City of Miami
City Hall 3500 Pan American Drive Miami, FL 33133 www.miamigov.com
Meeting Minutes
Thursday, March 12, 2015
9:00 AM REGULAR
City Hall Commission Chambers
City Commission
Tomás Regalado, Mayor Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Chair Keon Hardemon, Vice Chair Marc David Sarnoff, Commissioner District Two Frank Carollo, Commissioner District Three Francis Suarez, Commissioner District Four Daniel J. Alfonso, City Manager Victoria Méndez, City Attorney Todd B. Hannon, City Clerk City Commission Meeting Minutes March 12, 2015
CONTENTS
PR - PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS
AM - APPROVING MINUTES
MV - MAYORAL VETOES
CA - CONSENT AGENDA
PA - PERSONAL APPEARANCES
PH - PUBLIC HEARINGS
SR - SECOND READING ORDINANCES
FR - FIRST READING ORDINANCES
RE - RESOLUTIONS
BC - BOARDS AND COMMITTEES
DI - DISCUSSION ITEMS
PART B
PZ - PLANNING AND ZONING ITEM (S)
MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS' ITEMS
M - MAYOR'S ITEMS
D1 - DISTRICT 1 ITEMS
D2 - DISTRICT 2 ITEMS
D3 - DISTRICT 3 ITEMS
D4 - DISTRICT 4 ITEMS
D5 - DISTRICT 5 ITEMS
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9:00 A.M. INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Present: Chair Gort, Commissioner Sarnoff, Commissioner Carollo, Commissioner Suarez and Vice Chair Hardemon On the 12th day of March 2015, the City Commission of the City of Miami, Florida, met at its regular meeting place in City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida, in regular session. The Commission Meeting was called to order by Chair Gort at 9:04 a.m., recessed at 1:10 p.m., reconvened at 3:37 p.m., and adjourned at 5:56 p.m.
Note for the Record: Commissioners Sarnoff and Suarez entered the Commission chamber at 9:06 a.m., Commissioner Carollo entered the Commission chamber at 9:08 a.m., and Vice Chair Hardemon entered the Commission chamber at 9:09 a.m.
ALSO PRESENT:
Victoria Méndez, City Attorney Daniel J. Alfonso, City Manager Todd B. Hannon, City Clerk
Chair Gort: Morning, Mr. Clerk. What time is it?
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Good morning, Chair. The time is 9:04.
Chair Gort: Nine-o-four. Thank you.
Mr. Hannon: You're welcome, sir.
Chair Gort: Welcome to March 12 meeting of the City of Miami Commission in the historic chambers. The Commission is composed with Commissioners Frank Carollo, Francis Suarez, Marc Sarnoff; Keon Hardemon, Vice Chairman; and myself, Wifredo “Willy” Gort, Chairman. Also on the dais are Daniel Alfonso, City Manager; Victoria Méndez, City Attorney that should be there soon; and Attorney -- City Attorney Victoria Méndez and City Clerk, Todd Hannon. At this time, may I ask you to stand for the invocations? And Mr. Manager, I'd like for you to do the pledge.
Invocation and pledge of allegiance delivered.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS
PR.1 PRESENTATION 15-00301 Honoree Presenter Protocol Item Women's History Month Mayor and Salute Commissioners
Miami Commission on Mayor and Awards the Status of Women Commissioners
Bike 305 Month Mayor and Proclamation Commissioners
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Antonio Gabriel Selva Commissioner Salute Suarez
15-00301 Protocol Item.pdf
PRESENTED
1) Mayor Regalado and Miami City Commissioners presented Salutes for Women's History Month to the following Miami Commission on the Status of Women Honorees: Marta L. Zayas, Marianela Amador, Dr. Harriette Wilson-Greene, Assistant Chief of Police Anita Najiy, Melissa H. Llera, Maria C. Alonso, and Avra Jain for their outstanding contributions to South Florida by being women of character, courage and commitment for our community; furthermore paying tribute to women's achievement throughout the centuries and applauding their tenacity, courage and creativity, qualities that embody as a tremendous source of strength for our community.
2) Miami Commission on the Status of Women Committee presented Special Awards for the untiring support and love of the community. The Julia Tuttle award was presented in Memoriam to Georgia Ayers; the Trailblazer award was presented to Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis, Tracy Mourning and Kimberly Sands; and the Appreciation award was presented to Cornelia "Corky" Dozier and Betty Wright.
3) Mayor Regalado and the Miami City Commission presented a Proclamation proclaiming March 2015 as Bike 305 Month, valuing bicycling as a viable and environmentally sound transportation and an excellent form of recreation for businesses and citizens to enjoy the outdoors and seek healthy lifestyles; and encouraging all residents to develop habits of physical activity to become or stay fit, avoid obesity and reduce the risk of many chronic diseases and conditions; and implementing bicycling safety training and installed Citi Bike stations to turn bicycling into a mode of transportation for all residents and visitors as a fun and healthy way to see Miami.
4) Commissioner Suarez presented a Salute to Antonio Gabriel Selva paying tribute to his dedication, discipline and perseverance and congratulating him on his terrific performance as winner of the 2015 Florida South Regional Scholastic Chess Championship, distinguishing him as an overall catalyst for excellence and intellectual acumen.
Chair Gort: Mr. Mayor, do you have any --? I've got to wait for the other Commissioners to get here, and we have some -- this month is Historical Women Month, and we're going to recognize quite a few ladies that have done a lot of work and a lot of help to us in the City of Miami, and let's face it, throughout the world. Women always been there, really, supporting and helping everyone. Okay, we have a quorum. Is the -- you ready?
Presentations made.
APPROVING THE MINUTES OF THE FOLLOWING MEETINGS:
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, to APPROVE PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
Chair Gort: Do we have minutes to be approved?
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Yes, sir. I have for Commission consideration and approval the regular meeting minutes from February 12, 2015.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Second.
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Chair Gort: Do I have a motion?
Commissioner Suarez: I mean, first, whatever.
Chair Gort: Moved by Commissioner Suarez; second by Commissioner Sarnoff. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
END OF APPROVING MINUTES
MAYORAL VETOES
NO MAYORAL VETOES
Chair Gort: Mr. Clerk, do we have any mayor's veto?
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair, there are no mayoral vetoes.
ORDER OF THE DAY
Chair Gort: Mr. Manager.
Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): Yes, sir.
Chair Gort: While we're waiting for the rest of the Commissioners, is any announcements, any --?
Mr. Alfonso: No, not at this time, Mr. Chairman. We don't have any deferrals or any of those issues this time around, so we can get to the presentations, I suppose.
Later...
Chair Gort: Good morning. We'll begin our regular meeting now. Madam Attorney, could you go over the procedures, please?
Victoria Méndez (City Attorney): Thank you, Chairman. Any person who is a lobbyist must register with the City Clerk before appearing before the City Commission. A copy of the Code section about lobbyists is available in the City Clerk's Office. The material for each agenda is available during business hours at the City Clerk's Office and online 24 hours a day at wwwmiamigov.com [sic]. 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. 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. Anyone wishing to appeal any decision made by the City Commission for any matter considered at this meeting may need a verbatim record of the item. A video of this meeting may be requested at the Office of Communications or viewed online at wwwmiamigov.com [sic]. No cell phones or other noise-making devices are permitted in Commission chambers; please silence those devices now. No clapping, applauding, heckling or verbal outburst in support or opposition to a speaker, or his remarks or her remarks shall be permitted. Any person making offensive remarks or who becomes unruly in the Commission chambers will be barred from further attending Commission meetings and may be subject to arrest. No signs or placards shall be allowed in the Commission chambers. Any person with a disability requiring assistance, auxiliary aids and services for this meeting may notify the City Clerk. The lunch recess will begin at the conclusion of deliberation of the agenda item being considered at noon. The meeting will either end at the conclusion of deliberation of the agenda item being considered at 10 p.m. or at the conclusion of the regularly
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scheduled agenda, whichever occurs first. Please note, Commissioners have generally been briefed by City staff and the City Attorney on items on the agenda today. At this time, the Administration will announce --
Chair Gort: Excuse me. Will you keep the door closed, please?
Ms. Méndez: -- which items, if any, are being either withdrawn, deferred or substituted. Thank you.
Mr. Alfonso: Mr. Chairman, there is one item, DI.5, that we would like to defer to May 14.
Chair Gort: DI --?
Mr. Alfonso: DI -- Discussion item .5, defer to May 14.
Chair Gort: Any of the Commissioner would like to defer any item or pull any items?
Vice Chair Hardemon: I would like to defer an item to the next Commission meeting; the item would be RE.4.
Chair Gort: RE.4?
Vice Chair Hardemon: Yes, sir.
Chair Gort: That's it?
Vice Chair Hardemon: That's it.
Chair Gort: Okay, I understand it's on -- someone who wants to discuss CA.2 from the public, so do I have a motion for the consent agenda?
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Excuse me, Chair. Was there a motion for the deferral of DI.5 and RE.4?
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff; second by Vice Chairman Hardemon. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying “aye.”
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
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CONSENT AGENDA
CA.1 RESOLUTION 15-00182 Department of A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Procurement ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE PROVISION OF COMMERCIAL RECORDS MANAGEMENT SERVICES FROM GRM INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES OF MIAMI, LLC, UTILIZING EXISTING MIAMI-DADE COUNTY ("MDC") INVITATION TO BID (ITB) NO. FB-00001, WHICH WAS COMPETITIVELY SOLICITED; SUBJECT TO ANY EXTENSIONS AND/OR REPLACEMENT CONTRACTS BY MDC; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM THE VARIOUS SOURCES OF FUNDS OF THE USER DEPARTMENTS, ON A CITYWIDE, AS NEEDED CONTRACTUAL BASIS, FOR A CONTRACT PERIOD OF FIVE (5) YEARS, SUBJECT TO THE AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS AND BUDGETARY APPROVAL AT TIME OF NEED. 15-00182 Summary Form.pdf 15-00182 Back-Up from Law Dept.pdf 15-00182 Legislation.pdf 15-00182 Exhibit.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
R-15-0087
CA.2 RESOLUTION 15-00171 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE Attorney DIRECTOR OF FINANCE TO PAY TO AND ON BEHALF OF STEPHEN N. KIRALY, SUBJECT TO THE CONDITIONS IMPOSED BY CHAPTER 440, FLORIDA STATUTES, THE TOTAL SUM OF $92,750.00, IN FULL SETTLEMENT OF ALL CLAIMS AND DATES OF ACCIDENT ALLEGED AGAINST THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY"), ITS OFFICERS, AGENTS, AND EMPLOYEES, WITHOUT ADMISSION OF LIABILITY, UPON EXECUTING A SETTLEMENT, HOLD HARMLESS, AND INDEMNIFICATION AGREEMENT AS WELL AS A GENERAL RELEASE OF THE CITY, ITS PRESENT AND FORMER OFFICERS, AGENTS, AND EMPLOYEES, FROM ANY AND ALL CLAIMS AND DEMANDS; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM ACCOUNT NO.50001.301001.524000.0000.00000. 15-00171 Memo - Office of the City Attorney.pdf 15-00171 Memo - Budget Sign-Off.pdf 15-00171 Legislation.pdf
Motion by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0085
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Mariano Cruz: Mariano Cruz, 1227 Northwest 26th Street. I am questioning CA.2 that the City is always paying, always paying, paying, paying; even (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it's an open season in the City of Miami. The City -- look, the City got deep, deep pockets, and they pay, and they pay, and they pay. I question that. That 92,750, we can put more police officers in the street with that money, okay? But, no, they -- we pay the money and we give the money away, we give the money away. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) most of them. People say, “No, sue the City. Don't worry, they pay. They always settle out of court, and we get the money there, and that's it.” And I see that happening time and time again and it shouldn't be. Why we have a Legal Department? Legal Department should be fighting them. That's all I say. What -- they get paid big money. And remember one thing here: I've been coming here since 1962. I've seen a lot of people here that is not important people, just important position. You there -- you here today and tomorrow you are gone, because that's the way it is.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Mr. Cruz: So think of that. Think of that, because I seen people come and go. I deliver the mail there in Coconut Grove in the '80s and '81, and, you know, and the City and everything has changed. But remember that we shouldn't be paying, paying, paying. Why should we pay?
Chair Gort: Thank you, Mariano. I recommend to the City Attorney's Office to send Mariano, because, unfortunate, all the cases that we win in court are not brought in front of us. So I mean, we receive the notice that we have won the cases in court. My suggestion, send a copy to Mariano also, so he can see all the ones we settle; that we don't settle, that we win in court. At this time, Commissioner Sarnoff --
Commissioner Sarnoff: Yeah, I make a --
Chair Gort: -- I have the personal appearance, so if you want to mix the two, I have a personal appearance by Mr. Kenneth Church [sic]. There are two -- five minutes, sir.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman --
Chair Gort: Yes.
Vice Chair Hardemon: -- I move to --
Commissioner Sarnoff: Right.
Vice Chair Hardemon: -- pass CA.2.
Chair Gort: Okay. Motion on CA.2. Is there a second?
Commissioner Sarnoff: There's a second with a little discussion.
Chair Gort: Discussion.
Commissioner Sarnoff: So I know it's very sexy to come up in front of this Commission and rail against the City Attorney or the Commission, itself, and say, “Misappropriation of funds.” I suspect nobody understands the particulars of CA.2 or the fact that this involves workers' compensation from 1976. Workers' compensation from 1976 was the most set of liberal laws probably ever concocted in man's history. It afforded a great many benefits to City of Miami employees, as well as everyone else, and we are stuck with the regime, legal regime in place from 1976. Things have significantly changed since 1976. There's a saying in law that “workers' compensation has a huge tail,” and that tail is now being shown to you how long it can be. So,
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Mr. Chair, without getting into the particulars of this, I think the City Attorney has no choice but to recommend to us --
Commissioner Suarez: Sure.
Commissioner Sarnoff: -- to resolve an issue that is a 1976 issue, which will be applying laws back in 1976.
Chair Gort: Thank you for the explanation. I think it's very important. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying “aye.”
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
CA.3 RESOLUTION 15-00185 Department of Parks A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH and Recreation ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ACCEPT A TOTAL AMOUNT OF $60,000.00 IN THE FORM OF ONE (1) REIMBURSEMENT GRANT FROM THE NATIONAL RECREATION AND PARK ASSOCIATION, IN COLLABORATION WITH THE COCA COLA COMPANY, TO THE CITY OF MIAMI'S ("CITY") DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION FOR A HEALTHY COMMUNITIES FITNESS INITIATIVE, ESTABLISHING A NEW SPECIAL REVENUE PROJECT ENTITLED: "COMMUNITY WELLNESS AND FITNESS PROGRAM," TO FUND FREE FITNESS PROGRAMS IN CITY PARKS; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT WITH THE NATIONAL RECREATION AND PARK ASSOCIATION, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM (THE NATIONAL RECREATION AND PARK ASSOCIATION CONTRACT). AND TO EXECUTE ALL OTHER NECESSARY AMENDMENTS, EXTENSIONS, AND MODIFICATIONS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, TO IMPLEMENT THE ACCEPTANCE OF AND COMPLIANCE WITH THE GRANT AWARD FOR SAID PURPOSES, FOR THE PERIOD COMMENCING MARCH 31, 2015 THROUGH MARCH 31, 2017. 15-00185 Summary Form.pdf 15-00185 Legislation.pdf 15-00185 Exhibit - MOU.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
R-15-0088
CA.4 RESOLUTION 15-00160 Office of Grants A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Administration ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR REIMBURSEMENT GRANT FUNDING TO THE FLORIDA INLAND NAVIGATION DISTRICT ("FIND") WATERWAYS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $25,000.00, FOR THE DESIGN AND PERMITTING OF REPAIRS TO THE SEAWALL AND BOAT
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RAMP AT MORNINGSIDE PARK - PHASE I ("PROJECT"); AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF THE REQUIRED MATCHING FUNDS FOR FIFTY PERCENT (50%) OF THE PROJECT COSTS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $25,000.00, AVAILABLE UNDER CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT AND TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM ("CITP") PROJECT B-40532, AWARD 1422 MORNINGSIDE PARK FLOATING DOCK; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR THE SUBMISSION OF SAID GRANT APPLICATION, THE EXECUTION OF GRANT OR DEED AGREEMENTS AND AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS, AND EXTENSIONS, AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF GRANT FUNDS IN THE EVENT OF THE AWARD OF THE GRANT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016. 15-00160 Summary Form.pdf 15-00160 Back-Up from Law Dept.pdf 15-00160 Legislation.pdf 15-00160 Exhibit.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
R-15-0089
CA.5 RESOLUTION 15-00161 Office of Grants A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Administration ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR REIMBURSEMENT GRANT FUNDING TO THE FLORIDA INLAND NAVIGATION DISTRICT ("FIND")WATERWAYS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $50,000.00, FOR THE DESIGN AND PERMITTING OF SEAWALL AND BOAT RAMP IMPROVEMENTS AT LEGION PARK - PHASE I ("PROJECT"); AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF THE REQUIRED MATCHING FUNDS FOR FIFTY PERCENT (50%) OF THE PROJECT COSTS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $50,000.00, AVAILABLE UNDER CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT AND TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM ("CITP") PROJECT B-40510 LEGION PARK IMPROVEMENTS; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR THE SUBMISSION OF SAID GRANT APPLICATION, THE EXECUTION OF GRANT OR DEED AGREEMENTS AND AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS, AND EXTENSIONS AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF GRANT FUNDS, IN THE EVENT OF THE AWARD OF THE GRANT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016. 15-00161 Summary Form.pdf 15-00161 Back-Up from Law Dept.pdf 15-00161 Legislation.pdf 15-00161 Exhibit.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
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R-15-0090
CA.6 RESOLUTION 15-00162 Office of Grants A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Administration ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR REIMBURSEMENT GRANT FUNDING TO THE FLORIDA INLAND NAVIGATION DISTRICT ("FIND") WATERWAYS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $150,000.00 FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A SEAWALL, BAYWALK, AND KAYAK LAUNCH AT PALLOT PARK ("PROJECT"); AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF THE REQUIRED MATCHING FUNDS FOR FIFTY PERCENT (50%) OF THE PROJECT COSTS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $150,000.00, AVAILABLE UNDER CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT AND TRANSPORTATION ("CITP") PROJECT B-40542, AWARD 1422; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR THE SUBMISSION OF SAID GRANT APPLICATION, THE EXECUTION OF GRANT OR DEED AGREEMENTS, AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS, AND EXTENSIONS, AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF GRANT FUNDS IN THE EVENT OF THE AWARD OF THE GRANT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016. 15-00162 Summary Form.pdf 15-00162 Back-Up from Law Dept.pdf 15-00162 Legislation.pdf 15-00162 Exhibit.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
R-15-0091
CA.7 RESOLUTION 15-00165 Office of Grants A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Administration ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR REIMBURSEMENT GRANT FUNDING TO THE FLORIDA INLAND NAVIGATION DISTRICT ("FIND") WATERWAYS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $150,000.00, FOR THE INSTALLATION/UPGRADES OF DINNER KEY MARINA PUMPOUT EQUIPMENT - PHASE II ("PROJECT"); AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF THE REQUIRED MATCHING FUNDS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $150,000.00 TO BE PROVIDED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF REAL ESTATE AND ASSET MANAGEMENT ("DREAM") PROJECT B-70012 AWARD 1437; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR THE SUBMISSION OF SAID GRANT APPLICATION, THE EXECUTION OF GRANT OR DEED AGREEMENTS AND AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS, AND EXTENSIONS, AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF GRANT FUNDS IN THE EVENT OF THE AWARD OF THE GRANT FOR FISCAL YEAR
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2015-2016.
15-00165 Summary Form.pdf 15-00165 Back-Up from Law Dept.pdf 15-00165 Legislation.pdf 15-00165 Exhibit.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
R-15-0092
CA.8 RESOLUTION 15-00169 Office of Grants A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Administration ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR REIMBURSEMENT GRANT FUNDING TO THE FLORIDA INLAND NAVIGATION DISTRICT ("FIND") WATERWAYS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $50,000.00, FOR THE DESIGN AND PERMITTING OF MIAMI MARINE PARK MARINA CONSTRUCTION PROJECT - PHASE I ("PROJECT"); AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF THE REQUIRED MATCHING FUNDS FOR FIFTY PERCENT (50%) OF THE PROJECT COSTS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $50,000.00, AVAILABLE UNDER THE DEPARTMENT OF REAL ESTATE AND ASSET MANAGEMENT ("DREAM") PROJECT B-70042, AWARD 1437; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR THE SUBMISSION OF SAID GRANT APPLICATION, THE EXECUTION OF GRANT OR DEED AGREEMENTS AND AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS, AND EXTENSIONS, AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF GRANT FUNDS IN THE EVENT OF THE AWARD OF THE GRANT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016. 15-00169 Summary Form.pdf 15-00169 Back-Up from Law Dept.pdf 15-00169 Legislation.pdf 15-00169 Exhibit.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
R-15-0093
CA.9 RESOLUTION 15-00163 Office of Grants A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Administration ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR REIMBURSEMENT GRANT FUNDING TO THE FLORIDA INLAND NAVIGATION DISTRICT ("FIND") WATERWAYS ASSISTANCE
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PROGRAM, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $500,000.00 FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF MARINE STADIUM BAYWALK - PHASE II ("PROJECT"); AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF THE REQUIRED MATCHING FUNDS FOR FIFTY PERCENT (50%) OF THE PROJECT COSTS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $500,000.00, AVAILABLE UNDER CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT AND TRANSPORTATION ("CITP") PROJECT B-40668, AWARD 2099; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR THE SUBMISSION OF SAID GRANT APPLICATION, THE EXECUTION OF GRANT OR DEED AGREEMENTS, AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS, AND EXTENSIONS, AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF GRANT FUNDS IN THE EVENT OF THE AWARD OF THE GRANT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016.
15-00163 Summary Form.pdf 15-00163 Back-Up from Law Dept.pdf 15-00163 Legislation.pdf 15-00163 Exhibit.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
R-15-0094
CA.10 RESOLUTION 15-00164 Office of Grants A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Administration ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR REIMBURSEMENT GRANT FUNDING TO THE FLORIDA INLAND NAVIGATION DISTRICT ("FIND") WATERWAYS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $62,500.00, FOR THE DESIGN AND PERMITTING OF SEAWALL AND BAYWALK IMPROVEMENTS AT ALICE WAINWRIGHT PARK - PHASE I ("PROJECT"); AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF THE REQUIRED MATCHING FUNDS FOR FIFTY PERCENT (50%) OF THE PROJECT COSTS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $62,500.00, AVAILABLE UNDER CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT AND TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM ("CITP") PROJECT B-40454C, AWARD 1422 ALICE WAINWRIGHT PARK SEAWALL AND BAYWALK; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR THE SUBMISSION OF SAID GRANT APPLICATION, THE EXECUTION OF GRANT OR DEED AGREEMENTS AND AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS, AND EXTENSIONS, AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF GRANT FUNDS IN THE EVENT OF THE AWARD OF THE GRANT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016. 15-00164 Summary Form.pdf 15-00164 Back-Up from Law Dept.pdf 15-00164 Legislation.pdf 15-00164 Exhibit.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
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Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
R-15-0095
CA.11 RESOLUTION 15-00166 Office of Grants A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Administration ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR REIMBURSEMENT GRANT FUNDING TO THE FLORIDA INLAND NAVIGATION DISTRICT ("FIND") WATERWAYS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $375,000.00 FOR THE UPGRADE OF ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS IN MIAMARINA - PHASE II ("PROJECT"); AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF THE REQUIRED MATCHING FUNDS FOR FIFTY PERCENT (50%) OF THE PROJECT COSTS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $375,000.00, AVAILABLE UNDER THE DEPARTMENT OF REAL ESTATE AND ASSET MANAGEMENT ("DREAM") PROJECT B-70044; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR THE SUBMISSION OF SAID GRANT APPLICATION, THE EXECUTION OF GRANT OR DEED AGREEMENTS, AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS, AND EXTENSIONS, AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF GRANT FUNDS IN THE EVENT OF THE AWARD OF THE GRANT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016.
15-00166 Summary Form.pdf 15-00166 Back-Up from Law Dept.pdf 15-00166 Legislation.pdf 15-00166 Exhibit.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
R-15-0096
CA.12 RESOLUTION 15-00167 Office of Grants A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Administration ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR REIMBURSEMENT GRANT FUNDING TO THE FLORIDA INLAND NAVIGATION DISTRICT ("FIND") WATERWAYS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $30,000.00 FOR THE REMOVAL OF SMALL DERELICT VESSELS ("PROJECT"); AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF THE REQUIRED MATCHING FUNDS OF FIFTY PERCENT (50%) OF THE PROJECT COSTS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $30,000.00, AVAILABLE UNDER THE DEPARTMENT OF REAL ESTATE AND ASSET MANAGEMENT ("DREAM") PROJECT B-70043, AWARD 1437, FOR A TOTAL PROJECT COST OF $60,000.00; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY City of Miami Page 14 Printed on 4/1/2015 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 12, 2015
ATTORNEY, FOR THE SUBMISSION OF SAID GRANT APPLICATION, THE EXECUTION OF GRANT OR DEED AGREEMENTS, AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS, AND EXTENSIONS, AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF GRANT FUNDS, IN THE EVENT OF THE AWARD OF THE GRANT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016.
15-00167 Summary Form.pdf 15-00167 Back-Up from Law Dept.pdf 15-00167 Legislation.pdf 15-00167 Exhibit.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
R-15-0097
CA.13 RESOLUTION 15-00168 Office of Grants A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Administration ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR REIMBURSEMENT GRANT FUNDING TO THE FLORIDA INLAND NAVIGATION DISTRICT ("FIND") WATERWAYS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $50,000.00, FOR THE DESIGN AND PERMITTING OF BAYSIDE "WHARF" PROJECT AT MIAMARINA - PHASE I ("PROJECT"); AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF THE REQUIRED MATCHING FUNDS FOR FIFTY PERCENT (50%) OF THE PROJECT COSTS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $50,000.00, AVAILABLE UNDER THE DEPARTMENT OF REAL ESTATE AND ASSET MANAGEMENT ("DREAM") PROJECT B-70045; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR THE SUBMISSION OF SAID GRANT APPLICATION, THE EXECUTION OF GRANT OR DEED AGREEMENTS AND AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS, AND EXTENSIONS AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF GRANT FUNDS, IN THE EVENT OF THE AWARD OF THE GRANT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016. 15-00168 Summary Form.pdf 15-00168 Back-Up from Law Dept.pdf 15-00168 Legislation.pdf 15-00168 Exhibit.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
R-15-0098
CA.14 RESOLUTION 15-00177
City of Miami Page 15 Printed on 4/1/2015 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 12, 2015
Office of Grants A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Administration ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR REIMBURSEMENT GRANT FUNDING TO THE FLORIDA INLAND NAVIGATION DISTRICT ("FIND") WATERWAYS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $75,000.00, FOR THE DESIGN AND PERMITTING FOR A SEAWALL AND KAYAK LAUNCH AT SPRING GARDEN PARK - PHASE I ("PROJECT"); AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF THE REQUIRED MATCHING FUNDS FOR FIFTY PERCENT (50%) OF THE PROJECT COSTS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $75,000.00, AVAILABLE UNDER CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT AND TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM ("CITP") PROJECT B-40454A, AWARD 1422 SPRING GARDEN PARK SEAWALL AND KAYAK; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR THE SUBMISSION OF SAID GRANT APPLICATION, THE EXECUTION OF GRANT OR DEED AGREEMENTS AND AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS, AND EXTENSIONS, AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF GRANT FUNDS IN THE EVENT OF THE AWARD OF THE GRANT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016. 15-00177 Summary Form.pdf 15-00177 Back-Up from Law Dept.pdf 15-00177 Legislation.pdf 15-00177 Exhibit.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
R-15-0099
CA.15 RESOLUTION 15-00159 Office of Grants A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Administration ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR REIMBURSEMENT GRANT FUNDING TO THE FLORIDA INLAND NAVIGATION DISTRICT ("FIND") WATERWAYS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $25,000.00, FOR THE DESIGN AND PERMITTING OF SEAWALL IMPROVEMENTS AT BAYWOOD PARK - PHASE I ("PROJECT"); AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF THE REQUIRED MATCHING FUNDS FOR FIFTY PERCENT (50%) OF THE PROJECT COSTS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $25,000.00, AVAILABLE UNDER CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT AND TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM ("CITP") PROJECT B-40454B, AWARD 1422 BAYWOOD PARK SEAWALL; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR THE SUBMISSION OF SAID GRANT APPLICATION, THE EXECUTION OF GRANT OR DEED AGREEMENTS AND AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS, AND EXTENSIONS, AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF GRANT FUNDS IN THE EVENT OF THE AWARD OF THE GRANT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016.
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15-00159 Summary Form.pdf 15-00159 Back-Up from Law Dept.pdf 15-00159 Legislation.pdf 15-00159 Exhibit.pdf
This Matter was ADOPTED on the Consent Agenda.
Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
R-15-0100
Adopted the Consent Agenda
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, including all the preceding items marked as having been adopted on the Consent Agenda. The motion carried by the following vote: Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez
END OF CONSENT AGENDA
Chair Gort: Do I have a motion for the -- with the exception of CA.2 --
Commissioner Sarnoff: So move.
Chair Gort: -- the consent agenda? Moved by --
Commissioner Sarnoff: So move.
Chair Gort: -- Commissioner Sarnoff. Is there a second?
Vice Chair Hardemon: Second.
Chair Gort: Second by Vice Chairman Hardemon. Any discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying “aye.”
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
PERSONAL APPEARANCES
PA.1 PRESENTATION 15-00186 PERSONAL APPEARANCE BY MR. KENNETH CHURCHILL REGARDING A PLAN TO PRESERVE THE LIVES OF HOMELESS VETERANS AND OTHER HOMELESS INDIVIDUALS IN THE COMMUNITY. 15-00186 Presentation.pdf 15-00186-Submittal-Kenneth Churchill-Plans to Preserve Homeless Lives.pdf PRESENTED
Chair Gort: Sir, you are recognized.
Kenneth Churchill: Thank you. Honorable Members, my name is Kenneth Churchill. I'm a national organizer for land rights for homeless people.
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Chair Gort: We need your address, sir; name and residence.
Mr. Churchill: My residence is 2707 North Ocean Boulevard, Boca Raton. I'm here because I believe in American people, and although some men and women are homeless, they are still American people, and some of them are even homeless American veterans. This resolution requests one acre of land to be owned by 25 homeless American veterans living in 25 tents, lawfully, with one garden as a social experiment of homeless land ownership. People have been replaced by machines. Millions are homeless. Due to worldwide over-population, it may be reasonable to presume that the human population may always be larger than the total number of buildings that house people. From here on, the total number of people that need vacancies will always exceed the number of vacancies. Being forced to live without shelter causes the natural consequence of unnatural death. The homeless are surviving somewhere on the land anyway. It is the responsibility of society to organize this basic fact of life. The American veterans -- the City of Miami finds itself in abundant wealth, and can easily afford to give homeless American veterans one acre of land. All cities and towns of the United States would be free to emulate this municipal model. It can easily evolve into a viable economic development over time. Recently, the City of Las Cruces, New Mexico, changed its ordinance to create the first lawful tent city in the history of the United States to be created by an act of government; even there, the homeless do not own the land. Nationally, American homeless land model would create one homeless land reservation for each county of the United States where homeless families could cross the American grid in search of economic opportunity. If men and women are homeless, they have lost their right to land. The industrial revolution is over in the western world. Three to four million American people are displaced on the land. Thirteen million families are in default of mortgage and could spill out onto the land in the absence of a civil defense system. Please consider this one-acre social experiment for homeless American veterans. The national policy of the United States regarding homeless people is passive euthanasia. What does it profit a city if they gain the whole world but loses its soul?
Chair Gort: Thank you, sir.
Mr. Churchill: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Commissioner Sarnoff, you have a time certain?
Commissioner Sarnoff: Yes, sir.
Chair Gort: Mm-hmm.
Commissioner Sarnoff: I believe it is --
Chair Gort: Wait, excuse me. When you finish and we have the opening to the public, I would like two representatives from the City to speak in behalf of what we been doing -- what we doing for the homeless and what we doing especially for the veterans. Yes, sir. Shouldn't we do it at the end after everybody has spoken?
Mayor Tomás Regalado: Yes. I would -- yes, I would request that you do it at the end, because I think it's important that what the City has done and is doing is documented. The City of Miami accepted the White House challenge to end veterans' homelessness in December of '15, and we are on time, and doing the right thing; getting homes for the veterans and not tents. But we have Lieutenant Colonel Tony Colmenares here from the Veterans Office of the Mayor's Office, and myself, but you all know what we have done, so whenever you say, we'll do it.
Chair Gort: That's -- Mr. Mayor, that's why I'd like to have it at the end, because a lot of people have a certain perception about the City of Miami, so I want to make sure after everybody speaks their mind, we can educate them a little bit in what the City's doing.
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END OF PERSONAL APPEARANCES
PUBLIC HEARINGS
9:00 A.M.
PH.1 RESOLUTION 15-00180 Department of A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, AUTHORIZING THE Community and ALLOCATION OF PROGRAM INCOME FROM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Economic BLOCK GRANT ("CDBG") FUNDS GENERATED FROM APRIL 1, 2014 TO Development JANUARY 31, 2015, IN THE APPROXIMATE AMOUNT OF $500,000.00 TO THE CATEGORIES SPECIFIED IN ATTACHMENT "A," ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS FOR SAID PURPOSE(S). 15-00180 Summary Form.pdf 15-00180 Pre-Legislation.pdf 15-00180 Legislation.pdf 15-00180 Attachment A.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
R-15-0101
Chair Gort: PH.2.
Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): Well, PH.1
Commissioner Carollo: PH.1.
Chair Gort: PH.1.
George Mensah: Good afternoon, Commissioners. George Mensah, director of Community Development. PH.1 is a resolution of the Miami City Commission, authorizing the allocation of program income from CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) for April 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015, in the approximate amount of $500,000 to the categories specified in Attachment “A.” And in this attachment, what we tried to do is to formalize the allocation already made in the program income in prior City Commission meetings, which is Miami Dade College for $75,000. We've also allocated $75,000 to public service agencies as part of a 2015-2016 program year. And then we have single-family rehabilitation, 250,000, which is the rehabilitation that we have for homeowners; and then administration, a hundred thousand dollars.
Chair Gort: Thank you. This is a public hearing. Is anyone in the public that would like to address this issue? Anyone in the public? Seeing none, hearing none, close the public hearings.
Commissioner Sarnoff: So moved.
Chair Gort: Moved by Commissioner Sarnoff.
Commissioner Carollo: Second.
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Chair Gort: Second by Commissioner Carollo. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
PH.2 RESOLUTION 15-00179 Department of A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Community and ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO GRANT AN Economic EXTENSION OF TIME FOR THE 2014-2015 AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE Development CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") AND THE AGENCIES SPECIFIED IN ATTACHMENT "A," EXTENDING THE AGREEMENT END DATE FROM MARCH 31, 2015 TO SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, FOR PUBLIC SERVICE ACTIVITIES; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ALL DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY FOR SAID PURPOSE(S). 15-00179 Summary Form.pdf 15-00179 Pre-Legislation.pdf 15-00179 Legislation.pdf 15-00179 Attachment A.pdf
Motion by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
R-15-0102
Chair Gort: PH.2.
George Mensah (Director, Community Development): Sir, PH.2 is a resolution authorizing the extension of time for 2014-2015 agreement between the City and the agencies specified in Attachment “A”; extending the date from March 31, 2015 to September 30, 2015 for public service activities.
Vice Chair Hardemon: So move.
Chair Gort: Okay, it's a public hearing. There's a motion by Vice Chairman Hardemon; second by Commissioner Sarnoff. It's a public hearing. Is anyone in the public that would like to address PH.2? Seeing none, hearing none, we close the public hearings. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
PH.3 RESOLUTION 15-00175 Department of A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Community and ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO GRANT AN Economic EXTENSION OF TIME FOR THE 2014-2015 AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE Development CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") AND THE AGENCIES SPECIFIED IN THE ATTACHMENT "A," EXTENDING THE AGREEMENT END DATE FROM
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MARCH 31, 2015 TO SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ALL DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR SAID PURPOSE(S). 15-00175 Summary Form.pdf 15-00175 Pre-Legislation.pdf 15-00175 Legislation.pdf 15-00175 Attachment A.pdf
Motion by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Suarez
R-15-0103
Chair Gort: PH.3.
George Mensah (Director, Community Development): PH.3 is the -- a similar resolution, which authorizes the City Manager to extend the agreement for these agencies for economic development activities from March 31, 2015 to September 30, 2015.
Vice Chair Hardemon: So moved.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by --
Commissioner Sarnoff: Second.
Chair Gort: -- Vice Chairman Hardemon; second by Commissioner Carollo [sic]. It's a public hearing. Is anyone in the public would like to address this issue, PH.3? Anyone in the public would like to address PH.3? Seeing none, hearing none, close the public hearings. Any comments? No? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
PH.4 RESOLUTION 15-00181 Department of A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Community and ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO GRANT AN Economic EXTENSION OF TIME FOR THE 2014-2015 AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE Development CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") AND THE AGENCIES SPECIFIED IN ATTACHMENT "A," EXTENDING THE AGREEMENT END DATE FROM MARCH 31, 2015 TO SEPTEMBER 30, 2015, OF POVERTY INITIATIVE FUNDS FOR PUBLIC SERVICE ACTIVITIES; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ALL DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR SAID PURPOSE(S). 15-00181 Summary Form.pdf 15-00181 Pre-Legislation.pdf 15-00181 Legislation.pdf 15-00181 Attachment A.pdf
Motion by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote.
