##VIDEO ID:H6RAxyYERZM## [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hey heyy 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 3 2 1 hi everybody I am commissioner Laura Dominguez and I'm here for the public safety and neighborhood quality of life committee and joining me on the day is vice chair uh David Suarez uh commissioner Joe magazine uh commissioner Christen Rosen Gonzalez is um running late but she will be here shortly and thank you to commissioner Alex Fernandez for attending as well and on the day is with me is the fabulous Stephanie Ray Brooks and in for Mark Taxas we have the assistant City Manager David Martinez and in for Rob rosenell we have our fabulous attorney too uh Steve Rothstein Stephanie do you have any announcements yes we have a couple announcements this meeting will be a hybrid meeting um anyone that chooses to dial in can call 1 800 18847 54499 tollfree and enter the web webinar ID and they you can also call 878 3352 956 we have a couple of items that'll be differed we have item number six will be deferred item number 17 and item number 16 one item has been withdrawn number seven and we have a Time certain for item number five that'll be 10: a.m. and those are the only announcements for today wonderful thank you all right so let's get started number five okay item number five is discuss a potential partnership with Beach for the installation of beachbox kiosk or portable lock boxes on the city beaches and today we have uh Austin from uh beachbox uh would you like to tell us a little a little bit more about your product and turn on the mic absolutely thank you guys uh good morning chairwoman Dominguez uh and esteemed Commissioners uh my name is Aon iene CEO uh and co-founder of beachbox I have over 10 exp 10 years of experience managing it risk for Fortune 500 companies uh I've now shifted my focus to addressing security concerns in public spaces uh starting with our beaches I'd like to start with a quick story if that's okay just a few days ago on December 9th 20124 I met a young woman from Canada visiting Miami Beach for her first time she was excited to soak up the sunshine enjoy the ocean breeze and embrace the vibrant energy of our city that morning she headed to the beach with her friends and left her clutch near Ninth in Ocean while she took photos in the water inside her clutch was her passport $200 in cash her favorite lip gloss the essentials for her Miami beach trip when she returned the clutch was gone heartbroken she asked nearby beachgoers including me for help this incident was entirely preventable with beachbox her belongings would have been secure allowing her to fully enjoy the beach without worry so I have a demonstration video I don't know if we could pull it up from the finance committee PJ do we have the video I mean uh was it submitted the 24hour uh rule I mean if uh if not I would have to go ahead and search for it um I would need some time to do that okay um facilities assistant director Elizabeth Maro do you have uh additional feedback um yes I believe that um Austin has provided a proposal in which he is uh recommending to install two of these kiosks that hold hold about 40 lock boxes um at two locations on Sixth Street and also on 10th and ocean um our only requirement is that these kiosk are not visible from Ocean Drive the cost that he's proposing to rent these lock boxes is ranges from 20 to $40 and in in his proposal he's also recommending a 10% back to the city the administration's recommendation is if the public safety and neighborhood quality of life committee wants to pursue these lock boxes that this go through a formal uh solicitation so I watched the finance committee when this was proposed and there were concerns about the location and um having them be out of sight um uh the finance chair is here commissioner magazine will you please share what your thoughts were from the meeting yeah thank you for that Madam chair thank you for recognizing me uh Austin welcome it's great to have a young entrepreneur uh involved and active in our city um I think some of the uh big takeaways were it seemed like a product that we we could get behind there's a need for it however we want to be a bit cautious uh maybe dip our toe in the water before jumping all the way in uh especially in this area which tends to be cluttered uh public right of way but is also our most prized in Char historic area we wanted to be a bit nuanced and balanced before just diving in and placing these in multiple multiple locations uh with the permission of uh Madame chair did could you talk to I I think you've kind of done started operations thus far on somewhat of a trial basis I guess I'd like maybe your one minute feedback and then if we had staff's one minute feedback if it's gone well if there's been any issues what type of Revenue because yes it is a nice service but you know it is very I don't want to say valuable from a monetary perspective but uh just in terms of what it the appearance of that area for our city uh certainly you know uh instrumental so with the permission Madam chair if you just give a one minute overview of how things went and then the most applicable person from our city if they could share some thoughts yeah absolutely so uh just to address your previous feedback from the finance committee meeting uh we're looking to place these near public structures so the 10 Street building which is the Tourist building and the Sixth Street bathroom uh number of kios I know we wanted to do four to five at first we're now looking to do just two uh with the 40 boxes uh the resident discount as mentioned uh 20% uh to the resident uh Revenue sharing would be 10% to the city um over the last two weeks we've been able to rent over 125 boxes uh so 63 boxes the first week 62 boxes the second week generating revenue of over $1,200 um over four days and the rentals that you're doing it's with through Partnerships that you have with hotels uh so Yep this is hotels and then this was also a special events permit popup permit that we received uh as well so I hear from uh residents and visitors all the time about the thefts that take place on the beach I think um this is a good item and I'd like to move it and bring it to the full commission how do my colleagues feel if I may I just need to correct we did not issue a pop-up permit for for this activation but we uh recommended with that this would go through procurement as it's not a popup a popup is only for four days we can't do something and not only for four days excuse me it's for activating vacant storefront spaces this is not a vacant storefront and what we recommended is that it went through a procurement process so just to comment on that I did get a approval email uh from the the department and so we started operating um with that approval it said we will be issued a uh the the final paperwork in three days and so we started working after those three days I understand that that was not the right thing to do uh but you know we did start operating for those two weeks and have since stopped but uh looking for some direction on how we can get continue the pilot because it's going Su successfully and was it just the the popup permit this seem was this just focused on the security boxes were there other things that were included that were being rented uh it was just the security boxes there was nothing else being rented I'll second okay so we'll send it to the full commission um for discussion uh there and I'll iron out with you more information um about what wasn't done correctly so that we get it right the next time can I ask a question of course thank you madam chair um so there's two locations being proposed yes on uh Sixth Street against the bathroom as you recommended the bathroom yep and then on temp Street against the tourist building uh headed to the beach okay so so because I remember originally when it was proposed it was going to be freestanding structures uh that would look like you know a new structure on RightWay this would be now attached not impeding public RightWay okay I feel much more comfortable with that and I'm so grateful that you listen to to TI to that feedback and to you as well Madame chair as the sponsor of this item thank you for being so receptive to the feedback and that places me in a much more comfortable position thank you thank you Alex commissioner Alex fernandz okay any public comment no public comments on zoom and I don't believe there's any public comments in person okay uh thank you very much it'll go to the full commission the next Commission meeting is February 3rd okay thank you guys okay so item number one item number one is discuss utilization of 7605 Collins Avenue as a potential base of operations for ocean rescue and we have building present okay uh oh well it's a co-sponsored by by fire as well okay and commissioner Suarez and commissioner Rosen Gonzalez uh Vice chair Suarez would you like to Tee It Up yeah um Vince do you want to speak a little bit on that if that's a good location and and probably have fire come and um and speak uh as a result of recent events at commission uh I do believe it was moved to have an open uh public forum as to the use of uh of the house so I I don't know if we're going to continue on this track if that would be appropriate at this time or we wait for that public input did the public forum uh already take place no ma'am it has not it was just a uh approved at at Comm and so it hasn't been the date hasn't been set okay and that's good to know because I recently um had heard from residents near the area we used to have regular food distributions up in North Beach and those were eliminated we only have it in mid Beach and there are people that are hungry in North Beach and one thought would be to utilize uh part of the house for uh food distributions or storage or whatever the case may be so I think we need to uh defer this item um the next public safety meeting is January 29th and hi Chief abello um so let's defer it yeah please address whatever do you think about the idea Tak I mean it's your operation um good morning uh fire chief of yeah I spoke with the union and when it was originally proposed um as an option for us we did a side visit we you know it's operationally sound how it was originally proposed as hey if this was an option to you would you guys like it well yeah but there was little bits of information that were left out in the sense of if this was going to be a shared space and it being a shared space it would not be operationally sound with you know 14 15 lifeguards men and women that need to be separated in different areas um that's that's where we stood if if it was going to be like that they also had the funding uh you know allocation for the property in itself there is no current issues where we're currently at we've already taken measures to move the fence back you know parking was the issue on 79 street where the lifeguards are currently housed and then they've invested I don't know how many millions of dollars in the Miami day County um facility that's supposed to be happening up there on 79th Street as well okay so I'll second it defer def yeah let's do it thank you thank you okay um I'm going to jump to number 12 because I understand that uh Public Works needs to leave early for a meeting so uh we'll do 12 followed by number 13 so uh Stephanie number 12 item number 12 is discussed implementation of rain Gardens and increased natural vegetation along roadways to enhance storm water runoff and this was sponsored by commissioner swarz thank you Brad if you don't mind so if you want to te it up for me it's an idea I brought um to the committee to discuss um more natural ways of of um flood mitigation yes absolutely commissioner and I'm actually going to have our our city engineer Christina Ortega is going to come give an update on this in in a second so we have been actually you know working on this and we want to provide the additional information to you so you can U you know see where we're at with this item she should be she's Lally right around the corner okay with it if you if we want to chair if that's we could 13 first if we can do that sure can you read 13 I will read item number 13 13 is discussed potential locations for the relocation of Sanitation Department's operations office which is currently located on the first floor of the 17th Street Parking Garage and this was sponsored by commissioner Dominguez co-sponsored by commissioner SES and commissioner magazi okay thank you um as you know and and some of the Commissioners have visited the location that we currently have for our operation at 17th Street we're on the bottom of the uh the garage there uh it's just a very limited space it's it's pretty much on the first floor as you come in uh when you enter into the garage and it's a a small area where we house uh you know on a daily basis from 80 to over 100 employees a day um you know there are not functional bathrooms that are currently working there anymore we Ed there are two giant um portons that are out there for staff so um as our organization has been growing over the last you know few years it's it's becoming a little bit more challenging to have our split operation and our other staff where we keep our heavy equipment is at Terminal Island uh and that's but that's only about like 25 or 30 employees uh because that's the only place we can park the the the bigger you know pieces of equipment so uh the challenges are getting more difficult and and you know obviously um the ability for us to have everything under one roof would be certainly ideal uh just you know obviously we need a new home that would would fit fit all of that um to do that but um you know we're very hopeful we can find something that you know makes sense uh going forward and we can have all of our uh employees and ideally the administration Under One Roof do you have any ideas uh of where they can be housed I did have conversations with um City Administration and it's tough to find space I did not know about the portable bathrooms um what needs to happen for for the bathrooms that are there to be functioning I I think if I'm not mistaken and and I would I would defer to um property and Facilities on on that one but I I believe that there was a capital project uh that may be in the budget this year to make those repairs maybe Liz could probably perfect perfect timing talk on that yeah I'd love to hear it yes absolutely so there is a capital project it's actually under design we expect to break around in February I think it is um to do all the Reconstruction for the bathrooms that are there in February and how long will it take it should take no more than a month or two and uh this may not be your department have any other areas been identified as potential sites we