one of their preeminent pieces of property out by the Miami sea plane right by the Children's Museum uh to have one of these facilities and it is just wildly popular the types of events they're able to have there this past weekend Celsius energy drink uh sponsored uh huge events that just attracted such a great crowd it it is frequented by the likes of DK jet or David Beckham uh people that are just uh epitomized Miami and the health and wellness facility as well um it's a game that really really facilitates teamwork uh and the learning curve is not nearly as steep as a game like tennis it's much more forgiving after uh getting out there for a half hour um I'm just starting to play myself uh you're able to pick it up my seven-year-old daughter is taking lessons and she's gotten into it and it's frequented by old people again of all genders so really it provides a very very easy approachable uh facility and amenity for our entire Community residents and tourists alike pjf we'll go to the next and you know as I view things a surface parking lot is amongst the least Progressive land uses uh that we can have um however we're not abandoning that entirely we have ample amounts of that we're going to maintain surface parking lots on the south side of Lincoln Road we're going to maintain a surface parking lot on uh behind the Apple Store as well this is just taking one of those facilities and converting into something that is a health and wellness amenity for our entire Community it's an activation on Lincoln Road that's going to uh stimulate significant economic activity diversifying away from what has just really largely been traditional restaurant and retail uh we can only have so many restaurants we can only have so much retail we need activations that are actually going to be a destination for people to come to Lincoln Road and then they're going to frequent things I got a call yesterday from a gentleman that initially was the only person we received feedback from that was hesitant um and he said you know we really need to help our small businesses there and this is exactly what that is intended to do when we think of a uh a store like books and books right when tourists come here they don't know what books and books are who frequented uh Cafe like books and books it's the residence it's our community and this is exactly that type of small mom and pop business that bringing a paddle facility to Lincoln Road will be able to help because after uh groups of 8 10 12 people people play an hour on a Sunday then they walk a block away and go have cafes at our small mom and pop businesses so the intent of this I could have chosen anywhere in the city to put this or to offer a proposal but Lincoln Road is the economic backbone of our city and this will be the most transformative economic driver for Lincoln Road that I've seen PJ if we could go uh next this is just looking at some of the similar venues nearby there's only one facility because of how constrained we are uh by land in Miami Beach uh that's a new facility that just opened in Sunset Harbor um uh called Sunset padle that's a private members only facility so if you're not a member there paying several hundred dollars per month or even tens of thousands for founding memberships uh you're not able to access that and you're not able to play that so it's really a sport right now that is not accessible to our community in Miami Beach and all the young professionals and people that I know that uh basically have made this game a lifestyle every sing single day every single weekend have to travel outside of our city uh if you look over to the right and uh to note uh Sunset paddle also has a 750 person weight list 750 people willing to pay $400 a month uh just for the opportunity to play so that really speaks on the demand that is there if you look at the picture here to the right picture that right off of Lincoln Road this is aesthetically beautiful it will enhance the appeal of our city and create a vibrancy and energy that has just been lacking for what is the economic driver of our city this will restore to a place we can all be proud again this is uh the picture to the right is over in the Design District Craig Robbins actually just gave away land to one of the preeminent operators of this facility because of what this means to that District because of the crowd that it generates the events that they have there and The Branding that's associated with it PJ next slide so just get the elephant in the room um parking uh we we can analyze this if anybody has more questions but we have so much parking in this immediate area I don't think that we truly appreciate it within one block within one block of the surface parking lot that uh we are uh referencing here we have a 1,400 spot Municipal garage that has about 50% occupancy and that's even during peak times okay right to the east of that the New World Symphony we have a 500 100 parking spot garage that has a 25% occupancy think about how many hundreds and even thousands of parking spots that sit empty and unactivated and we're able to have an amenity here close by that will activate a health and wellness activity for our entire Community additionally we all received an email yesterday from the owner and an operator of an office building that is 20 ft adjacent and ab buts this surface parking lot uh it's on City on land he owns the building and he conveyed his full support of this because of what that will mean for his office tennis PJ I'm going to go one more slide after that uh because of what that will mean for the economic uh vibrancy and energy for the area he has 700 parking spots in his facility 700 with a utilization that is consistently under 40% so he put uh forward good faith efforts that he is happy to enter into into negotiations or discussions with us about how we can relieve any and all lost parking that would result from this PJ next slide that's the last slide that's the last one okay I have one just to myself so also we did um an RFP for Lots on Lincoln Lane that the voters rejected several years ago and I just want to get right out in front about how this is different from that it is in no way connected um and I looked at what some of the push back against that was it's a development deal people are profiting off of this we're giving this land away uh this isn't for our community this isn't for our residents this absolutely is not a development deal there will be minimal uh buildout that goes on here structures that will not be long lasting right this is a buildout just like a park and wreck uh facility and while a private operator will be selected through a very public RFP process the entire Community will have access to this facility this is the same operating model for public places like Nikki Beach North Beach Bandshell Byron car aisle or where the city owns retail and we lease it out to Great operators like Yukon 105 this is the exact same business model that we employ all over our city this absolutely is not any type of land giveaway the lease term for this deal will be under 10 years under 10 years so the selected operator will have to invest millions of dollars building the facility out with their private money operate the facility and it's going to be for a term of less than 10 years previous proposals for the RFP that were rejected were 99 years by all intents and purposes that was giving that land away this is not this is just essentially entering into a lease where the city will receive rent payments for a duration of less than 10 years and this facility will not further strain our infrastructure like people were concerned with putting parking lots right off of already congested 17th Street this will be utilized by by residents and visitors that are already in our city many of whom already currently live on Miami Beach are visiting Miami Beach and right now leave to essentially go play in other cities um I'm super excited about this uh I just think about when we all leave on lunch or leave after this instead of walking by more concrete more asphalt think about the progress of Nature and energy and vibrancy that this will bring uh uh all day all weekend activation of people out living that health and wellness lifestyle that Miami beach is looking to become synonymous with and I think that will really further that agenda so uh Mr Mayor I appreciate you and all of our colleagues uh time and thought going into this I want to turn it over to the group to discuss you want to move it I will I'll second okay thank you commissioner magazine I should have realized when commissioner Suarez signed up as a co-sponsor there'd be a PowerPoint presentation involved so thank you for that I'm going to sign up as a co-sponsor as well commissioner Suarez and just I just quickly want to State as the fitness commissioner fully fully in support I think um I think what a great way to activate Lincoln Road you know it it it is struggling and what a way to bring people from you know all over the county to to this spot and to next to Lincoln Road which which could really benefit from um from this facility um so thank you and thank you for doing that parking analysis um that's excellent the fact that we're under 50% on most of these garages it just shows that we have plenty of parking and uh the the surface slot is really not a good use of uh of public spaces and the more we can really activate Lincoln Road with such a spaces such a great and unique idea so thank you for bringing this that's why I became a co-sponsor and so uh you have my full support commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor and thank you commissioner magazine I think this is very exciting it brings uh brings great energy uh to an area of our city uh that I think will be very organically generated uh and uh and I and I sense the the excitement in our in our community the motion today is to ask the administration to develop an RFP and then have that RFP RFP uh language come back to the city commission that is correct and the goal is to bring that back for our second meeting in February great one of the things I would just like to suggest is that um you know I I think uh the uh private paddle club uh that is uh in Sunset Harbor I think their memberships uh I've heard are like $350 I I heard someone else mentioned $700 um I would like to make sure that you know we we we try to be as inclusive as we can to the different levels of affordability in our community and that the RFP language takes into consideration making sure that residents are of all means in our community have the ability to access uh this uh this facility um and the and the other thing I would just um mention there's also um you know I think it's always good to give the market some flexibility um I think p27 is great uh because it's right there in the heart of Lincoln Road it is there in the in in the Beating Heart in in the center of it uh there's also p26 that is also very under utilized I think that that has a utilization rate of between 50 to 69% um maybe you know give the market two options ask ask the market hey do you want to do p27 or do you want to do p26 uh so that they can you know gravitate to where they feel uh it could work best I agree with that and Mr Mayor or Miss vice mayor uh if if I could in response uh one I totally agree with you on the first point so um some of the other operators this will be an open RFP and one of the things that we would look uh when evaluating is the public benefit and accessibility for our entire community that each individual operator is able to use I know uh the operator for the uh space over on the city of Miami land uh they do have a open style of play uh that's available they do have uh a membership type where it gives you maybe first access to some of the peak times but you do not need to be a member to play so I think uh a business model like that would be really conducive for our community and of course we would look uh I would hope to see uh responses from operators such as kids clinics uh facilities during on peak times for uh the older community for people of lesser means so uh just like you said with uh uh item number two giving some flexibility uh certainly I I and I think all of us would look to see the public benefits uh most notably accessibility that the operators would uh essentially seek and return and uh for your second point I I totally agree I don't want to uh paint uh us or any operator into a corner so if somebody wanted to submit a RFP proposal to see what p26 would look like I I'd be happy to uh open up to those two facilities and and and my last Point uh is is going to be uh we all received as as you mentioned the the email I I about um the 400 underutilized parking spaces in a private garage uh and I think uh as we as this moves forward hopefully in February we'll we'll have a well structured RFP that we can all uh consider and and and approve um but but as that moves forward forward you know just encourage you know engage in those conversations see see if that um building owner is willing to make those parking spaces available uh you know kind of at the same rate that people are paying for now in the in the uh in the surface lot because I think you are spot on to something that could be great as an economic generator uh and as a generator of our brand enhancing our brand as a healthy community and as a Destin a for for for active activities so congratulations this is great and I look forward to the outcome of your creativity here thank you I almost heard uh I look forward to co-sponsoring this but I I could have been mistaken Joe I commissioner Rosen Gonzalez um I just had a few Financial questions about that parking lot first I wanted to find out how much reeven does it generate per year because I think as part of the RFP we have to at least recuperate what we're bringing in right now y so and you can answer but I believe uh upwards of about $650 to $700,000 so my first question is are they willing to at least if they're not paying for the land um are they willing to give us a minimum guarantee of 650 to $700,000 per year because of the fact what first what is the revenue on 27 and do you have the revenue for 26 too um good morning Mr Mayor Commissioners Jose Gonzalez Transportation director and inim parking director uh for p27 it's 78,000 approximately uh for 2024 750,000 Ines in revenues so I mean even okay let's say that for economic benefits we gave up 50% of our Revenue which well giving up 50% of our Revenue hurt um The Parking Department in any way any Revenue loss would yeah I mean I just I wonder okay this 750 I mean you in this RFP we're going to have to demand at least 50% of current Revenue um I think we should demand 100% of what we're bringing in right now um I don't know what the projected revenue is on that but we don't want to go into a revenue deficit especially since if there's no upfront payment so based on the 750 I don't know how you guys feel about about this that would be a rent of about $62,000 per month I don't know if that's viable or not but I think that that's what that's worth um I would like to demand that we at least recuperate our Revenue I don't know how you feel about that wait I have a few things that I that I want to discuss number one number two um commissioner Fernandez I certainly want a um public benefit and number three I keep hearing arguments that we don't have enough parking in South Beach especially from res res but then all of a sudden everything is supposedly like underutilized so are these Lots underutilized because that is a key lot Jose and I'm just trying to understand that I would like to also and you're going to K me for this but between now and the time that it comes up in February I would like to do some at least one community outreach especially for the businesses like Sam Donaldson and these other mean everyone gets their hair done there they're going to be very if I saw what happened to the guy at to the owner of sushi beichi when we took away the municipal parking like like desperation so in the spirit of uh supporting businesses that have been there for decades number one I think that and I don't know how you feel about this but you have to let the businesses know number two recuperate some portion of our revenue and maybe you sit down with them and have a conversation um about this and number three a super public benefit and I'm not trying to be a negative Nelly I'm just trying to uh protect um you know what being a steward of the fiduciary I understand the economic benefits are not always in dollars right um but I do think that this facility is going to generate um it's going to do you have projected revenue for their facility have they showed you and as part of this I would like to see what the projected revenue is is of a current pel facility that the company owns similarly because we should probably have some sort of percentage of the either either we enter into a partnership 5050 because they're getting this land or we at least recuperate our Revenue one of the two so let's do this but let's do it in a way that's fiscally responsible in in my opinion M Mr M if I could magazine commissioner Suarez thank you very much commissioner Rosen Gonzalez and I agree wholeheartedly with what you're saying uh the one thing I will note is there's not a they yet right so this will be a public RFP process I've just highlighted some operators but I haven't had any substantial talks with anybody saying exactly what that business model will look like so uh without painting ourselves into a corner um you know that's the beauty of the open RFP process is we can look at what the mix of public benefits the revenue that we're receiving back into our city what that activation would look like um but of course is somebody that is very uh fiscally conscious uh I I do want to see uh some sort of return on um leasing away this uh Prime space uh what that number is I think we leave it for the market and listen if uh we have four operators that come back and say no we actually need you to pay me uh I'm not so dogmatic to say well you know what we need to do this come hell high water uh we could evaluate that when we actually get the terms back um but I think uh we open this up to see essentially uh what that healthy mix of community benefits Revenue that we're receiving and the economic uh Boon that this would be to Lincoln Road will look like uh thank you um I I think what I think the what's being lost here is the fact that we have underutilized parking lots commissioner Gonzalez U they're underutilized under 50% so if they're not going to park in the surface parking lot they're going to park in the garages which have plenty of available parking and so that just goes to show that the space the surface lot it's not a good use of of taxpayer uh right away or property uh especially when it can be activated to bring such a a a unique crowd uh to to Lincoln Road so I don't think there's any any Econ economic impact um the fact that you know they they can either Park in the lot or the garage and if the lot is going to be a paddle court they'll naturally go into the garage which has plenty of available parking so I I I don't see any sort of um economic impact on that and and look I think also commissioner magazine said you know we don't want to paint ourselves in a picture I'm totally open to benefits I think that's why we have an RFP process the RFP process is going going to uh let us see what the best qualified um plan is for for the city uh and if there you know we get to decide that so I think this is uh again an excellent idea and I don't certainly don't see an economic impact considering we have so much underutilized parking garages okay I'm gonna have commissioner dominga speak and then call to vote thank you vice mayor uh so I really like this idea I think it's a a positive step for Lincoln Road I too worry about uh the loss of parking and while the lot in particular that's being mentioned may be underutilized um it is utilized quite a bit I mean people go to the dentist get their hair done go shopping grab lunch uh there's an office building on Michigan so while there is a garage a couple blocks up it's hot it's humid here it rains and so it it changes things for the residents um but I am very supportive of the RFP and talking through this further and getting something done to help Revitalize that area okay let's call a vote Yes sir this is to give direction I have motion by commissioner magazine second by commissioner Suarez on R9 AC all in favor please say I just just a question just a question on that I just want to make sure soose sorry well I just want to make sure that it includes that the RFP includes uh you know the option of the two lots the issue on unaffordability um and I think there was a third thing I had mentioned commun benefit ability right the the the the accessibility so I just want to make sure that staff has has that in the language of the AR Ros Gonzalez and I would also like to make sure that whoever is bidding for this is going to replace the revenue let's say you know at least get it to the highest bidder if the revenue 750,000 that should be like a minimum that should be the minimum bid on this which is a little over it's couple thousand you know $1,500 a day ,750 I mean like for in order I mean that lot right there how many spaces is in it well if I could commissioner wait can I can I just I'm asking question we just realized that every parking space is cost costing us $555,000 right so how many spaces are in that lot 150 spaces 150 spaces so it's really a so it's worth so just those parking spaces alone are worth $8,250 th000 and the land value on the lot do we have any idea what that is does it matter I we're just leasing this we don't have that number as we're sitting here today um certainly something we could take a look at but ultimately this is really a in the the grand scheme of things is a short-term lease um while we're evaluating what we might want to do with these Lots long term because they're not the highest and best use would you consider a five-year option in this RFP just to see how it goes so it's not that I would not consider it but where you get into issues there is people are going to be very hesitant to make substantial investment so the private operator is going to have to invest millions millions of dollars for this and to try and recover that especially if they're not maximizing their revenue through $500 a month memberships they're going to be very hesitant from a a business standpoint to essentially um make that investment so one of the things I didn't seek out the highest and best use here right in terms of maximizing Revenue if we wanted to do that we could sell this for an office or for you know housing or for luxury housing but this is a community amenity and some times when you're providing those it's for the anciliary and secondary benefits and it's not looking to achieve that highest and best use so well yes I think it's important that we replace some of that revenue for parking one not all that Revenue will be lost because it'll be simply shifted into other Lots where people are going to park right it's not as if our overall parking revenue is going to drop by this amount it'll just be shifted to another lot or to another facility and secondly part of this is not not seeking the highest and best Revenue use it's really doing what's best in providing amenity for the community let's call the vote I would say that as part of the bid the minimum guarantee should be replacement of Revenue and then there should be above and beyond if people want some sort of percentage rent with a cap on it I understand the the economics behind it but I think they really need like Specific Instructions as to um what we're going to do with that land just because it's big parking lot yeah I I have no idea I don't always use all of our service parking lots but I know that as a resident I do use that one very often so I I do know that it's this is big I'm going to vote in favor of this I just want to make sure that you know if we do we realize that it really isn't about the revenue it's really about the facility of being able to pull up um could I especially like Harry's Pizza I worry about Sean Donalds and people getting their haircut off you saw what happened to Sushi beachi and I we're here we're going to do this again I just wish there's is there any other lot on Lincoln Road please please please that you could explore why this one either in favor or not it's an RFP and I was just going to suggest maybe ask the administration to to as part of the draft you know come up with a minimum amount guarantee but for them to be professionally driven because we're not going to lose all of the revenue the cars that park on the lot they will go into garage so there's not going to be a loss of Revenue so you know with all of these rfps and these types of uses there usually is anyways a minimum amount guarantee that's that's recommended and perhaps as part of what the administration could could come back with you know and something that's studied and professionally recommended rather than us dictating it from the de just offer that recommendation agree let's call the vote all in favor R9 AC I I any oppos motion carries 7 R9 AC r7h yes yes sir R r7h is provide direction for 41st Street quarter rev revitalization so I'm going to call the city Administration David Gomez I'm just going to make two count first we have two major geobond projects on the agenda today we have the community center quatic Center uh for North Beach at 2:00 time certain we're going to discuss the 41st Street uh item now just two two comments if my colleagues can uh can can uh listen so there there's a couple of items here as hopefully we'll approve this today um just to give you right at the outset before you even go David where I stand one is that there's uh it there's a cost to it but implementing CCTV LPR readers license plate readers I am supportive of that U I think whenever we can uh add safety especially at the outset which will save costs in the long run we should do it the other one is there's a suggestion to do up lights which I'm supportive of but not at the expense of losing the wrap tree lighting before I was commissioner five years ago I heard literally for 10 years a decade how people residents businesses wanted the palm tree lit and we've done it in other parts of our city it was the first item I brought as commissioner it was unanimously supported as co-sponsored by all my colleagues at the time um it's still huge success and we've added we've done it in other parts of our city so I I am strongly uh suggesting that we continue to keep the wrapt tree lighting as well David thanks for coming up and we're going to vote on your uh later to be the director of uh CIP so no pressure no pressure good morning Mr Mayor Commissioners David Gomez interm director for Capital Improvements um we come before you today seeking Direction on some additional scope items for the 41st Street project uh as you know we've been to several of the community groups including the bid and the mayor's Blue Ribbon panel for 41st Street we did go to the design review board for their advisory review and the groups did make some suggestions to improve the project these suggestions uh while we're meeting most of their suggestions these three in particular are outside the scope of the of the original project and we needed Direction on those you did mention the cost we are not not seeking additional budget at the moment because we could manage that through the budget request for fiscal year 26 uh but it is the three items that were mentioned it is the replacement of the string lighting on the palm trees with uh landscape lighting on every other tree it is the infrastructure for license plate readers along the corridor and it is the replacement of acorn fixtures that were recently within the last few years replaced by Public Works and we felt that that could be uh a misuse or or not the best use of the funding if we were to replace them again now so we come looking for direction on those three items vice mayor bot I I'm sorry before we go any further I I Adore my colleagues and I know there's a lot of um enthusiasm about a lot of different ideas it is really hard to hear and to focus on what our staff and other people are presenting to us that we're supposed to be voting on when there is such um robust conversation at the deis on on different matters and I would respectfully ask I'm not trying to be anybody's mom but I would respectfully ask that if you're going to have a really engaged conversation about Whatever item it is that you remove yourself to a different part of the day as we outside so the rest of us can hear and focus on what's being said our staff works way too hard um to not get the the the focus and attention that they deserve and we are being challenged to spend our Collective money wisely and I I make enough mistakes on my own I don't want to make a mistake based on the fact that I didn't hear something correctly so forgive me for playing mom but you know once a mom always a mom well you are filling your role as vice mayor very well oh no no offense no offense to you commissioner Rosa Gonzalez so I didn't attend the recent bid meeting but I would like to talk about uh palm tree lighting you know the beauty of the palm tree is the crown at the top and in most places what they do is they UPL it so this wrapping is really not how you light tree I don't care if you want to keep it and possibly uplight it but I have to tell you that it's the other way around and if you go any place I had a picture but what it should really look like are um if you're going to spend this money instead of wrapping the unattractive part I think what we should do is highlight the beautiful crown and um if you go to ro rodo Drive Beverly Hills places that understand this type of design um I think that number one the lighting needs to be uplet we recently and by the way it could be uplet with lights that you can change colors you could make them blue you could make them pink you could make him I mean so number one I think you need up lighting LED and you know what I'm talking about I mean in my house I didn't wrap the base of the tree I uplet the beautiful part so that you know you can see it so that's number one number two um in thinking a lot about 41st Street and the fact that really it's a highway you know part of our plan has been to beautify the sidewalks on the street it just doesn't work you know for many years um I'll tell you um my family owned a restaurant on Harding and Surfside called Cafe razi it's famous it's still there right and we tried on 96th in Harding to put tables outside on a highway and I have to tell you no nobody ever fatted them um it doesn't work so any monies that we spend should not be spent on the highway I've thought a lot about this and I actually mentioned this to the 41st Street committee and I think that they were in favor of instead beautifying the back of um the storefront so you have these really unsightly alleys that could be beautified so I would say uplate the palm trees um focus on beautifying and changing the um the not pavement put some sort of beautiful material uh behind so that for example cafe avantti or pah Hut for example could now have beautiful sidewalk cafes instead of being on a highway so we have to reverse the way that we're thinking about 41st Street and if you really want to do it right I think that these are the options that we should do um because I'm telling you that beautifying the highway is not is not the way to go or spend this money how do you feel about this so a couple of comments I'm I'm glad you mentioned Beverly Hills I'm actually flying there tonight I'm speaking at an anti-Semitism conference there so I will check out the lights you mentioned cuz I asked the city administration because I wanted to check out these uplights in person I think there's no substitute I've seen pictures uh the closest one though uh I'm being told this around the Orlando area so I wasn't going to make that trip um I I still think they're two separate items I'm not disagreeing with you on the on the uplighting but the way it was presented to me it's not going to and the pictures that I saw of the other areas that does not encapsulate every tree uh properly so that's that's one part uh and I'm being told by the city Administration you can address it we can do we can do both secondly um Harding itself is pretty much a highway and their outdoor seating there is extremely robust the restaurants there are booming I mean you talk about booming you go there almost any night of the week and you cannot get a table in those restaurants on Harding uh which is obviously something we're trying and there's a lot outdoor seating the the and and I'll address this to you David um um this we have spent several years in design if we now switch to the back of the I mean this these types of comments and changes tell me if I'm wrong needed to be done years ago not now because we're just going to delay this that's that's correct the scope of this project is along 41st Street and it is primarily an improvement to The Pedestrian walking area as well as seating areas correct and if we do it in the back it doesn't really you may have some outdoor seating I and I understand the the thinking but you're not improving The Pedestrian experience on 41st which is the which has been the stated goal of this project for for a number of years correct so commissioner Rosen Gonzales number one I spent 15 years running Cafe regazzi so the restaurants that did have outdoor seating that were robust had recessed areas the seating that is directly on the street um did not work and um it ever so we could do what we're doing but I don't think it's the right thing to do so you could spend the monies this way but really if you wanted to help the businesses what you could do initially is change the sidewalks and create the right kind of uplighting and then move forward this is not difficult stuff all we're talking about is beautification and Lighting in the Alleyways um where we have surface Lots but not the ENT higher surface lot just 10 ft out from the businesses I guarantee you you would see roters and toasters pah hot Cafe Avanti they would all begin to have sidewalk cafes in an area that's not going to be full of uh traffic and grime and I think that if you really want to help 41st Street this is the way to to to do it you could replace that how many how much money do we have for 41st Street this is a $10 million geobond project as a reminder this was approved through the geobond the master plan the Acom master plan and the vision Plan before that was approved by commission many years ago I appreciate your description and I think that's a great project but it would be a different project than what we're talking about and we'd be happy to look into potentially creating a separate project to do that could you at least change the lighting so that we uplight the correct way Jackie I gave you a slide of what a palm tree uplet should look like and this isn't even a great slide of it because I didn't you I just took it this weekend cuz thought see now quick you want to light a tree this is the beautiful area of a tree so when you well you're saying eh but and this is not the best lighting but any place professional where you go what you want to highlight is the crown of the tree not the stick um and and and by the way we could have better lights that go like all the way up but the point is is to continue to wrap um a stick you know what you wrap Meridian trees like that that makes sense because you see the beautiful branches but to wrap the stick and leave the like that's I think how people in design wrap um light trees and by the way um it doesn't require any maintenance because once you put that led um light in the ground it's much less maintenance than continually replacing these uh these wrap lights so um I would suggest that at least in terms of a lighting perspective you could leave the wraps that are there right now and uplight the Beautiful area so that we kind of look like you know and then and then little by little as the as the the ones around the sticks burn out um we can remove them and by the way you you it would be transformative to drive down the street and see like all of them in bright pink or all of them in bright blue or in you know on Christmas in red and green I mean you could have all of this the technology provides for this and I really think that if we're going to spend this money you should invest in led up liting so um this this project as I'm talking about as a whole in its entirety has been through a robust Community process there were numerous shetes there were numerous meetings most of which I attended from the mayor's 41st Street committee obviously at Public Safety and neighborhoods committee our commission um we I I we do not have the in my opinion the ability to literally change it now and we don't have this this has been years in design as to what is going to transpire it also takes F dots input because it's 41st Street it's a state road which we have so um to change it on the Fly here um to me is not prudent and nor do I think we have the ability to do it nor do I want to do it so I am I'm I'm supportive of this project as it is um and based on the community feedback that we've gotten um I am I'm supportive of the uplighting in in general I don't agree that it should come at the expense because the way I am told tell me if I'm wrong David the uplighting right now as design wouldn't be on every pal tree you would be staggered it would be every other palm tree and if I could correct the record I said $10 million it's actually a $15 million geob Bond construction is 10 got it actually I I I knew that when you said it so that's why I didn't uh I didn't say anything here's here's what I would say we are going to we actually got we approved the funding to upload the street on Espanola Way East correct didn't we approve that at the last meeting I believe that did okay what I would do is um we're going to update that one street and you're going to see the difference in what it looks like when we do it um if you want to spend this 15 million um in my opinion the wrong way um I'm not going to vote for it uh because I don't think it's the right vision and I I certainly don't think that on that very narrow sidewalk um you are going to see difference I'm going to votee no for 41st Street because I think that this $15 million is um a lot of money that's being misspent with what um was decided here I think uplighting and beautification of alleys is the way to revitalize 41st Street uh commissioner Dominguez then commissioner Fernandez thank you mayor I appreciate it uh so yesterday I attended the annual meeting for the 40 First Street bid and they were very supportive of this and they wanted to move forward so I just wanted to share that the stakeholders that are looking after this area um really want this to go through and thank you for attending that meeting it actually got back to me that you were there and and and it was very much appreciated commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor and so I walk uh 41st Street every day I walk Sammy over there every every morning and then I walk Sammy again every night to uh 41st Street and um and I got to tell you I the one question I always get when I go to 41st Street is residents and business owners alike asking me what is the status of the 41st Street project I don't know how many times I have been asked that questions both the businesses and the residents want Above All Else The Wider sidewalks and they're thinking about the opportunity to be able to have the tables there and what did they mention they they mentioned specifically Harding Avenue they mentioned Harbor Grill how Harbor Grill has a few tables outside they mentioned Rustico how Rustico has tables outside even if you go to flanigans in uh in in Surf Side you know they're able to to to have the tables and so I think that this is very much overdue it's widely needed it's voter approved and it's supported by the community businesses and residents I agree I like the string lights the string lights I don't think we should be uh moving away from string lights maybe we need to do more sophisticated string lights that are more permanent in n in nature with the proper infrastructure in place so that you don't have the lines you know from One Tree to the other uh kind of looking like clothed lines uh from One Tree to the other you know that can be addressed um but I'm all for uh just keeping the the string lights I support uh of course a request from police for the uh LPS um I'm fine with the acorn lighting I think they're relatively new I think the the RB had suggested doing something more modern uh that was going to come at an expense of over a million dollars but if we can keep the existing Acorn lighting that was just installed in uh in 2020 I I think it makes it's just prudent um I don't think commissioner Rosen Gonzalez is wrong in being concerned about the Alleyways but I think there's opportunity for that in in the future I think Alleyways are one of our most underutilized public assets I I think commissioner or vice mayor Tanya Abad is has a Citywide initiative on Alleyways and I think we certainly should look at these Alleyways because they certainly do have a lot of opportunity to be clean to be lit to be active activated in the proper ways uh but the community has long asked for this um the one thing I would say as we move forward with this project is to consider the coordination of the schedule with uh other projects um I get concerned about you know whenever we do work on Alon Road or the turning lane from Indian Creek I get concerned uh with a 41st Street water main replace uh I think we just have to look at the schedule and the timing of of all of these projects to make sure we don't end up with a gigantic traffic jam um as it relates to to the 41st Street water main replacement I think that's being incorporated as part of this project at some point is that right David that's correct so what I would ask is there any traffic lane closure that's going to result as as as a result of that fdot has not not or has made clear that they will not allow a closure of 41st but there obviously as we're installing water mains there will be some lane closures to in order to do that okay so like partial lane closures okay one of the things that I have asked trans the transportation department in the past to look at as it relates to 41st Street is getting the center turning lane and using that center turning lane as a reversible Lane that can be used for for high periods of traffic to allow more capacity for the flow of traffic I think for years I've been asking Jose to to to look into it and we always get mixed feedback uh from the other outside agencies if we do have to close any Lane of traffic on 41st Street as a result of this project I would encourage us to look at that turning lane and seeing how could we make that turning lane One Direction to supplement for the closure of the of the travel Lane during the construction period and so I just want to bring that up again in the past we've discussed Jose making that turning lane into a uh reversible Lane to accommodate traffic maybe that could be helpful now uh if we encounter any uh closures as a result of construction all right so I'm very happy with this item uh I'm happy to move it or second it at the appropriate time Madam vice mayor okay commissioner Rosen Gonzalez and then we're going to call the vote um I think commissioner magazine wanted to speak also um okay so what we're approving right now is just $2.5 million for the uplighting correct for electrical infrastructure there's no widening of sidewalks not even uh the 2.5 would go through the budget process next year so we're not even talking about construction dollars addition so this is just lprs electrical infrastructure and actual widening of sidewalk or no wi the project does include widening of sidewalks in certain areas and providing for additional seating and and accommodating some outdoor seating areas okay you know listen I I will based on what you based on the community input I will support it but do I think that it was the I I do think that overall we probably should have thought of the fact that 41st Street is a massive traffic Corridor and you know dining on a highway is not ideal and so maybe in the future commissioner bot especially if you're working on alleys um I I've been meaning to put this on but I think the alleys along 41st Street seriously need um Improvement so that we can begin to have outdoor cafes and I and so I'll I'll vote for this I don't I don't love that but you are going to consider the up lighting correct or this is just for string lighting we are here for direction I'm sorry Mr manager Eric I if I could just help maybe I I think this will facilitate the discussion a little bit better there there are three things that we need basically an up or down vote on one is the drb's recommendation that we change out the acorn light fixtures on the light poles for more contemporary fixture we are not in recommendation we are not recommending that because we recently changed out those lighting fixtures the second item is the introduction of conduits and LPR and CCTV infrastructure as part of the project we are recommending that while we're out there doing the work on the street we think that we should put that in because we're going to need it and then the third item is the uplighting on the palm trees which was recommended by the drb we are recommending in favor of the up lighting it is not mutually exclusive with the wrap lighting if you wanted to make that a later decision you can certainly do that we just need direction to incorporate the up and down Lighting on the palm trees yes or no okay does that help y yep can I oh want to speak commissioner magazine actually I was going to speak to ask for some clarification on on things like that when we went through our briefing and I appreciate staff for being so thorough in that uh the thing that really jumped out at me was um you when we do things without getting a lot of community input and and people just wake up and life you know changes all of a sudden uh that's when we get a lot of feedback and that's kind of what I viewed as changing those lights that I feel have become kind of iconic to uh 41st Street along with Meridian Avenue um we can have different themes for different places I love the um yeah the look of the uplighting Washington Lincoln Road you know things like that I would just be very hesitant uh to completely abandon the string lighting around the palm trees and that's something I wouldn't be in support of I age can I just I'm I'm not saying abandon it but I think once you see I think the amount of Maintenance uh required and I do think that once you see that we as we light the crown of the tree which is you know really what you're supposed to do um you're going to see something beautiful and dramatic and I think a little more refined and elegant um I think that string lighting was a great fix and like I said on Oak Tree I think it's perfect but I also think that the design review board also recommended up lighting because that we are not um design experts I do not pretend to be but one thing I do know is that um string lighting is is is festive and I think it was good for for when it started um let's see what the string lighting plus the uplighting looks like because to see the sticks with no Crown to me does doesn't make um a lot of sense but I understand that you like it and I think that the people on 41st Street like it but as we streamline and grow and become more refined and mature and design I I don't think we should ignore the recommendation of the board either we could do both do both we can have both right we're putting in the infrastructure we can based on your direction we can do both yeah you already have them wrapped we just got we're going to put it in the electrical infrastructure so that you can uplight and then wrap yeah and then by the way as we do Espanola and you see what like cool up lighting looks like maybe little by little we will um remove some of the string lighting we just did Lumis park it looks crazy it's just like swags it does not it looks I could have done it you know that's what like the point is like we're a municipality and you know and Lumis Park is Iconic and that to be uplet in pastel colors that reflect Ocean Drive I think the stream lighting for right now is fine do I think that it's the right Vision no Mr Mayor commissioner Fernandez Mr Mayor I'd like to make a motion to accept staff's recommendation to not change the acorn lighting to incorporate the police requests for the LPR uh reader and CCTV um uh conduits and to keep the string lighting while in inating the uplighting for the crown I'll second you beat me to it thank you uh before we take the vote David bu bouts there's been a lot of discussion uh I did a tour with fot the county and police chief our city manager can that be part of this project while we're already expanding sidewalks and making changes to remove some of the bul bouts we are coordinating with the transportation department on their evaluation of those bul Bots and we're working closely with them on that um I don't know that we've landed at a space that we know exactly what the Right Mix is uh but yes it could probably be incorporated into this project it depending on funding and and scope and when is the project slated to start actual construction uh end of next year excuse me let me let me double check that give me specific month and year I'm sorry construction start April of 26 April 2026 yeah okay and we're only losing what is it nine parking spaces or what is correct nine parking spaces and and thank you for your questions um commissioner Fernandez about the construction and the traffic obviously it's unbearable and uh in all over the city but mid Beach certainly and we had uh Anam Marie from nbna call in before about it so we certainly need to be sensitive to it and I have a feeling that's not this is not the end of the discussion regarding the timing of construction how it's going to work like you say we have about a year and a half close to it we need to really stay on top of that because this could be exacerbate a problem that's already pretty severe and the team does have a maintenance of traffic consultant on board that they'll be looking at how we handle traffic C Construction should call the vote let's call the vote Yes sir on r78 I have a motion from commissioner Fernandez seconded by commissioner Rosen Gonzalez all in favor as amended within three directions please say I I I motion passes 70 r7h as amended let's call r7j r7j renew PSA with New Hope Corp Inc various services for the homeless r7j commissioner Fernandez um thank you Mr Mr Mayor uh this this item is accepting uh the administration's recommendation um for for the approval of an of a PSA with New Hope in amount of 568 th000 uh is run addition term and they and they provide invaluable uh Services uh to to to our homeless uh population um this this is a very specialized uh segment of our unsheltered population in our city and New Hope Has the specialized um the specialized service providers to deal with this specific segment and um uh I think um you know I don't think we can do without this and so I just want to move my item second I have a couple comments I think we I think we discussed this last time um about the really low percentage rate of which they shelter homeless individuals have we discussed anything with them to to change that I mean what was the U discussion on that good morning Al office of Housing and Community Services yes we have uh Mr Steven Alvarez he is the CEO of new hope he is here today we have discussed benchmarks for this contract year we have looked into augmenting their Outreach efforts we have looked at strategically making sure that staff is here within the time frames need be we've talked about check check-ins and checkouts with Administration as well as with professional staff and their uh coordination um so yes those benchmarks have been discussed and have been outlined in the contract yeah okay just just to remind everyone I think the last year last fiscal year there was 4,900 um new contacts right and then there was 476 engagements um and only 94 New Hope shelter placements pre-treatment and then 13 New Hope residental treatment placements corre that's really that's really low what are the new benchmarks for so working with this population that suffering from mental health and substance abuse can be a little bit tricky to give specifics on how much you're going to look at engagement so what we've discussed is looking at different Rapport building styles different types of additional training for staff to ensure that they are building rapport with the clients um but as far as specific numbers for shelter placements it's very difficult to gauge with this population because you are working with people who sometimes do not want the services right um so in the total is 568 th000 568 th000 but that is inclusive not only of after hours that is also inclusive of live assistance support for our phone lines that's also inclusive of the pre-treatment beds as well as residential level two beds for the involuntary marchment program through the police and through our office for voluntary services for those seeking uh Treatment Services as well as a recovery residence so that's half a million dollars for an after hours call in and and the treatment beds but the treatment beds from the stats that I just listed was 94 uh pre-treatment placements for last year and only 13 residential placements correct and residential treatment can last anywhere from 90 to 120 days when the person is in recovery this isn't a shelter placement this is a intensive recovery treatment which I'm sure U Mr Alvarez can speak to they are a carf accredited agency as for residential uh Services yeah I mean I just when I look at these stats when there's 4,900 contacts and only 476 decided to engage with New Hope yeah um like I said I mean when so when a New Hope member goes up