[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] aah [Music] he [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome back to the city of Miami commission meeting for April 25th 2024 our meeting is now in session and at this time we are going to take up the budget item good afternoon Madam chair Commissioners how you all doing okay thank you um this item is we do a I do a quarterly presentation of the projections for the year for the budget and I also send out a monthly projection every month um I can go to all the details or I can go to the summary advance to the summary okay okay and this summary this this this is the summary of where we are projecting the year to be through March of 2024 we projected that revenues will be a billion 88 expenditures will be a billion 60 which um revenues will be exceeding expenses by $28 million the internal service funds which incl include um innovation technology and the risk management which is really entf fund um expenditures that goes into those funds because they are internal for 3 million we talking about the Surplus will be about 3 million so the net of all funds Surplus is about 31 million 31.1 and then the building fund which is part of the general fund in a separate category that those dollars are for the reserves for the building fund for building activities function only in that statutory it's about 11.2 million so we net end general fund projected surplus of 19.8 million part of the general fund also has $5 million of contingency reserve which we're going into the hurricane season we need to put that aside which reduce it to 14.8 million and we still have some stuff that's coming up especially the labor contract we haven't um we're not done with um fire contract yet so we need to keep that into consideration and there's some stuff that will be bringing in the in May the second meeting in May for some items that we need to approved that probably going to take some of those dollars as well so at this point that's where we are through March of 2024 do I have any questions does anyone have any questions no thank you for your presentation thank you we left off on re5 do I have a motion for re5 motion for second or I have a motion do I have a second second it I have a motion and a second for re5 any discussion all in favor I'm sorry wait Todd re5 is to to be amended to add the following resolution number r- 24- 0153 thank you all in favor I I motion carries as amended as amended r six yes sir of the auditor okay I'm I'm all for it but uh the thing is as the auditor is going to uh it's uh his contract it's coming up right yes I believe I got something for that okay no because what what I was going to suggest is that uh we just hire if he agrees on month-to month on a month-to Monon basis that's it if until the other item that we just passed that's what I that's what I had in mind the same thing oh well we on the same we good okay okay so re6 is proposed that the auditor general will be on a month a month basis yes Mr city clerk I think the city clerk and I are thinking the same thing Madam chair that you're think the related items so that's re15 commissioner that's re15 re6 would remove would would be a charter amendment that would remove okay okay I move it I so I have a motion and second all in as amended yes to add resolution number r-405 4 so I have a motion in a second all in favor I motion carries unanimously seven is withdrawn 8 is deferred we have re9 yes that was the city managers I think for what are I think is that you R9 is in play do I have a motion for R9 motion I I have a motion in a second all in favor motion carries re 10 Madame chair yes I have a little problem with uh r10 you see what it says it says uh I mean removed the Covenant that we have they're going to receive uh uh I mean benefits from the city and according to a resolution as I explained this morning when we were talking about uh the uh affordable housing he says 50% of them at 120 or less according to our resolution it is 100% And it is as I said before it is a great difference because at 20% I mean at at 120 it it's a you can they can Char 20 2,200 for Studio versus $1,700 at a100 which is the quite reference if we are offering affordable uh housing we need to to uh uh uh I mean afford offer real affordable you see let me have the sponsor of the item respond to that yeah um so uh we talked uh they came in the ladies came in and uh we're not giving them any Financial benefit in in that way we're only the Covenant that I mean if we don't do the Covenant right they're not they they can they they can't do it but my point is we're not giving them any monies we're not giving them all we're doing is making it so they can do what they want to but but I understand your point but I just want to clear it up that we're not giving them really any Financial benefit in in the in the ways of monies coming from the city uh or what have you in that who owns the land we do we do so they're getting benefit yes yes they're getting benef land has value okay I don't I was just told that we do do not own the the land is that correct we do not own the land the city does not own the land we don't own the land no no well I uh I don't know I'm not too clear about that but uh I uh you know the way I am that I that I I mean anything that it goes um comes well let's have the city let's have Administration confirm who the land owner is that's right yes conf I'm fairly certain it the city does not own the land that the YMCA is proposed to build on then why do we have to vote on this because we got to clear the the title there's a cloud on the title because of the of of the one side says one thing and the other and what we're trying to do so they can do their project it's just a matter of interpretation of the of the of the title to clear the title it's it's a small Cloud that the title has but we're not giving it's not our land it's just that they have well let me let me let me hearing from the from the uh yeah yeah absolutely let me hear from the uh okay we could move on to the next item if you'd like let's move let's move to the R11 R11 do I have a motion move it yeah I'd like to make a motion to ratify Coconut Grove bid bid executive director Mark Burns okay I have a motion I have a second second I have a motion in a second all in favor I I motion carries unanimously okay re2 you want to take up re12 sure sure okay um there a couple of small things I just wanted to make mention because I've you know they've been floating around I just want everybody to know that that process was entirely done in the sunshine uh all the meetings were noticed uh all the meetings welcomed the public all the meetings have uh have minutes and I also wanted to thank the very distinguished selection committee that we all uh put together and then the selection uh was George weong so it's up to us to go ahead and vote M through the shair I want to I want to add I want to add that if the uh uh period of application was extended for other people to to apply to it if only 13 people applied and and most of them didn't qualify because they didn't meet the requirements that we as Employer we had those requirements I mean the election I believe there is a clist or clear commissioner will you mic's down here's the only problem that I have if we establish a process then it should be a fully transparent process where no one that applied and qualified could say that this is a Shame by us um we haven't established any process to give the opportunity for those candidates that qualified to be interviewed by us so what I will be asking is to bring this back at the next meeting during that week and a half or so go ahead and any one of us that needs and should frankly meet uh with all the candidates that qualified and there were many uh do that this way no one can challenge what was done and this is only uh being fully transparent uh in the process and I've never frankly seen a process that you ask people to apply and then they're not interviewed by the ones that make the ultimate decision uh I was not given uh by the city attorney's office uh that I believe was handling this or by the administration any guidelines as to how we were going to go about in interviewing people so there has to be uh a process that we could give those that qualified the opportunity I think the best way is for us to be able to do it individually but if not the other way is that you bring them all before the commission and we could publicly ask him whatever questions we wanton then so what I'm respectfully asking is that uh this would be held back until W our next meeting is in May the 11th May 9th May 9th for May 9th meeting you have Mr Greco in play so that's not an issue anymore uh and then we come and we handle business uh on May 9th in a transparent way that no one can point uh at us and say hey why did I even apply for these guys had it all uh fixed from the beginning Madam chair may I I I thought the process that was used used was one that we all came up with we would select a committee we appointed a member of the committee to do exactly what um Vice chair is speaking of for me I am confident in my committee appointments recommendation so I I don't need to go further I'm I'm just saying for me I I don't feel like there needs to be an additional process and I'll allow my colleagues to weigh in as well I believe commissioner Rey is yes let me uh let me add you see the selection committee was formed to get politics out of it or it I mean the process to have transparency we are not interviewing and we are not making the decision we are accepting the decision of those that selection committee that was all and I thank all of them very reputable professionals that they gave us a time they uh I mean they interview they they went through all the applications and they make the selection that is what we all agree and that is what I am going to vote on it I don't want to interview or to ask questions to any one of them and I don't want to vote for a candidate based on their answer because we are getting politics into it you see is us politicians the one that are picking them up I that's the the idea the main idea was to get us out of it you see get them out of it and and that's why I don't with all du respect commissioner I don't see that we should Madam I am I am I am let me hear from my other colleagues commissioner I think uh I think we're ready to go I motion I make the motion I I think I see him nodding I see Manolo I think we we all agreed to this 2 months ago like Mano said the the application process was even extended an extra I think 30 days to allow more people in and this is what we have so I'm I'm ready I I I call the question and I'm I'm ready to let me allow commissioner Paro to speak as well yes I'm ready as well Vice chair chairman uh no one told me that we were given the right to a committee to decide and we were just going to U rubber stamp whatever a committee made uh we're talking about keeping politics uh from it and we should not have appointed the committee members I should have been someone that's not in the field of uh politics but nevertheless uh it was not established that we were going to to just approve whatever the committee would say I personally have no problem whom the committee recommended but I've never seen in 40 plus years this process be followed here in this fashion and what I don't want is anyone that applied to say you know these guys had a sham they had a candidate they wanted from the beginning and we were just used not even given the the opportunity from those that make uh the final decisions and are the ones that are elected who have even spoken to me I don't know who these other candidates are I know the one that's from the city that I work with uh for many many years but I don't know the others uh and I think if they apply that at least would have deserved that uh opportunity uh so this is uh the point that I'm trying to make uh across that you know I I think we all know where we're all going to be heading uh a week from now but or 10 days from now whatever the amount of days are for the next meeting call question what uh I'm saying that I think that there should have been somewhat of a process to be followed should be a lot more transparent in how we move forward uh if we're going to say that what taken we're we're given uh our vote to keep politics to committees from now on how many committees are we going to be bringing in to do that with so we're going to be you know maybe the committee people should be the ones to get the title of commissioner let me tell you something through the shair you see you remember when uh hold on a sec hold on a second um I understand what our vice chair is saying and it was my understanding that we appointed the committee to make recommendations we do not have to accept the recommendation exactly what I'm saying so this this is this is what the vote would be I was advised by the city clerk that I have a motion from commissioner gabella but I don't have a second well I I'll second it's for the sake of speaking and and being able to uh finalize this but the question that I'd like to ask is I'm confused now I was told that the committee had asked for an extension so that more people could apply and they were told no no that they couldn't do it there was an extension there was an extension when they asked what they asked then let me refresh your memory what they asked for was to place their own requirements what they thought that were the requirements as if they were the employers and all of us said no we are the employers yeah we said that and we have a way okay and that's it and I'm just going to remind you this excuse me a minute I'm going to remind you you this when as excuse me when when as was uh picked he went over the committee that we had already get together and the the committee had their own the own I mean they they had their their their their the recommendation and we went over I I think that what we we have here is is a process that was totally totally performed according to what our instructions were and uh and too bad if more people didn't realize didn't want to work here there's a lot of people that don't want to work in the city of Miami because the way that sometimes we behave and and that's the truth I mean we cannot and lie to ourself and people know should know that you see that's a fact so I second Mr Gaba and I think that we should be voted and let's call the vote so I have a motion in a second all in favor I I I will be voting voting no for the RAC and stated even though uh I would have voted otherwise for Mr weong to keep uh someone from the inside uh in helping bring this department forward so motion carries 4 to one and at this time the city as amended the city clerk needs to administer the oath for Mr weong and Madam chair just to be clear this is for the selection later we we will have compensation package [Applause] everyone ready your right after I state your name I George K third do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support protect protect and defend and defend the Constitution and laws the Constitution and laws of the United States of America of the United States of America and of the State of Florida and of the State of Florida and the charter and the charter of the city of Miami of the city of Miami and in all respects all respects Faithfully discharge the duties Faithfully discharge the duties of City attorney City attorney of the city of Miami of the city of Miami Miami day County Florida Miami day County Florida to my colleagues to my colleagues and to all of those to and to all of those I represent and serve I represent and serve I pledge fairness I pledge fairness Integrity integrity and Civility and Civility and all actions taken in all actions taken and all Communications made in all Communications made by sir my a public congratulations thank you [Applause] [Applause] sir thank you everybody for being here for for me a momentous occasion I believe in the oath that I just gave I will protect preserve and defend the laws of this great City and um I tend on uh working with all of the city family with fairness kindness humility and respect so thank you so much for appointing me and I hope to do you proud and Propel our office to the Future I'd like to give a great thanks to my now my staff and um thank you everybody your wonderful um attorneys and colleagues and um let's get down to business oh I I just made the worst transgression possible I would like to thank my lovely wife Brenda for all the kindness and support and thank you Brenda and my and my two daughters are tuning in at home Alexandra and Cassandra I love you thank [Applause] you madam chair could could um I'd like to thank uh John greo for his three and a half days of service City attorney he did an exceptional [Applause] [Applause] job do you Mo the chair [Applause] are we ready for Rend we have the answer for AR 10 are we ready I could go to another item if we don't have the answer is yet so Madam chair with through through you can I answer a question yes yes so if you want the answer I think the gentleman this is the attorney for the the YMC for the group and maybe he can answer the the question that man had yes good afternoon can can you confirm whether the property is owned by the YMC or the city of Miami the property is owned by the YWCA of South Florida I knew that okay that's satisfy me so I have a motion in a second all in favor for re10 I I I thank you chair can you just clarify who the Mover and techer was for r10 I think commissioner gabella was the Mover I don't and um Vice chair was the second we have our R 13 14 15 and 16 in play does anyone want to take any one of those items out for discussion take to um so is there a motion to defer re15 I'm sorry sir well um Mr City attorney are then that just means what does that mean for the current auditor gym so the the only concern is and um I believe his date is May 8th the next commission meeting we have is May 9th so you could in by deferring it you could trigger arguably a new term of four years so yeah I think I think the fear is not to trigger a new term or not to give any impression that we're triggering a new term which was why we had indicated in the briefings that it would probably be preferable to have this be a month-to Monon um agreement up until the valid item is and the charter changes is uh is addressed by voters so would that be an amendment to this item I think so it would be month to month uh up until this is voted upon uh okay right exactly okay that's fantastic said that was that's youra okay that's right so I'm moving okay so then do I have a motion for re 1314 15 Todd has his hand so then for re15 uh we have a blank for the name that is that is Theodor goba correct correct and on a month-to month on a month-to-month basis as amended are you 15 amended there's also a substitution memo was distributed on April 24th regarding oh what2 I'm sorry okay so I have a motion in a second R 16 there was a substitution memo distributed on April 22nd 2024 amending re16 so as amended as amended so I have a motion in a second all in favor I with re 15 and 16 as amended okay okay we didn't do 13 and 14 we did 13 we did the whole thing 13 14 15 16 okay sr1 Outdoor advertising Madam chair yes I'll go ahead and and open please on the item we're sponsoring the first thing I'd like to say is thank you to everyone who came out to speak on the Billboards on whatever side you were it speaks to our residents and to our conviction and to our voice being heard by government and you making the sacrifice and taking the time to participate in this process it's so important I talk a lot about it a lot because I want you to believe it so believe it Sr one is a compromise ordinance this is important to understand it already passed at first reading and I'm asking for us to vote it as is it repeals the ordinance that passed one and a half years ago that's the ordinance that created these oversized outdoor signs when there was no District 2 commissioner it also leaves existing permits in place why does it do that because we want to avoid liability in the city and were we to take vested permits and deny them or change them we would be acre large amounts of liability for the City of Miami we are asking for no amendments to be approved why up until now these have served as enormous distractions to what we're really trying to do here and they're usually distractions put forward by special interest as far as the AR the arch falls under rtz zoning Miami date County zoning I spoke with mayor Cava two days ago she assured me that she has spoken with the AR leadership she informed them that rtz zoning in the county applies for the arch and that she would be willing to explore Pathways with them as far as the Pam the Pam has a lease with the city of Miami where we are the Le sore we cannot treat them or give them or convey special privileges to the pan we are the lur and in our fiduciary capacity as Commissioners we must preserve the rights of the lur so we cannot include the Pam as far as anything else there's not enough information and it hasn't been vetted and we can always come back to this ordinance at a later time and address those so I'm I'm going to take a brief moment as well I'm going to ask the City attorney if he could speak to two aspects on this Ordinance one is the potential liability and the other one are the amendments that I've just referred to okay by potential liability you're talking about if the city of Miami were to adopt this ordinance as is would there be any potential liability um our belief is that um you have heard over four five six or more occasions individuals come up and discuss the various legal positions of the sides and um however it does not appear that just by adopting this ordinance as is there would be any significant liability or any liability you know we have indicated that those properties that have already um applied for permits are able to undertake and a stopple argument that um the project has already been you know permitted built constructed Etc and we're comfortable with that and we have I have not heard any of um the commission members indicating that we are going to go after or remove these signs and I think it's important after listening to the public comment some folks thought that by adopting this ordinance those signs were going to go away that's not the case and the signs will be there but they will be there in a non-conforming status and which means they can stay until um they're essentially taken down or abandoned by the um the sign the sign companies so as far as liability you know full disclosure could somebody say I'm not comfortable with that the city has said that um that there you know we stopped from enforcing it could they file some sort of action the only action I would foresee is like a declaratory judgment action where they would try and ascertain their rights um that would just be a an opportunity for the court to determine whether there are stopple rights or not we have said there are already are a stoppable rights so it wouldn't be much of a case so on on the liability aspect of it um you know I can look into a crystal ball but it does not appear by adopting the ordinance in an Asis fashion that would create any um exceptional liability situation thank you Mr City attorney now would you please read in I want I want just one more little bit I just wanted to say that the district 2 office has been dealing with this for four months daily we get the phone calls we get the emails we go to the forums we hear directly from I would say hundreds of people people and so I I just want you to understand that we've tried our best to really gauge what's in our district we put out an Instagram poll we put out a text poll we Geo Fen the boundary 80% plus do not want these signs you know the I feel like the public has been very very clear and I'm going to ask my colleagues to please support me on this item as the District Two commissioner with this compromise ordinance so I want to do that I and I listened to everyone that came up and spoke throughout this whole process the folks that came and spoke in favor and the folks that came and spoke against I have an amendment that I believe is also a compromise because as the City attorney just said the signs aren't coming down we we we can't take the signs away but I heard them about the light about about how big the signs are the number of signs so I would like the City attorney to read into the record the compromise that I am proposing so my colleagues could at least hear it and so the the community can hear it as well because the sign won't be on with my compromise 24 hours a day there's a time that the sign will come on and there's a time that the sign will go off it won't be 24 hours a day but so that the attorney Mr City attorney can you read my compromise yes for the record yes Madam CH to be considered so this would be um based on the item on the agenda the following shall be added to subsection a um and there might be some tweaking of the um formatting but uh parenthesis 6 digital freestanding signs is defined in subsection 2779 a6i located at the Olympia Theater and building Gusman Center for the Performing Arts um 174 East Flagler Street Perez Art Museum Pam 1103 biscane Boulevard and the Adrian Arch Center for the Performing Arts of Miami D County Adrian Arch Center 1300 biscane Boulevard Miami digital freestanding sign site parenthesis shall be allowed to move forward with permitting construction and operation in accordance with the regulations found in ordinance 14140 including repair maintenance or reconstruction of the digital freestanding signs irrespective of any contrary provision contained in ordinance 15416 not withstanding the foregoing such signs may not be exempt from section 2779 A6 and section 2779 h of ordinance 15416 and must comply with the following one only one signed structure with two signed faces will be allowable at the Adrien R Center two the digital freestanding signs pursuant to section 2779 A6 are entitled to be erected in accordance with ordinance 14140 not withstanding any contrary Provisions in Miami 21 the city's zoning ordinance were applicable the digital freestanding signs cannot exceed 1,800 ft per sign face with no more than two sign faces per digital freestanding sign and with the height measured from the top of the sign face not exceeding 100 ft above grade four I'm sorry three if midate County retains jurisdiction to process the permits for the digital freestanding signs at the Adrian R Center due to its rtz zoning designation the county shall review such sign under ordinance 1414 Z as provided in section 33- 82c of the Mi county code of ordinances the city is opted out of the County's sign ordinance for all signs located within the city's Urban core then the following shall be added to subsection F4 parentheses 4 the city May resend a signed permit issued pursuant to section 2779 for a violation of the signed permit upon providing the permit holder notice of the violation and allowing the permit holder a reasonable period of time to cure said violation subsection H shall also be added H restriction on signs one hours of operation sign faces May operate only during the hours of 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. notwithstanding the foregoing if an event is taking place down town sign faces May operate only during the hours of 6:00 a.m. to 12: a.m. when sign faces are not in operation the screen shall be black but an unobtrusive logo listing the name of the venue located at the site can be present two modulation and am ambient lighting from Sunset to Sunrise signs shall be modif modulated so that the brightness does not exceed 500 nits two the time of sun set to Sunrise shall be established by the Miami office of the National Weather Service three the sign must have ambient light monitors to automatically adjust the brightness level of the sign based upon the ambient lighting conditions or the maximum increase to ambient lighting shall be less than 0.3 foot candles at 250 ft from the sign then three adult content prohibited adult content including adult entertainment as those terms are defined in ordinance number 13114 the zoning ordinance of the city of Miami as amended Miami 21 or any successor zoning ordinance is prohibited from being displayed on signs in any manner including messages Andor images that is the extent of the um changes so the compromise here is that one sign goes away the sign is not on 24 hours a day there are allowances to monitor the brightness of the sign and that's what I heard we don't want to be Central Park we we don't want these lights shining into our homes all day long the sign will be smaller gives Miami day County still retains authority over these signs um there's a recision Clause if they're in violation but we give them notice and an opportunity to cure which which is done in in many contracts you have to have noticed that you're in violation and you have an opportunity to cure um they even have the weather service we we we even have the weather service because like the City attorney said we can't take away the signs that are already there and this is addressing the issues that I heard from the community so my colleagues can chime in on the amendment which I believe is a compromise to what we have commissioner Paro well I don't see this as a compromise amendment I see this as a stamp of approval Amendment on something that should not receive a stamp of approval meaning the Adrien AR Center does not fall under our jurisdiction I I mean that would be like the city of Sweetwater or Coral Gables weighing in on something that belongs to the code of the city of Miami or anyone else so I don't think we should be addressing the Adrian Arch at all Pam has a lease with the city of Miami this would completely muddy those Waters in terms of the lur and the Lei relationship we would be weighing in in a way that could affect that lease so I would and that's one of the main reasons that we have been and arguing to stay away from these amendments because they muddy the waters to what is otherwise a very clean piece of legislation that does away with these boards and if there's in the future any specific Properties or any specific signs that want to come back for an ordinance we could entertain those but we've been deferring this which is a clean piece of legislation that we voted in on first reading and I think we should not defer this any longer uh there is an agreement on these amendments and we should go ahead and pass what we have as a good clean ordinance that stops these signs well do you want to say something oh I'm go ahead what the chair has presented it's a very reasonable thought out compromise uh that I'm understanding it's actually going to make it better for the residents to compare this to a stamp of approval you know uh and sweet water or Cora was trying to dictate in our property what we should do I I don't think those are apples to apples oranges to oranges comparison the Adrian Arch Center is in the city of Miami it's not in a foreign land uh so regardless of all these Concepts that the county has come up with to see how they can control uh zoning in our most valuable pieces of properties along the bay um we do have a say so but having said that uh we're