had contemplated some time ago um possibly the location at 451 dat where the Public Works operations is at um that's a natural area um but no F further sites have been um assessed and tell me that site again 451 date Public Works operations oh okay uh Vice where 451 dat that's where that's right next to tree that's where there would be a potential site for Public Works yes it's not built out you're on you're you're going to be under construction no 451 dat is already um a built environment it say of how we can probably reconfigure that to probably um incorporate sanitation we can certainly look at that well Brad you tell us I mean is that like a possibility no I mean it's not a bad idea I mean I think it's something definitely to explore it's currently where our utilities operation is housed out of um and that's over approximately 100 samart staff of our team is is there and that's where their all of their operation is done currently um you know we certainly think if there are opportunities there to expand that site uh you know we're certainly supportive of that and how many employees need to be uh at the location how many do we have right now at the garage I mean we have you know it's 82 100 plus employees that are there in that very small area and and the 450 date how many right now how many can it hold well it's a big site um I don't know how many employees you have right there there there's over a hundred employees there currently in our utility operation that are there now well is that something that Public Works do you think would be fine with to be able to house Everything Under One Roof certainly that's always ideal to have everything in one spot of course um you know logistically we'd have to look at things as it relates to the yard because we'd have to be bringing a lot of heavy equipment you know potentially over there that is not there currently and we have a lot of heavy equipment like V trucks and such there now so but but but you know if there's an opportunity to do that I mean we certainly are in support of that what would happen to the employees on Terminal Island the the terminal Island operation is a is a is basically like our administrative operation and then we have like the the heavy equipment you know it's about 25 um employees that are there um I don't know that we could be able to you know lose that operation uh because I don't think that we necessarily would be able to fit all of our heavy equipment say at at the operations with that so it's something you know certainly would still need to keep in the mix and we really would have to evaluate that as part of the process yeah I'm just looking on the map I'm seeing where the available where there actually would be available where would you build it out would you build it out behind the fire station so yeah we will look at the lot we will look at um also the existing building if we can obviously increase it this one does it need to be increased or is there space for the sanitation no it would need to be increased Madam chair if I could yes this got put on the agenda how long ago I mean are are you looking for us to like find locate this seems like uh like sorry but like we're pulling teeth here in some regard is anybody looking at other locations what is the plan for this uh what do you need from us obviously with three sponsors and I I don't mean you I mean us as a city collectively you have three sponsors that are supportive finding another location but is there a process to make that happen are we beginning that process it seems like you have support but you know it can't be us sitting up here looking at Google Maps finding you place no I I I think this is probably the the entry-level discussion um of this item and we appreciate you know the support for it I think now it it it it it's upon us to you know probably come back with some you know suggestions outside of that location as well and then if that you know whatever location we come back that makes the most sense obviously then we need to start doing uh engaging some consult services and seeing you know what makes the best fit for us at this point is the January 29th meeting enough time okay so I think that's this defer this to the January 29th meeting and with that we'll go to number 12 item number 12 is discuss implementation of rain Gardens and increased natural vegetations along City roadways to enhance storm water runoff and this will be sponsored by commissioner SS good morning Commissioners uh Christina oras said engineer with Public Works we we provided in the memo some uh updates as to the projects that have been completed in our city um these retention swells rain Garden systems are definitely part of our toolbox they are um part of our storm water master plan and we are incorporating those into our projects specifically in those where it makes sense we have learned some lessons and understand that these work best in areas where the ground is slightly higher up so in in the lower laying areas they don't provide the benefits uh in particular during high tides and can actually become a a source for that groundwater to Bubble Up into the streets so uh with that is there any specific questions or concerns would there be any possible locations that you would suggest having some we we are looking to incorporate them on the the the way that the Topography of our city is um on the Eastern side it's higher grounds generally better suited for it in areas where we're racing or proposing to race the roads uh for example canopy Park is a is a great example of an area where it was incorporated where the park was raised and we have these uh bios swells and biofiltration systems in place higher uh off the groundwater where it can work okay all right um I can withdraw the just it was just a good idea for well we can close it not withdraw it close it thank you for the discussion um I appreciate it and thank you for bringing um a nice resilient item um so now we'll go back to our order and the next item is number 15 item number 15 is discuss the creation of Code Compliance area Captain positions for South Beach mid Beach North Beach and this was sponsored by commissioner Fernandez and co-sponsored by commissioner magazine okay commissioner Fernandez T it up thank you madam chair and it's always a pleasure to come to your committee even though I'm not a member it's great to be here um so I'm pleased to present uh this item regarding the creation of Code Compliance area captains positions for South Beach for Mid Beach and for North Beach uh this initiative represents a key step uh I believe in a key effort in enhancing our Code Compliance improving neighborhood engagement and addressing specific issues that happen in specific areas of our city um initially we brought this this item at the May Commission meeting and I want to thank commissioner Joe magazine for joining me as a co-sponsor of it and following its approval uh we've had discussions at the finance and environmental resiliency committee on it um there was also discussions at the Personnel Board uh about about this item and the proposed uh changes uh in our agenda today uh include the include amending the current Code Compliance administrator job description and the purpose of that is to formalize their role as a single point of contact for designated districts in our city such as South Beach mid Beach and North Beach this will again align their responsibilities with the needs of our community including active participation in neighborhood and homeowners associations engagements with businesses attending Community meetings um I'm just going to lay out some of the proposed changes so for example the amended job description reflects new duties aimed at improving engagement and responsiveness and some of these highlights include serving as a single point of contact for their assigned District regular attendance at community and business meetings to address local issues enhanced coordination of resources to solve neighborhood specific problems um and you know making sure that there is effective enforcement of the city code in these in these areas I see it very similar um to for example captains in the police department everyone knows their Captain uh every they attend the meetings they attend um chamber meetings how to engage with the businesses they are very familiar with the specific issues that um that exists in their neighborhoods um I also want to note that this initiative will utilize existing resources so it'll ensure that there's no additional F fiscal impact in in the city with that I'd like to recognize uh staff uh to um add anything else that I may have missed of on this item and to give us some feedback on the direction and the and the recommendation that you need today from committee absolutely good morning chair and committee members Stephanie Noah administrative services manager with the Code Compliance Department um we amended the uh Code Compliance administrator job description and presented it at the Personnel Board last Tuesday December 10th and it was approved since then we've moved forward with scheduling professional head shot photos for our comp uh Code Compliance administrators to place them on our City website and uh along with their uh direct um contact information and assigned zones wonderful and I would like to thank uh Code Compliance uh the human resources department as well for their dedication in uh in developing this revised job description and for their ongoing collaboration with the Union as the union has also had to participate uh in bringing this initiative to fruition I just want us to realize what we're doing here uh because we already have the area captains with the police department now we're adding uh this this similar like position this this area Captain for code which is so important because not everything can fall on the arms of of police there's a lot of issues with the enforcement of our city code that can yield Improvement to the quality of life and the safety of our residents that together with the area managers that we've created for each section of the city is really going to hopefully deliver significant improvements and efficiencies uh to to to the performance of our of our uh Duty as a city and delivering a cleaner a safer a more beautiful and resilient uh City to the residents of the city of Miami Beach thank you madam chair for allowing me to present my item thank you it's a wonderful item thank you for bringing it forward and working so hard with the co- compliance to bring this to fruition uh commissioner magazine you are the co-sponsor did you have anything to add no I appreciate it uh commissioner forand State at all I just hope when we're implementing this uh we start getting out of kind of The Silo vacuum thinking where Code Compliance is just Code Compliance public work just Public Works police just police and you know we all take a comprehensive view of the city so really excited to get this Incorporated I don't even think of this like uh this is just Code Compliance for the area but these are true like area managers absolutely and so and and if I may what is the feedback you need today from uh from from this committee move it to the full commission perhaps uh uh David Martinez can give us some guidance on the feedback I see that the administration is recommending um that we perhaps pass a motion to send this back to the full commission so perhaps if uh if commissioner magazine as my co-sponsor since you're a member of the committee and I am not if you're willing to move our item back to the full commission for full approval that might be prudent absolutely thank you commission second all in favor any public comment no public comments on zoom and it does not appear to have any public comments in person okay wonderful now our next item is number three item number three is discussed next steps to establish a marine park or Conservation area in South Beach this was sponsored by commissioner Dominguez co-sponsored by commissioner Suarez vice mayor bot and commissioner Maxine so this item was brought to my attention attention the marine park by residents um that live here in South Beach and are divers and passionate about the environment and when I sat down with them and met and saw videos it was just uh amazing what we have uh just on off our Shores and I found it to be important to work with them and the sustainability Department um to make sure that we do everything we can to protect it and designate it as a marine park and before I acknowledge our chief resilience officer to speak I'd like to show a video PJ if you would uh tee that up and this video that we we'll be showing was actually taken by the divers uh Patrick and Dave um while they were out in the Marine Park and I just want to share with everybody so they could see how beautiful and what we have out there right now [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you uh it's absolutely beautiful to see the uh reef and marine life that we have thriving just off our shore and I'd like to hear from Amy noes our chief resilience officer sure good morning uh Madam chair and members of the committee um and and again A Beautiful video we also got to meet with Patrick and David and really applaud you know their passion we did provide a comprehensive letter to commission um based on a resolution on all the different types of uh regulatory approvals that that will be needed um to to actually do this kind of marine park um but again we are also you know extremely dedicated and think this is a really wonderful idea currently there's an existing boating restricted areas um that's in place and so the proposed Marine Park would Encompass a much larger 16 block area that's currently used by those voters so again again that really brings in the need for all those regulatory approvals and um including durm um FD FWC the armor core of engineers um and the Coast Guard so we have reached out to all of them um because of the complexity of it we are recommending that the city would need to engage a coastal uh Marine consultant to go ahead and help with design and permitting um we think that could cost about up to $250,000 and um the cost of the actual construction would vary based on what type of structures would be needed such as swim and moing buoys and the Consultants cope of work would need to include construction estimates um for further information for the city commission and staff um we did hold uh a meeting with our fellow departments to understand you know their thoughts because this is such a big project and there are some considerations so enforcement and safety are really important to ensure the success of the park and the safety of the people visiting the park um so Marine control ocean rescue and parks and wreck um all you know sort of had some