to a homeless individual that's that's considered a contact correct correct so last year there's 4,900 almost let's just say 5,000 um and then only 476 decided to actually engage okay so that's 10% right and then of that only 94 which is another 10% of that 10% decided to do a pre-treatment uh placement so the way that they were gauging their engagements was only if the person consented to being placed into the homeless management information system um so not if only the person engaged and was open to report it was only if they consented to being placed to having their information be placed into hmis and I'm sure Mr Alvarez can speak a little bit more to how his team was looking at that sure uh Mr Mayor uh Council good afternoon my name is Steven Alvarez I'm the executive director of New Hope um one 9241 Holiday Road speak um Color Bay it's my residence um as far as your question uh in reference to engagements last year uh when you when you compare this last year to the previous year we had the similar amount of contacts so we have about 4,000 contacts the reason why the engagements went lower is because um the previous year we were uh requiring that a person sign an uh uh we were accepting verbal release of information this year we decided to across the board that we only would engage individuals enter them into the system the hmis system if they if they sign an Roi and so we're going back to verbal Roi so that our engagements can increase and so last year we had about 800 engagements and this in the previous two months uh We've increased our engagements and so we're on track to meeting about $800 800 engagements yeah but at the end of the day I think the mission for New Hope is to place a homeless individual in in care right and so I don't really the engagement numbers aren't necessarily A A A kpi for me it's more of like the placements and so you know Point like 0.1% of the contacts get a get a treatment B and this is costing taxpayers half a million dollars I I mean I I I I I aired my grievances at the last meeting on this item I mean it's really low it's just it's really low I guess value um for for our city um I understand that the third the 94 and 13 you know um those individuals are better off when before New Hope got to them I I completely understand and my heart goes out to them but at what point do we like drw draw the line and say you know how much is that going to be you know if I do uh just a quick math and I say um $560,000 divided by 133 uh Residential Treatment placements that's $43,000 a person I mean that's a lot right so and and I get look I Al I understand there's after our you call center which is important it's not a call center it's live assistance live assistance yeah well it's a it's it's Callin right um so look I I I again I I I I don't I don't know how I can justify spending that kind of money um or for this um it it just the stats are very poor and I know in the industry it it is it is challenging um but I don't know I mean guys when you spend $433,000 per person I think that's just it's a lot you know it's where do you draw the line on what is acceptable so um Dr Terry if you could perhaps um provide a little insight into what um industry stats are sort of generally speaking um taking into account the difference between written and verbal Roi so that we have Benchmark about about from which to evaluate it is very difficult uh for engagements and for people to take up on Services um it is about that 20% Mark uh especially when you look at for example if we compare we were looking to compare our program versus uh our city program versus our after hours we can't even compare that because it's apples to oranges because we're engaging during the day whereas they're engaging at night where there are other issues that may be prevalent that you may not be seeing during the day um um so it's it's very difficult to compare apples to oranges you are working with the same population so we know that we have a very transient a service resistant uh population we Tred to have as comprehensive of services readly available so when the person is willing to take us upon the services there's no delay time and no lag time and that has truly proven to be a difference um because the person doesn't have to it they don't necessarily change their minds waiting for let's say a treatment bed to become available or or a pre-treatment bed or a shelter bed etc so you know we're we're in a time and place in in our world where we are very exigent about how we address the homeless population and you know there are a lot of people who are homeless and wish to not be homeless there are people who are homeless by choice and um that is their right um there are people people who are homeless and are criminals and that's a different sort of path and there are people who are homeless who have very s serious and significant um Health Care issues whether it's medical uh mental or or other kind of physical issue to do without a program like this is not an option in our city because um there there's just no there you can't claim to be compassionate in in treating homeless population issues without offering a path to the help that is necessary the population group self- selects to be incredibly difficult to work with um anybody who has a relative who has had serious chronic illness or mental health issues can attest to that and that's with resources um I how expensive is too expensive for a person's shot at life I don't know um I I think that trying to bring this program inhouse would not only have an outrageous delay but the learning curve and the cost would be uh the learning curve would be significant I think it would be a very difficult set of jobs to fill we can barely fill jobs that we have that aren't so challenging um and the cost to bringing this as an inhouse program with uh long-term carried costs pensions promotions is significantly more than the cost here so yeah would we like to see a better return on our investment for a million reasons yes we would like to see more people accept the help that is being offered um we would like to you know hopefully with going back to verbal rois as opposed to written while I understand you know the desire to have everything buttoned up um we'll have different metrics and you know hopefully the number of contacts will go down because there are just fewer people who need our help um so I'm going to be in in support of continuing with this program it's not perfect um maybe something will better will come along down the road there are ways to refine um how we do what we do and I anticipate that um as we do with our other Outreach programs there's collaboration across municipalities and states to learn from each other I know a lot of people come here to learn from what we are doing successfully and I would expect the same if we know that somebody's got a super efficient way of doing X like it is incumbent on on you sir to incorporate that to the best of your ability in a way that makes sense not everything works for every situation in every municipality but I um I obviously I want to hear from the rest of my colleagues but I will be making a motion to support this commissioner Dominguez then commissioner Fernandez and commissioner Suarez thank you uh I too uh share my colleagues uh comments that I'm very supportive of this contract and I also did some comparison and investigation on uh what the prices and contracts include compared compared comparing Miami Beach rates uh with other contracts and so our rates include Street Outreach it's bundled with salaries fringe benefits Transportation cost insurance and other admin operating costs the MP after hours is 3858 which is lower than some of the other municipalities which come in at over 41 and $40 also the residential level two treatment for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services rate compared to other funders and contracts so the Miami Beach uh bed rate is 177 and other uh organizations that do this the bed rates come in at 274 225 uh one uh that is out of network is even at 450 and the successful placement for Street Outreach compared to Miami date County Continuum of Care uh Miami Beach placement is 20% as we've mentioned where in the county it's uh less than that so uh that's what I wanted to share thank you commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor and I you know it's it's important to to recognize that New Hope has been a vital partner with us with our Outreach Services and specifically this what we have before us and the reason why I've sponsored this and have this on on the agenda because it's so important for the continuity of services for the segment of the homeless population that is dealing with substance abuse challenges and that's very important because specifically New Hope has a specific accreditation that that that positions them ideally to deal with this we can talk about bringing this inhouse bringing this inhouse doesn't guarantee a higher level of success or a better return on the on the investment because you got to go out and find individuals who are certified and accredited to deal with this specific segment of the population and expertise in dealing with disab ility services and Rehabilitation uh fields and so I just want to highlight that not only uh does New Hope in our current agreement offer specialized uh services but they SP offer specifically after hours and it's not just a call center because they also do offer Outreach efforts in our city engaging directly uh with homeless individuals between the hours of 7:30 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. I I believe which is which is very important because when I first got elected one of the things I worked on was expanding the hours of operations in which we offer Outreach Services and I was very frustrated when I first got elected that we were only doing engagement in what seemed to be normal business hours like 7 to 3 or something like that and so one of the things I worked on is well how do we make sure that when individuals are in their most vulnerable most vulnerable and most willing to accept assistance that we have services available to them and Alba worked uh with us and and the teamw worked in offering these these these Services Beyond uh those hours and why do we do this because nearly 30% of our residents who fill out our resident survey tell us that they prioritize and they see homelessness as an issue that we need to address and that we need to address compassionately as well and so and and and so sometimes in public service it's not about the return on investment dollar for dooll but it's about the impact that you are making and I think we will do a great detriment to our efforts to address homelessness to improve the lives of these individuals but most importantly the quality of life of our wrest if we don't approve this contract today because it will create a big lapse in the services that we offer our our unhoused population could things be better of course but when you're dealing with a very difficult population we just can't see it as a typical business return on investment you just can't see it that way and in a perfect world yes but you're dealing with individuals that have mental illnesses and substance abuse and other types of disabilities that we're fortunate to have new hope that is specifically accredited to to to deal with this with that Mr Mayor I move my item uh and I'd ask you to call the question I'd second it Mr Mayor if I could just ch me commissioner SZ was next than commissioner magazine yeah thank you Mr Mayor again I mean I just I'm looking at the stats it's a 0. 2% success rate and we're spending $560,000 of taxpayer money okay um you know yes the residents have have a quality of life concern it was one of the top issues uh on our survey however based on these stats nothing's changing as far as quality of life there is no there's no movement in in quality of life when only 13 over the whole year take advantage of the program um you know I would be much more comfortable taking $560,000 and putting toward police or or or another program that actually uh benefits the quality of life of residents in terms of homeless so um again I mean I I I don't I don't to me a 0 2% success rate is not um it's not something that's that's working it's it's it's the opposite of working uh so um you know I I I don't know how else to explain that I mean the result results are the results I'm a you know I I I there needs to be some sort of accountability on taxpayer funds and making sure that it's being used properly and I don't de see that a program with a 0 2% success rate is is is successful commissioner magazine and commissioner Rosen Gonzalez commissioner I think uh some of the points they bring up are valid and have Merit and I think certainly uh warrant further uh analyze Ing and discussion we are going through a lot of moving pieces with uh our homeless Outreach our Partnerships with the county um I do believe that this is a one-year contract correct correct you know so uh I think I'd be hesitant to kind of uh cut ship right now with so many moving pieces um but in the same regard I I certainly think that some of the bang for your buck arguments uh that you're bringing up are certainly worth further discussing and analyzing over the course of the next year uh when we move you know towards a towards a further contract and I think that is the time to really start having these conversations I'd be hesitant to just kind of uh cut from this right now commissioner Rosen Gonzalez so I think you've kind of heard what it is that we're looking for which is getting people into beds I also think we've changed our legislation over the past year or two and we have new rules in place and I don't think that we necessarily set the expectations for what we want but do you think that if we continue the contract for the 9 months that you can improve the success rate of getting people off the streets yes we can we can we can improve the the outcomes because because I I do I do want to add to if I can to uh through the mayor um comment some comments in reference to uh commissioner Suarez um the the reason why engagements are so important it's just not just an engagement and they enter into a system and then you never see them again the engagements are entered into the hmis and it creates a record where a person if they may not be ready for services at that point in time it creates a record of chronicity and that way when a person becomes ready it that they meet the other criterias that are necessary to tap into other funding sources that are funded through Huds such as housing and other funding sources that are in other places parts of the county so engagements are are in fact important and and that's why I drive to our staff that we should not be um only entering engagements with a a signed release of information but if the person agrees to give you the information ENT them because in the long term it could help the individual when they decide that they want services so what do you think they engagement is going to increase by well I mean we're at 470 we could go we could we could go to 800 we the previous year and as far as I mean does that is that a linear increase with the number of treatments uh placements so as far as the treatment placements I know that you're saying that there's only 12 12 13 treat 13 treatment placements but there were 666 bed bed days utilized so when you kind of you know do the math it's not 13 560,000 divided by 13 you have to decide divide the number of the contract by all the services and the bed days that were that were provided so it's you know the the return on investment is a little higher than than you know what was been stated when we do numbers I mean it's typically based on unique values right not so that's that's the numbers it's 13 individuals who's who who benefited not necessarily the days um being used so I mean if that if that's the case I mean we would go bankrupt everyone decided to come to Miami Beach and utilize it so Okay Rosen Gonzalez had the floor I I'm just gonna and I don't know commissioner Fernandez if you would consider this but my second question is do you guys have some sort of direct communication line with the police department yes okay so I think that what needs to happen here is that you're the job that they are doing is really to alert the Police we've made made contact with a homeless person we have somebody who's not willing to take the bed and then work in conjunction with the police department I don't think that there I don't think that new Hope's job should necessarily be you know I think it should be making contact and if you can get somebody into a bed fine but we're going to obviously be counting now because we're looking at this idea of success rate but then direct line to our Police Department because they're already you know busy finding the people and then you know and if they do refuse the shelter your guys are going to have to go out and call is that happening right now well the police actually use New Hope there is a strong partnership in fact in order for the police department to be able to do some of if it's of its marshman services they use the treatment and pre-treatment beds of New Hope and that's part of this of of this item it's $183,000 that are part of this of this item that supports specifically in in individuals identify IED through Outreach who are voluntarily accepting uh as well as those who the police are identifying that need Marchman act now I also want to address the whole issue of the two of the0 2% success rate I think I think we have to be very careful in in what we put out there is you know when we look at at at the data what does the data tell us well in October October of of this year all right which was not too long ago they engaged had meaningful engagements with 49 people 49 people of those 49 people seven were able to get off the street either into residential treatment or into emergency shelter or pre-treatment uh facilities what does that mean that of the 49 people that New Hope made meaningful engagements with 14% were able to get off the off the streets now in order why why is it that commissioner Suarez is getting to this .2% number well in order to have a meaningful engagement it takes many context in order for a homeless individual to feel comfortable to engage in conversation so those 49 meaningful engagements were the result of 337 contacts you have to be persistent they had to engage with these with homeless individuals 337 times persistency in order to get 49 meaningful engagements but those 49 meaningful engagements yielded a 14% success rate for our community of seven homeless individuals that would otherwise be urin defecating and showering in public and I think that that's what we need to look at we need to look at how are we helping people not how do we tear an item apart and that is key here yeah we could always make something look bad yeah we can make it look like 0 2% success rate I'm seeing a 14% success rate because we were able to get in in we were able to to get in that one month period seven people off the streets is there the opportunity to always do better yes but please keep in mind this is the most of the most difficult of the populations individuals with mental health illnesses individuals with disabilities and individuals with substance abuse in addition to dealing with the challenges of homelessness I challenge any one of us to try to do this better in house it won't work in house because in addition to that you're dealing for cheaper at least because you're dealing also with overnight hours and we've already run the numbers of what it would cost us to to to do this uh uh in in house over overnight I mean we can beat this horse to to to death Mr Mayor but I think you know this is we're ready to call the item Motion in a second yes I'll just comment briefly um I'm supportive of your item commissioner Fernandez I do want to thank you commissioner Suarez I think you've uh brought to the Forefront uh and highlighting how we can make improvements and I think that's an important part even if something passes doesn't mean that your um objections aren't fruitful and I and I'm taking a closer look at this as well I'm I'm you know particularly um comforted by the fact you know sometimes Miami Beach gets uh a tough W that because we are enforcing our laws we do make arrests when appropriate the public spaces is for the public and we've made that very clear and we continue to ask our police to do more and more and more and they're doing a great job and we're we're asking to do even a greater job which is tough to do when you're already doing it but um it's such an important issue and the Supreme Court and I'm so proud of this commission and our city and our residents and our administration because the Supreme Court in a recent decision and out of Oregon said you don't have to offer all these Services if they're in the public and they're sleeping and and a person is sleeping in the public you can make the arrest but we don't and you don't have to offer services we choose not to go that direction we want to help people we're being compassionate um and we're going to continue to do that but at the same time we ultimately are going to enforce our laws so I think it's we need to examine every aspect make sure we're being prudent with our resources and our taxpayer funding and and I think that's exactly what you're doing commissioner Suarez and I encourage that let's call a vote I have a motion by commissioner Fernandez second by commissioner bot all in favor please say I I anyone opposed passes 70k thank you it's call r5a well they said they were going to bring better engagement so I'm going to hold her feet to the fire for next year item r5a is an ordinance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of May Beach Forida amending Chapter 58 of the city May beach code entitled housing by amending article 3 entitled property maintenance standards by amending section 58- 298 thereof entitled responsibilities of owners and occupants to require Property Owners of houses and buildings within the city to take measures to protect animals on the property and stall one soling oneway animal door or crawl spaces and providing for repeaters of ability clarification and effective date this is a second reading public hearing it is item r5a who's presenting this item it's my oh thank you um so basically the proposal ensures that animals living in crawl spaces are not trapped during fumigation which can lead to injury and death and we just had uh um Holly way and Linda Diamond here but I think they may have walked out but the item has uh three co-sponsors so with me that's uh four votes so I'd like to call the vote and I know um that there were a lot of there were a lot of um concerns about making sure that nobody got trapped under none of the animals got trapped and that all got addressed so want to make sure anybody listening to this understands that so um unless anybody has any super pressing thing to say I just if I could be add as a co-sponsor oh commissioner Dominguez would you accept commissioner magazine as a co-sponsor yes okay commissioner Rosen Gonzales and then we'll take the vote to thank commissioner domiguez for changing it so the way that it works right now initially you were going to have to install the trapo but if you have a crawl space under your house all you have to do is open up your existing crawl space which I think is is much easier um to do many of us have trap doors on our crawl spaces um not trap doors but like nailed doors so that's something that not going to cause like any economic issues at all correct and by the way you know I had a similar item about trapping that I moved to neighborhoods now because uh somebody's cat was uh you know taken by a Trapper so you know we are having these issues across the board but you know I had a long conversation with Lindon and Holly two cats were taken yeah so we're going to address that too differently um but thank you for changing it so that you know we don't you know make it too difficult to tent our homes which need to be tented roughly like every five years so yes I'd like to just take a moment to clarify um the revised version requires that if you are required to put a permanent screen then for a period of 14 days prior to that you would have a one-way door um it if you're if you're not required to enclose your crawl space then you don't have to do anything so for example in a single family home if I call to get my house tented right now and let's say say that I have three openings to the crawl space underneath my house what I understood was that if I opened up my crawl spaces I would not have to install a door you actually should never have your sorry I'm Linda diamonds H soie cat SP president live on 400 Alton so there already is a building code that every crawl space has got to be closed with some type of screen or lattice all the way around the perimeter so if you're in compliance there is no issue and this doesn't even have to apply you because animals can't get in or out okay so if I'm in compliance and so I don't have to open any doors at all so I just leave it screened as is and then I wouldn't have to do anything okay that's fine let's call the vote I need a second please and it is a public hearing I see no one in the audience and I see no one in Zoom requesting to speak vice mayor bot yes commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Ros gzz yes commissioner Suarez yeah commissioner magazine yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved it was item r58 C she's gonna cry really congrats thank you guys so much let's call r5s as in Steve on second please r5s is an order to the mayor City Commission of city of the Mii Beach Florida amending Chapter 58 of the Mi Beach city code entitled housing by amending article 3 entitled property maintenance standards by amending section 58- 298 thereof to require Property Owners of commercial historically designated buildings in the Aral Cultural District to maintain the historic character by promptly addressing exterior maintenance unapproved signage or awning and other visual blight violations and providing for repealer sh ability clarification and an effective date this is a second reading public hearing it is item r5s commissioner Rosen Gonzalez um yes I'm very excited about this item this is for commercial buildings in our our Deco Cultural District um I know that there was some question as to whether all of it was only designated buildings which would have which would have really meant only City Hall but what I think the spirit and intent of this item was and what I think it actually does is all buildings that are located within the historic districts is that correct Rick or am yes so the historically designated term actually includes all buildings that are within a historic district there was some confusion as to whether that was intended to refer to a historic historically designated site which is a different term so what we did and to to avoid any confusion we clarified historically designated means any building that is within a historically designated District um pursuant to sec C 2.3.9 of the resiliency code we also clarified because we noticed that there's no definition for art deal Cultural District in the code so we went ahead and defined that to include the area that that you wanted to include and I would really like to thank the women Irene bigger and Nina worth of the art and Jane CB of the art deco Cultural District neighborhood association because I actually got this idea when walking Ocean Drive with them a few years ago and we saw that several of the buildings had rusted lighting fixtures and there was paint that needed to be replaced so and I would also like to commend commissioner bot on carrying my initiative forward with a second item to include all historic districts across Miami Beach um commercial historic district so I think and I co-sponsored that as well and I think it shows that Mii Beach really cares and appreciates what makes us special and this is one of the first steps in making sure that as we walk through our cultural districts we are going to demand that um that our property owners uh even if their buildings are vacant those B ba buildings are going to have to be painted in proper condition or uh we will uh not just issue this initial citation but we are going to find Property Owners um up to a thou $1,000 per day and hopefully we'll see uh some changes very quick quickly with this new legislation so I'd like to congratulate commissioner bot commissioner bot are you co-sponsoring my item too I think you should I think I think at some point I talked about it but it seems like it got lost in the shuffle so with your permission I'd like to okay wonderful um and I would invite everybody to co-sponsor if they want because I think this is really important and you know getting the new sidewalks the new uh lighting I know that commissioner Fernandez is working on signage with the art deco cultural Institution I know that the mayor is working on cultural heritage tourism and these are all things to really show that we care that we appreciate Art Deco and that we're making a commitment to not just keep our buildings uh vacant while waiting for you know better zoning that we want it to look beautiful now and if places like Palm Beach and delr Beach and um you know other Waterfront municipalities like s srota they really do have a commitment to making their buildings look beautiful and finally Mii beach after several decades of neglect a manage decline of our historic district I think we're going to see a celebration of it with that I'd move the item and I'll I'll second it but I do want to just say um uh I think I Echo everything that you said but also just from a a simple dollars and cents perspective and economic development if you're a landlord or property owner and you're trying to rent out a facility a space and it looks like crap you're not going to rent it out very well but if you have a nice clean coat of paint on it and there's no water marks and drain and rust coming down the drain um it's not an expensive maintenance but it's it will set your property off better and if you want to be creative about the way you you paint it to make it look even more beautiful that will inspire your possible tenants to do you know to come forward and pay whatever rent that you're requesting so um I uh I'm thrilled about this I'm excited about the next one up um that will be discussed next month I guess in February and um perhaps we could move the item I think it's been moved second yes I have a motion second let's call the vote it is a public hearing I have Mr Caldo on Zoom Mr zaldo you have two minutes please state your name and address please good morning Commissioners Daniel seral with Miami Design preservation League um I want to thank the commission for supporting this and recognizing the importance of having proper exterior maintenance and addressing some of the visual blight that we see within the art deco and other districts you know most of Ocean Drive is beautiful and the property owners for the most part do keep their properties up to code but when there are a few problem properties it really can spread around the neighborhood um and so this is such an important initiative to ensure that we are doing the best and putting our best phase forward as I think many of us saw during art week how beautiful the city looks and uh we're hoping that we can keep it even more that way through continued vigilance thank you thank you I have one additional speaker George wolner please state your name and address please you have two minutes George walner uh one to 55 Collins Avenue and my question just to follow up on the on the previous speaker is you've got the tides hotel that is a for for Ocean Drive a rather large property that stretches all the way from Ocean Drive to Collins Avenue and it's been sitting vacant since about 2017 um and it would be wonderful to understand or get some help from the city uh about you know why is this being allowed I mean I know you have limited powers but this is going to go on eight years of a major piece of the street sitting dark and unused and you know uh it's going to be hard to bring Ocean Drive up the full potential with this kind of uh hole on the street thank you commissioner Rosa Gonzalez you know you're the second person in 24 hours to mention the ti hotel and I don't think that in this ordinance we address vacancies in the art deco Cultural District and I do think that that is one of our largest problems maybe commissioner bot um in your item between first and second reading you can add a piece about vacant properties in the art deco uh Cultural District about possibly beefing up whatever um curtain I know we have a vacancy ordinance that we created that it needs to be landscaped and it needs to be lit the question is are we en are we enforcing that right now especially with properties like the tides um so maybe you want to add to your ordinance or I'll bring a separate ordinance to address vacant properties and what we can do to make sure that they're beautified because maybe that would motivate the tides to uh reopen does anybody actually know what's going on with the tides it's in litigation yeah okay so with that can move it let's call the vote there are no other speakers commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes vice mayor bot yes commissioner Suarez commissioner magazine yes commissioner Dominguez yes mayor Miner yes motion car carries the item is approved that was item r5s thank you let's call r5v as invictor yes sir r5v is in ordinance of the mayor City Commissioner of the city of May Beach Florida amending chapter two of the code of the city of Mani Beach and tile Administration article six procurement division three contract procedures by creating section 2379 to be entitled prohibition on City contracts with campaign Consultants to prohibit the city from Contracting with individual or entity which has within a defined period time prior to the issuance of a competitive solicitation or execution the contract with the city perform services for compensation to a candidate for the city elected office and provide for a waiver and providing for a repealer cability qualification and an effective date this is a second reading public hearing it is item r5v um this is a second reading item so I will make my comments brief but the goal here is to um clean up what I see as abuse in the system where somebody who may be a paid political um operative uh could become a consultant to the city so I'm not talking about places that get rented out for events or Banks or lawyers or accountants but but people who can use their access to the city to um further the goals of any political any particular uh political candidate for any of the positions on the commission um and vice versa so that's that's the item and and uh I would Mr Mayor you moving move it I'll second commissioner Suarez I I believe we had some discussions um between first and second reading to remove I think banks from yeah I just said that I think you were away from this okay what were the other concerns Rick would you mind um detailing because we we did some work to yeah we we created exceptions for any individual or entity that provides Goods to a candidate so if you're just providing t-shirts um that that would not preclude you from providing services or the same t-shirts to the city um any individual or entity that provides services to a candidate if those same services are regular performed for an individual or entity in the ordinary course of business for clients or customers other than candidates for office so that would include your Banks your accountants um not actually we have a separ one for accountants uh Banks uh cable companies internet service providers uh printing companies Etc uh restaurants as well and then finally an exception for licensed Professional Services and that includes your lawyers your accountants Etc okay Mr Mayor commissioner Fernandez thank you um and thank you commissioner vice mayor bot for updating the item uh with for for these exceptions was a concern I had um you know I I I have a concern let me ask the City attorney directly for example favella would this affect favella for for for example Valerie Valerie who runs faella Valerie uh worked in my first campaign and uh and and she helped me in my first campaign um and she runs this nonprofit that deals with the homeless and the city uh you know prior I think even to my election has been working with favella in in trying to get homeless individuals employed let's say um you know when any of us run for reelection and she helps us that she goes you know what she does she just like goes and takes pictures at at events and helps uh people uh in her own free time will this prohibit her from continuing on with vlla supporting the city with its homeless Outreach efforts if she does that as a volunteer this would not affect her if she she doing it for pay then that would mean that the city could not contract with her organization uh for a period of two years after the I believe it's after the election and so you know I think it has you know un you know unintended you know consequences you know some people good people in our community like that who who who do good work could we we incorporate here an exception for nonprofit organizations uh because a nonprofit is not a for-profit venture um you know if if if someone is an officer of a non-for-profit um you know they're not profiting for from these things and they're helping our city advance in our most challenging oficiales and in this specific case is someone that is helping homeless individuals get employed and engage with other homeless individuals to get them off the streets and so and so I like the intent of this ordinance um I I would like to see us have an exception for nonprofit organizations because no one enriches themselves uh off of a nonprofit uh effort uh like the work that fabella does and so I would like to offer that amendment to to to the sponsor if if for for consideration I don't know if the sponsor would consider AC something the Amendments than uh commissioner Dominguez commissioner Rosa Gonzalez and commissioner Suarez thank you mayor and thank you vice mayor for bringing this forward I understand the intent um I'm uh in the similar boote as commissioner Fernandez that I worry about unintended consequences sometimes when um entities appear on are on campaign reports it doesn't mean that they were a paid operative you could have gone to Cafe Avante and they'll show up on your report as you paying them but you were reimbursing for services I remember in uh one of uh Mark saman's campaign somebody South the fifth said that they would arrange the party but not pay for it so we paid her as reimbursement for uh an event that took place South the 5th so I just I understand the intent but I worry that it will cause more unintended consequences that that we're not wanting to have commissioner Rosa Gonzalez then commissioner Suarez and commissioner magazine so for example somebody like Molina almadovar this would put her out of business because she gets paid to sing at different campaign events and then yet she has salsa festival with the city and she performs when we have our Convention Center uh parties so with this type of legislation you're kind of uh squeezing out a certain group of people that are part of the community and maybe they sometimes work with campaigns like in entertainment and other stuff but then they wouldn't be able to work for the city too and I don't know if that's fair let me let me commissioner SZ thank you well that's exactly the point we we don't want to have people that help us on campaigns than get a job or with the city like this is I think I think this this I think this item really hits to the heart of that you know because you know first of all in the nonprofit I you know there is a salary they're so they're making they could be making money they may not be making a profit but they they'll they'll definitely be having a salary so there is a money component to it just because it says nonprofit doesn't mean it's that there's no you know self-interest in it but you know let's look at the other side of this where you know there are there are certain people who who you know who have consulted campaigns in the past they're they're highly um I wouldn't say partisan but they're um they're favored for that particular candidate I I don't think that they should be rewarded with a a um a government taxpayer funded uh position or job uh with the city I I think yeah look we have great people who who um are members of the community but you know that shouldn't be a result of of an election right so um you know I'm fully in support of this item I think I think Mii Beach is you know unfortunately up to this point we've had a very blurring of the lines of of of these conflicts especially when it comes to campaign season so you know I think the the more we really Shore that up I think there's going to be a lot more public trust uh in in in the in the campaign process and the people who we have in our city and and who do business with us commissioner magazine yeah I agree that the the campaign just seem to get very very incestuous about you know blurring of lines who who was a city employee who was supporting I mean I was shocked I was like I went out and saw these campaign operatives and then I walked in a city hall one day I was like oh you're like a secretary I was my mind was just blown so um I would say if you remove any names from it and you just look at things say if I'm paying somebody to work on my campaign I shouldn't be in a position to then if I get elected turn around and say yes you get a rewarded with the city contract right um it's just simplistic you choose one pathway or another uh I don't think we should be looking at individuals saying well let's carve this person you know okay restaurants accountants Banks but when we start trying to fine-tune it for individuals I I think we just keep it as black and white as we can because I think why uh vice mayor brought this is exactly because of that blurring of the lines that often occurs and and it just run a fouls of you know the smell test about what could be right and what could be wrong so I'd rather or on the side of caution of yeah okay I'm sorry may maybe there will be an unintended consequence but I think we have no greater duty at times than to really uphold the uh trust and honesty in in you know the campaign season um so that that's where I'm at you know I just look at things kind of black and white where if I pay somebody to help get elected I I shouldn't be in a position to reward them with a contract uh I get sympathetic when we start talking to IND about individual names that I like and I consider my personal friends and may you know be caught up in this but uh I'll try and like kind of look above that and just look at things kind of in a x andos basis Mr Mayor commissioner Fernandez then commissioner bot and I can appreciate a lot of the comments that are that are being shared here on on the dayas you know when I come to City Hall and and I and I Walk The Halls of City Hall you know I see people that are employed on our own floors and our own offices that have worked in campaigns and and and that is they're being paid salaries with the same taxpayers dollars that would pay a contract for someone that doesn't work in our in in our in our offices you know and just you know for purposes of transparency my own Aid Monica Monica who does a phenomenal job you know you cannot find it's hard pressed to find a more dedicated public servant than Monica who is constantly responding to constituent requests and going out of her way constantly to help constituents she worked in a in in in a campaign before before working at City Hall you know she's being paid with the same taxpayers dollars that a contractor would have would have been paid I'm just saying you know we're draw we're even though this doesn't apply to employees well what's the difference between an employee and a contractor they're both rendering services using taxpayers dollars to the public and we're getting just so close with all of these restrictions first it was if you if you if you worked in a campaign well you can't serve in Advisory Board and and and committee well I I'll tell you I you know I look at the list of people serving on advisory boards and committees I don't know who is enforcing that because I look around the stat a number of us have put people in boards and committees who have uh who are on the on the expenditure reports of campaigns then then then now we're putting it on contractors if you you know happen to be uh participating in a campaign you can no longer render services to to to to the city the next I mean I'm telling you the next thing is going to be employees if you if you worked in in in a campaign you're you're going to be prohibited from being employed by by by by the I just think it just goes in such a bad Direction where we're actually saying telling the community don't get engaged in campaigns don't get engaged in exercising your freedom of speech and and and shame on you if you can't do it as a volunteer here because you know you don't have the resources and you're getting paid or you appear on a reimbursement uh report and then I also put out there there's a number of organizations that we may engage with as a city that might also appear on our expenditure reports nonprofit organizations nonprofit organizations important to many of us that in our expenditure reports they might appear in even in large sums for whatever reasons then this could potentially prohibit them from doing work with with with with the city and so and so I just think like for example I think of save let's say save has an event and we do a sponsorship with save save has a contract with the city to run on uh our our our save online social media outreach uh for for for lgbtq families Mr attorney would this prohibit us from having uh save uh engag in in that contract with with the city they appear in the expenditure reports are they appearing on your expenditure report because they provided campaign services or just because of some other service they provided this is only based based on campaign services this legislation but what if you're reimbursing them for for Stuff let's say you know organizations do days of actions and you might be re re reimbursing them for for for things related to to your campaign we've defined um let's see the city will not enter into a contract with an individual entity if the individual entity or principal officer has performed services for compensation to a candidate for the office of mayor or commissioner so if they don't fall within that then that would not prevent the city from entering into a contract and so what if it's a reimbursement what is the difference between paying someone for services and let's say reimbursing them how do you how do you differentiate one is reimbursement for an out-of pocket expenditure and what is paying them for services that would require either an independent contractor agreement and a 1099 or a W2 uh for their wages and how about and how this is address than let's say uh third-party entities third third party entities that might not be the campaign directly let's say uh you know the packs and the ecos and all these other Shadow groups is this addressing that you mean well this this this entails individuals or entities that you are paying not entities that are paying you so I I just see a lot of unintended consequences with this and more and more we are impeding in people's right to participate in the Democratic process uh in the election process uh and and and I you know I get the spirit of it I I'm having issues within can I actually I I had promised uh commissioner bot commissioner Suarez and then commissioner Rose Gonzalez I think it looks like if I can count the votes with three three and I haven't spoken so I'll speak briefly so everyone knows where I am uh I commend you on this item vice mayor but I I I think it's an exceptional item and and I'll briefly tell you why um in in in politics which we're in the business of here um the good of politics is we can do more good I can't think of anything I could do with my life to help people and our residents and I that's I think I speak for all of us here what we do every single day obviously here we meet legislatively but literally every single day the things we do the emails we get to help people it's tremendous and it's it's very gratifying but no doubt about it we all know the politics is ugly it's an ugly game and especially campaigns can be extremely ugly and brutal um and to me anything we can do to remove the politics of campaigns from the politics of City Hall I'm going to be supportive of I think it's a good item um and and uh I commend you for bringing it commissioner bot um so a couple things were raised I just want to address one is that um I I think if there is a person who's providing a service for a campaign um or more than one campaign um like the singer um that is not a problem to let that singer also work for the city um I'm not I'm not sure I'm wording that correctly it's not a service for a campaign but if she's if she's um at campaign events for multiple different campaigns that's not an issue because like like a like a restaurant or somebody who's providing food she's if if I may um if it's somebody who is providing services to various campaigns but also to the public at large such as the singer the singer is probably hired for birthday parties or um wedding receptions or bitzas then that person would not be excluded it's it's somebody who is just working for a campaign or right I mean if if the singer who is beded head to toe in one candidate's outfit at every event that's a different conversation but that's not that's not I think what's being contemplated the other thing is that um in terms of the endorsements with um say for instance and INE equality or whatever where they may be in contract with the city to provide service to the best of my knowledge I did not get the save endorsement because I paid anybody and I don't believe anybody else did either they those endorsements are given um whether it's as fop or firefighters or save or the unions based on the quality of your interactions and your ideas through the interview process you are submitting a lengthy um questionnaire with hopefully well thought out answers in detail and then you have an interview process and you either do or don't get an endorsement and there are in some cases days of action from those organizations but you have not paid uh to get endorsed and those days of actions are volunteer and that brings me back to the fundamental concern that I share with my colleagues which is I want more people involved with our from our community in our campaigns not fewer I don't want the same click of people who are getting pay paid for campaign services to be the same people who are involved in other ways as well I icage encourage people to volunteer to to donate time and effort to campaigns I think that's fabulous and then to share that um you know in in other ways that Civic engagement in other ways but if you are a paid operative for a campaign I think that is problematic to then have a contract with the city we have we have the the votes we have a motion and a second I believe I have a question and so I would like to Christen go ahead and sorry commissioner Rosen Gonzalez and then I'd like to call the vote can we exempt employment contracts because for example Monica and I worked on a campaign Lewis worked with commissioner uh magazine employee employment contracts are not not covered not covered they are not covered so we can work with somebody and then eventually hire them on our staff I think that's very important to make sure that we we yeah we we made sure that that would not be uh a stumbling block here so but but I think and and and if I may I I think it's important to just highlight that discrepancy then it's okay for us to I mean it's a real double standard that we're creating here we're saying it's okay if we hire them for our offices that's okay but it's not okay if they if they get a contract where they actually have to render services and give deliverables measurable deliverables that are usually you know very very much vetted through procurement processes by by the city manager those are competitive contracts that are awarded by the city with review criterias and performance measures that that that falls under the city managers but we're creating what we're here saying is a double standard it's okay if you work in our offices if you're doing senior affairs in in the mayor's office or working as our AIDS in my office or one of my colleagues offices but it's not okay in that case it's fine to H people that that you know may do stuff with campaigns but it's not okay if you are actually going through a procurement process being competitively vetted and having to adhere to contracts and performance measures and that in that case you can't get a contract with the city I you know you know I you are such a good government person and I know this is coming from a really good place and I agree with with a lot of this except I just think we are being we are creating something every day more and more restrictive that I actually think it takes us farther away from individuals actually wanting to get engaged in the process we're creating systems that are so restrictive that actually disencourage people we're being exclusive rather than inclusive in our processes and I'm all about seeing a city that's more inclusive and less exclusive vice mayor oh commissioner magazine and let's call the vote I think we're and I appreciate that sent to me commissioner Fernandez what I would offer is somewhat of a rebuttal or devil's advocate here is each of us have a finite amount of positions that we're responsible for for hiring that's just within our own internal staff and that's a maximum excluding the mayor's office of two right and those positions are going to be filled regardless and those