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Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0104
Chair Gort: PH.4.
George Mensah (Director, Community Development): PH.4 is a resolution authorizing the extension of time for the agencies that is in Attachment “A” from March 31, 2015 to September 30, 2015. This is poverty initiative funds. And I want to say that we have a scrivener's error in Section 2 of the resolution, which I've indicated the year “2015-2015”; supposed to be year “2014-2015.”
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Hardemon: In addition to what's stated here for PH.4, I had an additional $25,000 that I had left from my CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) allocations that I had not made, so within my motion to approve this, I'd like to include an ore tenus motion, if you will, to cover the balance of a project that was supposed to be completed within the district with an allocation of $9,000 with this 25,000 I have left.
Mr. Mensah: Twenty-five thousand dollars.
Vice Chair Hardemon: -- to MLK (Martin Luther King) EDC (Economic Development Corporation, and then the balance of the 25,000 after you deleted the -- or you've taken away the $9,000 to FAMN (Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami) --
Mr. Mensah: Okay.
Vice Chair Hardemon: -- and Northeast 2nd Avenue Partnership of Little Haiti.
Mr. Mensah: Okay.
Vice Chair Hardemon: So the -- split the difference between those two.
Mr. Mensah: Okay.
Chair Gort: Okay?
Mr. Mensah: Thank you.
Chair Gort: There's a motion --
Vice Chair Hardemon: Motion.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Second.
Chair Gort: -- second by Commissioner Sarnoff. It's a public hearing. Anyone in the public would like to address PH.4? Seeing none, hearing none, we close the public hearing. Any additional --?
Mr. Mensah: As amended.
Chair Gort: Seeing none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
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The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): As amended.
Mr. Mensah: As amended. Thank you.
Chair Gort: As amended.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Thank you.
Victoria Méndez (City Attorney): The modification is on the reso you got, because we have to do a second version then.
Chair Gort: Okay.
END OF PUBLIC HEARINGS
SECOND READING ORDINANCES
SR.1 ORDINANCE Second Reading 15-00010 Office of the City AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER Attorney 2/ARTICLE XI OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED: "ADMINISTRATION/BOARDS, COMMITTEES, COMMISSIONS," MORE PARTICULARLY BY AMENDING DIVISION 2/SECTION 2-883 ENTITLED: "STANDARDS FOR CREATION AND REVIEW OF BOARDS GENERALLY/CREATION OF NEW BOARDS," TO PROVIDE THAT NEW BOARDS IN THE CITY OF MIAMI MAY BE CREATED BY EITHER ORDINANCE OR RESOLUTION; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 15-00010 Memo - Office of the City Attorney SR.pdf 15-00010 Legislation FR/SR.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Suarez Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Hardemon
13502
Chair Gort: SR.1.
Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): City Attorney, SR.1. An ordinance of the City of Miami Commissioner [sic] amending Chapter 2/Article XI of the Code of the City of Miami, Florida, as amended, entitled: “Administration/Boards, Committees, Commissions,” more particularly by amending Division 2/Section 2-883 entitled: “Standards for Creation and Review of Boards Generally/Creation of New Boards,” to provide that new boards in the City of Miami may be created by either ordinance or resolution; containing a severability clause and providing for an effective date.
Victoria Méndez (City Attorney): Thank you, Mr. Manager.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
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Ms. Méndez: This is to place revisions with regard to some of our old boards that had been passed by resolution, and to allow for boards, especially the ones that are going to be for a small duration or limited period of time, to also be passed by resolution and clearing up any inconsistencies with regard to that. So it's just a clean-up ordinance.
Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. This is the public hearing. Is anyone in the public would like to address this, SR. 2 -- SR.1? Seeing none, hearing none, close the public hearing. Do we have any comments?
Commissioner Sarnoff: So moved.
Chair Gort: It's been moved --
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: -- by Commissioner Sarnoff --
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: -- second by Commissioner Suarez. It's an ordinance.
Ms. Méndez: It was read by the City Manager. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Roll call.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item SR.1.
A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading 4-0.
Chair Gort: Thank you. You guys want to continue to discuss SR.2?
SR.2 ORDINANCE Second Reading 15-00058 District 2- AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER Commissioner Marc 37 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, David Sarnoff ENTITLED "OFFENSES-MISCELLANEOUS," MORE PARTICULARLY BY ADDING A NEW SECTION TO PROHIBIT CAMPING ON PUBLIC PROPERTY; PROVIDING FOR DEFINITIONS AND PENALTIES; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 15-00058 Legislation SR (V3).pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be CONTINUED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
Note for the Record: Item SR.2 was continued to the April 9, 2015 Regular City Commission Meeting.
(SR.2) RESOLUTION 15-00058a A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION DIRECTING THE
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CITY ATTORNEY TO MEET WITH THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OR ANY OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES WITHIN FIFTEEN (15) DAYS AFTER THE MARCH 12, 2015, CITY COMMISION MEETING; FURTHER DIRECTING THE DIRECTOR OF THE HOMELESS TRUST TO MEET WITH THE CITY ATTORNEY AND OFFICER BERNAT OR THEIR DESIGNEE TO DRAFT A PLAN TO SPEND THE TRUST'S $6 MILLION SURPLUS TO ADDRESS THE APPROXIMATELY SIX HUNDRED (600) HOMELESS INDIVIDUALS IN THE CITY OF MIAMI.
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0105
Chair Gort: You're recognized, Commissioner Sarnoff.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Mr. Chair, I'm bringing SR.2 up. I'm trying to understand. Do you prefer having people --
Chair Gort: Not open yet.
Commissioner Sarnoff: -- speak about it first, or would you prefer me to frame the issue or --?
Chair Gort: It's your issue; it's how you want to do it.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Okay. So this particular issue, Board Members -- shouldn't say “Board” -- Commissioners -- is really about tents and about blocking the public right-of-way with tents. Since we passed this on first reading, in a press release I announced that we would take certain things out of the ordinance. We did. We took out such things as bed rolls, sleeping bags, things like that. But we maintain that it should not be the ability to put a tent up or a shelter across a public right-of-way. And if you will recall, Mr. Chair, this is what we were speaking about -- and if I could just have somebody hold this up. This is what we were trying to prevent. You know, I think it's somewhat -- I mean, the Herald did an op-ed today, and I think we should point out some things. The Herald said that the City of Miami has paid for 15 shelter beds. Well, actually, what we did was, in March of 2015, so a couple of weeks ago, we went from 100 mats to 105 mats, and we've now added 10 shelter beds, but that is the City of Miami's contribution. Now, that contribution is, of course, based on the $700,000 that we put together to cobble together to create these 100 mats. And as you know, that was $240,000 from the City of Miami general fund; 175,000 from Southeast Overtown/Park West; $175,000 from the Omni, and then my wife ended up raising another $70,000, and it all cobbled together to $700,000. So again, we increased that number. We are not the $54 million organization, which is the Homeless Trust that carries with it a $6 million savings account that is really charged with ending homelessness. And as the Mayor says -- and I'm not going to steal his thunder -- there will -- and I -- so I just want to say there will be less than 25 veterans on the streets as I speak right now, but I'll let the Mayor address that and I'll let, of course, the colonel address that, as well. Now, I think the purpose behind this ordinance, Mr. Chair, is very simply to give the police officers a legal basis to give a lawful order; doesn't have to end up with a criminal penalty. It could end up with a civil infraction. The point, as you and I both know, Mr. Chair, since the modification of Pottinger, nobody has been arrested. We're not arresting our way out of homelessness, nor are we trying to arrest our way out of homelessness. The purpose behind bringing this up is very simply to address this issue, but just as important, as you all know, as Worldcenter progresses, these are the streets that Worldcenter will be built. There will be construction material, there'll be cranes; people will be displaced. Where those people will be displaced to is difficult to say, but they will be displaced. So, you know, I would certainly say to
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you, Mr. Chair, that it is time for the Homeless Trust to step up its game. The City of Miami has stepped up its game, and, you know, I'll give you some numbers, Mr. Chair, because I don't think many people are aware of this, though I did share it with the Herald. It's unfortunate that they didn't say it. So since 2012, from my own personal basis, I've raised $256,000 for homeless issues; more specifically, Camillus House. In addition, between my family, we've added 70,000 for a total of $326,000. This Commission, acting in concert together, raised $700,000. So as a body, with the personal contributions that I was able to fashion, we have put into homeless issues $1,026,000 since 2012. So, Commissioner Carollo, don't just talk the talk; walk the walk. And I've been walking the walk. It's an issue that is incredibly difficult. It is an issue that has competing interests on both sides. As the Commissioner of downtown, you want businesses to thrive. You want moms and dads to be able to push their strollers across sidewalks so that they don't have to go into the street and imperil themselves. From a safety standpoint, you don't want police officers not knowing what is in a tent that is obscured to them; the Boston bombing may be the best demonstrator of that. If you didn't know this, when the Miami Marathon was run, there were about 11 tents up; we didn't do anything about that. So I bring this as part of a debate. I'm perfectly okay if somebody wants to amend this to say, “Let's just make it a civil infraction.” All I'm asking is that it be a lawful order that the police officer can exercise to say, “No tents or makeshift shelters,” and that's the intent behind this. There is Pottinger and the modification; I have a copy of it here. Madam City Attorney, I just want to make sure that -- I'm sorry -- Mr. City Attorney, I didn't see you over there, but I want to make sure that this fits within the addendum to the settlement agreement, which was executed -- I believe it was March of this year, but let me make sure. Well, the settlement agreement was executed -- yeah, it was March of this year. So I just want to make sure that everything is, as they say, “appropriate,” and I wanted the record to reflect exactly what this Commissioner, what this Commission, what we have done as a juridic body to try to end homelessness; what we're doing in a corporate basis. I mean, we're not -- if this was a hand -- this is a hand, I should say -- we're not the pinky finger comparatively to the Homeless Trust. And let's say Commissioner Sarnoff just vanishes and we don't bring this up again. Under the scenario this Commission has created, presently, 115 people have a place to sleep, a place to get social services, a place to get Medicaid, a place to get medical care, a place to house their pets that did not exist the day before we did this. Now, don't know how long this program could go on. I don't know how sustainable we are at doing this, but for somebody to say or suggest this Commission or this Commissioner is not doing its job is really not to look at the facts of this matter, because we are doing everything we possibly can do. We're not the corporation that has that much (indicating). We're the corporation that has that much (indicating). We're a sliver of what a 54 million dollar annual budget is. We are a sliver of $6 million in savings as to what that is. The debate can go on, whether it should be the homeless first model. I have seen the data that says it works and I have seen the data that says it doesn't work. Remember, under Pottinger, Mr. Chair, we cannot require anyone to undergo any service, other than providing them presently a bed or a mat. It must be their voluntary election to accept a social service. It must be their voluntary election to accept any treatment, any pill, any drug, any psychotropic help. That is their election, because that is the status of Pottinger. So, again, I'm more than amenable to making this into a civil infraction, but I think to better order things for the homeless in their own prosperity, and I think a better way to handle this from our own standpoint, you certainly want to get people who -- Mr. Chair, I've heard Judge Leifman explain it this way, so I'm going to explain it as Judge Leifman. You're asking people -- chronic homelessness is -- 65 percent of the people are essentially either on drugs or alcohol, so they have a substance abuse. You're asking people who are suffering from a heart attack of the brain, as the way he describes it, to make a judgment call about their wellbeing. And that is where the Lazarus Project comes in, and that is where psychotropic drugs come in, but presently, there is no way to force them for any kind of psychotropic treatment or to reduce their ability to have the substance need that they -- that their bodies have. So, Mr. Chair, I would move this matter, and certainly welcome, as Commissioner Carollo would say, “the debate.”
Chair Gort: There's a motion. Is there a second?
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Commissioner Carollo: I'm going to second it for the debate.
Chair Gort: Okay; been moved and second. Let me have the public hearings. We'll open to the public. You have a list of people who would like to speak?
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Yes, sir. The first three speakers: Rolando Montoya, Victoria Mallette and Amal Kabbani.
Rolando Montoya: Good morning, Mr. Chair, Commissioners. Thank you for this opportunity. I am Rolando Montoya, provost of Miami Dade College. The address is 300 Northeast 2nd Avenue, Miami, Florida 33132. I'm here representing the college, the personnel, the students of the college, and also the members of the community who participate in the multiple artistic and cultural activities of our institution. As you know, we have eight campuses, and we are serving right now 165,000 students in this community. Three of the campuses and several of the outreach centers are located within the boundaries of the City of Miami, and we really want our opportunity -- the opportunity for our students to be able to freely walk in the sidewalks around our campuses, especially in the urban setting of downtown Miami. As you know, we also sponsor the Book Fair, the Film Festival; we are having constant exhibits at the Freedom Tower and at the QX Center. We also have the presentation, the performances at New World School of the Arts, also in downtown Miami, and we support any ordinance that you are willing to approve that would avoid the blockage of the sidewalks and make the situation difficult for the students, for the faculty and for the participants in all the cultural events. Sometimes, it's a problem for them when they park in our garages, our parking lots, and then they are going to the venues and there are difficulties because of that kind of structures. I appreciate very much what the City is doing for the homeless; we can see the changes. Because of the funding that you allocated, 100 less homeless every night are on the streets and are sleeping under a roof and --
Chair Gort: Thank you. Next.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Mr. Chair, after Director Mallette speaks, can we allow Officer Bernat to speak; simply because I don't want to hold him here the whole time?
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Thanks.
Victoria Mallette: Good morning, Mr. Chair, Commissioners, Mr. Manager. I'm Vickie Mallette. I'm the executive director of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, 111 Northwest 1st Street, 27th Floor, Miami, Florida 33128. Criminalization of homelessness does not solve homelessness. Criminalization of homelessness does not hasten an end to homelessness. Fines connected with criminalizing of homelessness, when not paid, can lead to bad credit. If you're on the streets and your only source of income is Social Security disability, and you make $733, it's unfeasible to imagine that you can pay a $500 fine. A trip to jail does not make it easier for us to help that person get employed. A criminal record does not help us coordinate with landlords to find that person permanent housing. Barriers make all of our jobs harder. I do want to acknowledge, Commissioner Sarnoff, that you have toned down this legislation, and it's definitely a move in the right direction; it's not illegal to have a blanket, but I don't believe we've gone far enough. “Camping,” as defined in this ordinance, is to live outdoors. And if you would walk with me down the streets of Miami-Dade County and ask these individuals if they're camping, I don't believe that's the answer they would give you. This legislation denigrates our community in the eyes of housing officials, homeless advocates and all of those in our community who are advocating for the least, the lost, the last and the forgotten. It hurts our reputation as a progressive, forward thinking continuum of care and could eventually, ultimately impact our funding. Let's work together on long-term, “long-term, permanent,” permanent solutions; not stopgap measures, not temporary fixes, not Band-Aids. We're making headlines for all the wrong
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reasons. But alongside you and together with you, we're doing great things. We're ending veteran homelessness. The Mayor, as he said earlier, has taken the challenge to end veterans' homelessness; we are very, very close. More than ever, we're able to target the most vulnerable; understand the people who are most likely to die if they remain on the streets, and we are treating them first. We continually increase our stock of emergency housing beds, as well as our permanent supportive housing inventory, so people with mental illness, substance abuse and physical disabilities get the care they need as long as they need it. We're engaging in innovative pilots that I think the Commissioner referenced, and they're showing great promise. And for the first time in a long time, I think most of you will agree we're opening up lines of communication with the business community, with the faith-based community and we need to continue to move in that direction until we all come to a consensus on the best ways to move forward. This legislation is a setback; it's a distraction from the good work we're doing. Criminalizing homelessness conflicts with best practices, it burns our criminal justice system, it's bad PR (public relations) for this community that's doing wonderful things and it makes it more difficult to move out of homelessness. And isn't that what we all want; individuals to move out of homelessness, not for now, but forever? Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Next.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman, may I --
Applause.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman, may I ask her a question?
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Ma'am, can you please come back to the podium? I've had opportunities to witness seven, maybe eight tents directly -- well, I wouldn't call it directly across the street from Camillus House, but clearly within a stone's throw to Camillus House. I've seen those tents grow in the numbers. I've seen the trash accumulate increasingly in an area that's just a public piece of grass, so it's land. And so it begins to make me wonder if you have the beds that are available, if you have the space that's available with the mats, where the tents come from. I mean, who's financing these tents? Tents are extremely expensive. I mean, there are people who can't join Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts because they don't have the money to afford things like tents and such. And so it makes me wonder why it's happening that way. And I understand that your organization has been playing a great part in tackling homelessness issues, and so my first question to you is: What's the square footage of the land, if you know, that you all own with your building; the building? Okay, if you don't understand --
Ms. Mallette: I'm not sure I understand the question. I mean, I can tell you that we're not just responsible for homelessness in the City of Miami or downtown Miami. Miami-Dade County has 2,500 --
Vice Chair Hardemon: Okay. So let me ask you another question then. As far as like your parking lot, how many cars in your parking lot do you think your building, your land has?
Ms. Mallette: When you refer to my land, I'm not sure that I understand the whole question.
Chair Gort: The property.
Ms. Mallette: How much what?
Chair Gort: The Homeless Trust property, on 15th and -- Miami Avenue and 15th Street.
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Ms. Mallette: The property on 1550 is our private sector partner, Chapman Partnership, so 1550 North Miami Ave., I can't tell you the square footage. What I can tell you is that there's 500 beds there, individuals and families, and there's another facility owned by Chapman Partnership to the north -- or to the south, excuse me -- and there's another 300.
Vice Chair Hardemon: And the reason I'm asking is you're talking about beds. Clearly, the people who are living in beds have chosen to come to the beds to stay; just like the people who choose to go to the Mat Program, what's the beds at Camillus House. So I was just trying to figure out for those of the people who like to live in tents, where can we put people -- not in jail -- but where can we put people who want to live in tents? And so I was wondering, because I'm into realistic solutions to our problems; not theory, not what sounds good, or eloquent or whatever may be in that manner. So it began to wonder, if this is attacking public spaces, what about our private spaces? So what about those spaces like for people like yourself? If you have all of this space that you have for parking and such, in the night, is it possible for an organization like yours to allow people to camp on your land, within your boundaries?
Ms. Mallette: No. We don't believe that camping is the best practice. We discourage tents whenever we find them. I have personally been with the City of Miami outreach teams to sites where we have successfully pulled individuals out of tents. Just a few weeks ago -- and I think Officer Bernat will remember this, as well as Sergio -- we were doing outreach. There were five people in one tent, and they all accepted service and went to Chapman North. A few weeks after that, I ran into some of those individuals, and one of them had been gainfully employed. She was very excited she had a job. One of the individuals in that tent was a young girl who had aged out of foster care and had very few options.
Vice Chair Hardemon: If you -- I don't want to -- can you hold on a second?
Ms. Mallette: We do not condone tents, Commissioner.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Let me say something.
Chair Gort: Excuse me.
Ms. Mallette: And we would never advocate for tents being put in a parking lot; it's not a best practice.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Let me ask you, write down all your questions and when the public gets finished, we'll ask all those questions; if not, we're going to be here all day, okay? Thank you, ma'am.
Ms. Mallette: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Next. Who's next? Wait a minute.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Wait, I -- Mr. Chair, I asked if Officer Bernat --
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff: -- could speak.
Mariano Cruz: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Chair Gort: Wait a minute, Mariano. Let me -- Officer Bernat.
Mr. Cruz: Oh, Bernat. Homeless.
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James Bernat: James Bernat, senior executive assistant to the Chief of Police, homeless coordinator. I'd like to thank the City Commissioners, the City Manager, the Chief of Police, the Assistant Chiefs, Majors, Commanders and the entire staff of the Miami Police Department for allowing me to speak to you today. The issue of tents in our right-of-way has become a major public safety issue. As law enforcement, we strive to balance the rights of the homeless, public safety, which includes safety of everyone. Tents are unsafe for the homeless or anyone else who wishes to reside in them. Also, tents do not provide the basic life necessity, such as running water, electricity, security, bathroom facilities, and there's always a risk of fire, with no medical services or Code enforcement standards. Tents attract a criminal element and in many cases create unsanitary conditions. Homeless men and women are at risk in severe weather. Tents creates the dangerous conditions for law enforcement because of the Unknown. The homeless, themselves and the community at large are at risk. Tents have been used as storage; they have been rented and used by others. The question that needs to be asked is why there's a profilation [sic] of tents in our community. The answer is: There is no available shelter for the homeless. This is not a new phenomenon. The lack of resources has been an issue for years. In the many meetings I have attended, there has been great emphasis on homeless families, homeless veterans, figures and data. The chronic homeless always been discussed, but the only solution is to purchase more emergency shelter beds. Since 2011, the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust has increased emergency shelter beds in the City of Miami by 78 emergency beds. This includes 54 emergency beds coming online next week at Camillus House. The Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust emergency shelter beds have increased in the City of Miami from 923 in 2011 to 1,001 in 2015. Seventy-three-point-five percent of the emergency shelter beds purchased by the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust is in the City of Miami. The continued increases in the number of emergency shelter beds over the last several years has not put a dent in the long waiting list for available shelter. I call upon the advocates, experts, administrators in the field and everyone in our community to join with me to fix this problem. The reality and the real life experience of a homeless person needs to be incorporated into policy. I am in the field every day, and I interact with the homeless while I'm in the field. In turn, the homeless in the streets know me and I know them. With my fellow officers and the City of Miami outreach, we make a difference in our community. Every day, disabled homeless, homeless that are elderly, homeless with medical and mental health issues are turned away from shelter. Today there exists a waiting list for at least 30 days and an average of 177 homeless individuals are on the shelter waiting list. It is not uncommon for the homeless in the street to lose hope and be in despair. More commonly than one may imagine, a homeless man or woman will wait for months for available shelter. The current system is locked and restrictive. Availability and accessibility shelter is reduced by gender or by the disabling condition. The average homeless man or woman cannot access shelter, and in many cases, just gives up. Last week, I came in contact with a homeless man, Mr. Edwin Ramirez, who was released from the hospital with a fractured arm in a sling. He's just received a pacemaker, which required surgery. When I met Mr. Ramirez, he still had bandages from his surgery, a hospital tag around his wrist and discharge papers from the hospital. There was no shelter available for him. Mr. Ramirez stated he first went to Chapman before I came in contact with him. He was unable to receive assistance, and according to Mr. Ramirez, he was refused shelter assistance from Chapman. Mr. Ramirez was at risk due to his medical condition and in despair. Mr. Ramirez, a homeless man, had no place to recover, no place to rest, no one to change his bandages and no one to care for him. He was on his own, in desperate need. I immediately placed Mr. Ramirez into the City of Miami Shelter Program at Camillus House for humanitarian reasons. The City of Miami Shelter Program consists of not only of mats, but beds. This hybrid Shelter Program accepts the disabled, the elderly, transgender, men and women, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is not restrictive. Mr. Ramirez, who is currently in the City of Miami Shelter Program at Camillus House, is receiving primary health care and has access to full services. No matter how the -- no matter the good work and the numerous homeless we have assisted, the negative propaganda continues. Even before the City of Miami Shelter Program was implemented, the program was demonized and condemned for being undignified and warehousing the homeless. Constant criticism of the City
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of Miami Shelter Program is counterproductive and is a distraction from the real issue of no available shelter. Some continue to suggest that the City of Miami Shelter Program is only for a 24-hour period and does not provide services. The City of Miami Shelter Program is a full-service program consisting of primary health care, dental services, case management, dog kennel, laundry, showers, meals, security and a place to stay safe. The services offered in the City of Miami Shelter Program are equivalent to services offered by other Camillus House facilities, Chapman, Salvation Army and the Rescue Mission, just to name a few. Each homeless individual has the option to stay behind 24 hours up to 30 days, and in many cases, 60 days if the homeless person has demonstrated they are trying to move beyond homelessness. Two homeless individuals have been approved to stay beyond 60 days to 90 days. What is undignified is to allow individuals like Mr. Ramirez to be abandoned in our streets without shelter and services. The constant rhetoric undermines the outstanding job the Miami Police Department, Camillus House, the City of Miami Outreach, the City of Miami Sanitation Department, the City of Miami Code Enforcement and the City of Miami Parks have demonstrated. We work together every day to make a difference. Random, unfounded statements by our critics do not address the real issue. The only one who suffers from this type of rhetoric are the homeless, themselves. The City of Miami Police Department, in collaboration with Camillus House and the City of Miami Outreach offers hope. Today, homeless once again have hope because of the City of Miami Shelter Program. Since August 1, 2014, the start of the City of Miami Shelter Program, there has been available shelter space every single day. Because of the leadership from the City of Miami Commissioners, the DDA (Downtown Development Authority), the CRA's (Community Redevelopment Agencies) and others, the homeless in our community have hope. Today, the street homeless census shows a substantial increase in the homeless population in Miami-Dade County. There a 1,007 homeless who reside in the streets of Miami-Dade County, which is an increase of 19.9 percent. Areas like Miami Beach are up 58 percent and North Miami-Dade are up 40 percent; compared to the City of Miami, which has only increased by 6.8 percent in the recent homeless census. The homeless census data suggests that the City of Miami Shelter Program has a positive impact, not a negative impact, as some have suggested on the homeless population. Over 1,000 homeless individuals have been placed by the Miami Police Department into the City of Miami Shelter Program. The Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust say that we need more permanent housing for the homeless. I agree, but the facts show there's not enough available permanent housing units; also, not every homeless may qualify or is willing to go into a housing unit. Today, we must unlock the front door and open the door into availability of shelter for the homeless before we can address the back door of the system. The Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust is a great organization. They have helped graduate many of our homeless out of the City of Miami Shelter Program into the continuum of care. The Homeless Coalition, another great organization, has done an outstanding job identifying and assisting youth homelessness; has been out with me in the field and is aware of the good work we have done. The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), a watchdog group for the underprivileged, met with the City of Miami and Camillus House a few months ago at Camillus House. The ACL [sic] was presently surprised by Camillus House's state-of-the-art facility and inquired if a municipality from another county could access the City of Miami's Shelter Program. I asked ACU [sic] as part of their efforts to protect the rights of the homeless that their efforts should include and demand that every homeless person in our community have the right to available shelter. I ask all homeless advocates, social workers and providers to join together for change. We should insist and expect nothing less than for every homeless person in our community to have access to available shelter. Only together we can have a lasting impact on the lives of a homeless man and a homeless woman. I have stated and I believe we cannot arrest away our homelessness. Only together we can make a difference and help change the life of a homeless person. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Applause.
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Chair Gort: Wait, wait, hold it, hold it. Look, what happens when you all applaud, we got to stop. We got a long agenda. We still got a lot of items (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Instead of applauding, just go like this (indicating). You'll be seen a lot more. It shows a lot more, the hands. Thank you. Yes, sir.
Mr. Cruz: Sure. Mariano Cruz, 1227 Northwest 26th Street and 801 Northwest 37th Avenue. But I say to Mr. Bernat, he's doing good. I know he's doing good, but remember, homeless incorporated is big business here, every place, big business. You have to be with me to the office of Dr. Ahr when he was there. There was a shrine for Notre Dame there, and, you know, you could go there and see, oh, Dr. Ahr, yeah, he was very dedicated to the homeless or he making -- he was making a big, big salary. He wrote books and everything, and I know, because I go there, and I know the homeless, because I go to the VA (Veterans Administration), and many people in the VA, they refuse to go to programs. They homeless because they want to be homeless, because the programs exist, but they don't want to go, and you know that, Colmenares, you know that. They don't want to go to the places because they don't want to follow -- they want to tell you, “You go to mass,” or “You go to here, you go to” -- no, they don't want to do that. And I know because I am on the street. And remember, I am a federal employee, yet I still work for the post office and in workmen compensation, which is better than being retired. I get 75 percent tax free. What a big country. Wow, what a big country is this. And I have the economic to come here and do things for my community. And one other thing: They want to terminate my son from the County. These people from the County that were speaking, tell Carlos Gimenez and the federal judge, and they have make (UNINTELLIGIBLE) --
Chair Gort: Mariano, we're discussing the issues of the homeless.
Mr. Cruz: Mariano Cruz is not (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, ma'am, you're recognized.
Amal Solh Kabbani: Good day, sir. My name is Amal Solh Kabbani. I'm a proud resident of the City of Miami.
Chair Gort: Your address?
Ms. Kabbani: 50 Biscayne Boulevard, Apartment 4910, Miami, Florida 33132. I am the alternate on the DNA (Downtown Neighbors Alliance), and I'm also the secretary on the board of 50 Biscayne, and thank you, Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, for bringing this ordinance to bear. I'm going to keep it short and sweet and to the point. The over-arching, obviously, issue of homelessness is one that hits all of our community here, and we're hopefully all rowing in the right direction together to get it resolved and make sure that the end game is about reducing their presence on the streets and giving them homes and shelters. Let's stick, though, to the tent erection. It is a safety issue. I personally experienced that. I had to step on the street in order to walk around it, and if there was a car flying by, you would have accidents and risks at hand. I am a young female, so I am not handicapped. Imagine if it was a handicapped person trying to bypass that and walk on the streets. I leave you with that thought. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk.
Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Next.
Mr. Hannon: The next three speakers: Alyce Robertson, Reverend Pedro Martinez and Maria Martinez.
Alyce Robertson: Good morning. Alyce Robertson, executive director of the Miami Downtown Development Authority. The Miami DDA has been working on this issue of persistent and chronic homelessness in downtown Miami for four years now, and I've been personally involved
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from day one. It's an issue for downtown, it's an issue for our merchants, it's an issue for our workers, and an issue for our residents and this ordinance addresses a problem that -- what I see is the proper use of public lands for -- a sidewalk is for pedestrians, not for camping. Recently, we upped our ante in the amount of money that we contributed into the City of Miami program at Camillus House to provide for the beds that are actually there. So the DDA is putting in not only my time and the time of at least one full-time staffer. I have three formerly homeless people on the staff of the DDA. We fund a program that employs formerly homeless individuals, so we're into this and we're not just talking the talk; we're walking the walk. And I think that what has been shown in the past year, we've had the Pottinger Agreement, the re-evaluation of the Pottinger Agreement, and the police have been living with it for a year. And I think the record speaks for itself that this is not -- at the time we were going forward with the Pottinger Agreement, people were talking about the criminalization of the homeless; same thing you're hearing here today. The police -- it's not a fact; the police have not done that. It's a tool; this is a tool that the police need to use to enforce certain kinds of laws, and I think that -- I have to urge the Commission, you've got to give your police the tools to work with in order to make this better, and I think that -- Officer Bernat, that was brilliant, by the way, I think, his points on that. He has been a player in there every single day since I've been involved in this, and pushing the agenda to solve this problem; not just to let it go for another 20 years. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Next. Yes, sir.
Pedro Martinez: I'm Reverend Pedro Martinez, founder and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Hope in Miami-Dade, a non-profit, helping to reduce homelessness for the last 12 years. Currently, I am serving as a volunteer with the homeless outreach department of the City of Miami Beach. This is a public safety issue. If the right-of-way is blocked, how will pedestrians be able to pass? They will have to walk on the street, and that is a dangerous situation. How will people with disabilities in wheelchairs, parents with strollers, the elderly, the children be able to walk on the sidewalks if they are blocked? It becomes a dangerous situation if they have to walk on the streets. Camping on the streets facilitates homelessness. The goal is not to facilitate homelessness, but to reduce homelessness by providing housing and wraparound programs to help them succeed. The City of Miami Beach already has a similar ordinance that has existed for years that it protects the right-of-way and prohibits anyone from blocking the use of it, including camping. This is an ordinance for the City of Miami. It should be those residing, working and owning businesses inside its city limits be the ones best to express their view; not those living outside its limits in other areas of Miami-Dade County or Broward. Our Mayor and our Commissioners should listen to the perspectives of those that actually voted for them and have elected them to be their leaders. I support this ordinance.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Maria Martinez: Thank you, Chairman and fellow Commissioners. We have been residents of Miami-Dade County since 1975.
Chair Gort: And you are?
Ms. Martinez: My name is Maria Martinez, 50 Biscayne Boulevard, Apartment 1806, 33132; the squiggly building right across from Miami -- Bayfront Park. I've been a resident of Miami-Dade County since 1975, 40 years; a resident of the City of Miami for the last eight years, from 2007. I am president of 50 Biscayne Condominium Association. Our condominium association is an integral part of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, the DNA, as we share the same treasurer, Itai Benosh. I am also co-founder of Hope in Miami-Dade, a nonprofit organization, helping to reduce homelessness. Commissioners, the right-of-way of any city should be a right of all who travel on it. Sidewalks were established to safeguard the public from the vehicles on the streets; that's what they were established for. In a city that continually seeks to be more pedestrian-friendly, the right-of-way is a necessity. It's a necessity for the general public; it is a
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necessity for the children; it is a necessity for the elderly; it is a necessity for the handicapped. Please prohibit the erection of tents. And although I know you took it off the ordinance, I believe bedding also in the wrong way prohibits the right of passage, the right-of-way. Thank you, and I urge you to please prohibit the erection of these tents.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Ms. Martinez: Thank you very much.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Next.
Mr. Hannon: Next three speakers: Marina [sic] Elena Pinto, Leah Weston and Melissa Gallo.
Maria Elena Pinto: Morning, gentlemen. We've met before. Good morning, Mr. Sarnoff. I did not have time to put together an elegant speech.
Chair Gort: Name and address.
Ms. Pinto: Okay. Maria Elena Pinto, 133 Northeast 2nd Avenue, downtown Miami. As I said, I just found out about this meeting this morning, so I was trying to put something together to speak to you. I am a strong advocate for walking a mile in another man's shoes. I always try to put myself in someone else's place, as we all should. We should always have an open mind. However, as a downtown resident, I must say, as they said, it's very easy to live somewhere else maybe an hour away or so, and tell us how downtown should look and how we should run everything. They don't live there. I live there. I do not feel safe anymore. I used to be able to walk around downtown. Two days after Christmas, my husband and I went to the Metro Mover behind our building, and he was attacked by a homeless man, because we had no cash. It was the most helpless feeling I've ever had, watching someone attack my husband, just because we had no cash. We were very polite. Three times we said, “We don't carry cash,” because who really does carry cash nowadays? My husband was upset. I went to kiss him, because we're trying to start a family. We're a happy, newly married couple. The man ran after us and pushed my husband. We tried to be polite. We got on the Metro Mover. He followed us onto the Metro Mover and threw a hot cup of coffee in my husband's face, screaming at us that we were rich, and we had to give him all our money and that that was his right. That is not his right. If he wants money, try to find a way to get a job. Not everyone is a veteran and not everyone is a law-abiding citizen in downtown Miami. I've watched sex acts on the sidewalks across from my building. There are children seeing this on a daily basis. I had to take my husband to the emergency room. He suffered a broken bone from trying to defend himself. The man followed us off the Metro Mover. He threw my husband on the ground. He repeatedly attacked my husband. My husband tried to defend himself and he threw my husband against the Metro Mover. My husband had to get AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) test, hepatitis test, so starting a family is on hold now. I understand. I feel bad for the homeless, but my view has also changed a little, because I have lived it. My life is affected now, because he could not follow the rules. I'm not saying all homeless people are like this. There are quite a few very nice gentlemen, but there are also some people who do not have a law-abiding mindset. So if they are putting up tents, let's look at this logically. There's going to be more prostitutes. It's going to be much easier for them to break the law. There are a lot of children. I'm sure none of you would want your children seeing the things that the kids in downtown have seen. They have seen naked men. There is a prostitute that hangs out in front of our building that is always showing herself . And when we say, “We're going to call the police,” as my husband tried to do when he was attacked, we were told, “Go ahead, they can't do anything. They can't touch the homeless.” That mindset has to change. Now, I'm not saying to pick on them, not at all, but what I am saying is, if I have to follow the rules, shouldn't they have to follow the rules? If I exposed myself, would I be arrested? Yes. If I attacked someone, would I be arrested? Yes. I also would like to say that I don't think that it is a humane solution to allow them to put up tents on
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sidewalks. Why not build more shelters? We need more police patrol on the streets. It took three hours to get -- I know, I'm sorry, I'm just -- I'm very upset, and I'm trying to be polite. And all I can ask you is to please come to downtown. I would gladly -- I'm at the Loft, too -- walk with anyone so you can see the feces in the middle of the sidewalk, the people exposing themselves. Get out of your cars and walk through downtown, see the crime and see how you will be attacked. I'd like to thank you for listening to me. I appreciate it, and I hope I was respectful and thank you very much.
Chair Gort: You were. Thank you. Next.