feedback for us it would be important to have clear boundaries of the park to implement zoning and usage restrictions uh we would have to think about a penalty system for any violations um and there would be some vessel and staffing needs that they asked us to bring forward such as potentially additional vessels and Associated staff for both Marine Patrol and ocean rescue um they indicated they already have a bit of a challenge making sure that voters observe all of the rules um training education will be important for people um visiting the park and for different stakeholders and um for hopefully voluntary compliance we're also recommending that a 5 to 10e plan be part of this that would include maintenance requirements operational costs and and other considerations um things like buoy inspections and repairs so we're just trying to kind of go in with eyes you know wide open uh with with what this what this may um be for the future so just in short the fiscal impact we're looking at Capital project requirements down the road but initially about $250,000 would need to be prioritized within the fiscal year 26 budget process thank you very much so my initial thought is that um we bring this back to the full commission so that we can refer it to the finance committee uh for review um before we take public comments um my colleagues have anything to share when you mentioned enforcement Amy would it be ocean rescue that would have to enforce it or since it's on the Seaside wouldn't it be FWC so um we heard from our Marine Patrol uh division that they would probably be expected to help enforce you know FWC doesn't really have the type of presence that we do locally um they've got very limited stopping you know as you know and then ocean rescue would really be looking at that life safety you know keeping people out there safe people that are out you know snorkeling and Diving and making sure that you know they're they're you know safe and would it are we going to be able to delineate the the area with buoys it would have to be I mean it would be a requirement we would need buoys Waterway markers and all of that would need to be approved from local state and federal agencies what do we exclude fishing like for example spear fishing um I think that would have to be determined yeah that's a good question well we should be able to allow spear fishing of the lion fish if you can leave that in there invas it understood and that has a season right so it wouldn't be year round your round okay commission Gonzalez what a great idea I look forward to snorkeling it when the water's a little warmer being a Florida native this is like a little too cold for me right now but I I love the idea I wonder can't you just piggy back on the reef line and have it adjacent and use their permitting because that's so expensive and so it takes so long right so unfortunately commissioner there's just two completely different projects um Regulatory Agencies respond to what's put in front of them and that is a very different project it's the you know the Sculpture Park and it's it's a lot more advanced in permitting so um it's just a very a very different thing okay well you have my support um public comment anybody in the audience want to speak Madam chair I just want add something yeah commissioner Fernandez I'm particularly excited about this I'm so glad that you're sponsoring this uh I think that this will attract a a new kind of Tourism to our city ecotourism uh and divers who are drawn to these protected areas um and I see this $250,000 as such such a great investment because the return will be so significant uh to to to the city of Miami Beach not just to the city I mean this is going to increase revenues for our businesses for our hotels for our restaurants for for for tour operators and I think one of the key things is that it's going to position Miami Beach as a leader in marine conservation uh and uh and I and I think that that would be such a great way to to set us apart in a at a time when we are trying to to you know really solidify the type of brand we want to have as as a city so commendations to you uh for sponsoring this uh I have met with uh David and Patrick I had gone to the City attorney told them I want to work on this and the City attorney told me oh commissioner Dominguez is is already sponsoring this I wasn't able to to do it um but con congratulations this is going to be transformative and exciting and really positive for our city I'd love for you to co-sponsor I'll be happy to join as a co-sponsor uh David hello everybody thank you for hearing this item and and thank you for your office's really hard work on this um and just to underscore the uniqueness of this South Beach is the busiest iest beach in the United States arguably one of the busiest beaches in the world um and just a few hundred feet from that packed sand of of tourists is some of Florida's nicest Reef um Nearshore swimmable reefs are quite rare in the world there's only a few islands that have that to offer in a few other parts of Florida so it is a very improbable combination that our city has a space like this and just to sort of bring this all back and make this feel much more realistic I know there are a lot of Permitting is really challenging Key West has a similar Marine Park um near um 2000 there was a a part of Key West near Higgs Beach which is also their most popular Beach um some swimmers were killed by a boat so a boat was operating very close to shore um and killed the swimmer um and in response to that the city created a City Marine Park that um encompassed this um coral and some um structures there was an old Pier that had collapsed that was had become a fish habitat and it to this day is an amazing example of Citizen science and an opportunity to bring a lot of people into this Coral World um Florida's reefs are very imperiled right now we've seen a 90% Coral die off um from our Coastal reefs which is which is incredible I mean we're down to 10% of what we used to have um within our lifetimes um and our little spot out here we spent a lot of time all of these people here spent a lot of time diving on it is doing pretty well um it has um critically endangered species throughout it I think no other major city in the United States has as many um endangered species residents as as we can count um I'll really underscore the stagghorn coral that is growing naturally in this space and is thriving um stack on Coral is very temperature sensitive and all stack horn coral essentially off of Florida that is not being planted by a nursery has died um and we have naturally occurring um stack horn that is growing in some of the hottest water so I think that is just a testament to what is out there and that this really could be a template for the future um we've done a lot of homework with Community engagement um we have uh letters of support from mayor Dan Danielle livian Cava um Steve Bova from H Alia Vicky lope representative Vicky Lopez Senator Chevron Jones um surf riter so be safe we've really sort of tried to do the community homework for you all so that this won't be a surprise to anybody so always here for questions and I don't know if anyone else wants to wants wants to speak as well I know brief line is on um um on on on Zoom I know they are very supportive of this as well we have people on Zoom do you want to we have three callers on Zoom we have Katherine Fleming if you could please unmute yourself you have two minutes hi yes um I'm super excited about this project I uh was the vice chair of the reef line and now serve on the Advisory Board and I think we all really want to support this um moving out the swim buoys is something that the refine will also need and um we we're happy to like work together to support this initiative and clearly the refine will go on for many more miles than this this the neon Reef but um I think it's a great thing to start uh in that area with getting more Regulatory booies and and safety thank you thank you hi thank you City commissioners and sustainability office for supporting the establishment of Miami Beach Marine Park I'm Spencer Roberts a marine ecologist studying at the University of Miami Rosen steel Marine Lab and I want to identify three major threats to our Urban Reef that are actionable by the city first this Reef suffers unrelenting fishing damage I typically dive on the jetty where I've seen manes uh Rays Eagle Rays sharks even a mant was spotted two weeks ago but every five I cut fishing lines I figured I wasn't allowed to bring the dozens of hooks I've removed so instead I made a 90-second video documenting some of the fishing gear I've taken off the reef in the last year I tagged you in it commissioner Laura please give it a watch if you haven't on Instagram and share it with your colleagues I could go on about the soft corals the um I could go on about the soft corals the seabirds and the countless fish that are killed by this fishing pollution but I want to put it in plain terms this is a drowning Hazard I've been in Tangled underwater I know some of my friends have as well and uh this is the easiest threat to address because it's already illegal there's a dedicated fishing pier on the point and very explicit signage prohibiting walking on the jetty but no enforcement we just need a ranger or a lifeguard stationed at South Point to blow the whistle and enforce existing public safety laws I've seen them do it across the cut at Virginia key we can do it here next this Reef faces intense vessel traffic in addition to threats from propellers and anchors at the chronic noise pollution just outside the swim buoy line huge class 3 vessels pass directly Over The Reef you can hear them clear down the beach but what you won't see are the coral Lara swimming through the surf listening for the sounds of an ecosystem noise pollution impaires everything from Coral recruitment to the embryonic development of damsel fish eggs simply setting back the buoys to expand the swim Zone would have a great impact to not only improve Public Access but could also help heal this Reef lastly is the looming threat of dredging just 10 years ago o half a million Coral colonies were buried during the last deepening of the Port of Miami and this just sort of underscores the need to have this Marine Park recognized all the way to the federal level so we can prevent that kind of thing from happening again thanks thank you Spencer anybody else on Zoom Daniel Caldo if you can please unmute yourself you have two minutes thank you yes thank you so much Daniel Faldo with Miami Design preservation League we are supportive of exploring this concept further and um I know as far as our Deco district the different activations that we've supported like whether it's more Muscle Beach Fitness whether it's uh more events of the art Deca welcome center and lumus park outdoor exhibits this seems to go very much in line with expanding the programming available to visitors and residents and we think it's um could be a great addition to the Cultural District so we're looking forward to collaborating further with the group and the city thank you thank you Patrick hello everyone U Patrick bik uh thank you madam chair and Commissioners for being supportive of this item and thank you Amy for all your work on on this and figuring out the details that we have um and like Spencer mentioned uh and Dave mentioned too this isn't about like preventing any sort of fishing or boating this is about just making it safer for everyone to do those activities in different zones so you know the swimmers and snorklers and paddleboarders can enjoy the reef we have a multi-million dollar fishing Feer that people can sell fish off of and people can still vote they'll just vote you know a little further out from Shore so that there's everyone's able to do this safely we were just uh diving uh this weekend during art week we walked out in between scope and Untitled and you know had all people asking us oh what are you guys doing out there and nobody you know more and more people are starting to realize this beautiful natural asset that we have out there but everyone is so surprised that we have you know this amazing Reef with tropical fish endangered species right in our backyard and we're excited to celebrate that with everyone and make it a protected Zone um you know and and the Beautiful Thing is the reef is there yes we'll we'll have to get um Consultants to help with the permitting but the largely um what we're asking for is to protect something that's already there not a huge investment from that perspective we talked to the um team that manages this in Key West and they said it's about for their Zone replacing the buoys every year is about $800 so really minuscule um and a template for us to look to um for celebrating a Sim similar um asset and you talked to one scientist who was already here from um talking about this Reef we've worked with other scientists from um that are going out there on a weekly basis now that they know about this and doing research right in our backyard and we think there's opportunities for you know schools to do little little field trips out there like they do in KY West and so we can really use this as a Community Asset we're also working on documentary the footage right now of Ocean Drive next to the reef looks amazing and we're really excited to share that with you and really quick Spencer's wife made some little stickers I'd love to share them with you guys if if you if You' be willing to so they protect so hi thank you madam chair and Commissioners um it's a pleasure to be here today and thank you for all the support for this thanks initiative um I'm just an advocate and a diver here in Miami Beach and I actually lived in the Florida Keys two years prior to this and had a huge passion for the ocean and when I started dating uh diving with David and Patrick right here on Miami Beach I was blown away just by the diversity of reef life out there um as I mentioned I've been diving in the keys for two years and I've seen incredible life out there and I cannot believe that we have what we have in our backyard here um it also serves as a nursery for the ocean so what we have out there there's incredible Coral I brought some marine biologists down from the keys I said guys you got to come see this they're like there's nothing there and I was like We'll come see it and they Dove it and they were blown away and they were like this is worth protecting not only just because of what we have but because it feeds the rest of the ocean again these are nurseries to our fishermen to every activity that's out there in the ocean it's an ecosystem worth protecting so just I know I've sent you all pictures and videos I'll continue to do that to share just the incredible beauty that's