not given the Good Housekeeping uh sign of approval to anything here what I'm hearing is something that is going to give more protection uh to Residents in the area it's going to Cil the hours uh is going to make them have to to uh not have it as bright Etc so I you know I don't see what's wrong with it mam chair commissioner Rees uh I want to make my position clear see I don't have anything against the Pam I don't have anything against the artart center as a matter of fact I like them a lot and I said it at the beginning when the first this for uh ordinance came up I uh was totally opposed I was totally opposed because it is not the problem of sign the size see he when I don't know how personally I don't know how those institution fell and and work uh I mean fell for it and and and agree uh to build those enormous signs and and that I even asked and I never got uh uh and and an analysis of of Illumination analysis how it's going to be affect everybody and I never got and uh I uh I can I am very consistent I voted against this the that type of sign and uh and uh against the U the ordinance and I uh voted to repeal it and I'm going to vote again again to repeal it that has been my position I'm very consistent and and my my uh my arguments it is not because I heard people come in here support the Pam support AR yes I support you guys but in this case you see there are a lot of questions about it and and and the signs are totally out of uh of of size I mean they are too big and it's hurting the community also you see so I uh I I just want to you to know Madame Sher I really I appreciate that it is very commendable that you come and you try to to reach an agreement but uh in my opinion you know how I felt about this since the beginning and I'm going to keep on I mean I still feel about it I said it I don't want I don't want signs I mean any LED signs out on this kind Boulevard uh and uh I don't want a park is a park and it's not they don't need and I mean you go to New York you don't you don't find any signs in any other parts of New York you see and I said it from day one I don't want downtown to become Another Time Square you see but we have addressed that by passing the moratorium so we're not going to have any but but but I'm not I'm not going to vote to keep this I mean I'm going to vote against so well I have a I I have the City attorney read my compromise do I have a motion to accept my compromise list can I commissioner gabella can I weigh in with your please so from from my standpoint I'm listening to the situation and you know sometimes we have to make decisions here there's going to be well always winners and losers right and I hear I know it's your district and I I'd like to respect other people's District so my district when in turn comes for me you know I think that I would be doing the correct thing for my district and I know that's what you're doing with yours I know that wholeheartedly what bothers me about this whole thing that this thing started a couple of months back really almost a year you know and and and I'm going to ask a question because I thought of this you know the way this thing got started you know I'd like to ask the arch and I'm pretty sure that when when the arch was going to apply for this permit with the city I I believe that the r i mean I I've I've rented commercial properties you know and if I'm going to make a major change in my shop I have to notify the landlord if I don't own the the property and I imagine that the are sent a letter at some point to the county being their their uh you know the the L or and the ARs being the Les e that this was going to be done you know and correct me if I'm wrong because now I I hear about the county letter but at at that time the county never said oh wait a minute you guys can't do that because we're you know am I correct in saying this I'm asking you people from the earth can somebody enlighten me on on and if you give me a minute I'll tell you I'm going and I'll I'll finish it I'm asking them I'm going to ask them he asked a specific question he asked a specific question so don't don't wait don't don't that don't just scream out in the audience he asked a specific he asked a specific question he is responding to his question I didn't ask you the question because you don't you're not with the Y so you want you might not be a will give me the answer but but but but you know let me ask it and okay so no more back and forth you had an opportunity to speak during public comment so the question is at the time that you guys did the permit with the city was the county notified at that time since the county is your landlord at the end of the day the RS who you're representing where they notified that you guys were you know going to apply for this uh permit uh the art center did communicate with the county uh at all times what their intent was um and I think you've seen the zoning verification letter that I drafted specifically asking the county what the Forum and rules would be for the application um so yes the the county was contacted the county was contacted and as far as you know did did the ARs receive any letter that the county was objecting to this to the best of my knowledge no the only thing we got was his only verification letter which was just uh amended this week and there in life my problem okay that these people okay I imagine like he's saying uh said to the county hey we're applying you're you're our our uh lessord you know our landlord we're doing this the county never said anything up up until now you guys went ahead and did the application the ARs did and we find ourselves in this mess that we're in now my question is if this was so important to the county at the time why at the at at that time did the county not say to somebody hey stop what you're doing and we're the landlords here we don't want you to do this and end it there and and and and so this this thing I think has gotten out of control I thought we were going to make a compromise I I thought with that we were going to grandfather the Pam the AR I I believe I believe and listen on both sides of this there's lobbyist on both sides I I understand this I mean I understand it this gentleman right here Manny pz I want to disclose this he helped me in my campaign and he's a lobbyist right now for the AR I I like to be clear you know but but this is the problem I thought we were making I make a compromise we're going to grandfather the Pam in because of what they do the ARs because of the activities they have and the money that that they're going to uh generate for for kids and for other programs okay and then we were going to stop it there after that nobody could do it nobody can do it anymore and then I understand further that the amendment your amendment is this is what I've been told in English the amendment is really because if we only do the the first portion that that uh commissioner part is doing then they the signs are going to be there they keep the signs however if there's a repair needed in in the in the future because of a hurricane or anything then that's where it stops with your with what you're doing with your amendment I believe they're allowed to repair that's what I was told in the briefing yesterday so and let me say again my compromise because what I understand is the signs have been approved this so what we get one left sign because I heard heard we didn't want a bunch of signs because the signs have already been approved they've already been either permitted or are in the permitting process and our moratorium doesn't look backward it doesn't look backward what I heard was I don't want this bright light shining in my house 24 hours a day so the operators have agreed to turn it off to lower the wattage to not have to have content not all kinds of advertisement it's going to advertise events that are happening in both venues in addition to content related advertisement not um gentleman club advertisement and that kind of thing make it a little smaller for the arch um for me the compromise is what I heard the community saying because we cannot take away we can't take away the signs City attorney I'm asking I was distracted um could you ask the question again we we cannot take away the signs they already have the authority to have these signs right and in not being able to take away the sign the compromise is it's it's not the best of all worlds but the compromise is at least you don't have the sign going all day all night at least there's some consideration to how bright the sign will be etc etc etc so if I could have a motion in a second to can I clarify on this oh oh City attorney put his hands and all I'm trying to do is it is it doesn't make any sense for me or us to continue on this path if I don't have even the appetite from this commission to consider the compromise that I've proposed and that's why I've been asking for a motion in a second so I have a motion can I have a second I'll make the second but I'd like to hear what he has to well absolutely we'll still have for discussion I think the City attorney wanted to say something and then commissioner Paro number one I wanted to say that yes you were right about um the the city could of course order the signs taken down but it would not be with without consequence um the second thing I wanted to say is and I it's appropriate that I waited till there was a second and a um on your uh changes we think that the changes may be substantial um and consequently since this is on a second reading of the ordinance we if you all do wish to accept these modifications it would have to come back for second reading again because the title of this ordinance as drafted talks about remove moving the signs and now we will be changing the ordinance to be permitting signs and adding additional regulations and I'm just trying to make this ordinance bulletproof and so if if there is a feeling for amending it it would be best if we clean it up bring it back to you for a second second reading and we can do that so um that depends on my colleagues I have a motion in a second and commissioner Paro wanted to weigh in again well there's a reason that the arsh didn't make any comments here today it's the wrong body we have no jurisdiction to negotiate with the AR as far as the Pam goes I'd like to ask uh the city manager if we received an approval for the Pam erecting the sign me was there a consent signed we can't find any consent so we cannot find any consent signed by us that allows the Pam to erect the sign yeah there's no we can't find any documentation that there was an executed consent okay so in that sense we are creating a special situation when under a lease where we are the leas or and we make have some rights and we're essentially compromising those rights diminishing those rights uh for ourselves so and the last thing I wanted to say is about the hurricane these things are built to code they're built to withstand Winds of 175 175 milph second definely they're allowed to rebuild the sign that's not it it's a non-compliant sign and it has to comply with use only as you can tell we have been living with this since January we have we have re read and reread and studied and restudied and that's why I'm asking my colleagues to trust us that we have done the hard work but more importantly that we're representing our residents correctly and we need to draw this line right now I mean that's what I what I would be asking you for the same way if it were in your District then you were found in this position I'm just asking you to let's get this done let's let's move on let me address what the city manager said you you said you can't find what so the question arose as to whether there was a cons ever a consent there was an actual document drafted supposedly I I I haven't seen it we have that language well we have the language of the uh lease agreement yeah so there was a document supposedly drafted but it was never but isn't the action that the commission took the consent no you want chair if I may hi GG Solomon City attorney's office um so arguably no because there are different proprietary rights versus regulatory rights and pursuant to the lease and I'm just going to read the language directly from the lease which is section 16.1 assignment and subletting of leased premises this is regarding Pam except as specifically provided in article a certain article section 16.2 below the museum shall not at any time during the term of this lease transfer assign or sublet this lease the term or estate here by granted or any interest hereunder nor enter into any license or concession agreements with respect there two nor permit any third party or parties other than the museum it's authorized agents employ invitees and visitors to occupy the least premise or any portion thereof without first procuring the written consent of the city which consent may be granted conditioned or withheld in the sole discretion of the city any well I'll continue to finish the whole provision any such transfer without the city's prior written consent shall be void and of no force of effect shall not confer any interest or estate and purported transferee so and furthermore it says shall cons it such uh lease without consent shall con constitute a default under this lease and shall permit the city at its election to terminate this lease for purposes of the section any change in the status of the museum so that it shall cease to be a nonprofit shall constitute an unauthorized transfer so the issue here is it was the city uh the city attorney's office had received a proposed written consent for the Pam we reviewed it we did make some revisions and sent it to the city manager because it is the city manager That was supposed to provide written approval and it was then confirmed from his office that no written approval executed went out so that is the issue here the city does have two different hats it's wearing one is Regulatory and the other is proprietary and so it could be perhaps as uh the commissioner um states that if one action may actually be a stopped the city for another but at this time we don't know if that is the casee once we further fact find but there appears perhaps to be a preach in okay so we don't know there's a big question mark here so in light of that again I have the compromise I have the compromise and it it's the will of this body if you want to accept the compromise proposed or if you want to move forward we had a motion and second to accept my compromise all in favor chair the title oh I'm sorry it's a second reading item and the title needs to be read into the record in ordinance of the Miami city commission amending chapter 2 article 9 section 2779 of the code of the city of Miami Florida is amended titled Administration city-owned property Outdoor Advertising Signs and on-site signage on government-owned building o government-owned property to amend ordinance 141 40 to bring it more into Conformity with prior ordinance 13536 so as to allow so as to disallow LED signage and other recent changes containing a severability clause providing for an effective date so I had a motion and a second for my compromise all in favor I I all against no so motion carries 3 to2 3 to2 with commissioner Rees and commissioner Paro voting no as amended as amended Mr City attorney would you please read sr2 the title for the record yes Madam chair sr2 in ordinance of the Miami city commission amending chapter 10 article 6 section 10-11 of the code of the city of Miami Florida is amended titled buildings unsafe structures unsafe structures and unsafe structures panel specifically by amending section 10-11 L titled unsafe structures panels unsafe structures panels are hereby created to conduct hearings as provided for under this section to amend qualifications for members of the unsafe structures panel containing a severability clause and providing for an immediate effective date do I have a motion do I have a second second I have a motion and a second for sr2 all in favor I motion carries unanimously Mr City attorney would you please please read into the record the titles for first reading ordinances that will be fr2 and fr3 cor1 is been deferred yes ma'am fr2 in ordinance of the Miami city commission amending chapter 2 Article 4 division 2 Division section 2-28 of the code of the city of Miami Florida is amended titled Administration departments planning building and zoning department new permits prohibited non-homestead properties to provide the allowance for issuance of certificates of use for business unless there is a violation of the building department further amending section 2-21 titled denial or revocation of certificate of use by limiting restrictions for denial or revocation of a certificate of use containing a severability clause and providing for an effective date fr3 an ordinance of the Miami city commission amending chapter 2 article 3 of the code of the city of Miami Florida as amended titled Administration officers by creating new division section 2-60 to create the office of Inspector General providing minimum qualifications appointment and term of office providing the functions Authority and Powers providing for administrative staff providing of procedure for finalization of reports and recommendations containing a severability clause and providing for an effective date I have a motion do I have a second second I have a discussion for discussion commissioner uh in2 Mr uh City attorney yes sir can you explain this to make clear so that I could understand them better uh fr2 you're asking yes sir sorry and there was a substitution distributed um I haven't seen that do we have the substitution [Music] on I don't believe the substitution was FR was it so can I the chair that's fine go go ahead well he's getting his stuff together yeah I was just going to give you a little rundown I'm I'm the one that's presenting the thing and my thought was we've been having problems uh people coming constituents coming to my office and uh these regulations uh that we have caused a lot of stuff you know they wreak havoc really uh we got together with building and other department to see how we can pick the lesser of the two evils shall we say uh because there was a lot of stuff going on with Demolition and stuff for for stuff that really shouldn't shouldn't have been that and it's it's merely changing the wording and give more leeway but but with with guidelines with guard rails on the um for for example instead of permits shall permits may not be issued for n we're changing the Waring to to give the uh in cases where the properties are going to be demolished to give the authorities more leeway in in in making sure that we go through all the Avenues before we actually demolish a building all right ready so let me sort of walk you through it commissioner Vice chair commissioner all right so there's two changes one is to 2-28 that's the new permits prohibited previously it said permits shall not be issued by a non-homestead property with any outstanding code enforcement violations building department violations or any relevant City lean or invoice due and owing to the city that's being changed to read permits may not be issued for a non-homestead property with any they're striking out code enforcement violations leaving building department violations and then striking out the or any relevant City lean or invoice doe and owing to the city okay on so you're you're striking out code enforcement violation yes sir I mean that's going to be is that going to be left or take it out um code enforcement is going to be taken out building department violation so this will only apply to build Department violation so okay so this new ordinance code enforcing violations will stay yes uh the other violations will remain right so it's only for building violations building violations now the language of or any relevance City lean or invoice due and owing to the city is being moved from 2-28 down to the certificate of use so um that section pre previously said the zoning administrator shall deny the issuance or renewal of a CU for good cause when there are any for good cause now it'll say shall deny the issuance or renewal of a certificate of use when there are any outstanding City leans or invoices due and owing so we'll cap the city will capture them at the time of Cu if they owe money okay now let's see if we could find uh an area that accomplished what you stated you want to accomplish commissioner go yes sir can we include language in here uh that will separate the normal person that you're concerned about from habitual offenders that's fine with me what what I'm trying to accomplish is I I think I understood yeah so in other words we we try to enforce these things but also we create the problem where people don't want to come in because they're scared of us right cuz they're going to get into from one trouble it's going to go to another so so then there's no compliance really because people were not coming in and we got so that's that's what we're trying point is well taken uh what my concern is and I think it was a major concern before when this change was made originally that you don't have like the people that we heard from on the parking uh that we were very kind to them and only charg them the 300,000 that you don't have people like that that take advantage of the system that might be connected uh and our habitual offenders that we're leaving them a way out I think that if you if we could put a clust in here um and and Mr City attorney help us on this that will say that uh unless you're a habitual offender and I also would like to hear from our soning director and some of this and uh our by the way the uh commissioner G this was done in in the in consultation with our building departments and and we worked on the language and we you know I I I appreciate it I just want to get their statements on the record for transparency sake so it's there for the future what they said but um how how can we make an amendment in this that we accomplish what commissioner Gava is stating but at the same time we do not let habitual offenders sneak through so first thing and I assume you're talking about habitual code enforcement violators right code or building right right which you know I guess goes hands in hands yeah so the building violations would be caught up but um so for code we would just have to change it to say with any any um outstanding code violations and then quantify that as far as like um or has been deemed a habitual offender or something to that I guess in code you're leaving it as before it's not being changed so that guarantee is still there correct well let me just be clear so this this ordinance Strikes Out code enforcement violations so when somebody comes to the building department to apply for a permit if they have any outstanding code violations now they will not be able to pull the permit after the effective date of this ordinance they will be able to pull a permit what they won't be able to pull a permit for is if they have an outstanding building violation okay well what I'd like is on both code and building that we put that guaranteed that if you're a habitual funder and that do to mean that is you know as we know habitual funder that X company it's only got this property uh and then you got 10 companies owned by the same individuals that have different names um it has to do with the owner ship if it's the same type of ownership uh that's the habitual offender so if we could get some language in both of those uh that would give us that guaranteed on habitual offenders we we could do that um yeah commissioner what I was trying to that Frank was reminding me cuz we had these these these extensive conversations with the building and others is that what we're trying to do is we're trying to for people to come in voluntarily so the so the the unsafe conditions are not created because the problem is people are not coming in and we have to go after them because of our Draconian sometimes you get I understand I understand what you're saying with the serial you know I understand that and I'm going forward with you in that the only separation that I'm making look for the average person that you know they made a mistake one time they got to resolve it uh I'm going along with you uh what I'm asking to be added is the amendment and code violations and building violations if these are habitual violators that have been playing the system that you know they do not pass go they do not collect 200 that we stop those people and I think this will resolve the problem problem for 98% I'm sure of the individuals can can I hear excuse me hold on a second commissioner I I I do understand what you want to say Mr commissioner K and uh but uh how can we identify the habitual that's where going habitual offender and and the only way that we can do that it is uh my opinion place an amendment that uh individuals that they have more than one property in in in violation then they require different treatment right because how can we identify the habitual offend you see I I I could I could do it in one building and uh then when I cure that I buy another building and uh and I I don't C and I don't do anything until I'm CAU you see how how how very simple all they got to do is run the names of the register agent and or the uh managing Partners in the llc's OR company uh through sunbus and they will see what other properties they've owned and the city could see if those properties have had those problems it's fairly easy that's what I'm saying you check if that that individual whoever comes in has another property you see that also has uh uh yeah but we would verify with the sun bu I mean look if you got an LLC or a corporation I have an LLC corporations you know the point is now you can't do it in Delaware in Delaware you got to pay money and that's why people go to Delaware because if you really find out it's going to cost you money to find out who that individual is behind whatever but here in Florida you can find out but you know what I mean when ven you know like the saying goes who invented you know the the law invented the way out it ain't going to be perfect I'm just trying to find the lesser of the two evils because I've had constituents in my office that they were about to be demolished for something what I call stupid okay and and at the end of the day we were able to save those those U you can talk to Ace about this you know that it happened I've had two individuals already because of this problem that we're having with with the wording that's that's what I'm trying to accomplish I'm not saying but I think by by this we will protect 98 if not 99% uh of the people that you are trying to protect and it won't apply to 98 99% of those people uh it's just said 1% or a little more than 1% that has been taken advantage of the system now we have different ways of looking at that if I chair through the manager ask uh the assistant manager and former building director uh if he could let us know how we've done this in building in the past with habitual thund uh commissioner uh good afternoon afternoon um I just wanted to uh point out that if we you know sunis does not link today with any of Permitting system so this this you know if we're going to check for every company um with a sheer volume of permits that we issue on an annual basis which is close to 30,000 permits I mean that would be a very um labor intensive but we can definitely everybody that has a current violation with the with this with the own safe structures we can definitely track those if if the name doesn't change right th those that particular entity we can very easily keep track of that entity and and make sure that that entity is if it is a repeat offender is kept in check going forward what other sister agencies or or or companies that particular entity may have is very difficult to track because that would be a manual process but the entity itself that committed a repeat offender we can definitely track that one going forward if it's limited just to that particular uh entity and and and ensure that a repeat offender can be applied in that entity you have names register agent you have individuals uh you could do the same thing through your um system that you have by putting those names and seeing what other companies come up we we can but that would be that would be a man I just wanted to make sure that we understand that that would be a manual process and we have approximately you know in in the neighborhood of 6 to 7,000 violations in the on instructs Department right now so that would be making that consistent check every time we get to that level so so that at least we we know what the expectations are we can't sacrifice 90% of the people for 10 10% that's doing the the you know the and I understand I understand 10% whatever the number is whatever the the number is is what I'm trying to to to say here but my my question is what process have we been following with habitual offenders now in the city in building we don't have right now that repeat offender um uh ordinance that would be only in code so we you know that's that's not in building today I think I think we can for for me this is a start to helping correct a situation and we can continue to look at it and add when staff has figured out how to do that but at least this gives some relief and provides a path forward so we we we could definitely um contemplate for the entity that is being that is in violation and that entity becomes a repeat offender we can definitely apply it to that entity going forward I just want to you know in that in that particular instance uh commissioner and as perhaps our permanent systems in the future could integrate better with I build you know that that could be something that we can definitely contemplate but in the in in the interim I think at least at least those entities that have you know that that are repeat offenders without going into to the level of research of what other could you uh commissioner Rees through the chair could you between first reading and second reading just come up with uh some sort of a we can definitely we can definitely advice on that level absolutely let let let me see if we this would make uh sense uh we go forward in the amendment what you saying particular entity okay that you could check to see if they're a repeated offender or not that we can do and if they are a repeated offender and and if you find out at any point that they are a repeated offender with any other uh entities that they own we're not ordering you then to look but if you find out are you okay with okay so we're going um I have a motion in a second for first reading yes motion did did you understand what I said yes we're going to go with what he said okay on the one firm let's say that it's uh XC that's applying they could check xlc by itself to see if they have been a repeated offender so if you're in LLC you're going to be the managing member or you're going to be members if you're a corporation you're going to be the president the vice the vice president the treasurer blah blah blah but here's the point that's fine that's fine so should we do the first reading and then let him work for the second reading that's good so I have a motion in a second all in favor as amended fr2 as amended fr2 F3 as is and fr3 as is could I just make a note on3 