Leah Weston: Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this important issue. My name is Leah Weston. I live in the City of Miami at 2100 Brickell Avenue, 33129; Mr. Sarnoff's district. I'm here today to speak against this proposed anti-camping ordinance. This ordinance aims to solve a real problem we're experiencing with homelessness in Miami by providing a merely cosmetic solution to sweep away the appearance of homelessness while ignoring the systemic issues underlying extreme poverty. In my practice as a public interest lawyer, I represent low-income and disabled veterans, which puts me on the front lines of these issues. This ordinance could deeply impact some of my clients. According to the DCF's (Department of Children and Families) Council on Homelessness, Miami-Dade County has almost 4,000 homeless individuals, and about 16 percent of homeless individuals in the State of Florida are veterans. There are many aspects of this ordinance that trouble me, but I'm going to use my time before you today to focus on what I see as most troubling, which is that this ordinance threatens to criminalize a class of people who are already in some of the most difficult circumstances that you can imagine. Contrary to some of the rhetoric we hear, homelessness has many faces, and people, including children and families, experience homelessness for all kinds of reasons, completely out of their control. What you propose is to threaten homeless individuals with misdemeanors for sleeping outside when these folks have quite literally nowhere else to go. I'm heartened to hear you speak about a proposed modification to make it a civil infraction, which I encouraged your office to do yesterday when I spoke with someone on the phone, so thank you for proposing that. The problem with a misdemeanor is that when those misdemeanors accrue, you risk saddling these individuals with a felony record; a sure fire way to ensure that these individuals, fellow human beings, can never secure housing or a job to escape homelessness. It should not be our municipal government's role to act as a bully; instead, this Commission should be exploring evidence-based homelessness intervention practices. Ideally, every homeless individual would be in a shelter or in some form of supportive housing. And since the ACLU and the City of Miami entered into the Pottinger settlement, Miami has had some of the best homelessness policies in the country. We should not turn back on this track record. The wonderful people in the social services sector are doing everything that they can while working with budgets stretched paper thin. If it's anything like the funding situation for civil legal aid for the poor, which has diminished by 80 percent since 2008, the demand greatly outstrips the resources available. I understand that downtown businesses and residents are frustrated, but this ordinance is not the solution. Let's have a real conversation in the City about how to help the neediest individuals who brave the streets every day because they have no other choice. I know the advocates in this room today would be thrilled to work together on implementing more comprehensive solutions. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Next.
Melissa Gallo: Good morning. My name is Melissa Gallo, and I'm the legal policy director at the Miami Coalition for the Homeless, and we have two major concerns with this ordinance. The first is that it violates the spirit of Pottinger, as you know. After extensive negotiations just last year, both parties, the City and the ACLU agreed to protect life-sustaining conduct for the homeless. These are things they do to survive outdoors, which is the only place they can live since the shelters have at least a 30-day wait, and the Mat Program can't accommodate the over 600 people on the street only in the City of Miami. And Pottinger really recognized that
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challenge, and doesn't allow police to arrest the homeless for certain activities if there's no shelter available, and this was done because of the understanding that when there's nowhere for these people to go, it is unjust to arrest them, and that really is the spirit of Pottinger. And we believe that this ordinance that allows anyone to be arrested simply for living outdoors, which is part of the language in the ordinance, violates that binding agreement between those two parties. Second, we're very afraid that Miami is going to grow -- going to join the ranks of the other cities in the nation that -- like Fort Lauderdale and Orlando -- who we've all seen in the media being criticized nationally and internationally for criminalizing homeless. We don't want Miami to be seen this way; that we are enacting these costly measures that have been proven not to work. We don't want Miami to be on this list. Criminalizing even with only a threat of arrest only further isolates these individuals who need specialized forms of outreach if you want to engage them into care. I'm very proud to say that the Coalition has been working very hard to effectively address the homeless on our streets, in part with working with the DDA. And we agree that something needs to be resolved for some of the harder challenges some of these individuals face, but it can only be resolved through effective long-term solutions, and we really believe that this ordinance is just hampering our efforts and making our jobs more difficult. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Next.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman, may I ask her --?
Chair Gort: Go ahead.
Vice Chair Hardemon: I just want to ask her one question.
Ms. Gallo: Yes.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Can you articulate to me how the camping in this ordinance is a violation or it slaps in the face of the Pottinger Agreement? Because I know camping in this talks about tents --
Ms. Gallo: Right.
Vice Chair Hardemon: -- so can you just express -- besides just telling us about it --
Ms. Gallo: Yes.
Vice Chair Hardemon: -- express to us what it is.
Ms. Gallo: Yeah. What the Pottinger Agreement was done -- we believe that this falls within the conduct that the Pottinger Agreement was trying to protect, and not one of those maybe enumerated ordinances that's in there. We really think the Pottinger Agreement was protecting conduct, because the reason why that came about was to protect certain activities the homeless commit because they're homeless. And we think whether or not this -- a tenting provision existed at the time of that agreement doesn't matter, because if you're going to pass it now, it still should be retroactively protected, because that agreement was trying to protect the type of conduct; not specific types of ordinances that were at that time on the books. Does that answer your question?
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Ms. Gallo: Sure.
Chair Gort: Next.
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Mr. Hannon: Next three speakers: Pauline Green, Barbara Ibarra and Jennifer Rodriguez.
Pauline Green: Hi. Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Pauline Green. I live at 900 6th Street, Miami Beach. I am a legal fellow. I work in part with the Miami Coalition for the Homeless, and I have also worked with the ACLU regarding the Pottinger Agreement and these ordinances. What the Commission has proposed has already been done by the City of Miami back in the 1980s and 1990s, which is to create and use misdemeanors to give authority to the police to approach and at times arrest the homeless. This practice has already been found to violate the civil rights of the homeless. The City has adopted a legally binding policy under Pottinger to protect the civil rights of the homeless, to not arrest the homeless and to protect the property rights of the homeless. Twenty years ago in the Pottinger Agreement, the City agreed that it would not arrest homeless individuals for life-sustaining activities, and only -- what's only protected are specific misdemeanors. So the police can certainly arrest homeless individuals for committing crimes; there's nine of them that are covered under the Pottinger Agreement. So under these life-sustaining activities, living outdoors certainly is a life-sustaining conduct. And there's language here in this ordinance that points to living outdoors as being prohibited . There is a 30-day wait; there's a 30-day wait for shelter in the City of Miami. And as Officer Bernat has indicated, homeless advocates would agree that every homeless person should have a shelter and access to available shelter in Miami. Right now, that's not the case, and homeless people are potentially going to be arrested for improvising if this public policy is instituted. So if, as I understand, there's no intent to arrest the homeless, and that the purpose -- part of the purpose is to help move the homeless into the continuum of care, this doesn't present an effective strategy of engagement. It alienates and engenders distrust with the homeless in the City of Miami. Further, there's nowhere in the legislation that states that the homeless won't be arrested; rather, it's left at officers' discretion. And while I certainly respect the police officers, that's not good enough to ensure that the rights of the homeless are protected. So the letter of the law should certainly reflect legislative intent.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Chair.
Ms. Green: Okay, thank you.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Would you stay there for a second.
Ms. Green: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff: I'm sorry. Did I hear you say you live in Miami Beach?
Ms. Green: I do, yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff: So when you go to bed at night, and you put your head on the pillow, and you feel comfortable enough to close your eyes and get into that respite, it's Miami Beach, correct? Ms. Green: That is where I live, yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff: What is Miami Beach's ordinance with regard to tents in the public right-of-way?
Ms. Green: I actually don't know, but as someone mentioned it today --
Commissioner Sarnoff: Would you be surprised --
Ms. Green: -- there's one that reflects this same ordinance.
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Commissioner Sarnoff: -- if our ordinance was less restrictive than Miami Beach's ordinances?
Ms. Green: No.
Commissioner Sarnoff: No.
Ms. Green: No.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Did you ever speak in front of the Miami Beach Commission to object to their ordinance?
Ms. Green: No. I only just moved there recently.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Okay.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Ms. Green: Thank you.
Vice Chair Hardemon: I have one further question.
Ms. Green: Yes.
Vice Chair Hardemon: The -- from listening to what you said, would you agree that all you -- I'm going to -- I don't want to -- I'll ask you so we have more of an open-ended answer.
Ms. Green: Sure.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Is pitching a tent in and of itself a life-sustaining activity?
Ms. Green: Pitching a tent? No. If I were to pitch a tent here right now, that wouldn't be to preserve my life, but if I'm living and I have nowhere else to go, then I may need to protect myself from the elements.
Vice Chair Hardemon: So your -- so what you're saying to me is then the only way that you can protect yourself from the elements would be to pitch a tent, which would make it a life-sustaining activity?
Ms. Green: Certainly. Where else would I go?
Vice Chair Hardemon: Okay.
Ms. Green: It may be --
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Ms. Green: Thank you.
Barbara Ibarra: Good morning. I'm Barbara Ibarra. I'm the executive director of the Miami Coalition for the Homeless. Our offices are 140 West Flagler Street, downtown Miami. We intentionally moved there so we could, in fact, be part of the fabric of downtown Miami. I also recently moved two years ago to downtown Miami, and I teach at Miami Dade College, where I left last night at 10:30 at night to ride the Metro Mover; I've done that for four or five years. And fortunately, I guess I'm very blessed that I have not had the experience of the previous speaker, but I live here and I work here, and yet, I still would not support an ordinance that
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criminalizes homeless individuals. Our goals are the same. We all want people experiencing homelessness to be off of the streets of Miami, and to be in a safe, sheltered environment; preferably their own apartment. We all want that. We all agree, and the City of Miami has made stellar efforts to work towards that effort. We applaud you, we work with you. We happen to be a partner with the DDA that you supported, Commissioner Sarnoff, studying the chronic homeless downtown so we could promote legislation, working with Judge Leifman on mental health issues. We still continue to work on that. You earlier mentioned our effort on the Lazarus Project. For people who don't know, that is a partnership that we have spearheaded with the City of Miami Outreach Team and Camillus House where we are the only community in the country that is gaining voluntary approval for some of the hard core chronic on the streets of Miami to actually receive medication every day so that they can become intellectually capable to make intelligent decisions for themselves. I'm proud to say that while it's a very small pilot program that we are working on, I can share with you that of the nine out of the 10 people that have been housed under that program -- it's a small pilot -- there were over 200 arrests that those people experienced. They spent over 4,000 days in jail, and they cost this community $600,000.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Not since the Pottinger Agreement. That is not a true statement.
Ms. Ibarra: I didn't say, sir, “since the Pottinger Agreement.” I'm saying --
Commissioner Sarnoff: No, no --
Ms. Ibarra: -- the history of these individuals who we have been able to --
Chair Gort: Commissioner --
Ms. Ibarra: -- successfully get off the street.
Commissioner Sarnoff: I'm sorry.
Chair Gort: -- please write down the questions. I have a lot of questions myself, and a lot of things that I want to show, because I think we also trying to propose this to the civil rights of the non-homeless, which sometimes are being broken. I mean, we have rights, too. Yes, ma'am. Excuse me.
Ms. Ibarra: We do, sir, we do. I was just going to encourage the City to take an alternative strategy; that we would recommend that you modify this agreement so that you do not criminalize; that you incorporate the language of Pottinger or, in fact, you defer it so that we can actually propose the program differently. We encourage you, as did Officer Bernat, to support more initiatives like housing first. We need more permanent support of housing in our community. We need support for the Lazarus Project so that we can grow it and address the needs of the chronically homeless; particularly those with mental health issues. Even Commissioner Gort and I briefly talked about the possibility of creating a guardian ad litem program. Those are all good ideas and solutions that we would welcome working with you and not focus on criminalizing the homeless.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Ms. Ibarra: Thank you for your time.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Next.
Jennifer Rodrigue: Good morning. My name is Jennifer Rodrigue, and I work every day at 1500 Northwest 12th Avenue, and I work every day as an attorney with people who suffer daily
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with struggling with homelessness. It is sad that a nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest, and Miami's greatness or lack of it will be measured the same way, because this anti-camping ordinance -- let's just call it actually what it is -- an anti-shelter ordinance, an anti-comfort ordinance, an anti-homeless person ordinance attacks our weakest citizens. But you know that, because you've said here today you know that this is about the Worldcenter and the big development corporations with the big pockets that this ordinance protects. And while this ordinance takes care of those big pockets, this ordinance will steal money directly from the citizens of Miami. How it will steal? It will steal money directly in protecting from the lawsuits that you know are waiting to happen. Hundreds of thousands of dollars possible in lawsuits against this, but you already know this ordinance violates the law and the Constitution; you've heard it here today. You already know that this ordinance violates the Pottinger Agreement. You already know that this ordinance violates the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, and you know this because you have been contacted, and you have heard from speakers today. I hope that you know that the Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. And we all should know that putting people in jail, or threatening to put them in jail, or fining people who have nothing is punishing them, and that -- punishing them for trying to make shelter, and that is certainly beyond cruel and unusual punishment. And let's just make it clear that this argument about obstructing a public way is a red herring, because you all should know that there is already an ordinance that prohibits obstruction of a public way. This is entirely unnecessary. This is entirely a homeless hate law. You already know that attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Pottinger case, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty have contacted you, have made you aware of the legal ramifications and costs that you will incur should you pass this; you already know that. You already know that you should -- or you should -- that the Bible says that “Whatsoever you do unto the least of these, my brethren, you do unto me.” So you already know --
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Ms. Rodrigue: -- that this is wrong, so do the right thing.
Chair Gort: Conclusion. Thank you.
Mr. Hannon: Next three speakers: Lisbeth Bustin, Constance Collins and Michael Ray.
Lisbeth Bustin: Good morning. Thank you for allowing me to speak, Commissioner, Mayor. I live at 12750 Red Road, which is in Coral Gables, but I work at 900 Biscayne Bay Condominium Association in the management office, which is actually 990 Biscayne Boulevard. I'm speaking on behalf of the residents and the offices that have employees that come from all over the County and maybe other counties, as well. I've also been given authorization to speak on behalf of the Epic Condominium. We support this ordinance, and I think that to me, it's a zoning issue. When someone puts an obstruction on a sidewalk, it has ramifications; it has safety ramifications. It could have Fire Code ramifications. How do we know who is putting up that tent or that makeshift structure? Is it a homeless person? Then I guess one has to deal with it in a certain way according to Pottinger. It may just be someone who wants to camp out on the street who can't get a hotel room. It could be anyone. We don't really have any way of saying, “Okay, this is a homeless person, we're going to, you know, have to do it this way.” How are the police supposed to respond to that? Our City of Miami Police -- I've had a lot of contact with them -- they are extraordinarily compassionate. They go out of their way to make sure that they are in compliance with Pottinger. I have seen this firsthand when we've had issues. I really see -- don't see this as being a direct target to try to arrest homeless people. I think that the whole homeless problem needs to be looked at in a global way, and there are short-term solutions that have to be enacted and there are long-term solutions that need to be considered. And there are emergency provisions that need to be considered, because there should not be anybody who has to live on the street. There should always be an alternative. If there is money, if there are organizations that have money, that money needs to be spent; it needs to be spent to relieve the problem. So
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that's really what I wanted to say to you; that I think that this is a reasonable ordinance, I think it is for the public safety and I think it's the only way that we, as a global city, will maintain our reputation in the world. Or are we going to become a, you know, a city of tents and people living on the streets? It will be a magnet. Thank you very much.
Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Next.
Constance Collins: Good morning. Constance Collins, executive director of the Lotus House Women's Shelter, 1514 Northwest 2nd Avenue, Miami. Gosh, it's hard to hear all these voices of so many people who really want the same thing, and that is to end homelessness. And the question is: How? And I don't think that it's another law that criminalizes individuals and families experiencing homelessness for life-saving, life-sustaining activities. That's not going to end homelessness; it's not going to ameliorate homelessness. In the real world, we know that employers shy away from people who have records for trespass, or shopping carts, or pan-handling and adding camping to the list does compound the barriers to building a new life. Frankly, I think it diverts us all from the conversation we should be having, and this is a start, which is how to develop and implement creative solutions and resources to ending homelessness. You think about it, the Homeless Trust and the initial continuum of care was established more than 20 years ago. A decade ago, in January of 2005, the point in time homeless count showed 3,171 individuals sheltered; this past January, 3,145 individuals sheltered. Okay. In the last decade, the only new shelter added to the system was Lotus House, a high, special needs shelter filling a gap for women and children, established entirely with private funding. Over 80 percent of those we shelter exit outside the shelter system because we offer a respectful, holistic environment based on principles of education and empowerment, with wraparound support services need to -- needed to build the foundation for a future; all this at a daily cost that is less than jail, okay? We are forced to turn away desperate women and children every single day; over a thousand individuals on an annual basis. And it's way more than 30 days to get them into shelter, way more. The emergency shelter system and resources have not kept pace with the growth in our community, which has gone from approximately 2 million people in '94, 1994, when Homeless Trust and Continuum was first started to about 2.6 million according to the last census in 2013. We know that the Homeless Trust has helped establish a continuum of care based on best practices, but we also know at this point, it's not enough. We have a gap in capacity in our community, and we need creative solutions. We need to bring together more public-private partnerships for solutions that really work, and developing those resources to implement the solutions. I pray that the conversation today and in the future moves from criminalizing people to how we can work together to solve the issue of homelessness in our community. We will be judged, I believe, not by just what we invest in our businesses and in our buildings, but in how we treat those who are most fragile and needy among us. Let's be part of the solution. Let's work together. And this is bringing everyone together, private and public. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Yes, sir.
Michael Ray: Michael D. Ray, 124 South Miami Avenue. This proposed ordinance is cruel, degrading and punitive. It attempts, under the guise of protecting the public health, safety and welfare of criminalizing homeless people. It attempts to solve a problem by a means that does not make sense. First of all, who are the people that are homeless? They don't have shelter. Who lives in a tent? According to Florida Coalition for the Homeless, there's 86,000 people that are homeless and only 22,000 beds. These are people who are living on the streets because they have to, because they have no other choice. Who are these homeless people? Twelve to 20 percent are vets; 34 to 40 percent are families, 84 percent of which are led by females; eight percent are elderly and 23 percent are children. This ordinance says that it's necessary because camping endangers the health, safety and wellbeing of those engaged in such camping, as well as the public at large. How in anybody's name could the homeless be endangered by sleeping in a tent when they have no other place to sleep? Is it better that they sleep in the cold without the
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protection of a tent; would that satisfy this Commission? How does that protect the public health, safety and welfare? Public housing is not available to these people. And I'm amazed at some of the other people that are against this ordinance say, “Oh, well, it should just be a civil fine.” Well, how are these homeless people, who can't afford a bed or place to live going to pay $500 per day? Under this proposed ordinance, the penalty would make each day a separate offense. And what is the penalty? This is why I say it's degrading and punitive, because the penalty is not more than $500 or be imprisoned at hard labor on the streets or other works of the City for not more than 60 days; each day, a separate offense. Is there a problem with tents? Yes, but solve it some other way. Are there other problems with the homeless that can be solved, that do protect the health, safety and welfare of the homeless and of the public? I have homeless sleeping next to my building; it's right at the entrance ramp to I-95. There's plants there, they throw bottles there, they defecate there, it's dirty, the Church's Barbershop in the Herald the other day says they have to clean up the urine three times a week; same thing at Macy's. You know, in San Francisco, they've converted public buses into showers and bathrooms. Commissioner Sarnoff, you said your wife raised $70,000. Well, it takes $75,000 to convert a bus into a shower and bathroom facility. These are the kind of things that we need to be doing to protect the public health, safety and welfare; not making criminals out of people who have no other place to sleep. And in include --
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mr. Ray: -- as the United Nations Human Rights Committee said in 2014, quote, “Criminally punishing people simply for having no legal place to be is cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment,” to which homeless people across the country, United States, are subject to every day. Is there a problem? Yes.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Mr. Ray: Is this ordinance the right way to solve it?
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Mr. Ray: Even as modified --
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Mr. Ray: -- a civil penalty? No.
Mr. Hannon: Next three speakers: Seth Sklarey, Horacio Stuart Aguirre and Brett Bibeau.
Seth Sklarey: I'm somewhat troubled by what I've heard today. My name is Seth Sklarey, Post Office Box 332172, Coconut Grove. This ordinance essentially gives the City of Miami a tool essentially for harassing the homeless. The whole history of the City of Miami until recently has been just to get the homeless out of sight, to -- you know, if there was an event, they would get rid of them. And then we had Pottinger, and we now have a more humane outlook towards it. I had the benefit of listening to Officer Bernat give an explanation of -- to the City employees of what is allowed and not allowed under the revisions to the Pottinger Amendment. It was very informative. But there are some problems that really need to be addressed that you haven't talked about, you haven't thought about, you haven't done anything about. One of them is the lack of public restroom facilities in the downtown area. Now, all of this discussion about homelessness is really addressed to the downtown. We have homeless people in Coconut Grove, and in Overtown, and Little Haiti and nobody talks about them, because they're kind of out of sight. You don't really see them, you don't know who they are. I know who a lot of them are, and I deal with them every day, and I try to help them when I can and deal with them with whatever ways we can. But the issue of lack of bathroom facilities downtown is horrendous. I'm not
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homeless, but I don't have any place to use the bathroom later in the afternoon or in the evening. They lock all the bathrooms at the Metrorail. The commuters don't have a place to go. It's something that has to be addressed. The other issue is that some homeless have no place to go, and I'm talking about the people who are convicted sexual offenders. Where do you put these people? Where are they supposed to go? Think about it. So -- because they can't go to the shelters. They can't be near schools, they can't be near parks. You know, it -- you had a homeless enclave up on 79th Street, you build a park near it so you can get rid of them. You know, I mean, it doesn't make sense. So thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Next.
Horacio Stuart Aguirre: Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, good morning. Horacio Stuart Aguirre, as chairman of the Miami River Commission; offices at 1407 Northwest 7th Street; here with managing director of the River Commission, Mr. Brett Bibeau, as well. We are very empathetic to the plight of the homeless, especially the homeless that find themselves in that predicament through no fault of their own. As a matter of fact, we're reminded of the biblical phrase, “There go I but for the grace of God.” However, we have been concerned with the homeless problem for over 10 years. It is one of the biggest issues we face on the River Commission; not the only one, but definitely in the top five. If I brought you a video of what the homeless do on the 11-mile banks of the Miami River, you could not show it on public television; you'd have to turn off Channel 77. I'm talking about public defecation, public urination, public sex acts. Now, we're talking about safety. Well, how do you think it is safe to have a tent encampment? I'm talking about 55-quart coolers; I'm talking about tents that you find on the Internet for about $800 with supporting edifices made of canvas, underneath a 200-ton drawbridge. How can that be good? How can that be safe? How can it be safe for a camping settlement to be five feet from the shoreline, the water shoreline of the Miami River when a freighter passing by can throw a wake and swamp that entire encampment into the water in the middle of the night without anyone knowing it or hearing a scream? Move the tent encampments off the Miami River. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, sir.
Brett Bibeau: Honorable Commissioners, good morning. Brett Bibeau, managing director of the Miami River Commission, 1407 Northwest 7th Street, Suite D, Miami, Florida 33125. This morning, Miami River Commission Chairman Aguirre called my cell and asked me to leave continuous cleanup efforts along the Miami River, where the Miami River Commission hires a professional cleanup crew and works with volunteers four to six days per week, picking up waste created by campers, including used syringes, empty dime bags, feces, empty beer cans and the like. Miami-Dade County Code 21-286 does not allow camping on County-owned land. Florida Statute 337.406 does not allow camping beneath or adjacent to State-owned bridges. The Miami River Commission supports enforcement to these existing laws and the City's efforts to adopt and enforce similar laws which would apply to City-owned lands. I could distribute hundreds of graphic, horrible pictures and rally hundreds of residents, but I don't think that's in our best interest. Instead, I'll conclude with only one PG example of many and save the examples rated “R” and “X.” A couple has been living in City-owned Jose Marti Park for over two years. I've called the police repeatedly while witnessing the man threaten to hit an elderly pedestrian with a stick and physically and verbally attack his own partner. He is regularly intoxicated, and for years, they have been camping, drinking alcohol, showering, defecating and urinating in a City-owned park. They have been offered free shelters repeatedly, and they have never accepted these offers. Thank you for your time.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Next.
Mr. Hannon: Next three speakers: Daniel Palugyai, Jeanne Baker and Jeffrey Nelson.
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Daniel Palugyai: Morning. Daniel Palugyai, on behalf of the Miami Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida State Office, which is located on 4500 Biscayne Boulevard in the City of Miami. I'm going to read from the letter dated March 2, 2015, which was written by our team of attorneys, and it was directed to the City Attorney and her staff: We are writing in regard to the newly approved Section 3711 of the City of Miami Code prohibiting public urination or defecation and a proposed section that purports to ban camping on public property and rights-of-way. These ordinances violate the consent decree the City entered into in Pottinger versus City of Miami, Number 88-2406-CIV-Moreno. As you know, the consent decree was originally approved by the Federal District Court in 1998 and modified with its approval in 2014. The consent decree requires the City to, quote, “protect the constitutional rights of homeless persons,” and to, quote, “prevent arrests and harassment of these persons and the destruction of their property inconsistent with the provisions,” close quote, of the consent decree. Among other things, those provisions limit the power of the City to arrest homeless persons for certain kinds of misdemeanors, quote, “which a homeless individual commits by the mere fact that he or she is without shelter and must conduct life-sustaining activities, such as eating, sleeping, sitting, congregating or walking in public.” The consent decree also requires the City to, quote, “respect the personal property of all homeless people,” close quote. The consent decree represents the settlement of over a decade of litigation triggered by the City's systematic policy of arresting homeless people and destroying their property simply for being homeless, which Judge Atkins found to have violated the Constitution; Pottinger versus City of Miami. The enactment of these ordinances clearly violates the consent decree. On its face, the so-called “camping ordinance” makes every homeless person within the City of Miami subject to arrest simply for being homeless. In practice, every activity covered by the consent decree, with its carefully negotiated limitations on the City's power to arrest is covered as well by this ordinance, with none of the consent decree's protections. Although the City represented to the court just a year ago that the revisions to the consent decree would not change its property protections except to allow disposal, quote, “where it's a security issue or contamination,” the proposed ordinance makes property that virtually every homeless person carries with them -- for example, tarp -- subject to police seizure if left unguarded for even a moment. On its face, the other ordinance, now approved and scheduled to take effect in a couple of days, also makes homeless persons subject to arrest in circumstances that are inconsistent with protections of the consent decree. For example, under the new ordinance, a homeless person who answered the call of nature in public could be arrested in the absence of available shelter even if he or she did so discreetly and there was no public bathroom within a quarter mile. Such an arrest would be inconsistent with the consent decree. The public urination or defecation ordinance is particularly troubling given that Judge Moreno expressed concern that the addendum did not solve the practical problem that bathrooms are not widely available to people who are homeless. Nevertheless, at the urging of the parties, including the City, Judge Moreno approved the pertinent provisions of the addendum to the consent decree. This approval left the City free to use its powers to implement constructive solutions to the problems Judge Moreno noted. The City could, as the plans have long urged, open more public restrooms throughout the City. Instead, the City is attempting to use its power to unilaterally modify the very provision that it urged the court to accept.
Chair Gort: And in conclusion.
Mr. Palugyai: Okay, getting there, sir. Enactment of these ordinances is in blatant disregard to the consent decree and disrespect to the court less than a year after the court approved modification to the decree, the culmination of a process initiated by the City. The City now seeks to use its legislative power to unilaterally modify the limits the decree places on the City's power to arrest homeless people or dispose of their property. In sum, any change to the consent decree's limitations on the power to arrest homeless people or seize their property must come through the process to which the City agreed, including the ban on initiating changes before January 2, 2016. If the City does not acknowledge this fact and act accordingly, we will take appropriate action to protect our clients' rights, including seeking court involvement. We have
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made repeated efforts to meet with the City to discuss implementation of the consent decree to no avail. We still wish to schedule such a meeting, and we would be happy to discuss as well the concerns we have set out in this letter. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Yes, ma'am.
Jeanne Baker: Good morning, Chairman, Commissioners. Jeanne Baker, also on behalf of the Greater Miami Chapter of the ACLU. Mr. Palugyai read that letter very quickly, so I just want to clarify what he read. On March 2, 10 days ago, the attorneys representing the Pottinger plaintiffs wrote a letter to the City Attorney, Victoria Méndez. They have received no response. In that letter, they map out specifics in both the camping ordinance and in the defecation/urination ordinance, which was already passed, which specifically contradict and violate provisions of Pottinger. The attorneys requested a meeting with Ms. Méndez. In fact, they have been requesting a meeting with Mr. Wysong and Ms. Méndez for months over other related matters under the Pottinger agreement. I think that it is a question I'd like to ask; perhaps I won't get an answer: Did the City Attorney tell you that there was nothing in these two ordinances that violated Pottinger? Because if that -- the City Attorney made that representation, it would not be agreed upon by the attorneys on the other side of that very important litigation. The ACLU calls upon you to not pass this camping ordinance today and in fact to consider repealing the defecation and urination ordinance, and it calls upon you to ask your City Attorney to sit down with the Pottinger attorneys and work through the details that are, as far as the Pottinger Attorneys are concerned and as far as the written words in the Pottinger Agreement is concerned, in conflict with those ordinances. I want to make one last comment. I understand that at an earlier meeting of the Commission, there was a suggestion that the ACLU was somehow responsible for the tents, which I've heard lots of complaints about today. I want you to know the ACLU is not actually a homeless advocacy organization. We are a civil rights, civil liberties organization. We don't provide services, we don't provide goods; we certainly support organizations that do. We have had nothing to do with those tents. We have as much information about those tents as I believe Commissioner Sarnoff indicated he had no information about those tents. They are not part of our rhema. Our rhema is the civil liberties of the homeless, as well as of the people of Miami, and I really urge you to direct the City Attorney to respond to the March 2 letter positively with a meeting, and work out the details and then come back to this Commission with an ordinance that does not violate Pottinger and with a proposal to repeal the defecation and urination ordinance insofar is it also has provisions that violate Pottinger. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you, ma'am. Next.
Mr. Hannon: Next speakers: Jeffrey Nelson, Jose Goyanes, Edwin Ramirez and Samuel Rivers.
Jeffrey Nelson: Morning. My name Jeffrey Nelson. I'm a homeless, and I live with -- at Camillus. I want to thank the City of Miami for opportunity they giving me to come here and speak before you today, because it's been a great help to the homeless, because I had cancer. I was released from the hospital, Jackson Memorial, and City of Miami police took me to the Camillus House where I was home, and I now still reside at the Camillus House, and it's been phenomenal. They help us very well to -- me with my doctor's treatments. I'm able to go and get medication. I'm able to do these type things that wasn't there for me. And I just want to say, you know, all homeless people ain't bad people. We have families, we love, we treat people fairly, we treat people the way we want to be treated. We're not people that want to just destroy everybody's property. We wants our own. I want my own home, but it's a lot of red tape there. It's housing, it's affordable housing, then it's rent control, unproper [sic] rent control. You know, it's other reasons why it's homeless people out there; it ain't just people just want to be homeless. Me, I worked all my life. I live in Miami 57 years, and I never thought I'd be in this predicament, but I am. And, you know, my last statement to you all today, that we need to do more to try to help homeless people rather than to put them down and say that we don't deserve to live. We
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deserve to live, just like you. One day, I was working right three buildings over, the two condominiums over there on Coconut Grove and 27th Avenue. I was one of the main people over there to help the building come up out of the ground. I worked hard my life, you know. And now, to be in a gray area where I got to wait on my benefits to come through for me, where I can live better, I'm homeless, you know. What's fair? Life ain't always fair, but we can make the best of it. And the way to make the best of it is to reach out and help, to push and elevate rather than to put down. That's all I got to say.
Chair Gort: Thank you, sir.
Jose Goyanes: Chairman, Commissioners, Jose Goyanes, 4 Southeast 1st Street. You know, as I sit here today and I listen to this, I wish I had the ACLU fighting for me, the small business owner, how they fight for everything else in this town. I am not Worldcenter. I operate four small businesses in downtown Miami; I've been doing that for the last 21 years. I feel like going off script here, because so many things have been said that, wow, you know, I'm the only small business owner that has walked in here today, and I'd tell any other small business owner in downtown that if you open up a business, install a water spigot in your front door so you can hose down the feces and urine from your doorstep. You don't see that in any other city in this town. I don't think it's fair to the small business owner. I think we employ a lot of people that live in this city, we fight for the City, we clean the City. I don't think there's anybody that cleans more feces than I do in this town other than the Solid Waste Department, even though I'm dressed like this. I probably put on a suite once a month so I can show up at a board meeting, you know, but normally, I'm just wearing jeans and sneakers, and doing my do in downtown. You know, it's 2015, and it's hard to think that we're dealing with encampments in downtown Miami, especially where it is and where it's come from, with all of the residents that live there. And, you know, some people probably say, “What do you know about this? You don't work for the Homeless Trust,” or “You don't work for Camillus,” but, you know, I live with this 24/7/365, whether if it's somebody attaching a tent to a door or a shutter in my building, setting off the alarm at night, and I have to go out there and I find out that it's not a crime, it's actually them. I ask them to move across the street or move along, they're not to do that. And sometimes, I hear them telling each other, “Don't tie it up against this, don't tie it up against that.” Whether it's picking up food containers in the mornings, cleaning up feces and urine, that's what we do. If you operate a business in downtown Miami, that's what you have to do. If you operate it in Miracle Mile, I don't think you have to do that. If you operate it in South Beach, you don't have to do that. If you operate it in Kendall, in a mall; now we want to build another mall. Anyway, going back to the Mat Program, the City has developed this Mat Program. I think it's a fantastic program. From the conversations that I've had with Officer Bernat, who I think is the hardest working police officer in the City. He's got the toughest job. I don't think we tell him that enough. It's successful. I've heard that it has an average stay of 18 days. For a business owner, if I can get a homeless person in a shelter for 18 days and not in the front of my business, that is success. My customers don't have to deal with it, my employees don't have to deal with it, we don't have to deal with it. The only thing that I ask -- I know that, you know, it's a shame that Ron Book is not here, the chairman of the Homeless Trust. You would figure he would be here. I mean, this is a homeless issue. You know, they have a four -- 54 million dollar a year budget. You would think, okay, there's some people say there's 600 homeless, 800 homeless. Well, if it's 600 homeless, that's $90,000 per homeless. You could build them something. I mean, it's common sense, so it's not going to work, because, you know, there's politics involved. And at the end of the day, Ron Book is allowing politics to get in the way of the homeless. You know, the only -- there's no winners here. I mean, I don't think anybody here is happy about what's going on but --
Chair Gort: And in conclusion.
Mr. Goyanes: -- it's affecting everyone. And in closing, Commissioners, I ask for your support for this ordinance. Thank you.
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Chair Gort: Next.
Edwin Ramirez: Good afternoon. I'm Mr. Ramirez. I'm 56 years old. I'm homeless. I'm an American citizen. And I want to thank Mr. -- Officer Bernat and Camillus House that today, I get a second chance, because me, I was -- I'm walking -- I'm alive because of him and the Camillus House. I was terrified. I just wanted to end my life when I got out of the hospital that there was no bed available for me, and I was homeless, you know. You know, I'm a person, I'm an American citizen, I'm a clothes designer. And today, I have a second chance, because of Officer Bernat and because of Camillus House. And, you know, I was at a point that I just wanted to end my life, you know, because I was desperate. I have condition of heart failure and most of my back is deteriorated, and I have high blood pressure, and I have bad circulation in my legs. I have to get a blood thinner; if not, when I wake up, I don't feel my legs. You know, I'm about to -- my legs be -- you know, cut off. But thanks to this program and thanks to Officer Bernat, I get a second chance, and I want to -- I can't thank him enough because, you know, he -- you know, they are sending me to -- I went to the program. They said I had to go to Macy's and sit in the rail and, you know, get a -- you know, it's like trespassing, you know, and I was sent by Jackson directly but when I saw Officer Bernat, I approached him, I told him my situation. Right away, they called -- he recorded me, and 10 minutes later, a supervisor from Jackson came with a nurse and they examinated [sic] me. I have a pacemaker on my left-hand side. I have the new technology that only Jackson has it, but I have to have an follow-up. They determined that I have a condition of heart failure, bad -- high blood pressure, bad circulation in my legs, and I also have Hepatitis-C. I need -- you know, thanks to this program, I can be -- I'm walking distance to Jackson, and I owe my life to this officer and to this program. I want to thank you very much. And I want you to know that not all homeless -- you know, there's a lot of them that want this, and they -- you know, they need this program to change it, and it works, you know, and I want to say thank you very much for -- because I get a second chance.
Chair Gort: Well, thank you. I'm glad you got it. Thank you. Next.
Samuel Rivers: Hello, everybody. My name is Samuel Rivers. I'm -- I appreciate City of Miami and the Camillus House, because I was on the Mat Program, too, but now, I'm in treatment and I appreciate everything they doing for me. When I first got to the Mat, I didn't have nothing. They give you clothes, take a shower, they feed you, and then now, I'm in a drug program and I'm on my way to another life and another way of living. And appreciate -- I appreciate Camillus House, what all they do for you, and I hope everybody who need some help go to Camillus House or go somewhere to get them some help. Thank you. I ain't got no more to say.
Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Next.
Mr. Hannon: Next three speakers: Lynn McClyde, Thomas Randolph and Francine Madera.
Lynnward McClyde: Good afternoon, Chairman, Vice Chairman, Commissioners. My name is Lynnward McClyde. I'm 56 years old. My address is 1603 7th Avenue, Miami, Florida, Camillus House. You know, I became homeless once I lost my job, and during this transition, I went to look for shelter. I went to Miami Rescue Mission, and they said, “We no longer have a walk-in shelter in Miami. All the beds in Miami are governed by Dade County Homeless Coalition.” They gave me a card. I called this 1-800 number, and they told me I had to register. I registered. I gave them my name, my date of birth, my Social Security number. They said, “Call us 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. every other day.” For two and a half weeks, I called this number. I'm still homeless. They give me a blanket at Miami Rescue Mission and said, “Hey, we don't have an open door policy.” I go to Camillus House. Camillus House says, “We don't have an open door policy.” So what do a person does that never experienced homelessness before? Well, I did what the rest of the homeless people did. I got me a piece of cardboard, and I took my back -- my pack -- my bags, and I took the blanket and I made me a bed on the sidewalk. I did that for two and a half weeks. I ate at the sisters and I ate at Miami Rescue Mission, and I took a shower
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every other day. That's what homeless people do. Well, during this transitional period, was I broken? Yes, I was, but I still held on to my integrity. I didn't go commit crimes. I didn't go do drugs. But I tried to do what I had to do and follow the bylaws that I was given. So one day, as I was going to get fed, there was some Miami police officers. Well, everybody knows a police officer normally takes you to jail. This time, they were giving out beds, and I was shocked. Officer said -- I said, “Sir, can I talk with you?” He says, “About what?” I say, “I'm homeless.” He goes, “You don't look homeless.” Well, the first thing came to my mind was how a homeless person look. And so I explained to him my situation. He said, “Well, have you ever heard of the Mat Program?” I said, “No, I haven't heard of the Mat Program.” He said, “Well, we have a Mat Program where you can eat three meals a day, take a shower, have computer access. You even have a library. You can get some mental health or regular help.” Come to find out -- I had my prescription in my pocket that I had every [sic] since October that I couldn't get filled. I'd been diagnosed with neurocardiogenic syncope, and I faint under certain situations, and it don't give me a warning. By Captain Bernat taking me and putting me on the Mat Program, I was able to get the medical attention that I needed. By being on the Mat Program, I was able to get into a program at Camillus House. I want you to understand something. I been hearing the different verses today about the tents. Well, I don't know about anybody else, but when your back is against the wall and you want to survive, it's not even safe on the streets for homeless people. I never felt comfortable sleeping on the sidewalk. I never felt safe sleeping on the sidewalk. I never got a peaceful sleep, sleeping on the sidewalk. But I can say one thing: You're going to have to make do with what you make do. But I don't -- I'm not here to advocate the tents, but I'm here to advocate that we need more mats, and that may be the solution to our problem. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Next.