out there and I'll leave you with one thing two Dives ago um I was sort of exploring up by 10th Street um and a beautiful loggerhead turtle encounter happened and a loggerhead is probably like it's just massive and it's an endangered species and as I was reading about this um I think that she was maybe looking for a place to lay her eggs and so it's just a critical ecosystem out there beautiful large marine life um and it's worth protecting thank you thank you anybody else on Zoom we have two more callers on Zoom John H if you could please unmute yourself you have two minutes sure thank you commission or committee thank you for taking this up um I know Kate Fleming from refline already spoke I also wanted to add also on behalf of refline our strong support for this Marine Park and marine conservation area I I Echo the comments that the commission has heard from many other speakers here um the first installation of refine will sit directly within the pros Marine Park and will fill a gap in the in the natural re system that runs along the coast to me as a life I I've been diving all my life and it's just I think this discovery by David and Patrick of this healthy Reef um that that's you know driving right off our Shoreline is such an amazing resource that that needs to be protected and um you know the the the the condition of the reef it's really such a great resource for uh every our residents tourists uh everyone to to to really enjoy and something that really protect uh and the extension of the vessel exclusion Zone will enhance safety for swimmers and snorkelers off the coast for exploration of the natural reefs as well as the reef line structures that will complement those natural reefs so it's truly a win-win situation it promotes ecotourism it enhances the marine environment it promotes Marine bi biological diversity and enhances Coastal resiliency repl strongly supports the project thank you and if Caren Monty if you could please unmute yourself you have two minutes you are still muted you're you are muted if you could just unmute yourself okay um I don't think I can move it can I make a suggestion yes um yeah know this is going to be a um this is just going to be a great Landmark for for our city and a point of Pride for Miami Beach I suggest that as this goes back to commission for staff to see potential grants that could support the establishment of the Marine Park I I I have to be confident whether it be uh federal or state grants or whether it be private nonprofits or even corporate grants uh this aligns uh with I believe a lot of funding that could be out there and I'm sure that would challenge us to to uh see how we could cover those $250,000 because I I feel very confident that there are dollars out there that could help us fund this Madam shair if I could just one comment uh congrats so exciting and and while this uh goes through the process I think it'd be great if uh we could liaz and work with our marketing team to uh because this is something we're all proud of our city and I was thinking the same thing along the lines of uh even from the corporate side when you mentioned all the wear and tear that that gets in the port uh I'm happy uh or any other of us uh especially the sponsor of this uh the prime sponsor to help maybe leads with some of the cruise ship industries that are based here in Miami Beach or in Miami um and they you know given the wear and te that they put onto the uh infrastructure there I think it would be absolutely uh great corporate citizenry if uh they would you know help um facilitate this as well so happy to help Le or I'm sure uh number of us are wonderful anybody else on Zoom have two more callers we do need to move on to the next item so we'll take we'll these two callers Nikki Jordan if you could please unmute yourself you have two minutes hi everyone my name is Nikki Jordan thank you committee for supporting this item I'm also a South Beach resident lifelong scuba and free diver and myself and my partner actually moved to South Beach three years ago specifically for diving um and to continue diving and to fit diving into our life um even more but while I was not aware of this magnificent ecosystem that Patrick and David um have found while moving uh we moved to South Florida and really frequented Palm Beach County Martin County Broward County a lot of the Nearshore reefs up there um obviously after diving you're as one of the Commissioners said very hungry and spend time and spend money and in those other places and we're just so pleased to be able to stay so close and enjoy our our backyard ecosystem and then stay in this area and enjoy um the restaurants and the various um other other companies and businesses here while being able to more frequently dive in this area um so I just have to thank David Patrick for all of your work um and this committee as well for your support of this item it really will continue to encourage um divers to move to this area and frequent this area as tourists and again support um other businesses in the area in the process thank you Tyler Don if you could please unmute yourself you have two minutes I I I think a big issue with what's going on around here is the homeless people in the waters okay if we could and we really need that to stop DJ thank you yeah all right so um will you move the item to go to the full commission for referral to F and with that friendly Amendment at the end yes yes I I moved the item all right uh so I think we're all in favor of this and thank you so much um all of you are amazing for your advocacy and for bringing this to our attention I love it yeah all right so the next item we'll go to is number four item number four is discussed possible amendments to chapter 54 entitled floods article 3 entitled resilience standards for title flood protection to enhance enforcement mechanisms for public safety quality and life this was sponsored by commissioner Fernandez and co-sponsored by commissioner dominga okay uh so commissioner let's see I will let commissioner Fernandez Take the Lead here because I know that he's um been a proponent of keeping on a timeline and and so up thank you um Madam chair so this is an item that came about uh of a uh publicly advertised Sunshine meeting uh the commissioner Dominguez and myself as well as uh that was attended as well by several of the AIDS of of our colleagues at in the Palm View neighborhood um and the issue came about of tital flooding uh spilling into our public right of ways um the item before us today is um is is how do we address this public safety and quality life uh issue in our in our community and this initiative seeks to enhance enforcement mechanisms specifically for title flooding under chapter 54 of our city code um you know as as we know title flooding is a growing concern it's something that affects us routinely uh especially uh during uh during the fall uh is is especially an issue and God forbid you have a storm lingering somewhere and you have a full moon and all of a sudden roadways can become completely innegable um and you end up having garages flooded and people unable to walk through sidewalks or even at times access their property and so this ordinance uh and and this these measures seek to sure that we're proactively uh tackling uh this Impact Staff has made a number of recommendations uh short-term uh measures such as uh strengthening enforcement of Seawall maintenance exploring temporary flood barriers which by the way were highly successful in my opinion in in Palm View and I want to thank our Public Works the department the director and the assistant director as well as our assistant City Manager David martii Martinez uh for for deploying and I I didn't I meant to say Martinez I'm sorry leave it to me to mess up a name um for deploying those those temporary flood barriers um you know part of the short-term uh recommendations include improving coordination between our city departments which is also important uh but one of the key things that I think is important is the repair of sea walls of negligent property owners who are not correcting the damages on their sea walls and that's what's causing this flooding in our public right of right of ways so I strongly feel we need to be exp exploring policies and I'm going to recognize uh our chief resiliency officer but what policies uh can the city be adopting to step in and repair private sea walls that are causing these uh public nuisances uh and what abilities could we potentially have to recover these costs uh whether it be through leans or other mechanisms because we do have to find a way to solve this Beyond just issuing violations we need true repairs and when the private property owner is negligent and doesn't do it we need to step in to uphold the safety and the quality of life of our residents thank you madam thank you thank you so much and um this item before uh we acknowledge our chief brazilan officer I do want to mention that um a couple years back commissioner Mark samin had sponsored the private property adaptation program and that was where a private property can apply for a matching Grant to receive up to $20,000 if they did resilient measures in their homes um the main idea was for people to get their uh seaw walls uh done and last night I attended phase two of the private property adaptation program which Amy noes and her team kicked off and it was amazing I mean the hard work that our city has put into this program so that uh private properties can get help while making their homes more resilient um so that's what I think of when I see this particular item but I do want to recognize um Amy NES well thank you both um Madam chair and commissioner it's an excellent item you know and I was part of the ordinance when it was first developed back in 2020 and um even I think in 2016 we had a resolution to establish minimum height standards which was really important we were one of the first cities to do that but it's definitely time to do some tweaks I do want to mention that one of the homeowners that came last night he said the reason he was able to convince his Condo Association that it's time to do the seawall was because of the private property adaptation program um however he then got a violation from us during this year's King Tides um you know I personally go on the police boat with our code team to take a look at what's happening from the water side and he said because he had that letter he was further able to say okay not only do we have this opportunity and we were selected but we have to fix this we now have a warning violation so we do have always room for improvement but we do have a lot of things that we are doing um that we are doing right so this item was really thoroughly discussed um at the November 25th land use and sustainability committee meeting so I don't necessarily want to review all of those items um but we had some really good action items that we are working on and I'm I'm happy to address other things as well um what we're working on as staff is to bring back policy language actual recommendations to the ordinance to the land use Committee in January and we would be doing things such as requiring within six months that the property owner would have their applications in to the permitting agencies um such as durm and our city so they they can prove that they're working on this so we don't have such a long time delay um we are working on a one pager to make sure we're getting a lot of information to uh through our code team to make sure people understand the next steps people get a little scared when they think about seaw walls it's a huge Capital expense and it's a long process so we are working um on that um and we also do send letters to Property Owners um annually last year we did it to to give them some good information make them aware of the grant program and they can even have a link to um a a lar survey that our Public Works team did so they can see what their elevation is and we're I think one of the only cities that have that which is which is a really good feature for them so they can be educated um so uh at this point we're also going to be meeting with the attorney's office to think about what do we do when people don't fix uh the seaw walls it's a it's a concern because it's a huge financial liability and there's private property light rights so um really the purpose is to see what can we do how do we work through those issues and perhaps we would be one of the first cities that that could do something like that a lot of considerations there Madam chair commissioner Fernandez thank you Amy and thank you for your hard work uh in this in this situation um you know one of the one of the issues that we frequently encounter with seaw walls are you know crack repairs footer in installations rip wrap replacement stuff that might need to be get that might need to get done but it's not necessarily jeopardizing the structural Integrity of the wall are we looking at doing any amendments to chapter 24 to include any exceptions of Permitting requirements uh so that so that these repairs can get done solve the nuisance to the neighborhood without delaying through bureaucracy and red tape the process of these mitigation efforts sure um we are the structural Integrity of the seaw walls is really important um even not considering the the height and there are situations where our team has seen applications where people want to do simple repairs they might have cracking and it's triggering the seawall ordinance making them bring it up to you know 5.7 navd and that's the problem that's a that's a challenge because we don't want seaw walls just crumbling into biscan Bay that's causing pollution that's causing you know biscan Bay water quality issues it's not safe so we are recommending and we'll bring back language on that as well that if there are smaller smaller repairs let's let people get those done but where they're larger repairs and it's an opportunity and it triggers a certain Financial threshold we're going to be requiring additional information to really understand you know what the cost is and you know if it's triggered to come up to the next level and and Madam chair um if if perhaps before this comes back to land use if we could be ready to speak specifically those amendments on the minor repairs that that could be allowed to take place without triggering um you know the seaw wall to be raised to a minimum elevation um because that's what becomes more onor that's what becomes more costly and then gets in the way of us being able to address a problem so we could figure out a way that they could fix cracks or do the footer installation or you know whatever needs to be done with a rip raft without having to raise the actual elevation is something that I think could streamline the