are somewhat of a political position I think that's a very different line than um all of us voting on external contractors and then in terms of you know people excising their rights we have done nothing to restrict people exercising their rights getting involved in the Democratic process of excluding them from any type of then inclusion in our city being a contractor uh but where that clear line is drawn is very simple in black and white and that's just if you decide to take that a step further well beyond anybody's constitutional right of getting paid for those services and and that's where I draw a line I don't see that as blurred uh I see it as black and white I understand your sentiment um but I think that we've left that pretty cut and dry about please get involved in the Democratic process exercise your uh right of free speech exercise your right to vote to come out and participate in the campaigns but if you decide to take it a step further and make it a career then I do think that we should have some sort of uh uh window that you're you're kind of not on the inside let's call a vote it's a public hearing I have two individuals requesting to speak uh individual with the name last name Suarez not me someone else uh please state your name uh address and you have two minutes my name is mamelo Suarez can we can we can we cut him off PJ cut him off we're gonna go to the next speaker is Wayne um I hope I'm not as rude as that gentleman but um I just want to say that it's very elitist of you to say that uh I'm not going to name names but there's lobbyists that work for very wealthy billionaires who uh have a very big say in the city but yet people like I won't name her that lives in North Beach that you know she loves the city she gets involved but she gets paid and she she was on a board and uh uh there are other people I can name uh that are very involved and I don't really see a problem with them is the way that uh some of you do I see a bigger problem with the lobbyists uh that are working for the billionaires they have much more say than these little people in North Beach or or South Beach uh they have a bigger impact on your your vote than these little people and uh I think it's rude I think it's wrong I think it's it you may have the right intention but the the reality of it is it is so elitist so inappropriate thank you thank you mayor I have no one else in zoom and no one else in the audience I would like to just uh say one thing before you call the role which is if I had the ability to overturn citizens united I would be doing that as well but this is as far as I can do it can go at this point and I think that we need to separate church and state I'm not trying to penalize anybody I'm just trying to keep a clear delineation between people who get paid for a campaign and then use that um Power to do other things in a way that's not appropriate so I you know equating um equating this with with paid lobbyists and uh you know going up to the citizens united on the federal level that's just apples and oranges I I would like to move this forward Madam vice mayor did you accept the amendment on the nonprofits or are you not accepting the amendment on the nonprofits I'm not accepting the amendment on the nonprofits and and Wayne you bring up good points and and our commission over the last couple of years has tried within the legal parameters uh to to limit as much influence as we can but we have obviously they're um we're we're we're working within the confines of uh existing law let's call the vote so I have a motion by commissioner by vice mayor bot seconded by the mayor commissioner Suarez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Fernandez yes vice mayor bot yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez I hate this the little guy I'm going to vote for it it's not used against me but it's wrong I mean it really is wrong I think ethically what what's going on here I think it is punishing the little guy cont you know commissioner Dominguez this is a messy item and I think that we have enough guard rails already and so I will vote no really okay I'm going to vote no too then mayor Miner I think this is an excellent item and I proudly support it yes so we have two against item passes it is item r5v let's take care of a couple administrative items uh r R5 o and r5p a second so I'm going to do om p so I'm going to read both titles at once R50 is the notice of the mayor and City Commission of the city of b beach amending ordinance 789 the classified employees salary ordinance of the city of Bambi Beach Florida in accordance with the negotiated collective bargaining agreement provided for qualifying incumbents and the classification in group five represented by the garage supervisors Association of Florida GS gsaf opu local 10 Local 100 as follows effective the first P pay period ending in July of 2025 there will be an across the board cost of living adjustment Cola 3% and the minimum and maximum of each salary range will also be increased by 3% effec of the First full pay period ending in April of 2026 there shall be an across the board Cola of 3% and the minimum and maximum of each salary range for will be increased by 3% effective the first pull pay period ending in April of 2027 this should be an across the board Cola of 3% and the minimum and maximum of each salary range will also be increased by 3% repealing all ordinances in Conflict providing for separability and effective date and codification that is a second reading public hearing that is item R5 item r5p is an ordinance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of May Beach Florida amending ordinance number 70 7 789 classified employees salary ordinance of of the city man beach in accordance with the negotiated collective bargaining agreement providing for the classifications in group three representative by the Fraternal Order of Police fop William Nichols launch number eight effective the First full pay period in July of 2025 selective pay incentives and effect and 5% cjis pay will be rolled into selective pay base pays there will be an across the board cost of living adjustment Cola of 3% effective the First full pay period ending April 2026 this should be an across the board Cola of 3% effect of the First full pay period ending in April 2027 will be across the board Cola of 3% and an additional 4% step shall be added to the end of the range of the police officer and detention officer classification affected the first four pay period of July 2025 and an additional 4% step added to the end of the range for the police officer and detention officer classifications affected the First full p period of April 2026 all police sergeant and police Lieutenant's pay shall be adjusted by 4% effective the First full pay period of July 2025 and police sergeants and police lieutenants pay steps will be adjusted by 4% affected the First full pay period of April 2026 repealing all ordinances in Conflict providing for separability and effective date and catification this is a second reading public hearing it it's item r5p so we are listening to O NP Ral I'm sorry I didn't get that could you repeat that I'll a little later oh you're back okay I vice mayor one of those is what one of those Marlo mark thank you good morning mayor and commission these are our classified salary ordinances for the gsaf contract and the fop contract resp respectively they do um align with the um bargaining agreements that passed the last commission meeting thank you thank you who's moving it I'll move it I'll second it is a public hearing this is on both R5 and r5p I see no one in Zoom and I see no one in the audience may I call the RO yes so for both items commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner magazine yes vice mayor bot yes commissioner Suarez for both items sir or commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner for Enders I heard a yes mayor Miner yes both items pass 61 that is item R5 and r5p excellent thank you let call r7e thank you very much uh you know there's a famous proverb that says if you want to go fast go alone if you want to go far go together uh we prefer the ladder we want to stick together with the mayor commission Administration and uh I think we're we're going to build on that success we had a a very good spring break the moral day was phenomenal I think we've turned that ship like the saying goes you can't turn turn an aircraft carry on a dime but we did um we also look forward to working with commissioner sores he does have some good ideas his delivery sometimes is a little off I think we can work on that but we're going to move on like commissioner magazi told me when we spoke let's land This Plane well the plane is landed uh but I want to say thank you on behalf of all our members we'll continue to work with every every one of you to try to make Miami Beach the Law and Order City that the mayor and and commission want and thank you very much thank you appreciate it and uh as I continuously tell you and the officers any chance I get uh we're really blessed to live in a city where our residents our Administration our city commission fully support and back our uh our men and women in blue r7e r7e r7e support medal detector pilot program at Miami Beach Senior High School Al ultimately it's not our decision it's the uh it's the it's the school board that will that will ultimate make that decision um other school boards are going to it Broward implemented it um my understanding is it's going extremely well and I think it was worthy of a of a pilot program and suggesting to them that that we would be supportive in Miami Beach to the school board to to look at this and and potentially Implement came from actually talking to a number of parents who uh were supportive of this and thought it was something that uh their school needed and I actually had parents from other schools reach out to me and ask if they they can include their schools so that's where this is coming from and I think it would be worthy of our commission passing to have the school board consider commissioner Ros Gonzalez I believe that when you do something like this and put um a metal detector up in a school that it should be researched so I kind of did a little bit of a deep dive into educ current educational research and um what I found I'm going to go through several peer reviews researchers actually Kaylee Patrick of Ed trust this was 2023 it says uh um part of the interest in metal detectors is the uh perception of safety however there's no evidence to support metal detectors prevent violence in school settings by the way if somebody is going to shoot they're not taking their AK-47 through the metal detector many students the presence of metal detectors make them feel less safe not more it makes them feel like they attend school inside of a prison or that their Educators perceive them as a threat I think it's bad enough that our schools um are built with cinder blocks I think having to go through a metal detector when school already starts at 7:15 is just um really a negative way to start the day one thing that you can do um is to spend money on trusting and caring relationships among student staff rigorous engagement this is just one study a second study by hanker Herz and Simon 2011 shorts 2016 wi 2018 on one hand metal detectors provide visual ual evidence that something is being done to address Security on the other hand some have argued that the presence of these devices May unintentionally be sending the wrong messages to students and others in the school Community I uh pulled a report from West Ed National um Safety Research researchers suggest metal detectors can create long lines to get in or give student a sense of fear students in schools with metal detectors which typically are students with greater proportions of students of color are more likely to perceive violence and disorder and less likely to feel safe than students in schools without metal detectors um another report from uh wested uh justice and prevention research um as of 2017 and again in 2022 of all the school deterrence against weapon school safety researchers believe that they are actually the least commonly used tool um and the reason why is that uh out of 23,000 students scanned um one dangerous item was found it was not even um a gun the researchers suggest that uh School staff often lack the training to properly properly use metal detectors or sometimes have them not working properly I think that in order to staff and do this it would cost us millions of dollars per year and what I would like to see is that money invested in mental health instead of this kind of force you know this this idea everybody would like um Law and Order but there's a certain type of soft diplomacy okay and it's very important correct safety is of the utmost importance but what works in situations like this and what peer-reviewed research shows is that these create negative perceptions they do not stop active shooters shooters they prove one active shooter that went through a metal detector they did not they jumped over a gate they got in a side route I mean I would like before you do this and impose a prison like setting on our students okay I would like to see how much this would cost by the way I don't necessarily think that mg CPS is on board with this either but when peer- reviewed research is showing that this is ineffective okay and is going to create a perception and not necessarily make something safer I would like to take this money and invest in serious mental health counselors put five Mental Health Counselors do an evaluation for every single student so that we are tracking these students and doing something that no one else can have and that is the way that you prevent gun violence and make a school safer you don't prevent um making a school safer by making every single person go through a metal detector in the morning when students are already having a hard time getting to school at 7:15 now first and foremost I don't think that Miami day County Public Schools is going to support this but if you have research before I would ask you to defer this item for one month and come back and show me peer reviewed academic research supporting metal detectors in schools and then I will support it thank you so um this is such a important and Hot Topic in our country obviously the uh school shootings that unfortunately have plagued our nation and it's Unique to our country so I have no doubt there is going to be peer-reviewed on both sides I mean these These are academic papers and an academic paper has never stopped the shooter and it's not a prison like because the metal detectors and the technology as has been proven in Broward is actually quite seamless and they had a couple of Kinks the first couple of days but really have worked it out nicely and they're the techn it's not like the airport you literally just keep walking you don't even stop and if there's something that's identified by a security Personnel they pull the person over but generally you don't even break stride the steps we've taken I'm I'm proud of in Miami Beach first when there were school shootings and this was before my time even on the commission our our commission put our own police officers placed in each of our Public Schools ultimately we scaled back because Miami dat County Police then provided those officers and we now supplement that with a rotational so we are providing those Services as well then when an initial came up a couple of years ago where I was concerned I brought an item to Commission because there was some in conversations with our then uh police chief Clemens um before before Chief Jones became police chief I was concerned that there was a jurisdictional issue because technically Miami date police have control of the schools but Miami dat police generally if you need a large contingency of police which would be the necessary in a case of God forbid a school shooting they could not get here and to be deployed as quickly as our Miami Beach police can be in our incredible response time so we actually as you remember we had a public commission meeting where the head of the school police uh Miami date school police came here with our police chief and we worked out through anou that we would have jurisdiction to go in and make sure that there's no issues as we've seen unfortunately for example in Texas where there was all this confusion as to who's going to go in and students literally bled to death while the police stood outside God forbid that should ever happen here so this is this is an item my understanding is you are correct the school the school board is not receptive and supportive of this but what I I'm bringing forward is that we should engage in those conversations be at the table and show the school board that we as a commission are supportive of implementing a pilot program that's all this item is and I'm going to I'm going to move forward with it if somebody will move the item I'll move the item second call the vote on item r7e all in favor please say I I I anyone opposed no I have one no commissioner Rosen Gonzalez R7 e motion passes it's call um r5n yes as in Nancy sir r5n is an Ord to the mayor and City Commissioner of the city of Mii Beach Florida amending the code of the city of Miami Beach sub Part B entitled miam Beach resiliency code chapter 2 innal Administration and review procedures article two intenal general development application and hearing procedures section 2.2.4 entitled public hearing section 2.2.4 point1 entitled public notification by modifying the published notice requirements for City's land use boards and providing for catification repealers have ability and an effective date this is a first reading public hearing it requires 5 SS vote commissioner Suarez thank you um rapael I think you have a presentation for us yes sir so uh PJ can you bring up r5n please why everyone has a presentation so I just wanted to uh basically update the commission as to what what we did something similar here the commission a few months back so on September 27 of 2024 the city allowed the for these types of me meetings commission meetings to it allowed us to uh advertise in the County's uh publicly accessible website what have we done since then one we've notified the public PJ can we go to the next slide please we've notified the public twice in English PJ next in Spanish that all our Public Notices except for ordinances and for land use matters are being published in uh the County website we did it again that was in September PJ can you go next we did it again in December PJ next both in English and Spanish notifying the public again that if they wanted to receive these notifications by mail we would mail it to them first class mail if they wanted to come pick them up at City Hall we would do so uh can we go to the next slide in addition what we're doing is we're delivering every Tuesday to the senior centers each of them listed there 20 copies of all the notices that we have been publishing uh online the same ones that they would get in the newspaper we are delivering 20 copies to each of these can we go to the next one PJ we're delivering 40 copies to Unidad these are numbers that they have requested so we deliver these bound documents with all the notices that they would get uh we are delivering them also to the public libraries and we're delivering extra copies at City Hall where we have someone that comes to pick them up on a regular basis every Tuesday they come and pick it up so as a reminder the voters approved to allow us to do ordinances also on the public notice uh on the public website by an overwhelming uh percentage 76% said that they wanted to uh that they wanted the city to migrate to online publication we have done so this is a recap the next one please I'm sorry PJ so that's the the voter turn out on this on favor of this question next one please this is this is significant this is what we've saved since September 27th less than three months we have saved $65,000 for the city special election we save $37,000 we are having an election next year if we have ballot questions along with the candidates that number is going to be doubled we just we're now in the process of doing the Lincoln bid that was $144,000 that we saved an advertisement this commission has approved for next year another election for the south beach bid that's another $144,000 that you'll be saving on those two elections for the meeting notices it is roughly $600 a week that we spend three months we've saved 5,665 for a year multiply that by four for the public hearings thus far and mind you most of them were still we were still spending until this meeting on the ordinances but we've saved 9,175 on that this is to allow the land use boards to do the same thing that we are doing here we will deliver Those ads as well we will mail Those ads as well once that is done we will read vertise in English and Spanish but I just wanted to to know and the benefits are that when it's a newspaper you read it on Sunday that's it on the website you can go at your convenience at any time we do not remove the ads from the website you could go back back as far as we started the other part is flexibility right now there's been several times when the heral misses my ads when the Herold uh publishes in the wrong newspaper and now you have to advertise every ordinance first reading and second reading this allows you to get the information or the request at least one week later to the city attorney's off office so they can draft it if not you would have to be asking for almost 3 weeks in advance to get ordinances put on so it seems to be working for us Mr can explain how he thinks it would work for the landu sports go for it Tom okay um just briefly uh I'll mention that in addition to the cost savings the L use boards are advertised uh the publish notice is in the neighbors because that's the most costeffective way of meeting the publish notice requirement and up until a couple of years ago um the neighbors used to publish on both Thursdays and Sundays now it's just Sundays and the lead time to get a published noticed in is so significant that it often requires between a 45 and 60-day window for applications to be submitted and then if there's an error in the notice and it's not caught in time an application will then have to be continued to the following month because it will need to be Ren noticed um the proposed ordinance here would let the city fully control that by simply sending the notice that we control to the county for publication on the website basically you upload it yourself so within minutes it's up if there's a mistake we correct it sunshine notices there's been mistakes recently we correct them immediately so um through the mayor aside from Far aside from the significant cost savings to taxpayer money I mean what is the workload as far as reduction in in effort not effort but bandwidth at the city clerk's office well the first part is that we don't have the basically we create the ad we publish it it's done we don't have to make sure that there's errors there's errors all the time when you send stuff to the herald because and then you have to prove it proof it if you proof it and you make you don't catch an error stuff has to get rescheduled here it is instantaneous and you any error that that is done is caught immediately or corrected immediately okay so colleagues I think this is a financial makes perfect Financial sense it streamlines our city clerk's office and you know I I think you know we should take advantage of the the new laws that were passed to the state to um take advantage of these these benefits Mr Mayor commissioner Fernandez and I love the fact that we're saving costs Mr clerk what is the estimated annual cost saving to the city um I don't have the annual because but like I said uh the the elections themselves next year $70,000 that we're saving uh the Lincoln the south beach bid is going to be $113,000 that we're saving the meeting notices if if it's 5,000 for 3 months that's it's almost 6,000 6,000 4 24,000 for that and the public hearings for three months has been $99,000 so multiply that by by four so it's a huge amount of savings okay all right so over the three-month period you gave us a three-month period what what was the Savings in a three-month period mind you it was it's $65,000 for a three months period but remember that that that Encompass two elections so every election every 3 months we don't have an election but I just but we have an election next year and we have the south beach bid next year so we will be repeating those two costs okay so so like for example we got that 65,000 for a 3mon period we multiply them by four that's that's at least $260,000 that we would be in an election year yes and since I've been here every year is an election here okay all right so you know I think this is really good I think we should move forward with this I think we should refer an item to FK to discuss you know you know this cost saving that we're going to have in the the clerk's office because you know we're talking about a cost savings as a significant cost saving we hoping to renovate what's that we were hoping to renovate our office at some point well but we also have the issue of the boards and committees the neighborhoods committee the land use committee and the finance committee that from my perspective should always have been under the guise of the city clerk's office the handling of the agenda the handling of the minutes the registering of all this information I think we should have a discussion at FK uh with the cost savings that are coming out of this item which are really good to make sure that all these agendas and all these minutes just remain centralized through the city clerk's office thank you commissioner SARS for this initiative I move mam second ohz fernandz commissioner Fernand I'm sorry it is a public hearing no one in the audience no one in Zoom uh commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes vice mayor yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Suarez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries U second meeting public hearing is scheduled for February 3rd after the February 3rd meeting then we will schedule something for FK okay they all do now yep which is another reason now even the F first readings so that this would the savings are even doubled now because of that as we're coming up to uh noon let's call uh let's call lunch break and we'll reconvene for sutnik hour at 1:00 for oh oh in hey he hey hey hey he heyyyy hey heyyy he he oh e oh oh for all he hey hey he hey hey heyyy heyy he hey n n please take your seats the meeting is about to begin remember to speak into the microphone as this meeting is being recorded for public record please stand by we are going on air in 5 4 3 2 1 Welcome Back to our commission meeting we're going to start start the snic hour if anyone is interested in addressing the commission please come to the podium please I have no one in Zoom mayor and at the moment we have no one in the audience okay let's let's start the items I I think we're waiting for yeah and we're missing a couple of our colleagues fa Point try to wait a few moments but yeah we're missing our city manager City attorney and at least I'm proving when I say 1 o00 I mean 1 o I appreciate that thank you the vice mayor beat you to it though she was she was she was the first one here take thatal series I have to say the mayor's always very punctual always starting the meetings on time wouldn't start on time okay let's call Ralph let's call r7l yes maam R7 L is approved private property parking signage it's requested by commissioner Fernandez commissioner Fernandez thank you uh Mr Mayor and r7l is the companion item to r5l uh and I don't know if we can call them both together because this is the resolution that approves the signage that's being uh created through r5l I could read the title in the meantime sounds good okay r5l is an ordance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of M Beach Florida amending chapter 106 of the city code entitled traffic and vehicles by amending article three entitled public off street parking facilities by creating section 106-118 private property used for motor vehicle parking signage required penalties by establishing signage requirements applicable to owners or operators of private property but such property is open to the public for paid motor vehicle parking and providing for repealer cability qualification at an effective date this is a second reading public hearing it is item r5l companion to r7l thank you Mr Mayor and so I've heard from many residents who are confused about private parking lots that they thought were public lots that they thought were City old Municipal Lots people have expressed concerns that when they receive citations from these private Lots they mistakenly believed are that they are being ticketed by the city instead of a private entity uh of times when they go into these private Lots they open up the app that the city uses uh for payment of parking only to pay for for for for parking in a Zone but then you're in a private lot so you're really not paying for uh parking the private parking lots can have different rates different enforcement me mechanisms and different penalties than than the municipal lots and this confusion has led to many complaints that I've received in my my office and I completely empathize uh with their frustration um because it's not just the penalties that they get in terms of a ticket from a private entity that often times individuals end up getting towed and uh and especially uh a problem when you're dealing with individual with dis with disabilities you have individuals that have the handicap placards that they think that they're getting four hours of free parking in a public lot but then they go into a private lot that's not properly conspicuously marked as a private lot they put up their handicap placard only to find themselves getting towed this signage seeks to correct that it is a sign that uh that through this ordinance and this legislation will be required to be prominently placed at the entrance of each of these Lots letting the public know that they're entering a privately owned parking lot and that the penalties could potentially be up to toy and so that's the purpose of this item I move my item and I welcome any feedback from my colleagues commissioner Rosa Gonzalez so I don't know if you would entertain this and I think the sign is a great first step but I would like to move forward and see if you would second this the possibility of making required parking free now just as a discussion as a referral to land use if we make required parking because the parking adjacent to these plazas is required parking if we make required parking free I think that you know we have a couple of these lots that are abusing but I think that in general uh people are going to startop stop getting these notices that are you know that are causing a lot of chaos how do you feel about that because I think we need to address it I think I I think it's a very good point I have spoken in the past with the city attorney about this actually m not not only as a result of what's happening on Alton Road and 15th Street the shopping center there but in the past we've had situations where you have your uh required parking Des required by the code and so then people go let's say to an office building to use the required parking that they were mandated to be built only to be char charged uh from what I understand through the city attorney's office we can't prohibit a PRI private property owner from charging people to use the parking even when it's part of their other required uh parking as per the zoning code is that correct Mr attorney that is correct we do not have that right at this time right well we don't have a provision right now but we could make required parking free moving forward and if you do if you make required parking why why couldn't you make required parking free let me recognize our chief Deputy City attorney Nick cerges we've over the years we've discussed this a number of times and we've always hit a Breck wall with us so I'd like to defer to the City attorney sure so we have authority of course to set parking rates for for uh for City metered spaces City parking lots City parking garages to set uh parking rates for private property would be an unlawful price control we don't have authority to set uh to set prices for uh goods or services on the on the on the private Market unless we have you know specific basis to do it like for instance with we can set Towing rates because we have Express authority to do that under state law uh there are other things where we where we can but but even our own required parking moving forward we are not allowed to say if you want to build this and we're requiring X we would like it to be free we're not setting a rate we're just saying if you want to build it this has to be free it's very different it's just changing the rules it would be an ldr amendment but I will say that it will save strip malls businesses residents getting these notices um because it's our jurisdiction so I think that we can do it and I I I I don't see why not we're not setting a price we're just saying you can't charge for it yeah I and and and I like how you're thinking because I've discussed this over the years multiple times with the with with the city attorneys I'm happy to have a referral to land use to see if perhaps as part of discussions when there's a conditional use permit involved if if an applicant is is voluntarily willing to profer uh to have their required parking be available for free maybe that's something that can be considered uh at the time of a conditional use permit um but to mandate that the required parking under the code be free yeah this has been for years now I've been getting that this the same opinion that we're getting up but I'm I'm happy to with you send a send an item to landuse where we can further discuss this to see what other creative options we could come up on a volunteer basis uh from from applicants and Nick I think you wanted to add something else or or as an incentive something that yeah something you could consider um okay I would be willing to entertain that there's also the idea of when using something like this so that parking lot is designated as underutilized I'm not quite sure I understand the underutilization formula because you could say for a parking lot that is full all day but not full between the hours of like 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. well yeah guess what it's 50% underutilized but guess what during the hours of operation it's 100% utilized and does this does designation of being um an underutilized lot allow for the commercialization of of that with an application like this AI application because I do think that if we see these across the city it could be it's going to be a real problem for businesses for seniors who aren't scanning the QR code I mean it's it's it's there has to be a legal way to to get around this and so can does the underutilization aspect have any play into if you have required parking and you're designated as underutilized what rates does that give you so the the underutilized parking is in addition to or separate from I should say the required parking and to your first example which is the most common let's say you have a Bank that's open from 9:00 to 5:00 clearly their parking lots empty after 5:00 p.m. and they usually will lease that out to Ballet Company where it starts to become a little bit more nuanced are properties that are open say 24 hours or properties that have tenants from 8:00 a till 11:00 p.m. because some restaurants stay open later and those are where they have to show us that the number of spaces that they are required to have that they built are not utilized During certain times of the day so if we pull this underutilized designation um does that mean that they would not be able to have a BTR to lease out their lot um in the hours where they're supposedly not using it if we say to them look we do not want um this Parky software right because it's sending notices to all of our residents that you got to go and you have to put in your license plate to get a smoothie or to get a coffee so it could we pull that designation if we so if we chose to that wouldn't imp the underutilization because whether or not they were even utilizing uh underutilized parking um but they need that designation right well no they don't need that designation to have any form of operational control so whether it's this AI technology or they put up signs where you have to put in a code on an app or they have a person there that's monitoring it that's just administering the operation of the parking lot but that's separate and apart from the underutilization so it it's it's completely un they can charge for parking whether or not the lot is underutilized or not it could be utilized to its maximum potential and they could still be charging they that's their prerogative as private property owners for as long as they get the proper licenses from the city for example Publix I mean and it's very frustrating frankly that we can't regulate this but like publ if publ wanted to start charging us to go to Publix they can't they could charge the parking but that's where us as consumers us us as consumers just need to make a choice if we don't like the fact that to go to Chicken Kitchen on Alton Road or to Smoothie King on uh in this Shopping Center or to Pine Christ Bakery you know what we just need to take our business elsewhere because those tenants need to pass along the message to the property owner that it's affecting their business that you know that they're charging for for for the parking I know I've been going there less I used to I was addicted to Chicken Kitchen and and I I'm going there less now because of the parking situation there I don't want to have to park when to pay to park whenever I go there so what we could do is if they don't open it up to free parking during the day we could prohibit the property owner from selling parking to non-customers at night we have that in our toolbox don't we there there has to be something that we can do because I okay I spoke to the property owner and I got him at first it was 15minute Grace Period I got him well I didn't the business owners he is now extended it to 30 minutes okay so you get 30 minutes but people don't know it so they're going in and parking um if they don't scan if you're a senior for example and you're not scanning your QR code and you're getting your I checked you come out and you get this really scary notice and by the way if you don't pay the first notice because you didn't get it I think I don't not quite sure how they they send it to you but so I think this is a discussion we're going to have a committee because this this actually has to do with this is existential but this is this is signage so this this legislation relates to signage you're talking about business practices which is a separate discussion that we can have at committee as to their right to be able to charge as a business practice for the use of parking or not so I don't you know this has to do with signus and making sure everyone is aware and no one gets caught by surprise that they're going into a private parking lot where where their City decal or where their handicap placard might not be uh accepted at or or where if they don't pay for parking that they might be immediately towed that's that's what's before us today commissioner I think you make some really good points I'm happy um to have a discussion at land use on on what else can we do to protect our consumers that for 10 15 20 years have been parking at a lot for free are they allowed to post all those parking signs sorry for interrupting I I I don't know I'm not the city of you're allowed to have directory signs as long as they're less than two square feet I'm sorry for yeah so I'm trying to figure yeah so I think that's a separate discussion so I'm happy to have that a a committee I'm happy to move my item m madame vice mayor uh and unless there's more feedback commissioner magazine has a comment commissioner Fernandez great item great great item I'd like to be added as a co-sponsor with your uh acceptance um want to be sure that private entities uh because they are intentionally trying to make their signs look like the city signs perhaps even as a add-on after this I want this to go through you've worked so hard maybe uh you and I could work on even coming up with some sort of mandates where the signs have to have a certain level of Distinction from them because they're intentionally trying to make their signs look like the city signs whether it be through the color or things like that so fabulous item I'd like to be added as a co-sponsor when we start getting into you know what people are able to do on their private property I'll draw the line there but for this item uh could thank you because that's the whole point we're looking to eliminate any uncertainty about where they're parking and we want to draw that very clear distinction by putting dis signage at all the access points so thank you commissioner and I welcome your co-sponsorship did had you made a motion for a referral for our item yeah I'm I'm happy to include that's part of the motion of approving this item including a referral to the land use committee to discuss the the business practices of charging for to to park in the required parking under the Land Development regulations is that a motion I'll second that yes let's call a vote originally I had a motion commissioner Fernandez seconded by commissioner Dominguez this is a public hearing I see no one in Zoom no one in the audience vice mayor bot yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes yes commissioner Suarez commissioner magazine yes mayor Miner yes motion carries 70 this is item r5l it is approved r5h I'm sorry mayor we have to do the companion item also so that's r7l if I could have a motion I'll make them a same motion same motion so uh commission vice mayor Bots seconded by commissioner Fernandez r7l all in favor I I it gets approved 70 that was a companion item I'm sorry mayor you said R5 H H r5h is a norance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of May beach flid amending Chapter 70 of the city code entitled miscellaneous offenses by amending Article 2 entitled public places by amending division two entitled bicycling skateboarding roller skating inline skating motorized means of transportation electric bicycles mopeds motorcycles motorized vehicle B motor motorized bicycles and motorized scooters by amending section 70-66 entitled definitions by conforming the definition of motorized scooters to state law and by amending section 70-67 entitled prohibited activities by prohibiting motorized means of transportation bicycling inline skating roller skating and skateboarding on the Baywalk and providing for repealer cability qualification and an effective date this is a first reading public hearing it's item r5h commissioner Dominguez thank you mayor so this item is coming forward for a public safety reason we've had users get injured there are parts of the Baywalk that are five or six feet wide um and so it's not designed to have people walking and then also have motorized Transportation this of course excludes anything Ada uh that would be using the Baywalk in the back and with that I would like to move the item I'll second is a public hearing I see no one on zoom and I see no one in the audience may I call the vote or is there a discussion call the vote uh commissioner magazine yes uh commissioner Suarez vice mayor bot yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Dominguez yes mayor Miner yes second reading public hearing is scheduled for February 3rd motion passes r5h good item thank you uh r5f as in Frank let's do uh we'll go through some second readings here r5f is an ordance of the mayor and City Commissioner of City b beach amending the code of the city of b beach FLorida by amending chapter 106 entitled traffic and vehicles by amending Article 2 entitled metered parking by amending division 2 entitled residential parking permits by amending section 106-79 entitled issuance of permits placements of signs to allow the city manager discretion to modify eligibility and establish restricted residential parking permit zones providing for qualification repealer sub ability and an effective date this is a second reading public hearing it item r5f commissioner Suarez thank you Mr Mayor um Jose do you have an update on the I don't know if you have a presentation for the picture of the decal but I think you shared it with me last night looks great sure uh however uh commissioner this this item is an ordinance on second reading which is the that establishes the four criteria that would allow buildings that are located outside oh of of the Zone uh that do not have on street parking that are located within 1500 ft of the outside boundary uh of the zone that have a certificate of occupancy issued prior to October 1st and that um inclusion of those buildings would not have a material impact on the on street parking availability in the area that's what this ordinance does there's uh no changes between first reading and second reading okay I move my item let's call the vote it is a public hearing I see no one in the audience I see no one in Zoom I think I heard commissioner Fernandez am I correct as a second um if so vice mayor bot yes commissioner Rosa Gonzalez yes commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved that was item r5f thank you r5k r5k is in ERS of the mayor and City Commissioner of the city of B Beach Florida amending the code of the city of Mani Beach chapter 66 entitle Marine structures facilities and vessels article three entitled peers docks and boat ramps by amending section 66- 107 entitled uses of Barry Cen boat ramp and Associated peers docks at Maurice Gib Park to establish a dockage agreement program at the bar boat rep at Maurice Gib Park providing for repealer Serv ability clarification and effective date this is a second reading public hearing it is item r5k commissioner Suarez I move my item second I'll second it is a public hearing I say no one in Zoom no one in the audience commissioner Dominguez I received something from the Palm viw neighborhood association and um let me see and so did uh the City attorney um let me just see what they wrote I think that was from they would like the agreement amended to allow pickup and drop off use only and not the two-hour docking give Park Rangers discretion to Define one in where long-term docking is allowed just wanted to share that sure that I believe that's going to be coming as a resolution after this reading so that's what the city Administration is going to recommend and then we'll put it forward but this allows it to actually happen Okay so no disc for discussion commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzales yes vice mayor bot yes yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Dominguez yes mayor Miner yes Mo carries the item is approved that was item r5k r5m as in Mary r5m is an order to the mayor and City Commission of city of man Beach FL amending chapter 12 of the code of the city of Mii Beach entitled Arts culture and entertainment by amending article three entitled City sponsorship of events by amending section 12-9 thereof entitled sponsorship terms and conditions to allow for a larger advance of any cash sponsorship contributions made in advance of the event if a the event organized can establish that limiting the advance to 15% cause an undue hardship B the event organizers of Miami Beach based nonprofit organization C the event organizer has produced the event in question for at least 5 years and D the event budget is not greater than $500,000 a providing for repealer severability qualification and effective date this is a second reading public hearing its item r5m gotcha thank you commissioner Fernandez I move my item let's call the vote second was the mayor commissioner okay so it is a public hearing no one in the audience is requesting to speak no one in Zoom if no discussion commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner magazine yes vice mayor bot yes commissioner Suarez here yes commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner Fernandez yes air Miner yes motion carries the item is approved that was item r5m r5q on Q R5 Q is in Ord of the mayor City Commission of city of Beach Florida amending appendix 8 to the city code entitled fee schedule by amending one the fees charg to file a recreation report to allow for a discount as set forth in appendix a of the city code for a timely file report and the building department permit fees applicable to scope of work required to be performed by recertification report in connection with the recertification of existing buildings as required by section 8-11 of the mamid county code and providing for repealer sh ability clarification and effective date this is a second reading public hearing it's item R5 Q commissioner Rosen Gonzalez we all know what this is this is the discounts for conduit recertification so with that I'll move my item let's call the vote it is a public hearing I see no one in zoom and I see no one in the audience uh commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner Suarez commissioner Fernandez yes mangz yes yes magazine yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved r that was r5q r5r r5r is an N of the mayor City Commission of the city of May Beach Florida amending chapter 14 of the May Beach city code entitled building regulations by amending article 7 it permits applied for Honor after March 1st 2002 by amending division 2 entitled demolition by amending section 14-42 one thereof entitled notice or demolition to effective persons by expanding the notice requirements as well as the radius of the notice to effective person set forth in subsection B and providing for repealers have ability clarification and effective date is a second meeting public hearing r5r I move my commissioner OT I just um like to comment on this I think the notice requirement went from from what 30 or with the Demolition went from 30 days to 90 days commissioner 10 10 to 90 I believe I for I don't have in front of me at the moment but it was significantly increased and the the the entire thought behind this processes it's one thing if you're demolishing a small you know Bungalow or single family home or whatever but we have buildings you know condo buildings that are being demolished and the the notice is while they complied with the the law uh that was currently on our books don't do an adequate job of notifying residents so you know you have absentee owners or owners who are traveling or people who own uh you know who rent their Apartments out or uh notices only get delivered to the the association manager or the board president and not all the residents um so there are plenty of people um who didn't get not who don't get notified and then in addition there are buildings um that are supposedly outside of the cone of dust that are um uh that gets created by this especially when you get to ocean front or or Bayfront buildings and they need to prepare their buildings to be able to um prevent having to shut down their AC for two days after the demolition to clean out their coils and clean out their so yeah the more notice the better does this apply for single family homes it I believe right correct me if I'm wrong I believe it's for everything right there's not an exclusion based on building type it's it's based on the location of the Demolition and anybody who's within 700 ft must receive the notice and as you mentioned if if it's a tenant the tenant would need to receive the O the notice in addition to the owner if there's an association all the members of the board so it's a very wide uh net of notices so Ju Just to understanding correctly um so the intent is to notify the neighborhood or like the surrounding uh neighbors to prepare for the Demolition and then then the dust and okay um what is right now the the window for demolition once a notice is given is it 10 days or 30 days 10 days cor okay um and it's going to 90 now that's correct um for single family homes I think can we shorten that a little bit because uh you know if there is a house that is going to be demolished um I think there's you know carrying costs there's in taxes there's insurance uh on the land um and to wait another 3 months but this through the M if I may I this isn't going to delay them they know they're going to demolish the house so it's just that they need to provide notice earlier in the process right but the the the actual demolition gets delayed from 10 days to 90 if if I'm if I'm not mistaken but if you know that you're going to demolish your home right um You can put out the notice and and you know you've got a whole bunch of things that have to happen in this at the same time you you can put out your notice do you need a building permit before you put out a notice like like is it can can we can can it run concurrently with whatever process there is I it doesn't require to have the demolition permit before you send the notice so if I have a house that I can demolish and I say hey I'm going to demolish my house all I need to do is just go to the city say I'm going to demolish my house and then and then that would start the clock excuse me well you you would calculate approximately when you expect to have a building permit and a contractor and then work backwards and and then determine when you would need to send the notice this is not intended to extend the process so whatever your your frame want avoid unintended consequences right so whatever your time frame is going to be but you you know pretty early on in the process of the project if you're going to be able to renovate your your building or if you're going to have to demolish it so then you can calculate with your architect and your Builder and the city staff because you have to pull permits for all this stuff when the approximate demolition would be so if you're planning that it will