that that is the um I believe the independent Inspector General which we can't bring back until after the um voters have decided I was going to thank you because I was going to out for that I'm going to ask for that that we don't bring the second reading until after the election and then people have decided if they want it or not right thank you commissioner and Madam chair just for the record I wanted to add that I will not be at the May 9th meeting I think all the offices have been informed but I oh okay well I want to make sure that that's uh on the record when will sr1 come back we could make it in the next meeting when you're here right and anything and any item that you want to be deferred we do that as a courtesy because you won't you won't be here so uh for noticing purposes May 23rd will be the earliest to bring back sr1 okay so you'll be here thank you very much okay um discussion items are there any discussion items that my colleague would like to defer today how about this bu okay we did already uh D1 no anybody okay two three hold on let me just look at him um okay we're going to start taking the one by one or d di1 review educational uses or ordinance review educational uses ordinance good afternoon Madam chair members of the commission Daniel Goldberg zoning administrator di1 is discussion related to an ordinance adopted by this Commission in June of last year to permit educational uses to proceed by right in the urban core without needing an exception or warrant um there was a requirement that had come back to this commission as a discussion item to give you a status update at this time uh at this time there has one applicant we are aware of that has availed this program and that is keypoint Academy at 1501 biscane Boulevard they are currently in process they haven't completed it but we are aware of one applicant uh for this item uh for this ordinance uh this ordinance does sunset July 3rd of this year so if the commission is commission's Will to continue it on a permanent basis uh a directive to that uh effect would be appreciated and I'm available for any questions you may have does anyone have any questions I'm ready to make a motion I heard the uh I was brief so I know what it is do we require a motion no it's just a discussion item it doesn't require a motion okay okay well what but for purpose of clarity it requires some Direction so it doesn't require reso but it would be great for Dan to get some some you know Direction in terms of whether we continue bring this back as a permanent program continue it as a pilot you can probably do that as well but it it really requires some Fe back like so I mean we need to kind of know where where to take this do we bring it back again i' say pilot direct do we the only thing is the code says we can only have a twoyear one year extend one year that's what I'm saying yeah so we would extend the one more year one year right or in July or we bring it back as as permanent legislation or we end it all together I mean we could those are the really the three options what would be your recommendation how do you feel like this has this achieved the goals the objective I would defer my colleagues in planning how but um the reason that you have requirements for entitlement for schools that schools can have an impact on neighborhoods however this is the urban core your greatest mix of uses uh your most intense uses um I haven't heard any complaints but again we've only had one applicant absolutely and that one applicant is hasn't completed the process uh I think there's uh definitely some uh we definitely be wouldn't would be beneficial to keep it if that's a commission's will I believe so as well um let's extend it for one one more year let's extend it for another year to see that would be the least um the the least over extended for another year see how that goes and then we can make a more permanent decision yes ma'am do I have a motion well do I have a motion to give the city that directive to extend the make a motion I have a motion I have a second all in favor motion carries thank you di2 Charter review process of the director of procurement good afternoon good afternoon chairwoman Commissioners Annie Perez director of procurement um so we were tasked I think it was back in January to do some market research about Charter review kind of best practices and what other agencies are doing so we have done a comparison of six agencies and I also added the city of Miami as a comparison so get started so we'll start with the city of Miami it was done um the chart it was a charter review and reform committee it was comprised of 20 members and um it was an advisory committee it was called the charter review and reform committee so the final report was submitted June 8 2016 there were 17 recommendations five were sent to referendum of the five um actually three were passed by the voters I this is a mistake it was three the second one we have is Miami day County it was done in 2017 they have 15 committee members they call it the charter review task force it was advisory and um the final report was submitted February 28 2018 there were eight final recommendations that were approved uh for Amendment to the Charter eight recommendations and five made it to the ballot and um oh also in both the city of Miami and Miami date County we did not they did not use a consultant so Broward County so the interesting thing about Broward county is that they are the only ones out of all the ones that we looked at that the type of committee is executive and not advisory which means that their um their recommendations the charter review commission's recommendations go straight to referendum and they have 19 members 11 amendments were submitted for voter approv approval on November 6th 2018 and uh there was no consultant utilized did all of them pass that we don't know because we tried to call Broward County multiple times and we weren't able to get an answer so um thank no no problem so Orange County it's their process started in 2023 and it's still going on they have 15 members they have a charter review commission they are advisory um again we don't know how successful it was because the CRC is still ongoing and they did not use a consultant SEO County similar to Orange County is they started in 20123 and they're still um doing their Charter review uh there's a charter review Commission there's 15 members it is advisory and no consultant was utilized city of Jacksonville they did it in 2020 there's 15 members they have a charter review commission again they were advisory the final report was submitted May 29th of 2020 all measures were recommended by the CRC failed at city council um or were changed to VI a referendum so and no consultant was utilized City Fort Meyers again they were 2023 to now they're still working on it there's nine um Charter review Advisory board members uh they are advisory the board is ongoing recommendations are being sent to the city council for approval to place on the ballot all changes to the Charter must be done through the referendum process and no consultant was utilized and that is it thank you thank you we've been working closely also with the mayor's office and one of the things I asked a lot about is when we look at these structures let's look at the recommendations and how many actually were adopted City of Miami 18% of what was recommended actually made it to be adopted the last thing we want to do is waste the time of people that are you know serving in these committees in these capacities so we will come back uh maybe the 23rd maybe later with this okay all right thank you than you di3 that's uh sorry uh I'm the the one hosting that I'm going to go ahead and defer that to the uh the next time okay do I have a do may I have a motion to defer di3 motion to defer to the which which meeting because commissioner gabella meeting commissioner Paro is not going to be here for the next meeting which is May 9th theth okay so so the following the second meeting in May May 23 I have a motion in a second all in favor I okay um di4 di4 is campaign Finance reform and I thought the City attorney could help Enlighten on the issue right and and correct me if I'm wrong commissioner um you were interested in um adopting Provisions similar to the Miami Beach code right correct um the Miami Beach code provides uh 2487 of the Miami Beach code prohibited campaign contributions by vendors it's not all vendors per se but it's no vendor shall give a campaign contribution um when they have um a pending contract standing order direct payment so no vendor active vendors can uh give campaign contributions the next section is um contributions by lobbyist on procurement issues no lobbyist on a present or pending solicitation for goods equipment or Services um may give uh campaign contributions and the candidate may not accept such campaign contributions 2- 489 of the C of the beach code says prohibited campaign contributions by real estate developers and they have a definition for what a real estate developer is then 4- I'm sorry 2- 490 of the beach code says prohibited campaign contributions by lobbyist on real estate development issues and so that relates to um no lobbyist on a pending application for development agreement with the city or application for change of zoning map designation um shall solicit for give a campaign contribution directly or indirectly to a candidate and then 2491 is the final one of the beach code no campaign consultant shall Lobby the city commission for a period of 12 months following the swearing in of any elected official For Whom The Campaign consultant provided campaign consulting services within the past election cycle so those are the the categories covered by the beach ordinance and there would be a fine $500 for any violation that's pretty much how it go so question can we go back and and I'm sorry no no commissioner re has had a question but when you say in a campaign contribution you are staying a I mean you're forbidding or you don't you're asking for the the uh contributions will that can campaign how about packs because you can very well circumvent that it it doesn't cover packs and we you know what I mean you know what I'm what I'm what I'm heading to right I totally know we are not doing anything if you cannot cover packs it's just like it's just limiting campaign contribution to 500 I've been there done that before I was in a committee before a long long time ago about campaign contribution and if uh you limited to $10000 uh any contributor that want to give you $1,000 find 10 people that is going to give $100 to you see that is it there is always a way to circumvent them you see unless you are the only the only way that we can level the playing field is by restricting and I don't know if it is legal if it is constitutional it is restricting the expenditure that's the only way and how do you do that that's because otherwise see it's it's a in my opinion in my opinion it they had always been circumvented always you're recognized City attorney yes sir um I think we're getting here with PX into an area that the US Supreme Court yes has spoken very loudly on uh and not in a way that maybe I agree with it because I think it's changed uh from the White House to the courthouse uh the way things are done but the question to you is um is there anything that could be done with PS um based upon the Court ruling right let me um that you have to answer now if you're not fully appraised yes bring it back and I don't want to put you on your first day thank you sir on uh on the guon yeah that's a very complicated question and um we'll be more than happy to look into it and come back to you um on on the lobbyist on these Provisions because the beach passes some ordinances that I sometimes feel are unconstitutional but but um but we will look into these because essentially what you're the the competing issue is First Amendment speech rights you know Court the Supreme Court has said that certain campaign contributions are considered a form of speech so we will look at that and we'll also look at it as far as the packs um and give you guidance on that I would like to see that and really our main concern is where there's a conflict an obvious conflict with doing business with the city but yeah we're going to look at all of that and definitely come back well um let me say this uh so no one surprise later on uh what I would be looking to do is to put a charter Amendment uh the early we're going to be able to do it'll be November election but to put a harder Amendment on the November election uh on whatever we come to an agreement on uh so that it just can't get changed easily into the future and this is why I want to be given um Mr City attorney copies of whatever the beach has be able to read it see what else I might want to add to it uh for instance uh what commissioner Reay is is saying in you know people how they go around back in U 2020 there were some nice CHS that wanted to recall me basically none of them lived in the city uh what happened well to my surprise I found out sometime later that the pack that was running the recall committee bought some advertising TV radio small amounts I think it was around 177,000 somewhere in there they actually did buy they actually did spend it through the pack correctly however and uh one radio station that I have to proove already I'm uh hoping that I soon we'll get the proof on the second the PC bought another 50,000 plus worth of advertising um The Entity that placed the advertising for the pack was uh a company that its owner had been arrested a few years before for some naughty stuff with the federal government uh dealing with Panama and forging the names of federal agents and stamps and so on but the biggest surprise to me was that the P never paid for those advertisements the pack was the one that bought the time under his name the he was there for the pack the pack never had the money in his bank account to pay with so there were two separate corporations from two private individuals that actually bought or should I say that actually paid for the advertisements um I think uh with the guy that used to sit where you were at uh Mr gabella they called it money laundry um and uh I read in today's newspaper that those two fin individual from those two companies they're not going to run the campaign of someone running for Sheriff ain't that wonderful only in America okay okay moving along Mr City attorney would you please read into the record the titles of the pz items for consideration yes Madam chair I believe the first one I have is pz4 about which which is a resolution doesn't need to be read into the record pz six um an ordinance of the Miami city commission with attachments amending ordinance number 10544 is amended the future land use map of the Miami comprehensive neighborhood plan pursuant to small scale Amendment procedures subject to Section 163 3187 Florida Statutes by changing the future land use designation from medium density restricted commercial to restricted commercial of the acreage described herein of real property located at approximately 775 Southwest 8 Street Northwest portion 750 Southwest 7 Street and 740 Southwest 7 Street Miami Florida is more particularly described in exhibit a attached an incorporated making findings containing a severability clause and providing for an effective date pz7 an ordinance of the Miami city commission with attachments amending the zoning atlas of ordinance number 13114 the zoning ordinance of the city of Miami Florida as amended Miami 21 code by changing the zoning classification from t5l urban center transect Zone limited to T 680 Urban core transect Zone open of the property located generally at 775 Southwest 8 Street Northwest portion 750 Southwest 7 Street and 740 Southwest 7 Street Miami Florida is more particularly described in exhibit a making findings containing a severability clause and providing for an effective date pz8 an ordinance of the Miami city commission with attachments amending ordinance number 10544 has amended the future land use map of the Miami comprehensive neighborhood plan pursuant to small scale Amendment procedures subject to 163 3187 Florida Statutes by changing the future land use designation from duplex residential to low density restricted commercial of the acreage described herein of real property at 200 Northwest 42 Avenue Western portion and 4212 Northwest 2 Terrace Western portion Miami Florida more particularly described an exhibit a attached and Incorporated making findings and providing for an effective date pz9 an ordinance of the Miami city commission with attachments amending the zoning atlas of ordinance number 13114 the zoning ordinance of the city of Miami Florida has amended Miami 21 code by changing the zoning classification from T30 Suburban transect Zone open to t40 General Urban transect Zone open for the Western portion of the property generally located at 4212 Northwest 2 Terrace and 200 Northwest 42 Avenue Miami Florida more particularly described an exhibit a attached and Incorporated making findings contain a separability clause and providing for an effective date pz10 an ordinance of the Miami city commission with attachments amending the future land use map of ordinance number 10544 is amended the Miami comprehensive neighborhood plan pursuant to small scale Amendment procedures subject to one Section 163 3187 Florida Statutes by changing the future land use designation from medium density restricted commercial to restricted commercial of the acreage described herein of real property at 860 862 8 42 834 and 826 Northwest 1 Street uh and 821 West Flagler Street Miami Florida as more particularly described in exhibit a making findings and providing for an effective date just want to make sure I said 852 um pz11 an ordinance of the Miami city commission with attachments amending the zoning ordinance of atlas of the zoning atlas of ordinance number 13114 the zoning ordinance of the city of Miami Florida as aend Miami 21 code by changing the zoning classification from t50 urban center transect Zone open to T680 Urban core transect Zone open for the properties located 860 852 842 834 and 826 Northwest 1 First Street and from t50 urban center transa Zone open to T680 Urban core transa Zone open for the northern 45 ft of the property located at 821 West Flagler Street Miami Florida all as more particularly described in exhibit a attached and Incorporated further recommending to the city commission acceptance of the voluntarily proferred Covenant attached and incorporated as exhibit B making findings containing a severability clause and providing for an effective date pz2 an ordinance of the Miami city commission with attachments amending the future land use map of ordinance number 10544 is amended the Miami comprehensive neighborhood plan pursuant to small scale Amendment procedures subject to Section 163 . 3187 Florida Statutes by changing the future land use designation from low density restricted commercial to restricted commercial of approximately 2.54 Acres described here in of real property at 460 Northwest 36 Court East portion 427 Northwest 37 Avenue East portion 400 Northwest 36 Court 408 Northwest 36 court and 440 Northwest 36 Court 146 Northwest 36 Court 140 Northwest 36 Court 11 11 4 Northwest 36 Court 100 Northwest 36 Court 102 Northwest 36 Court 70 Northwest 36 Court 64 Northwest 36 Court 58 Northwest 36 Court 3667 Northwest Flagler Terrace and 3695 West Flagler Street Northwest portion Miami Florida assemblage a and by changing the future land use designation from duplex residential to restricted commercial of approximately 0.34 Acres described here in of real property at 697 Northwest 37 Avenue Southwest portion 640 Northwest 36 Court south portion and 3665 Northwest 6 Street Miami Florida assemblage B collectively the assemblage all as more particularly described in exhibit a attached and Incorporated making findings containing a severability clause and providing for an effective date pz 13 an ordinance of the Miami city commission with attachments amending the zoning atlas of ordinance number 1 13114 the zoning ordinance of the city of Miami Florida is amended Miami 21 code by changing the zoning classification from T680 Urban core transect Zone open to T680 Urban core transect Zone open for the property generally located at 697 Northwest 37 Avenue North and Southwest portion and by changing the zoning classification from t4l General Urban transc Zone limited to t50 urban center transic Zone open for the properties generally located at 697 Northwest 37 Avenue Southeast portion 640 Northwest 36 Court south portion 3665 Northwest 6 Street 4 60 Northwest 36 Court East portion 427 Northwest 37 Avenue East portion and 400 Northwest 36 Court 408 Northwest 36 Court 440 Northwest 36 Court 146 Northwest 36 Court 140 Northwest 36 Court 114 Northwest 36 Court 100 Northwest 36 Court 102 Northwest 36 Court to Northwest 36 Court 64 Northwest 36 Court uh 70 Northwest 36 Court 58 Northwest 36 Court 3667 Northwest Flagler Terrace and 3695 West Flagler Street Northeast portion Miami Florida all as more particularly described in exhibit a attached and Incorporated making findings containing a severability clause and providing for an effective date pz14 an ordinance of the Miami city commission with attachments amending ordinance number 10544 has amended the future land use map of the Miami comprehensive neighborhood plan pursuant to small scale Amendment procedure subject to 163 3187 Florida Statutes by changing the future land use designation from duplex residential to public parks real property I'm sorry to public parks and recreation of the acreage described here in of real property at 1320 Southwest 21 Street Miami Florida as more particularly described in exhibit a attached and Incorporated making findings and providing for an effective date pz5 an ordinance of the Miami city commission with attachments amending the zoning atlas of ordinance number 13114 the zoning ordinance of the city of Miami Florida is amended Miami 21 code by changing the zoning classification from T30 Suburban transac Zone open to CS Civic space zone of the property generally located at 1320 Southwest 21 Street Miami Florida as more particularly described an exhibit a attached in incorp making findings containing a severability clause and providing for an effective date um and I believe that's it the next two are first reading ordinances which don't have to be read city clerk U just for the record pz 16 and 17 I have Jennings disclosures while we wait okay it's for the clerk okay you see 16 is in your District No it's not in my district that yeah I know um sorry let me um I need to read two more titles uh rookie mistake um pz 16 an ordinance of the Miami city commission with um with attachment amending ordinance number 10544 is amended the future land use map of the Miami comprehensive neighborhood plan pursuant to small scale Amendment procedures subject to one Section 163 3187 Florida Statues by changing the future land use designation from duplex residential to low density restricted commercial of the AC acreage described herein of real properties located at 1300 Northwest 38 Street and 1317 Northwest 37 Street Miami Florida is more particularly described an exhibit a making findings containing a severability clause of and providing for an effective date pz1 17 an ordinance of the Miami city commission with attachments amending the zoning atlas of ordinance number 1 13114 the zoning ordinance of the city of Miami Florida is amended Miami 21 code by changing the zoning classification from T30 Suburban transa Zone to t4l General Urban transa Zone limited of the properties generally located at 1300 Northwest 38 Street and 1317 Northwest 37 Street more particularly described in exhibit a making findings containing a severability clause and providing for an effective date thank you Mr City attorney sir yes sir do we need to have public hearing for PC or was it sufficient that we had it earlier we had it earlier yes sir okay so we don't need any further um public hearings uh is there a motion uh on these items I I'd like the motion uh if I may uh with with I'd like to ask uh the attorney on on my item 1300 Northwest 38th Street and 1317 Northwest 37 Street we're going to the the next upzoning on that one right from duplex but uh can we put a CO in there or or possibly can we do that whole block for future because I was talking to some of of the residents that they were concerned the the uh the owners of this property actually came to me and and said that they're not interested in building the higher zoning that we're giving giving them is David right um so um pz 16 and 17 uh is currently requesting that up Zone from t uh 30 to T4 um we we can go back and study the block as a whole um to see what um that um that zoning designation should be as a as you know the neighborhood as a whole um if that's the will the Miss um in your District I I'd like to go ahead and do now possible the the 16 and 17 but having that in mind that we do the the rest of it so it becomes Conformity to uniformity yeah yeah because we've looked at the area and I think we think the area mer right um we can come back uh if that's you know with with the study work with your office um however you wish but yeah we can look at it for sure commissioner Reyes a question does pc16 that area that that abot uh t3s cor correct so yeah the the zoning designation in that area is a T30 and what you're doing is you are just changing that uh that area to what so the request the request for the particular parcel is to go from T30 to t4l that is a four story uh it allows three stories and and it's going to be in the middle of I mean know what you're doing it you see one thing that I I always have want to do is protect p3s because uh uh we will destroy it all our neighborhoods if we can start changing and as a matter of fact uh Miami 21 also tries by all means to have uh some sort of protection for ttds and also gradual increase but this one is not going to be a gradual increase right um so I I think the the sounds like the request or the directive is to go back and look at this neighborhood to look at what is the appropriate Zoning for that area I would like for you to do that but what I was going say is you you know they're abutted on the North they had the 112 Highway on the other side they have the T T6 is it that they have on the other side on 36th Street so they're surrounded and then you have the other problem that what happened was that the owner of this property she's not interested in going to the maximum thing she she she she was willing to make a profit okay but she does want to get out of the circumstance she's in because he says he Ren it out and it becomes a boarding house that they they start subletting and then that's bad for the for the for the neighborhood it is it is and and and that's that's where this is coming from and I've spoken to her two times and she's sincere she she's not interested in making the full use of of of of you know of she'd like to see a townhouse you know she's not going to go three floors she she's even willing to profer that if that's you know that would be a problem um well what are we going to do we're going to uh look into it and come back okay then we have toer them okay then we have to have to be deferred right um Madam chair I also it seemed like there was a Jennings Disclosure by um commissioner parter already made one I believe Mr gabella just sort of made his Jennings disclosure and um District 4 You indicated um commissioner R is that you wanted to make a genous disclosure on 16 and 17 as well that's right thank you C can I just say that I'd like to do this today and maybe profer that they're going to do U not the fourth uh were the three store you said the maximum right T4 allows three stories three stories on how long would your study take uh I I would give us probably at least a month to come back yeah let's do that uh commissioner and let's analyze it I mean we have been I think that miss summer was here she was uh totally opposed to that and she's been living there forever I've known her well i' I'd like to you know when I can I I'd like to you know let you guys do what you do in your districts because I think you guys know best I think I know best in my district Sir with all due respect yeah there is no fom here we are all no no I'm not talking about a fom I'm talking about I'm talking about what I'm talking about that I believe that I know my area better than you know my area I don't know your are of Miami back and saying the other no F them no I me don't start with that that's is my district and I all that you are city of mam commissioner you're welcome to get in my district not not interested I'm interested in working for my zone and for the for the whole the city of Miami but what I'm saying is I don't think you know my area better than I do just like I know your area this I'm not trying to interfere the only thing that I'm trying to do is protect the neighborhoods protect the trees and protect the neighborhoods single family homes I don't care if they are in tbook too you see I'm going to do that I'm going to get I'm going to try to protect it that's what I've been doing follow me I've beening I got an idea I got an idea uh then let's uh let's put all these all these PES because to to be honest with you I haven't had a chance to study the rest of them including the ones in your neighborhood let's do that let's let's go ahead and and defer all this and then we'll do it the next time what who on first Susan second that's right I'm sorry I had to step away to do a love letter to Haiti it's the video so I'm not clear what's happening right now okay I don't know what what what item are we discussing we're just going 6 pc16 so pz16 okay and 17 PC 16 and 16 and 17 so do I understand is there a motion to defer all of the PC Items motion no oh you want look you got people here we we have people here that have spent their time their money to be here that's right uh look commissioner Gava I'm willing to pass this on first reading ordinance until it's clear for second reading the first reading uh but you know I think we need to move with the agenda I understand that and I don't want to hamper anybody but you got to understand this lady has been in my office two times she also has been waiting for this you know and she makes the case that she doesn't want boarding and then that's not good for for the neighborhood you know and this lady sincere let me tell you if not I want to be doing it okay and and I I know my area that's what I'm what I'm trying to do so the same thing you know that goes for you guys goes for for my my uh you know um so it's a it's a first reading item 16 and 17 are there any other pey items that my colleagues would like to pull for discussion no okay so may I have a motion to pass pz 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 do the chair please I need to put something on the record for pz 10 and 11 the City attorney well has asked me thank you sorry Melissa tapen is 200 South bcan Boulevard Miami representing the applicant in pz10 and 11 just to put on the record uh that this includes a profer a a covenant the release of the 2018 former Covenant uh will be done administratively um so I just want to put