Thomas Randolph: My name is Thomas Randolph. I live at the Camillus House. I was homeless. I lived on the street. They offered me a spot; Officer Bernat over there did. I got myself right. I did -- I did come out of prison. I found a job. I'm a chef. But then, when you go back and succeed, and you become homeless again, if you have $6 million in a trust fund, it's not meant to be saved, it's meant to be used. It don't feel good sleeping on the street. You don't know what it feels like to live in the hood or Overtown, where you got robberies going on. You got to watch your back. You can't sleep. You cannot sleep at all. That's why this world is coming to what it is in Miami now. People don't care. It's all about money in Miami. It's not about helping, it's not about doing nothing. But you have officers like Officer Bernat that do care. He don't want to see no crime. Why don't you just take a day and sleep in a tent outside? Then you will see how we feel. But the Camillus House is there to help, so I feel there should be more beds. They give you opportunity to get a job. People ain't going to hire you if you don't have showers, you don't have clothes. It's presentation, your body. Your body is a temple. You cannot maintain a temple on the street; no food, no help.
Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Next.
Mr. Hannon: Next speakers: Francine Madera, Yamileth Medina, Elio Aponte, Alex Mantecon.
Yamileth Medina: Okay, thank you. Hello. My name is Yamileth Medina. I live at 8920 Southwest 19th Street, Miami, Florida 33165. And I wanted to highlight the issues. I respect all the progress that the City of Miami has been making with the Mat Program and all of that, and that's great. But, I mean, there needs to be something more. I'm against this ordinance because the vast majority of the homeless don't prefer living in tents. The thing is Miami has a shortage of affordable housing. Development is focused on expensive condos that most citizens can't afford. You know, even if somebody gets a job, you know, depending on their level of education, they might find a minimum wage position where they won't be able to afford the average rent in Miami. And, you know, also, if there was affordable housing, you know, they wouldn't have to urinate or defecate outside. That's -- most of them probably don't want to do that outside, but if
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there's no public bathrooms, what are they supposed to do? Also, you know, previously, it was mentioned -- Commissioner Sarnoff said that the vast -- a lot of the homeless are, you know, drug and alcohol addicts. And, I mean, that's definitely a factor, but over 60 percent of the chronically homeless actually suffer from mental illness. And it's quite difficult to handle your mental health and whether you have medications or just when you're dealing with the stress of being homeless, and it's harder to get on your feet. And, I mean, ideally, the tents are basically a stopgap solution, but, I mean, dealing with the rain and the elements and all that, and, I mean, ideally, there would be mats, or better yet, beds for everybody, but that's not what we have. And before that's the case, I believe that criminal or civil citations are unreasonable, and it'll just make it harder for people to get back on their feet. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Next. Next.
Ira Silver: Good morning. My name is Ira Silver. I'm here for Mr. Aponte and I'd like to say a few words. I was born in Miami. I've lived here for 63 years. My family's been here since 1926. I've been --
Commissioner Sarnoff: We need your address.
Mr. Silver. I'm sorry. 108 South Miami Avenue, downtown. I've owned a building in downtown Miami for 18 years. As an attorney, I've been practicing law in downtown Miami for 38 years. So I've seen Miami, downtown Miami evolve. I know everything that has gone on there for the last 50 years. Obviously, this is not a black and white issue. And the fact that you all are in favor of an ordinance and you want to pass this ordinance does not make you a heartless person and does not mean that you do not have sympathy for homeless people. I am strongly in favor of building a new homeless center with 3,000 beds for the homeless, and I -- that's not the issue for today, and hopefully, that will be an issue for another day, because there -- that is -- they're all -- we're hearing all kinds of solutions to this problem, but that's not what we're here for today, and hopefully, they will be addressed. I know this Commission is sensitive to it, and will address those. But you must be focused on -- keep focused on the idea that this is an ordinance that is designed to protect the health of the general public. It is your job to protect the health and safety of all of the general public, and it is not safe, it is not healthy to allow 700 people urinate and defecate in the public streets two and three times a day, which amounts to between 1,400 and 2,100 incidents of defecation in our public streets on a daily basis. That is not safe for me, it is not safe for you and it's not safe for anyone in this room, and it should not be tolerated in our society. And please don't be swayed by the argument that this ordinance is a criminalization of homelessness. It is not. It is about protecting the health and safety of all of our citizens. We will address and we have -- and you have shown that you are interested in helping the homeless, and we have a new Homeless Assistance Center. We've had -- in the last 20 years. We've had -- the Camillus House has been rebuilt. And hopefully, we'll have a new Homeless Assistance Center in the future to take care of our problem. But a lot of people here say that we have to tolerate this, because the homeless people have no place to go. This is a huge country, and there are three million miles in this country. If I have to obey the law, it may not be in downtown Miami, but I can go someplace and obey the law. I have to obey the law, just like everyone else in this room, and I don't think that you would be -- feel good about abandoning our health requirements for our restaurants and just saying, “Oh, that's too difficult to have to deal with these things. You don't have to have clean food anymore. You don't have to wash your hands. You don't have to keep the food safe.” And this is a health/safety issue, and that is your job as an elected official to do that, to protect us. So I want you to protect me, too, and I want you to protect everyone else out there, too, and I want you to protect all of the homeless people, too. But I am in favor of this ordinance. I do hope you pass it, and I hope you do everything you can to help the homeless people. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Can we get Tecon [sic]?
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Alex Mantecon: I'll be very brief. Alex Mantecon, 3267 Riviera Drive in Coral Gables. I have -- I'm a property owner in the City of Miami. We have numerous rental apartment buildings in Little Havana and downtown, and I'm currently building right next to the Miami River by Flagler. And basically, next to my property is probably one of the biggest homeless shelters in the City. Every single day, I come to the job site and there's probably about 30, 40 homeless people sleeping there. It is a very depressing sight to see, and I -- you know, I try to help the homeless in any way possible that we can. However, there also has to be -- the same way I respect them, we also expect respect. On the contrary, when I bring my children to the job site, and my children have to see, and I have to be turning my kids' face away, because the person is urinating in front of them, or another person is defecating, or, you know, there's groaning inside of a tent, because somebody's committing sexual acts next to my children, I believe that to be a lack of respect, and obviously, should be illegal. I don't believe that taking the tents away or not allowing tents on the public rights-of-way, et cetera, is criminalizing homelessness, and I think it's been taken completely out of context. I'm very confident that every single one of the Commissioners here and every single one in this room can, you know, put themselves in their shoes and see that it is a very, very difficult situation and we -- you know, there's definitely a lot more that has to be done to fix this. But I think that giving this tool to the police to be able to say, “You can't be here, you can't do this. Let me give you an option. Let me show you how you can better your life,” this is a tool -- this ordinance is basically a tool to be able to give the police that power to be able to do that, and it's a step further in bettering this problem that we have around our City. Thank you. Chair Gort: Thank you. Next.
Mr. Hannon: Next three speakers: James Valsaint, Lourdes Anton and Eddie Padilla.
Lourdes Anton: Good afternoon. My name is Lourdes Anton. I work for Camillus House. I'm there six months now. I'm not going to rehash what everybody said before, but I can tell you that I have met a lot of the homeless individuals, and these are some teachers, some registered nurses, some attorneys, some doctors, some long-term residents of Miami; a few pregnant girls, seven, eight months pregnant. I've actually taken off my high heels, I've gone into the -- I've put on my old lady shoes and I've gone into the tents where these people are. They are disgusting. They're living in horrible, horrible manner. They don't have anywhere else to go. There's no beds to offer these people. They come to our lobbies. I have men that -- they come crying. They're holding their eyes, because they got beat up the night before. These are proud men. Some of them have just been out of jail, they've done their time and they're trying to better their lives. They have nowhere to go. I can tell you that the team at Camillus is doing a very good job. I'm honored to be there. I'm honored to work with Judge Leifman's team, the Green Shirts of Miami. I've had the privilege to go out on the street with Officer Bernat. What he does for Miami I don't think anybody can understand. I've actually been by his side, listening to him speak to the people, trying to get them off the streets, trying to get them to change their ways and come in. Obviously, a lot of these people, probably 90 percent of them have mental health issues. The Lazarus Project is working. I've actually met all nine of those patients. I've seen them go from talking about Mars and planets and who knows what to actually speaking to me in coherent conversation. The medication is working. That project is working, and if we can elaborate on that, if we can make that larger, I think we could probably do some help. I come as a patient, and a client, and a human being advocate. I hope that the Commission does the right thing.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Next.
James Valsaint: Good afternoon. My name is James Valsaint; address, 17305 Northwest 12th Court. I was born and raised in Miami, Florida, and, well, the main thing that we're talking about here, these tents, I don't think anyone would disagree that tents in a public walkway is hazardous, is probably not the right thing, but human beings urinate, human beings defecate, human beings have sex. The fact that they're doing it outdoors goes to the greater problem that they don't have their own living facilities. Now, people like -- we have officers like Officer
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Bernat. That's an amazing guy. I've heard so much about this guy, and he is someone who's trying to solve this problem proactively, not reactively, and that is the way that, you know, we should solve issues. I mean, we're an American nation. This country is America where it says, “Give us your poor, your starving, your huddled masses.” This is supposed to be a Christian nation, but not anyone is acting very Christ-like in penalizing and criminalizing poor people, homeless people. If you give a homeless man a civil infraction, give him a fine that he is not able to pay, he will end up in jail, which will cost the City more money than it will to just put them up. So I guess I'm just here today because I, myself, I've been homeless. I know how it feels to be homeless. I went to school in Miami Dade Wolfson Campus, so I know how it is to walk outside and see a bunch of homeless people. It's not a pretty sight, but it's probably an even worse life; forget how we see it. How do they feel that they have to defecate and urinate out in public? That's the important thing; trying to solve this more proactively than reactively by providing more homes, providing more beds. We have the money to do this. Let's get past all the red tape, all the bureaucracy. I mean it's very simple. Give these homeless people homes. Give them a place to sleep and they won't be criminals, they won't harass anybody. They're regular human beings, just like I was, just like the people that you saw come up here and talk. We're an American nation. We're a Christian nation. We can deal with this a lot better. Thank you for your time. And by the way, last thing, is Councilman Hardemon here? I don't know. He disappeared, I guess.
Chair Gort: He just walked out for a minute.
Mr. Valsaint: Oh, okay. Well, if he can hear, I'd just like to say that gang-bangers are not terrorists. There is a better way of dealing with our problems than labeling, criminalizing people. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Thank you.
Eddie Padilla: Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Commissioners. My name is Eddie Padilla. I'm the executive director for the Downtown Miami Partnership, 25 Southeast 2nd Avenue. I -- we represent about 2,200 small businesses downtown, and we are -- you know, the legal issues notwithstanding, because I'm sure the final product will be however that's determined to be the correct avenue to pursue. You know, due to the fact that our downtown businesses have been -- have to deal with the homeless issue on a day-in-day-out basis, as you've heard many people state today, it is our number one issue that we face downtown, and it has been for many years. And as you have also heard, Police Officer Bernat has been very compassionate in terms of dealing with the homeless. We believe this is going to be -- we want them to have another tool in order to address these issues in downtown, and so I think Officer Bernat needs this tool that he can help to deal with this issue in a compassionate way, and we are in support of the ordinance, and we really want to make sure that, you know, the homeless get the services that they need, have the resources that they need, and so we're in support of it. So thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Mr. Hannon: The last speaker I have signed up for item SR.2 is Colonel Tony Colmenares.
Tony Colmenares: It's good afternoon now. I know we've been here a long time. I'm Tony Colmenares, retired colonel. I reside at 820 Northwest 3rd Street. Now, I've been living in that same area for 51 years and I'm a product of this community. I came when I was very young. And I purposely wanted to go last, Commissioner. I could have gotten here a lot earlier, but I wanted to hear this conversation, because homelessness is an issue that I've kind of wrapped myself around over the last six years, ever since I retired from the Marine Corps, and the more I hear about the issues that we're facing -- and, boy, you got something tough ahead of you. But I want to kind of share just some ideas, because I've been in 87 different countries, and let me tell you that this is America. This is not Iraq, or Syria, or Pakistan, or any of those countries where
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Bedouins live under tents and in the middle of the desert somewhere, and in grass huts, and mud huts and those kind of things. This is the United States of America. This country provides more than $5 billion in humanitarian aid every year around the world; $5 billion in humanitarian aid. We are a nation built on goodness, and kindness and helping our fellow man. So when I hear these issues that are happening here in our great City of Miami, which I consider to be that city of hope, that city of magic, that beacon on the hill that all these other municipalities look toward to see how we conduct ourselves, I'm almost taken back, because we know we got these issues that are facing us. Now, we have the capacity in the City to really fix all these things, I know we do. We have Commissioners that are very dedicated, elected by your constituents, and I have the full trust and confidence of all of you that you'll be able to resolve this, I also hear the community, and what they advocate, and what they talk about. I support working together. I think that, truly, we have models already that have been created that we can replicate on how we end homelessness once and for all in the City of Miami. Now, I have focused for the last six years on veterans' homelessness. I was appointed as the chair of the Homeless Veterans Task Force by the Mayor four years ago. I currently serve at the pleasure of the Mayor as his volunteer director for all veterans' services within the City of Miami. I also serve with Miami Dade College as the director of Veterans and Military Programs for the largest college in the country with 165,000 students. We have been focusing on taking our homeless veterans off the streets for the last four years, and we're that close. We have developed partnerships with the Homeless Trust, the County, with hundreds of agencies that have come together to help eliminate homelessness for all veterans in the streets of Miami. We are on track to eliminating homelessness by this year, December 2015. I don't support encampments, because I think we send the wrong message to those that have served, those that are -- will serve, those that are serving. That's not the message we want to send to those that have given so much and sacrificed so much for our nation. So we want to find a solution, and I think we've found one. You know, together, working with the Mayor, and City officials, and administrators, we have put a plan together. We have a plan to house every single homeless veterans we take off the streets come May 1 or 3; that's this year. By 2015, we will no longer have any homeless veterans walking the streets of Miami or Dade County, in total. That plan was put together through the efforts of many different folks and many different agencies, but it's got to be a collective partnership; it can't be done by one organization or one City. It can't been done just by a -- we've got to work together to do this and resolve these issues. We have a plan to put veterans to work through the City Manager and the efforts of many others here in the City of Miami. We have been able to bring in and be part of recruiting efforts to afford -- to allow veterans to come in and compete for jobs. We are creating world-class health care facilities and community health care centers throughout the City of Miami that may have been failing at one point by bringing in the VA and other health care providers in partnership. We're able now to offer our veterans the much needed health care they deserve. And we're also working very closely with educational and voc/rehab (vocational rehabilitation) institutions to retrain our veterans as they come home. All this is going to take place. I don't support having a tent encampment anywhere, period; whether it's for veterans or non-veterans. That's not the message our citizens deserve. Now, I'll leave you with this little story: That back in the '80s, during the height of the Mariel Boatlift, my father and mother took off the streets 10 homeless citizens. They put them to live in our property. They lived with us for many, many, many years. I still have one of those homeless persons living with me. Nine were able to get the supportive services they need; nine found their way. But, you know, that's what we do with neighbors. You know, we don't kick them out or we throw them away. We are a great nation, and oftentimes, it's easier to extend that hand of friendship, and “How can we help you?” I got to tell you, the solution, and the model and how we're doing this for the homeless veterans is clear. We are putting together, with the help of the City of Miami, through properties that may not be used right now, and we're raising the money. We will raise over $400,000 this year to start the development of more than 800 affordable units to house all our homeless veterans. That's taking place already this year. So we have a model, and I'd love to share it. The Commissioners all have access to it. What I would leave you with, Commissioners, is I -- this is a greater issue than just the City of Miami. You know that there's homeless people everywhere. If we get rid of them from downtown, they'll go to Hialeah, or
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they'll go to Homestead, or they'll go somewhere else. We've got to work collectively with the 37 municipalities that are in Miami-Dade County; call it a joint Commission summit. Bring them all together and let's talk about holistically how we can help these homeless people get off the streets once and for all. I got to tell you this: Over a hundred agencies -- and we heard many times today “Officer Bernat.” This is one individual making a difference in people's lives, one person. Imagine the other hundreds that are out there, because I know you, I've seen you in action. You're doing amazing things. We just got to synchronize the efforts, bring it together and find a solution. And the gentleman that's spoke, you know, we just got to find him a home. You know, Habitat for Humanity builds hundreds of homes every single year. Yes, most won't qualify, because their criteria is kind of hard to qualify for. But you know what? We can come up with our own plan and mirror what Habitat for Humanity is doing, and somehow build those homes, get the supportive services; find these organizations, many, many out here in this community that will allow us to create a plan that, no kidding, we will be the model for the nation. If Miami does this, we will be that model for this country. We're going to -- we're already the model for the homeless veterans programs. The White House is working with us to make sure that we end homelessness for all veterans. We can do the same for all citizens in Miami. So thank you, Mr. Chair; thank you, Commissioners, for the opportunity to speak. And thank you, citizens of this great country, because, you know, I got to tell you that we're able to do this today because of the many sacrifices made by our servicemen. You know, in stark reality, two days ago, we lost seven marines and four soldiers in a training accident. Let us not forget how risky it is to serve in this country's military forces. So we're able to kind of talk and advocate on our beliefs, and I think that the way ahead, Mr. Chair, Commissioner Sarnoff, is to really find a way to kind of do a holistic approach and find a solution. Let's not just move them somewhere else (UNINTELLIGIBLE)because then it just kind of displace them. Let's really do something magical in the City of Miami.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Mr. Colmenares: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Okay, we now close the public hearing.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Sometimes you have to restate the issue to remember what it is, and this is about public right-of-way and being able to move about in the public right-of-way, and restricting two things, essentially: a tent or a shelter. It is something that is tangentially involved with chronic homeless. The chronic homeless are different than ordinary homeless. And there's a definition that HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) uses for it. I think it would be homeless up to the last five years. Here's what we know in the City of Miami: Our chronic homelessness suffer from three conditions primarily: Either they have substance abuse, alcohol, drug abuse or they have a mental defect. The Lazarus Project, great project. Certainly, I've helped Judge Leifman go up to Tallahassee to try to create not only a payment scheme, but maybe even creating a Baker situation where you can actually help a person get on a drug that refuses, because you're asking a person who is not making a good decision about their life to take a good decision. Now, let me approach something from a different angle, Mr. Chair. Miami is the doughnut hole. Everybody knows what the doughnut hole is? It means that there's a void. It simply is the City, the municipality that doesn't have this ordinance. Coral Gables has this ordinance. Miami Beach has this ordinance. North Miami has this ordinance. Aventura has this ordinance. I have seven more municipalities I could read from, but I'll refrain from doing it for the sake of time. I suspect when these ordinance were passed, maybe the ACLU, maybe some other folks decided that they just wasn't -- weren't interested at that moment with regard to that. But Miami's always been the focus, Mr. Chair, for homeless. Now, we are
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not Fort Lauderdale, and anybody that said we're doing what Fort Lauderdale says is actually an insult to Officer Bernat, because this Chief, as did the previous Chief of Police has designated Bernat to handle every homeless function that you can imagine. We are not arresting people for feeding the homeless, but I heard a number of times, “You're just like Fort Lauderdale, you're just like Fort Lauderdale.” In fact, though we have a lot more work to do, we are probably one of the model places for dealing with homelessness. So why do the homeless keep coming? It's not that hard to figure out, and I think you all know this, but put this in your head: When it's 15 below in New York, where would you rather be? I'd rather be in 70 degrees in Miami. And I could use Philadelphia, and I could use Iowa and a bunch of other places. So to some degree, we will always have a homeless situation, because you almost can't build your way out of it. Now, with regard to some ideas, I do have some ideas. I'm going to renew my motion for this, but having an effective date of May 12, 2015. I would ask the City Attorney to sit down in the next 15 to 20 days with the ACLU to see if there are issues that need to be addressed. Having said that, I'd also equally -- I'm going to propose an ore tenus motion right after that, Mr. Chair, which is going to be a motion on behalf of this Commission asking the Homeless Trust to start deploying their $6 million in savings towards addressing the chronic homeless in Miami without a waiting list. So I'm not going to make that motion; that's just part of my discussion. So I would -- and the other thing I just want to put out, two other issues, Mr. Chair. Public restrooms. You all remember when we approved the Pottinger modification. On the back of that was a map of all public bathrooms. We provided those public bathrooms to Judge Moreno, the very judge that made this factual determination, which is quintessential and essential to homeless in Miami. He has said on the record there is a change in circumstance in the City of Miami from 1988 to 2015 that sufficiently and profoundly affects what was done in 1988 to change and modify Pottinger in 2015. And it's essential that everybody knows that, because as the doughnut hole, we are filling that doughnut, because we are becoming a mature city. We are becoming a city that has a downtown. And with regard to somebody saying, “Oh, you're just trying to help out the developer,” not at all. A crane will fix that. A bulldozer will fix that. What's going to happen is there's going to be displacement of homeless people when that construction starts. All I'm saying is let's address it now. To the Miami Herald, did an all right job on your editorial, but you got your numbers wrong. This Commission is now paying for 105 mats and is paying for 10 shelter beds. We didn't try to arrange -- well, we did try to arrange with the Homeless Trust the 15 shelter beds, but they could have put a zero after that and been closer to the quantum that we have than what exists in their editorial. So I certainly ask the Miami Herald to modify its editorial, which comes to the conclusion, let's first get more opportunities for the homeless. Well, there are more opportunities for the homeless, Mr. Chair. There are 105 mats. There are 10 shelter beds, and they said 15 shelter beds weren't enough. We have gone beyond the pale of what this Commission can do. And to the CRA's credit, which is you're going to see a modification for the Omni CRA, which is going to pay for more shelter beds, and for the DDA, which is coming up with its fair share for more shelter beds, we are doing our part. So Mr. Chair, thank you for taking this up, and I would certainly yield to the other Commissioners.
Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. I'll be the last one. I got a lot of notes here that I want to go over.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, we've heard, obviously, a lot of discussion from the public. I think I have also many thoughts, and I don't want to be repetitive or belabor anything that's already been said. I think, first of all, to your personal appearance, sir -- guys, do you have to do that right now?
Vice Chair Hardemon: I asked for them to set it up, because I wanted us to have a visual of what this looks like for us, please.
Commissioner Suarez: Okay. To your idea, I think there are -- I think it's a good idea, and I think there are things in the works that may actually make your idea a reality, and I had had a
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preliminary conversation with Camillus House, which is one of the entities that is considering getting a parcel to do something similar to what you're saying, so I think your idea is a good one, and I think it's one that will be potentially coming before this Commission in the future. I look at this issue maybe a little differently, because I think we get bogged down in -- and I understand why -- the minutia of the legislation, and I think I kind of look at it a little bit similarly to the colonel, who got up and talked about homelessness in relation to veterans. This is really a great country, and the homeless in our community are very fortunate. They're very fortunate, because, number one, we do dedicate a tremendous amount of resources, money resources to help solve the problem. But secondly, they're very fortunate because they have all of you advocating on their behalf, and very passionately, and very intelligently, I might add. And so I wonder sometimes -- there's a lot of disenfranchised members in our community, not just the homeless. There's adults with disabilities; there's children; there's people who are abused. And yet, the advocacy for this issue is far beyond the advocacy that I've seen for some of those very needy populations, so I commend you for that. I really think that it's clear to me that it comes from your heart and your soul and that there is a caring that you are -- the advocacy comes from a place of good faith. One of the things that Commissioner Sarnoff didn't say but almost said was that the other cities that have similar ordinances to these are not bound by Pottinger. I think that's a proper, you know, proper statement. In other words, Pottinger has forced us to really think about this issue deeply, to a level that no other city really has to do, and I think that's something that we should feel good about. I don't think it's something that we necessarily -- because it's really made us think about this to the granular level, and what we're getting at here is very granular arguments. So I think the fact that Pottinger exists, that it's been modified, that we've worked with the ACLU and with other organizations to tailor it to be very specific and not overbroad, I think those are all very good things. I have a couple of issues with the legislation, so -- with the actual text of the legislation, so I don't know if passing it and then with an effective date -- I understand what you're trying to accomplish, Commissioner, but if we pass it with a later effective date and then there are revise -- revisions, then we have to come back and do it again on first and second. So we have to -- we would have to have this discussion all over again twice. And so I don't know if the better thing to do -- because I can tell you what my issues are. I don't know what the better -- and they're not a lot; they're just small drafting issues. I don't know if the better thing to do is to defer it until then, have those discussions, and then if there are any modifications, we can vote on them then; just because if there are modifications between now and the 15th of March, we would have to hear this entire legislation all over again; first and second reading, public discussion, all over again. And not that there's anything wrong with public discussion, but we've heard a lot of the debate already. So the issues that I have, and I'll just put them out there real quickly is -- with the drafting is -- and I know that this has been vetted, by the way, by a lot of legal counsel on our side. And I spoke to the City Attorney, and she says, “Look, we've had our outside counsel” -- that I think did a great job, by the way, in Pottinger, in reopening Pottinger and coming to a revised agreement with the stakeholders. And I know that they're the foremost experts, and I'm certainly not an expert to the level that they are. My issue is I think it was brought up by the executive director of the Homeless Trust on “camp” or “camping.” When you look at the semicolons, to me, the semicolons mean that “camp” or “camping” can be defined as one of three things; that's how I interpret the semicolons. So if you look at what would be semicolon 2, which I would just delineate as number 2, it says, “To live temporarily in a camp facility or outdoors.” That, to me, is confusing and possibly overbroad. So I would eliminate “or outdoors” from that, number two. And then after semicolon number 3, that says to use camp paraphernalia -- first of all, I didn't even know what a tarpaulin was; I had to look that up. It's a tarp; I guess we would refer to it as a tarp, but a tarpaulin -- but when you look at cots, mattresses, hammocks and cooking facilities, I think there, you know, that from the Pottinger settlement that I've read, we may want to look at that. We may want to look at that. So to -- if we delete that and we delete “camp paraphernalia,” then we'd have to delete it from the prohibition section and from section number 2 underneath the -- in the prohibition, so 1 and 2. So those are my thoughts on the legislation. So I don't know if it makes more sense -- I think we can legitimately close the public discussion, because we've had a thorough public discussion. I think we can work on -- you know, take up the suggestion of Commissioner Sarnoff, which is to
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work with the vested parties that have brought up a lot of good issues. Those are my issues on the drafting of the legislation and we can go from there. I just -- if we pass it with a later effective date and we want to change it, we're going to have to reread this twice. So I just put that on your --
Chair Gort: Thank you. Vice Chairman Hardemon.
Commissioner Suarez: -- radar screen. Vice Chair Hardemon: Commissioner Suarez, I'm glad that you talked about the language in the definition of “camp,” because that also brought me some trouble.
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Vice Chair Hardemon: It make me -- it makes you think -- those of us who have litigated and had to defend ordinances or attack ordinances, every word matters, so the word, "or" matters, "live" matters. We have to define what it does -- what does it mean “to live”? Because what I think about this ordinance, it would also affect those who -- if you wanted to pitch a tent, say, to wait on an opening of a store because they're selling a new iWatch, all right, if they did that; as I read it, if you on the public space. So we start to think about how does this law really affect everyone? But when it says "live," I'm not in a position right now today sitting here where I can describe what does it mean to actually “live” in a tent. And I asked the Administration to put this tent there, because I wanted to show people what we're talking about. When I describe that I see six, seven, eight tents on a public space, this is what I see. So this is not something that is minuscule to me when we talk -- when I talk about public safety and public concern. These tents are across the street from people's homes. I don't live downtown, and my -- and the district that I represent is not downtown. The people that live in Spring Gardens, there's people that live in Oakland Grove, the people that live in Liberty City and Little Haiti, they see these on public rights-of-ways [sic], like swales. Imagine if every day you came home and there were seven of these by -- on a public swale near your home. The question is, "Do you have the power to eject them?" Do you have the power to eject them? What do you tell your children when they walk past these tents every single day? What's going on inside of this tent? Who is inside of that tent? What weapons do they have? In the thick of the night, if you pass by this and it's outside of your home -- I'm not talking about the downtown streets that are supposedly closed or empty at that time, where then you have homeless people sleeping. I'm talking about in residential areas where these tents are pitched in walking distance, in touching distance of people's homes. This is what I see. The trash that it accumulates; because if it is not accumulated inside of the tent, of course it's outside of the tent. But this tent to me -- this type of tent presents a very big issue for public safety for the people that live in our communities. And I don't think that a tent like this, I mean, personally, protects a homeless person from any type of attack. But one thing I can say is that when I see a tent like this and I think about myself as a private citizen or anyone else as a citizen, any of our children that are walking past these tents that when you have this tent, when you don't know what's going on inside of it, it puts us all in grave danger. It's much different than having -- than a homeless person -- we have our problems, and to see the amount of homeless people that are lined up under shelters near Jackson Memorial Hospital, wherever they may be is troubling. But as officers, as citizens, as people who park their cars near, who are walking in those areas, you at least can see the people, you at least can assess the level of danger that you expect to encounter, but here you just cannot. Here, when someone is pulled into a tent or someone is inside of a tent, you don't know the type of dangers that you're facing, and to me, this is the concern that I have. Now, I agree with many of the advocates as far as criminalizing the behavior, criminalizing the tents, but we have to ask, “But what does it take for us to enforce removing these tents from our rights-of-way?” And that's the part that I'm struggling with. And I was having a conservation with a gentleman that spoke earlier, and I pulled him to the room to help me brainstorm how we can go about getting rid of the tents without criminalizing the people. And one of the things -- and of course, when we -- when I present this idea, which is not on my own -- we're going to be criticized about that also, because then it'll be about property
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takings. But one of the things that he said, “Well, if they won't move the tents, then confiscate them, if they're violating this ordinance.” Instead of the punishment being criminalization, how 'bout making it confiscation of the actual tent? Because that is what we're concerned about. We are concerned about the tents in the rights-of-way. That is why the camp paraphernalia information -- that's why this came out. So then what happens then when we remove this tent? He can keep his bedding. He can keep everything that keeps him warm in the night. He can keep everything of that nature. But the tent like this that's in front of someone's residential home or that lines our streets that we're concerned about is removed and the person doesn't walk away with a criminal record. That is what I want our Commission to think about in this instance.
Chair Gort: Okay. Can we get the tent down now?
Commissioner Carollo: He wants the tent taken down.
Commissioner Suarez: Let me tell you, these people are efficient tent makers. I mean, they got that up in like 30 seconds. That's unbelievable.
Chair Gort: We used to do it within five minutes.
Commissioner Suarez: That was like 30 seconds right there, Chair.
Chair Gort: In the army, we got it done in five minutes.
Mr. Alfonso: Mr. --
Commissioner Suarez: Are you like a Boy Scout or something?
Unidentified Speaker: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Commissioner Suarez: Oh, okay.
Chair Gort: No, the tents were different in the Marines.
Mr. Alfonso: Mr. Chairman, if I may for a second? While they take that down -- And by the way, our Parks director says he was a Marine. He didn't sleep in a tent; he slept outside. But I want to --
Chair Gort: Commissioner Carollo.
Mr. Alfonso: Just real quick, if I may, sir?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mr. Alfonso: I want to point out that there's been a lot of comment made about Officer Bernat, which he does a great job, and I appreciate it. I also want to recognize the fact that Sergio Torres, Lazaro, and 37 other Green Shirts work every day and every night helping in our homeless situation.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Carollo: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to begin by saying that, Commissioner Sarnoff, you're right. I always say that debate is very healthy, and I'm glad that we're bringing attention to this issue once again, because even though -- and I know you had to repeat it twice -- we are focused on one area with regards to the ordinance, a lot has been spoken and a lot has come of it. And at the same time, we're looking at issues that are bigger than just
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this tent thing. I think, with regards to homelessness, the City of Miami hasn't just spoken; we have acted, as is correctly stated. And I get it; still not fixed. We're still working on it. There still needs -- a lot to be done. I get it, you know. Just yesterday, I met with Constance from Lotus House, and we had the discussion with regards to the Mats Program. I get it. It's not a solution. However, in the meantime, does it make it better or not? The answer, I think, has to be “yes.” Again, I get it; it's not solution. It's not a permanent solution, but we're working towards that permanent solution. And at the same time, I'm hearing, I guess from what everyone's saying or the different parties, you know, about equal rights. Yes, for the homeless and for the people that also live there and live in that area. You know, when you hear a story of Maria Elena Pinto and what her and her husband had to go through, I mean, to a certain degree, you know, I'm wondering if I get that call from Ms. Pinto and she tells me, "Commissioner, it just occurred to us; what can you do?" You know, you know you have a problem, and you struggle with all the issues that we've had the homelessness. So -- and by the way, as far as walking those streets, I have walked those streets. Everybody knows I take my job very seriously. And as chairman of Bayfront Park, I have stayed in downtown Miami many times to see exactly what the residents are going through in various events, so I have walked those streets. And I have not just by myself; with my wife and daughter. And I've had to go around someone that is laying there, you know, and I thank God that that person that is laying there is not myself nor my family, but at the same time, we've had to have -- go around them into the street pushing a stroller; and yes, we did it safely. Nothing occurred. I don't want to make it dramatic. But the truth of the matter is, having a young daughter that I push a lot on a stroller has made me more aware of ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) issues and not just in downtown Miami; in -- and you know, in Little Havana, in different areas that I walk. And you wonder, yes, I was able to, look, make sure no cars were coming, step down, go around; we did it safe. I don't want to, you know, seem dramatic about it, but I often wonder, what if it was someone in a wheelchair; how would they have done it? So, I guess my point is that I get it; we have to find solutions for the chronic homeless for the future, but at the same time, we also have an issue pending. You know, as I was listening to my colleagues -- and I think Commissioner Hardemon sort of hinted at it -- instead of having that tent obstructing the right-of-way and a sidewalk, when an officer comes to speak to that person, if he is homeless, can't that tent be moved to one of the homes, Camillus House, some of the other ones, in their parking lot so that it'd be in a safer place? And I get it, I get it. I heard Ms. Mallette saying, “Listen, it's not best practice for a tent program, especially in our location.” Understood. Probably agree with you. But it's also not best practice to have a tent program in the City right-of-way where you all so clearly seen that many of our residents, business owners, have bring -- have brought legit concerns. So with that, Commissioner Sarnoff, I think, with regards to the motion you made, I think it behooves us to maybe defer it, and I'm not saying to May 12, but let's defer it, because I think some tweaking -- I would like all these organizations -- because you know what? In all fairness, Commissioner Sarnoff, I think, if you really look at it, we all have the best intentions. This is not about criminalizing a situation. This is about solving a problem. And that's why I always welcome the debate, because sometimes we talk past each other, but I think we all have the same intent; and I know, as I mentioned before, the Commission has shown it. We just don't talk about it; we've shown it. We've put dollars towards it. So I think it will behoove this Commission and everybody if we defer it, you know, and again, depending on how long you think or -- but a reasonable amount of time so all these organizations can come together and we can come with a solution. Commissioner Hardemon, what you said, you know, bouncing it off of someone, but that was, you know, within a few minutes or within 30 minutes or so forth, but I think, if we bounce it off more people and really see some type of a long-term solution -- but at the same time, looking at everyone's rights, I think it'll be the best -- the most prudent way for us to act.
Chair Gort: Thank you. I'll go last, and I promise, I won't be long, but I can give you a little history. Back in 1985, I was the executive director of Downtown Miami Business Association. I started working towards the homeless. I improve the homeless. We establish programs where we hire homeless and they did the work in downtown Miami. We train them as a gardener. And I'm glad that all of you are here, because that's very important. We all want to do the same thing,
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but unfortunate, in Miami we had that tendency to create guerilla warfare: “This is my turf; don't get involved with me. I can't work with you. I got to do this.” Somehow, we can see this problem is a lot larger than what you all think. Now, it's not only downtown Miami; it's the rights -- this is Allapattah. We got a lot of homeless. Now, I want to know what is the right of the small business person that has that person there keeping his clients away from the door? What are his rights? Who's going to protect that people's right? You know, I understand, and I think the homeless need to be helped. Like it was stated before, mentally ill, drug addicts, alcoholics, they need help, special help. You can't just put them in a place and take care of them, because you can't do it that way. But we have this all over the City of Miami in all our neighborhoods, and why they come to the City? Because the other cities are not allowed to do that. They send them here, besides all the one that come from the north. So it's about time the Coalition, the Trust, and everybody that provide service -- I mean, there's a lot of people missing here today that provide service to the homeless. They're not here. Now, they should be here. Somehow, you all have to get together and put all your resources together, along with the City of Miami, along with the other municipalities, because this is a Miami-Dade County problem and we got to deal with it as a team, and that's why the debate is good. I'm glad all you were here, because you heard from the business side; we heard from the homeless advocates, but we all have rights. I mean, thank God for the United States of America where we all have rights. Property owner have rights, business have right, homeless have rights, and we got to help them, and the City of Miami has been committed. In 1994, I was determining vote to create the Trust, to allow it to be in South Miami Avenue and 15 Street. I was the vote, and I -- let me tell you, I had a lot of calls for me not to vote for it, because I thought it was good. A lot of promises were made by the Trust, and how long has it been now? Twenty-some years? And they were going to take care of the homeless within 10 years. It's 20 years and it's getting worse. So we got to get all of us together and work as a team. Thank you.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff: I'll withdraw my motion, but I'd like to make a new motion.