be probably in June then in March you would send out the notice saying we are anticipating a demolition in June so look friendly Amendment because I I think this might be loss on a lot of people especially moving forward can we do for single family homes 30 days it go from 10 to 30 and everything else can stay the same at 90 like I mean how complicated is that to enforce r how complicated to enforce well like it does it make it more I mean we have regulations that apply to single family versus buildings well two different time frames depending on right single family versus everything else I mean I would defer to the administration as to enforcement but to me it doesn't sound like it would be terribly difficult can we just can we talk more before propos an amendment because I'm sorry I'm a bit lost if I can Madam Vice May um when I went through the briefing I actually thought this was uh ex just expanding the r radius which I always think is good right notice more people um so expand that radius uh making more people alert they understand what's going on in their neighborhoods I wasn't aware that so what is the intent of Are We extending the timeline or we not 10 to 90 days so just so that people can prepare or they can say you know what I I my kid has asthma I'm going to make sure that we are visiting my parents that weekend yeah or you know we need to protect our coils we going need to get them wrapped and we need to get all the pool deck furniture off you know off the pool deck before the building comes down because that just you know if if I have a building or a house right I'm sympathetic because I I know people where they're building and they're carrying two homes so what I'm trying to kind of Rectify my head is is that extending out their process that's not intended to extend I know it's not intended to right and that's why this wasn't even on my radar through the agenda but would we not just then keep the time parameters in place and we expand the radius isn't that what we're looking to achieve no because what if you're um it's August and you're on vacation and um you know you're on a RV trip with your family across the country because it's school break and you find out 10 days before there's going to be you're the building next door to yours is coming down are you going to abandon ship and come back to try to protect your apartment are you going to try and rally the neighbors to do you a solid if you know three months ahead of time that in August at some point um stuff is going to come down then you would plan differently you would make sure everything is in and you would you know whatever whatever I it's and again it's intended to run concurrently it's not at all intended to um delay the process cause financial hardship for the person whose property it is is being demolished are you married to that 90 day number is is 30 days reasonable because it's still three times the amount of you know time that we're giving notice to nine times it's nine times wait it's 10 days well no I'm saying 30 days would be I I would split the difference and give 45 across the board so you're a reasonable person but commissioner Fernandez thank you um and I think after after the demolition of the duville I worked on some leg legislation think of us back in 2022 on this and what I just want to point out is that is that this section of of the code section 144 421 speaks specifically of buildings of three stories or higher so usually a single family home usually won't be affected by this legislation so the impetus of of of this you know section of the code specifically to protect residents of large scale demolitions uh that could affect people usually you don't have homes that are over three stories in height and that's what this PO this section of our ldr's uh address um it it is specifically and it's not even ldrs it's our building regulations it specifically addresses buildings over three stories uh in height so I don't see a single you know someone's building a one-story home or two story home or someone that's going to demolish a one or two story home really being affected by what is being uh legislated here although increasingly we're seeing people who bought who built spec homes you know 10 years ago that are three stories in you know X number of feet and then a new owner comes in they're like oh I don't like this version of the spectum I make it my own and so I want to put it in there again preemptively we've got under stories coming we've got BS we've got all kinds of things that make buildings taller so I want to make sure that it um covers all contingencies and I appreciate that color commission I wasn't privie to that but yeah U good splitting the difference um for is Vince here I want to make I are we not thinking of anything that we should be thinking of before we seal the deal uh no I think you guys have covered it all quite uh in detail more notice is always good to make preparations and don't don't forget uh the doville and those larger structures deal with implosion so implosions take a lot of logistics you got to get cleared by the fire marshall at the state there is plenty of time if you have your bingo date like the City attorney um had mentioned you work backwards from that date that you're going to De the implosion uh so that's the real impetus behind this um so we avoid the dust and the Fallout and and the kickouts if you would uh from those type of activities so for vice mayor um not going to slow down the building permit process whatsoever absolutely not implosions bring on their own yeah just just a regular demolition of a house for example in a single family home District no sir you still have to coordinate with uh utilities remove FPL power to avoid anyone getting shocked you have to cut off the water and sewer things of that nature so there's still plenty of logistics to to get to uh and like I said typically you have a bingo date or a Target date if you would so then why was it 10 days meaning like that's just that's 10 days is something we have in chapter 31 of the Florida building code when you start uh any activities or excavations near existing foundations that's just the Benchmark and again the Florida building code is a minimum standard so anything that we add to it is as an additional belts and suspenders uh to protect the public and give them a little bit more cushion or notice got and I will say I mean not that my lived experience should dictate the the code changes but um I lived I don't know a mile or so from the doville uh implosion across a body of water across streets and you know uh and you know you could see the dust you could smell it and you know there's a fine powder on everything so for the folks who are you know a few buildings away or even further away but just on that direct line they were they were covered in it you know businesses weren't apprised of it properly because the attendants in the business space um didn't get notice from their absentee owners and it it was just a mess so minimum standards are great it's better than not having them but it doesn't mean they're good enough absolutely 45 okay I can live with 45 so as amended um I'll second the item okay thank you can we call the vote public hearing I see no one in Zoom no one in the audience I have a motion commissioner bot second by commissioner Fernandez as amended with 45 days commissioner Dominguez Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner bosen Gonzalez yes vice mayor bot well no commissioner Fernandes yes commissioner Suarez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved that was item r5r call R5 a R5 ad is an or of the mayor City Commissioner of city of man Beach Florida amending chapter 82 of the code of the city of man Beach entitled public property by amending article 3 entitled use of public property by amending division one entitled generally by amending section 82-72 thereof entitled commercial vessels activity hours of operation at public owned marinas uh to modify exceptions to the prohibited hours of departure for commercial vessels and publicly owned marinas and Marine facilities providing for repealers of ability qualification and effect up date this is a first reading public hearing R5 a that's believe that's my item vice mayor go for thank you um the reason I brought this forward was uh there seems to be a loophole in the charters the party Charters that are now classifying themselves as Eco charters uh to get around the curfew Loop poles that we've been put in place and so um I've worked with sou of Fifth and um sunx is here to voice support for it as well um believe it or not the marina likes these sort of restrictions it kind of tampers down the amount of um enforcement that they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis uh at the marina so um I move my item I second call public hear Ralph do we have a public hearing on this it is a public hearing uh no one on Zoom no one in the audience except except Mr GCO representative Grio who there I didn't recognize him not even like glowing from the head up sorry about that good afternoon again GCO uh I work with Sunex and suex wants to uh articulate it support every time that commissioner Suarez puts an item on with the word Marina on it my watch goes off so I'm here just to make sure that you guys know where we stand on these things we're we're we're um we're we're happy to partner and to continue to partner with the city on these types of issues you know I live right across the street personally from the marina I'm out there every night with my dog um any opportunity we have to control the uh the impact the Marina has on people's quality of life especially on the adjacent properties specifically the Morano porino yach club uh Morano and Morano Grande and the icon um we want to be good partners we don't necessarily have the aggressive policing tools and codes out there all the time so uh you know this just gives puts another tool in the tool shed for uh Hernan and his team and uh we're on board and you know any way we can help we're here did you move it let's call a vote so again no one is requesting to speak commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Dominguez yes vice mayor bot yes commissioner Rosa Gonzalez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor Miner yes motion pass the second reading public hearing is February 3rd that was R5 a let's call r7f as in Frank r7f is beautifi Manuel gate at 14th Place on Ocean Drive requested by commissioner Rosen Gonzalez r7f commissioner Rosen Gonzalez um I don't know if most of you have seen we um I walked Ocean Drive especially The Pedestrian area with um our legal team Public Works we have this really kind of awkward ugly looking gate marking it and I think we have some ideas to uh beautify it so that's what we're approving here to both of them both of the gates which will just look nicer it'll be a better pedestrian experience um for as long as you know I don't know where this entire issue is going to land but I will say that in the interim to have that ugly looking gate in the middle of a beautiful area right there on Ocean Drive is just unsightly so hope we can um make it look better I thought I'd move it yeah we have a motion a second commissioner magazine yeah thank you for this commissioner Gonzalez um good initiative uh thanks for taking the lead I I do think that once we decide on a direction forward and all the legal challenges are out do we have a comprehensive vision and plan that goes in place here because that area is is one of our should be our most prized cherish areas and it just feels as if it's in purgatory right like that area does not deserve a manual gate with somebody sitting out front of their in an umbrella right that should be an area where we are hosting world class just art culture uh events uh our residence where we can look and be proud not just something that is kind of stuck in limbo uh a gate so I I appreciate the efforts to beautify it in the interim and I hope uh you know once we really decide on Vision we move swiftly with a comprehensive vision of something that's permanent I mean ideally we'd have those electronic Ballers that go up and down that's what most municipalities would have but in the inter room we've got to work with what we have do we have a I'm next oh you're sorry know go for it so um this was on uh consent last item last commission meeting and I pulled it and we didn't get to it but now it's on regular so I just wanted to mention the reason I had pulled it we all received an email from Mitch novic saying that the cost to replace the arm is about $3,000 and the arm that had to be replaced had already been put in new six weeks before so we've spent about $48,000 to continue to replace the arms so uh Commission of Rosen Gonzalez I agree with you maybe it's time to look at doing the Ballers that come up uh like everybody else because when I go to Ocean Drive and I look at the two ends that have the arms they don't look good no they they just look industrial they don't look I've never seen anything quite like it in a pedestrian area in any major city so I don't know what they're going to exactly I don't know what exactly the solution is but whatever it is it's going to be better than what we currently have good job um okay so do we have a motion we have a motion in a second second yes public comment uh no public comment let's call the vote uh no public comment is required that was the answer all in favor of r7f please say I I I motion carry 70 it's call r7m as in Mary r7m is accept uh uh wave bid negotiate agreement State Legislative Consulting Services R7 M commissioner Fernandez uh thank you Mr Mayor I I I placed this item on the agenda as a result of the first of as as a result of the action we took in consent I wanted to make sure that there was continuity in our lobbying Services uh rage asenia has been a part of the city's lobbying team for a very long time very much familiar with our historic preservation challenges in the past with the state very much familiar with our environmental issues and biscane Bay and our efforts on in that front very much familiar with Liv local they've been a very big uh partner uh of of our city and so um and so I believe the city manager has recommended them to continue working with the city and I'm going to defer to the city manager because I believe he's also made an additional recommendation uh to include us part of our lobbying team so yes thank you commissioner um as we're approaching the new legislative session I wanted to make sure that we we were going to have enough resources to be well represented in Tallahassee um I convened our our Collective group of uh legislative affairs team uh Peter lard and Christina beager Jason Green um and they vetted a number of different firms and came back to me with the recommendations of um R rutage and Cena as well as Ruben Turnbull and Associates each of them have different strengths um and we wanted to make sure that we are uh well prepared going into this session so my recommendation is to allow for the waving of competitive bidding as determined to be in the best interest of the city and authorizing myself and the City attorney to negotiate an agreement with these two firms I move the item as May um we don't need public hearing on this draff correct there's no public hearing required so let's call the vote uh on r7m all in favor I'm sorry r7m all in favor please say I I motion carries 70 and the item is approved it's call we have a 2 o'clock time certain on the North Beach uh Community Center so let's try to call another item r5e r5e is an nor of the mayor City Commission of City May beach for amending the code of the city of May beach by amending chapter 106 entitled traffic and vehicles by amending article two entitled metered parking by amending division one entitled generally by amending section 10655 entitled parking rate fees and penalties Exception by amending parking meter time limits in the north beach Zone except six meter parking lots located between Collins Avenue and Harding Avenue from 79 Street to 887 Terrace and amending the corresponding parking fee section for appendix a to the city code entitled fee schedule providing for qualification repealers of ability and effective dat this is a second reading public hearing it is item r5e commissioner Suarez thank thank you Mr Mayor has there been any updates since the last reading uh thank you commissioner Jess just one uh revision between first reading and second reading and that is the exclusion of the six uh parking lots located north of 79th Street to 87th Street between Collins and Harding as based on Resident feedback we discovered that those lots are generally used by residents uh starting at 6 p.m. so if we extend the metered hours uh to 11: p.m. it would adversely affect residents that are using those lots and so that's why this ordinance now excludes those specific six parking lots commissioner Dominguez thank you um so it includes the excludes the six West Lots um can we consider also excluding all of the meters on Collins north of 77th Street and the side streets from 77 to 87 colins to the metered on street parking spaces so commissioner we did take a look at that the meters that are on those blocks the the 200 blocks um are used by the altto delmare residents altto delmare is a Zone it's a it's a a separate restricted residential parking Zone uh that's that's been in place for for some time and as part of their uh permit they are allowed to use those those parking spaces that are you know on the on the street uh and they actually they're that me it's excluded or no uh no those would be in included in this ordinance not being excluded meaning that those meters would be enforcable up to 11: p.m. up to 11: p.m. after 11: p.m. they're free and available to to anyone uh but but the residents can still use it before residents can but only if you're Alto star zone right no no they're meter parking so they could be used by anyone it's just that because of the proximity to the alos delare Zone because keep in mind these these meter parking on street uh parking spaces that you're referring to are outside of the Zone 26 out of the outside the North Beach restricted Zone and they're they're utilized by the altto delmare residents um as part of that zone those residents pay a higher uh price if you will to be able to park in the metered parking spaces as well so we wanted to respect um that that uh privilege if you will for the AL delar residents to be able to continue to park uh to park there but again these are meter parking spaces so they're really available uh to anyone uh free of charge after 11: p.m. and before that time they're available to anyone it's just uh the the the uh someone has to pay the the meter and commissioner doming unless you are part of the Almar parking District in which case you can use them starting at 600 p.m. correct free and it's part of their permit because that's their permit right so it what we're doing is we're not taking an existing parking um district and merging it into the new one that's correct okay Mr Mayor commissioner Fernandez so I just to commissioner Dominguez commission so I just want to understand what was your points the side streets from 77 to 87 from 77th to 87 7th and so that they would stay at 6:00 p.m. correct okay but that's if there's no businesses there that would need that um it would help residents that are looking for parking but my understanding is those are part of the alos Selmar parking District well they're they're metered parking they're they don't belong to anyone per se they're just metered parking it's just that the Altos doar residents can use those parking spaces that are in proximity to to to their neighborhood without paying after 6 p.m. without paying after 6 p.m. because it is part of their right so so I think the issue is that they appear that they're going to be that they're open to anybody and technically they are if you either pay for parking like a regular meter spot or you have an alto star parking pass which gives you the the ability to park in those spots for free you know without feeding the meter after six no I'm sorry Alberto assistant parking director Zone 15 authorizes the residents to use all those to use those meters while meter hours are in effect so they're they're able to use them seven days a week at any time at any time okay because they are paying for that permit okay so they have a permit that gives them free rain no pun intended to those per those metered parking spots so if we remove or extend the meter parking hours gives them more it gives them more avail ility it it it gives them first choice to use them versus a resident from Zone 26 going in there and using it after 6 p.m. or tourist or tourist or tourist so you're saying it's better to extend the mark the hours of that but I don't think no I think the staff recommendation was to keep it leave it at 6 p.m. because that's not even part of the zone so but I have a question how many hold on let me answer those those as part of this ordinance those meters would be enforceable up to 11:00 p.m. the ones on the street on the side streets the 200 blocks okay commissioner magazine and commissioner Fernandez so if I'm understanding this correctly not including uh going with staff's recommendation is essentially better protecting our residents because if we roll back the hours of metered parking to 600 p.m. than people that are just visiting the area from out of town would essentially be more incen to park in the spot that is uh what we want to be for residents correct they could and keep in mind this ordinance excludes six parking lots so there there's ample opportunities for residents to park in those six parking lots starting at 6 p.m. because we're excluding those from this ordinance which what this ordinance does is extend the meter parking to 11:00 p.m. but we're excluding the lots that residents typically use we're not excluding the on street parking spaces along the side streets for the reasons we've explained commissioner Fernandez no I'm fine so it it certainly seems through the mayor it certainly seems that staff has You' got this buttoned up right like I don't think we need to tweak this you've thoroughly thought this commissioner we have and again this is a a pilot program as well so this is all we're going to be monitoring uh all these aspects of the pilot program and at some point we can always come back if we need to change a specific section yes great okay well I'd like again I'd like to move the item as originally proposed second we have a second just call the vote where were you it is a public hearing I see no one in Zoom no one in the audience commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes vice mayor bot yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes mayor Miner yes motion carries it is item r5e it is approved you sweating there commissioner Suarez oh that's second wow wow we're pretty much right on schedule r9e r9e is discussed slake action 72nd Street Community complex r9e all turn this over to uh Eric and David I'll I'll just say I'll tip my hand a bit I want to have something beautiful for North Beach um I believe North Beach deserves it um the residents voted for it obviously we need to figure out the parameters because of price and some of the feedback we've gotten from residents but um I'm definitely on board with uh with getting a beautiful project done in North Beach on 72nd Street welcome David thank you sir uh Mr Mayor Commissioners David Gomez uh interim director for CIP uh if we could have the presentation jump up I promise it's very short it's five simple slides just as a reminder of where thank you for that um as a quick reminder this is a go project the program as described in the go is the same as it was at go and today the project was never fully funded by go there it was only a partial funding um and then we can get into some of the slides uh as go through these um as a reminder the go funded or provided for three large projects one in South Beach one in mid beach one in North Beach this is the North Beach project uh in order to avoid um a loss of time and extended delays and and with it extensive increases in cost should there be a decision to tweak or alter the program we would like to do that now so that we can move forward by the way that was a perfect test case in the use of slides I thought they were actually very powerful and it was short so thank you I I wasn't looking at anybody quick my slides need to limit PowerPoints to five slides we need the resolution second the motion and that's what I have for you we had started the discussion uh at our last meeting and and we're back today great I was thinking that and our vice mayor just uh commented maybe we take public comment first and then we'll come back to the day there is no one in zoom and I don't see anyone yes I do you what Carolina it's good to have you back Carolina state your name address go ahead please oh my address Gina Jones 1101 still water um good morning mayor Commissioners staff it's really nice to be here again it's been a really long time uh for those of you who don't know me my name is Carolina as I mentioned I'm the president of Stillwater Drive Association I served on the North Beach steering committee I was the Parks Board chair for seven years I served on the original geobond Advisory board and the geobond oversight committee and I participated in both of the 72nd Street RFP eval valuation committees I have spent 10 years as a vocal Community Advocate specifically on Parks and North Beach um I know this project intimately and I've been a champion for it since its birth if I go a little over time I hope you guys will indulge me because of my affiliation with this project um we have been through three city managers since this project was born many of you on the de has inherited this go promise and possibly weren't as involved back in 2018 that is why I sent the email yesterday with a selection of advocacy letters from various boards committees HOAs schools residents even a video from the Miami Beach High School swim team it's important to understand the history of this project and the agreements and the covenants that have been made since 2016 like me people grow tired of chasing projects and tired of making sure that our government keeps its word I'm here after a long Hiatus not only to voice my thoughts but to bring to light all of the people who have spent years crafting the vision of this community center and urging you that promises made must be Promises Kept just like the Bayshore neighborhood is finally getting its gorgeous passive Park just like Flamingo neighborhood is getting the amenities they were promised in Flamingo Park North Beach now needs you to keep your word this was a referendum voted by over 70% of residents the single project represents 65% of the total dollars allocated to North Beach over 50% of our high school students live in North Beach and they need the single Central Park that was promised to them this is not a parking lot or a pool this project represents years of hard work research Consultants boards all bringing their best and brightest ideas forward culminating in the 72nd Street community center this single project would provide desperately needed Active Space for sports a track and a fitness center that would serve not only our kids but our residents young and old a state-of-the-art library with Technology Solutions for seniors and children a teen center a community center both vital Gathering spaces and a competition Aquatic Center which would be the only regulation siiz pool in our city and which would be able to host Regional events and bring athletic and family tourism to our city and of course we would replace the existing parking and AD spaces for the added uses so this is our one big idea in North Beach so many people have worked tirelessly to design the best solution for the placement of these amenities over the years so today I'm here to ask you please don't second guess the six consulting firms that have apped on this don't second guess seven different boards and committees don't question all of our schools or ptas countless residents that have come before you don't think that one more study is going to give you a different or a better answer than we have crafted over the last six years I think today's meeting should be focused on the value engineering solution that staff identified it's about looking through those considering the best options and making sure that the consultants get us close to that 70 million construction dollar that they committed to today is about keeping your word to North Beach today is about making sure that the rest of the city knows that you're a governing body that keeps its word so thank you very much for your time Ral is there anybody else thank you Carolina no V mayor we sat on that uh as you pointed out in your email we sat on that original geobond advisory panel so um yes it's been a it's been a long road commissioner Dominguez then commissioner Suarez thank you so much um well I think it's very important to keep this project going um the voters did vote on it and while the initial cost of the project that the voters agreed to was was 55 million uh a couple commissions ago money was found in order to ensure that this project moves forward for 101 million as karolina Jones just mentioned um other parts of Miami Beach are getting big projects that were promised and uh North Beach deserves this needs this and I am supportive thank you commissioner Suarez thank you um just want to flat out say look I I think the project is great and um North Beach does does need something okay um my only concern again is the is the cost and I just want to get I want to get a little bit more educated and I want the public to be a little bit more educated on this as far as the timeline of how things transpired in terms of cost so from from talking to karolina um there was discussions from before the Geo Bond committee that this was not going to just be $ 53 million it was going to be somewhere around 70 uh 64 64 yeah okay and so and then the Geo Bond what's up Martin you have something to say if uh through the through the mayor if I may I just wanted to that was very involved in this in how that went on so During the period of time prior to the geobond referendum taking place in November of 2018 this project was in in the midst of being being under a feasibility analysis where we were preparing our criteria and developing cost estimates early in 2018 when it was determined that we the city wanted to um seek out the Dual Bond we were asked to put together budgets for a lot of the hundreds of projects that the city was contemplating at the time this was early probably March maybe even earlier February sooner so at the time we submitted a $60 Million number for very early on for the nor for the project project now when the pro as the project was moving forward through the year before the referendum additional scope was being uh determined and and and uh and explored that changed the the things around a little bit and the project grew and cost however it was not captured because in we had put in our $60 million ask already and we weren't going to start all these hundreds of project moving numbers all over the place so when it first came to the Gil Bond over uh to the discussions at committee at finance and then eventually at the commission the number was 60 60 60 then additional funds were added they made it the almost 64 63.8 to include um sustainable and resilient measures me into several projects which included Flamingo and other projects and this one that brought it up to the 63.4 at that time behind the scenes we were already north of that one we had calculated but we weren't going to be starting again to change numbers so we left it at that when the commission finally determined and they looked at what size of a overall geobond was going to we were going to put out they they picked a certain level and at that time 10 Mill dollar was arbitrarily cut down to to bring it the overall geobond program to a certain level with the understanding that why do you think that was I'm sorry why do you think that was well because we were trying we had at the time a four what was the total Maria the total g b 439 it was a $439 million bond that was kind of the where the commission at the time was trying to land in that ball park and they had to shave certain projects down and I'll let the manager jump in if he if he'd like sure basically at that point in time we brought to the um Committee of the resident committee a three different versions there was a a $300 million geob Bond there was a $400 million geobond and there was a $600 million geobond and I think we called it silver gold and platinum if I remember correctly Maria something like that um and the resident committee basically went down the list and said said I want the Gold version of this I want the Platinum version of that I want the Silver version of that and it landed on this 439 number that we ended up bringing to the public okay so you got a so you got a two-tone Rox I get it okay um all right so now the voters voted on 53.8 or if you still mind saying um that is correct the voters did vote on a $ 53.8 million funding for this project okay um but the intention was always around 63 yes that was what we had what was in at the time when it got cut however we already knew that it was going to be more than that and at the time the commission said let's just fund it with this and then we'll have to so supplement so what was promised to North Beach was 60 around 63 is that is that give or take let's say I'm going to say yes in terms of what was put on the record going through the budget going through the go process through all of year 2018 culminating in the election or in the referendum okay and so let's fast forward to today right um you know I think commissioner Gonzalez put a a rendering on one of her emails that showed a building that looked fabulous a real beautiful Stellar rendering of a of of a of a center and then we have a valued engineered um building that didn't look as good um is is the 101 price tag as it stands today is that the op is that the I guess the the downgraded version of what we could expect and the answer the simple answer is yes however I mean want to qualify this building is not valued engineered down the current uh renderings that we showed a few minutes ago this is a what we were directed by the commission to bring back a project that had all the bells and whistles that the voters voted for that could be afforded for approximately $70 million in construction plus the other uh soft cost that would have brought it up to the 100 million so it's not value engineered down it's just a designed to budget the other renderings that existed before that have been have been shown that was designed by that was that the concept were prepared by a different consultant those were were when we were proceeding through a design build uh procurement methodology that was later abandoned and agreed by the commission to abandon that process because we at that time we were without a commitment from the design Builder we were looking at Cost potentially north of $130 $140 million uh and that's just Construction and design that wasn't even with soft cost so so that's what that decision was made to abandon the design process why was that so expensive what you know one of my fears is that we sign on this it's h one now and we get to like 60 80% design and then it's now 200 so there some safeguards right but if you have a design firm that's saying it's going to cost construction for around $140 million and you have another design firm or I guess a construction manager saying that we can do it for $70 million that's a I mean there there's a big discrepancy well I'll tell you first of all there's a safeguard you you will all see a guaranteed maximum price Amendment come back to you at some point in time in the next year or year and a half to vote on and approve that's part one part two uh I would I would compare it to no different than an automobile right a car you're going to go buy a car you can buy a really nice Chevy or you can buy a Rolls-Royce and they're all going to have roughly the same bells and whistles but obviously two different cars I mean I'd like lwen beach to have the Rolls-Royce and and that's where I'm getting at you know what it how much more is it to get that Rolls-Royce as opposed to this kind of downgraded version of of what we saw I mean you know if we're going to be spending this kind of money I'd rather it be a stellar project instead of something that we're just you know settling with so again so right now we're at 30% right I mean this is is this just a discussion item to move forward right this is this is giving direction to to continue to move forward how much have we spent so far approximately $5 million $5 million and that's all design design and some surveying and testing and some other stuff okay um another concern that i' I've heard is that there's not enough parking uh we're only adding 180 spaces um to a 320 spot parking garage I'm assuming more spaces we add I don't know how much more significant the cost goes up um but I understand that um you know if we're going to if we're going to move forward on this I think that is a consideration that we should take into account I don't know if we need to necessarily do at this point or further down the line um if this if the rest of my colleagues feel that this is the the direction they want to go however I just want to be careful on on what the what what do you expect the price tag to be at at the end of the day what do you expect it to be from Soup To Nuts including the $5 million we've already spent we we expect and we have a contract with the designer uh as well as the construction manager that they are to deliver a project that the construction uh amount is $70 million now there's some contingencies built into the project uh that could be you know that the number could vary but that that's the target the designer is required to provide us a design that that is the value which without removing any of the elements that the electorate voted on and and when they approved the general obligation Bond so at no time would they be allowed to say well we're going to make the pool smaller or no we're going to we're going to take out a floor of parking or we're going to make the library smaller they they can't do that uh they still have to bring it in for that amount or else we would not be able to bring you a GMP and say we're not going to show up here and say uh sorry guys guess what the GMP is 90 million for construction that's the best we could do that we we would not be doing that so what so just so you can correct me what you're telling me is what we're voting on today is basically the the structure of it the meat and potatoes right as far as Aesthetics go we're not there yet correct and the reason is that the our intended plan was we were going to get to this point we were going to take it take the show on the road as I like to call it show it to anybody that would want to see it and hear about it all the different stakeholder associations and and committees and what have you get to the end of that and then bring it to you be before going to the design review board and say look this is what we got this is all the feedback we received you know we've made some modifications based on the feedback and here's where we are but we want all of you to be comfortable with it before we go to design review board once I once we go to design review board and we go through that process and they'll have a chance at uh commenting on the Aesthetics and a lot of the other things they look at then we that's that's a lot of effort so we want to make sure we get that right beforehand before we go there once we get past drb we want to be able to right move and and get it to and just to put things in perspective so around 60 million-ish 63 was promised to North Beach but that that was just for construction or is that for the whole project that was a total project budget that was allotted at the time so then Theory would have been everything and so now it's 101 million that's right okay so roughly just a little less than 30 million is what it's over budget well I don't want to use the word over budget but considering a past commissions have haveed 100 billion well I'd like to see what my colleagues have to say about this so if I may so because Laura's here and she just missed a public comment I'm G to allow Laura to come and speak and then make some remarks and turn it over to um commissioner Fernandez and then anybody else thank you U my name is Lara vea I've been a resident of my Beach for 30 years and I currently serve on the goo Bond advisory committee representing North Beach um I just want to say thank you the tone in today's meeting seems very uplifting and uh I really appreciate all of you taking your time to listen to the city and some of the residents and and considering moving this project forward um I look at this project not just as an aquatic center or a garage it really serves seven different components it is that library that residents in North Beach have been wanting for two decades um it serves that garage which actually in some of the earlier studies was considered an inter modal Center so in looking at what this can create it can be the one place that creates that destination into North Beach that serves all of the other neighborhoods in North Beach so consider that as far as a 15minute city and how you make this area a a a place that people stop to to visit all of the other areas so one of the big things I feel is um the garage as you had mentioned it's 500 spaces it just replaces the spaces that we already currently have it doesn't really take into consideration the Byron carile cultural center or all of the other components that are coming into North Beach so I just um thank you for the support of this project and hope that you will consider continuing with all of the elements that exist in it in this one spot thank you Laura so um I want to make some comments on I'll turn it over to commissioner Fernandez so um I've been a part of this conversation since I was an activist in 2015 and I considered myself fairly well informed I went to the shetes I put my little dots on things I stayed engaged I was president of Miami Beach United when this was wending its way through the process and between last month and this month I had convers ation with this with people where I learn things that even not that I'm infallible because I'm extremely fallible but even being somebody reasonably engaged in the process I did not know um I did not know that there was sort of a conscious decision to fund it at the maximum level they could that that we could as a city knowing that we would find money to complete the full visual bring bring to fruition the full vision for the project right so um I mean if the if the project had been scoped at $53 million it would have been a very different project in and of itself so the $ 53 million which I for years have you know used as a rallying price saying oh this is not okay was not accurate and and so you know that's a lesson that we can learn as government officials that it is okay to fund things at different levels with budgets and Geo Bond uh initiatives you can say this is just a seed money to get something going this is something we're going to pay for 100% % out of this Geo Bond money this is something we get to 50% with the Geo Bond money and we'll find the rest later that's totally fine to make those decisions but I would say that that's something that needs to be communicated more clearly because I will tell you that I know a lot of people who think that you know it should be all the bills and whistles and also come in at $53 million which could never happen but we weren't you know like that wasn't something that that was widely known so um I want to put that out there um I I also want to put out for the record for those who haven't been intimately involved in this you know plan noi um the master plan that was done in 2018 with do Co Associates which by the way is an awardwinning master plan if you don't know it um I highly encourage you to Google it and read it it is it is a th% what we want North Beach to be it was done um with the input of I think well over a thousand residents um multiple meetings over a year and a half and it is even though it was completed in 2018 I reviewed it recently and it is still accurate in terms of what it reflects and I will tell you that one of my frustrations as an activist was that prior Commissioners Cherry Picked bits and pieces from that plan and prioritize those things and all the things that complemented quality of life so you know widening sidewalks and more green space and more amenities and you know um those those things just sort of fell by the wayside and you know it's very easy and I will castigate myself calling this The Aquatic Albatross because it's a very catchy name but that's not all it is oh it's not what it is it is um a full Center a complex that bands together a bunch of these other things that were identified in plan noi as desired by the community um we have a small library now it's underwhelming to put it mildly we live in North Beach where um there are a lot of people who don't have Wi-Fi at home don't have laptops at home have to do schoolwork or apply for jobs and they have to go to a library and you know some people sit outside the library to use a Wi-Fi there that Library could be literally and figuratively elevated into something far more um useful than it is now and with public meeting space attached to it um we have a track and well we have a a field um Illustrated in the renderings you know we've spent months hearing from people in South Beach about their track and field and how precious it is to them and how you know anything that we want to do around there cannot affect the track and field we don't have a track and field in North Beach right now so this is going to deliver that um the pool remains my one big question and I don't have any issue with putting a new pool in there um but my well let me before I get to the pool the other thing is um the parking was contemplated um in 2018 where the Band Shell was not fully activated but you go to the Band Shell now that parking lot is full all the time um over the last couple of years we have 15 and growing new businesses just around the Normandy Fountain area that are organically occurring naturally occurring economic development that has been spurred by the Normandy business Fountain Association nor Normandy Fountain Business Association um and and success breeds success so we're getting more and more restaurants that people are literally driving not just from other parts of the city but driving across the bridge to get to um we have some whether or not we like it we have some high-end developments coming online um We've Got Sushi beichi which is a great restaurant on Ocean Terrace and that's even without Ocean Terrace being activated right so when that is now activated that's going to be a whole different um dynamic and it's going to bring more and more of that so the the parking numbers that were contemplated and built into the scope I I'm quite sure are insufficient so as we move forward I would and I'm not a fan of making things taller by by and large but I would suggest that we are still well under what we can build as of right that we put in an additional level of parking which could be let's say during the day when it's not needed for parking it could be pickle ball quarts and then after 600 p.m. or whatever it becomes parking so and with the entirety of the parking spaces because the goal is to eventually be less dependent on parking that those those floors those areas could become converted into retail space or affordable housing or who knows what I mean I'm not the engineer I don't know how this goes but you know the the idea is that we'd eventually need less parking um and um proceed from there so now let me come to the pool um when when I was talking about this with um staff and with residents over the course of last month in the intervene or three weeks whenever it was our last meeting um I thought well why can't we put the pool here why can't we put that the pool there and I did not know that there had already been conversations to investigate putting the pool at the Normandy pool site and building that into a big Aquatic Center or you know doing something on the W slots and building that in and yes maybe it can be done but likely not with as much efficiency and then it also has its own issues so I can live with having a pool as part of this and I can even live with having it on top of the first floor although I think a case could be made for above ground or in ground I mean you have both so I'm I'm not going to die on that Hill what I don't have a clear understanding for and I don't know that we're going to we're not going to get the answer today but I would like to get it very soon is it's one thing to build a comp a competition size pool which is great for training purposes it's another thing to build a competition pool to host meats and I'm not talking about Olympics because that's a whole different thing I mean obviously we're not having the Olympics North Beach I'm not delusional but but if you have a pool that is built so that people can train for competition um in competition style um space that is a different thing than building pool facility that is designed to post competitions because the way it's spec now you've got a warm-up pool you've got a a zero grade entrance pool for Ada which is fantastic and for kids um you've got um different um um office space if you will for managing the event the host facility manages the event the event and the timekeepers and the coaches and the judges and the this and that so what I want to understand is how much um uh how much of a demand is there in the marketplace right so let's find out and I know there's some research that's been done on the pool in um uh at the ma at the uh the center in Fort Lauderdale but I also know that Ransom Everglades and I think it was Gulliver recently in the last five or six years um redid their pools and what are they doing how much business are they host how much business are they getting by hosting um um meets because if it's not realistic for us to host a reasonable number of meets then I would say we could think differently about the pool and get rid of the things that we wouldn't need just to have an amazing pool up there where our kids could come up and train um but we you know I don't want to build stuff for things that will never be used so and I'm not saying move in that direction I'm saying let's get those answers before we you know we cut the line on this um so those were um those were my questions and before I just get off this little rant um I want to make sure I'm not leaving anything off here um okay I think that was everything so commissioner Fernandez okay um can we repeat the questions well the the the question about the pool usage for actual competition versus training um adding an additional story of parking that could be used as pickle ball quartz when it's not used for parking um making sure there's a track that goes around the field as it's Illustrated I don't know if that's just a quirk of um of the the schematics and I will say for folks listening who maybe have looked at the presentation um the style of these particular schematics is fairly aere and and it's not necessarily a finished designed product um it is more of a this is how the pieces of the project fit together in this shape and you know to it's it's sort of like a a proof of concept so that doesn't mean that when it's built it's going to look exactly like this there's a huge opportunity for landscaping and murals and tile work and you know all kinds of beautification um so you know I I've heard from some people well it's really ugly we deserve better well let's focus on what is going to go into that space and then we can figure out how to make it look really stunning because we we can do that that I'm not worried about at all so I don't know if there were other questions that you wanted to answers to but I'll turn it over to the Davids I could address your questions in reverse order y um the track is included as part of the project it is part of the program it is not a track like the one at Flamingo Park with the eight lanes and the lines it is a a fitness track or a fitness running path that circumnavigates the the entire site so that is in the project um as far as adding spaces to the garage the design the way it is today is modular so it is fairly simple to insert a level of spaces that would provide with every level approximately 110 spaces at a cost of approximately $4.5 million how much 4 and a half so that it's not an unreasonable price it's about $40,000 a space um that would that would you would need another level it would yes it would go up so you for only $4 half million we get an extra level of parking right but but and it goes up 20 ft I'm assuming no it's uh I think it's a 10 foot floor to floor height factly a little less than that and and and through the mayor I'm sorry I'm cutting through but you said the project right now is at 70 feet if we added another layer it would be at 80 feet the the project right now I think is at 60 ft you would add with the BF with the with the base FL right it's 8 to 10 ft per level of parking the the level of parking is a little shorter than a building level okay the uh the final question the pool usage this facility was uh specified in the design criteria was prepared to host local high school meets so between a couple of high schools they would have the ability to host those types of meets and potentially even uh countywide or even Regional meets beyond that is a different level of facility okay so just before I turn over to commissioner Fernandez I just want to be sure though that if we build it they really will come I mean we're not in the FI Field of Dreams here and I don't want to build a a a competition pool with the bells and whistles needed for regional down meets