process and save cost to our property owners thank you thank you Amy wonderful well I think we can close this item here in this committee I just want wanted it heard um to really highlight the private property adaptation and as a reminder to everybody that it's there and um thank you so much Amy for all of your hard work on this you have been amazing and I really appreciate it thank you it's my pleasure thank you okay so we'll close this item and then we'll go to number two item number two is discussed timeline for construction of Miami Beach Convention Center headquarter Hotel anticipated opening date this was sponsored by commissioner Dominguez and Coast sponsored by commissioner Fernand thank you so um the reason why I wanted to bring this uh item up and discuss it is I um am on the board of the Greater Miami convention and visitors bureau and their concern is that uh okay the developer has the tools that they need and now um when is he going to break ground is it going to be first like we want exact info and dates and we're going going to hold them accountable because we can't have this delayed any further we're really missing out not having it up and running understood hi my name is IET Batista hi I'm a project manager at Tera we also have on the zoom call Ali Khan morali he's the CFO of turnbury terara and turnbury we have a joint venture and we are the developers of the hotel um we are as you all aware we're working very diligently on securing the finance for the hotel and uh we we currently targeting to take possession in early February we had shared a timeline as part of the memo our objective has not changed to date our objective is to begin test files in February and Construction in March and have the hotel open in 2027 we are in the process of doing due diligence and they um AK we have AK on the line and he can provide more details on the financing process um by when do you anticipate to have your financing secured now that you have the commitments uh from the RDA the grant agreement uh which was key to uh to the financing uh by when do you anticipate what is the deadline to have the financing secure because that I would imagine um it's going to be dictating the construction process right so our Target is is February for the financing mhm okay I if somebody can make sure that so that means the site possession the final site possession the long closing the long closing will be in February yeah okay there are nuances that can impact the process through due diligence with the lenders it's a reality but we will keep you Comm you know informed of the progress we have Ali KH um from Tera and Turnberry with their hand raised Ali if you could please unmute yourself happy to do so and sorry sorry not to be there sorry not to be there with everybody today uh and I apologize I'm on a job site today so there's a little bit of background noise uh per perest discussions were moving very very expeditiously to round out the capital stack on this project as she mentioned Our intention is to take possession in February the construction financing will need to close simultaneously with the bond financing on the grant side and so we are we are out to Market on on selling and marketing bonds um in the next week or two with regards to U monetizing the grant funding that has been provided from the county side and through the RDA so a March closing is our Target date it may be middle to end of March subject to all going going as planned we've got tremendous activity in the markets from the lender side uh we're talking to large institutional groups group on the mortgage financing um and have lined up all the balance of our Capital stack and Agreements are in place so but for these holidays that are coming up our team has worked non-stop through Thanksgiving to get documents and materials tied up we're actively meeting with lenders now and we have several meetings set up in the second week of January in Miami to finalize terms moving to loan documents and that'll take probably 60 days to close subject to those documents going going well and things things moving as intended fully Comm okay so if I may through through through the chair what I'm hearing then is that we're not going to have finalized construction loan or Bond financing terms in December as we were told it's now going to be January and we're not going to be having construction uh begin in March it seems like everything is delayed about a month Al Ali um Mar March is our date to start construction um and we as we start as we close in everything we would start construction immediately you'll recall you'll recall that when the county approved the grant they had the condition about the execution of an easement with the pedestrian bridge right as you know or you may not know we finalized that actually last week December 12th um and as we as we fin as we finalized as documents yesterday we've unfortunately missed a December deadline on our Public Finance Authority meetings on the on the on the bond financing so that's caused a twoe delay in our timeline given given holiday period but March is still a realistic day lenders are fully engaged we're continuing to push relationships throughout every facet of this to make sure we hit that deadline thank you uh commissioner Fernandez so our next uh public safety meeting is January 29th would you like this uh continue to January 29th or go to the full commission for February 3rd I I think it' be great for it to come back here in January so we can know where they are and you know finalizing their their loan documents and making sure that they're still on track uh with positive progress thank you EV appreciate you being here thank you have a good one next item number eight item number eight is discuss ensuring public parks golf courses and other facilities are available to public in some capacity at all times and this was sponsored by commissioner Fernandez commissioner thank you madam chair so excited to be here today so many items on the on on the agenda um so this is an item I placed on the agenda um you know whether it be public parks golf courses recreational facilities these are public properties uh whether they are PR privately managed or not and they private and their public properties to offer opportunities for our residents to exercise to engage in social activity uh to contribute to the quality of life of our of our residents and I want to make sure that these spaces are always available uh to our residents um and ultimately you know the golf course the the golf course is intended to be a public space it's not a private golf club and I'm concerned uh that there has been times that private activities have been have been engaging the golf course that have completely eliminated the Public's ability to use the public golf course now we have a private golf course in Miami Beach and is a membership only golf course and and you know perhaps it's easier to accommodate those types of of you know large events there but I want to make sure that even when there is a complete buyout of the golf course that there is the opportunity for the public to have areas where the public can use uh the golf course whether it be the drive the drive is it called the driving range that's correct the driving range or different areas but you know even at a time when there is a so-called buyout that the buyout does not push out the Public's ability to to use uh this uh public golf course I'd like to recognize uh our parks department uh to tell us what can be done about this good morning Jose del Risco with the Parks and Recreation Department thank you commissioner uh so you know we we you know uh hold our in very high regard the public access to our facilities we work very diligently with um our staff members and with our contracted um you know Partners to ensure that the public has access to these facilities um golf is a little bit uh different to you know our our typical parks and recreational amenities um you know historically the direction given by the commission and you know um through the administration is that Miami Beach Golf Club uh would serve not only as a public golf course but also an economic driver for Miami Beach um the golf course was renovated uh to its current condition Circa 2003 uh and subsequently in Circa 2009 the renovations took place at Nory shes golf club and the intention was um to provide that additional access to the public when Miami Beach is closed for either you know full buyouts or restricted events you know um and sometimes events do take place for security reasons you know we've had let's say former presidents play at Miami Beach Golf Club you know we've had um some high level you know Charities through you know some of our local celebrities that happen to be Miami Beach residents um and for security reasons they do close uh certain areas um including let's say the driving range Etc uh what we always always do is we accommodate that play uh over at Normandy Shores Golf Club um so what we do uh and work very closely uh with our team is to ensure that there's always the availability either at one course or the other um I will say though that uh total buyouts are not very frequent for example we've only done two in fiscal year 24 at Miami Beach Golf Club um you know they they typically last uh between 1 to three days um but they they they are economic drivers they did you know uh put you know uh heads and beds Etc um so we do try to accommodate as much as we can that public play you know um it's a balancing act we have uh 225 members uh most of which 95% are residents at Miami Beach 175 in Normandy Shores uh and so between the members between public Play Between You Know tournaments and outings Etc corporate type events um we certainly try to always you know balance it out so that you know you and I could say hey let's go play and get a tea time tomorrow at Miami Beach I just would like to encourage uh the operator uh to be very mindful that it is a public space it's not a private space it's not a privately uh owned facility unlike the unlike the Lor Country Club which is privately owned and and managed the public should always maintain a certain ability to use uh the public space uh there and and and I just also like like to finish stating um you know I also want to make sure that in the nighttime hours I have been as of recently been getting complaints which I think have been addressed by staff about residents after golfing has ended residents you know whether they're jogging or you know just walking through the park and all that they're being kicked out and I heard of one situation of a resident who got fined uh for being uh uh in in public space you know at night and this is in the middle of a residential neighborhood um and so I you know this is the Public's property agree and uh and I don't want our residents to feel like you know a public space is slowly being being converted into an exclusive private space where they're where they don't feel welcomed where they're being kicked out or at worse being fined uh because that will create big problems uh with me uh and uh and I will challenge that in any way I can commissioner you you Echo our words we are I know I know you guys have been great you guys have been great and I and I thank you Jose for being here and uh and so I just I needed to put that publicly because you know over the past couple of months this is a new thing uh that has happened then all of a sudden I got a phone call from the Bayer homeowners association about this I got uh phone calls from residents about this and then I got a text message about a resident uh getting fined uh for for for being in in the golf course so it's just something I want us to be mindful of so thank you madam chair thank you so much um and thank you Jose I really appreciate that so we'll close this item and we will thank you move to commissioner bot's item and she is on Zoom uh number nine item number nine is is discuss take action activating the underutilized space in Alto Delmar Park and this was sponsored by commissioner B who is on Zoom commissioner bod uh would you like to te this up she just fell out she's on she's just been promoted as a panelist so give her one second to connect hi can you hear me yes hi uh I'm sorry I had hoped to to be with you there in person but today is Friday the 13th and unfortunately it is manifesting itself in my apartment as we speak so thank you for your forbearance on this um so alos Delmar Park is this beautiful Green Space um along the the beachwalk in North Beach um there's a fabulous playground that is highly utilized there if you don't know it I encourage you to come by um it is just before the NorthShore open space Park um and it is um a A really lovely Green Space that is wildly underutilized uh some of you may remember that earlier this year we had a terrific um Earth Day event up there put together by our city management team and uh the sustainable uh group sustainability group and it's really terrific and it seems like it is um under to use the word again underutilized in in more meaningful ways as well as a one-day popup um we have a uh it was built to incorporate sort of a lowkey Ampitheater where events could be staged um we have an opportunity to um install some uh Gallery display pieces sort of the way the um lemus Park is hosting the um the historical display about the beach during World War II as a training ground and I would like our uh our staff to talk about how we can engage and activate this this Park part of our Park system in ways that will provide benefit to North Beach residents to visitors we increasingly see um folks coming to Miami Beach and choosing to stay in North Beach because it's a different vibe from South Beach and we want to give them some of the benefit of of uh utilizing that space as well so um I will Tee It Up or I will turn it over rather to our colleagues thank you uh commission M I appreciate that I know the last few years I've attended Turtle Fest there and it's such a beautiful space I'd love to hear from our parks department Cindy kasanova good morning uh chair and Committee Member Cindy Casanova assistant director for the parks department of the city of Miami Beach I'm also joined by leet arogant the director of the tourism and culture Department uh the parks department is very supportive of POS positive activations in Al tolstar Park as the commissioner said it is a beautiful park it is an underutilized park it is probably one of the best kept secret parks in North Beach so we are very supportive of um activating that space um we are supportive of some of the recommendations and initiatives that have come out of committee and commission such as the artist recycling program and um artist temporary displays in the park and Exhibits similar in nature to what we