Chair Gort: Go ahead, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff: I'd like this to come back to the City Commission within 30 days. I'd like to direct the City Attorney to find a solution which makes the tent itself illegal, if she can, so as to prevent the tent or shelter from being in a public right-of-way. I'm going to ask her in that time frame to sit with the ACLU or any interested persons within the next 15 days so that this can come back to us within 30 days.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved and second. Let me -- also, we talked about the -- their private property. I don't know if you all seen them lately in our neighborhoods where homeless walking around with about three different carts. A lot of times they have spoil food. They have things that could be against their health. Is that -- should be allowable? Should we talk to them?
Commissioner Sarnoff: Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Well, you talked about the private property. That's -- some of the private property is harmful to them and to the people. Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff: I'd like to make an ore tenus motion from this City Commission directing the director of the Homeless Trust to sit down with Officer Bernat and any of his designees, as well as Madam City Attorney, to come up with a plan to spend down its $6 million in surplus to
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address the 600 chronic homeless in the City of Miami.
Commissioner Carollo: Second.
Chair Gort: Been moved and second.
Commissioner Suarez: Can I just --
Vice Chair Hardemon: I don't think we voted on the first one.
Commissioner Suarez: Huh?
Vice Chair Hardemon: Did we vote on the first motion?
Chair Gort: No, we didn't.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Okay.
Commissioner Suarez: We didn't. Did we vote on the first one?
Mr. Hannon: Not on the --
Commissioner Suarez: The deferral?
Chair Gort: -- deferred.
Mr. Hannon: Not yet.
Commissioner Suarez: You want to vote on the deferral --
Mr. Hannon: We have the motion and the second --
Commissioner Suarez: -- first and then --
Commissioner Sarnoff: Oh, we didn't vote on it? I'm sorry
Mr. Hannon: That's okay, sir.
Chair Gort: There's a motion to defer. Second?
Mr. Hannon: Good to go.
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, yeah.
Mr. Hannon: We just need the vote.
Chair Gort: No further discussion. All in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Chair Gort: Second.
Commissioner Carollo: Okay.
Commissioner Carollo: The motion that he said and I -- the motion that --
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Commissioner Suarez: Yeah.
Commissioner Carollo: -- was stated by Commissioner Sarnoff and I second.
Chair Gort: Okay, it's been moved and second. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Commissioner Suarez: I actually do have discussion, but my discussion is this --
Chair Gort: They'll discuss it.
Commissioner Suarez: What's that?
Chair Gort: They can discuss it later.
Commissioner Suarez: All right.
Chair Gort: They're going to sit down to discuss it, so they might say “no”; they might say “yes.” I don't know, okay?
Commissioner Suarez: All right.
Chair Gort: It's up to them. Thank you all. What time you guys want to be back, 3:30?
Ms. Mallette: Commissioner, I just need (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Chair Gort: No, I understand what you're going to say. You got to go to your board, it's the one that have to decide and all that. Look, we've been sitting here now since 9 o'clock. We haven't been able to go anywhere. We had to stay here and we need to take a break, okay?
Ms. Mallette: Commissioner, I certainly understand. I just want to correct something for the record. There's this erroneous misconception that there's just $6 million sitting there to be spent. Those are primarily in two accounts: One is a capital reserve and one is a tax equalization reserve. And I'm sure these are two reserves the City has, as well. So we can't look at it like it's just unspent change lying on the floor.
Chair Gort: Ma'am, whenever you sit down with the officer, you discuss that and you let him know and you give him the information. That's all.
Ms. Mallette: I agree.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Ms. Mallette: I would love to set down with Officer Bernat.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Ms. Mallette: We sit down regularly now and we'll continue to do so.
Chair Gort: And you all need to sit down with a lot more people, believe me.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Officer Bernat.
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Chair Gort: Because the Trust, you were given -- the Trust --
Ms. Mallette: I will sit down with anyone --
Chair Gort: The trust was given --
Ms. Mallette: -- and everyone who wants to sit down with me.
Chair Gort: -- you were given the order to eliminate homeless 20 years ago. Thank you.
Mr. Hannon: Chair, you coming -- we're coming back at 3:30?
Chair Gort: 3:30.
SR.3 ORDINANCE Second Reading 15-00176 District 4- AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER Commissioner 22/ARTICLE VIII OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA AS Francis Suarez AMENDED, MORE PARTICULARLY BY CREATING A NEW SECTION ENTITLED "DISTRIBUTION OF COMMERCIAL HANDBILLS DURING CERTAIN EVENTS PROHIBITED; PENALTY; ENFORCEMENT," SETTING THE GUIDELINES, PENALTIES, AND ENFORCEMENT OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF COMMERCIAL HANDBILLS DURING CERTAIN EVENTS; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 15-00176 Legislation SR.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Suarez Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Hardemon
13503
Chair Gort: SR.3.
Commissioner Suarez: I move SR.3. It's the handbill ordinance.
Commissioner Carollo: Second.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Suarez; second by Commissioner Carollo.
Commissioner Suarez: Quick discussion.
Chair Gort: Let me open it to the public first.
Commissioner Suarez: Sure.
Chair Gort: Is anyone in the public would like to address this issue? Anyone in the public? Seeing none, hearing none, close the public hearings. You're recognized, Commissioner Suarez.
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Commissioner Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to just say that, you know, obviously, Ultra is a festival that is going to come -- is going to -- this ordinance is going to apply to, so I would just ask that the City Manager, you know, be cognizant of that and make sure that this ordinance is applied, you know, and that there be enforcement, because obviously, we legislate tremendously. And if there's no enforcement behind the legislation, the legislation kind of falls on deaf ears, so it's a first opportunity to enforce this legislation, and I would appreciate the Manager's commitment to that.
Chair Gort: Question: Who's in charge of enforcement of this ordinance?
Commissioner Sarnoff: Code.
Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): I suppose --
Victoria Méndez (City Attorney): It's between Code Enforcement and the Police Department, both.
Chair Gort: So both are in charge of --
Ms. Méndez: Well, I mean, either/or can --
Chair Gort: Either/or, okay. Well, I want to make sure --
Commissioner Carollo: And Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: -- we be able to apply that in all the other ordinance that we have.
Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman?
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Carollo: The only caveat that I want to do is I want to make sure that the Police are focused on public safety. So I would prefer that Code Enforcement, if this is the first event that they're going to -- actually, you have two events. You have -- before Ultra, you have Calle Ocho on Southwest 8th Street, so that's actually the first event. But in all fairness, I prefer for the Police to be more focused on the public safety aspect, especially with what happened last year at the Ultra festival than about these handbills. So I respectfully request that Code Enforcement be the one who, at least in these two events, would enforce. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Any further discussion? It's an ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item SR.3. Commissioner Sarnoff?
Commissioner Sarnoff: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Carollo?
Commissioner Carollo: Yes. And, actually, the first event is “E” Race, and then Calle Ocho and then Ultra.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Suarez?
Commissioner Suarez: Yes.
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Mr. Hannon: Chair Gort?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: Actually, the legislation might not go into law by Saturday.
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 4-0.
END OF SECOND READING ORDINANCES
FIRST READING ORDINANCES
FR.1 ORDINANCE First Reading 15-00041 Office of the City AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Clerk ATTACHMENT(S), PROVIDING FOR A GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION ON NOVEMBER 3, 2015, FOR THE PURPOSE OF ELECTING THREE (3) COMMISSIONERS; FURTHER PROVIDING FOR A RUNOFF ELECTION, IF REQUIRED, ON NOVEMBER 17, 2015; PROVIDING FOR THE REGISTRATION OF PERSONS QUALIFIED TO VOTE IN BOTH ELECTIONS; DESCRIBING PERSONS QUALIFIED TO VOTE IN BOTH ELECTIONS; DESCRIBING THE REGISTRATION BOOKS AND RECORDS MAINTAINED UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF THE GENERAL LAWS OF FLORIDA AND CHAPTER 16 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, WHICH THE CITY HAS ADOPTED FOR USE IN GENERAL MUNICIPAL AND RUNOFF ELECTIONS; DESIGNATING AND APPOINTING THE CITY CLERK AS THE OFFICIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE CITY COMMISSION WITH RESPECT TO THE USE OF SUCH REGISTRATION BOOKS AND RECORDS; AND DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO GIVE NOTICE BY PUBLICATION OF THE ADOPTION OF THIS ORDINANCE AND THE PROVISIONS HEREOF; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE. 15-00041 Memorandum FR/SR.pdf 15-00041 Letter from Supervisor of Elections FR/SR.pdf 15-00041 Estimated Costs for Nov 3 2015 Election FR/SR.pdf 15-00041 2015 General Municipal Election Calendar FR/SR.pdf 15-00041 Legislation FR/SR.pdf 15-00041 Exhibit No. 1 FR/SR.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be PASSED ON FIRST READING PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo and Suarez Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Hardemon Chair Gort: Okay. FR.1.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Good afternoon, Commissioners. FR.1 is a first reading ordinance providing for a general municipal election on November 3, 2015, for Districts 1, 2, and 4. It also, if necessary, will move the runoff from November 10 to November 17, per request from the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections.
Commissioner Suarez: Move it for discussion.
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Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Suarez. Is there a second?
Commissioner Carollo: Second for discussion. What's all this information?
Chair Gort: Second by Commissioner Carollo. This is a public hearing. Is anyone in the public would like to address this issue?
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah.
Chair Gort: Anyone in the public? You're not the public. Anyone in the public? Seeing none, hearing none, close the public hearing. Yes, sir, you're recognized.
Commissioner Suarez: I pay taxes too; I could be a member of the public. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, two quick things on this: First, the Clerk had advanced this as a possible Charter amendment as something that we are looking at in the Charter Review Committee, because every year we have to do this, and the County attorney -- I mean, I'm sorry -- the County Elections Department is constantly asking us every election cycle to do this, so we might as well -- it's kind of a clean-up issue. And the second part is -- and I'm sorry, you know, Commissioner. What this was is -- you know, we're like the only city -- or at least of the major cities that I know of -- we're one of the cities that require us to file our campaign reports by hand -- in other words, in person -- whereas, the County and the State allow us to do it electronically. And, you know, this is just -- this simply would allow -- this is not -- by the way, it's not part -- it's not -- not anything we' re voting on today. It's just information. -- that would allow us to piggyback on the County system, so we could use the County system. The cost for using that system would be -- I think the first-year cost would be $6,950 to be able to electronically file, and then the annual cost thereafter is like $2,765. So, I mean, it's a very, very minimal cost to be able to -- to allow candidates to file their reports online versus having to come in in person, which would create more transparency by preventing candidates from being late if they -- you know, if they can't get on a particular date to and from their accountant's office or whatever. It just makes it a lot easier and more efficient.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Suarez: So if that's something that this Commission wants to consider. It's a very small allocation to do it. It's a small piggyback, and it would be a huge benefit to candidates, I think.
Chair Gort: Commissioner Carollo, you're recognized.
Commissioner Carollo: No, but this isn't what we're voting on, correct?
Commissioner Suarez: No, no.
Commissioner Carollo: This is for --
Commissioner Suarez: I'll bring it back another time, yeah. Just for -- I just wanted you to see that in my due diligence on this issue, there's a piggyback that we could do with the County, which is the one that has an electronic system and the cost would be like $6,000 the first year and 2,000 every additional year thereafter.
Chair Gort: Okay. Any further discussion? Being none, it's an ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
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Mr. Hannon: Roll call on item FR.1.
A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on first reading, 4-0.
Chair Gort: FR.2.
Commissioner Suarez: By the way, I'm sorry. On FR.1 real quick, now we've had to go to monthly reporting.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: So, in addition, you know, it's not quarterly reporting whereas before; now we have to submit three times the number of reports, so.
Commissioner Sarnoff: I'm going to -- for whatever it's worth, I'm in agreement with you.
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah.
Chair Gort: Yeah.
FR.2 ORDINANCE First Reading 15-00284 District 2- AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER Commissioner Marc 62/ARTICLE XIII/DIVISION 9 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, David Sarnoff FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED "ZONING AND PLANNING/ZONING APPROVAL FOR TEMPORARY USES AND OCCUPANCIES; PERMIT REQUIRED/FARMERS' MARKET PILOT PROGRAM," MORE PARTICULARLY BY AMENDING SECTION 62-622 ENTITLED, "FARMER'S MARKET PILOT PROGRAM"; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 15-00284 Legislation FR/SR.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be PASSED ON FIRST READING PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
Chair Gort: FR.2.
Commissioner Sarnoff: I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. FR.2 is an ordinance of the City of Miami amending Chapter 62/Article VIII/Division 9 of the Code of the City of Miami, entitled “Zoning and Planning/Approval for Temporary Uses and Occupancy” [sic]. We used to have something called a “farmers market,” and it was a pilot project. I think I'm being picked on by the Administration, because I think I must be in that clubhouse with Commissioner Carollo. I don't see him next to me anymore. This has got to be the only temporary ordinance or pilot project I've ever seen sunsetted, and it just got sunsetted. I know of programs that have come before us that are 20 years old that were only supposed to be piloted for two years, and they're still going, but in this circumstance, the Manager did the right thing; followed the ordinance; it sunsetted. I think it was extremely successful. I don't know why he chose my ordinance, but hey, it's here. And I think this was a good idea. I think it's a great idea. It happens to be primarily in Commissioner Hardemon's neighborhood now. It's in the Upper Eastside where it's being used, but it's being used in other -- farmers markets have been pretty successful in the City of Miami, especially in food deserts. I know you have a food desert primarily in Overtown and maybe a
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little bit of Liberty City, and they've been pretty effective at getting some nutritional, good things to people. I remember the one, primarily, Commissioner Hardemon, on the Upper Eastside. We started that one. We actually have one in Coconut Grove right now, a farmers market. So I think it's something that we are successful at doing, and I would suggest that we take the pilot off of it. It died. It's over. And we just bring back -- this is the ordinance to actually do farmers markets.
Chair Gort: I think Jackson has it also, which is very successful, at the Jackson, help you with very health food, teach people how to eat healthy. And let me tell you, I think the Manager's doing what we asked him to do. For too many years we had pilot programs that last, like you said, forever; and then we had programs that was supposed to be temporary and they lasted for years. So I'm glad the Manager's taking that action. Okay, anyone in the public would like to address this issue? Seeing none, hearing none, we close the public hearing.
Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Carollo: I also received earlier today -- I think we all did -- a resolution or a proposal for a resolution. It was supposed to be a D5 (District 5) pocket item. It's along the same lines as FR.1, correct?
Vice Chair Hardemon: May I, Mr. Chairman?
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Hardemon: It is, but the reason I'm still going to ask to put that on is because the fees that they've paid to have the -- the fees that that organization has paid to actually put that event on, it's been about -- in amount of about $1,800, so they've already paid to do those events, and it makes sense for us to acknowledge their payment and have them put the events on further, but that would touch their ability to actually do it. It's just the matter, they're working on --
Chair Gort: Payments.
Vice Chair Hardemon: -- permits right now. They paid for the permits to actually have their events.
Chair Gort: Okay. Any further discussion? Roll call.
Vice Chair Hardemon: It's been --
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Chair, I need a motion --
Vice Chair Hardemon: I move it.
Mr. Hannon: -- and a second.
Commissioner Suarez: Move it.
Vice Chair Hardemon: I'll second it.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff [sic]; second by Vice Chairman Hardemon.
Ms. Méndez: It was already read by Commissioner Sarnoff.
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Chair Gort: Commissioner read it.
Commissioner Carollo: Roll call.
Mr. Hannon: Roll call on item FR.2.
A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above.
Vice Chair Hardemon: The ordinance passes on first reading, 5-0.
Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman?
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Carollo: We still haven't voted on this for the resolution, though, right? And I have something --
Chair Gort: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Commissioner Carollo: -- that I want to bring up now, but we could do it at the end of the meeting or however you want it; if you want to take up pocket items at the end of the meeting.
Chair Gort: No, let's finish this. I mean --
Commissioner Carollo: Okay.
Chair Gort: -- we've been in this agenda. We have people waiting for the Planning & Zoning. We can do it at the end.
Commissioner Carollo: You got it.
END OF FIRST READING ORDINANCES
RESOLUTIONS
RE.1 RESOLUTION 15-00082 District 5 - A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ESTABLISHING THAT Commissioner Keon THE MEANS BY WHICH THE FUNDS FOR THE ANTI-POVERTY INITIATIVE Hardemon BE ALLOCATED AMONG THE FIVE (5) DISTRICTS OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BE PROPORTIONATE TO THE PERCENTAGE OF POVERTY LEVELS BASED ON THE FIVE (5) YEAR POVERTY RATE AS DETERMINED BY THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY, AS ADJUSTED ANNUALLY. 15-00082 Legislation.pdf 15-00082-Submittal-City Manager-Distribution of Anti-Poverty Initiative Funds.pdf 15-00082-Submittal-Milton Vickers-Presentation-Gateway to Self-Sufficiency.pdf
Motion by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Hardemon Noes: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
R-15-0106
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Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): Commissioners, RE.1 is the item where, Commissioner Hardemon, I made a proposal on how to split the money that was set aside by this Commission, the $1.25 million, and there was a formula that was proffered; those numbers were shared with the Commission. As I've stated in our briefings, we can have that discussion, but the Administration would also respectfully request that we make a presentation on the use of the funds.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Milton Vickers (Special Projects Specialist/Office of the City Manager): If you bear with us, Mr. Chairman, we sort of hook up a PowerPoint presentation. Good afternoon, Commissioners -- Mr. Chair and Commissioners. The Administration has developed possible alternatives --
Chair Gort: I'm sorry, and you are?
Mr. Vickers: I'm Milton Vickers, the Office of the City Manager. We've developed some alternatives -- alternative programming for the use of the antipoverty dollars for your consideration. I'll give you a little background in terms of poverty in the City of Miami. Residents living below the poverty level represents 29.9 percent of the total population; 44 percent of that population is under the age of 18. The median household income in the City of Miami is about $30,375, and unemployment rate -- or recorded unemployment rate of about 7.9 percent. I think I don't have to tell most of you that that rate is a little misleading. In many communities, that unemployment rate can hover around 18 percent or more, especially among individuals under the age of 18. Monthly housing costs, greater than 35 percent of the monthly income, it's 54 percent for individuals who own their own homes with mortgages and 57 percent for renters. We have the third highest level of income inequities nationally. One of the objectives that we looked at is to improve the outcomes for Miami residents, support residents in achieving self-sufficiency, maximizing the impact on City resources, strategic investments, accountability performance, and leveraging partnerships. The approach that we would take is basically to develop our focus groups of in-house personnel that would contribute to identifying the areas of major interest and concern within the City of Miami. I've gotten a little ahead of myself with the PowerPoint presentation. We would also engage stakeholders, individual community-based organizations that exist in each of your commun -- in each of your Commission districts to identify the major issues as it relates to poverty and solving poverty rates in the community. Some of the preliminary findings of some of the research that we've done indicates crucial areas of focus: education, job training, small business development, housing, health and well-being, and crime. Short-term priorities that we're presenting to you today identify and remove barriers to self-sufficiency, focus on young adults, focus on targeted industry, work readiness, high school diplomas, GED (General Education Diploma) certification, education and life-skill training, as well as personal financial management training. The proposed programs -- or some programs that many of you are well aware of: Youth Build Program in the area of construction, automotive service technician training, hospitality and tourism training, EMT (Emergency Management Team) training; and Family First, which is a family counseling program that's already being administered in the City of Miami. The Youth Build, starting with the construction program: The description of the program is basically where we take high school students, or individuals between 16 and 22, and train them in the construction trades. Six hours, at least two days out of the week, the individuals would also study for their high school diploma and GED; leadership development for low-income adults. They would also partner -- we would also partner with existing agencies: Greater Miami Service Corps, our jobs program, and we're talking about an estimated cost of about $300,000 for about 20 participants. Automotive service training, where we'll take individuals within the City of Miami, train them on automotive repair. They would spend time in City auto shops to pick up the skills necessary for heavy equipment training, diesel mechanic repair. Service partners there would be Greater Miami Service Corps, Lindsay Hopkins Technical College, and City of Miami CareerSource, which is our jobs program.
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Estimated cost of that program citywide would be $250,000 for 15 participants. Our hospitality training program is piggybacking on an existing program that's through the Overtown/Park West CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency). Individuals would train in the area of hospitality; at the same time, obtaining their high school diploma or GED. They would receive credits toward an associate's degree; they would pick up certifications necessary to work in the hospitality industry, primarily restaurants and food service. Our service partners: Greater Miami Service Corps, Miami Dade College Hospitality, Management Institute, and ER Hospitality Institute. Approximately $300,000 would be the cost for 40 participants. Our Fire Department submitted this program. If you are aware, most fire departments in the three-county area are hiring individuals with EMT certification. There's a program that exists today with the Miami Dade Community College medical campus that we would certainly like to participate in for First Responders, paramedics, and EMT training with mentoring and career guidance for high school students and graduates; partners again, Miami Dade College Medical Campus; City of Miami Fire Department, City of Miami CareerSource; approximate cost, $100,000 for 24 participants in two classes. Family First is another project that's already being run by the City that we would look to expand. It's a parenting support program that provides counseling to parents and guardians inside the City of Miami to promote social, emotional, and academic success for children. Our partners: Exceptional Consulting for Educational Leadership, Gymboree, City of Miami Office of Grant Administration, City of Miami Fire-Rescue Department; estimated cost is $50,000. These are some examples of best practices that we thought might interest you in terms of expenditures regarding the antipoverty initiatives. Thank you for allowing us to make this presentation. If there's any questions, I'd be more than happy to address them.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Want me to go? One, I can appreciate the Administration for wanting to give us examples of how we can spend the dollars that we had to fight to actually receive to fight poverty within our communities. This is something that -- I think that Commissioner Suarez acknowledged, Commissioner Sarnoff definitely acknowledged, that the $1.25 million that we were able to secure is not a lot of money. And, I mean, we've used terms, such as “leverage” -- we've used all types of language to talk about how we're going to go about and make the biggest impact. And the one thing that I realize over this $1.25 million discussion is that all of us have different ideas as to how we go about us spending these dollars, and I think that's because poverty looks different in all of our communities. Each one of us sitting here has a poverty issue that we must tackle, and how we go about doing it, all of us have thought differently. For instance -- and the Chairman believes that the scholarships to some of these children to get themselves out of poverty is important, and so we find ourselves at a crossroad where we're trying to find out, well, what can we do in this year with this fund to make the biggest impact. Part of the reason that I proposed that we split the poverty dollars in the way that the dollars follow the -- follows the poverty, if you will, is because it gives us an opportunity to look at our districts individually to determine how we want to go about using these dollars. So, for instance, if there are existing programs as such was presented by Mr. Vickers, we can invest dollars in those for training. Commissioner Sarnoff may believe that the firefighters program is something that will benefit his community greatly, and he may want to invest his dollars in that program, and so might I, and so then we've put in a certain amount of dollars to get these program going, if not for 25 students, for 10, which makes a difference in our communities, because it's only $1.25 million. When we started to talk about the poverty initiative dollars, I had a full presentation I was prepared just in case we needed to -- I needed to make it so that we can secure those dollars, and I didn't present it because we -- as a rule of parliamentary procedure, really, not to delay everything because we had already agreed that we would retain those dollars. So in the end, I still find myself trying to find a way that we, as individual Commissioners, can use our dollars for poverty initiatives in the way that we best think for our community, and I think that the discussion that's been put on the table, which I'm glad to see that the Administration is starting to think about, is how we tackle poverty within our community as a whole. We need to establish a fund, a revenue source, a stream of income that we can use on a
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yearly basis that doesn't amount to $1.25 [sic], but whatever we can -- whatever that generating dollars is, that we use those dollars specifically to fight poverty, and I'm brainstorming these different ideas. We've talked about some of those through the poverty dollars meetings that we've been having with Commissioner Suarez and a lot of the other Commissioners that have been attending as well, especially with everyone's staff. So we're trying to find these ways to go about doing it, and I certainly support the continued dialogue about finding ways to tackle poverty within the City of Miami, because it's something that we truly need to be able to do. In the same way that you look at other homeless organizations have an income stream to fight homelessness within our communities, we need to find a way to fight poverty in ours, and poverty is something that touches all of us in some type of way. It's not just about poor black and brown people in certain districts, so poverty -- if we're able to tackle poverty -- and we're doing it in so many different ways. We're doing it with responsible wages; we're doing it with the local hiring preferences; we're doing it in different ways that -- outside-of-the-box ways of thinking to raise the income level in our communities. So we need to also be able to do it in some of the ways that was presented by Mr. Vickers, but ultimately, it takes dollars to make those decisions. And I want to have -- I want to be able to, within the district that I represent, use the dollars the way that I think are best within that district to tackle poverty in my community.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. You know, I kind of want to piggyback off a lot of the things that Commissioner Hardemon said. First of all, I do also commend the Administration, because I think their objective was to look at this issue globally, and, you know, I think in our initiative meetings, we've taken a variety of different positions and debated a variety of different initiatives, and I almost like to call it instead of the “poverty initiative”; the “prosperity initiative,” because at the end of the day -- go ahead.
Vice Chair Hardemon: If I can, Mr. Chairman. I thought about that. Of course, we always want to talk in the positive instead of the negative, but what I've learned -- because the County actually just called it a “prosperity,” or something like that, initiative.
Commissioner Suarez: Is that what it is?
Vice Chair Hardemon: But the people don't recognize what that means, but when you say “poverty,” people usually recognize what you're talking about.
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah, they identify with the word; certainly a more common term than “prosperity,” but -- you know, for example, to kind of also touch on your point, because you also said, you know, that we all have specific ideas, and I'll tell you, while I'm a huge proponent of the hospitality industry, as you all know, I've been -- and I've also been pushing tremendously for some sort of a construction institute, because of the CRA dollars and all the construction that's happening over the next 5 to 10 years. One of the things that's missing here is, from my perspective, I think is a huge opportunity is technology. And I think that in our inner cities, in particular, middle school children are not being exposed to technology early enough in some of our poorer areas, and I think if you look at all these jobs here -- I mean, all of these industries, they're good industries and they have good jobs and -- but they're not high-paying jobs, so do we -- I think part of our challenge is to excite the youth, and to give them the belief that no matter where they grow up, no matter where they were born, they're going to have the opportunity to be wildly successful, and I think that's what makes this country special. I think what makes this country special is that you can start with nothing and you can be, you know, whatever you want to be essentially, if you educate yourself and if you work hard. So, you know, I'm -- I also, you know, welcome the debate and the discussion. That's why I've had so many sunshine meetings on it, because I don't think it's an easy thing to do. If it were easy, we would have done it a long
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time ago. And as the Commissioner said, you know, what we're -- what we've been talking about in those meetings is leveraging, you know, how can we leverage these dollars also so that whatever we invest them in, there's a return on our investment in the sense of we maximize those dollars? Because like you said -- and you're absolutely a hundred percent correct -- $1.25 million is not going to eradicate poverty in the City of Miami. I think you said it actually in a CRA meeting a little differently. It wouldn't even eradicate poverty in one block of the City of Miami, so, you know, we definitely have to be creative. We do have to think somewhat globally, and we do, you know, have to have a variety of different initiatives. But I do also think that debate on this issue is great. I have no problem with the distribution. If that's the way the Commission wants to go, I'll vote in favor of it. I would have voted in favor of it the last time that it was up, even though I didn't have the distribution on time. Last time I think it was given to us late and I wasn't here that day; I was out of town. But I mean, I support distribution, but I also support looking at it from a different perspective, and I think -- I appreciate the fact that the Administration has taken their initiative and tried to, you know, find a way to be responsible about the expenditure.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Carollo: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As Commissioner Hardemon and Commissioner Suarez know, I've attended basically all, if not almost all, the antipoverty initiative sunshine meetings to make sure that, you know, we're on the same page and what exactly these funds are meant to do. And I also appreciate the presentation from the Administration giving us ideas on how to fight poverty. And listen, when we had the discussion during the budget hearing, I agreed, “Okay, you want 'X' amount for poverty initiative and so forth? Okay, I could go along with something like that.” However, I'm seeing a distribution and I don't think the distribution is accurate. And let me begin by saying I really don't want to be up here haggling about the distribution, how much this district gets, and how much that district gets; I really do not. I don't -- that type of debate I don't think will be healthy, to be honest with you, and I think it's the first time that I've said that here on the dais. But I'll tell you, I see the percentage below poverty level, and you will see -- which I do agree with those numbers, and I've said it in the past. If you see, District 3 is right behind District 5, you know; 32 percent in District 5; 26 percent in District 3. We're right after you guys. However, what I don't understand is because -- I understand that that's just one of the multiples in order to come up with the final distribution. What constitutes a household? And the reason why I ask, does a single person -- single elderly person that is low income, does that constitute a household?
George Mensah: Commissioner -- George Mensah, director of Community Development. If a single individual lives in the apartment by him or herself, then that is a household.
Commissioner Carollo: Okay. Then I don't understand the big disparity in households between the districts, especially when during redistricting we used the U.S. (United States) Census. And it's my understanding that the number of residents between one district and another couldn't be higher than 10 percent distribu -- deviation.
Mr. Mensah: Okay.
Commissioner Carollo: So I don't see how this could be such a large disparity --
Mr. Mensah: No.
Commissioner Carollo: -- between one district and the other.
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Mr. Mensah: I need to explain, Commissioner. And that is, there is a big difference between counting number of residents and counting number of households. You can have 10 people in a household, for example, in certain districts; while in certain districts you have only two, three people in one household and they count it as one. So I just need to understand that there is a difference between a resident and a household, and we -- you -- we -- it depends on -- well, for example, if you go to Little Haiti, for example, you might have 10 people that counts as one household, and they can be counted as 10 in terms of census numbers. These figures -- and just for information, these figures were figures derived from the census (UNINTELLIGIBLE) we don't make them. The figures ourselves; it's numbers that we get from what a census provides, and it's the same numbers that the HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) uses to distribute funding throughout the country. So we have -- you know, we don't have anything to do with how these numbers come out.
Commissioner Carollo: And that's what -- and that's exactly why I asked what constituted a household. Does one person living by themselves constitute a household?
Mr. Mensah: Yes.
Commissioner Carollo: So what you're telling me is that in District 3, I have multifamily households all over --
Mr. Mensah: No, not necessarily.
Commissioner Carollo: -- which, by the way, if you actually walk some of that area, you will see that that is not the case.
Mr. Mensah: No, I agree.
Commissioner Carollo: So that's where --
Mr. Mensah: I'm not -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- Commissioner, no, it doesn't mean that.
Commissioner Carollo: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Chair Gort: Excuse me.
Mr. Mensah: Commissioner, it doesn't -- I want to explain -- I wanted to explain.
Chair Gort: Wait until he finish and then explain.
Mr. Mensah: Okay.
Commissioner Carollo: Because the only way that we could be within the 10 percent deviation on -- when we did the redistricting and then have such a large disparity between households is if I have in District 3 basically numerous multifamily households and they're not that single individuals, which I know exist quite a bit, so it -- especially in the poverty area, especially in East Little Havana and some of those poverty areas that I share the same zip code with Commissioner Hardemon, which I believe is 33128, 33130. I just -- I don't see how --
Chair Gort: Yes, sir. The zip code, it's mixed within districts.
Mr. Mensah: We use --
Chair Gort: Like 142 is in both districts, so.
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Mr. Mensah: We use census tracts; we don't use zip codes. We use census tracts. There are a few census tract that splits between various districts, and where that's place -- what we did -- let's say we have a particular census tract that is split between two districts. We counted both of them just so that we can get a -- the percent, because we are talking about percentages here. And whereas I -- I'm not an expert on -- when it comes to voting, I don't know whether they use households or they use number of residents. I remember when they were talking about the redistrict and I remember the gentleman used more -- the numbers he used was “voters.” I heard him talking about voters and --
Commissioner Carollo: I disagree.
Mr. Mensah: So I don't know.
Commissioner Carollo: I disagree. I don't think it was “voters.” I think it was “residents,” and I say “residents”; it could have been “households.” I don't know. I haven't gone back to look at. But I know for a fact that we couldn't be within 10 percent deviation one district from the other; and here, when I see total households, it's a big deviation.
Mr. Mensah: Yeah. “Household” is different. Thank you.
Commissioner Carollo: You know, so I don't know if they used “households.” I don't -- I'm pretty comfortable they did not use “voters.” I'm pretty comfortable with that. So -- and again, the only way that it will make sense is if you're telling me that District 3 is full of multi-resident households, which I know is not the case. I'm not saying there's not some, but not at the deviation as what this is showing; therefore, it has to be flawed. And when you're using total households as one of the multiples, it makes a dif -- a big difference, as you can see. So that's where, you know, I have an issue with the distribution.
Chair Gort: My understanding, it's “residents.”
Mr. Mensah: The -- that was the -- okay. So that's a big difference, because number of residents and number of households are two different numbers. You can have a situation where a district can have the highest number of residents, but the smallest number of households, which means that that particular district has per -- number of residents per household is higher, and that is where it goes, but --
Commissioner Carollo: So --
Mr. Mensah: I don't know.
Commissioner Carollo: -- listen how this could be flawed. This is -- look, listen how this could be flawed. Because if you have three, okay, if you have three residents that are in the poverty level living in one household, they count as one. Yet, you have three single residents in another district; they count as three separate ones. So you're talking one, two, three with the same population. Three residents are in a poverty level in one household; three residents lives individually, live by themselves in another district that counts as three households. So you got one, two, three; yet, the bottom line is you got three residents in each district that are under the poverty level.
Mr. Mensah: Okay. Commissioner, I --
Chair Gort: Wait a minute. Mr. Manager.
Mr. Alfonso: Commissioners, I -- we just want to point out that we're using data that is available
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on the American Community Surveys as of 2013. Can the data be flawed? Absolutely. This is the method that we were asked to compute. We didn't manipulate the method. We didn't change the method. This is what it is. If you want to change a different method or a different percentage, you know, I'm willing to listen to this Commission make any proposal.
Chair Gort: Right, that's my understanding, that you got to use certain method to pick up the populations within the districts and the distribution according to the poverty in that district , and I think couple of Commissioners do not believe it's actual to the district that we represent, so -- and I think that's the question. Can it be improved? Can it be changed? That's something that the Administration has to do.
Commissioner Carollo: Listen, again, I started this conversation saying, “Listen, I don't want to be here haggling with my colleagues on this,” but, you know, it -- Little Havana does have a big poverty rate, as you could see -- clearly see, and, you know, that area doesn't have a CRA. I could go on and on, you know. So, yeah, we want to be able to use all the dollars we can. I don't want to get, you know, into a big struggle with my colleagues, but I really do believe that the way the distribution was done is flawed. As opposed to total households, maybe it should be residents. You know, I'm not here to say which way we go. I'm just saying that this way, I really believe it's flawed.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Hardemon: I think one of the first rules that trial attorneys learn is that never ask a question that you don't know the answer to. It can hurt you in many different ways. And in this instance, I didn't know the answer to what the income -- what the distribution of dollars would be per district. I did not know. I just knew that we had -- all had poverty issues, and I knew that if the dollars followed the actual poverty that everyone's poverty issues would have some type of dollars towards the percentage that was there. So I didn't know what numbers they would use. I just knew that when I look at the CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) allocations, they -- it comes from the Federal Government. I mean, we've never argued any of those numbers before. And so considering that, I thought that was the safest way to go about distributing those funds, and that's why I did it this way, and that's why I'm comfortable moving forward with the numbers that are presented to me.
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. I mean, look, again, I think, you know -- I don't think we should get into a parochial debate over, you know, the different kinds of standards that you may be able to apply, because I don't know what other standard you could apply, and that would just seem like application cherry picking. You know what I mean? It goes to your point, Commissioner, where you basically said, “Look, you just picked the standard and went with it.” Again, I would support also the global approach, but I wouldn't -- I mean, with all due respect to the Administration, I think they put together a very comprehensive plan. I wouldn't necessarily approve that approach, but I could either go the global approach where we allocate it based on ideas or go with this approach, which is fine with me. I have no problem with this approach. I'll vote for it right now. What I don't want to do is get into, as the Commissioner said, a -- you know, a cherry-picking competition: “Well, if we use a different standard and the numbers are different and” -- you know, I didn't have no -- I had no input in this standard. It was never discussed in a poverty initiative meeting. We never brought it up. All we discussed in poverty initiative meetings were ideas, general ideas, and how we could leverage and what were the things that can happen and can be done to alleviate poverty. So I -- we had no discussion on distribution of funds and -- you know, and that was the end of it.
Commissioner Carollo: And -- Mr. Chairman.