and Masters and who knows what else if there we make some phone calls and everyone's like yep no we're fine we're never going to change where we do it if there's people clamoring to to have a meet and they don't have a place to do it that's another thing but so I really really want to get a much better understanding on that before we because it doesn't mean we're taking the pool away it just means we're taking some of the other ancillary things of the pool that we might not need and either it saves US money or we repurpose that money for something else at long last commissioner fernandz thank you um so I think uh karolina sent us an email with her remarks from 2022 uh highlighting this as a community centerpiece and you know it's what North Beach has been asking for is what North Beach has been promised I think about Bayshore Park um when I got elected Bayshore Park was in the red almost like $20 million and we worked through the fiscal years to fill that Gap and we delivered our promise to the residents of Bayshore park with a project that's going to hopefully be delivered very soon that I think is going to be a gum for our city and something that very proud of we're moving forward with the promises made uh for Flamingo Park We've Ended up with a beautiful park at canopy Park we are working soon we'll have padel courts yet another place of of of community engagement uh in in South Beach we're delivering on the promise of doing a facelift much long and needed facelift for 41st Street uh which was yet another promise made to the residents and to the community that's being delivered um you know few times do you have the opportunity to move something that's already fully funded you know we're usually looking for dollars to cover the red I know we're gonna you know we're going to be dealing with that with other projects here David is this project fully funded today it is today yes sir and so for us to walk back a promise and I you know what for a long time I I had heartaches about this um but our ptas and our schools have over the years endorsed this project the community organizations in North Beach have endorsed this th this project and to now at the last minute when we're ready to go to drb next year where we're going to be ready to commence Construction in 2026 say yeah you know what 10 years of discussion and planning and Community meetings and charettes and PTA presentations and neighborhood meetings and designs and allocating a funding yeah just kidding let's go and start from scratch you know I don't I I don't think it's it'll be right we do inherit the decisions of past City commissions uh we don't always need to like the decisions of past City commissions but you know that is part of continuity in government the government made a commitment and the commitment was voted on and it's our job as stewards to follow through those commitments and as is as as has been said on this St is it's not just a pool it's not just a a garage it's a library that's being delivered it's a fitness center that's being delivered it's a community center that's being delivered it's a 60,000 square foot Active Green Space and jogging uh path that is going to be delivered it's storm water retention uh important for resiliency that's going to be delivered here it has solar uh Power uh capabilities in here that's being delivered so it's more than just a garage and it's more than just a pool and it's a very easy decision right now because it's something that is fully funded that we don't need to be searching for dollars for I think it'd be a very bad taste for us as a government and as a representative of the people to go back and to give the community that we've promised this to and tell them sorry all of this we're just going to take it away from you so I think we're at a point that we need to deliver on the promise and give North Beach this project that it has long awaited and long deserves thank you Mr Mayor well said commissioner magazine Mr May uh thank you for this uh just make a couple of comments on things that I've kind of pinpointed obviously have a strong need to deliver a worldclass facility worldclass recreational facility for all of North Beach the neighborhood deserves it um my two my two or three comments I personally feel strong that an Olympic siiz pool on the roof there probably isn't the highest and best use for the most amount of people uh I would have loved to seen like a multifaceted Sports facility on the roof thing Lifetime athletic but uh I don't think it would be fair to me to just interject my own personal views uh at the 11th hour here the community is going through years and years of Outreach I was ultimately elected to represent other people's views not just my own personal ones and if the community has hashed this out over the years I wouldn't feel right just pivoting on on my own personal thoughts uh where my own personal thought weighs even stronger though is an unactivated rooftop on the other side uh of parking I would love to see something just a bit more Dynamic right have that activated I I would it would be a dereliction of Duty if we move forward and we wanted to have these community events and we wanted to have um High School graduation or a Galla or Community night or uh North Beach uh night out and we weren't able to do it on a rooftop because one was just a parking lot and the other side was a full pool so I'd really like the other side above the garage uh to be more activated whether it be from the people that are in the um land developments in the area that are going more vertical now they shouldn't be looking down onto a parking lot I look down onto the Publix at Fifth and Alton it looks awful it's not what Miami Beach deserves uh so I'd really like to get more creative there whether it's adding an extra layer but I think that's just very uninspiring um the community decided on the pool even though it's not my own personal cup of tea uh I I think the community has spoken so so I I'll be fine moving along for that I'm just very uninspired by the other side of that I think North Beach deserves better than just a rooftop uh parking uh facility so um while keeping the entirety of the parking I'd really like to see more imagination and creativity uh really creating a better uh Community Gathering uh more aesthetically pleasing Recreation space uh on the side of the parking garage sure then after we have commissioner bot commissioner Suarez commissioner Rosen Gonzalez so I just I just you know there's so many great ideas whether it's an extra layer of an extra parking surface uh or activating rooftops one of the reasons why I feel so comfortable today with this it's because it's fully funded I will have a lot of hesitation because the price tag is already so big getting adding more dollars to to a project that's fully funded you know I get concerned like for example when we activate rooftops that's a different style of construction a different style of construction that usually adds cost and I believe it's not insignificant the cost that an activated rooftop could could have and so the one thing that I just want to say today with my support of this is that I support this today because it's very it it it is funded fully funded I cannot support adding more money to already to a project that is costing so much already so as it stands today you know clearly full support but I'm going to be very transparent if anything comes back to increase cost in the millions to this project that's what I won't be able to support thank you Mr Mayor commissioner bot vice mayor bot um just a couple questions um part of the resilience um uh piece that you've built in is uh water retention North Beach floods terribly how can you talk a little bit about how that will help um North Beach in general if it will or is it specific just to that site no this is actually meant for to receive some of the neighborhood uh rainwater so we will take what is essentially the first flush um and we will treat that on site through injection Wells uh before it goes into the rest of the system so it's um taking water off the roads and before it goes into the bay it gets its first treatment if you will correct okay um also North Beach little known fun fact um North Beach does not have a single piece of art in public places art anyone know that that's right does not have a single piece of art in public places funded art and my understanding please correct me if I'm wrong because I could very well be but my understanding is that um those funds to purchase art in public places comes from the cost of a construction project like this correct so in addition to providing um the facility itself a portion of the cost of the facility is art in public places art which would be determined presumably with the input of North Beach and the committee and and all that kind of stuff but not for nothing but you know a third of our population is up there we have a large land mass we've got beautiful parks and we don't have that um so and then also do you need us to go through the value engineering list that you presented last time that we didn't have any discussion about because we didn't have time is that something no none of none of these value engineering items impact the program or the the functionality of the building so it's essentially invisible to the user it it you wouldn't be able to tell the difference from one and the other um for example example the material of the the structure of the pool would be different you wouldn't know the difference okay so it's just you just informing these Chang and then from here it goes to community meetings correct to fine-tune any any bit and pieces and then before we go back to drb we come back and give you the results of the community input so do you have your first community meeting set up yet it hasn't because we had a discussion here okay so between now in your first Community meetings would it be reasonable to get the um detail on the demand for Meats at a regional and Below level we've begun those discussions and if I could address that really quickly the the facility is also designed to be multi-purpose so it's not just a competition facility for example the pool does include a movable floor what that means is we can either put the floor all the way at the bottom and it's a competition facility we can raise it up to 2 feet to do learn to swim classes or put it at 3 ft for aquaerobics and water aerobics or take it all the way out to increase your desk deck space so the events like graduations we have the community center that that is available as well and then the the pool floor could actually come up and increase the amount of deck space that you have okay but you could between now and the first community outreach so that if this question comes up we have answers yes okay commissioner Suarez um I know commissioner fernandz said he was a little bit hesitant on adding millions of dollars um but correct me if I'm wrong we can get another floor with another 110 parking spaces for $4.5 million that's correct I mean commission for well well just to be clear also David that money would be coming from parking bonds not from the Geo Bond project yeah so I haven't identified the funding source I just got the estimate of what it would cost to do it now we'd have to look at how we would pay for I think look I mean if we have an opportunity to add another 110 parking spaces to an area that is severely challenged and not to mention while this thing is under construction there's going to be 3155 spaces that are not going to be there for at least 3 years it's going to be a lot it's going to be a lot easier pill to swallow if we're saying we're double the amount of parking once this is completed instead of only having you know 2/3 more parking or or or oneir um so I mean how do my colleagues feel about that I think I think that's a really good bang for your buck if it can be self-funded if it can be self-funded and Mr manager if you could chime in here I mean is there is there a way to fund this through uh through through parking bonds so there is a potential I I haven't vetted it with our finance team but there is a potential that this could be funded at least the additional dollars could be funded through a parking bond with the revenue stream covering the cost of those Bond payments still preliminary but that's a possibility so for me like like if there is that possibility that's fine I I just don't want us you know again you know the Geo bond is is is what 53 million for this um 53.8 53.8 all right and so then we've had to tap into you know I think there's already 16 million coming from from from the parking fund um we have quality of five dollars we have pay as as you go the more we tap for this project into all these other funds that we have the less that we have for our other needs because this isn't our only need in in North Beach we have other needs in North Beach as well so for as long as it can self-fund itself through a bond that I'm fine with that I just don't want to keep on tapping into our other funding sources that is then going to impede our AB to address some other needs that we have up there so so can we incorporate an amendment to add an additional floor I support that so do I me too and if I if I might just add one quick thing about the parking um there's a garage on 67th in Indian Creek that is going to be open within the next six months we hope which will alleviate MH so that will alleviate the pressure while it's under construction it's not perfect cuz it's a few blocks south but it's you know in New York you walk five or six blocks to to your garage so it's it just a thing commission Rosen Gonzalez I had a few questions I thought that the pool lanes were going to three lanes that's not true is it the the warm-up pool one of the suggestions is to reduce the size of the warm-up pool to save some of the money but that's not the competition portion that's just and how many lanes are in the competition pool it is 10 lanes 10 lanes okay so um you know listen I'm going to support this today but I have to say what we're getting looks like a school it's like a cement cinder block school can you put the visuals up for $100 million total with different contingencies what we're paying for and what we're getting to me is is confusing can you put the slides up um so that we can really look at it I mean I just for at that price I think that there should be more windows because when you look at the other side of it it's like a cement wall and you know I just wonder how we got with this exorbitant price to what we being promised which is um doesn't look like there's um you know any kind of finishings apart from rough cement um few windows and a lot of concrete and what you know I'm going to this this was not what we wanted at all and I and the fact that and you said it was 14% underfunded right now no it was 14% over on the construction budget with the V we were able to bring it down to 5 six% over by cutting out we think we can what I'm concerned that we're going to cut even more than what you see right there and it's going to look like an mdcps school with no windows and center block I mean you're we're not cutting any more windows you're not cutting out anything and the finishings that does this include floors with like nice finishings or is this like finished with cement I mean what are what are we I'd like to look at the finishings because on our Convention Center $700 million we didn't put a new roof and we got cement floor finishings on the Terrace and those things were very upsetting to me in this value engineering so can you explain to us a little bit about embedded in this price what the different finishings are going to be like I mean are we getting like dollar square foot lenium for $100 million or are we getting like something really nice because I get concerned because this is where this is what we're talking about you know David also isn't this going to drb it is yes and we are so we have not specified finishes yet but you you haven't but like how did you bring it down from 14 to 5% how did you bring the over it the value engineering items that were listed in that sheet so making making the warmup pool a little smaller changing the structure of the body of the pool um I've got some more here uh reducing the size of the Bulet of the movable floor sorry um assuming an owner direct purchase program where because the city buys the certain materials or equipment we don't have to pay taxes so we save a little bit that way um combining some spaces so that they're shared between uses uh reducing the sports Lighting on the field from 100 foot candles to 50 foot candles um so it it's stuff that does doesn't impact the the aesthetic or the program of the of the facility you know with this massive budget that we have this is a crazy thought but with this proposal for the doville that's going through and no real Community benefit you don't think we should ask hey number one we've got x amount of money could you build us what we got promised um the beautiful iconic Center that we got promised could you do it in the private sector at this price with this money and add in the difference I mean at this at the rate that we're going right now I mean I I don't think it's a huge ask if there's a Hu if there's a construction crew out there we might get something very different than this cinder block style exposed um structure that I hope is not going to look like some of our other public structures um is it finished on the inside do we know are we getting cish faces receive finishes of course um does that mean that the that the garage is drywall in tilon no it's a Concrete painted concrete finish and the finish on the pool and we're getting um okay so you're getting the pool and you're getting the practice pool and what did you remove from the competition pool in order to get us to where we are right now change in the structure how what what kind of change in the structure from a Mera stainless steel pool to a concrete structure and what is the difference why did you start out with stainless steel and why is it now concrete and I'm sorry for asking these questions this this is really important this is probably the largest purchase and the largest thing that we're going to build uh the advantage to a Mera pool is obviously they are a very famous manufacturer that they provide all of the Olympic pools and all of the US swimming pools um there is some uh tolerance and specifications and there is some long-term um maintenance savings with a concrete pool you have to be careful when you build it and every five 10 15 years you're going to have to redim so why would we skimp on the pool and get a concrete pool that's elevated rather than the Olympic style metal pool that's not going to require that maintenance you can't dude that doesn't make any sense does that make sense city manager what no I said Mr C what I'm saying is $100 million $100 million we should at least get the metal pool you cannot give us a concrete pool that needs to be refinished that's elevated I'm already concerned about the maintenance on this structure we should be getting that pool don't you agree we should be at least getting the the best pool we I mean you know you could say yeah let's move it along and let's vote on this $100 million pool but I'm telling you that I don't think that we should vote for it with the concrete pool I think you need to come back and tell us exactly what it's going to cost but we want the real pool I'd like to see a little bit more of what kind of finishings you're proposing we don't want to see exposed cement on this um issue how can you make the jogging track an actual track and not just one weird little loop around the entire thing because they were promised a track they were and now it's like one little Loop that is not a track they want to be able to hold track meets too and this is too much money would the value engineering has taken us down to not just the bare bones but now we're um skimping on on the quality of the materials and and what we're getting so um are you okay with that with the concrete pool are we voting for the concrete pool instead of the Mera Eric so just to be clear at this point we've brought to you the program the situation that we're um that we're moving forward with before we went to the public we're going to get feedback on certain things from the public ultimately we're going to come back to you before we go to the drb we've just gotten these ve options relatively recently not all of them have been completely vetted we can go through them and by the time we come back to you we can have recommendations and dollar figures associated with each I personally think there are some things that we could save money on and not have any different experience for the public that's dealing with it um there are other things that we may feel like it's not worth the few dollars that we would save and we want to make sure that we're delivering a world class let us go through that list um ultimately we also have as as one of your colleagues mentioned art in public places dollars and those art in public places dollars can be incorporated into this facility as potentially some of the finishes or some of the um solutions to some of this experiential question that you're posing um so we have a little bit more work to do we're still at the 30% design I want to make sure everybody understands this is not a finished product it's going to go to drb drb is going to give us feedback on the aesthetic um we still have to do some work on the finishes and we still have to do the ve and I have one more one more question I would move this but I think we should all agree that we deserve the stainless steel pool because it's elevated and not the concrete pool number one and number two I've noticed that one side of the community center that we're not showing here when I looked at the pictures is just a solid concrete wall why is that that's the screening for the parking garage and that's yet to be designed that's that's what we had envisioned as the AI piece of the facil so they're still working on how that looks I would like you guys to know that one side of the building is a 60t solid concrete wall but and we can paint it we can put a mural on it I'm not saying that we should we going to put it's screening we just don't know what that's going so we're going to put a screening on it okay and you could do something decorative well the problem is is that we can't put a decorative screening on it because you said that you're not spending one more Penny and they've just scaled it back the the art places money is already in the budget for the screening of the concrete wall so that's going to look beautiful yes okay then I will vote for this with the MCA pool which I think is the best quality because I think it also changes the shape of the pool at least let's get the right pool okay let's bring this on what I hear today and I think tell me Eric I think you have the guidance you need there's overall support from this body for the project including the pool and and the extra level of parking that's what I heard loud and clear okay and could we just make it clear that the extra level of parking we can specifically if it can self-fund itself uh because that would address the funding situation understood inable to pickle ball during the day that top floor great discussion everyone we're I can add the P the pickle ball to the parking G and I I just want to give also uh a shout out to our goo Bond committee and we heard from kolina before Karen Revo the chair of the committee uh a lot of work has gone into this and including obviously the city Administration so thank you we have a couple of budget items to to do let's call yes you're giving yourself this round of applause which is good you deserve it you deserve it no vot r7d discuss r7d is adopt Second Amendment to fiscal year 2025 capital budget it is a public hearing good afternoon T Stewart budget director and it's just one item this month so this is the Second Amendment to the capital budget it contains two items recommend an overall increase of $2.6 4 million and a transfer of approximately 54,000 between two projects so the first project is a Collin Park runda the recommendation is to appropriate $2.6 four million of interest income from the arts and culture geobond in order to repair the 162 panels that need additional repair uh the second project is the Miami Beach Rowing Club exterior painting and waterproofing the recommendation is to transfer $4,975 from an existing project the Shane rowing Center surface lot renovation in order to appropriate funding for this project the sheen rowing Center project is estimated to be completed with savings I move the item I'll second it all vote it is a public hearing no one here here on Zoom no one here in the audience uh commission it's it's a Voice vote so all in favor please s save I I hearing no NOS the item passes 70 r7d thanks it's called the companion item r7g r7g is execute change order one Collins Park Performing Arts venue retunda project CIP I move the item hold it fernandz and Suarez got it it is uh not a public hearing so if no there's no discussion all in favor I I I congratulations David let's call r7i yes sir r7i is exercise the right of first offer to purchase parking garage 1027 10 through 1041 Collins Avenue r7i mayor If I Could Kick this item off Eric um so this is a parking garage uh at 1027 Collins Avenue on the east side of Collins between 10th and 11th um it is a uh public private partnership that was entered into in 1999 and completed in 2000 between the city and a private development firm city owns the land and we currently have the the equivalent of 50-year lease on that property so that property lease runs through 2050 and embedded in that agreement the lease anytime that the Property Transfers ownership there is a right of first refusal for the city to potentially step in to that purchase and buy out the remainder of the leasehold interest um we were notified uh in mid mid November that there is a a contract in place for the purchase of that lot um we have until December 22nd underneath the contract to be able to uh let them know that we would like to execute a a right of first refusal um I am not sure as we sit here today that we want to do that but I want to get the author authorization from the commission to explore that with the ability to step in if we need to or potentially um negotiate a side agreement with the potential purchaser to extend that due diligence period to the February commission meeting so that I could come back to you in February and give you a definitive answer but unfortunately because we have to give an answer by December 22nd I need to have the authorization from the commission to do either execute the right of first refusal or enter into a side agreement with the proposed purchaser to see if we can find a way to extend our due diligence let me ask you Eric so I'm I'm repeating what you said but I just want to make sure I understand you you you're not 100% sure you actually want to implement the right of first refusal correct so it seems like your second option would be the most prudent then to get some site agreement to allow us the extra time to do your due diligence I am very interested in finding the right solution for the city and the City attorney and I have been talking about this quite a bit we need to sit down with um the purchaser and look at some information uh that they have that they've done in their due diligence um their due diligence period comes due uh relatively shortly also and so I just want to make sure that we have the flexibility to put the city in the best posture um for what we're going to need in the way of parking in the art deco Cultural District moving forward and with the side agreement that you're describing would that cover us ABS protect our rights completely I I would not enter into one if it didn't and I would obviously work very closely and rely on the city attorney's office to make sure that they are comfortable with whatever that would be would would that side agreement also get us past our next commission meeting which is in early February that would be my hope and that would be my hope is that we would have a chance to bring back to you the final of whatever we're proposing to do let's make it more than a hope let's make it uh part of part of what we're agreeing to the only thing that I the only thing that I worry about is that I might have to execute a right of first refusal before that February meeting and so I have to have the authorization to be able to do that in case we can't get to that point I'm sorry just to be clear is that is that true even if we as a commission agree to the side agreement so the side agreement as we're potentially discussing is not yet drafted I don't know got it don't know what that looks like got it I'd make a motion to authorize the city manager have the right to uh to on the right of first refusal and the side agreement and the side agreement yes thank you commissioner magazine that yeah couple of questions here what happens to this facility if we wouldn't buy it at I've heard different things does It ultimately revert back to us it reverts back to us in 2050 26 years from now yeah yes okay so even if somebody else takes it over in those 25 years It ultimately reverts back to us for free for free yes so we'd just be buying for a 25-year term at the end of the day we're going to get that back so if we would say you know what parking uh as kind of Technology develops 20 years from now uh who knows what the needs going to be but if we don't exercise this option it's not like we give that up forever we actually get that back in 25 years when we're thinking about the Outlook of the city and you got to help sell me on what our need is to own public spaces in that District right when we had a talk uh with the entire team didn't seem as if there was much residential parking demand for that area right so that's what I'm struggling with where I'm like do we outlay 15 million just so we can kind of control for the next 25 years because after that what happens is the same endgame right so is it worth $15 million for the next 25 years for the city to control those spaces versus the private sector controlling them and if that was where all of our residents parked okay I see Merit there I'm not sold individually on putting forward a huge capital expenditure on day one just to publicly control those spots for the next 25 years if this is for people coming into the mxe district I'm not sold on the need that the city needs to be able to price control that and it's not just you know kind of the same uh endgame of the private sector essentially controlling that lot so that's what I'm struggling with where okay you know I I get yet you know it could have some mer to have a right of first refusal and things like that um but at the end of the day I just don't I'm not sold on making a huge capex outlay when the asset's already going to revert to us 25 years from now just for us to be able to control it if they were saying you know what we're actually going to build a a new Aquatic Center there and you're losing all these parking spaces okay you know what maybe we have to have the right to control that but the parking is going to remain there we're just saying should the city outlay $15 million just so we essentially have control over the pricing of it but couldn't couldn't there also be a and maybe there couldn't so here's a question to follow on with yours um could they do a could they come come in and do a live local project say you know we don't want to do parking who's they if I could through through the vice chair um vice mayor um this particular agreement in in place already in place for the next 26 years requires them to build and maintain a parking facility with a small retail component on the first floor so they could not nor do I think they could finance a live local project for 26 years so ultimately you know we would be looking at a private parking garage for the next 26 years reverting back to the city as opposed to a public parking garage and and there are nuances to it there's a lot of moving pieces in this discussion um and that's part of the reason that I'm asking for the flexibility to be able to enter into a a side agreement and extend the due diligence to be able to um come back to you with a more complete picture of what I think is in the city's best interest commissioner Rosa Gonzalez and commissioner Fernandez Eric what do you mean by side agreement what is that so could potentially be something like um we are willing to allow for the purchase to go through as long as there's a 90-day option that the city could purchase the property at the same price um at the end of that 90 days to give us some additional time could be a situation where um the purchaser goes to to the property owner and is able to negotiate an extension to their due diligence period so that we have the ability to not have to move forward with a right of first refusal immediately on December 22nd um or it could be any number of other permutations that's why I'm asking for more flexibility than I would normally ask for just because we up against the gun of a December 22nd deadline and I do think that there's a lot of um threads that we want to pull to find out what's at the end and and if we authorize you um to negotiate this side agreement are you seeing like embedded in their purchase there would be some benefit for the city is that what you mean or is this just just about due diligence and about FL up purchasing or we don't even have that right it's either we buy it or we don't it it's really it's a it's a buy it or don't exercise your right of first refusal or don't by December 22nd we have to give them a firm answer because a non- answer is deemed that we've waved our fight right of first refusal um and so I want to make sure that we have the ability to stay in the game because if we don't Do Anything by December 22nd we're out but if we don't do anything if we give you this rate for your the side agreement then we're still in the process we're still in we could still I I would preserve our our rights to be able to execute something similar to a right of first refusal with the new purchaser or if there's some other way that we can accomplish the same thing Mr okay commissioner Fernandez and commission commer Suarez thank you um so let me let me just ask you how much how is this garage being used now currently the garage has 278 spaces for self- parking it also has 61 spaces uh that are being used for valet parking it has 3,350 Square ft for the retail space on the first floor and the 278 uh parking spaces that are self parking what's the rate to the public to be able to park there at the moment I don't have that information I know that they generated about $2.3 Million last um calendar year okay so all right uh and Mr manager you don't know how much they're charging right now uh for pretty sure it's 15 I can tell you I have information okay Rick um they are charging $20 every um I think that says 5 hours Monday through Friday $30 every 5 hours Saturday Sunday overnight is $25 expiring at 2 p.m the following day okay and so I just you know I I I think that's important context because when we look at our planning we're looking we are endeavoring to improve our our Deco Cultural District we are looking to for example we're trying to incentivize the construction of Housing and part of what we're doing is also we're part of the proposals out there is waving parking requirements um you know we're also dealing with the potential loss of parking at 7th Street um Mr manager how many parking spaces do we have a seventh street that we may potentially be losing 646 646 and so you know I really do like the idea of allowing our our city manager to have uh the right to exercise our right to the first offer or to come up with with a side side agreement because the benefit to the public is if let's say we take over the garage what we charge for parking is $1 for our residents and $2 for visitors and that's to the Public's benefit as opposed to $20 or $30 for five hours and so and and and so to the extent that we could somehow let's say if we don't do a side agreement and we end up uh operating it you know I could see this almost funding itself you know maybe we can have a certain portion of these parking spaces be used for valet and I know we would probably have to do a code amendment in order to do that but you know we could you know maybe have a portion of it use for valet parking to help subsidize residents being able to park there at a discounted rate to meet the needs that we're going to be having or at least we're giving the city manager the option to be able to exercise um a side agreement in order to work on on a side agreement which I think is good it's to the Public's benefit to give our our manager this this ability so I I do see benefits to us um I do see benefits to the public it coming under the city's domain in terms of price point and um and I I think it positions us uh very well especially uh given the loss of parking we we anticipate to have in the near future commissioner Suarez thank you Mr May I'm still a little trying to wrap my head around this um are are you saying that you want to potentially buy a parking lot buy the parking lot for for how much would it be if we if you did exercise the right of first refusal so the existing purchase and sale agreement that is been executed and is under the due diligence period is for $15 million5 okay and so they're going to continue to operate it as a parking lot that is my understanding I don't think they have much Choice under the existing lease that runs through 2050 so there would be no loss of parking if if we didn't EX exercise the right there would be no loss of parking whether we exercise a a right of first refusal or we didn't purchase the property am I correct correct it would be either public parking or private parking okay um so you would like to have this right of first refusal because December 22nd so in about 11 days um a contract is up where exactly what happens so according to our lease agreement we have 45 days from an original notification of the contracted sale to be able to execute our right of first offer right of first refusal depending on how you look at it um and so that so someone has already had a contract someone is already under contract for $15 million we have the ab ility by December 22nd to match their purchase offer and and and again the reason to do that would be to what exactly if we if the city wanted to take over the parking lot the city wanted to take ownership and control of the last 26 years of that lease agreement yes but I mean correct me if I'm wrong but um doesn't it it seems wouldn't we be better off spending $15 million on like another garage creating more parking instead of just buying a garage that we have that's going to continue it's just going to stay a garage so that's certainly something that we could debate and look at I don't know that I could build the number of spaces that I could gain control of for $15 million so it would be fewer public parking spaces but it would be more total aggregate spaces within the district if we were to spend that money on new parking but it would be fewer public parking spaces so just just to clear clear it all up you I guess this is just a maneuver to maximize leverage on whatever deal you want to make with these buyers so this is giving me a lot of option to try and find the right solution to make sure the city's interests are protected yes protected from what for example so ultimately we do I feel have an obligation to provide public parking in certain areas of the city where we've committed to providing parking at least at least in the past um we are potentially running into a situation where we are going to be taking offline a number of public parking spaces in April of 2026 which is a a new Dynamic that we haven't faced before and so we want to make sure that we have all options on the table commissioner magazine and I guess what I'm struggling is we're not going to lose overall parking right it's just who's operating that so when commissioner sparez said um you know we lose public parking it's yes our ability to control it which I guess I'm trying to internally debate how important is that because whoever buys it it's not like oh it's just going to be my family and friends parking there they're essentially going to be drawing from the same customer base the same people that are coming to the mxc uh to use it and we may say Well they're going to charge uh $200 to park there well their goal is also to um maximizing Revenue per space is only one part of the equation maximizing volume is the other and if you go too much on Revenue per space you're going to lose volume right so it's it's just how capitalism works that they're going to have to find that right balance where they can't can't price gouge uh people because they're not going to get uh anybody that will park there so they would lose on volume so I guess I'm really struggling I want to provide you flexibility but longer term are we locking in if we give you the flexibility or we saying ER you have the right to go out and buy this without coming back to us or are we just saying you have the ability to go out and have these negotiations over the next couple of weeks so I don't believe that no matter whether I execute the right of first refusal or whether I'm able to negotiate a side agreement that I would have to go hard with the $750,000 deposit ahead of the February commission meeting um I believe the contract that's on the table has a 60-day due diligence period so um so I believe and the City attorney can hopefully correct me if I'm misstating something I believe there's no scenario where I would have to make a final go no go before being able to come back to you February 3rd that's my hope that is correct there's a 60-day due diligence period in the current contract so we would have the same uh terms and conditions and you would have the ability to come back on February third for a yes or no vote if you want to recommend that we proceed and if I could just one more thing Mr Mayor uh maybe actually this may be counter to my previous arguments but did we say that garage is kicking off like $2.5 million noi per year so I think the numbers that we got because we were it was required that they provide to us their um their income statements as part of the the documentation of us being able to have the right of first refusal and I believe that they were looking at um a a they do much better with their private garage than we do for the same number of parking spaces on a public garage that's not to say that if the city were to take it over we would be able to generate those dollars because obviously we would have a different rate structure um but yes I do believe that was correct number to because I'm just going through a quick valuation in my head and if it's throwing off two and a half million dollar of noi per year uh even if we would only retain uh that ability for 25 years you know simple valuation metrics would certainly ballpark this well above 14 or1 15 million commissioner Dominguez thank you um so as a private lot uh this garage I if if I remember correctly from my briefing the public benefit that it offered was um residential parking spaces for those buildings in the area or no so right now we don't have any control over what the private operator is doing with the parking spaces they have some guard rails as to what they can charge they can't charge less than what we charge and they can't charge more more than um I think it's an overall upper bound of the market in the area and the city has a city lot on 13th and Collins city has a surface lot p16 at 13th and colins correct uh based on our discussion at the briefing I think maybe the side agreement is the best option for us how does the city feel so if I can make that happen I am not opposed to that in any way shape or form I just want to make sure that I have all options on the table Eric what happens after 20150 for 25 years it comes back to us we get the property free and clear as the underlying property owner so this is really a discussion about what we want that property to be for the next 26 years 25 it's commissioner Suarez it's a parking garage right it's going to stay a parking garage you you are correct commissioner it it will be a parking garage no matter what we do or don't do it's just a function of what does that parking garage end up doing or not doing for the community and I think if if if I may I think you know I think we should be very open-minded to allow the city manager to be able to look in the Public's best interest um if the if the Public's best interest is to exercise the first right uh then you know allow give him that right uh to be able to work on that if it's to you know negotiate a side agreement I don't think we lose anything uh by giving our city manager datability that's the reason why we have a city manager and let's say you know it comes back and and what he chooses is what he recommends is you know okay let's exercise that first right what what does that mean well it goes from being a private garage rate structure to the public and our residents to a better rate structure uh ultimately for our residents hopefully um you know that could be one option but I'm very open-minded to what the city manager uh can work on uh rather than us you know getting getting in the way of of what he could potentially negotiate in the Public's benefit but so commissioner Suarez this is this isn't the mxc district there there's no I mean there's barely any well this is actually just a block and a half away from where we're looking to upzone increase in F increase of in density and height with parking waivers I mean I mean like this is very close to we to where we're going to be creating a big demand for parking which is why I I think you know the city manager you know should have the right to look out for for what is in the city's uh best interest even though it's it's the mxc Washington Avenue where we have many Land Development regulations and in the works right now is the mxc uh and so that's important to keep in mind yeah so thank you um and I know you're referring to the Washington Avenue residential program but the whole point about Washington have residential program or um the the up zoning there is to specifically Target people who don't have cars right and I don't because the more parking spaces you have the more traffic you're going to have and so that the whole point is not to overflow them onto a garage uh I just I want to make that clear it's it's specifically designed for people who don't want to use a car and use micr Mobility or walk walk or use public transportation so I I'm just trying to wrap my head around this where it almost seems like you I guess Eric just wants uh a bargaining chip I is that at the end of the day that's what that's what it is at the end of the day I am not sure what is the best path forward for the city so I would like the flexibility to be able to explore what is that best path and bring it back to you and to summarize Eric basically it if potentially you bought it you'd be taking from a private parking garage to a public parking garage for 25 years at a cost of 15 million sorry okay and but if we vote Yes on this so you can technically spend 15 million dollar of taxpayer money to buy a garage no I don't believe that's correct and and I would rely on the City attorney but I would be authorized to execute a right of first refusal which enters us into a due diligence period but does require me to sign a contract that we are and then we'd have to approve what would be our outs on the D I'm sorry commissioner but what would be our outs on the diligence the 60-day due diligence period includes a standard right to inspect with a right to terminate the contract for pretty much any reason so you would be able to terminate the contract cont and we get our deposit back you would get the deposit back we don't risk anything okay so the next meeting is within that 60-day diligence window yeah so we come back to us commissioner bot vice mayor bot if we bought this garage for $15 million and operated it as a public parking facility for those 25 years we have a sense of how much money we would generate how much revenue we would generate would it more than cover the $5 million we've laid out plus also provide more affordable more affordable parking options in in the neighborhood so if we operated as just 278 single parking spaces the way we operate other City garages I don't know that we break even I think it's pretty close I don't think I we might not get there um if we're able to activate the 60 additional tandem spaces that could be used for valet and we try to implement a valet program for Ocean Drive which would require some code amendments then I think we have the potential of um it's not going to be a huge money making I don't want to promise anybody something I can't deliver but it will be you could break even we would we would be slightly ahead of breaking even and we would have control of the parking spaces and and in addition you know there have been calls for the last year at least if not longer uh that I've heard about why don't we have um valet operations like they do in Windwood sort of central neighborhood it's not the usurious $20 an hour kind of thing or whatever it is um it's $5 or $10 for the night and it's a central neighborhood project so look I think we have a a a motion in a second right and and and I and I just think I mean I think it's also important for the city manager to know like let's say if we do move forward with this and you know I think as the city manager looks at the numbers for for this those 60 tandem parking spaces that could potentially be used for valet parking you know would we be of the appetite you know eventually in in the future if needed to change the code to allow valet parking in a public garage because I think right now our code doesn't allow that you know and I guess you know part of the question of what we should tell the city managers would we be open-minded to amending the code to allow that into this garage do we know how to op Mr do we know how to operate that internally at tandem Mage so be the operator we don't typically operate valet ourselves but we do have contracts with thirdparty valet operators we have a valet operator that operates at the convention center same Valley operator operates at Lincoln Road um and I think there might be opportunity ities to potentially work with the um the folks that are the purchaser or the proposed purchaser of this garage um knows a lot about valet operations and parking in general so I think that once we put our heads together we could come up with some so maybe where my heads at I'll just put this out there for my colleagues maybe I'll give you the flexibility to enter into that diligence but maybe part of it negotiation out of those spots maybe we we figure out a way to reserve 50 or 100 have the private sector operate but we reserve 50 or 100 spots at any given time at a municipal rate uh I'd be very hesitant to outlay just $15 million just to essentially be able to uh price control and that's and that's what you know we're giving Eric the right to do essentially is you know come up with a side agreement then I mean that's yeah your point is perfect actually this is why you're the finance chair you're strong with numbers it's not a public comment but uh I'll give you the courtesy I just you know I Scott Robins we're the we're the crazy purchasers um I just wanted to uh say that I I fully support the um the manager recommendation but I think one thing that I think is important is that you give him the right to allow us to close on because there's a lot of dates and they go back and forth and it's confusing at at a minimum um to allow us to to close on the garage and give the city an option to purchase it back from us at whatever cost us in in three months from now um other than that I mean you know the City attorney has to look at this stuff I'm not sure about the 60 days and the 45 days it's confusing it at best you know from my perspective so so um if they can't figure it out if you guys can't you know get comfortable with it um as a backup to allow us to close on it giving you an option to buy it back from us honestly like if the city really wants this thing I'm okay with it it's not like uh I'm actually surprised that the city's considering it I never thought that that would happen but um that being said I think they give us all the the maximum flexibility on this thing might be and and and and I defer to the City attorney I honestly don't care I want to give the city as much much flexibility as possible so if part of giving the city flexibility would be to allow us to do that um I'd like you to give I would recommend that you give him permission to do that so thank you commissioner magazine so uh Scott what you're saying is you have you have to go hard by a certain date so what could potentially happen is we allow them to do that but we would have a legal agreement that gives the city the right to purchase at the price that they are purchasing for or the price that you've you you have outlined in the memo you would give us let's say 75 days to purchase it from you at that price yes just to kind of would that work for you just to kind of clean the Slate on that it essentially just gives us an option we're not tied into the diligence period and things like that so the devil's in the details but yes something along those lines is what I'm suggesting as the side agreement right I mean if you have any other questions technical stuff about the garage I can get you know I can answer them for you I mean the garage is basically it's a it's a a a valet garage it's got tandem spaces it's it's not really set up for public use it's not it's not a great garage for that purpose um it was built really to kind of service Ocean Drive and hotels having valet come in there and you know there's a lot going on in this garage it's not like you know you put posts up and let cars in and cars come in and cars go out um and