have at Lumis park right now with the world war to exhibit and what is going into Britney Bay Park with the women's exhibit so we are supportive of activations of those types in addition to providing familyfriendly and health and wellness initiatives in the park we've explored some ideas of Hosting um more of our Parks and Recreation events in that Parks things like a a doggy Festival doggy paloa kite festivals um Fantasy Theater activations in the Parks and movies in the Parks um we did host our uh fire on the fourth event this past July 4th in the park and it was the first time that it was hosted at alar Park and it was met with overwhelming positive Community um feedback so it was a great space to host the event and we're looking forward to hosting more of those events in that type in that Park um we are also working on some health and wealth Wellness initiatives um with a beach tennis provider that has been looking for space to do a popup activation as we do have some sand volleyball courts that could be converted into tennis Beach tennis um spots and we're working with this provider to provide a really cool beach tennis um activation in that Park and in that um volleyball space as well so we do have ideas for what we can do there we're excited about what we can do there and I'm going to turn it over to my colleague LTE for um any ideas on her end from the tourism and culture side uh thank you Cindy before you speak I think commissioner Rosen Gonzalez has a question why not like a padel court there or pickle ball or something like that the park itself doesn't have the infrastructure for something like that I mean something we can definitely look at um cuz I feel like people really you know love it pickle ball all of our courts are full right and we don't have any in North Beach do we pickle ball court in in the North End we have um some courts over at the Miami Beach Tennis Center um and we have some of the Dual use dual use Courts at some of our other neighborhood parks um and I believe there's a private operator who's put in some pedel courts um on Normandy Drive oh well so we and I'm sorry I was just going to add that we at commission yesterday or two days ago discussed that um we would include some pickle ball ports in the 72nd Street complex on the top most floor of the parking structure that can be converted to parking as needed okay sorry no no worries um and also just a reminder we do hold fire on the fourth there and any courts would kind of impede us activating that um when as it comes as it pertains to the temporary art element of this item um staff followed up with the village Village of Al Harbor what they do is that they partner with a commercial art gallery to let them use public space um we kind of looked at maybe partnering with one of our cultural anchors or institutions we met with the bass with the bonian they did not uh have the capacity right now to partner on a potential art installation at Alto Zar so we took it a little bit further we reached out to FIU Mii Beach Urban Studios they actually were very excited very receptive we had a really great conversation of how we can engage FIU sculpture department and have their students exhibit works on a temporary basis after each semester uh this would potentially can happen starting fall winter 2025 we would need to then obviously identify funding which we could do through the fiscal year uh 26 budget process funding would be more to secure maybe transportational sculptures any insurance or any costs but that's what we would like to propose as far as adding any additional temporary elements of Art in the Park wonderful thank you uh so commissioner bot what would you like to do with your item um thank you so one other thing we can explore possibly uh this that we have a worldclass uh private Gallery um in North Beach on Norm and they were the Talk of the Town at Art basil last year one of the most photographed pieces was um was uh from from the Jupiter uh gallery and this year again they had a tremendously robust program I would suggest we might also want to work uh reach out with that to I can't even speak this morning reach out to them to see if they might have have any interest um I know also that the Fountain Head residency did a collaboration with um with bal Harbor in the past and they always have young emerging local in some case artists and they might be um uh a good partner for us in this as well as ulite Arts um you know we we miss them being on Lincoln Road maybe it's a way to bring them back to to North Beach so I would just encourage us to uh pursue those Avenues as well I would like to continue this to I don't know how much time the team needs to present a a you know a definite plan of what's going to happen when um so maybe continue to February and and and see what needs you know what's being proposed and then figure out how to get it funded and and get the process going if that's amendable to my colleagues that sounds fine Stephanie what is the date of the February meeting our February meeting right now I believe it is tentatively for the 12th yes so let's bring this back February 12th thank you okay item number 10 item number 10 is discuss the implementation of a blue light safety and emergency Communication System along the beachwalk and Baywalk this item is sponsored by vice mayor bot and co-sponsored by commissioner magazine commissioner bot um so this is these are the it the devices that many of us may be familiar with from um college campuses and other sort of um campus like institutions they are Standalone poles that have blue light and Telecommunications facilities built into them and I know that in many cases everyone has the cell phone um and can can use it that way but there are other times where you might be out for a run or for a bike ride and you don't have a cell phone with you or it gets knocked away from you or you know cell phones are not the cure to everything um I think this would do a lot to um let everybody know that you know we've got a robust public safety program in place more so than than U they might be thinking of and U provide yet another opportunity for people to get help immediately and be located sometimes you're not sure where you are on the beachwalk because there isn't signage at every um block although we're we're fixing that or or you're between uh Street endings and uh you're not quite sure which streets you're between um so I'll turn this over to my colleagues at the police department to talk about this uh a bit more my vision is to do a pilot program um up in again in North Beach where um there are long stretches of uh sort of uninhabited areas with the NorthShore open space Park um a a section in South Beach where the police department could determine there there are the most calls for service and then a section um in mid Beach where uh some of those blocks get get long uh but I'll turn it over to our colleagues at the police department hi good morning good morning Madam chair Commissioners and staff uh major Eric Garcia police Technical Services Division uh so we conducted some initial Research into call boxes my understanding and speaking with the fire chief that they do operate some call boxes today um South Park I believe um there are some maintenance issues um that come up uh because they're out exposed to the elements um and there's uh also a concern regarding uh how frequently the testing needs to happen um aside from that um we've we found that there's a uh an ex a problem with uh false alarms on these uh call boxes uh we're concerned that um one article that we found uh from uh New York reported that up to 88% of the call box activations are false alarms so obviously we're concerned about that on the positive side um they obviously uh provide a sense of security and reassurance um potentially deter criminal activity and provide immediate assistance as commissioner bot said uh for someone who does not have a cell phone or uh needs immediate assistance um environmentally we're we have to take into consideration a flashing Beacon that's one of the things that uh that we may have some restrictions on based on um our environmental uh issues with Turtle season so we have to look at the any potential issues that we may have with that um the memo uh the memo includes some options that we' have uh discovered there's freestanding options there's wall mount there's surface mount there's pedestal Mount options um there's uh different types of um accessories that we can that can be added to call boxes including uh not only the beacon lights but also uh handsets cameras and we actually found one that includes a defibrillator so all of these are things that we have to that are for your consideration um there's uh concerns about power how we would power these um they can be powered through uh three different methods that we've discovered normal 110 volt uh they can be powered by solar uh panels and they can be powered by power over ethernet um there's also options for communications they can be they can communicate via cell cell phone they can communicate via normal landline and they can communicate uh via internet IP networking so the price as you can imagine varies greatly depending on what options are chosen um but we found that from the base basic basic models uh go from approximately $2,000 and can go up to $10,000 or more for each device based on the options chosen so uh we're here today to uh get some further guidance from the committee whatever uh whatever uh you guys decide we want me to dig deeper into look into we can provide some kind of uh more accurate Financial quote on on what it would cost to conduct a pilot um just as you all know we have 87 blocks of beachwalk uh Baywalk uh also uh not 87 blocks but a significant amount of Baywalk so whatever uh the limitation ation of the pilot are um we will bring back uh something that financially Falls within the amount that you guys would like to see and fire chief is here Chief how are you uh fire chief te so yeah we do have um four call boxes at the fire stations that's where we primarily um have them as a backup line which would go coincide with should anyone come to a fire station or the fire trucks are not there for whatever reason they press the button it's an automatic call to the 911 Center and as far as the maintenance what what we do is on every Sunday we do a call down to every fire station make sure it's working and all the elements haven't impacted when it does get impact we have to call the vendor to come out and fix it and it can be very labor intensive if that's something that's expected from firesight as far as our infrastructure and how it's connected to us with the 911 um it's already set up to work as it's intended so we just asked that someone handles and they would have to handle call each one independently on a weekly basis as per statute to ensure that it's working properly uh commissioner Suarez thank you m VI thank you madam chair what was the percentage again of the we found an article that reported from City from New York that said 88% of the calls from call boxes were false alarms now that's not saying that 88% of calls were false alarms but 88% of calls from call boxes were false were there any stats on how effective it was for the non what about the 12% the article did not reference those those are obviously actual calls for service so how how far how spread out would these call boxes be it just depends on how much money you want to spend commissioner um yeah they can be placed as close or as far apart as as you determine would be necessary some of my thoughts are you know I then by the way do we have do we have cameras on police cameras on the boardwalk yes the the beachwalk bew has current cameras on it and we're expanding as we go it's not fully covered yet but every section of the beachwalk from about Third Street to 87th is funded and in under construction and when we have our realtime crime Center that's going up are there's going to be a live person looking at those cameras there will be a live person most times of the day um uh but their job is not necessarily to be looking at beachwalk cameras full-time they're going to be operating as a uh to provide assistance to Police Operations whether that be 911 calls that are in other parts of the city or or on the beachwalk yeah I I have a little concerns about this idea I mean I I think you know it it it is going to be very expensive I think it's not going to be cheap and i' I would rather spend that money on more police who are dedicated for Beach Walk um and you know they Patrol on bicycles for example up and down the beachwalk I I think that'd be a lot more proactive than a call box that has you know a lot of 88% false positives I'd rather have an actual officer with with a firearm next to him God forbid he needs to use it um than having a a box every block away it's I know it seems a little too much I'd like to see what my other colleagues think about it uh well commissioner I felt the same way and um I did initial research and a lot of universities are even moving away from these types of things because of all of the false positives um but uh respectfully I'd like to hear from the sponsor of the item to see what she wants to do next with it or the co-sponsor commissioner magazine hopefully uh commissioner Bach can jump back on but while I think it's a good idea still think it's a good idea I'm not going to go against if uh the professionals that do this day in day out are making a recommendation especially with some of the other um Tools in our toolkit that will be coming online with the Manning of the real-time data center the cameras and things like that um it does give a good sense of security now whether that's worth the bang for the buck I'm going to put that in the hands of the experts is there a e is there an economic analysis I mean how much is each box so uh commissioner uh it depends on how many features we add to it um uh solar panels um Beacon lights uh cell phone Communications uh an AED defibrillator all those add up to make uh and also depending on the style that is what's the rollsroyce of a call boox they can go up to $10,000 each or above depending on options and and what this is preconstruction cost not including construction costs so so the recommendation I was just looking it up online the recommendation is about every 500 feet every um light pool is every 500 feet and how many miles or how many or 8. eight linear miles and 1 I'm s I'm assuming it won't be the whole beachwalk but there's certain sections like in mid Beach right I know that's a lot of money should we move it to the full commission so that we can refer to finance and get more details on costs and then make the final decision there yeah commissioner magazine sure commiss can I jump in okay