that in the record because there will not be two covenants the intent is for the New Covenant to replace supersede and be the only enforcable Covenant on the land thank you thank you and Madam chair on pz9 I believe the applicant believe the applicant's going to indicate U planning department recommended denial of the T680 to t68 L um which which item is this pz9 pz9 yeah pz pz9 the zoning change is that correct you want to abandon the zoning from T680 to t68 L and keep the um change from T30 to t40 that that is correct uh Mr City attorney good afternoon Commissioners Ben Fernandez 200 South biscan Boulevard on behalf of the applicant that was the motion on first reading this is second reading and we continue to make that request thank you thank you thank you so I have a motion and a second all in favor I shair so who is the Mover again you're supposed to follow that no no no I just want to make sure that everyone's accepting the Amendments that were proper so commissioner re move the item commissioner cor second I'm sorry I'm sorry what exactly are we doing again we're passing all of the items so I have a motion and 17 they are first first reading yes so if there needs to be some clean up between first and second reading I want to know a lot of okay I have a motion and a second all in favor I I motion carries unanimously with PC 9 amended and PC 10 and 11 amended correct we have a personal appearance that Mr City clerk do I have any other items on the agenda in play other than the personal appearance no ma'am okay personal appearance um can I can can I can I make an announcement while we wait for for you to do your personal appearance what announcement one one announcement I have where's my staff I hope they're listening to me you're running for Sheriff not not no I this is the extent it where's it okay it there we go here we go while we get ready for the personal appearance H can you put that back can no no no no can you put my flyer back just quickly yes just going to make a quick announcement before the personal appearance I want to announce to everyone and my colleagues the city the fit City Miami challenge kickoff for May May is uh National physical fitness and sports month and we are putting forth this city fit Miami challenge for all city employees to get fit the kickoff is May 6 at 4:00 at the MRC we're going to do a 5K and throughout the month we are going to be doing Health initiatives at the kickoff we're going to have workshops and all kinds of things we hope that everyone all of the Departments all of the employees participate we hope that each commissioner participates and their staff participates it's our attempt to help our employees get healthy both physically and mentally there's going to be information on physical health and mental health we're going to have hydration challenges we're going to have a challenge you walk run bicycle 31 miles and 31 days it's going to be a lot of fun they're going to be prizes I know we have two tickets to Rolling loud donated for one of our winners that's going to be a concert in December and we're going to have all kinds of initiatives incentives there's going to be an opportunity for employees to earn administrative leave for accomplishments that they achieve during this Fitness month so I pray that all of you join us there's going to be a department liaison in each department that can get more information on how to participate and I hope all of you join me for the city fit Miami challenge May 6th well to make sure that everyone's safe on the the 5K run uh commissioner Reyes and I are going to volunteer to lead the run from the golf car we're going to be in with the lights so everybody could see that you guys are coming and you're safe you can walk commissioner we're going to have a lot of water for the people that need join me encourage your staff to participate and all of the city employees join us so that we can be a help healthy city thank you okay you would have to say that after I had ribs for lunch right all right after the run we go to a barbecue place uh well then you would have earned it okay are we ready all right if you could uh put the first up look this is a presentation um that I think is important for uh beginning with my colleagues up here but for the residents to see what truly has been happening uh and what many people have to say about U Maurice foray Park and Bayfront Park and in particularly some of the key issues that uh have been heard from uh from Minority this here is from local gems Florida this is a a part of the news break digital News website app that declared the top five parks in Miami day County and the number one part that they put in their very uh looked at uh newsbreak digital website and app the number one Park was Marie aay Park and they said Nestle in the heart of downtown Miami where the city stunning architectural meets the viin bay the park offers an impressive blend of natural beauty and cultural Intrigue the park formerly known as Bicentennial Park is teaming with lutch green spaces colorful sculptures and a variety of Flora making it a paradise for nature lovers and art enthusiasts alike visitors can enjoy leely stroll along the bay observe cruise ships or engage in outdoor events the park also features a dock section locked by both locals and tourists and is home to a science museum in planetarium despite his fastness the park maintains impeccable cleanliness and offers ample parking and easy access enhancing the overal visitor experience um can we go to the first video that we want to show [Music] Coter [Music] [Music] [Music] Park as you can see uh we will be bringing God willing before the end of the year uh the fountain back um and we will be keeping the same fountain that naguchi put there and is going to be uh beautiful once it's done and working if you could go to the next video please combination of what we all du of New Year over 150,000 people came this [Music] year our New Year's Event has become the second largest New Year's Event EV in the United States and the biggest laddin New Year's Event in our [Music] H next one [Music] please this is the dogs and cats the sculpture Gardens walkway that was inaugurated last year the sculptures are gorgeous both King background Museum have the beautiful rose gardens I mean today for me is like best way to spend the Sunday and then of course with the family you can't beat it [Music] I love it I think it's very unique and very beautiful I think it's very important for kids to explore new things and see new things so it's definitely the most important thing in our life is Art I I love the park uh it's so beautiful to be outside nature the sun um the exhibition with all of the uh the beautiful like colors the animals the dogs the cats it's uh it's awesome to have this like right here in the neighborhood just with my family we came all the way down from Montana this is beautiful we were just noticing how awesome the artwork is uh just the artwork on each of the animals is so unique and different I love it especially the fire department one cuz I work in a fire department spectacular it's such an important thing for the City of Miami and it made me really emotional because seeing all of these first of all so many different breeds and and they're all so beautifully made so it's a it's a really great addition to the city [Music] it is amazing it is actually an oasis inside like downtown Miami the moment you walk in here in the walkway is like a totally a change of energy the actual culture it brings to Miami is amazing so I really recommend it [Music] in the first uh year that the sculpture Gardens the dogs and C walkway and sculpture Gardens has been open we've had some 350,000 visitors more than the uh Paris Museum next door um next I live right there that building I love the park it's beautiful I come here every single day I love the park it's beautiful I come here every single day my name is Jus I live right there that building you st beginning don't start it yet until I tell you just bring it back and then we'll start it from the beginning um here since I was told that uh when we have hearings on the exercise outdoor uh gym we cannot bring in uh testimony from dozens of the people that not only live around there but are residents of Miami they want to use it the silent majority um I thought it'd be appropriate and you should hear from them today briefly uh so that you just don't think that everybody is against us on the contrary majority of the people are forward uh in the city of Miami we have a total of 25 parks that have outdoor gym equipment and three more that are going to have it soon for a total of 28 um so if you could start please I live right there that building I love the park it's beautiful I come here every single day it's really peaceful and in my opinion it's the cleanest Park in Miami hands down I am waiting I'm just waiting for those fences to come out because I I think I'm going to really enjoy it you know you get you get some pull-ups done uh I think I think it's great honestly it's going to it's going to really boost the park even more this is for I'm Jenna um and I like this park I think I go to the gym a lot and I think being outside is even better so an outdoor gym combines the two mersh for my name is Nick I guess for anybody that wants to use a gym I think it's very unique like if they don't have access to a gym use use a park for free um even using the track to run as well I think that's a very good idea to use it [Music] Liv yeah a fantastic thing yeah and just to inspire people to like they have an exercise yet to get started absolutely for car for Dan yeah I do I live up here in this building over here I love it the constant progress in the park is incredible um it seems every month they're adding something uh they're adding this uh look like outdoor workout area now the palm trees have been added the the lights they add all the time there's constantly updates constantly it's amazing it's incredible very very positive I think it I think it's increasing the value of the area my name is Barbie I think it's awesome I think um people that I like the gym gym honestly like people that don't have access to gyms can use that and that's amazing like somebody that that wants to get stronger and you can't afford a membership that's perfect you know I think and czy I think it's great because it really makes community space Hi how are you I am Denise Ducati um I actually love a gym because uh I am a personal trainer for 20s something years so I think that's a great attribute for a lot of people sometimes you got basketball courts that doesn't hit everybody and sometimes a tennis court or something else but I think the gym outside gives people a different range of motion everybody lives in Miami so we like to be outside sometimes being trapped at a gym doesn't do it for you but it gives you a place to socialize because the gym technically is an adult playground from hernandz my opinion for the G of this park is amazing I think that's a a great idea to bring more people to this park Jung Valentine I think it's great so I can you know while I'm working I can stop by here sit down and do a couple lift I don't see anything wrong with it [Applause] [Applause] Christina yeah I think that that's such a great idea my name is R srto I live at 3206 915 Boulevard I am for uh the Maurice fry Park trust and the improvements they're making in the park including the gym Ari and I live here at 900 biscan Boulevard 900 just right here I think this park is an amazing asset for the city you know you see here the people the kids the activity the all the effort to bring life into this park to bring more visitor the statues the gym is really really nice uh my name is Hannah borov it's really nice I think it's um a way to get the community involved because it's you know having a like public space um is really important especially you know incorporating healthy stuff like working out and all that um I uh where I used to live they had the same thing and it's like just a great way for people to come together I think glay my name is Marcus bellot I love this park I come here every single day with the puppy um without it I mean it's like the only grass in downtown really so I use a dog park I run around out here I work out so I'm very excited that this Park's opening up as well I think it's good to have an outdoor gym on this side cuz the only outdo gyms I know of are Muscle Beach so this is probably the first one on this side that I know of damn great job in the park it's absolutely amazing all the statues and stuff that you guys put up and just how clean everything is it's awesome hey you guys have done a really good job beautiful and then this I didn't even realize that this was here to be honest with you yeah the gym yeah this is cool hi my name is Dan Valente I'm a downtown resident and the new addition to the park is very accessible to kids adults of all ages and it seems like something that's going to attract a lot of people it's next to the dog park so it's a nice little family event that everybody can enjoy I'm Elizabeth I live here in Marina blue and I am every day in the park with my dogs and I love what they are doing the trees and everything is going to be beautiful it's going to be the best part in Miami my name is Eli I live H around this beautiful Park I saw a lot of change here and we enjoy what it's going here and hopefully everybody enjoy like me and uh really I am very very happy hi my name is Elisa um I'm a resident here in Miami it's a a lovely part I come here with my dog a lot the dog park is amazing it's always really nice and clean um and there's been very friendly people always every time I come here it's nice being right on the water and uh I've noticed all the nice improvements with the trees and the the new foliage it's a really nice place to be my name is this was only a small group of uh people that we saw elected to show you about three dozen or so uh there's many many more that feel the same way and as you can see here these are people that basically all them live in our city I would say a majority live in downtown uh you can see many of them that were speaking with their dogs coming there from across the street the guy that was in the fence that spoke with a hat said Grammy winner uh one of the most famous cuan American musicians uh in the world and Beyond aduru has been an owner for a second home in 900 building and he couldn't understand as you heard there why this gem was still fenced and he couldn't use it you saw that there were numerous other people that lived in the 900 building many others in downtown so I I wanted to show um the other side of the son majority that one an out door JY uh that want to be able to have something different that they can enjoy and exercise with in open air um while being respectful of uh other people's opinions you know in a in a democracy you try to make room for everyone that you can it's just not a few that should be able to dictate for the majority but we also wanted to show the uh sculpture Gardens and dogs and cats walkway so you could see what was then there two whole city blocks of the most beautiful gardens anywhere in Florida with 57 uh statues all painted by local artists same time there's a lot of work that's gone there um we have the largest dog park in the State of Florida Maurice foray Park we built another dog park at Bayfront Park the work to goes on for the New Year's Eve celebration that we give to our residents and Beyond every year um I dare to say no other City uh in the world can do it we begin at 6:00 p.m. at night and go until over 1 in the morning where we have close to 30 artists that perform and for the most part they're all known artist many are world renown artists uh huge amount of Gammy winners that we have to perform and we have to make room for 150,000 people to come Beyond hundreds of thousands that uh see it in TV or in YouTube in Miami and around the world so I wanted to take this opportunity and I thank uh um the commission for giving it to me so you could see uh what work uh has been done at Maurice Ray in Bayfront Park these are regional parks that are parks for all the city of Miami this is not these are not neighborhood parks these are regional parks that are there with the museums for all miamians to enjoy the dogs and cats walkway sculpure Gardens uh is brought positive publicity to Miami uh worldwide and Nationwide um and there's nothing like it uh in the world and people that come to visit Miami uh go there is just to see it so I again thank you chair Commissioners for being able to bring this presentation thank you and at this time we shall conclude the city of Miami commission meeting for April 25th 2024 thank you all [Music] [Music] --------- [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] he n [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] he [Music] [Music] for [Music] meeting for April 25th 2024 today is take our children to work day and I want to recognize all of our little people that have come to work with their parents this is my niece LC say hi hi this is Jude hi you're old now say I am I tell I am Chloe Samuels yes and this is Chloe Samuels so we have more I come on kids you want to tell who your mom uh Terry Thomas oh I I'm a little bit too shy sorry okay hi guys you want to tell everybody your name I'm Lucas Lucas Santiago Santiago I'm Diego Diego Ray hi everyone welcome our kids we have more kids coming come on guys I'm let your name I'm Valentina Valen I'm Henry Sebastian thank you Sebastian so they are going to be with us all day and we're going to to be on our best behavior because we want to make a good impression so that someday one of these little people will be here being public servants do we have any more my name is Sienna so thank you and we have more even pouring in some kids have joined you as you're going to come and listen to our commission meeting and make sure that we serve our community and I want to welcome all of our kids anyone else we have to celebrate them because this is why we are here this is why we become public servants so that we make our city a better place for our kids and we have to keep that in mind we have to always be mindful that we do what we do because we want to leave this place better than we found it and let's introduce these little ones that have just come come come come come introduce yourself my name is Gia my name is Madison my name is Matthew G Madison and Matthew welcome anymore I don't want to leave anyone out huh you see a lot more kids yes I do too more any okay okay it doesn't matter okay here you guys want to introduce yourself come here yes my name is Ray Ray my name is Ruby okay my name is Brean all right thank you everyone so this is we are going to proceed with our recognitions and if you guys want to stay up here with me you're welcome if you want to go back to your parents you're also welcome [Applause] [Applause] you're staying are you staying all right l so at this time we are recognizing the YMCA of South Florida their adapted swimming program interesting because I've pledged to learn how to swim this summer YMCA of South Florida you don't why you got did you get did you get one I'll get you another one they're coming okay good morning morning good morning director Evans good morning is this it for the YCA coming okay good morning everyone okay so this certificate of appreciation is awarded in acknowledgement of your steadfast dedication and Priceless contributions to the city of Miami the involvement of the YMCA of South Florida and the adapted swimming program program has not only empowered youth to thrive in swimming but has also played a pivotal role in Saving Lives through the Parks and Recreation Department your commitment and passion for enhancing our community are truly commendable and deeply appreciated on behalf of the elected leadership of the city of Miami we extend our heartfelt gratitude for your service to our community your dedication and resilience inspires us all and we are honored to recognize your exceptional contributions thank you good morning everyone good morning I'm Chris Evans I'm the director of the uh uh Parks and Recreation Department hope everybody's having doing well uh we wanted to recognize uh the YMCA for our continued partnership one of the most important things we do at the department is is operating our pools and teaching children how to swim we're one of the largest providers in the state of teaching children how to swim and with this partnership we'll be able to teach even more children with disabilities how to swim so it's one of the things that's very important to us we're looking forward to having more pools open I know it's the summertime we have a lot of pools that are goinging online we have a few more that we want to build as well so we can continue to lead the state in teaching children how to swim so we want to thank Joselyn here one of our former Park staff as well who's now with the YMCA who's helped us with this partnership and and moving it forward and it is such an important important program because we need to teach our little people how to swim and again I'm committed to learning how to swim myself this summer and I'm terrified but I yeah and the city parks I'm going to learn how to swim in the city park so thank you did we get the picture thank you hold what we are now going to recognize Eduardo [Applause] Montes you know him okay I don't know huh you knowu yourself morning everybody Dan Goldberg director of zoning and we're here today to honor one of our dedicated wonderful employees who's leaving us soon for retirement Eduardo Montes um Eduardo has been employeed here for near 30 30 years which quite an accomplishment um I know I personally I'm going to miss him greatly uh he's been our Information Specialist supervisor um so if you need a certificate of use or you need information on zoning he's been the head for quite a while um I just say I really miss you um You' served with Integrity With Honor um there's not an applicant not a resident not a business owner who hasn't been touched by your decision making your hard work and um truly miss you and thank you so much for your years of service to the city not just in zoning but in code GSA and I'm probably missing a few more few more uh roles but thank you so much and your retirement is very welld deserved wherever it leads you and thank you again thank you very thank you very much [Applause] uh what can I say first of all thank you very much for this kind uh recognition uh there are so many experiences that I have uh you know passed through the years in the city of Miami uh there's been uh up and downs like uh you know every everywhere else but overall I have learned so much I have uh dealt with so many you know uh things uh during all these years I've I've had uh great uh you know leaders and um I want to thank uh my director Dan and my assistant director Tamara Frost for all the support that I have had uh you know during the time that I've been working in zoning and all my zoning team um and I will keep uh you know forever all these uh experiences and the City of Miami will be always in my heart so thank you thank you very much [Applause] congratulations [Applause] I also need my iPad my phone my yeah I told and at this time we are going to honor one of our Deputy City attorneys Carrie mcti who passed away I believe her family is here I would love it if the uh family and her her family would come up and her work family would come up everybody slide down quick we are uh joined up here with uh those that uh that love Carrie mcnolty uh we have her family her wonderful family her sister Megan her parents and her just her loving family and her brother and her and her work family uh as well and I am going to read a proclamation but I but before I do so um and the the reason I'm going to read it is because it was the product of a number of people who work with her and I I think that everyone had a hand in uh highlighting her accomplishments but as we all know in The Limited space provided in this there's no way we could really uh Encompass all that is uh wonderful and all that we love about her um and and we think about her all the time uh in our as we go through our daily lives and uh as we pick up the phone as and i' spoken to many people as we pick up the phone and we were ready to dial a number uh and was we practice law we think about her and before I read this I just wanted everyone to know at least a small piece of what she meant she was brilliant I we worked with her every day she work with many of the people in this room I her work was the her mind was out standing she was so thoughtful I have all the cards she gave me in over the last 10 years she was a fierce Advocate she was a fierce advocate for the rule of law for municipal governance and for the things that she cared about the environment uh she there were causes that were near and dear to her heart she was a fierce advocate for all of these things she was an artist she was one of the most creative people people I know anytime we had a function in the office as a small example she was the one that would do the decorations and it was outstanding every time she was a mentor she loved being a mentor she embraced being the intern when she was an internship coordinator she loved mentoring younger attorneys and teaching them she was a teacher she was a mentor and she was was a friend and she was a friend to all of us she was a friend to me she was a friend to all of us and she was funny and I will miss her laugh forever I will never forget it and I will miss it and now I with that I'm going to read this that just highlights some of her accomplishments whereas Carrie mcel as division chief of appeals and litigation at the city attorney's office at the city of Miami where she demonstrated exceptional dedication and professionalism in her role and whereas Carrie joined the office of the City attorney in November of 2014 and during her tenure she practiced in state and federal court in all facets of Municipal law including constitutional law land use law zoning law tort law labor and employment law civil rights elections environment and building and code enforcement whereas she was lead counsel in many appeals and I won't read them all but I will tell you that there are a number of appeals listed here that are in all aspects of the law published opinions that shaped the law whereas she was an advocate for the environment and worked tirelessly to protect the health safety and Welfare of the city and its residents by serving as Council in various matters including fpnl Turkey Point Unit 6 and 7 power plants City versus the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Florida Power and Light um company versus the city of Miami and in reg in regarding nuclear cost recovery so these are just a some matters in which she litigated zealously advocating for Environmental Protection whereas krie also dedicated herself to mentoring attorneys and students by serving as the internship and recruitment coordinator coordinator of the office of the City attorney and also as an Adjunct professor at the St Thomas University School of Law and whereas she before her tenure also worked in private practice for the law firms of Greenberg TRG white and case and Hicks Porter eban felenstein where of course she worked on many many important matters whereas carry worked as a staff attorney for The Honorable chief justice Fred Lewis of the Florida Supreme Court and worked as a law clerk for The Honorable Thomas log of the Third District Court of Appeal and she courageously battled cancer leaving behind a legacy of Integrity compassion and unwavering support for those Afflicted with the disease she leaves behind an excellence in the legal profession that is unmatched she Faithfully served the office of the City attorney for almost a decade contributing her expertise passion and commitment to the betterment of the city and its citizens and I we we will always remember and love her and I thank you for being here and I thank the city I thank the city commission I thank the city for for um and the mayor's office for this proclamation to honor her thank you [Applause] thank you John thank you to City commissioners in the city attorney's office as Carrie's father it was always easy to be proud of her accomplishments she had so many in this difficult time it has been comforting to know that the people she worked for and worked with every day valued her contributions to the city she loved your honoring and recognition of car will help keep her memory alive for that I am grateful beyond words [Applause] thank you madam chairman Carrie was not just a outstanding attorney but most of all she was a wonderful human being she gave the dedication the Integrity to the city above and beyond she's been missed very very much and we know that uh God has got her at her side God bless her this is a very difficult time I first met her when I first got here and I learned to love her every time she walked into my office she brightened the day you see she was besides being a the best attorney that I ever talked to she was always positive always was ready to uh tackle any problems and and I for didn't matter how difficult it was she was ready she was ready your as commissioner K you said it is so sad to lose such a wonderful human being that uh this is I just pray the Lord that has received her that received her and she is what she should be in Heavens thank you for giving us Carrie thank you thank you thank you all and at this time we are going to open our meeting with prayer I am joined by my colleagues commissioner Miguel gella commissioner Paro commissioner Joe Coro and commissioner Manolo Rees um welcome to the city of Miami commission this is Pastor Linda Hawkins of Covenant Ministries who will lead us in prayer today good morning and thank you Madame commissioner I acknowledge um your presence I thank you for having me today I'd like to take an opportunity to just read a quick quick scripture as we be begin to pray I want us to kind of bring our hearts and our minds in as we understand that prayer is the most important thing that we can do in any session so I'm going to read very quickly Genesis 11 and6 and I'm sure it's one that everyone knows and we're familiar with but as I sat yesterday and thought about this I thought about commissioner we were in an innerfaith um session last week and I want to say I think you've cracked the code I think she's cracked the code we are ready to pray and when I see unity in the body it is such an amazing thing and so Genesis 11:6 simply says this and the Lord said indeed the people are one and they all have one imagination and whatever they decide to do if they put their minds to it they're able to do it I say to you today as we begin this session I pray that the spirit of unity that the spirit of peace that the spirit of wisdom would rest upon this house today that those of us that have traveled near and far will come understanding that as we in invoke and invite the presence of God in here that we open our hearts to do what God has called us to do the assignment that he's done understanding that with unity nothing shall be impossible so I speak today wisdom Revelation knowledge and peace as you begin this session in jesus' name