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Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Carollo: And listen, I attended all the meetings or almost all the meetings, and I know there was no discussion on the distribution; only that we were going to try to do it in a way where all districts would get a share. That's why when I saw this, I was a little surprised. And again, you heard it right here from the director of Community Development. You could have one household that has three residents in the poverty level and in another district you have three residents that each live in its own house and that counts as three; and then the other district, which still has three residents in a poverty level, counts as one. So, realistically, the district with the three individual poverty-level individuals receive more of a percentage of money than the one households with three residents. Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: I don't think the --
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Carollo: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: -- director agrees with that.
Chair Gort: Let me tell you, personally, I appreciate the presentation you made. I think it's very important, because I think this is something we really have to look at it as a whole. I understand people want it distributed by the districts, but after the numbers you had given according to the funds that you allocated, I believe at this time there's -- some of us might provide better service within our district utilizing the guidelines and criteria that you have set up. Because I'm a great believer you need to educate people, especially within a neighborhood in poverty. You got to go with the little kids in elementary school, because they drop out of high school because they were not able to learn when they were in elementary school, so by the time they get to the high school, they don't have the education, they fall behind, and that's why they drop out, and this is something we need to work on it. And now at the same time, I think we need to leverage all those funds. I mean, we have all those different -- it's the same thing with the homeless issues that we have. You have so many agencies providing services; so much funds being allocated to these different agencies; but yet, they're independent. “This is my turf; don't get involved with my turf.” And there's a lot of ways that I would like to see the Administration -- and I'm willing to work with you all where we can bring all those resources together; not only the funds that we allocate within districts, but at the same time utilize those along with an existence already so people can really benefit. I think this is what we really need to look at. I believe this is not enough. I think we have taken some actions with the fair wages, with the contracts that -- any City contracts, they got to employ people within that district, which is very important. Employment is very important for the people to have the right wages. That'll help the economy. But I'm a great believer that education is number one to me.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff: First, Mr. Manager, I just want to say, regardless of the distribution -- and I'm obviously the low man on the totem pole, and I expected to be the low man on the totem pole. But I am very impressed. And if the Chief of Fire could come up here. Chief, I probably am going to be one of the guys that's going to participate in this program. I think EMT training is really essential. I know that you and I have been to a number of graduation ceremonies. It has been -- I don't want to use the word “replete,” but two of them had been replete of any African Americans graduating. I know one did have two or three African Americans recently. I want to find a way, particularly in the Village West, that you can create a strategy with -- I'm going to say, $58,000 -- to try to get young men interested or EMT-certified so that at least three,
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four or five of them -- or whatever number that does carry --
Chair Gort: Bring them to standard.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Sure. -- could be in your uniform, in your circumstance. And if you think about it for a moment, Chief, their travel to the fire college is pretty close, so they'll be burning a lot less gas, as they say. They may even be able to walk there. And they live in the City of Miami and they'll be deployed someday to a station very close, and I think that's what we all inevitably want, which is people that live, work, and play in Miami.
Maurice Kemp (Fire Chief): May I have a moment?
Chair Gort: Sure.
Fire Chief Kemp: Maurice Kemp, Fire Chief. Commissioner Sarnoff and other Commissioners, I am very passionate about recruiting young people to the fire service. There are many reasons why we're challenged in getting African American men and females in proportionate numbers. About 10 years ago, I started a program at Miami Edison High School. I partnered with a private company to teach EMT as a part of the high school curriculum. And in exchange for that, they had positions on my rescue trucks for their other students. That worked fairly well for a number of years. That program last year was transitioned to a program at my fire college where we have a partnership with Miami Dade College -- and this is the program that Mr. Vickers is speaking of -- to do the teaching, the 5,000 Role Models to do the screening and selection process and Miami Dade Public Schools is also a part of the partnership. We now have 20 young men and women who will be graduating in the next two weeks from this program, and they will be qualified to take the State EMT test, which would qualify them to apply for our Fire Department and other fire departments; not all, but some fire departments. Also, they'll be qualified to get a job in a local emergency room or with an ambulance company with that EMT certification. So my dream is to get my firefighters into middle school, establish relationship with these kids; keep your noise clean, get out of high school, get your EMT certification, and we will lead you to a job in the fire service, but this takes a while and it takes about $50,000 per class for 25, 26 young adults. And this program is in place right now, but to perpetuate it, I need money. And the Administration has bought into proffering this to you, and I really hope we can find a way to perpetuate this program.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Sir --
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Just so that I'm clear, Chief, should I get this 50-plus thousand dollars, that is my intention. I know you and I have had this conversation before, and if this doesn't come to fruition this year, because you're saying it takes a number of years for this to matriculate down the process -- I do think you're doing the right thing. It wasn't a criticism. What I was saying, I was aware of the fact that you were doing this.
Fire Chief Kemp: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff: I want to be a part of what you're doing.
Fire Chief Kemp: No, I don't take it as a criticism. I'm glad you brought it up. I was standing over here hoping to get an opportunity to speak. When I say it takes a while, it takes a while to take a young person from a dream of being a firefighter to a position on a truck. As soon as they graduate from this EMT program and successfully pass the State test, they can apply for jobs. That doesn't take a while, but to get them -- I can't promise you you'll be in a Miami Fire Department, but if you're willing to get the requisite certifications and do the work, I'm pretty
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sure you can get a job in somebody's fire department, and that's the dream. It's not so much just to get them in my fire department, but to introduce them to a career where they can pull their whole families up, and that's what it's all about.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Thank you.
Chair Gort: My understanding -- and I'm sorry. My understanding, once you're certified, you can work -- it doesn't have to be a fire department; there's a lot of places where they need individuals like that where they can get good salaries.
Fire Chief Kemp: In every hospital emergency room, you have EMTs and paramedics. On every private ambulance company, AMR and others, you have EMTs and you have paramedics. So the fire jobs are more coveted; therefore, they're more competitive. It may take a little while. This program could grow. Right now as EMT, what would preclude us from doing paramedic training? It's Miami Dade College, they do that. What would preclude us from doing firefighter training? We have a fire college; we can do that, but it all takes funding.
Chair Gort: Thank you, Chief. Anything else, Commissioner?
Commissioner Sarnoff: Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Fire Chief Kemp: Thank you for the opportunity.
Chair Gort: So this is ways that I believe you can leverage the funds, and each one of us can decide what do we want to do with the individuals and so on. Yes, sir.
Mr. Alfonso: Yes, absolutely, Mr. Chairman. As we stated, this would be an approach that we were proposing, and there's different programs that do generate jobs that actually pay good money. I know there was a statement made about most of these things that we're proposing, you know, didn't seem to be high-paying jobs, but firefighting is a good profession, and it does well.
Commissioner Suarez: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) exception; my Apologies.
Mr. Alfonso: And we also mentioned automotive mechanics, which we can work with our GSA (General Services Administration) Department to have programs there, so that's also a profession that does well. And we can help kids get into college, but not everybody goes to college.
Chair Gort: My understanding, everybody -- no, not everybody has to go to college. You need people of profession. But let me ask you a question. I know the private sector, they're training and they hire people for auto mechanic. We have quite a few people willing to do that. They'll hire them, they'll teach them, and then they'll keep them, okay. So what's the --?
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Vice Chair Hardemon: I'd like to move to approve the item as presented.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: Including the distribution that was here from last time; is that what you're saying?
Vice Chair Hardemon: With what we have, the distribution --
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Chair Gort: With what we have?
Vice Chair Hardemon: Yes.
Chair Gort: Okay. It's been moved and second. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye." Aye.
Commissioner Suarez: Aye.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Aye.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Aye.
Commissioner Carollo: No.
Chair Gort: RE.2.
Commissioner Suarez: Can I just say one last thing on this last item; one last thing, please, Mr. Chair?
Chair Gort: Sure.
Commissioner Suarez: This does not preclude a Commissioner from potentially sponsoring an idea that might touch and improve on other Commission districts, because that might end up being what happens. Maybe the explanation of an idea ends up benefiting another district, for example, and I think we've done that on a variety of different things with our -- for example, parade funds and things that we've done of that nature. So, you know, we've been very generous as colleagues to spread the wealth and understand where all the needs are and not look at our City in a boundary-filled way.
Chair Gort: Thank you. You can always establish a program, but people can apply from different districts, so.
RE.2 RESOLUTION 15-00157 Office of Grants A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Administration ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR REIMBURSEMENT GRANT FUNDING TO THE FLORIDA INLAND NAVIGATION DISTRICT ("FIND") WATERWAYS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $1,250,000.00 FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF BAYWALK ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE FEC SLIP, CONNECTING NORTH TO MUSEUM PARK AND SOUTH TO PARCEL B BAYWALK ("PROJECT"); AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF THE REQUIRED MATCHING FUNDS FOR FIFTY PERCENT (50%) OF THE PROJECT COSTS, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $1,250,000.00, AVAILABLE UNDER CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT AND TRANSPORTATION ("CITP") PROJECT B-30538, AWARD 1422 MUSEUM PARK; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR THE SUBMISSION OF SAID GRANT APPLICATION, THE EXECUTION OF GRANT OR DEED AGREEMENTS, AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS, AND EXTENSIONS, AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF GRANT FUNDS IN THE EVENT OF THE AWARD OF THE GRANT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016.
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15-00157 Summary Form.pdf 15-00157 Back-Up from Law Dept.pdf 15-00157 Legislation.pdf 15-00157 Exhibit.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
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Chair Gort: Yes, ma'am.
Lillian Blondet (Director): Good afternoon. Lillian Blondet, Office of Grants Administration. RE.2 is a resolution of the Miami City Commission, with attachments, authorizing the City Manager to submit an application for reimbursement grant funding to FIND (Florida Inland Navigational District), in an amount not to exceed $1,250,000 for the construction of Baywalk -- of the baywalk on the south side of the FEC (Florida East Coast) slip, connecting the north -- connecting north to Museum Park and south to Parcel “B” Walkway; authorizing the allocation of the required matching funds for 50 percent of the project cost, in an amount not to exceed 1,250,000 available under CIP -- CITP (Capital Improvement and Transportation) Project B-30538, Award 1422; and authorizing the City Manager to execute any and all necessary documents in a form acceptable to the City Attorney for the submission of said grant application, execution of grant or deed agreements, amendments, modifications, and extensions, and the acceptance of grant funds in the event of the award of the grant for fiscal year 2015-2016.
Commissioner Sarnoff: So moved.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff --
Commissioner Carollo: Second.
Chair Gort: -- second by Commissioner Carollo. Any discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RE.3 RESOLUTION 15-00158 Office of Grants A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Administration ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR REIMBURSEMENT GRANT FUNDING TO THE FLORIDA INLAND NAVIGATION DISTRICT ("FIND") WATERWAYS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $700,000.00, FOR THE SEYBOLD CANAL DREDGING PROJECT ("PROJECT"); AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF THE REQUIRED MATCHING FUNDS IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $700,000.00, TO BE PROVIDED BY CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT AND TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM ("CITP") PROJECT B-50643; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, FOR THE SUBMISSION OF SAID GRANT APPLICATION, THE EXECUTION OF GRANT OR DEED AGREEMENTS AND AMENDMENTS, MODIFICATIONS, AND EXTENSIONS, AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF GRANT
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FUNDS IN THE EVENT OF THE AWARD OF THE GRANT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016.
15-00158 Summary Form.pdf 15-00158 Back-Up from Law Dept.pdf 15-00158 Legislation.pdf 15-00158 Exhibit.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0108
Chair Gort: RE.3.
Lillian Blondet (Director, Grants Administration): RE.3 is similar. It's a resolution of the Miami City Commission, with attachments, authorizing the City Manager to submit an application for reimbursement grant funding to FIND (Florida Inland Navigational District), in an amount not to exceed $700,000 for the Seybold Canal Dredging Project; authorizing the allocation of the required matching funds, in an amount not to exceed $700,000, to be provided by CITP (Capital Improvement and Transportation) Project B-50643; further, authorizing the City Manager to execute any and all necessary documents in a form acceptable to the City Attorney --
Commissioner Sarnoff: So moved.
Ms. Blondet: -- for the submission of said grant application, the execution of grant or deed agreements and amendments, modification and extensions, and the acceptance of grant funds in the event of the award of the grant for fiscal year 2015/16.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Moved by Commissioner Sarnoff. Is there a second?
Commissioner Suarez: Second for quick discussion.
Chair Gort: Second. Yes, sir, discussion.
Commissioner Suarez: This is additional funds to what we've already received from FIND, correct, for --?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Ms. Blondet: This one is a reapplication of the 2012 application, because it expires after three years, so we have to go and apply again.
Commissioner Suarez: Okay, so --
Ms. Blondet: We have three --
Commissioner Suarez: -- we could continue to use it?
Ms. Blondet: -- with this (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Yeah. We have three.
Chair Gort: My understanding, we have $5 million that we can tap at any time and then we can go on. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
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The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Ms. Blondet: Thank you.
Chair Gort: RE.4.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Deferred.
Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): RE.4 was actually deferred, Commissioner.
Chair Gort: Deferred, okay.
RE.4 RESOLUTION 15-00173 Department of A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION ACCEPTING THE BID Procurement RECEIVED DECEMBER 16, 2014, PURSUANT TO INVITATION FOR BID NO. 472330, FROM ENTERPRISE LEASING COMPANY OF FLORIDA, LLC, THE SOLE RESPONSIVE AND RESPONSIBLE BIDDER, FOR THE RENTAL OF VEHICLES ON A CITYWIDE, AS NEEDED CONTRACTUAL BASIS, FOR AN INITIAL CONTRACT PERIOD OF TWO (2) YEARS WITH THE OPTION TO RENEW FOR TWO (2) ADDITIONAL ONE (1) YEAR PERIODS, ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM THE VARIOUS SOURCES OF FUNDS FROM THE USER DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES, SUBJECT TO THE AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS AND BUDGETARY APPROVAL AT THE TIME OF NEED; AUTHORIZING ADDITIONAL SUPPLIERS TO THE CONTRACT AS DEEMED IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE CITY OF MIAMI. 15-00173 Summary Form.pdf 15-00173 Bid Tabulation.pdf 15-00173 Corporate Detail.pdf 15-00173 Invitation For Bid.pdf 15-00173 Legislation.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be DEFERRED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez Note for the Record: Item RE.4 was deferred to the March 26, 2015 Planning and Zoning City Commission Meeting.
RE.5 RESOLUTION 15-00188 Department of A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Procurement ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, WITH JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., FOR THE EXTENSION OF COMMERCIAL CARD SERVICES FOR A TWELVE (12) MONTH TERM, TO ALLOW FOR CONTINUITY OF SERVICES AND PROCUREMENT OF A NEW CONTRACT. 15-00188 Summary Form.pdf 15-00188 Legislation.pdf 15-00188 Exhibit.pdf
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Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0109
Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): RE.5
Amy Perez: RE.5. Good afternoon. Amy Perez. I'm the director of Procurement. This is a resolution authorizing the Manager to execute the first amendment to the participation agreement between JP Morgan Chase and the City of Miami for an extension of one year for P-Card services to allow for the procurement of the new services.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff: So moved.
Chair Gort: Moved by Commissioner Sarnoff.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Second.
Chair Gort: Second by Vice Chairman Hardemon. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RE.6 RESOLUTION 15-00252 District 2- A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION RENAMING A PORTION Commissioner Marc OF VIRGINIA KEY, AS DEPICTED IN THE APPROVED VIRGINIA KEY David Sarnoff MASTER PLAN, TO "VIRGINIA KEY BEACH NORTH POINT PARK"; DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO TAKE ALL ACTION NECESSARY TO EFFECTUATE THE RENAMING OF SAID PARK. 15-00252 Legislation.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
R-15-0110
Chair Gort: RE.6.
Commissioner Sarnoff: RE.6, Mr. Chair, is a resolution for us, as depicted in the approved Virginia Key Master Plan, to name it “Virginia Key Beach North Point Park.” That is the park just to the south, I would say, of where the bike trail is, and that is where we just put the Virginia Key Bike Center, which is being constructed as we speak. We think it'd be a neat name. It would be a good naming right, and it would identify people to know go to the North Point. So I'd move that, Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Okay, it's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff. Is there a second?
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Vice Chair Hardemon: Second.
Chair Gort: Second by Vice Chairman Hardemon. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RE.7 RESOLUTION 14-01099 Department of Real A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AUTHORIZING THE Estate and Asset CITY MANAGER TO EXERCISE THE FIRST ONE (1) YEAR OPTION TO Management RENEW REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL CONTRACT NO. 369316, BETWEEN THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") AND WLS, L.C. D/B/A NAI MIAMI, PURSUANT TO RESOLUTION NO. 13-0453, ADOPTED NOVEMBER 21, 2013, FOR REAL ESTATE LEASING SERVICES FOR THE CITY DEPARTMENT OF REAL ESTATE AND ASSET MANAGEMENT, ON AN AS-NEEDED CONTRACTUAL BASIS; ALLOCATING FUNDS FROM THE VARIOUS SOURCES, SUBJECT TO THE AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS AND BUDGETARY APPROVAL AT THE TIME OF NEED. 14-01099 Summary Form.pdf 14-01099 Activity Report.pdf 14-01099 Pre-Legislation.pdf 14-01099 Legislation.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0111
Chair Gort: RE.7.
Daniel Rutenberg: RE.7. Good afternoon. Daniel Rutenberg, director of Department of Real Estate & Asset Management. It's a resolution authorizing the first one-year option for NAI Miami over at the Marlins garage ballpark.
Commissioner Sarnoff: So moved.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: Been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff; second by Commissioner Suarez. My question is the -- I had the last time. I want to know how many people has been applying or the intention of going into the area and if it's any of the -- you need to do any changes, because we've been at this for three years now and how many people do we have?
Mr. Rutenberg: As far as how many tenants do we have?
Chair Gort: How many tenants do we have?
Mr. Rutenberg: We've got about 27 percent occupied. We've got two new tenants that are in the process of going through a lease, and we've got two other tenants that are in the process of looking and trying to get to a letter of intent.
Chair Gort: Okay.
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Mr. Rutenberg: Out of the space that we have -- out of 53,000 square feet, we're about 70 percent occupied, and we've got tenants looking at another 20 percent, so you're pretty far along right now.
Chair Gort: Well, I want to make sure that we don't have any regulations within the contracts that would not allow certain people to come in. Because we had hopes that we could get some of the sports bar and all that. Unfortunate, it doesn't seems like that's going to work, because it's been at it three years now.
Mr. Rutenberg: Understood. I don't have an answer. And the broker that's operating -- the broker that's running it right now is out to the public trying to get any tenants that they can. They're going after restaurants. They're going after commercial spaces. There's nothing precluding anybody from coming in at this point.
Chair Gort: I'd like to get a copy of all the intended, okay?
Mr. Rutenberg: Okay.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RE.8 RESOLUTION 15-00202 Department of Parks A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH and Recreation ATTACHMENT(S), BY A FOUR-FIFTHS (4/5) AFFIRMATIVE VOTE, RATIFYING, APPROVING, AND CONFIRMING THE CITY MANAGER'S EMERGENCY FINDING, THAT IT IS MOST ADVANTAGEOUS FOR THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") TO WAIVE THE COMPETITIVE SEALED BIDDING PROCEDURES, PURSUANT TO SECTION 18-90 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, RETROACTIVELY APPROVING THE SELECTION OF GREATER MIAMI CATERERS, INC., A STATE OF FLORIDA APPROVED FOOD VENDOR, TO PROVIDE FOOD SERVICES FOR THE DAYCARE AND AFTERSCHOOL FOOD PROGRAMS FOR THE CITY PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT, FOR A PERIOD NOT TO EXCEED ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY (180) DAYS, ALLOWING FOR CONTINUITY OF SERVICE AND PROCUREMENT OF A NEW CONTRACT. 15-00202 Summary Form.pdf 15-00202 Back-Up from Law Dept.pdf 15-00202 Legislation.pdf 15-00202 Exhibit.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0112
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Kevin Kirwin: Good afternoon, Commissioners. RE.8 -- RE (Resolution) -- I'm Kevin Kirwin, your City of Miami Parks and Recreation Department director. RE.8 is a resolution ratifying, confirming, and approving the City Manager's written finding of an emergency, waiving City of Miami Page 85 Printed on 4/1/2015 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 12, 2015
competitive sealed bidding procedures and retroactively approving the selection of a State of Florida approved food vendor for the provision of food services for the Daycare and After School Programs of your Park & Recreation Department.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Is there a motion?
Commissioner Sarnoff: So moved.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: It's moved by Commissioner Sarnoff; second by Commissioner Suarez. Any discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
RE.9 RESOLUTION 15-00298 Department of A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Fire-Rescue ATTACHMENT(S), ESTABLISHING A NEW SPECIAL REVENUE PROJECT ENTITLED "URBAN AREA SECURITY INITIATIVE ("UASI") GRANT PROGRAM FISCAL YEAR 2014," AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS FOR THE OPERATION OF SAME, IN THE AMOUNT OF $5,225,000.00, CONSISTING OF A GRANT FROM THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY ("USDHS"), DIRECTLY TO THE STATE OF FLORIDA DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ("FDEM"); AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ACCEPT SAID GRANT AWARD AND TO EXECUTE THE FEDERALLY-FUNDED SUBGRANT AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, AND ANY NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, IN A FORM ACCEPTABLE TO THE CITY ATTORNEY, IN ORDER TO IMPLEMENT THE ACCEPTANCE OF SAID GRANT AWARD; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXTEND SAID UASI GRANT PROGRAM (FISCAL YEAR 2014) AS NECESSARY, AND TO EXECUTE ANY OTHER RELATED MODIFICATIONS, AMENDMENTS, OR EXTENSIONS, ON ALL MATTERS EXCEPT THOSE DEALING WITH FUNDING CHANGES; AUTHORIZING THE EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS TO VARIOUS GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES DESIGNATED FOR HOMELAND SECURITY EXPENSE PURSUANT TO THE UASI GRANT GUIDELINES; FURTHER AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE MEMORANDA OF AGREEMENT ("MOA"), IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, WITH ITS CONTIGUOUS PARTNERS SETTING FORTH THE PARTIES' RESPONSIBILITIES IN CONNECTION WITH THE DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT OF THE UASI PROJECT ADMINISTERED BY THE CITY OF MIAMI DEPARTMENT OF FIRE-RESCUE, CONTINGENT UPON FUNDING OF SAID PROJECT BEING SECURED.
15-00298 Summary Form.pdf 15-00298 Legislation.pdf 15-00298 Exhibit 1 - Subgrant Agreement.pdf 15-00298 Exhibit 2 - Agency MOA.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
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Chair Gort: RE.9.
Deputy Fire Chief Joseph Zahralban: Good afternoon, Chairman, Commissioners. Joseph Zahralban, Deputy Fire Chief, Department of Fire-Rescue. Before you today, RE.9, is a resolution requesting the establishment of a special revenue project entitled "Urban Area Security Initiative 2014 Grant," in the amount of $5.2 million. It further authorizes the establishment of memoranda of agreements with our contiguous partners: Monroe, Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties. The intent, as you know, is to enable us to continue to be effective in our prevention response and recovery from acts of terror, as well as major disasters. This is a no-match grant. And I'll be pleased to answer any questions you may have.
Commissioner Sarnoff: So moved.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Commissioner Sarnoff: So moved.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff. Is there a second?
Commissioner Carollo: Second.
Chair Gort: Second by Commissioner Carollo. Any further discussion? Being none, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Deputy Fire Chief Zahralban: Thank you.
RE.10 RESOLUTION 15-00085 Miami Parking A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Authority ATTACHMENT(S), WAIVING ANY CONFLICT OF INTEREST THE LAW FIRM OF GRAYROBINSON, P.A. MAY HAVE, IF ANY, TO ENABLE IT TO REPRESENT THE CITY OF MIAMI DEPARTMENT OF OFF-STREET PARKING A/K/A MIAMI PARKING AUTHORITY ("MPA") REGARDING MPA'S DEFINED BENEFIT PENSION PLAN 15-00085 Memo - MPA.pdf 15-00085 Legislation.pdf 15-00085 Exhibit.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
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Scott Simpson: Good afternoon. Scott Simpson, Miami Parking Authority. RE.10 is a resolution of the City of Miami Commission, with attachments, asking for a waiver of conflict for the firm of GrayRobinson. We wish to hire GrayRobinson to do some technical work as it relates to the Miami Parking Authority's defined benefit pension plan, which was frozen to new hires, effective February of last year. I'll be happy to answer any questions.
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Commissioner Sarnoff: I'm going to move this for discussion, Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: It's moved by Commissioner Sarnoff. Is there a second?
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: Second by Commissioner Suarez.
Commissioner Sarnoff: The only point of the discussion, Mr. Chair, is that GrayRobinson apparently is “defending,” not “suing” --
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Commissioner Sarnoff: -- somebody that the City of Miami apparently is in litigation with, and for those -- and I suspect everybody up here knows that -- for those watching, their area of expertise for this particular type of law is an extremely small pool of lawyers, as in maybe 10 across the state of Florida that can do this. That's why you need the waiver. That's what -- I guess I should have added that.
Victoria Méndez (City Attorney): We --
Chair Gort: You making a motion or --?
Commissioner Sarnoff: Yeah. That's -- well, we did the motion.
Chair Gort: We did?
Commissioner Sarnoff: We did the motion.
Chair Gort: Oh, okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff: We did.
Chair Gort: Any further discussion? All in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Mr. Simpson: Thank you very much.
RE.11 RESOLUTION 15-00170 Department of Capital A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH Improvement ATTACHMENT(S), AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A Programs/Transportat JOINT PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF MIAMI ion ("CITY") AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, ACCEPTING THE STATE OF FLORIDA'S CONTRIBUTION IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,002,362.00 FOR OPERATING COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE CORAL WAY TROLLEY SERVICE; AUTHORIZING THE ALLOCATION OF THE CITY'S REQUIRED MATCHING FUNDS IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,002,362.00, FROM THE CITY'S SHARE OF THE TRANSIT SURTAX.
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15-00170 Summary Form.pdf 15-00170 Letter - FDOT.pdf 15-00170 Pre-Legislation.pdf 15-00170 Legislation.pdf 15-00170 Exhibit.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0115
Chair Gort: RE.11.
Commissioner Suarez: Move it. Discussion.
Commissioner Carollo: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Suarez; second by Commissioner Carollo.
Commissioner Suarez: Just quickly want to commend the Administration for following up and getting this grant. This is a -- you know, this is a big deal on a system that we know -- we knew from the beginning was going to have operational issues in terms of being subsidized in a way that would allow it to operate forever under the current funding regime. So I commend you for your work on that.
Chair Gort: Thank you. I think the whole department should be commended. I never seen so many grants being awarded; quite a few millions of dollars today, thanks to the grant work that's been done by the Administration. Good job.
Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Any further discussion? Commissioner Sarnoff, you're recognized.
Commissioner Sarnoff: No, no, no.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Commissioner Sarnoff: No. I would -- he did a great job. Matter of fact, I think his trolley's bringing more people downtown than almost any other trolley.
Commissioner Suarez: The model -- the ridership is way, way beyond the model, and I think part of the genius of it is that it connects Brickell with Ponce, so -- through Coral Way, and you're seeing Coral Way start to really pick up too as a commercial center.
Chair Gort: The main thing, it connects Allapattah all the way to Coral Gables.
Commissioner Suarez: That's true.
Chair Gort: And then going through all the different -- through Overtown, Biscayne Boulevard and all that and that's what makes it really very successful.
Commissioner Suarez: I agree.
Chair Gort: And it was used very much for the stadium during the baseball game; that was very helpful, and the people in the three towers are constantly using it too, so it's being providing City of Miami Page 89 Printed on 4/1/2015 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 12, 2015
double services.
Commissioner Suarez: And I can tell you that one of the things that we're universally lauded for is our trolley system. In all the MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) related discussions and things of that nature, that's one thing that people always pat us on the back for, so.
Chair Gort: Remember, we need that water transportation.
Commissioner Suarez: Yes, sir, I know. I'm with you. I'm going to get you. I'm going to do the best that I can.
Commissioner Sarnoff: You know why they love it? They don't have to do anything for it.
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah.
Chair Gort: Okay. Is any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Unidentified Speaker: Thank you.
RE.12 RESOLUTION 15-00281 District 4- A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, BY A FOUR-FIFTHS Commissioner (4/5THS) AFFIRMATIVE VOTE, RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 14-0396, Francis Suarez ADOPTED OCTOBER 9, 2014, IN ITS ENTIRETY; SETTING FORTH A NEW RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE CITY OF MIAMI CHARTER REVIEW AND REFORM COMMITTEE, TO REVIEW THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, AND RECOMMEND CHARTER PROPOSALS AND AMENDMENTS NECESSARY TO UPDATE THE CHARTER; STATING THE COMMITTEE'S PURPOSE, POWERS, DUTIES, COMPOSITION, APPOINTMENT QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERSHIP; PROVIDING FOR OFFICERS, RULES OF PROCEDURE, MEETINGS, QUORUM, LEGAL AND STAFF SUPPORT, ASSIGNMENT OF PERSONNEL, WAIVERS, AND PUBLIC NOTICE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 15-00281 Legislation.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Sarnoff, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0116
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair, the --
Chair Gort: Great presentation.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair, the next resolution is one that was requested by the Charter Review Committee, and it's a very simple amendment to the enacting legislation, and it simply allows for the -- it allows for the chair, which is myself, to excuse an absence of a member in the event that they miss more than the required three absences. It's something that was requested by the board itself. We meet once a month. So I move the item.
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Commissioner Sarnoff: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved and second. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
END OF RESOLUTIONS
BOARDS AND COMMITTEES
BC.1 RESOLUTION 15-00287 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT COUNCIL FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY:
Mercedes Lopez-Cisneros Mayor Tomás Regalado
Maria Napoles Mayor Tomás Regalado
Rachel Johnson Commissioner Francis Suarez
15-00287 Arts CCMemo.pdf 15-00287 Arts Current_Board_Members.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0120
Chair Gort: Can we do the BC (Boards and Committees) in three minutes?
Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): I will certainly try. BC.1, Arts and Entertainment Council: Mayor Regalado will be appointing Mercedes Lopez-Cisneros and Maria Napoles; Commissioner Suarez will be reappointing Rachel Johnson.
Commissioner Suarez: Move it.
Chair Gort: Been moved by Commissioner Suarez.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Second.
Chair Gort: Second by Vice Chairman Hardemon. Any -- all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
BC.2 RESOLUTION 14-00964
City of Miami Page 91 Printed on 4/1/2015 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 12, 2015
Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE AUDIT ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY:
Vice Chair Keon Hardemon
Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff
Commissioner Francis Suarez
14-00964 Audit CCMemo.pdf 14-00964 Audit Current_Board_Members.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN
BC.3 RESOLUTION 15-00288 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE BAYFRONT PARK MANAGEMENT TRUST FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY:
Ralph Duharte Chair Wifredo (Willy) Gort
Marlene Avalo Commission-At-Large
15-00288 Bayfront CCMemo.pdf 15-00288 Bayfront Current_Board_Members.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0121
A motion was made by Commissioner Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, and was passed unanimously, to appoint Ralph Duharte as a member of the Bayfront Park Management Trust; further waiving the term limits of Section 2-885(b) by a unanimous (5/5) vote of the members of the City Commission, as it relates to Ralph Duharte as a member of the Bayfront Park Management Trust.
Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC.3, Bayfront Park Management Trust. Chair Gort will be reappointing with a five-five term waiver Ralph Duharte, and there is one Commission at large appointee; Commissioner Carollo will be reappointing Marlene Avalo.
Commissioner Carollo: Move it.
Chair Gort: Been moved by --
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Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: -- Commissioner Carollo --
Commissioner Suarez: Is that --
Chair Gort: -- second by Commissioner Suarez.
Commissioner Suarez: -- the at-large appointee? Okay.
Chair Gort: All in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
BC.4 RESOLUTION 15-00289 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING A Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL AS A MEMBER OF THE CHARTER REVIEW AND REFORM COMMITTEE FOR A TERM AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEE: NOMINATED BY:
Commissioner Frank Carollo
15-00289 Charter Review CCMemo.pdf 15-00289 Charter Review Current_Board_Members.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN
BC.5 RESOLUTION 14-01243 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING A Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL AS A MEMBER OF THE CIVIL SERVICE BOARD FOR A TERM AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEE: NOMINATED BY:
Lillie Harris Commission-At-Large
14-01243 Civil Service CCMemo.pdf 14-01243 Civil Service Current_Board_Members.pdf
Motion by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0122
Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC.5, Civil Service Board. Vice Chair Hardemon will be appointing Lillie Harris to the Commission at large vacancy. City of Miami Page 93 Printed on 4/1/2015 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 12, 2015
Vice Chair Hardemon: Move it.
Commissioner Carollo: Move it.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: Been moved by Vice Chairman Hardemon; second by Commissioner Carollo. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
BC.6 RESOLUTION 14-00967 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION CONFIRMING THE Clerk APPOINTMENT OF CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE CIVILIAN INVESTIGATIVE PANEL FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY:
Civilian Investigative Panel
Civilian Investigative Panel
Civilian Investigative Panel
Civilian Investigative Panel
Chief of Police
14-00967 CIP CCMemo.pdf 14-00967 CIP Current_Board_Members.pdf 14-00967 CIP Memo and Resumes.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN
BC.7 RESOLUTION 14-00304 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING A Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL AS A MEMBER OF THE CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD FOR A TERM AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEE: NOMINATED BY:
Charles McEwan Commission-At-Large
14-00304 CEB CCMemo.pdf 14-00304 CEB Current_Board_Members.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote.
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Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0123
A motion was made by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, and was passed unanimously, to appoint Charles McEwan as a member of the Code Enforcement Board; further waiving the term limits of Section 2-885(b) by a unanimous (5/5) vote of the members of the City Commission, as it relates to Charles McEwan as a member of the Code Enforcement Board.
Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC.7, Code Enforcement Board. Chair Gort will be reappointing with a five-five term waiver Charles McEwan.
Commissioner Suarez: Move it.
Commissioner Carollo: Second.
Chair Gort: Been moved and second. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
BC.8 RESOLUTION 15-00290 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS BOARD FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY:
Chair Wifredo (Willy) Gort
Vice Chair Keon Hardemon
Vice Chair Keon Hardemon
Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff
Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff
15-00290 CRB CCMemo.pdf 15-00290 CRB Current_Board_Members.pdf 15-00290 CRB Memo and Resumes.pdf DISCUSSED
Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC.8, Community Relations Board. Chair Gort will be reappointing with a four-fifths absence attendance waiver, Victoria Cervantes.
Chair Gort: Let's hold on that one.
Ms. Ewan: Okay. No problem, Chair.
Chair Gort: Thank you. That was it. Five-fifth because of absentees, right?
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Ms. Ewan: That is correct.
Chair Gort: What I'd like to from now on, any five -- four-fifth because of absentee, I'd like to know, because I will not be nominating.
Ms. Ewan: Okay, Chair.
Chair Gort: Thank you
Ms. Ewan: You're welcome.
BC.9 RESOLUTION 15-00136 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION WAIVING THE TERM Clerk LIMIT BY A FIVE-FIVE UNANIMOUS AFFIRMATIVE VOTE, AS IT RELATES TO JASON NEAL AS A MEMBER OF THE COMMERCIAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE. 15-00136 CSWMAC CCMemo.pdf 15-00136 CSWMAC Current_Board_Members.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0124
Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC.9, Commercial Solid Waste Management Advisory Committee. This is a resolution waiving the term limit by a five-five unanimous affirmative vote as it relates to Jason Neal as a member on the board.
Commissioner Suarez: Move it.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Suarez. Second by --
Commissioner Carollo: Second.
Chair Gort: -- Vice Chairman Hardemon [sic]. Any further discussion. Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
BC.10 RESOLUTION 14-00393 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY:
Allyson Warren Mayor Tomás Regalado
Lyse Cuellar-Vidal Commissioner Francis Suarez
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Connie Johnson Commissioner Francis Suarez
14-00393 CSW CCMemo.pdf 14-00393 CSW Current_Board_Members.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0125
A motion was made by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, and was passed unanimously, to appoint Allyson Warren and Lyse Cuellar-Vidal as members of the Commission on the Status of Women; further waiving the term limits of Section 2-885(b) by a unanimous (5/5) vote of the members of the City Commission, as it relates to Allyson Warren and Lyse Cuellar-Vidal as members of the Commission on the Status of Women.
Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC.10, Commission on the Status of Women. Mayor Regalado will be reappointing Allyson Warren with a five-five term waiver; Commissioner Suarez will be reappointing Lyse Cuellar-Vidal with a five-five term waiver and will also be reappointing Connie Johnson.
Commissioner Suarez: Move it.
Chair Gort: Been moved by Commissioner Suarez; second by Vice Chairman Hardemon. All in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
BC.11 RESOLUTION 15-00291 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARD FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY:
City Manager Daniel J. Alfonso (Ex-Officio Non Voting Member) City Manager Daniel J. Alfonso (Ex-Officio Non Voting Youth Member)
15-00291 EAB CCMemo.pdf 15-00291 EAB Current_Board_Members.pdf 15-00291 EAB Resume.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN
BC.12 RESOLUTION 15-00292
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Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING A Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL AS A MEMBER OF THE EQUAL OPPORTUNITY ADVISORY BOARD FOR A TERM AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEE: NOMINATED BY:
Aurelus Dorvil Commissioner Francis Suarez
15-00292 EOAB CCMemo.pdf 15-00292 EOAB Current_Board_Members.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0126
A motion was made by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, and was passed unanimously, to appoint Aurelus Dorvil as a member of the Equal Opportunity Advisory Board; further waiving the term limits of Section 2-885(b) by a unanimous (5/5) vote of the members of the City Commission, as it relates to Aurelus Dorvil as a member of the Equal Opportunity Advisory Board.
Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC.12, Equal Opportunity Advisory Board. Commissioner Suarez will be reappointing with a five-five term waiver Aurelus Dorvil.
Commissioner Suarez: Move it.
Commissioner Carollo: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved and second. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
BC.13 RESOLUTION 14-00979 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY:
Eli Feinberg Mayor Tomás Regalado
Lynda Harris Vice Chair Keon Hardemon
Eric Zichella Commissioner Frank Carollo
14-00979 Finance CCMemo.pdf 14-00979 Finance Current_Board_Members.pdf
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Motion by Commissioner Carollo, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0127
A motion was made by Commissioner Carollo, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, and was passed unanimously, to appoint Lynda Harris as a member of the Finance Committee, further waiving the residency requirements of Section 2-884(a) by a four/fifths (4/5ths) vote of the members of the City Commission, as it relates to Lynda Harris as a member of the Finance Committee.
Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC.13, Finance Committee. Mayor Regalado will be reappointing with a five-five term waiver Eli Feinberg; Vice Chair Hardemon will be appointing to a vacant position Lynda Harris with a four-fifths residency waiver; Commissioner Carollo will be reappointing Eric Zichella.
Commissioner Carollo: Move it.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Carollo; second by Vice Chairman Hardemon. All in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
BC.14 RESOLUTION 15-00293 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE HISTORIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL PRESERVATION BOARD FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEES/CATEGORIES: NOMINATED BY:
Hugh Ryan Commissioner Frank Carollo (Historian or Architectural Historian - Category 3)
David Freedman Commissioner Frank Carollo (Business/Law/Finance - Category 6)
15-00293 HEP CCMemo.pdf 15-00293 HEP Current_Board_Members.pdf 15-00293 HEP Applications.pdf 15-00293 HEP Application Summary.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Carollo, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0128
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Commissioner Carollo will be reappointing Hugh Ryan and David Freedman.
Commissioner Carollo: Move it.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Carollo; second by Commissioner Suarez. All in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
BC.15 RESOLUTION 15-00294 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE HOUSING AND COMMERCIAL LOAN COMMITTEE FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEES/CATEGORIES: NOMINATED BY:
Bill Rammos Mayor Tomás Regalado (Chairperson)
Yvonne Debesa Commission-At-Large (Actively engaged in banking or mortgage banking industry in connection with affordable housing)
Ben Fernandez Commission-At-Large (Representative of those areas in labor actively engaged in home building with affordable housing)
Kevin Deeb Commission-At-Large (Actively engaged as an advocate for low-income persons in connection with affordable housing)
Iristel Reyes Commission-At-Large (Actively engaged as a for-profit provider of affordable housing)
Allan Hall Commission-At-Large (Actively engaged as a not-for-profit provider of affordable housing)
James Angleton Commission-At-Large (Actively engaged as a real estate professional in connection with affordable housing)
Gregory Gay Commission-At-Large (Resident of the City)
Stephen Johnson Commission-At-Large (Represents employers within the City) City of Miami Page 100 Printed on 4/1/2015 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 12, 2015
Jose M. Fernandez City Manager Daniel J. Alfonso
Christopher Brimo City Manager Daniel J. Alfonso
15-00294 HCLC CCMemo.pdf 15-00294 HCLC Current_Board_Members.pdf 15-00294 HCLC Mayor Memo.pdf 15-00294 HCLC City Manager Memo.pdf 15-00294 HCLC Memo and Applications.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, that this matter be ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 5 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Carollo, Suarez and Hardemon
R-15-0129
A motion was made by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Carollo, and was passed unanimously, to appoint Jose M. Fernandez as a member of the Housing and Commercial Loan Committee; further waiving the attendance requirements in Section 2-886 of the Code of the City of Miami, as amended, by a four/fifths (4/5ths) vote of the members of the City Commission, as it relates to past absences on record for Jose M. Fernandez as a member of the Housing and Commercial Loan Committee.
Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC.15, Housing and Commercial Loan Committee. Commissioners, your agenda packet contains a list of perspective individuals submitted by the Department of Community & Economic Development for your consideration and approval. The nominees are: Mayor Regalado will be reappointing Bill Ramos as the chairperson; City Manager Alfonso will be amending his recommendation on the list and will be reappointing Jose Fernandez, who requires a four-fifth attendance waiver, and will now be appointing Christopher Brimo; therefore, this item will be modified. The Commission at large has for consideration the following individuals as well: Yvonne Debesa will be reappointed as a member actively engaged in banking or mortgage banking; Ben Fernandez, as a representative of those areas of labor, actively engaged in home building with affordable housing; Kevin Deeb, as a member actively engaged as an advocate for low-income persons in connection with affordable housing; Iristel Reyes, as a member actively engaged as a for-profit provider of affordable housing; Allan Hall, as a member actively engaged as a not-for-profit provider of affordable housing; James Angleton, as a member actively engaged as a real estate professional in connection with affordable housing; Gregory Gay, as a City resident; and Stephen Johnson, as a member who represents employers [sic] within the City.
Chair Gort: I understand I proposed a name. Did I?
Ms. Ewan: Not for Housing and Commercial Loan Committee.
Chair Gort: Okay, good. That's a different one.
Commissioner Sarnoff: So moved.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff; second by Commissioner Carollo. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
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The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Ms. Ewan: As modified.
BC.16 RESOLUTION 15-00295 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING A Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL AS A MEMBER OF THE MAYOR'S INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR A TERM AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEE: NOMINATED BY:
Eduardo Quiros Commission-At-Large
15-00295 MIC CCMemo.pdf 15-00295 MIC Current_Board_Members.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
R-15-0130
Nicole Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC.16, Mayor's International Council. There is one vacant Commission at large seat. Chair Gort will be appointing Eduardo Quiros.
Commissioner Sarnoff: So moved.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff; second by Vice Chairman Hardemon. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
BC.17 RESOLUTION 15-00296 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING A Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL AS A MEMBER OF THE MIAMI SPORTS AND EXHIBITION AUTHORITY FOR A TERM AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEE: NOMINATED BY:
Antonio Recio Commissioner Francis Suarez
15-00296 MSEA CCMemo.pdf 15-00296 MSEA Current_Board_Members.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
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R-15-0131
Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC.17, Miami Sports & Exhibition Authority. Commissioner Suarez will be reappointing Antonio Recio.
Commissioner Suarez: Move it.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Second.
Chair Gort: Don't I have a Eli Feinberg?
Ms. Ewan: That require as five-five term waiver.
Chair Gort: Five-five is because of the -- how long he's been serving, not because of lack of attendance.
Commissioner Suarez: Term waiver.
Ms. Ewan: That is correct, but it's a five-five term waiver, correct.
Commissioner Suarez: We need a fifth person.
Ms. Ewan: I'm missing --
Chair Gort: Five-five; we got to wait until --
Ms. Ewan: Yes.
Chair Gort: Okeydoke. Next.
Commissioner Sarnoff: You want to go with what's stated already, Mr. Chair? Do you want to just take the vote on what's stated?
Chair Gort: If you don't take a vote, they'll stay there.
Commissioner Sarnoff: No, no. We have two --
Ms. Ewan: We have --
Chair Gort: Right, right.
Ms. Ewan: We have two; if we can take the vote on Antonio Recio.
Commissioner Suarez: Move the --
Chair Gort: Move it.
Unidentified Speaker: It was moved.
Ms. Ewan: It was --
Commissioner Suarez: Move it.
Chair Gort: Moved by Commissioner Suarez; second by Vice Chairman Hardemon. All in favor, state it by saying "aye."
City of Miami The Commission (Collectively): AyePage. 103 Printed on 4/1/2015 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 12, 2015
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
BC.18 RESOLUTION 14-01244 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING A Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL AS A MEMBER OF THE PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD FOR A TERM AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEE: NOMINATED BY:
Emily Diane Gunter City Manager Daniel J. Alfonso
14-01244 PRAB CCMemo.pdf 14-01244 PRAB Current_Board_Members.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
R-15-0132
Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC.18, Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. City Manager Alfonso will be appointing Emily Diane Gunther.
Commissioner Sarnoff: So moved.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff; second by Vice Chairman Hardemon. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
BC.19 RESOLUTION 14-00982 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY:
Vice Chair Keon Hardemon
Vice Chair Keon Hardemon
14-00982 PZAB CCMemo.pdf 14-00982 PZAB Current_Board_Members.pdf 14-00982 PZAB Applications.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN
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BC.20 RESOLUTION 15-00297 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE URBAN DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD (UDRB) FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY:
Chair Wifredo (Willy) Gort
Chair Wifredo (Willy) Gort
Vice Chair Keon Hardemon
Vice Chair Keon Hardemon
Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff
Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff
Commissioner Frank Carollo
Commissioner Frank Carollo
Commissioner Francis Suarez
15-00297 UDRB CCMemo.pdf 15-00297 UDRB Current_Board_Members.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN
BC.21 RESOLUTION 14-00867 Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE VIRGINIA KEY BEACH PARK TRUST FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY:
Commissioner Marc David Sarnoff
Commissioner Frank Carollo
14-00867 VKBPT CCMemo.pdf 14-00867 VKBPT Current_Board_Members.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN
BC.22 RESOLUTION 14-01137
City of Miami Page 105 Printed on 4/1/2015 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 12, 2015
Office of the City A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION APPOINTING Clerk CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF THE WATERFRONT ADVISORY BOARD FOR TERMS AS DESIGNATED HEREIN.
APPOINTEES: NOMINATED BY:
William Kearney Mayor Tomás Regalado (unexpired term ending 10/9/2015)
W. David Moore Chair Wifredo (Willy) Gort (term expiring 3/12/2016)
Carol Coletta Commissioner Francis Suarez (term expiring 3/12/2016)
14-01137 WAB CCMemo.pdf 14-01137 WAB Current_Board_Members.pdf
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
R-15-0133
Nicole N. Ewan (Assistant City Clerk): BC.22, Waterfront Advisory Board. Mayor Regalado will be appointing William Kearney; Chair Gort will be reappointing David Moore; and Commissioner Suarez will be reappointing Carol Coletta.
Commissioner Sarnoff: So moved.
Chair Gort: Okeydoke.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved by Commissioner Sarnoff; second by Vice Chairman Hardemon. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Ms. Ewan: That concludes the boards and committees. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you very much.
END OF BOARDS AND COMMITTEES
DISCUSSION ITEMS
DI.1 DISCUSSION ITEM 15-00172 City Commission STATUS OF HIRING POLICE OFFICERS. 15-00172-Submittal-City Manager-Memo-Police Department Hiring and Staffing Update.pdf
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DISCUSSED
Chair Gort: Anything else?
Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): We got -- are we going to do the police report or the police hiring?
Commissioner Suarez: Let's just leave it for the next Commission meeting, because Commissioner Sarnoff was the one that --
Chair Gort: We know they're doing the best and they're trying real hard, and they're working real hard, and the new chief is really improving it quite a bit.
DI.2 DISCUSSION ITEM 15-00226 Department of Police DISCUSSION REGARDING SUPPORT FOR PROVIDING A PUBLIC RECORDS EXEMPTION FOR VIDEO FOOTAGE OBTAINED FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER BODY-WORN CAMERAS WHEN NECESSARY TO PROTECT INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY. 15-00226 Summary Form.pdf 15-00226 Draft Legislation.pdf DISCUSSED
(DI.2) RESOLUTION 15-00226a City Commission A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION URGING GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT AND THE MEMBERS OF THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE TO ADOPT LEGISLATION PROVIDING A PUBLIC RECORDS EXEMPTION FOR VIDEO FOOTAGE OBTAINED FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER BODY-WORN CAMERAS WHEN NECESSARY TO PROTECT INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY; DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO TRANSMIT A COPY OF THIS RESOLUTION TO THE OFFICIALS AS STATED HEREIN.
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 2 - Commissioner(s) Gort and Suarez Noes: 1 - Commissioner(s) Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff and Carollo
R-15-0117
Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): Mr. --
Chair Gort: Yes. What do you have? What do you need? Fast.
Mr. Alfonso: Mr. Chairman, there's -- DI.2 is a discussion about supporting the legislation in Tallahassee, reference the body cameras in terms of the time required for keeping records, how the policy should work, et cetera, and we would like to see if we can get the Commission to support that.
Chair Gort: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Rodolfo Llanes (Chief of Police): I'll be --
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Chair Gort: Be very brief.
Chief Llanes: -- as brief as possible. There is a HB (House Bill) -- SB-248 going through Tallahassee right now, and I think it's good public policy for -- on a state level -- for us to have some guidance on the retention of recordings that we make with our body cameras. There's some exceptions that are important to me going through in this bill. One of them being a private residence, health and mental health care facilities, and medical emergency scenes, and places where there's reasonable expectation of privacy. Those are important on their own. There was an amendment filed and the bill was pulled. There's a 90-day retention period that was in the original bill; they want to change that now to four years. I'm not real happy about that, but I'm sure it's going to change a whole bunch of times before the final product is out. But I think that, as a body, we should support any legislation on a statewide basis that will standardize video recordings, retention and privacy issues going forward, because this is that developing technology that's not going to go away, so I think we need some standardization going forward, and I think the State Legislature is the place to get that. So I'd like to be in support of any -- it's going to be vetted through the process, but I think we should be in support of any legislation that --
Commissioner Suarez: Move.
Chief Llanes: -- standardizes --
Commissioner Suarez: I move --
Chair Gort: Thank you, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: -- that resolution.
Chair Gort: It's a resolution.
Commissioner Suarez: I move it.
Chair Gort: Read the resolution.
Commissioner Suarez: You want me to read it?
The Resolution was read by title into the public record by Commissioner Francis Suarez.
Chair Gort: Moved by Commissioner Suarez. Second?
Vice Chair Hardemon: Pardon me? (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Commissioner Suarez: You want me to read it slower?
Vice Chair Hardemon: Is this in reference to the legislation that was presented by Representative --
Commissioner Suarez: It's Senate Bill 248 and House Bill 57.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Right.
Chief Llanes: I believe it's Senator Smith.
Vice Chair Hardemon: By Senator Smith? Because -- no, I've heard -- I've spoken to some
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senators and --
Commissioner Suarez: Senator Smith and Representative Shevrin Jones.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Shevrin Jones, right. So I remember the last time I actually saw Representative Jones, and we were discussing this very bill and he was not happy with where the bill was going, and so that's why I have some apprehension about it. And this was in a public forum that we were having maybe two, three week ago. So I'm unsure if I'm able to support it in its current form because I don't have the information. If this is the same thing that he was discussing, that it's so vastly different from his initial bill that he brought forward.
Mr. Alfonso: May I?
Chair Gort: Mr. Manager.
Chief Llanes: Is there something that we can --
Mr. Alfonso: There's --
Chief Llanes: -- maybe --
Mr. Alfonso: -- some confusion, because there's one bill that is about public records exemption and then there's another one --
Diana Arteaga (Senior Advisor to the City Manager): On body cameras.
Mr. Alfonso: -- that is on body cameras.
Chief Llanes: The other bill, the companion bill, is the House Bill. It's basically -- all it is, is saying that if you're going to have body cameras, you have to have a policy and you have to adhere by it. I think that's a no-brainer anyway, but they want to standardize that, and that's fine; I don't have any issues with that, because we have policy and we adhere to it, so that's not an issue. The other one is -- the exception one is the one that I believe is important and good public policy to protect privacy as we're taking body cam videos.
Vice Chair Hardemon: And Mr. Chairman, if I may?
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Hardemon: And in those buzz words, “privacy,” “protection,” all those things mean something to me, but the devil is always into details. And to show support for a bill, I just -- I would want to see exactly what it is. However, there are three of us. I'm not going to belabor us with argument. So, in the spirit of parliamentary procedure, I will second it, but for the record, I just want to be recorded that I'm against.
Chair Gort: Okay, it's been moved and second. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
Commissioner Suarez: Aye.
Chair Gort: Two “aye”; one “nay.”
Vice Chair Hardemon: One Against, yeah.
Chair Gort: That's it?
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Commissioner Suarez: That's all she wrote.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Thank you, guys.
DI.3 DISCUSSION ITEM 14-01315 City Manager's Office PRESENTATION BY THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE FOLLOWING BOARDS/COMMITTEES CONCERNING THEIR ANNUAL REPORTS:
-BAYFRONT PARK MANAGEMENT TRUST -CIVIL SERVICE BOARD -CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD -COMMERCIAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE -EQUAL OPPORTUNITY ADVISORY BOARD -MAYOR'S INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL -PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD
14-01315 Memo - City Manager.pdf 14-01315 Bayfront Park Management Trust.pdf 14-01315 Civil Service Board.pdf 14-01315 Code Enforcement Board.pdf 14-01315 Commercial Solid Waste Advisory Comm..pdf 14-01315 Equal Opportunity Advisory Bd.pdf 14-01315 Mayor's International Council.pdf 14-01315 Parks & Recreation Advisory Bd.pdf DISCUSSED
Chair Gort: We want to welcome you to the afternoon session. First order of business is the reports from the different committees. You're recognized, sir.
Javier Baños: Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Javier Baños. I'm the chairman of the Civil Service Board. You all have a copy of our report, if you have any questions or any concerns. We're very proud of our board, and we have been able to accomplish. We had a significant backlog of cases, about four pages worth; that we only have 11 at this point and time. And we have taken great strides to be fair to the employees, and to the City and to make sure that we have handled our cases. If you have any questions, please let me know.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Is there any questions? Thank you, sir.
Mr. Baños: Thank you very much, sir.
Chair Gort: Which other board we have here? Yes, sir.
Emanuel Washington: Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, Commissioners. My name is Emanuel Washington. First of all, I want to thank Commissioner Hardemon, as he just stepped in, for my appointment. I'm a member of the Equal Opportunity Advisory Board. I'm here in lieu of our chairman, who's out of town, Mr. Louis Marshall, to give our annual report as pursuant to 2-890. We had -- you all have a copy of this report in your possession. As far as major accomplishments, we had an opportunity to have some in-depth conversation with the directors of Parks and Recreation, as well as Solid Waste. And by the way, you made two great choices. They're very innovative visionaries. And I think our Parks and Recreation program, being that I
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have that background, is in a good place; and the same thing with the Sanitation Department, the innovations that he have in reference to recycling and moving our waste to another level from recycling the waste has been very great. And of course, we had a whole host of other individual department heads that came in, but for the most part, you have a copy of that. And if there's any questions that you have or need me to entertain, I'll be glad to do it at this point. And that concludes my report.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Any questions?
Mr. Washington: That's it?
Chair Gort: Any questions? Being none, thank you, sir.
Mr. Washington: Have a great day.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir, you're recognized.
Charles McEwan: Good afternoon, Commissioners. How are you? Chuck McEwan. I am the chairman or chairperson of both the Code Enforcement Board and the Nuisance Abatement Board. Like he said before, you have the reports, so a lot of this can be very repetitive, but I'll try to make it very, very short. We met 21 times during the last year and heard 429 cases. We had our usual ethics workshop. Code Enforcement inspectors scheduled 755 cases; and as a result, Hearing Boards created 304 Code Enforcement orders. We mitigated $278,640 in favor of the City of Miami. And during this year, we also absorbed the duties of the Nuisance Abatement Board. They -- we, as the Nuisance Abatement Board, have had eight meetings during 2014. That's about it. We've heard a few cases, but it hasn't been as many as we thought there was going to be, but maybe it'll pick up now with the new year and new Administration of Police and all of that. That may be.
Chair Gort: Let me ask a question. You stated it was 276,000 --
Mr. McEwan: Two seventy-eight --
Chair Gort: Two seventy-eight --
Mr. McEwan: -- six forty.
Chair Gort: -- six forty. And my understanding, that money is to be reused in order to comply with the lot clear and -- no, I'm talking to the Administration now; not to you (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Daniel J. Alfonso (City Manager): Mr. Chairman, if it was money that was related to lot clearing, yes, but if it's not just --
Mr. McEwan: Code Enforcement funds.
Mr. Alfonso: I understand that. So it's not just lot clearing; it's Code Enforcement in general.
Chair Gort: Right. But I mean, that money is going to be used for the same purpose, for Code Enforcement and --
Victoria Méndez (City Attorney): I believe what the Chairman is asking is unsafe structures special assessment that our office collects, along with the lot clearings; that those are supposed to the put back into the same fund to be reused to continue (UNINTELLIGIBLE) --
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Mr. Alfonso: That is correct.
Ms. Méndez: -- lot --
Mr. Alfonso: But I don't think that that's what this gentleman is addressing.
Chair Gort: No, no. No, I understand.
Mr. Alfonso: Oh, okay.
Chair Gort: But I just want to make sure we send --
Mr. Alfonso: Yeah.
Chair Gort: -- a message to the Administration, because in the past, we were not able to do a lot of code compliance, because we didn't have the funds to do so, and now I believe we do.
Mr. Alfonso: Yes.
Chair Gort: Thank you, sir.
Mr. McEwan: Okay.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Mr. McEwan: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Good job, sir.
Ms. Méndez: Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Ms. Méndez: And I believe that Mr. McEwan -- because I started off in Code Enforcement with Mr. McEwan -- and I believe he's been -- how many years already as --?
Chair Gort: Got a lot of history.
Mr. McEwan: I'm starting on my 20th year.
Ms. Méndez: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Okay.
Chair Gort: Okeydoke.
Commissioner Sarnoff: I remember when you were Code Enforcement.
Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. He was very good at it, too.
Ms. Méndez: He actually broke me in as a prosecutor when he was a bailiff; and then when I came here to the Code Enforcement Board, decided to bust my chops again when I was a prosecutor in the court.
Chair Gort: Oh, we're going to have to bring him back again then.
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Commissioner Sarnoff: But I remember you when I wasn't a Commissioner.
Ms. Méndez: Oh, well. That -- we worked opposite each other a couple times, but I'll -- for the same common goals.
Chair Gort: Is anyone else? Any other board present?
Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman?
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Carollo: You also received --
Chair Gort: Bayfront Park.
Commissioner Carollo: -- the one from Bayfront Park, but I would respectfully request to defer the presentation until next time, until the next meeting.
Chair Gort: No problem.
Commissioner Carollo: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Okay, should we begin regular agenda?
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Excuse me, Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Mr. Hannon: Mr. Solid Waste Director, I think you were going to do a presentation for the board?
Chair Gort: Oh, okay. Sorry.
Mario Nunez: Mario Nunez, director of Solid Waste. Good afternoon. My report is actually rather short; that Solid Waste Commercial Advisory Committee was created back in April of 1999, with the last meeting -- actually, before the very last one -- was held in October of 2010. Since then, throughout 20 -- the remainder of 2010, 2011, '12, '13, and '14, the committee never met, so as far as serving its purpose, it has not, until we reorganize the committee. We're still in the process under the leadership of Commissioner Hardemon and the vice chair of the committee. We're still organizing the membership, which should be at least nine members. And we met on January 28 for the first time since 2010.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Vice Chair Hardemon: We've met one other time.
Mr. Nunez: We did meet in February. This report is for the year 2014. So we did meet in mid-February again, and we're meeting next week, next Wednesday, to continue with the process of reorganizing the committee.
Chair Gort: And you're stating for next year's report?
Mr. Nunez: Yes. It will be a little bit longer.
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Vice Chair Hardemon: But at this point, just trying to get the organization together as far as the needed members and members from the community. So it's coming together I think quite well.
Chair Gort: Let me tell you, this is one of the departments that really responds constantly, and they're very important. People don't realize; maintaining the City clean, especially with all the illegal dumping that it takes place in the City of Miami, which is something we've been working on, I think it's very important. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Nunez: Thank you.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you, Vice Chairman.
Mr. Hannon: And, Chair, we have one more. Mr. Stiers will be presenting for Parks & Recreation Advisory Board.
Elijah Stiers: Good afternoon, gentlemen. Eli Stiers. I'm the current chair of the Parks Advisory Board. Thank you for having me. My report has been submitted. We had a very good year from the Parks Advisory Board last year. It was the first time in a while we were able to reach quorum and have meetings every single meeting that was called once a month, so we had a very productive year for the first time in a while. We achieved a number of things. We did a pretty good analysis in this whole contamination issues that I'm sure you're all well aware of. We also did an analysis into the use of pesticides in Miami parks and the effects they may have on bee colonies and bee colony collapse. We also started looking into the Alyce Wainwright Park; work that's being done there, and are trying to open that up to the public, and we've been working with the City and with Mr. Kirwin to that end. So we've achieved a number of things. We hope to keep the momentum going this year. So we appreciate your support in that regard, and I'm here to answer any questions that you may have.
Chair Gort: Well, thank you very much. And it's important that people know that all this is volunteer work. It's pro bono work done by the individuals [sic] board members. Thank you.
Mr. Stiers: Thank you very much.
Chair Gort: Anyone else?
Mr. Hannon: Good to go, sir.
Chair Gort: That's it.
DI.4 DISCUSSION ITEM 15-00190 City Manager's Office DISCUSSION REGARDING FUNDING SOURCES FOR MARINE STADIUM IMPROVEMENTS. 15-00190 Memo - City Manager.pdf
NO ACTION TAKEN
DI.5 DISCUSSION ITEM 14-01178 City Manager's Office DISCUSSION REGARDING LEGAL PROCEDURES FOR A LONG-TERM LEASE OF THE MARINE STADIUM PROPERTY.
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Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be DEFERRED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Carollo and Suarez Note for the Record: Item DI.5 was deferred to the May 14, 2015 Regular City Commission Meeting.
END OF DISCUSSION ITEMS
PART B: PLANNING AND ZONING ITEMS
Chair Gort: We'll go in Planning & Zoning.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Planning -- thank you. Could we take PZ.6, Mr. Chair?
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Hardemon: May I -- well, no. Go ahead. Move.
Chair Gort: As requested, PZ.6. Is that your request?
Commissioner Sarnoff: Yes, sir.
Victoria Méndez (City Attorney): Are we starting the Planning & Zoning?
Commissioner Sarnoff: Yes.
Ms. Méndez: Okay, can I read quickly on the record?
Commissioner Sarnoff: Very quickly.
Ms. Méndez: The members will start the Planning & Zoning item. PZ (Planning & Zoning) items shall proceed according to Section 7.1.4 of the Miami 21 Zoning Code. Before any PZ item is heard, all those wishing to speak will be sworn by the City Clerk. Please note, Commissioners have generally been briefed by City staff and the City Attorney on items on the agenda today. The members of the City Commission shall disclose any ex parte communications pursuant Florida Statute 286.0115 and Section 7.1.4 of the Miami 21 Zoning Code. Staff will briefly present each item to be heard. The appellant or petitioner will then present their application or request to the City Commission. If the applicant agrees with the staff recommendation and no one from the audience wishes to speak for or against the item, they may also waive the right to an evidentiary hearing. The order of presentation shall be described in the City Code and the Miami 21 Code. Members of the public will be permitted to speak through the Chair for not more than two minutes, unless modified by the Chair. The City of Miami requires that anyone requesting action by the City Commission must disclose before any hearing anything provided 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 Commissioners that have not been provided seven days before the meeting as part of the agenda materials will be entered into the record at the City Commission's discretion. Thank you.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. If you will be speaking on any of today's Planning & Zoning items, may I please have you stand and raise your right hand.
The City Clerk administered the oath required under City Code Section 62-1 to those persons giving testimony on zoning issues.
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Mr. Hannon: Thank you, Chair.
PZ.1 ORDINANCE Second Reading 11-01196lu1 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 10544, AS 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 OF REAL PROPERTY LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 220 NORTHEAST 43RD STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA, LEGALLY DESCRIBED IN EXHIBIT A, ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED, FROM "MAJOR INSTITUTIONAL, PUBLIC FACILITIES, TRANSPORTATION & UTILITIES" AND "SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL" TO "MEDIUM DENSITY RESTRICTED COMMERCIAL"; MAKING FINDINGS; DIRECTING TRANSMITTALS TO AFFECTED AGENCIES; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
11-01196lu1 SR Fact Sheet.pdf 11-01196lu1 Analysis, Maps and PZAB Reso.pdf 11-01196lu1 Application and Supporting Docs.pdf 11-01196lu1 SR Legislation (v2).pdf 11-01196lu1 Exhibit.pdf
LOCATION: Approximately 220 NE 43rd Street [Commissioner Keon Hardemon - District 5]
APPLICANT(S): Javier E. Fernandez, Esquire, on behalf of 4201 NE 2nd Avenue, LLC and Miami Design District Associates, LLC
FINDING(S): PLANNING AND ZONING DEPARTMENT: Recommended approval. See companion File ID's 11-01196ap2. PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD: Recommended approval on December 17, 2014, by a vote of 11-0.
PURPOSE: This will change the land use designation for the above property from "Major Institutional, Public Facilities, Transportation and Utilities" and "Single Family Residential" to "Medium Density Restricted Commercial".
Motion by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Suarez and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff and Carollo
13504
Chair Gort: PZ.1.
Francisco Garcia (Director, Planning & Zoning): Thank you, sir. Items PZ.1, PZ.2, and PZ.3 are companion items. Item PZ.1 is a proposal for a land use change for a parcel located at 220
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Northeast 43rd Street. Item PZ.2 is a special area plan amendment for the same parcel. And item PZ.3 is before you as a second reading of a development agreement. All of them, actually, I should say, are before you on second reading. This is before you on first reading, and I believe you witnessed at the time significant support on the part of the neighbors. The applicants have worked very much closely with the neighborhood associations in the immediate vicinity and have actually submitted also for your consideration -- and it is attached to the proposal -- a fairly specific regulatory plan as to how the site is going to be developed. Approval of this item on second reading would actually also impose that regulatory plan onto the site. We, the Planning & Zoning Department, are recommending approval; the Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board also recommended approval unanimously, 11 to nothing. And it is before you on second reading. I'll answer any questions you may have.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Commissioner Suarez: Move it.
Chair Gort: We're going to open up the public hearing for PZ.1, 2, and 3, okay? You're recognized, sir.
Javier Fernandez: Commissioners, good afternoon. Javier Fernandez, with Sterns Weaver Miller, law offices at 150 West Flagler Street; here on behalf of 220 Northeast 43rd Street and Dacra Development or Miami Design District Associates, LLC (Limited Liability Company). This application was presented in full at the last hearing on first reading, so if it's your preference to go ahead and open up and take public testimony, we'll defer to any questions you may have. If I can just make one disclosure: In between the hearings, we did meet with Commissioner Hardemon for Jennings purposes to discuss the development agreement, and I wanted to put that on the record by way of --
Vice Chair Hardemon: And I think I made that disclosure in the last --
Chair Gort: You did.
Vice Chair Hardemon: -- meeting, too, right?
Mr. Fernandez: Yes, you did.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Okay.
Chair Gort: The -- let me tell you, the -- well, seems like you've done a good job, because I don't have any see -- I don't see many people in opposition here today, okay?
Vice Chair Hardemon: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait for it. Wait for it.
Chair Gort: Oh-oh.
Commissioner Suarez: Oh, come on, Carlos.
Carlos Carrillo: Carlos Carrillo, 200 Northeast 44th Street. I'm the president of the Brentwood Neighborhood Association, and more importantly, I am someone who signed on to a letter of support for this program, and the other folks on that letter were the folks that are right across the street on Northeast 43rd Street. This project's going to give us a ton of parking, which we desperately need. It's also going to give us a lot of green space, which is lacking in our neighborhood. So this is a great project, and we'd like to ask you all to vote “yes” to move it forward. Thank you very much.
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Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Anyone else? Anyone else? Seeing none, hearing none, close the public hearing.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Vice Chair Hardemon: First, I'd like to say I appreciate the developers, the investors, and the community for working together to make this a reality, to make this an easy-going process here in the end. I've heard positive things about the agreement between you all, and I appreciate what's happening in that area. Miami is really, really changing, and we're stealing even some of our vendors or our storefronts from our neighboring places, like Bal Harbor, so think about that. A place where only certain people can afford to live, that have certain types of stores, are now moving to an area that is centralized within the City of Miami, so that's very exciting for a number of different people, and it should be for all of our communities that are within five-minutes driving distance. So thank you very much for making that happen. And I move to accept or pass PZ.1.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: Okay, it's a motion and a second.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Deputy City Attorney Barnaby Min.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item PZ.1.
A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above.
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 3-0.
PZ.2 ORDINANCE Second Reading 11-01196ap2 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING WITH CONDITIONS, PURSUANT TO ARTICLES 3 AND 7 OF THE MIAMI 21 CODE, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AN AMENDMENT TO THE PREVIOUSLY APPROVED "MIAMI DESIGN DISTRICT RETAIL STREET SPECIAL AREA PLAN," ("SAP") ADDING ADDITIONAL PROPERTIES LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 220 NORTHEAST 43RD STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS LEGALLY DESCRIBED IN EXHIBIT "A," ATTACHED AND INCORPORATED, PROPOSING: A) ADDING APPROXIMATELY 80,976 SQUARE FEET (1.86 ACRES) OF LOT AREA SPLIT AMONG TWO (2) ADDITIONAL PARCELS FOR A TOTAL COMBINED LOT AREA OF 995,668 SQUARE FEET (22.86 ACRES); B) INCREASING THE APPROVED FLOOR AREA BY APPROXIMATELY 350,000 SQUARE FEET FOR A TOTAL OF APPROXIMATELY 3,049,095; C) INCREASING THE CIVIC SPACE BY APPROXIMATELY 4,049 SQUARE FEET FOR A TOTAL OF 49,924 SQUARE FEET; D) INCREASING THE OPEN SPACE BY APPROXIMATELY 5,264 SQUARE FEET FOR A TOTAL OF 58,740 SQUARE FEET (OR 38,181 SQUARE FEET WITH MITIGATION PAYMENTS PER DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT); AMENDING THE ZONING ATLAS OF ORDINANCE NO. 13114, BY CHANGING THE ZONING CLASSIFICATION OF THE ABOVE REFERENCED PROPERTIES FROM "T3-L" SUB-URBAN TRANSECT ZONE LIMITED AND "CI" CIVIC INSTITUTIONAL ZONE TO
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"T4-L" GENERAL URBAN TRANSECT ZONE LIMITED AND "T5-O" URBAN CENTER TRANSECT ZONE OPEN; THE SQUARE FOOTAGES ABOVE ARE APPROXIMATE AND MAY INCREASE OR DECREASE UP TO TEN PERCENT (10%) PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 7 SECTION 7.1.2.5.A.28 OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA; MAKING FINDINGS OF FACT AND STATING CONCLUSIONS OF LAW; PROVIDING FOR BINDING EFFECT; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
11-01196ap2 SR Fact Sheet.pdf 11-01196ap2 Analysis, Maps & PZAB Reso.pdf 11-01196ap2 Application and Supporting Docs.pdf 11-01196ap2 Legislation (v3).pdf 11-01196ap2 Exhibit A.pdf 11-01196ap2 Exhibit.pdf
LOCATION: Approximately 220 NE 43rd Street [Commissioner Keon Hardemon - District 5]
APPLICANT(S): Javier E. Fernandez, Esquire, on behalf of 4201 NE 2nd Avenue, LLC and Miami Design District Associates, LLC
FINDING(S): PLANNING AND ZONING DEPARTMENT: Recommended approval. See companion File ID's 11-01196lu1. PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD: Recommended approval, with conditions, on December 17, 2014, by a vote of 11-0.
PURPOSE: This will add additional properties and allow the rezoning of certain parcels for the development of approximately 1.86 acres for the "Miami Design District Retail Street Special Area Plan" ("SAP")
Motion by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Suarez and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff and Carollo
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Chair Gort: PZ.2.
Vice Chair Hardemon: I move to accept PZ.2.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: It's been moved; second. Public hearing was opened for both, so the -- it's an ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Deputy City Attorney Barnaby Min.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item PZ.2.
A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above. City of Miami Page 119 Printed on 4/1/2015 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 12, 2015
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 3-0.
PZ.3 ORDINANCE Second Reading 11-01196da2 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING A DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT, PURSUANT TO CHAPTER 163, FLORIDA STATUTES, BETWEEN 4201 NE 2ND AVE, LLC, AND THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA ("CITY"), BY ADDING AN ADDITIONAL PROPERTY LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 220 NORTHEAST 43RD STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA, TO THE PREVIOUSLY APPROVED MIAMI DESIGN DISTRICT RETAIL STREET SPECIAL AREA PLAN ("MDDRS SAP") AND RELATED DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT, FOR THE PURPOSE OF REDEVELOPMENT OF SUCH LAND FOR MIXED USES; AUTHORIZING THE FOLLOWING USES INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO: RESIDENTIAL, COMMERCIAL, LODGING, CIVIC, EDUCATIONAL, CIVIL SUPPORT, AND ANY OTHER USES AUTHORIZED BY THE MDDRS SAP AND RELATED DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT, AND PERMITTED BY THE MIAMI COMPREHENSIVE NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN-FUTURE LAND USE MAP DESIGNATION AND THE MIAMI 21 CODE, THE CITY OF MIAMI ZONING ORDINANCE; AUTHORIZING A DENSITY OF APPROXIMATELY 65 UNITS PER ACRE; AUTHORIZING A MAXIMUM BUILDING HEIGHT OF 81 FEET; AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE THE DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, FOR SAID PURPOSE; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 11-01196da2 SR Fact Sheet.pdf 11-01196da2 Legislation (v3).pdf 11-01196da2 Exhibit A.pdf 11-01196da2 Exhibit.pdf
LOCATION: Approximately 220 NE 43rd Street [Commissioner Keon Hardemon - District 5]
APPLICANT(S): Javier E. Fernandez, Esquire, on behalf of 4201 NE 2nd Avenue, LLC and Miami Design District Associates, LLC
FINDING(S): PLANNING AND ZONING DEPARTMENT: Recommended approval.