um I I would actually like to um continue this till next month and you know we're getting an overview we don't have any um recommendation at this point there are too many variables and I would prefer to um have a month to work with our colleagues and identify how many we would be considering doing for a pilot program where obviously not talking about putting one every 500 ft until until and unless we determine if it's um useful I'm also not sure that New York and and Miami Beach are going to yield the same equivalent number of false positives I'd like to have a more in-depth conversation with our colleagues about that so before we move it out of this committee I'd like to have another um uh bite at the Apple to try to um get a more defined proposal rather than something that this nebulous I understand that there are reservations I understand that it could get very expensive but I'd like to um to not finish this conversation just yet we'll continue to January 29th thank you so much and now number 11 okay item number 11 is discuss expanding the capabilities of Public Safety communication divisions to support cause regarding suspected human trafficking in the city of Miami Beach this was sponsored by commissioner Fernandez and co-sponsored by commissioner Dominguez commissioner Fernandez thank you madam chair um and I'm pleased to be sponsoring this item uh with you we both attended a meeting of our um of of our oh my goodness human right Council human rights committee of our human rights committee um that has been very much dedicated uh and focused on addressing the devastating crime of human trafficking and I want to highlight that our city has long been committed to ensuring the safety and the well-being of residents and visitors uh and we in our Police Department have a dedicated unit specifically on human trafficking I believe I think we might be one of the few municipalities that actually have a dedicated um uh unit on on human trafficking and so while the initial idea of this referral uh proposed establishing a local hotline to address human trafficking reports I want to emphas emphasize that we already have the benefit of having a highly effective and well established source resource for addressing human trafficking through the state attorney's office of human tra trafficking and the and that task force at the state attorney's office has a very successful hline that's established and that um and that doesn't need to be replicated here um this mechanism in fact ensures timely and professional responses and avoids unnecessary duplication of services the true strength of The Proposal that we have on the agenda today lies in training our PSC Personnel the Personnel at the public safety Communications division who answered the 911 calls and the none emergency uh line and by equipping the staff with skills to recognize signs of human trafficking during costs we can enhance uh the safety improve response time and early detection of human trafficking not everyone might have the phone number to the state attorney's office but everyone knows 911 and fortunately here in the city of Miami Beach our residents are very familiar with 305 673 791 our non-emergency number and we want to make sure that we have tailored uh training conducted by our human trafficking unit to ensure that every call into our PSD is handled with the expertise and the urgency that the issues of human trafficking demand so I want to recognize major Steve Feldman from our Miami Beach Police Department I also want to recognize Chief DNA Bello from our fire department who oversees uh the uh the PSC to guide us through this conversation Madam chair good morning thank you good morning Steve Feldon Criminal investigations division uh commissioner I want to thank you for bringing this item because it it helped us identify uh what we had in place and what we want to do um coincidentally um we ran some tests and and you're correct there's a lot of numbers out there uh because this is a very important issue and people want to address it uh but like you stated the uh State Attorney's office has a very robust uh mechanism in place um we like I said we ran some tests and the national hotline could use some help so uh in we just attended on Wednesday the human rights committee uh meeting and and updated them on on this referral um our plan is for uh January well actually we have a meeting next week with the state attorney uh and their human trafficking task force so that we could leverage uh January which is human trafficking uh Awareness Month uh to uh bolster their um hotline number which is 305 fix stock uh and in conjunction with the human rights committee um we're going to be launching a campaign for January in preparation of of uh all the upcoming uh Global events that are coming to to our area and to our city um so with that our human trafficking unit like you stated is one of the only municipalities in the county that has that has it uh we will be training our pscd Personnel um and conducting uh more training to our officers um to be able to combat this this issue in the city and how often will our pscd Personnel be trained on on this is this a one-time training does this need to be a recurring training uh just if you could expand a little bit more so what uh with the human trafficking unit uh and with the help of of the human rights committee uh we are developing a lesson plan to be able to provide to our existing pscd Personnel uh but we're going to work on a training schedule to uh highlight it um uh you know at least we'll come up with a schedule at least an annual training um and specifically during times that we know we're a global destination for example uh Club World Cup is coming uh F1 every year comes uh for the next seven years left for now um and then FIFA World Cup which we do expect to have a lot of people coming into the city okay great and so and so that's great that that was the intended purpose of this of this item and again I want to publicly recognize our state attorney kathern Fernandez rondle uh addressing the issues of human trafficking has truly been a Hallmark of her Public Service uh here in in Miami day County and so there's no need to duplicate what she's already established under under her jurisdiction but certainly the training so that those who do contact 911 or those who contact PSD through the non-emergency number uh can receive the same type uh or or or at least a certain level of expertise from the person that's answering the call uh would you be able to issue us an LTC once these uh trainings have taken place that's great and so Madam chair I think I think the other uh prong on this uh on this item is the establishment of a City website um it's one of the items that are recommended in the in the administrations memo creating a City web page dedicated to raising awareness about human trafficking along with a marketing campaign to promote this this initiative um I don't know that's something that would be done through police or if it's the communication Department your microphone I'm sorry they took your aess away there we'll be working with our partners in the uh information technology department so commissioner to Echo kind of what you said I know that I don't know if you've ever noticed but in at least in the female's bathrooms there's always a little um sign behind the door that says if you are a victim of X you can go back to the table and leave a napkin or your cup a certain way and they've been able to um assist women that have been part of that human trafficking aspect of it on the fire side that's a training it's a it's actually a specialized training that we have to um provide to our paramedics because there's different signs that uh patient will display if they're you know caught in a compromised situation whether it's with a pimp nearby or you know they can't say anything so those are ongoing trainings that they've continued to elaborate on that you know we'll have to partner with police and you know give that to the other members of of the city whether it's cold or something so you can identify that cuz you know my beach is very unique you don't you can look at someone and you won't tell but certain signs are given of course of course and so at at the right time Madam chair I would I would appreciate it if the the committee could entertain uh a motion back to the city commission supporting the training of pscd personnel and the creation of the website and and the marketing campaign and to and to the major and to the chief uh keep us uh especially the commissioner Dominguez and I in in the loop uh especially as you guys engage with the human rights committee you have here two Commissioners who are interested in uh in in continuing to CH champion this this item so just keep us engaged as you engag with the human rights committee so that we're in the loop on it thank you commissioner Rosen Gonzalez um I would like to co-sponsor this item and also there's warning signs right because sometimes I I you know I saw a woman coming out of a nightclub the other day being escorted by a man and she looked like a little slightly inebriated and I said to myself I wonder if she just had too much to drink on her own or somebody slipped something to her so we're follow like when stuff like that happens are we training people to go up and ask some questions or yeah it's they're different signs as far as I know for police and fire um you know because they won't tell you they won't tell you in the back of the rescue truck and there's different ways there's different trainings but you know something a collab that should be considered with the restaurants and the hotels that they should if they they're not doing it maybe they should adopt it whether it's putting those flyers in the Stalls of a bathroom I in the airport says oh if you're this you know and because you don't want to expose it just like when you call 911 and you know you're a victim you say oh can I order a pizza and it goes down that path that oh well we're not a piz and then you kind of like pick it up oh yeah I want dominoes and it ends up being someone that's a victim and in human trafficking you know you could pass something commissioner Fernandez or commissioner Dominguez where our hotels and bars have to offer those drink testers you know and and if you had that you did pass it but is it required we're actually uh that's one of the items that we're still working on um uh one of our lieutenants is is working on that but to your point uh Chief um there out of the human rights committee meeting that we had on Wednesday there is a a code of the city of Mi Beach 18-3 which was passed in 2017 which requires uh additional training and additional Flyers uh to be posted at different businesses that were working with code uh in order to provide that content for the businesses so that they're required to have it those are little business cards for drink testers um I uh passed that after meeting with Chief Clemens on it that's how long ago it was so if we could speed it up and get that done we have some testers that we're looking at and also there I think that we should have some sort of program just letting the girls like seniors at bi that are going off to college just say you know this is happening you could be aware these drink testers exist just so that they know I mean because at this point you know who knows where you're getting the guys are the ones that are getting ripped off the most by the women they're $10,000 my daugh from school in Europe and they're very concerned there because people are actually um going out with a needles onto the dance floor and they're stabbing the girls okay and then taking them um out of the clubs and you know yeah they're just giving them a little injection right there it's so scary yeah Madam chair yes um one of the things I also want to make sure that I don't uh forget it's not just the training of PSC but also of our Patrol Division officers uh because perhaps it might not be evident when someone is calling 911 or non-emergency but the person who is responding giving them the training so that they can identify it as well so whenever the motion that's made of that could be incorporated as well sounds uh good to me um yep chair if I could just for one moment uh want to thank the sponsor for highlighting this all the committee members for supporting this but our Our First Responders I think in recent months uh we've seen uh front and center here in Miami Beach through a number of different incidents that uh human trafficking can take the form of many different things uh whether it be uh drinks out in nightclubs for an unsuspecting uh man or woman or uh people of tremendous power and prestige using their influence and positions of power to uh many different ways up and down the gam I'm not even comfortable uh repeating here so thank you for our city for being focused on this wonderful thank you so much so is there going to be a motion because I can't make a motion uh a motion to uh to support the training of PSC and the Patrol Division officers on on signs uh to identify human trafficking a motion to incorporate the establishment of the city website web page dedicated to human trafficking and the dedicated marketing campaign to P to publicize the initiatives motion yeah so she's moving it um all in favor okay perfect thank you thank you colleagues thank you commissioner uh item number 14 item number 14 is discussed traffic calming measures on Meridian Avenue between 42nd Street and 47th Street including the identifying appropriate areas where these area measures will be implemented this was sponsored by commissioner Fernandez and co-sponsored by commissioner magazine okay commissioner Fernandez thank you madam chair and a few months ago I met with uh neighbors uh from this from this area who requested that we explore the installation of rubber Ice uh speed cushions on Meridian Avenue uh between uh 42nd and 47th Street to reduce the speed of vehicle traffic uh and to increase uh Road Safety uh in the advance of the installation of uh permanent speed tables uh so I see we have on Neal here from our uh transportation department and I'd like to rec uh recognize him to walk us through this item good afternoon thank you uh Mr chair I mean um commissioner Fernandez Madam chair we members on Rodriguez assistant director with the transportation and mobility department as the uh commissioner mentioned a few years back um the city conducted a traffic calming study um in the Nautilus neighborhood that identified different streets where traffic Cy was warranted um one of those streets um that were identified what was Meridian Avenue from 41st Street to 47 Street unfortunately at the time of the construction or the implementation of the traffic study um the property