amen thank you so much amen amen and at this time Miss Chloe Samuels will join us lead us in prayer I'm sorry the pledge of the Pledge of Allegiance I'm sorry I'm sorry I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all that's amazing thank you Miss Khloe is an eighth grader at North Dade middle school and will be attending the criminal justice magnet program at Miami Carol City Senior High School thank you Chloe [Applause] I believe we have one more acknowledgement a a RP a a RP come on up are you speaking who's speaking red Dr is speaking welcome good morning everyone weos B um first of all I would like to thank mayor Suarez the Commissioners and distinguished guest my name is Ty haer and I'm a volunteer leader here for AARP South Florida and I'm also a member of the ARP Florida executive Council on behalf of ARP Florida I'm here to acknowledge the city of Miami in your leadership to making your community an even better place to live for all residents Miami is one of 46 age-friendly communities in Florida and more than 850 in the United States the ARP H friendly State and Community Network includes 10 states and Florida of course is one of them we are also part of a broader Global Network including more than 40 countries in the world the age friendly Community process represents a commitment to improving areas of community life in the built and social environment in which we live work play and age today we are here to celebrate a milestone of accomplishment m in your age friendly Journey the completion of a fiveyear cycle of joining the network of and progress in your community's age friendliness among your community many accomplishments Miami initiated the safe routes to age in place program which empowers older adults to identify their transportation needs to improve safety in the neighborhoods including pedestrian safety and we all know how important it is here in Miami the city also focus on supporting affordable housing working with housing providers to diversify Miami's housing options and also provided rental assistance and expanded the number of older adults who qualify in addition Miami is now home to a senior Planet site to provide older adults with digital skills and connections to a range of programs and supports and your empowered 60 program has received widespread recognition for its cic contributions to both older adults and the broader community on behalf of ARP Florida it has been our pleasure to work with Michelle varas and Michael Roman and other in their extraordinary commitment to the people of Miami I am pleased to present this plaque in recognition of your efforts and look forward to hearing and sharing about your continue age-friendly accomplishments ahead thank you thank [Applause] you we got thank you thank you at this time Mr city manager would you please read your statement for the record detailed information about the processes order of business rules of procedure and scheduling of rescheduling of the city commission meetings can be found in Chapter 2 article two of the city code a copy of which is available online at www.m code.com any person who is a lobbyist pursuing to chapter 2 article six of the city code must register with the city clerk and comply with related City requirements for lobbyists before appearing before the city commission a person may not Lobby a city a city official board member or staff member until registering a copy of the code section about lobbyists is available in the city clerk's office or online at www. municode.com any person making a presentation formal request or petition to the city commission concerning real property must make disclosures required by the city code in writing a copy of the city code section is available at the office of the city clerk or online at www.mo.com the city of Miami requires that anyone requesting action by the city commission must disclose before the hearing any consideration provided or committed to anyone for agreement to support or withhold objection to the requested action pursuant to city code section 2-8 any documents offered to the city commission that have not been provided 7 days before the meeting as part of the agenda materials will be entered into the record at the city commission's discretion in a accordance with Section 2-3 33f and G of the city code the agenda and the material for each item on the agenda is available during business hours at the city clerk's office and online 24 hours a day at www.miamigov.com any person may be heard by the city commission through the chair for not more than two minutes on any proposition before the city commission unless Modified by the chair public comment will begin shortly and remain open until public comment is closed by the chairperson me members of the public wishing to address the body may do so by submitting written comments via the online comment form please visit www.miamigov.com meting instructions for detailed instructions on how to provide public comment using the online public comment form the comments submitted through the comment form have been and will be distributed to the elected officials their staff and City Administration throughout the day so that the elected officials may consider the comments prior to taking any action additionally the online comment form will remain open during the meeting to accept comments and distribute to the elected officials their staff and the city Administration up until the chairperson closes public comment public comment may also be provided live at City Hall located at 3500 paname Drive Miami Florida subject to any and all City Rules as they may be amended if the proposition is being continued or rescheduled the opportunity to be heard may be at such later date before the city commission takes action on such proposition when addressing the city commission the members of the public must first state their name their address and what item will be spoken about any person with the disability requiring assistance auxiliary AIDS and services for this meeting May notify the city clerk the city has provided different public comment methods to indicate among other things the public support opposition or neutrality on the items and topics to be discussed at the city commission meeting in compliance with Section 2860 1114 subsection 4 C Florida Statutes the public has been given the opportunity to provide public comment during the meeting and will be and within reasonable proximity in time before the meeting please note Commissioners have generally been briefed by City staff and the city attorney's office on items on the agenda today anyone wishing a Verbatim record of an item considered at this meeting May requested at the office of communications or view it online at www.miamigov.com planning and zoning item shall proceed according to section 7.1.4 of the Miami 21 zoning ordinance parties for any PC Items including any applicant appellant appal City staff and any person recognized by the decision-making body as a qualified intervenor as well as applicants representatives and any experts testifying on behalf of the applicant appellant or appal may be physically present at City Hall to be sworn in by oath or affirmation by the city clerk the members of the city commission shall disclose any exp parte Communications to remove the presumption of prees pursuant to Florida statute sections 2 86.01 one5 and section 7.1.4 point5 of the Miami 21 zoning ordinance the order of presentation shall be as set forth in Miami 21 and in the city code staff will briefly present each item to be heard the applicant will present its application or request to the city commission if the applicant agrees with the staff recommendation the city commission may proceed to its deliberation and decision the applicant may also wave the right to an evidentiary hearing on the record for appeals the appellant will present its appeal to the city commission followed by the appal staff will be allowed to make any recommendation they may have please silence all cell phones and other noise making devices this meeting can be viewed live on Miami TV miamigov.com /tv the city's Facebook page facebook.com/ city of miamigov the city's Twitter page twitter.com of myami the city's YouTube channel youtube.com/ users City of Miami gov and Comcast channel 77 City of Miami the broadcast will also have closed captioning thank you mam clerk Madam thank you Mr city clerk would you please read your statement for the record thank you chair the procedures for individuals be providing testimony to SP for Planning and Zoning items and any qu judicial items on today's City commission agenda will be as follows members of City staff or any other individuals required to be sworn in who are currently present at City Hall be sworn in by me the city clerk immediately after I finished explaining these procedures those individuals who are paying remotely may be sworn in now at any time prior to the individual providing testimony for planning zoning items and or qual items Commissioners are you comfortable with all end no Provisions set forth in these uniform rules procedures we established this meeting yes thank you chair chair M Minister the O for the planning zoning items please good morning ladies and gentlemen if you will be speaking on any of today's Planning and Zoning items the pz items May please have you stand and raise your right hand do you Solly swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give at today's hearing is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth and your response is thank you chair thank you Mr city manager do you have any items on this agenda that will be deferred or withdrawn good morning Madam chair Commissioners um Mr City attorney city clerk at this time the administration would like to defer and or withdraw the following items on the regular agenda re7 to be withdrawn re8 to be deferred to May 23rd F fr1 to be deferred to May 23rd di5 to be withdrawn onto the pz agenda pz2 to be deferred to the May 23rd meeting pz3 to be deferred to the May 23rd meeting and pz5 to be deferred to the May 23rd meeting that concludes the items yes sir re7 to be withdrawn re8 to be deferred to May 23rd F fr1 to be deferred to May 23rd di5 to be withdrawn pz 2 to be deferred to the May 23rd meeting pz3 to be deferred to the May 233rd meeting and pz5 to be deferred to the May 23rd meeting thank you at this time do any of my colleagues have any items that you would like to withdraw or defer Mr Vice chair commissioner gabella commissioner Paro yes I'd like to indefinitely defer pz1 and pz8 I'd also like to co-sponsor sr2 and F fr2 and Madame chair if we could move up our E12 for the selection of the City attorney I think it would make sense okay commissioner Reyes do you have any items that you would like to withdraw or defer so at this time may I have a motion to accept the agenda motion I have a motion and a hold on a second the city clerk is holding his hand up and chair just a couple of uh housekeeping matters during the order of the day uh mayor Suarez would like to co-sponsor ra14 and two clarifications for the record for re5 and re6 re5 and re6 um the city commission was inadvertently shown as the sponsor for those items the correct sponsor for re5 and re6 should reflect commissioner raay thank you chair thank you and I'd like to co-sponsor that as well got it Mr Vice chair you want to to say something yes I I do thank you um which is the item again for the selection of the City attorney that would be re2 re2 yeah I'm I would like to make sure that we deal with this uh in the afternoon I am still we can't hear you I I said I'd like to make sure that we deal with this item in the afternoon so that I can require some additional information uh that I do not have at this point in time okay so um that's separate from our approving the agenda I have a motion in a second all in favor I I I and I believe if um commissioner coroy has needs additional information we don't mind and chair I'm just going to read a brief statement into the record my apologies um regarding pz1 and pz1 18's indefinite deferral pursuant to section 62-22 of the city code and definitely to action initiated by the city will cost City mail noticing advertising and posting of properties as applicable thank you chair thank you that was pz1 um that was for the items that were indefinitely deferred pz1 and 18 I believe it was and at this time we will open the floor for public comment those who wish to speak on any item that is before us on this agenda please step forward and also please if we can follow the advice of our fire department and limit it to five people standing at a time good morning good morning Nathan kurlin 3132 Day Avenue good morning Commissioners good morning ladies and gentlemen in the audience a patient said to his doctor doctor I think I'm shrinking the doctor replied sit down and be a little patient many of us have run out of patience quite frankly to quote Michael Lewis of Miami today how in Heaven's name could Commissioners look at Bayfront Park Fay Park and Virginia key and think that they are the least bit suitable for lighted billboards with changing messages have they any sensitivity at all for what a park is supposed to be apparently not commissioner Coro wants billboard Revenue to improve our signature Waterfront Park unquote what a brilliant idea let's install lighted billboards with ads that change every 8 seconds what an improvement visual pollution as a tourist attraction and make no mistake about it led Billboards are the worst form of visual pollution we need you to step up Commissioners this is an awful plan vote Yes for sr1 thank you good morning good morning my name is Dr Jeff Dorfman I live at 2020 North Bay Drive in Miami I am Treasurer and board member of bisc neighborhoods Association we represent over 6,000 departments in Midtown Miami downtown and Midtown Miami are not Time Square we support the sign ordinance sponsored by District 2 commissioner dameno thank you commissioner Paro for proposing it we are prepared to undertake all legal and forensic accounting measures necessary to clean up Miami politics thank you very much thank you good morning good morning John Dolson 4205 lenx Drive Coconut Grove I do live here I'm not a tourist and to clear the air I'm also a jalis and educator here and I stand nothing to gain by standing up here voicing my opinion if I were a tourist I would not be coming down here to see LED Billboards I've be coming down here to celebrate the beautiful Coastal Community have which is why most of us live here I want to point out this week we celebrated Earth Day that is a global phenomenon to protect and secure our environment for future Generations it's highly inappropriate to be sitting here today trying to scar our beautiful Coastline with these giant Billboards I support sr1 let's kill it while we can thank [Applause] you in Chambers We Don't Clap we do this just a friendly reminder good morning uh good morning Commissioners my name is Charles Walter uh 1901 brickl Avenue uh I'm here today with my daughter uh bring your kids work day today so we I see a few kids in in City Hall it's great to see uh I am here as a resident of Miami I had started a group called Brickle Advocates a few years ago and and so I I I care greatly about what's going on in our neighborhoods and in our city uh I shared uh what's going on in a Facebook group called briol living where there are over 10,000 people uh who participate in that in that community and the General reaction you know sometimes you'll see things in that group where it's like oh you moved to downtown you should be used to the noise you should be expecting that I didn't see one comment that's in favor of oversized Billboards and everyone is basically saying just to read some of these comments uh horrible idea uh don't Time Square us uh oh hell no uh it's like the size of two average home of two apartments side by side standing on edge uh so clearly this doesn't seem to be something being requested by the residents of Miami so we're just wondering why do we need oversized Billboards let's keep it back to the size of the regular Billboards and let's approve the sr1 thank you thank you good morning good morning Debbie Dolson 4205 lenux Drive Coconut Grove I support sr1 with no amendments um this has been deferred many times and I have spoken many times on this issue talked about the light pollution the traffic distractions the quality of life not being represented by a a district 2 um commissioner and why because all of those are important and you've heard all of those before because they're important but really the bottom line is about the residents interests versus the signed companies who are are seeking profit all of you Commissioners uh are elected to represent the interests of residents not to cater to PID lobbyists uh out there uh to make money I'm sorry commissioner Reyes isn't here but he has said that many times that he he represents the residents however if these signs are allowed to go up they are going to spread to every single District they're not going to be just in District Two they're going to be all over the city and I don't think that your consti would like them any better than the the residents of District 2 so please support sr1 with no confusing amendments no exceptions as as stated thank you thank you good morning good morning Madame chair and distinguished Commissioners my name is Mark SLU I'm the president of Bay House Miami condomin Association I live on 600 Northeast 27th Street Miami thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this morning and hope you consider my support to sr1 as is and reject any amendments sr1 is a compromised ordinance that seeks to repeal provisional introduced by former commissioner Al uh Alex dtia in other words he's not longer here it's a good opportunity to review the state Florida's recommendation which says area Maxim of 900 ft Square ft height maximum of 65 P billboard is almost double in area and height almost double 1,800 and 100 for that reason alone it should be go away large viewer boards reminds me of uh Las Vegas Time Squares place that I like to visit but I will not leave in I will not leave in do the visual pollution night and day and also danger to drivers on express way getting distracted and having car accidents I had the opportunity to see some pictures during the test carry out and they are not acceptable soon we'll have a wonderful signature bridge and a spect spectacular under deck Park and this billboard goes against the community is looking for which is a vibrant bill beautiful city free from gigantic humas in Tris billboard in closing I support sr1 s is and reject all changes once again thank you for your for your time thank you good morning good morning Madam chair esteemed Commissioners my name is Rick Madan I am the President of the biscane neighborhoods Association and I live at 2900 Northeast 7th Avenue here in Miami I'm here today to support sr1 as is and reject any amendments to it this ordinance is a crucial step towards restoring balance in our community now we should be clear sr1 is not about taking down existing signs or unfairly impacting businesses it's about correcting a mistake sr1 is a compromise it simply rolls back the standards to what they were before preventing these oversized signs from ever going up it's about writing a wrong ensuring our neighborhoods are protected from these isource remember sr1 respects existing permits and vested rights it doesn't punish businesses or create unnecessary liability for the city it's a common sense solution that protects our environment preserves our neighborhoods and ensures responsible growth for Miami large LED Billboards can contribute to visual clutter and detract from other Aesthetics of an area especially in Scenic and historical locations their bright and dynamic displays can distract drivers and residents nearby potentially causing accidents or impairing the focus of individuals in the vicinity Commissioners let's support sr1 as is and send a clear message we prioritize the well-being of our community over outside commercial interests we deserve a Miami that's vibrant beautiful and free from these intrusive Billboards thank you thank you good morning good morning my name is Nancy Lee and I got out of bed to come here and uh I crossed Mary Street and almost got killed in the crosswalk but uh Mary and Maine just so you all know that there's a crosswalk problem I support everything that last guy said and I think that uh don't Time Square us is a good saying no amendments on this bill and uh I'm going back to bed bye good morning hello good morning uh thank you all for uh listening to us thank you Commissioners my name is Aron AO I live in Paro Bay in in beautiful edge water and I am here to support the sr1 as s uh I would like to ask everybody a question and that is how many times do we all feel like we're going to be in a crash in a car crash I personally feel like that like every day um drivers are not the best here in Miami and these insanely large Billboards are just going to distract more more drivers and when you think of uh locations like the MacArthur Highway where there are tourists there are moms there are Ubers and you add a mega ton of electricity I think all you're going to see are more accidents maybe some deaths and I I I don't want to feel that in this beautiful and peaceful uh city of of Miami so thank you so much I hope you don't make any changes bye-bye good morning good morning my name is kianne Roy I am the president and CEO of your YWCA where it's the W that makes the difference we are at 351 Northwest fth Street in Miami um I am here to thank the commission for its support on re10 YWCA was established over 104 years ago here in South Florida made um Overtown our home over 25 years ago and we thank you for your wisdom then in entrusting the lives of women and their families and working um folks in this County so thank you for your support on behalf of the board but mostly on behalf of working women and families for re10 thank you so much um chairwoman King thank you commissioner gabella thank you commissioner is excuse me B though for your support but for the entire commission the ywc and its families really are looking forward to the future of Miami thank you good morning good morning Kristen Browdy 888 missc Boulevard in downtown Miami mauce F Park is right in my front yard 560 families live in my building there are two more buildings with equivalent numbers just North while this commission doesn't vote while we delay these signs are going up they're shining in our windows we don't want that in our neighborhood other neighborhoods around here don't want it in their neighborhoods we urge you to without further delay act on sr1 without amendments to pass it and make sure we want the park to be improved make no mistake about it and we understand The Balancing Act you have to engage in to bring in the money without raising people's taxes we get that but this is not the way to do it no matter how much money comes in from the signs it doesn't in any way aate the problems that you create for the people who live downtown and that's just our neighborhood now it'll be other neighborhoods in the future thank you commissioner parto for bringing sr1 we urge you to vote Yes and to do it today good morning good morning hi my name is Britt and I'm um talking on behalf of many of my neighbors in downtown there's about 100 people who could not attend today and they're asking me to be their voice today um you guys snuck or whoever did this snuck this sign up in the middle of the night we were unaware of it until the bright lights came on it's a huge sign it's a monstrosity and it affects our quality of sleep it affects our quality of life we do not want this sign you must do something about removing this sign or at least preventing it from shining please like other people said this is not Time Square and none of us want to live in Time Square you cannot do this to us and we don't want any more signs please make this sign go away do not turn it on do not allow it to be turned on we ask you we implore you please thank you very much thank you good morning good morning Elvis Cruz 631 Northeast 57 Street and chairwoman King I learns to swim in a city of Miami pool as part of a city of Miami kindergarten program regarding sr1 the LED Billboards thank you commissioner Paro for taking the lead on this important issue thank you Commissioners gabella and Reyes for voting for this ordinance at first reading Commissioners King and coroo I hope you'll get on the right side of this issue Billboards are visual pollution a driver dist dist raction and a cancer on our city that keeps spreading we now have many LED Billboards that popped up on biscan Boulevard in the Upper East Side we didn't ask for them nor did the city ask us if we wanted them but they're there please vote Yes on this item you were elected to protect the public interest especially from those who would harm our quality of life and please keep in mind in a situation where you are being lobbied and given campaign contributions and pack contributions it is possible that just maybe the lobbyists are less interested in the Public's quality of life than they are in making money for themselves and their clients in closing I'd like to ask everyone who's here in support of this item and in opposition to the Billboards to please stand and be recognized so let the record reflect there's a heck of a lot of people out there thank you thank you everybody thank you good morning good morning my name is Mia patch I reside at 2025 Bickle Avenue I am a resident and speaking at the moment as a resident I am in support of sr1 and I reject wholly any amendments as a district 2 Bickle resident I stand in support with DNA BNA and other organizations that have been very vocal in their opposition to these oversized Billboards I'm in support of sr1 as a compromise because the oversized Billboards were proposed by Alex DEA there was no sitting District to commissioner at the time oversized Billboards are unsightly a distraction and for all the other reasons people have mentioned the this morning which I won't go over and quite frankly if there was any redeeming value whatsoever to the residents then the billboard companies would not be spending vast sums of money on lobbyists the value would speak for itself we all know how this works this is a district 2 issue and it solely impacts for the moment District 2 therefore the commission should defer to the residents of District 2 that are overwhelmingly opposed to these outside Billboards separately wearing a different hat before the commission I would like it to be noted that as the president of the Atlantis on Brickle Condominium Association as one of the 40 associations referenced in the Bickle homeowners association letter presented before the city commission and entered into the record on March 8th 2024 in which ba ha endorsed the oversized Billboards I would like it noted that the Atlanta Som brickl and the other 40 Association members were never pulled by BHA and there was no voting process conducted by BHA and upon inquiry have been advised that it was a decision made by the executive leadership team thank you thank you good morning good morning my my name can you hear me is it better come come a little closer come closer good gotcha is that good thank you very much commissioner my name is Barbara bisno I'm president of the Venetian Way neighborhood alliance a founder of Scenic miam one of the founders of Scenic Miami and Scenic Miami day as you can see I've been around this track before every couple of years some uh outdoor advertising company comes up with a scheme and unfortunately they find a sponsor among you this is not the first time this will not be the last time we have to come down and fight this I am sure but let me tell you this proposal is one of the most egregious ones I've seen the I don't want to repeat and take your time but the size the locations the pollution the traffic issues they're all against these Billboards I don't know if this item has really been deferred because we are all here to hope you will vote today for sr1 we appreciate commissioner Reyes commissioner gabella commissioner Paro for supporting the residents of the city of Miami thank you very much thank you good morning good morning my name is Rosita feder Rico and I reside at 1581 Bickle Avenue that building is Villa Regina which is considered an iconic building for all of the city of Miami there's not a place where I travel that someone doesn't say oh you live in Villa Regina All 48 colors yes I do and very proud as far as the LED Billboards we are totally against it particularly in my last board meeting with residents they want to know what's happening and why this has been approved I fully support the amendment SRI to stop what you're doing we are already exposed to water vessels that go up and down our beautiful Bay in front of all of these beautiful Apartments some of which are are now selling at $40 million I expect that somebody on our behalf will speak and will vote for SRA and approve I also want to say thank you very much commissioner Paro you are probably the best thing that ever happened to this City commissioners and we hope it you continue with all of your good work God bless also I just want to mention James Torres who has actually brought us in to this group we're going to be working with them on a daily basis I receive emails from Mr Torres daily and I report it to our neighbors so please think twice before you defer this thank you thank you good morning good morning my name is Sharon Kirby and I live at 801 North venician Drive on biscane island I'm the vice president of the Venetian Way neighborhood alliance and this is not a downtown problem this light pollution is hit us on Venetian Causeway we're one mile we are one mile across the water from this billboard and it's in our bedrooms I have my hurricane shutters closed for my bedroom windows so I have don't have the light pollution coming in so I can sleep at night so please support Mr paros uh sr1 and please do not let this light pollution bother us the downtown people the Bickle people and everybody that comes to this city we are our Green City a part Park City and we should keep it that way thank you please support sr1 thank you good morning good morning chairman Commissioners my name is Peter erck 243 Northeast 59 Terrace in lemon City I'm the president of the urban environment league and a co-founder of Scenic Miami with Barbara bisno who spoke a few minutes ago for 20 years I've been showing up at City Hall to oppose Billboards Scenic America has been opposing Billboards for almost 60 65 almost 70 years Billboards are banned in four states Vermont Maine Alaska and Hawaii those four states depend on tourism I'm told Florida and South Florida depend on tourism also LED Billboards are the worst form of visual pollution setting have shown LED Billboards cause traffic accidents and the light from the LED Billboards goes through residents curtains I think many of you saw the photographs online that showed the testing of the new allegedly illegal billboard on Fay Park and the bright light here in white is the light on during testing and it was horrendous and it does go through the windows and curtains of