PURPOSE: This will allow the City Manager to execute a development agreement.
Motion by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Suarez and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff and Carollo
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Vice Chair Hardemon: I move to accept PZ.3.
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Chair Gort: PZ.3.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: It's a motion and a second. It's an ordinance.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Deputy City Attorney Barnaby Min.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item PZ.3.
A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above.
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 3-0.
Javier Fernandez: Commissioners, thank you. I'd be remiss if I didn't thank Mr. Garcia and his staff for their assistance with this process. You've been a great partner. Thank you.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
PZ.4 ORDINANCE Second Reading 14-00053lu AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 10544, AS 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 OF THE ACREAGE DESCRIBED HEREIN OF REAL PROPERTY AT APPROXIMATELY 622 NORTHEAST 80TH STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA, FROM "MEDIUM DENSITY MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL" TO "RESTRICTED COMMERCIAL"; MAKING FINDINGS; DIRECTING TRANSMITTALS TO AFFECTED AGENCIES; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 14-00053lu SR Fact Sheet.pdf 14-00053lu Analysis, Maps & PZAB Reso.pdf 14-00053lu Application and Supporting Docs.pdf 14-00053lu Legislation (v2).pdf 14-00053lu Exhibit.pdf
LOCATION: Approximately 622 NE 80th Street [Commissioner Keon Hardemon - District 5]
APPLICANT(S): Tony Recio, Esquire, on behalf of Pier Real Estate II, LLC
FINDING(S): PLANNING AND ZONING DEPARTMENT: Recommended approval. PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD: Recommended approval on March 19, 2014, by a vote of 7-4. See companion File ID 14-00053zc.
PURPOSE: This will change the above property from "Medium Density Multi-Family Residential" to "Restricted Commercial". City of Miami Page 121 Printed on 4/1/2015 City Commission Meeting Minutes March 12, 2015
Motion by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be DEFERRED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Suarez and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff and Carollo Note for the Record: Item PZ.4 was deferred to the March 26, 2015 Planning and Zoning City Commission Meeting.
Note for the Record: Please see Item PZ.5 for minutes referencing Item PZ.4.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman, in reference to PZ.4, I'd like to defer it to the next time that PZ.5 comes up.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Chair Gort: Okay, it's been moved for a deferral. It's been moved and second. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): And Chair, just for the record, Mr. Planning Director, when do you expect PZ.4 and 5 to be coming back?
Mr. Garcia: They will be coming to the Commission -- on the Planning & Zoning agenda later this month. I believe that is the 20 --
Mr. Hannon: Okay, March 26, sir?
Mr. Garcia: -- six, yes.
Mr. Hannon: Thank you, sir.
Commissioner Suarez: Not bad; 14 days.
Antonio Recio: Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
Mr. Recio: Have a good night.
Chair Gort: Okay, finish PZ (Planning & Zoning).
Vice Chair Hardemon: Yes, we're (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Francisco Garcia (Director, Planning & Zoning): (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Planning & Zoning items, sir.
Chair Gort: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) pocket items (UNINTELLIGIBLE) districts.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Just pocket items.
Commissioner Suarez: I have one. I think Commissioner has one.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Right.
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Commissioner Suarez: You want to go first?
PZ.5 ORDINANCE First Reading 14-00053zc AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, WITH ATTACHMENT(S), AMENDING THE ZONING ATLAS OF ORDINANCE NO. 13114, AS AMENDED, BY CHANGING THE ZONING CLASSIFICATION FROM "T5-R" URBAN CENTER ZONE - RESTRICTED TO "T6-8-O" URBAN CORE ZONE-OPEN, FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 622 NORTHEAST 80TH STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA; MAKING FINDINGS; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 14-00053zc 03-12-15 FR Application and Supporting Docs.pdf 14-00053zc SR Fact Sheet.pdf 14-00053zc Analysis, Maps & PZAB Reso.pdf 14-00053zc Application and Supporting Docs.pdf 14-00053zc-Submittal-Tony Recio-Declarations of Restrictions Covenant.pdf 14-00053zc Legislation (v2).pdf 14-00053zc Exhibit.pdf
LOCATION: Approximately 622 NE 80th Street [Commissioner Keon Hardemon - District 5]
APPLICANT(S): Tony Recio, Esquire, on behalf of Pier Real Estate II, LLC
FINDING(S): PLANNING AND ZONING DEPARTMENT: Recommended approval. PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD: Motion to approve failed on March 19, 2014, by a vote of 4-7, thus constituting a denial. See companion File ID 14-00053lu.
PURPOSE: This will change the above property from "T5-R" to "T6-8-O". Item includes a covenant.
Motion by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be PASSED ON FIRST READING PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Suarez and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff and Carollo Chair Gort: PZ.4.
Francisco Garcia (Director, Planning & Zoning): Thank you, sir. Items PZ.4 and PZ.5 are companion items. PZ.4 is a proposal for a land use amendment for a property at 622 Northeast 80th Street, and PZ.5 is a proposal to change the zoning designation for the same parcel at 622 Northeast 80th Street. The first item is before you on second reading, and if I'm mistaken, the second item, PZ.5, is actually before you on first reading.
Antonio Recio: That's correct.
Mr. Garcia: I would like to suggest that perhaps we consider only item PZ.5 today for passage on first reading so they can both go together on second reading or would you prefer otherwise, Mr. Recio?
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Mr. Recio: I would prefer a vote on both, but it's the same thing; we'll be back here next month in any event, so --
Vice Chair Hardemon: Then I --
Mr. Recio: -- very well.
Vice Chair Hardemon: And I like to follow my professional staff recommendation.
Mr. Garcia: Yes, very well. And so our recommendation is favorable. This proposal comes to you today with the proffer of a covenant, which is a result of numerous meetings with the Shorecrest Neighborhood Association, as represented by Mr. Troy Howard and others, as well, and Mr. Recio and Mr. Amadu, the property owner; I, myself, have been present. And essentially, the result of the implementation of the proffered covenant would be limit the height of the proposed development at 80 feet, and to limit the square footage of commercial use to 16,500 square feet; and again, that addresses -- there are other clauses that perhaps Mr. Recio wants to address and they have to do with certain parking restrictions and certain other improvements that the applicant has proffered, which are not as substantive as the two that I've mentioned. But, in essence, this is a compromise that the neighborhood felt addressed well their concerns about the scale of the building and the possible impact of excessive commercial use. That said, we are recommending approval of the item with the acceptance of the proffered covenant, and we'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Chair Gort: Thank you. By the way, we opened the -- public hearing's going to be open for 4 and 5, PZ.4 and PZ.5. Yes, sir.
Mr. Recio: Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the Commission. As Mr. Garcia mentioned, we did meet with the Shorecrest Homeowners Association; they are supportive. They sent correspondence; I have copies of that, if you haven't seen them. I'm happy to share those with you. But they are supportive. We entered into a covenant, restrictions that will address many of their issues. One of the provisions that is in that covenant that is not in the main part -- it's a little lower -- is we need to go back to them if we try to modify this covenant any time in the next 15 years, so they feel well protected and well insulated in that sense. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have on this item, but if --
Chair Gort: Thank you. Is anyone like to address this Commission on PZ4, PZ.5? Anyone? Seeing none, hearing none, public hearing is closed.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Francisco, the item that you recommended that is on first reading is PZ.5, correct?
Mr. Garcia: That is correct. That would be the zoning change, sir.
Vice Chair Hardemon: So --
Mr. Garcia: And I should add -- I'm sorry, Commissioner, but I should add that the proffered covenant pertains to item PZ 5, not to item PZ.4.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Okay. And PZ.4 is on its second reading?
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Mr. Garcia: That is correct.
Vice Chair Hardemon: All right. I move to approve PZ.5.
Commissioner Suarez: So -- second.
Chair Gort: Been moved and second. PZ.5.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by Deputy City Attorney Barnaby Min.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item PZ.5.
A roll call was taken, the result of which is stated above.
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on first reading, 3-0.
PZ.6 ORDINANCE Second Reading 14-01198zt AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 13114, THE ZONING ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, BY ESTABLISHING A NEW TRANSECT ZONE SUB-CLASSIFICATION T6-24(B), WITH A FLOOR LOT RATIO OF FIFTEEN (15), AND A THIRTY PERCENT (30%) PUBLIC BENEFIT BONUS; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
14-01198zt SR Fact Sheet.pdf 14-01198zt PZAB Reso.pdf 14-01198zt Legislation (v4).pdf
APPLICANT(S): Daniel J. Alfonso, City Manager, on behalf of the City of Miami
FINDING(S): PLANNING DEPARTMENT: Recommended approval. PLANNING, ZONING AND APPEALS BOARD: Recommended approval on December 17, 2014, by a vote of 7-0.
PURPOSE: This will establish a new Transect Zone sub-classification of T6-24(B) which will have a higher Floor Lot Ratio (15) and a higher percentage of public benefits eligibility (30%).
Motion by Commissioner Sarnoff, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 4 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Sarnoff, Suarez and Hardemon Absent: 1 - Commissioner(s) Carollo
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Chair Gort: Francisco.
Francisco Garcia (Director, Planning & Zoning): Yes, sir. I understand the preference of the Board is to continue with item PZ.6; is that correct?
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Chair Gort: That's correct.
Mr. Garcia: Very well then. Item PZ.6, Commissioners, is before you on second reading. This is a proposed amendment to the Zoning Ordinance, Miami 21, to create a new zoning designation to be known as T6-24B. There is a T6-24 existing which would, as a result of this ordinance, if passed, default to T6-24A. The new category to be created is presently presented to you with an FLR -- that's floor lot ratio -- of 15. Briefly, I'll describe that as the determinant of the development capacity of property, the FLR, and also with a public benefit bonus participation of up to 30 percent. This is pursuant to the Commission's request. We've performed the necessary analysis to determine that this is appropriate. And we are happy to answer any questions you may have.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Commissioner Sarnoff: This particular transect change is something that we're looking very closely at what we used to call “Omni West” or, if you will, the “Arts and Entertainment District,” which is, essentially, if you just go parallel west from the PAC (Performing Arts Center) and you head a little bit north, it is a very large area of the City of Miami that is virtually not built, certainly not built high-rise, and has, as I think Mr. Garcia and I have discussed, the greatest potential for commuter opportunities with people without cars that we probably have in Miami. We have, obviously, great transportation there with the I-95; probably even better transportation with the People Mover; and even some transportation, I think you would concede, with the trolley issue. So this is kind of a blank slate, Mr. Chair, that we can right the City of City of Miami for the first time. You all do not hear me talk about the word "affordable housing" a lot. Let me try to talk of it in terms of workforce housing. If we allow Miami to develop as we're allowing it to develop, especially in my district, it is becoming unaffordable, certainly to Americans and certainly to Miamians. And I know Commissioner Hardemon's got a bright cheer face on right now.
Chair Gort: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Commissioner Sarnoff: And this is our chance to build workforce housing in Miami. Somebody asked me a week ago, “What do you think the most important job is for a City of Miami Commissioner?” And I said, “Probably to get the Police and Fire budget right is probably our biggest job.” I said, “But really, the most important job is figuring out the zoning in the City, because I happen to be a market rate guy. I happen to believe the market does the best job of creating opportunities, but I'll concede two points to you very quickly. There are two things man does very poorly. If a man is left to his own devices, he will pollute. That's been shown in the '60s and '70s. If you don't govern man, he will pollute. The second issue is if you leave a man to his own devices without governance, you will not have proper zoning. I've lived in a city without zoning. Caroline Highway, Louisiana, New Orleans, there's no zoning. As soon as you go there, Mr. Chair, you would know there's no zoning. You would see a house, followed by an industrial warehouse, followed by a church, followed by whatever you want to put in. I was equally recently in Houston, Texas; they have no zoning code there either. Interesting city, very nice city, but you can tell it has no zoning code. So this is our chance to actually get some zoning correct. And I hope Commissioner Hardemon's going to remember this day well, because I'm going to talk about inclusionary zoning and I'm going to talk about mixed income. The first thing we get to do here is set the plinth of a building. The plinth of a building is its girth; how wide it is, the FAR/FLR (Floor Area Ratio/Floor Lot Ratio) of that building. We have now debated, Francisco Garcia and this Commission, to go to 15, and I know that's more than Mr. Garcia wants to go, but that is something that we've talked about. I've met with Mr. Garcia. He's probably tired of meeting with me. I think he probably gets up in the morning and says, “Do I have another meeting with Commissioner Sarnoff?” And he goes -- well, who knows what he goes. And he is
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now considering doing a higher bonus, which would be 40 percent. And here's the tools we need to put in our toolbox. So we all know market rate refers to properties that are rented or owned by people who make market rent and pay the market value when they buy the property. There's no subsidy for that. Workforce housing, which is a term I gravitate towards, may be targeted more generally at a certain income levels, regardless of type of employment, with definitions ranging from 50 percent to 120 percent of area mean income. That's kind of a meaningless number until you put some, I guess, meat on the bones. So -- and I look at Commissioner Hardemon, because I think he did a really, really tough job as a public defender. I think prosecutors do really tough jobs. I'm always shocked at how little they get paid. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, Commissioner Hardemon, but you could have been in the 40s, $40,000, and a prosecutor can equally be in the $40,000. They're doing either God's work or the most important work there is to do. So in Miami-Dade County, one person of 80 percent of AMI (Area Median Income) is $38,100; a two-person household, $43,550; a three-person household, 49,000; a four-person household, 54,000, and it goes on and on up. I'd like to create a strategy -- and I don't say that I have all the answers here today, and the good news is Mr. Garcia tells me I don't need to have all those answers today, because he said in two to three weeks, he will have those answers to create a strategy that entices developers where we give them more girth and more bonuses to use those bonuses for mixed income units so that, all right, you want to put a person with workforce housing numbers in it? Well, they're going to be facing to the west and on floors five, six, and seven. So they're not getting the desirable, you know, 13, 14, 20, 24 levels. The reason they do that obviously is those are less valuable places, but you create a mixed-income building -- and it's not like this is my idea. I mean, New York City does this, Boston does this, Philadelphia does this. And I just know that we get to write this page for the first time. This isn't a page that you're going to start -- this isn't Brickell. This isn't even Brickell West, Mr. Chair. This is a blank slate that conceivably is in, you know, District 2. This neighborhood will serve all the City of Miami. I think you might have read in the newspaper a couple days ago, maybe a week ago -- I thought Mello had a great quote. “Not everybody's going to drive a Maserati or Mercedes in Miami; you still need Hondas and Hyundai's.” And his point being --
Chair Gort: And Chevys.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Sure. We are creating, at least in District 2, a place that is very difficult for Americans to live in, let alone Floridians, let alone Miamians. If we take this opportunity and set the proper FLR and bonus structure, we could be creating a platform upon which workforce housing will go. Now, there is some advantages to this neighborhood. One, you may not even need to have a building. Now, this is market to some degree, and this is also governmental where they only need one car per household or half a car per household. In which cases, we all know, the $25,000 it cost to put that car unit in that building gets passed on either to rent or through the purchase price. Two, why is this also good? The further we send our labor pool outside of Miami -- so the folks making 40, 50, $60,000 a year -- the more pollution we have in this City -- well, the more pollution we have anywhere, because we're sending them to parts north and west where they, theoretically, can live, and they're part of our traffic jams, if you will, followed by the pollution of just sitting in traffic. So this isn't going to happen tomorrow, and it may not even happen in 10 years. But what we're doing here today may be for your child and certainly will be for your child when all of a sudden, he graduates from UM (University of Miami) and he's making his probably 70,000 a year getting out, because it's probably will be -- what it will be like by then, and that will only be considered like 80 percent AMI, City of Miami. So I welcome the debate. I welcome everyone joining me on this. I may candidly go -- now, I know I'm pushing Mr. Garcia. To get him to 15 and have him sit in his chair without a seat belt was pretty hard. I may ask him to go to 16. There are people that are pushing me to go to 18. He says 18 is wrong. He says 15 is robust. I -- I'm not trying to be compromising. I'm trying to create as much opportunity -- plinth, width, girth -- as possible, plus a bonus strategy that will do one of two things: One, create a workforce housing opportunity with the tools and the chest that Mr. Garcia has; secondarily, if they choose not to do that, at least let's get some open space out of them, some parks, some opportunities in that particular
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section. I appreciate everybody's indulgence listening to me. I want to go on record to Commissioner Suarez and to Commissioner Hardemon: I got this out of my system; got the workforce stuff down. It's a huge swath of the City of Miami. It's something that you all should be proud of, because you've been talking about this in one form or another for a long time.
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah. Mr. Chair, if I may?
Chair Gort: We all have to remember what happened in Key West.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Right.
Commissioner Suarez: Mr. Chair.
Chair Gort: I mean, that could happen here, so I think it's very important. Yes, sir, you're recognized.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you. I can live with 16; one of those advocates for 18; and understanding that what we're creating is a category that people could avail themselves of for purposes of density in a specific area. And one of the things that I realized -- and this is something that I'm sure Francisco struggles with, and I don't want to put words in his mouth. He's perfectly capable of defending his own positions -- is what happens a lot of times in private industry is -- as a real estate attorney, I also know this -- is people buy “subject to” or they put a contract on a property subject to the entitlement or subject to the possibility of an entitlement, because that's what makes the ROI (return on investment) work; otherwise, the deal is no good. So I think in creating a category like this, it speeds up the process of potentially making a property viable and marketable, so that would be one point. So I can settle on 16. That's a compromise for me, as well. I know it's a compromise for everybody, and I think that's a number I can settle on. As for the workforce housing bonus, I -- you know, you'll recall when we did the affordable housing legislation for Miami 21 that I said I'd come back with a workforce component, and we did that; we brought it back in so that that regime applied to workforce housing, a mixed income, as you called it, you know, appropriately. And so I think this fund is perfectly appropriate, but I also think that there's a huge gap, and the huge gap is if it's 80 percent AMI as workforce housing or 65 percent AMI, as a lot of the State tax credits program require, there's also 30 percent AMI; and that, in many cases, are the extremely poor people who are living off Social Security or who are living off security disability. So I think, you know, we need to do what we can to create programs so that we can leverage our dollars and particularly some of this amazing development to make sure that we have, for example, maybe -- you know, there's been a lot of controversy about the whole Little Havana East rezoning, right? But -- and that that will create gentrification -- but if those developers, for example, were able to take advantage of a program where they could create one of those categories of housing with subsidy dollars -- like, for example, 30 percent AMI or 60 percent AMI or 80 percent AMI -- maybe they get a different subsidy for the level -- you understand what I'm saying? -- then you're not creating gentrification at all.
Commissioner Sarnoff: I think it comes down to the bonus. I think the strategy -- and we don't have to figure it out right now. But I think the strategy becomes “would you like to have two floors free from 24 to 26?” In other words, you don't have to pay the bonus --
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Commissioner Sarnoff: -- to do so.
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Commissioner Sarnoff: You've got to put --
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Commissioner Suarez: A certain income category of people. You have to put your rent at a certain level.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Right.
Commissioner Suarez: And I think when you -- particularly when you upzone an area like East Little Havana -- I believe in the motives of that legislation. I said it today, you know, on radio. And I know that the district Commissioner and the director are acting in good faith. You know, I think that if you couple that with a scheme like this, you may avoid the gentrification that many people are worried about and you do a good thing, because there's a huge need for 30, 65, and 80 percent AMI income. That is our huge problem, I mean, you know, when you look at the census numbers. Talk about census numbers and poverty, the huge issue is unaffordability of housing.
Chair Gort: I want you to know it wasn't easy, but we are having a building on Southwest 9th Street and 1st Avenue, two blocks away from Brickell, and it's a mixed use. It's market and affordable housing, and it's working and it's a great building. It's going to have 100 apartment there. They also is build the ownership, the condo, right there, right next to it where people have bought a two-bedroom maybe about 10 years ago for $80,000; two blocks away from Brickell, and it works.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Out of everyone that is on the Commission, I think I probably entered -- because I went to law school and finished in 2010, I once again entered the workforce becoming a Public Defender, earning a salary that -- I made, as a Public Defender, the amount of money that I made as an intern my first year in college, so to come back -- came back to Miami in 2007 to work in the private industry and I lived in Aventura, and I had the amount of money to choose where I wanted to live and I moved to Aventura. Came back down; and I lived downtown for some time, but when it came time for me to work as a Public Defender and I didn't have the salary able to choose to live on Brickell, to live downtown or anywhere of that nature, luckily, I knew Miami because I grew up in Miami. I'm comfortable living in parts of Miami that other people may not be comfortable with. And so that's how I ended up within walking distance so I wouldn't have to drive to the Public Defender's Office, to the -- our courthouse, the State courthouse, and it became a good option, and luckily, my rent hasn't risen too high and I'm able to be there making what I'm making. But the point that I'm saying to you is that we're finding ourselves in positions where our young professionals -- our police officers, teachers, lawyers, sometimes even residents, doctors, they -- they're priced out of the Miami market, and so we want to be able to retain as much of that talent within our communities as possible. And the issue is that when you don't have buildings that are affordable for them to live in and most of them are not familiar with the Miami community, they don't move into areas that they're not necessarily comfortable with. Some of them are afraid to live in Allapattah, Little Havana, Liberty City, Little Haiti. And the more that they become comfortable with it, the higher the prices rise in those communities, so that's just what happens. You look at Wynwood. I mean, many people were not comfortable living in Wynwood. And now that people are comfortable living in Wynwood, they -- you know, they erect a building that maybe has 10 units in it, and I wish you could buy into it but you can't. So this is a good thing. We need this type of housing to attract the type of people that we want to live within our urban cores because we need that mix of income. We don't want -- well, I don't want to see Miami become a place where everyone who lives here is of one kind and that is households of $100,000-plus. That's -- I don't believe that's diversity in a community that we claim to be so diverse in. So our diversity has to be more than just our colors, religions, but of income; and I think when you have the diversity in income, you
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have diversity in experiences, and those types of experiences, even at a university, like the University of Miami where most people have to make a significant amount of dollars to actually pay for school -- having the diversity and the income levels where people have grown up from makes a different discussions in your constitutional law classes. So I'm -- I like where we're going in a sense, and I appreciate our fine Commissioner from the second district and his advocacy for this. Now we just have to talk about the FLR, what number it shall be. So as I understand, we have 15 on the table, we have 16 on the table, and I'll just -- I'm open to discussion to see where else we're going to go with that.
Chair Gort: You know, a lot of people don't realize, our young professional, when they come out of the university, they come out with a mortgage. I mean, most of our kids -- and I have four girls that went through school, so I know. They come out with a mortgage already, and those are the people that need the most help, along with everyone else. But that concept of the market rate and affordable or workforce, it works, and it doesn't create ghettos, which is important.
Commissioner Sarnoff: So Mr. Chair, before I make the motion, I just wanted to always tell Commissioner Hardemon this; I didn't know when I'd ever have the opportunity. So when I came out of law school, I was a prosecutor in the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office and I always wanted to see if this compares like you. New Orleans, I was making $24,000 a year. All my friends, everybody else, the going -- the big chunk of money everybody was making was like 36 or $38,000 a year, so they'd all take me out to lunch every day. They all felt bad for me. And I accepted. So I'm going to make a motion based on an FLR of 16 -- I know Mr. Francisco -- I know Mr. Garcia --
Commissioner Suarez: Pinch your nose, director. Pinch your nose.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Right. -- and put a 40 percent bonus on it with you coming back for some strategies for creation of -- I'm going to call it workforce housing, like 80 percent of AMI.
Commissioner Suarez: Can I jump in there? Because I think there should be three categories, and I'll give you an example, to use Little Havana as an example. Let's say someone wants to avail themself of this bonus. In my humble opinion, I think they should get a bonus obviously for doing workforce housing. I think that's -- we want to encourage that. But they should get -- in my opinion, the lower income, the greater bonus, and that avoids gentrification and it also, you know, supports the biggest need. I do think we need workforce housing; don't get me wrong. I think we need it in plenty. But we need all three categories, to be completely frank.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Well, I guess -- I don't want to force it on anyone. I just want to give them --
Commissioner Suarez: It's a carrot approach.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Right.
Commissioner Suarez: It's a carrot approach.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Carrot approach, agreed.
Commissioner Suarez: It's not a forcing. It's --
Commissioner Sarnoff: Right.
Commissioner Suarez: -- “you want this? You do this.”
Commissioner Sarnoff: Right.
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Chair Gort: You give them the options.
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Chair Gort: The different options.
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Chair Gort: Okay, so the motion. Yes.
Mr. Garcia: Yes, sir. And at this point in time, pending the additional legislation that has been, more or less, framed by this discussion, I believe that the amendment you would like to see to the ordinance as it stands in front of you is two changes basically: The T6 -- the new T6-24B zoning designation will be one which provides for a 16 floor lot ratio --
Commissioner Suarez: Yes.
Mr. Garcia: -- also known as FLR, and also with up to 40 percent participation in the public benefits bonus program.
Commissioner Suarez: Correct.
Mr. Garcia: Is that correct?
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Sure.
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mr. Garcia: Those were the modifications then.
Vice Chair Hardemon: And the maker of the motion --
Victoria Méndez (City Attorney): Now, how would we --? I'm sorry, because --
Chair Gort: Wait a minute. Let --
Ms. Méndez: -- we have to write this after -- basically, based on the wording that's here, the 15 will change to a 16, correct? And then the --
Mr. Garcia: That is correct.
Ms. Méndez: -- with up to 40 percent, how are we determining when it's up to? I just want to be clear on.
Mr. Garcia: That is the maximum set forth, along with a zoning designation, and that is parallel to the structure of every other zoning designation in the T6 range. So, so long as we set forth the maximum at 40 percent, the next thing we have to work on -- and we'll come back to you with that legislation -- is what process would a property owner have to go through to get up to that 40 percent? That's the legislation to come.
Chair Gort: Right.
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Vice Chair Hardemon: And if I may, Mr. Chairman?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Vice Chair Hardemon: And so the discussion regarding the up to 40 percent, we have to give an incentive. We talked about the carrot for them to get to the 40 percent. So I think --
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Vice Chair Hardemon: -- that with that incentive, you have to create a floor. So it's such a difference, say -- the way that I would look at it, you get a 20 to 40 percent bonus. This is the way that I see it -- a 20 percent bonus for this category of housing that's of, say, 100 percent -- 120 percent above the income, but then if you want to touch the 40 percent, then we start talking about the 30 percent. And so it really incentivizes someone to say, “Okay, well, if I want a bigger bonus, then I have to dig deeper and help those who are closer or closer to our poverty levels than someone who is further away.”
Commissioner Suarez: But can I just interject? Because I think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves, and I don't know if the Planning director would stop us, because we're just creating one subcategory. I think we can do that across the board, and I think that's where like an opportunity like the upzoning in the East Little Havana, we could say, “Wait a second. Let's have an approach here which discourages gentrification, increases workforce, increases affordable, and increases, you know, severely” -- whatever you -- however you want to call it -- like real affordable. Some people say it's “fake affordable” and “real affordable” housing. So, you know, affordable housing for poor -- you know, people that have -- you know, that are in a poor condition.
Commissioner Sarnoff: So what we're doing is, euphemistically, asking Francisco Garcia to come back with --
Commissioner Suarez: Yes.
Commissioner Sarnoff: -- an inclusionary number.
Commissioner Suarez: I think that's better.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Yeah.
Commissioner Suarez: Right.
Mr. Garcia: There's a distinction to be made between what we're proposing here in inclusionary zoning -- and I won't get too much into the details. We'll have an ability to sort of vet that out. I think the legislative intent is very clear. I've been listening carefully, and I should say also that it aligns very, very well, and by virtue of your action today, you're likely to make some members of the Administration -- as I look at my colleague, George Mensah, very happy, because we'd love to work on this with you. But again, the legislative intent is clear. And I would also like to add parenthetically that this happens to be one area where it makes perfect sense, for the reasons that have been set forth already. In addition to that, please be mindful that this area is already designated with 500 units per acre density and very well served by, as Commissioner Sarnoff said, robust transportation infrastructure, and it happens to be ideally located to a very large pool of employment opportunities, so it's a perfect confluence of factors to really merit studying the implementation of workforce housing in the area. We're happy to work on it. We think we get the legislative intent. We'll be following up with your offices.
Commissioner Suarez: Thank you.
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Chair Gort: Okeydoke. Thank you. It's an ordinance. It's a public hearing. Is anyone would like to address this one issue? Seeing none, hearing none, close the public hearing.
The Ordinance was read by title into the public record by the City Attorney.
Chair Gort: Thank you. Roll call.
Todd B. Hannon (City Clerk): Roll call on item PZ.6. Vice Chair Hardemon?
Vice Chair Hardemon: For.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Suarez?
Commissioner Suarez: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: Commissioner Sarnoff?
Commissioner Sarnoff: Yeah. Let the record reflect this is the first time I'm doing affordable housing.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Workforce.
Commissioner Suarez: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
Commissioner Sarnoff: Workforce.
Chair Gort: Workforce. He's not ready to accept “affordable” yet. He'll go as far as “workforce.”
Mr. Hannon: Chair Gort?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Mr. Hannon: The ordinance passes on second reading, 4-0, as amended.
Commissioner Sarnoff: Mr. Chair, I apologize. Can I be excused? I have a -- something to attend to.
Commissioner Suarez: I don't know.
Chair Gort: Yes, sir. I don't know.
END OF PLANNING AND ZONING ITEMS
MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS' ITEMS CITYWIDE
HONORABLE MAYOR TOMAS REGALADO
END OF CITYWIDE ITEMS DISTRICT 1
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CHAIR WIFREDO (WILLY) GORT
D1.1 DISCUSSION ITEM 15-00299 DISCUSSION ON CODE COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT OF VIOLATIONS.
15-00299 E-Mail - Discussion Item.pdf
DISCUSSED
Chair Gort: I'll tell you what mine is, Mr. Manager, the problem that I see is with Code Compliant [sic] in this City continues to cite properties, creating unrealistic liens, failing to resolve the violation. We need to find a way that we can expedite this. Because the problems that we have, we get calls from the neighbors. Right across from the street, they have a squatter in there who's got -- have all kinds of criminal activities taking place. We have people that are not in compliance with the Code. We go -- and most of the time, the people that are not complying with the Code, they're not the owner of the property, so the liens have put on the properties, and a lot of times the people are not aware that liens are being placed on their property and that's becoming a problem, because the neighbors, after three months, they'll call you back. They say, “What's the matter with you guys? We complain about this. We've been complaining for the last three month.” Somehow, we got to find a way to expedite it, and I know you guys in the Law Department are doing a great job, and maybe there's some way we can expedite that.
Barnaby Min (Deputy City Attorney): Mr. Chair, we've met with the Administration, and the City Attorney's Office commits to taking a more proactive role with the Administration. Specifically, a state statute currently requires our -- or prohibits legal action from being taken on any property until 90 days after the lien's been recorded, so we'll work closely with Hearing Boards, Code Compliance, and our IT (Information Technology) Department, so then upon the expiration of the 90 days, we'll be immediately notified for us to follow up, as far as sending out demand letters, following up with the actual inspections, and if necessary, taking legal action in court.
Chair Gort: And this is, once again, as we've mentioned about the NET (Neighborhood Enhancement Team) office. The NET office working in team, and I already talk to the Code Compliance, I've talked to the Chief of Police, and they realize the importance of working as a team. And then if any legislation that needs to be changed, let us know, and let's try to work on it. Because 90 days to us might not be anything, but anybody who is living with that violation, with that problem, 90 days to them is a long, long time.
Mr. Min: We certainly defer to the Commission. Currently, the state statute limits it to 90 days; and obviously, if that is a legislative priority that this Commission wants to take, we can work with Ms. Arteaga and Legislature in Tallahassee to possibly shorten that to 30, 60, 45, whatever the Commission deems is appropriate.
Chair Gort: Well, I'd like to look into that.
Mr. Min: Yes, sir.
Chair Gort: Okay.
END OF DISTRICT 1 DISTRICT 2
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COMMISSIONER MARC DAVID SARNOFF
END OF DISTRICT 2 DISTRICT 3
COMMISSIONER FRANK CAROLLO
END OF DISTRICT 3 DISTRICT 4
COMMISSIONER FRANCIS SUAREZ
D4.1 DISCUSSION ITEM 14-01117 DISCUSSION REGARDING THE FLORIDA FOURTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL'S OCTOBER 15TH DECISION IN THE MATTER OF CITY OF HOLLYWOOD V. AREM RE: REDLIGHT CAMERAS.
14-01117 E-Mail - Discussion Item.pdf 14-01117 Back-Up Documents.pdf DEFERRED
Note for the Record: Item D4.1 was deferred to the March 26, 2015 Planning and Zoning City Commission Meeting.
D4.2 DISCUSSION ITEM 15-00174 SUBMISSION OF CHARTER REFORM IDEAS BY COMMISSIONERS. 15-00174 E-mail - Discussion Item.pdf
DISCUSSED
Commissioner Suarez: And Charter Reform ideas: Just to remind you, Commissioners, that any idea that you have on the Charter reform, the sooner the better so that we can vet it and make a recommendation. Thank you.
Chair Gort: Thank you, sir. Do I have a motion to adjourn?
Commissioner Suarez: So moved.
Chair Gort: Thank you.
D4.3 DISCUSSION ITEM 15-00142 DISCUSSION REGARDING WALLET CARD PROJECT.
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15-00142 E-Mail - Discussion Item.pdf 15-00142 Article - Miami Herald.pdf DISCUSSED
Commissioner Suarez: Let me just say -- can I just say two quick things, Mr. Chair?
Chair Gort: Yes.
Commissioner Suarez: I want to commend the Chief for his work with the other chiefs of South Florida for the Wallet Card Project for autistic individuals in our community. I know they're working very hard to implement this in the City of Miami. And I also want to take a moment to commend him for finally getting online the ShotSpotter, which, I think, he -- in fairness to him, he was not a big fan of, but I appreciate the fact that, you know, despite that and because he's been encouraged by other members of the law enforcement community, I think, from our perspective, it's just a matter of, you know, we need to do everything we can to stem violent crime in our City, and if that means using technology, we need to be trying everything at this point, because we've both been to community meetings where we have to look at parents in the face who have lost -- or family members in the face who have lost loved ones and it's -- you know, aside from the alerts that we get on a constant basis, we've seen it firsthand; it's shocking. So I thank you. I commend you for both those things. And the other two, the discussion on red light cameras, I can defer to the next Commission meeting.
END OF DISTRICT 4 DISTRICT 5
VICE CHAIR KEON HARDEMON
END OF DISTRICT 5
NA.1 RESOLUTION 15-00271 A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION, PURSUANT TO SECTION 62-521(B) OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, WAIVING THE TEMPORARY EVENT LIMITATION OF TWO (2) EVENTS PER PROPERTY PER YEAR, IN ORDER TO HOST A FARMER'S MARKET AT THE BAKEHOUSE ART COMPLEX SITE LOCATED AT APPROXIMATELY 561 NORTHWEST 32 STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA, OCCURRING AT VARIOUS DAYS AND WEEKDAYS DURING THE YEAR, STARTING MARCH 1, 2015, AND ENDING ON JANUARY 1, 2016.
Motion by Vice Chair Hardemon, seconded by Commissioner Suarez, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Suarez and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff and Carollo
R-15-0118
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mine is pretty simple. I mean, we've already had some --
Chair Gort: Right.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Mr. Chairman, if I may? We've already had some -- and I don't have it in front of me, but I know you all are looking at it. We've had an ordinance I believe that applies
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to this type of circumstance, but -- and this organization has applied for its permit and they spent up to $1,800 or more to permit themselves to be able to have the -- this -- the market -- what are they called? -- fresh markets, so I just want to move to approve the item.
Commissioner Suarez: Second.
Vice Chair Hardemon: And I don't have the number of it in front of me, so I'm sorry.
Chair Gort: Moved and second.
Vice Chair Hardemon: I don't -- everyone understands where I'm at? The Clerk --
Commissioner Suarez: Yeah.
Vice Chair Hardemon: Okay.
Commissioner Suarez: I'm looking at the resolution; it's pretty straightforward.
Chair Gort: Okay, any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
NA.2 RESOLUTION 15-00361 District 4- A RESOLUTION OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION EXTENDING THE Commissioner HOURS OF SALE FOR ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES FOR CONSUMPTION ON Francis Suarez THE PREMISES OF THE MANA WYNWOOD PRODUCTION VILLAGE, LOCATED AT 318 NORTHWEST 23 STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA, TO ACCOMMODATE THE VENUE FROM 3:00 AM TO 7:00 AM ON FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015, AND SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 2015; FROM 3:00 AM TO 12:00 PM ON SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2015; AND FROM 3:00 AM TO 7:00 AM ON MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2015, PURSUANT TO CHAPTER 4/ARTICLE 1/SECTION 4-3, ENTITLED "ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES/IN GENERAL/HOURS DURING WHICH SALES ALLOWED; SUNDAY SALES."
Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Vice Chair Hardemon, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: 3 - Commissioner(s) Gort, Suarez and Hardemon Absent: 2 - Commissioner(s) Sarnoff and Carollo
R-15-0119
Commissioner Suarez: And mine very simply is an extension of the alcohol hours for sale at Mana Wynwood Production Village from -- during Winter Music Conference. This is obviously a world-renown conference that comes to the City of Miami on an annual basis, and all the times and days are specified. I think it's three days. So move.
Chair Gort: Okay, it's been moved. Is there a second?
Vice Chair Hardemon: Second.
Chair Gort: Second. Any further discussion? Being none, all in favor, state it by saying "aye."
The Commission (Collectively): Aye.
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ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 5:56 p.m.
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