owners that were adjacent to the proposed speed tables were not supportive of them which is why those speed tables were not implemented now what we're looking at at this time is redoing reaching out again to those property owners that were identified uh we went back and looked at uh reanalyze uh the traffic study that was done and we came up with three potential s where um we can be installing the traffic the speed tables we're talking about the speed tables so what the administration is recommending is proceeding with temporary devices rubberized speed cushions and advance of the permanent speed tables um and that way we can go back to the potential affected Property Owners re-engage them and see if there is support um a second time um for these proposed devices and see where we're stand and then that way we can come back and provide you that feedback and find a path forward um for the implementation of the devices thank you O'Neal So currently the the uh speed limit in this area of Meridian Avenue is 25 miles hour is that correct that is correct is there an identified speeding issue the traffic study at the time that identify speeding along maridan Avenue okay and the traffic study then identified that as a result of the speeding these were the locations that we needed in order to uh improve safety that is correct okay um I'm happy for us to be reaching out again but I'll just put it out there you know if something is for safety safety takes precedence above everything else and if there is speeding in areas that are very pedestrian in nature uh where you have kids walking to school or cycling um and other pedestrian activity I think you know that that that takes precedence and um and if there's the ability to do a resolution to proceed with the with the installation of these speed tables that based on the study are needed here to improve safety because of speeding Vehicles I'm I'm happy uh for us to move forward with that resolution that's what's needed so um as part of as you mentioned commissioner as part of the traffic cming process we in order to install a device in front of a property we need concurrence however on dtpw does allow if there is no concurrence or from the affected property owner a resolution can be passed um by the city commission uh in lie of of the opposition so if I don't know if it if it's the will of this committee to make a recommendation to the city commission uh based on the daily traffic volume the 85th percentile speeding uh crash data and complaints received from residents to proceed with a motion recommending to the full City commission um the the installation of the uh of the speed tables uh at the proposed locations uh from the study and staff commissioner magazine um anything to add since you're a co-sponsor no it just that uh I think this is a fantastic measure not only for here but to implement it in multiple areas I know uh we had different but similar discussions on Pine Tree Drive that were going to be continuing so I think anything that we can do to essentially construct or design our roadways that are essentially uh conducive to mitigating traffic it's unrealistic to think every single Hots spot that we get told about well just put more more police it has to be through better urban planning and Urban Design thank you so uh commissioner Vice chair Suarez you moved it yeah all right so all in favor okay and Madam chair just for clarifications moving forward with the temporary proper high speed cushions right because and as opposed to the permanent ones permanent ones yes because the permanent ones are what's going on with the permanent ones the the cost is is a a fact much higher so so as we seek funding for the future we can proceed with the rubberized installation do we own those already or are those going to come at a cost there would be a cost associated with them one speed cushion so every location requires two one for each lane so that's approximately $222,000 um per location so we're talking about three locations um so that would be 66,000 um plus the cost for design that could be roughly um between 12 to 15,000 okay all right and this is what staff has recommended this is what we're recommending yes okay all right this is what staff recommends thank you then I support that okay now we'll go to the last item number 18 last item number 18 is discuss analysis and removal of all Place signage and Road objects that are super fluous potentially as such as digital traffic measure boards cones barricades and other Road signage this was sponsored by commissioner magazine and co-sponsored by commissioner Dominguez and vice mayor commissioner magazine uh thank you for this Madam chair uh it's timely item it always is I just think we need to take better pride in how our city looks how we present ourselves and one place that that just uh screamingly stands out to me is in our roadways uh right here at the end of art basil just driving up and down 17th Street I think we have about three or four different of the uh digital um Billboards or tables and things like that I I guess without going Street by Street by Street Street who is in charge of keeping notice of the inventory of where things are what they're for I brought up on West Avenue a digital speedboard that nobody knew whose Department it was was out there for years for years right we're concerned about the Aesthetics of our city how our city looks and we just live in a constant state of purgatory right and my thought was that that was actually put there because on West Avenue we have a roadway with five Lanes of traffic it's ridiculous right and what people do is you're driving 25 or 30 miles an hour down West Avenue and they just pass you on the turn lane why do we have turn Lanes on West I don't I don't want we'll we'll get further into that but we use oftentimes I think some of this signage as a stop Gap measure to sit there and actually uh provide barriers to our traffic and things like that so if you could just talk about like what the programming and the plan is and who manages this there are signs out there for our basil I said uh you know last week I go I'll take a bet how many years that'll be out there you know it's just turned sideways so turn it over to you who's managing that how does the inventory of this go who decides where they go more importantly who decides when and where they're removed from um and maybe if you can just give us an overview of who is keeping keep track of this and how we can do a better job because this is very important to the Aesthetics of our city well I could um good afternoon um Rodriguez with a transportation and mobility department I can speak on the verw message boards that you referenced commissioner on 17th Street that was part of the the plan that was deployed on during art week um we currently have on throughout the city a strategic loc we have approximately 27 variable message ports um that some of them have even cameras temporary cameras where we can observe the traffic conditions that we have in our city those 17 those 27 trailers are utilized to disseminate um traffic messages as they arise throughout the city for example if the Julio Toto in the westm direction there's an accident that is closing multiple Lanes we program all those 27 vmss throughout our city letting the drivers know that Julia Toto is closed so those are the 27 that we have on our inventory throughout the city now as part of the transportation plan that was put in place during art week we added additional vmss um for that specifically in the convention center campus um to some of them to find parking um availability um Al also letting people know for example Convention Center Drive the west side was two lanes converted to a two lane so letting them know more messages tailor to the event that was taking place those we do have the inventory those temporary that were brought in for art week my understanding is that they have already been removed from mer City now there's some that are also installed right now on 17 Street in the westbound Direction but that is part of the closures that are currently in place for example West Avenue so some of those bms's do needs to stay because we're part of the overall MLT uh that is throughout our city understand and without going uh board by board through 27 of those I ask and I urge that we can do a better job and have a justification for every single one I don't want to keep going back to this example on West Avenue but was there for years years and years and it was for no other reason no reason right it wasn't to display messages it wasn't for changing traffic pattern that portion of West Avenue had already been done uh they are aesthetically very unpleasing to the eye and while I understand the need for some I don't want to get into a habit and it seems as if we have support for that for just having these out there in purgatory for no specific Rhyme or Reason if they are into you know uh very important and needed because they're alerting of uh construction ahead um but I saw one I don't know if we managed this on the MacArthur Causeway saying uh Miami Beach ahead okay yeah I think if you're heading over the causeway uh eastbound towards Miami Beach you know that and if not you don't need a digital Message Board because uh every single sign already indicates that um so you know upholding safety standards yes uh of the utmost importance but let's really try and uh get on top of the management of these and not just have these hang in purgatory I agree 100% um what would you like to do with this item uh maybe deputy chief wanted to chime in hi morning everyone Madame chair Commissioners I just wanted to chime in on um some of these trailers out there some of them are speed trailers um deployed out there on behalf of the police department one to measure speed um we typically do that at two weeks intervals to kind of get an assessment of how many vehicles are traveling through that particular roadway um what time of day um we are experiencing more uh speeding than others and to get a percentile of of in range of um speed violation so to speak and then we provide that data back to the motor squad or or other traffic units in the police department so that we can go out there and issue um traffic citations as as needed um commissioner um if there are any of them that are out there for an extended period of time we'll take a look at that and we'll remove them um the idea is Road in mid Beach has some with huge orange barrels around it and it looks awful uh there's got to be something more modern and aesthetically and and we can take a look at that as well commissioner um the idea is just to have them out there for a certain amount of time and then pull them back so we'll be more mindful of that um I just we don't want to um intrude on on the normal flow of traffic unnecessarily and if I could just Madam shair I get the sense that some of these are being used as stop Gap measures for safety precautions for poorly designed roads so let's think ahead I want transportation to come be proactive to me I drive down West Avenue I have a picture from our basil the streets are so wide people turn one lane into two lanes right I'm driving down the street and people are passing me in that lane of traffic I need transportation to be proactive and sit there and look at our street designs and say this is what we need from the commission for support here we cannot have Lanes of traffic where they're so wide they can be used for two cars right because what that does is it just encourages people to speed if we have no need for turning lanes because the street is so infrequently used right let's get rid of that turning lane we can have a center barrier that is aesthetically pleasing could actually be used for resiliency because we could have uh storm water and wastewater runoff we could have uh Center barriers like we have in uh um uh Sunset Harbor with trees we really need to look at our public rights of way our roadways one better design them for safety and then make them more aesthetically pleasing as well so I thank all of you um I think we can close this out but I'm going to be putting more of these with themes like this this was really intended to get us all on the same page and have this at the fourfront of our mind we should all be taking Pride around yes maintaining safety is the utmost importance issue and if you need things temporarily but not just have these things remain uh in perpetuity Madam chair thank you yes I want to thank the uh commissioner for sponsoring this item uh these are our public right of ways uh and we also want to make sure that that they feel welcoming that they feel beautiful and one of the things that I would respectfully ask aside from this item uh but related you know we do have a lot of signage throughout the city a lot of duplicate signage a lot of signage uh with old branding some with new branding some with old information others with new information and uh I know I I know that that there's a lot of good work and hard work being done by our Communications and marketing department to update those it' be great to get an LTC at some point uh as to where we are uh with the update of that signage because I know that that's been an ongoing effort but because of the massive amount of signage we have put out there over the years some of them are regulatory in nature and are needed regulatorily but others have been uh legislated from the governing body up here and they're they're just out of date and they're working hard to to fix that so I love an LTC at some point on that thank you all thank you okay well first off many thanks to my colleagues and I do want to give a special thank you to the city Administration for being being so supportive of the public safety and neighborhood quality of life committee this is the last meeting of the year and look forward to seeing you in January and I want to thank the city for all of your hard work in presenting throughout the year for the committee Madam chair I want to commend you because you you inherited a very large docket of items the first meeting I think we had over a 100 items on the docket and you have been such an efficient and productive chair of the public safety and neighborhoods quality of life committee and as the name of the committee says itself this is what this is the work that most directly impacts our residents quality of life and their safety and you've helped advance that agenda and so I just wanted to publicly commend you and thank you and the committee for the efficient work you all have done over the past year thank you thank you very much and thank all of you that are here on the D I really appreciate your support and see you uh January 29th for the public safety's uh first meeting of the year thank you everybody [Music]