it's my understanding that most of the people that use this garage are beach goers number one and um beachgoers beachgoers and and hotel non-residents non-residents people coming across goes Beach They Don't Really spend a lot of money in the city they go to the beach they leave you know they go out or or valet from hotels and you know would be our I mean the garage doesn't make that money in the first place as it is as a matter of fact we're buying it for 15 million that makes a million we're barely paying our mortgage um in owning it um our job would be to go out and find valet parking you know in the hotels I mean we're not going to overcharge anyone we just want to you we're going to be in the market and as far as the 660 stases are concerned um wouldn't be that terribly concerned about that I think one way or the other it's going to be a garage whether the city owns it or the Goldman's own it you know so I don't really see you guys worrying about losing um that Gage so much although I understand that so um fully support I i' I've spoken to the uh the manager we've talking talked about it like a holistic approach to parking and and um and Eric is interested in figuring out a long-term solution for all of the parking I think he's doing I think he's doing the right job in buying some time to really figure this thing out seeing if you could work with us perhaps even the Goldman on that garage this might be the opportunity to to get it all resolved all at once so so are you at the end of the day if you want to buy the garage you can buy it you know it's all yours you know like it's not uh thank thank you quick quick question before I have commissioner Fernandez commissioner Suarez and commissioner Rosen Gonzalez but quick question for thank you Scott quick question for Eric uh what What's the revenue that we earn on this I believe we earn a percentage of the revenue so sorry um I'm looking at the memo here I believe we received $111,000 in percentage rent equal to 2.5% of the project Revenue um and I do believe that we receive some property taxes on the project it's probably somewhere in the 2300 range so 200 200 300,000 so we're basically at 400,000 3 to 400,000 a year annually something like that that we would we would not see if we purchased it which is part of the equation that I've got to figure out commissioner Fernandez yeah one of the things uh that I wanted the city manager to consider as he's looking at the numbers for this and again I'm very open-minded about the creativity of what could be done here but one of the things that we constantly hear is that in order in order for businesses in this area of the city to succeed they need parking for their Workforce we have businesses that have shut down in this area of of the city because they are not able to retain their Workforce because their Workforce is is not is unable to find parking that they can afford in this part of the city and it is a big problem that we have and so again you know please keep that into consideration because this could also be an Avenue to address that significant need that we have for a segment of the population that doesn't make a lot of money but that contributes significantly to our economy and the city thank you um commissioner Suarez and then commissioner Rosen Gonzalez I I just I'm I I don't just on the surface of it I don't think I'm going to be okay with purchasing this garage but I mean if Eric if this is what you think I'm just telegraphing my I guess my um issue with that but if you think that this is what you need then I guess I'm okay with that so we're going to bring back to you whatever we end up negotiating um and I I'm confident that you'll see the value in whatever we bring back okay commissioner Rosa Gonzalez Scott do you really not care if we purchase this garage for 15 because we've had these RS of first refusal come up many times in the past and they've always been overinflated prices but given that the last sales price of this and I know the lease was longer at that point was 225 we're getting a really good deal and it took us like 20 years to build our last parking garage colins Park took us 20 years well almost if I didn't buy it it wouldn't be the end of the world for me of course I'd like to buy it but let me just say commissioner um you're effectively paying for this garage which I'll be able to show you 60 to 70,000 to space that's what's really costing you take that money you have $1 15,000 15 million doll in the account you got a lot on 13th Street take that money and build another garage with it you could build just as many spaces at the same price I wish we could that's the problem is that we do a public private part do do a public private partnership and I think that you could because as soon as the city kind of gets involved and and and by the way you could you could monitor the parameters of what is built you could build you could say uh Mr manager we'd like you to hire a private firm to build a garage these These are these are what we want the rates to be you know you you set the the the parameters and then you have the private sector build it and then you know you know even on this garage we're limited to not charging any less than what the city charges and not any more than than than competitive you know so so like it's like 20 years ago the city wanted to leverage its resources and build parking that's what they did I was part of that process we we we built uh the Lincoln Road garages we built some I I built six or seven garages a sunet harbor I built you know so the city was like in in in the mode of hey let's leverage our resources work with the public build parking garages as many as we can and as many spaces as we can and that's kind of what happened so now you know you're thinking about you know like going the opposite direction like now we want to deleverage our money we want to spend $15 million on a garage that's already there not add one space on top of that because you want to provide cheap parking for businesses and beachgoers you know and I'm not saying that that's what's happening here but that is what's happening and that's not Eric's goal and that's why he's having so much trouble I have to bring this in for a landing okay yeah I'll turn it over to commissioner I'll be happy sit down with you is that what side agreement anytime you want I'll be happy this is coming back to commission as Eric said so I mean let's let's get the V I mean I think the advantages you gain the the 278 spaces and you get them immediately whereas if we had to go through a process I mean you just saw what happened with the 72nd Street Garage that's been happening since 20 Maria 2018 2018 we're getting there you know um so I you know I I'm I let's vote for him to negotiate and see what happens and maybe there is some sort of public private um something side agreement I'm not sure what that means but go for it and come back and we'll see we have a motion in a second it's coming back to us in February let's call the vote no second yet I'll second okay D so U all in favor of the item and it's as is correct or as it amended the amendment would be to to give the manager more discretion to enter into a side agreement that accomplishes the same or similar results so r7i is amended all in favor please say I I hearing no one opposed item is approved as amended R7 I70 great thank you all let's call r5c r5c is in ordance of the mayor and City Commissioner of city of May Beach Florida amending chapter 4 of the M Beach resiliency code entitled landscape requirements by amending article two entitled requirements by amending section 4.2.3 entitled minimum standards by allowing Palms to count toward minimum Street tree requirements and providing for repealers of ability qualification and an effective date this is a first reading public hearing the item requires 5 SS vote r5c this is my item I'll be uh very brief this basically deals with their rights to put palm trees on right of ways otherwise known as swes right now the city's ordinance does only allows for canopy not Palms The Proposal at the land use and sustainability committee by four of you uh was to if someone wants to not use canopy but uh replace it with a palm they would have to put two palms for every canopy and just in general the city is adding many many shade trees it's great love it uh but not at the expense in my opinion not at the expense of palm trees it also takes away the property rights of uh the current law takes away property rights of of of the owners and not giving them the autonomy to build as they wish so this is I think a good compromise the two for one uh Pals per canopy and I move your item I'll second oh well we'll give it to commissioner Dominguez call the vote it is a public hearing I am now seeing no one in Zoom no one in the audience so commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes vice mayor bot y commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner Suarez commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner magazine yes mayor Miner yes motion carry second reading public hearing is scheduled for February 3rd new it's like in a spot oh okay I was going to call an item of commissioner Rosen Gonzalez but we'll get to that in a minute um let's call r five she's coming oh okay so let's call call it I'm here great let's call we'll call on the Raven craft items r5w r7b and r7c yes sir r5w is in ordance of the mayor City Commission of the city of M Beach Florida amending chapter 82 of the code of the city of Mii Beach entitled public property by amending article six entitled naming of public facilities and established of monuments or memorials by amending section 82 2- 503 thereof entitled naming of public facilities coaming and renaming of streets by amending subsections c1a and c2a to provide additional criteria and procedures for the coaming of streets in honor of of a dedicated athlete world renowned Street Runner and Community icon who made significant contributions to the wellness culture of Miami Beach providing Sunset Provisions thereof providing for repealer have ability qualification and effective date it's a second reading public hearing that's r5w companion items are R give me one second please r7b uh approved plaque in honor of Robert Craven that is a public hearing and r7c coam Third Street Robert Raven craftway also a public hearing so we're doing r5w r7b r7c commissioner Rosen Gonzalez and multiple co-sponsors okay so r5w is just adding the 16th exemption to our street naming which is dedicated athlete world-renowned streak Runner and Community icon who's made significant contributions to the wellness culture of Miami Beach so I with that I'll move it I'll second all three okay and then let me see R5 what are the other two r5w R7 BNC R7 BNC one is a plaque and the other one is actually the street naming correct correct so can I move all three we did and we have we moved it and they second so and which is one vote one one vote Yes and it's a public hearing May no one on Zoom no one in the audience so if there's no discussion may I call the vote Yes call the vote so on items R5 W r7b and r7c commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner Fernandez yes vice mayor bot yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner magazine yes mayor Miner yes motion carries all three items are approved r5w r7b r7c let's call R5 J R5 J is the Noti of the mayor and City Commission of the city of M Beach Florida amending appendix a of the city code to establish new rates for artist vendor fees and amending chapter 18 of theot city of May Beach Florida entitled business by amending Article 15 entitled Street performance art vendors by amending section 18- 903 entitled artist vendor certificate requirements and rules by amending subsection 3F to provide that artist vendor certificate fees shall be set forth in appendix 8 to the city code by creating subsection five thereof to include a limitation on the issuance of artist vendor certificates for non-expressive products by amending section 18905 entitled permit application and rules by amending section SE 7 subsection 7 to clarify that artist vendor permit fees are set forth in appendix a to the city code and providing for repealer of ability clarification and an effective date this is a first reading public hearing R5 J and what is Rob vice mayor through if I may vice mayor it's mine uh thank you uh Mr Mayor and Madam vice mayor um so you know walking around all the all the spots that I do on a nightly basis and during the day with my family one thing I realized with the the artist vendor program there's a lot of beads being sold and in fact when I did my research it turned out that around 95% of the applicants or or the of the people who have a ticket for the artist vender program is just bead stringers um and I don't really think that's a diversity of Art in Miami Beach in fact there is a uh checkbox with about 30 different categories of art everything from uh candles to kite making um print making Woodcraft feather art glass art uh I mean this is act when I look at this this is like wow I would actually love to see more of this um on our as our artist vendor program but 90% is is bead making and so when I did a couple some more further analysis uh it actually turns out that we're losing money uh in this program um we spend the city spends approximately $106,000 a year but we only collect $53,000 and so we're we're running this at a deficit I think it's been like that way for a long time and um PJ if you could put up the screen and go to slide four just the yeah thanks I'll skip everyone the the other slides but a lot of these a lot of these vendors have uh fake Von clefs and fake Chanel uh being sold this one was I think right in front of the CVS and and look I mean this this this is tacky it's it looks like a flea market and I think you know Miami Beach we we want to move away from you can you can you can shut the slide show down PJ you know I think we want to move away from this sort of appeal I think if we want to elevate our brand uh and the uh appeal of Miami Beach I think let's really diversify our our the the artists that are on our public right away uh this has gone through neighborhoods committee with uh unanimous support um with the five um excuse me with with an exception for allowing five bead stringers in this category uh Rob rosenal our city attorney's here to answer any questions as as far as legality um and I'm curious to know what is that sorry thank you commissioner uh yeah I can answer any questions uh what this is is the legislative record that we needed as part of the legislative record to support the findings that the commissioner has made uh in support of the ordinance everything he just said everything in his uh uh in his slideshow uh there are items purchased from uh 36 of 42 uh vendors we we got one piece of art and um and a bunch of uh beads and almost 90% of them were not beads made by that vendor um and uh and then some also just as the commissioner said uh selling fake uh designer Brands uh this will be placed with the city clerk in the legislative record uh to support the ordinance so thank you uh Rob look you know we're running out of deficit on this um I think we need much better artistic diversity across Miami Beach selling beads uh you know every block or so I I it's just tacky and um I I think we look we want to elevate our brand for for for Miami Beach I think if if we want to be an artistic City I sure there is a certain art to beat stringing but it shouldn't be 90% of it so uh with that I'd like to hear what my colleagues have to say so if you don't I'll go then yeah sure okay sorry so um I've a bunch of questions first of all I like the idea of making the fees just cover the cost of running the program I don't think this is um you know an Endeavor where we're trying to um cover people's cost of doing business of the I I know that 80 90% of the the the pass the um licenses are bead stringers but what Manny if you don't mind what um actual number is that is that 10 out of the 20 is it or I mean is it 10 out of 12 or is it in our artist vendor Lottery program we have 58 locations so on on average about 85 to to 90% of our applicants are Beach stringers jewelry makers and then there's some two different things bead stringers people making beaded jewelry is different from somebody who's you know hammering silver into rings or something true true um majority is Beach ringers and then we do have some artists some painters that have become Beach ringers because that's what's selling in the street so they they start off as as painters paper maret sculptors and eventually start selling beads they come and apply and start selling beads afterwards so is it more of an an issue I mean if that's what is selling that's what's selling that's that's one conversation that you had but if if they're creating interesting jewelry using beads isn't it more of an enforcement because um when they come to show that they are Artisans creating beaded jewelry they're not just throwing a bunch of beads on a single string and saying you know Miami Beach in the beating they're G like what we saw at the last meeting um I don't know if that was a neighborhoods meeting where some of the vendors came with these beautiful pieces of art that wearable art that were intricate and designed and thoughtful and creative and not something that somebody in fourth grade could just knock out so I'm wondering if it's more less about the total the aggregate number I totally understand what you're trying to get to on this and more about the enforcement of if you say you're going to do some beautiful Firebird necklace situation or whatever it is that's what you actually have to sell not present that um and then just do a bunch of you know basic but that's what they could do but but I'm saying that's more of an enforcement thing I know code enforcement is out uh this the artist vendor that was selling the van clees just got uh hit with her third I'm sorry her second violation so now she she can't participate in the program for a quarter so no and that's that's a whole different topic but if if you're saying I'm a jewelry maker and I use beads and here are the beautiful things I create and it takes a lot of time in Artistry but then what you actually end up selling is these like you know you can make them on a school field trip bracelets it's not that they're bead stringing Jewelers it's that they're presenting one set of Art and actually selling another and that's the real issue like if you that's part of the issue I I I would defer to tourism and culture to they're the ones that approved the art um the artist needs to go before tourism and culture and prove that they make the art by hand so they're stringing the beads they're painting they're making the jewelry in front no I totally get that part so they they make their case they demonstrate how they make the art it gets approved but what they're showing for approval is this big beautiful complex thing that none of us could do and what they're actually selling is stuff that we used to do on a fourth grade field trip right so that's the disconnect part that's the breakdown in in the system because if you're getting a license based on X but you're selling y then that's the problem it's not that we have five people or no people it's it's I completely hear you but I think they're getting a license based on why and selling why they're getting a b a license base unstringing just putting first grade beads together and that's that's passing at the initial State I mean I think that I would defer the I love to hear your thoughts sure uh thank you good afternoon isant director of Tourism and culture um it's actually what you're stating vice mayor God they come to in our office and they present uh a artwork that they create in front of staff and so I think that there is a disconnect from when they present to us and then what's out there on the street because we're not reviewing a ton of bead stringers and if you PJ if you don't mind can you go back to the slide real quick I I think it's important for everyone to see go to slide um five the next slide I mean look you know the bottom right there's no way tourism is looking at all those beads you know I mean like for example for for code enforcement to go out and inspect the beads to somehow match back what was presented at tourism and culture it's it's just it's it's it's not possible I wouldn't put that on a code officer to check that I mean code officer should be looking at noise violations or uh you know quality of life things I'm not I don't really expect code you can you can close the slideshow well actually keep it up for a second don't sure um PJ can you keep it back up for commissioner bot um you know that I I don't I don't expect Cod to really go out and waste their time looking to make sure that these beads are what was approved at tourism and culture but look at look at the end of the day I look I don't want to see my City full of this 90% of these these vendors blocking right away and sort of just you know downgrading our our brand I I to me looking at this it's it's it's sad you know um I I would rather see more diversity on this but I mean imagine you're like a Miami Beach tourist you've never come here before and then block after block you see this I mean come on it's so so I I agree with you that's not what I want to see but I think there are different issues that aren't being addressed because I don't think tourism and culture would be approving that assort assortment of bracelets as a Nifty artistic thing and and what I'm saying is I I understand what you're saying there's there's a disconnect between what's being approved and what's being out there but the disconnect is the enforcement and I don't I don't expect to have code go to these booths and look at individual beads and say yeah this wasn't approved by tour but at the end of the day there is a a fundamental flaw in the system if you can say to whoever the authority is that has a set of laws and parameters saying this is what I make and get the license to sell whatever it is you're saying that you make and then go out and sell something totally different like that's not okay you can say I'm selling cigarettes and get a license to sell cigarettes but actually you're selling weed that's not okay you're you're proven my point and what I'm but so there there I'm not sure that limiting the number and I understand getting to Big better diversity and I agree with that but I I'm saying that I don't think just limiting the number is going to get us to this issue being resolved and and to that point I would also say that um you know I know that there's some kind of lottery for charity not for profit organizations to sell their wees and talk about looking crappy it's like a tenth and ocean um there's a booth that looks like hell and it's a stack of t t-shirts you know that you could find in any Dime Store um you know on Washington or whatever um and and nobody this doesn't address that at all and I don't know how to address that so I share your desire to clean all this up but I'm not sure that excuse I'm not sure that this is going to address the issues we're trying to clean up so let me address well let me let me speak to that so look I I think you hit on a point where fundamentally I think it's impractical to enforce okay I I think that's the the bottom line I think it's impractical to enforce what they're selling versus what they're presenting at at their at their interview just by the by the look of what you see and that's that's an Enforcement issue but I think it's a lot easier for a code officer to go up to a booth and see that they're just selling beads in general knowing that this particular permit holder doesn't is not allowed to sell beads and so you know you know that's that at that's that's just simplifying the process I mean if it was up to me i' I'd have no beat stringers um but at at committee we all agreed on bringing it down to five um what was your second Point commissioner the um the uh not for-profit t-shirt I think that's a separate issue right I think because I I actually asked Rob about that and that is because it's a non for-profit correct it's it has nothing to do with the artist vendor program separate program and you could have legislation to address that but uh we would have to address First Amendment concerns when doing that right as we have done in this ordinance right so that that that that doesn't fall in the orbit of of of this uh ordinance so look I mean guys I I I I I I just it just saddens me to see um you know the the experience of a of a person coming here and even residents walk by Block it's just just you know a thousand beads on a table blocking right away I mean if we're going to have someone blocking right away at least let's have something interesting and and diverse as far as art the other part of this is um you know the the egregious example that was just raised is somebody selling counterfeit brand name stuff who is now prohibited from being part of the the um program for two quarters I I think that is there an opportunity to strengthen the punishment like if you if you do it once you you have to skip two quarters if you do it twice you're out of the program in perpetuity yes those are all policy calls you could make um and I would say the same thing with if you're um selling something that you did not get approved if you got approved beautiful hamstrung necklaces that are creative and artistic but you're selling um field trip bracelets made on the school bus then you get booted out of the program you you can come back we'll give you a second chance but if you do it again you're done I mean but how do you enforce that that's the issue that that we have right I mean well because because any table that has beads on it they would have to show a a form saying you are allowed to have just plain old beads or or you shouldn't be there if I may we're also can you hear me if I may we're also taking steps to strengthen the application process in collaboration with the finance department so you know the application's outdated so we're making sure that the categories are updated to ref more art terms and remove some of these things uh in order to make sure to ensure the quality of of the work so we're making taking those steps on our end commissioner Rosen Gonzalez oh I'm sorry commissioner Fernandez and commissioner Rosen Gonzalez thank you um so I have a question how many how many of these um artist vendor permits do we have out there right now for the lottery uh section it's 58 up to 58 that we have a number of folks that participate outside of our Lottery zones like in North Beach you might see some vendors on Ocean Terrace 73rd in Ocean terrrace you might see some vendors on 65th in Collins Avenue so at any given moment there might be 70 70 of them throughout the city okay 58 is a cap in South Beach in South Beach yes South 23rd Street and East of Alton Road okay um so I do think that 58 might be too much um I think restricting it to what's being proposed it's five Citywide Isen no five five beat stringers five beat stringers in what area Citywide Citywide you know there are beat stringers that do that do create artistic work they do exist I really think you know we need to perhaps as commissioner Bond mentioned be more selective uh in in who we are approving to be out there I think perhaps we need to be stricter in our enforcement and perhaps more consistent in it and I think you know the moment someone is found to commissioner bot's point to be violating this bringing in something that you know is not of the quality of what was approved or something that is counterfeit just be very punitive don't don't give them a pass kick them out of the program the first time because that's what's lowering the standard and I get what commissioner Suarez is saying you know you go out there and you really see these cheap very cheap bracelets out there um that are not art but there occupying the space that someone else who really is Artistic could be occupying and that's what I don't want to lose I don't want to lose the opportunity for the truly artistic person to be out there and I think we have maybe to push ourselves a little bit more in what we approve in inspecting these and then be just being harsher in our penalties if you're caught offering something is of lower quality that's not artistic or that's counterfeit don't give them a pass you know let's come let's drop the hammer on this and the first time that's it you're out using the Public's right of way is not a right in my opinion it is a privilege to use the public right of way and we dealt with this for such a long time with a sidewalk CA we be we and and I see hernon is is here and I love to hear from from our code department on this but to me using the public right of way is a privilege and I don't have an issue with with having artistic beaters out there and I think of Christine King Christine King does beautiful work there was another lady that came in that I think she said she drives all the way from pompo or something like that to to to put her work out there and there's others that we've seen out there uh who who who do great work I just think we ourselves in the approval process and enforcement process and then on the penalty part just perhaps need to be a little bit stricter let me recognize hernon I'd love to hear from hernon on this so through the mayor hernand cardino director of Code Compliance just to manage expectations I can't enforce this there's 58 locations in the last eight weeks we've done three full complete Audits and when we're there what we see is what's approved but it takes three Nanos seconds for somebody else to pull out these Louis Vuitton these YSL all these fake bags to occur there's four officers maybe four officers working throughout the day in the evening uh to audit these locations 58 locations for consistent enforcement that's that's not that's not realistic right and I don't I don't disagree with that 58 locations might be too much but are we only able to handle five locations Citywide how many officers do you have have doing this you said you said four in the evenings yeah maybe four four okay so you know you have you know we can only handle one location per officer I I I think I think we can do more we can do more than just five uh of these if you don't mind commissioner and just to correct I'm not trying to it's just the 58 locations will remain it's just five uh we're going to set aside five permits for bead stringers the the 58 locations will still be around the city but we're only going to issue or Grant five can I up to go for it okay commissioner Ros Gonzalez I'm gonna get you some beads for the holidays I mean I feel like you need some puka beads or something artistic I am not anti- bead and let me explain why the market determines okay what people sell so do I go to the be Beach and my bikini and say hey I want to buy a candle no that's why candles aren't selling when you go to the beach what do you want you want some decorative beads your kids mom get me these beads everybody's buying matching beads so that's fine I don't need to harass the the bead people I don't even think code should be harassing the bead stringers here's what I think I think that number one if you want to eliminate okay and and make the program smaller number one you want to sell on Mii Beach you got to be a resident that's going to cut it down to like yeah okay if you live in the city then you can sell your wares and having Code Compliance harass our bead stringers is a in my opinion it is it is a waste of 58 locations that's what we're doing with code compliance with 20 trillion other things like I don't think the bead stringers should be the focus of Code Compliance so if you are a resident okay and you come and you show your whole table and LTE says wow that's great I think that I don't care if there's 80 bead stringers because guess what I'm not buying a big piece of art in my bikini or you when you're going swimming you're going to buy some jewelry okay because that's what's cool at the beach you buy all sorts of different Beady things right so I you know how many artists I've had in my office like he wants to shut us down like it's sad like I'm like obviously they have like a financial somebody come in who like pounds out this stuff I had to listen to some other artist who was showing me her wees and I'm like I this is of all of all of your initiatives and I love every single thing that you do I would say that that that this is not you're of course they're going you're bigger than beads let's just you are way bigger than beads and and and I'm telling you that if you don't limit let let people sell whatever they want as long as they make it themselves but as long as they're a resident and by by the way I would say that of the 58 locations most of those locations are no good because it's just too hot so 6 months out of the year you can't even sell your wees and to make Code Compliance go on the beachwalk to I don't whatever enforce the bead stringing ordinance doesn't make any sense so I would why don't you guys you guys know what are the locations that are just too hot let's eliminate some of those location and make it resident only and that would be my amendment to this and I think you'll see a big difference Mr Mayor if if I don't mind responding to that so commissioner Suarez look let's bring it in for a landing um I I of course these beat stringers or artists are coming to you Kristen they're profiting off public right away right I mean it and and and they're profiting off taxpayer expense because we're out a deficit so you know of of of course they have a financial interest in this they're making money hand over fist there is no there's there's basically no Capital cost you pitch a tent you put a you put a noodle with a bunch with a thousand beads and you know you're making money hand over fist especially if you're buying all this stuff from like Alibaba um now that's not to say that all of them do that but I would say most most of them do that um you know look at the end of the day yes you know people are selling beads why because you can can buy those beads for like 10 cents and sell them for 15 bucks selling art like the painting you just saw actually takes time and uh and creativity to make something and that's what we should be encouraging we're just encouraging flea market sales on our public RightWay let me finish please okay um so look you know I I value the public RightWay I don't want to see our public right away look like a flea market okay um it's it's it's tacky and it and it degrades our brand when you are when when you are a tourist who's never been on Miami Beach and you come here and you see just block after block someone selling beads it just looks it looks it looks so bad um but look I I'm willing to meet you everyone halfway you know I originally said five maybe we'll maybe we'll do um maybe we'll do like a quarter a quarter of the program so it's 58 so what's a quarter 15 okay so let's do 15 but let's also incorporate some of the uh ideas that we've had here like a first like a first offense of selling anything fake anything fake of uh you want to put it in a motion is this a motion yeah yeah I'm making a motion or to Amendment okay and and with our city attorney's blessing that if they sell anything fake there's there's a zero tolerance and then they're out of the program and what does that do that opens up the space for legitimate artists to come in and take their their spot so um and and and look I I LTE has told us that I guess they're raising their standards on on what they're going to be selling so maybe you need to raise that since this isn't a First Amendment issue because bead stringing is not a First Amendment apparently maybe LTE needs to come back between first and second reading and explain more of a robust process for uh approving these beat stringers specifically um and the creativity that goes involved um and I I think that's a good middle ground I mean Rob do you I would just I just say that the addition of uh the 15 we can switch from first to second reading and it falls within the scope of this I'm not sure I don't have the full ordinances in front of me with the enforcement if that is not within the ordinances that we were already amending we just do that as a separate ordin we would do it as a separate that's fine I that that can come down down that that can be run separate and I can put that in between what about changing the number of total from 58 to whatever 30 or 40 I mean 58 from in south of 23rd east of us it seems like a lot it why don't you just make it residence and it'll automatically go down to 20 or 30 why can't we the thing we we we've been we've been sued the and for not having enough artist vendor spots artist vending is protected by the First Amendment however things that you wear on your body generally are not considered to be art as a general statement including beads and or jewelry um and so you have the freedom to regulate how many uh Beed stringers or jewelry makers you want because it's that generally not protected by the First Amendment the rest of those 58 spots which are for constitutionally protected art uh we are at pretty much the legal minimum that we can have uh and still expect to win in court okay so just not so just just so everyone is clear right now the minimum is 58 that's what we that's I that's the minimum we can have we have 58 locations for the artist vendor program what I'm proposing is putting a cap on the number of bead stringers or anything that has to do with beads in the program and also bolstering any as a maybe as a separate ordinance bolstering the enforcement of of that program so but just so everyone's clear 58 is going to stay the same going to be 58 specific locations they're predefined locations across South Beach and of those 58 15 will be permitted to beat stringers um so just so that everyone is clear and thees and the fees will will will go up to compensate for the deficit if I made through the mayor I got a 15 beat stringers but which 15 beat ringers of the 70 would we do a lottery for that or would we would we have judges to pick the 15 maybe every quarter we could have a what do you do now right now a lottery a lottery that's the problem is that is that because of constitutional no it if you're uh working within the sphere of non art what I'm calling which includes beads you can pick the most artistic beads you can uh you can pick whatever you want if it if it was uh true art you wouldn't have that freedom but with this stuff you can you see but that's but you you see the fact that this is a lottery and not someone that has to come in and actually perform their Art of Doing speeds in front of Staff well it's actually let me just clarify there's actually the lottery is for to sell them on South Beach in the zone this is to limit to five or 15 or whatever number you pick the number of total vendors Citywide that are selling uh non-expressive uh things like beads and jewelry right um the uh so I just wanted to clarify that that's what we're talking about here perhaps art and public places could judge who are the the 10 or 15 and let me ask you this the other ones that we that we that it's not Lottery that is actually that there's someone reviewing these are these inperson reviews or these reviews done via Zoom how are these done these are done in person and they're recorded but I think Manny brings a good suggestion uh I think it becomes more like a committee because you know right now we have staff and even though our staff has a background in art uh I think it brings up the question to even put it through IPP you know they meet monthly and we can present to them these are you know the different 15 applications that we've received uh but it is in person and they are recorded because because I think it's it's just so important they're really good people out there and I don't want to hurt the good people out there because of the people doing the mass produce I mean let's call them what it is garbage there is mass-produced garbage out there that we need to get rid of and we need to weed out um but but that doesn't mean that there isn't that there shouldn't be room for people that do make unique pieces of jewelry to be out there there people do enjoy that I I see it when I go to to to to the beachwalk you see people who do gravitate to the good pieces of of of jewelry um and so for me I I just feel you know I think we need to do a better job in reviewing that and not letting it be just a random Lottery anymore and uh just being you know just more selective this is our public right of way we have the ability to be as selective as we want and then if anyone violates that don't give them a second chance it's a public right of we we just you know disband them from being able to be their permanently so U through the mirror between first and second reading um just so that we're all clear I think let's let's allow of the 58 25% which is 15 be beat stringers okay so you know we're going from 5 to 15 and the 15 have to go through a review process maybe that is the art in public art in public places maybe they have to go through a committee to really uh Ro robustly go through their their uh their art well not art but their their their Craft um and also take into account that we're going to want to explore real enforcement options and and if I may it clarify tcd we review the artwork but we don't Grant the location so the lottery is for the location and they don't bypass the review process just to clarify for the record try to ask question I I don't I don't understand the legalities behind this so we have a program and we can't regulate the requirements for our program why can we choose a bead Stringer but we can't choose any other criteria for who's going to sell on our right of way that doesn't make any sense so you can do a program for a bead you can choose an a bead stringing artist but we can't have any other criteria for these artisons no what what happened was we we from what I understand we we were sued many years many decade years ago and we were required by the Supreme Court to have um well the settlement was selected zones and a lottery program for artist vendors but bead stringing is not an art so we don't have to even have it in the program if we don't want to I'm not saying that that's the direction we're going now but that's where we are today we cannot regulate art but we can regulate bead stringing I just want to just clarify because I think to your point I think for many people bead stringing is an art um we're trying to get away from that forties okay yeah I know string is not an art for purposes of this hearing but but you know there is there there is Artistic jewelry out there you know and I think we just you know can't lose sight of that um and I just don't think that 90% of it on the public RightWay should be be streaming okay but no yes I don't understand another thing why do we have to have 58 locations that seems excessive by state law or or federal law federal law mandated that we have 58 locations the First Amendment mandates that we allow true artist vendors selling true art uh to have locations on the beach we wanted to regulate where and how many they could be on South Beach because that's obviously the most uh populace area and where everybody wants to be at the time of the lawsuit we had I I believe somewhere around 20 uh and the court said that wasn't enough uh we had um a couple of different zones the court said we had to increase that and so this is what we came up with to meet the legal requirements of the Third District Court of Appeals decision that invalidated the ordinance that produced the current ordinance okay we have a motion so we were mandated wait I'm just finish this we were mandated by the court to have 58 locations not exactly 58 that's a judgment of the city attorney's office but uh around that number and you could play with it with a within a few but you couldn't substantially reduce it okay so now I understand what you're what's going on here I didn't really understand the legalities of so between first and second raing if that's okay with the Amendments of having instead of five we'll have 15 and of those 15 they have to to go through a review process at the art public places um and we're going to raise the fees so that we're not in a deficit anymore so with that I'd like to move the item please need a second please sure you seconding it out is that a yes is that a yes did I'm second it yeah there's six other people nobody else could second it Nick why don't you uh sure second paraphrase the uh the motion again so as I understanded the motion is to increase the number um from five certificates to 15 certificates um and to come back with a revised ordinance for second reading with a more robust process uh which could be through the art and public places committee to to evaluate uh the the the Merit of of applicants for these particular type of certificates offenses and second reading is February 3rd and the offenses I can't wait thanks well that's a separ and a separate item I think commissioner Suarez will be bringing commissioner Suarez motion commissioner magazine seconding your co-sponsor commissioner let's call a vote it is a public hearing and I have two individuals on the line the first one is someone with the name of just iPhone phone if you can state your name address and you have two minutes please unmute yourself it's just PJ let's go to the second caller who also has a a name of iPhone 42 please go ahead please state your name and address and you have two minutes hear me yes go ahead please name and address uh my name is Jeremy my address 2463 Pine Tree Drive um and I just wanted to say uh I think it sets a dangerous precedent When government officials are are trying to tell us what is art and what isn't um I think that the reason that why there's so many bead makers on the beach is because it's something that's portable it's something that when it rains which it does almost every day during the summertime and he's be put away and stored and not get ruined so I don't think it's just because it's an inferior product that people are paying 10 cents to turn a giant profit on um I just I just think that should have been heard and um yeah I've I've lived here for five years I've visited here as a tourist and I've never been bothered by the amount of beads uh whether it's walking on a beach or walking down uh Lincoln Road I mean we want to compare that to everything else there's inferior pizza places and there's inferior ice cream shops everywhere you know like where where are we going to draw the line so um I think there's more pressing matters right now than than the bead situation it's it's kind of silly uh that's that's all I want to say thank you our next uh caller is Wayne Wayne mute yourself you have two minutes please how are you um I buy stuff from Paula King on Lincoln Road all the time I just want to make sure Paula is fine uh like she's a resident for a long period of time and she's a sweet lady um I think she sells beads and she sells other things like so when you say 15 beads does that mean like if part of their product line is beads then that counts towards the 15 or if they sell other items besides beads is that they're they're not part of that uh subset um so I don't understand that Clarity um additionally um uh I don't have a problem with the city paying 50 Grand a year to support the especially residents only residents really in my mind you know the the these guys don't make a lot of money it's not it's not like hands over fist money I know polar struggles to pay a rent and you know this is a this is a way for her to survive so um 50 Grand really the city can't afford 50 grand um you know and I think it improves our image as an artist art and culture center like not everything is is a million-dollar painting it's you know it's uh it's little guys making things anyway thank you very much I mean I'm sorry it's it's Christine King it's not Paula King I would confuse those to thank you there is no other speakers mayor Mr Mayor I have a question to our City attorney because I I do think you know we do have some residents who truly are artists who have survived the test of time um and the changes in our community can't we have a program where we actually you know rather some of them having to go through an approval process and all that where we actually like if someone really is really good and does something that's exceptional that's truly art and art can be in the form of jewelry I believe and their residents that we can actually pay them to be there because that way we can control the quality of what's being placed out there you could make that that policy call if you wanted so I just want us to keep keep that in mind I would like us to see that because I do want to help our residents and I do want to help real artists and you know maybe the sponsor maybe you'd be willing you know as an incentive you know we're doing this to limit the bad ones which is important then we can do something also to reward the really good ones that make up the fabric of our community would you consider doing something like that yeah through the mayor maybe as a separate item um we have a program for um artists who are residents who are residents yeah but separate and apart from this from this and that's fine I mean if you are a resident of Miami Beach and you have and you go through a very you know even more of a robust process than what we're proposing today because we're going to be adding above the 58 locations you know that is something but I don't want it all being beads okay no of course um let's let's keep that separate and I I would be more than happy to coast and does it have to be separate than the 58 locations can be part of the 58 locations it's our public RightWay so it's up to us uh I think it would be separate I think they would need to be additional to the 58 let's work on an item if they're three or four it's not so much of a big deal and you can play with that if you're talking about more than that then it becomes an issue and I also need to research search the uh effect of the resident's only portion you can do that for sure with the bead stringers because it's not art but with true art I need to research the effect of a residence only restriction so if we were going to write something separate I would need to research that uh as we went forward with it okay we have a motion in a second yes sir the vote commissioner Dominguez yes vice mayor bot yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Fernandez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries item the second reading public hearing is scheduled for February 3rd that was item R5 J which was adopted as amended B r5z and the companion item R5 a b yes sir r5z is an ordinance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of Miami Beach Florida amending so part A of the code of the city of Miami Beach entitled General ordinance chapter 14 entitled building regulations article one in general by creating section 14-1 entitled beachwalk access and visibility to establish minimum requirements for pedestrian visibility to and from the beachwalk and providing for repealer sh ability codification and an effective date this is a first reading public hearing that was item r5z companion item R5 AB is in order to the mayor City Commission of city of Mii Beach Florida amending the resiliency code of the city of Miami Beach by amending chapter 7 entitled zoning districts and regulations article three entitled overlay districts division one entitled Dune preservation and Oceanfront overlays section 7.3.1 point2 entitled Oceanfront by by referencing compliance with newly created section 14 14-1 of the Bambi Beach code entitled beachwalk access and visibility and adopting corresponding amendments to the Land Development regulations and providing for qualification repealer inability and effective date that is item item R5 AB it is a first public hearing it requires five Subs vote commissioner bot vice mayor bot thank you um I'll let Tom do most of the heavy lifting but just to remind everybody these two items work in concert um the goal is to um make the beach walk at in its current configuration as user friendly for as many people as possible and as we've been working on this micromobility um task force basically for the last year and we did some site visits what we saw consistently up down the beachwalk especially in the more crowded areas um you know mid Beach and South Beach um that there were entrance and exit points onto and off of the beach that had very limited visibility um and a lot of cross um beachwalk traffic um and also that we had um a lot of uh Shrubbery including on our own properties but we can manage those without mending anything um but private Shrubbery that encro Ed over and um made it harder to see um when people were trying to get through narrow areas so um uh the staff Tom and Jose and and their teams um looked at what the right angles and dimensions were to not um eradicate the beauty of the fauna the Flora but make it more um user friendly so that people zooming by on bikes and roller blades and whatever um don't inadvertently run over people who might not be assuming okay and I'll just add to that briefly uh Madame vice mayor that R5 Z is an amendment to the city code specifically it creates section 14-1 regarding beach access and visibility and it creates standards for visibility triangles based upon the width of a property on the beachwalk so if a property has at least a 100 ft of Frontage on a beach walk or more then they would have to have a 10-ft visibility triang angle at each access point to the beachwalk if the property is less than 100 ft in width then it would only be a six- foot visibility triangle in either scenario it would be a significant improvement over a lot of the current access points which create somewhat of a hazard for both people walking on the beachwalk as well as people that might be accessing the beach walk from the private property uh the land use committee discussed this a couple of times and did endorse it and so we're recommending approval of r5z which