the residents on biscane Boulevard and as the wonderful lady said from Venetian Causeway goes through windows and it's very visible and distracting the venician causeway as well uh please show respect for the residents tourists and for nature vote Yes on sr1 ignore the campaign contributions from the billboard companies do everything you can to stop the proliferation Billboards thank you very much thank you good morning good morning my name is George Meyers I live at 801 North venan Drive in the city of Miami I've lived here for 39 years I'm a city of Miami resident City Miami voter a city of Miami citizen I love Miami I love downtown I love seeing what's happening to the beautiful parks and everything that's going on but Friday night I come home and this billboard was illuminated and all you could see was this white billboard the light was unbelievable and the Perez Art Museum the board is telling us the effect will be minimal it's not minimal do you believe this is minimal we are going to have to look at this thing 24 hours a day all year long horrible there was another picture from a resident across the bay on the other side of the billboard this is not minimal it's going to affect everybody in this area our neighborhood and it's a shame it's absolutely ridiculous that they propose this I know they need money I know they're paying their executiv someone much money is ridiculous they get 4 million from the county every year they should be able to abide by that instead of trying to use a billboard income to make up for their poor management please uh support sr1 thank you commissioner re Mr gabela and of course Mardo thank you thank you good morning good morning thank you Commissioners for this uh opportunity to make a comment uh my name is James Weller as the uh director of life support systems and water quality and a member of the biological programs division at the Philip and Patricia Frost museum of science uh in District 2 it's important to me to address a matter of concern that everyone's spoken out about here already um it threat threatens not only our institution um but it could have detrimental effects on the wildlife in and around us with our deep seated roots and conservation Frost science has been committed to Wildlife Rehabilitation science and animal husbandry for decades we've seen the enormous digital LED billboard lit up at night and we are now more than ever deeply concerned about the proliferation of light in and around the museum campus especially on the animals and humans affected by the artificial lighting not only do these illegal Billboards detract from the natural beauty of our surroundings but we also believe they pose a significant risk to health and safety of wildlife artificial lighting can disrupt natural behaviors as a proper photo period is necessary for the regulation of hormones General Health etc for both humans and wildlife examples are disruptions in reproduction sleep cycles Predator prey interactions migration attraction repulsion availability of food resources and overall health as stewards of both knowledge and nature we cannot ignore the harmful consequences of artificial Lighting on the delicate balance of our ecosystem therefore I urge this city Commission to revisit the ordinance governing Advertising Signs on this campus and surrounding areas remove the sign nature around downtown already experiences enough threats without having to be subjected to this new avoidable digital billboard I support sr1 thank you thank you good morning good morning my name is James wi I'm here on resolution 13 which is a resolution to name a street after my great-grandfather is dor Cohen um thank thank you um my great-grandfather th this street by the way is between uh Southwest 2 Avenue between Southwest 26 and Southwest 27th road which runs right along Temple Beth David uh which he helped to found um he was born in Kev Ukraine in 1871 being of the Jewish faith he had to flee with his family uh to the United States having thrown a bomb at a Russian soldier at that time Henry Flagler was building the railroad South through Georgia and Jacksonville down to Fort Dallas and he was hired to provide dry goods to the railroad workers he was given a dinghy with ores um a tent and dry goods and he was told to stay 20 miles ahead of the railroad workers which he did until he got to Fort Dallas in the spring of 1896 he was one of Miami's First Merchants if not its first merchant setting up a clothing store on the south side of the Miami River and later that year in 1896 he was one of the incorporators of the city of Miami from there he was highly involved in Miami's development and its Community he um was president of its Merchant board from 1902 to 1906 in 1907 he was a Treasurer and Trustee of the U Board of Trade he was the president of the DAT County Fair he had all kinds of things like this while he resided here in Miami throughout his lifetime in 1912 he established Temple Beth David Miami's first synagogue and that's where this road that is to be named after him runs along his motto was 25 by 25 25,000 residents in Miami by 1925 and also in 1925 he wrote this book historical sketches and sidelights of Miami a copy of which I'll leave with the commission uh which recounts stories of Miami's early struggles and its residents many of whom were black and but not for this book many of these stories might have been lost thank you it's it's a great appreciation and a great honor thank you m uh Joe Coro for sponsoring this Bill thank you thank you good morning good morning I'm here to represent the project pz16 in alal area also here to represent the resident in that area in the 38th Street and 37 um I'm sure quite us here is against this project and we are people of age right now they have been in this Pro this area over 50 years and to come in and V talking about putting a complex that could add another 50 100 people in that area I don't think that fair to us have been there since the 60s yes I know life Brin changes but I don't think this is going for this area please review this again and come with a better option thank you chair if I can have the speaker's name sir just second have your name for the record Willie Pierce thank you sir good morning good morning my name is Alina suner I live at 1360 Northwest 37 Street for the past 62 years can you please pull the mic I'm sorry pull the mic my neighbors have asked me to speak on their behalf the city clerk still can't hear you I ask for your patience I've had a couple of strokes and a heart attack and my speech is not what it was um this we integrated this area in 1960 and it has been for the most part 100% African-American it has been changed we've gone from District 5 to district one um presently we're here to talk about um pz16 um because um they want to put uh an apartment building in the middle of our neighborhood which is right down the street from my house currently we have three lowincome Apartments a block away on 36th Street One On 30 1th 13th Court one on 14th Court Avenue and one on 15th Avenue 18 18 Stories the people who are building those constructing those buildings Park in our residential area we cannot afford to have this is it opinion of the people who live on the Block the people who are intending to build this building did not notify or speak with the entire neighborhood to get their opinions um we would like at least to have a uh deference on this so we can talk with them because we don't know how many thank you I'm not finished two minutes okay we like a deference we won't we don't want to vote today because we're not happy about this at all thank you thank thank you good morning good morning my name is Keith Moore I'm from the historical research group Profiles In Black Miami I'm here in support of the street naming for Isador coin um the reason being so as James just told all the accomplishments is theor cor made as an incorporator of the city of Miami he also left a clue in the in the 25th an iversary of the city of Miami of black participation in the incorporation of the city of Miami so we are here in support of this street naming event something that should happen because so much of Miami's early history has been buried lost uh is hidden in plain sight this is an example of such and we're here to support that Profiles In Black Miami thank you thank you good morning good morning good morning my name is Helen McGuire and I am the vice president of the exhibitions department at the Philip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science in District 2 I am in support of sr1 and I want the Pam sign taken down I would like to address the impact this extremely bright digital LED billboard will have on our exhibition planning throughout our outdoor campus and specifically those located on the Museum's rooftop our goal as an educational institution is to bring astronomy to our rooftop now that this enormous overly bright sign has been erected our current and future plans have been and will be grossly impacted the first guest experience affected that is now in the design and development planning stages is the sky viewer ex exhibition this exhibit will allow our community to exam the Earth's closest star the Sun and to learn about its atmosphere its key Fe feature is an overhead LED monitor showing live NASA solar Observatory footage and curated astronomy content which will no longer be easily visible due to this oversized digital sign another roof exhibit in program negatively impacted is our nighttime stargazing program the light pollution from the billboard not only interferes with these exhibitions but it'll limit our long-term planning for all rooftop experiences in closing I urge the Miami city commission to revisit the ordinance governing Outdoor Advertising Signs on our campus and surrounding areas let us work together to safeguard the Integrity of our mission as an educational institution to ensure future Generations the opportunity to continue to explore to discover to be inspired in an environment free from light pollution and overt commercial advertising thank you for your time thank you good morning good morning I'm Dr Dorothy Jenkins Fields a native miamian by trade I'm a public historian certified archist and historic preservationist by purpose and Mission I the founder of the black archives historic Lyric Theater preserving and sharing our community's history I'm here today to speak in favor of the C- designation of Southwest 2 Avenue from 26th road to 27th road to honor the memory and deeds of Isidor coin and his family and their contributions to our Collective Community what has in Isidor coin and his family contributed to the city of Miami's development you might ask from the research and writings of baramore Parks mccab the city of Miami Centennial historian and Howard kinberg former editor of the Miami News it is recorded that Isidor coin was an eyewitness to the incorporation of the city of Miami July 28 1896 he was one of the city's First Merchants and Jewish residents in fact he was active in the founding of Miami's first Jewish congregation Beth David he had a story built on the SEC south side of Miami River uh was president of the Agricultural Fair and a trustee of Jackson Memorial Hospital of course it was then just called City hospital um his wife founded uh Miami Jewish Home for the agid and the Hebrew Home for the Jewish um daughter Claire June coin married Sydney W drop and you will be surprised to know that it was Claire wi drop who actually convinced the County Commissioners to provide space across from viscaya for the original Museum of Science and she gave $364,000 for that museum to be built it is now of course on biscane Boulevard and it's the frost Museum I urge you that this is a long time overdue the C- designation thank you thank you good morning morning Commissioners my name is Alec Warren I'm the director of the frost planetarium at the Philip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science and I live at 560 Northwest First Street in Miami Florida I'm in support of sr1 as written and I want the Perez Art Museum outdoor sign taken down before it's too late I used to live in New York City I'm here in Miami because I don't want to live in New York City regarding Pam's sign as a dedicated Museum professional I recognize the need for cultural institutions to co to advertise themselves to the public but in my view this commercial sign represents a terrible and poorly thought out approach to public engagement Pam and frost science are neighbors and with this sign positioned adjacent to our shared entrance points all guests who visit our Museum will see and be greeted with an advertisement that we have no control or say over all the same our guests will associate these ads with the frost science experience which undermines our ability to serve them effectively in the way that we choose to furthermore this is going to create further disruptions to our visitor experience in the ways that my colleagues have already mentioned before uh regarding light pollution in our exhibit spaces disruptions to our animals and really just disruption to the overall uh natural environment of Miami light pollution is already a huge issue that we have to deal with here in our community and this is only going to make it significantly worse uh so as a resident of this beautiful city I must stand against Pam's LED sign and I encourage our city to stand against LED Billboards in all of our public outdoor spaces as well thank you thank you good morning good morning good morning my name is Kimberly Davis 6410 Southwest 58th place I am born and raised in Coconut Grove I am here every single day some would say that I live here although I don't I am the founder of the Coconut Grove Cowboys however today I'm just representing myself as an individual we cannot assume that my problem today will not be your problem tomorrow residents have spoken loud and clear quick ads displayed so fast that they appear glitch likee oversized Billboards excessive lights stargazing disappearing and now being in Time Square is not what we would like great potential re Revenue speaks loud however sitting in your current seat no voice should be louder than the voices of the residents who have placed you there some messages are not clearly understood until they are repeated multiple times if you don't believe me go ask your child to wash the dishes just one time you'll see that you'll have to repeat yourself sr1 as is has been spoken loud and clear multiple times today day I think we all get the message thank you so much for your time commissioner Paro and other Commissioners you all have a wonderful day good morning good morning hi my name is mar Maro I live on the 900 bisc building and have been a resident of downtown for 11 years I have never seen anything like this we have been screaming on social media everywhere we can every social Gathering we talk about this everyone is extremely opposed to this to the LED view boards especially the one at Pam I don't know how the Pam got involved in this I just don't understand after hearing from the residents I'm sorry I'm not a public speaker but hearing from residents everywhere not only in downtown but if you go Miami Beach in any City no one wants it no one wants it and and the size of this one that impacted and I see here a photo that someone left here this is actually my apartment the I turn off all the lights and it's it was like a daylight there it's nauseating LED Billboards cause nausea I don't know if anyone knows this but I I felt sick when I saw it and I couldn't believe and I'm very nervous about this I'm very angry and I would like to ask you you Mr coroli Mr Ray Mr King to join Mr par Mr gabella on this please please pass this we need the Billboards down thank you thank you good morning good morning Todd schaer senior vice president Administration for frost science 1101 biscan Boulevard I'd like to yield my time to Dr Roberts behind me please hello my name is Dr Doug Roberts uh uh president and CEO of the Philip FAL Frost museum of science uh 101 1101 lcam Boulevard and District 2 uh uh chairwoman King and honorable Commissioners I'm here in support of f fr1 in order to um address these oversized Bill Billboards as several people have mentioned uh in the last week we've seen the billboard turned on into test mode and seen uh the potential turned into reality of how bright these signs can actually be it's one thing to see a black mon large thing go up that's again twice the size of my apartment and I'm also as a resident of of District 2 very close to the museum but it's another thing it's entirely to see it turned on and see it reflect off so much environment and for those people that have direct views into their into their living spaces another of uh actually my staff has talked about the impacts to animals to nighttime observing to our public education programs and to the general guest experience of just having a bright a bright unnatural light in that area but also it's showing advertisements it's not showing the programming it's not showing art it's not showing science those things are acceptable that would be an appropriate use of a of land that's been leased to those organizations but showing advertisements is basically an opposition of what uh of what we're what we're about uh I've spoken before about my sympathy for revenue for programs for cultural organizations have um we share them as well um Pam and frost science uh are in very difficult environments being on the bay salt water affects our buildings we're um challenged by keeping those buildings up up and and uh uh I totally understand that that's that's that's a a concern from the um from the those organizations but I remind the the commission that orange Barrel media came to frost science and asked us to be a part of this uh a location for insult installation where their signs and we didn't and we we decided against it this is before I got there but I I'm so H I'm so thankful that my uh leadership um would had the foresight to uh to not go forward with that Frost science is celebrating seven years in downtown Miami in several days and my vision for I'm I'm actually working on a new master planning document to lay out how do we grow to better serve the community and out being outdoors it's one of the amazing things about our Museum and having all the outdoor spaces I used to work in the a planetarium in Chicago and and forth Museum Science History and those had very they were all internally facing the thing that makes Ross science amazing is our integration with the outside world and these LEDs threaten that these signs are are clearly an example of where resident and City interests are are really um being uh co-opted Under The Shield uh of legitimate cultural organizations such as Pam and AR uh in order to basically bring profit to a to a a third party that doesn't have interest as a city at heart uh I just again want to remind the commission that our mission is to bring the Wonder of science to the public and these signs are an affront to that please vote in support of sr1 thank you good morning Madam chair commissioners my name is Kenneth Gordon I live at 950 North venician Drive in the city of Miami we've been talking about this issue for a number of meetings I know I've stood before you on several occasions but today we hear a lot from people who live in the community not the paid lobbyists not the people making $900 an hour to represent their clients in front of this organization but people who have gotten up this morning come down here Park their cars use their gas in order to express an opinion if you don't if you're not speaking these are the voters of the city of Miami not the lobbyists we look at these signs they were a mistake to be initially approved and I paraphrase one of the Commissioners that says I couldn't have gotten this through the commission or through the zoning myself in that shorter period of time this is a mistake own up to the mistake pass sr1 and remember if you don't do it for the residents at least do it for the animals at Frost Museum they're wonderful thank you thank you good morning good morning Madam chair and City commissioners my name is LY Jones first I want to say I'm here in support of re13 um so and secondly I'm also here in support of sr1 so it will be a beautiful thing if we can get all five of you Commissioners to vote on sr1 it's time for the community to have a win the people in the area has came up here and spoken that they don't want that electronic billboard in their area I'm also here hoping that all of us regardless of the ethnicity or where you live at continue to come to support each other when items in our community come that we don't appreciate or don't want to support so I'm here in support of item r sr1 as it is with no additional amendments thank you thank you good morning good morning Commissioners lonni phoh uh 8530 Southwest 23rd Street uh and I'm going to yield my time to Mr yod good morning Mike yente LSN law 3800 Northeast 1 Avenue representing out front good morning Madame chair Commissioners the Pam digital advertising sign is a monument to bad legislation it's not your fault you didn't sponsor it wasn't your idea but you have an opportunity today to rescind that bad legislation and we urge you to do so there's been a lot of talk over the last few months about potential car bouts for Pam and for AR valuable Community assets let me tell you why I think that's a bad idea the short answer is that all of those signs Pam and AR violate government contracts they are not allowed under existing agreements with the city and county let me say that again they're not allowed under existing agreements with the city and and County First on the Pam the lease agreement between Pam and the City of Miami prohibits Pam from constructing anything taller than 70 ft the digital sign being being constructed today as we speak without the city's permission by the way is a 100t tall breach of a government contract the arst signs are no better the management agreement between AR and Miami Dade County requires AR to comply with certain procurement requirements to get mayoral approval to get BCC approval for a project of this nature none of which has happened and let me tell you Commissioners that's just the beginning of the problems for AR because just this week Miami Dade County issued another zoning verification letter stating again that the city does not have regulatory authority over the arch property and what that means is that the city has no authority to issue building permits for the AR the other thing that was mentioned in the letter is that the AR prop property is not governed by or subject to any Municipal sign regulations approved after April 30th 20121 so what Miami Dade County is saying Commissioners as the property owner of the arched owner of the land and improvements and the regulatory agency with jurisdiction is that there can be no carve out for the ARs Commissioners we urge you respectfully to support sr1 with no car vs for Pam or ar because signs constructed in violation of government agreements and Regulatory rules do not deserve protected status thank you very much Commissioners thank you good morning good morning my name is Mark Rosen Bloom Chief Operating Officer Perez Art Museum Miami Pam 1103 biscan Boulevard Miami 33132 I'm here today in opposition of sr1 out of respect for the valuable time of this commission and Community I will be speaking for the Pam so many months so many meetings the positives I have had the opportunity to get to know this commission and administration better and all of you have heard so much more about your Flagship Art Museum I see how hard all of you work and how difficult and challenging your jobs are and you have learned how important art and culture are to the many communities we both serve I now have a better understanding of decision making in our local government and have a better view of local politics and you all know of the many jobs Pam has created the many children we educate the ambassadors we are for South Florida representing Miami all over the planet though it may seem like our paths are completely different running parallel at times and in opposite directions on occasion we are actually completely aligned in so many ways teamwork quality commitment selflessness we all care so much about our work and the people that live in and visit our community it is time to end this conversation it is time to come together in the spirit of compromise and find the solution one that is not perfect for all but acceptable to all great minds working together create better ideas the time has come I remind you pamin its partner OBM have been in good faith from the start following the requirements of the city and the state the city ordinance allowing us a clear path was approved more than a year ago January 23 the building permit was issued in October and tremendous efforts have been made to deliver a sign that is thoughtful and sculptural we appreciate everyone's understanding of the importance of sustainability thank you thank you thank you good morning chair I'm Felix Rosario I'm the president of the city of Miami Police uh fop Lodge Number 20 I'm here to thank the Commissioners CU in public and in private you guys uh fought for our our contract to be competitive and fair across the county thank you and your staff commissioner manueles commissioner joyo chairman chairwoman King commissioner Miguel and thank you Damian parlo I also want to thank uh the mayor and his uh staff because they was always open and they gave us a little push over the edge when we have came to some some um we had some Kinks I want to thank the city's negotiation team uh de Martinez attorney uh Stephanie panoff uh your HR Director Angela Roberts uh Marin kintana Fabian I want to thank also the staff for the city manager which is uh Natasha Co Brooks I want to thank Larry Springs I want to thank Erica Pascal because they were always there ailia you know always open when I need just get to reach the manager I first and most I want to thank the manager because of I've been here uh my whole career we had a manager that's been this helpful and open and always trying to work out things with us to the fop when it comes to um Union and things that I have to address with issues within the department uh we're going to continue to have good faith and hard work H to keep working with him and getting us in the right place thank you good morning good morning Commissioners my name is David K I'm the director of systems at sna displays we are the manufacturer of the LED display at and I am responsible for working with the teams that are on site on a daily basis uh getting the display installed and commissioned I'm speaking today to provide clarity about the incident that occurred last Friday while commissioning the sign which caused the sign to remain active for approximately 1 hour after sunset at a much higher brightness level than intended and would ever be during normal operation overnight the purpose of our thorough commissioning process is to unearth areas of operational improvements through testing uh because we are still in the process of commissioning the display has only been operational at that point for less than 48 hours we ended up having a human error involved that prevented the system from automatically turning the brightness down both content and brightness would have been adjusted appropriately for the time of day under normal operating conditions and the level would not exceed the regulations that you have set forth in your code to summarize the incident at at the beginning we manually increased the brightness on the sign to compensate for the high ambient light under the afternoon sun to correct seams and Alignment issues with the new display simple but unfortunate miscommunication caused these settings to not turn off at 6 p.m. mediately after our team was alerted of the issue we turned the display off at approximately 8:53 p.m. what was experienced for 1 hour after Sunset was much higher than the normal brightness of the display at this time around six times brighter than it would have been under normal circumstances during this time of day to ensure this doesn't happen further we are uh committed to not using any type of manual brightness and have installed both cameras and photo sensors to measure the brightness of the display along with uh automated dimming software in order to keep it within standards which we often do in other municipalities around the country that have similar issues thank you thank you good morning good morning commissioners I am Reynold Martin I'm representing Grove rights and Community equity and I'm representing U Village West homeowners and teners Association as well as St James Baptist Church I've been a me a member of St James Baptist Church all of my life and I must say that because of the gentrification in our community the church is almost empty I'm here to thank commissioner Paro I think you're on the right track with this sr1 legislation I think it's a bad thing for the community but I'm here to oppose pz1 and pz8 because any kind of upzoning without affordable housing is impacting our community in a tremendous manner so we oppose pz1 and pz8 without any uh uh affordable housing thank you thank you good morning good morning Commissioners my name is Amanda pinto and I'm yielding my time to Jose Felix Diaz good morning good morning Commissioners uh my name's H Jose Felix is and I'm here on sr1 I want to begin by acknowledging that since January over the past many meetings close to 100 people have come and spoken in favor of the digital signs the list of supportive speakers have included homeown owners associations artists residents and other key stakeholders in the community today out of respect for the commission's time we have asked the speakers to stand down so that we can bring this chapter of the process closed once and for all the proposed amendment to commissioner parle's repeal of portions of 2- 779 of the city code include thoughtful compromises from the original ordinance approved by the city Commission in January of 2023 these modific ations include the removal of one entire sign at the art center and the acceptance of several operational concessions such as adapting brightness standards reducing operating hours and adhering to content regulation while the development team is working closely with the county on this project we are dedicated to honoring the commitments made here today regardless how we navigate the complex entitlement and permitting process for our site this amendment allows the city of Miami to clearly articulate its expectations for our sites instead of resigning Our Fate to complex and uncertain legal processes the sign we propos to remove located on the west side of our C our campus is closer to residential areas than the remaining sign on the east side I think we can all agree that we have been at this for far too long and everyone just wants to see this process come in for landing we know know that you have spent a considerable amount of time trying to get your arms around the facts and we thank you for that time and your consideration thank you good morning hi good morning my name is Stephanie Epstein my address is 500 Northeast 29th Street and I would like to yield my time to