is a city code Amendment and then R5 a is basically just a minor uh Amendment to the Land Development regulations under the ocean front overlay section to reference um section one section 14-1 that's being created so that's more of a clarification amendment that is an amendment to the Land Development regulations Madame vice mayor um so I'd like to move it and I'll second your item I just want to make sure that when we talk about the visibility triangle that it extends beyond the property line and that the and that it reaches the actual beachwalk which I believe would be the the uh intent of the ordinance that's correct and it's the we changed it at the direction of the land use committee so that the triangle is from um the access point to the beach walk um and so that way in case there may be uh Landscaping on public property it would be taken from the beach walk access point perfect Madame vice mayor thank you for being such a good um uh caretaker of our public rideways and pedestrians and bicyclists this this truly looks out for their safety so commendations to you on this good piece of legislation well thank you and thank you for for um uh having us go back and revisit the angles a little bit so thank you Teamwork Makes the Dream workor so this is a first reading public hearing no yes and is there anybody there's no one we're opening the public hearing for item r5z and R5 AB there's no one in zoom and I see no one in the audience okay so I'll make a motion I have a motion in a second already oh sorry okay so then let's call the vote so this is both for item r5z and R5 a commission Suarez commissioner Dominguez yes vice mayor bot yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner magazine yes mayor Miner yes both items are approved the second reading for a public hearing for both items is February 3rd R5 AA R 5aa is an ordinance of the mayor and City Commissioner of City B Beach FL amending the coda of City b beach so Part B entitled Bambi Beach resiliency code chapter 1 entitled General Provisions Article 2 entitled definitions section 1.2.1 entitled General definitions by amending the definition of for floor area to create an exception for unisex or gender neutral restrooms and providing for codification repeal or S effective date this is a first reading public hearing it's item r5a uh thank you Mr Mayor uh this is an ordinance that I'm sponsoring to amend the ldrs to create an exception to the definition of f for gender neutral uh bathrooms it's uh it's it's a very uh simple uh piece of of legislation to to be able to incentivize uh this this type of uh of public accommodation number of other jurisdictions throughout the country have uh policies that promote uh these types of of facilities and uh is received the support of the planning board and with that I move my item it is a public hearing I have one individual requesting to speak qu Quinn Diaz uh please State your full name address and you have two minutes go ahead please Quin unmute yourself thank you so much good afternoon I'm qu Diaz from equality Florida equality Florida strongly supports commissioner Fernandez's recommendation to exempt unisex or gender neutral restrooms from Far calculations in the shadow of the state's recently enacted anti-lgbtq laws including its 2023 restroom ban which applies only to publicly owned or leased buildings this Innovative proposal will incentivize private developers to construct restrooms that all people including transgender people can use without fear of of harassment or criminal penalties at a time when lgbtq florians are facing discrimination from the state every day it is the responsibility of and a tremendous opportunity for local governments to use their tools to mitigate harm to Residents and Visitors by leveraging new and innovative solutions Solutions like commissioner Fernandez is will ensure people can go about their lives and feel not only safe but that they belong it will help make Miami Beach more welcoming and prosperous bolster its reputation as an lgbtq friendly destination and create a road map for other municipalities across Florida to support the people in their communities the state is leaving behind we applaud this proposal and strongly urge its approval thank you commissioner Fernandez thank you may thank you Commissioners thank you so much our next virtual speaker is Wayne Wayne say your name you have two minutes please Alex I love the fact that you ST stand forward for uh a minority audience of America that's been stepped on way too much lately um I would I would offer uh the following idea so that uh these bathrooms would be actually built out rather than um just an idea and just a statement is that um you add the F or those bathrooms but at the same time they could be utilized for families or unisex usage it's a single occupancy bathroom I would imagine so that uh it would actually get built out if if if a developer but it was just for uh uh uh use for Trans transgender only I doubt many would build it out but if it was utilized for you know any unisex or family use with the with the diaper change wall and and transgender but it's a single use and you know trans gender has their place you know they their home they they feel safe and comfortable so that would be my idea to make sure that the developers actually build these out thank you thank you mayor there's no one else requesting to speak Mr Mayor commissioner Fernandez and just as a followup thank you Wayne for that comment in fact gender neutral restrooms have several benefits in including the creation of safe and accessible environments for all people irrespective of gender and this includes accommodating people with special needs families with small children elderly individuals with caregivers and of course as well uh transgender and gender non-conforming individuals so it's really it really is a very inclusive uh policy rather than than exclusive um and this exception on the F calculation is intended to encourage their their their use by allowing the scare footage the facility to be allocated for other uses in the building so Wayne we're in the same wave that thank you thank you Mr Mayor commissioner Dominguez I want to co-sponsor this item I also think it's a great initiative and I'm happy to support thank you commissioner bot what commissioner Dominguez said ditto I'd also like to co-sponsor please thank you so City attorney can you explain the is has there been a an amendment or you're saying it was incorporated already it is incorporated yes okay I'm going to support it today I I had some reservations which I raised at my agenda review um because of the far aspect and I had some concerns that were making exceptions and where do we Where Do We R but I know it's coming from a good place I'm going to support it today but um I think you're going to have the votes no matter what that that's not the uh that's not the issue but um I just I get concerned that when we start using far for for certain uh for certain reasons that uh that could be that could be potentially misused as well and that's that's so I want to make sure there are the Protections in here that it's used in in the in the way anticipated so I'll support it today let's call the vote Yes sir commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner Dominguez yes vice mayor bot yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Suarez mayor Miner yes motion carry second reading public hearing is scheduled for February 3rd and and and if you don't mind Mr Mayor Tom maybe for the second reading memo we can put some information as you you know I think some of these bathrooms are like 50 square ft some might be 100 squ feet maybe we can put some calculations as like what does this actually mean because I just I want to make sure for the public perception I don't want there to be any you know misunderstanding that we're not talking about buildings or something like that thank you thank you colleagues thank you I meant to mention before I see Hearn it in the back I wanted to give a shout out to uh to our Code Compliance uh for the work done during art week and and I mean literally the emails we were getting regarding the parties and the work Code Compliance did and keeping that under control we were seeing emails at 356 241 257 141 so so thank thank you for the work that you did hernon and your and your team uh police as well I mean there was a lot going on so it's it's a team effort uh but I'm gonna I'm gonna single you out since we don't always do that for code thank you thank you let's go to R5 AC R5 AC is a n of the mayor and City Commission of city of Mii Beach Florida amending the Miami Beach resiliency code by amending chapter 2 entitled Administration and review procedures article 7 entitled commission warrant to create section 2.7.2 entitled Hotel approval procedures and providing for qualification repeater severability and an effective date this is a first reading public hearing the item requires 57s vote it is item R5 AC commissioner magazine yeah thank you Mr Mayor well I'm always hesitant to do any type of back patting I think this commission collectively is uh completely resident Focus the most that I can ever remember uh where previous commissions have really uh doubled tripled and quadrupled down on a lot of transient usages uh this commission has stood solely in the corner of our residence and uh including and uh most notably through some Land Development regulations and what we have done over the course of the past several months is look to De incentivise hotels and we're in the process of providing incentives for the right kind of development that we would would like to see and that's for full-time residential so uh this is part of the piece where we're saying what we do not want um and this is uh kind of twofold one is on infill areas we are just simply overc commercialized and we are our econom is very concentrated in tourism and Hospitality which can certainly have uh its consequences when the economy suffers and also um what this was really doing was blurring the lines between residential areas and having hotels and while Waterfront is going to be excluded from this ordinance what this ordinance is intended to do is create another step in the process if somebody wants to build a hotel in an INF area we clearly want to further incen residential development over hotels so this will just add one step if somebody wants to come in with a hotel and the process does have a merit we're not saying you can't build it but it'll have to take the extra step of actually for the first time ever coming to the commission for approval what that is also going to do one of the reasons probably the primary reason why ran is because the residents in our city that had lived here for so long and often times the most impoverished most uh impacted by uh Rising costs Rising housing prices were the ones that were being displaced uh we've all quoted Miami Beach being the only city in the State of Florida to lose full-time resident census over census and why is that uh in large part because a lot of these older multif family buildings uh that were housing some of our most vulnerable were being taken offline people would come in and buy those or the land owners would sit there and kick them out kick out residents that have been living there for 30 to 40 years to make hotels and this is going to it's not foolproof right but this will add such an incremental additional burden on a landowner's ability to do so I really think they're going to think two and three times and that is evidenced by once this appeared on our agenda the amount of lobbying that I received for uh two properties um one was a multif family building with over 100 residents in there and some residents all of us would know and in many uh ways the faces of our city without this ordinance those people are already going to be in the process of being kicked out and removed from their homes and creating a hotel in an infill area in the middle of our city uh so I couldn't be more proud to bring this legislation uh like I said this is a team effort I just have my name on the sponsorship next to it but this is is really a collective effort that we have all put forward um and legislation that I'm very proud that we're all introducing Madam vice mayor sorry um Tom do you have anything to add uh no I unless the sponsor wants me to go through in general terms what the proposal entails was I off on anything nope I just want to congratulate commissioner magazine you found a way where where we can put the right controls in place and where our city commission can help protect some of our most vulnerable residents from being pushed out uh by uh by by some of the wealthiest in in our community so thank you this uh this is an a huge Safeguard in our development processes and I think it'll it'll help preserve the fabric of our community moving into the future congratulations is it is a public hearing there is no one on zoom and there is no one in the audience and just as a matter of of uh house cleaning we will we would need us a referral to the planning board to establish this restriction for the districts where hotels are allowed currently and what is the process that do do I make a separate motion it could be okay it could be included with the original motion no no no this is a roll call so there is no one the public reading public uh hearing is closed I have a motion and a second including a referral to the planning board commissioner magazine yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner Dominguez yes vice mayor bot yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Suarez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the second reading public hearing SCH for February 3rd that was item R5 AC R5 AE R5 AE is in Ord of the mayor City Commissioner of city of M Beach Florida amending chapter 50 of the code of the city of May Beach Florida entitled The Fire Prevention and protection by amending section 50-10 thereof entitled other perits and reviews by prohibiting the issuance of firework permits for the for the display use or discharge of fireworks in biscane Bay or any residential area in the city and providing for repealers have ability qualification an effective date this is a first reading public hearing it's item R5 AE sponsored by vice mayor bot co-sponsored by commissioner Dominguez we're actually co- Prime sponsors on this because you know we have the great brainstorm at the same time um and I'll let uh commissioner Dominguez uh uh feel everybody in on this but if anybody's seen um the images from the fireworks at the Palm star and hibiscus Islands over the weekend um the fact that we haven't done this already is uh you know shame on us for not having thought of this I know we've already banned fireworks um on the beach and we should be doing the same thing for the Bay Side we are in compliance with the state law which is New Year's Day New Year's Eve and July 4th but otherwise uh fireworks are not permitted that's right so the proposed ordinance is to help preserve the health of biscane bay and reduces the risk of water contamination and protecting sea life from disruptive chemicals and debris associated with the fireworks displays it's also a quality of life issue and many residents have come forward with concerns regarding the disruptions caused by the fireworks and it's a residential area and it also contributes to safety concerns like fire hazards and property damage which has occurred in the past um I think that's it move the item I'll second good teamwork let's call the vote it is a public hearing I see no one on zoom and no one in the audience uh call the vote commissioner Rosa Gonzalez yes commissioner Fernandez yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner magazine yes vice mayor bot yes commissioner Dominguez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries second reading public hearing is scheduled for uh February 3rd C7 a d as in David C7 a is uh consent appointment of David a Gomez as director of CIP thank you I don't need my binder for this one um just briefly it is an incredible honor for me to be a part of such a great organization under the tutelage of some fantastic professionals co-workers and peers that surprise me and make me proud every day so thank you again for the opportunity and I look forward to working with you thank you I think Eric wants to say something Mr Mayor I just wanted to say that um I am so proud to be able to um give David the opportunity to take on this role as a capital Improvement program director um he's earned it uh he's put in a lot of time a lot of effort um and he's always always um had an open door to everybody and wanted to do what's best for the city and I'm excited to see what he's going to accomplish in this role so thank you for supporting his appointment as a CIP director well we haven't yet but presumably we will commissioner Fernandez Mr Mayor I'd like to make a motion approving the city maor recommendation for the appointment of David a Gomez's the director of the Capital Improvements program I'll second I think we'll all make it uh unanimous and David thank you for all your hard work um you you don't make waves but when I see you in meetings or at public meetings like at the West Avenue meetings they always prepared you have great attitude um so it's it's a joy working with you and it's great to see when we promote within obviously uh we we saw David Martinez promoted and you come up the ranks um that's you want to have a deep bench and we definitely have that so glad to have you in this role thank you very much by may we do so sure 70 congratulations congrats call R5 AB as in boy R5 AB we did that sorry yep no we did Z and ab yes r5g on the agenda okay well I'm actually I'll get to that but let's call I'll call another one of your items that I was about to call R9 AG R9 AG discuss update current state of Regal South Beach Movie Theater R9 AG yep okay this wasn't the item that I'd like you to call but fine I'll take what I can get um as everybody knows uh you know there was a rumor that the movie theater was going to close now they said that they haven't closed and so what I want to do is engage the administration to go out and find out what's happening with the theater that we have I will say that the Regal's falling apart the other day when I was there to watch Wicked and I did see it in 3D which is really cool you know watching alphaba big green there it was great but um a lot of the seats were broken um and I you know and and then they didn't have everything like on the menu so obviously you know they're not investing any money in it but the question is there was supposed to be a project that some of us had heard about so my motion here would be to um just direct the administration to reach out and get us an update so we actually know what's happening with the Regal um I think it's important that we have a movie theater if that other project is not going to happen in the Regal and they're not subleasing it then um you know I'd like to find out what what is happening because one thing that our residents care about is having a movie theater now you wouldn't think so because when you go sometimes it's not so full but I I will say that recently um you know when I've gone there's been more people there so um that would be my motion I if there's a second yeah second thank you well can I just preemptively ask M I'm sorry go ahead Lord commissioner Dominguez thank you so I go to the movies often and I have been in touch with Lincoln Road to find out what's going on I have been pleasantly surprised that the last few times I've gone to the movies it's been packed like people have been flocking to the theaters like it was 2019 or just really really full but seats are broken and a uh Regal is not fixing them until there's a concrete date of uh uh if the new art installation people are going to take over or not that's what I was told I mean I would just like an official ask you know have the city manager reach out to the Regal people find out what is happening um we don't have any jurisdiction if it's falling apart that's not we can't do anything about that right can we through the vice mayor I'm H happy to reach out and have that conversation um I'll reach out to the Lincoln Road bid and ask them to put us in contact with the property owners and we'll find out what the latest and greatest is and we'll go from there okay that's it magazine simple yeah that's fine um I just wanted to kind of preemptively see where we were going to go with that if no it's and by the way you know why the movie theaters more packed because they're not releasing them at home anymore now you have to go into the theaters because I think the the movie theaters were going out of business so that's why we're seeing more people at the theater again and I would love to offer them some sort of incentive to stay there oh that's where I was getting preemptive about why you don't want them there of course but you just said with the beads the market is the market right well I think now that they're releasing movies it's packed again awesome certainly hope they make it yeah I just let's direct the city staff to find out where they're at but before we would go further down the road of subsidizing on private sector okay yeah so I think there's a motion in a second is that right that's yeah okay um public hearing it is not it is not okay so let's call the vote all in favor of giv Direction I hear 70 direction is given since Mr Mayor can I just mention something quickly it's not on the agenda but since we're reaching out to an entity Mr maner could we also reach out to publ about the status of their elevators and escalators as I keep on getting complaints about the one in Sunset Harbor it's very difficult for elders people and people with disabilities to navigate their way through there so we could we had done an urging at one point but I think we truly need to reach out uh to them again because it is a problem for our residents happy to do thank you thank you Mr Mayor it's called R9 a very slow very bad R9 AE R9 AE discuss action to promote mental health awareness requested by the mayor commissioner Dominguez and vice mayor bot yeah so thank you for to my to my co-sponsors uh thank you Mara just simply I brought this item it's uh there's always situations of uh unfortunately of suicide and employees who can use the help I know we have efforts um this item is just really trying to give direction to even ramp up the efforts to uh to help our employees who are who are in need you want to say anything commissioner B Dominguez no um in the past I have sponsored um mental health near well Awareness Month in general and when I saw this item that it wasn't attached to a month but it was something uh to do to uh help with our employees I was all on board it's so important and I fully support it yeah and I you know especially on the heels of two unfortunate untimely deaths um by Suicide you know suicides can be clusters and we want to make sure that anybody who's feeling like they um need help know where to go and get it and feel secure and asking for it and anybody who might be listening asking for help is is not a sign of weakness it's an enormous sign of strength um and so reach out to colleagues co-workers um hotlines ask for help it makes you stronger so yes thank you thank you anything you want to add Marla I want to um add that I appreciate you all bringing this item for discussion that we are of course very um committed to the mental health of our employees we do have an employee assistance program I'm always talking about it with every single employee that comes to visit my office um sometimes we forget what benefits we have and the fact that they're free and they're confidential every single employee can utilize for every single member of their family these free and confidential services that the city um does give um employees we do want to remind departments that if you would like additional resources to um come to your department to either help a group through something that is tragic like has recently occurred or perhaps to help smooth through some interpersonal conflicts or anything um we do have the ability to have uh counselors come in and provide customized assistance to each individual department for whatever need might arise and we have had departments um over the years use that service to help all of our employees um with their mental health and I want to say that um we're exploring some additional resources such as um something called Mental Health First Aid which is the ability for managers to train and complete um courses that are certified to help you recognize the signs of someone who might need um an arm around their shoulder or struggling and and how to approach people in a way that is welcomed and is not um confrontational and is supportive so we are trying to um really be the there for our employees and we think this is a very important um this time period is historically um during the holidays hard for many people and um I think it's great that we're sensitive to um the needs of our employees in this matter thank you so much thank you it's called r5g I Mr Mayor on that item I just want to make sure do do we know if our and I had had this uh this conversation a number of years ago uh with our previous city manager and I don't know if we ever looked into this but does our emergency room at Mount Si offer Mental Health Services for people that may be having a crisis that might need assistance is is that offered for an emergency basis for people that may need assistance I know that mount siai to the through the chair I do I know that mount siai does have mental health professionals that work there um we have connected with them through our contract for Workforce um um Workforce Health that we that we use all the time and so I do think that there is a team that is at Mount SAA that is available to the Public Public at large good um because they were the resource that the the workforce Health connected us to great thank you yes thank you Mr Mayor thank you for placing this item on the agenda thank you appreciate your everyone's comments and my co-sponsors r5g r5g is an ordinance of the mayor and City Commissioner of city of May Beach Florida amending Chapter 70 of the city code entitled miscellaneous offenses by amending Article 2 entitled public places by amending division 2 entitled bicycling skateboarding roller skating inline skating motorized means of transportation electric bicycle mopets motorcycles motorized vehicles and motorized scooters by amending section 7 -66 entitled definitions by conforming the definition of motorized scooter to state law and by amending section 70-67 entitled prohibited activities by permitting senior citizens having attained a certain age to operate electric bicycles and motorized vehicles upon the beachwalk and the lumus park promad subject to a maximum speed of 8 Miles hour and providing for repealer severability qualification and an effective date this is a first reading public hearing r5g commission Rosa Gonzalez so this was an item for um one of our residents Rory Greenberg for his father who had lung cancer he ebikes on the beach every day and he got a ticket and they came to me and they said uh I I can't bike normally I need a little bit of help with the ebike and I don't want to be ticketed so I said that I would put this on and this has become so controversial I had the ladies from the mid Beach neighborhood association this morning say we oppose it but here's what I here's what I would say to you if we have a few seniors that need a little speed what are I me are we really going to vote no to that se to the seniors I mean if you want if it's going to fail then I'm going to refer it to committee but truthfully I want to be able to tell Rory's Dad after six months of having this on the agenda I swear it just doesn't get called by the way I would suggest that you know the chair if he doesn't like an um he should probably just call it anyway you know you can vote against it you can't just leave it languishing on the agenda I think it happens to many anyway I I would never do that so just go down the line and try to be as Fair as possible because I think that's the right thing to do anyway um I would like to hear what you have to say I I have no problem with uh not targeting um Rory's father as he bikes along the beachwalk in the early morning light I don't know how you feel about the seniors but I'd love to hear from any of you I'll in on commissioner magazine I think how to manage the Beach Walk is complicated enough and I truly don't know the right answer I I don't um this is maybe one of the most divisive issues that there is where some people say wow this should be all modes of trans portation and that's quite literally 50% and then we have another 50% saying No this needs to be pedestrian friendly people are speeding too much I do know that the one thing that could probably complicate it even further is if we start blurring the lines of you know who's allowed to do what and different rules for different people so I don't even know what's best for you know the overall comprehensive View for the beachwalk um but I think the best thing that we could do is keep it simplified if we need to essentially if there are extenuating circumstances for a pillar of our community maybe we deal with that on a case-by casee basis um but I I'd be very hesitant to uh start introducing uh electric bikes um because the feedback that we have largely heard I think from the residents and this is an ongoing dialogue right um if I'm mistaken in this I'm happy to revisit but I think collectively the feedback I've heard most and what I've observed and I'll always remember when my daughter was uh you know a bit younger being so scared about the people zooming up and down on the beachwalk because if they hit her it would have been game over um I I think we should somewhat be cautious about uh the modes of transportation that we allow on there I think that's the corner where I stand now I'm I'm not a closed book on this if my colleagues uh make compelling arguments otherwise I'm happy to revisit but I think making different classifications and different sets of rules for different people just over complicates things I mean do you want me to withdraw I can I can withdraw the item I know that it's not going to pass I know that the um MBNA and people consider it to be dangerous I just I here's what I would ask our police officers who are enforcing if you see a senior on the beachwalk and they've got a little ebike just I mean don't go go after the bead stringers okay he wants you to enforce the bead stringers not the seniors on ebikes I don't know what else to say I mean I tried I'm going to withdraw it because I don't think it's very popular I don't want to put anybody in an awkward position yes I mean David Martinez not to put you on the spot but my we putting you on the spot but I'm going to put you on the spot my recollection is the beachwalk was built with funds that expressly prohibit motorized vehicles to be used on the beachwalk is that a correct recation that is correct um I don't know if there are specific exceptions because of ADA compliance we can certainly explore the language and talk to the attorneys to see so that we can stay within rails so what I would suggest and listen we are going into year two of this micromobility task force and believe me the notion of ebikes versus not ebikes or scooters on the beachwalk because it is the only safe place to ride without taking one of the few safe places to ride without taking your life in Your Hands by coexisting with cars it's not designed for that it is not safe for anybody who's in that space sharing it with somebody who's going 18 miles an hour I would say that if somebody's in an ADA Compliant vehicle and going 8 miles an hour that's one thing but I and I understand there are plenty of people people who bicycle on a non-motorized vehicle faster right you know I used to do Triathlon and when I was on you know I'd get up there at 6 o'clock in the morning I'd be flying but um but so it's not whether or not it's a it's a motorized vehicle or not necessarily but right now you are not we are not supposed to be allowing motorized vehicles it is already a a uh a risk I mean I walk down up and down on on the um the beach in the evenings getting from place to place on during basil and there are people using it as a highway um we it's very narrow in their choke points where it's super narrow um we are told constantly that enforcement is a huge issue because how do you tell if a bike is motorized or not and then when you say seniors well I mean are you going to stop somebody who's 45 but looks 70 are you going to let somebody who's 75 senior like I I just somebody sent me an idea just now something that I had not considered if you are disabled and you are a senior citizen you could apply for a permit that would we permit to do what a permit to bike if you are over 65 what's WR before we continue before we I don't mind this discussion but if you're going to withdraw it I say we just move on if you're I haven't decided that I'm trying to listen to everybody okay I'm not going to be supportive if somebody wants to get a permit to have one of these motorized vehicles where you sit and you go a certain number of you know like an ADA um vehicle like a specific kind of motorized wheelchair that's one thing but anything else I'm a hard no I'm going to I'm going to refer this to neighborhoods and come up with a permit system and hopefully I can gain compliance of four of us that if you are a senior and you have some sort of a disability possibly you can ebike okay is that you would second that refal okay for the referral okay okay I I'm just going to say even even for the referral I just going to say I have concerns with I have concerns with this and I'll tell you why I think we created a level of confusion not just as it relates to populations that now we'll be able to use it or not but then segments of the beach where we're allowing it and not for example we just passed r5h which prohibits motorized Transportation on the Baywalk and now we're going to come in and say well you're not allowed to do it on the Baywalk but if you're of a certain age or have a certain you know condition you can do it on on on the beachwalk I just think we need Simplicity and Clarity and what weighs also we need to weigh as policy makers is when we have our assistant city manager come to the podium and say that this facility was built with funding that prohibits the used the use of mized vehicles and that's important how are we going now to legislate that we're going to allow it when we built it with with with funds that prohibit this type of use and the other thing I'll say is that the policy itself and I get it's you're coming from such a good place and you you really do care about helping the seniors but I'll tell you eight miles8 miles an hour you know last week I during bosel I've become a biking expert now because I got around Miami Beach on a bicycle during art bosil um but I was in my ebike and it has a speedometer on it it is literally impossible and I tested this it is impossible to go below 8 miles an hour it is and that's and that's what this legislation says you can use an ebike if you don't exceed 8 miles an hour but that's impossible you can't even if you're just paddling you just can't do it it's not realistic and so I just think let's save the committee's time let's save save your time this is some things are not realistic and I and you're doing it with such good intentions but I I just think it's just riddled with unintended consequences and worse yet you're trying to help seniors we've heard too many horror stories about seniors getting concussions ending up in hospitals with BR broken bones because of speeding bicycles on the beachwalk it's just not conducive for Mr Greenberg I apologize ol I gave it the old College try I'm obviously getting shot down here but um I I did I did try for you so I apologize and I'm going to withdraw the item now thank you I will say his son is an avid paddle player so if you want to do something for Mr Greenberg and I think you bring up a good point commissioner Fernandez that you know it's in in trying to help some seniors it's probably the biggest complaint I get from Seniors is the safety of the beachwalk because of motorized bikes so um we with helping some we're hurting others um okay let's go to R9 ah I'm sorry um R9 AA R9 R9 AA discuss improve safety coordination for construction in and around Venetian Islands R9 AA commissioner Fernandez all right uh I'll take two seconds well so so Mr Mayor this is an item uh I think many of us may may be receiving emails uh about the construction Around The Venetian Islands uh especially when we have you know these large scale events uh particularly when multiple projects are are occurring concurrently um we we need to make sure that um that that our sidewalks that our bicycle Lanes uh remain accessible uh during during during construction and so you know I plac this this item on the agenda so that our city Administration could uh fill us in as to what we can do uh to ensure that these paths are accessible um especially when we're trying to encourage individuals to not use vehicles uh during high impact high traffic activities what can we do during during these construction periods to ensure uh the walkability of the city and the ability for bicyclist to get through so commissioner I I'm not sure exactly which projects that you're referring to I know that we had a huge push going into art bosle to be able to open up as many lanes of traffic as possible um we do unfortunately have a temporary uh water main that is being uh that is currently on one of the Venetian Bridges that's in place while we're doing some construction activity so that is impacting um one of the sidewalks and I know that we had to impact um some bicycle facilities in order to open up the travel lanes for our bosel but I'd like to ask our interim Public Works director Brad Kane to step to the podium and talk about some of the efforts that his team made to make sure that we could get as many U modes of transportation open for artb as possible and and and and I'll just add to that it's not just the Venetian islands like for example around Trader Joe's um you know cyclist and pedestrians have had to share the sidewalk because the roads you know clearly were doing construction there and you know I don't know it's a feasible if we're doing construction on on a road um you know ebikes ebikes ebikes are not allowed to go on sidewalks uh but you know is there a way you know we're doing construction on the road at least leave some space on on on on the road so that you don't have bicyclists and pedestrians encountering the same situation we're encountering on on on the beachwalk where they're having to share very narrow spaces and it's just not narrow spaces narrow spaces with pedestrians and then you have Landscaping in in the middle that just makes it very difficult and very dangerous for people to get around understood understood no Brad Kane ter Public Works director know I understand you're coming from commissioner as we you know move forward with other types of projects that we have uh you know from a public works perspective and the goond ones that were on you know we certainly will take note of those things and try to make it as friendly for people to be able to navigate in those situations because obviously uh it's difficult when you know you have a lot of construction going on and all the tord gets tied up like that so it's something you know from our end we can look at and and we can see if we can find some more um means to be able to make those accommodations M mayor me yes um uh thank you Brad and what are the general timelines that we have laid out for the Venetian and for West Avenue I saw after our bezel West Avenue reopen I thought we were looking to wrap that up by November well I'll let David talk about West Avenue and then I can talk about the Venetian and we have a one hour you know ability to resend you know the last vote David so I'll be the shortest appointment in history um for West Avenue um West Avenue is a complicated project as you know the work bit is happening in front of Trader Joe's is large infrastructure work that just takes up it's it's not only large but it's deep in the street we did meet as recently as late yesterday with one of the buildings across the street from uh from Trader Joe's so that we could show them what we were doing it was a positive meeting unfortunately we just don't have the room to accommodate maintaining the bike lane open on West Avenue we do have detours for bike lanes for the bicyclist sometimes just don't follow them they are looking at wrapping up the pump station in February and then around the summer they should be done with the section of Street between Lincoln Road and 17th Street oh so that's the what's going on now on West Avenue is the actual phase two resiliency project yes sir correct okay I I I was mistaken that where I thought this was an interim project and we're still waiting for that okay so I just asked let's just be as much as we can if we can work with these companies are doing the work and see like how we can just make sure that there's always some sort of a path available if there are pipes obstructing where pedestrians or or bicyclist are going through is if there's a way to position it somewhere else because it was an issue during bosel I got a number of complaints about it there was even a petition circulating around this and so um and so if we can just be mindful about this moving forward commissioner Dominguez thank you so I live on the Venetian so I have uh felt a little bit of the pain I do want to commend the city because um the Venetian itself has been fine what has been very difficult for residents was the staging area um and then bringing getting rid of 17th Street and then no access to date Boulevard and having to do that Route M BPD helped in directing traffic but it that was a real nightmare and I do want to say extra thank you for getting rid of all of that staging for our bosel all of you Kudos it was perfect um I love it the way it is but I understand that things are coming back how much staging is coming back to that area what will be closed um it's we're going into segment two of um the project it's a six segment project which will be over um the next you know to be honest it'll it's going to go into 26 I I I don't think that that that's not going to be the case where it won't end at the end of this year uh just to be you know honest you know always construction projects um you know they have little issues but um I'll be able to Prov I can provide you all of the scheduling of uh the different segments with with with the de and i' be happy to sit down with you and give other options for staging areas too like um that little side street between Alon Road and Office Depot nobody ever uses that street why can't all of that big equipment be there instead of on on a major arery where people are trying to get in and out of the Venetian we we can certainly take a look at it it's a big it's a big project with a lot of pipes so we but we we can see uh you know as we're working in the different segments if there's a way we can you know make it perhaps easier for residents and pedestrians you know throughout the island thank you anybody else city manager if I could I just wantan to I just want to clarify um because when you say staging it it evokes a certain idea in people's mind that we're just putting equipment somewhere to for the convenience of the contractor it's my understanding that we were actually doing Directional Drilling and that those were that was drill equipment that was drilling from that location sub aquous underneath the Waterway and coming up on B Isle so um we don't have quite as much flexibility with where we would put that thank you for the clarification cuz it looked like staging um there were big pipes and lots of trucks and they they weren't really moving are those trucks going back to that area so for more drilling there not necessarily there but in other in other segments of the islands there will be I could hardly hear you in in other segments of the island will be not necessarily there but in the other in other segments as we go where would be the next segment I can give you the the whole thing that it lays it out segment by segment thank you great thank you for that discussion I'm bringing the item C7 let's call c7m as in Mary c7m execute Amendment four to the Colony theater management agreement with Miami new drama c7m was separated by commissioner Suarez thank you Mr Mayor Marez thank you Mr Mayor I think um you know the reason pulled it was because last time I had some concerns about the increase of uh a grant funding on a on an annual basis recurring that's probably never going to end um and I I haven't changed my vote so that's why I pull the item I move the item I second it no other discussion all in favor of c7m please say I I I any opposed well actually sorry nay wait wait wait wait wait wait so it's approved 61 c7m it's called R9 a d as in David R9 ad is discussed persistent defix in one meeting resident connect feature requested by commissioner Dominguez than yeah commissioner Dominguez thank you mayor um so residents right to know came about when um Mark samin was president of my M Beach United and he later became commissioner and continued uh ensuring that residents had as much transparency and information as they needed and what's happened is we recently changed software and the company that uh took over promised us having certain accessibility and it hasn't been the case and the clerk's Department has been working like crazy doing manual adjustments and it has also been involved um and I appreciate the Bandaids that they're doing but it's not working I get on a weekly basis complaints from residents about not being able to find the items and the emails are getting from the clerk's office is not enough and so um I know that the city attorney's office said that the new organization was in breach of what they promised we would get so I want to find out did they get a demand letter what's going on how can we fix this so that the residents have access to our items the way they used to so through the mayor Eric um so commissioner we actually did send out a demand letter or a notification of breach letter this week to the parent company um with an expectation that they will respond back by the end of this week um we are hopeful that they will work with us to come up with Solutions but we've been asking for some time now and they've been um less than forthright with all of their sponsors unfortunately so if they can't do it and I know that there aren't other companies that uh play in this Arena can Our IT department help our Our IT department stands ready to do it we just need need to have access to their software through an API to be able to tap in and pull out the information so that we can build the resident connect just like we did with the prior Software System that was one of the things that we asked for in the letter uh we'll see how they respond but as soon as they provide access for that and I know Frank is here um but as soon as they provide access to that we could build the same thing we built before cor that's correct yes thank you I can't imagine I'm the only one on the day is here that has those complaints if anybody else wants to chime in yeah and listen I share I share your frustration there's many great things about the new software it is much easier to access the agendas it doesn't take you know five minutes anymore to access an agenda or to access an individual item there's great comment features there's a lot of great things about the new system but resident's right to know is something that is is incredibly important to to to our city and I fully support the city Administration and the city attorney's office in exercising every single right that the city has to demand the solution from this company that was procured and hired and awarded this contract uh with a full knowledge that resident's right to know is something that us expected as part of a deliverable and if they're not able to fulfill that commitment well that there needs to be a mitigation of some sort and I think uh the City attorney and the City manager should be authorized to exercise whatever their whatever options they need to exercise to get whatever solution they need out of this company I'd like to keep this item for the February 3rd agenda so we can hear what's happened and hopefully a resolution by then thank you sounds good thank you no I'm sorry no it's call C4 you c4u sorry c4u is a referral to finance status of the Byron carard project and contemplated RFP structure this item was an addendum so it's being heard after five commissioner B um yeah this is um just encouraging our staff Danielle is working assiduously to get this going but we want to move forward as we can um and so it's a simple referral to F to have some time to hear what's being contemplated how to how we're going to move forward and how we can make sure that we don't get caught in the miasma of um you know we're not going to do anything until everything is perfect and so I don't want to spend time on it here since we'll have plenty of time to discuss it so I'd like to move it um to be referred to FK second let's call the vote I'm sorry I heard second but I thank you mayor got thank you so all in favor of the referral I I 70 item is approved as referred and referred c4u call C7 a as in Frank C7 a f provide Housing stien Commission AIDS it was separated by commissioner Fernandez C7 AF Mr Mayor I simply like to make a motion to refer this item to the finance committee I like that I'll second that thank you I don't love the item so far so I got to admit commissioner magazine but I'll I'll agree with the referral call the vote all in favor of referring uh C7 AF to the finance committee please say I I item is referred okay we're move we're moving right along check C4 d as in David c4d Lincoln Road referral to planning board Lincoln Road East res residential use incentive c4d was separated by commissioner Rosen Gonzalez feel like I'm just beating the same drum here's the thing in 19 1990 with our save Miami Beach we took density increases out of the hands of the city Commission because it had got out of control and we placed it in the hands of the voters and then for pretty much what 30 years 33 years we enjoyed um the privilege of not upzoning our city because our electorate has continually and always pretty much voted against um a dity increase and uh last meeting we had what I would consider a rather large density increase um I think that I got a little traumatized over a traffic situation this past weekend which made me really think about adding density without considering um why but not this isn't just about density when I went through the ordinance it's really about the no parking also because it says here if you build non-transient residential units there's no parking requirement if you build a hotel or a hostel there is no parking requirement if you build office there is no parking requirement if you build retail existing as of the date of the adoption no parking requirement if you have a cafe Outdoors there's no parking requirement there is a parking requirement for new retail which which is one space per 300 Square ft quality restaurants no parking requirement approved parklets no parking requirement I think that's a problem um so it's not just the density that I I I I understand these blocks people want to do something um also the height in our historic districts is 50 and it used to be really a sacred thing I even have as my as my iPhone screen saver a picture of Miami Beach you see that right there put it you can see how why it's so important you know if you can can you PJ can you can you get that on there it's just Miami Beach is just you can see why the 50 feet is so important the only thing over 50 feet is probably the lowest hotel and and that's what makes our historic district so special are these view line corridors so to circumvent the State of Florida took this right away from us um we have legislation here which absolutely requires no parking but is going to potentially result in thousands of people and you know coming into the city and then you have the height increase of up to 150 ft 150 fet which I think is a little excessive and so um everybody else can vote for this but um I'm I'm I'm a know uh there's got to be a different way to fix it there's has to be something that makes more sense than this um and and you know and and I understand that that block is a problem but I think if we clean it up um you know I that's it so I don't agree with the parking requirements I don't agree with the height at 150 ft and I don't agree with the um f increase now if you were to massage this a little bit and say 100 fet um and possibly remove the F and add parking requirement then I would consider it because then I think it's something that um makes sense but to say that employees don't drive is just not true um to think that people coming to restaurants uh don't drive people who are going to be living in any of these places are not driving not ubering not Uber eing not ordering from Amazon and creating tremendous amounts of traffic overall reading this to me was a little bit shocking commissioner Fernandez thank you uh Madam vice mayor so to the public you were just told that this legislation takes away parking requirements on hotels on offices on Cafe Outdoors on retail and quality restaurants Mr planning director this legislation as far as I know only takes away the parking requirement for non-transient residential units that's all that this that this uh as it relates to parking that this item does is that correct that's correct I have the floor thank you that that's correct and that's noted in the draft ordinance that is attached so because right now the no parking requirement is allowed for hotels and and it's allowed for all these other units but the ones that we don't allow it for is for the creation of Workforce and Market uh housing is that correct non-transient residential craft so what we're saying is that the same thing that already the parking exception that applies for for hotels the parking exceptions that apply for retail the parking exceptions that already apply for cafes and for restaurants that already exist that already exists that's not what's being legislated here that policy commissioner Rosen Gonzalez already exists what we're saying is we need housing for people in our city for real residents let's extend that same policy for residential non-transient housing if we are allowing it for hotels why won't we allow it for full-time residences and so yeah we can fear Monger the public and convince them that we're waving parking requirements for all of these other things no like let's let's be real let's tell the public what we're really doing it already exists and we're understanding it why because I'm tired of those blocks on Lincoln Road being the blocks of Lincoln Road with the highest crime rate when you pull the statistics is where we we have the highest crime rates I mean you'll remember there was an old lady that came and stood at that Podium that was telling us about her husband being attacked because of the crime that happens in this in this part of of the city I remember uh John John deutschman that now lives in Hawaii talking about the McDonald from Armageddon I mean that's our vision for this city sure I mean let's say let's not do anything let's keep the block with the highest crime rate let's keep the blight let's keep on having poor elderly people getting attacked on on the street because the area is not viable right now for positive activity but if we want to create something that we really are proud of we need life there we need opportunity for residents to be the eyes and ears and take ownership and create Community create Community where people are out on the streets and walking and not only creating Community but creating an environment that helps and supports these these businesses and sure we can sit here and say well let's only build up to 100 ft because that's what we feel might be most politically viable but the market is telling us that that won't work our planning department has helped guide this this discussion and this policy with input for the market if we want to do smok and mirrors I guess we could just pass a policy to say we passed a policy and Pat ourselves on the back and say only 100 feet but then end up with no improvements but if we want to move the needle and create policy that creates opportunity for people to live in the city and improve the quality of the retail so that we don't have any more what's the name of the fried chicken place that opened up on the corner of canes canes and people complained about five and below so we don't have to deal with five and below and so we don't have to deal with 7eleven and have something and have something of quality well then this is what we need to do and is it what do I love having to do this no I don't like having to increase height and I don't love having to Wave parking requirements but do I love improving and creating policy that can help move a crimer ridden area of our city that feels blighted right now in the right direction do I love doing that yes I want to do that and I want to the day I leave to stas I want to see that part of Lincoln Road be the red carpet of Lincoln Road restore that to being the entrance to to the beach that a worldclass city deserves that's what I want I I want to see the 100 200 300 400 blocks of of Lincoln Road be cleaned be activated that people feel comfortable walking east past Washington Avenue because you know what wreston is called right now that area of washingt that area of Lincoln Road the scary part of Lincoln Road and that's just not acceptable for me any anymore we just cannot tolerate that and yeah I mean vote against it and that's that's fine and I respect your position on it but this is what we need to do in order to get the private sector to come in to help Revitalize the area to create housing and to bring in quality businesses to replace canes 7eleven five and below and most importantly the empty storefronts that are being rinsed with your Ur in at night thank you Mr Mayor thank you commissioner Suarez thank you Madame vice mayor um another another point that I wanted to clarify I think there was a mention that density is going up actually density stays the same because it's just the unit size goes up because people can't live in a 200 square foot you know hotel room and that is what the zoning incentive is currently for that you know people can't live in 200 ft you need to make it at least 550 or 600 square ft that's where um you know these incentives are being presented is to to get developers to build something where people can live there full-time not transient and you know it's funny that you mentioned uh Kristen of the of the traffic nightmare you had during bosle if you think about it you know that's what our business that's what our local businesses the way we have it currently set up want right they want as much tourists and and visitors as possible we couldn't we couldn't there's no way our residents would be able to sustain that 365 days a year with people coming from out of town driving in that's not can you guys keep it down back there please thanks um you know we there's no way that would be that's a sustainable business model for people who live here however if you incentivized residential people who live and work in Miami Beach where you have a local economy and instead of catering to 711s or canes you have other markets that are built like pure vas or um Fresh Markets grocery stores you know you know Epicure used to be on Alton uh on 1 and near Lincoln Road imagine if we opened up another Epicure U near Lincoln Road you know that's the sort of economies that we would like to build in mi well that's what I would that's what I Envision to build in Miami Beach I don't necessarily want there to be uh an art bowel type event every month to sustain our economy and our businesses that's that's perverse what we should be doing is we should be incentivizing residential development and residential and businesses that cater to that residential development so that way you aren't stuck in traffic going one block for 20 minutes you can walk to work you can walk to the beach you can walk to your grocery stores you know perfect examples of that are Sunset Harbor south of Fifth and what a better backbone of a of the city than Lincoln Road I mean I would I would love to live on Lincoln Road especially on the East End I mean you know think about it it's the perfect spot you go to a cafe in the morning or a pastry shop you can walk to work or you can walk to your office um you you you can walk down to Trader Joe's with which is right there and I mean it's it's it's it this is a true place to to live work and and and play so um I'm going to be in favor of this obviously I mean I have the West End of Lincoln Road that's coming up and and um and Washington but I think you know I I think what commissioner Gonzalez is you know her pains about being stuck in traffic you know just just try to keep an open mind that the reason you're stuck in traffic is because there's visitors here who don't live here and they're coming here because our business is cater to that and if we um if it was up to them they we would have an art basle type event every month and that would just be inconceivable to our residents as far as the traffic goes so um I think long-term Vision where our children can enjoy my Beach 20 30 years from now that's what we're planning and then that's that's what I think the future uh should be given to commissioner magazine uh commissioner Fernandez I'm hesitant to even elaborate further because you put it so eloquently that was presidential uh I applaud your bold Visionary uh tone in leadership truly truly I do um Echo all the things you said when we look at some of the things we've had to undertake over the past few years building a Convention Center Hotel and even quasi subsidizing that with County RDA money with having to hand out small business grants it's because there's an absence in our ecos system and that absence is the full-time residents that have fled Miami Beach right and we've had to bend over backwards and go out of our way through adding more hotels more restaurants subsidizing small businesses with you know grants and things like that let's provide the ecosystem right here they can support that if you look at the makeup of our businesses and what should be one of our most prized intersections we have an Alvin souvenir shop it's embarrassing it's really embarrassing there's a a huge real estate conference that's in town um given by an investment bank and I gave a tour of Lincoln Road just to two nights ago and there were about 18 to 20 professionals from New York and things like that we got to that intersection on Washington or Collins and Lincoln that was just kind of like what's going what's going on how do I explain that away um and there's no good explanation right if you look at all these other areas of Miami that are just you're you're proud to look at and there's been parts of our city that have been left behind and if you look at an area that is so iconic on Lincoln Road one block from the beach the only reason that can be that why that area has been left behind is because of governance right governance of the past but that doesn't have to be our path forward we can choose to change that we can choose and if you look at some of the things that tone and narrative our city takes it starts from the top right and if we sit here and we say you know what yes the the and blah blah but this is what we're embracing this is the future of our city and all seven of us get behind that and we show our community this is the path forward we're building the vision we're facilitating the city that we want to see 5 10 15 20 years from now our community will get behind us right it's about the tone in the narrative that we all set so I applaud you for starting that and I hope the piggy back right alongside you Madame vice mayor please go ahead thank you and I just you know and I understand so well where where where my colleague is coming from um you know because my colleague is a fierce advocate of preserving the character of our community and that's very important but let's talk about what density also means some of our most beautiful communities in Miami Beach are our highest densely populated areas for example flamingo Park in our city is recognized as one of our state's most densely populated neighborhoods isn't that correct Mr planning director yes Flamingo Park one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the State of Florida I challenge ourselves to find an area that has a more beautiful fabric as a community than Flamingo Park Northshore the diversity that we have in Northshore again why because we have population density there and it's one of the most beautiful and more most diverse areas in our city why because of of of the people who live there imagine if B B ale used to be mansions and if Som day in the past the leaders that that that preceded us who sat at this day is thought well B Isle should be preserved at its scale we wouldn't have the beautiful community that has flourished in B Isle did we do this one and it took courage at one point for people to say well we're going to transform this to be to to to have a community but it took density creating opportunities for people to move in to live and to create Community West Avenue West Avenue is the result of that our most beautiful communities where our residents live where we have the most beautiful diversity and the strength in the fabric of our community is a result of density and we have the opportunity to create Community opportunities for people to live and to grow upon the fabric the beautiful diversity of Miami Beach and solve one of the greatest problems that we have to transform an area of our city that has been lacking opportunity Vision investment for a long time and I think we need to acknowledge density is not always bad density creates opportunity for housing for people that need housing creates opportunity to create community that preserves the fabric of Miami Beach so I'm going to um give it over to commissioner Rosen Gonzalez in one second but this is a referral to the plating board we've discussed this at length I I share your reservations about increasing height because it just feels yucky we love seeing the sky but there's no there's no path forward we can either sit on our hands and continue to do nothing and bemoan the State of Affairs or we can let families move in and be the be the the eyes on the street and and the Catalyst for businesses moving in so uh commissioner Rosen Gonzalez please have your your say and then I would like to move in this will be my final statement have you ever once thought that we're being played they were being played by a few property owners and developers who know that they bladed that area right and they also know that they can come to us say well we can't build it unless we're going to build a big and that's what we we're getting played but you know what I know that we're getting played and I don't want to be played and you know what I want to do I want to hold them accountable I want Code Compliance to go in and ticket them and once they know okay that this city is serious and by the way when we gave this right to the electorate they would have never voted for this so I'm not going to be played um by these property owners and I'm going to vote no on this because I really truly believe that building 15 story towers and the narrative that they're creating that this is like Workforce it's not okay you might get when you do this a hotel right no no no cuz it says your hotels actually no yes I think you can no no Mr why does it say in here then I don't know what you're reading but what you're reading is you're you're you're conflating existing legislation with proposed legislation that supposed nonr I have the floor I apologize for that but here's what I would tell you I am sick and tired of being told by property owners who um who have owned hotels and properties in our historic district for decades on end who are blighting our properties and doing a managed decline when they know that they really could never get away with this in any other major um iconic International city in the world I don't think this would happen in Southampton this is definitely not happening in cpri never they would never let it happen but here in Miami Beach they feel that we can play us so you know what play us wait I have the floor play us tell us that we can only do it if we get a 4.0 F and 150 ft and um I'm going to say no to you because I know that our electorate would too so um I would encourage the uh director of Code Enforcement to let our neighbors and businesses on that stretch uh know that we are not screwing around it is not mutually exclusive to hold property owners responsible for the maintenance of their property and the compliance with our laws we are referring this to planning board this will be cashed out some more but I would like to make a motion to move it to planning so all in favor of the referral to planning board please say I I I any knows no so we have one no by commissioner Rosen Gonzalez the item is referred okay you recorded me as a yes right just just want to make sure c7z c7z use of available rent from Miami Beach Convention Center Hotel for Workforce and affordable housing it was separated by commissioner swarez Mr Mayor that's okay with you commissioner Suarez uh thank you uh Mr Mar so I just wanted to get a that's your item sorry c7z yeah uh no problem I I I just wanted to get some some further thoughts uh on this idea um I I don't I don't remember seeing an an economic analysis on on I mean how much money are we talking um that would be left over what mean what's the ball park range um and another idea that comes to mind is you know we have a lot of of infrastructure projects that need to be built is this do we really you know do we can I finish sorry um do we really want to take over and again I don't know how much money this is going to be but do we want to apply that toward infrastructure projects where you know our streets are flooding um I think if we're going to be addressing affordable housing I think really that's that's being done through like the last item we just talked about where we have have you know a relationship with um private companies to develop what we want them to develop um but I just want to get some more thoughts on that I I think you know we we have uh I don't know if Jason you can tell me how much in um infrastructure projects we have pending um I know whatever we get from this hotel is probably going to be a drop of the bucket toward it but it it just seems that you know we should be making all in efforts to to to fund those projects roughly how much do we have in um Capital Improvement projects for infrastructure on the table sure thank you uh Jason Green uh Chief Financial Officer we have about a$1 billion do backlog of capital programs across all the different funds but dollars these could probably be appropriated towards like general fund probably 250 to 350 million okay and so was there an economic analysis I mean I I don't I have no idea I mean if this is like $20,000 I'm I'm not going to really care but like if this is significant I I don't know um you know what are we talking as far as what's a ballpark range that we the the variable rent in the first year as estimated by the developer is $2.4 million and over 30 years their projection is $74 million so I mean commissioner commissioner vice mayor bot I I think um I mean look I I I think it's more prudent to put it toward the billion dollar backlog of money that we have and then you know as far as attainable and affordable housing I think we can incentivize that through zoning so my thought was that this entire thing was almost derailed over an issue of attainable and affordable housing we literally almost killed the deal because we're going to spend $75 million on um Workforce housing as opposed to um getting the Convention Center Hotel built the money that the Convention Center Hotel will throw off is being used for lots of different things so this is a portion of the money that the convention center will throw off over the course of 30 years we know for a fact that the hardest part of building affordable housing is the land acquisition cost we can find people to do p3s and joint ventures and you know we can find people to do that but the problem is buying land my thought was that if we can take this money as it rolls off um and sort of Bank it for a little bit until we hit let's say $15 million and every time we hit $15 million we then can purchase a piece of land on which we can build a Workforce attainable missing middle housing project sorry and it is not often that we have money that is coming into us that will be fairly predictable is fairly safe and is fairly constant and if we know that we have this intractable problem we're down to by some count 78,000 full-time residents because people can't afford to live here and the biggest single barrier to living here is a lack of Workforce attainable missing middle housing and we know that there's money coming in over the next 30 Years that will allow us to uh Bridge get get over the barrier the single biggest barrier to creating that Workforce housing why would we not take that money and put it towards that use so um if I may the vice mayor look that certainly is um an issue and that is obviously concern and I think we're all addressing that through through zoning changes and legislation for incentivizing that I don't particularly think Mii Beach should be in the business of of building affordable housing I think when we built the Collins Park I mean very expensive if I I if I know correctly I mean it was 80 units and what did it cost us it was I'll let Raquel answer sure good afternoon mayor and Commissioners Rec assistant city manager so the city contributed Allin $9.85 million inclusive of 4 million from the arts and culture geob Bond and then we have to give up land of course right there is a long-term lease yes yeah so you know look I I I certainly understand there's we need housing for sure and like I said we're we're I think most of us up here minus one is is actually addressing that uh but we also have a billion dollars of infrastructure projects in a backlog and you know no one's going to want to live here if we have certain roads that are just constantly flooding or neighborhoods that um are going to be underwater because of you know infrastructure that's 80 90 years old so um respectfully look I and I I see where you coming from I think it's good-hearted um but I just think the best use of money is to really go uh for our our critical needs right now which is you know making sure we're not underwater in 50 years um so that's why I pull the item and I'd like to hear what my colleagues have to say about it would anybody else like to comment I you know Workforce housing often times does require some sort of government subsidy that's just a reality of it um you know I this is is this a resolution Mr attorney yes it is and so if a future commission you know identifies that there's a greater need at that time in the city whether it be infrastructure whether it be education some other need something else they could always by resolution redirect those funds to a different need is that correct that is correct so I think right now you know we do have a crisis in our area it is extremely unaffordable right now um you all know how I felt uh uh just a few weeks ago on a similar issue and um and I support this I I I think we need to help uh our residents stay in Miami Beach we need to create opportunities for residents who have been displaced out of our city to come back into our city uh because you know we're losing them by the dozens and so um and so I you know this is a good use so this this this helps with housing needs of our of our community so I support it thank you for that I appreciate that the other couple other things to think about land banking which is effectively what this would be it would be buying land is always a good investment in the city it just always is um the the infrastructure funding and I'll let Jason talk about this because this is his thing it's not mine as much but um the infrastructure funding is kind of on a rolling basis and so there will be funding sources for that and you can bond out s certain things I mean buying land um to create missing middle Workforce housing is a totally different Avenue and yes we are addressing some of the housing crisis with zoning changes but that's going to provide by and large Market housing market rate housing and so we can be a city where we have market rate housing which means that there's a whole wide swath of people who will not be able to live here and I don't think we want um our firefighters our police officers our school teachers our young families our young doctors people who are starting off in their careers who are making a good chunk of money I mean it's not nothing to make 120 grand um and the fact that that is not enough to to to be able to to afford an a place to live here is is shocking so I'm not talking about Section 8 housing not that there's anything wrong with that but that's not what I'm talking about I'm talking about creating value for the city's portfolio in in that they're buying land and bringing residents back here who will be the ones going to the coffee shop for the morning uh pastry and coffee before they go to work going to the restaurants going to see the movies at the Regal going to see plays at Miami new drama having their friends come down for the holidays and that is what is missing now we see it constantly and I know traffic is an issue our bosle is an extenda circumstance because it's very concentrated but the real source of traffic is people coming in and out of our city during rush hour whether it's for construction jobs or because they work um someplace on the beach and live someplace out west and the we're never going to build roads and public transportation our way out of it we need to provide a place for people who work here to live here I I totally agree um I I just think that the way we get to that that end that goal is not using taxpayer money to find land to build that I think what we should do is is what we're doing currently is incentivizing development for that missing middle uh and and that Workforce housing which we're doing right now but we also have to take into mind that we have serious critical infrastructure needs and and I'm simply saying and I think where you and I disagree is how best to use or H how best to legislate to get what we both want and I think the best way to get what we both want is to incentivize development for the middle that we both want to live and to move and live here in Miami Beach and that they don't have to drive and we also need to fund these infrastructure projects so I I I think we can do both I just I just think that the 23 million that we would be getting uh each year I mean really should be going to some of the neighborhoods that are going to be underwater in in a couple decades uh you know and and I don't think we should be digging our head in the sand on on the fact that we have a long way to go to fund these projects yeah sure we're going to be getting a bunch of Grants hopefully the state is going to be giving us a bunch of resiliency grants but that's a billion dollars I mean everything that we can do to to to tackle that you know we should explore and I think the best way to do that uh and and to get people to move here and live here full-time is is through what we're doing right now is legislation uh and incentivizing uh development where we don't have to spend a dime of taxpayer dollars and in fact we just raise we we we we raise value in our city because of property taxes that are going to be built uh as a result of of the new development so look I you know uh there's a couple people in here that haven't spoken I'd love to hear what they have to say um and and I guess let's see where this lands I'm just if if I may through the mayor just want to just add something else because when you look at the county yeah the county does this very frequently many of the of the projects for Workforce housing and other types of housing has been through public lands that the county has leveraged with private entities that come in and build this when we look at for example in our own city council Towers we have hundreds of elderly residents who are able ble to afford to live in our city why because the city had land they entered into a long-term lease with an entity of Provider of of you know elderly housing and now we have these buildings where we have hundreds of elderly residents who otherwise wouldn't be able to live in our city and this is a very real uh public purpose it's uh it governments do this uh and um and even if you look at you know the Miami Beach Housing Authority the Miami Beach Housing Housing Authority is essentially what it does as well it land Banks it's not a city agency but it's a state agency it land Banks and often times it enters into Partnerships with uh with private entities right now two projects are being done in in North Beach uh one is actually even waterfronts beautiful buildings um and so you know I believe in this I I believe this is a true public uh purpose and uh and it moves Us in the right direction at the right time I'll second your motion commissioner B me colleagues and let me just add that you know look we we have like right now we have the Barkley That's supposed to be affordable housing and look how hard that is to get to get that approved you know that's been there for what 15 years like it's different at the same time that's just how our city is right I mean we have opportunities to have affordable housing and we squash it you know it's ridiculous and and and I understand that the Housing Authority that's their that's their mission that's their job as a city government we have many more missions and and and priorities like infrastructure that are are not going away they're only going to get worse as as as the the weather changes and and sea level rise so you know our we have to take all the considerations it's not just it's not just one so I mean 2.3 million is a considerable amount of money that I would like to see put into Miami's future as far as infrastructure and I think we can tackle affordable housing and Workforce housing through through proper legislation where it doesn't cost us dime and and trust me I'm at the Forefront of that I mean you know my Washington Avenue and Lincoln West proposals do exactly that you know where I'm I'm trying to make sure that we're not going to be building super luxury units and it's not going to cost us a dime in fact it's going to make us money through through through property taxes and value so um yeah look I'd like to see what I guess the other colleagues that haven't spoken I think it's a good item commissioner bot but I do agree with commissioner Suarez I agree with both of you actually um and I am the last person that would ever ever committee something to death because I talk non-stopped about you know moving forward just sometimes ripping the cord but given that this actually wouldn't even come to fruition until uh two years and nine months from now can we spend time talking more about how this would actually work itself out and you know what types of housing we'd be looking at um for how long this Revenue Source would essentially be uh bifurcated and dedicated to this uh segregated fund and things like that again I I would never ever committee something to death but given that rent payments from the convention center aren't going to start for two and a half years maybe we flesh this out and maybe if we can actually have uh a well thought out okay well the first three years uh this amount of rent is going to by land or maybe we can uh buy a property to um renovate whatever it may be I'm not putting actual ideas out there but if we had some form and substance behind what that uh project and its goals would actually the form it would take maybe that would help generate more support I I I tend to think that um we will have time to flesh that out once we approve this direction because what we say we think we need or want or can accomplish today may be very different in three and a half years and and it's going to take a few years for the money to hit a point where we can actually use it to buy some land or to buy a building to be renovated um so I I am of the mind that we give the direction that this is how it's going to be used or this is the general direction that we want to go in and then as we get closer to the opportunity we figure out you know what right now there's a great opportunity to buy a building that has you know a a an ownership issue or another time it might be there's a great piece of land that has just become available and we can get rid of the building and and do something different I don't want to prescribe what the exact solution will be when the pot of money comes before us and it will take some time so we will have plenty of time um so and so I we still haven't heard from um commissioner Rosen Gonzalez and commissioner Dominguez and neither of them are here so that's awesome well Kristen she we here oh you are here I'm sorry I didn't see you um I mean if you made this exclusively for already built properties to invest in properties that are already built I would say fine but when I look at the business models and I look at catas and how they come forward and how you know I feel like they create a scenario where we're giving them a lot of money and then and they build us a shoty product and then that Pro and at the same time and they're profiting from it on top of it I I don't like that model so um if I wouldn't mind it going to committee to flesh some of this out to see like you know one of the as chair of the affordable housing advisory commit we've been having a lot of success buying already built properties that are renovated um you know we just recently closed on that building for units instead of building brand new 400 500 foot units and getting people we're actually purchasing well the city with our federal funding we're purchasing units that are livable you know we're two bedroom two B 900t units that I would say okay you know for teachers for people that want to work in the city for legislative AIDS whomever in a larger older unit I believe in that because that's existing housing stock as of right now I don't think I want to build a whole lot more because of our infrastructure I just don't see it sea level rise traffic infrastructure so I'm not you know I'm not there unless you would unless you would exclusively commit to invest in um if you if you make it land banking or already built properties fine I'm okay with that that's why I like the garage idea so much today U boom we got 286 spaces and we're not you know and it's actually a great you know a great deal or they wouldn't be you know buying it you know so like yeah let's why it has built if I could M but sea level rise infrastructure traffic but we're buying parking garages or building well I mean I think you have to because you're losing the other site right there and you just you know that there's no parking requirements and you can't build restaurants and 15 story buildings or 14 story buildings we can't with an an F four and not have any parking spaces I think that's what creates misery sometimes when I go downtown I'm just miserable it's miserable all the time it's not just like miserable during a bosle do you understand downtown it's always a nightmare 24/7 and we're not there yet we really have protected ourselves but I think that as we continue to move forward I I I just don't see it until you build that hotel until you build all of the buildings in North Beach that's Workforce housing right there isn't it those small units in North Beach they promised us Workforce housing they promised us a plan you know what we got we got 20 story buildings of short-term rentals that's what we got well that's your poor legislation but no no it we passed legislation with your good intentions we had a master plan a do coal master plan that actually uh Tanya brought a commissioner bot brought up earlier today that was a beautiful plan and that's really not what we got at all so the problem with you know what we're doing now is oh well you know what I can't build 150 I got to build 200 oh I can't build 200 I got to build 250 I don't know I just I think Midtown Miami is great in Midtown Miami I don't want it here I don't want us to build a lot more here so anyway I send it to committee so can I make a motion to commissioner Fernandez is next commissioner res and commissioner B so I'll I'll say this the more I hear you know I'm I'm going to be open to the idea of having a discussion at at committee and I'll tell you why you know I like the idea of incorporating into this if you can acquire existing inventory we've done that in the past recently you know maybe that's something that can be incorporated here also there's going to be a lot of our residents and I had contemplated pulling the item but I really like the idea behind the so I didn't pull it but I was thinking you know there are a lot of residents who live in Condominiums who are going to be dealing with their own affordability issues residents who are elderly residents who are in fixed incomes who are going to have issues with reserves who are going to have issues with assessments and could this help individuals who are in very difficult Financial situations preserve their own housing and so I think some good could actually come out of having a discussion at at committee because we can actually build upon the intent you have here um because you have a very good idea but I think we could make it even better and to and to the chair's point of the finance committee these are dollars that are not going to be available to at least two or three years out so you know let's if you know I would encourage you let's refer this to the finance committee develop this a little bit more because something really great could come out of this that could address some of our residents pressing issues especially the elderly and those in fixed incomes who are going to be dealing with great crisises in their own homes because of Assessments and reserves so I'd like to make a motion to refer to finance than you second I I would like to make a a different motion actually um to refer to finance and firk because I think there are land use I'm sorry finance and and land use because I think there are overlapping issues that are better served in in two different committees so they get their Fair okay we have a motion second so referral to FK and landew all in favor please say I I I and opposed motion the referral is 70 it's it's it's F and L correct dual referral yes Chief Jones you've been waiting patiently let's call a police item R9 ab ab R9 AB is discussed take action professional police Personnel Staffing workload analysis good evening Mr Mayor and Commissioners Wayne Jones police chief um so Mr Mayor I think I've mentioned you personally before how grateful we are uh for this this resolution and the opportunity to take a deep dive and look at our current uh Staffing look at how our profession administrative staff supports us and whether or not is adequate um for our needs in today's world uh whether or not it will free up more police officers who sort of dabble in both worlds um to have more cops on the street increase and improve our visibility um in our eagerness we took a a look at whether or not we had the capacity the ability the expertise to do this internally um it quickly became apparent that we did not and so we issued an itq um invitation to quote uh we got multiple responses to it up to nine responses to it from various firms both local and National firms that specialize in this sort of of work um we went through an exhaustive process in a sort of identifying and choosing a firm we think would be well suited to do the workforce that's the Matrix Group who has done some work here in the city before in fact in past years they did do a policing Staffing study for us and um was quite done quite well um the timeline were given uh by this company it ranged from various various firms from about 3 months to about 9 months uh Matrix is about 20 weeks if you were to enter into an agreement with them uh the cost of of the study ranged from about 89,000 up to about 100,000 Matrix is around 999,000 and so where we are right now is at the time to identify some funding for it but we' really like to get this done okay I'm glad you're uh all on board and do you anticipate it will uh produce positive results in the sense that we can free up officers to more officers to be on the street and and use some of the administrative functions for civilian use well that that's that's certainly a hope um you know back in 2007 2006 during the real estate um sort of uh crash uh much of our professional admin staff was reduced at the police department city was going through some financial difficulties um and even though the demands on the organization has increased uh dramatically since then or civilian profession admin staff has remained constant and so yes short answer is yes great look forward to seeing the results sir okay commissioner Rosen Gonzalez okay first and foremost I apologize chief that you had to wait here all day and that your item was the last item called I don't think we needed to keep our police chief here all day and call his item last would you have been here I'm sorry yeah he was waiting for his item to be call anyway it is what it is pointing out a fact I don't think the chief Jones sits here for every meeting he's he's always here for the entirety of the meetings okay all right in my entire political career I've never seen that second I don't really understand why okay the second what what I've never seen that before in the past we've always called our our Chiefs items it's fine everybody can get okay everyone can get mad I'm just pointing something out I wouldn't like it either if I was like the last man standing okay with a very very critical item okay and I try to govern with empathy and compassion okay for those around I do do I put myself in everyone's shoes all day long and by the way in in doing that it's torture it is torture sometimes it's torture up here of all yeah sometimes it's torture to listen to me it is you know why because it's it's very it's something difficult to be a con to be a a collective conscious or trying to create Collective Consciousness second I find this item overall I I read it like three different times and I couldn't understand I found it a little bit intrusive Because unless they were requesting that study um you know I don't understand why you commissioned this study mayor can you explain why do I think this is coming what it's good governance and the chief has actually commended me multiple times for actually bringing the item in my opinion I think that if you're not a police officer and you're not nor am I and we have experts I don't think that we need to yeah this is the second time that we're having an item like this the first one was to kind of come in and you know intrude and and somehow embed somebody in the command staff and now you are bringing in a third party to kind of evaluate and how what do you think that that does overall to uh leadership and morale I wouldn't go I if somebody did this to me and I was leading an organiz i why I'm not interrupting anyone I'm just saying what I think this is I don't think it was right I think it was terrible to leave it to the last item and I think that we should probably stay out of of of of the police department because you chose a chief for a reason and I you know what I would like to thank our chief for being so magnanimous and so patient and so kind back to you because I would not actually you know that I wouldn't be like that because and I've watched him be incredible and frankly Eric I think you should have stood up and said you know call the chief's item don't intrude upon his leadership and embed somebody what if I just said that to Tom you know what Tom we're coming in and we're evaluating your apartment and we want to see if you are efficient you haven't done that you haven't done that to anyone so I don't think that it's right and that's all I'm going to say um I am a no vote on this maybe it was done for some other reason I think that everybody's trying to Plate you but but I think that sometimes you make a decision and you choose a city manager and you choose a chief and then you stay out of it because otherwise that type of intrusion it ruins morale it creates fear and I hate to say it we were talking about mental health and you your self had a mental health item but two people in our department had serious two people committed suicide because of this type of stuff because of this type of this is out of order I'm saying that when create a Culture of Fear when you create a Culture of Fear when you create when people have to work okay I'm sorry but when you I I look I'm a PhD in communication and the point when an organization operates in fear you have terrible situations and you can't create this type of environment where people are fearful okay and then that is way out of line I'm really excuse me for a second I'm really sorry that is way way out of line there are people who are suffering with excuse me you interrupted me and I'm telling you that this is the exact reason why people don't want to work here they don't want to work here because everybody is have Spector General I'm saying that this is a toxic work culture because of these types of situations and this is what we need to avoid you need to tr you need to trust your employees you need to treat them with respect you don't commission third party outside studies I think it's wrong and I think it creates a tremendous level of stress and I apologize for I apologize for that correlation but it's what came to my mind when I thought of some of the toxicity that's going on here in City Hall and I think that it starts at the top and it starts with bad policies like these okay with all due respect to my colleagues my understanding was that this is something that the chief and the police department were interested in to see how they could reallocate their resources better so that we could get what we wanted on the streets with police officers sworn officers doing the job they are trained for and we could reallocate Resources with civilians who are far less expensive to do the more ministerial things that was my understanding I please correct me if I'm wrong okay Point number one point number two as the mother of a child who has twice tried to kill herself and and if it were not for our First Responders would have been dead in September of 2015 excuse me 2016 do not for a second dare to suggest that any one of us on this day or even the worst boss in the world because I've had some is the reason why somebody came to that dire terrible terrible place where they saw no further way out I I listen you and I agree on a lot of things we disagree on some we butt head sometimes but that is a bridge too far Mr MZ so I want everyone to see what's going on here okay and you know I'm going to call out the elephant in the room okay this is commissioner Gonzalez campaigning from the deis okay I want everyone to see that the reason why she's doing this is to get the police union vote well first of all excuse let me finish I don't care listen I want if you can let me finish please I want to a victim of having my item called L I've been a victim of ins you have you know I think you've had most items called by the way I haven't changed in the 10 years since 2015 that I have been up here I have been a pretty much um a a a you know a voice for something truthful and honestly maybe it's my academic background and sometimes I draw um I I I I sometimes I draw connections that there shouldn't be but I also call Spades a spade and by the way I don't ever I mean you know the only because it's not about an endorsement this has nothing to do with you get upet when people interupt you and you for but if I'm being attacked you know when I said something you attack people all the time you just attacked the mayor you you said that the mayor was the reason why two of our employees saying two employees I said policies I said intrusive policies that create toxic work environments if you create a toxic work environment and then you give people mental health counsel to this is toxic our Republic our wrestl do not deserve now sit here and and watch is wrong Kristen if I can allow to finish please so thank thank you go ahead go ahead commissioner Suare I I want everyone to see what's going on here this is this is this is campaign season okay it's it's no surprise that one of the Commissioners up here is going to want to run for mayor for next year and whatever Avenue that can be exploited will be and this is what you can expect for the next 12 meetings unfortunately and I think it's I think it's surprising that all the talk of toxicity here you know commissioner look you are you are raising the toxic nature of this commission you I mean look the fact that you've mentioned that somehow our policies are making our employees commit suicide is ridiculous I mean that I mean just think about that for a second think about what message you're sending I mean that is just asinine I think let me finish please okay and you know to to to and if if you really want to if you if you really want to remove the the toxicity in in in this commission maybe stop beating to death every item that comes to to in front of us I mean you have had more items called at this meeting than all of us and every item that come comes up before us or that's our all items you're beating to death I mean it's ridiculous it's like it's it's not fun it's not friendly uh to your colleagues I mean I yes you have a right to do it you're an elected official but I mean look like you said you've been here since 2015 your reputation precedes you uh we're friends you know off this days I I I still want to call you a friend but up here you've made a mockery of this commission and and the process and you know I I think you need to have a little bit self-introspection on on who is causing this toxicity because it ain't the six of us and for you to make assumptions or I'm not assumptions assertions that our policy is causing suicide I mean that is just that's that's that's horrible I think everything exists in a vacuum number one number two I find it odd that one that I suggest something it becomes toxic when really the people that have been screaming up here and behaving badly and treating employees badly I don't think it's me I think there's a few of us up here who have been doing that okay and I don't think that that's me I do think that I took this too far in saying that but truthfully when I found out those notices I said to myself between the Inspector General and all of the policies that we have and the toxicity and the expectations and the amount of meetings I said to myself this is so such a horrible place to work because of the ridiculous amount of legislation and policies and expectations that we pass I think we compensate people but I don't think that policies like this are solid policies because I think you should let departments govern themselves Mr Mayor uh there's some people that would be willing to burn down Rome if if it meant they could roll over the ashes I think that's really sad if we could resume the meeting Mr Mayor I know you're the chair here but if we get this back on track perhaps call the police chief up um and try and I think we've had a very productive meeting try and close out on a high note I commend you for how you've run this meeting I appreciate that uh just 30 minutes after I mentioned that the tone and the culture that we all set from the top fill filters down the same thing goes for the negative tone as well there were years in the city that went by where every single meeting would turn into a fight and as a private resident I felt that I felt that right I felt that negative tone from the top and that trickled down into the toxicity was that was in our city and I've been pledging from the beginning that even in times of disagreement that we all understand we are serving a much greater purpose than ourselves and that is the city of Miami Beach the city of Miami Beach which is much greater it preceded all of us it will outlive all of us and when we're serving the public we're serving a greater good a sense of purpose greater than ourselves so even in times of disagreement we need to do so with the utmost of respect this has turned into a mockery and I hope that we can get back on track commissioner bot um I want to apologize for um using inappropriate language In the Heat of the Moment I will say that it's going to be a really long year and we have seven of us who are mostly quite aligned in what we want to get accomplished together and we've had a very productive year and we have two colleagues who are likely going to be running against each other and who knows of a third or fourth person who's hopefully not a third or fourth from the days but a third or fourth fourth person might might jump into the race I don't know and people are free to campaign however they choose to I would just respectfully ask that you keep it off the deis because we have too much at stake there's too much money that we're charged with managing and we have to look to our our residents first and letting this Behavior be the tone that we we demonstrate here I think is is appalling I will say that there are times that there are policies that I think are awful and I want to ring my colleagues neck about one thing or another but that you know you move on some you win some you lose but you move on to the greater good and I for one feel like this is the best job I've ever had it is the most the biggest honor of my life to be trusted with making decisions that will affect our Collective future and it would be heartbreaking and disappointing and frustrating and damaging if we let um political aspirations get in the way of the greater good in the people's business commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor and you know we need to move forward from this point we can get back to this point um to the people that have called out campaigning from the de is absolutely right our taxpayers deserve better our residents deserve better our professional sta in this room don't need to be exposed to that either um so Mr Mayor in in 2024 an item was approved for us to explore the feasibility and the potential of hiring additional civilian Personnel to assist the police department with desk work and enh so that we can have officers on the street doing their work to follow up on that I'd like to make a motion on your item Mr Mayor if you if you allow me because I think this is a really good item so I'd like to make a motion uh to for the administration to prepare a um a a budget amendment to complete a a professional Personnel workload analysis through a specialized vendor identified via an invitation to quote so we can move this item forward Co thank you uh thank you we'll call the vote in a second Chief I appreciate the uh the work that you're doing on this and and the presentation and Eric you know I know we have good leadership in the right positions and uh I'm appre should have working together closely with you to uh have the outstanding Police Department that we do and uh working alongside Eric and I know I have the respect of you and our officers and that means the world to me thank you let's call the vote all in favor of R9 a please say I I any opposed pass so 61 thank you right on Q 7 o'clock meeting is adjourned thank you have a great night God bless happy holidays to everyone and to our staff thank you everyone e for