James Torres good morning Commissioners and chair women my name is James Torres president of DNA we have a video that we're going to start in some pictures because there is a lot of smoke mirrors in here that just don't make sense for everybody if you can please kindly look at your um screens the audience I'm going to ask you a couple questions earlier someone said hey stand up if you're for these signs I'm going to ask you stand up if you're not for these signs I thought so right so as you can see the issue that happened recently in downtown where this sign is located the orange barrel and its lobbyists and attorneys want you to believe that this will not impact the community proof is in the pudding and that's an issue for this community and not necessarily the downtown Corridor Community but throughout the entire District that's the come we're kindly asking you to support the amendment as written because this is a Major Impact for the community and it should not be done and we should do the right thing because at the end of the day truly elections have consequences regardless if you're running again or running for mayor or whatever you're deciding to do with your future um career because at the end of the day this is something that has been opposed day in and day out and by you commissioner Reyes who's been a champion but we still need you to get us over the finish line so first I want to commend commissioner Paro and his efforts for bringing light and prospering the ordinance to clear the issue as it relates to the LED Billboards they're just not an ISO they're disruptor and the characters of the vibrant of the downtown community however as we've been discussing the proposal ordinance we must confront the elephant in the room the enormous LED Billboards at the Perez Art Museum and the upcoming Adrian Art Center performance arts these structures are visibly pollution and they represent the disregard for the Integrity of the community as a whole especially the downtown Corridor leaving these Billboards unchecked hopefully and wondering that if they're just magically going to disappear because of the f. ordinance saying that if this passive art is not done correctly then they can shut it down makes no sense so we're going to wish upon a star here we cannot continue to accept the excuses of the potential litigation as a blanket for the justification of the interaction of it comes to addressing these ey source of the pan and the Adrien Art Center the city seems to face other legal challenges that they're willing to dive in head first but when it comes to this issue no one wants to take accountability and that's just wrong I repeat that it is wrong that right now you guys don't want to take a stance for the voters for the constituents for the city and the district the time is now folks the time is now if I'm wrong please stand up and tell me that I'm wrong about these billboard signs because at the end of the day everyone's been saying we're not New York City we're not Hong Kong Harbor we're not pickle daily circus but will you guys want to make us into a circus so please support the ordinance and go to a step further if you can thank you very much for your time good morning good morning my name is TZ vento general counsel of the Perez Art Museum Miami 11:03 this G Boulevard this past weekend starting Friday night there was a test of leadership test of leadership by those who were advised that there was human error and as a result the sign that was blaring in white light six times brighter than reality with a white background which will never be what a a a sign will actually be doing when it is in in uh actuality was ignored half truth have been sent out to the community the the sign the the the um video that was just shown is a Hal truth because there has been no correction by anybody in leadership who knew that this was not an actual representation of what the sign is going to actually be like stepped up and said that's half of the story the other half of the story was explained a few moments ago that there that was a one-time human error it was Ed as soon as was seen and that there are now uh uh systems in place which will hopefully eliminate any future human error so let's talk a little bit about sign pollution if you are in a condo now on biscane Boulevard you look to the right and you see a ferris wheel all lit up then you look to the a little further and you see the CIA Center all lit up and then you look a little bit further and you see the frost Science Museum our neor all lit up well and then in a few years you're going to see the signature Bridge all lit up the Pam sign is just one of many elements that you cannot lay the blame on for the way downtown is and will be a thriving Community yes we are sensitive but at the same time we have to be realistic and we have to deal with the whole truth so please exercise your leadership and give the Pam a carve out thank thank you thank you good morning good morning my name is Dolores Garcia gutieres I reside at 150 Southeast 25th Road Miami 33129 I am in support of Damen paros sr1 those signs are just very big polluting as I said at last meeting I can see the Miami Dade College sign on 27th Avenue and 8 street from my balcony and that's nothing in compared to what the Pam sign is please Commissioners support this Daman paros oh sorry I lost my train of thought support Mr Paro in this endeavor thank you thank you good morning good morning good morning to everyone my name is Brandon Jones and for the record I'll be using the address 5120 Northwest 24th Avenue I would like to first start off by thanking everyone to for having an open mind and being conscious of the efforts that the community is speaking of and to remind you that sometimes in life the brightest lights often cast the darkest Shadows we know that these Billboards have become increasingly common in urban areas but they don't come without negative impacts first and foremost these Billboards are often incredibly bright and distracting for drivers and Studies have shown that these types of digital displays can significantly increase the risk risk of accidents on the roads due to uh the distracting of their nature we also know that the constant bombardment of advertisement and messages can have a negative impact on mental health and the well-being of individuals and their communities Studies have also proven and shown that exposure to excessive advertising can contribute to feelings of anxiety feelings of stress as well as decrease in overall mental health in addition to the negative effects on individuals these large Billboards also have a detrimental impact on the environment the energy consumption required to power these massive displays are significant contributing to consuming valuable resources that we could be using for other things overall we ask that you hear the voices and the hearts of the communities and those who are residents and make a conscious decision to be their hero so uh brother Damien commissioner we thank you for hearing the cries of the community and standing for the community and we hope uh that you all do the same also stand in support of re13 thank you thank you good morning good morning chairwoman good morning uh Commissioners uh my name is Ernesto qua and the president of the Bri homeon Association uh 1010 Southwest Second Avenue um sweet meini M I'm here because uh I got some phone calls from some people about some comments that were made about our organization here and that's why we are here let me let me straight the record here number one we have been in the system for 34 years in this community we have been great advocate for the quality of life of the residents in our area Rec area the reason that we got involved and most of the Commissioners here they know me for many years the reason that we got involved is because we got phone calls from Pam as well as from um the AR um Edan AR uh Center by the way I know personally Miss Adrian Arch she have brought to this community more than $30 million from her pocket to help our community here as a philanthropist so when the issue was presented to us uh these Bill boards apparently were approved by the city and the county and the reason that they wanted this Billboards is because they want to generate revenue for their organizations we didn't find anything that is part of the records that you the reason why we supported uh um the bill boards in writing we send a letter to all of you guys I'm not talking about any other we are not talking about any other B boards we talking specifically about these two fine organizations that these Bill boards were approved and is for a per a purpose to help them to continue their fine work in this community for the records the someone here that came from the Atlantis uh condominium uh the lady respectfully uh that lady had never been a friend of the BHA she even form an organization because she never like BHA so I want that to reflect in the records uh there was another resing here from Bea Regina that came here she's not a member of BHA so the reason that why we support those B boards is because they fine organizations we are not allow anyone to taint the name and The credibility of the BHA in this community thank you so much good morning good morning Denise galves 21:30 SouthWest 20th Street I have to say I'm I'm deeply emotional because it's amazing to see so many people getting involved in our City's politics and perhaps that's the upside of everything that's happened in the last few years um as a member of the head Port I remember our city attorney Victoria Mendes once proposing an Ethics review for me simply because I had a relationship on a fellow nonprofit organization with some Property Owners when we designated a property in Little Havana so in the spirit of transparency and everybody here who's participating in our Civic duties here at the city I wonder why Mr Joe Cory isn't asked to recuse himself from taking a vote on this item when his newly formed political Committee just received two donations from outdoor billboard companies and those exact expenditures were used to pay for his attorney in his Federal judgment is that not a conflict of interest as it is defined by our governing board I only come to say that because I want our city to continue to move forward with full transparency I want people to have faith when you take votes that those votes are based on the residents and the needs of the city and what's best for the greater good and not on the personal interest and the vested interest and the obvious personal financial gain of Mr Joe oil thank you good morning good morning Commissioners my name is Hadley Williams I'm at 2441 trap Avenue Coconut Grove 33133 um I have been before this commission years ago as a representative past president of Miami neighborhood United of the Grove associations I've worked on the parks plan of Miami 21 uh amendments to the comprehensive plan of the city and I I am here today because the proposal of these Billboards for all the technical reasons that have been mentioned by others is just not what we need I am here because of a ground swell of friends who have come to me to object to this and ask me to come to speak so yes that's hearsay uh but I can tell you that I've been approached by many many citizens in the grow and other parts of Miami who are really upset about this proposal thank you thank you is there any this lady that's coming now every meeting uh pretending that she's here for transparency when there's no transparency what she says what she said was inaccurate these Bill boards that you order discussing here today uh have nothing to do with what she said just want to make it clear thank you and I'm talking about the one in the Pam I'm talking about the uh one at the parish museum at this time seeing no others for public comment the public comment com period is now closed May I have a motion to approve the minutes for the City of Miami commission meeting for February 22nd 2024 I have a motion in a second all in favor I motion carries unanimously the personal appearance that appears on our agenda uh will appear this afternoon I'm sorry you said you want to speak this afternoon correct yes yes so I'm just advising that the personal appearance will be this afternoon do we have any information on that should be in your agenda yes yeah it's it's in your agenda yeah but there's no backup there's no is I don't know I was just I'll make sure staff gets whatever you need thank you stated what it was about what what are we talking about now I'm sorry pa1 I'm I'm just advising that pa1 will be heard this afternoon what is P1 so personal appearance by Vice chair I will be talking about yes sir I will be talking about City uh assets as stated what I put down City of Miami assets uh we be making a presentation rather on City assets can you be a little bit more specific I me I don't have a problem but can you be a little bit more specific of the assets that we're talk uh city land uh assets that we have and what do transpire with them okay with respect to our consent agenda item gentlemen are there any items that you would like to pull from CA 1 two 3 four or five well four and five or um oh yeah we can do that any items you want to pull for discussion from CA 1 2 3 4 or five okay let me hold on a second I see the city attorney's hand up thank you madam chair I just wanted to State for the record that with respect to ca1 um although it's not included in the title there will be language in the in the contracts that addresses uh conflicts of interest just wanted to state that for the record okay are there any items from CA 1 through five that you would like to pull for discussion no move it I have a motion to move second I have a second and chair my apologies see one is as is with the statement on the record that there will be a language included in it that uh will address conflicts of interest so you're amending it well it's not my item but I think that uh it was asked they would be amended by the okay so C1 as amended yes as amended are we doing CA one only or we doing no we're doing one through five one through five yes I motion carries unanimously may I have a motion to pass re1 and two motion I have I have a motion and a second and a third all in favor I I motion carries unanimously re3 is a mitigation item 666 biscane bouard Mr director good morning Madam chairwoman Commissioners Robert Santos alorna co-compliance director um re3 is the mitigation of a property located at 666 biscan Boulevard respondent is 600 biscan LLC this is a vacant lot uh that was operating a parking facility the case was open on February uh 2011 and adjudicated on July 2011 uh the compliance um took place on February 2024 the violation ran for 4,599 days respondent will explain uh perhaps some of the challenges and uh dealings that they had with the operator um the Total Lean amount is 1 million 149,50 um as I explained to each of you when I discuss the case um this is a a parking facility the site the the site is asphalted but there's missing striping lighting drainage Landscaping all these things that are associated with a parking um the respondent based on the information I have is offering $18,000 which spoke with each of you and I put on the table that I believe this is this is low um Madam chair even though this is listed as District three it's not it's in District Two just want to correct the record it is not it's it's it's D2 okay sir yes uh Madam chair and Commissioners thank you uh director good seeing you uh I represent the owner of the property 600 biscane LLC and I'm authorized to be here and buy them uh with you uh I've had several discussions with the director and other members of the staff uh their cooperation understanding is remarkable I want to tell you that um 600 bisc LLC as the owner ends up holding the bag even though it is not responsible for the problems uh this property was leased to a operator of parking facilities uh it's not their first one in fact uh they have many throughout the city and they're Associated companies through relatives of others uh they're professionals we're land owners uh from what we have learned uh uh they did not despite the terms of the lease uh acquire all the necessary certificates from Code Compliance in a city in order to operate uh they were cited uh there was a hearing scheduled uh we're not here to litigate any of the issues uh my client was not at the hearing uh back in 2011 11 a long time ago and uh it wasn't until pretty recently that we found out about the non-compliance uh the failures of the tenant we took immediate action uh we terminated the lease we filed for eviction when they wouldn't leave uh we obtained a final Judgment of possession they are gone uh that property will not be used as a parking lot any further uh there are many many things that need to be done to that property as explained to me by the director and uh we're not going to do that uh we will not lease it to a parking facility uh we uh try to analyze you know what would be fair under the circumstances and all of the previous mitigations of these type of fins uh and with guidance of the director we learned that because so much time elapsed from the time the order was entered back in July 2011 until the time we pop our head up with this problem we lost the ability per code and statute to deal directly with code enforcement uh and we had to file a litigation against the city uh to try to remove the lean we immediately uh dealt with the city attorney's office uh again unbelievably Cooperative in understanding and very professional uh the litigation is stayed we don't want anyone spending money on lawsuits uh and through that we were able to negotiate uh uh and uh I computed and made a repres presentation to the director that if we take the time uh from July 27 2011 to August 19th 2014 which was when the lean was filed on a property it would be a little over a thousand days if we multiply that by 250 we came up to $262,000 generally settlements of these types run from 5 to 10% uh that would have been something like 13,000 to 26,000 and I uh with my client's blessing uh in uh uh the number 18 means High means life it's something that's good I multiplied it by a, times and that's how I arrived at the 18,000 I wanted to make sure that I did not insult the director by proposing that and that is the resolution before you that we uh settle this matter out mitigate the lean $188,000 which would be paid immediately thank you Mr director yes ma'am so um Council really has been uh very engaging uh but the facts are the facts right and and for the record they they were not aware but compliance was met by way of cod's action along with PD and public works that's what triggered the affid compliance so you know I I I understand uh the council for the respondent how he did his math but I put on the record meeting with each and every one of you that I thought it was low and that I would at the very least take 25,000 at the very least thank you you commissioner Paro uh you know exactly when they were noticed in 2011 the owner right so the owner received du notice so when the Rachel delay Office of the City attorney uh when the uh Su was fil that I spoke with Council uh we generally will pull all the records that we can and make sure that there was notice to the registered agent at the time that the property was posted everything was done as appropriate they chose not to appear at the hearing in 2011 uh and so that was probably the first mistake uh in a long series of mistakes that lasted more than a decade but yes it was posted mailed uh to the property which was in the file thank you so what strikes me is that there's 13 and a half years where cars that parked there paid their money and the operator made their money and the owner made their money and uh and so we have this huge acral and I think 18 is very low I think 25 is low I mean you know I'd like you to to feel what you think is fair based on the acrude amount and I think we should stick to that number and and and again to reiterate in my discussion with with council is there was this misunderstanding they thought the tenant was going to take care of all the uh processes they didn't ultimately property owner is responsible so um and and they own more than one property so it's I mean this is the way it works so so this is the one that's before you um so the 1.2 million $ 1.1 million acral is is significant but as you reflected they remain operating through quite number of years um so I had reflected 25 to 30 but um somewhere in that vicinity I think is very fair um Mr chair through the chair Mr Vice chair yes sir Mr codirector the the property in question what is the zoning on it you have it it's commercial it's a commercial lot okay and is it appropriate based on our code does it have asphalt does it have drainage does it have lighting so it do it is asphalted I I know it does not have the striping the drainage landscape requirements things that go along with that lighting does I cannot tell you 100% whether it has lighting it may be exterior lighting but the with the asphalt is are two of the most important right not having drainage is is very key for for many reasons that I won't take up the time to go into it here but I'm I'm hearing that I guess they leased it to some parking company yes that is correct okay um do you know if that company throughout the years was paying the city the percentage of the parking fee that they were supposed to pay us so I believe so and in addition I understand that that parking facility at one point in time obtained a TCU uh an interim parking through zoning and that expired we met with the operator with the zoning director at one point in time which would made it very clear that they knew they what year was that do you remember that they re I can't I can't say I wasn't here when that meeting how could they have received that when it wasn't anov lot so um I can't tell you what year but I can tell you that in a recent meeting with the zoning director and the operator we made it abundantly clear the the I don't believe the property owner was in that conversation we made it abundantly clear I gave him a very short period of time to get all the paperwork in order including the CU or a cease and assist was imminent which is what happened and for how many years were we advising them of what was happening so I am going on the record that is 13 years since the adjudication um no don't know of any other meetings two years your knowledge uh they were not giving this parking operator their land for free to park there that's that's correct they they were collecting so they they were making money uh therefore commissioner Paro I agree with you that it's way too low in fact I think you're being generous and kind Mr uh code enforcement director and this is one that uh I I would even feel comfortable in the L that we have done here and the 10% because they made money out of this uh on top of that this has been going on for 13 years as you stated the problem the worst part that I see which hopefully we've uh turned the page on that was how in the heck do we allow it as a city to go on for so long and that's part of the problem this goes even back to the your District commissioner part of uh those uh homes from The Grove that you know were built uh zero lot line or something like that just a few feet apart nobody knew how and this where the problem is light uh we've had some employees in our city that haven't uh been doing things the way that they were supposed to and I'll be politically correct and leave it at that I understand fully uh Vice chair I can tell you in this case uh was identified proactively during after hours inspection and that's how the respondent was brought to the table and even before met with Council on the respondent we met with the operator uh so at least this one at least uh we got to go we got to go in the right way yeah this is uh amazing 13 years this is going on so I I you know will hear what commissioner parter thinks they should pay but I certainly think it's uh it should be a lot more than the 10 or 15% that we usually have gone with commissioner Reyes yes first of all I want to recognize an institution that is sitting there the mayor of Kono Gro Mr Monty trainer Monty how are you doing I'm recognizing you welcome at Kentucky it's got Colonel Sanders that's right we have Monty trainer Monty trainer uh now going back to the issue that we are discussing uh you mentioned that they have all uh properties also that they have what other properties the uh the owners they have other properties in the city they do uh do they have the same problem in the other properties and we have some other properties that they are in violation not not all the same uh commissioner but they are in violation and they are within I mean they they don't have any bence so I'll be happy to provide a report to you a comprehensive report reflecting the other properties they're not in the same status as this one they're not I I be also believe that uh $118,000 is ridiculous after 13 years of uh I mean at least if you are an owner and you should know what's going on with your property and don't tell me that you didn't know and you thought that I don't believe that agreed I don't believe that uh I mean start pointing fingers at each other and then then and meanwhile the uh the uh fine kids won't grow in then because it's very easy to come here you see it's very easy to come here and ask for for a I mean reduction of the uh of the uh of the uh fine that you've been receiving for neglecting your property you see and uh that's that's ridiculous I mean we have to make a take a position I leave it to the commissioner part and you you say uh how much and I will support it commissioner gabella yeah thank you for working so I was going to uh make an offer but uh you know what I'm going to leave it to you it's your commission can speak up a little my hearing aids sir in light of what's going on and I I think you know the the time you know the time frame 13 years is a little bit too much and you know your client was making money apparently this and that how does the 50 Grand sound to you let's talking about percentages well the percentages is 20 25k right Robert that's what you said yes sir I said that that's you guys that these guys it's uh what what do you guys suggest if I may ask through theair what was the amount again 1.1 1.1 plus million doll so at 10% Vice shair that's $112,000 so so we let now let let me ask if I may chair counselor sure how much uh uh are your clients making in that on a monthly basis on that property now nothing it that Pro that particular property I believe at the high point was uh about 25,000 a month 25,000 a month my clients were losing between that property and there's another property owned by 700 BC LLC which is leased to a a sister company of the one that caused this problem that property is in compliance there was uh uh two notices we immediately F suit but then they cured the problems and received Affidavit of compliance so that property is a much bigger but but let me let me be correct they're not parking there're anymore stop right they are not right and as a matter of fact they they requested permission to use it as a staging area which I respectfully denied as said do not cuz now you're looking at repeats and we didn't want to do that help me here yes sir I heard him say that uh when they were being paid I heard 25,000 a month I don't know I don't know where that amount I have recommended 25 I think no no what he said was 25,000 month at the High Point at the high point now I mean this this is almost you know comical we're we're going to chargeing 25,000 they been doing this for 13 years and through the height part of it just one month and we're charging $ 25,000 yeah and that's all we're going to charge them look my my vote will be uh for a percentage of the 1.1 and it's got to be something reasonable this this kind of stuff has to stop in the city yes that you have property owners that because they're connected or what should I say were connected with somebody in the city uh on one hand and then on the other hand the typical uh uh one hand doesn't know what the other is doing in the city of Miami uh they got away with this and they got away with it you know making a handsome profit do do you have any idea how many vehicles could be parked in that lot well not anymore but or we used to be I'm saying or do we have I mean we have to have pictures or something that so would give us an idea commissioner can I can I interject here just for purposes of context right so that that lot resides in a obviously very heavily trafficked area for the arena um I just asked the parking search charge um administrator to try to get me what the revenue generation was there from so that you have a sense of what the gross revenue was um because what they were paying them was probably either a flat number or even a percentage of what was generated in terms of income to give you a sense of what the actual overall Revenue was there um it's significant I mean and and that particular operator doesn't have the best track record um in terms of uh historically within the city and operating within the city so um I'm I'm certain even though um I'll get a number it's probably not even it's probably under reported to be honest with you because they were they were pretty typically doing that yeah um but if you give me a little bit of time I'm going to try to get that number for you so you can put it into context if you need it if not if you just want to go with a straight percentage I think it would be good if we get it uh even though he's already put in the record that uh it was up to 25,000 a month that they were getting when they got the most but this went out for 13 years uh so I I'd like to see that before we vote on it because this is one that I don't think we should be uh all that lenient you know this is someone that was making a lot of money uh out of violating our laws it went on for 13 years now they want to just throw a a few dollars to the city of Miami I'm sorry you know with me with all respect commissioner parter I know it's your district and we try to be cordial with each other this one has to be a tough one and I think you mentioned that in your first words Comm commissioner gabella I just wanted to say this is why I have asked numerous times when we have our briefing when are we going to get the mistr because we as Commissioners I think my opinion that we shouldn't be in this business of determining who's going to pay what because it's lengthy and then the questions that you're asking are rightly so and it you know it I think yeah Robert I know I asked you but I want to put it on the record yes sir for so for the next uh commission um we I'll be making a presentation on a supplemental process for uh magistrates and uh there's some amendments to our current code hold on hold on a second commissioner Paro has been waiting to say something let me say something his district let him speak no I would just say uh you're the professional yes sir you're hearing the comments here from all of us obviously we think it's very low we think that they have acted in a way that deserves a standard type of application on a percentage and we'll get additional information for the folks that wanted but personally I would defer to your judgment based on what you're hearing from us fair enough commissioner so I'm going to tell you that last night I was here doing mitigations um and and we've had a record for the past number of hearings of 15% and 10% 10% puts it at $114,000 and 5% it's 57,4 A7 with 50 cents so um I with all due respect to council I believe that $188,000 was really really low and laughable I know that there was an equation but I would say somewhere in the in in between the 57,000 and $15,000 through the through the chair Robert let me just ask you this yes sir aren't weren't we uh collecting sales tax when they were parking so through the parking search charge and that's what the city manager Wasing we actually made some money off of that yeah yeah oh yeah absolutely we collected the search charge on that on that particular parking operation we're collecting search charge but then we don't know for 13 years that these guys are operating with I'm I'm I'm just saying I'm asking the question well it got adjudicated and they were operating they tried to get the CU and BTR it fell through the cracks proactively we identified doing doing inspections and this came up I met with the operator as a matter of fact met with the city manager and then reached out to the property owner and said we have an issue here and this is the way it's going to it's going to go let let let's be clear this should have been resolved yes eight nine years ago for for getting now right um you know someone that was formerly in that World by the way I tell you it was a constant complaint by us and by other operators that they were operating without the proper licenses but it just fell on De favors back then so it was addressed recently and you knowt and I have had multiple conversations about this lot in particular commissioner Paro I I believe 10% or better would be fair as a as a threshold to start I mean it's a 25,000 foot lot correct sure that's and uh hold on Vice chair look going again on what the attorney place in the record that on the highest year I guess that was the last year that they were operating they were collecting 25,000 a month 13 years there times 25 a month uh that's $3.9 almost $4 million granted more than they weren't get yeah they weren't getting the full 25 from Year One I'm sure that that grew so I'll be gracious and even put two and a half minute these people were laughing at us while they were making money they made at least $25 million while they were you know sticking their nose up and doing what they pleased and we're now going to charge them even 10% which is nothing $100,000 they made in the last years they were operating 300,000 a year a year well what are we saying here if we do with that this is not um a homeowner that didn't know what they were doing or they made a mistake or because of the crisis system we have uh decided to do something minor on their own because they didn't want to wait years and didn't know how to go about it this is someone that are Savvy business people that knew how to go around the system and how to play the system and this is you know out of all the cases that I've heard since we've been hearing them here uh this is one that it's the worst by far and I'm not going to be voting to be lenient not when we're not even talking about 10% which would be onethird of what they made in their last year 300,000 commission Paro yeah I mean I'm I'm agreeing I think this is Prime real estate you know I would have been thinking 25% kind of minimum in my mind now now we're getting closer there yeah uh May commissioner Paro do you have a motion I'd like to hear from Robert so an 80% reduction which is at 20% of the acred amount is 229,900 you said 25% 25 yeah yes that's 20% of the 1.49 229,900 but I think commissioner parter said 25% yeah oh 25 yes may I uh respond to some of the comments on the record please because there's certain misconceptions uh again I have nothing but respect for the director and his department and I don't want to be a litigator here today it is absolutely not my intention uh my intention is to resolve this as amicably as possible misconception number one the city in answer to one of your statements uh commissioner cororio uh and one of your statements commissioner Paro had the ability to and they did inspect this property many times during this period they had the ability instead of issuing notices of violation they could have done what they did on January 18th 2024 and issued a cease in desist so that that would have stopped the operation of the parking facility years and years ago number two um my clients pay between the two properties I think you're paying over a million dollar in real estate taxes this property is not making $300,000 a year because as you know and I know you're a great businessman no just know I add beans well the fact of the matter is if you have a gross you need to affect your gross with expenses so there's no way this company my client made $300,000 a year net on this property that that's just not the case uh in fact when you take the two properties together they've lost money every year um uh so we need to take that that into effect uh from what I understand and again uh I'm not throwing any shade at anyone uh litigations are normally somewhere between 5 and 10% no you want to punish and I understand you're you're thinking you want to punish my client my client was not an operator my client was a landlord paid his tax taxes timely did everything it was supposed to do except it did not sit on the shoulders of the tenant who was responsible to comply with everything as soon as we found out we contacted the the um director's office and we've been dealing with this uh since December when we gave notice to the tenant to leave January we filed lawsuit and February they were out and in between January I believe we have the facts thank you if I if I may quickly or hold on the manager wanted to say something go ahead go ahead so just to just to clarify um council's idea of somehow burden shifting to the city for their failure to manage their own properties I think is is is not proper um a the city shouldn't have to drag out police and fire and code for them to watch their tenants and make sure that they have required licenses they can do a check on that on City Records on their own at any time they were properly noticed the property was posted the registered agent was mailed they chose to do nothing at the time uh and that's where we lie secondly I don't believe uh an accusation of this uh panel in saying that you are punishing them is at all correct in fact I think that you're laying out the issues of what has gone on here there's failed Management on the part of their tenant there's failed Management on part of the property owner that lasted for 13 years when somebody finally realized what happened it was great for them they came in they did what needed to be done and that's a good thing and I think you've recognized that and you've stated that but that doesn't get over the hump of 13 years of collecting rent and ignoring ignoring a hearing not coming to that and then also not taking care of those issues so I just wanted to put that on the record and I don't I don't think the characterization of a a punishment is incorrect and a characterization of it's 5 to 10% is also comes from I don't know where but this is a commercial property and I don't think that's any part of a commercial property since all of you have been doing it you've been in the probably 10 to 20 and for repeat offenders you keep going higher and depending on how it goes you do as the code says which is you take the facts and the circumstances and you determine how that relates to what the fine is which is uh this would be the city's position and I think what you're doing that's all I wanted to say and for the record where the offenders are Bad actors I have requested 100% of fine I just just so you know sir and for the record so could you please introduce yourself we haven't gotten your name the the clerk needs your name for the record yes forgive me Richard Burgman b e r g m a n so um Mr commissioner parle do you have what you need I do okay are you ready to make a motion yeah it's the most dense area in Miami 21 code so I mean I'm going to move a motion for 25% there's a motion for 25% is there a second a second for discussion 25% brings us 200 20 25% is 28743 with 50 okay commissioner parto um we're pretty close I think uh and we're being very very lenient with them based upon what the record shows that they were making there um I don't think we should go anything less than the 300,000 that they made the last year that they operated there so I would bring it up just a tiny bit I don't know if it'll be 26% uh 27% and bring it up to 3 $300,000 uh I'll amend it okay okay I'll accept the amendment the amendment so the and let me put this in the record uh even though I think uh assistant City attorney duly covered it very well for the city you used to we punishment uh we don't punish anybody here your client uh even with 300 ,000 fine made Millions on that property violating the law and the 300,000 is way below the over 1.1 million that frankly on a case like this maybe we should ask all of it uh and your client still would have made uh a million plus maybe $2 million uh on it you mention uh and it's about it argument but doesn't hold much water in vacant land that that's uh gross it's not the net I don't know what expenses you have except the normal expenses of taking care of those slots yeah you have to pay taxes whether you had it leased or not taxes would be paid uh I'm sure that uh sweeping uh garbage that gets blown uh by the that people might have thrown there when they parked uh your parking operator will be taken care of so that doesn't pull much water for me either what I do want to thank uh you and your client for is that at least you didn't come in here and say that uh I'm taking this position because your client endorsed my opponent Alfie Leon uh when I ran for office uh many years ago and that's why that I'm going after your First Amendment right so I thank you and your client for that at least but uh this is a prime example of what's been going on in our city for too many years in the past and this is across the board all districts some more than others and too many times in the past code hasn't been as active uh as it should be trying to be politically correct in what I'm saying uh [Music] building the same other departments the same but still to use the argument that I've heard here that what they have done it's not their fault it's the city's fault because we should have shut them down immediately yes we should have but they know why they weren't shut down immediately you know there's no Clean Hands there you know I don't see anyone in in this whole operation that had cling hands everybody was making money and then to try to say that the owner didn't really know what the company that they were leasing the land to was going to be doing there come on we're old grownups you're going to lease property and you don't know what they're going to use it for of course you do so I you know I think that $300,000 is more than fair uh more than fair and your client should be very thankful that that's all we charged commissioner Paro agree so we have a motion to settle this for $300,000 do I have a second second I have a motion in a second all in favor I motion carries unanimously amend if I may have Indulgence for two things no sir I think we finish with this thank you uh commissioner Corel made a mention of something that's correct thank you part thank you for holding the line on this Madame shair and for clarification that is a 26.09% okay okay Madame shair if I may add you see we got to stop this the same I mean all this uh the uh most of the owners that they have been cited long time ago they know and they knew that if they could come you see and ask for a reduction that a reduction was been done I mean was going to take place and that practice we have to I mean we have to stop that and uh what I'm asking the uh code uh I mean director is uh look in the files look at the properties and find all of those that are have been in violation for many years because they they know that it is I it was very easy to come but for one of those uh uh quasi judges that we had here the mediators or come before uh the the commission and then they will have a reduction of Their fines to a a laughable laughable amount that that practice has to stop that practice had to stop so uh respectfully asking you to search search on all the violators and let them know that they better come to terms with the city and stop violating the law because they they won't have a free pass as they did before chair can I make one last statement and I I I just want to say this because I I I think it's important that uh our resident hear this particularly those who are at home that a lot more people sadly and this is why I was upset when I'm hearing the attorney try to blame the city that it's our fault because we should have shut him down a long time ago yeah we should have shut him down a long time ago but I'm going to tell you why probably they wen't shut down a long time ago like a lot of other people they should have been shut down a long time ago in different districts uh I'm going to give you some examples of what we had found here I know the city manager last year went and checked uh one property your District commissioner departa that property had from several years back to the code enforcement board that they complied fully and the illegal construction that was found there was complied with everything was taken out guess what years later the manager won and saw it himself the same thing was there that former code enforcement officer thank God he was a former lied and I think you all could figure out why he probably lied I'm going to give you another one this guy was uh in planning I believe he was one of the buddies from the code enforcement officer the former code enforce officer that I just mentioned he gets uh an email and the email says uh take care of uh this he has just been cited in a property this one is in my district now he had been sided in the property and he wanted the city employed to take care of it to look into it well the only reason we we know that he was cited and he sent a copy of what the code enforcement officer I cited him for was because of that copy that we found in our system that email he sent because coat had no record it nothing existed anymore nothing happened there according to our official records so I guess our City employee did take care of it for him and one of the most outrageous ones and it was just not one there were numerous emails former mayor's office one of his uh key right hands and engaging with citizens and someone that has been uh code violator Time and Time and Time Again sending him emails here's a cell number for the code director former code director call him up they found that you were doing illegal work in this certain property of your and more like that so so that he could be covered up and this is the kind of stuff that was going on in this city and that I started finding out time and time again and yeah I'm damned by some and they've taken their friends in the media uh media that no longer what I remember when I was mayor that we had this new media that we have they're activists or they pay for play and I've been defame attack damned because these are the kind of stuff that I have stood against and I have found but the worst part for me is that no one cares to look into it no one cares no one cares this is why I feel that the most important thing that this community needs and all these people that are running for Sheriff should do is create the biggest anti-corruption department that you've ever seen in the State of Florida so that this sort of stuff can be looked into and something could be done about it thank you thank you um r four all right good morning again Commissioners Robert S albor code compliance director re4 is the mitigation of a property located at 115 Northwest 60 street is a vacant lot um the violation is uh for overgrowth and failure to maintain the lot uh case was opened on February 22nd 2022 adjudicated on May 2022 um it complied on March 8th 2023 after 306 days the uh total acred amount of the lean is 153,000 the offer from the respond from the respondent and I have met with councel I have it on the table here is 15,300 that is 10% uh 15% uh would be 22950 um the 15 the 10% offer I think is reasonable based on the lot uh but just for the record at 15% will make it 22950 which is my amended recommendation sir good afternoon Commissioners Joshua sammon on behalf of armada Holdings LLC um not to try to contrast too much with the prior case but as he said it's a 306 days that's tough to come come behind the prior case no you you you're nothing like the previous case it's not the worst one to go after um so my my client had a well originally my client along with another uh company owned I believe it was five Lots from 2015 to 2021 my client was a passive investor in that in that ownership group uh was not responsible for maintenance of the Lots Etc it was just an investor uh my client is not located in Florida and wasn't visiting the Lots regularly Etc um there was a Falling Out Among the company in October of 2021 my client acquired the lot that is currently at issue and became responsible for that maintenance um due to lack of diligence admittedly by my own client um he was not aware that it was not being upkept properly that there hadn't been um maintenance of the of the grass the property around it Etc um there was a violation that was issued it was properly posted it was given to the registered agent for some reason or another it did not make its way to my client likely the fault of the registered agent um as as they will tell you it was properly posted I make no argument about that um I do think that there was uh possibly an issue with the address that again my my client did not address on his primary address um long story short did not learn about the violation um at the beginning of March uh lean search was conducted um in pursuit of possibly alienating the property learned that this was outstanding uh within a week got the property CL cleaned up had an investigator come out give an Affidavit of compliance got it taken care of and it's done uh the best of my knowledge they're a first-time offender there's no danger to life liberty property Etc uh and the issue has been rectified and with all all hope will not occur again as a result we offer 10% to I believe 15% is fair do I have a motion second I have a motion I'll make the motion I have a motion in the second for 15% which is for the record $22,900 all in favor I motion carries unanimously for the record it's a there's a reverter clause it needs to be paid within 20 days otherwise to full amount as amended as amended thank you sir thank you I'm going to ask my colleagues now what is the will we have an omnicc meeting yeah can we go to the Omni meeting break for the Omni meeting and then lunch and then come back okay at this time the city commission meeting for April 25th 2024 is now in recess and we are going to start the Omni meeting immediately following the clerk's flipping of the tape we will come back 2 hours after the omnic meeting has concluded whatever time that is I'll come back and announce that but that would be in average e e e to order the April 25th 2024 Omni CRA meeting first order of business is there a motion to approve the minutes for the February 8 2024 omn have a motion in a second a second all those in favor Madame executive director please briefly read the agenda items CRA resolutions number one through number six as well as discussion item number one into the record discussion item independent AUD audit report fiscal year 2023 um re1 is a residential and business beautification program re2 is a 4 fifths Grand to Greater Israel Primitive Baptist Church re3 is a 4 F affordable housing Grant rehab for Palm Plaza to Leonardo D Stark trust re4 is to be withdrawn re5 is a relocation program and re6 is um my appointment as executive director for the Yi C and re re3 is adopted with modifications to um cure the scrivener's error and re5 re6 my apologies is to be substituted with the exhibit a thank you i' if I can through the chair uh defer item uh re6 I'm kidding uh Mr Sher I uh I had a a briefing with uh the director and I was streaming please and I also I uh support the affordable housing because it goes and it remains within our resolution that they don't go over 100% Ami and I'm and I and I keep on hammering that because it is a difference between paying $2,200 for a month for Studio versus paying $1,700 for Studio though that makes a whole a lot of difference you see once you go over 100% I mean you are really leaving a lot of people that are in need and it shouldn't be affordable because that is more or less 2200 for little Studio what Market the the market value now what they are charging for for market and that that really really stresses a lot of people that pay that so congratulations thank you thank you sir thank you for staying within the what we agree and we voted for thank you thank you very much and I move all of them oh commissioner we I I would request that we open the floor for public comments sure yeah absolutely so we'll go ahead and have the public comment period is now open for all items on today's agenda can we speak again about the Billboards okay no no we're in the we're in a different meeting okay but thank you for for your participation commissioner um I'm seeing no comments but I wanted to really acknowledge or members from the greater Israel Primitive Baptist Church it's a historical black church in the Overtown portion of the omn CRA we have our members here and they really wanted to thank you for um supporting their item and renovating their church we also have um the Stark family here and they really wanted to express their gratitude to you this is a project that is 50% Ami 80% Ami and 100% Ami commissioner fantastic fantastic thank you if I may through the chair I would like to thank the Omni for their work that they're doing the southeast Overtown Park Mar West CRA takes care of our historic churches and I'm so glad that you are also doing it it it is a labor of love and to make sure that these places where we come to worship and we come in times of need will continue to thrive and be a resource for our community stakeholders thank you so much thank you so much and I do support re6 as well I uh call a have a motion chair just for the record the public he is now closed yeah public comment period Then is now closed okay now now that is closed uh my motion is to accept every single one of all the other second uh before my discussion so I want to address for our conversation that we had yesterday uh that we needed you guys needed some help uh in the past there there's been some U you know very questionable uh Behavior Uh it was brought to my attention and uh uh there are two items one of them was the rent de batement issue that we spoke about yester yes commissioner that uh I would like to uh thoroughly investigated what happened and and where are we there I'm sorry and and we talk about that too yes thank you commissioner and we're we're doing our due diligence um with the city attorney's office and um we will take that as a directive to you know fully take a look at all transactions at the CRA and and there is one more item uh that that I told you that I know the gentleman and therefore I would not be directing you but maybe somebody else is interested in it which is the a security company that that you told me that uh that was questionable U what they were securing and when and how and how the the money was dispersed thank you Comm anybody want to talk about that I I know the gentleman I don't I don't want to do it because I don't want to conflict through the share through the share uh I was informed that uh that that uh uh uh uh contract been totally I mean now it's null and void it is null and void we had terminated that contract commissioner but you were going to ask for the money back or something did you not tell me that yesterday if there is any portion of the money that were not used we will um seek to issue a demand for any funds that were not used accordingly look through the chair this is one that I remember was brought up uh before and I think there were some uh legitimate probable causes that uh I heard uh it should be looked at just like anything that there's probable cost that there's something solid uh to look into uh I don't think that we should be casing to rbit Hole just for the sake of doing that but when there's legitimate reasons uh to look at something we certainly should be doing it I assure you we have been looking at it thank you thank you commissioner we um we we since terminated that contract and you know we will do you know more due diligence to make sure that if there's anything on use from the funds that the CRA gets that money back okay thank you uh um there's a discussion item um I was going to go through the motions and then come back to the discussion item all right so we had a motion on the floor which I'll amend to resolution number one number two number three number five and number six so those are the resolutions we're voting on right now corre can I have a motion motion second second all those in favor I okay now I'm and chair just for the record re3 and re6 were both amended with amendments correct I'm going to make a separate motion to withdraw re number four move second all those in favor I and then we have discussion item number one discussion item number one is on the independent annual audit report um if I would like to invite or auditor Richie tand to um update the board on our audit report when we say independent auditor is that from the CRA that we hire them or the city um the CRA hired them um every Outside Agency we have to PR prepare an external audit report so Richie is thaty this uh this is an independent AIT to hire by the uh by the C correct but we have we had a um remember that uh we had a uh a uh resolution uh the resolution that calls for an independent auditor how about the city and and it's going to audit all the Cs it's going to have all the uh the uh the uh uh boards and authorities I mean everything it's going to the parks don't going to I mean even us if they want to okay go ahead good after good afternoon chair and board members my name is Richie tanok I am a partner with sansen Clan hamino and tanok LLP I am the partner in charge of the omni's audit engagement uh for the fiscal year ending September 30th 2023 uh before I get into my brief presentation I just want to thank AA and Miguel for their continued cooperation and assisting Us in completing this year's audit um I I I believe they provided you with a the our results of the audit um for 2023 I just want to go over those required Communications if I could um as your Auditor in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and government auditing standards so I'll just touch briefly on our responses to each of those required Communications uh the first one being being our responsibilities uh under generally accepted auding standards and government aing standards were were required to issue an opinion on the agency's financial statements and we have issued that opinion for September 30th 2023 um which is an unmodified opinion we also issued our report on the agency's internal control or financial were reporting and on compliance um and as you saw in the financial statements there were those two significant deficiencies that were reported um and those two were um related to Management's override of internal controls and processes even though the CRA does have internal controls in place you always have the risk that management will override it and that's in every organization it's you can't stop it um because it it could happen and it just so happened it was two times that it happened um as you saw on page on page 28 um and that's what we reported to and I believe you already discussed the the one about the security company um with regards to the significant accounting policies now um you know you're you're the agency required to to to describe their significant accounting policies which were described uh in note one to the financial statements and all those um those uh accounting principles selected by management are consistent with those prescribed by government Accounting Standards um and the agency's financial stand related disclosures are clearly clearly presented in a related in a complete manner with regards to uh any significant and or unadjusted audit adjustments we did not come up with any uh significant or unadjusted audit adjustments any adjustments that were made were were made by by the finance officer and approved by us uh with regards to any fraud or illegal acts we are not aware of any fraud or illegal acts that occurred uh that involve Senior Management or any fraud or illegal acts that involve employees that caus a material misstatement of your financial statement so your your finan financial misstatements were fairly stated uh with regards to any with regards to Independence there are no relationships between us and the agency uh that or its related entities or the city that in our profession judgment May reason be thought to impede our independence so yes we are independent of the of the CRA in the city um we're required to notify you of any non audit services that we perform for you um and the only audit service that we perform is assistance in preparing the financial statements um and and lastly with regards to management letter we have issued a management letter in accordance with the rules of the auditor general of the State of Florida and in that management letter it does reference to the two findings that we have in the the two significant deficiencies so if you have any specific questions about the the our audit or financial statements I'd be happy to address those I don't but my colleagues anyone I've got a lot of questions I mean it seems to me that there's been a lot of funny business going on there and you know to me this is unacceptable of all the stories that I've heard I've even had people come into our office that that were there tell us some stories of what went on there and just to brush us off and say that you know everything's okay it's not for me at least I'm I'm not good with it I I don't know about you it's good that's that's why we we want a forensic audit right I I think we need it no that's that's that's a resolution that will happen that that's our resolution that will happen found the two main deficiencies which seem to be and listed them which seem to be quoted a lot other than that he basically said the processes and the procedures are in place and they follow Municipal Gap or generally accounted uh accepted accounting principles moving forward no right now as we are moving forward moving forward and moving forward yes yes okay all right well if we're done with that discussion I item thank you everyone for being here today and this meeting is now adjourned thank you 2:30 the city of Miami commission meeting for April 25th 2024 will resume at 2:30 p.m. thank you [Music]